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Do You Realize The Power of 'I'?
In one of her several
hundred famous quotes, Ayn Rand wrote,
“To say ‘I love you’ one must first know how to say the ‘I.’
I have been a huge fan
of this quote ever since I read it in her famous novel The Fountainhead. However, the meaning of Rand's 'I' is not
limited only to the idea of individualism that she proposed, propagated and
pursued throughout her life.
To know what 'I' can
do for you, you need to do a little self research. And trust me, the more you
do research about 'I', the more you can realize your potential, the more you
can encash your strengths, the more you can surpass your weaknesses.. and so on.
A few years back, when
I was preparing myself to enter into the professional world, some of my seniors
and mentors advised me to 'not use the word 'I' in my resume'. The reason given was that when you use 'I', it shows you're a little
too self obsessed, a not-so-good team player, an egotist etc. I was surprised,
but I accepted it. Perhaps, because, I was little afraid that time to express
what 'I' felt about the matter.
The lack of 'I' led me to accept the lack of 'I', the opinions
of 'I', the interests of 'I', the goals of 'I', the happiness of 'I', and lot
more. This sounds like a start of self journey without taking 'self'
with you.
Over the years, I
realized that how 'I' has been suppressed everywhere. You become the ant in
room whom nobody notices. You enter into your corporate world like a sheep,
identical to other sheep who already work there- all with no "I's"
and only "other's".
Why you should know your 'I'?
1. 'I' lets you focus on your goals and keep your interest on
top -
Is it too bad to be
selfish (so long as your self interest does not jeopardize or interfere or
hamper others' interests)? I meet students in
their 10+2 asking questions about their careers to everyone they meet instead
of asking these to themselves. Even I myself fell into that category once.
The more we go to others to answer questions about our lives, the more limp we
become for the rest of our lives.
So for students out
there, who ever doubt what field to choose in your education or career, ask
yourself a few questions about 'I' rather than asking everyone else about his
interests, his opinions, his likes etc.
1.
Do I like doing this? (If not then, what else I
like doing?)
2.
Do I want a career in
this? (If not then, where else I want my career in?)
3.
Do I feel happy about
opting this? (If not then, what else makes me happy?)
4.
Do I fit in this? (If
not then, where else do I fit best; what I need to do to get in there?)
5.
Do I need this? (If
not then, what do I need?)
2. 'I' helps you take important decisions in complex matters -
The conversations with
your 'I' are of great help in making important decisions of your life. Prepare
a list of such questions and write 'Yes' or 'No' for each question, then
analyse your answers.
If your answer to any
question is in 'No', you can cross that thing off and move on. If you're still
in doubt, make a longer list of 10 questions and if answers to more than half the questions are in 'No', you would know you really
need to move on.
However, if the
answers to more than half the questions are in 'Yes', but you were earlier
doubtful about doing it, then you need to re think. You need to take yourself
in confidence and develop interest in that particular thing. This reasoning
will help you clear your doubts that had put you in dilemma earlier.
3. 'I' can get you to where you want to reach -
For some reasons, if
you had to compromise with your self interest and take up other's interests as
your goal, don't worry. The realization of 'I' today can lead you to wherever
you have wanted to reach. Lets illustrate this, say, you wanted to read medical
science 20 years back, but you chose engineering for some reasons. Think about some other ways so you can get close to
medical field being in your engineering profession. If you are a software
engineer, may be you can write
softwares for Health Industry. Or if you are an architect, may be you can
build for medical infrastructure. The key is that you just need to know
"what 'I' want to do today which really excites me", and discover how
to reach there.
4. 'I' lets you
re re re re re re.. invent yourself -
There is very little
that we know about the 'I'. We always underestimate our 'I's'. We should
constantly be in process of discovering, expressing and inventing the 'I'
to take advantage of the infinite potential that 'I' has.
Identify and integrate the power of 'I'.
Thanks for reading
till here! Hope you find this article helpful. Comments, suggestions, ideas and
feedback are heartily welcome.
Cheers!
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