Which phase are you in?

A man is said to pass through different stages in his lifetime. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer categorizes them as athlete stage, warrior stage, statesperson stage and spirit stage. Abdul Kalam believes even nations go through these transitions and called the last two stages as Big Brother and Self realization stages respectively.

Athlete stage is that energetic pursuit of performance and achievement

Warrior stage is that goal setting, pride of achievements and finding ways to demonstrate superiority

In the big brother stage, with a somewhat tamed ego, focus shifts to what is also important to others and societies – still achievers but not so inclined or obsessed to prove strength or superiority.

Self-realization stage is where humans matter, not families or nations alone, and certainly not self.

There are many senior people all around us who are very well established and highly successful, their children well settled, however even after their retirement, they still could not get past that demonstrating superiority stage. Initially their subject of discussion revolves around their own materialistic achievements - the villa, the cars, the foreign trips, the club memberships, the high profile job, then it is their children’s achievement – the foreign degree, their villas, their cars and their high paid jobs or medical profession or whatever, finally the subject is their grand children who is a ranker in school, great dancer, swimmer, athlete etc. It is not parental pride; it is plain and simple bloated ego! The Warrior Stage!

At times even if there is a will, it is always not possible to adopt an orphan child, or sponsor a senior’s treatment or child’s education every month – one can at least begin by being sensitive enough not to flaunt their achievements in front of people who do not have the means. Instead, they could share their struggles with them, their humble beginnings before their success in a manner, not to stamp their personal ego but in way others can relate and be inspired to enhance their quality of life. Is this anything less of giving? Someone’s life is getting impacted positively because of the life you lived; the success you tasted and the ready willingness you have to assist another achieve the same.

That is one of RSF’s core themes – Human Life Cycle Care that runs on the belief that any small or large scale social impact cannot be limited to a dozen institution’s responsibility alone, it has to be an individual choice. The next time you raise your maid’s pay or tip the waiter, be generous. The big brother stage is not about what you have gathered for yourself but what and how much, you have learnt to give.

If you are done with the first two stages and want to do something meaningful, feel free to contact us as we have several projects to be taken up by people with that intent. Twenty or Sixty, regardless of the age, the only criterion is you should be really done with the first two stages.

References:

Ignited Minds – APJ Abdul Kalam

For more details or to support our projects, contact ramosara.foundation@gmail.com

Make Meaning in what you do

Just imagine, working in a senior position in a large IT company in a major metro with considerable name, money, respect and responsibility. Alternatively, imagine another scenario. You work all your waking hours to establish yourself all over again in a completely alien environment, no one to question you, not sure whether your hard work will pay off, not many understand or appreciate what you do, with absolutely zero assurance of any credit to your account on the 1st of the following month.

Does this saga sound familiar? It sure does as all those who leave their well-paid jobs to start their own ventures with a dream to live their life a little more beyond the walls of a corporate job and soar the vast sky of possibilities, trying to make a difference, have more or less the same story to relate. I am no different. As an entrepreneur, I have had my low and high times - sweat, agony, frustration, excitement, freedom, pride, and sense of accomplishment.

My beginnings were humble with bare minimum resources, the journey from college to corporate with warm wishes of many people was smooth and with an attitude never to give up and sheer persistence, I probably could reach the advisory board of any organization in the corporate world, but then what next? What about the rest of the summers I would live?

The economics of big business, the politics of big economics, the combination of short lived success and long standing failures or otherwise, the humiliation and celebrations of life, the ups and downs only sharpens your focus to take that plunge you have been wanting to take for a long time. And I did, with a little bit of coaxing from my son.

My background, my understanding of the challenges to get industry ready work force with the right behavioral skills, allowed me to believe that I could be the architect for a better India in my own way. India being a 1.2 billion people country, average age of 26, with rapid urbanization, millions of capable and educated young people who had the potential, could be empowered to be leaders, thinkers, apart from being just breadwinners. Though, tough, I chose the road less traveled, out of my cozy cocoon of corporate comfort and ventured to a start-up!

The benefits that my corporate job offered me by default does not interest me the way it did earlier. Today, Blue Tiger, which I founded with couple for friends works, with a simple vision to assist people live the best of their lives and enjoy the beautiful journey called life with the core principle “Life is Simple, Keep it that way!”

I now understand why I was approached by this NGO to write a blog – It is not because of who I am, what my degrees are, where I worked, what label I carry, how influential I am, who I know but what I currently do. Which automatically leads me to believe, would they even bother to call me if I owned a wine shop or a casino or probably if I remained stuck to my old job? Is my work affecting anyone in a positive way was their only qualifying criteria?

They were so sure about my competence in writing that they asked me to write the blog without bothering if it fits their NGO’s agenda. They assured me that my blog would certainly drive one of their key messages  – Social Impact in what you do!

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Author Profile:

Sampath Iyengar is CEO and Chief Coach at Blue Tiger, a platform for excellence through learning, with 25 years of corporate experience. He is an avid reader, well traveled, fitness monk and a long distance runner.

Life is Simple, keep it that way.