Luck By Chance

Disclaimer: I have been thinking about this for almost the entire of last week. I am not the subject matter expert and would welcome my readers to please post their thoughts on this blog. This thought is more driven by my mind than my heart. I am not trying to demean anyone’s thoughts & beliefs.

Do you believe in a simple four letter word called LUCK? Are you one who would pick up the newspaper and skip the headlines to first check your daily astrological forecast? Or switch your television and check out what’s in store for today? Going by the no. of TV channels serials and newspapers columns in circulation, I am sure a lot of you would feature in that list (including me). Sometimes these forecasts are head on and sometimes they don’t. Logically and statistically speaking there are 6.9 billion people (click here for latest update) on this globe and divided by the 12 Zodiac signs, hence each forecast caters to an audience of 500 millions people of the same star sign.

When we look around us, we find that some people are more successful than others. We are living in this world of limited opportunity in which a lot of us claim not being so-called “lucky”. I guess that one of the biggest delusions of success is that successful people don’t fail while the truth is that they fail more times than other people. 

One of my friend asked me how much weightage would you give to Luck against Ability? I am very confused and in split mind in my thought process. I would give it a 90%-10% in favour of ability. I am confident that a lot of people will not agree with me as stroke of luck definitely is also a factor which cannot be ignored. There can surely be a lot of instances like buying a lottery ticket, lucky draw, windfall gain where ability stands no chance. However in normal day to day living, I quote this very famous line- "Success is when Preparation meets Opportunity."  Without ability we would not reach anywhere even if we are lucky.

Some of the factors which contributes to success more than luck

Meet

Opportunity Half Way

– People who have taken initiatives and have been more proactive have made more progress than people who kept waiting for the perfect time to come.

Consistency pays – Try, Try till you succeed. Success has often come to those who have been disciplined in their approach and not lost their path after failures.

“Fortune Favours the Brave” - We should not bank on chance to become lucky…rather we should continue our efforts to reach our target.

Diligence is the mother of good luck. ~ Benjamin Franklin.  

This list is surely incomplete and I urge you to share your thoughts on this as this would bring out some more perspective on this.

I leave you all with this thought – “Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

Regards

Bhupesh

Setting priorities Right!!

Ever discovered your car insurance expired a week ago, just immediately after you had an accident? Ever happened that you wanted to follow some recreational vocation but never found time? Ever wished for 26 hours in a day than 24 as you always have so much to do?  Ever happened to you that you were not hold on to your ‘new year resolutions’ for more than a week?

How many times have we pushed back a lot of important things because at that time we did not feel it was urgent? We are so busy in our lives that it is very difficult to decide between what was only urgent & not important and what was important but not urgent. Most likely, we are so engaged in our lives that we are left with no choice but to choose to do the urgent work first.

Dr Steven Covey’s “Seven habits of highly effective people” states “first thing first” as the third habit for being effective. “To live a more balanced existence, you have to recognize that not doing everything that comes along is okay. There's no need to overextend yourself. All it takes is realizing that it's all right to say no when necessary and then focus on your highest priorities. It is about life management as well as your purpose, values, roles, and priorities. What are "first things?" First things are those things you, personally, find of most worth. If you put first things first, you are organizing and managing time and events according to the personal priorities.” Pareto’s principle states that 20% of your activities will account for 80 percent of your success. When you have to choose among several tasks, there are several prioritization tools that we can use. The very basic of such a tool is dividing our activity into the four quadrants of important & urgent. However, to begin to do, that let’s quickly define ‘Important’ & ‘Urgent’.

Urgent – something that has to be attended “NOW” else we might have to face some consequences. Eg. Fire Alarm / medical emergency/ answering a ringing phone

Important – Having great value, influence or effect.

Now, we need to run our work on these filters and ensure that we focus majority of the time only on the important things. However, we can’t imagine ourselves in a situation where everything is going as per plan and we don’t need any fire-fighting!! Hence, we would definitely find fire-items taking away majority of our time.

Sometimes priorities will keep shifting with passing time. We would need to juggle between tasks. On balance, though, we need to ensure our priorities are consistent with our personal goals and the goals of our organizations. Doing this requires a periodic review, and a weekly planning session is ideal for this.

I am sure that most of the people reading this would already know whatever I am sharing with you today. But when it comes to application, it is very important to be able to determine what is important to us before we can use this tool.

To sum it up, a battle well planned is a battle half-won !! 

The Big Picture

Some of us would have seen those mammoth hoardings of a very popular insurance company with the tag line “YOU ARE THE BIG PICTURE”. 

As individuals we come across lot of instances where we ask for directions, guidance help from our elders, seniors, friends because we get lost in doing a lot of micro things that we loose the big picture.

What is “BIG PICTURE”? To me, it’s like a road map which shows me where I am and the road I am going to take to reach to my destination.

I would like to share the story of the Six Blind Men who described one animal as snake, a wall, a tree, a spear, a fan and a rope. The animal in question turned out to be…………………….. A ELEPHANT? Each of the six blind men described what they felt by touching the elephant to each other. I am sure you can understand how difficult it would have been for them to see the complete picture.

This small story may be true for each one of us as well. The way we look at the world may just be a reflection of what people close to us think about and might not be the true or the complete picture.

A lot of times we are reminded by our good friends to stop looking at the finer details and utilise most of our times in search of perfection ending up loosing the big picture.

Have you ever tried the Google Earth software which lets you zoom out and lets you see the same place from higher altitude with a broader perspective?  Can we have something like that for us as well? Wishful thinking…but the same is not available yet for us to use in our personal or professional lives.

Don’t see the world from the eyes of others and believe it, decide your goal, plan well towards it , take some calculated risks, be open for learning, read books and most importantly keep asking yourself the million dollar question regularly………….”What’s your BIG PICTURE and where am I fitting in that today?”

The “Big Picture” helps us in the following ways…(and it goes without saying that feel free to add to this list..)

1. See the vision beforehand,

2. Size up the situation, taking into consideration lot of variables,

3. Seize the moment, when the timing is right.

I am sure you would be amazed that your perceptions about your surrounding will undergo a paradigm shift. 

I leave you with this thought “ People who are constantly looking at the whole
picture have the best chance of succeeding in any endeavor."- John Maxwell

Do share your thoughts on this and how you keep your tab on the BIG PICTURE.

Being Polite

I simply love the "Vodafone Delights' tag line "Isn't it nice when someone makes you feel special?"
I guess we all feel nice when we are given differential treatment.  So how about being someone else's reason of delight or even just giving them their due respect?

I am sure you would have heard the quote 'Do unto others, what you want others to do to you.' Be nice to people around you. Everytime we interact we people, remember that a smile, a wink, a raised hand, a small pat on the back, a firm handshake...that's all it takes to show your appreciation. A lot of times, we tend to believe that such small gestures dont make any difference. Think again, I am sure you would think otherwise.

I agree that while at work, it might be someone's duty to do a particular job and doesn't call for a 'thank you'. Yet, we should try to be polite with all those we interact.We should respect everyone and not look down upon anyone. As a team manager would agree, every team member is important in the team. Everyone in the team is like a piece of the jig-saw puzzle and the picture wouldn't be complete with each one of them. Just imagine a day when your maid wouldn't turn up, your office boy or the house keeping guy is on leave....the job they do isn't easy. So, respect that!

A lot of times, we might be facing the wrath of someone for no fault of ours. At times, with so much pressure, frustration and despair all around us we tend to lose our temperament and shout, even abuse people for a something they do which upsets us.  Look around, incidents of Road Rage is on the increase. Any provocation and our emotions just erupt like a volcano. It does not get square if we vent out all our frustration on someone else. 

 Let me clarify that being polite doesn't mean being a soft rubber that anyone can tread over you. If your team meber is not doing what he is supposed to do and deserves a dressing down, the same should be done in private and not in an open forum. I strongly believe that being polite and giving respect is a sign of strength and not weakness. Be strong, take charge of your emotions and channelise your energy. I know, its easier said than done.

What is your take on this ? Do post your views....

Milestone

Time surely flies….It’s been over a month today since I started my blog. Statistically speaking, this would be my tenth blog and there have been over 500 clicks on my blog. During the last 30 days, I found a lot of friends sharing their thoughts and encouraging me to continue writing. I would urge you to let me know your reactions after reading my blogs by using the Reaction Buttons, if not actually posting your comments. Also, feels nice to let you all know that one of my blogs “It’s ok to fail, sometimes” got posted on motivateus.com website on Diwali (05/11/10)...Folks,  I thank you for taking out time to read my blog. Your comments are solicited, so please do post how you felt about the discussion.

Milestone

The first example of a Milestone which comes to your mind if you have travelled by road, would be the milestone every kilometre on the highway to the destination. The milestone keeps telling us how much of the way we have travelled and how much more  to go.

Well, its been over 9 good years that  I have been working in the banking fraternity and this one word ”MILESTONE” is the basic element of all Target Planning & Execution.

I read the world famous book Dr. Stephen. R.Covey’s “Seven Habits” and I refer to the Second Habit which talks about “Begin with the End in Mind”.  

I quote a few lines from this chapter of the book... 

“When we begin with the end in mind, we have a personal direction to guide our daily activities, without which we will accomplish little toward our own goals. Beginning with the end in mind is part of the process of personal leadership, taking control of our own lives. All things are created twice. We create them first in our minds, and then we work to bring them into physical existence. By taking control of our own first creation, we can write or re-write our own scripts, thus taking some control and responsibility for the outcome.”

Once we know where we want to go, how do we track ourselves versus the targeted projection? Breaking this target into hourly / daily / weekly / biweekly / monthly / 6 monthly/ annual reviews, as the case might be, ensures that we are regularly checking our progress. The more disciplined we are in meeting our milestones, the higher our chances are of meeting our target.

I would want to highlight that Milestones are not necessarily related to our professional lives only. It is in fact required even more in our personal lives. For eg. – learning  a new language  or reading a particular book by June 2011. Other examples – turning 18 years old is a major milestone in a youth’s life / finishing Graduation / getting married / getting the first job / retirement etc.

It is very important to not just keep MILESTONES but also ensure that we are tracking it as well. Also, it is very essential that we celebrate our milestones. So how are you celebrating yours ?

I leave you all with the famous quote by the great Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So fix your goal and just set out on your Milestone with your “FIRST STEP”.  Remember to enjoy your milestones on the way. Godspeed !!

Attitude

'If u want to be successful, you got to be ready to be uncomfortable'

I remember reading this quote in an article on 'Attitude is everything'.  I think this is one of the truest statements of life. We tend to become complacent and want to continue in our comfort zone. It is really when we come out of this zone that we find success.

If we talk about inspiration from movies, one movie ' 3 idiots' has really been a great source of inspiration. The 'All is well' phase is nothing but an attitude only. We can't avoid facing a problem and certainly need to keep our cool. It takes time to build an attitude, but we can make a start today for a better tomorrow.

Well, in the same breath I would want to clarify that just having the attitude only wouldn't take you places. More so, if we tend to carry the wrong attitude, our lives are doomed.

I met a lot of candidates for job interviews who do mention 'positive attitude' as their strength but only a few could give any substantial example when asked about it. For me, it would be to continuing work on the goal with the same focus even in a situation where odds of success are low.

Take a look at Sachin Tendulkar's statistics...over 2 decades of sportsmanship (21 years, to be precise!)...plethora of records...yet his hunger for performance is all time high. I guess that is what indeed true performance is.

I am great fan of Virender Sehwag too. He got his own aggressive style which is his trademark. He can't be successful all the time but he doesn't let the failure affect his attitude / approach to the game. He continues to be a bowler's nightmare. There is indeed a fine line between attitude and over-confidence. We need to ensure that the latter doesn't overtake the former.

One more attitude we need to develop is ' do it right, the first time'. We save a lot of precious time if we get the job done correctly in the first go.

So, it is important not only to have an attitude, but also to have the RIGHT ATTITUDE.

I leave you with this thought – You might not have a good day everyday, but you can surely find something Good in everyday.

Do remember to share your views on this subject. Also, do click on the archive button on the right for reading other articles.

Benevolence

Do you think you can make a difference in someone's life? Is there something you can do to give back something good to the society? Do we have any responsibility towards the society we live in? Fortunately for me, I have been blessed to be a part of a multinational bank who believes in this philosophy. At my workplace, we call it "Make a Difference Day"  as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility Program and this is a day long employee engagement program where we get to interact with the needy people and provide medical facilities, health awareness and other related camps.

This provides us an opportunity to see how so many people live in some of the most unlivable conditions.  Honestly, it is very disturbing and depressing seeing how people manage to even exist in these conditions.  It makes me realise how important it is not to waste things as they are so priceless for so many people. Be it clean drinking water, toilet facilities or any other such basic necessity, everything such thing is a more like a dream-come-true for these people.We realise how important these basic things in life are and we need to value them. Ever since I started to be associated with these NGO's I make sure that as an individual and as a group we do something good for the not-so-privileged group. We have taken the responsibility of providing monthly ration for the children from an orphanage "Aasharan" in West Delhi. We try and spend atleast 2 hours with these children atleast once in a month. When I donated my young daughter's clothes (to which I was very sentimentally attached) to the infants, it gave me huge satisfaction that some one needed it more and got it.

Now, the question is can 1 day of so-called community service change so many lives? Well, I believe yes. I guess, it all begins with each one of us. A lot of times, we don't get time to come out and spend time for these activities. I urge you all who are reading this to take out some time / money / old clothes/ toys / books etc for the needy ones. I am sure if you do so, it will make someone smile and send blessings to the unknown donor. I agree with you that everything will not change if one person does something for them, but something will definitely change for one person who is the beneficiary.

It is not always your money that these kids require. For a start, you can get in touch with Jolly Verghese @ +91-11-25291848  ASHARAN ORPHANAGE A-46, New Multan Nagar, Surya Enclave,Rohtak Road, Delhi – 110 056, INDIA. Their website address is as follows - http://www.hopefoundation.org.in/children/asharan.aspx#

Do something for somebody else, however little it might look to you....you will feel GOOD !!!

Paradigm

One of the most applicable laws of physics in real life is the "law of inertia". We have tend to believe things to be the way we expect them to be...that I guess is what mindset is all about.
We come across words like "Paradigm Shift, Out of Box thinking etc" which refer to thinking beyond what we see. A paradigm shift means to have a sudden change in perception, a sudden change in point of view, of how you see things.

First of all, it is very important to know that as human beings it is very natural to develop mindsets.

Our conditioning also plays an important in this process. However, the same set of conditions can have seperate results on 2 different individuals.

An example I would like to share is where a drunkard had 2 children and he would come home drunk and beat his wife and children. When the children grew up, one turned absolutely sober and the other a complete drunkard.

I quote another example "If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to clamber out. But if you place it gently in a pot of tepid water and turn the heat on low, it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death." This is very true in our lives as well. Situations make us believe that we cannot come out of it.

So, the million dollar question is how do we come to know that we need  a paradigm shift ? Well, it's not easy to say the least. But we need to start with a open mind allowing new thoughts to come in. In totality the thing remains the same, however our intrepretation about it changes.

So, everytime you think that the problem you are facing is stronger than you, remind yourself about the elephant who is tied down by a weak chain which he couldn't break when he was younger. The strength is in your mind.

I leave you with a quote by Sir Edmund Hillary “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

Pressure

This word I am sure is onmi present in everyone's lives. Now let me clarify, I am not talking about blood pressure. I am talking about the pressure we undergo while we go about both our personal and professional life. And yes, it directly affects our B.P too !!

Just imagine a life without pressure.....no targets...no achievement...no coming first...no studies...no work..no incentives...no money...nothing. Well, life would become boring and dull.

What I am trying to say is that in this world where we have limited opportunities, there is the law of " Survival of the fittest". This is not related to the physical fitness but the mental strength. Pressure is good upto a limit because it helps us work in the direction we want to go. However, it we let pressure in beyond a point we start to feel it going to our head. Wish, if we could have a whistle like the one on top of a pressure cooker which blows beyond a certain pressure. But alas, no such priviledges are yet assigned to us human beings. Then, it that case we need to be our own whistle.
Most of the times, the pressure is created by the urgency of the matter, which at most times is created by us only. ie. Submitting reports on the last day..etc. Yes, at times there would be situations beyond your control. We need to keep a cool head while taking any action under pressure.
A simple way to release pressure is to plan our things in such a way that we complete our important work before it becomes urgent. Also, focus on doing one task at hand rather than worrying about everything at the same time and doing nothing. I have been a great fan of M.S.Dhoni who's been aptly titled "Captain Cool". Nothing gives a person so much advantage over others as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.

"All the pressures of the life can never hurt you unless you let them in like the water of ocean cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside"

Self Confidence

Self Confidence - The biggest achievements, victory or inventions have been done by people who have believed in themselves. Now, you will rightly point out that self confidence was not the only thing but also their hard work, determination and grit which made them see the day of success.  It is seen that believing in your own abilities along with putting in the required efforts will help us achieve what we want. Self confidence is just like the spark plug of an engine, which sets off the whole process. It is very important that we guard our self confidence from falling prey to failure.

We don't succeed in every attempt we make and at times success evades us for a long time. This is when our self confidence reaches the bottom. Always remind yourself of the following lines from the famous "Don't Quit" poem.

“Success is failure turned inside out

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt

And you never can tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems so far

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit!”

So next time you fail even after putting in all your efforts, don't lose your self confidence and promise yourself to bounce back with even better preparation.

However, there cannot be a situation where I am very confident about myself but not willing to do anything and yet expect success.    

A lot of times self confidence can quietly take the place of over confidence. It is good to be sure about your abilities but absolutely fatal to underestimate the problem. So never let the success go to your head.

At times, even a few words of encouragement are enough to restore our confidence. So next time you see someone losing his confidence, share those magic words " You can do it " with a pat on the back. It surely works !!!

What's your Goal ?

Majority of the people, who would be reading this, would agree with me that this question was last answered when they were facing the interview panel for a job. A question like “Where do you see yourself 3 years / 5 years from now” was actually to assess the preparedness / planning the candidate had done while applying for the job. Now that we got the job, did we actually look back and check whether we actually reached close to what we had said at the time. If you are honest to yourself, more than 70% of us would say “NO”.  Some of us, including me, wouldn’t even remember what they had said at the time of the interview. The reason was because at that time, we were more interested to get the job rather than actually plan where we wanted to be at the end of 5 years. We are so involved in day to day battles that we spend all our times fire fighting and forget where we had intended to reach after a certain time. It is very important that we keep track of our goals and measure our achievement against the target. This ensures that we don’t fall off track and loose sight of our goal. We also need to know the importance of having the right goals because having a wrong one is as or more dangerous than not having any goal at all. An ideal goal should be realistic, achievable, should be of prime importance to us and we should be willing to pay the price to achieve it.

As the saying goes, “there’s never a wrong time to do the right thing.” Do ask this question to yourself and make sure that you pen the answer down today.

It's ok to fail sometimes....

I am very sure that most of the people reading this would think that such statements are out dated and in this fast paced razor sharp life we get only one chance.
As a good coach / teacher / parent would agree, it is very important to taste failure for true success.
Life is not a battle but a war. No matter we lose a few battles, but the war must be won !!
The American Army, for instance, would only hire people for their elite team people who had sometimes in their careers failed and bounced back. The thought was if the person has not failed ever, it is difficult to know how he would react to failure / situation of hopelessness.
Another example of this is the vaccines injections we get when we are young. They help our body fight the diluted strains of virus and ensure that we are not harmed in our future lives.
The only caveat for this mantra is that we need to use it very judiciously. We cannot use this on each and every instance of failure where didn't even try to do something whole-heartedly.

Failure is not in falling, but in not getting up after falling.

So everytime you don't succeed, don't lower your targets but raise your own standards of attempt!!

If you liked reading it, do check out a few more of my blogs by clicking on "Blog Archive" icon on the top on the right hand side.

Learning

Life is the biggest teacher and there are 2 ways of learning in our lives. The first one is through our own experiences and the latter by other’s experiences. However, the following quote “Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional” is very true. I remember attending a workshop where the trainer asked a question “What is your experience?” Someone replied that it was 8 years. He asked “8 years or 8 times one year experience?". Basically what he was trying to make a point was whether we actually learned in the first year was brushed up in the subsequent years or we kept making the same mistakes every year without learning from our own experiences. When we look back in time, we realize that some of our biggest learning has come from our own failures. Though we can never guarantee success in every endeavor we undertake, the attempt in achieving the target has to be 100%. Every day we get new experiences either good or bad. The saying “when you fail in your attempt, never fail to attempt again” is old but still applicable.

Secondly, learning from other’s experiences is faster. Now in my view, there is a catch that we should not see the event in isolation but in totality.  We all undergo phases where we need some one to advice us because we are so glued to the situation that we are unable to see the bigger picture. If we look around ourselves for successful people, we find ‘discipline’ to be the most common trait amongst them. Discipline is the biggest asset in whatever field we are. Just by observing these people , you would realize why  they responded to a situation in a manner they did. Learning doesn’t only come from elderly people but from every person we meet in our daily lives. All we need to be is willing to learn from them.

There wouldn’t be a day when you would have learnt nothing new. So enjoy everyday experiences and don’t forget to learn the lesson!

My First Blog

Guys, I am not sure as i start typing for my first blog. I always like sharing positive thoughts because i feel what you give out to others is what you get back. Well I try and get my thoughts together in the coming time and hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do while posting them.