World Colleges Information

The Zero-Sum thought...

It seems an abstraction to say “Life is a Zero Sum game” which is played with one losing and one winning at the cost of another!

Taking a deeper understanding into the concept of Zero Sum game of Life, my realization of it is that it isn’t true. In this article, I am instigating my write completely to focus on women who have had worked and took a break or are having the desire to take up work after fulfilling the role of being the nestling empress,

"Life isn’t a Zero-Sum game for those who have the ability to make wise choices. And that is more critical and essential here. And so ‘at the cost of another’ aspect helps you to design and develop good working strategies for choosing a win-win decision."

and also for those who are into career and would sooner or later enter the foray of being the sole nestling support at the domestic front. Thoughts about your dreams, desires, and aspirations made for your career would be all put in the back-seat for a while! And this is quiet natural. Embrace and cherish this phase of life with an abundance mentality of you providing abundantly to the family. Now, if you decide it’s time for you to come back to the career – a career re-entry or may be a career start-up (for the first time), whichever the case maybe, there lies an incredible sense of fear and scarcity mentality with all women. By scarcity I mean a sense of lacking (no way out or no opportunity), or regret (stigma of society, will I compromise on either aspect) or guilt (losing one for the other). Am preparing to lay down few critical realities by which I wish to see the women to make wise choices.

Each day our life consists of our family, career, health and fitness, recreation and leisure. As a woman, her role is multi-dimensional in many aspects of life in supporting people around her. All these I say are hard to face but easy to write! Yeah, it`s pretty much easy to pen the roles and the calculus of the work-life that a woman aims to establish with a non-zero- sum mentality!

Is life a Zero-Sum game – the innate fear..

Life isn’t a Zero-Sum game for those who have the ability to make wise choices. And that is more critical and essential here. And so ‘at the cost of another’ aspect helps you to design and develop good working strategies for choosing a win-win decision.

While re-creating the career, a woman`s major fear becomes obvious in her thought that ‘excellence in one aspect would come at the cost of another (a zero sum mentality)’ This pushes her to believe that one thing must suffer at the cost of another – If I enter into career back after the nestling phase, I may lose excellence in any one – either career or my domestic front.

There are a clan of women who wants a re-entry to career after a break and those who wants to craft a new entry to the career world after many years of nestling family. In whichever scenario, there is an urge in the women to prove her without a regretful mind of losing one for the other, making excellence in one while losing the other. This very thought of regret and a Zero-Sum view of win-lose pushes her to stay away from making the plunge into the career back again or to make her own choice!

Synthesize and Harmonize..

But, in real that will not be the case when you are capable of synthesizing both career and life, as a result both these parts in contrary to disrupt (as feared) would begin to support one another. I strongly believe that wisdom and the ability to harmonize makes you gain every aspect of your life in the choices that you make. Then is the realization that life isn’t a zero-sum game rather it offers a wide array of opportunities to grow and progress and even help achieve excellence in every aspect (in contrary to what was feared)

The triangular affair or a harmonious relationship..

The threat here is the ‘Zero-Sum Game’. Many women, whom I interacted with, have the regret of being a ‘stay-at-home mom’.

The underlying reason for their regret is that they believe life is a zero sum game, the fear of losing the excellence of one at the cost of other. It is perceived to be a triangular love affair (between the woman, her home, her career) in which one wins and one loses. Rather, why not this affair be scaled up to a higher level of a harmonious relationship of the three – Woman, her home and her career where all the three co-function collaboratively for the success of all aspects. This makes it a win-win-win.

Life isn`t a Zero-Sum affair..

Many of whom I came across have built a scarcity mind. Because of which they feel that there is a lack in life, the opportunities are few and far beyond reach. This is the reason for the woman`s unnecessary fear, anxiety, regret and desperation. In the contrary, if you are a woman of abundance mentality, there are always new chances and opportunities. This relieves much of the stress and regret you may erstwhile feel if you have a scarcity mentality that pushes you to one corner with no open doors.

Be happy over what you did or are doing right now or are planning to do in future. It is not about starting back to work 50 hours a week. But it is about having and making a choice to do what you want to do and to do it with the support systems favoring your calculus of work-life. The success you weigh depends on how you measure your happiness and accomplishments. Forget about the stigma that is tagged to the woman who tries to pursue a career of her choice after the nestling phase for many years that she starting to follow her desire and making her own choice of re-entry to career is viewed as something objectionable.

Look for support systems and explore  the avenues (career choice) that you`ve been ruling for these years to be your first choice when you decide back on your career.

There is more when we choose to live in abundance!

Thinking abundance I would say is the freedom that you have been craving for all these years. And real freedom is when you are ready to make your choice and take back your life today! Then, your future would be what you envision you to be. So seize every opportunity that comes to you and create abundance. Remember, “Abundance is not something that we acquire, but it is something that we tune into! This leads to the realization of how much more you can give and are poised for abundance for you and those who surround you. So, Kick start your life of abundance. Believe Life isn’t a zero sum game.

BUDDING MANAGERS

NOVEMBER 2014 ISSUE