Nidhi Kathuria

A pencil, a rose, a notebook and a chocolate bar were kept inside a box. Teacher asked the kids to go quickly and pick up stuff from the box.

Teacher asked “So, what did you get?”

Rahul said “I got a pencil but I can’t use as it’s tip is broken :(“

Sheena said “I found a rose. I will use it in my painting”

Hanu said “I found a notebook but it’s too heavy. I won’t carry it. I will give it away. Does someone want to exchange?”

Parul said “I found a chocolate bar. I hate chocolates. I threw it in the dustbin”

Teacher asked the kids if they really want to exchange what they got?

Rahul wanted the chocolate but it wasn’t possible so he thought he will keep the pencil for now.

Sheena was happy with what she got and was excited about her painting. Hanu was unhappy and was jealous of Sheena. He asked her if he can get the rose. Sheena was reluctant to give her rose but then she agreed as the teacher requested her.

As expected, Hanu was very happy to get the rose. The happiness lasted only for a while as he realized that the rose was very dry and thought Sheena made a fool out of him. He said he has been manipulated and asked if he could return the rose.

Teacher was furious. He said this is no more possible. Hanu cried and howled. He wanted to have his notebook back or may be something better than that dry rose.

Now, let’s replace things in the box with the opportunities or friends or relationships we get blessed in our everyday lives. What do we say about the team which we have just joined? Did we find any positive? Sure, it must be not be perfect and may be there are more negatives than positives.

However, we should practise to talk about positives more than negatives. Positives have the huge potential to multiply and get in majority compared to negatives if we practise the art of talking about positives to the world. World helps us make those positives bring more positives.

Negatives must be talked and tackled upon. But not with the world. Negatives are dealt with your own teams because they have to find their own solutions.

The leader needs to talk about negatives with team members and make them part of the journey. Leaders asks her team to look for solutions. The best thing which will happen in most cases would be that these people will not do anything which adds upto these negatives.