'Whatever It Takes' Attitude always works Passion, hunger for attitude, perseverance, knowledge, mentorship and positive expectations come together to create the magical concoction that generally elevates normal humans to legends.

It is seen that while two individuals put in same efforts for a particular assignment, where only one succeeds, it remains not just about putting in the best. More than the efforts, it is the "whatever it takes' attitude, which enables that small, yet critical push to achieve success.

At times, I hear of two teams which are equally talented and have worked equally hard on a project but still you have only one winner. Was it the winning team's or the other team's attitude that did not match the expectations? Sometimes our "best' is not good enough and we not only have to give in our best, but, but have to execute a "whatever it takes' attitude.. This attitude is basically a mix of ingredients, which you deliver for various tough situations that you face in your everday life.

"Whatever it takes' mind set is an amalgam, which differs from person to person. Passion, hunger for winning, belief, attitude, perseverance, knowledge, mentorship and positive expectations come together to create the magical concoction that generally elevates normal humans to legends.

It is seen that most successful decisions taken by people inadvertently come out as correct ones when they face a "no option' situation. There are times when they are pushed into a corner that demands immediate action and they take that big risk. They are put into a situation where new alternatives have to be looked at and all of a sudden creative options are to be discovered.

Anecdotal stories.

1) Positive encouragement:

Three frogs are visiting a wedding, where one of them accidently slips into a big vessel of milk. Unable to jump out, the other two frogs start believing that the first one will not make it and will die. But the frog in the vessel keeps swimming around trying to jump out every now and then.

Since he can't hear anything as he is deaf, the frog is happy to believe that his comrades are encouraging him to jump out. Finally after a long struggle the frog converts the milk into curd and jumps out!

Now think of it, as to what were his ingredients to the "whatever it takes' recipe? Attitude, hard work, hunger to survive etc. That's correct. But one which worked in his favor was that the frog was deaf (perceived as his weakness) and because of which he was not exposed to negativity or demotivation, and rather took it as positive encouragement.

Taking the ownership

If it is to be then it is upto me- A balloon seller's business was not doing too well, so everyday just when the kids would come into the park to play he would fill helium in one of the balloons and release it up in the sky. The kids looking at the balloon go up would gather around to buy balloons. On noticing the varied colors one of the kids asked if a particular Black colored balloon also flew in the sky. The balloon seller replied that it was not the color of the balloon that made it go up but what was inside that made it fly.

This poignant statement has a big impact in our lives. If we discover our inner strength and work on it, then we can succeed for sure.. Attitude, risk taking ability, willingness to learn, passion, desire and so much more all intermingled in various ratios really makes a difference. I remember one of my mentors saying that he does everything by the book but he would always add his flavor to it; that last bit of salt in his favorite ingredient to give it the special touch, and succeed.

Step on the Garbage thrown at you, and rise to success

Once there was a persistent Donkey who wanted to win any situation that came his way. One day while working at a construction site this donkey fell into a pit and was stranded for dear life. Attracting the attention of the workers with his constant braying, the Donkey thought that his life was saved. But alas, the construction workers had other ideas.

They decided to end his misery by throwing stones and sand to cover the pit with the donkey inside. With the first few stones hitting the donkey and the sand hitting his back, the donkey was dismayed at what was happening with him.

But quickly coming to terms with the situation, the donkey shook the debris off his back and stepped up on it to rise further. By employing the "Shake it off and Step it up' mix, the Donkey was out of the pit in no time, and was able to save his life.

Life for us, is also somewhat like the situation the Donkey found itself in. At times, many negative people pull us down and don't want us to succeed. Here we need to shrug the negative off our shoulders and step on the experience to move further ahead. Keep doing that and we will grow to be more intelligent from the experiences. It is at these times that just like the donkey we should think above the debris and persevere to push it down and rise above.

We all know that we are a cut above the deaf Frog, the balloon seller and the Donkey and we have in us that "whatever it takes' to make things happen. All that is needed is to unlock that spirit. If they can do it so can we!

(With inputs from Zubin Zack, Director and Chief Recognition Strategist (India), O.C. Tanner)