The Element of Multiple Paths and Its Hope for Understanding There are Solutions and Answers Out There

I was an advertising copywriter.  One of the things I took away from being an advertising copywriter was understanding there are multiple ways to solve a problem.

When I was given an ad to create, I had to come up with many different ideas.

I could not show up to a review meeting with just “one idea”.  I could not say, “Here is my idea. Take it or leave it”.

Coming up with several different ideas was a required part of the job.  If you could not, or would not do that, you would be shown the door.

So each time I was given an assignment, I had to put on my thinking cap. I would have to have faith in myself I would be able to generate a variety of ideas.  I do not exaggerate when I say that on some campaigns, I had to produce 50 different ideas from start to finish. Phew!

An idea had to be liked by many different people at the agency and many different people at the client company.

So it had many chances to be shot down.

Sometimes, even if everyone at the agency agreed we had a hit on our hands, it would bomb at the client’s end.

And so, it would be back to the drawing board for everyone.

The plus side to this, I discovered, was that a great idea might be waiting just beyond the next rejection.

This was the case with my Fiesta Condoms campaign.

This campaign – which was the high watermark of my career - the one which opened the most doors for me– came out of being sent back to the drawing board again and again.

One of the other copywriters actually came out with the idea of associating the different colors with different days of the week.  The GM thought the idea had merit but needed to be written right.

I was able to take a weak idea and turn it into a strong idea.

The Fiesta campaign taught me all of the following lessons….

A weak idea can become a strong idea.

The road to victory is littered with failures.

There is infinite wisdom in the saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

We may achieve only one or two big victories in life, but we will experience many small victories.

There will be multiple opportunities and paths to success; and success can come out of anywhere.

I think this is the most important take-away.

There will be multiple opportunities and paths to success; and success can come out of anywhere.

The Fiesta campaign was after all, taking someone else’s idea and doing something with it.

This, as it turns out, is a well-known path to success.

Think Bill Gates and SCP.

Or Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss brothers.

We should never be so arrogant as to reject an idea just because it did not originate with us.

But there will be other paths.

Taking someone else’s idea and doing something with it is not the only one.

Let’s look at some other paths to success.

Dr. Suess’s Path to Success

For Dr. Seuss it was a challenge.

Dr. Seuss's real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.

He had to go undercover and become “Dr. Seuss” after he was expelled as Editor in Chief of the Dartmouth Jack o Lantern for hosting a drunken dorm party.  To continue writing for the magazine, he adopted the pseudonym Dr. Seuss and sent in his submissions under that name.  When William Ellsworth Spaulding of the Houghton Mifflin publishing house challenged Seuss to write a book using only 250 words which William thought were important for first grade students to learn, Dr. Seuss wrote “The Cat in the Hat” which became an instant best-seller. 

So you see Dr. Seuss’s Path to Success included an exciting and unusual challenge.

Now it might be vain of me to think you might be interested in knowing about Minoo Jha’s Path To Writing, but if you are, I can point you to the post, The Element of Discovering Yourself through Writing and Its Hope for Learning About Life.

While we are on the subject of Paths to Writing, I would also like to share with you the chief highlights of my friend Ajay’s Path to Writing:

Ajay was working on his novel when he received this request from his friend Minoo -” Ajay, do you think you could write a guest post for my blog?  In response, Ajay penned the delightful “The Wonderful World of P.G. Wodehouse”.  Minoo came back with a second request, so Ajay then wrote A Short Stint in Advertising about his MAA days. And Minoo came back with a third request and Ajay wrote this piece on cricket.  And then to keep Minoo quiet once and for all, Ajay followed that up with his imaginative and charming 3 part post on Bangalore - Oh Bangalore, now available as an Amazon book. So that has been Ajay’s path to writing so far.

Are you a professional or hobbyist writer? What has been your path to writing so far?

The Path to Becoming a Better Person

My path to becoming a better person started with my mother’s death and my desire to become as gentle a person as she was.

I had had terrible anger issues up until then and my mother’s death was my wake-up call.

My post How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? tells you about my successful conquest of my anger issues and my post Its Called Motherhood 2 tells you about the positive impact it had on my parenting.

Are you on a path to becoming a better person?  What are the big and small victories that have marked your journey?

The Path to a Spiritual Awakening

Everyone’s path to a spiritual awakening will be different.

For Diogenes, it was when the Delphi Oracles commanded him not to adulterate the political currency. 

For Augustine, it was hearing a child’s voice sing: “Take and Read.  Take and Read."

For Chuck Colson, it was serving a jail term for his part in the Watergate Scandal.

For some it will come from an illness, loss, or near death experience.

As for me, after being an atheist for most of my life, I started being drawn to the spiritual life some years ago and I now lead a rich spiritual life in which there’s a place for God and for meditation and for attending Bible Study and for believing in the power of prayer.

Are you on a path to a spiritual awakening?  What are some of the things you have understood as a result of being on a new path?

The Path To Fitness

And then there’s the Path To Fitness.

To each his own.

If you want to be inspired, read Spartan Up by Joe De Sena.

The road to fitness has been marked by many different milestones in my life.

Doing aerobics with Kamlesh as I mention in my post about my depression, If Life is So Good Why Do I Feel so Sad?

Working out at the gym.

Going for long walks.

Now it’s mostly going for long walks.

And on the “what to eat” side, trying to follow the advice of my friend Julia. 

We could all benefit from following Julia's sound advice which is why I dedicated this post to it.

What has your Path To Fitness been marked by?  Would you benefit from participating in a Spartan Up program?

The Path to Self Confidence

I laugh when I think about the adolescent Minoo. I was so awkward and shy. If anyone came to our house and I was alone at home, I would not answer the door.  I would let the doorbell ring and ring.  If they came around the side of the house to peep through the windows, I would duck and hide. I wanted them to think nobody was home and to leave. Often, I would get caught out, because a family member would arrive just as they were leaving and then I would have to open the door anyway.  “Minoo, why didn’t you open the door for X?” the family member would scold when I opened the door.  I would be completely tongue-tied and would skulk away.  I was so completely tongue-tied in front of people, I could go to a party and not say a single word during the entire evening. I liked to dance.  And I could dance quite well, so I was relieved to be asked to dance, but the minute I was off the dance floor, I would be back to not being able to utter a word. Now when I look back, I can only think "wow -from where to where".  I wouldn't say I am so brave I can go up in front of an audience and deliver an impromptu speech; but I would definitely open the door to someone and I would have no problem getting into a conversation with them.

What has been your path to self-confidence?  Aren't you proud of how far you’ve come?

The Path To Peace

And finally, before I conclude this post, I would like to touch upon the Path to Peace.

For me, being at peace is an outcome of accepting whatever happens and going with the flow.

Learning to meditate has been a big part of it.

My post Connected Minds tells you about how I learned to meditate and all the wonderful things that have flowed from it.

Are you on a Path to Peace?  What would you be willing to give up for it?

As always thanks for reading and have a great day and week….M….a Pearl-Seeker like you.  Thanks to everyone who commented, liked, shared, or pinned my last post  The Element of Breaking Through to a New Level and Its Hope for Understanding As It Was in the Past, So it Will be In the Future. Much appreciated.

The Element of Breaking Through to a New Level and its Hope for Understanding As it Was in the Past, So it Will Be in the Future

Lessons from a Postal Delivery Lady:

The lady who delivers my post taught me these 3 valuable lessons in personal efficiency:

Familiarity breeds speed.

Experience leads to ideas.

A system can save you time.

Whenever the postal delivery lady went on vacation, these lessons would become painfully clear to me.

There was a day and night difference between her speed and efficiency, and whoever it was who was substituting her.

First, the substitute would be late in getting to our apartments because the route was unfamiliar. Then after they got to the apartments, they would take twice as long, (sometimes even three times as long) to get the mail into our individual boxes.

They did not know which mail belonged in which box (there are 40 boxes and each box is identified only by a three digit number).

Also, they did not have a system to get through the mail efficiently like our regular postal lady.

Our regular postal lady had been delivering mail to our apartments for over 10 years and had developed a time-saving system:

First she would open all 40 mail boxes. 

Then she would put the generic junk mail in all the 40 mail boxes.

Then she would put our individual mail in our individual mail boxes.

Then she would lock all 40 mail boxes and she would be done.

Whereas the substitute would open the first mail box, put the junk mail in, then put the individual mail in, then close it and then move to the second mail box - a process which would take double or triple the amount of time. 

Whether we are gardening or cooking, whether we work as an engineer or a house cleaner, whether we are engaged in creating a piece of art or a bottle of wine, we have the capacity to break through to a new level which is faster and better. 

How do we know we have the capacity to do this?

As is the past, so is the future.

We have done it before …..we can do it again

We can break through to a new level in a new activity…

as we gain familiarity….

as we gain experience…

as we gain exposure and knowledge.

We just have to stay committed.

By committing to publish a new blog post on Minoo Jha Life Strategies every Sunday, I have broken through to a level of writing productivity I was not able to accomplish even during my advertising copywriter days.

This in spite of facing both time and resource crunches in getting these Sunday blog posts out.

Often the weekend comes round with and I have no idea to go on and little chunks of time here and there to get down to business.  Sometimes I am laid low with a migraine for part of the weekend as well.  But since I have internalized the idea “the show must go on” I somehow manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat every week. And familiarity and experience of course are making the job easier and easier as time goes by.

Can you copy my example in any way? Commit yourself to doing or producing something on a specific day every week without fail.  Give it a shot and see for yourself how much more you are capable of.

Don't let time or resource crunches faze you.

In my post, The Element of Constraints and its Hope for More Creative Solutions, I give you several examples of breakthroughs which resulted from time and resource crunches.

The post which tells you how I came up with the idea of Avocado Pani Puri is well worth reading because producing something with a time or resource crunch is breaking through to a new level in itself.

What time and resource crunches are you currently facing and what creative options can you think of to deal with them? Put your mind to it and it may help you to break through to a new level of productivity. Read The Element of Constraints and its Hope for More Creative Solutions for inspiration if you need to.

What are the two best sentences to trigger a breakthrough?

For me, it's when someone says: “I don't get it” or “I don't understand it.”

When people say this, I am forced to think of alternative solutions. 

This is what happened during my White Hat Security assignment.

From the reps to the VP of Sales and Sales Ops Director, I would hear the same complaint again and again, “I don’t understand my commission statement”.

This complaint was like a bug in my ear.  It kept buzzing and buzzing, intruding on my thoughts at inconvenient times, waking me up in the middle of the night.

So much so, “How could I change the statements so they would be able to understand them better?” was the persistent question on my mind.

I began to research the subject on the Internet. In doing so, I discovered a gold mine of Excel tutorials on the Internet - which not only helped me design new commission statements for White Hat Security, but to break through to a new level of Excel. I started using Sumifs and Advanced Filters and Conditional Formatting and Macros, moving beyond Vlookups and Pivot Tables.

Are there any “I don’t get its” you are ignoring?  Can you start researching the internet for solutions?  Would that result in you breaking through to a new level in an area in which you thought you had plateaued?  Give it a shot.

Breaking through to a new level always involves other people's inputs for me.

Whether it’s hearing other people’s complaints, “I don’t get it”; or getting other people’s opinion or advice.

I created my most celebrated advertising campaign because the GM of MAA Communications kept insisting, “I still think associating the days of the week with different colors is good. The idea just needs to be reworked”.

The more specific the input from someone, the better is the chance for a result.

When it comes to life decisions, input can be critical, because we may need to break through to a new level of thinking to deal with whatever issues we are facing or decisions we are finding it hard to make.

My friends and family have helped me break through to a new level of thinking by providing valuable input at many decision-making or critical juncture times.

In my post The Element of Being Less Self Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in the Correct Light, I tell you how my friend Nadya helped me break through my habit of seeing everything through a self-centered set of glasses.

In Family Advice I am Grateful for, I tell you about inputs from my family that have been stepping stones at other times. 

If not for outside input, I would not be a Commissions Consultant today.

When I quit my full-time Commissions Analyst job in 2010, I was uncertain about what to do next.

Outside input was the key to making me understand what I wanted to do, as well as what to do next.

My friend Julia said to me, “Minoo, what you need to figure out is what you really want.  If you figure that out, you can focus and craft your strategy.”

“What do I really want?  Hmm…..that was a good question.  What do I really want? ”

After thinking about that for a few days, the answer came to me.

“I don’t mind doing anything at all as long as it’s temporary.” I felt I didn’t want to be a part of corporate life with its performance reviews and “butts in seats” and town hall meetings anymore.

“Aha….I could be a Commissions Consultant. That would be the answer.”

Almost at the same time, I came up with the idea of “what to do next,” With the input of my sister Rosie, I came up with the idea of doing the Xactly Administrators Course on my own dime. You can read my post Advice from People We Love to Hate for the details.

Are you in the habit of trying to solve everything yourself? Whose input can you get on the problem?  Make it a regular habit of listening to people and sharing your dilemmas with them.  You never know what nuggets of wisdom you may get.

The wonderful thing about breaking through to a new level is that suddenly the impossible becomes possible.

Even if we are a tortoise, we can win the race.

Even if we are a David against a Goliath, victory can be ours.

Even if we have tough handicaps, we can still thrive.

My post How To Let Nothing Come Between You and A Fulfilling Life highlights some of the people who have not let what they lack get in the way of their dreams.

What can help you break through to a new level of thinking so you do not let what you lack get in the way of your dreams?

I am proudest of my achievements in breaking through to a new level of emotional, behavioral or spiritual maturity.

Such as being able to stop being a Tiger Mom and a Helicopter Mom.

And being able to conquer my anger issues.

And being able to respond without ego to challenging situations.

When we break through to a higher level of emotional maturity, we don't make situations worse by over-reacting to them and saying and doing things we regret. I was tested by such a situation just this past week.

Here's the story....

In my current assignment, I have had to take on many new activities, some of which are completely unfamiliar to me. On one of these new tasks, I was given just 15 minutes training in the processes and I did not have a proper understanding. So when a meeting was called in which I was to explain the processes to two people who would be taking over the task from me, I couldn’t remember the steps clearly at all.  I fumbled and stumbled and the meeting organizer decided to call an end to the meeting and reschedule it for the following day. An e-mail complaint to my manager followed, the gist of which was “Minoo does not know how to do x task which we are supposed to be taking over from her.”   My manager asked me about it soon after: “Minoo, is it true you do not know how to do x?  He answered his own question before I did, saying “I know you do, I think you are just overwhelmed.”  I said “Possibly. I have too much on my plate and I am never get able to get caught up because new things are being added even before I can get caught up.” Several good things came out of me fumbling and stumbling at that meeting.  A person was assigned to retrain me in the task.  She spent an hour with me to make sure I understood it thoroughly.  My manager took some of my tasks off of my plate. And the very next day I was able to make a professional presentation to the two people who were to take over the task from me and the previous day's events were completely forgotten. But what I am most proud of is that throughout all of it, I never let my ego rear its ugly head.

Yes, our greatest victories are when we break through to a new level of emotional, behavioral or spiritual maturity.

What does breaking through to a new level of spiritual maturity mean?

It will mean different things to different people.

You can read what it means to Rick Warren here. 

What it means to me is to be more and more concerned with matters of the spirit. My meditations have helped.  Thanks to becoming more spiritual, I am able to see the magical in the ordinary, to see the precious in everything and everybody, and to understand that I am my own worst enemy, even while having compassion for myself.

Breaking through to a new level of anything means recognizing who or what the obstacle or enemy is; the enemy is not always who we think it is or who we blame; the enemy is usually our ego, and the fear and greed and doubt associated with looking out only for ourselves; but guess what, whatever the enemy is - fear, or greed, or doubt, or a substance, it is only in the short term that it may seem tough or impossible to deal with, in the long term victory can be ours – we just have to believe it.

How can you break through to a new level of spiritual maturity? Who can help you?  Read my post Connected Minds for inspiration.

I really do know wherever you are at or whatever you are going through, you can break through to a new level.

My Happy New Series of posts is a cheerleading series targeted at cheerleading you on in your efforts to break through to a new level in whatever area of your life you need to most.

Happy New Cheer focuses on fun and entertainment.

Happy New Dear focuses on intimate relationships.

Happy New Career on getting ahead professionally.

You can check out the whole series of 12 posts – either on Pinterest or on this blog.

I will end with these wise words from Shanon Alder which stresses the importance of seeking authentic input from others in order to break through to the next level:

“Breaking through to the next level requires you to know the truth about your current level.  If you don’t find the right set of eyes to see through your bull, you will always be surrounded by friends that will tell you white lies because they like your company and don’t want to ruin the evening.”

If you are anything like me, you are too old for BS.

As always thanks for reading and have a great day and week….M…..A Pearl-Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay, Chris and Jacinta for their comments on Facebook and thanks to the rest of you for your votes and pins.  Much appreciated.