[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

29th June 2012

`The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible'

Anonymous

Yesterday I wrote about positive thoughts and productive thoughts. We all have thoughts. We may stop breathing for a few minutes. But we cannot reach a state of zero thoughts. It is almost impossible to reach a state of thoughtlessness. Perhaps very few people like Ramakrishna Paramahams or Swami Vivekananda might have reached this state. Some Yogis could have done it.  

Great people differ from ordinary people in respect of their thought pattern. They differ in their ratio of positive thoughts and productive thoughts. Perhaps it will be a good idea to analyse our thought pattern by asking the following questions:

  1. Are my thoughts positive or negative? If negative, how am I going to encourage positive thoughts?
  2. Form out of the positive thoughts, what percentage of the same is productive? If the thoughts are positive but nonproductive, how am I going to convert my unproductive thoughts into productive thoughts?

Perhaps it will be a good idea to have an `inventory of thoughts' by recording all the thoughts that crosses our mind and asking the above questions. Every week we can take one positive but unproductive thought and give it an action plan to make it productive.

Confusing? Do this exercise and you will understand how simple this strategy is!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

28th June 2012

`A thought which does not result in an action is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed from a thought is nothing at all'

Bernanos, Georges

Be conscious about the various thoughts that occupy your mind since thoughts decide your mindset and your mindset will decide your attitude and actions.

We should have productive thoughts and not merely positive thoughts. All thoughts need not be positive and all positive thoughts need not be productive thoughts. Great people have not only positive thoughts, they make such thoughts productive.

For example, `I want to be healthy' is a positive thought; `I want to get up early morning and jog for twenty minutes every day' is a productive thought. `I want to reduce my weight' is a positive thought; ` I will say `no' to high calorie food' is a productive thought'; ` I want to improve my communication' is a positive thought; `I will join a course on effective communication' is a productive thought.

A positive thought is a wishful thinking unless it is followed up by an action plan.

You may want to know how to convert a positive thought to a productive thought. It is very simple. List all the good things to want to do on one side of the paper and as against each write down what one thing you want to do to put that idea into action. Convert at least one positive thought into productive though per week and notice the difference in your self-confidence and personality!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

27th June 2012

`Give your dreams all you've got and you will be amazed at the energy that

comes out of you'

William James

Read the book `The Secret' by Rhonda Byrne. The book came in a DVD format in 2006 and is a very big hit. Several million copies of the book and the DVD have been sold world over and translated in over 44 languages. The principle behind the book is very simple: positive thinking can create life-changing results of health, wealth, happiness and joy.

Do an interesting and life transforming exercise during this weekend.

Write down something exciting you want to achieve in your life. Visualize how you will be as you achieve this outcome in your life. Mentally see this as a picture in your mind's eye. Close your eyes and make this picture digital clear. Buy a box of crayons and a drawing sheet. Draw the picture you saw in your mind's eye. Use as many colours as possible. You don't have to be a great artist.

This picture  should be the last thing you should see before sleeping and the first thing after you get up. The best time to gaze at it is when you are half awake and half sleep and what you see will get embedded in your subconscious mind.

You will realise how powerful is this exercise in about five to six years time!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

26th June 2012

`If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when

we are old'

Lord Chesterfield

Do you invest on yourself for self-development? If you don't, please do!

We have some special talent waiting to be tapped like a tree in a seed. The seed may be excellent, but what if the details of the tree do not develop – the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the flowers, the fruit etc. As the tree develops these details, the tree becomes more valuable to the society.

This principle applies to us also. As a child, we are valuable to our parents only. As we grow into our adulthood, we have to become more valuable to the society at large. We have to develop the finer aspects of our personality such as:

·         How we communicate and interact with others

·         How we empathize and help others

·         How do we build a team

·         How do we lead, motivate and empower ourselves and others

·         How do we manage our and others' time

We should take personal responsibility for the above aspects of our personality. If we don't, like a poorly developed bonsai tree, we will be useful neither to ourselves, nor to others?

Decide: do you want to be a bonsai tree?

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

25th June 2012

 

"I claim to be an average man of less than average ability. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith."

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

I am sure you have come across people in your town who own hotels, departmental stores or any other business and very successful in their business and at the same time not highly educated or gifted. This is so with reference to world class business tycoons, be it Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. There are many school and college drop outs who have become successful in their life.

Log on to any search engine to know the success story of Steven Spielberg and you will know that he was not highly educated nor was he rich. So is the case of Akio Morita, the founder of Sony Corporation and Konosuke Matsushita. Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motors was born to a blacksmith and weaver. All that his had was a keen interest in automobiles. In his younger years, he was helping his father in his bicycle repair shop. His breakthrough came in 1972 when his introduced his Honda Civic. In less than five years, he was able to sell 375,000 cars in USA!  

All these people believed in their talents and took a lot of efforts to make their dream come through. They had the passion and attitude to persevere their ambition. Their hope and faith made them to become a legend and role model.

Have faith in yourself and focus all your attention on your goal and you will also become a legend!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

22nd June 2012

`Adversity introduces a man to himself'

Anonymous

There is something to learn from our problems. Our real skill, talent and capacity will be tested when we face a problem. A pilot is not tested when things are normal. Only when he makes an emergency landing, his skills will be put to test.

When you attend an interview, you are asked to explain how you handled a difficult situation. A surgeon relates the most difficult surgeries he has done. The best student is evaluated from the most difficult examination. a drives is at his best in the worst of the traffic and not when he drives on an empty high way.

 May be it is a good idea to learn to manage with limited resources and test your hidden capacity. You could surrender some luxuries live a simple life and enjoy. A Managing Director of a huge automobile company used to tell me that we should practice austerity when we have lot of money and  not when we have lost everything.

 Try to sleep on the floor avoiding bed one day in a week; don't use air conditioner and sleep with ceiling fan one day every month; avoid using your car and use public transport one day every month.

 The list can be as rich as your imagination.

 N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

21st June 2012

`We cannot help everyone, but everyone can help someone'

Ronald Reagan

Some people leave a permanent mark in the society they live and people miss them when they leave them. It's not important if people enjoyed your company when you were with them. What is even more important is how much they will miss you when you are not with them.

A cousin of mine is relocating to India from United States. By nature he is a people loving person. What is very unique in him is that helping others is so natural to him and he will be very restless if people are not there to receive his help.

When people came to know that he is leaving them some of them broke down.

An young boy cried `who will play with me in the evening'; a blind child cried `who will read stories to me'? An elderly couple cried `who will buy our groceries?'; a school final girl cried `who will teach me mathematics'?

When any one arrived from India, he will be there to receive them from the airport and help them in the first few weeks until they are comfortable in the new country.

You don't to be a great social worker to help the society. You can make a big difference in the lives of the few people around you!

What about you?

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

20th June 2012

`Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference'

Winston Churchill.

Our attitude to resources will decide our attitude to life. Let it be any resource – water, money, electricity, people. We should not waste any resource, be it ours or someone else'. What is our response when we notice some resource being wasted is very important to decide our attitude. For  example if we see an open water tap and water being wasted, when we see a fan running without anyone being present there are all situations requiring some action by us. It is something like our response to environmental pollution.

 

The same is true when it comes to noticing time being wasted – whether it is our time or someone else'. For example, if you call someone for a meeting and you don't attend to him even though he has come on time, you are wasting his time. Similarly, when you are given an appointment by someone and you make him to wait for you, you are wasting his time.

 

The other day I went to a departmental stores with my friend. We noticed a big queue and the people in the queue were feeling restless. On noticing this, my friend met the manager of the departmental stores and suggested to open one more counter which he readily agreed and the queue became half. By this simple act my friend saved nearly 30 minutes of about fifty people!

 

I felt proud of my friend!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

19th June 2012

`The effectiveness of work increases according to geometric progression if there are no interruptions'

Andre Maurois

 

Time is an invisible resource and like ice it melts in your hand! Unless you are very conscious, you don't realise its passing. One day you will realise that you don't have enough time left! When you get this realization, it will be impossible to put the clock back.

 

Achievers have a common denominator: they can concentrate on a project for a longer duration of time and their span of uninterrupted time is longer than others. They anticipate interruptions and have a `counter measure' to avoid the same. They practice `unavailable time', insulation and isolation. They tactfully insulate themselves from unnecessary gossips. They also isolate themselves into seclusion so that they are not disturbed.

 

Years ago I went to interview a very senior Human Resources Head of a large organization with prior appointment. His secretary told me that he was on leave. I explained to her that he had given appointment to me. Then she allowed me to his cabin and he was there! I told him what happened and asked him why. He said that he was working on an important project. In order to have uninterrupted time, he had applied leave, told others that he will not be available and hiding in his room and working!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

18th June 2012

`Nothing is as far away as one minute ago'

Jim Bishop

I just now completed my two day workshop `The Gift of Time' for a leading automobile organization. I explained to the participants that there are two universal bluffs: `time management' and `I have no time'.

 

We cannot manage time since we have no control over time and hence the term `time management' is a misnomer. What we can and should manage is the output per unit of time, just as we look at the return on investment for our money. If we invest ten thousand units of money to buy anything, we ask ourselves whether if the thing is worth the money we pay for it. Similarly we should also ask the question: is this work worth my time and what will I get by investing' my time on this work? From now on don't use the term `spending my time' and instead use the term `investing my time' and notice the shift in your attitude to time.

 

The second bluff is `I don't have time'. We all get the same amount of time like the busiest person on this planet.

 

I interviewed over 500 successful person to know how they succeeded and I noticed a common denominator with respect to their attitude to time I want to share it in my next newsletter!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

15th June 2012

`It is easy to sit up and take notice.

What is difficult is getting up and taking action'

Al Batt

All of us are good in commenting on how others should have acted and what they should not have done; how people should have acted differently or not acted at all. But few of us introspect how we should have done and what we could have done differently.

 

Think: yes, there is pollution, but what have you done to reduce; yes, your street is dirty, but what have you done to clean it; yes, there is noise pollution, but have you done to reduce it; yes, people are dishonest, but what have you done to make that little difference; yes, politicians are correct, but what have you done that the future is in safe hands?

 

I am sure you will agree that if each one of us does something to make things better, the world will be a lot different than it is today.

 

I want you to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CELdsDhAUoE

 

Watch this video and decide how you will make a difference!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

14th June 2012

`Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self preservation strikes it jarring gong, these are the features which constitutes endless repetition of history'.

Winston Churchill

 

I was shocked about the common sense contained in the above words of wisdom!

 

I have been repeatedly saying that in terms of hardware we are all equal, especially in terms of brain power. We differ only in our mindset. The great have a different mental programme. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. Similarly we don't have to try out anything new. We need to simply follow the food steps of those who have already succeeded.

 

In organisations, employees are evaluated by the human resources department to check if they have to promoted and rewarded or to be corrected. People are evaluated to check if they fulfill some parameters to be effective in their jobs.

 

Over this weekend, become your own Human Resources Manager and list all the above parameters and check how you fair in a scale of 0 to 10!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 More Exciting Ways to Live!

 

13th June 2012

`The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that

it has taken place'

George Bernard Shaw

While interacting with someone, have you ever said `I told you so, but you did not pay attention to what I said'?

 

A simple rule in effective communication is: it is the responsibility of the communicator to ensure that the content of the communication is understood; it is not the responsibility of the person receiving the communication. You need to own this responsibility. Next time you watch the television shows, notice how the media advertisement is presented. The company who shoots the advertisement episode will assume that the viewers are not interested in watching the footage and their entire focus will be on how to register the message in the mind of not just one viewer, but millions of viewers.

I remember what my father, who was a busy and successful lawyer, used to say. While arguing a case before a judge, he will assume that the judge is least interested in listening to his argument and this assumption will give him the mindset to improve the quality of his communication to capture the judge's attention. No doubt he was a successful lawyer.

 

Here is a simple exercise for you: next time you watch how a mother communicates with a child refusing to eat and how she convinces the child to eat! She owns the responsibility to ensure that the child understands. Obviously she has not read this piece on effective communication!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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