FAULTY KEYS

Milind Manerkar shared his experience on ‘facebook’ of his predicament when he could not log into his notebook. It kept providing a hint to his password. He tried various passwords but kept getting rejected. He consulted experts who suggested a tedious option: to format and reload the machine. Internet gave an easier solution: to restore its factory settings by pressing Alt + F10.

When Milind got the notebook working, he discovered the real problem: two keys were not functioning and had to be forcefully pressed to operate. All his efforts seemed needless when he realised that it was the keys that were faulty. He shared his learning that ‘problems in life are small, we make them big!’

So often, we imagine our problems to be bigger than they actually are. We are overwhelmed by our own imagination and we seek unnecessary solutions. However it would be better to identify the seemingly insignificant factors that may have caused the problem. And so often we will find that the fault lies at hand, and so does the solution.

The wise choice to make is to make out the smaller reasons behind large difficulties. We need to be better at recognizing the keys that need correction. Our keys are the tools we use: attitude, communication, listening, observing, systems, practices, response, etc. If the fault lies in our ‘key’ we will find ourselves locked out of sustainable solutions.

It is pertinent to note that in the case of the notebook, once we have spotted the faulty key, we can either change it or change the way we use it! Similarly, in life too, when we spot ‘faulty keys’ we must either unlearn the faulty tools or change the method that we use. But first, we must spot the ‘faulty keys’!

The solution can be simple, if we can only see...

the way to BE BETTER at spotting the faulty key!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.