Wisdom Byte - Learn To Walk Before You Can Run

Wisdom Byte - Learn To Walk Before You Can Run
Inspired by a WhatsApp Forward

As a 60 year old Tom was really not able to understand how cool or silly is it to search for a Pokeman in your vicinity? While some people find it amusing, there are others who find it terrible. Sometimes Tom felt left behind because he was not that tech savvy. The bigger question however was whether he was ready to adapt and learn?

A lot has been already said about the negative impact of the mobile games and apps on our society. Technology brings these challenges along with the benefits. As humans the best we can do is to be proactive for handling such situations. 

Everything reaches its destiny at the right time. To us it may appear that certain things are happening too early or too late but nature has its own way of doing things at the right time. The Pokeman rage will soon get over and the world will move to the next cool gadget or funky app. Don't forget few years back Angry Birds was a similar rage too.

It is not just the mobile games, the whole world is changing too fast with mobile computing technology. This however makes me wonder whether I am able to keep pace with the super-fast changes? Am I too slow to realize the pace at which things around us are changing? May be yes, may be no.

While I was puzzled, I came across these examples of how things can work differently for different people:
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• Someone may be growing old, say 30+ years of age but still single. Someone else may have got married early but 'waited' 10 years before having a child. Then there is another who had a baby within a year of the marriage. All of them are doing things at their own pace, there is no right or wrong.

• New York located on the east coast of United States is 3 hours ahead of California (West coast) but it does not mean that California is slow, or that New York is fast. Both are working based on their own "Time Zone."

• Someone graduated at the age of 22, yet waited 5 years before securing a good job; and there is another who graduated at 27 and secured employment immediately! Both are successful.

• Someone became CEO at 25 and died at 50 while another became a CEO at 50 and lived to 90 years. 

There are certain things you control and there are certain things that you don't control. Everyone works at their own pace. People can have things worked out only according to their pace. Your Colleagues, friends, younger ones might "seem" to be ahead of you. May be some might "seem" behind you. Don't envy them or mock them, they are good with their pace and you are good with yours!

There is a bit of wisdom that goes: "You need to earn to walk before you can run". 

• Don't be in a hurry to run because someone else is ahead of you. 
• Learn at your own pace. 
• Grow at your own pace. 
• Walk at your own pace and run at your own pace. 

This is true for all aspects of your life including financial know-how. Even the genius of mathematicians need to start learning math with 1+1=2. Don't rush yourself through the learning process because it is the process and the rigor that will make you rich emotionally and mentally.
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This made me realize that technology will change at its own pace. Even for tech savvy people moving from laptop culture to mobile app culture can be a big shift. So if I don't have the latest app or game on my phone I don't need to panic. I need to take time and learn because it is wise to learn to walk before I can run.

Akodara - India’s 1st Digital Cashless Village Handles Post Demonetisation Situation In A Hassle-Free Manner

A lot has been already written regarding demonetization of Indian currency. Some experts see it as a bold move while few question it as a political stunt. The government however looks firm on its decision and determined to take this forward towards cashless economy.

I was wondering what a cashless economy is and then I saw this notification on Indian Railways website

Government of India encourages people to move towards a Cashless Economy. This can be achieved by use of debit, credit cards, electronic payment gateway systems such Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross settlement (RTGS) in India. The advantages to citizens of a country in a Cashless Economy are: •Risk of loss of cash while carrying is avoided

•Facilitate exact payment and reduce transaction costs
•Convenience in payment and management of utility bills, purchases and other financial transactions.
•It helps to authenticate financial transactions and maintain proper record facilitating better tax compliance and increasing tax base.
•Digital payments indirectly reduces expenditure by reducing need for printing of currency notes and its transportation
•Electronic transactions helps in curbing corruption and black money flow, thereby helping in economic growth of the country
•Lesser use of cash prevents money laundering and better tax compliance
•Increased tax base would result in greater revenue for public welfare activities 

Indian Railways offers cashless ticketing option to its customer through internet ticketing on IRCTC website for booking reserved tickets. More than 58% of the train accommodation is reserved through e-ticketing . IRCTC also provide option for purchasing Season Ticket for suburban train services on Western and Central Railways. Facility for purchasing unreserved tickets through mobile phones is available at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Secunderabad. Further Automatic Ticket Vending Machines dispensing unreserved tickets using smart cards are provided at over 1000 locations over CR, ER, ECoR, NR, NER, NWR, SR, SECR, SCR, SER, SWR, WR and WCR. The smart cards can be purchased from nominated counters at the stations.
Indian Railways seeks your cooperation and support in helping the Government and the nation in creating a cashless digital economy.

After reading this notification, the critic inside me started to question:

• Is India ready for this kind of a change? 
• Do we have the infrastructure in place to make our country completely cashless? 
• How does the Government expect Indians to use digital payments when most people don't have access to reliable electricity?

While I was still puzzled I came across the below DD News video on youtube:

Akodara, India’s 1st digital village handles post demonetisation situation in a hassle-free manner

Wow, I found this amazing. A village of 1200 people is completely cashless. Government's move of cashless economy then started to make sense to me. Logic is very simple. To start with those who have electricity and internet will use digital payments others will not. And the government will work towards getting internet and electricity access to the rural and remote areas. It will take time but will happen for sure. We need to make a start somewhere.

We cannot expect the government to kick off digitization only when all of India will have electricity and Internet access. That is not practical.

The fact that we have so many Internet users in India reading this article is a testimony that we should kick off digitization right here, right now. 

India - Let's go cashless.

Are You Limiting Your Success By Being A Circus Elephant?

Tom is extremely talented but for some reason he lacks in self confidence and always keeps a low profile. He always doubts himself and is never able to perform to his potential. I always used to wonder, Why? And recently when I attended a seminar I heard about the circus elephant syndrome, I quickly realized what is wrong with Tom. I am sure you might have heard about this elephant story too, but if not, I am summarizing it below: 

This is the story of a baby elephant who is chained by its leg so that it can't run away from the circus. The chain is heavy and strong for the baby elephant to break, whenever the baby elephant tries to break the chain it cuts through its skin which results in severe pain. After few failed attempts to break free, the baby elephant finally gives up. Gradually the baby elephant grows up, but inspite of being a huge creature it continues to believe that the chain is strong and never makes any attempts to break free. As a result it continues to be chained at the circus for its life.

This same concept applies to humans as well and this is exactly what is happening to Tom. By direct or indirect influence of others we tend to form our beliefs from a tender age. Our mental conditioning (by our parents, relatives, neighbors, friends, teachers etc.) puts constraints and limitations on our thought process. With the constrained thought process we achieve very limited success and never realize our own true potential. 

Here are some signs that will help you identify if you are limiting yourself by circus elephant syndrome...

• Your instinct tells you that you should go after a dream but your current job, situation, education, circumstances don't allow you to go after it as a result you give up and continue to be happy with what you have in hand
• You have people around you who tell you that 'You can't do it', 'You have already got enough and you should be happy with what you have, don't be greedy'
• You always hesitate to take the next big step even though at the back of your mind you know that you have the skill and potential to take that step
• You admire successful people, you want to become like them but you run away from their company. You always hang up with people who are in the same boat as you are
• You find one excuse or another to tell yourself why you can't do a certain thing

Now that we know the signs of an elephant syndrome, let us look at some of the steps that we should take to get out of the rut:

• Everyone has a dream, but very few are able to convert the dreams into visions and visions into reality. The first step towards breaking free is converting the dream into achievable goals. Take a paper and pen and write down what you want to achieve and by when.
• Get rid of the negative people around you. Get into the company of positive people, who can support and motivate you to achieve your goals. You need people around you who can tell you why and how you should achieve your goals. Stay away from people who pull you down.
• Never hesitate. Don't doubt or second guess yourself. Go and talk to people. Take the necessary steps. Stop overthinking and give no room to worry and anxiety. Throw them out of the window.
• Don't just admire successful people but study and follow their habits. Find out how are they different from the average people and try to learn from their success stories.
• Every time you come up with a excuse for not doing a certain thing: Stop yourself from giving up. Ask yourself that one reason why you wanted to do this thing. Remind yourself why it is so important for you to achieve this goal. Don't give in to excuses.

So here the message is: Sky is the limit, if you break free from your own mental shackles. Try to be the best version of yourself. Remember it is not you V/S someone else, it is always you V/S you, so make sure your best version wins. Benny Bellamacina has beautifully summarized this in her quote: 'You are limited by your own imagination'.