365 Exciting ways to live - 69

69 / 365  Develop ‘One-Pointedness’

Concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket.

 Andrew Carnegie

What’s your longest span of concentration and focus on one single selected task without your mind wandering? Great success calls for great efforts and a disciplined mind. By nature, mind is not disciplined and will drift. We have to train the mind to ‘one-pointedness by deliberate exercise and practice. When we were children, we were able to concentrate on one thing. But as we grew older we lost this important quality, like we gave up diaphragmatic breathing!

Every day set aside one hour to concentrate on the most important task on hand such as writing, portfolio management, reading and thinking. Switch off your mobile phone, shut down your television set and tell people that you are not available. If necessary lock yourself for one hour in a room. Just disappear from the crowd! If you find it difficult to concentrate for one full hour to start with, begin with fifteen minutes and gradually improve. Treat this as a very important self-development portfolio exercise, like jogging and workout.

Sincerely do this for a month and notice your self confidence going up along with the quality of your work!

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

365 Exciting ways to live - 68

68 / 365 Read and Acquire Knowledge

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

 Sir Richard Steele

Fine tune and improve the quality of your ‘reading portfolio’. In an era of infinite and exciting opportunities, we can realise even a very ‘wild’ dream through an effective strategy. Focused knowledge acquisition should be an integral part of our success strategy. Compared to ten years ago, our competition has also grown several times and we should be intelligent enough to survive competition.

The cutting edge which will decide our success is our knowledge base, which will assume great importance in the era of perfect competition. Consider the following:

• Focus on your reading. Do not read everything and anything.
• Read with a purpose. Before reading, decide how it will be useful.
• Set aside specific time and place to read. Even if you skip eating, don’t skip reading!
• Use technology to improve your reading. Use internet, e-books, audio books, iPods etc
•  Target your reading topicwise, form a discussion group and a study group.

Honestly audit your reading portfolio to check if it is adequate, given your responsibility and ambitions in life. Remember that knowledge acquisition is an important survival strategy and not a luxury anymore!

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

365 Exciting ways to live - 66

66 / 365  Develop People Management Skill

Management is nothing more than motivating other people.

 Lee Iacocca

Compared to other resources, human resource is the most sensitive resource to manage since we have to deal with feelings, attitude, ego, values, and sentiments.

How good are you in managing people?  At the highest level of managing an organisation, the ability to manage and motivate human resources becomes very critical.  You will have to take responsibility for not only your actions and behaviours, but also that of others. You should know some important aspects of ‘behaviour management skills’.

Check for the following people management skills in you:

·         The ability to build and maintain a successful team.

·         The ability to communicate powerfully and meaningfully.

·         The ability to empower and motivate people.

·         The ability to assertively disagree.

·         The ability to communicate a different point of view.

·         The ability to manage and lead intellectual people.

·         The ability to be a mentor and guide others.

Honestly evaluate yourself with respect to the above parameters and work out an action plan to improve your people management skills. Take personal responsibility for your people management ability.

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

365 Exciting ways to live - 67

67 / 365  How do you keep your things?

When anger rises, think of the consequences.

Confucius

Take a look at your computer monitor. Are there scratches or stains? Observe your mobile phone panel. Is it neat? Take a close look at your wrist watch. Do you notice any scratches? Now observe your work table. Is it neat? Is your table cluttered? Carefully observe your car or scooter. Do you maintain them well? When did you clean it yourself last? Take a look at your shoes. When did you last polish it?

The way you keep your things tells volumes about your personality. I have been observing a lot of people from this point of view. I have known some people, who are very meticulous about the things they keep. They take personal care to ensure that the things they use are very clean and neat.

This may appear to be a mere external issue. But beneath this external behaviour is what is called ‘attitude’. If you have the attitude to pay close attention to this factor, you will have the same attitude to your work also. This week, introspect on this aspect of your personality and set a target to improve the same.   You will enjoy the pleasant feeling of an organised person.

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

365 Exciting ways to live - 65

65 / 365 Grow Muscles, Destroy Flesh

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

 Aristotle

Growth and decay are parts of nature. We have to decide which we want to encourage. In a garden, if you don’t grow plants, weeds will grow since it is natural. If you want the plants to be green and healthy, you have to do weeding out.

We either grow muscles or flesh. When we grow muscles, we become stronger and sturdier. If we grow flesh, it will create health problems. Intelligent people will take efforts to grow muscles and reduce flesh. Similarly, we either develop healthy or unhealthy habits, traits, attitudes, character, friends etc. If these are healthy, they act as muscles. Once every month, examine if you are allowing these negative elements to grow. Periodically check out if you are proactive to grow positive attitudes, habits, friends, traits, etc. Unless you invest time and resources to develop these positive elements in you, you will land up in an unhealthy environment, which will hamper your growth. If you don’t nip them in the bud, you will need a massive cleaning operation, which will be time consuming and tiring.

Invest your time on this important portfolio.

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com

 N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

365 Exciting ways to live - 64

64 / 365 Talk Less, Do More

An inability to stay quiet is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind.

 Walter Bagehot

Reduce your talking by 50% and notice what happens to your concentration and productivity.

I read an interesting story. A leading company advertised for a ‘walk in interview’ for a salesman. A lot of candidates came and they were waiting in the hall, making a lot of noise chitchatting, talking loudly on their mobile phone, etc. The whole room was very noisy. But one candidate was very calm and kept observing, what was happening in the room. At that time he heard a mild announcement, which said that anyone who hears the announcement can come and collect the appointment order. Others did not hear it since they were busy talking. He went inside and collected the appointment order! All the other candidates accused him of bribing the company to get appointed. But the General Manager came out and explained that the announcement was meant to anyone, who heard the same and since he only heard it, he only got appointed!

Now tell me: isn’t silence gold?

(From my book “365 Exciting Ways to Live”)

'365 Exciting Ways to Live' is an ideal gift for any special occasion and a good reading material for supervisory development. You can also gift this book to the school or college you studied....

www.thetimefoundation.com

 N.C. Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com