In looking back on my career and accomplishments, I believe I would not be the person I am today if it weren’t for my parents. My father would come home after working a long day to sit down and practice mathematics and English with me from 1964 to 1969. So, thank you for showing me what hard work looks like, for showing me that nothing comes easy, and for showing me that countless hours of hard work really do pay off.
I would also like to thank my mother for teaching me how to become a respectable, professional, and well-rounded individual. Whether I was helping her with cooking or cleaning, I thank my mother for making me realize that I’m worth everything in this world.
My parents gave me the strength to stand up for myself and expect nothing less than the very best, showing me true love in its rarest form, what it feels like, and how it can extend beyond life’s obstacles and challenges.
My parents taught me to have a clear goal before starting an activity and to have the self-confidence to complete a task within the limited time frame to cultivate time-management skills. My parent’s reassurance that I can do whatever I want to do in my career and make it implausibly plausible due to sincerity, sacrifices, and hard work. Since then, I notice after completion of each goal the positive outcome which is enhancing my self-confidence and increasing faith in my own abilities which leads to continuous success and producing a feeling of internal pleasure and happiness.
I can teach you through my early childhood as I learned from my parents. Goals entail circuitous paths that begin with achieving control over the contents of our consciousness. Our perceptions about our lives are the outcome of many forces that shape experience, whether positive or negative. Most of the forces that affect us are out of our control. It requires dedication, motivation, and hard work to be focused on accomplishing a goal. Elusive goals cannot be attained by a direct route. Every parent must spend time with kids to give them the self-confidence to tackle life’s hardships since this will always lead to success in life.
My mother was often telling real stories, telling those with moral values verbally so we could keep our undivided interest and enjoy listening. She would tell us stories about the monkeys that used to frequent the house of my grandfather, who was the head of the police department in Varanasi (its old name was Banaras), Uttar Pradesh, India. She described how they would take care of people and how they would make extra portions for the local monkeys. The virtue of being of help to others served as the seeds to my own moral compass leading to my leadership qualities and making me discover the traits considered significant to Natural Born Leaders (NBLs) which is an innate (hidden talent) skill set conducive to becoming a strong positive thinker leader. The NBLs are optimistic, selfless, and ready to sacrifice their own personal time, sleep, and money. They do not seek external rewards or glory.
I continued storytelling practice with my two sons for ten years almost daily between 1994 and 2003. The following article is published in “The Waiting Room Magazine,” by the International Association of Health Care Professionals (IAHCP).
