Are You Cheating Yourself?
Are you cheating yourself? Let’s find out…
Mahesh Jadhav is a Mechanical Engineering in his early 40s and teaches in a technical school (ITI) in Mumbai. His main aim in life has always been to earn money and move around in the company of rich & famous. However, with his present job he is unable to fulfill his dream. Over a lunchtime discussion with his colleague in the same technical school, he discovered that investing in share market is an easy way to generate quick money. He purchased a few shares using his bank balance and within a week he earned as much as 9%. This was much more than what his bank was offering him for fixed deposits. Within a month or so Mahesh liquidated all his bank deposits and investments in the stock market. He was earning much more after all. However, as it happens with many, his quick money making machine started sucking his money and he ended up exhausting all his bank deposits and in fact, even had to borrow from his friends for the day to day family expenses. He is somehow making the ends meet. He is no more interested in the stock market and is not open to any new idea.
Tarun Kumar, a budding journalist from Ranchi came to Mumbai in search of a better job with a leading newspaper. He stayed in shared accommodation with some of his colleagues and really worked hard to make his position in his company. And he did impress his seniors with his aptitude and passion to perform. Within 4 years after coming to a new city he was promoted to the position of Assistant Editor. He misses his parents, sisters, and friends back home but enjoys the daily grind of Mumbai city. Has made some new friends in office and also in the Mumbai local train. “Mumbai local”, he says, “is my constant companion and she knows where I wish to go.”
Sanjay Saxena, MBA (Marketing) from Kota, Rajasthan entered in his family business of garments trade after working for a few years in some private companies in Pune. The business was doing well and he was learning pretty quickly under the mentorship of his father and uncles who were running the business jointly. Sanjay, however, got bored and declared that he wishes to go back to Pune. He feels, “Pune has a special charm and I feel a magnetic pull towards the city”. He even convinced his seniors in the family that he won’t take up any other job and will continue this family business in Pune for 3 years. If he didn’t succeed, he will come back to Kota. Now in his 3 rd year in Pune, he is running a small coffee-shop which is always flooded with young boys & girls (his customers) where he sells 12 varieties of fresh coffee near a popular engineering college. He is not in his family business but his parents and seniors are happy with his choice.
Although the names mentioned above have been changed to avoid revealing their identity but don’t we all know many such Mahesh, Tarun, Sanjay and similar persons in real life? Some we call failures and some as successful or are on their path to success. Mahesh had a dream of becoming rich and so did Tarun & Sanjay had their own callings. However, we may see that today Mahesh looks like a failure and Tarun & Sanjay are struggling but doing pretty well. It’s not about the financial success, but they are at peace with themselves and are enjoying whatever they are doing.
What separates them are three factors… passion, belief & competency. Mahesh was passionate about earning money but did not have competency. After losing his money in the stock market, he even lost his belief. He did earn a few thousand initially but did nothing to learn the basics of investing. He was just a punter and not a serious investor. Serious investors study the companies, predict the future of companies based on their economics, Government policies & markets and then invest for long term. Mahesh just took a short-cut approach which was no more than gambling.
In contrast, Tarun wanted to make his mark among India’s big journalists. He soon discovered that it may not be possible by living in Ranchi and Mumbai is the right place for him. He is surely not living a comfortable life but his core competency and passion are taking him ahead. Sanjay on the other hand just wanted to stay in Pune. He didn’t have a clear plan. He even drifted from his previous plan of expanding his family business. But he had a core competency in doing a business, had belief over his abilities and of course a lot of passion… “magnetic pull towards the city”.
Now the original question, are you cheating yourself by doing whatever you are doing? Are you cheating yourself by not taking the much needed steps? Are you cheating yourself by not choosing uncomfortable options? Are you cheating yourself by listening to others who are still in the same soup? Are you cheating yourself by not enhancing your competency?
Think…
Prashant M Deshpande
28th Aug 18
About the Author – Graduate Chemical Engineer (Shivaji University Kolhapur – TKIET Warnanagar), Advance Diploma in Industrial Safety (Maharashtra Board of Technical Education –Mumbai), MBA Foundation – ICFAI Hyderabad, Certified Assessor, 25 years of comprehensive experience in Chemical operations , Safety management , Life Coaching and Mentoring.