Out of the 107 billion that ever lived on this globe, there have been people kept alive even after their death, like Einstein, Voltaire, Aristotle, Mozart, Rembrant, Bose, Bhagat Singh, Kalpana Chawla, Ram Mohan Rai who bestowed upon us priceless scientific, philosophical, spiritual, political and artistic treasures. All of them truly worked for and devoted their lives towards achieving what mattered most to them without paying much heed to the worldly perspective, expectations or judgements. For some this meant hassling and for some hustling, but they didn’t quit. Their work was not just a means to the end for them, it was their whole life. And they were allowing themselves time to play their game by focusing on their strengths and love for a purpose. Nobody from this lot was born with a silver spoon and neither was their passion hereditary. They worked hard to explore, nurture and polish their talent and they were not alone in their journey from dust to diamond. But who supported them? We have never heard about family of Ram Mohan Rai who may have given him space to share his desires or friends Mozart who may have lent a helping hand in taking care of kids when he was out making music. Could they have done this much alone? Not at all. When we talk about strengths we also need to build awareness about weakness so that we can manage them either by ourselves or by partnering with someone who has those as their strengths.
How are teams in sports built? There are shooters and also defenders. Imagine a team with only shooters or only defenders. Their game may turn out to be a hilarious disaster.
No matter how good you are, you can never be perfect, no one in the world is. You may be an expert but not self-sufficient. We are all a part of a social circle, but do we accept our dependence on it. Are we grateful enough to openly talk about the benefits that we draw from the people surrounding us? There is always someone helping you morally or physically in the foreground or background, wanting to better up your game, someone kindling your inner potential, someone working towards widening your perspective and fuelling your productivity. Pause for a moment, the thought itself will open up your mind to start creating permutations and combinations. I am not hinting individual caveats here, rather holding on to the promise of pairing up to deliver more.
Inside all of us, we have something that can add a wonderous charm to the executable of person next to us even if its in terms of delta and vice versa. The whole concept of pairing up and giving is so powerful that one can imagine the whole world as a family ready to help only if we can think beyond our individual insecurities. The world can be acatalyst to miracles for every single soul when we all work together. Its our individual ego that hinders our way to growth. The possibilities could be limitless once we start thinking along the lines of teaming up. How many of us have read about the early years of Honourable Narender Modi? He has fair knowledge and command combined with excellent people skills. He has been able to drive so much in so little time through the wonderfully able team enabled by him. His reliance on experts lets them take ownership and function like intrapreneurs. Surely there will be a personal and a political side to my statement but the underline is that there is now an entire ecosystem working towards the good of the country. Just that in this case we are talking about a country, not an individual.
My idea of teaming up evolved tremendously after I attended a beautiful program on gratitude, by @Lovely Kumar. One starts feeling one with the world. Even nature follows the concept of teaming up. Once, I bought a set of half-riped kiwis which wouldn’t ripe even after getting baked in the scorching heat of Delhi summer. The frustration and craving for kiwi made me go bonkers on google. I read about an interesting relationship between kiwi and banana, bananas have this unique ingredient which fastens the ripening process of kiwis and in turn kiwis thank bananas by keeping them fresh for longer. This feels like magic at the first but reveals scientific chemistry on examination. If you look closely then all life forms are inter-connected.
We can benefit from each other but if we refuse this mutual benefit, then we may be settling with sub-par.Practicality is one aspect but aspiration is totally unconflicted. We all make practical plans but can we now take the courage to let our aspiration rise to newer bounds, letting our heart to bet patience on what we really want; and then listing out things that we need to make that plan a reality.
Add on another level of detail by inserting names of people who you think can help you in achieving that particular goal faster. Reach out, ask for directions, seek help and welcome advice to your dreams. You may or may not actually ask for help but this will reduce the distance between the plan on paper and action on ground, achievability can take a real shape. Elaborate your plan further by creating a reach out plan. So the next time you feel limited by capacity or skill write down your problem statement and pair it up with people you think can help. Lay down your plan, list the steps, set goals and initiate action! Result is a follower.
So aspire as much as you can, leave behind your speculations and doubts, never limit your aspirations to your current resources. Your opportunities will grow as your aspirations augment. The world is as ready as it has ever been to pitch in.
Go ahead, be as aspirational as it can get.