I sprinkled SALT in my job!

[Dipendra]

I work in online news portal called Naulokhabar as a mediaperson. I was assigned to interview Ms. Indra Malla who claimed gold medal at walking race in 27th Malaysian International Open Masters Athletics Championships lately. Usually interview takes at least forty five minutes to wrap up the whole session which includes knowing life events, milestones, thoughts and future plans. However, the period extended for more than an hour during the interview.

 

I began interrogation with her. I started with my first question ‘how do you define yourself? At first, she didn't have any idea from which sentence to start with. I thought defining own self is very difficult task for anybody. People need some time to look into themselves and sharing their life incidents to somebody who is totally new to anybody is not possible. Childhood experiences are the best experience any one could have and share. So I started with questions related to her childhood life events. She says, ‘my late father has been the source of inspiration who have motivated me to enter the field of Athletes since childhood. I feel very happy that I have made my daddy proud by bringing gold medal home’. She began to feel easy sharing her life experiences. Afterwards, I asked about her interests, best moments and achievements in life. I acknowledged her sole interest in sports and her confidence. The whole interview process was being recorded throughout the session. Stories were coming out one by one during the process as she was feeling ease and free to share. 

 

She was a single woman and always accepted the challenges in her life. I told her, being at the age of 40 plus, beating rest of the contenders is not an easy thing to achieve. It requires a lot of will power. I appreciated her in her every achievements and congratulated for accomplishing the goal in life. Also I asked a question like ‘what are the challenging things you did in your life for the first time?’ also helped out to discover her strengths of which she was not aware of. I kept appreciating her strengths. She adds, ‘my recent achievement has motivated me to take part in future tournaments’.

 

In this way, many stories were flowing both relevant and irrelevant for interview. The irrelevant stories too had a meaning which aided to understand her personality and dealings in her life. After completing series of questions, finally I asked her how do you describe yourself? At last she replied ‘I am a single woman having interest only in sports. Let’s say married to sports. I love to feel sports. I am bold, confident, loves challenges and I never give up. I am happy to dedicate my life in sports and make my family proud.’ This answer from her gave me a feeling of achievement as a CLC youth. I never knew it worked for me….!

 

From this experience, what I have learnt is that entering into somebody’s mind is through positive heart accompanied by optimism. When we genuinely appreciate, listen and do not act with an expert mode, it motivates people. They are more likely to open up and share and even take action. The interview was lengthy however fruitful and motivating to learn through her life experiences. Without the application of Community Life Competence (CLC) during my job, I couldn’t have drawn the inference for the interview.

 

A childhood experience with her late father was the Ice-breaking technique which I used at initial phase. With regard to her recent triumph at international event and challenges she has overcome, I kept appreciating and encouraging. Subsequently, she realizes her strengths and gets motivated to compete more in future games at such age.

 

I am realizing that power of CLC is divine! It unwinds almost all the problems of life if one knows the real meaning of CLC. It is fun and has worked for me. It has really changed my way of thinking and working styles. This is what I have felt and would like to share!

 

 Dipendra Malla

[Dipendra]

Phil 

[Dipendra]

@Phil ...Thank you for your feedback! The pharse you have stressed out means a lot...for me to learn and focus to discover myself!

[Phil]

Dipendra, 

Here are 3 phrases that I enjoyed in your story: 

'motivating to learn through her life experience'. Through your interview you learned from Indra. 

'a positive heart accompanied by optimism'

'it is fun'

Those are good things to remember. 

Thank you. 

Phil

[Dipendra]

wiwin winarni yes, absolutely! Still learning and exploring!

[Dipendra]

Emily Bodiford tx for the acknowledgement! It feels so good inside to apply this approach! Its serene!

[wiwin winarni]

Great! again your story is another proof that CLCP works at all walk of life, profession as a way to make us happy learner/person.

Regards.

[Dipendra]

Hi Marlou...thank you very much...sure i am committed to continue it and apply! Learning by sharing! :-)

[Marlou]

Wow, thanks for sharing Dipendra - I am sure you will continue to find opportunities to apply - and to share the learning with us.