On the second day of the SSB interview at 22  SSB Bhopal, we were led to the physical activity day. There were hurdles to cross and a timed activity we were supposed to go across, jump, go up a tree, walk the burma bridge and get down a tarzan rope among the few.

The timed activity would give you a mark ranging from 1 to 10 and you could be getting the maximum if you complete the maximum tasks in the minimum time.

The officer in-charge that day was one Major Ramachandran who hailed from Andhra Pradesh.

‘Welcome gentlemen,’ he began, ‘You are trying something some of the most famous people tried and didnt go through, for example Amitabh Bachchan tried to be a part of NDA, and get into the Army, but he couldnt. But dont stop trying what you wanted to do. Having come this far, I am sure you have it in you to make it to the final frontier. Again I would also like to state that you should not be disheartened in case you dont make it. That’s a mark of a gentleman. Who knows you would be a better actor or a better poet.’

I remember the advertising campaign that Army was running was ‘Do you have it in you?’ a television commercial that showcased the life of an army officer in those 60 second tvc.

Then he smiled at all of us. Everybody in the team were so upbeat, why would they be, then he turned to his right and said pointing to a wall and a steep mound of mud laid over there.

‘Gentlemen youhave four tasks here. The first one is very very very simple, the second one very very simple, the third one very simple and the fourth one simple.’

There was such a euphoria listening to those words and the way it was delivered, in a normal instance the same would have been like – the first one was easy, the second one difficult, the third one more difficult and the last one most difficult.

The choice of words have a soothing effect on our psychology. So too, to our surprise everyone outdid each other and the batch of ours 12 of us did the whole exercise in a record time.

I vividly remember this since this has has a profound effect on looking at life differently and thats how you got to treat the problems in life, the so called more difficult would be simple one and the rest would fall into really very very simple and very very very simple types.

Try this and let me know, It has worked absolutely fine, it helps us understand the mind and make it listen to us the way we want.

Cheers!

One post a day 14/30