Dr. Livingstone, I Presume!

"Dr. Livingstone, I presume", is one of the famous greeting quote, I have read in my school non-detail essay. While it sounds interesting to read, I don’t think it works well in real life. Let me say, why.

 

In one of the club meetings, of a social organisation in which I am a member of, I happened to meet an elderly gentleman, who must be around 60 years of age. He came to the meeting along with a 10 year old boy.  I thought he was his grandson and in a casual conversation, asked him, “Is this yourgrandson?” He looked embarrassed for a moment and then said, “No Sir, he is my son”.  I was perplexed. Later, I came to know from another friend, this person’s story. He said that, his first wife passed away and he got married again at a late age and this was the child, born through his second wife. I then felt bad for having made such a wrong presumption and having asked an embarrassing question.

 

I am sure this is not uncommon. Many of you might have come across situations like this. Let’s say you see a young man and a lady in a two wheeler, you could presume that they are a married couple or lovers. But it could also be that they are brother and sister, cousins, work place colleagues or just friends. But we come to an immediate judgement without giving much thought or thinking of the various other possibilities.

 It helps to be mindful of all this before we make a presumption. There is a saying, “When in doubt, clarify”.  Yet, we should learn to ascertain the facts, in a tactful way, so that it doesn’t hurt or embarrass someone. For instance, let us say in asocial gathering, you meet a man and a lady together, instead of asking them “Is this your spouse?” you can introduce yourself first and wait for them to introduce themselves. Even then if you don’t get an answer, it is fine. Why should we be too curious to know, what relationship they share?

 In a world where relationships are evolving,we need to get rid of the stereotyping. We cannot judge a relationship, by the intimacy that people share. Today, people post a lot of their personal pics, such as get together, vacations, social functions etc on social media and it doesn’t make sense to ascertain, what is the relationship between the different people in the picture?. Quite often, such judgements can be wrong.

 

So, I was asking myself, “Why do we presume?” and “How do we form presumptions?”

 

Presumption is similar to predicting, which means our mind works based on probabilities. We form presumptions based on our past experiences, our perceptions, our prejudices, our psychological conditioning and the way we understand things. So, it is clear that it can be flawed. People think presumption is clever guessing. Like, if I presume something and it happens to be true, then I can pat myself on my back, and say, “Didn’t I tell you?” But, what if we go wrong? We can appear equally stupid. Isn’t it?

 

So, when we very well know, that there is a probability of being wrong, why do we presume?

Presumptions can create unwanted misunderstandings and can affect relationships. When we tend to think that we know more about someone, than they actually know about themselves, then we are starting to get into the presumption trap and it has to be consciously avoided.

 

Make sure you don’t let these presumptions work against you or your relationships.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

Jack of all Trades Vs Master of One

We have all heard the age old saying, “Jack of all trades and master of none”. This means that if we are someone, who is into too many different things, we will not be able to be a master of any.

And so the debate is: Which is superior at work? Being a Jack-of-all-trades or a Master of one? Generalist or Specialist? What are you?

Generalists have transferrable skills, which make them more adaptable to any jobs. They can easily a job as they have cross functional skills. Their strength lies in their versatility. However, these people don’t t earn much.

Whereas, the specialists have developed specialized skill, that makes them a master or expert in their field. They are highly paid and highly sought after, as they have a proven track record. It means a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

There is a nice quote, by Bruce Lee, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” This shows the power of expertise. In the book outliers, authored by Malcolm Gladwell, he says that, it takes roughly 10,000 hours of Practice to achieve mastery in a field.

Even in the Corporate world today, we often hear this phrase, “Focus on your core competencies and outsource the res.” The new age success mantra seems to be “Inch wide and mile deep”, which stresses on the importance of focus.

Great inventors, scientists, doctors, performing artists, sportsmen, noble laureates and outstanding achievers belong to this category.

So, idealistically speaking the world seems to have more respect for the people who are experts in their field.

While I admire such people, I also think if these people live a fulfilling life or rather a holistic life. Do they miss on the fun and excitement of life? For a person like me, who believes in YOLO philosophy (You Only Live Once), it feels that if we have only one life to live, are we not missing out on so many different beautiful dimensions of life, by just staying focused on one thing?

We all know of Leonardo da Vinci, as a famous renaissance painter. But how many of us know that he was a polymath. A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of subject areas. His areas of interest included invention, drawing, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history and cartography.

I understand that, this is a special talent and not everyone can aspire this. Still, it is a reaffirmation of the human potential to be good at many things at the same time. This makes me to ponder, whether there could be a middle way, where a person can specialize in one area and at the same time try his hand on other things, and develop a cross functional capability, if not expertise, which will make him more adaptable to the dynamically changing world.

While our career growth depends upon our ability to focus, my question is whether everyone can achieve the same level of success in a particular field? Despite the best of efforts, “Can everyone be the No:1 in their field? If it is not possible, why stress over it? The world needs both generalists and specialists. So, everyone will find their own space to grow and we don’t have to worry if we are not able to be a specialist, but still we can do our best to be good at whatever we do.

We can aspire to be a “Jack of all trades and Master of One”. This may not give us the outstanding success that will put us on the pages of World History, but probably a moderate success in all dimensions of life, which will give us more rounded and peaceful Life.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

Learning by Doing

If I should ask, how many of you remember what you studied in your 5th Std or 10th Std? Probably most of you will say NO. But if I ask, how many of you remember cycling, swimming, mathematical calculations or any game that you learnt when you were a small child, I am sure everyone will still remember. Am I right? It is because we remember only the things we "learn by doing".

So, it is a good idea to allow children to try their hands on a variety of art works, craft work, dance, drama, music, storytelling, cooking, decorating, indoor /outdoor games and so many other activities. So, in addition to the academics, give your children the opportunity to learn other skills too. Summer is the ideal time, when a lot of summer camps happen and you can give them the needed exposure. As parents, we need to create the opportunity and provide them with the space to learn.

Many of us think that only talented people can do certain things. It is true to some extent. But that does not mean we cannot try. Without trying anything new, we cannot find out if we can do it well or not.

I come across many parents who in the name of being over protective don’t allow their children to learn new things. They try to do everything for them and as a result these children don’t learn even the basic skills they need to survive in the world. In the world of tomorrow, there is not going to be any gender specific jobs and as such everyone needs to know something of everything. Boys need to learn to cook and girls need to learn to drive.  So, irrespective of gender differences we should give opportunity for children to learn different skills.

Children are quick learners and that is why we need to expose our children to different activities, at a young age, when their mind is curious. Children don’t have inhibitions and are not afraid of failure. This sort of complex sets in only when we grow up.

This learning by doing, doesn’t apply only to small kids but it applies to grownups too. As we grow older, we don't dare to do many things, because we are afraid we might make a mistake. But without making mistakes we cannot learn anything new. When we learn something new, it is natural to commit some mistakes. So, learning by doing also means learning from our mistakes. It is OK to make mistakes and learn, rather than not to learn anything new at all. We have to develop this mindset in order to be a continuous learner. We are never too old to learn anything new. It is only in our mind.

Moreover in a competitive world today, it becomes inevitable that we need to keep updating ourselves in order to stay abreast. A simple example could be the influx of computers about 25 years ago. This technology did not exist before and when the technology came, people protested it and many were unwilling to learn the skill of using a computer, but today it is difficult to imagine a world without computers. Today, almost everyone knows to use the computer to some extent at least.  This learning did not happen by someone teaching them, but by just observing it and trying their hands on. The same is applicable to mobile technology too. Even elderly people have learnt to use mobile phones, in order to stay connected.

Learning by Doing, does not apply only to physical skills, but also to mental skills and social skills. So, if we set our mind to learn a new skill, upgrade our existing skill or change an old habit, it is all possible. All we need to do, is to believe in the power of "Learning by Doing"

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

Cape of Good Hope

A few months back, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa. One of the most spectacular scenic place, I saw there was the Cape of Good Hope, which is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. It was interesting for me to learn more about the place. It was originally named the Cape of Storms by a Portuguese explorer. It was later renamed, by King John II of Portugal, the Cape of Good Hope, because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and East.

I was able to relate to the term “Cape of Good Hope” in the context of how Cape Town has prudently and diligently worked in managing the severe water crisis, they faced. I hope all of us remember that there was a news headline that grabbed the world attention a year back. The mayor of Cape Town, South Africa predicted in October 2017 that the city would run out of water by March 2018 and said we are approaching Day Zero. The idea of Day Zero was to focus everyone’s attention on managing water consumption as tightly as possible by appealing to the people to reduce usage. Day Zero, was supposed to be the day, when most of the city’s taps will be switched off literally. The consequences of reaching this point will be far reaching. For one, it will mean residents will have to stand in line to collect 25 litres of water per person per day.

Day Zero is a vital concept that is helping to strengthen the city’s ability in managing the water crisis. Their goal is to achieve an average supply of 50 litres per person per day. The city isn’t there yet, but they are progressively moving towards that.

Day Zero isn’t a fixed target date. They are managing to keep pushing the “Day Zero” and from what I heard FROM the locals, the Day Zero may not arrive till 2020, which is a very positive sign, that tells us sustained efforts can bring about drastic improvements.

Ever since this was announced the City has gone on high conservative mode, which was very much observable to me, as a tourist. I could see their water conservation methods everywhere. Most toilets were bio toilets, which mean water was not available for urinals, and hand sanitizers and napkins where used instead of tap water. Even the tap water had spray nozzles, which restricts the use of water. There were sand clocks, even in 5 star hotels, which served as a remainder to restrict the shower time to 3 minutes. Even bottled water is sold sparingly and they insist on not wasting water.

These are encouraging signs suggesting that the city will get through this difficult period. This is creating greater trust and confidence in the technical capacity of water management board along with the collective public and private efforts to reduce demand and avoid disaster.

While we tend to lose hope, that we may never be able to tide over the various environmental sustainability issues in the next few decades, the Cape Town has a story of Hope to tell us.

Let us take it as a good lesson to emulate and like the saying goes, “Prevention is better than cure”. Let’s be careful not to get into such a tricky situation. It is of course hard to imagine a life without water. Isn’t it?

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com