THE APPROXIMATELY KID
“In the first thirty years of your life, you make your habits.
For the last thirty years of your life, your habits make you.”
Steve Jobs
Most of our habits
are our blind spots… We cant’s see them, while others can. I have many such habits
– things I do mechanically, unknowingly, through sheer habits… They are so
deeply-settled in me, that, unless I make a conscious, determined and persistent
effort to unsettle them, they will never go away from my system. Often, our
closest people in our lives - like, in my case, my wife or son – only can tell
us as-it-is… Others, don’t like to offend us, you see.
Well, in this Post, let me
touch upon some harmless habits. I mean, even though they are unrequired,
useless, their presence wouldn’t harm us or anyone else around us. At worst,
they can make us smile, even laugh…
It’s okay… It’s okay… They
are like our good-old habits… If they they can make someone giggle, good… But,
our nearest ones keep screaming, “Stop it,”… “Get rid of it,”… “Nip it in the
bud.”
They say, it takes 21 days
to replace an old habit with a new one… I haven’t tested, though… Rather, I haven’t
counted the days whenever I have replaced an undesirable habit with a desirable
one…
For last one week, I
have been teaching (online) this young kid… His name is Ayaan. He is an enthusiastic
and earnest kid. He comes from a wonderful family and studies in an excellent
school. That said, I have begun to wonder: From where has he picked this habit of
saying, in every sentence of his – ‘approximately’?
“Ayaan, at what time shall
we connect tomorrow?”
“Sir, approximately, at 6 p.m.”
“How many subjects do you
have in school?”
“Seven, approximately.”
“10,000 plus 5,000, how much?”
“15,000, approximately.”
“Darling, why approximately, when it’s exactly at 6 p.m., or seven
subjects, or 15,000?”
“Oh Sir… It’s a habit.”
Well, so far, Ayaan’s habit hasn’t gone… Hope it does, soon.
In Public Speaking, the undesired words and sounds are called ‘the
loose ends’… The speaker is made conscious of it by his instructor and supportive
audience…
Likewise, whether it is Ayaan, you or me, someone, who wishes well
for us, has to point them to us… sometimes, sweetly, sometimes bitterly. Else, let’s
be prepared to live with them…
Steve Jobs’ words may be
concerning our serious habits… “In the first thirty years, you make your habits.
For the last thirty years, your habits make you.”
But, what’s not so serious
now, can become very serious later…
A habit is a habit… Better to
weed it out, now.
This morning, during one-hour session, after hearing ‘approximately’ a dozen times (approximately!) from Ayaan, I remembered the famous ‘Apparently Kid’, who had become an internet sensation. I shared his videos on the group where Ayaan, his mom and I were the members. I wrote: “The kid in the videos is famously called ‘Apparently Kid’… And I dedicate these videos to Ayaan, who is our famous ‘Approximately Kid’… Enjoy.”
You see, Ayaan is only
halfway through his first thirty years… So, it’s okay… It’s okay.
GERALD
D’CUNHA
Pic.: www.voomed.com
Videos: TheEllenShow
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