Destination by Choice or Chance

“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens."                                    

~ Mandy Hale

I happened to attend the NIPM NATCON 2017 (National Conference of the National Institute of Personnel Management) which was held at Chennai.  Mr. K. Pandiarajan, State Minister and Founder of Ma Foi Management Consulting, was the Chief Guest of the inaugural and he gave an interesting speech.  I would like to share the crux of the speech and my reflections on the same.

 

He said, we all talk about Strategy to reach our destination, but we never think about Strategy to reach our destiny.  He then added, for example, in a typical goal setting workshop, we talk about where we are now in life (Point A) and where we want to be in life (Point B), and then we discuss about ways and means of reaching there in a target time line of one year, 3 years , 5 year etc. Am I right? But the problem is, with so much of uncertainties in life, we never know in spite of whatever strategy we use, we may reach there are not. Is it not? Not everyone who had a dream and a strategy has achieved it, though the chances of them succeeding is high.

 

Now, we also know of people who skyrocketed to stardom and fame, just from nowhere. For example, Cinestar Rajinikanth. He would have never known that he would become a Super Star. He did not have a strategy to become a Super star. But his destiny was something much higher than what he aspired for. 

 

So, the point he was trying to make is this. Each one of has an aspiration to be something, but our destiny might have something bigger for us. Destination is where you aspire to be. Destiny is where you are meant to be.

 

Now, this is not something we can brush away as luck. Rather it is a state of preparedness. An interesting quote by Roman philosopher Seneca goes like this: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". This reminds us that we make our own luck. Luck isn't just about being at the right place at the right time, but also about being open to and ready for new opportunities.

 

So, what is the strategy to reach our destiny? It is about keeping open minded to all options and opportunities. Never think that, this is not my cup of tea. Keep honing your skills, continue improving upon yourself and your work and you might be recognised to take up bigger positions in life.

 

While it is good to believe in hard work, be willing to take the super highway to success, when it offers itself in a silver platter. You never know what is in store for you.  

  D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com