[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

1st October 2012

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you. 

Oprah Winfrey

In my time management seminars one point I try to drive is: No one can be motivated and no one can be changed. No one can be influenced. No one can be encouraged or discouraged! Isn't true? Some of you may not agree. But think for a moment. If people can be encouraged, why is that some people do not respond to such encouragement? Why some people refuse to change?

The only driving force is how your mind visualizes your goal and destination. If your goal is exciting, you get all the power to move on. The more vivid you can visualize your future, your drive and energy will be even more.

The more and more you visualize your future and assign a strong emotional value to it, the more passionate you become to the activity connected with that goal. The life of Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa are examples for this. No one can say that they were physically strong. But mentally they were strong. They had a passion to do what they did in their life.

The quality of your focus is determined by the intensity of your passion.

With this point in mind, watch a tennis star performing a world class match and you will understand where their power is coming from!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

28th September 2012

Energy and persistence conquer all things. 
Benjamin Franklin  

How is your energy level as you work through the day? Do you feel fresh in the morning and weak in the evening? Do you feel tired towards the end of the day?

If the answer is `yes' to the above questions, you are different from the most successful persons. They are always fresh, no matter how busy they are all through the day. I noticed a common denominator in all successful people – they feel fresh throughout the day. In fact I used envy some of them!

Do you know the `secret' behind their freshness? It is: they love their job!

The more you love your job, the less you will feel tired. Can you recall a recent occasion where you had to celebrate a function in your family? It may be a birthday of your child or the marriage of your child. Didn't you feel fresh regardless of whether you ate or slept? Next time you watch a sports event, notice the energy level of the players.

Here's a tip to keep your energy level high: love your job! Keep saying `I love my job, I love the tension of my job, I love my industry, I love my functional area'. Notice what happens to your energy level!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

27th September 2012

`When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

How receptive and comfortable are you to others' suggestions and ideas on areas where you feel you are an expert? You may say that you are comfortable. But will others `feel' comfortable when they offer you ideas?

A lot depends on your body language. Others will notice two sets of body language response from you: one set which encouraging others, and two, discouraging others. If you are reluctant to listen to others' advice, your state of mind will manifests itself in body language such as: shaking your head indicating that you don't like their ideas; facial expression showing dislike; interrupting the other person before he finishes; meddling with paper weight or ball pens when the other person is speaking; not making eye contact, etc.

When you are in a receptive mood, the other person will feel the same from your body language such as: asking clarifications; eye contact; a pleasant facial expression inviting the other person to speak etc.

One characteristic I find in great people is their humility when they receive advice and suggestions from others. When they don't want to listen to you, they will say so openly, but they will never show the same through their negative body language explained above.

How about you?

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

26th September 2012

`Behaviour is the mirror in which everyone shows their image'

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Is there a gap between what you promise and what you do? If so, it will affect your image. Image will affect your personality and your interpersonal relationship. You may not notice this gap. But others will notice and you will lose your credibility as a person.

I went to a leading eye hospital to get my eyes tested and I was prescribed a new glass. The same hospital has a spectacle shop and I gave the order for my new spectacle. The owner took measurement and committed delivery within four days. He took my mobile number and promised that I can come and take delivery of my new spectacle after he telephones me.

After four days I telephoned him to check if my spectacle is ready. He told me that it is not ready and again he assured that he will call me on my mobile once it is ready.

After a week I went in person and asked if the spectacle was ready. He said it is ready and gave the same. He didn't express any regret for not telephoning me even when I asked him about it! He seems to have taken his promise of telephoning very casually! But I didn't.

Every day, before going to bed, just check how you are performing in this area!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

25th September 2012

`To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world'

Brandi Snyder

I have a friend of mine in whose company anyone will feel very important! You can feel this within hours of your meeting him. When you visit him, he will take so much care of you. He will enquire about your welfare and you will feel his genuineness. Whenever he asks your views or suggestions for some of his problems or issues, the quality of his listening will make you to become even more responsible.  Even after several months of his asking for your advice, he will acknowledge how valuable your contribution was.

I have attended some of his family functions where hundreds of families will attend. I was surprised how he was able to meet each and every one of them. He will give equal importance to all the invitees regardless of their social status.

Whoever invites him to any functions in their house, he will be the first person to arrive and will offer whatever help he can.

When he greets you and shakes hands with you, he will look at your eyes and you can see the warmth radiating from his eyes. You will not believe that his eyes will speak!

When you send a letter or a short message through mobile, he will acknowledge the same instantly with a smily face!

Of late I have started emulating him in my interaction with others!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

24th September 2012

`Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly on their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential'

John Maxwell

I have written several times that all of us are created with identical brain power and we differ only with reference to our mind power.

Last week I started a `School of Music' in our school. A good number of parents enrolled their children into the same. I could see the enthusiasm in their face. For the inauguration I brought a legend who has achieved great success in the field of music at a very young age. The parents asked some very interesting questions to him. One parent wanted to know how long will it take for his child to play a song on an instrument. Another parent wanted to know if a child coming from a family of no musicians can learn music. A third parent wanted to know if the music class will interfere with the curriculum.

The legend replied in one word: desire! If there is no desire in the child, he will not practice daily. If the parents do not have the desire, they will not encourage the child. If the school does not have to desire to produce music genius from the children, all the hidden potential will be wasted.

This simple principle is true not only with respect to music. It is relevant in all other aspects of our life.

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

21st September 2012

`Remedy your deficiencies, and your merits will take care of themselves'

Edward Bulwer – Lytton

The happiest news is the fact that the brain content and functioning is identical across the human race. But brain power alone cannot decide our success or failure. Brain is like the hard disc of a computer. We need software to work the computer. The best computer and software will be useless due to some virus programmes stopping the software.

This example is very much relevant to the human system. The entire concept of NLP is about this simple principle. You may have high dreams and aspirations in life and you may even be serious about the same. Still you may not succeed. Just as the computer is propelled by the software, our brain is propelled by the `mindware'. You have to scan your mind and remove the `mental virus'.

Do an exercise: list all your dreams and ambitions. Then list all the resources you already have to make them come true. The next stage is to ask the question: what prevents me from having my goal?'

Answers could be laziness, complacency, lack of resources, attitude, lack of perseverance, lack of adequate efforts, lack of interpersonal skills etc. You have take one issue from this list per week and work on the same.

Do this exercise and experience empowerment!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

20th September 2012

Not to unlearn what you have learned is the most necessary kind of learning. 
Antisthenes

Unlearning is more difficult than learning!

If we have learnt correctly, it is okay. Sometimes we learn wrong things or what we have learnt does not suit the situation where we live. Similarly we learn to relax in our own way. Sometimes we are wrongly advised that smoking and drinking will give us the relaxation. Thus we walk into a trap and when we want to come out of some of our habits, we find it very difficult.

When we learnt driving, we learnt in a particular way. Later on we notice that our driving is defective, but we are not able to come out of the same. For example honking while driving, speeding, clutch driving etc.

This problem is not restricted to bad habits alone.

If we learn to type in the proper way, we will be able to type very fast. On the other hand if we learn to type with just two fingers, this will become our typing style and our productivity will be affected.

May be you can do an exercise. List one activity which you feel you've not learnt the right way and try to set it right. Similarly work on other areas of your life. In a year you will notice a huge difference in your own personality.

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

19th September 2012

`Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new'

Brian Tracy

In life you have to accept some uncomfortable but good things. The other day I visited a friend of mine in a hospital where he is undergoing a treatment for a fractured leg. His legs are held up with braces and he has to be in the same position without any movement. He was undergoing acute pain and suffering. He was requesting the staff nurse to release him from the braces but she rightly refused.

I understood that there are occasions in life where we have to put up with some discomfort by accepting the same as reality. This mindset will make us to enjoy the discomfort.

For example:

  • Getting up early morning may not be comfortable, yet we have to accept the same for our long term good;
  • Wearing an helmet while driving a motorbike may  not be enjoyable, yet we have to wear it to protect our head;
  • We may not like the discipline of daily exercising, yet we have to do it to ensure long term health;

The list can be endless. Why don't you make your own list of all those things which you have been avoiding since they are uncomfortable, and against each write down one reason why you have to do the same?

N C Sridharan

www.timefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

18th September 2012

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another -- until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

Richard Nixon

Sometimes we get angry and emotional when we get into an argument with someone. We get irritated when someone does not agree with our point of view. We get irritated and end up shouting.

We have to improve the quality of our communication and avoid shouting. Shouting by itself will not improve the communication quality. If at all it will only affect the quality of listening and receptivity. When we shout, we get emotional and also make the other person emotional. When we are emotionally charged we may not know what we are talking, nor the other person notice what he is listening.

The purpose of communication is to register our point of view to the other person. To achieve this objective, we have to ensure that we maintain a good rapport with the person with whom we communicate.

Shouting makes the other person to defend his point of view and start thinking how and what he should reply instead of listening to the content of communication. It may also irritate the other person and normally the other person will also start shouting!

I am not against shouting if the same is a strategy to drive our point of view and not a result of our emotional outburst!

Every day before going to bed, note down an incident when you shouted at someone and think if you could have avoided the same!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

17th September 2012

`Don't believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly'

Richard Bach

We are what our mind makes us to be. Our mind can make us confident or diffident. Our mind can make us optimistic or pessimistic.

I recall an anecdote involving George Dantzig who was a great American Mathematician and known as the `father of linear programming'. One day Dantzig walked into his classroom at California Berkley. He was late to class and all that he noticed were two statistics problems written on the board. He took down the same and during the next three days he sat and solved the same and gave to his mathematics teacher.

The teacher was shocked. Before Dantzig came to the class, the mathematics Professor Neyman wrote these problems on the board and explained that these problems have not been solved by anyone and even Einstein could not solve the same! Other students never bothered to solve a problem which was not solved by anyone. Since Dantzig was late to class, he did not have this limitation in his mind and hence solved the problem!

Sometimes we are limited by the discouraging words of others. They may be right from their point of view. We need others as `sounding boards', but we have to decide what we want and work towards the same!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

14th September 2012

`if you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion'

Dalai Lama

I am presently going through two different experiences in my life: taking care of my old parents and managing a school of 2600 students from Pre KG to School final. I understand what it means to manage the very old and the very young! Sometimes I feel upset the way they behave, but I remind myself that they are expected to behave that way given their age!

Now I understand and experience what is `compassion'. The dictionary meaning of the word `compassion' is `a feeling of pity' `sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings of other people'.

The question is how you feel compassionate?

You should pass through three stages to feel compassionate for the sufferings of others and they are:

  • `I feel for you'
  • `I understand you', and,
  • `I want to help you'

Now take someone very close to you who is suffering from something, say sickness. First feel for them. In fact put yourself in his/her shoes and empathize. Then understand what they want from you. Then sincerely desire to help them in whatever way you can and be honest on your intention.

For the next five weeks do this exercise with reference to five different people and experience compassion!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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[Time-Management] 100 Thoughts for Self Improvement!

 

13th September 2012

`Few delights can equal the mere presence of someone we utterly trust'

George MacDonald

Some people have very enviable traits. I have a friend of mine who will make it a point to meet his friends on a very regular basis. When he meets them he will have no other agenda except to meet them and talk to them. When he meets them you can feel the genuineness and warmth. He will look into the eyes and talk. When he is with you, you will his emotional closeness. He will enquire about your welfare; recall some of your happy moments; share some of his recent experience etc.

More than anything he will know when to take leave of you. Never will he make the other person feel uncomfortable and embarrassed! Actually some of his friends will look forward to meeting him. He will be the first person to greet them on special occasions such as wedding day, birthdays etc. When he attends such functions, he will volunteer to help you.

He is a good story teller to children. He is also a very humorous person. When his friends are in difficulties, he will be the first person to arrive to offer any help.

When you are free, put yourself in his shoes and feel what it means to be him!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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