some stuff

I have been thinking about this for a while now (infact for very long time like months and months you know).  What is negativity? A quick googling for the definition brings up many results, some of which are : “Indicating opposition or resistance”, “Expressing, containing, or consisting of a negation, refusal, or denial”.

Is opposing or resisting really an indicaiton of negativity? For example, when you say something or voice your opinion about something and the other person disagrees with you, is he being negative? When you force a bunch of people to do something and if one or two people don’t want to do it because they don’t believe in it and they inturn discourage others from doing it, are these guys being negative?

Is negativity a very subjective term? Would you call a person negative just because he doesn’t believe in what you are saying? Where do you draw the line between keeping an open mind and listening to his opinions/arguments and just shutting him off because it is just sucking up your energy?

Such questions were really troubling me for a long time.  How do I know if I am in a negative environment? How do I know if I am in an environment where people are smarter than the decision makers and they disagree for a reason? So, I thought I should put down my learnings here and open up a discussion (assuming someone reads my blog).  It would be nice to also keep a record so that next year, I can revisit this and may be laugh at myself for being totally wrong!

“oh, this will never work. I have seen it all before. It has not worked before and will not this time”

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard such things before. It could be anywhere, at work, in a social gathering anywhere. Personally, I get really annoyed by such statements. I have learnt to patiently ask them why they think like that, what information they have collected before making that statement and so on.

lesson 1: Always control your emotions, ask for clarity.

lesson 2: Educate yourself. Same things which were  an epic failure yesterday could be a big success today. There are so many external variables. Learn about all those and decide if that person is right or wrong.

lesson 3: Keep away from people who just whine about something without really giving an alternative solution.

lesson 4: When you are in the middle of a battle, have a open mind. When someone says you are wrong, don’t let your emotions take over. Only a man with great character can accept he is wrong and take action. It is not a sign of weakness (oh comeon, we all have read and heard this 1924 times). But there is no harm is repeating/reminding right?

lesson 5:  Once you are convinced that you are totally right, go for it. There is every chance that you are wrong and will screw it up big time but take responsibility for it if you really did screw it up. fire your ass off. Penalize yourself harshly so that you don’t do that mistake again.

If we all followed this diligently, we can live in harmony without bickering, ill feeling and what not.

Go back to an isolated place and just think about this for a while. These are so obvious things, but do you really do it? Saying is easy, putting your hands where the mouth is something else. Can you do it? Think!

If you have reached till here, you are awesome and I am awesome

That’s all from me. See you later.

Mahesh Murthy