WRECKED BY SUCCESS

Prabhat Singh is a 48-year old senior manager of a software giant. He came from a very humble background and worked very hard at every stage of life. He displayed immense talent in the 4 years that he held his post. He was respected by his colleagues and looked up to by his subordinates. Before 6 months he was promoted to the post of CEO of his company. Suddenly his demeanor changed and he became an overnight wreck. His punctuality, which was his hallmark, soon became his greatest worry. Howsoever hard he tried, he could never make it to the office on time. There would be the most trifle excuses for not being able to do things on time. He could not handle meetings, avoided making decisions, and became extremely dependent on his junior staff for looking after his work. Even at home, he could not enjoy with his family, he was always irritable on his children and became a nuisance for everyone he interacted with. It came as a surprise that at the time of celebrating his having achieved a tremendous success in his career, Prabhat is lying at the rock bottom of his life. He is considering resigning from his position and taking a voluntary job in a social service organization.

Prabhat is a person who is wrecked by success. It is a case of “too good to be true”. It is an incredulous phenomenon that at the pinnacle of his achievement, he has come crashing down. The fulfillment of a long-cherished dream has brought about a disaster. There is a sense of guilt or inferiority, which can be translated, as “I am not worthy of such happiness. I do not deserve it. I could not really have imagined it possible that I should ever be granted the pleasure of being the CEO of this company – as is indubitably the case.” There is a feeling of unbelievable and unreal in this situation. It is almost as if Prabhat feels guilty about having traveled such a long way. When he became the CEO, he overcame the limitations of the conditions of his life in his childhood and youth. He had always longed for the experiences of success and felt like a hero when he got the unattainable things of desire having performed deeds of greatness in his career. And now this sudden change through which he is now threatened with losing everything he has painfully worked for.

What should Prabhat do?

First of all, he has to overcome his guilt about having achieved a great position of success from the humble position that he started out from. He has worked a lot to be where he is at the moment. He need not throw it all away to compensate for his guilt. This would be the biggest obstacle for him. He has to keep on telling himself that he has already paid the price having suffered for the last six months. He has to recognize that it is just not possible to go back to his old position because that is his past. It is not going to be a sin if he achieves more success than his ideals. He cannot let his internal conflicts dominate his present achievements. He has to stop hesitating, stop depreciating his merits and stop declaring himself unworthy for the job that he has got. He, who had been so meticulous in looking at every opportunity that glanced his way, now has become so blind. He has to understand the mental processes that have propelled him to this condition of dread. The forces of his conscience are forbidding him from gaining the long-hoped for advantage from the fortunate change in his life. It is often a difficult task, however to discover the essence and origins of these judging and punishing trends, which has surprised him by their existence where he did not expect them to be. He has to start working on his social rehabilitation. He has to reconcile himself to the fact that he is good and should not succumb to this guilt, which hinders him in social and career achievements. He has to stop undervaluing himself and break free of the belief that it is forbidden to excel more than he was expected to keeping in view his humble background. He has to recognize the contraindications in the experiences which give him pleasure and those which frustrate him. This distinction would make him aware of his problems. He has to start respecting his talent and give it the due merit. He has to leave behind the old chains that bind him to his roots because they are now holding him back instead of supporting him. But this is not an easy task. He will probably have to take the support of his family for this. He has to sit down and look at his future life. Prabhat might need to take a break from his work for a very short period of about 2-3 weeks. He has to concentrate on his life and try to work towards regaining his old confidence back. Once he is back on his job after a vacation that has rejuvenated him, he has to set small targets in the beginning. The alarm clock is always a very good friend along with the personal organizer. Instead of doing mental calculations, which are often prone to distortions, he has to form a habit of putting down things on paper and evaluating his work every week. The next thing is to start activities, which are according to his post. He has to start taking responsibilities on his own shoulders. Prabhat has to start digesting his successful position. He has to refrain from any activity, which only drags him down. No doubt that once his inhibitions are lifted he will be back to looking forward to executing his responsibilities which would lead to even greater achievements.