Almost 6 years ago, our family finally decided to paint my room. As we walked over to the pain pallettes at Home Depot, I had visions of my own palace, making my own HGTV renovation in my head. The chance of creating my dream room: it was finally mine.

Looking at the plethora of colors, my mind suddenly came a blank. “Which one do I choose?” I wondered. Suddenly, a thought came over me.

“I want to be different!” After seeing so many dull, muted colors, I finally narrowed my choices to one of these three different colors: a dark, navy blue; a sunset golden yellow, and best of all, a bright neon green. To get an idea, of this color, this color could be used as a green screen. It wasn’t the most beautiful color. However, this color stood out to me the most – it was whimsical, it was fun, it was energetic, it was exciting.

About two minutes into the conversation, my parents and I eliminated the dark blue – it could make the entire room feel smaller than it actually was, and with limited room space (and unknown dead space), that was a risk I couldn’t afford. That led to the amber yellow versus the green-screen green. My parents wanted the former color (which in retrospect is probably the better color) while I defended my color to the death.

This was the first time I took a stand against my parents. We argued at Home Depot. We bought some trial paints, and we argued some more. After going back to Home Depot to hopefully find another color to compromise on, I was always coming back with crazy color ideas, which led to more arguing.

There was only one mentality for me at that point: I need to stand by my principle of making my own choice.

At last, after making rebuttal after rebuttal (in other words, constantly begging and being a stubborn middle-schooler), I convinced my parents (they gave up dealing with me) and we chose that green. That’s the story of how I made my first decision. It’s also the story of how I made myself enjoy a bright green room.

Fast forward to today, we finally decided to change the color of my room. Today, the walls are no longer the harsh green, but a gentle sky blue that makes you feel like you’re on a cloud, miles above the air (except if you are afraid of heights…then choose another really relaxing position and equate that to my room). This energetic vibe was transformed into a zen haven. It was a bittersweet moment: the primary decision I made was being replaced by what would be a more refined decision. Interestingly enough, this color was partially chosen by my parents (they handed me a set of color palettes and I chose which one I liked).

It could be seen as me covering up my stand and falling to the will of my parents, but I see this differently.

This is a change made from an increase in my knowledge of decent interior decorating skills, or fundamentally, it’s a change resulting from a growth in knowledge. It’s a growth in my maturity in being able to accept the advice of my parents, yet still, compromise to choose a color that I like which ultimately led to a much better result.

This change is a new coat of paint for me: it’s a sign that I’m getting better, even if the old days seemed much more simple.

…

…

…

Wow, I just got emotional from paint drying. In some ways, that’s kind of beautiful.

My earliest public speaking memory is in 5th grade where we all had to make these shoe boxes for a book, analyzing different aspects of story elements (characters, plot, setting, etc). For a 5th grader’s shoebox project, what I made was it’s pretty standard. It covered everything the rubric asked for. I had a piece of paper where I was reading of a script in what was pretty much a monotone voice. It was also 15 minutes until recess so every time I looked up at the crowd, their faces were flickering towards the clock.

You might be wondering “Hey Harish, if this is so standard, then how do you remember it so well?”

While I was in the car driving to school on the day of the presentation, my dad and I were discussing why a certain character was put into their difficult situation. Being that 5th grader, I constantly asked “why” over and over again, just the way your three-year-old cousin would keep asking you to annoy you. Why? Probably cause we just learned cause-and-effect in class (See what I did there, heh heh heh).

The thing was, I was able to answer these why questions, going on for a solid minute. My dad said, “you should just say that in the presentation.”

I responded by saying “But that’s not in the rubric,” to which he said, “So what?”

Fast forward to the end of the speech, everyone in the room gave the generic claps they give all the students, waiting for the next person to go to slowly approach the glory outside on the swingsets and slides. However, instead of sitting back down, I awkwardly proclaimed “Here’s another random thing I wanted to mention,” and I proceeded to go on the trail of cause and effect, and saw my teacher’s eyes widen in astonishment, with students averting their gaze from the clock to me. After I concluded, I got some actual applause and a congratulations from my teacher.

Looking back on this moment, I now realize that this inadvertently taught me something huge: don’t be afraid to be extra.

This fascinating cause and effect happened because I had the gaul to do something else that was exciting to me. Sure it wasn’t on the rubric, but I enjoyed it so why should I not present it?

When I say “extra” in this case, it’s not covering all the information and having 10 slides about one topic. It’s about concisely presenting something you enjoy in addition to what you need to cover. By placing these tidbits, you get excited about showing them, and your listeners will then feel that energy.

Think about it this way – when you go to Chipotle, your meal isn’t an entire bowl of guac. It’s alongside the rice, beans, meats, whatever. Having it as a condiment makes the entire meal reach a new level of 5-star fast food, but the guacamole is not the meal itself. That’s why it’s extra.

What that analogy, you see why a little extra is great.