Mir Tariq Maqbool
Every new day dawns with new opportunities for everyone. If the time was ripe to plant a tree ten years ago, it is ripe to plant it now. Time is nobody’s friend and won’t wait for anyone. All the successful people in the world have twenty-four hours in a day at their disposal and the same is what people with no apparent success have. What makes the difference then?
We are living in the greatest times of history. The services and facilities the commoners enjoy today had never been available even to the great emperors of the past. Akbar or Alexander had never dreamt of the sweet fruits of technology that a layman today serves himself with. We have the highest number of millionaires and billionaires and the number is increasing with a rapid pace every year.
It is not the magic of wealth and property, though, but the skill and expertise, working behind the scenes, which has brought this about in the whole world. When a skill is mastered, it enables us to make our own choices in life. One must, however, dream big and have a clear vision to move forward. Dreams are a potent force to get you out of the comfort zone. Dreaming big heightens the level of confidence and makes you competent to make decisions. Decision making is, indeed, the sign of competence and confidence, and above all, the founding stone for success. People are, unfortunately, stuck to their past and waste their life and time in vain. What life had been some five years ago for you will not be the same today and not tomorrow or some five years hence. We should always plan well for our cherished goals in terms of our family, health, earnings, education, etc, and moreover in choosing our friends.
“Backward planning” is a great strategy for all among us who find it difficult to get going. The planning begins with the end in mind. One needs to be realistically clear with goals. We need to identify the steps and strategies required to achieve the goal. There should be a proper estimation of time and resources to enable us to draw a deadline to achieve within a specific time. For high school students, the end is not which college they are going to join, but identifying a career direction that aligns best with their unique abilities, interests, and present-day demands. Demand, of course, is the prime concern in this connection. Demand, avenues and your personal capacities should be borne in mind before taking a final decision for your future. Students who know their career directions can make right decisions.
Everything becomes possible when we have people around us who can guide us on the emotional and intellectual plane. Our parents must know their role and so should our teachers. Society needs a change and teachers, along with the parents, have to take the lead and responsibility. Good parenting is an art and very few of us have got it. Teachers do not need to disseminate information only. Nurturing skills is the new pedagogy and this should be the agenda of those who are in charge of a budding brain.

—The writer is Principal, Radiant Public School, Anantnag. [email protected]

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