PAGE- 12 July 2016
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I have been asked many times this question, if there
is a secret formula for “Reaching New Heights” in
life.
Coming from a very remote village in Tamil Nadu,
India; English is a subject that stands in the way for
you to graduate to the next grade…and spoken Eng-
lish is far from your reach, even after Post Gradu-
ation; Computer is something that you see in the
movies and have not touched one until you are in
Masters in Computer
Applications (MCA) class…! with where you started
in your life and the place you reach in the corporate
world…” Is there truly a secret formula for Reaching
New Heights in career or in life?”
Ever since I remember myself as a reader, I have
always been a big fan of books that are non-fictional;
Most of my readings were about biographies, leader-
ship and spiritualism related. With all those reading,
self-learning and personal experiences, I found that
Constant Curiosity, Common-Sense and Patience
have been the immutable ingredients of “Reaching
New Heights” in every step of my way.
My first such learning came from an incident that
took place when I was 17. I am the 2 nd son among
the 3 children of my parents. During my summer
holidays, my mom and I visited my distant aunt’s
place for a couple of days of vacation. Their post din-
ner conversations were usually filled with exchang-
ing family gossips, events, memories etc, which I was
not paying much attention to. During such conver-
sation, my aunt asked a question that particularly
drew my attention towards their conversation, “Who
is your favorite child among the 3?”. All my senses
took time-off and the world was spinning fast around
me; My ears were the only sensory organ that be-
came sharper and was eagerly waiting to hear what
my mom was going to respond!
I could clearly sense that my mom was tensed with
the question and resisted answering the question,
while my aunt continued to insist for an answer. The
answer that I heard that night was not what my ears
were waiting to hear!!! Her answer was “My Young-
est Son”. As you can imagine, I was shocked, upset
and emotionally imbalanced by her response and
the world stood still around me. While I was still in
shock from my mom’s response, my aunt turned to
me and asked “so, you are not the favorite, what do
you think?”. My heart felt heavy, while I was going
through my first experience of Rejection!
“Handling Rejection” is one of the critical skills that
help you with your success. At the age of 17, hearing
from your mom that you are not her favorite could
be a devastating one. In any rejection, your first typi-
cal reaction will be to beat your self-esteem and fall
in self-pity tantrum. In this situation, I was hurt, felt
rejected and kept bringing this up to my mom in sev-
eral occasions. While she felt terrible, she explained
that the reason for her answer was that she had a soft
corner for my brother as “he recently met with an ac-
cident”. While I understood the cause, my heart se-
cretly wished that I would be her favorite as any child
would wish! As years went by I realized that her love
for her children was always unbiased.
This incident made a huge impact in my life and
taught me a whole new way to look at rejection. I am
secretly thankful to that aunt, who insisted for an
answer for her silly question. When you get rejected
from a job interview, do not get the performance re-
view that you thought you deserved or your loved one
rejects you…. always remember “Its not always you,
there could be a whole new aspect or a reason for any
rejection that you may not have visibility into”. So,
stop beating yourself, practice patience and apply
common sense to figure out “What could have been
the reason?”. If you determined that you were the
reason, take corrective action(s); If you can’t figure
out for sure, its okay to assume that its not your fault
and move on to thenext thing that you can control.
Optimism in Rejection is the first in-
gredient of “Reaching New Heights”!
Will explore other ingredients in the
next column! Until then
….Ciao!!
YOGSJAYAPRAKASAM
Avid reader, movie buff, passionate mentor
and practical leader. Yogs is a successful lead-
er, who uncovers applying common-sense,
unstoppable curiosity and patience are the se-
crets of “Reaching New Heights”
By.
YOGS
