30 years back when I was learning to drive and I had a difficulty driving at night time, my cousin brother gave me a technique, he said don’t look at your right side, just keep looking at left side corner of bonnet of your car and keep driving [Those days you could see bonnet of your own car !]. Surprisingly although I was driving on a road without divider and vehicles were coming from right side, but I kept looking at left side corner of bonnet of my car and I had a seamless driving! I did not dashed anyone, nor anyone dashed me, I kept driving and vehicles with strong lights kept passing from opposite side…
When things from opposite side keep throwing bright and stark force on your mind, don’t try to look through that pressure, rather keep looking at horizon [left side bonnet]. If you keep focus on horizon and you will sail through easily. This is more like psychological tool to tackle such situations. Just focus on corner [or horizon] where you can see comfortably and your mind, body will get strength, it will get direction, it will adjust to opposite forces without looking at it and you will keep driving. Such a simple formula!
In today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertainty Complexity, Ambiguity) world, just keep looking at left side bonnet of your own car and keep driving! What does it mean?
- Just focus on what drives you [Your Light House]: Life and situation, many times put you in a spot where our mind may get zapped or influenced by outside forces and may get freeze or scared. But if we are somehow able to maintain focus on that one thing which keep driving you. It can be someone near to you for whom you want to work, or purpose for which you get up early morning, some motivational personality to whom you look up to, your own past performances, your faith in some energy …. Anything that drives you. Just focus on that and keep walking on the path. Just focus on corner which gives you direction and helps you focus and which is aligned to your goal. During freedom fight, it was charkha and khadi. Whether by wearing khadi it was possible for to throw British out ?! but it worked. For professional like me it can be my own firm or my domain or my people or clients or my skills, knowledge…
- Just focus on where you are heading towards [Direction]: Just ensure your google map is working and your direction is correct, if your direction is correct, even if speed goes up and down doesn’t really matter. What matters is direction and consistency. And in that situation just be mindful about direction in which we are moving, don’t change direction because of strong opposition or resistance. Your vehicle may change, your speed may get adjusted, gear in which you are moving may get adjusted, but keep driving. For a consultancy firm like ours new clients may get added, new offices may get opened or may get slowed down, but so long as we keep walking towards vision, mission it is alright.
- Trust UNIVERSE no one will hit you if your mind is focused [Trust / faith]: Noise around you, content around you, people around you may share something out of their nature or concern or otherwise what they feel appropriate or as per their motivation, but trust, faith is THE thing which will save you in this time. Trust Universe, GOD, Energy … nothing bad will happen. Just focus on your direction, your light house [left side bonnet of your car] and nothing else you will have to worry about. The rest of the universe will take care. Focus alone has power to build faith by default, but if you additionally practice faith it can give you double protection.
- Don’t try to penetrate strong opposite forces and just focus on your CORE [focus on your CORE]: When you are not at your best or outside situation is not at best, don’t try to penetrate strong opposite forces, conserve energy. Focus on what matters to you, focus on your core, focus on your inner calling, ignore everything else. This is not a time to fight outside forces by taking them head on, rather this is the time to ensure you keep moving towards your direction, without bothering much about external forces. Your focus alone will keep them away from you. Your focus on your own core will make them dis interested in your journey! This may appear very poetic but this works. I am sure each of us have many testimonials on these lines. This is time to recall all those experiences and have faith.
This works for the individual, for society, for the community and even for nation.
Our Prime Minister – Shri Narendra Modi, has made appeal not to be miser, he has not appealed to spend less in general, he has requested to conserve foreign exchange spending only. This doesn’t mean we should slow down, bog down, stop. This only means: focus on our core, focus on what we can do, focus on conserving energy, ignore outside noise, keep looking at your lighthouse, have faith, maintain direction and momentum towards your goal while conserving energy. This dark night will be over, there will be sunlight and there will be clarity soon, but till then, if we maintain this simple formula [keep looking at the horizon or left corner of the bonnet of your car], we have adequate clarity required to move in our direction.