365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 39 - Practise a Disciplined Schedule

Practise a Disciplined Schedule.

For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.

– Jim Rohn

Success is a result of systematic application of efforts in a disciplined way. We need to be organised to handle difficult projects tactfully and smartly. More work need not require more time. More work means more planning and systematic scheduling of activities so that we can accomplish more work in less time.

We need to have a daily, weekly and monthly menu like:

·         Daily jogging for 20 minutes.

·         Daily reading for 1 hour.

·         Daily meditating for 30 minutes.

·         Weekly cleaning of the kitchen.

·         Weekly once visiting our parents.

·         Weekly once visiting our place of worship.

·         Monthly balancing of our bank account.

·         Monthly checking of our weight.

·         Monthly evaluation of our projects on hand.

We can also have a yearly calendar like renewing our insurance policy and filing our tax return. The idea may appear to be simple, but it calls for a high mental discipline, especially the daily and the weekly.

Today, why don’t you start by identifying one item in each of the above category and try it out? Over the next few months, you can get even more organised!

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

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live - Excitement # 52: Grow Your ‘Passion Tree’

Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.

– Denis Diderot

One force, which drives all of us into action, is our passion. If we are not passionate in doing

what we have undertaken to do, we will not take the maximum effort to turn out the quality that we are capable of producing. Slightest obstacles will discourage us from pursuing our project. The more we are passionate, the more we will like what we are doing. If we do not have passion, we will get irritated even with slightest setbacks. The question is how to develop passion.

Try the following for a month and notice your passion tree grow!

• Try self-affirmation. Tell yourself several times a day that you love what you are doing.
• Visualise the benefits you will derive when you complete the project.
• Take ‘vitamins for the mind’. Read empowering quotations.
• Avoid negative people, who may douse your enthusiasm.
• Seek the company of such people, who will support and encourage your project.
• Have a legend as your role model and your benchmark.

Get interested in work and commit to excellence.

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')
NC Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 38

Enjoy Freedom from Technology.

All of the biggest technological inventions created by man – the airplane, the automobile, the computer – says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness.

– Mark Kennedy

We should use technology to enhance our productivity without becoming a slave to technology. We should control technology and not allow technology to control us. Check if you are a slave to technology:

·         Are you restless if you don’t have your mobile phone for an hour?

·         Are you upset when the lift does not work?

·         Do you mess up your morning, if your alarm does not go off at the time set?

·         Are you immobilised if there is no fuel in for your vehicle?

If the answer is ‘yes’, you may be a slave to technology! Why don’t you learn to live without technology? Refuse to be paralysed if technology lets you down. Try these simple exercises to enjoy freedom from technology:

·         Try to remember telephone numbers and dial without using the phone memory.

·         Do simple calculations without using a calculator to know what is four times four.

·         Don’t lift your mobile phone every alternate hour.

·         Climb the stairs one day every week and don’t use the lift.

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

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live - Excitement # 51 - Attend Family Functions!

Attend Family Functions

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.

– Czech Proverb

Some fifty years ago, we attended get together and family functions with much more passion and interest. But over a period of time, we have become very busy for all that. Today the family has become so small that our children may not know their close relations. In the next generation, cousins will become strangers.

One way to remain in touch with our friends and relations is to attend as many functions as possible with our spouse and children. We should allow our children to go freely and mingle with people.

From this week onwards, make it a point to attend all functions for which you are invited. Make sure that you meet people. Try to remember and renew relationships. Get to know their address, mobile phone numbers, e-mail address etc. You can also ask your child to draw a family tree. You can start a group e-mail to be in touch. You can also use social networking like Facebook. In this electronic era, it is very easy to connect with people.

Do this sincerely and notice what happens to your circle of friends and relatives.

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

NC Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 37 - Develop Your Successor

Develop Your Successor.

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.

– Harvey S. Firestone

The higher up you go in your career, the more you need the help and support of people. You should graduate from doing to getting things done by others.  For this, you should know how to develop people. The difference between supervising and managing lies in the number of people, for whom you take the responsibility. That is why there are supervisors and managers in an organisation.

Today, take a person who could be your subordinate, your son or daughter, whom you want to develop. You should have a plan of action to develop them, taking them through the following stages:

1. Look into this problem and give me all the details and I will decide.
2. Think and discuss with me the alternatives for me to decide.
3. Think of alternatives and recommend the course of action.
4. Check with me and keep acting until I say ‘no’.
5. Keep me informed.
6. Tell me only when your actions do not produce results.

7.      Take over from me.

Take the ‘people development portfolio’ seriously! Your people will grow and ofcourse, you will also grow to the next higher level.

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

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live: Excitement # 32 : Build a Healthy Personality

Build a Healthy Personality

Clothes and manners do not make the man; but, when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.

– Henry Ward Beecher

Have you thought about your external personality as seen by others?     We are being observed by others and we create an image about ourselves. Image is an important parameter for success. Recently, image and impression consulting has become a lucrative profession. They advise you how you should behave, what and how you should dress, what and how to talk to others etc., which go a long way in projecting your image.

Think about the following parameters with respect to your personality:

·         Your dress – do you dress to the occasion? Is it neat and clean, without stains? Are they wrinkled?

·         Your teeth – are there stains?

·         Your shoes – when did you last polish?

·         Your nails – are they neatly cut?

·         Do you have bad breath? Others may feel embarrassed to tell this to you!

·         Your hairstyle? Do you look haggard?

·         When eating, do you burp? While sipping a tea or coffee, do you make a sound?

·         When you speak, are you too loud or too low?

From today, notice these aspects of your external personality!

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

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000

365 Exciting Ways to Live : Excitement # 36 : Choose A VVIP Project.

Choose A VVIP Project.

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

– Mario Andretti

A normal day is a day full of interruptions. But certain tasks deserve our undivided total attention.

When a very important person is visiting your house, will you not take all the efforts to give him total undivided attention? You will plan your day in such a way that you allocate all the time for that person. Similarly choose a very important task, which will make a huge difference in your life and give it a ‘VVIP Status’.

Suppose you are writing a book, which you know will be a big hit. Reserve the whole day only for this task. Lock yourself in a room and write. Don’t watch television, switch off the mobile phone, don’t lift the landline. Do whatever. Let everyone know that you are just not available.  You should not speak anything else except in connection with the book. Whenever you are interrupted, say to yourself ‘back to work, back to work’ and get back to the task.

Try this out this week and see your own improvement! You will be amazed!

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live)

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

00000