Lessons from today morning.....

I had a tough day at the office yesterday. 

I goofed up a presentation. The fault was mine. For one, I was not in charge of the meeting. I ceded more space than I should have. Two, I was unprepared on a key point. Three, The area that I had focused got less importance in the meeting than I had wanted.

I got a bashing from my boss.

The meeting ended up on a negative note. It is never good if the meeting ends up negatively. You can have many a difference of opinion during the meeting. However, the meeting should always end up positive. People should leave the room smiling. That is rule number 1 on conducting the meeting. 

That is not what happened. The people left with rancour frustration and irritation.

And I was to blame since it was my meeting. 

Today I woke up depressed. All kind of negative thoughts passed through my mind. The overarching thought was about how I could have saved the day by avoiding only one topic. I felt tired. I did not feel like going to office. I thought of giving up and resigning from the company. 

I have come to realize that whenever I am depressed a bout of cool air and a bit of physical exertion bring back normalcy. So I took my cycle and went to the local market to have a cupo' tea. 

Since I had some time, I started looking around to see what was going on.

What I saw was action all around. Shopkeepers were busy opening the shops, customers were lined up in the shops that had opened, to buy milk and bread and stuff, autorikshawwallas were cleaning their vehicles, Mumbaikars with focus in their eyes going towards their first target, which is the 'Mumbai Local' to reach their final target, their workplace. NMMC 'Pourakarmikas', the Municipal workers sipping tea and warming up to their task of keeping the city clean and neat, the roadside vendors getting ready to con people into purchasing junk.....

Even crows and pegions were flying in, preparing to find food for them and their family...

Every one was preparing for a new day.

Don't these people also have frustrations?, I asked myself. Of course they have. Don't they feel an urge to skip the day and lie on the bed? Absolutely. Don't they have the urge to wallow in their misery and blame everyone and themselves? Sure.

Do they use that as an excuse to be depressed and be ineffective? No.

It is a new day. It is time for action. It is time for energy and enthusiasm.

I felt rejuvenated. I got inspired. I was raring to go to face a new day.

There was another perspective that I had. I am currently playing a new role that I have never played in my life. This is a new for my career and I am lucky to have a great boss who can understand me. However he also has some expectations from me. If I do not live up to his expectations, he has every right to get angry with me. I should not allow myself to be impacted by his outburst. I have to analyze the issue calmly and if I am at a fault, which I was in this case, I should learn and move on. My boss is like my teacher in this case. If he is irritated with me and shows his anger at me, I should accept it with all the humility of a student learning from his teacher.

Looking at the issue in this perspective, I felt better. Much better.

It is surprising what a good night's sleep and a fresh new day can do to you...

Don't they?