What was the feeling when you did a completely new thing for the very first
time? Here is a list that can be your First's:-
- Gave public speech
- Jogged
- Sung
- Applied new marketing strategy
- Stood for your belief infront of powerful people
4-5 days back I tried to learn a dance that too LIVE infront of public. I
tried to learn Dandiya & Garba which are Indian dance forms used to celebrate
Navratri which goes on for 9 days at night during the month of October (you can
google it to know more). Before trying these dance for many years I used to
think that as I don't know the steps of dance, so how can I dance? And I should
make friendship with someone who knows to dance & ask him to teach me dance
during the day time & then after becoming little good, I can dance in
actual environment. Even after years of seeing people dancing at Navratri I
couldn't emulate a single step properly & neither did I made any friend who
could teach me to dance.
So what happened this year that I learned to dance? I was unsure how I was
going to do it. I had mixed feelings of fear & excitement; fear of I'll be
watched by many people while I'll be learning & excitement about I'm going
to learn something new today that I think I like it. After struggling with these mixed feelings some kind of external
energy overpowered me & made me think, "I don't know what's going to
happen BUT, I know I'M GOING TO DO IT.
I made a game plan about it. As I didn't know to dance & I didn't want
people to know about it, I thought I would go to a Navratri celebrating place
where there are lots of people dancing so that I'll not be the centre of
attention of people watching it. Also as dandiya is performed in circles I
thought I will start at a place in a circle where less people can watch me.
On Navratri night, before starting to dance I asked one of the boys to tell
me & demonstrate how to play dandiya during a break. I didn’t want to think
about how to ask or anything else as that would had raised many doubts in my
mind & may be stopped me from taking action & thus procrastinating. As
I was still in a frenzied state of mind I didn’t get much of what he was
telling but I understood somewhat by looking at him when he displayed the
steps. In the mean time few of his friends had a little laugh as I wasn’t
getting the steps. When dandiya started again, I went into the circle at
desired place to dance where I will be looked by less number of people &
can just focus on doing the steps. While dancing I was little nervous but I
didn't care about it. My nervousness was little under control BECAUSE: I had
prepared a little by thinking where I'm going to dance & asking one of the
boy's for dance steps. After doing steps in many wrong ways for 5 min, I
started to get the steps & get into the rhythm but during brief intervals I
did missed the steps occasionally but overall it felt good. But I wasn’t happy
much because I wanted to build upon the steps & do more complex steps. I
started with doing the basic steps with more energy. The person to whom I had asked
the steps said I was doing quite well.
On second day I thought I'll learn garba. Again I didn't want to be watched
by many people while practicing so I thought I'll go for playing garba early so
that there are only few people dancing & only a few people watching &
by the time more people come in, I would have got in some kind of rhythm. On
that night I went early & garba hadn’t started yet. I stood there for it to
get started. In few minutes music was put on & few boys & girls started
dancing. I thought I would be at the end of circle & try to follow other
people dance steps. But as garba had just started there as only 2 segments in
the circle; one segment for boys & one segment for girls dancing at back of
boys. If I wanted to learn dance, I had to join the boys segment dancing
infront of girls segment. It felt weird to have to dance infront of girls group
& girls watching me learning. Another thing was that for the boys segment
there was only one row which was leading the whole circle. This wasn’t the
situation I had planned. But without thinking much I went to the boys segment. I
asked to one of the boys little hesitantly as I didn't know him, to tell me the
steps. He happily showed me the steps. I wasn't able to quickly follow the
steps but I observed him. He told me it’s simple & showed me each step. I
emulated him. I knew I was watched by people looking into my inexperience but I
didn't want to think about them at that moment. I wanted to do the steps rights
& learn it fast. After struggling for 5 min, I started to get in a little
bit of rhythm & became little more confident though I was still not doing
it perfectly. While dancing I saw people danced with little variations of the
dance. It made me little relieved as my inexperienced way of dancing will be perceived
by people as a little variation. I decided raise my head & look up a
little, not look at the people but just look up. Previously I had my head
little down for the whole time to just focus on dance steps & to hide my
inexperience. The whole time I was feeling like a weak person & vulnerable
to difficulties. Again, the person to whom I asked said I was doing well.
There are a few things while trying to do this new thing:
1.
I
was procrastinating about dancing for many years because of fear of people
& not knowing steps but with action, fear & inexperience became less.
2.
I
made much of the planning but while practicing in the real world only 2% of the
plan got executed. So from now on whenever I'll do a new thing I'll make only 1
to 2 critical plans.
3.
While
doing other important things during the day, I got the thoughts of this new
thing which distracted me from doing those important things. I'll need to give
proper attention to these important things.
4.
I
went to practice a little later than my scheduled time because I was little
disorganized. I went on to practice even after this delay & I learned many
important things. Whenever I’m not as per schedule I will still go to do new
things because I'll learn a few important things.
5.
Some
unexpected problem ALWAYS comes while trying to do new thing. I’m glad I
adjusted to the problem & followed what I had planned.
E.g. For playing dandiya 2 sticks are needed
& I thought that I'd get it at the navratri location as at many locations
they give it for free. But the place where I had planned to practice didn't
have this provision. So I thought I would borrow it from someone who wasn't dancing
as I hadn’t brought money so that I can buy it from outside. But no one was
willing to donate. So I quickly went to my house (about 10 min from location)
got the money & bought dandiya. If I hadn't thought quickly & made
excuse that I don't have dandiya, I couldn't have practiced.
6. While doing dandiya I missed
the steps few times but I smiled a little & quickly thought of what are the
right steps to do. Whenever I
miss steps while doing a new thing (that's sure to happen), I'll smile a
little, quickly think of steps & then do them.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. I learned only 1 step at a
time to not feel overwhelmed & if something seems too complex I break up
into small parts.
8.
It's
ok if:
o
I
seem to be too focused in doing 1 step & other things get ignored
o
If
some people make weird face (some people surely will)
o
I
ask people for how to do it. People are generally very helpful
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I've
found that while trying a new thing & asking for approval from people who
are not the stakeholders, may give negative comments. It's good to stay away
from them as much as possible while doing new thing.
10.
Some
people might come with their free advice while you're just a newbie at the new
thing you’re trying. Generally these people come just to show their authority
to us or to other people around. Deeply they don't care much about you. Stay
away from these Free Tips People.
11.
People
are ready to help if we ask them & knowing how difficult it’s to do the
thing for the first time, they will encourage us & give positive feedback.
12.
Even
if you cry because you aren't able to do steps rightly, it's ok to cry because
it only tells how much you love doing the thing.
13.
After
coming home, for 10 min I think about what I did while practicing & what is
the next level of this thing.
What’s your First Time story? If you’ve already started jogging, what
was it like the first time; was it little challenging or did it came naturally
to you? Or if you haven’t started to jog yet, it will be good to know how it
turns out to be
.
Ricky