Last year, during my morning cycling, I was hit from behind by a speeding vehicle and my right wrist was crushed into pieces. Within a few days after the surgery, I started with my daily walking primarily to overcome the pain, slowly it became my routine. 20 Kms of cycling was replaced by 6 kms of walk. I was joined by a friend from my neighbourhood a couple of months ago. He started his walking as he was diagnosed with Left Ventricular Hypertrophy caused due to high blood pressure over a period of time. Along with medication, he was advised by his doctor to walk regularly as his blood pressure reading was 200 (Systolic)/100 (Diastolic). He was very sincere and helped me regularize my walk on Sundays too, I generally skipped walking on Sundays.
Over the last couple of weeks, he didn’t join me for the walk. Initially he was highlighting the heavy workload at work, and upon further questioning, I realised his blood pressure had reduced to ~110/80. His discipline and medication helped him to get things under control. What seemed to be a serious issue a couple of months back was no longer a concern. I could clearly see proximal reward taking centre stage and in turn leading to the idea of quitting once his health started to improve. It’s not something unusual, we generally put in phenomenal efforts to get out of a dire situation, but once things improve, we generally relax and assume everything is resolved.
This incident took me back to my school days, whenever my marks went below the threshold set by my parents in any particular subject, I’d immediately start focusing on that subject with utmost sincerity and rigour, but that used to be a knee-jerk reaction. I would get back to my usual ways, the moment I believed things were under control. Generally, things tend to slip away only when we get into our comfort zone. I’ve experienced this throughout my business development career. Even though you believe things are under control, always expect the unexpected. You will not know when the tide will turn against you.
Quitting is not bad, it is about quitting at the right time. “Winners quit all the time. They just know when to quit the right stuff at the right time.” – Seth Godin.
Few things that I practice, some of these are learnt from my mentors/ well wishers
-
Before quitting ask yourself, WHY? you started
-
Always expect the unexpected – this doesn’t mean being pessimistic, it’s about being prepared for the worst – WHAT IF?
-
No one can identify and tell you when you are getting in to your comfort zone – please keep a tab on your behavioural changes
-
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch
About the Author
Sriprakash Nadadhur Sridharan is the author of Building Blocks and has over 20 years of experience in business development, consulting and marketing. He is the founder of Prajna Consulting, a boutique consulting firm, helping clients on marketing and strategy. His journey includes working in leadership roles at MTR Foods, Nielsen and IBM. To his credit, he set up India’s first youth consulting firm and was part of the core team that set up the FMCG park at Hubli.