Coordinator’s View
Planning for Performing Successfully
Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential… - Winston Churchill
Elites are those who have grown in real life making visions, planning, striving to achieve their targets, sometime successfully, sometime falling short at it and sometime in multiple attempts without giving up their resolve. In view of this elite may like to add value to the thoughts on academic pursuit and its relevance in real life for benefits of youngsters, who are in waiting for real life challenges. This article is with students in focus. They would begin their next academic session in a couple of months from now. Final examination, be it academic or competitive requires one to be at his best of the momentum gained during its preparation, therefore, it may be a bit early for the next occasion. Nevertheless, planning and accomplishment is a perpetual consequence in succession and it might help them in their journey going forward…
First
stage of planning is to know the surrounding with which one interacts on
continuum basis for survival. The environment imposes challenges and
opportunities; these are external in nature. One tries to survive amidst it
with the available strengths and a shield over for the weaknesses; these are
intrinsic. In management parlance it is called SWOT analysis. These intrinsic
attributes are essentially not biological; they may be derived from family,
society, clan and geographical location that one comes from. Awareness of surrounding
helps one to correlate observations; it automatically results in likes or
dislikes based on one’s natural instincts. These intrinsic responses help one
to develop a vision and it is sustainable. Vision if implanted or enforced it is
generally fades out with the passage of time.
Education starts at home and that makes role of parents, family and teachers become vital in helping a child to differentiate his observations and experiences, and explore reasons behind them. This is a process which over a period of time culminate into one’s concepts as well as evolution of a vision. Pursuit of vision through application of learning becomes a matter of commonsense and knowledge, it underlies behavior of a person. This is the point where role of a teacher ceases. The child at this stage has turned into person. It is only the pursuit of a person which transforms his learning into excellence. These persons have to have a professional perspective in exploring solutions to problems confronted by him. The professional perspective is beyond self and is for the larger good, with a spirit of coexistence among people and the nature. A person with such an approach is regarded as wise, an achiever.
Becoming wise or an achiever is not a leap, it is achieved through small tasks, workup, measure the gap recursively with continuity, consistency, pursuance and perseverance. In this process tasks and targets must always be greater than one’s capacity to perform. This alone helps one to evolve into a stronger and more capable person. It is in conformity with Darwin’s theory of biological evolutions. In this pursuit one may encounter a situation where skipping a meal or a sleep is essential to achieve the target. In such juncture it is to be remembered that one does not die in skipping either of the two. Rather, it is an opportunity to gauge limit of one’s capacity. These gauges serve as templates for the subsequent plans to become an achiever. It is not in contradiction to the shloka कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ Chapter 2, Verse 47, in Bhagwat Geeta. Rather, it is in that spirit to ensure that we do not fall short at efforts, which are within our right. Doing right thing, in a right way, in a right place, at right time, with a right person is a matter of use of wisdom and a skill, both of these have to be evolved. Wisdom is in ability to take decision and skill is in implementing the decision. They are not exclusive, rather they are complementary to each other, and go in making one a good person. Missing out at any of these parameters makes entire exercise futile. Indian scriptures are full of wisdom. Various aberration that surface in the society are result of viewing, interpreting and implementing these scriptures through a narrow perspective. Such errors are fodder for the critics of Indian culture.
Intelligence, though considered to be inherited, most of the times, is circumstantial regulated by exposure and motivation that one receives. Unless one strives hard to use intelligence, it is not possible to accomplish vision. Moreover, intelligence gets sharpened with diligence. Yet mere intelligence and diligence is not enough; it make a person workhorse and not an achiever. An achiever is a blending of the horse and the rider. Here, control of the horse by the rider is essential to make best possible utilization of the synergy. Here, coordination of various resources and constraints is the synergy.
None
is born intelligent, competent and wise, all of it comes through living and,
therefore, actions and reciprocations of a wise persons carry fragrance humility.
It gets manifested in the form of Personal Social Responsibility (PSR), and not
the least in arrogance of rights or evasion of duties, generally resorted to
with professional and intellectual arguments. Envisioning, planning and
accomplishing it is birth right of every individual. This exercise starts
initially at home and later in school through academic pursuit. Answering
questions and solving problems within given time is training of mind to handle
challenges. In initial phases questions and problem are straight application of
learning. But, as one ascends in ladder greater integration of concepts and
complexity is inevitable, rather both of them are intertwined. This is a necessity
to ensure credibility and competence in education. This is also an academic
compulsion for screening aspirants at higher ladder. In addition, it is also a
training of mind to think in multi-dimension. It is close to real life situations
where we encounter interdisciplinary problems.
In academic exposure of concepts is provided with problems in which boundaries are defined. It is to simplify understanding of individual concept. As one proceeds, integration of concepts, project work and assignments are efforts to motivate students to venture into problems with diffused boundaries. Real life situations have no defined boundary, it is a complex feedback system where anything and everything has effect on the other. Thus education is a gradual transformation of thought process and personality of a child into a responsible person.
All elites will agree that in real-life every problem and situation is unique and there are no readymade solutions. There are people who may consider that learning at school is irrelevant to real life. In this context it is opined that they are either dishonest in denying contribution of education in their making or they did not have proper education. It is the though process evolved during education that one carries forward…
Two typical problems encountered in aggressive pursuit of vision are tiredness and fatigue; these are natural consequences. The tiredness is physical and rest or sleep is the best and natural remedy. Whereas fatigue being mental has to be managed differently. In state of fatigue obvious things go wrong, errors become repetitive. In such situations there are two remedies one is meditation and other is switchover to other activity which one is passionate about. Fatigue management is the real remedy and not an evasion from the problem. In this context it is prudent to share an experience of selfless-passionate pursuit of vision. It is so spiritual and satisfying that either one does not get into fatigue and if at all it occurs, its frequency is so small that it can be considered negligible. It reminds poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow “Heights of great men reached and kept…”.
There is a famous phrase – Past is history, future is mystery, live in present. Yet, every sane person has a vision and aim of life to accomplish the vision. History brings with it knowledge of how things go wrong and what it takes to set them right. Whereas, achieving a vision, which lies in future, is full of uncertainties. Those who wait for destiny to make their dreams come true chose to live without planning. Rest are in constant mode planning either to accomplish or bridge the gaps in accomplishments. And life goes on….
Every
persons adds to the trail of his own. The history is haunting to those who have
thrived selfishly at the cost of other. Such persons are invariably sufferer of
psychological, physical, family and social problems, creation of their own. Yet,
such persons are always in denial mode. At this point any amount of name, fame,
wealth, power, position etc. is of no avail. On the contrary those who have
lived with professional ethics are most contended persons. They carry no envy,
despite remaining unsung heroes. They continue to relish from thrill and
adventure of their journey and derive inspiration from of blooming buds of
those plants that were drying out; deprived section of the society who have
lost hopes.
Conclusion: Planning is no buzz word; it is integral and inadvertent part of thought process of every sensible person, be it a student or an elite. Yet, professionalism in planning involves an entrepreneurship, where one is ready to explore unknown, venture into risk with a sense of purpose and commitment. It calls upon passionate involvement similar to that of a teacher who is a GURU. It needs a kind of desperation of a learner SHISHYA, symbolized by Eklavya.
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