Music of success

It was an eco-fair for kids organized by an NGO working for nature conservation and education. Colourful displays of insects, butterflies, caterpillars, trees, fun &, educative games, quizzes everything was present to attract the kids from various schools.

Unlike other fairs, street kids were also allowed to enjoy this fair.

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It just happened that while roaming around in the fair I thought of observing the kids present there. For observation, I divided kids into two groups; STREET-KIDS (came from nearby shanties) and NON-STREET-KIDS (came from various reputed schools). I decided to observe the most crowded, noisy and exciting part of the fair – The game stalls. At the end of the day I summarized my observations as follows:

1. Approx. 70% of the street kids present there got the prizes.

2. Only 30% of the non-street kids present there got the prizes.

3. At the end of the day on an average, a street kid had 4-5 biscuit packets whereas non-street kid had 1-2 only.

4. Both street kids as well as non-street kids were satisfied and happy.

5. Street kids were more focused on the prizes whereas non-street kids were more focused on learning and fun.

6. Street kids had a firm purpose in mind of winning the prizes in games that’s why they had more chances of winning.

7. Goodies (like a small biscuit packet), which were not crucial for NON-STREET-KIDS were utmost important for STREET-KIDS.

8. Knowledge of insects, trees, nature, which were not important for NON-STREET-KIDS was utmost important for STREET-KIDS.

For street kids, this fair was the chance to get biscuits, chocolates, balloons, and they had come with this specific purpose in mind. For non-street kids, this fair was a chance to know about nature, trees, butterflies, caterpillars, and moths, and they had come with this specific purpose in mind.

As far as winning in games is concerned, it is not that street kids were smarter than NON- STREET-KIDS; it was the silent force called ‘purpose-in-mind’ that was driving the winning spree of NON-STREET-KIDS.

The ‘purpose-in-mind’ of the street kids was to gather as many prizes (goodies) as possible and for non-street kids were to gather as much knowledge as possible, and that’s what made the difference.

For the success of any individual or organization, it is critical to have minds tuned to a clear purpose. A group of people is like strings of guitar, when tuned they produce music, when left untuned they produce noise. This noise is one of the reasons why many organizations in spite of having highly skilled people fail to succeed. When a group of people work together, it is critical to find the right purpose for each individual and to have ‘minds tuned to the right purpose’ to produce music of success.

By Sandeep Gupta (Sandy Soil)

Email address: [email protected]