I had several pants, lying in my almirah for about 2 years for want of mending – for the smallest of reasons. Some did not have buttons, and in a few cases, the stitches had given way. . .
My efforts about a year back to get them mended ended up as failures. The tailors I took the pants to, did not condescend to do the time-consuming repair works, particularly as it involved a fair degree of hemming. So, they were all in my almirah lying unused. I had concluded the tailors would not mend them. I felt fated to consigning those pants to the dustbins of memory.
After nearly a year of inaction and compelled by a dwindling wardrobe, last Sunday, just 6 days back, I decided to take the pants to a tailor nearby. This time, I went with an intention to engage with the tailor and persuade him politely to mend the pants. He did not need much persuasion, he agreed with just a bit of prodding.
I hadn’t realized there were 8 of my pants which needed the tailor’s attention. After the initial hesitation about mending so many of them, he inspected the pants carefully, one by one, as I showed him the work to be done.
I went in the evening to collect the mended pants. He had mended all 8 of them. He showed me how he had carefully inspected the pants again to do even those jobs I had omitted to bring to his attention. It was clear, it was a job done with heart. He charged me a reasonable amount for the work he completed. I did not bother to bargain as is normally my custom. I felt a surge of gratitude for the professional job he did.
The value I got from his simple and efficient job was much more than the price I paid him. People do not mind paying the price when they get value – particularly if they involve experiences with a positive emotional flavor.
I wished I had the sense to look a lot a earlier, till I found the right tailor with the right disposition and inclination. I need not have put up with shortage of pants for several months.
The tailor’s readiness to help me meant that I now have 8 more pants in my wardrobe. That means a lot to me.
Ordinary gestures are enough to cause extraordinary ripples. This is true in my personal life and also in business.
Part of being open involves living in a state to draw inspiration from simple and extraordinary acts of even an ordinary tailor.
Past failures have put me in the groove of those failures and there is a numbness oftentimes preventing me from taking action even when I have planned them. Excuses crop up through suggestions that my efforts ended up in failures in the past and it is not likely to be any different now.
So, I stay numb, in the groove of failures, not acting when action is called for. This strategy has perpetuated more failures in my life.
Stagnation in life is like a cloth with running colours. Inaction in my personal life colour also my business and other spheres of my life. All businesses call for action towards clearly defined goals – with passion and energy.
On Monday, a day after my experience with the tailor, I had this message from Neale Donald Walsch in my mail inbox.
“Nothing is ever solved, or created, by standing still.
Movement is the process of the Universe. So move.
Do something. Anything. But do not stand still.
Do not remain”on the horns of a dilemma.” Do not fence sit.
……Not to decide is to decide.
Try to not make choices by default”.
The simple act of the tailor has given me enough inspiration and resolve to work towards getting out of the directionless groove of numbness. I know this will have a bearing on my business too in a very significant way.
Escaping from the clutches of failures call for action in the now and not at any point of time in future. Honouring my commitments and acting on my plans in the present in my personal life puts me in a better place to act on plans related to my business.
Implementing plans hinges on taking one small step after another at the right time. The important thing is to focus on taking the small steps when the time is ripe for them.
‘A stitch in time saves nine’, is an old proverb that will never lose its sheen and relevance.
I can stitch success in my business and life from where ever I am, one small stitch at a time. Life is holistic. There is a common thread running through my life in all spheres – personal, business and social.
Strangely, the stitch I add in my physical aspect runs through my mental, emotional and spiritual realms in a strange type of way.
A stitch in time………….. What a way to create my life!