The other day, I was invited to judge an elocution ceremony organised virtually by a prestigious school in Delhi NCR. It was really amazing to see how schools auditoriums which were earlier the epicentre of all such cultural events have transitioned online into virtual meeting rooms and hangouts. The entire online event was conducted seamlessly by the teachers, student council members and I can surely relate to the multiple practice sessions students must have gone through to pull off the event virtually. Students presented diverse perspectives, however, one quote that stood out was, “Don’t Adjust, The World Will”. This quote captivated my attention and made me ponder over the relevance of quotes and their impact on our lives, especially post covid-19.
Schools have not opened for a day in this academic season. There is a new education policy that has been announced. Most competitive exams like NEET and IIT JEE have so far not happened and the graduating batch of 2020 is mostly without placements. Most schools that I know of have reduced salaries of teaching staff by almost 50 per cent and there have been instances where the staff has been laid-off without any prior notice. Indeed these are challenging times for the world and if a negativity index was calculated the scores would definitely be depressing.
As a motivational speaker, I always use stories, quotes and powerful ideas to inspire people and definitely they work. “Don’t fit-in when you are born to stand out” is a fantastic piece of advice when you want to share a perspective with someone to focus on their uniqueness and about creating their own mark.
However, when the survival or existence itself is at stake, you may not look at this quote to stand-out. You will want to fit-in and that’s not a compromise you make, it’s a rational decision to choose what’s really important at that point in time.
Here’s how you can leverage the “power of quotes” to make your life better and avoid getting caught in the trap of quotes that make you doubt yourself:
1. Quotes by themselves don’t mean anything
Quotes that inspire, or the ones that don’t, are nothing but a sequence of words, conveying a message. It is the context in your life that makes the quote powerful or meaningless. It’s about you, not the words alone.
2. Quotes do not produce results themselves
Any positive thought or quote in itself will not result in an action or an outcome. They can trigger thought processes which can lead to actions and outcomes.
3. Quotes influence and relevance changes with time
As the life situation changes, the relevance and influence of a quote changes too! Yes, there are quotes that are suited for all purposes, however, mostly lose relevance or get substituted by a different quote over a period of time.
4. Quotes are part of your tool-kit, use with wisdom
A quote like “It’s ok to be a glowstick. Sometimes we have to break before we shine” can enable you to pull yourself up amidst challenges. However, a quote like, “take the risk or lose your chance” may trigger you in taking a chance that you may not be ready to take. Apply wisdom which one’s to use and when.
5. If positive quotes are unbelievable, try negative
A lot of times people come and tell me that it’s impossible to stay positive all the time. I understand and respect that and we all continuously swing between the two. However, if positive thinking is not helping, you can try out negative quotes. Sometimes, they work wonders!