What would others think about me if I do this?
What would my boss think if I go around with a bunch of friends who are not not seen as “potentials”?
How best can I “project” myself to my boss?
What would keep me in the good books of influential people?
At the outset, anyone would say these are questions you should not be asking yourself. But consciously or unconsciously, aren’t these questions we all have asked ourselves and even determined our reactions based on the answers. There are some tips I came across on how to avoid this perception mirage (courtesy M.K.Gandhi) and would like to share them here.
Please don’t do something that would not feel like telling your kids – When you do something, please ask yourself if it is something you would tell your children/grandchildren you did. If you won’t, please do not do it.
Control the space between action and reaction – Pro activity can also be defined as a “reaction” of ours based on specific principles and values we follow that fall into the overall natural laws. At the end of the day, you cannot judge every facet of a situation and keep responses ready for them all. But if you do follow the right set of principles and values, your reactions would always be pro-active.
Do the right things the right way – When you have the habit of doing the right things the right way, your perception need not always be positive. But at the end of the day, I guess we all know that there could and would be perception differences and that not everything would be positive. So, the best way to avoid guilt is not to do something that is “wrong” based on your own principles, which should (and typically would) be derived from principles prescribed as “natural”.
And don’t worry, people would figure you out either way sometime or the other. So do not think too much about how people would perceive you. As long as you know your intentions and actions do not harm anyone, its OK, people who know you, and care for you would forgive you.
PS: As my bio says, I’m a learner, but not the perfect practitioner – though I’m trying my best. So if anyone smiles at my short comings after coming across this post, I have the next post coming. 🙂
Learning Curves 