365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 108. Seconds count when it comes to international sports!

Seconds count when it comes to international sports!

But to be fair, if you take players from my era to now, the game has changed and the players have many more shots. They use them differently than we did.

The speed of the game has changed.
- Ivan Lendl

Speed is the cutting edge for succeeding globally.

In car racing, a car may meet with some problem like a flat tyre. Depending on the type of racing, the size of the pit crew will differ.  In Formula One Series, 19 trained mechanics will make the pit crew working as a team with perfect delegation of responsibilities.

Each tyre will be attended by three mechanics – one to use the pneumatic wrench to remove the wheel's lug; one to take off the used tyre; and the third to reinstall the new tyre. Two mechanics will be lifting the car, one in the front and the other at the rear. One mechanic will function as the starter man and another as the fuel man. While these mechanics are allotted specific and precise jobs, a `lollipop man' will be guiding the driver to slow down, to brake, to stop etc. The balance mechanics will be deployed with very specific responsibilities to save every millisecond of the tyre changing and the refueling process!

You've heard the proverb `too many cooks spoil the broth'? Not when they are trained well as to what and how to do their jobs!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 85 Don’t Become a Victim of Telephone Tyranny

      Don’t Become a Victim of Telephone Tyranny

Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, opulence is when you have three – and paradise is when you have none.

– Doug Larson

Are you addicted to your mobile phone and a slave of the ‘telephone tyranny’? Have you carefully studied your style of using this important communication device? Do you know how many hours you spend on phone every day?

Any technology should be used for productive purpose and if we are not conscious, we will become a slave to that technology. In fact, a misused technology will become counterproductive.

For the next ten days do the following exercise:

• Practise a ‘telephone-free zone’ of two or three hours every day.
• Let people know that you will not answer any official calls after a specific time.
• Resolve to speak for not more than three to four minutes on any personal call.
• When in doubt, don’t make the call.
• Have a target to cut down your telephone bill by 20% from next month.

·         Jot down five ways to become more intelligent in using of your mobile phone.

Today introspect over the above questions and check if you are overusing your phone.

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 76: Over- dependent on others?

  Over-dependent on Other?

The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence.

– Samuel Johnson

We need the help of others to succeed in life. However, we should not become over dependent on people and paralysed if there is no help. We will require some special professional help from experts such as doctors, lawyers and coaches which we cannot avoid. We should become independent for doing simple things.

Consider the following:

·         Can you drive your car without your driver?

·         Can you make your own coffee if someone is not available to make it for you?

·         Can you clean your house or car yourself?

·         Washing and ironing your clothes?

·         Trimming and maintaining your garden yourself without anyone’s help?

·         Typing your project report without the help of your typist or secretary?

·         Can you make some basic food items without help? 

Over the next two weeks, identify at least ten areas for which you totally depend on someone. Every week choose two things and check if you could do it yourself. If you do this sincerely, two things will happen. One, you will learn to become self-dependent. Two, your self-confidence will go up! 

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 75: Learn from others!

     Learn from others

A man only learns in two ways, one by reading and the other by association with smarter people.

– Will Rogers

Have you watched profile interviews on the television channels? People who have achieved great things in life are interviewed and asked what they did and how they achieved success. We have a lot to learn from them.

Here is a project for you. Identify fifty people, whom you admire and who are available for you to meet. Imagine you are working for a popular TV channel and prepare a questionnaire for the interview session! Fix an appointment and interview them. Sincerely do this project and you will learn so much from them. You can learn great things even from ordinary people around you. One need not be a national or international personality. Even a successful local restaurant owner will have something useful to tell you. Some basic success rules are common to all, whether a celebrity or an ordinary person.

In this process, you will be achieving two objectives. One, you will become an expert in asking relevant questions. Two, you will get answers for your questions, which are powerful life lessons, which you can apply in your life!

Sincerely do this project and notice your personality grow!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 74: Learn Something New!

       Learn Something New

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

Henry Ford

Recall the days you first learnt cycling, typing, playing a guitar, a new language etc.! Wasn’t it exciting? It would have given you some anxiety or tension. But you would have liked it and it would have kept you busy. Over a period of time, life becomes very mechanical. If we don’t engage our mind regularly, we will become lazy. There should be something exciting for the mind and brain every day.

Our brain and mind are amazing gifts of God. The more we use, the more it will be fit for even more exciting work. Like a knife or scissor, our mind and brain will become blunt and useless, if not used regularly. What is used less becomes useless!

Consider the following options:

• Start learning a new language, music, instrument or skill.
• Every week or month, start doing something completely new which you’ve not done at all.
• Meet new people and get to know them.

·         Develop a new habit, of course, a good habit.

Do this for six months and watch your excitement in life once again going up!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

NC Sridharan

 www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 65 - Grow Muscles, Destroy Flesh!

       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')

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 29: Reduce Your Irritation Quotient

Reduce Your Irritation Quotient

You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.

– Jerry West

How often do you feel irritated inside? Sometimes, often or always?   Some people tell me that they experience a feeling of irritation very often. They always feel irritated and angry with someone or something.

Irritation is an important emotion and we should use it constructively as positive energy. But, if we are going to feel irritated most of the time, it will destroy our personality. Such a state of mind will make us feel restless and disturbed. With this state of mind, we will do or say something, which will destroy interpersonal relationship. This internal state of mind will come out in the form of our words and actions, which will in turn irritate others. We have to stop this vicious circle.

You should know your irritation quotient! One way is to become conscious, whenever you get irritated and keep a count. You can also seek the help of your friends to observe this trait in you. Reflect the consequences of this trait on your attitude and emotional wellness.

Try this self-monitoring from today!

(From my book: '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 28

Practise Active Listening

The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.

– Thich Nhat Hanh

How do you listen when someone talks to you? What is the quality of your listening? Do you feel restless and butt in, when others speak to you? If you do all these, stop!   The quality of listening is very important in the process of communication.

The difference between listening and hearing lies in the quality. There are two types of listening: active listening and passive listening. Active listening encourages the communicator, whereas passive listening discourages him. Active listening is also called ‘whole-body listening’, where the listener also participates in the communication process. For active listening, the following parameters are important:

• Your body language.
• Your eye contact with the communicator.
• Asking relevant questions and clarifications.
• Paraphrasing what the communicator says.
• Facial expression.

From today, be conscious and look for the above in you,   when you listen to someone. Ask your close friends to give feedback on the quality of your listening and actively listen when they give the feedback!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 27 - Make Every Day a Thanks Giving Day

Make Every Day a Thanks Giving Day

Nothing is more honourable than a grateful heart.

– Seneca

Have you heard of ‘Thanks Giving Day’?   Why not make every day a Thanks Giving Day?   We need the help of others to achieve in life. We need the cooperation and support of many. In fact we also need lack of cooperation and inaction of others! If everyone cooperates and provides an ideal environment, we will not mature in life! Isn’t true?

We should remember people's help and thank them. While thanking, both the person thanking and the person receiving feel happy. People yearn for recognition and reciprocation, as much as we yearn for help and support. When we recognise and reciprocate, we build healthy relationship and emotional wellness.

Try this today. Make a list all those who helped you in some way or other – small or big. Every day, send a ‘thank you’ card to one person and don’t go to sleep unless you’ve done this! In this electronic era, it is very easy to do this. You can either send a sms or an e-mail or you can use your mobile, etc.

Do this regularly and notice what happens to your emotional bank account!

(From My Book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 21

Interrupt Interruptions

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

– Brendan Francis

We cannot manage time as we have no ‘control’ over time. But we can and should control the ‘productivity’ of time by turning maximum quantifiable output within the time available.

Our time is fragmented and dissipated by interruptions, which cannot be eliminated altogether.  If we don’t control interruptions, we will take more time to complete the task than what is required. A perfectly normal day will be full of interruptions like telephone calls, drop in visitors, meetings and people. If you are not at all disturbed, it means that you are not required.

We should manage the interruptions and keep them short by studying the nature of interruptions and work out a strategy. You can have an ‘interruptions log’, in which you meticulously note down every interruption and study them. Know who and what interrupted you and how long. You will know why you were interrupted. After this homework, you can work out a strategy to deal with that major interruption, which takes away a lot of your precious time.  Try this from today!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 18: Develop Flexibility

Develop Flexibility

Thus, flexibility, as displayed by water, is a sign of life. Rigidity, its opposite, is an indicator of death.

– Anthony Lawlor

Flexibility is a very important trait. If there is life, there will be flexibility. A live plant or tree is flexible. If the tree is chopped and dried, it becomes inflexible. So is the case of a human body. As long as there is life, the human body is flexible.

I come across people, who do not like even small changes in their daily life. They want to sit in the same seat, eat the same food, meet the same people during lunch, etc. There are some people, who will be very inflexible even in very small things like the tea cups they use and the route they take to office. 

Try this from today. Take a different route to your office. Sit in a table different from where you used to sit in the canteen. Dress differently. Eat in a different restaurant. Order a different food and enjoy. If you have a home office, change the direction of the table and notice how you feel. If you feel shy to speak to new people, get yourself introduced to the first stranger you meet today!

Do it today!

From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live' 

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 15: Travel Time Treasure Hunt!

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 '365 Exciting Ways to Live'

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 6

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!
NC Sridharan
From My Book '365 Exciting Ways to Live'
www.thetimefoundation.com
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