At Service Square we have been tweaking the business quite a bit over the past few years, shedding unnecessary and unremunerative flab, retaining the core of the business we are becoming increasingly good at. The strategy is paying off and we see the business doing better and better.
Recently while reading an article by Jason Leister – I am not able to spot it now – I came across a sentence about the difference between doing the many things one wants to do and those things one most wants to do. Focusing on the things one most wants to do is what creates passion, energy and fizz in life.
I remember reading the story of a fox and a hedgehog based on which Jim Collins derived the ‘Hedgehog concept.’ The fox is smart, full of ideas and cunning, yet cannot have for his meal the hedgehog despite his many, smart tricks. The hedgehog knows just one thing – to curl into a ball of prickly spears – about which the fox is simply clueless and finally is always forced to retreat, defeated.
Success comes when one is able to integrate complex ideas or world views into a simple, unifying concept or vision. Scattered and diffused thinking will result in action without energy and passion. This is true about business as it is about personal striving. The foxes of the world ruin their lives by getting caught in the grip of the deadly disease – paralysis by analysis.
Personally, I am doing far too many things and in the end I miss the plot of my story. I let myself meander and take the course that is most convenient at any point of time. So, my story has a lot of twists and turns with so many complicated plots and sub-plots. I will have to have the hedgehog as my ideal.
So, what is it that I most want? What is my story about?
I want to read, research and write. About businesses, about personal transformations, about leaving legacies, about living fully.
I also want to speak. And transform people. Before transforming others, I want to transform myself. There has been this compelling force of desire egging me on towards horizons I have never contemplated before. I envision heroic exploits and achievements which come to me through sheer focus and dedicated hard work.
All these years I engaged in activities that seemed the most convenient and least risky. In the process I compromised on my growth and happiness. As someone said, not taking risks is the biggest risk in life.
I chased money and I thought I would be blessed with abundance. There are certain other intangible forces at work in the universe, beyond being smart. There is this growing knowing that chasing one’s dreams with passion lead to creating new vistas and unraveling unknown possibilities.
I like what Jason Leister says about one’s loves and money: “Don’t “do what you love because the money will follow.” Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Who knows? Just do what you love because what the hell else is life for!”
At 60 I am glad I have come to this knowing. And to arrive at the decision to surrender to the knowing.
In many ways I am in an enviable position. I am so fortunate that I am brimming with energy and life.
Am I not lucky that I have a company that takes care of my bills? More importantly, Service Square will be the nursery for nurturing my ideas on Leadership, Teamwork, Creation, Transition Management……
I can bring about changes in the company during the first half of the day. The second half of the day will be devoted to reading, researching, writing and preparing for Training Assignments.
I have to discipline myself to write every day. The secret of success lies in that. I have to write whether I feel I have ideas or not. I have to write whether I feel lethargic or not. I have to write. Daily. Period.
Sudev suggested last week that I create a brand around myself. www.babuvincent.com is available to try out this idea to unravel myself in the training field. www.soulfulgrowing.com will continue to be my conversation with myself. www.servicesinchennai.com will be the vehicle to catapult Service Square into another league.
Looking at what I have written, I wonder to myself – is it possible? I am besieged by doubts at times. Yet I know everything is possible if I manage to dwell in my zone, in alignment with the creative forces of the universe.
I have to dwell in the realms of possibilities. And remember the promises I have made to myself.
I have to get into the hustle and bustle of life headlong, through various means to experience life at different levels.