Monday, May 13, 2013

Be the best of the best ~Change begins at Home

I have been working on a software project in my office for the past two years. The project, like any other of its siblings, started with a bucket load of hopes. Everyone involved committed themselves to work laboriously and bring out the best product ever. 

And we did work hard. Really hard. I have been claiming to have given my best to the project. A few months ago I realized that I was so very wrong; that I had failed miserably.

With it also came the realization that it is not a lack of skills that reined us. But a lack of confidence in those skills.

And this is what happens every where with everyone here..

We have lagged behind so much that we are scared to even begin to catch up. We, as a nation, have settled for mediocracy.

We put in only as much efforts as are required to complete a task. Again, that is not because the venoms of lethargy run through our veins. But because we fail to recognize our own talents. The fear of loosing keeps us from dreaming.

A person who has the courage to challenge himself with even greater heights than he has already achieved is the person who will eventually defy all odds and emerge victorious. Unfortunately, we think that we can never be this person.

We have become accustomed of complaining about the government which determinedly keeps on forgetting its responsibilities. We are in the habit of swearing the foreign powers that have nothing better to do than to destroy an already self-destructing nation. And when left with nothing else to blame we turn towards load shedding to carry our burnt of failures.

All of the above may be the reasons. But the biggest reason is we, ourselves.

Being a software engineer, I can look at the many projects initiated by others and try to implement those technologies in Pakistan.

I can think up of innovative ideas.

But no. I limit myself. I don't try to bring about excellent products. I don't read up on what others are doing around the world to trigger my brain cells.

I try to be good. But I don't try to be the best.

I forget that I have a responsibility to be the best for my country. I forget that I too am working for my country. Whatever I do I represent my country. Whatever I do I may be helping my fellow countrymen.

If you are a teacher, think about how you doing your job, good or bad, is affecting the future of your country. 

If you work in  a local software house with local clients then you are helping your countrymen with a local product of international standards. Your clients, will then have no need to buy the same kind of product from outside Pakistan.

If you work in a internationally-based organization, your work and your conduct represent your country.

If you work in an organization with international clients; well, not to strike too fine a point but YOUR WORK AND CONDUCT REPRESENT YOUR COUNTRY.

Same goes for people who are living abroad.

If you are a blogger or a writer, be careful of how you represent your country. There is no need to lie. But if you talk about the negative aspects, talk too about the positive aspects. Instill hope in your Pakistani readers.

If we can't do our jobs honestly, if we can't be best at what we do, then we have no right to blame our government of being ignorant. And for that matter, we cannot blame the Pakistani sports team for their shortcomings. When it comes to cricket, we expect the team to represent our country by winning every match. Whereas, we ourselves shy away from representing our country.

We ourselves refuse to compete.



Note:
The article is in a series of articles by the name of "Change begins at home". Read other articles in the series:

1) Change begins at home

5 comments:

  1. We think that working for international clients is an honour it is really but serving our homeland is proud because we work for earning and everyone do so, but what we are doing for our homeland. Few people really face difficulties in representing themselves that is representing their own thing.

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  2. @arti

    yes, for some reason we fail to find any perfection amongst ourselves, amongst our countrymen; we only look towards others and whatever they do deems fit for us to implement as well.

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  3. And we do not learn from our mistakes.. mere identification is not enough.. constant proactive approach and correction is needed to be done. Also, we forget to give things their true importance.. may be because at that point of time they seem tiny/ not that urgent but they eventually gather as a hammer on our heads.

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  4. The most important thing is to identify what is failure? We fail when we:

    1, don’t know what we want
    2, don’t do what we know
    3, don’t set right expectations
    4, don't communicate effectively etc.

    I, myself, have faced many defeats and realized that failure is actually strength. It pushes you to achieve what you could not get in first attempt. It helps you to dream big, be fearless to take risks and plan better.

    You fail when you accept defeat. Successful people are those who fail to fail.

    20% of your effort gives you 80% of your results. To be the best, you must keep going until you have accomplished whatever you set out to do. Just keep trying and experimenting, there is nothing that can stop you.

    Always take risks, but calculated :)

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  5. @Salman

    Yes. That is also one of the reasons. We lose hope. First, we don't try. And if we try and lose we don't try again. We just become sore losers.

    We fail to realize that we need to move forward to reach our goal. And for that we first have to set a goal. Small or big, doesn't matter.

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