Nothing is Impossible

By Joginder Singh

Determine what you want and then be willing to pay for it. You have to establish your priorities and then go to work. It is a strange thing about life, that if you refuse, to accept anything, other than the best, the life will give it to you. The whole world makes way for the man, or a woman, who knows where he is going. It is for you to decide, whether you can or cannot. Either way, you arc right.
Sri Joginder Singh is the former Director of CBI. Hailing from a poor farmer's family, he scaled the pinnacles of success through sheer motivation and hard work. He is a multi-faceted personality. "Winning ways", "For a better tomorrow", "Success Mantra", "How to excel when chips are down" and "Turn Your Creative Spark into A Flame" are some of the popular books to his credit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9788128830341

Book preview

1

ADD VALUE TO YOURSELF

You can move near your goals, only if you take action. Even the best desire and an attitude of achievement, of your goal, is of no use, unless you follow it up, by actions. It is said that knowledge is power. But knowledge, without being backed up, by the determination for implementation, is not only worse, but also useless. You may have all the knowledge in the world. Real power lies in the implementation. There is a lot of literature and plenty of tips for succeeding in life. But without action on them, we remain where we are.

Though every human being is unique, and so is the level of effectiveness, which varies from individual to individual. Some people are more powerful and the others are weaker, in accomplishing the tasks. But one thing is certain, that we have to be tremendously enthusiastic and desirous about developing our competencies, if we really want to succeed in our missions.

Right values, right knowledge, right competencies coupled with practice and practice is the secret of success. Surgeons and doctors, reach the top of their profession, only by a combination, of the above factors.

The best and the fastest way, to learn, is to imitate a champion and follow in his footsteps. Quite often, a lot of good work is lost, for want of doing a little more. In the horse racing, the winning horse wins by a fraction of a second and with a fraction of more effort. Same is true in the examination during our educational career, where a little more effort can get you a gold medal or an astronomical salary, on passing out, from a top Management Institute.

Winners have only one secret of success. It is work. They know, that nothing would work, unless they do. The one thing that matters in life, is the effort and hard work. Luck is another name for those qualities. There is an old saying that God gives food to every human being and other creatures. But, be sure, that he does not put food, in anybody’s mouth.

Nowhere, the word success comes, before the work, except in the dictionary. Hard work means working into the midnight burning midnight oil, when others are sleeping. We can save a lot of pain, by taking much pain and trouble toward the same off.

Sweat is the perfume of achievement An infinite capacity, for taking pains, can avoid all the chaos and frustration. Even if you do not have the skill or expertise, hard work is the best possible alternative. If you are determined to achieve a goal and an objective, hard work is not an option. It is a dire necessity. Ask and see any poor labourer, who has to work, even in the most inclement weather, just to earn his or her livelihood. You cannot attain your goal, with hands in your pocket. It does not matter as to how slowly, you move towards goal. It matters only, if you are standing still and doing nothing. It is a sure recipe for failures.

What we need, in life, is a can do attitude. We all meet different kinds of people, who want things to be done, right now and in the way, they want. While it is not possible to concede what everybody wants, at least what we can do, is to consider the other’s point of view. People have their own point of view and when we are trying to convince anybody of anything, we must try to put, the same, in their language and see things from their point of view.

Selling ideas and convincing others is not like selling any goods or supplies.

With a merchandise, the buyers can see, what they are paying for the stuff, they are buying. With an idea, there is nothing to convince others, except through plausible arguments. If the idea is, no good, then, nobody is going to buy anything and agree to your point of view.

Decision-makers examine any idea put forth from their own perspective and whether it expresses and conforms to their concerns, which might be promoting a particular cause or goods or ensuring their organisation’s financial well being. However, the easiest thing in the world is to be you and the most difficult thing, is what people want you to be. Above do not ever make a promise, which you think, you cannot keep. If you become a good worker and a good decision maker, you will be an asset to the organisation, you are working. Even if you are working for yourself, you will add value and wealth to yourself, by your endeavours.

2

BE A WINNER IN THE RACE OF LIFE

All of us need some kind of parameter and rule live by in society. If we did not have, we will go by our own feelings, which may not necessarily be always right. One common desire of human being is the desire of excellence in their chosen field, it is always more attractive than mediocrity. It comes by habit and by doing the same thing repeatedly. The things we keep on doing again will be the ones we will do the best. We are the happiest, when are superb and masters of our field, as this increases our self esteem and self-confidence. Performing our best at present gives us an chance and encourages us to do our best in the future. But this is possible only by putting our heart and soul into the work. Aim for excellence in everything you do. You should take pride in your achievements on a daily basis, instead of hoping others to appreciate you. Make perfection your aim in everything you do and strive to make your best better. Do not accept anything good enough or nearly right. Habituate yourself to go the extra mile. Never be satisfied with less than your best. If you give your best to the world, the best will come back to you. Make it a practice to do your job excellently and well rather than explaining as to why you did not do it well.

You have to have the will to win, the yearning to succeed, the craving to reach your full potential. These are vital for excellence, in any field. It is strange thing about life that if you do not accept anything less than the best, you will eventually get the best. But remember only to compete with yourself and in excelling your own record. There is nothing impossible for those, who do not flag in their will to try. Only by excellence, and by putting excitement and enthusiasm, you can make your life a master piece. Unless you are passionate and enthusiastic, you will be doomed to life of mediocrity. Review your life and examine a day on which you were supremely satisfied and happy. It is not the day, which you spent sleeping or lazing about. It is day, on which you have accomplished, to your full satisfaction, all that you wanted to do. It is not what you want to do or know, but what you put into practice that counts. It is said that in some cases greatness is something thrust on them or some are born great. But excellence is not something, which is thrust on anybody. It has to be achieved by discipline and tenacity of purpose. Excelling is not a one time affair, but has to be practised continuously. Have for your role models, people, who have excelled, in their respective fields in life, for the purpose of drawing inspiration from them. You will never have regrets in life, for giving your best to anything and everything. You can achieve excellence, if you dare and take risk, more what others think as wise or safe or dream more than what others think as practical and expect from yourself, that what others think is possible. If you are a people pleaser and out to make sure that everyone likes and approves of you, then you are bound to risk excelling in achieving your desired goal. There will be as many approaches and suggestions as the number of people you meet.

Doing, anything to the best of your abilities fetches in unrivalled rewards. The results, we get, in any activity, are directly proportionate, to the quality of efforts, we put in. Half hearted actions will achieve half hearted results. Putting in our top most efforts, can bring about miracles undreamt of by most of us. We can apply the approach of excellence in all areas of our lives. We only fool ourselves and others, by accepting anything, less than our best. You have to resolve not only to excel in anything, but also make it point not to give anything less than excellence to all you do. If a task is worth doing, then it is certainly worth doing excellently. Success and excellence is open and available to anybody, who gives his best to any enterprise undertaken by him or her. All of us are capable of achieving more than what we have done so far. We have got to have a mind set and convince ourselves, that we are capable of attaining a great deal more, despite the set backs, we might have received in the past.

3

TAKE THE SILK ROUTE

Whether we feel, happy or unhappy, is totally dependent, upon each one of us. In a similar way, we cannot make, others happy, as this choice, is left to every single individual. You can find joy, both in, big and small things of life. I was in Jalalabad sometimes back, and the weather was not only extremely cold, but also foggy. We lit a fire, and sat around it in the night, chatting and yapping about our past good experiences and forgot about the inconvenience and lack of electricity, in the biting cold. Even otherwise, we had no option, except to bear the cold. Instead, we chose to make ourselves comfortable and forgot all about the inclement weather.

Only if we are joyful and happy, we can set a good example both for the people, we come in contact, or our friends and families. The secret of feeling good, is to feel good, by a conscious effort. There is nothing we can do about the past, which is dead and gone and there is nothing we can do about the uncertain future, over which we have no control.

The only good thing we can do is to make a watchful and attentive, effort to be always happy, in the present. We should make our own happiness, to be a continuous, and a life long strategy. The better you feel, the more you can get out, of your life. It is for you, to adjust and manipulate, your thinking in the direction desired by you. We should not anticipate trouble, or worry about the things, which may never happen. Instead we should tackle problems as they arise.

Our thoughts can also be categorised as our intentions. Our decisions, choices etc. represent our actions, to implement them. Make it a habit to see opportunity in every difficulty and not any possible difficulty, in any opportunity. If we want to be happy, contented and self-fulfilled, we must practice the same, like a surgeon, who attains excellence in his or her chosen field, only by practice and constantly doing the same procedure again and again.

Our happiness does not depend upon our possessions or the position we enjoy in life. It depends upon how we think about ourselves and our life. Happiness lies in our thinking, working and living harmoniously with our values. It lies in convincing ourselves that we should expect the best out of everything, with a positive attitude.

These days, with the easy availability of finance and loans, many of my friends have raised huge loans. Now they are busy thinking and worrying about repaying the same. Also some newspaper reports reveal that some people have committed suicide, to escape the debt burden.

I took a Government loan for house building when in service. I always felt uncomfortable as long as I was in debt. After withdrawing money from my Provident fund, after a few years, I prepaid the loan, earlier, as against the term of twenty years set for its repayment. My logic was that the first priority on my income was to clear my debt. Till it was cleared any property purchased by me was not my own, but of the lender, whether the lender was Government or any bank or any other individual. A debt-ridden life is an unhappy life, which will always drag you down. It is best to live within your means, as you would not have anything to worry about.

It is our actions based on our thinking, which leads to the outcome. It is very much possible to choose the outcomes from our actions, as our outcomes, are the logical results of our thinking and acting or even our sudden inspiration.

If sometimes, we do not get the desired results, then it is equally vital, to examine, whether we have stuck to our plans or not or whether our limiting beliefs, or attitude has come in the way. Many a time, when we are positive, we do not get the desired results. Remember, that positive thinking alone is not sufficient. It has to be backed by well thought out actions.

The advantage of positive thinking is that a positive thinker will put behind failures and move to better and higher goals. On the contrary, a negative thinker will keep on imagining failures and why a thing cannot be done. This choice, as to how we will spend our lives, is available to each one of us.

4

GRAB A GOLDEN

OPPORTUNITY

There are many things, of which we are theoretically aware, but do not or half heartedly, implement them. For example, all of us are conscious of the fact, that when we cannot do our best or are feeling tired, then it is, rather over due, to take a break and rest. But still people keep on working with a magical belief or expectation, that they must complete their work.

Each one of us, has a best time, for doing our best work. If we can use our prime time, for our prime work, then the results can be outstanding. Rest is like a fuel to the body. It sharpens our senses and sensibilities, about whatever, we may want to accomplish. If you do not rest, when you should be resting fully, then you would not be working, when you should be working, at your optimum levels.

If you are mentally tired, then you are, neither here nor there. While it is alright, to push yourselves, harder and harder, for achieving higher and higher attainment, we should not punish ourselves, without giving ourselves a breather and time for relaxing and unwinding. None of us, is under obligation, to neglect our own needs, for the sake of others.

At one time, I used to put more on my plate, than I could chew. It was, in the form of accepting, more and more engagements and commitments, and tiring myself out at the end of the day. It is no use, making yourself miserable to make others happy.

It suddenly dawned on me, that it was not only counterproductive, but also left me, in a condition, in which, I could never give my best. We should learn to spend time, on the things, which matter, most to us. We should not compromise on them, for the sake of pleasing others.

For relaxation, different people can have different approaches. I, personally like, to read a book of jokes, before going to sleep or some book, which cheers me up. I also avoid the company of all those people or things, which depress me.

You must all the time, feel good, if you really want, to get the best out of yourself or give the same to others. Only this way, you can write a glorious future, for yourself. We should not live life, as it comes and goes, without caring as to how we should be functioning or working.

It will be a good idea, to remind yourself in a note form, as to how you want things to turn out in the next one, two or three or five, or ten years time, in your life. From time to time, you should be able to compare your achievements against your goals and what dreams you have been able to attain. You can even write a letter to yourself, as to where you want to reach in life on a particular date or year.

This is just one way to determine, whether your career and life has gone as planned or whether you have exceeded your expectations or fallen short of the same. This approach can be a morale booster. If you want to achieve, something in life, not only, you should strive for the same, but also feel good, while taking action. If you are feeling, upset or frustrated, in taking any action, you cannot make any progress.

Feeling good, is the best away, to be in alignment with your goals. There is a price, or dues, to be paid for everything and the price includes, to have good thoughts and feelings.

A secret or rule for moving forward lies in doing, what we feel, motivates us to attain our goals. Our definition of feeling good is individual and specific. It need not be, what is laid down by experts or others known to us. You cannot reach ‘heaven’, by following a hellish path. To determine, what makes you feel good, is to follow, your own internal guidance and thinking. There is no better expert on you, than yourself.

Feeling good also includes eliminating from your life, what does not make you feel good. It could be anything, you do not want to do or eliminating obstacles coming in your way of feeling good. One good input, for feeling good or happy, is to force yourself, to be happy and to smile. Your target should be, not only to be happy yourself, but also bring happiness and joy in the lives of others.

Get rid of the mental burden and obstacles, in the form of, what others think about you. It never feels good to worry about what others think of you. By worrying or by trying to get the approval of others, for anything or everything you do, you are adding a mental burden to yourself.

Be sure that there is no dearth of fault finders, who would never be satisfied, with anything or everything you do. It is not only your bosses who will tell you how to be better, but most people around us, function as unpaid universal advisers on every single issue under the sun.

It never feels good to worry about others and what others think of you, as long as you have done your job well. It is the biggest handicap to worry about what others think of you. It is not for us, to make others happy. Everybody is responsible for his or her happiness. No one is going to hand it over, to you on a platter

5

SETTING BOUNDARIES

Good boundaries around our houses, keep our goods safe and allow us to work at the speed we like in the protection of the environment of our choice.

Similarly, good personal boundaries, prevent us from being humiliated or insulted by others. They also let others know, as to where you stand in relationship with them. They also signal, as to what you would stand for and what you would not. They also avert, our being hurt, by the deeds or words of others. They also let others know, as to what you want and what you do not want A border line, like in the countries, is a limit that sets you apart from others.

Boundaries need not be, only physical, like good or high walls. They are also, emotional or feeling boundaries, as each one of us, has unique feelings and reactions, to any given situations.

Our response to situations, as well as on other people we come in contact is based on our own perceptions, background, previous encounters or dealings and what our concerns and values are. There may be, similar values, and concerns of others, who might react, broadly in the same way. But no one will react precisely, the way we may do. It is for the simple reason that everybody is different.

Most of reaction, in a large majority of situations, is emotional. It might be, some observations or comments, by colleague or a friend or a total stranger, which could upset us. As children, we are more susceptible to be emotionally black mailed. Some body might comment nastily, on a child wearing glasses. The child may be non-plussed, as to how to react, but a confident adult individual might tick him off to say, that it is none of his concerns, as to what he wears or totally cut him out from his company. He may also reply that nobody has a right to comment on his or her method of working or appearance.

Other forms of weak or poor emotional boundaries, or disturbing black mail, includes doing things, against your wishes and attending parties or functions or programmes, in which you have no interest, or ignoring your own interests and needs to please others or in the interest of not letting down others.

Other varieties of pressures or bullying include ignoring your own needs, or agreeing, with others, when you do not really want to do, or hiding your own true feelings, when you are upset, but pretend that everything is alright, or putting up with the browbeating of others. Another kind of bully, which is often to met on educational campuses is the one, who borrows money or your personal effects and not returning them or even not talking to the lenders.

In every area of our life, whether it is in our family or in the place of work, we need to set boundaries. There may be people, who are