Motivation
How was this miracle achieved? In fact the story behind this miracle too is very interesting. This entire feat was achieved by some, what we call, "mischievous street boys" of New Road. In order to create some funny moments and entertain people on the road, these mischievous boys had tied a bunch of "Rayo ka sag", a local variety of tasty spinach, on the tail of the bull. The spinach was placed on such a strategic location of the tail, that the bull could not grab it so easily. It was "So near yet so far". The bull was making all its efforts to grab it, trying his mouth to reach its tail, thereby making its whole body curved in round shape. His continuous efforts to grab the "Rayo ka sag" was producing a dancing effect. Because of severe strain the bull was exerting to reach its tail, it used to stop for a minute or two to take rest, and then started to dance again. The entire New Road crowd was standing on both sides of the road, enjoying this miraculous spectacle with loud roar of laughter. Alarmed by loud noise, the bull used to charge the crowd at regular intervals, people again running helter-skelter in all directions. I too was enjoying this grand show from the stairs of the restaurant and thinking how did they do it.
Dancing Bull with with a bunch of spinach tied on its tail
Hence, the modern method of management to get things done, has changed from "Chabuk (force) to Chabena (incentive in form of eatable)". It has now been understood clearly that the productivity can be increased by force only for some time being, but not on permanent basis. A person's own sweet will is the only alternative to increase productivity on permanent basis, and for that to happen, motivation is essential. The bull was dancing from his own sweet will, without any one striking him with a whip to do so. The motivation factor was eatable which was tied on its tail. Management experts were the street boys, who applied their brain imaginatively and devised a way to get things done.
Motivation can achieve miracles
Can you compel a bull to dance? A bull, dancing continuously for 1 to 3 minutes in circle, like an expert dancer, isn't it a miracle ? Can any one with whatever be the amount of force or physical torture, compel a bull to dance? Not possible at all. But I saw exactly this miracle happening, a few years ago, on the New Road of Kathmandu, Nepal. A few young street boys of New Road, had achieved this feat by applying their brain and motivating the bull to do so with its own sweet will, without use of any force or torture.
Long ago, they were the days when I frequently used to visit Kathmandu, in order to perform some of my business engagements. One day when I was walking on the New Road, one of the busiest and prominent road of Kathmandu, a strange thing happened. Suddenly there was a big commotion on the road, people started running helter-skelter in whatever direction they found some space. In the pandemonium that followed, I started to get body blows from all directions and being pushed backward by the crowd. I was unable to understand the reason of this sudden commotion, when suddenly I noticed a bull charging on the crowd and running in the same direction where I was standing. It was then that I realized the danger and panicked. There was no time to think any more and so, I too started to run along with the crowd. Almost about 2 minutes the bull chased us and then stopped abruptly. By then, I had climbed on the stairs of a near by restaurant situated on first floor of a building around the road. The entire New Road was deserted within seconds and was clearly visible now from the first floor of the restaurant. The only visible object on the road was the bull, which had stopped running and was looking towards its tail, trying to reach to the point where some object was tied on its tail. In order to grab the tied object, it started moving in circle bending its entire body & neck like some round object. It was a beautiful bull dance indeed, never seen before. The bull was moving in a rounded circle continuously for 2-3 minutes, trying to grab the tied eatable on its tail, stopping due to severe strain for some times and then starting to dance again.
How was this miracle achieved? In fact the story behind this miracle too is very interesting. This entire feat was achieved by some, what we call, "mischievous street boys" of New Road. In order to create some funny moments and entertain people on the road, these mischievous boys had tied a bunch of "Rayo ka sag", a local variety of tasty spinach, on the tail of the bull. The spinach was placed on such a strategic location of the tail, that the bull could not grab it so easily. It was "So near yet so far". The bull was making all its efforts to grab it, trying his mouth to reach its tail, thereby making its whole body curved in round shape. His continuous efforts to grab the "Rayo ka sag" was producing a dancing effect. Because of severe strain the bull was exerting to reach its tail, it used to stop for a minute or two to take rest, and then started to dance again. The entire New Road crowd was standing on both sides of the road, enjoying this miraculous spectacle with loud roar of laughter. Alarmed by loud noise, the bull used to charge the crowd at regular intervals, people again running helter-skelter in all directions. I too was enjoying this grand show from the stairs of the restaurant and thinking how did they do it.
Motivation can achieve miracles. Though I forgot this incident with passage of time, but the image of dancing bull remained stored in my subconscious mind. Today, when I recalled this incident again and tried to analyze it, one thing is clear. The children had unknowingly applied the biggest motivating factor to achieve this miracle. The "Rayo ka sag" tied on its tail was the biggest motivating factor that the bull was tasked to achieve, and in doing so, it presented a hilarious dance, which was the main objective of children.
Do you remember those dark days, when in order to achieve higher production in factories, employers used to exploit employees by putting all sorts of restrictions, curtailments of rights etc.? Instead of working for 8 hrs., workers were forced to work for longer hrs., no leave, no overtime, no PF, no bonus, no pension, no other social securities. The underlined reasoning behind this thought was - " If you whipped the horse hard, horse will run faster."
So they used to keep their employees on a tighter grip, whipping regularly with new restrictions, regulations, primarily aimed to increase the production without paying any extra money. Incentives in their eyes was wastage of money which eroded the profit. But how long you can go on whipping the horse continuously? The horse will run faster for some time on being whipped, but become slower and slower once the fear of whipping ceased. And there is every possibility that the horse will overthrow you if you go on whipping again and again. After all, fear too has a limitation and if you cross that " Lakshman Rekha", even fear effect becomes zero. Instead, the person starts hating you and becomes emboldened enough even to harm you.
How could we motivate some one? Well, the answer is, there is no any uniform method; you have to devise your own motivating factor and method in the context of person you desire to motivate. Finding a motivating factor, though appears to be difficult, but is not so difficult at all. In the offices, factories, administration and other working arena, most of the employees and professionals get motivated by incentives in the form of money & perks. Such incentives tied with targets can do wonders. However, it is to be noted that not all workers, professionals or authorities get motivated by money & perks alone. For some, who have reached upper layer of administration, money is not so important as the other factors like desire to achieve some higher posts, name, fame & some foot prints on the horizon of time. Do you remember the legendary Sir T. N. Sheshan, the famous Chief Election Commissioner of India, who changed the face of electioneering in India. Do you think the motivating factor behind whatever he achieved was money or perks? Not at all. He was motivated by call of his own inner conscience, that inspired him to take every possible measures to conduct free & fair elections all over India. Looting of ballot papers, ballot boxes, casting of votes by force, impersonation, prevention of voters from voting by Bahubali candidates, intimidation, firing etc. were common scenes in every election. Mr. Sheshan changed the entire face of electioneering within a short span of his tenure. It is obvious that sometimes arousing some one's conscience is a better way to motivate than to offer money & other perks.
How could we apply it in family & social arena? Motivating industrial workers, office employees, administrative officials and other categories of employees is a bit easier than motivating family members and social acquaintances. It is because we are closely related with such persons and money & perks may not be as much effective motivational factor as in other cases. Here, the motivational factors drastically change from money to love, affection, comfort, care, respect etc. If you want to motivate your kid, you have to identify his/her likes & dislikes, interests, area of comfort etc. and plan a strategy accordingly. With a lot of love, affection and encouragement, you can motivate him/her to achieve the target. For this to happen, you will have to gain his/her confidence by playing, story telling, working jointly on some funny project and by some other methods. Stories are one of the most powerful tool to motivate kids.
So far friends, relatives & other social acquaintances are concerned, you have to identify their true feelings and attitude, related to concerned issue. Encourage them to speak their mind by showing genuine love, affection, respect and concern to their problems. Tap their interests. Connect and build relationship. Appeal to their emotions. Motivate him to dream again and gradually encourage him to set a goal as well as a time frame to achieve it.
Conclusion : Application of motivation is not limited to industrial, business, administration or other commercial areas alone. Have you ever noticed, a new SP comes in a district headquarter and the entire gang of renowned criminals start fleeing the district? A new CEO comes in a company replacing the old one, and the loss making business unit starts making profit within a short span of time. A new political leader emerges on the horizon of nation and suddenly the same set of officials, bureaucrats start working & giving results, in fact the whole nation starts moving on the path of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Sports, Politics, Education, Health, Spiritualism, Religion, Defence, Police, Family, Society, you name any field where motivation can't be applied. Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Sister Florence Nightingale, Dr. Dwarka Nath Kotnis, Swami Vivekanand, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Adi Guru Shankaracharya, Param Vir Chakra recipient Maj. Somnath Sharma, Flying officer Nirmal jit Singh Sekhon, DGP K.P.S.Gill, IPS officer Kiran Bedi, Baba Amte, Sri Dhirubhai Ambani, Captain M.S.Dhoni, - there are numerous such names from various walks of our lives, who not only motivated people to achieve, but have left their imprints on the horizon of time. Why not read their biographies? It will be an interesting study to know how they motivated people.
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Very well written. Motivation makes impossible possible
ReplyDeleteVery motivating article.
ReplyDeleteMotivational article
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