Success & devotion

There’s a beautiful musical composition in Hindi, from which I’m quoting a few translated lines:
Who says God does not appear, you don’t call Him like Meera;
Who says God does not sleep, you don’t put him to sleep like Mother Yashoda;
Who says God does not eat, you don’t feed Him like Shabri;

I am sure we all are familiar with the three women mentioned above. The simple messages that these lines give us are:

• When one is earnestly devoted, success cannot elude him.
• Patience and perseverance can make the impossible (Him) possible.
• Smart work is surely in, but hard work can never be passé.
  

While these simple women could achieve success with their devotion, patience and perseverance in the eternal world, even if we have an iota of these virtues, we shall achieve perpetual success in all our worthy endeavours.

Have a nice weekend!

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Time Management & Self-discipline

Recently after being penalised for not putting on the seat belt while driving, I made it a point to put it on irrespective of the area or distance, & now realise that I feel much more comfortable with it. This is because by practice it has become a habit, and a good one. It’s just a matter of self-discipline which should be developed without waiting for someone to come and penalise us. Be it traffic rules, simple things like daily walk, exercise or managing time, once we use self-discipline, the good habit becomes our second nature.
Talking of self-discipline in day to day work and way of working, we shall be able to overcome a lot of time wasters and hence have quality time for so many important things that often get compromised on.
A few time wasters-
1. Lot of Multitasking- Though the modern day work demands a person to be multi-task a lot of times, still a lot of jobs require single minded attention.

2.Having too many windows open on your computer- Being on social networking sites and chats at the time of work.
3. Checking emails every now & then.
4. Checking the stock market every now then.
5. Habit of brooding.
6. Too much of perfection even when not required.
7. Doing other’s jobs at the cost of one’s own.
8. Entertaining all calls and messages at the spur of the moment.
9. Over controlling.
If we learn to differentiate between important, urgent, not so urgent and unimportant activities and decide which activity requires what percent of our time, we’ll see a lot of positive results. Along-with this, if we use a few self-disciplinary measures we can get rid of time wasters and improve our efficiency:
1. List out the work for tomorrow today itself and inform the concerned people about their tasks.
2. List out activities done throughout the day in order of sequence giving time consumed for every work.
3. Check deviations and take corrective measures.
4. Delegate.
5. Respect other’s time, don’t keep people waiting –it’ll not give you extra importance, rather you’ll be tagged as unprofessional.
6. Inform people about cancellation or changes in time schedules for meetings.
7. Stick to the fixed time for every work.
8. Rule out engaging in negative activities- leg pulling, criticising etc.
9. Take lesson from past, plan for future, and live in the present.

If the almighty can manage so many different time zones impeccably, can’t definitely manage just one-our own time, that too for our own benefit?
Please do share your ideas and leave your comments or questions.

Nothing lasts forever

Life looks like a hurdle race at times, you clear one hurdle and there stands another one. Certain hurdles are easy to pass, while the others test you really hard. Here are a few examples of the situations that act as spirit and energy testers:

• Your company is reducing flab and you are an easy target
• You have been detected of a serious disease
• People around you at work take undue advantage of your long unavoidable absence
• Someone else is taking credit for your good work and you are being ignored completely
• The anchor of your life has decieved you

I hope and pray that none of these situations come in your life. Though we should hope for the best yet be prepared for the worst. How?

• Don't s react impulsively and don't lose control over yourself
• Try to find a solution
• Talk to someone wise (official or unofficial mentor)
• Think of all possible resources and seek help
• Look at the macro view/ the bigger picture
• Pray, pray and pray

Remember that nothing lasts forever, good or bad; and if you can stand the bad times, you'll thrive in the good times. Even if you failed at something, it does not make you a failure in life.
Life is a roller coaster ride, so give your best and enjoy the ride. The control of this ride is in the hands of a flawless controller, HE will never ever fail you.

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Compete with yourself

Surpassing others in a horde is not competition. Real competition is when you surpass your own self. How? Let’s have a look-

• Break your own records (like Sachin Tendulkar)
• Make your strengths stronger
• Grow over your weaknesses
• Face and overcome your fears
• Set your fallacies right
• Turn your reaction into response
• Control distractions
• Be contented without being complacent
• Strengthen your relationship with the Almighty

Raise the bar and surpass yourself. If you can do the above and compete with yourself, external competition will become insignificant.
So, should we now say, on your marks, get set & go?

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Stop assuming Start living

They form a part of every person’s thought process. They can finish something before it starts. They govern our actions and thus our destiny. They are - so very unnecessary assumptions.
During one of the induction training in one of the organizations I worked with, we- the new joinees were asked to unlearn what we had learnt over a period of time. This was to make sure that we don’t start working with a conditioned mind; we were trained to start afresh and look at every different situation with a new perspective, using the earlier experience only as a reference point.
It is not a rule that-
1. Boss is a villain
2. Colleague is the culprit behind your slow growth
3. Favourites will be promoted
4. Doing boss’s personal work is a step towards growth
5. You are just another rat in the race

6. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have to be in a tug of war , & so on...

When we start making assumptions we damage ourselves and the environment. So the disadvantages of assumptions are:
1. We miss out on getting positive energy
2. Work without understanding
3. Don’t explore solutions
4. Our efficiency goes down
5. Relations get ruined
6. We stop something good in store to unfold
7. Lose opportunities
Why one or more bad experiences leave us with negative feelings for the rest of our life? It is just not worth anything. What has happened has happened, let’s just close it, and take every situation anew. Let’s not stop believing in somebody’s goodness even if the world has been bad to us. When we start assuming negative about others or situations, we actually stop trusting the Almighty, and when we stop trusting Him, we lose trust in our own selves too. This takes us far away from the road to success.

World appears green if one wears a green glass, it appears red if we wear a red glass. It’s better to wear a colourless glass to enjoy the colours of life.
Please do give your feedback.

Co-ordination

What would happen if we put food in our mouth and our teeth refuse to chew, or we want to rush for an emergency and our feet just don’t move? Unimaginable situation, is’nt it? Be it body organs, people or processes, there needs to be close co-ordination or synchronisation. I wish to present two industry examples in which lack of co-ordination has proved to be disastrous for the employees responsible for the loss.
1. X is the sales head of ABC Company that manufactures machines and is on the verge of finalising a huge order with a very important client. The client wants a little change in the specification given earlier and insists the sales head to call someone from quality department to ensure that there is zero deviation. The sales head calls up the Quality Manager and asks him to join them for the discussion. The Quality Manager is in a regular group meeting with the Quality Head who refuses to release the manager from the meeting (the Sales Head & the Quality Head had a rift recently and the latter is looking for a chance to set scores right). The client postpones the order and later gives it to a competitor of ABC company.

2. Delivery of shares is given by the client on the last day to his bank where he maintains his demat account. His broker calls him up after the settlement period informing him that his shares have been auctioned due to non-delivery. He goes to the demat bank and is informed that the shares were delivered after banking hours. The client shows the bank a copy of the delivery slip in which the time is recorded and insists on knowing the true reason, and then he is informed that the server of the bank was down so there was a delay in processing the delivery. The client closes not all the accounts he and his family members maintained with the bank.
Such instances are fateful not just for the employees but for the organization too. The organization needs to look into the reason for lack of co-ordination and take corrective measures. Some apparent reasons are:
1. Fear to seek help and clarity
2. Lack of initiative
3. Lack of clarity
4. Complicated and unclear systems
5. Misuse of power
6. Lack of sense of responsibility or ownership
7. Insufficient standby arrangement in face of system failure
A few solutions:
1. Create a value based work environment
2. Make the workplace employee friendly
3. Integrate system with employee understanding (and common sense)
4. Keep systems simple and brief
5. Ensure adequate learning and development
6. Appreciate new ideas
Last but not the least, remember that co-ordination between one’s thoughts, words & actions is very important before expecting co-ordination from others. If nature was not in harmony with itself, we would'nt get to see life in full bloom as depicted in the picture given above.

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Happy Republic Day

These are the pictures of special children who cannot hear or speak. They are singing the National Anthem in their own beautiful way.

I feel it's time for us to look beyond ourselves and come forward to make a difference.

Wishing You A Very Happy Republic Day!

Recognise even the smallest of contribution

Another example from the epic Ramayan to illustrate the recognition of even the tiniest of contribution, specially at work.
When the army of monkies was laying down the bridge to reach Lanka, a squirrel noticed the same and thought of being a part of the work. She laid in the sand and twisted herself up and down, right and left so that she could accumulate as much of sand and gravel as possible. Then she would go to the spot where the bridge was being made, twist herself and unload the matter collected. This loading and unloading of the construction material by her went on and on till Lord Ram noticed. Then he gently lifted the tiny squirrel in his hands and lovingly moved his fingers over her furs. It is said that the squirrel attained immortality and that the lines this species has over its furs occurred ever since Ram patted that squirrel.

Coming to the moral of the story as applicable at workplace:

1. Recognise and encourage every genuine effort.

2. Understand that every task has it's own importance.

3. Every person in the organization has an important role to play and contributes to the topline as well as the bottomline.

4. Always be a part of the solution.

5. Do not take anyone for granted.

6. Never ever under-estimate yourself.

7. Give your best to everything you do.

8. When you work for a noble cause, mother nature takes care of you in every manner.

Please send in your views and comments.

Trust - another intrinsic motivator

The other day I was reading an incident that happened while Sita was in the custody of Ravan. Ram asked Hanuman if he could get Sita back and Hanuman readily agreed. Then Ram asked him these questions-

Question by Ram , Answer by Hanuman
1. Have you ever seen Sita? No
2. Do you know where she is? No
3. Do you knowhow to get her back? No

Then Ram finally asked, then why did you say yes when I asked you if you could get her back?

To this, Hanuman replied-My dear Lord, when you trusted me so much by asking if I could do your work, I trust that you will make me do the work. And we all know the final result.

Trust is such a big motivator that it makes one achieve the most difficult task too.

Next time, if you are being asked to take up a challenging task, don't feel jittery, just understand that your boss or the organizations trusts your capabilities. I remember one incident that happened while I was working with one of the new generation banks. During an appraisal exercise, one of my colleagues complained to the business head that- things are just too difficult on the workfront and there are so many problems on a daily basis. To this, the business head said- because work is so difficult and there are so many problems, that is why you have been chosen to do it, else any average person could have done it; and we all are here to help you out. These words were more than enough for him to come back into full swing.

So, let's create an environment of mutual trust where everyone can give his best fearlessly.

For subordinates-be so trustworthy that you are the first one of whom your boss can think of in the best and worst of situations;

For superiors-live upto the trust of your subordinates and make them feel that they can look upto you in every situation.

Happy Youth Day

Heartiest wishes to all of you on the occassion of National Youth Day which happens to be Swami Vivekanand's birth anniversary. Here are a few inspirational messages by Swami Vivekanand.

1. We become what our thoughts make us. So be careful about what you think.

2. Take one good thought and make it your life.

3. Let your brain, muscles and nerves be immersed in that thought.

4. Every work is divine and every duty is worship.

5. While doing a work, think of nothing else.

6. So, awake and arise, and get into action.

7. Keep going till you reach your destination.

8. Leave your mark behind.

So always stay youthful.

Please keep sending your comments and suggestions.