Wednesday, 14th April, 2016 ( Washington D.C.)

Like many people, I also doodle all the time, its one of my favorite excercise which helps you to focus. Drawing abstract designs out of my imagination, while I am focused in a meeting or listening to someone speak. I have been doodling since the time I was a kid but that time, there was no term to describe it. People would just say, he/she is scribbling or drawing something and there was no phenomenon like doodling.

So today, I went for the leadership team meeting, which happens every Wednesday at 1.00 PM at my current organization YFU. The meeting started,  all the executives gave an update in round the horn fashion. After I gave my updates, I was quietly listening to other people give their updates, I also started my doodle at the same time by drawing a leaf.  I continued to draw and work on my doodle without thinking as all my attention was in the meeting, my mind was listening to the people speak, but my hands continued to draw.

What turned out as a result of my doodling today was completely unexpected. I ended up making a weird Bird art which I had no plans of making, neither did i know how to make one. The meeting finished and I went back to my desk, I started to think and what striked me was the fact, how powerful is the act of initiation and continuing what you started.

Bird Art

The act of starting something

It’s not a new concept for people –  the fact that you need to start somewhere to reach somewhere, that starting is the first step to new & wonderful beginnings. What is confusing for many people in the 21st generation is the fact that they do not know what they want and where to start, because they have millions of options at their disposal. They very well know the fact that if they start then they will end up reaching somewhere but they think so much about that first step, what to do, what is the right thing to do, what should be done, when is the right time to do it etc. that they take too long to make a decision, as a result, they  waste a lot of energy, time and effort doing nothing.

Here is the trick for you.

Do anything …. Just start anything… Do not pressure yourself to find the passion now, it will come to you when the time is right….., Do not think about what I like doing the most and what I should be doing or what I will be doing, where do I want to see myself in 5 years….. all these questions are helpful as an exercise but honestly when you are in that stage of confusion and you have already thought about everything possible you could do but just could not do for 1000 different reasons. Then in that time, you need to stop thinking and just pick up one thing and do it sincerely.

The act of continuing sincerely.

Now, when you have started doing something, continue doing it for a while sincerely to understand what, how & why of that new thing and learn. Just focus on learning new things because life is all about learning different skills, increasing your knowledge about a subject matter and getting experiences at the end of the day. And these 2 things (Learning & experience) are somethings that you can always get from any place and any one, you just need to have the zeal and the attitude to learn from people around you.

Now, continue for a decent amount of time and then decide whether you like it or not? If yes, continue, if not, do not continue. Pick something else, start, continue and decide. Keep this process going because unless you try different things you will never know what you like? Try it all.

Your goal should not be to reach somewhere but rather learning a lot of things on the way to reach somewhere. And as someone very intelligent has said, that you journey never finishes untill you die, may be not even then ( who knows :D). So, what matters in this lifetime is, to do different things, to do new things, learning from them and gathering these experiences which enrich you as a person and make you useful to your surroundings.

One last important note, you has to just start something out of your basic interest, curiosity or need and if you do not have either, just start anything (even without a purpose) and you will find a your way and purpose, I promise.

JUST DO IT ( Nike says it too) 😀

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