The year of becoming ..

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.?We had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only”

?―?Charles Dickens,?A Tale of Two Cities

?This sums up the year for me. The dread and the hope we collectively experienced will stay with our generation forever – for we were sandwiched between the needs of our growing and ageing families and our turbulent businesses.

?The year has been a lesson in several dimensions of the human spirit – its hopefulness, fallacies and the most important – its resilience.

?Like all businesses, we saw work reduced to zero before it took off on rocket speed, we experienced the joy of having loyal clients who supported us and our work, of colleagues who worked off hours as they juggled life in general.

?We used the lean period to not brood but to lift ourselves up – to read and nourish our minds and intellect (that is what get us our mullah); decided to bring psychology closer to the world of business through our exclusive “Psychology to Business Memberships”?(https://quadrangle-consulting.mykajabi.com ); build more rigour?and system into our assessment tools; build deeper relationships with our clients; published a very important research (PAGE 77)??(https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/be-guide/the-behavioral-economics-guide-2021/) ?and resisted the urge to leave the boundaries of our identity in the face of, sometimes, fatalistic commercial challenges.

?But here we are – at the end of yet another era, all set to see a financial year closing that is sparkling like never before and probably has been the best in years. The lessons learnt, remain the same as each year

1.????Be true to what you stand for – don’t let financial pressure take you into directions that are not your core

2.????Go deep, build differentiating expertise ( it shows, it pays)

3.????Have a big heart – everything you do, every free advice, every free information – pays you back (provided it's done with a completely clean heart and intention)

4.????Build true partnerships and do what it takes to uphold the brand of the partner you represent

5.????Never be a “me too”

?On the personal front – I learnt how to get comfortable with making videos. it took over 5 years of a constant nudge from our marketing team (yes! I feel like @inceptionbusinessservices sits in next to me, in my office to get me out there). I am not very fond of my videos yet, but I am getting there.

?My tennis games are better because I am working on my “Other self “(courtesy – “The inner game of tennis”) and have better back and knees thanks to the “boring” gym sessions. My 10 (10.5 to be precise) year old is blooming into an overconfident bundle of “whys” – often spooking me with my own moral contradictions!?I can definitely cook more consistently as these months gave me a lot of practice.

?My search for good books remains endless and so is my search for good writing- (if you have good book suggestions, pass them on please). And oh, I must mention, I got myself a Netflix and a borrowed Hotstar subscription. I am now willing to trade some reading nights for watching nights, but conscious that I never want to tip the favour towards the latter.

?Moving on...

The year gave us a taste of solitude, amongst silent streets, blue skies and chirping birds and also brought home the human fallacy – of how easy it is to forget and return to old ways (of polluting our world, of the rushed agendas and days full of mindless social activities). And what a force “economics” of work is – how easily it sucks us back into the grind.

?I hope to keep my spirit and balance alive and in the “right place” in 2022. Hope you have a good one too!?

?Happy new year!?