Focus and Goals?
This younger generation has no goals, no aims, nothing – we were so focused….so said a friend of mine.
I am quite surprised and sometimes saddened when such remarks are made.
Every generation has its stars, super stars, successful people, fraudsters, lazy bums, idiots,….in more or less the same quantities is the feeling I got. We (born in the 1960s) surely had a great opportunity – frankly most of us made much more money than our parents. Like Sukumar (one of the readers) said in his comment, ‘my annual salary is 15 times my dad’s accumulated provident fund from 35 years service …and I do not think I work so hard’. Completely agree.
We also had it good – in the first month of doing CA you could relax. In the first month of your job you were ‘rotated’ to get a ‘feel’ of the organisation. In the 3rd month you went on the first sales call ALONG with your boss.
Today kids are recruited on Monday, and on Tuesday they are asked ‘What happened to your target’. The HR department knows their name, nothing much more. These kids are joked at, ridiculed, …and rarely helped.
Focus? Goals? Who taught them these words. They are out there being bullied by some seniors…and being pushed.
Amidst all this there are 2 kids who stood out. These are 2 girls – let me call them V (20 years old) and P (23 years old).
V is the most amazing focused kid who knew what she wanted from class 8. She joined for law in a good school – and has her career nicely chalked out. She knows why she should read a lot, why she should present papers, why do debating, fantastic at all this, knows the advantage of networking….the works. I can assure you her parents are nowhere as networked. From where she got all these skills beats me. I have seen this girl as a 3 month old…and now to see her as such a focused ‘adult’ is a great pleasure. And she is as focused about her hobby – Bharatnatyam. Her career and her hobby are so well focused, it is really impressive.
P is a 23 year old kid who has done her MBA..and looks quite lost. However in her first week in the office there were some jabs at her weight. She decided that she had to lose weight – joined a gym, changed her diet – and in a month’s time had lost 7 kg – which was her target. Simple. She did it.
Obviously these kids will achieve their goals in life. They may (repeat May) need some help in setting goals – then they will find the steps..
I had done a similar story about 3 boys…please go to search and look for this story
“3 boys and a man – story”.
Amazing…also makes me wonder why we think that God stopped making good people just after he made us…? Any clues? Seeing some of these kids actually gives me a complex…and I am too proud to accept that. L O L.
rrp
When IIM salaries come out every year in campus hire, there are letters to editor column in Hindu paper where people who are not able to digest it say in a patronizing tone “they dont deserve it”, “they will get spoiled with this much money at this age” etc. LOL, they fully deserve it. They are sharp, thats why companies hire them. And some of them even give up the offer and do a startup to get first hand experience – risk taking ability!. Just need to see the TATA sponsored business quiz with IIM/IIT students etc in cnbc channel, man, their knowledge, sharpness, IQ to connect things together are amazing.
Your 3rd para, very true, even in my engineering class, few didnt get anywhere – no motivation , few took mediocre jobs and stayed there, the gifted ones went for higher studies outside and more success, and their discipline, focus, management of things were amazing. Even i too get a complex looking at such people 🙂
Asoke
true Subra. Some of these kids are as focussed as focus can get :). It may sound Ayn Randish…but when you are focussed it sometimes looks selfish. A couple of my friends who passed out of IIM in the 1970s keep saying every year (as a joke)..’Wish went to the campus again..never got this kind of salary while in employment’ – one of them recently retired! Also agree every batch has its heroes, jokers, and satisfied people. Know a couple of friends who are school teachers and mighty satisfied. Ultimately it is the happiness goal, is it not?
NPR
At the risk of letting out a secret (which btw is not liked by the person saying it), my hunch is ‘V’ and ‘P’ are daughters of one Mr.S :)-.
Its good to have goals, focus, definitely; as these things bring success to one’s life and financial independence and both are necessary ingredients. Today. However, Goals and Focus are things mostly related (esp about career) to Mind. A good mix of ‘Heart’ also will help in being a rounded personality.
subra
nice try NPR…but I said i saw V when she was 3 months old. My daughter I saw when she was 3 minutes old. P i met when she was 23 years old.
So, no it is not my daughters that I am talking about, but yes if they were my daughters, I would be proud of them..- just clarifying. Did not want the girls friends to find it on Google or…some other place, that is why the hiding of names.
Asoke
Gutsy post Subra. Few older people admit that younger people are better. Sachin is perhaps the greatest cricketer India ever produced – far more self less than Sunil Gavaskar. I have seen sexism in reverse..’For a guy you cook very well’ is ok..but i cannot tell a girl ‘for a girl your drafting is good’. I would be killed. ‘For a guy your age climbing 22 storeys is great’ – I have heard, but I dare not tell a boy or girl ‘You sound matured for your age’…what you have said is nice. Yes our gen made too much money too fast – and many of my friends do not know what to do with it. Kudos to V and P – smart way of keeping it under wraps in this age of Google and facebook..
V
Excellent Post Mr. S! It is a very lucid and compelling article.
As kids, we are subjected to listening to the almost rhetorical quote that you commenced your article with. In furtherance of the point that there is an ever widening gulf between the present generation and the stars of the yesteryear, my economics teacher pointed out that the younger generation is shaking some of the integral assumptions made by economists. For example, one classic assumption is that if the price of the commodity increases, the consumer would buy a lesser quantity of the good. The response of a young, ‘unfocused’ person would be, in stark contrast to that of his older counterpart, to augment his income to continue buying the same quantity, and if not more, of that commodity. I would also like to add that I’m not censuring the pious values of certain individuals, but am merely putting forth another point of view.
subra
V…such hi level of English. Darling have a heart, many of my readers do not read such hi English :). Sounds like a lawyer or a MA in English Literature. Nice to see the sms generation use words like ‘integral assumption’ and saying that an integer cannot be greater than the whole…or to say stark contrast ..also like the use of ‘stars of the yesteryear…
by the way thanks for the response..P was too embarassed that many people in her office recognised the post 🙂 but am to stubborn to remove the story. Have fun @ Sing
subra
by the way some updating..P says she has put on her 7-8 kgs! Moral of the story:
You have to have your OWN goals. It is difficult to lose weight to ‘please’ somebody else..so the weight comes back 🙂
Dhana
It never ceases to amaze me when one generation thinks the next generation has it easy. My mother would reprimand her peers chiding them for lumping current generations problems and next generations choices 🙂 Having said that, this video may be of interest to you: http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html