The missing Zing!

Recently I read an article where Chetan Bhagat (Five point someone fame), addressed a few freshers in a college as to how to keep their spirits high and not to loose the "sparck" with time.

Amazing piece of a speech, he delivered, I must say. But with deep tought when i tried to reflect on to it with my experiences in this regards, i find interesting interpretations.


Well the zing and the sparc that we all talk about, all begins in an environment where u are totally alien too. Try to recollect the time you joined work. It was totally an alien experience to us. The tough of contributing to something that will affect the experiences of other people(customers / consumers). In my case it was putting in a piece of code that will affect how millions and billions of people in the world get charged for their phone calls. Sounds Amazing for a begginer right!

Recollect instances in your life when you were totally charged to do something. Reflect on what was it that made u go blazing. You will realize that the answer is very simple. It all depends on the motivation you have. Economical, Social, Self or other.

As long as an individual has a motivation, he keeps oozing that zing and does more than what he is expected too.

It is also true that what motivates one may not motivate the other. Also what motivates you now may not motivate you in a different situation or time.

It is this motivation that keeps that zing alive in each one of us. It keeps our mind free and think of possibilities rather than work arounds. Helps us Innovate rather than imitate. Every mind is creative. It only needs something that i call a "powersource" that keeps on feeding it.

The mind creates and innovates in an environment which is alien to you, because then you will think of possibilities rather than the fact. If not prevailing it will try to find ways to convert that possibility in to fact. That is what we term innovation. What needs to be innovated always prevails. All it takes is an open mind to identify that opportunity. An environment where you are not bound in operational activities. This is another problem which we will come to in the later of this article.

It is this motivation that develops expectations within an individual. If you try to reflect, expectations that you had when you joined, kept you striving. Now try to apply the same expectations in your current situation. For most of us, those "carrots" wont work in where we are now.


We ofter hear of the term self motivated, something that i personally believe in and feel keeps me moving. It is when you do not expect or need a "powersource" feeding you from outside. You generate or exude that enthusiasm from what lies within you. Howerver, thinking hard you will realise that there is nothing exceptional about it. So what is it that self motivates oneself. Such individuals derive their enthusiasm from their own beliefs and culture. It can be their commitment , dedication, that is ingrained in them. It can be the desire to make a difference, whatsover, or not to give in to being mechanical as it does not "suit" them so.


Remember, every individual is self motivated, but then it really depends on what the individual's beliefs are or what his or her rationale is. Also the environment, in conflicting situations may deplete this "inhouse" powersource.


Speaking of creativity and innovation, the mind does not always create or innovate. It cannot be thought of as a process or chain of events taht will result in a innovative thought or creative idea. Hundereds of people work in the same environment do the same activities and perform the same tasks. How is it that we there are so less innovative thoughts around then? Are the others ignorant to the thought of being creative?

Just as in case of motivation, every individual is a innovator. One needs to identify the "bottlenecks" that hinder this openness of the mind.


Firstly, The more you know about something, the less innovative one becomes (most of the times). Repeating myself, when you know less, you wonder about more possibilities, when you know more, you think of more work arounds. However, the trick lies in using the knowledge to turn possibilities into facts rather than identifying work arounds. This is where the innovation lies. No idea is creative no thought is innovative. It is all there, amongst all of us, it is about how the mind "pops out" this thought is interesting, because it differs from individual to individual.

From a personal experience, I am more condusive to positive thinking and "there has to be a better way to do this" and "why do we have to do this again and again" attitude when I am listening to music. Sounds really stupid but works for me. It seems all of it comes to me from lost corner of the mind. Wierd! It is not that I think different when I am listening to music, but then yes i do approach things different in that mode. Point is each one of us has a "presetting" for our minds to turn it on to that mode.


This brings me to the third important factor, which is the spice of it all. It is about routine. Routine depletes creativity slowly and steadily.

The mind is developed to adapt and also to resist a change and it is only human that it will adapt if it finds that the change is inevitable. The more operation or mechanical you become, the less the mind thinks of "switching" over.

Imagine yourself the type of activities you thought are so operational and redundant, then how slowly and steadily you became "addicted" to doing the same activities over time and at one point in time you get used to it and then dont find the need to find another solution.

We all need seldom breaks from routine to sit back and ponder whats keeping us from creating, whats making us robots from humans?


Motivation, Innovation and The willingness to bring a change for the better is where the entire crux of "The Zing" lies and keep feeding it.

The Zing never dies, it is always there, you only choose to ignore or feel that being "zingy" isnt making a difference, or whatever the reason be. It can be any of the lack of motivation, the antithetic environment to being innovative, or becoming mechanical, only to set ourselves in a mode where we dont find the need to bring a change.

The zing can be revived.

[PS: I dont write so well so please do excuse if this initiates a feeling to hit me :). ]