In my life every developmental activity that I invested in was done at a personal cost. In one case, I sold my car and borrowed money (which I repaid over three years) to pay the fee to go to the IIMA for my MBA. In another case I spent every cent of my holiday allowance for 12 years to learn how to be a trainer. In a third case I took a loan to do a certification course at the Carnegie Melon University in the US.

What does that mean? It means that for 12 years from 1983-1994 we didn’t take any vacation. I got married in 1985 and my wife supported me fully in my quest for learning. She would go to her parents place while I went to this or that school or this or that course or more often than not, played apprentice to this or that consultant or trainer; traveling third class by train, sleeping in dingy hotels and cleaning black boards and getting tea and coffee for the trainer. In the evening we’d go over what he did and why and I’d take notes.

What does that mean? It means that for the entire duration of that period (and remember at the time I didn’t know it would be 12 years) we didn’t own a TV, couldn’t change our car (I had a beat up Ambassador which spent more time in the garage than on the road; and a Royal Enfield motorcycle), or as I already mentioned, take a holiday.

But those were there most satisfying days of my life.

And of course once I had paid the price of enrollment into the leadership cadre of life, the returns started. Not that suddenly things became easy. They didn’t. Tests continued and continue to this day. But I had enough history to see them as excitement. I developed the confidence to face them from a position of strength and to laugh at the challenge they presented. But that was because of the risks I took and the investment I made at a time when there was no return to show at the end of it.

Biggest lesson I learnt in life was to realise that life is the name for the choices we make. Nobody compels us to make that choice. That’s why it’s called a choice. But every choice opens a door. The seed is what you plant in the earth. The harvest is what you hold in your hand. But unless you let go what you have in your hand and plant it in the earth, there will be no harvest. But when you do plant the seed there’s always a harvest which is more than the seed you planted. The choice is ours to make.
Excuses don’t change either the reality or the result. No seed, no harvest.

So today when people complain about the cost of any learning activity I tell them, ‘Don’t do it.’

Because if they can’t see the value in it, it won’t benefit them anyway. So why waste money? Go watch a Formula 1 race or a cricket game. That’s what slaves and victims do. 

Investment in self-development is strictly a leaders only activity.

Do I sound unsympathetic? Good. I am a great believer in congruence. The alternative in Arabic is called Nifaaq (hypocrisy). And a hypocrite, I’m not.