Rules Of Journalism, Part I : Every Dog Has Its Day...

There's a thing about Life, everywhere you look there's always a 'catch' and there's no easy way out either.

Journalism is no different. You've got to stick in there and fight it out and you can't ever 'Give In' because that spells 'GAME OVER' for you.

It's never easy bringing the bacon home. What are you going to do about it?

I remember as a kid when we were introduced to these video games. They were always so attractive, I used to think they dragged you towards them but when they have you 'hooked,' they always left you 'hanging,' as you sat there glaring at. 'GAME OVER.'

What it truly does is it makes you fight. It makes you determined. It prepares you to fight your battles.

The most important battles are always fought within you; it's always more of a 'psychological' thing.

It moulds you to crush all obstacles in your way and there are obstacles in Journalism as well, the mother of them all is known as Criticism.

How you take criticism is up to you. You should take what you need (which is known as positive or constructive criticism), but you can't sit there whining about all hell breaking loose.

You need to understand, to inspire yourself to achieve, to reach the height.

There's an easy way to look at it: there's a little kid, you give him his plate and he probably won't gobble up those veggies. He'll say 'NO WAY' to that broccoli, but if you keep that scoop of ice cream in front of him, he'll swipe it before you know it.

There's a key to every door and there's a key to success, but it's defined by words, a group of words: motivate, encourage, inspire, and aspire. These aren't just words, NO!, they've got a deep, deep meaning. It's important to understand what you can achieve.

After writing an article or a column, what you need is a little something, I like to call it "TOTAL SATISFACTION." Who cares what anybody says about it, whether they call it crap, brand it as 'rubbish' or 'pathetic', all that matters is that you can tell yourself, "I put my heart into this."

It takes me back to those video games, I remember the delight of staring at "YOU WIN" on the screen, but I also remember the dejection or disappointment of looking at "YOU LOSE" on that screen.

There isn't too much of a gap between the two. What separates them is another group of words: determination, passion, commitment, perseverance, and patience and these aren't just words or letters connected together without a purpose, like I said before, they have a very deep, deep meaning.

You need to keep telling yourself, "I'm in it to win it."

Be Patient and your time will come.

I guess that wraps up the first edition of "Rules of Journalism," whether there is ever another one will be determined by the response this one gets but I can safely say, "I put my heart into this."

PS : I'd just like to say I'm quite frustrated right now because I wrote a much better version of this but just when I was about to publish it, my laptop's battery gave up on me, but I was determined and I wrote it all over again. It's not as good as it could be.  Having said that, I hope even if it doesn't deserve your Pick of the Day, that at least, you enjoyed the read.