I make intentions,
I think over,
And I break them,
In the fear of what will happen.
The Gardener was useless. I had to do everything by myself. I
asked him to clean the Autumn mess.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
He listened carefully and then apparently got to work.
“Sir, it’s done.” The gardener.
And when you recheck his done job. It’s always half done even
more carefully.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
Then you jump into details and instruct the gardener in a
harsh manner. Except you don’t twist his ears.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
………………………………………………………………………………
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“mmm…mmm!”
“How was your
interview?”
“I do not know the
answer of this question.” I told my friend the problem after interview.
“What question?”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“Say anything to avoid
the trap.” For my
friend, if there is any problem then it’s only in one’s head who is facing the
problem. It does not exist in reality.
“What anything?” I asked with irritation.
“Like you will take
over the company.”
“I will take over this
company.” I took my
friend’s advice in the next interview and the person there got scared.
“How?” The HR person asked me in a little
bit of horror.
“mmm…mmm…” And my reply made me embarrassed and
showed me the exit door of the company as usual.
“How to cater this HOW?”
I wanted to kill my
friend because he was taking my issue non-seriously.
“What how?” he asked me this question with a
blunt face and I told him what happened over the
interview.
“How will I take over
the particular company?” I asked him again.
“You don’t say that
exactly instead you should have said that, I see myself as a market leader. And
if you give me this opportunity you will see me emerging as one.” My friend said those lines with a
smile.
“And if he asks me
about my strategy?”
I tried to use my vocabulary in front of my friend to get the answer.
“I suggest you to stay
honest. Don’t become someone you are not. You don’t have a strategy.” My friend gave up on me.
“I don’t think that
far.” I tried to
come up straight in my next interview.
“Why?” The HR asked in astonishment.
“When the time will
come, I’ll see what options do I have and where should I go.” I felt like I have achieved the motto.
“What are your
interests?”
And those interests of mine never worked in that interview. Once
again, I asked my friend:
“What are they exactly
looking in a person during the interview?”
“Nothing, you just have
to cheat them. With brains. In fact, with bullshit. The more you speak bullshit
in good words the more easily you can cheat. The good the cheater you are, the
more they are comfortable with you. And finally you get the good news.” My beloved friend winked at me. After
watching and listening to him, I felt like he is one of those HR guys.
I decided to stick to what I was doing up till now during the
interviews. After a while I went for another interview where the person was
less cruel. In fact, he wasn’t cruel at all. After taking my interview or you
can say he just had a good conversation with me, he referred me to another guy
and said:
“Meet him. Just take my
name.”
I went straight to the referred person and he revealed the
secret of the question where do you see yourself in 5 years?
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years is just to check whether you are a person with a Vision in
life or you are a person who just wants a job to fulfill the formality, to eat,
sleep and drink with big money.”
“What’s wrong in that?”
“Everything. You should
be clear about your life. Plus, with that attitude you can only dream of big
money, and in reality you might become a beggar.”
“Can you come up with
an example?” I asked
him the question with a stubborn face. I really did not like what he said.
“Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
He had a Vision; of how the whole humanity can be saved from going in to Hell.
And how everyone can be guided to the path of Heaven. Our Prophet worked all
His life over this Vision.”
I could not blink my eyes for a while when he said those
lines.
“You can take the
example of Abdul Sattar Edhi in the present time.” I kept looking at him.
“And also Hakeem
Muhammad Saeed, who established Hamdard Dawa Khana.” I could not say a word.
“Only 5% human beings
in this world are born with a Vision. They are Natural Born Visionaries. If you
are not one of them, then you should work on having ONE. A clear picture of
what you want. I’m teaching Principles of Strategic Visions in this institute.
You can join for free.”
That time I ran away from him. But, the concept of Vision, that
word Vision, was something new to me. I asked few of my friends to know if they
have a Vision or not?
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“I would like to see
myself go up the ladder and progress in the organization. Get rich and diverse
hands on experience which will benefit me and the organization in the time to
come. Get exposure of as many departments and business lines as possible so
that I may have a better understanding, which will enable me to make my inputs
for the betterment of a company.”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“Canada.”
“I don’t know I’m tired
of my profession here.”
“As far as this
question is concerned, it depends on person to person.”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“Happily married with
two children.”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“In 5 year time, I want
to see myself at a role that offers me more power in decision making and lets
me exercise more control while at the same time I want to be a source of
spreading knowledge by passing my experiences on to the people working beneath
me. My current goal is to learn as much as I can and only knowledge and
learning will give me wisdom to see myself where I want to be in 5 year time.”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“May be somewhere out
of this country.”
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“I will set up three
businesses, locally and internationally.”
At least my friends got something. Though they were not
Visionary.
I got tired of this question. In my next interview I lost my
temper over this question that was asked with a little difference:
“Where you will be in 5
years?”
“Are you still stuck to
this question? This question has become obsolete.”
“Who told you it has
become obsolete?”
“You guarantee my life
for the next 5 years, I’ll give you an answer.”
The interview went real bad and after facing too many
destructions in my efforts, I decided to workout over Visions. I joined the
workshop. Over there I came to know that for the whole time I was only worried
about a drop of water:
“let me tell you one thing clearly. It
is not a career oriented workshop, as many people perceive that way. It is
completely about your life. Career is just a part of it. We are just here to
remind you how to achieve excellence in each department of your life. Realize what
roles we all have and at what level those roles should be performed. Vision is
all about covering all the departments of life. Personal, Family and
Professional. Look at every department of life comprehensively because lack of
knowledge, leads to wrong priorities.
Shape a great Vision.
Your very own Vision. Because if you don’t, someone else surely will. Don’t
become a victim of someone else’s Vision. In doing so, you must remember, all
is not fine without a clear Vision. First lay the foundation, then start with
the efforts.
Those who say they don’t know what they want; they definitely
know what they don’t want.
So the things is,
When you don’t know where you want to go; then you surely end
up there where you never wanted to go, where you never wanted to be.
Resources don’t matter.
Create them. Explain yourself the main idea and divide the Visions into number
of years. Like if the Vision is of 50 years, then break it down for your ease.
Your time, your money, your life; all you need is greatness to proceed in your
Vision.
By the end of this
workshop you will get to know your:
Vision, what do you want?
The Purpose of Vision, Why do you want it?
And the Strategy, How are you going to achieve it?
You must and you should
remember that your particular Vision must and should be based upon
a Sound
Ideology.”
After attending the 3 day workshop of Visions I realized very
strongly that why up till now I have wasted my life in running after all those
things just because the rest of the world is running after them. I never ever
worked upon my Vision and so, I considered myself as a Non-Visionary Person
(NVP). And when you’re one, trust me it’s very sad. It becomes impossible to
get up early every morning for anything. Even if you have to deal with your
gardener, it will be a very big deal then because, the gardener will never
listen to you instead, he will pay attention to those who are Visionary.
The gardener was useless. I had to do everything by myself. I
asked him to clean the Autumn mess.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
He listened carefully and then apparently got to work.
“Sir, it’s done.” The gardener.
And when you recheck his done job. It’s always half done even
more carefully.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
Then you jump into details and instruct the gardener in a
harsh manner. Except you don’t twist his ears.
“I want that corner of
the garden.”
And when you are done with the soul killing experience you
get back to those who were also with you during that whole time you were busy
instructing the gardener.
“Why do you want that
corner of the garden?” I replied to my nephew who asked me the third time about that corner of
the garden. The gardener was very keen in providing him that corner.
“I want to plant a tree
over there.”
“We will…” That was the gardener.
“Why do you want to
plant a tree in that corner? I asked my nephew that question and when he replied in a
very determined tone, I got the point in an instant why the gardener was
halfheartedly cleaning the Autumn mess and why he was showing keen interest in
providing my nephew that corner.
The little world was Visionary, unlike me and that was the
Power of Vision. Though, the Vision was not based upon Sound Ideology.
“Because that corner is
safe for a tree to grow money instead of leaves.”
……………………………………………………….
“Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?”
“I’ll let you know but
first you need to inform me with:
What is the Vision of this Company?
The Purpose of that Vision?
How is this Company going to achieve that Vision?
On what Ideology the Company’s Vision is based upon?
And in the next 5 years where does this Company see itself?
The HR guy could not blink his eyes for quite a while when I
said those lines.
