Being in education field myself, my inspiration comes usually from our Bollywood Movies. When I saw ‘Mere Brother ki Dulhan’- The Hero- Imran while searching for a Bride for his brother use all kinds of channels from Newspaper to Shaadi.com etc – and it was worth noticing the passion with which the whole family was involved –the same zeal I see in the parents for their Child while choosing the ‘Career’ and do all kind of ‘Googling’ for getting a child the right ‘Career’ for their Child – but the outcome depends on the proper alliance of ‘Student & Career’ like ‘Bride & Groom’ – in case of misfit, the outcome is ‘D’ i.e. (1) ‘D’ (Disturbed Career) or (2) ‘D’ (Divorced marriage)
So the Question arises ‘What to do’?
As Swami Vivekananda Said ‘Answer lies within’ – Let’s just start unveiling –
(1) ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ Approach
We belong to the privileged Society of Schools – many in numbers – still parents are dissatisfied either with the School or with their Child’s performance – even though CGPA might be 9 on 10. This reminds me of Bill Gates – a School Dropout who changed the world with ‘Microsoft’ and Steve Jobs a Non-Graduate who digitalized the whole world, others are Abraham Lincoln, Walt Disney, Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison who did not have college degree. The parents want their Child to be Number 1 without considering & valuing the Child’s interest area and his / her Capabilities / talent etc.
So Let us ‘Change our Approach’ and let them allow to be their own destiny writers– Let us not over impose our choices / expectations on them – Let them win their own race at their own speed. Having full trust on them and giving them full support is the key.
(2) ‘3 Idiots’ Approach
This Movie touched hearts of all of us and created history – ‘A simple Idea of Enjoying –‘What you want to do’ – spell Magic. The Career can be in anything and everything and it’s not necessary to go the traditional ways of doing IIT, Medical, MBA, CA, MCA…etc ‘Career wo hi, jisme ‘INTEREST’ ho’ rightly said by Aamir Khan and holds true for all. We need to change from ‘mera beta engineer banega’ to ‘mera beta accha aur safal insaan banega’. Everything will start falling in place automatically. A Career cannot be build on the repository of dreams. A Child has to be with it – for life- Let him / her be the master of his / her own destiny.
So the right approach would be to ‘Let them decide’. The best we could do is endow them with the (10067 documented) Careers options and let them choose – Simple!!
(3) ‘Taare Zameen Par’ Approach
“Comparison is the death of joy” ― Mark Twain
In the act of fulfilling our dreams, we burden the child with the ostentatious expectations usually remained unfulfilled by us in our life. This is further enhanced by ‘comparing’ with other classmates even worse with neighbours. Please get rid of it and see a talent brewing in the backyard. Michael Angelo was the only one in the world- there would be no other who could be Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art
‘Find Beauty at home’ rather than searching it outside –the World would change for good.
The curtains are raised – let’s bring the protagonist on stage. Now, we welcome the Career Owners- ‘Children’…thyself.
The lifeline of our country – Students is suffering from the ailment of ‘Placement’ and ‘Paisa’. They follow a systematic en route- following friends/ peer group till the last breath.
Most of them end up losing, as in all this, they forget to focus on the most important ‘P’- ‘Personality’. Everyone is not equal- so how can Careers be…? ‘Salman khan’ has a mass appeal but ‘Irfan Khan’ is known for acting skills. Followers can never be Leaders- ‘Choose only what suits ‘You’.
So the point is ‘What to do’ –
1) It’s important to deliberate on ‘What to do’ in life and ‘What not to do’ – ‘Confusion is the beginning of Clarity’. Answers will emerge only when one makes mistakes, Learn through them and move forward with force. The Idea is not to feel low; even if your choices misfire. You need to ponder enough to believe and make others believe that ‘You are the No. 1’ in your domain.
2) Choose your Career smartly– Just because it is ‘Good’ for someone it may not be ‘Good’ for you too. Think slightly ahead of time and identify a Career Graduation/ Post-Graduation Degree which seems to be an extension of your personality matching to Interest and Capabilities. You may also take advice from Career experts of your city but ultimately ‘You’ need to make the Choice in the end wisely.
3) You need qualification to be Graduate / Post- Graduate – Because it is the basic and minimum for entering in to any stream of Career and in doing so the interaction with your colleagues and the concept of ‘ Har Ek Friend Zaruri Hota Hai’, being prevalent, lends a helping hand.
4) Discover yourself– A lot of us want to become renowned and eminent very quickly. But even If you do become famous and if it’s not in sync with your career option- it’s short-lived. Assess your personality and your mind- frame with the options available. Pieces will surely start falling into the place.
5) Don’t be allured by money; it will come eventually– ‘Paise ke peeche mat bhaago, paisa tumhare paas khud aaeyga’. If your workplace doesn’t excite you, if it doesn’t make you feel like getting up and making exciting changes, if it doesn’t sometimes make you get up in the middle of the night with an exciting idea about changing things- then it’s not for you. How much you earn will not bring inner satisfaction and happiness to you.
6) Don’t forget your finances– Not all Careers are worth the money you put in. Keep well in mind your current financial status and the ROI you aim for. Aiming for an over-the-top Career may end you up in a debt at the very onset of you career. It’s imperative to judge how much to spend and in doing so be wise.
After Unveiling and knowing ‘What to do’ the last Question arises ‘How to do’ –
The answer to it lies again in one magic word ‘Focus’ – we have been hearing this word for a long time now but there are various elements to unsettle it like –
1) Facebook – Most widely used youth platform and as per the recent survey 59% of Student’s time is spent on this site – Students love to have long chats and regular updates etc ultimately resulting in the wastage of valuable time. Being obsessed with it, results in Facebook being our home page instead of something like ‘dictionary.com’
2) Mobile Phones – Earlier it was ‘Mera pass bangla hai, gadi hai tumhare pass kya hai’ today students say ‘Mera pass Smart Phone hai’ – Few days back I visited one of the clubs – while taking dinner I saw there was a family get-together with 15 Adults on one table and 12 Children ranging from 14-17 years on another. Surprisingly children did not talk to each other for 2 hours because they were busy on their respective mobile and having good time.
3) Malls – this concept has given breath to thousands who aim to be gatekeeper or timekeeper because I have seen youth wondering for hours doing nothing and laundering around in an AC Mall – there are few who can even tell the number of entrants in the Mall and can beat the efficient CCTV Camera.
Apart from the above there are also many other mediums which have attracted Student’s attention like T.V, Whatapp, YouTube etc so Questions is ‘How to Focus’ – It’s the fact that we cannot change the things around us and neither we can go to ‘Gurukul’ as was the case was thousand years ago. To focus on our Goals we should take examples from epic ‘Mahabharata’ in which during ‘Draupadi’s Swambar’ there were many contestants and the task was to hit the eye of the fish seeing its image in the water – All failed except Arjun not because of talent but because of his ‘FOCUS’ –
Focus comes from 4 Simple Steps –
1) Thinking about our ultimate rewarding Result,
2) Self Discipline,
3) Practice on Self on daily basis,
4) Maintaining health and peace of Mind
We should always think about the outcome for doing any task i.e. End Result – there are many who start but very few make it to their ‘Dreams’.
‘Dreaming is not a Crime’ well said by our ex President APJ Abdul Kalam and he proved it effectively. So my last words to Parents and Students would be to first relax and do not take undue pressure. Let the Students decide their destiny and parents should just act as a supporting hand and guide for making their Child realize their ‘Dreams’. It’s not important ‘How we start the Game’ it’s important ‘How we End it’ and for it one need to fight not with others but with oneself – The actual game is ‘YOU Vs Yourself’.
