Hit F5 (Refresh): Explore a new version of yourself
Few weeks back, I started reading a book written by Satya Nadella — “Hit Refresh”. The book talks about individual change, the transformation taking place within Microsoft and the new technological wave. The title of the book fascinated me, and I liked how he explained the Hit Refresh concept. Whenever we hit refresh in our browser, some of the existing page content stays on the page while the new content also gets updated.
While sipping my tea I was thinking about “Hit Refresh” and realized if we want to grow in our professional or personal life, we need to hit f5 key many a times. Today, things are moving at a very fast pace and if we don’t upgrade ourselves, we will be left behind. We need to evolve if we want to be a part of the change and add more meaning to what we do.
On the personal front, your individual basic nature never changes, but as you grow old, you play multiple roles and responsibilities. Before marriage, you live a carefree life as you don’t have to manage the house or work on creating a balance between personal and professional life. However, as you move to the next phase of life, while adapting to this big change, you also learn a lot and struggle a lot. I realized that while going through this change, I had to press the refresh button time and again, which resulted in addition of many things to my bag- I learnt to deal with different people, handle weird and difficult situations, and learnt the art of ignorance to live a peaceful life. Though, inspite of so much effort, still a lot to learn and refresh 😊.
One can press the refresh button at any stage of life; age should not be an inhibiting factor. If you look at some people from older generation, some of them are so willing to change — be it their mindset or getting familiar with new technology or adapting to new trends. With time, this change helped them along with the people around them live a happy and peaceful life. While on the other hand, there are people who are not ready to change and always stick to their old mentality — always putting men and women on different pedestals, giving importance and more priority to man of the house, considering office work of man in the house more seriously than woman’s work etc. They live life with a tunnel vision where there is no scope to change as they can’t think beyond their preconceived notions. The point I want to make here is that if we learn to top-up ourselves with the changing times, we will make everyone’s life smooth, happy, and filled with positivity.
On the professional front also if we do not upgrade ourselves with industry trends, tools, and technology we will be left behind. Gone are those days when you start with a skill set and continue doing it all your life. Things are moving so fast that we need to adapt and learn each day. We need to add something new each day to our bag. Women who leave their job, hobbies to take care of their families should also try to hit refresh and pursue their passion. The first step won’t be easy, but as we start, each day’s challenges will help us explore more about ourselves and give us a sense of achievement at the end of the day.
There is no age or right time to grow and learn. In my opinion from time to time, we all should Hit the refresh button in both our professional and personal life so that we see a new and better version of ourselves. To change for good is the key to happiness, this will not only make us happy but also people around us.
Keep Calm and Hit Refresh 😊
Author: Garima Shrivastava
