Let not small things stop you from starting!

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results
Willie Nelson

Yesterday was a bad day!

I noticed that my car tyre was flat and I could not take my car out immediately; I opened the water tap in my garden, but there was a clog in the pipe line and I could not get enough water for the garden; I sat in front of my computer to open and work on a very important file, but the file took so much time to open because of a virus!

I had to fix the tyre, clear the clog in the water line and scan and fix the virus in the computer before I could work!

This is what happens if your mind is affected by some ‘emotional virus’ such as anger, irritation, laziness, jealousy etc. You get stuck and cannot not engage your mind on constructive thoughts just like a virus infected hard disc! 
Haven’t you gone through this experience? Sometime you don’t feel like working and your productivity is very low.
On these occasions, you should do exactly what you did for you flat tyre, your clogged water line and your virus affected computer!
You have to fix your mental virus! Clear your mind and get rid of these emotional road blocks!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Employed, but are you ‘employable’?

If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development
Brian Tracy

Being employed is different from being employable. We have to improve our ‘employability quotient’. This means that if you lose your present job, you will get another immediately. If you are just employed without employability and if you lose your job, you will be unemployed!

Your employability quotient depends on various factors. Check for the following factors:
•    Do you have not only the latest technology, but also the technology of tomorrow?
•    Is your skill set competitive enough compared to the world class?
•    Are your knowledge, skill and experience relevant not only to your present employer but also to many others?
•    Do you offer something unique and special  which others cannot?
•    Is your contribution to your company much more than what your company gives you?
•    Are you future oriented and keep your eyes fixed on the changes that are taking place in your industry and career?
•     Are you working hard enough keeping your eyes on the evolving opportunities?
•    Are you taking every threat as a challenge to develop and grow?
•    Do you ‘invest’ your time intelligently on critical priorities?
•    Are you creative and innovative?

If you pass the above test, you have passed the ‘employability test’!

N C Sridharan

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Some more on emotional paralysis!

Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
Confucius

After seeing my blog on ‘emotional paralysis’, someone wanted to know the external symptoms of a person who suffers from emotional paralysis. Just like a bodily paralysis, you can notice some external behaviours in a person suffering from emotional paralysis.

Some examples:
•    A person keeps his radio volume very high regardless of peoples’ irritation
•    A person goes on boasting about himself without being sensitive that others do not like it
•    A person does not fulfill the reasonable and just expectations of people whom he is obliged to satisfy
•    A person does not switch off his cell phone which keeps interrupting the meeting in progress
•    A uses harsh and insulting words to people while communicating
•    A person parks his car in front of a gate of a house even though there is a placard not to do so
•    A person unnecessarily blows his car horn in a ‘no horn’ zone
•    A person indulges in some irritating behaviours such a burping, exploring ears, picking teeth etc regardless of others’ presence
The list can be endless and you can notice such behaviours all around you. And, who knows you may also be doing the same!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Beware of ‘emotional paralysis’!

Feelings or emotions are the universal language and are to be honored. They are the authentic expression of who you are at your deepest place’
Judith Wright

Paralysis is a medical condition in which one or more of the muscles fail to function. There will be no feeling in that area. If you are having a paralysis of your leg, you will not be able to move your leg. Research findings indicate that one in fifty people suffer from this.

I wonder how many people suffer from ‘emotional paralysis’! What I mean by ‘emotional paralysis’ is a mental condition when you are not able emotionally respond to feelings – either your own or others!
People who are emotionally paralised will not be moved by basic feelings such as happiness, excitement, anger, irritation etc. They cannot also enjoy their own
positive feelings. When people around them experience such feelings, they will be totally numb to those.
When someone feels angry or irritated by something we did, the least thing we can do is to notice become sensitive about it. May be we are right and the other person is not fair. Even then we should respect his sentiments and feelings.
We will immediately notice bodily paralysis and seek medical intervention. But we may not even be aware of mental paralysis and the treatment will also be very difficult!

Do not become emotionally crippled and handicapped!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Take charge of your senses and your life!

Ninety percent of my game is mental. It’s my concentration that has gotten me this far’
Chris Evert
Concentration will enhance our personal productivity and output. Distractions affect our concentration. Distractions need not be external. Our own mind can divert the attention of our senses.

Out of our five senses, we need to mainly take care of our eyes and ears. Instead of allowing our mind to control our senses, we should control of our mind so that we see and hear what is to be seen heard. But this will not ‘happen’ and we need to practice control like the way we practiced typing, cycling etc.
 

Do this exercise.

Choose a walking path, preferably in a park or a beach where there will not be many walking in the same pathway. Choose a song from your iPod or mobile phone and put on a hear phone. Adjust the volume to be sufficient to neutralize any other sound.

Start walking and keep focusing just three feet from your feet and decide not to look here and there. Also keep focusing all your attention on the music alone noticing every instrument.

Do this exercise consistently for three weeks gradually increasing the distance and duration of your walk. Notice what happens to you own ability to take control of your mind thus your ears and eyes!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimfoundation.com
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Do you have ‘relevant’ friends?

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk with me and be my friend.
Albert Camus
I read a quotation which reads ‘tell me who your friend is and I’ll tell who you are’. This quotation is very common in many languages.

The quality of our life is influenced by what we constantly see and hear hence the profile of our friends is a key factor which will shape our attitude and thinking process. 

Decide what you want to be in your life and heights you want to scale in your career. Be specific in defining your goal.
Then ask the following questions to yourself:
•    Do I have relevant friends circle matching my career ambition?
•    Do I have a legend or role model among my friends’ circle whom I can emulate?
•    Do I spend quality time with such friends who are relevant to my life?
•    How do I benefit maximum from my friends’ circle to further my career?
•    How can contribute to my friends’ ambitions and goals?
May be it is a good idea to ‘audit’ this parameter of ourselves once a year! Take one area of your life and double the quality of your friendship in that area and notice what happens to your life in one year!

You will be amazed!
www.thetimefoundation.com
N C Sridharan

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Hard work, patience and focus = success!

Perseverance is the secret of all triumphs!
Victor Hugo
Success is not overnight. Efforts will not yield immediate results. More so when it comes to great achievements. We need to be highly focused, patient, consistent, and above all, develop passion.
Somewhere I read about the Chinese Bamboo Tree. If you plant a Chinese Bamboo Tree on a fertile soil, carefully water and manure and meticulously take care, you don’t see any growth at all during the first year. Also in the second, third and fourth years you will not see any growth. But in the fifth year, in just six weeks, it grows to 80 feet!

You will not believe, but it is true!

All these five years, the Chinese Bamboo seedling develops deep roots to make it strong when it grows to 80 feet in the sixth year!

If the farmer who planted it becomes impatient and tries to dig under the seedling to see what is happening, he would be destroying the same.
This applies to our life also! We should patiently work on the right project, be consistent and wait for the result. If we lose hope and become restless, we will be losing the project completely!
We need to develop the right attitude and character to enjoy the fruits of our hard work. This is the reason why those who believe in quick money do not retain their richness!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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The ‘It starts with me!’ mindset!

Every generation needs a new revolution
Thomas Jefferson
We blame that our street is not clean, people are not disciplined, politicians are corrupt etc. and the list can be endless.

We can blame, complain and criticise others and get frustrated and depressed with this mindset. 

The other day I was in a temple in Cleveland and a child came in front of me as though to give a constructive solution to these ‘social problem’. She was wearing a T- shirt on which was printed ‘It starts with me!’. Isn’t it true that any change starts with us? We cannot change the world. But we can change ourselves and try to start a revolution which perhaps will change the world.

See if this makes some sense:
•    Discipline starts with me.
•    Indiscipline starts with me.
•    Health starts with me.
•    Positive attitude starts with me.
•    Good manners and etiquette starts with me.
•    Charity starts with me.
•    Good values start with me.

Just imagine what will world be like if everyone has this mindset.

Let us start a new revolution with our taking the first step! Instead of complaining about darkness let us light a lamp!
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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If you suffer like them, you can also enjoy like them!

The quality of life is determined by its activities
Aristotle
The other day I was on a flight from Chennai to Houston. I saw various categories of seats ranging from the economy to first class. The first class passengers could stretch their legs and sleep!
Anyone who sees the difference between the economy and the first class would prefer to travel by the first class. Why would they not?
But, if you see what these people who travel in the first class did before they got this status, you will notice a common denominator: they worked very hard and earned this quality of life. They were highly focused and marketed their talents very well. They ‘invested’ their time on value adding activities and enhanced the ‘commercial value’ of their time.
Others who could not afford this quality of life also had the same amount of time, but they dissipated their time on non value adding activities. They were not focused. They did not work hard enough to deserve a better quality of life.
Those who enjoy a high quality of life suffered the pain of discipline. If you are willing to do it, you can also earn the same!
All you need to do is: decide now itself to re-write your own life script!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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An expert racer knows when to replace the tyres!

In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks
Warren Buffet

Growth and decay are natural and so is change. There is no such thing as one time meal. Similarly there is no such thing as permanent knowledge and skill. You need to verify if what you have now is relevant to time and if it will stand the test of time.
A racer who wins the Formula 1 race should ensure that his vehicle is fit for the race he is going to participate. His car might have won him trophies. But he should know when to replace the tyres, and if necessary, even the car itself! 

We need to ask ourselves these questions periodically:
•    Am I in the right business NOW?
•    Are my knowledge, skill and experience relevant NOW?
•    Should I change my entire line of business NOW?
May be your current business and skill set gave you all your present comfort, wealth and money. But, that is not a sufficient reason to stick on to them when it comes to competing in world which is constantly changing and highly demanding.
Like a successful company continuously re-engineers and launches completely new products to remain in business, you have to redesign your deliverable continuously.
So, change, transform and get ready for a new innings!
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Keep moving to grow!

If you continue to dig the same hole in the same place in your life, eventually you will be standing in a grave!
Shannon L. Alder

If you want to be growing, keep moving.

Whichever stops moving will start decaying. Visit an automobile repair shop and see an automobile parked for a long time. You will see the rusted vehicles with flat tyres. It is a junk!

When water stagnates for a long time it stinks. Fishes will die and bacteria will grow. Of course the water will not be fit for human consumption.

If a patient is allowed to be in the same position for a long time without any movement, it will result in bedsore, otherwise called pressure ulcer. The best treatment to cure bedsore is to turn the patient every two hours.

This principle is relevant to our career also. If we remain in the same career for too long, we will start becoming outdated. We have to keep moving to enrich our bio-data. If an organisation does not remove old products, it will lose its place in the market. If the manufacturing process does not change with new technology, it will become uncompetitive.

Ask yourself: how long am I am in my current job without any change? What will happen if I don’t change my skill set?

Keep changing, and remain relevant!

NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Choose wisely or live with the consequences!

‘I’ve come to realize your career is all about the choices you make. Every single one matters’
Demi Lovato

I was sitting in a park. I saw a lot of people taking a morning walk. Some came with their friends and some with their family. Some others came with their dogs!
 

I saw a variety of dogs from ferocious to pet dogs. I saw a Greyhound, a Bulldog as well as a Pomeranian. These dogs made their owners proud and I could see it on their faces!
Choosing a dog is very important given the purpose why you want a dog. If you want a hound, then you should choose such a pedigree. If you want pet dog, then don’t choose a Great Dane! You cannot expect a pet dog to do what a hound can!
This principle applies to our life also. Decide what you want to achieve in life and then choose a carrier since these two go hand in hand. You cannot dream to become a multimillionaire but choose to work very little. You cannot dream to become a Tiger Wood but avoid golf court!
Check if your present knowledge, skill and experience will give you what you choose to become in your life.
Check if there is a mismatch between the choices you have made and your life style!
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Don’t become unwanted!

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him
Albert Schweitzer

The other day I was on my evening walk. On the platform I saw an old executive swirl chair discarded by someone. This is my usual walking route and I saw the swirl chair remaining there without anyone taking it away. One day the corporation people came and took it away as garbage!     

This reminded me the issue of becoming an unwanted person in the society. The society can be anything, from our family to the place we work. Mother Teresa once said that the most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved. The same thing applies to being unwanted.

The unwanted swirl chair is a powerful life metaphor. Many of us are self focused and keen to enrich ourselves. We seek the help of others and will be happy to be helped. But we need to constantly focus on the needs of others and think how we can be useful to them. We need to have something to offer to others at any point of time. We need to enrich others’ life through what we have to offer to them. 

On the day we have nothing to offer, that day we will be discarded!

Let us not become that swirl chair!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Do you have a ‘definite purpose’?

To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity
Friedrich Nietzsche

Our time is spent on pursuing various activities. The activity can be anything from indulging in some entertainment to something very serious like writing a software programme. Whatever we do, we should ensure that we have a definite purpose in mind and link what we do with that purpose and accomplish the same.
The other day I was in a Gym. Two middle aged ladies entered and the next thirty minutes the gym was very noisy. They tried out all the exercise machines one after another. From their conversation, which was very loud, I could gather that they came there to sincerely workout and burn about 300 calories!
But they were not focused and gossiping all along switching from one exercise machine to another and cutting jokes!
In short their activities did not reflect that they had a ‘definite purpose’ in their mind. Obviously they are not going to burn the extra calories. In fact it was a Sunday early morning and they should have sacrificed the Sunday early morning sleep!
Next time whenever you are doing any activity check if you have a definite purpose in mind and if your activities reflect the same!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Be consistent instead of working hard!

It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.
Anthony Robbins

Sometime we are forced to choose between working hard and being consistent. There is no option but to work hard. But what is even more important is consistency. I have come across people who start to learn something new such as a new language or dance etc. Initially they are so enthusiastic that they work very hard and spend all their time in learning the new thing. But over a period of time their initial enthusiasm fades away and they give up.

This is especially true when you attempt to do something difficult and away from your comfort zone such as workouts in a gym. You are so enthusiastic to burn your extra fat that you work out long hours, straining every muscle. But the next day you feel so painful that you avoid the gym!

Your mind is like a small child and it is threatened by big things. You have to befriend your mind by doing easy things in small doses so that you do such things consistently.

May be it is a good idea to list down five things which you started doing but gave up checking if the above is true with you!

Be slow and steady, you will definitely win the race!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Impossible to difficult to very easy!

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
Napoleon Bonaparte

It has become my everyday routine to take a brisk walk around my colony. One day I noticed a continuous platform all around my walk area. I thought of walking on the edge of the platform. I was afraid that I will fall since it was too narrow. But then one day I walked on the edge for a few feet and I was about to fall. I gathered my balance and continued. Next day I was able to walk a little more on the edge. And then the, next day and the next day....

It is now nearly one month and it has become my routine to walk on the edge of the platform continuously for more than a mile! Not only I started doing it with ease, but I have really started liking this morning drill!

I realised that this is how I learnt things like walking, running, cycling and typing. Looking back it was a pleasant journey from impossible to difficult and ultimately to very easy!

I have decided to take every month at least one thing which today I consider as impossible and practice until it becomes easy as part of my own personality development portfolio!
Perhaps you can also try!
www.thetimefoundation.com
N C Sridharan
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Self protection is best!

Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs
Mario Andretti g

The other day I was speaking the father of a teenage girl. He was telling me that he is taking his daughter out from a day school to put her in a boarding school. The reason he said was that his daughter is spending a lot of her time with her boy friends and mobile phone. He wanted her to be in a place where she will not be disturbed by such social risks.

He thinks that he is solving the problem. But actually he is avoiding the problem. The solution lies in educating his daughter to do what is good for her at this age.

I gave him the example of installing a virus prevention software in a computer. There will be risks of virus files from the internet or from other storage devises. The only solution is to protect our computer appropriately!

We have to accept the fact that we are not living in an ideal society and accept the reality of social risks. The same society has so much good to offer and we should know how to protect ourselves intelligently!

Over this weekend, check if you are avoiding any issue and find out a way to solve the same!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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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 10 minutes effectively, you should be able to manage the next 10 years also effectively. Just like learning to swim 10¬¬-50 feet alone is sufficient to swim a longer distance, if you can manage 10 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 the blocks of 10 minutes and notice whether you have applied your mind on the priorities on hand. If you do justice to every 10 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 100 miles, as long as you travel the next 10 miles in the right way, you don’t have to worry about the remaining 90 miles!

Stop reading this; make a log of how you manage the blocks of 10 minutes until you go to bed today. Do this exercise for a week and notice what happens to your time consciousness!

From my book 'Arise, Awake and Take Charge')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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'POSSIBILITARIAN'

Become a ‘possibilitarian’.  No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there.
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

If you look at the dictionary, there is no such word as “‘possibilitarian’. But I like this quotation for the powerful meaning it conveys. We have come across words such as parliamentarian and disciplinarian. These words indicate the life style or avocation of a person. A parliamentarian believes in the parliamentary system of governance, and a disciplinarian believes in a disciplined way of life. If you apply this logic to this word, a ‘possibilitarian’ believes in possibilities!

A few days ago, a teacher approached me for a conduct certificate. He said that he is applying for a government job, but added that there is no possibility of getting the job and he is applying for the job to satisfy his wife! Can we call him ‘impossibilitarian’!

You have to believe in possibilities, however, low it could be. The law of success says that you attract everything that you believe strongly. Do you know the law of self-fulfilling prophesies? Wikipedia defines self-fulfilling prophecy as a prediction that directly or indirectly causes it to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to a positive feedback between belief and behaviour.

Before you start any project, start with a positive feeling that there is some possibility of succeeding and gather all the resources to enhance the probability of success. This will give you the self-confidence that you will succeed one day or other if you persevere.

Over this weekend, list all the projects you gave up thinking that they are impossible, and find out if someone else has achieved the same!
(From my book 'Arise, Awake and Take Charge')

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Boring and difficult, but you have no choice!

When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.
Peter Marshall

I was asking the teachers of my school, whose native language is not English, go through a series grammar lessons. They told me that the classes are boring.

I also told my students to attend Yoga classes every Saturday and Sunday early morning. They told me that it is difficult to get up early morning on weekends.

I requested my aged mother to walk with a walking stick so that she is safe. She told me that it is uncomfortable.

To told all them to do it, even though boring, difficult and uncomfortable!

Isn’t it true that we have to do certain things whether we like it or not? Who likes to swallow a bitter pill and have a painful injection? But what will be the consequence if we avoid them?

Discipline is painful, but we have to accept to avoid the pain of suffering. Resistance is natural, but we have to overcome it to succeed. Sleep is comfortable, but we have to wake up to earn a living! Life is not doing only what we like, but we have to like what we have to do in our live.

We have to keep the end result in our mind so that we are encouraged to do all that which are not to our liking!
Over this weekend, can you write down that one thing which you dislike most and visualise what will happen if you don’t do the same?

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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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 continued their efforts regardless of intermediary results. They honestly wanted to achieve and strongly believed in their process. They 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 by working very hard.

If you see how a person becomes an expert in music, you will understand this principle. They practise 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 90 days and check how consistent you are on your effort level – no matter how hard you have been working on any particular day.
 
(From my book 'Arise, Awake and Take Charge')
 

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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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. Neither is success by chance nor is decided by luck. You may be lucky to be in a particular environment at a particular point of time. However, this alone cannot assure that you will get what you want.

If you read the biography of any successful person, you will understand how hard they had to work to get what they got. All 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 which they luckily noticed and exploited. 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 traveling from Manchester to London in 1990.
When she conceived the idea of the book, she was living on welfare, and she became a multimillionaire within 5 years of time. As of March 2010, Rowling’s net worth was estimated to be $1 billion, and she is believed to be the 12th richest woman in the Great Britain.

If you just visit the website of Harry Potter, you will be stunned to know how a person can become so successful by converting just one idea, which came to her while traveling, into an action plan and working on the same. Maybe she was lucky that she got the idea, but it is her focused work that 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 30 days and ponder over what you did to explore whether there is an opportunity to put your idea into action.
 

(From my book 'Arise, Awake and Take Charge')
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Useful, but used-less things!

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.
Voltaire

There are a lot of useful things around us, but not used! 

I help my wife in the kitchen. It is my duty to slice and cut the vegetables. Some of them are very easy to cut, and some others test my patience! Some of them have to be cut into very small pieces and here is where the problem lies.

On an average it takes about 45 minutes to finish this ‘kitchen duty’! On those days where I have to really catch up with my writing and blogging, I have to really balance my time between my kitchen table and writing table!

One day I saw a brand new unused ‘Quick n’ Easy Plus Food Processer’ in the storage area!  I started using the same. You will not believe, now it takes me just 10 minutes to finish my ‘kitchen portfolio’!

I realised that this is what happens in our life also. There are many useful things we don’t use at all – the fresh Ozone in the early morning air, the bright sunshine and the pleasant breeze. All these are available, but we don’t use them!

Life is not how much you have, but is about how much you use that which you already have!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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If you have something to offer, you will be respected!

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
Eleanor Roosevelt

The other day I was in a swimming pool enjoying a nice breezy evening. I noticed a Cocoa Cola empty can being moved by the wind. The can was moving in all the directions in which the wind was blowing. Some children came and kicked the can here and there and playing. Ultimately it landed in the trash container and no one bothered about it!

I was reflecting on this.

This can, when it was Cocoa Cola, it was respected, it was kept in a refrigerator, people paid money to have it, felt very proud to have it with them and it was even a status symbol! When the same can became empty, it has no takers and people kicked it around and ultimately landed in the trash!

We need to ask ourselves what we have to offer to others. As long as we have something of value to offer, we will be respected. The day we have nothing to offer to others, we will be kicked around and will be trashed!

Over this weekend, ask yourself: what do I have to offer to others? Can I make my contribution even more valuable? Or, do I want to be that empty Cocoa Cola can?
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Concentration results in quality of execution!

‘Other people’s interruptions of your work are relatively insignificant compared with the countless times you interrupt yourself’
Brenan Francis

Many of us complain that others interrupt us, or telephone calls interrupt us. But do you know who interrupts you most? It is you and your thoughts! It is your ever wandering mind. If you can control this one factor, you would have solved ninety percent of your interruptions!

It is so easy to understand, yet very difficult to implement.

One way to control anything is to notice your mind. In departmental stores, the very fact that people are being watched and noticed, the lesser will be chances of pilferage. You will be very careful while driving when there is a traffic constable noticing you.

Do an exercise. Keep a counter with whenever you set to do an important work. Decide to concentrate on the job fully and notice your thoughts. Every time your mind wanders to issues irrelevant to the work on hand, press the counter. Do this for thirty minutes and count the number of your mental interruptions. Do this exercise for about three weeks and notice your mind becoming more disciplined!

Of course, with your mind you will also become a disciplined person!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Check the useful to not useful ratio of your activities!

‘Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life’
Michael LeBoeuf
 

Do a small exercise. Log all your activities for a complete week. Then analyse each activity and divide them into two categories – useful and not so useful. Useful means those activities which will help you to reach your goals in life. Useless means the activity has no relevance at all to your goal. After doing this look at the ratio of useful to not so useful activities.  

Supposing about twenty percent of the activities you logged is not useful. Reflect on the implication of this ratio on your life!

Think about a company in which twenty percent of the products manufactured are not useful to the customers. If you are an investor, will you invest your money on the stock of this company?

A factory should produce some product or services which is relevant and useful to the customers. Periodically the company should analyse the waste and rejection level and take appropriate corrective action to reduce the rejection. If this is not done, the company will be closed down. Therefore a company will attach equal importance to not only production management, but also to waste management.

This simple principle applies to our life also.

With this input, will you log your activities and check where you stand?

NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com 

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You transform or perish!

‘Transformation literally means going beyond your form’
Wayne Dyer

The other day I was walking to the gym with my wife. She saw a grisly caterpillar moving. The very sight was disgusting. But we all know that the same will become a beautiful butterfly one day and everyone will love the caterpillar in a new form!

We all pass through this transformation in life. But unlike a caterpillar, we have to work to become a butterfly. If we keep moving like a caterpillar, no one will like us over a period of time.

We need to ask if what we are today is relevant to the time we live in and if our present deliverable will continue to be useful to others.
Know the motto of Sony Corporation? - ‘We will make our product obsolete before our customers do so.’

In today’s world of exciting and infinite opportunities, an organisation cannot survive if it does not innovate and re-engineer its products. This principle equally applies to individuals also!

Ask yourself and answer frankly: ‘I am I way ahead of my competitors in my field? How far behind are my competitors?’

The quality of your life during the next ten years depends on how fast you transform in time before others do so to make you obsolete!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com

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You will not grow if you work hard without self enhancement!

‘If you want to lead an extraordinary life, find out what the ordinary do – and don’t do it’
Tommy Newberry

All of us want to grow and prosper in life and improve the quality of our life. Many people think that by merely working very hard on their job they will grow in their career.

But smart people understand that they have three portfolios to manage: working, relaxing and enhancing.

We have to work and we have to relax so that we can work again. Our supervisors will ensure that we work and our body will seek

and get relaxation.

But we ignore the portfolio of self enhancement which means enriching our knowledge and skill base; enriching our experience on new and rare areas and technology; graduating from working to managing and leading; shifting our focus from working to getting work done by others.

Out of twenty four hours, we should work for eight hours, rest for eight hours and from the balance eight hours left, invest some time for self enhancement. Or, from the 168 hours per week, we should spend at least fourteen to fifteen hours for self enhancement. Every year we should attend some training programme for 12 days.

You may say that you have no time. But, without self enhancement, there will be no growth!

So, find time!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com

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If it is important, it will get into your agenda!

 ‘Action expresses priorities’

Mahatma Gandhi

Sometimes you make a request on someone, small or big. It could be as simple as requesting someone to give you a wakeup call or fetch your car key etc. Similarly, others may also make such requests on you.

 There may be occasions when the other person does not comply with your request. The other person may simply say ‘sorry I forgot’. You may also respond in such a way.

On such occasions, unless the other person assigns a high value of importance to the request, it is likely that the request may not be taken seriously!

 Just recall about five to six requests from others that you ‘simply forgot’! Rate each of them on a scale of most important, medium important and least important from your point of view. The things that you ‘forgot’ will invariably fall into least important category!

If you had given the ‘most important’ rating to the request, you would have automatically asked the question ‘what will happen if I remember this or what will happen if I do not remember this?’ and  you would have ensured that you remember the request, small or big!

In short, if you feel it is important, you will be careful not to forget!

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com 

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Have a periodic quality check on what you are doing!

‘Don’t mistake activity with achievement’
John Wooden

The other day I was in a factory manufacturing computer parts. There is a separate department which picks up a product at random from the production line to check its quality conformance. If there is a deviation between the quality which is expected and the actual quality, corrective actions are taken. The company enjoys a very high degree of reputation among its clients.

May be we should also do a periodic quality check on what we are doing in our time. Like a factory is turning out products, we turn out our activities. Some activities may be value adding, some others may be a waste of our time. We need to notice such activities which are not required or which will not enhance the quality of our life.

If you are not careful in what you are doing, you will be very busy working, but achieve nothing!

Ask the power question every one hour: ‘What am I doing now? What should I be really doing? If this is not what I should be doing, why am I doing this?’
Sincerely do this quality check on you for three weeks and notice the difference in the quality of your focus!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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Balanced diet and balanced routine!

‘People love chopping wood. In this activity one immediately sees results’
Albert Einstein

I invited a dietician to address my students on the importance of balanced diet. Today’s children consume more of junk food which has no diet value.

A balanced diet means including certain things in the food like saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, refined sugar, salt, vitamins etc, so that you become and remain healthy.

I was also reflecting that the concept of diet applies to our daily routine also. We need to ensure that the various activities we do in a day are as healthily balanced as our food. Our activities should take care of what is required to be done not only for today’s requirement but also for the future. We need to take care of activities to acquire knowledge, to hone our skills, to acquire new experience and technology etc.

As our children are attracted towards junk foods which do not have any nutritional value, we are also attracted to some activities which are interesting but not useful. For example watching a television serial could be very interesting, but may not add any value to the quality of our life.

May be it is good idea to reflect whether we are too much focussed on chopping woods without sharpening the saw!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com

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Quality check for our senses!

There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them – the senses, intelligent companions, and books’.
Henry Ward Beecher
 

We all see, hear, taste, smell and feel. Our senses are God’s gift to us. We all give some gift to someone we love. Once we have given the gift, our role is over. It is for them to decide how to use the same.
They can use it for good purpose or for not so good purpose. For example you present a computer and an internet connection to a teenager for his birthday. It is up to him to decide how to use the same!

Once in a way, it is better to apply a quality audit to our senses. Over this weekend introspect on the following:
•    What do I see? How do they help me?
•    What do I hear? Will they enhance my knowledge?
•    What food I take? Will it help my health and give me energy?
•    Similarly how do I use my smell and feel senses?

God has given these five senses to all the living things He created. But He gave the sixth sense to only human beings. The sixth sense is the intelligence to decide how to use the five senses!

We should be careful especially in the use of three of the five senses. They are: what do we see, hear and eat, for, they will decide the quality of our mental and physical health!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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