Life Lessons from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

It was around 7:40 pm when my wife told me about demise of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I thought she must have seen the picture circulating on various social media wherein Jharkahnd Education Minister paid floral tribute to Dr. Kalam thinking he’s no more and I ignored the news. I was having dinner when I switched on to TimesNow news channels and was shocked to know whatever my wife had told was true and Dr. Kalam was no more. It was very sad news as Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was such a big role model and inspiration for millions of people for his simplicity, humbleness and dedication towards our nation and its people. There are following life lessons we can learn from Dr. Kalam:

Give Back to the Society:

If you have achieved something in your lives, give something back to the society as not everyone is as blessed as you are. You need not to have a lot of money to be able to give donations to the NGOs. You can give back to the society by raising your kids well, by volunteer to help children, by providing food and shlter to someone in need and by suing your skills and teaching other. Children provide us the best opportunity to give back to the society.

Learn to Manage Failure:

Dr. Dhawan was the chairman of ISRO and Dr. Kalam was the project Director for Rohini Satellite Launch in August 1979. The satellite was launched but the launch rocket fell in the Bay of Bengal after few seconds of its launch and it was a major setback to Indian Space Program. The press conference was supposed to be attended by Dr. Kalam but Prof. Dhawan took the responsibility of the failure and gave assurance to the media personnel that the mission will be completed next year. Next year, in 1980, after launching the satellite successfully into the orbit, Prof. Dhawan asked Dr. Kalam to face the media and conduct the press conference. When failure occurs a leader owns the failure and when success comes a leader gives it his team. A leader should learn how to manage failure and should take full responsibility of the failure.

Have a Vision/ Dream:

He once said, “Dreams are not what you see in sleep, dream is the thing which does not let you sleep”. The single most important factor to drive the human civilization ahead is our Dream. If you have a dream, nurture it with hard work and whatever circumstances never let your dreams die. People with dream move far ahead than people with none. In one of his speeches at India Parliament he recited his poem, “The Vision”:

I climbed and climbed

Where’s the peak, my Lord?

I ploughed and ploughed

Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord?

I sailed and sailed

Where is the island of the peace, my Lord?

Almighty bless my nation

With vision and sweat resulting into happiness.

Humility & Modesty:

Though Dr. Kalam was awarded the highest civil award of India, the Bharat Ratna, he never liked being called Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He even sent circular across DRDO, India’s premier research agency, to not to refer him Bharat Ratna. For a leader the ambition should be greatness of work and people rather than the leader himself. A leader should always be humble and down to earth and should keep a low profile.

Follow Your Passion:

Whatever you do in your lives do with passion and the success will follow. Passion is powerful feeling of enthusiasm inside us. If you are enthusiastic and passionate about your work you will overcome many obstacles and move up in your lives. Your passion helps you to improve and get better in your lives. Don’t be victim of your situations. Find something you love to do so much you can’t wait for sun to rise to do it all again.

RIP Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.