The Journey from Ambala to the World

[Music]

[Applause]

hi guys i’m ragini tandon and i’m here

to perform my

most love song for you

oh no just kidding i’m here to talk

about how focus

and unfocus are important in my life and

i’m here to share

my experiences with you for the last

four crazy years of my life

i have been time and again thinking

about the word

focus the usual understanding is that

focus

helps one make a better life you know

focusing in different capacities

on work family friends and all of that

for example when i was younger and i’m

sure it was the same for all you guys

i wanted to finish all my homework just

so that i could go out and play with my

friends

a little later my focus drifted a little

except i still want to finish all the

work and attend all the extracurricular

activities

right on time so that i can reach home

and watch this favorite cereal of mine

called dill milder i was so obsessed

with romance i cannot even tell you

so anyway i used to schedule my classes

exactly

at the time so that i could finish those

all that work and reach home

and watch that serial priorities were

very clear

then came the time when we had to choose

our streams and figure out that

one stream that is going to help us with

what we really want to do

i remember i used to wonder how can i

decide so early in life

like what if i feel differently in a

year or two

how do you find that one thing that you

really want to do for the rest of your

life

i mean we’re like what 16 17 years old

when we have to make these big decisions

so then the real question that arises

is how do we find that one thing that we

should

and want to be focusing on it was 2008 i

remember

when our school principal asked us to

write down on a chit

our one ultimate dream even then i

remember

mine was to be a playback singer i

remember writing on that paper

literally that i want to be in bombay

and i want to be recording in

yash raj studios so music classes were

my favorite favorite part of the day

believe it or not i missed dill milk i

multiple times

just so that i could attend an extra

music class in the 10th grade i even

convinced my principal to let me miss

two exams just so that i could attend a

music competition in delhi

it was fun except for the part where i

was sitting and giving exams and my

friends were

actually celebrating the end of them so

anyway

at that age i didn’t know if this dream

was even possible

and then life hit like it does to all of

us

du cutoffs interviews board results

and so much more and all the stressful

things that happen to come with it

i have always been a fairly average

student i used to score about

70 to 80 percent and i was happy with it

to be honest

as long as i could attend those music

classes like

like you know we all know board exams

are important so

i made sure i studied and like i studied

like never before

and i was quite confident about the

range of percentage that i would get

this was when i realized there is

something else in this world that i

really

enjoyed learning about and that was the

subject psychology

my focus was now divided between these

two things that i

absolutely loved singing and psychology

and at this time even though my music

kept going

making a career out of it was not on the

cards

du cutoffs at that time were peaking at

120 percent

they were expecting you to answer all

the questions

maybe write two questions extra from

your own side

answer those two just to get admission

in a college

and here i was really wanting to do

psychology honors

but with a result of 89

way lower than the du cutoff

we tried the eca route as well but i

still didn’t get it

anywhere i was simply devastated and i

just didn’t know what to do

there were these two things i really

wanted to make a part of my life

but i just couldn’t figure out how

i enrolled in a liberal arts college in

pune i would call that year

a year of complete unfocused i was

studying all types of things

from ethics to biology to

calligraphy to the cultural study of

gods

i had no idea what was in store for me

and i just kept telling myself

to keep going relax and enjoy in

other words now that i realize unfocus

now if you google the synonyms of the

word unfocused

this is what you’ll see vague distracted

unstructured aimless beaver couf

i mean when someone calls you unfocused

it’s not meant as a compliment you know

it’s supposed to be an insult it hurts

and

brings all types of sadness and

negativity telling you from personal

experience

now here’s what the fun part is which of

course i realized

much much later in life unfocusing from

something you’re pursuing

doesn’t necessarily mean you’re

unfocused in life

research has shown that unfocusing

allows you to develop resilience

enhance your creativity and also help

you make better decisions

when we unfocus from some problem or

challenge

we relax enough to see new possibilities

and solutions

that year for me was random

lots of unstructured time lots of

aimless

purposeless strolling around campus deep

thinking

and so much more and i would say that

all this

made my mind so much clearer than it was

the year before

the stress of 12 standard college

applications

choosing streams it was all quite a

mental storm

this year in pune was almost like

a healing experience the fact that i got

to learn

so many new things was just an added

bonus

i didn’t know at that time how much this

so-called

unfocus was helping me grow towards

being a stronger

calmer and a more determined person

i was quietly strengthening my resolve

to build the life i wanted to find

solutions to most

if not all my problems unfocusing

gave me new opportunities exposure

and chances to experience much more

than i had ever ever imagined when i say

i became more determined

here’s how i reapplied to du in the next

year

through eca and this time voila

i got through happiest day of my life

believe me i mean you all know how it

feels to be admitted here

right i was the same person that i was a

year ago

my percentage had not magically

increased to 120 percent

my singing had improved a little sure

but i think i got in this time

because i was calmer clearer and more

determined

i had spent a lot of time being

unfocused

this time i went in with a happy energy

and trust me that vibe is everything

i believe that made all the difference

srini pillai a neuroscientist and an

acclaimed author

makes the case for why we need to

unfocus sometimes

in a story for the harvard business

review he writes

the problem is that excessive focus

exhausts

the focus circuits in your brain it can

drain your energy

and make you lose self-control this

energy drain

can also make you more impulsive and

less helpful

as a result decisions are poorly thought

out

and you become less collaborative being

an artist

i happen to experience creative blocks

many times

making it extremely difficult for me to

come up with something

fresh something i would love to call my

work

at this time i usually try to move on

with other

things around me like you know sometimes

i would start cleaning up my room

i would clean my cupboard maybe put up a

movie along with it

so while writing about this i realized

that this was

my way of unfocusing letting my mind

wander and in simple terms just

chill and most of the time after

unfocusing after this whole procedure

i would just get new ideas or tunes

which i love and in time have also

worked upon to turn them into

songs which of course you’ll hear in the

near future

so let me give you an example of

unfocusing that i’m sure

has happened with each one of you like

it’s a part of our daily life so one day

you keep something valuable

in a place that is extremely safe and

you will never forget and literally the

next day

you just can’t seem to find it when it

happens with me

i become so frustrated and i feel like

the whole

universe is conspiring against me but

then

the amazing thing is that as soon as you

finally give up and stop

thinking about where that valuable thing

might have gone

it suddenly comes back to you something

in your mind

clicks and there it is solutions come

when we are just not engaged in

particular tasks

and have the mental freedom to entertain

new ideas

and find connections that have

previously evaded us

unfocusing gives your mind the space

that it requires

to find those solutions find that

clarity

in simple words if you’re struggling

with some problem

deliberately set aside some time to

daydream about it

don’t think about it at all and the

benefits of doing so

will be that your unconscious mind will

get on the job

and produce creative solutions without

you having to do very much at all

in 2020 we all went through some major

changes in life

and in the world because of the pandemic

as a part of an

ever evolving industry as an artist

being just extremely focused about work

my music

compositions and all of that just didn’t

seem enough

even when the work was being done the

music was being made

it just didn’t feel sufficient i was

figuring out ways to reach

my audience in many different ways as i

could

and slowly the scary thoughts surfaced

the cycle of feeling stressed

and feeling worked up began seriously

the

struggle of not knowing whether you’re

doing the right thing

is real i took some time to just

brainstorm and channel my focus

on something more this helped me

understand that

it wasn’t good enough to just have focus

i needed to have

diversification that was when i decided

to start working with my brother

on castico where i got to meet new

people online who were also interested

in music

it helped me channel my focus towards

other possibilities

and solutions instead of just sitting

around stressing about life

and about how the world was in shutdown

mode there’s also another way to look at

the whole focus and focus scenario

which seems like a very very different

approach to me

focus to unfocus there are certain

situations in

every person’s life that they just don’t

want to think about

but sometimes they just can’t help it

breakups career

money problems work stress family issues

the future the list has no end

this is where focus to unfocus can be

most

powerful yes it is possible for a person

to dive

deep into a particular thing so much so

that everything else around them

is in complete unfocus this can be a

great way to move aggressively towards

your goals

but i can tell you from personal

experience this kind of approach

only leads to exhaustion fatigue

and sometimes loneliness as well

you tend to forget to chill socialize

and have some fun

from time to time why because you’re too

focused on that just one thing yes it is

good to be focused

but why not just relax and let your mind

wander

while it also is working unconsciously

and

in a way finding new possibilities and

solutions for us

anyway i know you’re all having a great

time in college already

so i thought i’d give you a nice

argument to give your parents

when they don’t want you to party they

don’t want you to take

naps or go on long trips or just even

just sit around

and do nothing before i go i’d like to

just say one more thing

i’ve been making this argument for how

unfocusing is great because it increases

productivity

and makes you focus better on your goals

and so on

but all that aside unfocusing is just

too much fun and like kobit 19 has

taught us

sometimes in life having fun is enough

too

on that note i’ll leave you with a few

lines from an essay by a border

a french poet for the perfect idler for

the passionate observer

it becomes an immense source of

enjoyment

to establish his dwelling in the throng

in the ebb and flow

the bustle the fleeting and the infinite

to be away from home and yet to feel at

home

everywhere to see the world to be

at the very center of the world and yet

to be unseen to the world such are the

minor pleasures

of those independent and impartial

spirits

who do not lend themselves to

definitions

thank you for listening guys hope this

talk helps you

unfocus have a great day

[Applause]

[Music]

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