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This is the content of my speech in Toastmaster's Area level International speech contest. I won 2nd in my club level, I could only manage 3rd place in the Area level.
Though I will not be moving to the District Level competition, I thoroughly enjoyed giving the speech, hope you will enjoy this blog and I will be glad if this inspires you!
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No, this is not about the next James Bond movie.
Friends, this is about the inspirations in my life who keep telling me that I shouldn’t get discouraged as this world is large enough for all of us! Though there are many inspirations, in the best interest of time I would like to talk about 2 of my biggest inspirations.
First is Dr. Wayne Dyer
In the world of motivation, Dr. Wayne Dyer is a Rock Star. He helped me realize the power of nature. We can call nature as God, Super Intelligence or Life. If I take a moment to think, from a single cell, I have grown this big. This hand has so much of complexity inside it and yet so simple that I need not know everything inside it to use it. Whether we realize it or not, we are completely surrounded by this super Intelligence and its miracles. Irrespective of the religion we believe in, the culture we are from, the language we speak, this super intelligence unconditionally loves us and is constantly at work to give us the best.
In Jan 2009, when I was working as a consultant for Lowe’s in Wilkesboro, the CEO of my Indian Consulting Company Satyam sent a letter to Security Exchange Board of India and Stock Exchanges that the 8 Billion Dollars that is supposed to be in the bank doesn’t really exist. Yes, another accounting scandal like the Enron Story. I had been with the company for more than 5 years at that time and this news shook my roots. Medical Insurance Company stopped processing our bills for a week, I wasn’t sure if I will get my next paycheck, the company was a black mark in the corporate history of India. Scores of clients were stopping projects and it was bad news after bad news. I didn’t have a visa that allowed me to move to another company in US and the job market in India wasn’t great either. The only option I had was to stick to my company Satyam and get sucked into the abyss if it went that way. When I came back home, I didn’t know how to break the news to my wife; my son was 4 and daughter was 6 months at that time. For the sake of my colleagues & my family, I put on a brave face and did what best I can in the situation. I had to sell off all that I had, give up my faith in the great American Dream and go back to India with family. When I was in India, I was passionately involved in presales activities to bag a new client project and moved back to California within 2 months. After few months, I applied for an open position in Lowe’s. The first interview question (from my manager Muthu) was, when are you going to come back? It was a great refresher. Yes, after 6 years in Satyam and after more than 1 year of the scandal I joined Lowe’s as an Employee. (Contrary to market expectations, Satyam is doing great still)
The journey was tiring but when I reached the next destination, it reinforced my trust in nature. The lesson I learnt are,
• Never burn the bridges. You should leave a mark that people should feel like working with you, not find excuses to avoid you.
• If we can deal with uncertainty, we will become calm and open enough to identify the opportunities and say “yes, the world is large enough”!
Let us talk about my second inspiration
I strongly believe in one concept....life looks at the state we are in and desperately wants to talk to us. It chooses anybody we come across to tell us how to improve. For me, this super intelligence almost all the time chooses my wife to talk to me. She is my most honest critic and my biggest support. My wife always has very high expectations from me. Trust me friends, it is nothing less than being a Super Hero!
Either I can grow to meet the expectation that life poses through my wife or I can give up and let it spiral down.
Dr. Wayne Dyer gives lectures in YouTube and leaves my life, he is a good guy....but life though my wife is my 24/7 performance appraiser. How am I performing?...my scores are not that great, but I have not given up. She is the one who untiringly reminds me that this world is large enough if we make ourselves eligible!
• My perspective changes when I look at my wife’s feedback as the life’s feedback to me.
• Instead of showing resistance this perspective helps me to evolve and say yes the world is large enough.
I have a question for you, “Are you living the dream which you dreamt of when you were a child?”
Let me ask the question differently, “Do you have better resources now than you had during your childhood to achieve what you want in life?”
Let me simplify the question, “Are you alive now?” If you are reading this, Congratulations, you are already a winner! As a kid you never knew for how long you will be alive, you have already outlived your expectations and now you have a solid foundation to start!
We wait for a lottery to change our live. No, don’t wait for a lottery to change your life, YOU are your lottery. Invest in yourself, evolve and you will realize that this world is large enough for all of us!
Listen, life wants to tell you something, “Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child, this world is large enough!”
