I’ve been a very proactive kid in sports, business & extra curricular activities… But I’ve been a underperforming student… My whole capacity was measured based on my academic performance… My own parents crushed my dreams, and pushed me to put that extra effort to excel in what I was not good at(Studies)…
The stigma of being a poor performer in academics made me;
- Low in self esteem.
- Low in self confidence.
- A comedy stock.
- Live being bullied by above average kids.
- Live a life of frustration.
Things I was forced to QUIT!!
Sports: I was a naturally gifted athlete & sports person which came from my maternal grandfather, maternal uncle and my mother. Sports Day is the only day I felt like a hero. I had dreams of building a career as a footballer or an athlete. But I was forced to quit because of academic performance.
Fish Breeding: At the age of 12 I started breeding fish at home and was selling to local kids. Made around ₹2000 a month during 1992. My parents forced me to quit, as they believed earning money would bring down my interest in academics.
HDK Dealership: Those were the days of audio cassettes. People use to buy empty cassattes to record their favorate songs. A 90 minute empty cassette costs ₹40 and I use to buy those cassettes to record songs. HDK(or HDC? Could collect the name) was the market leader for its quality!!
One day thought of taking dealership for HDK as local shops were selling low quality cassettes.Immediately wrote a letter to HDK asking dealership. I got a response from them telling they didn’t have a dealership option. But they offered to give a cassette for ₹20 if I could place an order for 100 units. The total investment was ₹2000 and my parents had the money I earned through fish breeding. Again they didn’t give that money and discouraged me to continue..
Movies: My interest on studies was drastically coming down as I couldn’t cope up. Got an opportunity to become a troop dancer in movies. Again I was not allowed to continue as movies are not considered as a career option for person coming from a reputed family..
Finally I took a stand that I wanted to become an entrepreneur when I was 20 and perceived with great difficulties. But I had to come across a lot of junks like;
- Emotional Blackmail from closed ones!!
- Discouragement from closed ones & friends!!
- Pessimism from incompetent stake holders!!
- Crooks who try to cheat or exploit!!
It is impossible to totally eradicate such people. But I do following things to remove those junk take over me;
- Associate and Hang-around with Movivated and Like-Minded people!!
- Watch motivational movies!!
- Listen to motivational songs!!
- Read success biographies!!
This is what I do to “Clean House of Junk”…
AnandNataraj 