From self-made man to self-grown professional
“Self-made man” – the word still resonates very often in my mind since childhood. However, I don’t remember the very first time I heard this term. Many a time we stumble on something which literally holds much gravity but is barely acknowledged. The term was the first thing in my childhood that inculcated the habit of exploring and creating my inner self. Blessed are those who are born with an ambition, vision and someone to mentor them in the right direction. To be very honest, I have had a moderate lifestyle and was not blessed with any of these. Like many other children, I also dreamt of being rich and successful. Waved by the traditional belief that landing a job to earn and feed my family was the only thing we were raised with. But not every rosy story has a perfect ending. I landed a job working rigorously 9-5 chasing my dreams and aspirations but heading nowhere.
That marked a pivotal moment in my life. I boldly decided to take control of my life. The long-prevailing myth was busted, and I learnt one important lesson of my life. Your job, no matter how lucrative it is, can feed your family and meet your expenses but seldom fuel your ambition and make you rich. Let me share a story with you to make it clear to you.
A man has a dog. He loves his dog very much and feeds him well to make him robust to protect him and his belongings. One day when the man was having lunch, a very lean dog appeared and stole a piece of bread from his dish and rushed to the alley. The man felt humiliated that a weak and lean street dog could have the audacity to do so. He pushed his bulky, robust dog to chase him and bring back the bread, i.e., his pride. His dog rushed to chase the street dog. A couple of minutes passed, but his dog did not show up. By the time the man finishes his lunch, his dog appears empty and panting. The man got angry and asked the dog, “Why did you return empty? The street dog was neither strong nor agile enough to beat you.” To this, the dog said, “I agree with you, sir, but despite the fact I could not chase him. Because of one simple fact.” The man was puzzled. The dog said, The only difference is that I was chasing him to fulfil your command, whereas he was running to save his life.”
Now that is the first lesson of my life: in a job you just put values to fuel someone else's dream, but when you work for yourself, you become the master of your own destiny. The only difference that you observe in your job and your personal happiness is a sense of belongingness. Don’t work because you have a family to feed and responsibilities to meet, but do something that excites you. In other words, it’s way ahead of the clerical task to accomplish but to take the responsibility and lead the way. That is the secret of my success: I stopped taking orders from others and chose to take the leadership position.