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 !!!