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

 

21st December 2010

 

`If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else'.

 

Booker T Washington

 

Just think. Who all contributed for your present position in life? Who all helped you reach your ambitions in life? Have seen the `Acknowledgement' section of a book? The author will include all those who helped him to write the book. He will include even a person who read the manuscript and the person who typed the text.

 

The most important thing in life is how many people you help who are in need of your help. In as much as you need others' help, others are also in need of your help. Some may openly seek your help and some others may not. Seeking help is not an offence and no one needs to feel guilty of the same. But sometimes we may feel guilty to seek someone's help.

 

If you have anything to offer to someone, please offer. You don't have to hoard it. It could be anything. It could be money, material, ideas, suggestions, advice etc. It could even be power. You may be in a position which gives you authority and power. What`s wrong in lifting someone who may need your help using your power? You should not misuse your power or gain any undue advantage. That's all. In fact the purpose of power is to use it. You may be very powerful, but what is the use if you don't want to use it? Which is used less will become useless!

 

Over this weekend, make a list of all those who helped you. And make another two lists:

 

  • How you are going to reciprocate the same?
  • List all those you have not helped you, but who may need your help and how you are going to help them?

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

20th December 2010

 

`Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

 

I'm sure you've heard of how he interpreted his `failures'. He said that he did not fail one thousand times, but he succeeded in finding out which thousand filaments will not burn in an electric lamb! That is what makes great people. Every time they do something they are aware of the learning point it gives them.

 

When we fail we should acknowledge that we've failed and accept it. Once we accept our failure, we can reason out why we failed. We need to accept that it is we who failed and not others made us to fail. In fact we should be thankful to every failure than every success, since every failure makes us wiser.

 

Similarly our acknowledging every experience we go through in life is very important, whether good or bad. Our close friends may betray us; our business partner may cheat us; our kith and kin may let us down; our good and honest work may not be recognized. When any of these things happen, let us acknowledge the same and become wise.

 

Let us also acknowledge difficulties and problems. Great business ideas worked not only because the idea was intrinsically good, but the man who had the idea acknowledged the difficulties he will have while implementing the same.

 

I read somewhere that that the space craft of the first moon mission was off track 90 percent of the time and the NASA acknowledged the same and made course corrections all the time to make the historic moon landing!

 

Over this weekend, acknowledge all the difficulties you have and all the weaknesses you have. Also acknowledge all the threats you have. Then have a foolproof strategy!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

17th December 2010

 

`You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them'.

Ray Bradbury

 

In my Managing Change seminars, people ask me how to build and sustain an organization culture. In many organizations, there is a very wide gap between the core value of the organization and how the individual members behave. Sometimes, the act of one individual destroys the credibility of the organization overnight.

 

Building a great organization is a result of great vision by great leaders. What is most important is preserving the culture of the organization. If you want to sustain any good culture, there has to be a constant reinforcement of the basic principles. The purpose of the Human Resource Development department is to think innovatively and build a high quality human resource capital.

 

I was reading that Walt Disney believed that training and development is an integral part of the organization building process. The company had a complete new set of language:

 

Employees are `cast members'.

Customers are `guests'.

A crowd is an `audience'.

A work shift is `performance'.

A job is a `part'.

A job description is a `script'.

A uniform is a `costume'.

The personnel department is `casting'.

Being on duty is `on stage'.

Being off duty is `back stage'.

 

(Courtesy `Built to Last' by Jim Collins)

 

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

16th December 2010

 

`Man's greatness lies in his power of thought'

Blaise Pascal

 

Great people have many things to offer to those who want to know how they became great. Just like we do a reverse engineering of a good product, we have to study the thinking pattern of great people and if we do it properly, we can also duplicate their excellence in us.

 

William L McKnight started working for 3M as an Assistant Bookkeeper in 1907 on a salary of US $ 11.55 per week, and rose to become the Chairman of 3M Corporation and he served as Chairman from 1949 to 1966. I was curious to know what made him to achieve this and I happened to read what he believed about people. Read the following:

 

`Listen to anyone with an original idea, no matter how absurd it might sound at first'.

 

`Encourage; don't nitpick. Let people run with an idea'.

 

`Hire good people and leave them alone'.

 

`If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need'.

 

`Encourage experimental doodling'.

 

`Give it try – and quick'.

 

Do you know what this belief system meant to 3M? Can you guess how many products 3M has? As of 1990 it is over sixty thousand products and over forty separate product divisions!

 

N C Sridharan

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

 

15th December 2010

"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him."

-John Steinbeck

 

If you read the life history of great people, you will notice one thing in common: all of them started in a very humble way. Mahatma Gandhi's freedom movement also started in a very small way and later on became a massive people's movement. A long march to a thousand miles starts with the first step.

 

Masaru Ibuka wanted to start some business of his own. He did not start with a large business plan and a huge infrastructure of people and machineries. He did not have a breakthrough product and a ready market. Nor did he have a rich economy to support him. When he started Japan was defeated an in ruins. The economy was devastated and people had no money and there was poverty everywhere. He rented a telephone operator's room which abandoned due to bombing. The telephone operator's room was a part of a burned out departmental stores which was dilapidated.

 

His total investment was his personal savings of $ 1,600/- dollars. He had not more than seven employees!

 

But look at Sony Corporation today! Masaru Ibuka was not driven by a favourable external market environment and a rich cash flow. But his driving force was from within. He was not rich in terms of money. But he was rich in terms of dreams and an irresistible ambition.

 

Over this weekend, you can take a very humble idea, blow the idea into a dream, visualize yourself living your dream and making it happen. See this mental picture in your mind's panoramic screen. Let every thought of yours be occupied by that dream. Then notice what happens to your energy level and drive!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundaton.com

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

 

14th December 2010

 

To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all that which says: Leave no stone unturned'

Edward Bulwer Lytton

 

I brought a cricket celebrity to my school to address my students who numbered around 2300! He was narrating how hard it was to climb up to the level where he started to play for his country. He said that at any point of time, there are around one billion youngsters wanting to get into the final eleven. He also said that unless one is willing to sacrifice every comfort in life, there is no chance of retaining his position in the team. He also went on to narrate what is the real daily schedule for a top class cricketer playing for the country in international level.

 

The students asked him what is his advice to the students wanting to play for first class matches. He said that the secret formula for success can be summed up in three words: hard work, hard work and hard work!

 

His talk made a big impression not only in the minds of the students but also in my mind. Many of us think that the world class performers in any filed make a lot of money and enjoy their life. But their meaning of enjoyment is different. The amount of hard work that they put in is in direct proportion to the hardship they have to encounter. Their endurance level is very high.

 

If you want log on to any search engine and know how much a Wimbledon tennis star works in a day and you will realize that we are working at our zone of comfort!

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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

 

13th December 2010

 

Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it.

~ Robertson Davies

 

Can you imagine yourself to be a double amputee, but wanting to climb Mount Everest? This is want Mark Inglis did! Can you imagine yourself to be deaf, dumb and blind, but wanting to make a difference in the world and ultimately win Nobel Prize? This is the story of Helen Keller. Can you imagine to be sufferance from a rare nerve degeneration disease, but wanting to be the most intelligent person in 21st Century? This is what Prof. Hawking has done!  Can you believe a person being dismissed for lacking in creativity becoming the world's most popular creative person? This is the life story of Walt Disney.

 

A petrol pump attendant boy become Dhirubhai Ambani. The boy who suffered from Dyslexia became Albert Einstein in his later years. So did Thomas Alva Edison. John Milton was blind, Beethoven was deaf and Michael Jordan was dropped from his school basket ball team.

 

Do you think these people would have become famous if they did not have handicap? I would say doubtful. Handicaps and weaknesses actually strengthen our willpower and resolve. The best skater feels happier only when challenged. The hardest rock becomes a beautiful statue only when chiseled!

 

The best way to overcome terrible circumstances is to focus on our innate strengths.

 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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