This is a tight week, but I am able to squeeze in a thought or two. Today I figured out that life is about making strategic alliances. Every one is pursuing their own agenda and the only chance I have of getting something from someone else, is when my agenda aligns with theirs. As I relate to others, what they really want to know, is if I can further their own interests.
Luckily, some people have broad interests that can easily accommodate my capabilities. But there are those ones that are so hard to satisfy. Unfortunately, such hard nuts to crack, are sometimes the tastiest. So I have to work very hard or very smart, to convince such people of my worth, and that may mean shrinking my ego and sacrificing my pride. Yes, for some people, I am ready to be a fool because they hold a key to a door I need to open. But I have also learnt painfully that there are people who have absolutely nothing to offer me, because their dreams are not in any way congruent with mine.
For my PhD, it is fairly easy to form mutually beneficial strategic alliances because my goals are so clear. In the journey of my life, however, it has been challenging to find people travelling in my direction. Probably because I was not too sure of where I was heading myself. I have, unpropitiously, misread the intentions of others so often, and traveled so far with them only to discover that I was on the wrong road. These people, I see now, are not bad, they just have a different agenda.