Get ahead in the Queue

The interviewer liked the initiative and ended up hiring him. Life is a series of opportunities to hone one’s skill of making great choices in life’s challenging situations.

Doing your best and taking an initiative will never let you down

A youngster came across an advertisement in the newspaper about a walk-in interview for a job to be held next the day starting at 8am, on a first-come-first-serve basis. He went to the interview venue the next day at around 7.15am, 45 minutes before the scheduled time. He was surprised to see that there were already 30 youngsters lined up in a queue.

He took his place in the queue, and started to think as to what he could do to optimise his chances of being hired despite the fact that he was the 31st in the line to be interviewed. He thought, and around 15 minutes before 8am, he wrote a note and handed it to the receptionist and requested her to give it to the interviewers.  The note read: I am Sanjay and am No 31 in the line. I request you not to make any decisions about hiring before you have interviewed me.

The interviewer liked the initiative and ended up hiring him. Life is a series of opportunities to hone one’s skill of making great choices in life’s challenging situations.

Learning to maintain dignity and calmness in challenging situations needs to be developed consciously. Whenever faced with challenging situations, anchor your mind to the thought that a choice can be made to deal with the situation by asking the question, what can I do to be my bestbest right now? To do this, we need to intensify the habit of making choices. Become more deliberate in living your life, starting with making choices in day-to-day things. Ensure that from today.

Before watching television you will consult the television schedule which is published in the newspaper, decide what you want to watch before turning on the television and stick to your decision. Ensure that what you watch increases your knowledge. When you go to a restaurant, go through the menu yourself and decide, instead of requesting your companions or the person waiting on you to decide for you. You can always ask for suggestions, but make sure that you make the decision as to what to order, after understanding the menu and getting a feel of what you would like to eat.

Empower yourself by volunteering your services to do more than what is expected of you. It could be volunteering yourself as an organiser of events at your workplace, or the locality where you live. Volunteering develops your ability to take on challenges and develop your ability to make decisions. Develop the ability to transform seemingly insignificant situations to something special, enjoyable, meaningful and memorable because of your conscious thinking and actions. Become the creator rather than merely being a spectator.

Be the one who constantly finds new ways to make life better for yourself and others. Learn from the character played by Rajesh Khanna in the movie Bawarchi, who teaches a family to treat each other with dignity. Watch the movie Lagaan. The character Bhuvan, played by Aamir Khan is a great role model. I assure you it will motivate and guide you to live your life by making the right choices.