[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

1st January 2010

 

Dear readers,

 

My life's mission is: `to make a difference in others' life'. To fulfill this mission, I have been sending this free e mail newsletter from 1994. I am delighted to reach these newsletters to thousands of people across the world.

 

On this wonderful day I wish to give you the following quotes:

 

"I will seek elegance rather than luxury, refinement rather than fashion. I will seek to be worthy more than respectable, wealthy and not rich. I will study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly. I will listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with an open heart. I will bear all things cheerfully, do all things bravely await occasions and hurry never. In a word I will let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common."
-- William Ellery Channing

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man."
-- Benjamin Franklin

 

I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

 

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

31st December 2009

 

Do something difficult!

 

Man becomes a slave to his constantly repeated acts. What he at first chooses, at last compels.

Orison Swett Marden

 

By nature most of us avoid pain and we seek to do things which give us pleasure and joy. When it comes to doing something, we evaluate the work involved, and if it involves some amount of risk and uncertainty, we avoid doing it. This is human nature and we find this as a common trait in most of us. Over a period of time, this becomes our second nature and attitude. This style of living does not tax our abilities and soon we settle down to this approach in life. After all, we operate from a comfort zone.

 

But successful people differ from most of us in  this perspective. They love doing something difficult and taking the same as a challenge. When others give up, they take it up. When others hesitate, they plunge into it. They love the tension and stress that is associated with this and they enjoy doing this. As in our case, this becomes their second nature and attitude. After all we become conditioned to what we do repeatedly.

 

We can come out of mindset of only doing things which are easy. That calls for  a specific strategy. Every month decide to do something which you consider as difficult. Don't attempt to do things which are impossible. There is a difference between what is impossible and what is difficult. Take something which is simple to start with which does not involve a major risk. For example how long  can you  remain silent? Half an hour? One hour? Half a day? One day? Choose the duration which is not impossible, but, which is difficult and do it. Another example is how much  time you can type or write continuously? How long can you keep awake? Do it and experience how you feel when you complete the task. You will be excited. It will reinforce your own confidence level and self worth.

 

Once you have started with something which is simple, then graduate into something which is more difficult and do it. While doing it, don't attempt to do something which will make you diffident.

 

Do this exercise regularly and notice how you feel. Over a period of time, your mind will accept this style of living and you will become comfortable with accepting difficult tasks and activities. You will notice that after all it was not as difficult as you imagined!

 

THERE CANNOT BE A BETTER DAY THAN 31ST DECEMBER TO SEND THIS MESSAGE! WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY, PROSPEROUS AND CHALLEGING NEW YEAR. IN THE YEAR AHEAD TAKE UP SOMETHING REALLY CHALLENGING AND DIFFICULT TO MATCH ALL THE HIDDEN TALENTS YOU HAVE!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

30th December 2009

 

Close your eyes!

 

I think the one lesson I have learnt is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

-Diane Sawyer, Television Journalist

 

It may appear to be too trivial, easy and simple. But the most difficult thing to do is to close your eyes! It is not just closing and opening your eyes that I mean. What I mean is keeping your eyes closed for a pre-determined period of time. Just try doing this and you will know what I mean. Set a timer for just two minutes and tell yourself that you will not open your eyes until the timer goes off. You will be surprised to know how difficult it is to consciously keep your eyes closed. You will be tempted to open your eyes; you will become restless and impatient. You will even doubt whether the timer is defective and has stopped working. You will open your eyes to check if the two minutes are over. Some sound will distract you and you will open your eyes. Just try this and you will notice that  all I said is true!

 

Experts say that 80% of the communication takes place through our eyes and we absorb most things through our eyes. Our mind is distracted first by what we see and  only then by  what we hear. So in order to control and focus our mind, we should first  practice to control our eyes. That is why those who do meditation close their eyes. The sages and rishis who did thapas also did the same. Once you are able to control your eyes, it becomes very easy to concentrate your mind. We need concentration and the skill to focus to achieve what we want in life.

 

You can set aside a specific time and place as well as a duration for which you want to close your eyes. It could be two or three minutes to start with either in the morning or in the evening. Select a place where you will not be disturbed. Keep your phone off the hook and switch off your mobile phone. Let people know that you should not be disturbed for the next few minutes. If necessary wear a mask or a handkerchief around your eyes. The mask can preferably be black in colour. Then try this exercise and do it regularly. Do it for a month without a break gradually increasing the duration as you go along. It is not the number of minutes you can close your eyes on a day, but the number of days you can do it consistently, regularly and continuously over a period of days which is important.

 

You will have to do it to feel the experience!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

29th December 2009

 

Try becoming a left hander!

 

Wisdom is merely knowing what to do next.

Anonymous

 

The way we grow and carry on our activities has a bearing on our abilities. We need to develop our various skills and faculties. We are conscious about developing some of the skills and we devote time and effort for the same. For example we join a yoga class or a computer class. We set aside specific time for these developmental activities. However, there are skills that we can develop without setting aside specific time for the same. One such is developing the right side of our brain. These exercises are called `brain gym' exercises.

 

You may perhaps know that our brain has two halves- the right and the left. These two sides have their own functions to perform. While the right side of the brain is visual, the left side of the brain is verbal. The right side of the brain makes us to think holistically, the left side of the brain makes us to think about the details and specific issues. We need to balance both these activities to be effective in our life. For doing this people do brain gym exercises.

 

The basic principle behind brain gym exercises is to activate the right side of the brain and integrate the left and the right side of the brain. The left side of our body is controlled by the right side of the brain and the right side of our body is controlled by the left side of the brain. This is an accepted neurological fact. We can use this configuration to our advantage. Since the left side of our body is triggered by the right side of our brain, we can activate the right side of our brain by engaging the left side of our body such as our left hand and the left leg.

 

From our birth we become a right hander or a left hander. This is mostly a genetic factor. We don't change this pattern and it is advisable not to do so. But we can purposely engage our non dominant hand. For example, if we are a right hander, we can use our left hand and vice versa for carrying out small activities. For example, we can add sugar to our tea cup, hold the cup, hold the telephone etc through the other hand. Try having a shave with the other hand. Initially we will find it difficult and messy. But slowly do this exercise in your normal day even as you carry on your daily activities.  By this you can develop the other side of your brain.

 

Try this in a small way and you find a difference.

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

28th December 2009

 

Revisit your old skills…

 

Man becomes a slave to his constantly repeated acts. What he at first chooses, at last compels.

Orison Swett Marden

Just mentally go back in your life and think of  all the  skills you  once had. The list may include things you did such as cycling, playing cards, chess, cricket, public speaking, painting, singling, playing an instrument, etc. Think,  if you still do some of them. It is likely that once you rode a bicycle, then a scooter or a motorbike and now you may be driving a car. Just think when did you last drive a scooter or ride a bicycle! Perhaps for years together you have not done so. If so, take your motorbike and ride. Similarly, play your favorite musical instrument and enjoy doing it. You may not have the time to do it. You may afford a car now and you may not have to ride a motorbike. Even then do it. You will enjoy this experience.

 

You should also understand what happens in your brain when you do an activity. A path way is formed in the brain. It becomes a pattern when you repeat the activity a couple of times. It is just like a flow of water registering a pathway. When such a pathway is made by water, next time when the water flows in the same place, it will take the same route. This is how a river is formed.

 

This is what happens in your brain also. When you repeat an activity a number of times, certain neurological pathways are made in your brain. Even when you stop doing that activity altogether, the neurological pathways still remain in the brain. By re-visiting your old activity once gain, you are `repairing' or `de-silting' these pathways. It is a very good exercise for the brain. The `inter neurons' which connects the brain cells are strengthened and this is good for  brain development.

 

We are aware of many exercises that we do and we see external things such as muscle building or tanning. But there are also many internal things happening to our brain cells and nerves which we cannot see. We need to do such exercise also. By doing so we will be strengthening our internal organs.

 

Try this and feel the difference over a period of time.

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

25th December 2009

Learn From Every Experience- Good or Bad

 

A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience.

Elbert Hubbard

It is not our knowledge and education, but it is our wisdom which make us what we are. The meaning of the word wisdom is `body of knowledge and experience. The meaning of the word wise is `having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Once we understand this principle, the process of becoming wise is made easy.

 

There are two ways we can do something - through raw knowledge or education, or through knowledge supported by our experience. If we take the second route, the outcome that we produce will be of a very high order. If we are driven by experience, the quality of the decision that we take will be very good. In fact this is the quality which distinguishes  a successful person from a  not so successful person.

 

Many of us want only good experience and we enjoy that process. We look forward to such occasions. We avoid going through bad experience and we do not like the same. But if you think for a while, we can learn a lot from a bad experience too. The process of a bad experience can be painful and we may not like to stay in that sate or endure the same. We tend to forget a bad experience and whenever we think about the same, we try to come out of the same. But we have to think and process a bad experience even more than a good experience.

 

What is there in a good experience, except that you are happy and proud of the same? On the contrary, we can learn very useful lessons from a bad experience. We can ask: what is one learning point from this bad experience and how am I going to be wiser the next time? What is my counter measure so that I don't commit the same mistake again?

 

By adopting this process,  we will become more mature and balanced in life. We may not like or look forward to a bad experience. But when it happens, learn from it!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

24th December 2009

 

List your various portfolios and decide your role model

 

Good, better, best; never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best.

-Unknown

We have more than one role to discharge. We may be an executive in an organization. At the same time we are a parent or a son or a brother etc. We combine all these roles in us. We may not be aware of this, but it is true for all of us. We may not know how we are performing in our various roles. We may not know  whether we are doing well or not. We may not have a measure for our performance.

 

In order to do well in any role, we need to `bench mark' our performance with reference to some standard. If we carefully look around, we will be able to see an example of high or low achievement. We need to evaluate how we are doing with reference to someone who is doing exceedingly well in that role. We call them as role model.

 

If you are an executive, find out who is your role model and give a factor 10 for him or her. If that is your benchmark of excellence, give a mark to yourself as to where you think yourself to be. The gap is the scope for your improvement. Similarly, take your family role and bench mark yourself and find out the gap. Once you have this measure, then it is easy to plan out an action plan to improve your performance.

 

Once you decide your role model, then be clear as to what are the parameters you would like to evaluate, such as knowledge, skill level, achievement level etc. Every six months, you need to find out how your performing in your `bridging portfolio', which means how you are progressing in your efforts of reducing the gap between you and that person with reference to a specific parameter.

 

List just three roles that you handle now and do this exercise. You will find the difference in yourself.

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

23rd  December 2009

 

Life is also like a game of foot  ball!

 


Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.

Louis Pasteur

 

If you watch a foot ball match, you will notice that winning or loosing depends on the number of goals that you score against the opposite team. You will also notice that every time a player takes the ball to the goal post, he will be resisted by the players of the other team. Even when he takes the ball to the goal post, the goal keeper will try his best to stop the ball even at this last minute. The player has to kick the ball in spite of all this opposition and  only then  can he  score a goal. There is no such thing as cooperation from the members of the other team.

 

The same analogy applies to life also. You need to struggle against the odds to reach your goal in life. There will be opposition and resistance from others who may not cooperate with you. You have to put in extra efforts to deal with the resistance and keep your eyes on your goal. Even when you are about to succeed, your success may elude you. Still, you have to keep trying by increasing your effort level.

 

You will also notice that in a game of foot ball, others may pass on the ball to you. But it is up to you to keep going towards the goal. The same principle is relevant in life also. Others may help you to reach your ambitions in life. But it is up to you to succeed or lose. The primary responsibility is yours and not that of others.

 

In a game of foot ball, the probability of your scoring a goal is directly proportional to your effort level. The same principle applies to life also. Success is nothing but a result of systematic application of efforts. The more efforts you take, the more you are likely to succeed.

 

Next time you watch a foot ball match, keep in mind your effort level towards your goal.

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] Arise, awake and take charge!

 

21st December 2009

Life is like a game of rummy!

To choose time is to save time.

Francis Bacon  

Have you played rummy? If you have, you will understand this analogy. In a game of rummy, you receive and discard cards. If you get a card that you need, you  keep it and discard the one you don't need. Once you have all the cards that you need and it makes a set, you quit and score a point over the others. Life is very similar to this game!

Day and  in day out, we pick up various activities and at a point of time, you feel stifled and very tight. You don't know what to do and what not to do. You try to manage all the activities within the time and in the process struggle. If you do not get enough time, you sacrifice your evening, hobby, holiday and leisure.

In a game of rummy there are only 13 cards and you don't have a choice to increase this number just because you need a particular card. The rules of the game will not permit the same. You need to manage all your cards within this fixed number which is uniform to all. In the same way, you have only 24 hours in a day and it is uniform to all. You have no choice to alter this! You have to manage all your activities within this quota of time! If you want to pursue an activity which you cannot fit in within the time available, you have to delete some other activity to accommodate the one which you want to pursue.

You cannot say that you want to exercise half an hour a day, but you cannot sacrifice sleep. You cannot say that you want to pursue higher education, but at the same time spend a lot of time in the club socializing with your friends. You have to decide which activity you need to continue in your daily routine and which activity you need to discontinue.

In life we have to accept the principle: you cannot have the cake and eat it too.

During this week end, set aside some time to think about this principle and decide the content of your day.

N S Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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