Why I dare March

This is a sequel to my last two articles on the subject: ‘Why I hate March?’ written in March 2011 and ‘Why I start loving March?’ in March 2012.

March 2013 has already landed and is giving me that mischievous smile of an uninvited guest! It says: ‘Love me or hate me. But you can’t avoid me!’ 

After hating March in 2011 and then loving it in 2012, now, I dare March 2013. I consider March as a symbol of life’s challenges. How do we face those challenges in our life? We tend to get irritated over the inevitable without knowing the futility of such a reaction. When wise and patient response is warranted for tackling a critical situation, we just do the contrary. Our emotions overtake our intellect and we become victims of anger, antagonism and ill-will resulting unpleasant reactions from others. At the end, we would still be unhappy.

I think I have improved from the stage of emotional immaturity and my cognitive component has overtaken my affective component. So I have reached the stage where I feel like taking challenges head on. 

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look at them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.  

                                                           Orison Swett Marden                                                                                                      

 

The challenges can be better managed through prioritization. Once we start focusing on something that deserves our best attention and start solving the puzzles associated with that, we would tend to observe that others start disappearing or becoming less challenging. A simple strategy of not trying to tackle all of them simultaneously could help us to channel all our efforts only to the important tasks. Indeed, experience counts a lot in such situations.

Best illustration for this can be seen in target management, as this is an area that worries many people in the month of March. Various parameters are set for achievement in the early part of the year. However we tend to relax much more than required in the first half of the year. We wake up all of a sudden when we realize or made to realize that the year is going to be over. Even at that crucial stage, the usual tendency is to work to meet each of these parameters at the same time with equal intensity. One requires a little bit of strategizing to get rid of the year end troubles. An analysis of the past performances, the comparative contribution of each of those parameters to overall growth, the nature of perceptions of the growth by the evaluators, and the resultant reactions and responses can give you enough tips on what to and what not to focus. Many times, we grope in the dark with so much confusion without knowing what we should focus. This adds to our tension, as we try to deal with all the challenges simultaneously by diffusing all our energy and resources to variety of areas, without knowing which parameter needs more attention. When some of the areas are to be left unnoticed and ignored, some others may require only a superficial tinkering.

The above is true in the case of challenges faced in the personal front also. We simply can’t meet all those demands that being thrown to you in the month of March. Accumulation is mainly due to our own tendency to procrastinate, partly because of  our laziness. We can’t blame March. It does not spring up any surprises on you. Why should one wait till the deadline to clear our dues? When we know that the taxes, fee or insurance has to be paid within the financial year, why should we wait till the fag end of the year to pay these?

Moral of the story: March never brings problems to you. Rather, you bring problems to March.

Click below to read:

Why I hate March?

Why I start loving March?

Now, as I dare March, may be, I will put a full stop to my March scribbling now!

                                                                             (C) Sibichen K Mathew