Self-Motivation

Dear Readers,

In this writing, I am going to write about a person, Siddharth Jayakumar, who overcame all the obstacles in his life and proved that “Impossible is Nothing” in real life. Read this inspiring real story to get inspired and to inspire others. Read it to believe it.

Why this topic?

First time, I came to know about Siddharth just few weeks ago through Sashikanth of HR Sangam.

I’ve heard and read about success stories;  For the first time, I’ve listened to the success story of someone directly from the person himself.  He spoke for about 90 minutes about his life struggles right from childhood and how he overcame them.  A very touching and inspiring true life story.

He is a person who just defied the societal biases and prejudices.  Someone who stood up against all the odds. Someone who has conquered himself and made others to take notice of him.  His determination and never-give up attitude is like a mountain.  To me, he epitomizes what self-motivation is all about in its truest sense.

I wanted to write about such a person who keeps inspiring others just by the way he overcame all his obstacles and the way he lives his life in a successful manner.

Thanks to HR Sangam Team and especially  Sashikanth Jayaraman for organizing such wonderful program.

Who is Siddharth ?

Photo source - HR Sangam

He is working as Dy. Manager –Trade Services Operations with IDBI Bank, Chennai.  He earlier worked with ABN Amro Bank, now called as RBS.

He holds MA in Economics with flying colors.

He scored 100% in Computer Science and 197/200 in Mathematics in his HSC.

He has received many Awards for various achievements at a very young age.

Then what is the problem?

In spite of all the above achievements, he could not get an opportunity to attend any interviews.   

The reason – He is a person with Cerebral Palsy.

A clear denial of a fair opportunity which would have helped him to prove himself.   He was just summarily rejected in all the places.

Cerebral Palsy is a condition wherein there is lack of co-ordination between the brain and body resulting in involuntary physical movement, unclear speech etc., 

He was born absolutely normal like any other human being.  He was affected by jaundice when he was a new born child.  Since he was born in a rural area, he could not get proper medical treatment which affected his brain leading to Cerebral palsy.  It created problems and challenges that are unthinkable.  Even his parents could not know what the real problem was till he turned 9 years.

He had to struggle and face so many challenges to reach where he stands now.  His life has been full of challenges.

  

Siddharth single-handedly fought against all the societal biases & prejudices and found a place for himself.

More than anything else, according to me, he fought with his own self in terms of learning and unlearning constantly and continuously with pain and single-minded determination. He is a conqueror of his own self.

My Personal learning:

There were many learning but I would like to write about few points that I personally liked very much.

1. Determination like a Mountain:

It took 10 years of practice to speak how he does today.  The minds speaks faster and if the body does not respond as fast as the mind, there is a lag resulting in unclear speech.  So he had to adjust his mind to the speed of the body to speak clearly.  He defeated the problem rather than allowing the problem to defeat him.   I see here immense amount of determination and never-give up attitude.  Anybody would have very easily given up.

A painful process and practice of 10 years reminds of 10000 hours of practice to become an outlier in what you do (Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell).  To me, Siddharth is an “Outlier”.

He got flying colours in Academics.  The challenges he faced were not in studies but in giving life to it at exams.  He had to depend on the Scribes. But, sometimes when you get a scribe who does not know English, how to make them understand and write the exams for you.  He did all that by spelling each and every letter.  An unthinkable task for all of us.

2) Move away from “Comfort Zone”:

Many of us enjoy being in Comfort Zone and sometimes, we are not even aware that we are in it. Everything that we want in our Life is outside our “Comfort Zone”. 

Siddharth has pushed himself away from his Comfort Zone.  He had a choice to accept the “Sympathy” of everyone.  He had a choice of taking up any job that came his way.  He had a choice of staying back at ABN AMRO where he knew everyone and everyone knew him.  But he consciously moved out of his Comfort Zone at every point of his life to explore new challenges and opportunities.

At no point of time, he chose to be in Comfort Zone and constantly pursued what he wanted.

How many so called “normal” people can do this including me?  A thought-provoking thought to give a deep thought.

3) Emotional Quotient - That’s what makes you a Winner, not IQ:

How would you feel when you are asked, “Can you read?” in your PG admission interview.  Furious and feel like blasting the other person?  Yes.  But will that help? A Big No.

Instead of reacting to such situations, he channelized all the anger into a positive energy and proved himself.  He learnt to control and manage his emotions. 

When was the last time we lost our cool?

May be it’s very often.   We certainly have a big lesson to learn here.

4) “90/10” Principle of Stephen R Covey – A Perfect example:

I am not sure whether we practice it or not, but we do know what this principle means.  We don’t have control over what happens to us in our life (10%) but we have absolute control over how we can choose to react (90%). 

Siddharth consistently chose to act on what is within his circle of influence with full focus.   No cribbing / reaction and self-pity.

Siddharth and Will Smith in “Pursuit of happiness”

After listening to Siddharth, one movie that struck my mind was the “Pursuit of Happiness”.  I kind of see Siddharth as Will smith who fights against all odds with absolute optimism.

Without exaggeration, I would say that Siddharth’s life story is worth looking at for writing a book or even making a movie. 

The objective is to create awareness in our society – Parents, educational institutions right from pre-kg to post-graduate colleges and business schools, Teachers, professionals and people from all walks of life – about what differently-abled people are capable of doing and to give confidence to people with cerebral palsy and people who are differently-abled..

They don’t need our sympathy.  They need our support, equal treatment and a “fair” opportunity.

People behind Siddharth

Beyond Siddharth, I see his parents who did everything they could, without giving up at any point of time. 

I see Teachers who had faith and gave him confidence and contributed a lot to what he is. 

Srinivasan, The first HR person who gave him the opportunity, when every HR refused to give him the opportunity, there was someone who wanted to listen and that made a big difference to Siddharth.

ABN Amro that gave a break and proved that they are indeed an equal opportunity provider. 

Final words:

A convex lens well focused can burn a piece of paper or cotton because of the concentration of all the energies into a single point.  Similarly, when you focus and concentrate your mind, you unlock the total power & potential that you are otherwise not aware of.  It’s like a laser beam. That’s what single-minded focus is all about.  And that’s what exactly Siddharth did. 

The struggles and challenges faced by Siddharth made him what he is today. 

To believe me, you should see him speaking in flesh and blood.. you would be completely floored.  

He spoke with absolute clarity of thought with very good command over the language.  He had a good sense of humour and conveyed his points in a powerful way - much beyond the normal standards and normal people. He was a treat to listen to.

He is one of the best Motivational Speakers. 

To conclude, Siddharth is a sure recipe for Motivation.

diD yOU enJOY ReADinG ThIS ArTIcLE? 

                                  If yES, 

yOU maY sHAre it wiTH Your FriENds tOO. 

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