MY WORKING STYLE

Originally Written - 7th Jan 2010.

I really pity this internet space for bearing my anger and unhappiness and becoming a shrine for it. This piece is different. It is simply a clarification to myself on how I work. At least here, I can be true to myself.

I consider my working style to be simple. I am assigned something to do, and I try my best to do it. If it isn't happening, I say so and explain why. Simple, isn't it?

Now, here's the problem.

Suppose I'm asked to do something and I say, "I don't want to do it." But I still do it because I'm supposed to. Why should my saying I don't want to do it become a concern when I have actually done it?

Take a simple example.

My mother asks me to get milk. I say, "Mom, I don't want to go." She says there is no one else, so I go and get it.

Now imagine she tells my father, "He said he didn't want to go."

Is that really a concern? No.

Because the milk is home. The work is done. The issue is over.

Now imagine I never got the milk, and she had to go herself.

That is a concern.

The first is driven by a feeling.

The second is driven by an action.

Feelings belong to the mind. They are personal and shaped by countless things. Actions belong to the world. They are visible, objective, and have consequences.

That is why I believe concerns should be raised over actions, not feelings. Whenever I have raised a concern, it was because I believed action was missing where action was necessary—not because I disliked someone or felt uncomfortable.

I would rather be judged by what I do than by what I feel while doing it.