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.