Why Being Creative is Essential in Today's World (Short Essay)

 

“It is creativity which gets you through opportunities which the stars have kept for thee.”

     

 

As a child, I grew up with a mindset that creative people were the ones who were good at drawing. Apparently the ones around me possessed the same mindset, and by me having a good hand at drawing meant I was ‘creative’. Many a times I regretted it, for everyone expected my assignments to be full of colorful pictures and my projects to be excellently illustrated. The reality was quite different, where my drawings were blatantly visible in the corners of my English textbook, which I had found to be an effective way to keep from sleeping in class. 

Being creative in today’s world means finding simple yet effective solutions for seemingly complex problems. Let’s take a common classroom example- I always found History difficult, for it had a lot of things to memorize. But when I accidently hummed a song while reading the text, I could fit the words in the rhythm and I still remember them today. Now, everyone in my class has to learn the same things in some way, but the time taken by each varies, and here comes the efficiency into play.  

Every walk of life demands creativity- from students to business strategies to rocket science. This intellectual property is key to make things possible in limited resources. When scientists at ISRO launched the entire Mars Orbiter Mission in less than half of amount of resources than a similar mission of NASA, they used their creativity for resource and capital efficiency. If the pressure hadn’t been on them, they might have required the same million dollar budget.

In the end I would like to say that everyone has creativity. And we should be proud of it, like young kids happily wanting to show off their scribbling to everyone around them. You ask me why? I don’t know why you still have this question.

 

Anyways, start reading it all over again.

#BookReview1 : Indra Nooyi- A Biography

 The book Indra Nooyi- a Biography written by the author Annapoorna tells the inspiring story of an Indian woman who went on to become the CEO of PepsiCo. Indra Nooyi’s meteoric rise and success has been documented in several business magazines and journals, but this biography is the first one to address the person behind the image. The book briefly traces her life from childhood spent in the neighborhood on G N Chetty road in Madras to purchasing a house in Poes Colony, the neighbourhood of Chief Minister Jayalalitha.

Although it does not describe a stereotypical rags to riches story, the story does begin with Indra growing up in conservative family. Although her family is concerned about the sayings of the society, it is also portrayed to be extremely supportive in terms of education. Saying this, Indra does find her way to secure admission in the prestigious MCC and IIM universities, followed by Yale university for higher studies. While it could be said that Indra Nooyi was one of the few who pioneered flying across to the west and settling there, the book conveniently highlights her love for her motherland and her deep connection with the people and ethos of India.

The author has meticulously compiled excerpts from various interviews as well as anecdotes of her several well wishers. Each chapter begins with quotes from the Indian vedas which provides a deep understanding of the chapters of Indra’s life. The simplicity of the author’s writing is deceptive, and somewhere one feels the lack of detailed descriptions of Indra Nooyi’s personal experiences and thoughts, considering the fact that this is the first biography to be written on her.

The book does explain in vivid detail how Indra’s Indian roots helped her to shape her instinct while leading the multinational company. Her journey from being a knowledgeable student to an educated leader is endearing. One understands through her journey, the value of simplicity and hardwork- every person next door cannot have a resume as formidable as Indra’s. The book silently teaches one that laurels and achievements do not knock on your door and titles do not  magically get your name printed on themselves; you have to work relentlessly to make that happen. With that said, while you work your way up to the top, Indra Nooyi’s legacy gives inspiration as it awaits yours to be followed.

Are We Happier Than Our Forefathers?

“For the first time in history, more people die today from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals combined.”- From Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.

It is interesting to know that despite of living in riches today, we still suffer silently from so many problems. When I was reading the book from which I’ve quoted the above lines, I was astonished to find out these facts for true. I remember my history textbooks filled with the struggles our ancestors had to go through. I feel that today, despite being in the 21^st century, our problems and struggles are no less. The major difference only being that our problems affect us mentally to a much greater extent, which makes matters worse.

Also today, surprisingly everyone has enough confidence to speak ill about others over the internet. May be it is the screen of usernames which they hide under. But it is so disturbing to know that someone is under depression just because of someone else’s rude remarks under the tag of ‘no offence’. These problems are only getting worse day by day. There are reality shows which handsomely pay people to fight against eachother. The people who ‘act’ in them do not mind, but the message which is propagated through such shows destroys the mutual integrity of a society. This is the form of entertainment for the 21^st century. Now a sane person would not get involved in such things, but such a person is so rare in today’s society that he himself feels lost amongst the insane people. Today the voices of those who want help and want to help are drowned in those of the ones who do not simply care, but still have to say something; just for fun.

Now there are a few rare societies in the world which propagate humanity, peace and happiness. Many people all around the world travel thousands of miles to listen to them. Tons of fuel is burnt for personal luxury. Even if they might feel happy now, they would not, considering the damage they’ve done to the environment, in the future.

And if these problems were not enough, major parts of the world still suffer from poverty, malnutrition, child labour, female foeticide, child marriages, child trafficking and abuse. When we imagine ourselves experiencing comforts and luxuries, one really cannot ignore these sufferings which our fellow residents of the world go through.

So are we really happier than our forefathers? Maybe not. in this world where money buys you happiness, it does not buy you satisfaction. Man remains greatly dissatisfied despite of his achievements and advancement. He keeps wanting more, and his greed makes him suffer with restlessness. Only the ones true to themselves, who know their purpose are said to be truly happy, but the irony being that such people are mostly cast off, labelling them as ‘old- fashioned’. Now if the principles and sayings of our ancestors really made one happy, it would be fair to say that our ancestors were indeed happier than us.

But of course, we can try to be happier. We have a lot of reasons to be pessimistic, but optimism does not harm either. In today’s world, we can only be happy by sharing happiness- spreading it far and wide. Illuminating the darkest places and souls on earth, giving them a helping hand, by telling them that we understand. Respecting others’ choices and decisions irrespective of what they are and not judging them based on that. By trying to shift our perspective and widen our horizons. To shift from ‘unity in diversity’ to ‘unity is diversity’.

10 Habits of Highly Effective School Students

 Imagine, that Eugene Pauly, a friend of yours previously had a virus in his brain which destroyed his hippocampus- the part of the brain connected with your memory. The doctors insisted on doing a surgery involving removal of that entire part. Eugene woke up in the morning, having no memory about this. He brushed his teeth, went to the living room and saw two doctors speaking something very important to his mother. When they asked if he recognized them, he replied, “No, I don’t.” Later, he forgot about it and went for a walk around the street, ate lunch and watched his regular favorite show on the TV. His mother entered the room, and he asked, “Who were those doctors earlier this morning?” To which, his tired mother replied, “They come to visit us every day, son. It’s just that you don’t remember.”

 Hey there, this is LoadedCheese. Welcome to my first post. Now, Eugene Pauly was an amnesiac, that is a person with a partial or total loss of memory. Turns out that he still remembered to brush his teeth in the morning, take a stroll around the street, eat lunch and also watch his favorite show on the TV. So, how was this possible? Well, the answer lies in the power of habits. These mundane things were his habits- which stuck with him even though he lost his memory.

Back in eighth grade, I was always an attention deficit student, with zero time management, weak communication skills and quite a few bad habits, including endless surfing on the internet. The result? I failed in an exam I never thought I would. It was a massive setback for me. Then I had a conversation with my parents wherein they sat me down, asked what was wrong, and a few other usual things regarding my bad habits. Then I remembered Eugene’s story which I had read on the internet just a few days ago and had enlightenment- that my bad habits were which made me the way I was and only changing them would make a difference.



There are several habits which you too, like me can develop to make your time productive, from which I have listed the top ten to share with all of you today.

 

1. Go to bed with positive thoughts in your mind. It results in the mood in which you wake up.
2. Only one alarm on the phone, unless it’s too important.
3. Wake up early.
4. Drink water when you wake up.
5. Prioritize. Plan your entire day with the time allotted to each task in the morning, and stick to it as much as you can.
6. Turn off the notifications on your phone. I’m sure you’ll have your eureka moment once you realize how much time you can save by keeping technology away unless anything urgent.
7. Speak up for yourself at the right moment.
8. Cut off negative thoughts, judgments and people. Don’t let it affect you. You can choose whom you want to be speak with.
9. Give time to what you are good at, and developing it as a talent.

And finally, the most important- believing in yourself, believing that you possess the potential to improve.

These habits won’t get to you in a day- a study says that it takes at least 3 weeks to form a habit. So chill.

 As a personal experience, I love challenging and having fun with my schedules. What I do is that while preparing the schedule, I write down the tasks which I have to do in the day and the time when I have to do it. But while doing it, I try to complete it before the set time, so that I get the opportunity to strike it off thoroughly and get some bonus time, too. That is the extent of fun you can have with habits. My English teacher always instructs the class to end a creative piece with a quote, so here it goes.

"You cannot change your future but you can change your habits, and your habits will definitely change your future." -Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Here's my Talk on this topic. Do vote ^_^