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

 

16th November 2010

"Style is being yourself, but on purpose."

-Patricia Fripp

Continuous improvement is a personal choice and it cannot be forced on someone. You may want to stop learning at any point of time but the learning never ends. Over the last fortnight I have been reading Jim Collin's Built to Lost and I would like to quote a small conversation between a martial artist and his master just before the graduation for the Black Belt. It goes like this:

`Before granting the belt, you must pass one more test' says the sensei.

`I am ready' responds the student, expecting one final round of sparring.

`You must answer the essential question: what is the meaning of the black belt?'

`The end of the journey', says the student. ` A well-deserved reward for all my work'

The sensei waits for more. Clearly, he is not satisfied. Finally the sensei speaks. `You are not yet ready for the black belt. Return in one year'.

A year later, the student kneels again in front of the sensei.

`What is the meaning of the black belt' asks the sensei.

`A symbol of distinction and the highest achievement in our art', says the student.

The sensei says nothing for many minutes, waiting. Clearly, he is not satisfied. Finally he speaks. `You are still not ready for the black belt. Return in one year.'

A year later the student kneels once again in front of the sensei. And again the sensei asks: `What is the true meaning of the black belt?'

`The black belt represents the beginning – the start of a never-ending journey of discipline, work, and the pursuit of an even ever-higher standard'.

`Yes, you are now ready to receive the black belt and begin your work'.

The above passage made me to think deeply on my own goals and the results I have reached! I really started thinking the real purpose of whatever I have done and ponder over the same in the light of the above passage!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

15th November 2010

"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start."

-- Nido Qubein

As we work our way through our life, we will come across a time when we will feel that we've achieved something and we haven't something else. We may be very proud of some achievements and may be depressed on some other issues. If we stay on this mindset for too long, there are two possibilities: one, we will become complacent and we will become disinterested in life due to failure. These two possibilities will coexist at the same time.

If we continue in this mindset, we will become stuck and we will become immobilised. We have to come out of this as early as possible. In order to overcome this state, we have to believe that we are just at the starting point. Just imagine the mindset of an athlete at the start point and at the finish line. At the start point, his mind will be totally focussed on what he should do and how well he should do it. He will be mustering all his energy and his only aim is to win the race. At the finish line, if he has won, he will become easy, and if he has lost, he may become disappointed.

This example is very relevant to our everyday life. Instead of taking our life as a long marathon, we have to take it as short sprints. We have to have a mindset that we are in the start of the race and consider the exciting possibilities and opportunities.

Today, before going to bed ask the following questions and try to ponder over the answers:

·         Where am I now in my personal and professional life and what are my goals?

·         If this is the beginning of my goal and ambition, where do I want to go in the next five years?

·         If I have to achieve what I want to achieve in the next five years, what are the most critical three things I should do tomorrow morning?

Go to bed with this mindset and notice your energy level as you get up the next day!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

12th November 2010

`You are the only problem you will ever have and you are the only solution'

Bob Proctor

All of us have problems. We look for solutions outside us. We have to understand that the problem is inside us and the solution is also in us! The first step to solve any problem is owning the responsibility for the origin of the problem as well as for solving the problem. This principle may appear to be a bit strange, but it is true.

Take the problem of drinking or smoking. How did we get into the problem? Can we say that someone forced us into it? Could we not have resisted the same? Having got into the problem, isn't it our responsibility to get out of the problem? The question is what are we doing to do to come out of the problem? Are we going to continuously blame others for our problem?

Take another example. Lets us say that we do not have enough money. Are we not in any way responsible for it?

We need to change our internal processing of our and solution. We have to change our thinking process from blaming to taking personal responsibility. Read the following problems statement and how you can take control of the same:

·         I am lazy: What I am going to do to overcome the same?

·         I procrastinate: What is my action plan to beat my procrastination habit?

·         I don't have reliable friends: How I am going to rebuild healthy relationship?

·         My business is failing: How I am I going make my business profitable?

If you adopt the above thinking process, the problem may not disappear immediately. But you will be definitely in a better frame of mind to deal with your problems.

In fact you should thank your problems since they make you even more stronger builds a good personality!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

11th November 2010

Happiness is not by accident, nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.

Jim Rohn

Don't you design your house or your farm house? You design your dress and give instructions to the tailor to stitch your dress the way you would like to have. You may not like to have something which someone designed for you without your participation.

This principle applies to life also.

We have to design our happiness also. We have to decide which will make us happy and we should know what will make us happy. More than anything, we should believe that we can be happy and decide to feel happy. If we decide not to feel happy, we will not become happy, no matter what others do for us. No one can make us feel happy without our consent and involvement.

We should know that happiness is a feeling and feeling is a state of mind.

The question is: how to design happiness? May be you can try the following checklist:

·         Have a checklist of things which will make you happy. May be music, may be food, may be meeting people.

·         Once you are clear about the above, schedule an activity to make you feel happy. Manage your time in such a way that you find time to schedule that activity. If music will make you happy, invest on an ipod or a music system. Visit a music stores, or download a music.

·         Make self affirmation statement such as `I can decide to be happy', `I am happy' etc

If you decide to be happy, you can design happiness and over a period of time, you can become a `master designer'!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

10th November 2010

 "There are more self-marred people in the world than there are self-made."

 Arnold H. Glasow

We feel we are being prepared for the world. But the reality is we are making our own life. Either we are helping ourselves to grow or we are destroying ourselves. The irony is, while we may be conscious when we are developing ourselves, we are not even aware when we are harming ourselves.

Sheer statistics will show that there are more number of people who have marred themselves than the number of people who have developed themselves. While development is a self made conscious decision, destruction is an unconscious irresponsible choice, for no one wants to be destroyed.

There can be one reason for the self destruction: ignorant of the consequences and lack willpower and personal vision. Those who achieved exciting results are those who had a compelling vision of their future. In fact they dreamed and imagined as though they had already achieved what wanted to achieve and this mental picture gave them the necessary energy to sustain their efforts.

On the other hand, those who destroy themselves have not pondered over the consequences of their actions or inactions and they blissfully enjoy what their life style. They do not mentally visualise what their life will be like if they continue to do their activities. Ability to visualise the future is a rare gift which perhaps only the human beings can claim to have.

Perhaps many of us do not even stop whatever we have been doing and project the implications of the same on our life. If we do this self audit, we will be able to do a `gap assessment' of what we are doing and what we should be doing.

Perhaps you can ponder over this issue during this weekend.

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

9th November 2010

"Success is doing your own thing, for the benefit of others."

Denis Waitley

Just imagine what your life will be without the `others' of your life! Think how much effort others take to make your life meaningful. You may not realise the value others add on to your life. If you are happy in your life, there are hundreds of people who have contributed to your happiness.

Can you think of a sports star without a fan or a doctor without a patient? You may know the best technology to make a wonderful product. But what if there are no buyers for your product?

Do you think that you are fixing a commercial value for your time? If you think so, you are wrong. Your value is decided by others around you. They will assign a value depending on what value you added to their life! Your value is a function of what value you are adding to others' life.

Strange, isn't? But it is true.

Your success depends on how much others benefited by your time. Think about Walt Disney. If his time and thinking had not benefited others by adding fun and frolic to their life, do you think he would have succeeded? For that matter, any business is built on the goodwill of the customers. The only one factor which makes or breaks a business is the quality of customer delight and satisfaction. It may satisfy you temporarily to live a life's philosophy of `I, me myself'. You may gain an immediate advantage and perhaps get a material advantage over others. But such a happiness will be a like a soap bubble which will burst at any time.

Over this weekend ask yourself the following questions:

·         Do I think about others' needs and wants in my life?

·         Do I care for others' feelings and emotions?

·         Have I done something of emotional value to others' last week?

·         What will be the quality of my life now if others had not contributed anything?

Answer these questions honestly and notice what happens to the quality of your thinking!

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

8th November 2010

`Don't get discouraged; it is often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock'

Unknown

We need perseverance and hope that we will ultimately succeed come what may. This critical factor distinguishes the great from the ordinary. History is full of examples of people who continued to fight until they ultimately succeeded. Mahatma Gandhi did not succeed overnight. Nor did Martin Luther King. Edison did not succeed with the first filament he used. Take the best writers whose books have sold millions of copies world over and read how they succeed. You will know that several publishers rejected their books before someone who published. Read about the best selling short story collection Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Cranfield and you will be amazed to know that the same was rejected by so many publishers.

We need to try and try again. The easiest thing is to give up.  

If you read the life story of great people, you will notice a common denominator among all of them. It their never give up attitude. It is their killer instinct. It is their ability to stick to their aim in life until they ultimately succeeded. It is their perseverance. It their enthusiasm to remain motivated when confronted with worst failure. It is their focus despite odds around them.

Here's an interesting home work for you: Print the following quotation, laminate it and fix it in front of your study table:

"Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish that your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round — remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped."

- James J Corbett –

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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