Your imperfection makes you unique

Bengaluru: Perfection is a human concept however; imperfection is a natural element which many of them fail to admit."One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn't exist… without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist," is a popular quote by Stephen Hawking. Here's a book, The Stripeless Zebra by Dr. Syed Habeeb, which narrates the story of an imperfect zebra who discovers his true self.

Dr. Syed Habeeb (Coach Habeeb) is an author, international leadership coach and a motivational speaker. He's the author of The Warrior Within You andTie your Camel: The Art of Giant Goals and now he's out with his latest book The Stripeless Zebra, published by Notion Press. This book speaks about how an imperfect zebra who is rejected by his zeal, battles against the difficulties to uncover his true self. In the process, he plays a key role in bringing his zeal back from the verge of extinction.

"The story evolved as I reflected on my past and simulated it through The Stripeless Zebra narrated by the protagonist, Hatim. Hatim struggles with 'Choices' and 'Decisions' and is also obsessed with the idea of being 'Perfect'. He takes a sabbatical and travels to Tanzania with a tour group. He loses his way in the desert and destiny opens some unbelievable life-changing learning from a stripeless zebra. He is short of being killed by a mountain lion but is rescued by the stripeless zebra.

Hatim implements the learning from the stripeless zebra to build himself and an incredible team of unlike-minded individuals. The culmination of Hatim's learning is apt for young students and professionals to make course corrections to reclaim control of their life," Dr.Syed Habeeb tells The Hans India.

Stories are everywhere, one can get a story idea by imagining, observing and listening. Habeeb says that he found a story through others' experiences and pondering about a similar experience that he met with. "Many of the youth and young professionals I work with, struggle with decision-making, identity, and teamwork. This is one spectrum of the audience that got me thinking about this subject.

On the other hand, my daughter, who is 13, was going through a similar struggle in identifying herself at school, facing rejection and criticism often, and was unable to work with others. At home, we have a tradition of storytelling before bedtime. On an evening, when she asked me for a story, I reflected upon the similar struggle I had faced in my youth and professional stint. Thus I came up with a metaphorical narrative that struck me out of the blue and inspired me to pen The Stripeless Zebra," he explains.

"The idea was brewing last year post the launch of my second book Tie Your Camel. However, I commenced writing in Jan 2022. It took me four months to write, review, edit, design, and publish. I seem to have gotten better with my skill of narrating and writing. By far this book is my best narrative - while I have kept it only within 200 pages which is a 'one return flight read' - crisp, to the point but impactful. The narrative is positioned as fiction but large chunks of the story are extracted from real life," he says.

His latest book is all about embracing one's imperfections, and logical decision making in line with their principles and values. "While The Warrior Within You simplifies the concepts of NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and Tie Your Camel highlights a step-by-step process of embarking on Giant Goals, The Stripeless Zebra addresses a very important aspect of human development.

This is a metaphorical story that offers simple tips and solutions to the reader that enables one to accept the imperfections s/he has. It also inspires one to stand firm and make decisions in accordance with the principles and values s/he believes in while finding and building an ideal team. The narrative is relatable, inspirational, and practically applicable," he adds.

He has also started working on The Warrior Within You – 2, which narrates the story of a woman who deals with odds while bringing out the best in herself.