One Day I Decided to Quit...........

One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my
Spirituality... I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God. God, I said. Can you
give me one good reason not to quit His answer surprised me...
Look around, He said. Do you see the fern and the bamboo
Yes, I replied.
When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo
seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew
more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.
In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not
quit. In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would
not quit. He said.
Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the
fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the
bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing
roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I
would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle. He said
to me.
Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you
have actually been growing roots
I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.
Don't compare yourself to others. He said. The bamboo had a different
purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful.
Your time will come, God said to me. You will rise high
How high should I rise I asked.
How high will the bamboo rise He asked in return.
As high as it can I questioned
Yes. He said, Give me glory by rising as high as you can.
He will never give up on you!

Azim Premji's lessons in life

It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing about

life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to
leave you. As my hair turned from black to salt and pepper, and finally
salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of
youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the
lessons I have leant along the way. I hope you will find them useful
when you plan your own career and life.
The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our
strengths. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone focuses
on what is wrong with us. There is an imaginary story of a rabbit. The
rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop
very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got
high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were
concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it.
Concentrate on swimming."
They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened?
The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a
rabbit swim? While it is important for us to know what we are not good
at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only
our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.
The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more
value than five found. My friend was sharing with me the story of his
eight year-old niece. She would always complain about the breakfast.
The cook tried everything possible, but the child remained unhappy.
Finally, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of
those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour
water in the dish. After that, it took two minutes in the microwave to
be ready.The child found the food absolutely delicious! The difference was that
she has cooked it, herself! In my own life, I have found that nothing
gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is
gifted or inherited follows the old rule of 'easy come, easy go'. I
guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to
earn it.

The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time.
Life has many challenges. You win some, you lose some. You must enjoy
winning.But do not let it go to your head. The moment it does, you are already
on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way,
treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or
any one else for that matter! Accept it, look at your own share in the
problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is, when you
lose, do not lose the lesson.

The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility.
Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering
whether you deserve all of it. This brings me to the value ofgratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors have done so much for us that we can never repay them.Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be
perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent.When a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to
savour the memory of the good things while they lasted.

The fifth lesson I learnt is that we must always strive for excellence.
One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those better than
ourselves. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate it. But
excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the
need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only
our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a
habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem which says that your
reach must always exceed your grasp. That is heaven on earth.
Ultimately, your only competition is yourself.

The sixth lesson I have learnt is never give up in the face of
adversity. It comes on you suddenly without warning. You can either succumb to
self-pity and wring your hands in despair, or decide to deal with the
situation with courage and dignity. Always keep in mind that it is only
the test of fire that makes fine steel. A friend of mine shared this
incident with me. His eight-year old daughter was struggling away at a
jigsaw puzzle.She kept at it for hours but could not succeed. Finally,
it went beyond her bedtime. My friend told her, "Look, why don't you
just give up? I don't think you will complete it tonight. Look at it
another day." The daughter looked with a strange look in her eyes,
"But, dad, why should I give up? All the pieces are there! I have just
got to put them together!" If we persevere long enough, we can put any
problem into its perspective.

The seventh lesson I have learnt is that while you must be open to
change, do not compromise on your values. Mahatma Gandhiji often said
that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept
off your feet by the breeze. You must define what your core values are
and what you stand for. And these values are not so difficult to
define. Values like honesty, integrity, consideration and humility have
survived for generations. Values are not in the words used to describe
them as much as in the simple acts. At the end of the day, it is values
that define a person more than the achievements. Because it is the
means of achievement that decide how long the achievements will
sustain. Do not be tempted by short cuts. The short cut can make you
lose your way and end up becoming the longest way to your destination.

And the final lesson I learnt is that we must have faith in our own
ideas ... even if everyone tells us that we are wrong. There was once a
newspaper vendor who had a rude customer. Every morning, the customer
would walk by, refuse to return the vendor's greetings, grab the paper
off the shelf and throw the money at the vendor. The vendor would pick
up the money, smile politely and say, "Thank you, sir." One day, the
vendor's assistant asked him, "Why are you always so polite to him when
he is so rude to you? Why don't you throw the newspaper at him when he
comes back tomorrow?" The vendor smiled and replied, "He can't help
being rude and I can't help being polite. Why should I let his rude
behaviour dictate my politeness?

In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and was many times, a rebel
without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of
conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers!
Ultimately, we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we
respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most
appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are
still doing what the other person wants us to do.

Remember, those who win are those who believe they can.