I am a business professional with keen interest in management development programs. I closely observe leadership patterns across corporates the world over and try to understand what makes successful leaders tick.
A key leadership quality is to stay focused on goals and not get dithered by problems. Ordinary professionals get bogged down while successful leaders tide over problems to realise goals.
Also important for a successful leader is to keep ‘transforming’ oneself to not only adapt to changing work environment but also stay ahead of the curve.
I recently attended a workshop by the name Firewalk conducted by Mitesh Khatri. One had to walk on burning coal.
Just notice the parallels drawn between instructions issued to execute the walk and real life situations.
1. Avoid looking at the fire (problem) while walking over it. Instead, look towards the other side of the fire (destination or goal). Those who look at the fire while walking over it would definitely get dithered resulting in blisters on the feet (setbacks).
2. Concentrate. Do not get distracted by/overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task. Put the complete foot on the burning coal rather than walk using the toes or heels. Walk in the form of ‘jogging’ with a ‘hu-hu’ sound to be made in tandem with footsteps. Lack of concentration would result in blisters on the feet.
3. Walking on fire is a unique experience and is definitely an uphill task. A successful walk will make other problems in life look so small!
Yours truly completed the walk successfully without a blister! The only sensation was that of having walked on something hot; nothing more. The video and the two pictures of mine embedded with this blog are real and indicative of the description above.
A truly ‘transformational’ experience!
Warning : This blog post is purely anecdotal in nature and is in no way an endorsement of this activity to be carried out by anyone at home or without expert supervision.
Aman Sharma's Eye View 