What is Water? How Young Leaders Can Thrive in an Uncertain World By Kayvan Kian

To have a great life, have a Radical Focus on only what you can control!

Choose Wisely
Take 15 seconds and note down everything in your immediate environment that is of the color red. Now tell me all that is of the color blue in your environment! This question might irritate you. But it is a simple 15 second exercise to remind you that our mind focuses on only that what we chose to direct our focus upon! Choose wisely!

VUCA World & You
We live in a World that increasingly appears to be ‘Vulnerable’, ‘Uncertain’, ‘Complex’, ‘Ambiguous’ (VUCA). The way to thrive in such a world is to then have a radical, radical focus on that what you can control and on that what matters.

How are you at making a distinction between that what you can control and that which are out of your control in any given situation?

On Empathy
Remember Empathy is never about you, it is always about the other person. Have genuine empathy towards the other person and genuinely care for them. Always remember that activities that may seem meaningful to you, may not be as important or meaningful to the other person.

On Giving Meaning and Reality
A person walked up to a worker and asked him what was he doing. His answer was he was ‘laying bricks’. She then walked up to the next worked and ask him the same question. His answer was ‘I am building a pillar’. She then asked the next worked and his answer was ‘I am building a school’.
Now each of them were telling the truth. The only difference was the subjective meaning they gave to the work they were doing. What our eyes see may not be the reality but reality maybe subjective to the internal meaning we have given it! This is an absolute gem of an example!