Skip to main content

Blank Page - A Gateway To New Opportunities?

 




What does it feel to start afresh? Exciting, anxious, nervous! Well, these are the common feelings or emotions encountered as we grapple with new opportunities or scenarios that come past our way.

 

Whether it is your first job, a new career, a new place or even a new skillset, there are countless instances in your life where you are often thrusted with new scenarios that spark a deviation from the normal state of affairs.

 

It may sound surprising, but it is often noted that quite a number of us get into defence mode and view these deviations as challenges that hinder us from achieving what we truly desire. But what if we could adopt a more holistic view and look at these challenges as greater opportunities for success? That’s right, if we choose to change our outlook towards these situations, not only do we attain new results – we leapfrog our way across the learning curve!

 

Many a times, we are caught up in our daily 9-5 routine that we have accepted it as the norm and are fully driven by it. It therefore becomes our driving force consciously and subconsciously to the point that we live a pre-determined or pre-planned life. Therefore, in situations of adversity and change, we often get disoriented subconsciously as we have not opened our minds to change – a very classic example the COVID 19 pandemic. However, when we also choose to accept that our situations and circumstances are impermanent, we are able to easily adapt to challenging circumstances which can benefit us – not just personally but professionally.

 

We learn the art of problem solving, team building and adaptability in unknown and challenging scenarios. This makes us fit to thrive and survive in a challenging environment where ‘survival of the fittest’ is paramount. Learning to adopt a beginner’s mindset towards every new experience or situation is also one of the key skills we need so we can continue growing and enriching ourselves along the way. This allows us to acknowledge the fact that as humans, we are not perfect,  however by experience and working cooperatively with our mentors, we can grow and become better versions of ourselves.

 

With the world now heading towards automation and digital transformation in the advent of AI, it becomes more critical than ever to keep an open mind towards learning these new technologies or we risk becoming obsolete to the iterations of the rapidly emerging field of Generative AI. In essence, we need to start viewing our jobs as parts of a wider business process rather than as ‘ends of all means’.

 

These were some of the thoughts that had sprung in my mind as I lay recounting the countless instances in my life where I have encountered new situations that have continually challenged my thought process. This has allowed me to rethink new ways of working, thereby getting around with different situations and circumstances time and again.

 

 

To sum up, every new experience is a blank page, or as they as they say – a gateway towards new opportunities that only empower and equip us for greater challenges that come pass our way. Therefore, instead of ‘surpassing’, let us start ‘embracing’ this new blank page and enter into a world of new possibilities!


___________________________________

Republished in Herald Goa on 22 Feb 2024 (People's Edit)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Pulao in the Making

It was a Sunday afternoon of another weekend in Goa. Coming home from the long ardous journey, I spent a few minutes sifting through the pages of the local daily.  All of a sudden, I was taken aback by the sumptuous aroma of a Goan dish that filled the entire household as my mum set off to prepare it as part of a huge spread for the feast day. I have no words to describe my love and fascination towards this dish that I now proudly consider on such days as T.G.I.P.D - Thank God It's Pulao Days. With its strong aroma - a culmination of the spices of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves - 'pulao' is but one of the dishes that has grown to occupy a prominence in many Goan households on feast days. Driven by the aroma it brings in, everytime my mum has prepared it, I also drew a liking towards this delicacy. After a lot of convincing with my grandmother, I was finally granted my spot in the vast expansive kitchen. As it is customary in most households, men are not accustomed to be in the...

The Arrival Of The Monsoon King

It has suddenly turned dark. The skies have turned dull and the trees with their lofty branches and extended family sway as the wind keeps passing on and off, a signal of a forthcoming storm soon to overtake the surrounding area. The birds stop chirping, the rooster stops crowing in attempts to safeguard and protect itself as the rain rambles it’s way through the hills, all the way to the trees and forests of the low-lying areas. A sudden strike of thunder, followed by the lashing rain and behold…..the monsoon king as he prepares to lay siege over the village, part by part, lane by lane. With great joy and exuberance, he marches around the whole sky, celebrating the victories that he has achieved over the past weeks and months, enough for him to survive the remaining months he has got before he can be finally dethroned by the Winter King.   The farmers in their fields rejoice with glee on his arrival, a plentiful harvest to satisfy themselves and their families thereupon, the ...

The Limits of Being a Human.....

About a day back, I was pondering over an incessant thought that kept going through my mind, over and over again and this was to do with the whole idea of how the pandemic has affected us all as human beings. As I kept deliberating over it, a sudden realization struck my mind which really filled me with a lot of surprise and wonder, as I kept thinking about how could mankind, being blessed with such a great mind and intelligence allow the pandemic to unravel to such an extent so as to have almost brought the world to a complete standstill? How was it that the greatest of the greatest scientists and people with a great intellect couldn't have stopped the spread of the outbreak? As surprising or rather as strange as it sounds, the inherent limitations or weaknesses of being a human was what had in the whole process been revealed to all of us. To elaborate on this, I was just examining two types of subjects we learnt in school- one being the natural sciences focused on natural phenome...