Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
Swami VivekanandaMy thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Plan your evening… using Six Thinking Hats
What do I get her? Where do I take her? Will she enjoy the movies? What cuisine would be her favourite choice for the day? Should I get her flowers or a brooch or buy her jewellery?
Uff!! The umpteen thoughts that go behind planning this your evening out with your loved one! Some of us finally go with our intuition, and if we’re lucky, the evening is fantastic… and for those of us inexplicably in love, it is a breeze…
Still, for those of us who’re unsure, or yet battling out choices, here’s a method that can help… taking into consideration logic and emotions – Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats! It is a simple, effective, globally accepted parallel thinking process that helps us to be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved in making decisions – even in matters of the heart!!
Planning your evening out with your loved one, usually is a swirl of emotions, which may lead to a state of helplessness and confusion. We finally decide and cross our fingers for the best! What are these emotions doing where there ought to be only one. Love…
Now, here’s a real gift… a technique that helps make the best choice within 30 minutes! Just 30 minutes…. All you got to do is to use the Six Hats and follow the steps below:
Blue Hat – 2 minutes
Wear your blue hat for 2 minutes and manage your thought process the next 30 minutes by playing the role of a facilitator. Answer:
Focus: Decide how to make this the most cherished and fantastic evening for us.
Sequence of hats and time for each: Blue (already started – 2 minutes), Red – 30 seconds, White – 4 minutes, Green – 4 minutes, Blue – 2 minutes, Yellow – 4 minutes, Black – 4 minutes, Red – 30 seconds, Blue – 4 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Remember, the time you are wearing a hat, stay focused only on the questions under that hat, without wandering off to others!
Imagine! An effective decision on the best way to spend your evening, in the next 23 minutes!!!!
Red Hat – 30 seconds – feelings, emotions and intuitions. Answer:
Is there any place you just know is right?
Is there any gift you just know is right?
No reasons, no logic, no explanation as to why – just note it down. Nothing on the top of your head – don’t worry – leave blank.
White Hat – 4 minutes – data and information. Answer these (no speculation – based on past experiences, or ask her or her friends and relatives you know):
her likes? – in clothes (western/Indian/etc), in cuisines (Mexican/Indian/Italian/Mediterranean/etc.), in gifts (jewellery/clothes/perfume/etc), and flowers and card?
her dislikes? – what should you be sure to avoid in the above?
Where did you go out the last 3 to 5 times to eat – how did she react to the place?
What were the last 3 to 5 gifts you bought her – how did she react to each of them?
What did she talk about movies – which ones did she like more – romantic/ motivational/ art/ comedy/ action/ etc?
What does she love spending her time doing more – movies, eat out, shopping, time in a park in conversation, party, or a combo?
her favourite colours, flowers, etc?
any other data or information that can be relevant and you know is accurate?
special options open in the city for this week? the latest fashion? What’s happening and what are the “in” parties and places to be in the city?
Pause here and do the research in the city paper and on the net and the bill boards for what’s on.
No evaluation of any data, just make the entire list.
Green Hat – 4 minutes – think of ideas and alternatives. Use the above white hat information and answer:
choices for the evening – movie, dinner, gift, flowers, shopping – or a combination of any of the above
choices for movies – theatre, movie, seats, show?
choices for dinner – restaurant, time, table, book in advance?
choices for gift – from likes and dislikes – gift wrapper colour to the gift – buy with her by taking her shopping or buy earlier – where to buy?
choices for flowers n card – place to buy, when and how to send / give her, mix of flowers for bouquet – you can give her more than just roses!
choices if to go shopping – your budget, which mall(s), shopping for what?
any other ideas you have on how to spend the evening?
Again, no evaluation of any of the above choices, just make the entire list.
Blue Hat – 2 minutes
Consolidate the points from the above green hat ideas and the 1st red hat intuition points to form a cohesive list of activities for the evening.
Yellow Hat – 4 minutes – benefits. For each of the above consolidated points under the blue hat:
Why should we do this that evening?
How will it work out for the good?
How will it help us have a good time?
How will it express my love and affection towards her?
How will it make her and me happy?
Are there any other benefits and plus points in any of the above points?
Black Hat – 4 minutes –weaknesses or the areas of potential problems or points of caution in various ideas. For each of the above consolidated points under the blue hat:
Why may this not work out that evening?
What possible problems we may face if we take up this activity?
What possibilities that something here may be unpleasant for me or for her?
What may cause problems at home, or for work the next day?
What are a few unexpected situations that you may need to be prepared for?
It may be tough to get yourself to look at potential problems in the activities you want to do on this day, still, focus your mind on them, as they are important in a decision making process. Then, since you’ve thought about them already, you’re prepared for them!!
Red Hat – 30 seconds
The Red Hat deals with feelings, emotions and intuitions. For a quick 30 seconds, take a look at all the points you have listed down, and pick the option/options that appeal most to you. Choose the combination from what your intuition says – take minimal time..
Blue Hat – 4 minutes
Wear your blue hat for 4 minutes and manage your thought process by playing the role of a facilitator. Consolidate and answer with a yes or no and if yes, specify:
Flowers and Card:
Gift:
Dinner:
Party:
Shopping:
Movies:
Potential problems to be prepared for that might crop up:
All said and done, spending time with your loved one is only about love and friendship and happiness and enjoyment… So, relax… and have a fantabulous time!!!
The Six Thinking Hats model is also a useful tool for ensuring comprehensive analysis of problems, creating a framework for conversations and preventing conflicts.
Revathi Turaga
Certified Edward de Bono trainer and Meta Mind Management trainer
Uff!! The umpteen thoughts that go behind planning this your evening out with your loved one! Some of us finally go with our intuition, and if we’re lucky, the evening is fantastic… and for those of us inexplicably in love, it is a breeze…
Still, for those of us who’re unsure, or yet battling out choices, here’s a method that can help… taking into consideration logic and emotions – Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats! It is a simple, effective, globally accepted parallel thinking process that helps us to be more productive, focused, and mindfully involved in making decisions – even in matters of the heart!!
Planning your evening out with your loved one, usually is a swirl of emotions, which may lead to a state of helplessness and confusion. We finally decide and cross our fingers for the best! What are these emotions doing where there ought to be only one. Love…
Now, here’s a real gift… a technique that helps make the best choice within 30 minutes! Just 30 minutes…. All you got to do is to use the Six Hats and follow the steps below:
Blue Hat – 2 minutes
Wear your blue hat for 2 minutes and manage your thought process the next 30 minutes by playing the role of a facilitator. Answer:
Focus: Decide how to make this the most cherished and fantastic evening for us.
Sequence of hats and time for each: Blue (already started – 2 minutes), Red – 30 seconds, White – 4 minutes, Green – 4 minutes, Blue – 2 minutes, Yellow – 4 minutes, Black – 4 minutes, Red – 30 seconds, Blue – 4 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Remember, the time you are wearing a hat, stay focused only on the questions under that hat, without wandering off to others!
Imagine! An effective decision on the best way to spend your evening, in the next 23 minutes!!!!
Red Hat – 30 seconds – feelings, emotions and intuitions. Answer:
Is there any place you just know is right?
Is there any gift you just know is right?
No reasons, no logic, no explanation as to why – just note it down. Nothing on the top of your head – don’t worry – leave blank.
White Hat – 4 minutes – data and information. Answer these (no speculation – based on past experiences, or ask her or her friends and relatives you know):
her likes? – in clothes (western/Indian/etc), in cuisines (Mexican/Indian/Italian/Mediterranean/etc.), in gifts (jewellery/clothes/perfume/etc), and flowers and card?
her dislikes? – what should you be sure to avoid in the above?
Where did you go out the last 3 to 5 times to eat – how did she react to the place?
What were the last 3 to 5 gifts you bought her – how did she react to each of them?
What did she talk about movies – which ones did she like more – romantic/ motivational/ art/ comedy/ action/ etc?
What does she love spending her time doing more – movies, eat out, shopping, time in a park in conversation, party, or a combo?
her favourite colours, flowers, etc?
any other data or information that can be relevant and you know is accurate?
special options open in the city for this week? the latest fashion? What’s happening and what are the “in” parties and places to be in the city?
Pause here and do the research in the city paper and on the net and the bill boards for what’s on.
No evaluation of any data, just make the entire list.
Green Hat – 4 minutes – think of ideas and alternatives. Use the above white hat information and answer:
choices for the evening – movie, dinner, gift, flowers, shopping – or a combination of any of the above
choices for movies – theatre, movie, seats, show?
choices for dinner – restaurant, time, table, book in advance?
choices for gift – from likes and dislikes – gift wrapper colour to the gift – buy with her by taking her shopping or buy earlier – where to buy?
choices for flowers n card – place to buy, when and how to send / give her, mix of flowers for bouquet – you can give her more than just roses!
choices if to go shopping – your budget, which mall(s), shopping for what?
any other ideas you have on how to spend the evening?
Again, no evaluation of any of the above choices, just make the entire list.
Blue Hat – 2 minutes
Consolidate the points from the above green hat ideas and the 1st red hat intuition points to form a cohesive list of activities for the evening.
Yellow Hat – 4 minutes – benefits. For each of the above consolidated points under the blue hat:
Why should we do this that evening?
How will it work out for the good?
How will it help us have a good time?
How will it express my love and affection towards her?
How will it make her and me happy?
Are there any other benefits and plus points in any of the above points?
Black Hat – 4 minutes –weaknesses or the areas of potential problems or points of caution in various ideas. For each of the above consolidated points under the blue hat:
Why may this not work out that evening?
What possible problems we may face if we take up this activity?
What possibilities that something here may be unpleasant for me or for her?
What may cause problems at home, or for work the next day?
What are a few unexpected situations that you may need to be prepared for?
It may be tough to get yourself to look at potential problems in the activities you want to do on this day, still, focus your mind on them, as they are important in a decision making process. Then, since you’ve thought about them already, you’re prepared for them!!
Red Hat – 30 seconds
The Red Hat deals with feelings, emotions and intuitions. For a quick 30 seconds, take a look at all the points you have listed down, and pick the option/options that appeal most to you. Choose the combination from what your intuition says – take minimal time..
Blue Hat – 4 minutes
Wear your blue hat for 4 minutes and manage your thought process by playing the role of a facilitator. Consolidate and answer with a yes or no and if yes, specify:
Flowers and Card:
Gift:
Dinner:
Party:
Shopping:
Movies:
Potential problems to be prepared for that might crop up:
All said and done, spending time with your loved one is only about love and friendship and happiness and enjoyment… So, relax… and have a fantabulous time!!!
The Six Thinking Hats model is also a useful tool for ensuring comprehensive analysis of problems, creating a framework for conversations and preventing conflicts.
Revathi Turaga
Certified Edward de Bono trainer and Meta Mind Management trainer
Corporates need to learn a lesson from Dhoni!
How can anyone forget yesterday’s test match of India vs. Australia. That was a winning moment for sure but more than that that was a very emotional moment also. It was the last cricket playing day for our dear dada… Saurav Ganguly.
The way the present captain MS Dhoni paid his gratitude towards two former captains was remarkable. It is a learning experience for me.
Neither was he forced nor did anyone pay him any extra bucks for the act he did on the field. He invited dada to lead the team in the last over of the match. At the award ceremony, he invited Anil Kumble to collect the trophy.
Where does this attitude come from? This is just how we see life. This is how we show what kind of a personality we are. This is how we express our team spirit.
In the corporate world, how many of us have the attitude displayed by Dhoni? Do we pay our gratitude to the person whom we replace or to our former boss?
Maybe yes for someone…maybe a matter to think over for others. Anyone who does that surely captures a place in our hearts.
We should learn from the leadership skills Dhoni showed on the cricket ground yesterday.
The way the present captain MS Dhoni paid his gratitude towards two former captains was remarkable. It is a learning experience for me.
Neither was he forced nor did anyone pay him any extra bucks for the act he did on the field. He invited dada to lead the team in the last over of the match. At the award ceremony, he invited Anil Kumble to collect the trophy.
Where does this attitude come from? This is just how we see life. This is how we show what kind of a personality we are. This is how we express our team spirit.
In the corporate world, how many of us have the attitude displayed by Dhoni? Do we pay our gratitude to the person whom we replace or to our former boss?
Maybe yes for someone…maybe a matter to think over for others. Anyone who does that surely captures a place in our hearts.
We should learn from the leadership skills Dhoni showed on the cricket ground yesterday.
The Power of Three Little Words.....!!!
Some of the most significant messages people deliver to one another often come in just three words. When spoken or conveyed, those statements have the power to forge new friendships, deepen old ones and restore relationships that have cooled. The following three-word phrases can enrich every relationship.
I`LL BE THERE - Being there for another person is the greatest gift we can give. When we are truly present for other people, important things happen to them and to us. We are renewed in love and friendship. We are restored emotionally and spiritually. `Being there` is at the very very core of civility.
I MISS YOU - Perhaps more marriages could be salvaged and strengthened if couples simply and sincerely said to each other, "I miss you." This powerful affirmation tells partners they are wanted, needed, desired and loved.
I RESPECT YOU - Respect is another way of showing love. Respect conveys the feeling that another person is a true equal. It is a powerful way to affirm the importance of a relationship.
MAYBE YOU`RE RIGHT - This phrase is highly effective in diffusing an argument and restoring frayed emotions. The flip side of "maybe you`re right" is the humility of admitting "maybe I`m wrong."
PLEASE FORGIVE ME - Many broken relationships could be restored and healed if people would admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. All of us are vulnerable to faults, foibles and failures. A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
I THANK YOU - Gratitude is an exquisite form of courtesy. People who enjoy the companionship of good, close friends are those who don`t take daily courtesies for granted. They are quick to thank their friends for their many expressions of kindness. On the other hand, people whose circle of friends is severely constricted often do not have the attitude of gratitude.
COUNT ON ME - "A friend is one who walks in when others walk out," Loyalty is an essential ingredient for true friendship; it is the emotional glue that bonds people. Those who are rich in their relationships tend to be steady and true friends. When troubles come, a good friend is there, indicating "you can count on me."
LET ME HELP - The best of friends see a need and try to fill it. When they spot a hurt they do what they can to heal it. Without being asked, they pitch in and help.
I UNDERSTAND YOU - People become closer and enjoy each other more if they feel the other person accepts and understands them. Letting others know in so many little ways that you understand him or her is one of the most powerful tools for healing your relationship.
GO FOR IT - Some of your friends may be non conformists, have unique projects and unusual hobbies. Support them in pursuing their interests. Rather than urging your loved ones to conform, encourage their uniqueness-everyone has dreams that no one else has.
I suppose the 3 little words that you were expecting to see have to be reserved for those who are special; that is I LOVE YOU.
I`LL BE THERE - Being there for another person is the greatest gift we can give. When we are truly present for other people, important things happen to them and to us. We are renewed in love and friendship. We are restored emotionally and spiritually. `Being there` is at the very very core of civility.
I MISS YOU - Perhaps more marriages could be salvaged and strengthened if couples simply and sincerely said to each other, "I miss you." This powerful affirmation tells partners they are wanted, needed, desired and loved.
I RESPECT YOU - Respect is another way of showing love. Respect conveys the feeling that another person is a true equal. It is a powerful way to affirm the importance of a relationship.
MAYBE YOU`RE RIGHT - This phrase is highly effective in diffusing an argument and restoring frayed emotions. The flip side of "maybe you`re right" is the humility of admitting "maybe I`m wrong."
PLEASE FORGIVE ME - Many broken relationships could be restored and healed if people would admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. All of us are vulnerable to faults, foibles and failures. A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
I THANK YOU - Gratitude is an exquisite form of courtesy. People who enjoy the companionship of good, close friends are those who don`t take daily courtesies for granted. They are quick to thank their friends for their many expressions of kindness. On the other hand, people whose circle of friends is severely constricted often do not have the attitude of gratitude.
COUNT ON ME - "A friend is one who walks in when others walk out," Loyalty is an essential ingredient for true friendship; it is the emotional glue that bonds people. Those who are rich in their relationships tend to be steady and true friends. When troubles come, a good friend is there, indicating "you can count on me."
LET ME HELP - The best of friends see a need and try to fill it. When they spot a hurt they do what they can to heal it. Without being asked, they pitch in and help.
I UNDERSTAND YOU - People become closer and enjoy each other more if they feel the other person accepts and understands them. Letting others know in so many little ways that you understand him or her is one of the most powerful tools for healing your relationship.
GO FOR IT - Some of your friends may be non conformists, have unique projects and unusual hobbies. Support them in pursuing their interests. Rather than urging your loved ones to conform, encourage their uniqueness-everyone has dreams that no one else has.
I suppose the 3 little words that you were expecting to see have to be reserved for those who are special; that is I LOVE YOU.
God`s Coffee
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other`s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don`t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other`s cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."
God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!
"The happiest people don`t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
How to Walk Your Talk
If you work in an organization, you`ve heard this complaint repeatedly. Leaders and managers say they want change and continuous improvement but their actions do not match their words. The leaders` exhortations to employees ring false when their subsequent actions contradict their words. A CEO once asked me, "Why do they do what I do and not what I tell them to do?" Another asked, "Do I really have to change, too?" These are scary questions coming from leaders.
The power of an organization`s leaders in creating the organization`s values, environment, culture and actions is immeasurable. Want to know how to "walk the talk" to enable organization change and improvement? Want to take the power away from the oft-repeated employee complaint that managers don`t walk their talk? Start here to learn how to walk your talk. Or, use these ideas to help your organization`s leaders and managers walk theirs. It`s the shortest journey to empower change and the work environment they desire.
Tip for Walking Your Talk
The most important tip comes first. If you do this first action well, the rest will follow more naturally. If the ideas you are promoting are congruent with your core beliefs and values, these actions will come easily, too. So, start with a deep understanding of "why" you want to see the change or improvement. Make certain it is congruent with what you deeply believe. Then, understand and follow these guidelines.
1. Model the behavior you want to see from others. There is nothing more powerful for employees than observing the "big bosses" do the actions or behaviors they are requesting from others. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Become the change you wish to see in the world." And, it will happen.
2. If you make a rule or design a process, follow it, until you decide to change it. Why would employees follow the rules if the rule makers don`t?
3. Act as if you are part of the team, not always the head of it. Dig in and do actual work, too. People will appreciate that you are personally knowledgeable about the effort needed to get the work done. They will trust your leadership because you have undergone their experience.
4. Help people achieve the goals that are important to them, as well as the goals that are important to you. Make sure there is something for each of you that will result from the effort and work.
5. Do what you say you`re going to do. Don`t make rash promises that you can`t keep. People want to trust you and your leadership.
6. Build commitment to your organization`s big goal. (You do have a big, overarching goal, don`t you? Other than to make money, why does your organization exist?)
7. Use every possible communication tool to build commitment and support for the big goal, your organization`s values and the culture you want to create. This includes what you discuss at meetings, in your corporate blog, on your Intranet, and so forth.
8. Hold strategic conversations with people so people are clear about expectations and direction. Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips` president, is holding strategic conversations with as many groups as he can. "In order to build internal confidence, stimulate cross-boundary cooperation, and spark new-product speed to market, Kleisterlee is sponsoring what he calls `strategic conversations`: dialogues that center around a focused set of themes that Kleisterlee believes will define Philips` future."
9. Ask senior managers to police themselves. They must provide feedback to each other when they fail to walk their talk. It is not up to the second level managers and other employees to point out inconsistencies. (Confronting a manager takes courage, facts and a broad understanding of the organization.) Senior managers must be accountable to each other for their own behavior.
In 1513, Machiavelli wrote, "There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old system and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new one."
Given these thoughts from Machiavelli - true for centuries - provide leadership and sponsorship through walking your talk. Incorporate these tips and behaviors to ensure the success of your organization. Walk your talk.
The power of an organization`s leaders in creating the organization`s values, environment, culture and actions is immeasurable. Want to know how to "walk the talk" to enable organization change and improvement? Want to take the power away from the oft-repeated employee complaint that managers don`t walk their talk? Start here to learn how to walk your talk. Or, use these ideas to help your organization`s leaders and managers walk theirs. It`s the shortest journey to empower change and the work environment they desire.
Tip for Walking Your Talk
The most important tip comes first. If you do this first action well, the rest will follow more naturally. If the ideas you are promoting are congruent with your core beliefs and values, these actions will come easily, too. So, start with a deep understanding of "why" you want to see the change or improvement. Make certain it is congruent with what you deeply believe. Then, understand and follow these guidelines.
1. Model the behavior you want to see from others. There is nothing more powerful for employees than observing the "big bosses" do the actions or behaviors they are requesting from others. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Become the change you wish to see in the world." And, it will happen.
2. If you make a rule or design a process, follow it, until you decide to change it. Why would employees follow the rules if the rule makers don`t?
3. Act as if you are part of the team, not always the head of it. Dig in and do actual work, too. People will appreciate that you are personally knowledgeable about the effort needed to get the work done. They will trust your leadership because you have undergone their experience.
4. Help people achieve the goals that are important to them, as well as the goals that are important to you. Make sure there is something for each of you that will result from the effort and work.
5. Do what you say you`re going to do. Don`t make rash promises that you can`t keep. People want to trust you and your leadership.
6. Build commitment to your organization`s big goal. (You do have a big, overarching goal, don`t you? Other than to make money, why does your organization exist?)
7. Use every possible communication tool to build commitment and support for the big goal, your organization`s values and the culture you want to create. This includes what you discuss at meetings, in your corporate blog, on your Intranet, and so forth.
8. Hold strategic conversations with people so people are clear about expectations and direction. Gerard Kleisterlee, Philips` president, is holding strategic conversations with as many groups as he can. "In order to build internal confidence, stimulate cross-boundary cooperation, and spark new-product speed to market, Kleisterlee is sponsoring what he calls `strategic conversations`: dialogues that center around a focused set of themes that Kleisterlee believes will define Philips` future."
9. Ask senior managers to police themselves. They must provide feedback to each other when they fail to walk their talk. It is not up to the second level managers and other employees to point out inconsistencies. (Confronting a manager takes courage, facts and a broad understanding of the organization.) Senior managers must be accountable to each other for their own behavior.
In 1513, Machiavelli wrote, "There is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than the creation of a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old system and merely lukewarm defenders in those who would gain by the new one."
Given these thoughts from Machiavelli - true for centuries - provide leadership and sponsorship through walking your talk. Incorporate these tips and behaviors to ensure the success of your organization. Walk your talk.
What Are Practical Steps to Becoming a Better Leader?
Q: I am a manager who wants to grow and develop. I enjoy helping my employees, but feel I need a little bit of work in this area to help them improve and grow professionally. What training and/or job experiences would you recommend that could help me strengthen my talent management skills? I`m looking for some "tried and true" examples of things that work.
- Willing but Not Able, health care, New Brunswick, New Jersey
A: First, congratulations on your focus on development. A focus on talent management and employee development is important not only in ensuring your own career success, but also in getting the most value from your employees.
As expected, there is no one way to develop others or to build your own development skills. However, there are a few key actions you can take to improve in this area:
1. Know your company`s career development philosophy and resources. Different organizations have different expectations of the employee role in career development processes, and many have volumes of resources that go unused. Be certain that you understand what is expected of you and know what is available to you.
2. Have a plan.
You and your employees should have a documented plan that articulates concrete steps for developing yourselves based on individual goals, strengths and weaknesses. Having a plan and continuing to polish it according to what works and what doesn`t is a great way to hone your development skills.
3. Balance means of development.
Once you have a plan and goals in place, it is important to ensure that there are multiple means of reaching these goals. An important strategy is to have a balanced set of actions related to development, from formal training and on-the-job experience to feedback opportunities.
4. Find a mentor/coach.
The best way to learn how to develop is from others who have done it successfully. Identifying people in your organization who are good at developing others. Take them to lunch or ask them to be a mentor or coach for building your own skills in this area.
5. Use your network.
Don`t forget outside organizations to which you belong. Many offer career development opportunities such as training, networking and coaching for their members. These are also great places to find mentors.
Most important, however, you must take ownership for your own development and encourage your employees to do the same. This will ensure that you are prepared to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and adapt quickly as circumstances change.
One last piece of advice: Remember that solid day-to-day performance is often the threshold criterion for advancement. Most companies today focus on rewarding top performers, and so it is these select few who get many of the development opportunities and, eventually, the new jobs.
All of these strategies should be combined to help you and your employees achieve your development goals. Career advancement and employee growth require being prepared when opportunities arise, so always stay focused on development.
[Source: Brian Wilkerson, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Washington, September 17, 2008]
- Willing but Not Able, health care, New Brunswick, New Jersey
A: First, congratulations on your focus on development. A focus on talent management and employee development is important not only in ensuring your own career success, but also in getting the most value from your employees.
As expected, there is no one way to develop others or to build your own development skills. However, there are a few key actions you can take to improve in this area:
1. Know your company`s career development philosophy and resources. Different organizations have different expectations of the employee role in career development processes, and many have volumes of resources that go unused. Be certain that you understand what is expected of you and know what is available to you.
2. Have a plan.
You and your employees should have a documented plan that articulates concrete steps for developing yourselves based on individual goals, strengths and weaknesses. Having a plan and continuing to polish it according to what works and what doesn`t is a great way to hone your development skills.
3. Balance means of development.
Once you have a plan and goals in place, it is important to ensure that there are multiple means of reaching these goals. An important strategy is to have a balanced set of actions related to development, from formal training and on-the-job experience to feedback opportunities.
4. Find a mentor/coach.
The best way to learn how to develop is from others who have done it successfully. Identifying people in your organization who are good at developing others. Take them to lunch or ask them to be a mentor or coach for building your own skills in this area.
5. Use your network.
Don`t forget outside organizations to which you belong. Many offer career development opportunities such as training, networking and coaching for their members. These are also great places to find mentors.
Most important, however, you must take ownership for your own development and encourage your employees to do the same. This will ensure that you are prepared to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and adapt quickly as circumstances change.
One last piece of advice: Remember that solid day-to-day performance is often the threshold criterion for advancement. Most companies today focus on rewarding top performers, and so it is these select few who get many of the development opportunities and, eventually, the new jobs.
All of these strategies should be combined to help you and your employees achieve your development goals. Career advancement and employee growth require being prepared when opportunities arise, so always stay focused on development.
[Source: Brian Wilkerson, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Washington, September 17, 2008]
Performance Management:
Performance management encompasses the most important people issues in your organization. Performance management includes the entire relationship you have with the people you employ.
Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed and expectations are clearly communicated to the employee. It ends when an employee leaves your organization.
Many writers and consultants are using the term "performance management" as a substitution for the traditional performance appraisal system. I encourage you to think of the term in this broader work system context. A performance management system includes the following components.
1. Develop clear job descriptions.
2. Select appropriate people with an appropriate selection process.
3. Negotiate requirements and accomplishment-based performance standards, outcomes, and measures.
4. Provide effective orientation, education, and training.
5. Provide on-going coaching and feedback.
6. Conduct quarterly performance development discussions.
7. Design effective compensation and recognition systems that reward people for their contributions.
8. Provide promotional/career development opportunities for staff.
9. Assist with exit interviews to understand WHY valued employees leave the organization.
Intrigued about performance management and its potential contribution within your organization?
[About the Author: Susan Heathfield is a Human Resources expert. She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward thinking workplaces. Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer, and writer. Susan is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Susan contributes regularly to professional publications including a book chapter for ASTD and a recent article in the American Society for Quality`s Journal for Quality and Participation.]
Performance management is the process of creating a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. Performance management is a whole work system that begins when a job is defined as needed and expectations are clearly communicated to the employee. It ends when an employee leaves your organization.
Many writers and consultants are using the term "performance management" as a substitution for the traditional performance appraisal system. I encourage you to think of the term in this broader work system context. A performance management system includes the following components.
1. Develop clear job descriptions.
2. Select appropriate people with an appropriate selection process.
3. Negotiate requirements and accomplishment-based performance standards, outcomes, and measures.
4. Provide effective orientation, education, and training.
5. Provide on-going coaching and feedback.
6. Conduct quarterly performance development discussions.
7. Design effective compensation and recognition systems that reward people for their contributions.
8. Provide promotional/career development opportunities for staff.
9. Assist with exit interviews to understand WHY valued employees leave the organization.
Intrigued about performance management and its potential contribution within your organization?
[About the Author: Susan Heathfield is a Human Resources expert. She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward thinking workplaces. Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer, and writer. Susan is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Susan contributes regularly to professional publications including a book chapter for ASTD and a recent article in the American Society for Quality`s Journal for Quality and Participation.]
quotes for ice-breaking
"People often say that motivation doesn`t last long.
Well, neither does bathing-that`s why we recommend to go 4 it daily."
There are three sides to any argument: your side, my side and the right side.
If it`s not fun, you`re not doing it right.
If you can`t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
"Everything is okay in the end. If it`s not okay, then it`s not the end."
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." -Sir Winston Churchill
Dance as though no one is watching you; love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth.
Advice is like snow: softer it falls,longer it dwells upon,& deeper in sinks into the mind."
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.Albert Einstein
Trust is basis of all relation. But Smll mistake md,cn chng its entir meaning.Lk jst a missng "T" cn "RUST" d relatn
It is not important to hold GOOD cards in LIFE,
but it is important how good u play the cards which you HOLD."
The Greeks didnt write obituaries. They asked only one question when a man died. "Did he live with passion?"
Well, neither does bathing-that`s why we recommend to go 4 it daily."
There are three sides to any argument: your side, my side and the right side.
If it`s not fun, you`re not doing it right.
If you can`t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
"Everything is okay in the end. If it`s not okay, then it`s not the end."
"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." -Sir Winston Churchill
Dance as though no one is watching you; love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth.
Advice is like snow: softer it falls,longer it dwells upon,& deeper in sinks into the mind."
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity.Albert Einstein
Trust is basis of all relation. But Smll mistake md,cn chng its entir meaning.Lk jst a missng "T" cn "RUST" d relatn
It is not important to hold GOOD cards in LIFE,
but it is important how good u play the cards which you HOLD."
The Greeks didnt write obituaries. They asked only one question when a man died. "Did he live with passion?"
Ratan Tata`s words of inspiration
On courage: I am, unfortunately, a person who has often said: You put a gun to my head and pull the trigger or take the gun away, I won`t move my head.
On successful people: I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can`t respect him.
On leadership: It is easy to become a number one player, but it is difficult to remain number one. So, we will have to fight with a view to remain number one.
On Nano: This project (the Nano) has proven to everyone that if you really set yourself to doing something, you actually can do it.
On the need to think big: We have been. . . thinking small. And if we look around us, countries like China have grown so much by thinking big. I would urge that we all, in the coming years, think big, think of doing things not in small increments, not in small deltas, but seemingly impossible things. But nothing is impossible if you really set out to do so. And we act boldly. Because it is this thinking big and acting boldly that will move India up in a manner different from where it is today.
On risk: Risk is a necessary part of business philosophy. You can be risk-averse and take no risks, in which case you will have a certain trajectory in terms of your growth. Or you can, while being prudent, take greater risk in order to grow faster.
On risk: I view risk as an ability to be where no one has been before. I view risk to be an issue of thinking big, something we did not do previously. We did everything in small increments so we always lagged behind. But the crucial question is: can we venture putting a man on the moon or risk billions of rupees on a really way-out, advanced project in, say, superconductors? Do you restrict your risk to something close to your heart?
On employees: The way to hold employees today is to make their work and their day-to-day activities in the company exciting enough for them to stay. Not everyone will stay, but I think if we can empower more people and are willing to pass on the responsibility for that, and if people are satisfied and motivated, there`s less chance of them wanting to leave and go to a competitor.
On low-cost products: It should not be, cannot be, that low-cost products come to mean inferior or sub-standard products and services; definitely not. The aim is to create products for that larger segment — good and robust products that we are able to produce innovatively and get to the marketplace at lower costs.
On customers: We should be treating the customer in the same way that we would want to be treated as customers.
On innovation:Barriers to innovation are usually in the mind.
On customers:There was a need to re-focus and look at how your customer sees you, and to pay more attention to what the customer wants rather than what you think she wants. Are you really the most cost effective producer? Are you aggressive enough to grab marketshare? Will you endeavour to dip your toe in the water and do something that you haven`t done before?
On innovation:If you are a little innovative or a little bit of a gambler, and you make a product which is either ahead of its time or has an evolutionary design, or has features that work into a person`s perception, then you have an acceptable product.
On questioning:I kept saying, please question the unquestionable. I tried to tell our younger managers just don`t accept something that was done in the past, don`t accept something as a holy cow. . . go question it. That was less of a problem than getting our senior managers not to tell the younger managers, `Look young man, don`t question me.`
On speed:Today, the world does not afford you to luxury of being a slow mover. Nor are there any holy cows. We have to be aggressive, be far-sighted enough to look into the future and we also have to be pragmatic enough to say that if we really are not in a leadership position in a particular business, we should look at exiting that business.
On icons:The kind of company one would want to emulate is one where products and technology are at the leading edge, dealings with customers are very fair, services are of a high order, and business ethics are transparent and straightforward. A less tangible issue involves the work environment, which should not be one where you are stressed and driven to the point of being drugged.
On introspection:All companies need to keep looking at their business definition and, possibly from time to time, to see if that definition needs to be redefined. If you take the example of Tata Steel, they could say that they are a steel company and find themselves in a shrinking market where steel is under threat of being replaced by some other material. The question is: what do we call ourselves? One view was that steel is a material, so can we be a materials company? We don`t have to be in all materials, but can we be in composites, can we be in plastics, laminates, etc? The automotive business needs to think similarly, and so does the chemicals business. We have to keep looking at ourselves and asking: what is our business?
On innovation: My outlook on R&D is that it is an absolutely necessary thing for us to do. And I don`t think we are doing enough. The point is not just spending money; it`s how many patents you file, your innovation rate and your product development. . . If today you were to give everybody a mandate that they can spend 3 per cent of their revenue on R&D, assuming they can spare the money, I don`t think many companies would know the what, where and how of spending that kind of money, other than to put up an R&D place and buy lots of equipment.
On customer relationship: Where we have direct dealings with our customers, it is important that, at the middle-management levels, they are shown courtesy, dealt with fairly, and made to feel that they are receiving the attention they deserve. The interface with the customer should be a seamless one.
On risk: There have been occasions where I have been a risk-taker. Perhaps more than some, and less so than certain others. It is a question of where you view that from. I have never been a real gambler in the sense, that some successful businessmen have been.
On ethics: What worries me is that the threshold of acceptability or the line between acceptability and non-acceptability in terms of values, business ethics, etc, is blurring.
On success: I would not consider myself to have been tremendously successful or as having failed tremendously. I would say I have been moderately successful because there have been changes.
On survival: The strong live and the weak die. There is some bloodshed, and out of it emerges a much leaner industry, which tends to survive.
On challenges: If there are challenges thrown across and those challenges are difficult then some interesting, innovative solutions will come. If you don`t have those challenges then, I think, the tendency is go on to say that whatever will happen, will take place in small deltas.
On planning: We never really plan big. We are not in keeping with what is happening around us. When you go to other countries around us you see it visibly that we are just back in time. And yet we have so much to offer.
On commitment: We have to clamp down on deviations from commitments. For ensuring greater commitment to performance, we also need to have a system which rewards performers and punishes those who don`t perform.
On risk: We have is to be less risk-averse. We have been a very conservative house and we have been applauded for our conservatism but today we need to take more risk. We don`t need to be flamboyant or cavalier but we need to be less conservative than we have been.
On the future: One hundred years from now, I expect the Tatas to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope the Group comes to be regarded as being the best in India. . . best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and best in our value systems and ethics. Having said that, I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India.
On resistance: You will probably find the resistance (to change) more from those who haven`t been doing well.
On change: Change is seen to be needed, and fast, so long as it does not affect me. We want to see change but if you suddenly tell me that I am the company that has to go, or has to be cut in half, or three of my businesses have to be hived off, then all of a sudden, the very person who made the noise about change is now saying, `You don`t have to do this.`
On humility: I would hope that as people who might take an elite position, would be considered amongst the elite in the country, you will always display humility in the manner in which you deal with your fellowmen, both in your company and in the country and you will continue to have passion in the areas in which you will work.
On doubt: On many, many occasions you would have doubts on whether what you are pursuing is the right thing. But if you do believe in what you are trying to do and you pursue it and stay with it in a determined manner, I am quite sure you will succeed.
On problems: There are solutions for most problems. The barriers and roadblocks that we face are usually of our own making and these can only be demolished by having the determination to find a solution, even contrary to the conventional wisdom that prevails around us, by breaking tradition.
On successful people: I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can`t respect him.
On leadership: It is easy to become a number one player, but it is difficult to remain number one. So, we will have to fight with a view to remain number one.
On Nano: This project (the Nano) has proven to everyone that if you really set yourself to doing something, you actually can do it.
On the need to think big: We have been. . . thinking small. And if we look around us, countries like China have grown so much by thinking big. I would urge that we all, in the coming years, think big, think of doing things not in small increments, not in small deltas, but seemingly impossible things. But nothing is impossible if you really set out to do so. And we act boldly. Because it is this thinking big and acting boldly that will move India up in a manner different from where it is today.
On risk: Risk is a necessary part of business philosophy. You can be risk-averse and take no risks, in which case you will have a certain trajectory in terms of your growth. Or you can, while being prudent, take greater risk in order to grow faster.
On risk: I view risk as an ability to be where no one has been before. I view risk to be an issue of thinking big, something we did not do previously. We did everything in small increments so we always lagged behind. But the crucial question is: can we venture putting a man on the moon or risk billions of rupees on a really way-out, advanced project in, say, superconductors? Do you restrict your risk to something close to your heart?
On employees: The way to hold employees today is to make their work and their day-to-day activities in the company exciting enough for them to stay. Not everyone will stay, but I think if we can empower more people and are willing to pass on the responsibility for that, and if people are satisfied and motivated, there`s less chance of them wanting to leave and go to a competitor.
On low-cost products: It should not be, cannot be, that low-cost products come to mean inferior or sub-standard products and services; definitely not. The aim is to create products for that larger segment — good and robust products that we are able to produce innovatively and get to the marketplace at lower costs.
On customers: We should be treating the customer in the same way that we would want to be treated as customers.
On innovation:Barriers to innovation are usually in the mind.
On customers:There was a need to re-focus and look at how your customer sees you, and to pay more attention to what the customer wants rather than what you think she wants. Are you really the most cost effective producer? Are you aggressive enough to grab marketshare? Will you endeavour to dip your toe in the water and do something that you haven`t done before?
On innovation:If you are a little innovative or a little bit of a gambler, and you make a product which is either ahead of its time or has an evolutionary design, or has features that work into a person`s perception, then you have an acceptable product.
On questioning:I kept saying, please question the unquestionable. I tried to tell our younger managers just don`t accept something that was done in the past, don`t accept something as a holy cow. . . go question it. That was less of a problem than getting our senior managers not to tell the younger managers, `Look young man, don`t question me.`
On speed:Today, the world does not afford you to luxury of being a slow mover. Nor are there any holy cows. We have to be aggressive, be far-sighted enough to look into the future and we also have to be pragmatic enough to say that if we really are not in a leadership position in a particular business, we should look at exiting that business.
On icons:The kind of company one would want to emulate is one where products and technology are at the leading edge, dealings with customers are very fair, services are of a high order, and business ethics are transparent and straightforward. A less tangible issue involves the work environment, which should not be one where you are stressed and driven to the point of being drugged.
On introspection:All companies need to keep looking at their business definition and, possibly from time to time, to see if that definition needs to be redefined. If you take the example of Tata Steel, they could say that they are a steel company and find themselves in a shrinking market where steel is under threat of being replaced by some other material. The question is: what do we call ourselves? One view was that steel is a material, so can we be a materials company? We don`t have to be in all materials, but can we be in composites, can we be in plastics, laminates, etc? The automotive business needs to think similarly, and so does the chemicals business. We have to keep looking at ourselves and asking: what is our business?
On innovation: My outlook on R&D is that it is an absolutely necessary thing for us to do. And I don`t think we are doing enough. The point is not just spending money; it`s how many patents you file, your innovation rate and your product development. . . If today you were to give everybody a mandate that they can spend 3 per cent of their revenue on R&D, assuming they can spare the money, I don`t think many companies would know the what, where and how of spending that kind of money, other than to put up an R&D place and buy lots of equipment.
On customer relationship: Where we have direct dealings with our customers, it is important that, at the middle-management levels, they are shown courtesy, dealt with fairly, and made to feel that they are receiving the attention they deserve. The interface with the customer should be a seamless one.
On risk: There have been occasions where I have been a risk-taker. Perhaps more than some, and less so than certain others. It is a question of where you view that from. I have never been a real gambler in the sense, that some successful businessmen have been.
On ethics: What worries me is that the threshold of acceptability or the line between acceptability and non-acceptability in terms of values, business ethics, etc, is blurring.
On success: I would not consider myself to have been tremendously successful or as having failed tremendously. I would say I have been moderately successful because there have been changes.
On survival: The strong live and the weak die. There is some bloodshed, and out of it emerges a much leaner industry, which tends to survive.
On challenges: If there are challenges thrown across and those challenges are difficult then some interesting, innovative solutions will come. If you don`t have those challenges then, I think, the tendency is go on to say that whatever will happen, will take place in small deltas.
On planning: We never really plan big. We are not in keeping with what is happening around us. When you go to other countries around us you see it visibly that we are just back in time. And yet we have so much to offer.
On commitment: We have to clamp down on deviations from commitments. For ensuring greater commitment to performance, we also need to have a system which rewards performers and punishes those who don`t perform.
On risk: We have is to be less risk-averse. We have been a very conservative house and we have been applauded for our conservatism but today we need to take more risk. We don`t need to be flamboyant or cavalier but we need to be less conservative than we have been.
On the future: One hundred years from now, I expect the Tatas to be much bigger than it is now. More importantly, I hope the Group comes to be regarded as being the best in India. . . best in the manner in which we operate, best in the products we deliver, and best in our value systems and ethics. Having said that, I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India.
On resistance: You will probably find the resistance (to change) more from those who haven`t been doing well.
On change: Change is seen to be needed, and fast, so long as it does not affect me. We want to see change but if you suddenly tell me that I am the company that has to go, or has to be cut in half, or three of my businesses have to be hived off, then all of a sudden, the very person who made the noise about change is now saying, `You don`t have to do this.`
On humility: I would hope that as people who might take an elite position, would be considered amongst the elite in the country, you will always display humility in the manner in which you deal with your fellowmen, both in your company and in the country and you will continue to have passion in the areas in which you will work.
On doubt: On many, many occasions you would have doubts on whether what you are pursuing is the right thing. But if you do believe in what you are trying to do and you pursue it and stay with it in a determined manner, I am quite sure you will succeed.
On problems: There are solutions for most problems. The barriers and roadblocks that we face are usually of our own making and these can only be demolished by having the determination to find a solution, even contrary to the conventional wisdom that prevails around us, by breaking tradition.
Peter Drucker & Management Thoughts
1. What Needs to Be Done
Successful leaders don`t start out asking, "What do I want to do?" They ask, "What needs to be done?" Then they ask, "Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?" They don`t tackle things they aren`t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strength in others. Andrew Carnegie wanted to put on his gravestone, "Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service more able men than he was himself."
2. Check Your Performance
Effective leaders check their performance. They write down, "What do I hope to achieve if I take on this assignment?" They put away their goals for six months and then come back and check their performance against goals. This way, they find out what they do well and what they do poorly. They also find out whether they picked the truly important things to do. I`ve seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution, but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done. They have an impressive record of achievement on trivial matters.
3. Mission Driven
Leaders communicate in the sense that people around them know what they are trying to do. They are purpose driven--yes, mission driven. They know how to establish a mission. And another thing, they know how to say no. The pressure on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it. They don`t suffocate themselves as a result. Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.
4. Creative Abandonment
A critical question for leaders is, "When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose?" The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if you just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious this will be very hard to do. So, I always advise my friend Rick Warren, "Don`t tell me what you`re doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing."
5. The Rise of the Modern Multinational
The modern multinational corporation was invented in 1859. Siemens invented it because the English Siemens company had grown faster than the German parent. Before the Second World War, IBM was a small maker, not of computers, but of adding machines. They had one branch in England, which was very typical for the era. In the 1920s, General Motors bought a German and English and then Australian automobile manufacturer. The first time somebody from Detroit actually visited the European subsidiaries was in 1950. A trip to Europe was a big trip. You were gone three months. I still remember the excitement when the then head of GM went to Europe in the 1920s to buy the European properties. He never went back.
6. 21st Century Organizations
Let me give you one example. This happens to be a consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Each morning, between 8 A.M. and 9 A.M. Boston time, which is 5 A.M. in the morning here in California and 11 P.M. in Tokyo, the firm conducts a one-hour management meeting on the Internet. That would have been inconceivable a few years back when you couldn`t have done it physically. And for a few years, I worked with this firm closely and I had rented a room in a nearby motel and put in a videoconferencing screen. Once a week, I participated in this Internet meeting and we could do it quite easily, successfully. As a result of which, that consulting firm is not organized around localities but around clients.
7. How To Lead a 21st Century Organization
Don`t travel so much. Organize your travel. It is important that you see people and that you are seen by people maybe once or twice a year. Otherwise, don`t travel. Make them come to see you. Use technology--it is cheaper than traveling. I don`t know anybody who can work while traveling. Do you? The second thing to say is make sure that your subsidiaries and foreign offices take up the responsibility to keep you informed. So, ask them twice a year, "What activities do you need to report to me?" Also ask them, "What about my activity and my plans do you need to know from me?" The second question is just as important.
8. Prisoner of Your Own Organization
When you are the chief executive, you`re the prisoner of your organization. The moment you`re in the office, everybody comes to you and wants something, and it is useless to lock the door. They`ll break in. So, you have to get outside the office. But still, that isn`t traveling. That`s being at home or having a secret office elsewhere. When you`re alone, in your secret office, ask the question, "What needs to be done?" Develop your priorities and don`t have more than two. I don`t know anybody who can do three things at the same time and do them well. Do one task at a time or two tasks at a time. That`s it. OK, two works better for most. Most people need the change of pace. But, when you are finished with two jobs or reach the point where it`s futile, make the list again. Don`t go back to priority three. At that point, it`s obsolete.
9. How Organizations Fall Down
Make sure the people with whom you work understand your priorities. Where organizations fall down is when they have to guess at what the boss is working at, and they invariably guess wrong. So the CEO needs to say, "This is what I am focusing on." Then the CEO needs to ask of his associates, "What are you focusing on?" Ask your associates, "You put this on top of your priority list--why?" The reason may be the right one, but it may also be that this associate of yours is a salesman who persuades you that his priorities are correct when they are not. So, make sure that you understand your associates` priorities and make sure that after you have that conversation, you sit down and drop them a two-page note--"This is what I think we discussed. This is what I think we decided. This is what I think you committed yourself to within what time frame." Finally, ask them, "What do you expect from me as you seek to achieve your goals?"
10. The Transition from Entrepreneur to Large Company CEO
Again, let`s start out discussing what not to do. Don`t try to be somebody else. By now you have your style. This is how you get things done. Don`t take on things you don`t believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast.
11. How Capable Leaders Blow It
One of the ablest men I`ve worked with, and this is a long time back, was Germany`s last pre-World War II democratic chancellor, Dr. Heinrich Bruning. He had an incredible ability to see the heart of a problem. But he was very weak on financial matters. He should have delegated but he wasted endless hours on budgets and performed poorly. This was a terrible failing during a Depression and it led to Hitler. Never try to be an expert if you are not. Build on your strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.
12. The Danger Of Charisma
You know, I was the first one to talk about leadership 50 years ago, but there is too much talk, too much emphasis on it today and not enough on effectiveness. The only thing you can say about a leader is that a leader is somebody who has followers. The most charismatic leaders of the last century were called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini. They were mis-leaders! Charismatic leadership by itself certainly is greatly overstated. Look, one of the most effective American presidents of the last 100 years was Harry Truman. He didn`t have an ounce of charisma. Truman was as bland as a dead mackerel. Everybody who worked for him worshiped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he didn`t say no to one person and yes to the next one on the same issue. The other effective president of the last 100 years was Ronald Reagan. His great strength was not charisma, as is commonly thought, but that he knew exactly what he could do and what he could not do.
13. How To Reinvigorate People
Within organizations there are people who, typically in their 40s, hit a midlife crisis when they realize that they won`t make it to the top or discover that they are not yet first-rate. This happens to engineers and accountants and technicians. The worst midlife crisis is that of physicians, as you know. They all have a severe midlife crisis. Basically, their work becomes awfully boring. Just imagine seeing nothing for 30 years but people with a skin rash. They have a midlife crisis, and that`s when they take to the bottle. How do you save these people? Give them a parallel challenge. Without that, they`ll soon take to drinking or to sleeping around. In a coeducational college, they sleep around and drink. The two things are not incompatible, alas! Encourage people facing a midlife crisis to apply their skills in the non-profit sector.
14. Character Development
We have talked a lot about executive development. We have been mostly talking about developing people`s strength and giving them experiences. Character is not developed that way. That is developed inside and not outside. I think churches and synagogues and the 12-step recovery programs are the main development agents of character today.
Successful leaders don`t start out asking, "What do I want to do?" They ask, "What needs to be done?" Then they ask, "Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?" They don`t tackle things they aren`t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strength in others. Andrew Carnegie wanted to put on his gravestone, "Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service more able men than he was himself."
2. Check Your Performance
Effective leaders check their performance. They write down, "What do I hope to achieve if I take on this assignment?" They put away their goals for six months and then come back and check their performance against goals. This way, they find out what they do well and what they do poorly. They also find out whether they picked the truly important things to do. I`ve seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution, but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done. They have an impressive record of achievement on trivial matters.
3. Mission Driven
Leaders communicate in the sense that people around them know what they are trying to do. They are purpose driven--yes, mission driven. They know how to establish a mission. And another thing, they know how to say no. The pressure on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it. They don`t suffocate themselves as a result. Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.
4. Creative Abandonment
A critical question for leaders is, "When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose?" The most dangerous traps for a leader are those near-successes where everybody says that if you just give it another big push it will go over the top. One tries it once. One tries it twice. One tries it a third time. But, by then it should be obvious this will be very hard to do. So, I always advise my friend Rick Warren, "Don`t tell me what you`re doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing."
5. The Rise of the Modern Multinational
The modern multinational corporation was invented in 1859. Siemens invented it because the English Siemens company had grown faster than the German parent. Before the Second World War, IBM was a small maker, not of computers, but of adding machines. They had one branch in England, which was very typical for the era. In the 1920s, General Motors bought a German and English and then Australian automobile manufacturer. The first time somebody from Detroit actually visited the European subsidiaries was in 1950. A trip to Europe was a big trip. You were gone three months. I still remember the excitement when the then head of GM went to Europe in the 1920s to buy the European properties. He never went back.
6. 21st Century Organizations
Let me give you one example. This happens to be a consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Each morning, between 8 A.M. and 9 A.M. Boston time, which is 5 A.M. in the morning here in California and 11 P.M. in Tokyo, the firm conducts a one-hour management meeting on the Internet. That would have been inconceivable a few years back when you couldn`t have done it physically. And for a few years, I worked with this firm closely and I had rented a room in a nearby motel and put in a videoconferencing screen. Once a week, I participated in this Internet meeting and we could do it quite easily, successfully. As a result of which, that consulting firm is not organized around localities but around clients.
7. How To Lead a 21st Century Organization
Don`t travel so much. Organize your travel. It is important that you see people and that you are seen by people maybe once or twice a year. Otherwise, don`t travel. Make them come to see you. Use technology--it is cheaper than traveling. I don`t know anybody who can work while traveling. Do you? The second thing to say is make sure that your subsidiaries and foreign offices take up the responsibility to keep you informed. So, ask them twice a year, "What activities do you need to report to me?" Also ask them, "What about my activity and my plans do you need to know from me?" The second question is just as important.
8. Prisoner of Your Own Organization
When you are the chief executive, you`re the prisoner of your organization. The moment you`re in the office, everybody comes to you and wants something, and it is useless to lock the door. They`ll break in. So, you have to get outside the office. But still, that isn`t traveling. That`s being at home or having a secret office elsewhere. When you`re alone, in your secret office, ask the question, "What needs to be done?" Develop your priorities and don`t have more than two. I don`t know anybody who can do three things at the same time and do them well. Do one task at a time or two tasks at a time. That`s it. OK, two works better for most. Most people need the change of pace. But, when you are finished with two jobs or reach the point where it`s futile, make the list again. Don`t go back to priority three. At that point, it`s obsolete.
9. How Organizations Fall Down
Make sure the people with whom you work understand your priorities. Where organizations fall down is when they have to guess at what the boss is working at, and they invariably guess wrong. So the CEO needs to say, "This is what I am focusing on." Then the CEO needs to ask of his associates, "What are you focusing on?" Ask your associates, "You put this on top of your priority list--why?" The reason may be the right one, but it may also be that this associate of yours is a salesman who persuades you that his priorities are correct when they are not. So, make sure that you understand your associates` priorities and make sure that after you have that conversation, you sit down and drop them a two-page note--"This is what I think we discussed. This is what I think we decided. This is what I think you committed yourself to within what time frame." Finally, ask them, "What do you expect from me as you seek to achieve your goals?"
10. The Transition from Entrepreneur to Large Company CEO
Again, let`s start out discussing what not to do. Don`t try to be somebody else. By now you have your style. This is how you get things done. Don`t take on things you don`t believe in and that you yourself are not good at. Learn to say no. Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies. As a result, they get an enormous amount of things done fast.
11. How Capable Leaders Blow It
One of the ablest men I`ve worked with, and this is a long time back, was Germany`s last pre-World War II democratic chancellor, Dr. Heinrich Bruning. He had an incredible ability to see the heart of a problem. But he was very weak on financial matters. He should have delegated but he wasted endless hours on budgets and performed poorly. This was a terrible failing during a Depression and it led to Hitler. Never try to be an expert if you are not. Build on your strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.
12. The Danger Of Charisma
You know, I was the first one to talk about leadership 50 years ago, but there is too much talk, too much emphasis on it today and not enough on effectiveness. The only thing you can say about a leader is that a leader is somebody who has followers. The most charismatic leaders of the last century were called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini. They were mis-leaders! Charismatic leadership by itself certainly is greatly overstated. Look, one of the most effective American presidents of the last 100 years was Harry Truman. He didn`t have an ounce of charisma. Truman was as bland as a dead mackerel. Everybody who worked for him worshiped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he didn`t say no to one person and yes to the next one on the same issue. The other effective president of the last 100 years was Ronald Reagan. His great strength was not charisma, as is commonly thought, but that he knew exactly what he could do and what he could not do.
13. How To Reinvigorate People
Within organizations there are people who, typically in their 40s, hit a midlife crisis when they realize that they won`t make it to the top or discover that they are not yet first-rate. This happens to engineers and accountants and technicians. The worst midlife crisis is that of physicians, as you know. They all have a severe midlife crisis. Basically, their work becomes awfully boring. Just imagine seeing nothing for 30 years but people with a skin rash. They have a midlife crisis, and that`s when they take to the bottle. How do you save these people? Give them a parallel challenge. Without that, they`ll soon take to drinking or to sleeping around. In a coeducational college, they sleep around and drink. The two things are not incompatible, alas! Encourage people facing a midlife crisis to apply their skills in the non-profit sector.
14. Character Development
We have talked a lot about executive development. We have been mostly talking about developing people`s strength and giving them experiences. Character is not developed that way. That is developed inside and not outside. I think churches and synagogues and the 12-step recovery programs are the main development agents of character today.
20-minute walk in park helps hyperactive kids on concentration...!!
Hyperactive children who find doing routine tasks like homework or taking a test very difficult can improve their attention spans with a 20-minute walk in the park.
The study on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was conducted by child environment and behaviour researchers Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances E. Kuo of Illinois University.
`From our previous research, we knew there might be a link between spending time in nature and reduced ADHD symptoms,` said Taylor. `So to confirm that link we conducted a study in which we took children on walks in three different settings - one especially `green` and two less `green` - and kept everything about the walks as similar as possible.`
Some children took the `green` walk first; others took it second or last. After each walk, an experimenter who didn`t know which walk the child had been on tested their attention using a standard neurocognitive test called Digit Span Backwards, in which a series of numbers are said aloud and the child recites them backwards. It`s a test in which practice doesn`t improve your score.
`We compared each child`s performance to their own performance on different walks,` said Taylor. `And when we compared the scores for the walks in different environments, we found that after the walk in the park children generally concentrated better than they did after a walk in the downtown area or the neighbourhood. The greenest space was best at improving attention after exposure.`
The sample size was relatively small children - mostly because the logistics were a nightmare to coordinate. `Because we kept everything the same, the children all went to the same park and walked through the same neighbourhood and downtown area,` according to a press release of Illinois University.
The testing location had to be close by so that there wasn`t a lot of lag time between going for the walk and taking the post-test,` said Faber Taylor. `And each child was always paired with the same adult guide for their walks, and all the children were tested by the same tester.`
Kuo said that the variables of the study were very hard to control. `We started with a much larger sample size. But when we threw out all of the things that could go wrong - the weather wasn`t good one day, the child came late, or came medicated - when we threw out all of those, it left us with this relatively pure, clean sample to work with.`
`Because we have results from a national study which looked at over 450 children, we can have more confidence that this relationship between natural settings and improved attention is true not just for the children in this study,` added Taylor.
These findings were published in a recent issue Journal of Attention Disorders.
The study on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was conducted by child environment and behaviour researchers Andrea Faber Taylor and Frances E. Kuo of Illinois University.
`From our previous research, we knew there might be a link between spending time in nature and reduced ADHD symptoms,` said Taylor. `So to confirm that link we conducted a study in which we took children on walks in three different settings - one especially `green` and two less `green` - and kept everything about the walks as similar as possible.`
Some children took the `green` walk first; others took it second or last. After each walk, an experimenter who didn`t know which walk the child had been on tested their attention using a standard neurocognitive test called Digit Span Backwards, in which a series of numbers are said aloud and the child recites them backwards. It`s a test in which practice doesn`t improve your score.
`We compared each child`s performance to their own performance on different walks,` said Taylor. `And when we compared the scores for the walks in different environments, we found that after the walk in the park children generally concentrated better than they did after a walk in the downtown area or the neighbourhood. The greenest space was best at improving attention after exposure.`
The sample size was relatively small children - mostly because the logistics were a nightmare to coordinate. `Because we kept everything the same, the children all went to the same park and walked through the same neighbourhood and downtown area,` according to a press release of Illinois University.
The testing location had to be close by so that there wasn`t a lot of lag time between going for the walk and taking the post-test,` said Faber Taylor. `And each child was always paired with the same adult guide for their walks, and all the children were tested by the same tester.`
Kuo said that the variables of the study were very hard to control. `We started with a much larger sample size. But when we threw out all of the things that could go wrong - the weather wasn`t good one day, the child came late, or came medicated - when we threw out all of those, it left us with this relatively pure, clean sample to work with.`
`Because we have results from a national study which looked at over 450 children, we can have more confidence that this relationship between natural settings and improved attention is true not just for the children in this study,` added Taylor.
These findings were published in a recent issue Journal of Attention Disorders.
HOW TO GET WHAT YOU WANT
Hi Friends,
When I attended my first neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) training ten years ago, the trainer asked us if we’d like to know two questions which could change our lives. I have used these questions consistently ever since, and they have been among the most useful things I’ve ever learned. They were…
"What do you want?", and "How will you know when you’ve got it?"
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
"What do you want?" is probably the most well-known ‘NLP question’. It takes advantage of the fact that the human nervous system is ‘goal-seeking’… ie. we operate most effectively when we have a goal or objective of some sort to aim for, so…
1) Ask yourself "What do I want?" & pay attention to your answer.
YOU CAN’T DO A DON’T
Is your answer stated in the positive (eg. to get fit & healthy, to double your income, to start a new business etc.) or in the negative (eg. to quit smoking, lose weight, stop spending so much etc.)?
Negatives aren’t processed by the nervous system in the same way that they are linguistically (eg. The command "Don’t think of a purple hippo" is difficult to obey.) You get what you focus on, so if your goal is stated in the negative, you’re making it more difficult for yourself.
2) Ensure you state your goal positively.
HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’VE GOT IT?
I once had a client whose goal was to become rich. I asked her how she’d know when she was rich and she said she’d have more money. So I tossed a five rupees coin to her and said "Congratulations, you’re rich." ‘More money’ did not turn out to be specific enough evidence for her having achieved her goal, so we went into the detail of what she would see, hear and feel when she was rich. This gives your nervous system a rich representation of what success is for this particular goal. So, with regard to your goal…
3) Ask yourself "How will I know when I’ve got it?"
What will you see, hear and feel as you are achieving your goal? What specific details will let you know that you are getting what you want? The more sensory detail you include, the more information you will give to your nervous system about what to aim for.
4) Ensure you have details of what you will see, feel and hear.
GET YOUR BODY INVOLVED
Once you have clear evidence (ie. how you’ll know when you’ve achieved your goal), you can engage your unconscious resources more fully by getting your body more involved. Stand up and ensure you’ve got enough space to move safely, then…
5) Imagine you are going to step in to that time in the future when you already have what you want, then literally take a step & imagine you can see what you’ll see, hear what you’ll hear & feel what you’ll feel when you are achieving your goal.
MIND AND BODY ARE SINGLE SYSTEM
Mind and body are a single system, and people often find that the process of stepping into a future achievement has a profound effect, allowing you to experience learnings and insights which may not previously have been consciously available. Often, the people most sceptical of this approach have the most powerful experiences, so if you are dubious about whether this will work for you, great – do it anyway and see what happens!
THERE ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN BENEFITS
In almost any situation, there will be hidden benefits. If these benefits are uncovered, you can find other ways to satisfy them and achieve your goals more easily. However, if you are not aware of the hidden benefits of a situation, it can make it more of a struggle to change. So, with regard to a current goal you wish to achieve or change you wish to make…
1) Ask yourself "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" & pay attention to your answers.
You can look for other hidden benefits by asking "What are the benefits of the current situation?" The answers to these questions may seem strange or even a bit embarrassing, but once you’ve identified them, you can begin to find new ways to deliver the benefits as you achieve your goal.
EVERY BENEFIT ADDRESSES A NEED OR WANT
A benefit is only a benefit if it addresses a need or want, so the next step is to identify the needs or wants that the hidden benefit is addressing.
2) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"
Anthony Robbins talks about six basic human needs, so if you’re having trouble identifying the need or want, check this list for inspiration. Robbins’ six are paraphrased as follows:
- Love & connection to other people
- Contribution to something bigger (family, community etc)
- Predictability, familiarity & security
- Unpredictability & surprise
- Growth & learning
- A sense of importance
EVERY BEHAVIOUR HAS A POSITIVE INTENTION
One of the basic presuppositions of NLP is that ‘every behaviour has a positive intention’. It can be liberating to realise that there has been a positive intention behind something you have been coding as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. Once you know which needs or wants you’ve been satisfying, you can dream up some alternatives to find even better ways to feel satisfied in the future.
3) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?"
Use your imagination – there’s always another way of meeting your wants and needs. The great news is, you’ll often come up with ways of getting far bigger benefits than the ones you currently have.
THE POWER OF FAMILIARITY
Sometimes people will be adamant that there is no benefit in the current situation. If this happens, check how long things have been as they are. If it’s more than a few weeks, then it will have been familiar. If things have been like this for years, it will have been VERY familiar! Human beings have a deeply coded need for familiarity, so track down a new way of providing consistency & familiarity (eg. a daily practice like meditating, exercise, reading etc.) This can provide a base of stability in a changing situation.
SUMMARY
1) Use "What do you want?" with yourself & others to elicit goals
2) If goals are stated negatively, re-state them in the positive
3) Use "How will you know when you’ve got it?" to elicit evidence
4) Ensure you have answers for "What will you see, hear and feel?"
5) Step into your imagined future achievement to get further insights.
6) Ask "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" to identify hidden benefits of the current situation.
7) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"
8) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?" to identify better ways of satisfying the wants & needs.
When I attended my first neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) training ten years ago, the trainer asked us if we’d like to know two questions which could change our lives. I have used these questions consistently ever since, and they have been among the most useful things I’ve ever learned. They were…
"What do you want?", and "How will you know when you’ve got it?"
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
"What do you want?" is probably the most well-known ‘NLP question’. It takes advantage of the fact that the human nervous system is ‘goal-seeking’… ie. we operate most effectively when we have a goal or objective of some sort to aim for, so…
1) Ask yourself "What do I want?" & pay attention to your answer.
YOU CAN’T DO A DON’T
Is your answer stated in the positive (eg. to get fit & healthy, to double your income, to start a new business etc.) or in the negative (eg. to quit smoking, lose weight, stop spending so much etc.)?
Negatives aren’t processed by the nervous system in the same way that they are linguistically (eg. The command "Don’t think of a purple hippo" is difficult to obey.) You get what you focus on, so if your goal is stated in the negative, you’re making it more difficult for yourself.
2) Ensure you state your goal positively.
HOW WILL YOU KNOW WHEN YOU’VE GOT IT?
I once had a client whose goal was to become rich. I asked her how she’d know when she was rich and she said she’d have more money. So I tossed a five rupees coin to her and said "Congratulations, you’re rich." ‘More money’ did not turn out to be specific enough evidence for her having achieved her goal, so we went into the detail of what she would see, hear and feel when she was rich. This gives your nervous system a rich representation of what success is for this particular goal. So, with regard to your goal…
3) Ask yourself "How will I know when I’ve got it?"
What will you see, hear and feel as you are achieving your goal? What specific details will let you know that you are getting what you want? The more sensory detail you include, the more information you will give to your nervous system about what to aim for.
4) Ensure you have details of what you will see, feel and hear.
GET YOUR BODY INVOLVED
Once you have clear evidence (ie. how you’ll know when you’ve achieved your goal), you can engage your unconscious resources more fully by getting your body more involved. Stand up and ensure you’ve got enough space to move safely, then…
5) Imagine you are going to step in to that time in the future when you already have what you want, then literally take a step & imagine you can see what you’ll see, hear what you’ll hear & feel what you’ll feel when you are achieving your goal.
MIND AND BODY ARE SINGLE SYSTEM
Mind and body are a single system, and people often find that the process of stepping into a future achievement has a profound effect, allowing you to experience learnings and insights which may not previously have been consciously available. Often, the people most sceptical of this approach have the most powerful experiences, so if you are dubious about whether this will work for you, great – do it anyway and see what happens!
THERE ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN BENEFITS
In almost any situation, there will be hidden benefits. If these benefits are uncovered, you can find other ways to satisfy them and achieve your goals more easily. However, if you are not aware of the hidden benefits of a situation, it can make it more of a struggle to change. So, with regard to a current goal you wish to achieve or change you wish to make…
1) Ask yourself "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" & pay attention to your answers.
You can look for other hidden benefits by asking "What are the benefits of the current situation?" The answers to these questions may seem strange or even a bit embarrassing, but once you’ve identified them, you can begin to find new ways to deliver the benefits as you achieve your goal.
EVERY BENEFIT ADDRESSES A NEED OR WANT
A benefit is only a benefit if it addresses a need or want, so the next step is to identify the needs or wants that the hidden benefit is addressing.
2) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"
Anthony Robbins talks about six basic human needs, so if you’re having trouble identifying the need or want, check this list for inspiration. Robbins’ six are paraphrased as follows:
- Love & connection to other people
- Contribution to something bigger (family, community etc)
- Predictability, familiarity & security
- Unpredictability & surprise
- Growth & learning
- A sense of importance
EVERY BEHAVIOUR HAS A POSITIVE INTENTION
One of the basic presuppositions of NLP is that ‘every behaviour has a positive intention’. It can be liberating to realise that there has been a positive intention behind something you have been coding as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’. Once you know which needs or wants you’ve been satisfying, you can dream up some alternatives to find even better ways to feel satisfied in the future.
3) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?"
Use your imagination – there’s always another way of meeting your wants and needs. The great news is, you’ll often come up with ways of getting far bigger benefits than the ones you currently have.
THE POWER OF FAMILIARITY
Sometimes people will be adamant that there is no benefit in the current situation. If this happens, check how long things have been as they are. If it’s more than a few weeks, then it will have been familiar. If things have been like this for years, it will have been VERY familiar! Human beings have a deeply coded need for familiarity, so track down a new way of providing consistency & familiarity (eg. a daily practice like meditating, exercise, reading etc.) This can provide a base of stability in a changing situation.
SUMMARY
1) Use "What do you want?" with yourself & others to elicit goals
2) If goals are stated negatively, re-state them in the positive
3) Use "How will you know when you’ve got it?" to elicit evidence
4) Ensure you have answers for "What will you see, hear and feel?"
5) Step into your imagined future achievement to get further insights.
6) Ask "What are the benefits of NOT achieving this?" to identify hidden benefits of the current situation.
7) Ask "What is the need or want that this benefit is satisfying?"
8) Ask "How can I get this benefit while I’m achieving my goal?" to identify better ways of satisfying the wants & needs.
Chiranjeevi`s Soft Skills in India`s `Hard` Politics!
The icon of post-globalisation politics has arrived at last. Chiranjeevi, popularly known as `Chiru` to his fans and well wishers, finally put the curtains of suspense down and plunged into the world popular corrupt politics of Andhra Pradesh, which is one of the largest and alphabetically first state in India. Two hands only can create claps. If the other side is not in a confrontational mode, no one can do anything. The days of `verbal duel` and `provocative` politics are not possible with Chiranjeevi kind of politician. He has proved this with his `entry` speech into politics. He has not criticized anybody. Moreover, he has given `ideal` speech with his own `ideas` with the idealism inspired by globally well known Social icons like Mother Theresa, B.R.Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyoti Rao Phule. He has praised the matinee-idol turned politician Dr.N.T.Rama Rao as his ideal and declared that Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, former President of India inspired his entry into politics. National level political parties in India like Congress and BJP are very much concerned about the entry of Chiranjeevi into Politics as it may impact adversely on their vote bank.
Incidentally, may be these are the days of Politicians who believe in Hanuman globally and locally also. Barack Obama is carrying the symbol of Hanuman with him during all his Presidential campaign and poised to become President of USA. Chiranjeevi, who started a new party called `PRAJA RAJYAM` in Andhra Pradesh, India, is also a staunch devotee of Hanuman. Who knows, he may become Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after the coming elections.
Chiranjeevi has projected himself as one of the most `democratic` politician, which endeared him to the people who like the style of living life with `Soft Skills`. He has asserted that he knows the pulse and problems of farmers and he too did farming and his father got five acres of farming land. He also projected himself as `apostle of solutions` to all the social problems. He asserted that he will find out a solution to all the social and political evils with the consensus from all the `learned` politicians joining him and also with due scientific studies and methods.
Post-globalisation, in the wake of the advent of IT industry in India which has created uproar across the globe grabbing the jobs of even Americans, Indian Managers are full of soft skills with their humble presentation of themselves to the world. Indian Managers are much in demand worldwide because of their exceptional soft skills or familial skills, which they imbibed with their disciplined upbringing with ethics, values and morals of Indian Society. Chiranjeevi represents these kinds of Managers who is able to manage soft-entries into hard waters of politics. Chiranjeevi has successfully managed his `grand` entry into politics with a simple press meet. Chiranjeevi represents this class of middle class who are ambitious, smart working not hard working, positive, proactive, progressive, flamboyant and ideal in their presentation to the public. This very attractive and most sought after demanding quality of post-globalisation has reflected in the speech of Chiranjeevi while introducing himself to the public as well as old generation of politicians. Three decades of Chiranjeevi`s experience in the glamour world also helped him to present himself as the most civilized and sober politician of new age. Chiranjeevi has initiated an eventful entry into the world of politics by creating a benchmark with his `signature speech`, which has stunned the old age politicians who always indulged themselves in confrontational and mud-slinging politics for more than six decades. Chiranjeevi`s soft skills are so hard that even Congress leaders are directing their cadre not to criticize him, as he is not in critical mode.
If one observes his kind of creating solid foundation and curiosity by continuously observing the feedback and reactions of the public by sending his `relatives` only i.e. brother-in-law, brothers and his only `Mitr` Dr.Mitra to understand the `pulse` of people`s response, is exactly like cinematic way of creating a `story line` to take it to logical or illogical conclusion of climax. In the second phase, in one or two places where he attended public functions, he reiterated and asserted that he will announce his entry into politics in right time and created more anxiety among public with date and time of entry. Public waited anxiously as they wait for the police entry in the scene of crime in films.
Chiranjeevi`s leadership qualities and glamour quotient is evident in the way he attracted the not so popular leaders cum left wing lyricists and litterateurs like U.Sambasiva Rao, Katti Padma Rao, J.Gowtham, who represent the craving minds of people who are anxiously waiting for a leader who can help them grab power to show their might. Who knows `Mahajana Party` till it merged with the not yet born party of Chiranjeevi? The response to Chiranjeevi kind of politics and his `enlightening` entry, is more from the public or from his fans than from his `parent industry of glamour`, which helped him create this kind of mileage with his three decades of association.
Corporate world always reiterates that soft skills are most important than `hard skills` for a job seeker to grab a job of his or her choice. Chiranjeevi has proved that even to carry on with the job of entering into politics also needed soft skills with his non-confrontational style of announcement of `enter` politics and `exit` cinemas.
The most important soft skills which results in `Chiranjeevi` kind of success are Leadership Skills, Persuasive skills, Assertive Communication Skills, Initiating Skills, Sense of belonging and inclusiveness, Analytical abilities, People Management, Planning, Directing, Organising and controlling. Being an elder in the family has its own advantage and his humble and middle class family background helped him to learn and imbibe all these familial skills from his disciplined `Police` father and encouraging mother who added fuel to the fire of his dreams. Chiranjeevi also announced and asserted that his fans and party workers are being trained in `Personality Development` also, which reflected his style of managing politics. Chiranjeevi`s campaign to register voters also is a sign of his farsighted strategy to come out as a winner in these days of vote politics.
Like Hanuman, his favourite God, Chiranjeevi jumped into the devilish and murky waters of Politics. He has shown strong `Servant Leadership` qualities like Hanuman, by expressing in public that `I am not your Nayak; but Sevak`. He has adopted the symbol `Sun God` who is also happened to be the Guru of Hanuman. Hanuman came out successfully though he faced many obstacles while flying through the sea to find out Sita. The whole world is watching whether Chiranjeevi will excel as a Politician with his `cheerful` nature in these days of `cruel` politics. Hope Chiranjeevi will find his dream `pearl of power` after scanning the ocean of politics and screening the hearts of the people and his fans for votes to become the second matinee idol who came to power defeating the most manipulating oppositions of Andhra Pradesh.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Challa_S.S.J._Ram_Phani
Incidentally, may be these are the days of Politicians who believe in Hanuman globally and locally also. Barack Obama is carrying the symbol of Hanuman with him during all his Presidential campaign and poised to become President of USA. Chiranjeevi, who started a new party called `PRAJA RAJYAM` in Andhra Pradesh, India, is also a staunch devotee of Hanuman. Who knows, he may become Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after the coming elections.
Chiranjeevi has projected himself as one of the most `democratic` politician, which endeared him to the people who like the style of living life with `Soft Skills`. He has asserted that he knows the pulse and problems of farmers and he too did farming and his father got five acres of farming land. He also projected himself as `apostle of solutions` to all the social problems. He asserted that he will find out a solution to all the social and political evils with the consensus from all the `learned` politicians joining him and also with due scientific studies and methods.
Post-globalisation, in the wake of the advent of IT industry in India which has created uproar across the globe grabbing the jobs of even Americans, Indian Managers are full of soft skills with their humble presentation of themselves to the world. Indian Managers are much in demand worldwide because of their exceptional soft skills or familial skills, which they imbibed with their disciplined upbringing with ethics, values and morals of Indian Society. Chiranjeevi represents these kinds of Managers who is able to manage soft-entries into hard waters of politics. Chiranjeevi has successfully managed his `grand` entry into politics with a simple press meet. Chiranjeevi represents this class of middle class who are ambitious, smart working not hard working, positive, proactive, progressive, flamboyant and ideal in their presentation to the public. This very attractive and most sought after demanding quality of post-globalisation has reflected in the speech of Chiranjeevi while introducing himself to the public as well as old generation of politicians. Three decades of Chiranjeevi`s experience in the glamour world also helped him to present himself as the most civilized and sober politician of new age. Chiranjeevi has initiated an eventful entry into the world of politics by creating a benchmark with his `signature speech`, which has stunned the old age politicians who always indulged themselves in confrontational and mud-slinging politics for more than six decades. Chiranjeevi`s soft skills are so hard that even Congress leaders are directing their cadre not to criticize him, as he is not in critical mode.
If one observes his kind of creating solid foundation and curiosity by continuously observing the feedback and reactions of the public by sending his `relatives` only i.e. brother-in-law, brothers and his only `Mitr` Dr.Mitra to understand the `pulse` of people`s response, is exactly like cinematic way of creating a `story line` to take it to logical or illogical conclusion of climax. In the second phase, in one or two places where he attended public functions, he reiterated and asserted that he will announce his entry into politics in right time and created more anxiety among public with date and time of entry. Public waited anxiously as they wait for the police entry in the scene of crime in films.
Chiranjeevi`s leadership qualities and glamour quotient is evident in the way he attracted the not so popular leaders cum left wing lyricists and litterateurs like U.Sambasiva Rao, Katti Padma Rao, J.Gowtham, who represent the craving minds of people who are anxiously waiting for a leader who can help them grab power to show their might. Who knows `Mahajana Party` till it merged with the not yet born party of Chiranjeevi? The response to Chiranjeevi kind of politics and his `enlightening` entry, is more from the public or from his fans than from his `parent industry of glamour`, which helped him create this kind of mileage with his three decades of association.
Corporate world always reiterates that soft skills are most important than `hard skills` for a job seeker to grab a job of his or her choice. Chiranjeevi has proved that even to carry on with the job of entering into politics also needed soft skills with his non-confrontational style of announcement of `enter` politics and `exit` cinemas.
The most important soft skills which results in `Chiranjeevi` kind of success are Leadership Skills, Persuasive skills, Assertive Communication Skills, Initiating Skills, Sense of belonging and inclusiveness, Analytical abilities, People Management, Planning, Directing, Organising and controlling. Being an elder in the family has its own advantage and his humble and middle class family background helped him to learn and imbibe all these familial skills from his disciplined `Police` father and encouraging mother who added fuel to the fire of his dreams. Chiranjeevi also announced and asserted that his fans and party workers are being trained in `Personality Development` also, which reflected his style of managing politics. Chiranjeevi`s campaign to register voters also is a sign of his farsighted strategy to come out as a winner in these days of vote politics.
Like Hanuman, his favourite God, Chiranjeevi jumped into the devilish and murky waters of Politics. He has shown strong `Servant Leadership` qualities like Hanuman, by expressing in public that `I am not your Nayak; but Sevak`. He has adopted the symbol `Sun God` who is also happened to be the Guru of Hanuman. Hanuman came out successfully though he faced many obstacles while flying through the sea to find out Sita. The whole world is watching whether Chiranjeevi will excel as a Politician with his `cheerful` nature in these days of `cruel` politics. Hope Chiranjeevi will find his dream `pearl of power` after scanning the ocean of politics and screening the hearts of the people and his fans for votes to become the second matinee idol who came to power defeating the most manipulating oppositions of Andhra Pradesh.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Challa_S.S.J._Ram_Phani
BALANCE SHEET OF LIFE
Our Birth is our Opening Balance !
Our Death is our Closing Balance !
Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets
Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account
Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behavior are our Goodwill
Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents
Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account
The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately .
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.
Our Death is our Closing Balance !
Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets
Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account
Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behavior are our Goodwill
Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents
Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account
The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately .
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.
7 laws of mental mastery Adapted from Timeless Wisdom - Robin Sharma
The 1st Law: The Law of Subjective Reality
The nature of your world is determined by your nature
The way we see our job / family/
friends is not determined by some objective standard-it is determined by the way we see
ourself.
There is no objective world, only our personal world, a world that we shape and influence according to our social beliefs,
attitudes, past conditioning and the set of lenses through which we choose to view it.
Think about it for a moment. No object naturally good or bad, or is it the way that you perceive it or interpret the object or event that makes it good or bad?
The face of one person`s best
friend might be the face of another`s worst enemy.
The 2nd Law: The Law of Like Attraction
We attract into our life what wethink about all day long.
What we get is determined by what we think, and as we sow, so shall we reap.
The mind is like a huge magnet, and the thoughts you run through it every minute of every day create powerful forces of emotional, material, physical and spiritual attraction.
If there is anything missing it can be directly related to the thoughts running in our life
The quality of our life is influenced by the quality of our thoughts. our thoughts do form your world.
So if you want a more peaceful life, think more peaceful thoughts. If you want a richer world, flood your mind with richer, more illuminating thoughts.
If you want a more creative life, focus on more creative thought patterns
The 3rd Law: The Law of Dharma
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
The moment we discover our personal purpose and life`s work and, more important, start taking consistent steps to actualize it, your life immediately transcends the ordinary.
When we become aligned with our life`s main aim, that pursuit which blends our personal genius and human gifts with some worthy objective, we kindle your inner fire and begin to live life with a new sense of meaning.
Rather than spreading our energies in a hundred different directions, once you know your compelling purpose, you can concentrate our power in a single, highly rewarding direction
It could be to find a cure for cancer or to
be the top salesperson in your division. One is not better than the other; they are just different.
The key is that your main aim in life must fully engage your special talents, inspire you and contribute, in some positive way, to the lives of others.
The 4th Law: The Law of Karma
For every action we take, we receive an equal and appropriate reaction
We get what we deserve, and
those who have created richly rewarding lives have taken rich, rewarding actions to get them there.
Peak performers are no different from weak performers- they just do different things.
There is an ageless truth that says what separates fully actualized people from the ordinary ones is that the first group does those things that the second group does not like doing, even though they might also not enjoy doing themDiscovering your Dharma is not power-it is only potential power. It is like having an extraordinarily powerful computer with no software to run on it; you might as well not even have it.
But when you add the fire of action to the flames of Dharma and have the courage to follow your destiny on a daily basis, your life improves in a profound way
The 6th Law: The Law of Conditioned Gratitude
By concentrating your attention on those things in your life that are good, you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, an essential precondition to inner harmony and mental excellence
We start connecting to our highest self the moment you build the habit of taking some time every day to notice the sacredness of all things around you and the simple pleasures life has to offer.
By taking the time to regularly consider all the things you have to be grateful for, no matter how small they are, you shift your consciousness off of what you do not have and on to all that you do have.
The 5th Law: The Law of Conditioned Gratitude
By concentrating your attention on those things in your life that are good, you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, an essential precondition to inner harmony and mental excellence
Dale Carnegie said:
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that we tend to put off living.
We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows.
Mahatma Gandhi said,
"When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator."
We are happiest when we are growing and expanding. Complacency is a plague. By having the courage and discipline to follow a worthy pursuit, you build your dreams while helping others in the process.
Selfless service is one of the most noble acts you can ever perform. Ironically, the more you give to others, the more you receive, both materially and spiritually.
Start thinking about how we want to be remembered: what contributions are we committed to making in our life?
What legacy do we want to leave behind? Practice daily acts of kindness as we advance to our goals and objectives.
Develop a service mind-set.
. In the words of one father to his son, "Be ashamed to die until you have scored a victory for humankind."
The 7th Law:The Law of CharacterCongruency
High achievement, peace of mind, joy and a lasting sense of well-being can only come when what we do is consistent with who we are.
To live life to the fullest, you must put off doing what is easy and do what is right.
You are happiest, most effective and most inspired when all areas of your life are aligned with the values that are most meaningful to you.
One must not only do things right-one must also do the right things.
The 7th Law:The Law of CharacterCongruency
High achievement, peace of mind, joy and a lasting sense of well-being can only come when what we do is consistent with who we are.
Mahatma Ghandi said, "One cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole."
Enlightened people walk their talk. When your outer world is fully aligned and congruent with your inner world and your most closely held beliefs, you will know true peace, power and happiness.
Do not be like Ravana-an accomplished scholar, great devotee of Lord Shiva but greedy, arrogant...
A Pond Full Of Milk."
Once there was a king who told some of his workers to dig a pond.
Once the pond was dug, the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household has to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond.
So, the pond should be full of milk by the morning. After receiving the order, everyone went home.
One man prepared to take the milk during the night. He thought that since everyone will bring milk, he could just hide a glass of water and pour inside the pond.
Because it will be dark at night, no one will notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and came back.
In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his surprise the pond was only filled with water!
What has happened is that everyone was thinking like the other man that "I don`t have to put the milk, someone else will do it."
So let us also not become like the villages would pour a glass of contribution articles/ppt(Milk) and when we turn back and see - we find nothing but comments saying - fantastic, good post, keep posting.....
Everybody needs to pour their share of glass of milk to fill this pond
The nature of your world is determined by your nature
The way we see our job / family/
friends is not determined by some objective standard-it is determined by the way we see
ourself.
There is no objective world, only our personal world, a world that we shape and influence according to our social beliefs,
attitudes, past conditioning and the set of lenses through which we choose to view it.
Think about it for a moment. No object naturally good or bad, or is it the way that you perceive it or interpret the object or event that makes it good or bad?
The face of one person`s best
friend might be the face of another`s worst enemy.
The 2nd Law: The Law of Like Attraction
We attract into our life what wethink about all day long.
What we get is determined by what we think, and as we sow, so shall we reap.
The mind is like a huge magnet, and the thoughts you run through it every minute of every day create powerful forces of emotional, material, physical and spiritual attraction.
If there is anything missing it can be directly related to the thoughts running in our life
The quality of our life is influenced by the quality of our thoughts. our thoughts do form your world.
So if you want a more peaceful life, think more peaceful thoughts. If you want a richer world, flood your mind with richer, more illuminating thoughts.
If you want a more creative life, focus on more creative thought patterns
The 3rd Law: The Law of Dharma
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
The moment we discover our personal purpose and life`s work and, more important, start taking consistent steps to actualize it, your life immediately transcends the ordinary.
When we become aligned with our life`s main aim, that pursuit which blends our personal genius and human gifts with some worthy objective, we kindle your inner fire and begin to live life with a new sense of meaning.
Rather than spreading our energies in a hundred different directions, once you know your compelling purpose, you can concentrate our power in a single, highly rewarding direction
It could be to find a cure for cancer or to
be the top salesperson in your division. One is not better than the other; they are just different.
The key is that your main aim in life must fully engage your special talents, inspire you and contribute, in some positive way, to the lives of others.
The 4th Law: The Law of Karma
For every action we take, we receive an equal and appropriate reaction
We get what we deserve, and
those who have created richly rewarding lives have taken rich, rewarding actions to get them there.
Peak performers are no different from weak performers- they just do different things.
There is an ageless truth that says what separates fully actualized people from the ordinary ones is that the first group does those things that the second group does not like doing, even though they might also not enjoy doing themDiscovering your Dharma is not power-it is only potential power. It is like having an extraordinarily powerful computer with no software to run on it; you might as well not even have it.
But when you add the fire of action to the flames of Dharma and have the courage to follow your destiny on a daily basis, your life improves in a profound way
The 6th Law: The Law of Conditioned Gratitude
By concentrating your attention on those things in your life that are good, you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, an essential precondition to inner harmony and mental excellence
We start connecting to our highest self the moment you build the habit of taking some time every day to notice the sacredness of all things around you and the simple pleasures life has to offer.
By taking the time to regularly consider all the things you have to be grateful for, no matter how small they are, you shift your consciousness off of what you do not have and on to all that you do have.
The 5th Law: The Law of Conditioned Gratitude
By concentrating your attention on those things in your life that are good, you cultivate the attitude of gratitude, an essential precondition to inner harmony and mental excellence
Dale Carnegie said:
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that we tend to put off living.
We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows.
Mahatma Gandhi said,
"When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator."
We are happiest when we are growing and expanding. Complacency is a plague. By having the courage and discipline to follow a worthy pursuit, you build your dreams while helping others in the process.
Selfless service is one of the most noble acts you can ever perform. Ironically, the more you give to others, the more you receive, both materially and spiritually.
Start thinking about how we want to be remembered: what contributions are we committed to making in our life?
What legacy do we want to leave behind? Practice daily acts of kindness as we advance to our goals and objectives.
Develop a service mind-set.
. In the words of one father to his son, "Be ashamed to die until you have scored a victory for humankind."
The 7th Law:The Law of CharacterCongruency
High achievement, peace of mind, joy and a lasting sense of well-being can only come when what we do is consistent with who we are.
To live life to the fullest, you must put off doing what is easy and do what is right.
You are happiest, most effective and most inspired when all areas of your life are aligned with the values that are most meaningful to you.
One must not only do things right-one must also do the right things.
The 7th Law:The Law of CharacterCongruency
High achievement, peace of mind, joy and a lasting sense of well-being can only come when what we do is consistent with who we are.
Mahatma Ghandi said, "One cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole."
Enlightened people walk their talk. When your outer world is fully aligned and congruent with your inner world and your most closely held beliefs, you will know true peace, power and happiness.
Do not be like Ravana-an accomplished scholar, great devotee of Lord Shiva but greedy, arrogant...
A Pond Full Of Milk."
Once there was a king who told some of his workers to dig a pond.
Once the pond was dug, the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household has to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond.
So, the pond should be full of milk by the morning. After receiving the order, everyone went home.
One man prepared to take the milk during the night. He thought that since everyone will bring milk, he could just hide a glass of water and pour inside the pond.
Because it will be dark at night, no one will notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and came back.
In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his surprise the pond was only filled with water!
What has happened is that everyone was thinking like the other man that "I don`t have to put the milk, someone else will do it."
So let us also not become like the villages would pour a glass of contribution articles/ppt(Milk) and when we turn back and see - we find nothing but comments saying - fantastic, good post, keep posting.....
Everybody needs to pour their share of glass of milk to fill this pond
BRAND YOURSELF
In today`s world, personal branding is essential. The job market is crowded and competitive. To make your mark and have an edge over others you need to have a clear idea of what you have and what you have to offer (and to whom)? What makes you different from other players in the same field? What do you have to offer that is demonstrably different, better, cooler?
Think hard and Dig deep inside yourself and find out. Once you have your message down, clear and concise, make the opportunities to communicate and market your self and how you can help.
Developing your brand
During the development of "BrandYou" you need to ask yourself some basic questions.
What are my skills , knowledge and talent.
Skills are something which you can do. It is how to do certain things. The accountant knows how to prepare a balance sheet, the surgeon knows how to operate, the software programmer knows how to write a piece of software.
Knowledge is awareness for example
Factual knowledge- which is fact based fro example you know the industry, each player, strengths and weakness , product line, manufacturing, …
Experiential knowledge - The knowledge which comes with the experience.
Talent is something which you do exceedingly well. It is because of certain thoughts and feeling repeatedly there is a route created in your brain.
The best part is knowledge and skills can be taught but the talent is in born.
It is the inner nature. You should brand yourself by your talent and have the knowledge and skills as the tool to polish and position this talent. It is easier to draw what is in rather than trying to put what is not there. Select your niche depending on your talent.
Let us take an example of Dhoni - a person who has risen in less than three years to super stardom. Today his popularity is even greater than Tendulkar - another person who has talent in truck loads.
Look how he has positioned himself. Is he a better cricketer in terms of skill than Dravid, Ganguly or Tendulkar . The answer is No. Is he more knowledgeable than the so many other cricketers both Indian and foreigners. Again the answer is No.
What is his talent ?
1) He is cool under pressure, he does not get panicky . Remember three finals -20-20 world cup, Indo Australia tri series and IPL, two he won and the last one he lost but he was cool and calm whilemaking his moveS. In fact the IPL final when he lost the match on the last ball, he with his team went into the huddle and said we played good cricket and we would celebrate it. There was no shame and sadness.. He commented that his team has admitted that they made mistakes as a team - the team made fielding and bowling and batting errors.
2) He backs his people and instills passion in his players. You could see the players ready to die for him.
Packaging your brand
A lot of money is spent on the packaging of the brands. The packaging is as critical as the product. As it is the first interface or touch point between the brand and the consumer Companies spend tons of money on the packaging of their goods and services. As an individual , the packaging of self on a basic level is the way one dresses, speaks , have likes and dislikes, spends his /her leisure time.
On an advanced level -your team, your vision, how you come across in your interaction constitutes the packaging.
Let us take the example of two of the most successful skippers in IPL - Shane Warne and Dhoni. As far as packaging is concerned - you cannot have two people who are more different from each other .
In todays world of noise and limited attention span the packaging sometimes is as important as the brand especially. in the initial phase .
One word of caution do not mistake packaging for brand or try to bluff people by copying packaging for a brand which you are not.
Treat mistakes as experience
In the quest for the mastery, you will fall , you need to get up and walk . Wipro founder- Azim Premji has said if you are meeting 80% of your goal you are doing fine but if you are achieving 100 % of your goal then you are not trying enough, the standards are too low. Raise your bar and stretch your goals..
When Dhoni was asked, how he plans to maintain his position of India`s captain, he said, "We will win more matches than we lose." He didn`t say that he will win them all, because he knows that losing is a lesson towards winning. A lot of us drive ourselves crazy by expecting to win every time we get on with our work. There will be good deals and bad deals, good days and bad days; success is about creating the good ones more often than the bad ones.
Never Be Satisfied
Branding self is not a onetime activity. We need to constantly reinvent pick up new skills, exposure into the sunrise industries, regions or functions. There is a need to revolutionize the portfolio of skills every five years. This is a minimum survival necessity. Changing may be painful, but we need to get out of our comfort zone. Remember : be distinct ... or be extinct. So sharpen you saw. As Stephen Covey says in the book -Seven Habits of Highly effective people.
Let us see some of the celebrity to see how consciously they have branded themselves. We can also become a brand and a celebrity in our own narrow chosen field.
Amir Khan -
Brand- perfectionist, only does good work , serious about his work , focused., different..
In a world occupied by the entertainers, gloss and glamour Amir Khan has differentiated himself by his becoming very selective and focused. His packaging- reflects his way of dressing, taking the personality of the character. It is so successful that Shahrukh Khan has to copy the same strategy for Om Shanti Om- by keeping long hairs and having six packs.
Vijay Mallya -
Brand -Ostentatious, Show man, Live life Kingsize.-
Through his parties, hobnobbing with celebrities, kingfisher calendar, yacht, Formula 1 team, IPL team, aircraft. He has build the aura of hedonism.
Sania Mirza-
Brand-Aggressive, in your face, fun loving., making a statement.
Sania Mirza - very aggressive in the matches , wearing T-shirts with provocative messages and wearing ornaments like prominent nose ring.
God-Shiva-Mahadeva
Shiva is the god of the yogis, self-controlled and celibate, Devoid of any desires is clothed only with deer skin and has no comforts, pleasures… residing in a cave . It represents positive sense of the shedding of old habits. He is the destroyer or transformer.
God Vishnu
Vishnu is often represented resting on the coiled serpent Shesha, with Vishnu`s consort Lakshmi massaging his feet. He is a protector and preserver . He has four hands and he is wearing lots of ornaments . Resting in luxury and comfort .
Think hard and Dig deep inside yourself and find out. Once you have your message down, clear and concise, make the opportunities to communicate and market your self and how you can help.
Developing your brand
During the development of "BrandYou" you need to ask yourself some basic questions.
What are my skills , knowledge and talent.
Skills are something which you can do. It is how to do certain things. The accountant knows how to prepare a balance sheet, the surgeon knows how to operate, the software programmer knows how to write a piece of software.
Knowledge is awareness for example
Factual knowledge- which is fact based fro example you know the industry, each player, strengths and weakness , product line, manufacturing, …
Experiential knowledge - The knowledge which comes with the experience.
Talent is something which you do exceedingly well. It is because of certain thoughts and feeling repeatedly there is a route created in your brain.
The best part is knowledge and skills can be taught but the talent is in born.
It is the inner nature. You should brand yourself by your talent and have the knowledge and skills as the tool to polish and position this talent. It is easier to draw what is in rather than trying to put what is not there. Select your niche depending on your talent.
Let us take an example of Dhoni - a person who has risen in less than three years to super stardom. Today his popularity is even greater than Tendulkar - another person who has talent in truck loads.
Look how he has positioned himself. Is he a better cricketer in terms of skill than Dravid, Ganguly or Tendulkar . The answer is No. Is he more knowledgeable than the so many other cricketers both Indian and foreigners. Again the answer is No.
What is his talent ?
1) He is cool under pressure, he does not get panicky . Remember three finals -20-20 world cup, Indo Australia tri series and IPL, two he won and the last one he lost but he was cool and calm whilemaking his moveS. In fact the IPL final when he lost the match on the last ball, he with his team went into the huddle and said we played good cricket and we would celebrate it. There was no shame and sadness.. He commented that his team has admitted that they made mistakes as a team - the team made fielding and bowling and batting errors.
2) He backs his people and instills passion in his players. You could see the players ready to die for him.
Packaging your brand
A lot of money is spent on the packaging of the brands. The packaging is as critical as the product. As it is the first interface or touch point between the brand and the consumer Companies spend tons of money on the packaging of their goods and services. As an individual , the packaging of self on a basic level is the way one dresses, speaks , have likes and dislikes, spends his /her leisure time.
On an advanced level -your team, your vision, how you come across in your interaction constitutes the packaging.
Let us take the example of two of the most successful skippers in IPL - Shane Warne and Dhoni. As far as packaging is concerned - you cannot have two people who are more different from each other .
In todays world of noise and limited attention span the packaging sometimes is as important as the brand especially. in the initial phase .
One word of caution do not mistake packaging for brand or try to bluff people by copying packaging for a brand which you are not.
Treat mistakes as experience
In the quest for the mastery, you will fall , you need to get up and walk . Wipro founder- Azim Premji has said if you are meeting 80% of your goal you are doing fine but if you are achieving 100 % of your goal then you are not trying enough, the standards are too low. Raise your bar and stretch your goals..
When Dhoni was asked, how he plans to maintain his position of India`s captain, he said, "We will win more matches than we lose." He didn`t say that he will win them all, because he knows that losing is a lesson towards winning. A lot of us drive ourselves crazy by expecting to win every time we get on with our work. There will be good deals and bad deals, good days and bad days; success is about creating the good ones more often than the bad ones.
Never Be Satisfied
Branding self is not a onetime activity. We need to constantly reinvent pick up new skills, exposure into the sunrise industries, regions or functions. There is a need to revolutionize the portfolio of skills every five years. This is a minimum survival necessity. Changing may be painful, but we need to get out of our comfort zone. Remember : be distinct ... or be extinct. So sharpen you saw. As Stephen Covey says in the book -Seven Habits of Highly effective people.
Let us see some of the celebrity to see how consciously they have branded themselves. We can also become a brand and a celebrity in our own narrow chosen field.
Amir Khan -
Brand- perfectionist, only does good work , serious about his work , focused., different..
In a world occupied by the entertainers, gloss and glamour Amir Khan has differentiated himself by his becoming very selective and focused. His packaging- reflects his way of dressing, taking the personality of the character. It is so successful that Shahrukh Khan has to copy the same strategy for Om Shanti Om- by keeping long hairs and having six packs.
Vijay Mallya -
Brand -Ostentatious, Show man, Live life Kingsize.-
Through his parties, hobnobbing with celebrities, kingfisher calendar, yacht, Formula 1 team, IPL team, aircraft. He has build the aura of hedonism.
Sania Mirza-
Brand-Aggressive, in your face, fun loving., making a statement.
Sania Mirza - very aggressive in the matches , wearing T-shirts with provocative messages and wearing ornaments like prominent nose ring.
God-Shiva-Mahadeva
Shiva is the god of the yogis, self-controlled and celibate, Devoid of any desires is clothed only with deer skin and has no comforts, pleasures… residing in a cave . It represents positive sense of the shedding of old habits. He is the destroyer or transformer.
God Vishnu
Vishnu is often represented resting on the coiled serpent Shesha, with Vishnu`s consort Lakshmi massaging his feet. He is a protector and preserver . He has four hands and he is wearing lots of ornaments . Resting in luxury and comfort .
50 Facts to know...!!!
1 The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
*************
2 Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
*************
3 Of all the words in the English language, the word `set` has the most definitions!
*************
5 "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
*************
6 "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
*************
7 In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
*************
8 A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!
*************
9 Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
*************
10 You can`t kill yourself by holding your breath
*************
11 There is a city called Rome on every continent.
*************
12 It`s against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland!
*************
13 Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
*************
14 Horatio Nelson, one of England`s most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
*************
15 The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
*************
16 Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
*************
17 Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
*************
18 The elephant is the only mammal that can`t jump!
*************
19 One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
*************
20 Like fingerprints, everyone`s tongue print is different!
*************
21 The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
*************
22 Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails! Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
*************
23 The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
*************
24 A Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
*************
25 Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.
*************
26 Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
*************
27 Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
*************
28 Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren`t added to it.
*************
29 On average a hedgehog`s heart beats 300 times a minute.
*************
30 More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
*************
31 The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
*************
32More people are allergic to cow`s milk than any other food.
*************
33Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
*************
34 The placement of a donkey`s eyes in its` heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
*************
35The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
*************
36 Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
*************
37 It`s against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
*************
38 You`re born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
*************
39 Some worms will eat themselves if they can`t find any food!
*************
40 Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
*************
41 It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
*************
42 The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
*************
43 The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
*************
44 Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not
*************
45 Slugs have 4 noses.
*************
46 Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
*************
47 A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
*************
48 A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
*************
49 The average person laughs 10 times a day!
*************
50 An ostrich`s eye is bigger than its brain
*************
2 Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.
*************
3 Of all the words in the English language, the word `set` has the most definitions!
*************
5 "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
*************
6 "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
*************
7 In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child
*************
8 A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off!
*************
9 Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
*************
10 You can`t kill yourself by holding your breath
*************
11 There is a city called Rome on every continent.
*************
12 It`s against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland!
*************
13 Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!
*************
14 Horatio Nelson, one of England`s most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness.
*************
15 The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London
*************
16 Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
*************
17 Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!
*************
18 The elephant is the only mammal that can`t jump!
*************
19 One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
*************
20 Like fingerprints, everyone`s tongue print is different!
*************
21 The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
*************
22 Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails! Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!
*************
23 The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
*************
24 A Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
*************
25 Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.
*************
26 Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.
*************
27 Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
*************
28 Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren`t added to it.
*************
29 On average a hedgehog`s heart beats 300 times a minute.
*************
30 More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
*************
31 The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.
*************
32More people are allergic to cow`s milk than any other food.
*************
33Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
*************
34 The placement of a donkey`s eyes in its` heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!
*************
35The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
*************
36 Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
*************
37 It`s against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.
*************
38 You`re born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.
*************
39 Some worms will eat themselves if they can`t find any food!
*************
40 Dolphins sleep with one eye open!
*************
41 It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
*************
42 The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!
*************
43 The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
*************
44 Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not
*************
45 Slugs have 4 noses.
*************
46 Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.
*************
47 A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!
*************
48 A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
*************
49 The average person laughs 10 times a day!
*************
50 An ostrich`s eye is bigger than its brain
SWOT Analysis: A Lesson to remember.
SWOT Analysis is an effective method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, and to examine the Opportunities and Threats you face. Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes which can be usefully made.
SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn.
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product. Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing market such as the Internet. A threat could be a new competitor in your home market. During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It`s that simple.
To carry out a SWOT Analysis write down answers to the following questions:
Strengths:
What are your advantages?
What do you do well?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don`t be modest, be realistic. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
Weaknesses:
What could be improved?
What is done badly?
What should be avoided?
Again this should be considered from an internal and external basis - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don`t see? Do your competitors do any better? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities:
Where are the good chances facing you?
What are the interesting trends?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
Changes in government policy related to your field
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.
Local Events
Threats:
What obstacles do you face?
What is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Carrying out this analysis is will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.
A word of caution, SWOT analysis can be very subjective. At time two people rarely come-up with the same final version of SWOT.
Now, you have become knowlegable about SWOT, it’s high time now you take a pencil and paper and carry out SWOT about yourself, your Organization and its Products/Services, your Family or practical whatever you are concerned about and want to improve. This is one of the very powerful tool to do so.
“Knowing is Knowing and Doing is Doing, Knowing and Doing are two different things”
SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. Once key issues have been identified, they feed into marketing objectives. It is a very popular tool with marketing students because it is quick and easy to learn.
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. For example, a strength could be your specialist marketing expertise. A weakness could be the lack of a new product. Opportunities and threats are external factors. For example, an opportunity could be a developing market such as the Internet. A threat could be a new competitor in your home market. During the SWOT exercise, list factors in the relevant boxes. It`s that simple.
To carry out a SWOT Analysis write down answers to the following questions:
Strengths:
What are your advantages?
What do you do well?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don`t be modest, be realistic. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
Weaknesses:
What could be improved?
What is done badly?
What should be avoided?
Again this should be considered from an internal and external basis - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don`t see? Do your competitors do any better? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities:
Where are the good chances facing you?
What are the interesting trends?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
Changes in government policy related to your field
Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.
Local Events
Threats:
What obstacles do you face?
What is your competition doing?
Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
Is changing technology threatening your position?
Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Carrying out this analysis is will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.
A word of caution, SWOT analysis can be very subjective. At time two people rarely come-up with the same final version of SWOT.
Now, you have become knowlegable about SWOT, it’s high time now you take a pencil and paper and carry out SWOT about yourself, your Organization and its Products/Services, your Family or practical whatever you are concerned about and want to improve. This is one of the very powerful tool to do so.
“Knowing is Knowing and Doing is Doing, Knowing and Doing are two different things”
Evaluate your Self-Esteem
Self esteem is your opinion of yourself. High self esteem is a good opinion of yourself and low self esteem is a bad opinion of yourself.
Some people think that self-esteem means confidence - and confidence comes into it - but it`s rather more than that.
There are any number of apparently confident people who can do marvelous things but who have poor self-esteem.
Many people in the public eye fall into this category. Actors, comedians and singers in particular can glow with assurance on stage, yet off-stage feel desperately insecure.
Think of the late Princess of Wales or Marilyn Monroe and you`ll see that public adulation is no guarantee of self-belief.
The word `esteem` comes from a Latin word that means `to estimate`. Self-esteem is how you estimate yourself.
To do that, you need to ask yourself certain questions.
Do I like myself?
Do I think I`m a good human being?
Am I someone deserving of love?
Do I deserve happiness?
Do I feel deep down that I`m an okay person?
People with low self-esteem find it hard to answer yes to these questions. Perhaps you are one of them. If so, what can you do?
How can you improve your self-esteem?
You can begin by accepting that you are certainly not alone. Masses of people have this problem.
Secondly, take on board the fact you are a wonderful, special person - and there is no one quite like you.
Not only are your fingerprints and DNA different from everyone else`s (unless you have an identical twin), but your mind and how it thinks and operates is totally your own.
This means that out of six billion people in the world, you are a one-off. So if nature has bothered to make you unique, don`t you feel you should accept that you`re important, and that you have as much right as anyone else to be on this planet?
You have other rights, too. One of them is the right to make mistakes. Don`t forget that `to err is human` and most of us learn through getting things wrong before we get them right.
Furthermore, we have the right to respect ourselves - and to be respected. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, we have the right to say yes or no for ourselves.
Put behaviour in perspective
It`s not healthy to condemn ourselves because of one aspect of our behaviour.
Sometimes we feel we are `no good` because we have failed an exam or lost a job, or we have been unkind or because we are having an affair.
All of us have many aspects to our personalities, and our current behaviour is just one of those aspects.
Try not to believe that the whole of you is hopeless, unkind or a failure, when really it is just one part of your behaviour that may - or may not - be these things.
Halt destructive thoughts
Many people with poor self-esteem think they`re not very important and their views carry no weight. Is this you?
If so, try to stop these destructive thoughts because if you go around believing them, you`ll encourage other people to believe them too.
Instead, start thinking of yourself as someone who has rights, opinions and ideas that are just as valid as anyone else`s. This will help you to improve your self-esteem.
Techniques to improve self-esteem
10-minute technique
People with poor self-esteem often fail to give themselves enough time and space. So find 10 minutes every day to be alone, and to just sit and do nothing.
Some people find it helpful to close their eyes and imagine a country scene or the sight and sound of waves gently lapping against the shore.
During this 10 minutes, allow yourself to feel peaceful and happy. Enjoy this time. It is yours - and yours alone.
Accentuate the positive
Often we make ourselves unhappy because we go over and over mistakes we have made. But we can improve our self-esteem if we re-think the things we believe we have done wrong or badly.
For example, one of my clients has to give presentations at work. He used to mentally beat himself up after every one and stew over tiny errors.
Now he writes an account of each presentation shortly after he`s given it. He writes about all the things that went well.
He doesn`t need to write about the bad things - they will stick in his memory and he will try hard not to repeat them - but he will forget the good things unless he writes them down.
So when you have a bad day, or something goes wrong in your relationship or at work, write an account of what went right with that episode, not what went wrong.
The results will surprise you - and improve how you see yourself.
List 50 things you like about yourself
If you`re seriously lacking in self-esteem this could take weeks, but persevere.
You can write down your characteristics.
You can include things about your looks.
You can even write about the things you do. For example, you may buy a copy of The Big Issue on a day when you`re short of money, or you may help an elderly woman in the supermarket when you`re rushing to
get your own shopping done.
When you have reached your 50 good things, keep the list somewhere you can see it all the time.
Next comes the harder part. Try to record one more new thing you like about yourself every day for the rest of your life.
Getting and giving criticism
One of the areas that people with low self-esteem have greatest difficulty with is criticism - giving as well as receiving it. Both can be extraordinarily difficult.
Some individuals are demolished by criticism, but it`s something we can`t avoid.
Criticism is often unfair, and when it is we need to counter it by calmly putting our own case across. But some criticism is justified, and when we`re sensible we can learn from it.
How to deal with criticism
Often when we`re criticized, we`re so hurt that we start excusing ourselves and rebutting what`s being said without really listening to it.
Listen to criticism without interrupting.
If there are aspects to the criticism that are valid, begin by agreeing with those points.
If parts are unclear, ask for clarification.
If you realize you were wrong, say so and apologize.
If criticism is wrong or unfair, smile and say: `I`m afraid I don`t agree with you.`
It takes a lot of practice to feel and act this way.
How to give criticism
People with poor-self esteem find it hard to dish out criticism. Many avoid promotion because they can`t face the prospect of being in authority and having to criticize others.
So how can you learn to criticize when you have to?
Keep calm.
Make your criticism at an appropriate time. Don`t wait until you`re so fed up, you`re furious - you`re bound to make a mess of it.
Take some deep breaths, then try a technique called the `criticism sandwich`. This means you say something nice, then insert the criticism, then end with another positive.
Make sure you only criticise the behaviour, not the person.
An example would be: `Your work is usually great, but it`s not quite right today. I`ll have to ask you to re-do that report. I know it`s unlike you to get things wrong, so don`t worry.`
Say I not you
You might notice that people who are fair when they criticise tend to use the word `I` rather than the word `you.` This is because the word I shows you`re in control and that you`ve thought about what you`re saying.
All too frequently we don`t say anything initially, which is when we should address the problem. Instead, we bottle it up until we explode. Then we use the words `you`, `you`re` and `your` all the time.
We say: `You`re incompetent; you`ve missed the point; your work isn`t up to scratch.`
These phrases sound angry and accusatory. They also show that we`re not in control. And after uttering them, we generally feel worse about ourselves and our self-esteem plummets.
How to say no
These tips are just as handy when it comes to standing up for yourself. They`re useful when you want to say no without feeling guilty. Just keep calm and use the word I.
Say: `I won`t be coming to that party with you.` Or: `I`m afraid I can`t make it to tea on Saturday because I need to go shopping.` Or: `I`m sorry, I can`t work late tonight, but if you need me to, I can stay tomorrow.`
People with poor self-esteem are always getting talked into doing things they don`t want to do. It must stop if you want to value yourself more.
Some people think that self-esteem means confidence - and confidence comes into it - but it`s rather more than that.
There are any number of apparently confident people who can do marvelous things but who have poor self-esteem.
Many people in the public eye fall into this category. Actors, comedians and singers in particular can glow with assurance on stage, yet off-stage feel desperately insecure.
Think of the late Princess of Wales or Marilyn Monroe and you`ll see that public adulation is no guarantee of self-belief.
The word `esteem` comes from a Latin word that means `to estimate`. Self-esteem is how you estimate yourself.
To do that, you need to ask yourself certain questions.
Do I like myself?
Do I think I`m a good human being?
Am I someone deserving of love?
Do I deserve happiness?
Do I feel deep down that I`m an okay person?
People with low self-esteem find it hard to answer yes to these questions. Perhaps you are one of them. If so, what can you do?
How can you improve your self-esteem?
You can begin by accepting that you are certainly not alone. Masses of people have this problem.
Secondly, take on board the fact you are a wonderful, special person - and there is no one quite like you.
Not only are your fingerprints and DNA different from everyone else`s (unless you have an identical twin), but your mind and how it thinks and operates is totally your own.
This means that out of six billion people in the world, you are a one-off. So if nature has bothered to make you unique, don`t you feel you should accept that you`re important, and that you have as much right as anyone else to be on this planet?
You have other rights, too. One of them is the right to make mistakes. Don`t forget that `to err is human` and most of us learn through getting things wrong before we get them right.
Furthermore, we have the right to respect ourselves - and to be respected. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, we have the right to say yes or no for ourselves.
Put behaviour in perspective
It`s not healthy to condemn ourselves because of one aspect of our behaviour.
Sometimes we feel we are `no good` because we have failed an exam or lost a job, or we have been unkind or because we are having an affair.
All of us have many aspects to our personalities, and our current behaviour is just one of those aspects.
Try not to believe that the whole of you is hopeless, unkind or a failure, when really it is just one part of your behaviour that may - or may not - be these things.
Halt destructive thoughts
Many people with poor self-esteem think they`re not very important and their views carry no weight. Is this you?
If so, try to stop these destructive thoughts because if you go around believing them, you`ll encourage other people to believe them too.
Instead, start thinking of yourself as someone who has rights, opinions and ideas that are just as valid as anyone else`s. This will help you to improve your self-esteem.
Techniques to improve self-esteem
10-minute technique
People with poor self-esteem often fail to give themselves enough time and space. So find 10 minutes every day to be alone, and to just sit and do nothing.
Some people find it helpful to close their eyes and imagine a country scene or the sight and sound of waves gently lapping against the shore.
During this 10 minutes, allow yourself to feel peaceful and happy. Enjoy this time. It is yours - and yours alone.
Accentuate the positive
Often we make ourselves unhappy because we go over and over mistakes we have made. But we can improve our self-esteem if we re-think the things we believe we have done wrong or badly.
For example, one of my clients has to give presentations at work. He used to mentally beat himself up after every one and stew over tiny errors.
Now he writes an account of each presentation shortly after he`s given it. He writes about all the things that went well.
He doesn`t need to write about the bad things - they will stick in his memory and he will try hard not to repeat them - but he will forget the good things unless he writes them down.
So when you have a bad day, or something goes wrong in your relationship or at work, write an account of what went right with that episode, not what went wrong.
The results will surprise you - and improve how you see yourself.
List 50 things you like about yourself
If you`re seriously lacking in self-esteem this could take weeks, but persevere.
You can write down your characteristics.
You can include things about your looks.
You can even write about the things you do. For example, you may buy a copy of The Big Issue on a day when you`re short of money, or you may help an elderly woman in the supermarket when you`re rushing to
get your own shopping done.
When you have reached your 50 good things, keep the list somewhere you can see it all the time.
Next comes the harder part. Try to record one more new thing you like about yourself every day for the rest of your life.
Getting and giving criticism
One of the areas that people with low self-esteem have greatest difficulty with is criticism - giving as well as receiving it. Both can be extraordinarily difficult.
Some individuals are demolished by criticism, but it`s something we can`t avoid.
Criticism is often unfair, and when it is we need to counter it by calmly putting our own case across. But some criticism is justified, and when we`re sensible we can learn from it.
How to deal with criticism
Often when we`re criticized, we`re so hurt that we start excusing ourselves and rebutting what`s being said without really listening to it.
Listen to criticism without interrupting.
If there are aspects to the criticism that are valid, begin by agreeing with those points.
If parts are unclear, ask for clarification.
If you realize you were wrong, say so and apologize.
If criticism is wrong or unfair, smile and say: `I`m afraid I don`t agree with you.`
It takes a lot of practice to feel and act this way.
How to give criticism
People with poor-self esteem find it hard to dish out criticism. Many avoid promotion because they can`t face the prospect of being in authority and having to criticize others.
So how can you learn to criticize when you have to?
Keep calm.
Make your criticism at an appropriate time. Don`t wait until you`re so fed up, you`re furious - you`re bound to make a mess of it.
Take some deep breaths, then try a technique called the `criticism sandwich`. This means you say something nice, then insert the criticism, then end with another positive.
Make sure you only criticise the behaviour, not the person.
An example would be: `Your work is usually great, but it`s not quite right today. I`ll have to ask you to re-do that report. I know it`s unlike you to get things wrong, so don`t worry.`
Say I not you
You might notice that people who are fair when they criticise tend to use the word `I` rather than the word `you.` This is because the word I shows you`re in control and that you`ve thought about what you`re saying.
All too frequently we don`t say anything initially, which is when we should address the problem. Instead, we bottle it up until we explode. Then we use the words `you`, `you`re` and `your` all the time.
We say: `You`re incompetent; you`ve missed the point; your work isn`t up to scratch.`
These phrases sound angry and accusatory. They also show that we`re not in control. And after uttering them, we generally feel worse about ourselves and our self-esteem plummets.
How to say no
These tips are just as handy when it comes to standing up for yourself. They`re useful when you want to say no without feeling guilty. Just keep calm and use the word I.
Say: `I won`t be coming to that party with you.` Or: `I`m afraid I can`t make it to tea on Saturday because I need to go shopping.` Or: `I`m sorry, I can`t work late tonight, but if you need me to, I can stay tomorrow.`
People with poor self-esteem are always getting talked into doing things they don`t want to do. It must stop if you want to value yourself more.
21st Century ::::: We are becoming lesser by the day
21st Century....
We are becoming lesser by the day
Our communication - Wireless
Our dress - Topless
Our telephone - Cordless
Our cooking - Fireless
Our youth - Jobless
Our food - Fatless
Our labour - Effortless
Our conduct - Worthless
Our relation - Loveless
Our attitude - Careless
Our feelings - Heartless
Our politics - Shameless
Our education - Valueless
Our follies - Countless
Our arguments - Baseless
Our Job - Thankless
Our Salary - Very Very less
Our emails - useless (especially this one)!
We are becoming lesser by the day
Our communication - Wireless
Our dress - Topless
Our telephone - Cordless
Our cooking - Fireless
Our youth - Jobless
Our food - Fatless
Our labour - Effortless
Our conduct - Worthless
Our relation - Loveless
Our attitude - Careless
Our feelings - Heartless
Our politics - Shameless
Our education - Valueless
Our follies - Countless
Our arguments - Baseless
Our Job - Thankless
Our Salary - Very Very less
Our emails - useless (especially this one)!
Interesting Facts You Might Be Unaware
1. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
2. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt"
3. Almonds are members of the peach family.
4. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
5. The dot over the letter `i` is called a tittle.
6. Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
7. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
8. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."
9. There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
10. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosis.
11. The only other word with the same amount of letters is its plural: pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosesl.
12. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangiha ngakoauauotamate aturipukakapikim aungahoronukupok aiwe-nuakit natahu, a New Zealand hill.
13. Los Angeles`s full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reinade los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size,L.A.
14. An ostrich`s eye is bigger than its brain.
15. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
16. Alfred Hitchcock didn`t have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
17. Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.
18. Donald Duck`s middle name is Fauntleroy.
19. The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
21. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
23. There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the,there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
24. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
27. It`s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
28. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
30. The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti
31. `Stewardesses` is the longest English word that is typed with only the left hand.
33. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways; the following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
34. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
35. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
36. Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian seal for that reason.
37. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
38. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."
39. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
2. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt"
3. Almonds are members of the peach family.
4. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
5. The dot over the letter `i` is called a tittle.
6. Ingrown toenails are hereditary.
7. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
8. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."
9. There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
10. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosis.
11. The only other word with the same amount of letters is its plural: pneumonoultramicros copicsilicovolca noconiosesl.
12. The longest place-name still in use is Taumatawhakatangiha ngakoauauotamate aturipukakapikim aungahoronukupok aiwe-nuakit natahu, a New Zealand hill.
13. Los Angeles`s full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reinade los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size,L.A.
14. An ostrich`s eye is bigger than its brain.
15. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
16. Alfred Hitchcock didn`t have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
17. Telly Savalas and Louis Armstrong died on their birthdays.
18. Donald Duck`s middle name is Fauntleroy.
19. The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
21. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
23. There is a seven-letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the,there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.
24. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
27. It`s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
28. Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by bouncing them; a fully ripened cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball.
30. The letters KGB stand for Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti
31. `Stewardesses` is the longest English word that is typed with only the left hand.
33. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways; the following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
34. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
35. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
36. Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian seal for that reason.
37. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
38. The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."
39. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
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