“The glass really is half full and half empty”
“Key to reach beyond the obvious is positive attitude”, this is what Dr. Iyengar tells his hundreds and thousands of students who pass through his guidance. Besides born into worse conditions than others, Dr. Iyengar is a man who has reached beyond the obvious with his perseverance, positive attitude and determination to maintain it. He is man who looks beyond the mirror, develops and cultivates the connections and most importantly in order to reach beyond the obvious, has never sacrificed his honesty and discipline in life sacrificing his personal time for his students, his colleagues and his work.
I have had the chance of interacting with number of students and colleagues of Dr. Iyengar and here is a gist of what they communicated. “ Dr. Iyengar is man of substance and I wish to be like him one day.” “I used to think that “I could never do this” or “what if I fail”. He guided me when I was depressed and his words still vibrates in my mind that “you do not need more than a positive attitude to be successful no matter what situation you are into”. “Dr. Iyengar is a man of vibrant personality who sacrifices his time not only for his students but for anyone who comes to him seeking his guidance and help.” I can reproduce hundreds and thousands of such statements for Dr. Iyengar. In fact, I would like to reproduce a letter from a person who wishes to remain anonymous who wrote as:
I was in Baton Rouge for quite some time and was looking for an opportunity to work so that I could interact with American people and earn some money. Since, I did not have social security number and there were no references of the place I could give, nobody dared to take the chance of hiring me, not even volunteering. One day, I took the chance of going to department of computer science, LSU (Dr. Iyengar is Chairman of Dept. of Computer Science) with the hope to ask few professors should they need any help and can pay me. I met atleast ten professors there, but to my surprise, everybody in the department directed me to Dr. Iyengar conveying more or less similar statement, “Go straight to Dr. Iyengar. He is there in his office from 7:00 am in the morning and he is open to meet everybody. He is gentle soul who would certainly help you.” The very next moment I moved straight into his office and told him that I want to work but neither do I have social security number nor do I have any reference. He gave me his office in robotics research lab to sit and do research work. Although, I was neither his colleague nor his student, but he gave his time whenever I wanted to see him, his guidance to solve problems and his wonderful suggestions to face problems in personal life. The more I interacted with him, more I got inspired to work and live life positively. Here, I am who got the opportunity to publish few papers with him and that has made my life forever. With this letter, I wanted to thank him for all his support.
During my conversation I asked Dr. Iyengar, “What do you think what it takes to be successful for a boy who is born in worst conditions?” He smiled and replied, “Some people are born into worse conditions than others. This is just a fact. Still, you do not need more than a positive attitude to be successful no matter what situation you were born into. In fact, the words "success" and "positive attitude" should really be considered as synonyms. When it comes right down to it, these two ideas are really just the same thing. If you have success, for example, you will have a positive attitude and if you have a positive attitude, you will surely have success. There really is no difference. You just need more perseverance and strength to maintain it over the long term. You may just need to hold on longer than the other people who were born into better circumstances. The things that determine success for other people born into a bad situation are only the same things as everyone else. The only difference is determination to remain positive and to overcome the negative things that have been placed in your way.”
More I was studying about Dr. Iyengar, more curious I was and thousands of questions were teaming in my mind such as what does he actually stand for? What greater good does his department offer to its students? Why did he move to United States and so on? Determining the answer to the questions like these was a difficult task for me but egoless personality addressed all my queries very politely and calmly. Dr. Iyengar said mentoring students with professional and personal touch is like meaningful foundation for building your brand. One should have a vision. Your vision is the overarching “why” of what you do. It’s a massively inspiring statement that solidifies your reason and right to exist. It should guide every decision you make and every direction you take. But vision needs direction if it’s going to impact the world, which is why every great vision needs a great mission – the “how” behind the “why.” The mission provides specificity and focus to how your brand will change lives. I had the vision as well mission of making impossible things possible.
This book is not only about an individual who had the aims of reaching the sky but it is story of all the people who believe in the concept of mind over matter. The meaning of this biography comes from our judgments and beliefs. The negative or positive stories we tell ourselves about our experiences determines our reactions. When we change the context in which we place events, the meaning instantly shifts. The glass is really half full and half empty. So work on consistently framing your experiences in ways that are empowering for you and others.