KOCHI: Even Shiv Khera has bouts of demotivation, but the way forward is easy; he reads motivational books! “People are surprised when I tell them that I too get demotivated. In those instances I read my books, listen to my audio and video CDs and it charges me up. I am an avid reader now and that helps. When I feel low, reading picks me up,” says Khera.
Khera, an inspirational motivational speaker was in the city where he conducted a three day session to the students and faculty of Government Engineering College, Barton Hill. He was on his second visit to Kerala.
“Just like our body needs food everyday, our mind needs positive thoughts everyday. It is the only way to keep yourself motivated. If we don't feed positive thoughts, we become mentally sick,” Khera said. Khera who conducts sessions across the world, motivating scores of people didn't have it easy though. A broke Khera left India when the coal mines owned by his family became nationalised and did odd jobs to make ends meet.
“I started my life with a bucket in my hand, washing cars door-to-door. We rented a one bedroom apartment and there was no food nor furniture,” he recalls.
It was a session he attended by world renowned positive thinker Norman Vincent Peale that changed his life and from then on, there was no looking back. “Till I attended Peale's programme, I blamed the whole world for my failures. I never looked at myself. It never occurred to me that I was the problem,” he adds. He believes that until and unless people start accepting their failures and own responsibility, they cannot succeed in life. He strongly holds that everybody has the potential to succeed in life.
“But they don't want to pay the necessary price to succeed as people always need the easy way out. If you want it bad enough you will succeed. All success stories are stories of great failures,” he points out.
He believes that our educational system has to go through a big overhaul. “Nothing worthwhile is being taught in colleges and schools. Ninety percent of what is being taught in schools and colleges can't be used in real life. We need value based education,” he said.
According to him the constraint seen across the world is lack of people skills. “All over the world, we don't have business problems but we have people problems. The wealthiest person must build and create relationships. The tool to succeed in life is to have good people skills. When we take care of people problems, all our other problems are resolved,” he said.
To succeed in life, Khera believes that it is necessary not to follow the masses. “If you want to succeed in life just see what the masses are doing. Do the opposite and you will succeed because masses have never been successful in life,” he reiterates. “Most people don't have discipline. Series of discipline practiced everyday is success. Don't quit!,” he says with his usual cheeriness.
It is the response he receives from those who attend his sessions on positive thinking that keep him going. " I am flooded by messages, phone calls, emails, letters everyday. He recalls an instance when a participant of his workshop made a life altering decision by throwing away the pills she had amassed to commit suicide. It is these things that keeps me going. This is my motivation,” he adds.