It was my first job.
I joined the R&D team for a corporate training company.
I was earning 15K/month – more money than I ever thought I would make.
Life was good for the first 2-3 months.
And then came the turning point.
One of the biggest FMCG companies wanted us to design a sales training program for their field staff.
I was given the project.
I had NO IDEA where to start!
The next week, I went on many sales trips.
Just observing them.
The training programs until then were PPTs with exercises.
You know, the boring PPTs with font 14 text.
I knew this crowd comprising field sales executives would hate that.
You may not know this, but I LOVE movies.
The idea of a story summarised in 1-3 hours.
So I decided to create a movie!
A day in the life of Ramesh, the sales guy.
He was my SRK.
The best performing sales guy in the company.
I chronicled his day, from start to end.
How he planned his day.
How he approached shopkeepers.
How he formed a connection.
How he handled objections.
I worked 16+ hours a day for a week, creating a movie using PPT animations.
It was exhausting but so much fun!
I was convinced it would work.
And it did!
But something weird began to happen.
I began to get a LOT of work.
Back then, I didn’t know how to say no.
So, I said yes and was instantly burdened.
I could see my peers chilling, relatively.
It felt like some people’s work had been given to me.
I had a meeting with my manager. I vented.
And vented.
When I was done, she said: “Good people pay a far higher price for being good than bad people pay for being bad.”
The world is selfish. So when it finds people who are good at what they do, the world decides not to risk it. It gives ALL the work to them while taking it away from the bad ones. If you find yourself overworked, it is because people know you can do it.”
“So now you have 2 choices in life. Be good with your work and get a lot of work. Or suck at your work and get less meaningful work. What do you want to choose?”
When someone says “I have a new project for you”, realise that they are giving it to you because they believe YOU can do it.