BABIES CRY - YOU CAN, TOO!

There is a reason why it is called "baby steps". These are steps taken on wobbly but determined feet; steps with which you bump, eyes wide open, and straight into the center piece or under the table - wherever gravity decides to fling you. These are steps which after you tumble and stumble thanks to them, you use your hands for support as you grab the next object or person, to get back on your feet again (thanks, Michael Bolton). Have you noticed how embarrassingly annoying these falls can be? And how equally funny they are to the onlookers? No baby was ever deterred by falls and jeers. They cry because they are hurt - physically, emotionally, or psychologically, but they always take one or all choices - shuffle, struggle, crawl, cry or laugh to get back up and continue their “staggerthon”, after all, we do maintain aluta continua! Before long, however, with regular trips and falls, the steps transform to walks, and then confident strides; next, they break into a run and just before they start soaring, you see them up in the sky, flying like the eagle!

Babies do not have the monopoly of crying but then,tears do bring clarity. Have you stopped to wonder how great it is we grow from babies to adults and not the other way round? We would never have known the life benefits of tenacity, perseverance, and a positive mindset. Not forgetting the benefits of tears! Most people are stagnant because they won’t take that next step - afraid the world is watching to catch them fall, but forgetting that while struggling to get back up, the world's attention has since shifted to the next person who like them, just stumbled, and fell. If only we know how the world sees our falls and ego as history, maybe we will stop flashing them as breaking news! Stop trying to look sharp, prim, and proper like the pencil in the case. If you don’t allow people to write with you, bite your butt, stick you up their nose and ears, use you as a bookmark or weapon, and sometimes break you in two, how will you ever know how many ways in which you could be useful?

What stage are you at? Crawling? Stepping? Walking? Running? Flying? Soaring or just Floating. Any of these is okay if you are not lying down flat! Never be ashamed of taking those steps that will grow you into your career. Own your mistakes and be a better professional from them. Cry if you must – just ensure you achieve clarity when you are done! Use available resources - reports, peers, colleagues, and principals. Irrespective of your career level, hiding your shortfalls only stunts your growth. Better to cry out and get help, rather than sniffling and seeming arrogant! No party was ever fun with just one invitee! Learn to stop and lend a hand to that person struggling! There is a reason why we stand in line in hierarchy - when we fall forward, just that one person ahead of us can break that fall; but when we fall backwards, which is much more devasting, we do need as many people as possible behind us to catch us! When we learn to transform from a vicious cycle to a glorious cycle, that is when we realize that the person ahead is as important as the person behind – we all cry – as individuals, in groups or as organizations - tears without clarity is like sleeping but lacking rest!