To achieve a goal, one should undertake a SWOT analysis to prepare the mind for it 

Two girls from an estimable school were bosom buddies. They were to appear for the class 12th examination. Renu was exceptionally talented.  She was to crack the examination and emerge number one in the school. Renu could only commiserate with the pea in the pod Divya, as the latter’s performance was below par. Divya’s mind was inundated with negative thoughts and she became covetous of her friend. The performance and results engineered joy, sorrow, hope, love, palpable excitement, anger and even hatred and jealousy among the students.

Life is priceless

Human life is so precious that antipathetic emotions like frustration and conflicts should become impediments that subsume the thought process. When demonic thoughts mushroom in the mind, our prana levels plummet and shrink. In such a situation efficiency of an individual plunges.

Frustration

Frustration is a mental state of vexation, a stifling feeling which enervates the individual. This invariably occurs when an anticipated desirable objective or goal is not accomplished. This triggers abnormal behavioural and emotional reactions. These can vary from detritus, chaff, aggressive tendencies, mental fixation, voluntary or involuntary attempt to discard the gauntlet, escapism, avoidance of quotidian responsibility, plain crying, worthlessness, and a feeling of rejection, addiction to alcohol, excessive smoking, substance abuse and at the extreme end of the spectrum can even lead to suicidal tendencies.

 Conflicting situations or frustration triggers

Conflicts can be termed feuds or schisms. These occur among individuals, sparring factions or organisations. The entity could be a political body, a corporate organization or even a philanthropic agencies. The genesis of approach-approach disputation emerges from choosing between two advantageous and expedient paradigms. The formation of avoidance-avoidance conflicting hostility lies in the choice between two negative alternatives. These are primarily undesirable surrogates. A classic example of such a misadventure is when an individual is faced with a bizarre dilemma to either allow decay of his teeth or to be treated by a dentist.

Overcome conflicts and frustrations

The human mind needs to be trained and motivated to grapple with all possible situations. A stock individual, a corporate honcho or a savant all have to plan and organise their behavioural patterns to hit the bull’s eye. This requires enormous tapasya. The next step in motivating the mind is to embark upon baby steps and establish short-term goals that target mastering the craft. Upon completion of a few goals, the human mind tends to become enervated. It would be prodigious to stroke oneself with petty rewards; a movie show, a few small gifts or even undertaking a short vacation perhaps. On each occasion, when an objective is accomplished, or a target achieved it is a moment of chutzpah. The mind endorses such positive strokes and is ready to scale the next summit. In case the targets appear exigent it would be sanguine to break them into smaller ones and approach them scientifically. It would be always bankable and salutary for the mind to visualise the outcomes of all the hard work an individual put in to achieve the desired goals. A human or a corporate entity should necessarily undertake a SWOT analysis to set targets and prepare the mind and self to achieve them. “Sometimes, God doesn’t send you into a battle to win it, he sends you to end it,” writes the inspirational author Shannon L Alder.

(The writer is the CEO of Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd.  and is a faculty of the Art of Living, views are personal)