Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly I f I can figure out from where my own motivation – to keep doing what I do in my life – comes, probably, it would be easy for me to figure out from where others get their motivation to do what they do. I keep finding it difficult, many a times, to make my students understand the need to work hard, long, and, work on their own. I was talking to a small batch of my eleventh-standard students, this morning. “Have you figured out what you want to do after twelfth?” I asked them. That was their immediate goal, I knew. Almost all of them were lukewarm in their response… “Maybe this… or, maybe that.” Yes, not sure… “If you cannot connect the work you are doing now (Accountancy, in this case), to your goal, then, how can you find motivation to do this work… work hard and long, and, above all, work on your own, without being told or coaxed?” “You have to love it, dear,” I told them, “You need to have a strong reason to invest ...

Pi c.: Sherry Haridas “You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it.” Oprah Winfrey P rateek*, who has just given his twelfth-standard exams, wants to pursue studies in Law. He has been telling this to me for, almost, two years, now. That’s something nice about him. He has a definite goal before him. Whenever a young-man tells me, with all his conviction, what he wants to do in life, I feel happy for him. For, with that clarity come the rest of the ingredients required for success: motivation, hard-work, passion, self-discipline and, above all, that dogged determination. Many young-ones are not very sure about what they want to do in life. And, some - even though they are - have a bad work discipline... They get distracted very fast, get carried away by peer-pressure and, with slightest set back, tend to get unsettled, discouraged... and they give up. So, I keep telling the young-ones, that they need to be...

Yes terday, one of my dear students wrote on her FB Status, with a great deal of delight and pride, that she would be, soon, starting her Articleship with one of the world’s top-four Chartered Accountancy firms. Immediately, her friends started sending her their congratulatory messages and best wishes. Just as I was about to add mine to the long list, my eyes fell on one of the crisp messages, rather a warning, by one of her friends: “Congrats; but, they will make your life hell!” I held back my message… Because, I, really, wanted to tell these young-ones something important and valuable. So, here I am doing it, today. Two years ago, before my student had embarked upon her dream to pursue Chartered Accountancy, I had counseled her saying, that, there were only two requirements to get into what she wanted to pursue: her aptitude and her attitude. Well, I am so proud to put on record, here, that my student had both: she was passionate about her field, and ...