5 Things I Learnt In 2019
2019 has been an interesting mix of things I wanted and things I did not want, and then things I did not even see coming. Overall it has been a year filled with emotions and learnings. As I look back at the year gone by, these are 5 learnings I am taking with me to the next decade.
1. Make the world work for all
As an educator, my primary goal is to make the world work for all. The world is an eclectic mix of elements known and unknown to us, and as an educator, my goal is to ensure that they are all preserved and that they enable each other’s existence. As a part of this massive universe, it is my responsibility to ensure that I play my part in making the world a better place, that helps everyone and everything thrive.
How did I isolate this learning?
Over the last 15 months, our team at Simple Education Foundation has participated in several exercises to surface the purpose of education for our work. Interestingly every time we met to discuss these key elements, I noticed a deep alignment between everyone on the team. I observed a common need to build a world where we are aware of and respect the deep interconnections of our existence, a world where we live in service of each other, a world that works for everyone, the ones you can see and the ones you can’t, and the things you know and the things you don’t. We are a fairly diverse group of people and the alignment has strengthened my belief in this learning.
“You don’t change the world simply by looking at it. You change it through the way you choose to live in it.” — via The Aeronauts (movie)
While recent political developments in my country have threatened my pursuit of this learning. It has threatened my choices in life. It has threatened the existence of my values.
The threat has strengthened my belief in my vision as an educator. It has strengthened the pursuit of my purpose and it has pushed me out of my comfort zone, it has made me choose things that I would otherwise not choose. It has made standing true to my vision and my values easy. It has pushed me to believe that this is the ultimate purpose of everyone’s life and I urge you to think about it — how do you make this world work for all?
2. Slow on outcomes, quick on inputs
This is an interesting one and a useful one.
The Japanese word Kaizen has made me think deeply about the way I look at the achievement of outcomes. Kaizen (改善) is a Sino-Japanese word for improvement, but in modern usage, Kaizen stands for continuous improvements that lead to a significant shift in outcomes. I have always looked for outsized shifts with every action and over the last year, I have been continuously reminded of how wrong I have been in my assumption.
My big learning is continuous intentional inputs will create a massive change over time, just like the idea of latent heat, you might not be able to see the impact immediately but with time everything will make sense — only if the intent behind the input was correct and driven by a set of values.
3. Operate with Love
We are living in difficult times, people are angry at each other, our actions are often driven by raw anger. In the middle of all of this, I have realised that the only way to make a dent in the universe is if you operate with love, from a space of love.
Anger is an incredible emotion that pushes us to do things that we otherwise would have found difficult to do, but it struggles to help us in sustaining that work. Anger never drives commitment, it is like a shot of adrenaline and that is about it, it is just a shot. Whereas love is like the water bag you carry when you run a full marathon, it keeps you hydrated all along.
Big problems require time to solve, it is important to have the motivation that lasts. Love is the only way out for us. Think of everything you love and think of the time you have loved them, and think of everything you were angry about in the last 1 year, how many of them are you still holding on to?
“Whatever the question, love is the answer.”
You will never be disappointed.
4. Self Care is important and urgent
We fight several battles every day, we move around and we navigate through a range of emotions every single day. We dream about the next day, next week, next month, next year and now the next decade. We envision a better life. The most important thing in all of this is our healthy presence at each of these points, while we have fairly less control over our presence but we do have control over things that influence our healthy presence.
With lack of clean air/water/food, unlimited access to information, complicated relationships and lifestyle choices we are making life difficult. It is hence extremely important to find time for self-care and self-love. It is important to identify routines ad structures that help us keep going, help us thrive and help us operate with love, every day.
5. Be driven by your values during tough times
We live extremely interconnected lives and our actions often have a far-reaching impact. A tweet here and a presence there can put your family or your company at risk, nothing is personal anymore.
I have often found myself in spaces where my actions could potentially put my near and dear ones, or my purpose at risk, but I have felt equally strongly for the action to avoid doing it altogether. At these times, I have gone back to my values and tried to look for the driver behind my actions. I have found decision making easier when guided by values. Like my friend Ashma says, “Stand for what you believe.” and I think that has been a guiding principle at times of confusion.
I hope these learnings make the next decade purposeful and peaceful for me.
Happy 2020! #overandout
