Get Perspective

Get Perspective. Know what you want to learn & why you want it!

 

Learning becomes fun or boring depending on our perspective.

 

Interesting story on how to learn...

Previous TaleTown Story: Be Informed To Spot Opportunities

“Studying is so difficult!” Sunny said sulkily. “Why is learning stuff so hard?”

“Wrong question,” replied Rosh. “Studying anything is neither easy nor hard. It is just fun or not fun. And that depends on how you look at it.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sunny.

“Beauty is in the eye of beholder,” laughed Rosh. “Whether learning something will become fun or boring for you will depend on your perspective. On your goals. On why you want to learn it.”

“Why do you want to study this course?” he asked. The three friends were together again today, for their group discussion session.

“To pass it,” said Sunny, “so I can get my diploma.”

“That’s why it is so difficult,” said Rosh. “It seems like something you have to do, to get something else you want. You want to make heaps of money, but for that, you have to get a good job first.”

“You want a good placement, but for that, you have to get good marks and your diploma first."

"You want to get good marks and your diploma, but for that, you have to digest these bulky books first.”

“Yea,” laughed CK. “Look at the size of this Philip Kotler. Must be a full two kilos. My whole life will pass me by, while I'm digesting 756 pages of his marketing shit.”

“It’s less than 756 pages,” Sunny corrected CK helpfully. “There's nothing to learn on the front and back covers, or in the index and glossary pages. That’s about 20 less pages to learn.”

“If you had a choice,” Rosh mocked them, “you wouldn’t be studying marketing at all. It is not something you want to do. Just something others are making you do. That’s not fun.”

“Things are not fun, they become a chore, when we have to do them even when we don’t really want to do them. We don’t like doing things that we don’t want to do.”

“We want to do stuff that is fun. We don’t want to do stuff that isn’t fun, that isn’t useful to us. Things are not fun, not useful to us, when we don’t know what we can do with them.”

“Find out what you can do with things first. Then you’ll be able to tell whether you want to do them or not. We love doing things we want to do. Things are fun when we want to do them.”

“When we know why we want to do something, finding out how to do it becomes so much easier. So before you learn marketing, you should really find out what learning marketing can do for you.”

"That's why I was saying that learning becomes fun or boring depending on our perspective. In fact, our whole life becomes fun or boring depending on our perspective.”

“A Psychology professor wrote the words: ‘a woman without her man is nothing’, on the blackboard and instructed the students to punctuate it correctly.”

“The men wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing!"

“The women wrote: A woman - Without her, man is nothing!"

“What was written on the board was not meaningful in itself, the way it got looked at, was. That changed everything. That gave it meaning. Our perspective is everything!”

“It makes things fun or boring for us, makes them seem hard or easy, makes us do what we do, and makes us want to do them or suffer having to do them. Know why you want to do something, and it will make it easier to do.”

“Why?” asked Sunny. “What happens when you know your purpose? When you are enlightened?”

“When Buddh gets enlightenment in the movies,” Rosh laughed again, “Gods are shown showering flowers. When a boy meets a girl in the movies, and love is in the air, violins play in the background.”

“Sadly, none of this dramatization really happens in life. The transformation is seamless, soundless. When you get enlightenment, when you know why you need to do something, no auras become visible around you. There is no musical score in the background, no fireworks display, no showering of petals.”

“It doesn’t happen like that. No celestial beings up there celebrate when you come to be in the know. Even if they wanted to commemorate that moment, they would need us to do it for them. They would need to inspire us to become their instrument. To fire our pistols and make our salutes.”

"Even if they did it themselves, like there was a thunderclap or lightening, or rain or brighter sunshine, or wind blew softer or stronger, I don't think we'd cotton on that this is their celebration of our enlightenment."

“Yet, regardless of what they would do or won't do to mark the occasion, your world changes. Because your look has changed. The world itself doesn’t change, the trees are no greener for example. But what you want to do with them, what you can do, all that changes.”

“I can tell you how to study marketing, but that won’t make you want to study it. Marketing is not difficult in itself. It is quite easy. It is just knowing your target market, understanding their psychology and wanting to fulfil their needs."

"The hard part for you, is deciding what you need to do and why. Then comes the easy part - the doing itself. Depending on what you want to achieve, there is generally a set of precise techniques you can follow. You follow them, you’ll taste success. Simple as that.”

"If you concentrate on what marketing can do for you, you will remain focused on mastering it. You will get it then, however difficult to get it may seem initially. Without the focus on why you want it, you won't have the passion you'll need to go and get it."

"Get perspective, and you'll get Kotler. Now, let me ask you, what do you think marketing can do for you? Do you need it?”

“It can help me sell," ventured Sunny cautiously, "and so ... I bloody well need it."

He stopped short of specifying what he needed it for. But Rosh didn't push the point. This was no laughing matter for Sunny. He really was at sea with Marketing. And he was right, he had to pass Marketing to get his bloody diploma.

"That’s it!" Rosh stood up and pumped his hand vigorously, celebrating his momentous realization. "You're onto it, my man. That book has so many secrets on how to sell, you'll never let it go once you've read it. You'll be able to sell yourself to the girls, to your teachers, your bosses, you name it."

'Interesting,' thought Sunny, cheering up immediately. Strangely, the day was already beginning to seem brighter.

Next TaleTown Story: The Considerate Husband