VOLUNTEERING

STOP. REWIND.SWITCH.RESTART

Success is the sum of details- Harvey Firestone.

But wait, no one tells you the details. 

Most part of life lessons are transmitted in short telegram length headlines. So are career lessons. But it is the detail that matters. Just like the DIY kits. Which part goes where, where to plug –in, weld-in and join-in or step-away.

Thankfully I have had shot at a crash course in the 7 steps of detail which more or less are the sum parts of the total= Life lessons= Career Lessons=Success Lessons. The course is called Corporate Service Corps Assignment (CSC) and it is changing my life exactly as all my seniors said it would. Of every work assignment I have been to, we are mostly way too engaged in chasing deadlines, cramming up 12/14 hour-days, double-hatting for time zones and focusing on the project requirements/trainings.
But CSC is way different. It reminds you that all work is eventually done by people and deals with people and hence has a larger meaning in life than merely meeting deadlines.

Let me offer a crash course of my crash course on Life lessons in 7 steps :) and some great pictures.

1. Travel: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes- Marcel Proust

You travels to a foreign land not to see the land in a different preservative. You travel to a foreign land to come and back see your own land from a foreign perspective.
As the laws of physics hold true, sometimes, merely extracting oneself from the existing surrounding and tele-porting to an unfamiliar, unknown country makes one think from ground zero. A familiar surrounding wires the brain to resort to predictable patterns of thinking and work in preconceived limitations and thus restrict problem solving.
 
CSC plucks you out of your comfort zone and places you in a corner of the world that you perhaps would never have visited on your own- the idea is to precisely let one shut off from familiar predictable ways of thinking and discover parts of their mind hitherto unknown.
 

Wroclaw: Sheer Beauty beyond the bars. What do you see?

2. Open your mind.

When does the average adult mind stop growing?

Psychcentral says “The prefrontal cortex, which helps with impulse control and organization, is not fully developed until the mid-point of a person's 20s. It is theorized that this incomplete development leads to greater risk-taking among adolescents and young adults. Although brain development ends at around 25 years of age, neural changes can occur for many years beyond that point. PsychCentral states that some areas of the brain have shown the capability to make new connections well into adulthood proper.”

What this essentially means is one uses 25 years of rapid learning for 35 remaining years of your career and perhaps 20 years post that. I guess fashion trends and mobile models change sooner than that.
How does one counter this extremely imbalanced learning proposition? By helping the mind to speed up its learning- by providing help. One of the ways is to add names, faces and experiences to data. And that helps one open minds.
If everyone got a chance to live in different country, experience kindness, hospitality, love, and shockingly beautiful random acts of kindness, they will tend to fall in love with it like their own. And they would never ever judge the country by tabloid, media or mere statistics-because now they have a personal bond with that country.

Welcome Doughnuts Special Polish ones ( without a hole!) with Orange and cream fills during first Warsaw, city history walk from Program co-ordinator Ewa, Pyxera Global.

3. 80:20

One of the most beautiful revelations to me is the true meaning of 80-20 rule. In a typical assignment tremendous importance is given to truly understand the culture, history, sentiments and context of the country and clients we work with. Though it should be obvious, it never fails to amaze me as to how much the finer aspects make the whole process of understanding the project background much easier. Our consistent project discussions, reviews emphasize on the “context” of our clients, the cities, and cultural expectation – sometimes the context drastically influences the statement and scope of work and sometimes, it helps us quickly solve issues while steering towards a solution. But the “Context” is really the king.

Painting depicting Coal mine as key driver of economic employment @ Silesian Museum, Katowice

4. Somersault: an acrobatic movement in which a person turns head over heels in the air or on the ground and lands or finishes on their feet.

That is the physical definition. In order to explain the mental somersault let me get back to brain facts. The brain is most active in the parts one uses most. And yet we use only 10-20% of it. The way to trigger the other parts is by jogging our mind do the unfamiliar. Like learn a new language, read a technical journal of an unfamiliar area ( Marine, Aviation Engineering for example). And strangely these skills seem to drive you closer to problem solving than hours of reading on your area of specialization.

No wonder CSC helps us achieve most of these.

History of Polish Aviation and supremacy in Gliders: Museum of Aviation, Krakow

5. Being Present

Enough has been said about living in the moment, being truly present in what we do at any point of time.

 Little has been done to make it possible. 

CSC makes it possible. 

It is highly recommended and even mandatory to an extent to shut off from he day job completely in order devote 120% of time an attention to living in the country as a local, eating, travelling, knowing, socializing, learning and getting into the skin of the place where one stays.

Into the true heart of the country with the people/ No business travel can provide this experience and perspective.

Living and loving as a vegetarian in Poland ( wait for my blog on food posts)

6. Reconsider

Imagine you were on motorcycle speeding away on a straight long road. Maybe some bumps in between. Maybe the destination is unknown and even direction if changing.. but you are on gear and you speeding up fast , as fast as life is happening. And suddenly you are thrown into changing gear and taking a flip turn. Into an unknown road. What do you do? You discover a new landscape. If you had never taken the diversion, you would never have known what existed there.

CSC is diversion in the predictable career path. It exposes you to what you can do with yourself and for others if given an opportunity. Perhaps try a different career move- consulting, corporate citizenship. Perhaps a more meaningful contribution to the society- volunteer with Non-profits. Perhaps work in a different country. But the perhaps would never happen, had you not served in the assignment in the first place.

I will make efforts to grow flowers in my house- awe-inspired by the sheer breathtaking beauty of flower every where in Poland.

7.Form Friendships

Someone in our team said yesterday. “Though we are serving in Poland, we are getting a deep-dive on cultures and friendships in India, China, Egypt, Taiwan, US, Japan and Brazil” . Global perspective is incomplete without having a personal bond with the globe. CSC has given us friends in each of these countries. 

The best geography lesson in a friend from that country.And each them leaves a part of themselves with you- intangible experience and tangible gifts !

These seven details are really the sum of my 2 weeks experience so far. I am sure I will add many more as my WhatsApp, email, facebook are buzzing as I write this blog . But I am sure that my life lessons and career lessons shall be looked at with different colored lens henceforth.