Power of Accidents: Falling into Opportunity | Anees Merchant | TEDxSFIT

thank you for that kind introduction about a month ago uh I was fortunate enough to participate in a painting

workshop and uh the instructor gave us a canvas and said now he'll teach you how to

paint now she said one thing uh which was very interesting is that do not start painting till the time I tell you story now we were all Executives filled

in a room and within 2 minutes as soon as she started painting we picked up our brushes and we started painting probably that's what happens when you put all Executives in our room

right and uh but now our mindset changed as painters or no painters that he we need

to finish the painting and start catching up with what she's doing and unfortunately many of us had many mistakes or I should say accidents uh

throughout the entire process but as we started having these brush Strokes of accidents we were able to see the painting with a very different

perspective and were able to look at that canvas which we were playing with in a different line level my name is Alise Merchant I am an

executive at an AI company plus na Byer a photographer as well as a podcaster now why did I start talking about painting because that's something

which I was very good at till the age of 10 the reason reason for that was I was born with club feet as a child uh I have

been through many surgical operations and these operations were as young as when I was a month

old and through that entire journey of operations there was a last not supposed to be a last operation which I had to undertake to ensure that one of my feet

get situated and placed in the right fashion which noral feiz are and it had its own unturn of events because my body had been through

so many stages of operations in the last one which was not supposed to be last started rejecting morphine and when the body starts

rejecting morphine and at that time many many years ago uh the doctors decided hey let's inject more Mo so that I can S I can be

unconscious and I did I did sleep but during the midst of an operation with the plasters which were there they were opened up and my feet were opened up as

a child I wake up and I see my feet all opened up blood I fall back I still have those viid memories in

my mind till today and because seeing what happened doctor started injecting more Moe and unfortunately after the

operation was done I went into a coma so the doctors decided that hey and told my parents that this is the last operation he's ever going to have on his

feet he's going to walk but walking for me was very very different than a regular human being because I couldn't wear normal

shoes I couldn't participate in many physical activities which led me to a lot of chug or being putting on a lot of baby

FB and if you've seen people who had Club feed who been through a series of operation they are supposed to be wearing specific shoes they are supposed to be wearing a lot of braces which I

had to do and at the age of 10 I couldn't take it anymore as a child in

fact you know whenever I met to school a lot of teachers my colleagues who were the students or anybody on the street when they would see me walking in Graces

they would titty me instead of looking at me at my eye they would look down and it was not a pleasant scenario I couldn't participate in any games I couldn't participate in any curricular

activities which were planned for me and and at that age I wanted to give up I went and I spoke to my parents I

bursted in tears and I said Mom Dad I can't take this anymore I cannot be or wear these shoes

I'm not able to participate in any activities which are there in the school there were few things which my parents said at that time which really changed me and changed my perspective

towards life the first one being to not look at the situation which you are in as the only

Destiny if the universe has taken something away from you has given you many other things for example you're very good with mathematics you're very good with creative skills you're very

good with a lot of other activities why not focus on that the second do not try to focus on the feet because then your brain and body will start focusing more

on the feet than what you wanted to focus and the third thing is participate it's not about winning it's about all about

participation and I started participating I in fact I L that baby fat I had as an advantage I started

participating in t for I in fact won my team the game because I became the Anor and you think about pulling a person who's Big best of luck with

that and not just that in cricket which is all about feet since I was not quick with my feet I was placed in positions

uh whether it was G or points position where I would be very good with my hands I was very good with mylees I was able to catch some good catches which were coming at a full

speed so that was my childhood and now when you speed forward in my first job which was an event which I had never planned which was at

McDonald's and at 18 and I started working I didn't realize how difficult it is going to be for because working in a Hospitality

environment you have to stand especially in a company likeon you have to stand because that's what the job demands and within one month it became very very

difficult for somebody like me who had a different feet who had a different problem with the leg couldn't stand up and I was really really upset I was

almost ready to give up and at that one night when I was given a huge Terrace that hey you have to clean this I started cleaning I was in

Te and you know there was a thought which came to my mind at that time that this decision of starting to work was

mine it was not someone else I was responsible for starting this entire job and why should I go back to being the

10year old who was self who was in a despair that hey life is not going to be fair life is not going to be fun I cannot do many things and that moment of

he my decision I need to live up to it I was able to change that perspective and believe me or not those three years

where I was at McDonald's almost became an MBA for me which I couldn't even think about an experience which I could

get from that specific experience and that changed my entire career but like me and for me I lost my first

job and that job I lost was not because I uh did something wrong I was running an entire ship I was running the stor at

that time and one of the person who was standing behind the c had a very derory remark for one of the customer and it became an escalation I

was young I was not able to manage it well and because of that situation I was let go not only me the other individual as well it was an important lesson that

customers are always right that's not the only first instance where I have lost a job I have lost job

two more times and the last job which I lost uh was an interesting one because in that it was not only me who lost the

job I had to hand over 150 P slips to individuals in that company because that company was getting sold and the customer we were working for decided to

take that particular program and give to some and each of these insts whether it be personal Professional Health life has

put me into the these different moments which have been very Monumental in terms of when I look back today there've almost been these

accidents which I never planned for I never thought that they would come and in an unfortunate situation they led me to areas which were very dark and when I

talk about these dark areas I couldn't even relate to people who were around me I couldn't even likee anything I was very frustated with myself with life

because I was started thinking about I cannot do this anymore or I cannot do that because what my life was planned I'm completely in a despair I

cannot fa of not living that life which was already working out and these accidents put me into these whirlwinds which kind of brought me suck

in however with every job loss the last 26 years it has led me to jump different Industries which have been concentric

circles to my earlier profession this entire career in AI is not something which I have planned for today where I am is not something which I had planned

for or even I could think about when I was a child or I was starting my career I'm so thankful to where I am because in the last two decades I have

been able to look at the world travel around the world see and experience different cultures and different nuances which has really helped me to broaden my

Horizon broaden my experience and more importantly help me understand that the world is far more bigger than what we believe it to

be and it is often true that with many folks when we come across these accidents they unfortunately put us in

Despair and they put us in situations which we do not want to be know and I know

that accidents do happen and with a show of hands if you get tell how many have been through the accidents or had an

accident or have experienced an accident right maybe one maybe more and these

accidents open up Gates which we feel are going to be a gate which is going to be life for many of us

but there is a big learning here that instead of getting sucked in to those worlds or getting sucked in into a world of Despair where we start repenting the

situation can we take a step back because when these accidents happen they actually yes they are catic they

are hurtful but they also open open up a lot of many other doors and opportunities which we often miss out and it is not probably one door

there are many doors which open up which if we enter we will be able to experience life and see life in a very different way and that is being my

biggest learning and today the reason why I'm here is to share that story and inspire you that when you go through such incidents or accidents and I pray

and hope for each one of you that they are not traumatic but even if life happens and you do go through such an experience hopefully you're not getting

into that worldwind and getting suck into the despair but you are able to take a step back and then focus on what are those opportunities or the do which

open up because as you start looking at all of these opportunities it will allow you to look at the world in a very different way and opportunities in a different

way so my only perspective to each one of you as you start looking at these accidents look at these masterful Strokes or rushes which you did intend

to or you accidentally intended it to be but now that canvas requires a very different perspective and different point of view because in any

chaos like accidents there's always an opportunity which will help you open up many do