One of the things I love most about my job is to have conversations with people who are interested in joining the organisation or taking up a higher/different role within the organisation.
No matter how tired or busy my day was, when I meet people for conversations (virtual these days - not the best way) it just energises me.
And why not? I get a glimpse of lives of so many people with diverse backgrounds. So many interesting stories and journeys. Perspectives that make me think. Personalities that would take the organisation and the team to a whole different level.
I recollect one of my recent conversations where a potential hire for a leadership role was sharing how good he is at persuasion and negotiations. He was very proud of how these aspects were his strengths. And from what I had heard through the conversation, I could get a sense why he thought these were his strengths.
When he finished what he had to say, I asked him "What are the non-negotiable in your life? How good are you at persuading yourself to not move away from those non-negotiable?"
I don't think this was one of the questions he had expected or thought of. He took some time to think through and shared with me his 'non-negotiable' in life. I liked the humility in his reflections.
I don't want to share what he told me. But I will share the non-negotiable (s) which I have been following for a while now.
Shining a light on people's goodness - Won't spend time or energy by focusing on negatives of people.Everyone has something good in them. If I can't see anything good in people then I need to change my lens. Period.
No shortcut to hard work - I want my hard work to build my progress story. If I get into something, I want to give it all. It may take time but I will give whatever I have in limits.
Never sleep without being grateful - I have mentioned in this in my earlier blogs as well. It has only made my life better and made me happier.
Being kind to everyone - How I treat people depends on who I am and who I want to be not how they have been to me. My Karma decides the quality of my life.
Don't ever under play myself - I remind myself of the dialogue from 3 Idiots when in an interview one of the protagonists says "I have got this attitude after breaking multiple bones. I don't want to give this up now".
I remind myself of all that I have done and been through to become who I am. It's because of efforts and support of so many that I am who I am today. I don't want to insult my journey, their efforts and support by under playing myself. Another aspect of under playing is I try to be my authentic self.There is a lot of persuasion one needs to do when they want to uphold their non-negotiable. It is tricky. Sometimes tough. But almost always the right thing to do.
I would recommend you to identify your non-negotiable and build a process to ensure you uphold them. Place a lot of importance and worth on your non-negotiable. It will only help you become better and respect yourself. They will be the foundation blocks of who you want to become.
