Know Your Leo #1

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

When I am being told to give a small synopsis about myself, it becomes difficult of what one can think and write off. Especially after spending close to a decade with this beautiful club, which I can also affectionately call my home. I had joined the Leo Movement during the Leoistic Year 2007 – 08 purely for the purpose of learning. My mentors always spoke that when given an opportunity to learn then grab it with both your hands. Hence without thinking twice I took the decision to join Leo Club of Juhu, which happened to be the turning point of my life.
The growth and exposure one gets in this club is a lot more then what they teach you in classrooms. Due to my excessive passion to learn and grow it didn’t take long for me to become the club secretary the following year, then the vice president and finally the president. It is such a big honour to call yourself the President of Leo Club of Juhu that suddenly your understanding of being leader makes you realise of what you actually can achieve. When someone gets an opportunity to lead a large of group enthusiastic young minds, full of energy, then that situation is a lot more better then leading a start up or a company. At your disposal are young ideas, fresh concepts, new thoughts and a lot of helping hands. What you can achieve becomes limitless. Real life skills and live scenarios make it all the more exciting for executing your thoughts and seeing your goals turns into achievements and reality.
A leoistic year consists of twelve months, and it’s a short time for me to even execute my vision but long enough for an entire team to achieve the impossible. When I joined the club our targets were sort of what you would call now “Peanuts” but a herculean task to achieve during those years. But as it has been witnessed during so many years, every year, every team has set a new benchmark for the forthcoming year, which the next team has crossed it and set another benchmark. This is how an organisation rises; this is how we as a club have become one of the best in the whole of Leo Multiple 323. The word “Limitations” does not exist in the dictionary of our club. The word “Stop” doesn’t mean anything. We rise every time, we rise as a team and we rise as Champions. This is what a team teaches you, this is what leadership teaches you, this is what being a leader of Leo Club of Juhu has taught me.
It is obvious that after you finish your education, you shall be working in an organisation. You will be facing real life scenarios, where quick thinking and your decision making skill will be put to test, and this is when your knowledge of your experience at the club is going to help you. It did help me. Today I am comfortable in handling my own business and expand it further all due to the fact that I am not afraid of taking decisions and my experience of being a president at the club has helped me in achieving what one calls a dream.
The most important life lesson I have learnt at the club is to dream, because if you do not dream then you will not have any goals, if you do not have any goals then what are you going to fight for, what are you going to work hard for. Dream, Aspire and Achieve. Do it together as a team, as a family, as a complete organisation. Just do it. This is when success shall come and find you and not the other way round.
This is Leo Hardik N Gada, President 2010 – 11, giving my piece of advice to all out there, if given an opportunity to learn then grab it with both your hands, do not hesitate, do not worry, it is an experience you will be thankful of.
“You either win the toss, or you don’t lose much”

- Leo Hardik Gada