ENVISION

Issue: August 2012

 

A vision gives us the ability to fight adversity. How? This happens basically in two ways. First, a vision gives us motivation: the more powerful the vision is, the more motivated we shall be. The motivational impact of a vision can be summarized as:

motivational impact α scale × nobility × loftiness

I define ‘scale’ as the size of the vision. Is it making your company a leader locally or internationally? Is it educating the children of your city versus educating the children of the whole country? In the above examples, the latter vision is bigger in terms of scale.

I define ‘nobility’ as the degree, to which your vision touches lives other than yourself for a greater good. In the example of expanding the company, the scale is growing but not the nobility, whereas in the second example of educating children, both the scale and nobility are growing.

‘Loftiness’ is the minimum cost required for the success of the vision. Difficult and demanding visions have higher loftiness levels. Ending oppression in a region or a country has a higher loftiness level than fighting malaria.

Even if scale, nobility and loftiness levels are not high, just having a vision gives us motivation, as opposed to having no clear vision at all. Thus, a motivated person is better able to handle adversity than someone, who is de-motivated or dejected.

For describing the second way, in which a vision helps us fight adversity, let me share with you a simple story. When I was in the eighth grade, a friend drew a line on a piece of paper and asked me to shorten it without erasing it. I was perplexed. After giving thought to it for a few hours, I gave up and told my friend that it cannot be done. To this he responded with a ‘aha’, drew a much longer line next to the previous one and said, “See, it is smaller now!”

Except for a few matters, most of the things in this world are relative. Some people are rich, while others are poor; some are beautiful - others not that much; some are more intelligent, while others less.

Suppose two people set out for a journey in a car. The first one’s destination is five hours away, while for the other it is a ten days journey. After five hours of driving, who do you think will feel more tired? Of course, the one, who has come to the end of the journey. The one, who has ten days of driving ahead of him, will not feel tired; rather, if asked, he would respond by saying, “I have just started.”

Adversities are a fact of life. Let us accept it. All of us will be tested one way or the other. I have noticed an interesting aspect of being a human: whenever we face an adversity, we subconsciously compare it to our visions in life. This process just happens automatically. The greater and more powerful the visions are, the less the adversity appears to us, and the more petty visions we have, the bigger the adversity appears. You will find people, who are pushed to depression or despair, just because they are not able to afford an expensive car or are not able to pay for a vacation trip in the summer.

Close to three decades of imprisonment of Nelson Mandela failed to break his will and spirit. He had a vision—to take his people out of slavery—that far superseded the adversities he had to bear.

I would like to share with you an essay published in Express News on November 11, 2011, by Mr. Jawed Chaudhary, a columnist in Pakistan, about a young man by the name of Jawad Bhatti. The essay was in Urdu and I am indebted to Ms. Saba Nadeem, one of my students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), for translating it and Ms. Laila Brence for editing it. So here is the true story of Jawad:

“Mohammad Jawad Bhatti is an extraordinary gift, and his story, in my opinion, is more inspiring than the works of such top notch writers as Stephen Hawking and Jeans Dominique Bouby. Jawad is 24 years old. He is an extremely courageous and fearless person. Every Pakistani, who gives in to the petty problems of life, should look at Jawad as an example: in spite of his immense disability, he has never been disappointed in life; instead, he has defeated his physical and mental impairments.

Jawad used to live in Shujabaad, a town 40 km from Multan. He was impaired during his childhood. An illness he underwent around the age of three left him permanently physically impaired - he could not stand upright because of deformed leg bones. For about seven years, he was completely bedridden, after which he decided he wanted to go to school. Inside the house, he could only crawl using his hands to move around, as his father could not afford any treatment. The height of Jawad’s determination can be seen by the fact that although the school was two kilometers from his house, he still decided to pursue his education.

His father dropped Jawad to school on his bicycle, and his friends helped him get to the class. He used to study till evening, when one of his friends would carry him back home on his shoulders. He went to the same school till the eighth grade. In 2002, Jawad transferred to Government High School in Shujabaad. The school was three kilometers from his house, but the distance did not discourage Jawad. He kept on going to school, with his father, friends and relatives aiding in his commuting. In 2004, he finished his matriculation examination with 658 marks, which was an immense success, considering his disability.

Jawad wanted to become a doctor. The roots of this desire sprung from his childhood, when he had visited different clinics and observed doctors treating patients. Jawad deduced that being a doctor was a great job. After matriculation, it was nearly impossible to continue his education, because the college was very far, and most of his friends had moved to Multan for continuing their education. Also, Jawad’s parents could not afford to fund his education. However, his friends returned and took him along to Multan for attending the college.

In Multan, Jawad stayed at a hostel and would crawl to his classes. In 2006, he cleared his intermediate exams with 830 marks, which was the first step towards acquiring his dream. He took the entry test at a medical college and conveniently passed. However, the medical board committee refused to take Jawad in, because he could not stand up straight. Although disappointed, Jawad did not lose hope. Soon, a great opportunity came around: a doctor called Jawad to his office and told him that if he would agree to be operated five to six times, he could stand up on his feet. Jawad agreed, went for surgeries and subsequently was bedridden for six months.

After six months, he once again took the medical college entry test, with his legs still plastered. He managed to pass it once again. This time, when he was called upon by the medical committee, they were astonished to see him standing with the help of crutches under both his arms.  Just when it seemed that Jawad Bhatti had finally won the battle against adversity, he was presented with another challenge. Now, the committee seemed to object on the fact that if Jawad was using both of his hands to hold the crutches, he would not be able to examine the patients. In response to this concern, Jawad asked, “What am I supposed to do now?” The committee replied: “If you show that you can walk with only one crutch, we will admit you.”

Jawad, as determined as he was, requested the committee to give him a period of six months. Returning home, he started to practice walking with a stick. Learning to walk with a stick might seem easy to those, who have walked on their feet throughout their lives. However, the intense difficulty of Jawad’s situation can only be understood by a person, who after twenty years of crawling, would have only recently learned to stand with the help of crutches under both arms. What set Jawad apart was the fact that he always took such hurdles as opportunities - he knew that his dreams were just difficult, not impossible.

When after six more months Jawad was once again standing in front of the committee, the members had no option but to accept this promising individual. Finally, Jawad saw his efforts pay off, as he was admitted in Allama Iqbal Medical College.

Currently, Jawad is in the process of becoming Pakistan’s finest doctor. He is in the third year of MBBS, and his education is being funded by “Karavan-e-Ilm Foundation”, a charitable organization, which provides educational resources to the underprivileged individuals in Pakistan.

Jawad Bhatti is the real heir of this crippled Pakistan that we live in today. Through his determination, Jawad is trying to communicate to the disabled leaders of today’s Pakistan that if a person’s resolve is strong enough, he can crawl his way even to the top of Mount Everest. From an economic and political perspective, a crawling country like ours needs such individuals as Jawad Bhatti, who can once again make it stand on its own feet.”

Please send your suggestions and comments to envision@timelenders.com

Your details have been sent. Thank you.



 

 

From the Editor’s Desk…

Assalam-o-Alaikum,

After the first issue of Envision last month, we received a tremendous response from Timelenders family members—people who have done our workshops—with numerous ideas, suggestions and appreciation for this long awaited initiative.

I would like to thank all of you who took time out and wrote to us to encourage this small effort. This month, we have tried to enhance the content and include couple of more sections that will interest you. This includes a quote of the month, an essay as usual and few comments from Timelenders new family members who have recently joined us through workshops held in the last one month.

Happy Eid Mubarak to all of you and your families in advance from the Envision team.

Wassalam,

Yameenuddin Ahmed
The Editor

 


 

Last Month Workshops...

Strategic Time Management workshop for Ladies
Karachi, 12-14 July, 2012

 “…Truly a life changing workshop and it’s not just motivating, but it’s so practical that I am so excited to start of with all that I have learnt in here. I highly appreciate Timelenders team for doing such a wonderful job for the development of the nation. A workshop that must be shared with everyone in the society…”

 Seda Ifrah Saleem,
Student (MBA)

 

“…As always, the workshop has exceeded my expectations and addressed key problems, issues in time, stress, health and most importantly relationships with Allah (SWT) and family that I could not even phrase or really comprehend / solve. Thanks a lot for giving me this wonderful experience…”

 Ayeza Qureshi,
Yale University

 


 

Effective Leadership through Character Workshop,
Sri Lanka, 09-10 July, 2012

“...This workshop was an eye-opener for me as it is going to open up a new page in my life. I hope this program will benefit 20,000 people of our area that I represent insha’Allah. The timing, discipline and punctuality was immaculate. I am thankful to Timelenders for developing the leadership workshop with very simple concepts that can be easily understood by anyone…”

Mohamed Ramiz Nalir,
Sri Lanka

 

“…A thought provoking and interesting course that kept the participants alert and awake for 2 continuous days, which I rarely see in such courses. The best part of the workshop is the concept of leadership was presented in a simplest way possible and made it very easy to absorb and implement…”

Jurair Hamid Marikar,
HR Consultant, Sri Lanka 

 


 

Strategic Visions Workshop
Sri Lanka 07-08 July, 2012

“…This is a note of appreciation for the enlightening session on Strategic Visions. There is no doubt that this was the best workshop I ever attended in my life as I have participated in hundreds of workshops by world’s famous trainers from USA, UK and other places. The beautiful connection of your courses with Islamic ground breaking concepts have made them truly life changing. It has really brought up a turning point in my life…”

Yasmin Saheed,
Beruwala, Sri Lanka

 

“…A very useful and vital course for all ages. I believe the parents, young children and corporate executives, everybody should go through this visioning framework. The concept of developing long-term visions in our personal life was a great learning for me…”

Milad,
Sri Lanka 

 


 

Strategic Time Management Workshop,
Islamabad, 06-08 July, 2012

 “…Indeed, Timelenders have developed an integral model based upon purpose and vision, Time Management, leadership and competence. The articulation of the model, correlation and importance of this workshop is adequately hammered. The psychological approach towards behavior development, prioritization of tasks and scheduling in the light of the importance of commitments – forms a very coherent framework. Better call it a ‘life management’ workshop…”

 Dr. Jamil Ahmed
Head of Communication and Management Sciences
Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences

 

“…A great workshop to attend, extremely informative, inspirational, full of knowledge and very different from other personal development workshops. These 3 days of our life will definitely help us reshaping our lives and visions for a greater good…”

 Ibrahim Khan Niazi,
Student (A-levels)

 


 

Strategic Visions Workshop, Indus Motor Company Ltd.

 “…This course makes us understand the importance of many issues of life that we generally ignore specially family! The visions framework as provided by Timelenders is an excellent tool to encompass all aspects of life instead of running only in one direction and misses out the other…”

Shoaib Saeed,
Executive Director
Toyota Azad Motors

 

“…A wake-up call for me, the realization of the most important question of life – the real reason of existence! Question marks for me to balance my personal and professional life, put my tail on fire…”

Farhan Majeed,
Product Manager
Indus Motor Company Ltd.

 


 

Strategic Visions Workshop, Lahore, 15-17 June, 2012

 “…A comprehensive, highly informative, eye-opening and life changing experience. A lot of concerns have been addressed even before asking about them. The beauty of the course is that it isnot restricted to the importance of vision in one’s life, but clarify the whole framework to develop right priorities in life…”

Haroon Mukhtar,
Total Parco Pakistan Ltd.

 

“…I believe that these 3 days were the best 3 days of my life, when I got a whole new perspective of getting through my life. I pray for Timelenders’ great success and looking forward to other workshops by you…”

Ussama Shahid,
Director
Wajda International Kuwait

 

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