Travel Time Treasure Hunt

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m sure you would have calculated your waiting time, which I mentioned earlier. There is much more ‘time treasure’ to be dug right underneath your feet!
On an average, how much time do you spend in travelling in a day? About 45 minutes? Let’s calculate: 45 minutes a day means 1170 minutes per month for 26 days; this means 14040 minutes in a year; 351,000 minutes in an active life span of 25 years; 5850 hours; this is 731 man days which means 2 solid years!

Of course I have not included the travel during vacations!

Today, can you think how you can convert the travel time into productive time? Do you say ‘I don’t have time to read, I don’t have time to think, I don’t have time to plan, I don’t have time to ...’? How about using the travel time in the most appropriate way? Can you not put on an iPod and listen to your most favourite music, for which you say that you don’t have time? How about learning a new language the same way?

Where there is a will, there is a way!
(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Waiting Time Is Good Time

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
 William Penn

Do you know how much time you spend in your life time in waiting?   For a month from today log all the waiting time – waiting to catch a bus, waiting in the office for the meeting to start, waiting in the airport, the railway station and waiting to get sleep! You will be stunned to see the following calculation:

If you are spending just 30 minutes a day in waiting, multiply it by 30, which comes to 900 minutes per month; multiply it by 12 and it comes to 10,800 minutes per year. In your active life span of 25 years it accounts for 270,000 minutes, which means 4500 hours. If you consider eight hours as one man day, it comes to 562 days which is about one and a half years! This is for just thirty minutes waiting time per day! Most of us spend easily three times this and just calculate how much time is it!

From today treat waiting time also as productive time. With the kind of electronic gadgets we have, we should be able to put this enormous time into effective use.
Do it today!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Stay in Touch

No road is long with good company.
 Turkish Proverb

I interview successful people, who have achieved great things in their life to know their strategy for success. One important trait I notice in them is their ability to stay in touch with people. They are good in maintaining rapport with people, whom they should know. Isn’t it a common sense that without the help of people we cannot achieve anything in life?
Many of us think of people and recall old friends and contacts, only when confronted with some problem and seek their help.
Do this listing today:
•    People whom I should meet every day.
•    People whom I should be in touch on a weekly basis.
•    People whom I should meet on a monthly basis.
•    People whom I should contact every year, and
•    People whom I should meet only when needed.
After making this list, draw an action plan to implement the above! Try to remember their birthday, wedding day etc. and greet them instead of sending once a year a New Year card!

Do it today!
(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live)
 N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Don’t Spend, ‘Invest’ Time

Time goes, you say? Ah no!
Alas, Time stays, we go.
Henry Austin Dobson

Do you waste time? If you know the value of time, you will not.  You will not say ‘I spent time’, but will say ‘I invested time’. You will be punctual and organised. You will be conscious of the productivity of your time.
But the question is: how do we become conscious about the value of our time? One way is to know how much time has passed so far and how much is left over, just as you do with money!

Here’s an exercise which you should do today. Take your marriage album or your family album. Go through the album from cover to cover. Try to do a time regression. Go back and review the past ten or fifteen years of your life as though you are seeing a movie. You will realise that a lot of time has disappeared and will continue to disappear with or without your consent and knowledge. Calculate how many more years and weeks you have and think what you are going to do with the time available?
Do it today.

(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com

Close Your Eyes

'Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is the way great spiritual giants are produced'.
 Swami Vivekananda

Try a very difficult exercise today! Keep your eyes closed for a solid 10 minutes! Stop reading this; set the timer in your mobile for 10 minutes; determine that you will remain eyes-closed for a solid 10 minutes and close your eyes. You should not open your eyes until the timer goes off. You will realise how difficult it is.

Our mind and attention is mainly distracted by our eyes and our ears. If only we control these two sensory organs, we can substantially improve our concentration and focus. Whenever you are travelling by a car (and if you are not driving!), try this self imposed training. Focus all your attention on some important issue that you are presently handling. By keeping your eyes closed, you will be able to focus all your thoughts around the issue on hand. Slowly you can increase the duration of this exercise.
Try this today!

(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Life')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Learn to Breathe Right

For breath is life, and if you breathe well you will live long on earth.
Sanskrit Proverb

If you observe a new born child breathing, you will realise how we have spoilt our breathing over a period of time! Newborn babies do what is called ‘diaphragmatic breathing’. They inhale fully, pause, and exhale fully. This process makes them healthy.

Today you meet any yoga master. They will explain the scientific reason behind the yogic breathing exercise called ‘pranayama’. In this yoga exercise, we are advised to inhale very fast, hold the air in our diaphragm and exhale very slowly. If you think for a while, you will understand the reason for this process: If the air is retained in the lungs for a longer time, the air is purified in the lungs and the cleaned, richly oxygenated air is absorbed by the blood vessels and is supplied to the brain; a richly oxygenated brain virtually becomes a ‘powerhouse’ giving us the much needed energy to fire us into action.

From today, make it a point to breathe well for fifteen minutes early morning and take advantage of the ozone rich air and watch what happens to your health!
(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')
N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com
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Make Your Ideas Work for You

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.
Napoleon Hill


All of us get ideas. But successful people notice an idea, focus their attention, think about it and arrive at a strategy to give a final shape to the same. Most of us allow an idea to squelch like a water bubble. J.K. Rowling got the idea to write a book when she was travelling in a train from Manchester to London. Look what she has done with Harry Potter series of books!


From today, carry a small pocket book. You can name it anything such as ‘My Idea Book’ or ‘My Future Book’. Whenever you get an idea, just note it down. It is like rainwater harvesting. Once in every week browse through the idea book. Categorise them into three types: crazy ideas, probable ideas and possible ideas. Crazy ideas are those which cannot be put into action. Probable ideas are those which have some potential for implementation. Possible ideas offer more scope to work on. Every month you can have what is called ‘idea of the month’ and work out a detailed plan of action. You may end up with ‘idea of the year’!

Start with today!
(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Don’t Do What Need Not Be Done!

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin


I’m sure you have started logging your activities in a day. The contents of the activity logging will give you a lot of information. But we have to analyse the data from the voluminous information. For example, you should audit the quality of your day by asking such questions as: Did I do justice for the day? Could I have been even more productive?

By doing this you will get a ‘not-to-do-list’. We know what a ‘to-do list’ is. A not-to-do-list is a list of unnecessary activities, which ate into your time without adding any quality into your day. This is something like the role of an editor of a magazine or a movie,   who cuts and removes such portion which is not required.
Tonight before going to sleep, you should list at least five activities which you should not have done.  Remove them from your tomorrow’s to-do list!
(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')
  N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Track Where Your Time Goes!

He that rises late must trot all day.
Benjamin Franklin


Do you complain ‘I have no time’?   If so, you are lying! Isn’t it true that all of us have the same amount of time, irrespective of any social differences? So, it is not true that you do not have time. May be, you do not know where your time is going. Any valuable resource should be handled and invested carefully. Time is the most valuable of all the resources. You should know where and how you spend your time.

Do an exercise for the next ten days. Record all the activities that you do every 30 minutes from the time you get up till you go to sleep in a time logging sheet. Do this exercise very sincerely and honestly for ten days. You don’t have to show this to anyone.
At the end of ten days, study and critically evaluate, whether you spend your time intelligently or not. Identify unnecessary activities; those, which you could have postponed or you could have delegated; those on which you could have spent less time, etc. You will hit a treasure chest!

Do this logging from today!
(From my book ' 100 Exciting Ways to Live')
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Daily Discipline

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

Mike Murdock

In a long journey, every step is important. This principle is very much true in our life that every day is important. For each day, we should have a specific outcome in mind. The best way to do this is to have a to-do list. We should have not more than three to five carefully selected activities listed for the day. Too many things in the to-do list will frighten us; too few things will make the day not busy enough. You can have specific categories of things to do. For example: to do things; to telephone people; to send e-mails; to send sms to people, etc.

It’s not merely having a to-do list. What is even more important is executing what is planned for the day. At the end of the day, we should not go to sleep unless we have done all that we have listed for the day. Do it for 21 days continuously and this practice will become a habit. That is why I recommend that you have not more than three to five easy to do things to start with.
Do this to day!

(From my book '100 Exciting Ways to Live')

 N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Your Skill Set is Your Treasure Box

‘Whenever a man does the best he can, then that is all he can do.’

Harry S. Truman

You may be working for someone or working for yourself. The quality
of your life depends on your earning capacity. Your earning may be
adequate or there is a gap between what you are earning and what you
need to earn. Your salary is an index of how valuable is your time and
what value it produces to others.

During our lifetime we pick up various skills, from the time we started
speaking and walking. We picked up the skill of writing, drawing,
computing, jumping, swimming etc. If you really list all the skills that
human beings can acquire, the list can be endless. The skills can be
basic survival skills to complicated higher order skills. The availability
of a skill alone will not decide its value. You need to ask the following
questions:

1. Where am I using my skill? Can I use the same skill to produce a
different result at another place?
2. Who is the beneficiary of my skill? Can it be another person? Can
more people benefit from my skill thereby producing more value
to more number of people?
3. What is the ‘commercial value’ of my skill? Can I enhance the
same manifold?
4. How am I using my skill? Can I use the same even more
effectively?

Whether you have the skill of singing or playing chess, the above
questions are relevant. Depending on how and where you play, your
earning will be more or less.

(From my book 'The Gift of Time')
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Technology and methodology!

‘The great end of life is not knowledge but action.’

Thomas Huxley

It is important to distinguish between the two words ‘technology’ and

‘methodology’. Methodology is a series of steps to accomplish a task.

You can easily follow a few steps to get a result. For example, if you want

to switch on the television, the steps you should follow are given in the

manual. If you follow the steps, the television will be on.

You do not have to know the technological aspect of the television

such as the circuit diagram. You need not know how the picture tube is

connected to the electrical circuit. In this world, you can survive just by

knowing the methodology.

However, technology means how things work. Technology takes into

account the principles using which things are configured and how the

various components are connected to each other. While methodology

will give you the barest minimum for survival, when you are stuck,

you need the technology to solve the problem and trouble shoot. For

example, when you switch on the television and the television does not

function, it means that your methodology has failed and what you need

is the technology to make it work again.

In every job that you do, the basic skills are the methodology. By

knowing the basic skills you will succeed. However, if you want to excel,

you need the technology. Technology of living takes into account the

range of your skill set and skill inventory. With ordinary communication,

you can succeed to some extent. However, you should go into the various

dimensions of communication so that you are able to communicate in

most difficult situations. For example, assertiveness is a communication

technology. Negotiation skill is a communication technology.

(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 00000

One thing at a time!

‘Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work on hand. The

sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.’

Alexander Graham Bell

Engaging your full attention on the issue on hand is very important
for success. Singular determination and focus are very important to
achieve what we want to achieve. One characteristic that distinguishes
leading sportsmen and musicians is their ability to fully concentrate
on one thing. Unless we concentrate, the focus will be lost. When one
concentrates, speed does not matter. As the old adage goes: slow and
steady wins the race.

For doing this, one has to believe in one’s abilities and what one wants
to achieve. Concentration combined with steadiness will make a big
difference. It is not the speed but the ‘flow’ that will decide the outcome.

Before concluding, let me quote from Og Mandino:  

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can

accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort

over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything. Drops of water, by

continually falling, hone their passage through the hardest of rocks but

the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace

behind.

Today, before going to bed, introspect if you have at least one thing
on which you can say that your concentration was 100 percent. If there
is nothing, think, why?
(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Self-imposed time wasters!

‘So many words, so much to do, so little done . . . ‘

Tennyson

You have to be highly disciplined and focussed to reach your goals and aspirations in life. While working towards your goals, you should be aware of the factors that may interrupt your progress.

As you close the day, watch for the following self-imposed time wasters.
1. Insufficient planning
2. Inability or failure to anticipate
3. Vague or poorly defined goals
4. Unrealistic time estimates
5. Procrastination
6. Accepting more than what you could manage
7. Your mistakes
8. Going too much into details
9. Ineffective delegation
10. Excessive control
11. Interrupting others
12. Over-socialising
13. Inability to terminate visits
14. Preoccupation and mind wandering
15. Emotional upsets
16. Lack of discipline 
17. Lack of assertiveness

Any other?

(From my book 'The Gift of Time')
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Have a 'not-to-do list'!

‘You must keep your goals in sight, labour toward them day and

night.’

Wittner Byneer

Are you surprised at my asking

you to have a ‘not-to-do’ list? You

know of only a ‘to do’ list containing

the various things that we want to

do on that day or over a period of

time.

Having a ‘not-to-do’ list is also

important. If you carefully analyse

the various activities that you did on

a certain day, you may come across

activities that you need not have

done. If you had only avoided those

activities, they would have given

you a chunk of time that could have been used for some productive

purpose.

I came across a story that will explain this. There was a rock adjacent

to a road and many people passed by and did nothing. A sculptor passed

through that way and looked at the rock. He wanted to carve a beautiful

peacock out of it. He started chiselling and after several days of work,

he made a peacock. Now there was a peacock in the place where the old

rock stood.

Others asked him how he saw a peacock in the rock while they saw

only a rock. The sculptor replied that he did not bring anything new

into the rock and the peacock already existed in the rock. All he did was

to chip away every portion of the rock that did not resemble a peacock.

What remained was a peacock!

Like that sculptor, we should remove every activity

(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Let Everyday be Your Masterpiece!

 ‘You always have to give 100 percent, because if you don’t,

someone, someplace, will give 100 percent and will beat you

when you meet.’

Ed Macaulaey

One of the characteristics of successful people is that whatever they
undertake, they do it well. For some people it is almost an obsession
to do it so well that no one can do better than what they have done.
This mindset gives them the necessary drive to better their performance
by constantly reviewing what they have done. In this context I want to
quote Martina Navratilova, the famous tennis player:
“The better I get, the more I realise how much better I can get.” One
of the leading surgeons I know used to say that every time he enters the
operation theatre, he will go with the mindset that perhaps it is the last
time he goes to operate and every time he comes out of the operation
theatre, he will come out thinking in what way he could have done the
operation even better.
Wanting to do every thing well is more than a quality or skill. It is an
attitude. The alternative to this is half-hearted effort. The problem is that
it is time consuming and a waste of time.
Are you giving your 100 percent?
 (From my book 'The Gift of Time')
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Available Time is not Productive Time!

‘All that I have accomplished, or expect, or hope to accomplish,

have been and will be by that plodding, patient, persevering

process of accretion which builds the ant-heap, particle by

particle, thought by thought, fact by fact.’

Elihu Burrit

Time is a very scarce resource and for this very same reason, a very
valuable resource. All of us have the same amount of time irrespective of
our position and responsibility in life.

We need to understand the distinction between available time and
productive time. Available time is the total time that is at our disposal.

This is common for all of us. Productive time is the time that we
use to convert the available time into useful outcomes. We differ in our
ability to convert the available time into productive time. The more we
convert the available time into productive time, the more valuable we
make our time.

The critical question is how to convert the available time into
productive time. The very essence of time-management is nothing but
developing this important skill. If our time is invested on value-adding
high pay-off activities, then our time becomes productive. If we have
the right type of knowledge and skill combined with the appropriate
resources, we can make our available time even more productive.

We have to be very clear on our objectives and goals and we should
have a strategy to realise our goals by systematically pursuing appropriate
activities. You may be aware of the acronym S M A R T, which stands for
Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time bound.

We need to ensure that all our actions are focused towards our
goals and tasks. We need to be clear on our monthly, weekly and daily
priorities. We need to be conscious on how our time is spent on an hourto-
hour basis. At the end of the day we need to evaluate how our time
was spent and what result we achieved.

If we do all this, we can convert all our available time into productive
time.
(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Manage Your Time, But Be Kind to Yourself!

‘Time is the element in which we exist . . . We are either borne

along by it or drowned by it.’

Joyce Carol Oates

Many mistake time management
as doing more
and more work. While
there can be no doubt that
we should turn out more
work in less time, it should
not lead us to a situation
where we do not enjoy
life. Becoming focussed on
your goal should not take
away the quality element in
enjoying life. The important question is: While working towards your goal,
are you enjoying life?

Answer the following questions:
1. How fast do you walk?
2. How fast do you talk?
3. How fast do you work?
4. When did you take your last vacation?
5. When did you take your family out for a dinner or lunch?
6. When did you spend an uninterrupted half an hour with your
child?
7. When did you take your wife to her parents’ place without any
agenda?
8. Are you spending enough time at your dinner and lunch table?
9. Are you taking breaks during the day to recoup yourself ?
Frank answers to the above question will decide the quality of
your time. If you do not find time to enjoy life, what is the purpose of
managing time?

Can you spend a few minutes introspecting on the above questions
today?
(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Say ‘No’!

‘There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your

own way.’

Christopher Morley

While working towards your goal, you may come across people who
may not share your priorities. People may demand more than what you
can offer. You may not get the support you need from others.
You may be an excellent person in terms of planning and scheduling
your appointments. However, if you suffer from the inability to say
‘NO’, all your plans may become unrealistic since you will not be able to
handle interruptions.

Many people mistake saying ‘NO’ as refusal. But the ability to say
‘NO’ is a critical attribute of ‘assertiveness’. Assertiveness means being
honest with oneself and at the same time accepting others as they are.
It is the ability to handle interruptions and say ‘NO’ to unreasonable
and impossible requests. Even after saying ‘NO’ you do not damage
interpersonal relationship and maintain a good rapport.

To be submissive is to surrender your rights and not stand up for
your own views. Aggressiveness means always wanting to win and
not recognising that others may also have legitimate rights of their
own. Assertiveness falls into the category between submissiveness and
aggressiveness. Just like any other skill, assertiveness can be developed.

Today think of the number of occasions you were aggressive,
submissive and ponder if you could have been more assertive.
(From my book 'The Gift of Time')
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

A Very Sensitive Question!

‘I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your

eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same

method can be applied to other senses. Hear the music of

voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra,

as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object

you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail.

Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if

tomorrow you could never smell and taste again.’

Helen Keller

We all understand how important a goal is. What we do not appreciate
is the urgency. Unless we do that, we will not take the first step towards
reaching the goal. Our pace of work and effort level depend on the
urgency factor.

Ask yourself a hypothetical question: ‘If I know I am going to be
struck by lightning six months from now and that I will die, how would
I like to spend my life until then?’ This means that you have only six
months to live. Assume that you have taken care of immediate things
like insurance etc. List down the things you would not like to postpone.

Personally, I found this question very powerful. There are many
decisions that we postpone such as building a house, buying an additional
property, qualifying for some additional skill, enhancing relationships,
etc. Many times, we feel that there is plenty of time available. It is a myth.

It is not the availability of time that is important. What is more
important is our fixing correct priorities. A friend of mine used to do
an exercise. Every year he would assume he is not going to attend office
for one month after his birthday. With this mindset, he would clear
all papers that have been pending throughout the year. This mental
discipline, he says, helps to improve his time management skill and to
catch up on many things he has been postponing for months together.
How about trying it yourself ?
(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Don’t Fragment Time, Consolidate!

‘It is not possible to hold the day. It is possible not to lose it.’

Sundial, 1965

For the next one week, keep a log of all your activities every half an
hour and analyse. You may notice that you were interrupted throughout
the day by various events. In between interruptions you might have had
some time to do what you wanted to do. Some interruptions may be
functional and related to your job. But most of the interruptions will be
non-work related. You will notice that you never had a big chunk of time
and your day was fragmented.

You have to do something to consolidate your time and concentrate
on activities that you have to do. There is no point in saying that you
did not have the time. The fact is that the available time went to do an
activity that was not related to the task you had to accomplish.

One way to consolidate your time is to create “unavailable time” that
you need to invest in activities that you have to do. An open door policy
may be nice to hear. But if you do not know how to manage it effectively,
you will get into problems since your time will be fragmented by various
interruptions all through the day.

Use weekly and daily schedules to your advantage. Let people know
when you will be available and when you will not be available. But do
it with elegance. Next time when you meet a successful person, notice
whether he follows the above principle. You will be amazed to find that
any successful person knows when to do what and how much time
he should allot for that. He will find a way to consolidate his time for
constructive work.
(From my book 'The Gift of Time)
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Have a Success List!

‘God has entrusted me with myself.’

Anonymous

Once I met a person who was very successful in his profession. The
white board displayed behind his seat seemed peculiar. The board
contained all the things that he had successfully achieved in his life,
small or big. He had carefully listed many things, which were quite
impressive. I asked him why he did that. He replied that many times we
notice only things we have not done and feel bad. There are many things
we do successfully unnoticed even by us.

I thought it is a wonderful thing to do. We need to take note of good
things we do and not merely feel guilty about things we do not do. We
should celebrate successes as much as we brood over our failures. While
it is important to note down what we have not done, noting down our
accomplishments makes us feel very satisfied and self-confident. Selfimage,
self-worth and self-respect are very important for motivating us
to be achievers.

There is one more aspect to this. Being aware of your accomplishments
helps you better yourself, and you can draw lessons from strategies that
helped you succeed.

Do this simple exercise today: list all the things you have done
successfully and note your feelings as you read the list. Go through
the list every alternate day and check your feelings. You will see the
difference!
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

Efficiency vs Effectiveness

‘The effective, vitalising work of the world is done between the

ages of twenty-five and forty.’

—Sir William Osler

The two terms ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’ have to be understood
correctly. It is very important to distinguish between these two
parameters. ‘Efficiency’ is about finding the best ways of doing an
assigned job. It is the methodology.

Then what is ‘effectiveness’? Analysing the word “effective” shows a
word within the word, namely “effect”. Effect means result. When you
say you are effective, you mean you produce a result. You may have
carried out some activity without any result, which is a waste of time.

This means you are not ‘effective’.

Your strategy should be to produce more effect or outcome with least
investment of effort and resources. This is ‘smart’ working. If you are
producing more outcome with more effort, you are working ‘hard’.
For example: Suppose you have currencies of various denominations
on your table amounting to Rs. 100. Imagine that a whirlwind blows
them all over your room. What would be your strategy for picking them
up?

If you are efficient, you will pick up the currency closest to you and
work towards the other end. If you are effective, you will pick the highest
denomination currency first and then the others!
Are you efficient or effective? In fact, you should be both effective and
efficient and combine them successfully.

(From my book 'The Gift of Time')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 

POSITIVE VS. NEGATIVE

Instead of always harping on a man’s faults, tell him of his virtues. Try to pull him out of his rut of bad habits. Hold up to him his better self, his real self that can dare and do and win out.

Eleanor Porter

Take a sheet of white paper and draw a black dot at the centre. Show the paper to your friend and ask him what he sees. More often than not, he will tell you that he sees a black dot! The white background will not catch his attention. Only the black dot will get noticed. That is human nature.

The same principle applies to noticing the virtues or faults of a person. We may not be able to appreciate the good things in a person. We will immediately notice the not-so-good things.

The irony in life is what is noticed will grow. If you notice bad things in a person, it will grow in your mind. On the other hand, if you notice good things in a person, it will also grow. One way you can infuse self-confidence in a person is to tell him all the good things he has so that the same is reinforced.

We can apply this principle for our self-development also. We get agitated and feel bad when something goes wrong. Small mistakes make us lose our self-confidence and we start brooding over the same even after the event is over. Over a period of time, we become a ‘gloom factory’!

While we go through such a phase in our life, it will be a good idea to list all the good qualities we have and all the good things we have done. When faced with failure, it will be good idea to list all the success stories we have created, big or small. This will help us to bounce back to our original state of mind.

Over this weekend, list three people whose good things never appealed to you and list at least five things in which they are good. Give this feedback to them. Make it as a habit. Notice how the quality of your friendship grows over a period of time!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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CHECK THE QUALITY OF YOUR ATTENTION

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

 Diane Sawyer

We have often heard that there is no substitute for hard work. In fact, if we think for a while, we cannot work hard if we don’t pay attention. Paying attention is a very important quality that we have to develop. Paying attention means that we are fully involved in what we are doing and that our mind is fully on the task on hand. Through our five senses we communicate with the world outside. We see, hear, smell, taste and feel. The quality of these sensations depends upon the quality of our attention and attention span.

Attention is the ability to focus our mind on one thing. Attention span is the duration of our attention. Our mind is normally distracted and disturbed and jumping from one thought to another. A wavering mind will not gather any momentum. Our mind and thoughts have to be contained and controlled. It does not come to us naturally. We have to train our mind.

The most important pre-requisite for paying attention is our interest level. If we do not have interest in what we are doing, we will not get involved and consequently we will not pay attention. Next time you watch a cricket match or a football match, notice the quality and intensity of the players’ attention and evaluate yours on your job.

Success or failure depends on the ability to pay attention to details. This factor also determines how much you can climb in your chosen field.

Stop reading this and check the quality of your attention: Can you recall the above quotation without reading it again?

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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FOCUS ON YOUR INNER DIALOGUE

Little progress can be made by merely attempting to repress what is evil; our great hope lies in developing what is good.

Calvin Coolidge

The dictionary meaning of the word ‘repress’ is ‘bring under control by force’, ‘try not to have or show a thought or feeling’, ‘trying to keep your feelings or desires hidden’. We cannot make any progress by repressing our feelings or actions which we want to do out of our natural instinct. If we attempt to repress either our own feelings or the feelings of others, it will amount to manipulation. Such a change cannot last long.

On the other hand, we should focus our efforts in developing what is good. We have to choose to do what is good and not be compelled not to do what we should not do. Stephen Covey says that between fight and flight, human beings have the freedom to choose what is good. We should educate ourselves on what is good for us and focus on it.

Instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to be lazy’, say ‘I want to be active’; instead of saying, ‘I don’t want to overeat’, say ‘I want to eat right’; instead of saying ‘I don’t want to smoke’, say ‘I want to quit smoking for good’. This inner dialogue will give us the mental stamina to focus on what we choose. The more we repress ourselves, the more we will feel the tension and stress.

Over this weekend, list all the things which you have been repressing and see whether you can focus your attention to develop what is good.
N C Sridharan

WORDS CAN MAKE AND BREAK RELATIONSHIPS

Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.

Pearl Strachan

Spoken words, sped arrow and lost time will not come back. We have the liberty to use any word in any way. But we cannot have the power to stop the consequences of our words. Words can make and break relationships. Communication can be a very big tool to leverage our interpersonal rapport.

It is not what we mean but how we express is very important. Sometimes we may hurt or harm someone else’s feelings knowingly or unknowingly. Like a crack in a glass, some relationships may be impossible to mend once strained.  Years of friendship may be destroyed in a moment of emotional outburst.

We may have any number of reasons to be emotional and impulsive. But the person receiving the same may not and need not appreciate it. Spoken words are too powerful to be forgotten.

Over this weekend, do an important exercise. List at least three occasions where you got into a relationship problem with an important person. Recall what words you used and how you used the same. Place yourself in that person’s position and introspect how you would have taken the same.

Maybe it will also be a good idea to do a small audit of how you talk with others, and check if there is a communication gap between how you express and how you should be expressing.

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 

PROGRAMMING THE MIND: MUST HAVE VS. MUST WANT

Humans have the remarkable ability to get exactly what they must have. But there is a difference between a ‘must’ and a ‘want.’

Jim Rohn

Wanting to have something comes before having it! Read it again and you will be surprised to know how true this statement is. Human beings are very different from other species. Not only can we want something, we can also devise a strategy to get what we want.

It all starts with a weak desire, and the desire occupies our thoughts. Then the thought occupies our entire mind. What is in our mind permeates through our subconscious mind. We even dream about what we want to have.

When this happens, we feel we must want it. This state of mind gives us the mental and physical stamina to work for what we feel we must have. We become determined and focused. When this state of mind continues, we become obsessed and we don’t think about anything other than what we sincerely want.

The more and more we want something, the more and more we get ‘programmed’ like a computer. In a computer, once the programme is installed, it becomes ‘user friendly’, which means that we can use the programme easily. There is a ‘flow’ and we need not struggle to get the output from the computer.

Similarly, when our mind is programmed to get what we really want, the programme runs smoothly and we start having what we wanted. One way to programme our mind is to decide clearly what we want and go on repeating in our mind ‘I want it, I want it, I want it….’ Do this exercise sincerely and you will know the difference between a ‘must have’ and a ‘must want’! 
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 

USING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS CONSTRUCTIVELY

   

If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears.

Glenn Clark

We have goals of various terms: long term, medium term and short term. We also have our day-to-day activities which cannot be ignored. The challenge in front of most of us is to keep our focus on our long-term goals in spite of whatever happens in our daily life. The secret lies in our ability to remain balanced.

Sometimes we are thrown out of gear due to our negative emotions and moods. The most common negative feelings are envy, jealousy, unforgiveness, selfishness and fear.
We need to set a benchmark and compare our performance. But such a comparison should be constructive and should propel us into action. It should not retard our progress and effort.

Envy and jealousy have to be handled and channelled properly to give us the energy to be proactive and constructive. Else we will become very selfish and negative.

The quality of forgiving is very important. The ability to forgive not only others but also ourselves is very important to overcome setbacks and failures on our path to success. We have to accept the fact that we are human beings and we may make mistakes and it is okay to fail or struggle. This state of mind will allow us to analyse the reason for our failure and to take the failure as a failure of our effort and not a failure of ourselves.

Of course fear is a natural instinct. But fear has to be used as a positive energy and we should not allow fear to dampen our enthusiasm.
Perhaps you can do a frank introspection whether the above negative emotions are in any way stopping your progress. 
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 

‘I WISH’ VS. ‘I WILL’

       The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’. Consider nothing impossible, and then treat possibilities as probabilities.
David Copperfield

There is an inbuilt power in each word we use to motivate us. Our conscious mind may not know that. But our subconscious mind will know. Even without our being aware, we are programming ourselves, and all our external behaviour is a result of this internal programme.

Just recall the last time you climbed a mountain either by foot or by a conveyance. The steeper the mountain, the more should be your effort level. Your effort level should be supported by your physical stamina. Your physical stamina should be supplemented by your mental stamina. In an automobile, when you press the accelerator, more fuel and air are rushed to the combustion chamber of the engine compartment and fired. This accelerates the engine and consequently the automobile surges forward.
This principle is highly relevant when it comes to tapping our hidden potential. Whenever we want to strain our physical body, our mind has to be ‘ignited’. For this, our inner dialogue plays a very important role.

When we say ‘we wish’, a certain amount of mental energy is released. When we say ‘we will’, the mental energy that is released is much more. You have to experience this difference.

Do a small exercise. Identify two projects: for example, ‘to improve my handwriting’ and ‘to reduce my weight’. For one project repeat this mantra internally: ‘I wish to improve my handwriting’. For the other project repeat this: ‘I will reduce my weight’. At the end of one month, check your handwriting and your weight. You will understand what I mean!

CHANGE IN US: GOOD OR BAD

There is nothing wrong with change if it is in the right direction.

Winston Churchill

We are always busy, but the question is, ‘Busy in doing what?’ We are always working; the question is, ‘What are we working at?’ We are always communicating, but the question is, ‘What are we communicating?’ We are always thinking, but the question is, ‘What are we thinking?’ Similarly we are always changing, but the question is, ‘Is the change good or bad?’

The one thing which does not change is change itself. There have been a lot of changes taking place, both inside of us and outside as well. By the time you finished reading this sentence, some cells would have grown and some would have died in your body. Some thoughts would have entered your mind and some other would have left your mind.

In a factory, the production takes place continuously – both good products and scrap. No one produces scrap intentionally. Creation of scrap is a natural process.
Similarly, some unwanted changes also take place in us, like the weeds that grow along with good plants.

We have to do a self-audit once in a year to check the quality and direction of change in us. Perhaps, we can choose the New Year Day or our birthday, which is emotional. We can make two lists: in one we list all the good changes that happened in our life and in the other, we list all the not-so-good changes.  For example, ‘I have changed my food habit by saying ‘no’ to oily food’ and ‘I have started social drinking’. After making the two lists, check which list is longer, and this will tell you which way you are progressing and whether the change is for good or for worse!

FIRST CHANGE YOURSELF

Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you.

 Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The world is not a perfect place, and we are here to perfect the society around us. When we see people around us behaving not so perfectly, we blame them, complain about them or criticize them. Sometimes, we label them that they are not good. However, this approach is not going to make any difference. We will end up advocating the principle of helplessness.

If you think for a while, you will understand that we can make a difference in our own way to redeem the society. We can give the world the best we have and ‘enroll’ people whom we know into this movement. If we do this honestly and sincerely, this ‘redemption movement’ will gain momentum. Over a period of time, we will see more people becoming proactive and taking the first step towards making their contribution.

This is how any movement starts. Whatever you do, resolve today to do it in the best way. Ask yourself whether you can improve your performance and sincerely implement. Share this idea with at least five persons today. Let those five people bring another five people and allow this movement to catch on.
Don’t try to change the world. First change yourself and some people who are very near to you. Do this sincerely and set aside a time frame everyday to this important society-building portfolio and see the result over a period of time. You will notice that what goes around will come around!

RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS

We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.

 Franklin D. Roosevelt

There are certain things we cannot change. We need to adapt ourselves to manage them. The future is bright, but the going will be tough. The opportunity that we are going to have will come with its own challenges. We need to become fit to exploit all the opportunities that the future is going to offer.

We need to keep this in mind as our children grow. The skills and abilities that are required to manage the future will be completely different from the skills that are required today or even in the past. That is why in organizations, employees are taken through what is called executive and management training.

Our life is also an organization in which we expect our children to produce certain results and outcome. Just like an executive is prepared and trained to meet the business challenges, our children should also be trained and developed to manage the problems they are going to face in their life.

Just like the human resources manager in an organisation takes care of the development of the executives, the parents should take the responsibility to develop the soft skills in their children. I repeat: The parents should take up this responsibility, and not the school. The schools can concentrate on the syllabus and maybe to some extent on the soft skill development.

Basic survival skills like communication, assertiveness, time management, leadership, motivation, empowerment, lateral thinking, creativity, interpersonal skills, etc. are very important to succeed in life.

Over this weekend, can you ponder over this idea and eke out a plan of action to meet this requirement in your child?

DUPLICATION AND FAILURE

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Herman Melville

God created us as his masterpiece, and each of us is unique in our own way. There is no another ‘you’ in the entire universe. There is no other person with your facial expression, thumb impression, character and trait. God wanted each one of to be unique let us implement His will.

In fact, this is applicable to any creation in the nature. You will not find two identical trees, two identical rivers, two identical mountains, etc.! Isn’t strange? Duplication is not in the design of nature. Any duplication is artificial and bound to fail. People will accept only the original and reject the duplicate. Hence, the entire attempt to produce the duplicate is a waste of our efforts and resources.

Each of us has our own unique talent and the world is big enough to accommodate all our creativity and innovation. The opportunities available for displaying our talent are infinity.  It may be easy to duplicate someone. But we will fail to make an impression in the society. We should have our own benchmark and role models and we may want to emulate them. There is nothing wrong in that. But emulation is different from duplication. We may like to emulate the values and principles of Mahatma Gandhi. But duplicating his external behaviour alone will be ridiculous and will not produce the same result which he produced. 

We may fail initially to be our own. However, let us fail and learn from our failure rather than duplicating someone and fail permanently.

OUR SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS TOWARDS THE YOUTH TODAY

Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.

Columbian Proverb

We are living in a society where the opportunities available to the present youth are very exciting and enviable. The scope of job, the career growth and the life style which today’s youth can access is amazing. This life style and material comfort were out of the reach of any youth belonging to the middle and even for the upper middle class of yesterday.

However, there is a very critical question in front of the youth: Do you want to be value-driven or impulse-driven? Given the immaturity that goes with the age, the youth enslave themselves to their impulsive commands which results in lack of focus and wrong priorities. Unless and until they are guided and mentored properly, they are not going to make full use of the exciting opportunities that lie in front of them. We need to educate them.

We need to do this for two reasons: one, to help the youth to evolve as full-fledged personalities, and two, to ensure that the next-generation society is in safe hands. We have to spend at least ten percent of our time for this important society-building portfolio. Since this society has done so much to us, we have to give back to the society what we can in reciprocation and this is the best way we can do that.

Think about this point over this weekend and decide how you are going to discharge this social obligation and portfolio.

OUR SURROUNDING AND MINDSET

Be careful the environment you choose, for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose, for you will become like them.

– W. Clement Stone

Human beings are also ‘thinking beings’ and we are ‘meaning-making beings’ as well .  This feature distinguishes the human race from the animals. Animals do things whether they are convinced or not. They have to be forced to indulge in an activity or a task. They need not be convinced. Hence, they merely ‘participate’ in a task but they don’t ‘involve’ themselves.

On the other hand, human beings have to be convinced and the extent of our commitment and involvement will depend upon the level of our own conviction. In order to be convinced, we have to be fed with lot of reasons and our mind is actively involved in this process. This is an intellectual activity.
In this context, the type of people we are surrounded with makes a big difference. The environment we live in should be with such people who will influence our thought process and give us a rich and intelligent mindset.

This is one of the reasons why residential schools and college hostels make a difference in a student’s life. If you are a journalist, move with such people who have accomplished well in the field of journalism. The same principle applies to every profession. What you see and what you hear all through the day will influence your mindset and thought process.

Over this weekend, check if you have the right type of environment to match your and ambitions in life.

Organising Thoughts and Ideas to Strategies

First comes thought; then organization of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.

– Napoleon Hill

We are always thinking whether we are aware of it or not. Some thoughts catch our conscious awareness and some go unnoticed. It is said that on an average over one hundred thousand thoughts cross our mind every day. Intelligent people catch the thoughts and organize the same into ideas and strategies. The follow-through from the thought stage to the idea stage is very important.

Once the ideas are converted into strategies and action plans, the rest of it is very easy. The problem with ideas is the fact that if not acted upon, they will squelch and disappear. The first thing we should do upon getting an idea is to record the same and set aside some time to ponder over and explore that idea.

The next stage is the transformation of the idea into specific action plan in real life. This is the most important stage in any idea-exploitation process and this stage will decide the productivity of the idea.

Over this weekend, try to recall any good idea you got over the last one month and check whether you can work on the same through the above process.

There is no such thing as 'no time'!

There is no such thing as 'no time'! We have lot of time hidden between our various activities. We have to trace, notice, recover and 'invest' that scarce and valuable resource!


Watch this video!

Three Qualities to Fight Problems

It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.
– Albert Einstein

The secret of success cannot be summed up more effectively. Are you willing to stay with your problem longer? Or let me add two more words: Are you willing to stay with the problem longer than others? All of us encounter problems on our way to success. But few of us persevere. Those who succeeded stayed with the problem longer and thought about the solution longer.

Animals have basically two coping mechanisms: the fight and the flight. But only the human beings have the third option of problem solving. We have the freedom to exercise our independent free will and to think as well. In fact, as the human race progresses, the quality of thinking is getting refined more and more. The technology of thinking in a different way altogether is becoming more and more popular.

In order to fight the problems that lie on our way to success, we need the following three qualities:

1. Courage
2. Endurance, and
3. A dogged determination to surmount obstacles.

Over this weekend, identify three projects you gave up during the last one year due to some problem that you encountered and rate if you had the above three qualities. Just ponder over how your life would have transformed if only you had stayed on the problem longer.

Design Your Flawless Future

The reason why most people face the future with apprehension instead of anticipation is because they don’t have it well designed.
– Jim Rohn

Just imagine you are designing an automobile or a piece of furniture. Or for that matter, you are designing the house you are going to live for a long time. You will consider various parameters and spend considerable amount of thinking to ensure that its utility is enhanced. How comfortable and elegant is the thing will depend on how much time you have spent in designing the same. The amount and quality of your mental visualization will decide how it will come out in reality.

The same thing applies to designing your life. Like your house has many areas such as the drawing room, the kitchen and dining room, you have various roles in your life. You would want each part of your house to be well designed and comfortable. You would discuss with others and seek their ideas. Similarly, you are designing your various roles in life, your role as executive, father, husband, etc. Just like you spend your resources such as time and money to design your drawing room, you also ‘invest’ your time to shaping your career, your family life, etc.

The most important point is, if you make a mistake in the design of your house, you can always redesign and alter, and such mistakes will not cause a permanent damage to you. But if you commit a mistake in the design of your future, the damage can be serious. You may not be able to rectify some of the damages.

Perhaps, it will be a good idea to ponder over the above comparison.

Fickle-Minded ?

If you go through life quitting everything, you’ll never know success. If you’re going to taste the fruits of success, you’ve got to stick with something.

– Anonymous

We need to identify our core competency and find a platform to explore our potential. We need to choose a field of our choice and excel. We have to be clear about our long-, medium- and short-term goals. At the same time, we should have clarity on our life’s mission. We need to understand that life’s mission is different from goals. Mission is our understanding of the purpose of our life. It is a touchstone on which our goals will be tested. If our goal does not match with our mission, we will not be emotionally involved and committed in what we have undertaken to do.

While the above is true, the most important factor for success is our ability to stick on to a project for a sufficiently long period of time. There is an old adage: ‘Rolling stone gathers no moss’. So is a fickle-minded person. The bigger the goal, the more difficult will it be to reach. We may have to stretch all our resources. We may encounter problems and we may be tempted to give up. Or we may be anxious and impatient to see the result of our effort immediately. Sometimes, we may even evaluate our progress too early and give up disappointed.

It will be a good idea to audit our own ability to persevere and stick to a project and introspect if we have to improve on this personal quality.

Managing Next Ten Minutes Effectively

Learn to use ten minutes intelligently. It will pay you huge dividends.

– William A. Irwin

I am sure you have learnt some skill such as typing, cycling and swimming. You would have noticed that the coach teaches you how to do it in small doses. If you cycle for some distance without falling, he will leave you to learn cycling on your own since you have understood the principles involved in cycling. The same applies to any other skill.

Managing time also follows the same pattern. In fact, as I repeatedly say, there is no such thing as ‘time management’, but only managing outcome or result. It is about using your time judiciously. If you know how to use the next ten minutes effectively, you should be able to manage the next ten years also effectively. Just like learning to swim ten to fifty feet alone is sufficient to swim a longer distance, if you can manage ten minutes, it means that you have mastered the fine art of ‘time management’.

What is most important is to become conscious of how you manage each ten minutes and notice whether you have applied your mind on the priorities on hand. If you do justice to every ten minutes, you don’t have to worry about your ability to create your own future.

Let me give one more example. Suppose you have to travel one hundred miles, as long as you travel the next ten miles in the right way, you don’t have to worry about the remaining ninety miles!

Stop reading this; make a log of how you manage the blocks of ten minutes until you go to bed today. Do this exercise for a week and notice what happens to your time consciousness!

Perseverance

The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling.

 – Lucretius

If you read the success stories of great persons, you will find one common denominator which decided their success: perseverance. They were continuing their efforts regardless of intermediary results. They honestly wanted to achieve and strongly believed in their process, worked very hard, focused on the end result, persevered and finally reached their goal.

On the other hand, those who did not achieve great things also worked hard, but the difference was in the quality of their perseverance. Sometimes their effort level was intense, and on some other times it was not so. They were not consistent in their effort level. Their hard work was marked by ebbs and flows. Success means continuously improving our effort level by repeating our strategy and not in working very hard.

If you see how a person becomes an expert in music, you will understand this principle. They practice consistently every day. It is not how much they practised on any one day. There is a saying: ‘repetition is the mother of skill’. The same applies to life also.

Over this weekend, identify one task which you want to accomplish over the next ninety days and check how consistent you are on your effort level – no matter how much hard you have been working on any particular day.

Converting Idea into Action

 You don’t just luck into things….You build step by step, whether it’s friendship or opportunities.

– Barbara Bush

There is no ‘instant formula’ for success. You succeed over a period of time. Nor is success by chance or decided by luck. You may be lucky to be in a particular environment at a particular point of time. However, that alone cannot assure that you will get what you want.

If you read the biography of any successful person, you will understand how much hard they had to work to get what they got. All that they were aware was that they had something special and unique to offer and that there was an opportunity to exploit their talent. They got an idea and luckily they noticed and exploited that idea. We all get ideas and the only difference is that we don’t act on the same till the idea succeeds.

For example, J. K. Rowling, the author of the famous Harry Potter fantasy series got the idea about the book while she was travelling from Manchester to London in 1990. When she conceived the idea of the book, she was living on welfare, and she became a multi-millionaire within five years. As of March 2010, Rowling’s net worth was estimated to be $1 billion and she is believed to be the twelfth richest woman in Great Britain.

If you just visit the website of Harry Potter, you will be stunned how one person can become so successful by converting just one idea which came to her while travelling, into an action plan and working on the same. Maybe she was lucky that she got the idea. But it is her focused work which brought her to fame. She was able to ‘connect’ her idea and the opportunity to exploit the idea into a topic and market the same.

Over this weekend, do an exercise: list at least three ideas that you got in the last thirty days and ponder over what you did to explore whether there is an opportunity to put your idea into action.