Ways to distinguish yourself – #109 Fight the right battles

By Rajesh Setty on Fri 03 Mar 2006, 2:03 PM – 1 Comment

Today I met a friend for coffee to catch up. He was sharing with me how

he was fighting an internal battle within his organization. He told me

that he had not slept in the last two days and until that problem was

solved he may not sleep well at all. He wanted some inputs on what he

should do to win that battle. He was stressed out and his wife was

concerned.

I know this person for a long time and he is a fighter and very rarely

gives up easily. Once he starts something, he has to finish it.

Rather than focusing on how to win the battle, I asked him why he was

fighting that battle in the first place. His immediate answer was that

it was the right thing to do and his consciousness won’t let him do

anything otherwise. We talked for a little while about that and I asked

him how will his family members feel when he really “wins” this battle.

He was honest and mentioned to me that it won’t even matter to them. I

was curious and probing further I asked him what exactly he will get by

“winning” this battle. It appears like the biggest thing that he will

get is that he will be proven right. Being extremely smart, he had

already realized that he was figthing the wrong battle. While he was

wasting his time fighting that battle, that was not the only loss. He

had a huge opportunity cost. Being consumed in the battle, he had put

aside several important projects that would yield great results in the

long run.

So, look back in your own lives before you answer the question “How do I win this battle?” ask yourself “Why am I fighting this battle in the first place?” You may be surprised

Note: For the other articles in the same series, please visit

          Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself

Related Articles:

• When the other person does not fight back…
• “25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself” released at ChangeThis.com
• 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in Spanish – Translated by Carlos Padilla
• Ways to distinguish yourself #165 – Leave a door open at the corner

Posted in the Distinguish yourself, Main Page category.

If you enjoyed this article, Get Life Beyond Code delivered by email or subscribe using your Feed Reader and RSS