Lessons for Achievement

Graduation

Dr. Purushothaman
August 23, 2013

Two days ago, one of my personal coaching participants opened a stall at one of our local Marts in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

It was one of the projects that the team and I came up with to market their products and services directly to the public. It went quite well; some sales were done and a few people signed up for previews and enrolled for the Japanese language class, Yoga class and Chess class. I was quite happy with the outcome as the results were beyond my expectation.

However, even though they were happy over their achievements for the day, I sensed tiredness and negative vibrations sneaking in among some of the members of the team. There could be a number of reasons for these, primarily being vibrations. I wanted to arrest this problem as soon as possible before it became serious; nip it in the bud, as the old saying goes. I quickly informed them that I wanted to meet them the next day, in the evening. They agreed to meet up.

Throughout the following day the whole of my trading in the markets can be described with just one word, "horrible"! I lost large sums of money. I was trading like an amateur, so much so my partner was truly surprised. The markets were very volatile; and normally my partner and I make the most money when the markets are volatile. However, this time I was totally not in-sync with the market. He enquired on what was bothering me. I said that I did not know. But I was aware that my mind was focused on my goals. What was taking place baffled me. Anyway, I told myself, there must be a reason for this. Eventually, Nature would reveal it to me. Keeping this in mind, I continued to trade but in lesser quantities. This helped to minimize my losses.

However, I was still having losses in my trading account by the end of the day. Although I was feeling a bit down, I shrugged it off and told myself that I would come back the next day and win them again as I normally did. My wife called to remind me of the meeting I was to have with my participants. That’s when it hit me! Nature was testing me whether I was truly committed to my goals!

I packed my laptop and headed straight for home and got ready for the meeting. My wife drove me there. Once, everyone gathered, I spoke to them of the negative vibrations that I felt on the previous day. Some nodded as I spoke. I smiled and told them of what I went through the whole day. As I told them of the losses I suffered in the market for the day, some of them was taken aback and had a sincere worried look on their face.

I can see from their questions and reactions when they heard of my losses in the market, that they were genuinely concerned for me. However, I calmed them down saying that it was a part of the life of a trader. There are days where we make good money and there are those rare days where things just do not go right; but we work hard to ensure that when we win, we win big and when we lose, we lose small. That is a part of trading life.

I requested that they pay serious attention to what I was talking about. Although I was down in my trading for the day, I asked them whether they felt anything negative in me since they met me in the evening up to that point. One of my participants said that he noticed that I was tired but he didn’t sense any negative vibrations.

I explained that it had to do with my being committed to my goals. As I said that, I reminded them of the very basic lesson; to have goals in all the seven area in life.

The seven areas are Happiness, Health, Family, Money, Mind, Social and Spiritual. However, most people focus overly in one area. Normally, people focus on the aspect of Money and forget the other areas. As such, when they face problems in these neglected areas, they become down and feel that they have been "defeated" and start feeling negative and resent all the other areas. For example, their happiness is affected, or family communication becomes tense and so on. My participants nodded.

Then I said in a solemn voice, "I am aware that you guys have put in a lot of effort in the fields that you are involved in. I am also aware that you feel down when you do not see the returns for the effort that you put in. However, keep in mind this old saying, 'Rome was not built in a day'! You have to be patient and have faith, especially when you are in the process of building a strong foundation for yourself. In order to build a strong and tall building, you need to take a lot of time to build a strong foundation first. A builder always spends more time laying the foundation. You would notice that the building goes up fast after the foundation has been laid. Similarly, you too must remember that it takes time to build the foundation. That is why it is extremely important to stay positive during these times!"

As I said this, my participants nodded in understanding. Then I continued to tell them how I do it. Apart from repeating my goals to myself whenever I can, I keep balanced by reminding myself that goals with regards to money is just one area of my life. There are seven other areas that I have to pay attention to. For example, for me, spending time and helping my personal coaching participants to achieve their goals is a goal of mine in the social area. This is my way of contributing back to the society. Some of you are already tasting success, albeit, in a smaller scale. The bigger ones are coming. It is just a matter of time. You just have to keep putting in your best effort. Seeing you happy when you achieve your goals, makes me happy that I am achieving my goals in this area!

When I go home, I see my wife. I feel grateful for having her in my life. We are constantly taking effort to further improve our wonderful relationship. Holding hands and having quiet walks in the parks, lively discussions on various topics, enjoying movies, holidays, etc, we continue to improve our relationship. These are my goals with regards to happiness and family. Similarly, I have goals in my spiritual area. I meditate constantly on my existence, my place in Nature, my duties on this planet, my link with Nature, God etc.

Similarly, I have goals in all the seven areas in my life. Each area supports the other. I may feel down in one area but my successes in the other areas help me to come back to the positive vibrations and give me the “feeling” that I can get it right in the area where I am lacking.

My participants listened attentively as I spoke. Then, I said that it was okay to feel down once in a while but it is even more important to be aware that you are feeling down! You can entertain it for a while. For me, "a while" means ten minutes! However, you got to buck up and concentrate on your goals and the positive areas of your life and make a stand that you would do your best to achieve your goals. Just as I am with you today, I am more resolute now to win back my losses for the day and make more in the coming days!

As I finished, my participants looked much more energized and I felt the familiar positive vibrations radiating from them. I then continued with their individual tasks that they needed to do. Just then, my wife looked at me with a "knowing" smile, that I did a good job in getting them back to the positive vibrations. I smiled back.

Two of the most crucial ingredients in achieving your goals are; to stay positive and having faith no matter what obstacles you face.

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