My First Book: TEACH & LEAD!
The Power of Life Goals.
It has been four years of hard work concentrating on a life goal amongst others set for the year 2021. Today, as I write this note on accomplishment, I am thrilled at the rush of endorphins because it presses the urge to do more. This addiction to life is prodigious because it opens the vistas of life’s infinite horizons that are open for all to chase after. It all depends on how close the horizon is to your current situation or how extraordinary it is that makes you sleep less and work more to attain it. These BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goals, are truly visceral but, we have to make it happen.
It all began with a little story that set new happenings in motion. The story was:
Do you know what is ‘Ichigo Ichie?’ In essence, I have taken it to mean the glory of the moment and the greatness of the present. ‘Deep within the narrow streets of Gion, in the heart of Kyoto, sits a rustic chashitsu, or tea house. That old neighbourhood is home to the last remaining geishas and untold mysteries of a fading way of life; in the spring, its cobblestone roads are carpeted in fallen sakura petals. It is in that tearoom that particularly observant visitors might notice a wooden plaque hung from a brown pillar. It bears the inscription: 一期一会 Pronounced ichigo ichie, its meaning is something like this: What we are experiencing right now will never happen again. We must value each moment like a beautiful treasure. We must become moment hunters. The crucial connection between ichigo ichie and the butterfly effect is this: Though we never know the final consequences of our actions and decisions, every moment holds an essential value. What you do now will have a unique and totally different result from what you might do at another time.
The time from that reading led me on a pensive indulgence that spanned four years. It includes the conceptualisation of the book and how and when it will be published. One cannot imagine the time that goes into writing a book and the adjustment one has to make to all facets of your personal life. Today, I sit here in anticipation of my book to be printed and I wonder how did it all come together. It came together because there was a burning desire to do something extraordinary for myself.
It was extraordinary to do the Al-Huda magazine. The run-off each quarter was six thousand copies. The magazine was sold nationally. What was gratifying was that on each issue I had had not more than three hundred unsold copies. Profits were not that grand but, the accomplishment set me on fire. A fire to inspire. I needed something more big to inflame the passion of accomplishment and; it came in the form of this autobiography.
The evolution of the Al-Huda magazine was the start of extraordinary goals.
Written expression gives power and longevity of action. This said, it is credible to mention that teachers nurture that talent. It was my teacher, late Mr.Inderlal that inspired that passion to write. He did so all because of the time and effort he took to mark an essay wrote and give me a comment that ignited the zeal to do more. That is why role models for most of us are either our parents or our teachers. This is what inspiration looked like then:
Inspiration takes shape in other forms too. When these ideas found root in pupils’ enthusiasm to write then, it showed that writing is a form of intrinsic growth that inspires the soul. Herewith are examples of a student newspaper, THE RIS INDEPENDENT, that echoes from students contributions to the final product. This shows that the art of expression and the calling to write my book was already written in the expressions of pupils’ work. Therefore, I urge to you to get active in writing something about your life and in that you will find an uttering of your soul. The declaration of your soul, I believe is the pronouncement of a legacy that you want to leave behind.
The evolution of R.I.S illustrates how zeal creates change.
Today the quake in my tummy rumbles because I wonder how this book I have written will be received, criticised, reviewed and understood. I am sure that few gremlins never left the page after a number of edits and re-reads but, the fact that the effort has been made to refine must be commendable. That is why the thrust to be a chaser of dreams, life goals and extraordinary ideas is a life giving force. The idea of writing a book began long before the publication. Here is a sample of what is in the book. Indulge yourself and if you are inspired, please purchase the book and begin to teach and lead.
Each chapter has within it two aspects. One is called TEACHING POINTS and the other is LEAD AND PRACTICE. The book is biographical, but it has the genre of management intertwined to make its lessons on leadership more real for everyone regardless of where one is on the rung of life’s ladder. This said it creates the setting to begin delving into your own life and begin searching for those exceptional moments which have lessons of greatness that have not been explored thus, not given a chance to breathe reality into the future you still have. The truth is, we don’t know how long we will live. Therefore, I felt I would not see the publication of this maiden book on leadership and management, but the words are testimony of time well spent. Therefore, ‘live life to the lees’ and if