Lessons That Life Teaches Us

As we trudge through life, we realise that there are certain unmistakable lessons it has taught us. These basic life lessons have a huge potential to enable us to lead a well-rounded, meaningful life. They might just hold the key to our personal and professional happiness. Let us dive into five of them to explore their riches:

Success is self-made and self-defined: There is no recipe for success although everybody may seem to be chasing that elusive state of being. Success is how you choose to define it and then own it. It is entirely possible that others may not agree with it. In fact, seeking constant approval has to be consciously weeded out of your system because it is a futile endeavour. Success is unique for everyone and there may be different routes to the same end (and, indeed, different ends to the same route). You could be an engineer who becomes a beauty influencer or a management graduate who veers towards filmmaking or a homemaker turned restauranteur. Notwithstanding the competition we face all through our lives, there is ample scope for every individual to shine, provided they are prepared to do the necessary work on themselves.  

Self-development is self-care: The investment of time and effort in our education, health, relationships, spiritual grounding etc. usually pays lifelong dividends. The idea here is to focus whatever resources one has in bettering and securing oneself. Expanding and upgrading our skillset prevents us from getting obsolete. It allows us to strike a better work-life balance. It prevents a jadedness from creeping into our personality. Learning-unlearning is a crucial part of this deal because acquiring new abilities may mean retiring older defunct ways of being and operating in this world. It allows us to keep the passion burning and opens newer vistas for us to explore as our roles and responsibilities evolve over time.  

Ask for help: It is important to accept that we are not superbeings who can micro-manage all aspects of life and work all by ourselves at all times. Learn when to seek professional help, be it for our mental and physical well-being, career guidance, getting a task done etc. Learn to delegate responsibilities and seek assistance instead of wasting time and effort, getting overwhelmed and being inefficient. Different stages in our life can make us feel very alone in our struggles. Seeking professional help, be it for our health or career, allows mentors and co-travellers to enter and enrich our lives.  

All choices involve trade-offs: For every choice we make, certain options are foreclosed to us and it is perfectly fine. Trade-offs only imply that our choices must be informed ones - we need to be committed, either in taking them to the logical conclusion once we have made them or discarding them in time to cut our losses. This allows us to cultivate a more pragmatic attitude instead of constantly getting plagued and paralysed by second guesses and self-doubt.  

Chase goals but smell the roses: Generally speaking, it pays to be perseverant about our goals. ‘Lage raho’ is a popular colloquial expression that captures the never-say-die spirit needed to take a project to its logical end. While being dogged about a goal is required in many situations, it is also important to know when to step back, surrender control and flow with the flow. Certain things in life may come to us as a serendipitous discovery – say, straying into a new career or bumping into the love of one’s life – while certain others require a well-planned approach for their achievement. The growing competition in the market today requires one to be well prepared, whether it is for a job or for higher education.

Jayanta Saha

Guest Author The author is Senior Faculty, T.I.M.E.