Step in other's shoes

Often we feel that the work we are doing is really the difficult one. Always the grass looks greener on the other side. Service or job rendered by others, is generally either neglected or we take it for granted because we consider it  as less worthy.

This has happened with one of my friends. She is working as an adviser with an institute. One day, it had happened that the colleague of hers who used to write the Content and send the articles for press release, was on leave. This friend of mine, always appreciated her creative thinking and believed in her efficiency of penning down the things. She used to write blogs and thought writing an article for any press release or developing content, is very easy.

Well, the management of this institute, in the absence of the content writer, had rendered this simple task to my friend to attend a conference and write a report sharing her understanding  and learning that she acquired after attending the conference.

The twinkle in her eyes, can express the delight that she was experiencing when assigned with the task. She went to the conference and had submitted the report without much delay. Within few minutes, she received a mail from her boss, asking her to come and see her in the cabin. She went and thought that her boss will appreciate her for the marvelous efforts put by her. 

The moment she popped in, her boss looked at her and said, "Have you read the previous articles written by your colleague?" Friend of mine admitted the truth and said, "Yes, I did." 

Her boss said, "Though the report you submitted is good in shape but it has nothing new. The words, phrases and even the drafting style, everything that you have presented, is actually copied from the various articles drafted by your colleague. Well, I thought that you will me something new,may be a new model or some new words, instead you copied the ideas and words of your colleague and then had drafted the matter and had presented it to me. This proves that you lack creativity."

Friend of mine was shattered. With perturbed mind, she left the cabin of her boss. She read the report submitted by her. Well, she started to analyze that when she began to write, she found that writing anything is not a cake walk.

You can copy the style and sometimes even the whole article, but this deed will not enhance your competency nor will be considered as your creativity. 

She realized the fact that stepping into the shoes may seem to be easy, but walking even couple of steps with the same shoes, may be next to impossible, unless you don't find them of your own size.

Well, what I realized is, in order to make others understand the difficulty of any position, though it may not be viable still, let people take up the responsibility of others for at least an hour. This will make them more sensible, and they will value the job offered by others.