By Sparkian Sulekha Chandra
Contributing Author for Spark Igniting Minds
Ask yourself these questions:
· Do I want to stay in my city or move to a metro city?
· Do I believe that people in the metro city are smarter?
· Do I feel a lack of career guidance in the current educational system?
· Do I care for my contribution to culture?
· Do people and circumstances control my life?
Amir, an engineering graduate, asked these questions to himself at different points of time in his life. He had all that it takes to be successful in his career. This is what his teachers and professors told him in his growing years of education. He was told that he was IIT material. Amir was excellent in Mathematics. His 12th standard results were out and he topped. He always felt that joining preparation classes in a metro city would help him cut through the competition. He had dreams of studying in a foreign university after IIT. After studying hard for his entrance exams, he was looking forward to wonderful college days.
His elder brother had just started working. Suddenly they came to know that their mother was in the advanced stage of cancer. The family needed not only more money but manpower also, to deal with the challenge at hand. Amir felt weak in his knees each time he thought about the indefinite and short period of time left with his mother. After some time, his father shared with him that he would not be able to fund his dreams at that given point in time. Amir, without any second thought or resistance, agreed to join B.Sc. within the state. His heart was heavy and became heavier each time his mother told him that she was blaming herself for ruining his career.
Amir remained absent from college for the most part of the year but he studied well to fulfill his promise to his mother that he would become a successful engineer. His promise was in contrast with his then-current life. His mother soon left for heaven abode and his father started ignoring his health. His brother was the only person who was keeping up the high levels of social commitments and courage. His elder brother Amaan promised to support him for his higher studies and kept encouraging him.
People like Amir are never prepared for such eventualities of life where setbacks in terms of life or death, emotions, and finance take a never returning flight. He finished his B.Sc. and then went on to complete his Masters in Mathematics. He joined one of the premier institutes as an Assistant Professor but still felt incomplete as far as his self-fulfillment was concerned. While working, organizational change interested him and he applied for an MBA in Human Resource. His friends told him that it was no use doing double Masters and wasting years only studying and that there was more to life.
Amaan was feeling pressurized by his father to get married and fortunately he was transferred to a metro city. Amir was never prepared for such sudden changes as nobody teaches it except events of life. He decided to move out with his brother. He applied in various colleges but found that competition in that place was very high and there were applicants far more experienced than him. His frustration was fueled each time he would think of his promise to his mother, of becoming an engineer which was his dream too.
One fine day, his brother’s friend suggested Amir accompany him for a seminar wherein Educators, Training & Development Professionals and Industry leaders were supposed to address and discuss concerns and challenges of gap in demand and supply of skilled workforce, who are emotionally intelligent to deal with diversity and who up-skill themselves to stay abreast with ripple effects of digital revolutions every passing decade. It was discussed that the engineer population is hit the worst. Amir was inspired and approached one of the leaders after the seminar.
This person called Ramana who was a Career and Life Coach gave Amir an appointment. Their first meeting lasted for 2 to 3 hours wherein Amir talked about his discontented life and anxiety over his aspirations. Ramana being a Coach gave Amir a vision of his life in the very first meeting. He made the terms clear that in case Amir wanted his life rudder to be in his control, he had to do as he was directed by Ramana and the financial terms were discussed. Initially, Amir was taken aback by the amount charged by Ramana but his conviction and trust in Ramana’s ability made him do “whatever it takes” to hold his vision.
As the journey with his Coach unfolded, Amir was high in confidence and networking which earlier was never his cup of tea. The Coach worked on his strengths and polished his existing skills to make a mark. Amir was committed to excel and was surprised by his own work and energy levels. He felt happy most of the time and effectively channelized every situational challenge into building his competency. Ramana directed him to study challenges in the engineering field and develop a case study. Amir spent a good deal of time to do just that and eventually his case was published. It was astonishing for him to find universities contacting him for his visits to their engineering colleges. Amir’s happiness and fulfilling work was a result of his Coach’s guidance. He became a sought-after engineering faculty to guide the students and other professors with result-oriented strategies.
Though Amir didn’t become an engineer, he became somebody who could change the lives of many engineers. Amir is now an Entrepreneur, Author, and a Career Strategist.
In his life-skill sessions, he lays emphasis on having a Coach to steer life in a focused and organized way. A Coach is somebody very resourceful, well connected, influential and emotionally intelligent to use various tools and apply techniques to even capture the minutest details and measures of intangible factors like leadership quotient, trust, loyalty, commitment, influence, etc in an individual.
With digital revolutions, new job profiles are created and many job profiles become obsolete. The student community finds it difficult to catch up with the revolution as the syllabus doesn’t change in those 3-4 years with the least guidance towards making oneself productive by the time they come out of colleges. They are never prepared emotionally for the eventualities of life and how to handle the resultant stress or channelize it. The Coach works on inner engineering for a pinnacle journey.
Amir came back to his town for giving back to his society by developing others who he felt were in the same boat as he was a few years ago. Now he organizes culture fests to invite youngsters for show-casing talent and spreading awareness through stories and plays. His journey taught him that people don’t become smart just by being in a metro city, they become smart by following the right strategies.
He understood that it is our default habit to blame circumstances, to give ourselves excuses to escape the guilt. And a coach works to make you a Creator. His philosophy says,
“Invest in yourself to stand in contribution and everything follows.”
“Do whatever it takes” to be the one.
“Invest in yourself to stand in contribution and everything follows.” “Do whatever it takes” to be the one.
About Sulekha Chandra
Founder of Gyan Paradise, Sulekha Chandra is a youth mentor, corporate trainer, content developer, training and development professional with experience in Corporate HR.
She is a motivational speaker, author, editor and reviewer at various national and international platforms.
For more information, visit Sulekha Chandra on her facebook page @
Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay