We live in a culture that admires busyness.
We applaud the fast moving, hard driving entrepreneur, always on their phone, endlessly moving from meeting to meeting.
We respect the urgent executives, with mountainous To Do Lists, no time for breaks, as they get tasks done at a rocket like pace.
But our obsession with busyness can be incredibly costly.
Because usually, the busier we are the less quality thinking we are doing.
And it’s thinking that really improves businesses, not just doing.
As Henry David Thoreau put it, “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?”
Most business executives need to do less and think more.
Michael Dell didn’t become a billionaire because he worked harder and faster than everyone else.
He became a billionaire because he came up with a great idea: to sell computers direct, cutting out the dealer network, which was the prevalent and ubiquitous business model at the time.
Howard Schultz didn’t become a billionaire because he worked hard either. He became one because he traveled to Italy and had an idea: that European specialty style coffee shops would do well in America.
Anita Roddick didn’t become one of the richest women in the world because she was busier than other women entrepreneurs.
She became rich because she conceived the idea of opening a specialist bath and body shop, supporting native cultures.
Sure, we should all work hard, but working hard doesn’t create a competitive advantage, as most of our competitors are also doing it.
Where we can get ahead is by devoting at least 20 minutes a day to just thinking – alone, with a blank pad of paper and a pen. Resisting society’s urge to do, do, do all the time.
It’s ideas that created the modern world and it’s ideas that will revolutionise your business.
But they need time to originate.
So every day, stop working for awhile and do some quality thinking. It sounds simple, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
As Henry Ford said, “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.”
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Spiritual Quotient - S.Q
SPIRIT means SOUL which is distinct from your body. Spiritual Quotient (S.Q) is perhaps the only yard stick to judge a person in totality considering today’s hectic life style to keep your health, wealth and mind in proper shape. It is a sum total of all quotients like INTELLIGENT, EMOTIONAL, CULTURE, KNOWLEDGE, etc. Bhagwad Gita is the best book ever written by anyone and perhaps will be learnt by all management gurus world over from Gandhi to Godse, Bin Laden to Bush, Harshad to Dhirubhai, Indira to Atal. S.Q. Point is unique to all human being which is instrumental in developing his vision and values which can be developed by following basic values.
HUMANITY & HUMILITY – All human beings are different from each other and therefore one should develop humanity by treating a person basically a human irrespective of his cast and creed. When a man gets success in his life of his chosen field, he tends to be arrogant thinking that he knows all the subjects in totality with the results he loses humility for others. One should guard against such attitude failing which his down fall is not far away.
SIMPLICITY & MODESTY – It is so simple to be happy but difficult to be simple especially in today’s materialistic world. You should be simple from heart but not for the show. Your most of the problem in your life is the outcome of your EGO/ I-NESS, while dealing with others. One should imbibe modesty in his life and style.
NON-VIOLENCE & FORGIVENESS – Violence refers to physical and mental injury to others. One should not harm others knowingly but take care not to harm unknowingly even though you may be right when you talk to them. You cannot undo something done by someone unknowingly but it requires great courage and virtue for brave persons to forgive to someone who has harm you intentionally. You always gain when you use decent language and polite behavior, while interacting with others.
FORTHRIGHTNESS AND TRANSPARENCY – One should try to be forthright and transparent in his action and dealing with others to have peace of mind.
CONSISTANCY – One should have consistency in your purpose and action to achieve peace and tranquility in his life.
EQUIPOSE OR EVENNESS OF MIND – Birth, ageing, sickness, death etc. are facts of life and natural phenomenon and therefore take life as it comes gracefully without fear and pain.
ADJUSTMENT – Add Just-Like sugar in a cup of tea, one should adjust his way as per circumstances but should not be a complete surrender to others.
NON ATTACHMENT & DETACHMENT – Excessive attachment and reliance on some one should be avoided.. It is not correct that we should not be close to our near dear but one should not have over attachment for anybody. In the present materialistic world, this has great importance than earlier days when wants were limited. One should be happy with what he gets but should not feel unhappy if he is not able to get it. Man is born alone and has to die alone and therefore develop an attitude to love himself by keeping some minutes in a day / some days in a year for solitude for devoting to the Almighty to know himself to get inner peace.
SACRIFICE – The day you start living for others, you will feel life worth living.
The above points are worth pondering over to correct your S.Q. power having a scale from 60 to 140 as the life progress. The ideal S.Q. is 100 plus for practical life for survival in this dog eats dog’s life.
HUMANITY & HUMILITY – All human beings are different from each other and therefore one should develop humanity by treating a person basically a human irrespective of his cast and creed. When a man gets success in his life of his chosen field, he tends to be arrogant thinking that he knows all the subjects in totality with the results he loses humility for others. One should guard against such attitude failing which his down fall is not far away.
SIMPLICITY & MODESTY – It is so simple to be happy but difficult to be simple especially in today’s materialistic world. You should be simple from heart but not for the show. Your most of the problem in your life is the outcome of your EGO/ I-NESS, while dealing with others. One should imbibe modesty in his life and style.
NON-VIOLENCE & FORGIVENESS – Violence refers to physical and mental injury to others. One should not harm others knowingly but take care not to harm unknowingly even though you may be right when you talk to them. You cannot undo something done by someone unknowingly but it requires great courage and virtue for brave persons to forgive to someone who has harm you intentionally. You always gain when you use decent language and polite behavior, while interacting with others.
FORTHRIGHTNESS AND TRANSPARENCY – One should try to be forthright and transparent in his action and dealing with others to have peace of mind.
CONSISTANCY – One should have consistency in your purpose and action to achieve peace and tranquility in his life.
EQUIPOSE OR EVENNESS OF MIND – Birth, ageing, sickness, death etc. are facts of life and natural phenomenon and therefore take life as it comes gracefully without fear and pain.
ADJUSTMENT – Add Just-Like sugar in a cup of tea, one should adjust his way as per circumstances but should not be a complete surrender to others.
NON ATTACHMENT & DETACHMENT – Excessive attachment and reliance on some one should be avoided.. It is not correct that we should not be close to our near dear but one should not have over attachment for anybody. In the present materialistic world, this has great importance than earlier days when wants were limited. One should be happy with what he gets but should not feel unhappy if he is not able to get it. Man is born alone and has to die alone and therefore develop an attitude to love himself by keeping some minutes in a day / some days in a year for solitude for devoting to the Almighty to know himself to get inner peace.
SACRIFICE – The day you start living for others, you will feel life worth living.
The above points are worth pondering over to correct your S.Q. power having a scale from 60 to 140 as the life progress. The ideal S.Q. is 100 plus for practical life for survival in this dog eats dog’s life.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
How To Beat Stress - Siimon Reynolds
If you're feeling overwhelmed in your business, there's a technique I developed that can massively reduce your stress and quickly improve your results. I call it The One Action. The One Action is ridiculously simple, but also stunningly effective. It works like this:
When the work is piling up and you don't know where to start, look at each project you have and ask the following question,"What's the one action I could take that would have the most impact here?" And then quickly take that action.
The One Action method works so well because it reduces the confusion and complexity of any major project.(So often we are so frozen by all there is to do, we end up doing nothing). It moves you from thinking/worrying mode into action And it simplifies your To Do List into manageable chunks.
But perhaps the most important change The One Action makes is mental. After you take a key action step on two or three of your projects, you get a wonderful feeling of momentum, progress and achievement.This creates a virtuous action/result cycle where you feel more and more empowered each One Action task that you do, so you're motivated to do more of them. The truth is, we are often busier than we should be.
Rather than just endlessly do stuff we need to behave like an army sniper and very carefully look for the most important target, then shoot it.This highly leveraged way of thinking and behaving ensures no matter how busy we are, we get the vital jobs done (and we feel a whole lot less stress to boot).
Today my One Action task was to write this blog.
What's yours?
When the work is piling up and you don't know where to start, look at each project you have and ask the following question,"What's the one action I could take that would have the most impact here?" And then quickly take that action.
The One Action method works so well because it reduces the confusion and complexity of any major project.(So often we are so frozen by all there is to do, we end up doing nothing). It moves you from thinking/worrying mode into action And it simplifies your To Do List into manageable chunks.
But perhaps the most important change The One Action makes is mental. After you take a key action step on two or three of your projects, you get a wonderful feeling of momentum, progress and achievement.This creates a virtuous action/result cycle where you feel more and more empowered each One Action task that you do, so you're motivated to do more of them. The truth is, we are often busier than we should be.
Rather than just endlessly do stuff we need to behave like an army sniper and very carefully look for the most important target, then shoot it.This highly leveraged way of thinking and behaving ensures no matter how busy we are, we get the vital jobs done (and we feel a whole lot less stress to boot).
Today my One Action task was to write this blog.
What's yours?
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Tension Management
Whenever I meet any person I find that everybody is living under TENSION for some reason or other. For child not getting proper attention from parents, for students not getting time to do homework or play, for adults not getting job for their satisfaction, businessman not getting enough business or elders not getting enough respect from society. In other words, everyone feels that he is not able to perform as per his capability without knowing himself that whether he deserves for the job. It is the mindset created in modern world where wants keep on increasing than available resources. It also appears to me that we are trained to worry from birth. When parents express constant worry, children grow up thinking that life goes on only if you worry. We should know that life goes on not because of us but in spite of us. Elders expect their juniors to worry! If you do not worry, they brand you as uncaring. It is possible to take care without worrying. Care is doing while worry is chattering. In the process, you feel isolated and come under TENSION where managing the same is very difficult.
It is not true that the work causes TENSION but TENSION comes from ungoverned mind i.e. impulses, feeling, liking, and disliking etc. which should be controlled to have positive action. Most human beings work for selfish gain for himself to fulfill his ego centric designs. Once you work for greater goal in order of priority you become free from TENSION and start working with perfect sense of detachment. You do not crave for desire or fruit of action but raveling in self within i.e. you enjoy absolute freedom from TENSION.
The TENSION originates from mind which ultimately brings out anger within your body and burst out on other people. Anger is either Explosive or Implosive. Explosive people should learn to respond rather than react while Implosive people should learn to manage reaction before it explodes. In other word Control your anger before it Controls you and learn to approach the problems in a straight forward manner or best going for solitude for some time as underneath every anger lies fear. Anger stimulates the release of the hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol into the bloodstream which mobilizes the body in the short term but can be destructive if chronic. You always think that I am right for getting angry because other people are not thinking the way I think, forgetting that no two individuals are equal, the concept of equality exists on paper and all civilization grow on exploitation, only exploiters and victims keep changing with time and place. One should accept the fact that the way I think will differ then the way others think. It is the perception which changes according to his thinking when you try to mould others in your way of thinking. You have to understand that things do not change unless we change. Ring out the old and ring in the new change where it is needed; even complete overhauling, where worn-out and unhealthy practices, habits and systems should be replaced by gainful and life supporting methods. Before change, one must recognize the change but do not change for the sake of change. In other words, control yourselves to control others, though it is difficult to control own self.
The best way to remove the TENSION is to know yourself, to limit your limitation by understanding yourself that I am different and unique. Remove I ness (Ego) from your vocabulary and accept the others as they are. If you do not like somebody, forget it. If somebody does not believe in you, forget it. Go on doing the work as you deem fit to achieve long term goal decided by you.
Start your day every morning thinking with cool collected mind drawing inspiration from almighty that give me strength to achieve my long term goal. You will find that the minor hiccups/hurdles come in your way will not disturb you with the result, you will not loose your cool in any condition even someone tries intentionally to hurt your ego. The day you start living for others, you will feel life worth living. You will find within a month that things are improving within you and in others also.
C S Modi
It is not true that the work causes TENSION but TENSION comes from ungoverned mind i.e. impulses, feeling, liking, and disliking etc. which should be controlled to have positive action. Most human beings work for selfish gain for himself to fulfill his ego centric designs. Once you work for greater goal in order of priority you become free from TENSION and start working with perfect sense of detachment. You do not crave for desire or fruit of action but raveling in self within i.e. you enjoy absolute freedom from TENSION.
The TENSION originates from mind which ultimately brings out anger within your body and burst out on other people. Anger is either Explosive or Implosive. Explosive people should learn to respond rather than react while Implosive people should learn to manage reaction before it explodes. In other word Control your anger before it Controls you and learn to approach the problems in a straight forward manner or best going for solitude for some time as underneath every anger lies fear. Anger stimulates the release of the hormones Adrenaline and Cortisol into the bloodstream which mobilizes the body in the short term but can be destructive if chronic. You always think that I am right for getting angry because other people are not thinking the way I think, forgetting that no two individuals are equal, the concept of equality exists on paper and all civilization grow on exploitation, only exploiters and victims keep changing with time and place. One should accept the fact that the way I think will differ then the way others think. It is the perception which changes according to his thinking when you try to mould others in your way of thinking. You have to understand that things do not change unless we change. Ring out the old and ring in the new change where it is needed; even complete overhauling, where worn-out and unhealthy practices, habits and systems should be replaced by gainful and life supporting methods. Before change, one must recognize the change but do not change for the sake of change. In other words, control yourselves to control others, though it is difficult to control own self.
The best way to remove the TENSION is to know yourself, to limit your limitation by understanding yourself that I am different and unique. Remove I ness (Ego) from your vocabulary and accept the others as they are. If you do not like somebody, forget it. If somebody does not believe in you, forget it. Go on doing the work as you deem fit to achieve long term goal decided by you.
Start your day every morning thinking with cool collected mind drawing inspiration from almighty that give me strength to achieve my long term goal. You will find that the minor hiccups/hurdles come in your way will not disturb you with the result, you will not loose your cool in any condition even someone tries intentionally to hurt your ego. The day you start living for others, you will feel life worth living. You will find within a month that things are improving within you and in others also.
C S Modi
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