Winning

Winning is a worthy goal. But to win, you must first compete. You must put your heart and soul- your complete focus, energy and skill into the task of competing. Yet, the odds are, you may not win.

Winning is an expectation that can be met, but not exceeded.

Consistent success is accompanied by heightened expectations, and any failure to meet those heightened expectations can be magnified greatly. Losing can have an overwhelming effect on the competitive mind, an effect that can be best described as ‘agony’.  Consequently, the defence mechanism to this intense mental suffering is ‘agony avoidance’.

One of the major psychological ramifications of agony avoidance is the development of a ‘winning at all costs’ mindset. This mindset condones breaking the rules of the game. It is willing to accommodate unfair means and cheating. This, clearly, cannot be a strategy for long-term success. Not only can your game be up any time, you will never feel the exhilaration of a fair win or a boost in your self worth.

The challenge is, therefore, to put it all in the proper perspective. 

Taking a life-long view, the sum of your wins must exceed the sum of your losses, with the endeavour to maximise the wins and minimise the losses. Those who fail to take this long view may miss taking on each challenge with sportsmanship, fair play and personal responsibility, thus, missing out on the process of constant self-improvement, an essential ingredient in formulating long term success.

Long term success calls for being able to deal with losing. A healthy competitive spirit can be developed if you work on cultivating the following:

• Learning: Turn defeat into a positive learning tool. Find where you fell short, work on your weaknesses, get the little things right and, thus, increase the chance for success the next time you compete.
• Self-motivation: Tell yourself, you gave your best shot then, you will continue to do so always. You must refocus, re-energize and rededicate yourself to compete again.
• Resilience: Get accustomed to dealing with adversity and overcoming obstacles. Each experience will equip you to tide over future difficulties in the workplace and in life.Nobody wins all of the time. It’s what you do with these losses and what you can learn from them that will create future wins. So, let there be no room for self-doubt. Cultivate the resilience required to come back stronger.

Finally, it’s all in the mind!

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

Indo-literature: Increasing Global Reach

Marathi sahitya sammelan is a unique event. Today in Chandrapur more than one lakh people will attend this litfest. It’s much better than JLF (Jaipur Lit Fest) !

Source: @waglenikhil on Twitter (Nikhil Wagle, Editior IBN Lokmat), February 04, 2012

Noted litterateur and president of the 85th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan Vasant Dahake defended the increasing use of English language, saying that it has become all the more necessary in the changed global scenario.

Source: TNN, February 05, 2012

Against the backdrop of the much-in-the-news Jaipur Literary Fest, news reports of the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in the English media were few. This hugely successful festival, attracting an audience of over one lakh people from the very grassroots of Maharashtra, was given scant coverage by the media.

Liberal education, through literature, languages, philosophy and history, is meant open our minds to cultures foreign to us. The English literate Indian connoisseur laps up not just English literature, but also translations of great European classics- Greek, French, German, Russian etc. This, no doubt, is a good thing. But, just as we discover foreign cultures through reading, should not Indian regional literature be discovered by global readers?

India has a very rich and varied literary tradition. In the ancient days, Ujjain hosted the Sahitya Parishad under the leadership of Kalidasa, the poet, and the patronage of King Budhagupta Vikramaditya Harsha (476-502 AD). Associations of literary professionals were set up in the capitals of Pandya-Chola-Chera  kingdoms of South India as well as in Anuradhapura in Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). In spite of such an illustrious history, Indian literature still remains to be 'discovered' and enjoyed globally.

All great literature has been propagated by translations, eliciting interest in the original language. Indian classics have strong storylines and excellent narratives. We have a lot to offer to the world starved for original content. But we lack universal reach, because our literature has not been translated abundantly and distributed widely like most European literature has been.

Fortunately, Indians are proficient in English, the language which has emerged as the most widely used global medium of communication. We also have a large number of brilliant Indian exponents of English literature. Translations of great regional Indian literature by these writers, from their mother-tongues to English, will ensure that the original flavour is retained. Moreover, with the kind of cultural diversity that exists in our nation, we Indians will also be able enjoy the rich literature of regions other than our own.

A concerted effort needs to be made to promote Indian literature. The project must have state patronage. Writers need to be commissioned to undertake translations; corporate sponsorships must be sought for funding these commissions; international publishing houses must be roped in for distribution. The endeavour is an uphill task, but it must be undertaken as an essential obligation we have towards our cultures- that of being part of a universal heritage! 

Again quoting Mahatma Gandhi, “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.” 

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

The Winner's Mindset

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” Zig Ziglar.

You are competitive, and that’s a great thing! Winning is incredibly inspirational and can propel you perform even better and achieve even greater heights.

I believe that a strong competitive spirit coupled with rational realism can go a long way in creating winners. Here, I am talking about consistent achievers who have a winner’s mindset.

A few thoughts on the winner's mindset….

Winners are passionate about winning
Winners thrive on the blood-rush of a tumultuous environment. The pulls and pressures of competition motivate them to gear-up for a good fight; they focus on the goal and become sharper and more creative in their strategies

Winners assess the playing field correctly
Winners appreciate competition. They assess the competitor’s strengths and try to better them. They assess his weaknesses, and devise strategies to exploit them. More importantly, they know their own strengths and weaknesses. If you want to be a winner, never under-estimate a competitor, remember he is also assessing you and devising ways of beating you….…hence keep your information, knowledge and skills up to date.

Winners are perseverant
The quote "Winners never quit and quitters never win" says a lot about the tenacious 'winner's mindset'. Winners have conviction in themselves, and if they believe in the mission, they are willing to persevere on, even when the going gets tough.

Winners are pragmatic
Winners can assess when a battle cannot be won, and chose to make a retreat. The purpose of such a strategic retreat is simple: you want to live to fight another day. Winners believe in ‘winning the war’, and hence are willing to take a few ‘battles lost’ in their stride.

Here are some classic quotes on winners versus losers.

• A winner sees an answer for every problem. A loser sees a problem in every answer.
• A winner says, "It may be difficult, but it’s possible." A loser says, "It may be possible, but it’s too difficult."
• When a winner makes a mistake, he says, "I was wrong." When a loser makes a mistake, he says, "It wasn’t my fault."
• A winner says, "I can do more." A loser says, "That’s not my job."

These quotes may sound clichéd, but I believe they ring true, and have come to strongly subscribe to them over a period of time.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.