6 things I wish I knew at the age of 16

I asked an interesting question today about myself that if I get a chance to start everything again then what skills would I like to have. I came up with 5 skills which I believe are most essential in career success. Good news is that these all skills are learnable. No one is better or worse than the other.

1. Public Speaking- I give huge importance to this skill. Ability to face the crowd and say your thoughts boldly is something which I always appreciate. Since beginning of our childhood our parents teach us to be obedient. No one teaches us to be rebellious. We subconsciously start presuming that whatever our elder say is true, and should be followed diligently. You need to be assertive to be a good public speaker. You would have to gather lots of courage to stand, and say what you want to say. That is why, I always put Public Speaking skill on the top.

2. Good Memory- Every type of information is available today within the range of one click. We have everything outside, but nothing inside.  We read a lot, but remember nothing. We sometimes appear like empty vessels. Good memory helps in storing the information in our head and then using it whenever we want to use it. Which type of person would you praise, a person who has vague opinions or the one who can support his thoughts from the evident historical data. Knowledge is the best tool to influence anybody in this world. 

3. Documentation- We all work, but how many of us keep a record of the work which we do. Answer is- very few, and only those few people put the mark on this world. Keeping a record of your work helps in self-motivation, and gives you self-confidence about your own performance. Even a small testimonial, from your senior officials, praising your work can bring a turning point in your career. Nobody knows that how a small report prepared by you can bring how much impact in your life. 

4. Accept your mistake quickly- When you do some mistake accept it quickly. Don’t delay it. Accepting your mistake proves that you have learned from your mistake and you would not repeat the same mistake in the future. This helps tremendously in developing trust between you, and your team mates. They believe more in you because of your honesty. 

5. Flinch- Flinch means to make a reaction of pain or fear from your body movements. Flinch is an important tool in ‘emotional blackmailing’. If you find that the other person has annoyed you or he’s not buying in then, flinch. Show from your body or facial expressions that you are not liking what the other person is saying or doing. 8 out of 10 times flinch technique helps in converting your competitor into your client. Almost all the good negotiators use this technique effectively. 

6. Systematic Innovation- In simple words, innovation means to create something new. It does not mean to make an old thing better, but it means to make something new, something which did not exist before. As per my experience, most of the innovations fail in the market due to different known and unknown reasons. It is my advice that before launching any innovation we should make a systematic plan of action with thorough research else we are destined to fail. If you succeed make a list of factors which helped you in succeeding, and if you fail then also make a list of factors which caused failure. Every success and every failure can help in future planning.

My Four Predictions for 2030

After closely analysing the demographic trends of India, I have come up with 4 things which would take place during 2030. Before writing this blog, I have made two assumptions-

       (a) Major population of India would be between the age group of 21-35 years

       (b) High-tech industry would have a sustainable growth

If the above two things would remain constant then these 4 things would definitely take place-

1. Governmentization- As far as I know, no such word exists in dictionary, and I solely take responsibility of coining this term. Governmentization means transfer of ownership from private sector to the government. Government would become owner of the privately managed companies, and would actively engage in the development work. Governmentization would take place out-of-frustration of the public. Public would demand for the better country and the better future directly from the government. People would not listen to any excuses from the public sector. People would expect from the government to deliver them the required products and services at the affordable price. This would revolutionize the public sector of India forever.

2. Right to Eat- People would realize one basic truth, which they are ignoring from centuries, i.e. loving god is not a matter of being vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Eating beef or pork would not make any one sinner or saint. Just like, right to religion, right to education, right to information, people would demand for- ‘Right to Eat’. This would end all the theories of religion which revolve around ‘food or beverages’.

3. Managerial Society- Many people argue with me that growing technology would end many jobs because machine would take over the place of people. But, believe me this would never happen. With the growth of technology, employment increases. Financial management, Human resource management, distribution & supply, sales, marketing, and interpretation of research are such departments of an organization which require people, and no machine can take their place. To manage all these departments we need ‘managers’. Soon, India which is known as ‘religious society’ would also be known as ‘managerial society’- where we would see the best management practices at all levels. 

4. Children above 14 years would start working- Employment Opportunities would increase tremendously in the country. We would see that there are more jobs than skilled workers. The generation of 2030 would be more independent and free-thinking. They would have passion for proving themselves from very young age. To support their family and majorly to support their own development we would see that kids of above 14 years would take minor jobs in different sectors. This would give them the sense of security and recognition. Kids in the time period of 2030 would be very different from us. They would be highly intelligent, and passionate about their dreams. They would have all the sources of information on their tip. They would be more health conscious, goal-oriented, and money-savers. Teen-age dominance would help in seeing things from different angles.This small change would be the steeping-stone of many other changes.

How the Metro in Lucknow would affect its culture and sociology?

Social Diffusion- Metro is connecting different nearby cities of Lucknow due to this people of different cities will come to in Lucknow for education, tourism, healthcare facility or business, etc. People will bring their own set of cultural beliefs, and values with them. Soon Lucknow will see a Social Diffusion, in which we see mixed cultural and social practices. People of different culture will hang around comfortably and this would help in overcoming the caste, and religious barriers.

Real estate, Banking sector, Healthcare, and Education would boom- Rich people of nearby cities would show interest in buying some property in Lucknow. As rich class has high income capacity, it will increase the cost of real estate as per its desire.
It would become difficult for ‘middle class’ people to afford a property in the town. ‘Middle-class’ would take Home Loans to purchase their house, and this would help banks in generating income from loan’s interest.
Doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians, etc. of nearby cities would come in the city to practice healthcare. This would increase the quality and quantity of healthcare providers. Similarly, teachers of nearby small cities would come to Lucknow to distribute their educational teachings. 
These factors will directly affect the standard of living of the people.

Flat System and Renting of Property would increase- Due to the increase in Real Estate price, people would not be able to afford independent Bungalows in the city. People would prefer low-cost Flats instead of Bungalows, and many people who couldn’t afford small flats would live on rented properties to save money. 

High Competition- People of Lucknow would face competition from the small town boys and girls. Soon these small town boys and girls will start occupying jobs and educational seats in the city, and it would become difficult for the local Lucknowites to get their place in this competitive chaos. 

Increase in Pollution, Traffic Accidents, and Crime rate- Many people would come to live in Lucknow. They would increase the purchase of vehicles for transport. Increase in personal vehicles would increase the emission of carbon, and it would increase the pollution in the city. Traffic Accidents would also increase.

Like everybody-thieves, pick-pockets, hooligans, etc. of small cities would come in the town for better opportunities, and this would increase the crime rate in the city.

Increase in the Cost of Domestic Labour- Job opportunities in Lucknow would increase. Many companies would establish their office in the town. Many semi-skilled or skilled labours would get office jobs. The cost of available labour, for domestic purposes like- washing utensils, cleaning floor, etc., would increase. People would have to withdraw lots of money to get domestic labours.

Both Working Parents- To meet the family expenses men and women both would work. Most of the time we would see kids who live alone in house, this would do two things- either kids would become independent individuals or it would put them into a forever depressed mood. Crime against kids would increase because most of the time kids would be alone in the house, this would make them susceptible to anti-social elements.

                                                                                ‘Manners’ and ‘Sweetness of language’ are the two basic values of people of Lucknow. If people would stick with their values they would survive this change else it would perish the originality of Lucknow.

Sociology of Kishanganj District of Bihar

I am working in a small town named Kishanganj. It is located in north Bihar, India. After spending almost an year in this town. I thought of writing something about small towns and their sociology. It is my tribute to Kishanganj.

1. Everyone knows everybody- There are 2 to 3 schools in a small town. Hence, everyone goes to same school; they get taught by the same teachers; they prepare for the same type of competitive exams, and try to get the same type of jobs. This creates a ‘unity in thinking’ in the people. They have common values, and there are one or two festivals which everyone celebrates beside of their religion. It is dangerous to fall in love in a small town because whole town will know about it in few weeks and then you’ll be trouble.

2. Poor Fashion sense- One thing for sure that people of small town have poor fashion sense. They wear anything they feel like, and they are not ashamed of looking ugly. I believe the enjoy their ugliness.You will find people wearing red socks with black shoes, wearing yellow or maroon gent’s suit, wearing office pants with bathroom slippers, girls wearing old shirts of their father, women putting lots of lipstick and powder on their face, boys copying the hairstyle of Shahrukh Khan, etc. 

3. Barber’s Shop and Old Tea Stall are the men’s club- Men go to barber’s shop to get the haircut or shave, and their they discuss the problems of the whole world; they share jokes, news, current affairs, religion etc. It may appear like a Men’s Kitty Party. The same scene you can find on an old tea stall. 

4. Everything is nearly located- In big towns if police station is in one corner then court would be in the other corner. If temple is on one side then hospitals are on the other corner. If schools are on one side then colleges are on the other corner. In big towns, buildings are scattered here and there. But, in a small town you will not have travel much because everything is closely located. This saves your time, energy and money.  

5. Early to bed, early to rise- People of small town are ‘early risers’. Majority of people get up around 5:00 to 5:30 am. In the morning, you will see large crowd in the market doing shopping for the family, and children playing cricket. Similarly, you will hardly see anyone after 7:00 pm on roads. You will also see that lots of people sleep in afternoon for 2-3 hours. 

6. Dominance of middle-class- Job opportunities are low in a small town. People who are home sick do small jobs happily, just to remain in their native land. They earn less, spend less. Major population is either in middle-income group or just poor. In every society, rich class dominates, but in a small town middle income group influences the society.

7. Clean railway station and untidy bus station- In big cities in India, we often see that railway stations are untidy whereas bus stations are clean, but in small town railway stations are clean but bus stations are untidy and disorganised. It happens because most of the small town people, because of good connectivity, prefer to travel by bus than by train.

How to take good decisions?

When we take a decision we become responsible for it and, no one wants to take responsibility, therefore, no one takes decisions. I have seen many people who feel happy in following decisions made by others but, they never try to take a decision by themselves. 

 

There are two reasons why people don’t take decisions-

1. Fear of Failure- They are afraid of making a mistake or getting failed in what they have thought of doing and this fear pushes them not to take decisions.

2. Fear of Hurting Someone- In a typical Asian family most of the decisions are taken by the elders of the family and no one chips-in their decisions. Many times fear or love of elders compels people not to take their own decisions.

A person who has any of these two fears in its life will always feel awkward in taking any decision.

It is extremely important to understand the decision making mechanism so that we can succeed in most of our decisions. 

There are two types of decisions-

1. Reversible Decisions- These are those types of decisions which we can alter if something goes wrong.

2. Irreversible Decisions- Irreversible decisions are those decisions which we cannot alter if something goes wrong.

Never ever take an irreversible decision in life i.e. a decision which you cannot change. If a situation comes where you have to take a cut-throat decision then it is better you take it in a group and not individually.

Decision is taken either by an individual or group. To save yourself from Office politics always take Group-decisions. Even Governments of different countries advocate group decision making that is why they make committees or panel and make them responsible for any decision.

The different advantages of Group decision making are-

i)  It is easy to implement it because many different people facilitate in it.

ii) Responsibility of a decision is carried by many people. Hence, it becomes easy to manage failures.

iii)Effectiveness of decision increases because many people with different mindset brainstorm on it.
 

Creative thinking is also an important component of decision making. Creative thinking is an ability to think of consequences of your decisions. People who can clearly think about the consequences of their decisions are the people who should be treasured the   most because they become great advisors and planners.  

The decision making process which should be followed while in an organization is-

1. Identify the problem (you can do this individually or in a group)

2. Find alternative solutions (only in a group)

3. Implement the solution (only reversible decision taken)

4. Evaluate the consequences.

At every level, have a written document signed by all group members as a proof of evidence. The same document can be used for future references.