Common Sense Living

A management counselor, on holiday in a fishing village, observed a little fishing dinghy. Seeing the little number of the fish, the counselor asked the fisherman how long it had taken to catch them.

"Then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the consultant.

The fisherman clarified that his small catch was enough to meet his needs and those of his household.

The consultant asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

Fisherman replied, "I snooze late, fish a little, play with my family, and have an afternoon's break under a coconut tree. In the dusks, I go into the community hall to see my friends, have few pints, play the drums, and buzz a few songs..... I have a full and contented life."

The counselor ventured, "I have high degree from one of the top schools and I can help you...... You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the additional fish you catch. With the added revenue, you can buy a bigger dinghy. With the extra money you will bring the larger boat, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have a big fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe you become able to even open your own plant. You can then leave this small community and move to a city here or maybe even in the big country, from where you can direct your huge enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the fisherman.

"Oh, ten, maybe twenty years." replied the counselor.

Again asked the fisherman,"And after that?"

"After that? That's when it gets really exciting," answered the counselor, laughing, "When your business gets really big, you can start selling shares in your company and make millions!" "Millions? Actually? And after that?" pushed the fisherman.

"After that you'll be able to retire, move out to a small settlement by the ocean, doze late every day, devote time to your family, go fishing, take afternoon siestas under a coconut tree, and spend comforting evenings having drinks with friends..."

All big and exhaustive and contrarily sweet and simple efforts in the life are directed to an improved macro life. It's the higher need.

The macro aspect comprises community. Community for an individual is the permutation of people as key parts, from family, work and society, inherited or developed. And for each of these parts and their sub parts lies Common Sense.

One day my young cousin condemned venture capitalists for they suck the business in an unjustified manner and inadequacy of government help to entrepreneurs. My father could make him clear about the interdependence of the relationship that how venture capitalists need early stage investment opportunities which are provided by entrepreneurs and how entrepreneurs need investment capital to develop their ideas which are provided by the venture capitalists. If one is sucking, meaning thereby, the other player may not survive, the long term survival of the relationship would be put at risk. Thus both will fail.

When we talk about macro sphere, we talk about interdependence. Though we see many instances of interdependence all around but we seldom realize the power and application. Human beings are intricately woven into a web of mutual dependence, creating a system of interdependence. It has innumerable faces and more than this are possible. 

To be precise, macro sphere is the combination of three units:

1. Family
2. Work and
3. Society

In all these spheres, we need to develop Common Sense, independently in each one and jointly as well. In macro life Common Sense could be formed on the grounds of sustainability and inclusivity. If these two are absent, the interdependent system will fail. In both the micro and macro aspects, Common Sense is the crux, the underneath force, manifesting into actions supplying good sense to the life and its contiguous points. You can control your macro life only when you are in control in your micro life.

Let us explore common Sense for Macro life- the family, work and social lives one by one.

FAMILY LIFE

“I believe the only people that should be around a child and raising a child are people who absolutely, hundered percent love that child”.

- Angelina Jolie (American Actress) Family starts from here.

Charles Plumb was a navy jet pilot. On one of his combat mission, he was banged down and skydived into enemy land. He was caught and spent six years in jail. He lasted and now talks on the lessons he learned from his experiences.

One day, in a restaurant, a man approached Plumb and his wife and said, "Are you the navy pilot Plumb?" "Yes, how did you know?" questioned Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man responded.

Plumb was surprised - and obliged, saying "If the chute you packed hadn't operated I wouldn't be here now..."

The family packs our chute until we are able to do it for our own. And in the rest of the life, there are many others who contribute a lot.

If you deeply observe yourself and relate, you will see all your predecessors are alive in this moment as you are the continuation of them. You are a part (in transcending or descending role) of the goals they were having for their family, but more interesting is what are you going to give to your continuations?

If you really want to offer your family a parachute that may help their lives with every aspect as long as they live, you should teach them how to set goals. If you want to deepen your familial relationships, you must set family goals with your family in wide-ranging terms such as money, material things, better relationships, a special vacation, a change in your personal attitudes and habits etc.

Sustainable family goals do not come from the head of the family or one of the other members, it is a cumulative goal of each and every member and it should originate from and be the blend of their individual goals. It is the process of finding out what is most important to your family as a whole.

You may also make a list of weaknesses of the family as well as external threats that may threaten the successful achievement of the goal with a matching solution of what you can do to remove those obstacles. Also figure out the strength of the family and how could it leverage the attainment of family goals. The most important things with goals are that they can not be haywire, encourage the goal with realistic deadlines and go by that.

Attainment of goals is not a one go process but it is continual upward movement, when the first goal is achieved, the sense of accomplishment will come in the family, and it will be glued together with greater force and will move with more vigor. This way, family goals evolve.

Family members are all different and a member may feel misaligned for his/her personal goals with the family goals. Compassion and understanding of other family members could bring him back and can help to revise family goals as well as personal goals to assure win/win for all.

WORK LIFE

Once there were two company presidents who competed in the same industry. These two presidents decided to go on a camping trip to discuss a possible merger. They hiked deep into the woods. Suddenly, they came upon a grizzly bear that rose up on its hind legs and snarled. Instantly, the first president took off his knapsack and got out a pair of jogging shoes. The second president said, “Hey, You can not outrun that bear.” The first president responded, “May be I can not outrun that bear but I can surely outrun you! ”

We treat others in this manner to survive in work life.

We need to change the way we see the things. Work life is as simple as family life.

If we are working as subordinate, we should make sure what is the purpose of the organization we are working for, what are our responsibilities and how can we fulfill those responsibilities and can contribute in some better manner.

If we are senior or head of the organization, we may see how the growth of the organization in terms of its external and internal stakeholders could be assured in a sustainable manner.

In addition, we need to understand our role in formal and informal relationships with others.

One day a friend met the great theorist Socrates and said, "Do you know what I just overheard about your assistant?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates countered. "Before telling me whatsoever, I'd like you to pass a small test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. “It might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say before you talk to me about my assistant. That's why I call it the triple filter test.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made unquestionably sure that what you are about to state is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's attempt the following filter, the filter of goodness. What you are going to tell me about my assistant is something good?"

"No, on the opposite..."

Socrates continued, "You want to tell me something evil about him, but you're not certain it's real. You may still clear the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my assistant going to be beneficial to me?"

"No not really …”

Concluded Socrates, "Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

It's always wise not to pay heed to things which has got nothing to do with your objective. Always think positive, see positive in others and admire positivity of people and their efforts. Try to make those things best which are under your influence and leave other things to get influenced by this influence.

SOCIAL LIFE

Social life has many elements, including family and work lives, there are many others like friends, distant relatives, distant friends, neighbors and several other enumerable people related in several other ways. 

We have understood social aspect of life in preceding message. Let's refresh it with a mouse.

There was a mouse, one day he looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. Mouse became happy about what food might it contain?  But he was horrified to realize that it was a mousetrap!  Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse started stating the warning publicly: “There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mouse trap in the house!” 

The chicken clucked, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it.” The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.”  “I am very sorry Mr. Mouse,” sympathized the pig. “but there is nothing I can do about it.  Be assured you are in my thoughts and good wishes.” The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, “a mouse trap; am I in grave danger?” So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

Identification and Cultivation of Common Sense

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a Venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.  The snake bit the farmer's wife.  The farmer rushed her to hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows that the treatment of a fever is fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his axe to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. His wife's sickness continued so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.  To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well.  One day she died, and so many people came for her funeral so the farmer slaughtered the cow to provide meat for all of them to eat.^[1]

If you expect from society, do the same thing what you want from them.

Your survival and growth is possible only when the atmosphere around you is survivable and growing. If you are growing alone it will not be sustainable and the growth of the surroundings is possible only through cumulative efforts and cumulative efforts are the efforts of all the elements of the society altogether to bring growth for one and all.

A brother grows, another not; the family gets more pitiable, more broken. A family grows, neighbors not; the locality gets disturbing and undependable. A city prosper and another not; the nation is vulnerable and has dividing walls. A nation grows and another not, the entire humanity is at stake. Growth is an all encompassing and all inclusive process.

Thus far, we have understood micro and macro aspects of life. These two are related closely and needs balancing in one's life. Let’s explore about balancing of these two aspects in the forthcoming message.