You always start from zero

Every start of a new year brings with it a fresh slate. The past years’ accomplishments and resolutions (met or unmet) seem immaterial at the moment. It’s time to come out with a fresh list of to-dos and to-learns for the year; or at least do more and learn more since last year. The new year’s accomplishments have started from zero. There is a lot that we yearn to do and learn this year – evident from the resolutions that we have made, in terms of health, wealth, relationships and many more.

There is an amazing quote from cricket (possibly credited to Sachin Tendulkar) that “Every innings starts from zero“. No matter your past performances and accolades, or even your recent form. When you go out to bat for a fresh innings of a match, your score starts at zero. Your previous match century is just a statistic right now. This is applicable to all sports where past performances do not guarantee or merit future success. It turns out the longevity of an illustrious sports career relies heavily on the discipline laid down by the athlete – Not by those occasional “once in a blue moon” spurts of magical performances. History tends to forget these one-time wonders; only a consistent performer will be remembered. The mentality of “Every innings starts from zero” is then a quite apt and humble way to keep performing consistently well.

Every relationship starts from zero. Marriage starts from zero, and it takes a long time to mature (if it does at all ;-)). So does friendship – starts from not knowing each other to taking a considerable time to perfect the relationship. People don’t enjoy investing their time again and again in making new friends. Hence, most despise the thought of having to move residence from one part of city to another, one city to another, one country to another. It’s not just the logistical nightmare – one needs to restart from zero – knowing the neighborhood, the locality, and making new friends. It’s especially tough on people who are unable to easily break ice and make new relationships. It’s quite tough on kids, who need to make newer friends at school and their residence communities. Starting from zero is not ideal, as it forces us to get out of our comfort zone.

Learning anything new, by definition starts from zero. Learning to play a musical instrument, learning a new skill – say cooking, writing, stitching, artwork, etc. seems like a mountain to climb. But then it’s good to know that all great artists have had to start from zero. It took them years or decades of practice to perfect their art and deliver like the way they do. The great ones have the humility to know there is still more to learn. One of my wife’s uncles started learning flute after the age of 60, and now he has been practicing for 3-4 years, and he keeps getting better and better each time we see him performing. He is such a role model for all of us, for his dedication to learn, his discipline to do it day in day out, and his curious mind to be able to learn at his age. Learning anything does start from zero, but then there is no age limit to actually starting from zero – it’s just the mindset game.

The concept of starting from zero is very applicable to anyone joining a new organization or changing jobs or roles (within an organization or outside). Joining a new company, well, you are fresh to the organization (unless your new boss was your old boss or some known person!). You may be a seasoned professional and have had delivered a lot in your previous organization, or a fresher out of university. Either case, you still start from a zero in the new organization. You need to prove your mettle by delivering – amidst the ongoing scrutiny and the cultural adjustments that needs to be done. The new employer although “knows” your capabilities, is still gauging if they made the right choice – and only after you prove with some wins under your belt, they truly “know” your skills. Only then the score moves from zero. People normally don’t like to keep proving themselves and starting from zero all over again. Hence, they tend to join organizations where they have some known faces – maybe an old boss, an ex-colleague, or even return back to one’s previous organization – in which case they don’t start from zero!

On a personal level, I have been doing runs lately. Last year was probably the most successful, and I hope to build on that. Even then, every run starts at 0km – there is a nudge required to go from zero to more. No matter I have done a good 5k, or even 10k couple of days back, starting a run always has this inertia that needs to be overcome. It surely gets better after practice, that’s why picking up a sport that we used to play a long time back feels like a herculean task. A lot of household chore that we occasionally do and the ones that need bit of skill, also fall into this trap. Making dosa (Indian pancakes), for example, is bit tricky. It needs the right skill of applying oil, the batter in layers, right heat in the pan, etc. I end up always messing up the first dosa I take out. It doesn’t come out easily, or the batter is little too much, or sometimes the shape is weird. By the time I take out two or more dosas I start to “perfect” the art, and then the dosas seems fairly edible. Practice makes perfect, in whatever we do, really.

What new will you do and learn (or re-learn) this year? What will you move from zero to more? The past being past, it doesn’t matter so much what happened last year. If you have been able to meet your expectations, very well and good. If not, you have a fresh new slate now, fill it up appropriately, here is another chance to prove to yourself. Start from zero also means getting out of comfort zone. So, I think it’s safe to say that to get out of our comfort zone, we need to have a mindset that pushes us to start from zero. As long as we have the right frame of mind and attitude, zero is not a bad place to start, eh? Everybody starts from zero!