My empathic answer is NO. They can be used as assistants to you and as a support system but making them the de facto guardians and tutors of your children is a big NO. What do you want your children to imbibe; the habits and attitudes of your servants? Is this what you have foreseen for your child?

I see so many children in the park coming out to play with their servants continuously admonishing them, don’t run – you will fall, don’t do this and don’t do that – you will get hurt. As by shouting from far they have done their duty. What kind of upbringing is this?

When nothing works they use threats which they cannot ever carry out. The children are no fools. They soon learn to manipulate their attendants. What are we tuning them up for? Surreptitiously we are helping them imbibe attitudes that will hurt them in the long run.

Do you want the child to grow or remain a stunted little dwarf, big in body but small in mind? Do you want to see your child turn into a thinking, self-confident, courageous and intelligent child or a scared, cunning and lying imp?

In many cases the servants who all have mobile phones are so busy on it that they have no idea what mischief the child is up to. Isn’t that an open invitation to trouble?

Looking at my perplexed expression, my friend paused a while to clarify the situation. “You see I am convinced that the more I hide my bottles of alcohol from my son, the more curious he will become and will surely imbibe the drink surreptitiously in my absence. I decided that the best way to avoid this is to offer him a drink whenever I drank. He tasted whisky once and found it disgusting. I am now sure he will not drink even when offered.”

The CEO of a large company asked me to meet with his HR manager to discuss the possibility of conducting workshops on Lateral Thinking for his colleagues. I sought an appointment with the HR manager only to find the man was not interested in meeting me. I suspected that he did not like the idea of being told whom to meet.

A short time later, I sat opposite the man who leaned against his large desk looking cynically at me.
“So you think you are a latter day Einstein?”
“Sir I am far…..” I began saying but was interrupted rudely.
“I have seen many trainers who think they can transform this company. But they are only after money,” he argued.
“But I never even….”
“I believe we are creative enough and do not need….” His voice trailed off as the intercom rang. He barked some instructions to his secretary and then turned to me.
“See we are a very innovative company and do not need anyone to tell us how to think innovatively,” he said in an authoritative tone.
“Sir please listen to me….” Again I was interrupted mid- sentence.
“I think you are wasting my time,” he stated with an air of finality.
I got up. Before shaking hands I told him, “I hope at least now, when I am about to leave you, I will be permitted to say at least one sentence.”
“Of course go ahead. Why do you stand? Please sit down.”
I obliged and continued the exchange, “I have no doubt that your company is innovative and has won some awards for innovation. I am convinced that you do not need my services AT ALL! On the contrary I would learn from your lateral thinking colleagues. I hope that will happen some day.”
So saying I again stood up and stretched my hands towards him.
“Oh come on. Nobody can claim to have learnt all there is to any subject. We can learn from you. You have a formidable reputation,” said the man looking amiable for the first time. His defences were finally down.

I would go on to conduct a dozen workshops for that company and the HR manager is now one of my close friends!

These are two examples of counterintuitive thinking in which we ask ourselves what is the last thing that one can think of or do in a tight situation? One goes against the grain as it were.

The State of Tamilnadu was rocked by a series of shocking incidents of people imbibing ‘hooch’ and either dying or being blinded. The concoction served by bootleggers, was contaminated by acids and ethyl alcohol that were almost always lethal. The obvious ‘solution’ to this crisis that might come to most of us is to ban hooch, clamp down on bootleggers, swoop down on known sales outlets, and arrest the bootleggers. This not only did not solve the problem but made the trade even more secretive. The drink was now made under even more unhygienic conditions with even more cheap and lethal ingredients (including lizards and rats) which led to even more tragedies.

Surely this called for counterintuitive thinking. The government decided to open dozens of stores where good quality liquor would be available at a fair price. The underground market almost totally ceased to operate.

We all talk of corruption in India but few have offered concrete suggestions to reduce or eliminate it. The Right to Information Act is one step in the right direction. Here is a counterintuitive suggestion:

How about legalising corruption?

Let me give you an example based on a system that is in operation in a country even more corrupt than India. Let’s say that you need a fresh passport urgently since you have an opportunity to travel abroad. The Passport office has a reputation for corruption. Now a new scheme is introduced. Those who need a passport urgently—in a week for example—will have to pay 15% extra service charge; those who can wait till four weeks will pay only half that amount. No service charges will apply for delivery after four weeks.The collections will be distributed among the staff— as happens in a restaurant where the ‘tips’ are shared among all the staff.

In effect this scheme legitimizes what you would have been paying under the table, much like the tipping the waiter at a hotel. I believe most people may not mind paying additional amounts officially as against being extorted.

Witness that way in which people in Chennai do not mind paying a given amount of money to a ‘call taxi’ service where you pay as per the meter. The same people hate paying the same amount for the same journey to an auto rickshaw guy who actually is seen as an ‘extortionist’ since he ‘demands’ more than is considered legitimate. The call taxi amount is deemed legitimate .

The drug menace is one of the many evils of life in many countries including the US. Not many may be aware that terrorists obtain colossal sums of money by selling drugs based on crops that grow in Afghanistan. In effect any American who consumes drugs is financing the acquisition of armaments that are used in acts of terrorism. Drugs are banned but the ban is ineffective and has the unintended effect of making the trade even more secretive and lucrative. Some countries have attempted to implement a counterintuitive solution—Canada for example has made marijuana available legally!

My first encounter with this form of thinking was when I was a fourth standard student in a Mumbai school. I was an enfant terrible and my mischief was the despair of all my teachers, not to speak my classmates some of whom changed to another school just to avoid me. One day, a new teacher joined my class and looking back I could see how she used counterintuitive thinking. With much fanfare, she actually appointed me the class monitor!

In tackling the issue of how to compete with the Coke bottle, Sculley made
what is called a metadecision. He asked himself a few crucial questions. What is the crux of the issue? How should problems like this be
approached? He realized that the heart of the problem was not to compete
directly with Coke’s bottle (Pepsi’s focus in the past) but to nullify its
strengths. He decided to approach the problem by shifting the ground rules
to alter the whole playing field, pulling back and asking what the customer
really wanted.

Realizing that his people did not know enough about consumers to identify
what they really wanted in order to take marketing decisions correctly, he
launched a careful test to study how families actually consumed Pepsi and
other soft drinks in their homes. It became obvious that what the customers
wanted was packaging that made it easier for people to get more soft drinks
into their homes. Then Sculley moved into the first of the four stages in
decision making – framing the issue, which in this case was launching of
new larger and more varied packages. Pepsi began a new intelligence
gathering stage, and then, based on the findings, launched a new group of
larger packages and thereafter continued to refine the packaging. The results
were dramatic and Pepsi’s market share expanded substantially and almost
drove the Coke bottle out to extinction. Coke could not convert its famed
hour-glass silhouette bottle into larger containers.

What Sculley did is of immense significance to decision makers – take time
for an initial assessment, in which you ask yourself how this kind of decision
should be made. This activity of deciding how to decide is called
metadecision.

In the metadecision phase, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is the crux or primary difficulty in this stage? Which of the four
stages in the decision making process will be the most important?
2. In general how should decisions like this be made? Where do my own
strengths and weaknesses lie? Where do I need help?
3. Can I draw on feedback from related decisions and experiences that I
have faced in the past?

The four stages of decision making are:

•    Framing – it determines the viewpoint from which you look at the issue
and set the parameters as to which aspect of the subject  you will
consider important.
•    Gathering intelligence Рgathering knowable facts and options, and
evaluation of unknowables.
•    Coming to conclusions Рa systematic approach to taking a decision.
•    Learning from experience.

Metadecision Vs. ‘Plunging’

Meta decision should take place before you frame the issue. ‘Plunging’ into
the various stages of decision making can lead to disastrous consequences.
Not devoting sufficient time and effort to this phase may lead to you solving
the wrong problem thereby exacerbating the actual problem.

Take the case of a bank branch that was losing market share to its rivals. The
branch management decided that the only wayout was to aggressively
‘plunge’ into a marketing exercise. The officers were asked to jump headlong
into a ‘deposit mobilization’ exercise and virtually three quarters of the
branch staff were in the field all day. At the end of the two-month exercise,
the deposits actually fell further. When I was asked for advice I sat with the
branch officials and initiated a study involving customers who had closed
their accounts during the last year. The study revealed that they were
dissatisfied with the quality of customer service at the branch .The branch
thereafter decided to stop their outdoor marketing exercise and devote their
efforts to improving the level of customer service to existing customers. This
led to a significant growth in deposits.

In another instance a consumer durables maker approached me with his
problem – falling market share. His company was benchmarking against its
nearest competitor on all the major parameters and despite his quality and
other initiatives he could not improve his market share. I asked him to do a
metadecision exercise involving a survey of existing and potential buyers of
his product. This metadecision exercise turned out a new and profound
understanding of the market. The company implemented a plan of action to
solve the many hassles the buyers faced before and after buying the
product. The results were astounding. The company had as a consequence of
the insights from the metadecision, bypassed the competition.

A few insurance marketers approached me with a request to guide them on
how to market their insurance products in the face of growing competition
from the LIC and several other private sector players. They educated me on
the marketing strategy they had been taught and which they had been
following with limited success. It was apparent that they had followed a
strategy of ‘have product will sell’. They had been taught to ‘plunge’ into
action after gathering enough product knowledge, and follow the usual
marketing and selling tactics. I told them to take the metadecision approach.
They interviewed several existing and potential policy holders. This
metadecision stage revealed several insights as to what people expect from
an insurance policy—something that these advisors had not been told about.
The entire strategy had to be revamped and the majority of them have met
with commendable success.

Success breeds complexity.

Do you really think Tim Ferris, author of the bestseller, The 4 Hour Work Week works only 4 hours a week? Simplicity and traditional success are a tricky combo. The masters of it are exceptions. They are also chilled, prosperous and rarely in a rush.

Leo Babauta is in no rush. Why hurry when you know what’s most important?

His new book, The Power Of Less, is an easy, breezy read on “the fine art of limiting yourself to the essential…in business and in life.”

My four favourite reminders from this inspiring book:

1. Let your life be ruled by the moment. (Huh, is this a productivity book I’m reading?) Don’t schedule most appointments. If someone requests an appointment, tell them to call you a little before they would like to meet and if you’re available, then meet.

2. If you aren’t finding yourself passionate about a certain tasks, allow yourself to move on to something you’re more passionate about. The more passionate you are about a task or project, the more energy you’ll put into it, and the better you’ll do with it.

3. Create a simple projects list – just three projects, not ten, that will have your entire focus until you see them through to completion. The other projects on your list go on the “On The Deck List.”

Leo is a big proponent of email checking restraints. His suggestion is to set email times – check it once in the morning, and check it once in the afternoon. Leo admits that this is not as easy as it sounds. His answer is deceptively simple:

4. Every time you find yourself habitually switching to e-mail, stop yourself. Breathe. And then focus on your work instead. Your reward: you get a lot more done.

Got the itch to Twitter or check in on your Facebook friends in the middle of a looming deadline? Breathe. The itch will pass and your fans will love you all the more when you tweet. I breathe a lot.

Many productivity books have a drill sergeant running between the lines. Panic! So much to do to organize all that I have to do. The Power of Less is a sweet exception to that. Babauta’s energy is gentle and kind. No whistles. No drills. Just a zen-like understanding of what it takes to honour what’s essential.

Monitors left on in a non-power save mode, all lights switched on in-spite of the streaming sunlight, and A/C units blasting full-on and you know we are back in business. In the pantry, coffee shots from the vending machine are foamier and thicker. Teabags (ginger, lemon, mint and honey — the whole lot) came out of the locked cupboards for the benefit of the whole gentry. Rest rooms have the same cheerful telltale signs. The toilet paper thickness has increased and once more air fresheners are discreetly tucked in strategic locations. Result? Fewer people walking out like ducks treading gingerly on shredded glass.

HR folks have lost their pre-eminence at the lunch tables as purveyors of juicy tidbits. Pink is still the color of the season, but only with reference to tickling that subordinates are subjected to and the Boss’ lame jokes are back in circulation. Everybody is chirping away to glory, discussing aloud the projects they are on, and they those they wish to get to so that they don’t have to work hard like they pretended to, during the last 8 months or so of the economic turmoil.

I am as happy as any underpaid, overworked employee who has ever swiped his card for all the above. But being a person cursed with a bit of extra memory that crams in unwanted trivia, I am slightly worried too. Occupying the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, it is very important for all of us to remember lessons that the recession hard-knocks diploma (it will last 18 months elsewhere, and a little over 12 months here is my prediction) have taught us. And here’s one that I learnt not so long ago.

Once upon a time, there was a washerman who had few asses working for him, carrying a mountain of dirty laundry of the entire population of the village and dutifully taking them to the cleaners. It was a prosperous time and every member of the village was extravagant, using three changes of clothes every day and wearing each only once before they sent them for cleaning. Business was brisk, the W-man could and did look after his asses pretty well, treating them to best of the fodder, choicest nibbles and outings every weekends. The asses too were extremely happy and many a occasion used to raise their braying to an absolute crescendo during the once-too-often bacchanalian revelries that the W-man threw. Life was one long beautiful song!

But all good things have to come to an end. Recession hit that idyllic village and everyone fell on hard times. People migrated or were forced to leave due to the conditions of the day. From an indulgence, getting one’s clothes washed turned to a luxury. It was a good week, if they were able to give out one set of clothes for washing. People got used to wrapping themselves in sweaty, stain dotted threads. The stench was reaching high skies but hey who cares! A penny saved is a penny earned.

That spelt doom for the W-man. With business drying up and money running out to feed all the asses even for sustenance, he had but few tough and heart-wringing choices before him:
• Let some asses go or
• Keep all asses
From being a mentor the first choice effectively turns him into a heart-less tormentor in the eyes of the asses. The second will make him an easy target for the ruthless taxmen of the king (cost-controllers is the other title they go by); or worse get the villagers’ vitriolic tongues wagging about his supposed extravagance. Alas, it also pits his asses in direct competition with a handful horses and loads of bulls that populate the ranches of other working class folks of the village. And if there ever comes a time of rationing out the grass in the village he very well knows where the asses stand.

Prudently the W-man did away with a few of his asses thereby taking the moral high ground. Over the next few weeks, the asses talked amongst themselves on the future course of action. All but one ass thought it wise to find greener pastures to eke out a course on their own. ‘Entrepreneur-ass’ they were dubbed, by a lone ass which lacked both courage and wherewithal to take that step. So it came to stay back with the master, not much work to do, still getting enough grass and water to get through the tough times.

Some more time passed, and the recession seemed like a cold and inferior cheese dragging on and on without a break in sight. It was getting difficult for the W-man to maintain the ass; for the load now was such that he alone could carry it. Thinking about it and wandering hither and thither he walked well into the adjoining jungle and found a dead tiger. Aha, the W-man had a lightning thought and swung into quick action. The thought was simple. Use the tiger skin to cover his ass and send it into the fields of other villagers and let it feed to its heart’s content. That way he gets to offload the cost of employing (err..feeding) the ass but he still gets to keep it. To act is but the work of a moment. He skinned the tiger (dead and cold, it sure was) skillfully and threw the skin over the ass. Perfect. The ass turns into a tiger! While letting it lose in other’s fields, the W-man had just one advice for it – “SHHHHH!”

The plot worked well and the ass got more than its worth in grass! It could taste different things everyday without ever getting detected. Few who could see through the dark night, feared this new breed of tiger that fed on grass and were happy that at least they didn’t have to face a man-eater.

But alas, good times don’t last. Especially for that creature whose DNA is that of an ass. All the green and tasty grass, coming free and surreptitiously as it did, made the ass get above itself. Throwing caution and the W-man’s prudent advice to wind, one full moon night at the end of a perfectly fulfilling meal, it thought of celebrating the occasion with a full-on song and dance! And how! Within moments of the said lapse of reasoning (a rare commodity by itself in an ass) its cover got blown and all the villagers descended upon it with vengeance.

It’s not for me to get into the gory details and aftermath. Will spare you folks the same but for the lesson that small yet moving story taught me. When a good thing is going and you are sneaking in and snacking on it, you are well advised to curb your enthusiasm and make the most of it. Thanks, My Ass!

Whatever for? There is nothing wrong in owning a phone and having it alongside for emergencies but to have one alive and in use when one goes to school or college; isn’t it rather self defeating? I mean, you are at school to study and learn new things. How can you do that when you head is busy SMSing or listening to music of today which is just RAP anyway? Do you need to have a doctorate in psychology to understand that if you your mind is not focusing on the lectures or subjects being taught you will retain nothing? Then why go to school at all?

The school authorities have woken up to this stupidity only now and their knee jerk reaction is to ban the mobile. This is another extreme decision. All they need to do is ask the children to shut the unit off when in school premises. The kids may need or want to use it later when they go out of school. It is a tool of communication and emergencies do not come announced.

My personal opinion on mobiles is that it has just given yakking a new dimension. Nobody feels any need to organize their lives or memorize anything or think anything out. They just push the buttons and disturb anybody at any time as and when they feel it is convenient to them.

An expatriate who was working on a special project discovered a rather shocking cost cutting measure one day. The lack of tissue paper and toilet rolls in the toilets. He then started to carry his own toilet roll, which was placed on a corner of his desk. Was it a great thing to see during meetings?

The most hilarious example involves a person coordinating travel arrangements. The instructions were to look for and book the lowest fare in the time window indicated. One of my friends who was travelling overseas was awakened up at an odd hour by the travel coordinator who was calling to find out if my friend were willing to travel in a later flight because it ended up costing a few hundred rupees less than the the first flight. While relating this incident, my friend mentioned that he did not have the heart to tell the travel coordinator that he had spent far more in his international roaming call, simply because he was so serious and earnest. What can I say?

There are numerous other examples like regularly used cabs with negotiated and discounted rates being withdrawn and instead people having to use a call taxi or public cab and pay much more. There is the practice of switching off the air conditioner in certain stores in the afternoon as fewer customers are there. Unfortunately by evening the store is inundated with such a stale stench that no one wants to shop there.

This makes me wonder if there is a genuine intent to cut costs or if some manager is mindlessly following instructions from higher up so that he/she can report the change as “an action point” in review meetings. Do people view the sum total of all these control and cost cutting measures? Invariably steps in this direction involve multiple approvals, justifications, filling up forms and so on. Has anyone studied the time and effort wasted in this versus the actual savings made? Not to mention the additional expenses being incurred on the side while trying to do cost cutting!

Would it not be easier if every employee were told that the average cost per employee is “$X” much and as a team we all need to bring it down? Let individual initiative drive the effort. Instead, most such initiatives are implemented with little thought to ground level realities and the result – penny wise, pound foolish!

Common sense – where art thou? Has the downturn driven you into exile or has it killed you?

The teams are supposed to build a wall made of colored cubes or pencil boxes. They have the manpower, raw materials, and the skill to build a wall of cubes. But, the trainer will give each team a chit that will have some criteria. The team members have to continue building the wall keeping the criteria in mind.

The teams will start building the walls. But, will continue assembling and disassembling their color blocks as the criteria for their respective teams would have not been met. The trainer will observe the game and hint that they are not able to freeze the wall.

After about 10 minutes of the play, the trainer will ask the teams to forget the chits with the criteria. Then the teams will immediately finish building the wall. The trainer asks the teams to read out the criteria in their chits. The criteria will be, “Red should not be next to Blue, “Blue should not be next to Green”, and “Green should not be next to Red.”

Because of the hidden agendas each team was holding, they could not build a wall or product or a complete output. Once the hidden agendas were removed, the wall or product was built immediately. The same theory holds good for completing a project or work at office. Do we have to list the hidden agendas at workplaces?

1. What do people thank you for most often? What do they come to you for, or say about you most frequently {“positive” or “negative”}?

Gratitude leads you back to your strengths. The greatest leverage you have for a return on investment is by investing in your natural talents and using them generously.

2. When do you feel powerful, on fire, free, incredibly useful? What do you get excited by?

True and sustainable success is fueled by pure inspiration. Always.

3. When someone at a party asks you what you do, what do you say? {And how do you feel when you say it?}

With truth comes grace and healthy pride … and every entrepreneur needs a slam dunk cocktail line.

4. What do you think your form of genius is, what are you amazing at {work or life related?}

Everybody is amazing at something — whether it’s being a loyal friend, crunching numbers, motivating people or throwing great parties. {And your genius is a cousin to your joy.}

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard this statement. For someone who is constantly trying to balance the spiritual path along with a practical approach, life sometimes throws questions that are not always easy to answer. Working for a passion or conviction, for instance, is one of them.

There could be truth to the statement, but after mulling over it many years, I do think a clear context is required.

Below are 6 points that have helped me in practically imbibing that almost-metaphysical statement. I hope they work for anyone else who reads this article as well.

1. The rest may follow, BUT perhaps in the long run. In the meantime, maybe we should fully embrace the short to medium term horizons, with an eye to the far out future. In other words, learn to live in the now.

2. The statement does not imply in any way that we need to do ONLY what we feel really really strongly about. You can have MORE than one real interest/passion/conviction at the same time. After all that’s what differentiates multi-faceted personalities. And one may take precedence over the other at various stages in life.

3. You can (and should) in some instances outgrow what was once a main focal point of your interest. Feel free to change directions. Humans evolve and should allow themselves to explore new interests and unknown horizons.

4. Be aware however, that a loss of interest, however, may be short-term fatigue. Give yourself time before closing the chapter on that particular interest. It maybe worthwhile to keep a significant long standing interest ALIVE.

5. Your convictions ADD to your talent. There is no reason you should be short-changed for added convictions. But remember, it does take away from your negotiating power because it constrains your flexibility.

6. Despite all the above, there ARE times in life when you are ready to risk it all. But mostly that’s when expressing your passion/conviction IS the only reward. Go ahead but make sure you have a safety net in place — just in case!

Beyond the trillion dollar bail outs and band aids that have gone to contain  the fallout and reboot the economy, some questions keep popping up again and again:
- Are we all too short term in our focus?
- Did we forget that we must  endure short term pain for a long term gain?
- Do we adopt difference yard sticks in our personal and professional lives?

In life, we postpone many immediate enjoyments for a bigger goal– like putting aside money for our retirement, education of child, etc. However in our professional lives we tend to look at a majority of things from a short-term perspective.  Is this because, we live in an age where companies go belly up on one quarter’s bad performance?

It is a classic “catch-22” situation.

While I believe that is preferable to replace short term with long term thinking, in today’s situation this appears utopian. Today, short term thinking is a prerequisite of survival –  not necessarily a sign of greed or impatience!

At times I wonder if this economic tide will turn but it is worth waiting to see the consequences in the months and years ahead. Or, perhaps we need to look at a new way where both these perspectives are simultaneously taken care of without a long span of uncertainty and anxiety.  It is probably time that we adopt a “right term” focus of long term sustainability, while still achieving short term results we need to survive.

1. Strategy and Planning: Strategy is derived from the objectives of a company. Planning is required to implement the strategy. All three of these need to be done effectively. A gap in any of the three will be problematic. A study of the external environment is required and this must include political, social, economical, technological and legal frameworks and institutions. Know yourself, know your competitor and know your customer, and you have won the battle of the market.

2. Surprise: This is the most important element of the attack. Blitzkrieg (German) meaning ‘attack with lightening speed.’ Catch the competitor napping. This will result in them taking knee-jerk reactions. It will compound their problems which are to your advantage. For example, sudden price changes (could be increase or decrease in price), a technological breakthrough or radical cost cutting through a BPR effort.

3. Innovation: The best form of surprise is innovation. Product innovation doesn’t give the competition time to react. It also gives you a first-mover advantage too.

4. Sustainability: Attack prepared for a sustained assault. The competitor is expected to fight back. Thus be prepared for a long drawn battle. Test the patience of the competition. Eventually they will give up protecting their other strong areas or even stop the fight to save money for R&D.

5. Flexibility: Keep a tab on your sales numbers, competitors’ sales numbers, and consumer behaviour. Accordingly change your tactics.

6. Confusion: Keep the competitor guessing on the parameter you are competing. Is it the product, or price or the distribution channel?

7. Competitor behaviour: Predicting the type of reactions the competitor will have to your moves, as it happens in chess. This will keep you one step ahead of competition.

8. Retreat: When you go for an all-out assault, make sure that you back is safe. The enemy should not have a chance to encircle you from behind. This is also necessary in the eventuality that the competitor has gauged you properly and your assault is going to be thwarted. So rather than continuing, it’s better to back-off and live to fight another day. Take the product back from the market or reverse the decision with regards to price.

The air was crisp and pollution free and the waters clean. Being a full moon day, the waves were bigger than normal. A few catamarans were returning to shore after the day’s catch. I observed men with oars battling the power of the waves as they attempted to manoeuvre their boats toward land, but with little success. Despite their best efforts, they found it tough moving and they appeared stalled in one place for quite some time.

Then suddenly, one catamaran caught on to a mighty big wave and reached shore in no time. One by one I saw, the other catamarans following suit. It was then I realized that the oarsmen were waiting and biding time to catch a one big wave and ride the crest to reach ashore.

This set me thinking – what does it take for us in life to catch and ride the crest of a wave?

My ancestors of this land have been master navigators who travelled across the Bay of Bengal to reach and conquer distant places in South East Asia. This happened at the time when there was no navigating equipment. How did they manage it? They learnt to find reach their destinations using the position of the sun, moon, and stars and by observing the patterns of wind and waves. They learnt to use the forces of nature to augment their efforts.

To go back to the catamaran story, the past wave patterns do not give a hint of the one forthcoming. One needs to analyze the external environment, be patient, agile and adept to figure out which waves to ride.

And patience here is an extremely important virtue.

In life too, in addition to putting in one’s best efforts, one needs to wait some time to catch the right wave. It is all about making right choices, putting the key factors into place and then waiting for right favorable external environment to manifest our desires. Only then can we ride the crest of a wave to reach ashore.

A spokesman for BA, Mr Willie Walsh, said last month: “The combination of unprecedented oil prices, economic slowdown and weaker consumer confidence has led to substantially lower first quarter profits…But British Airways is well prepared and has adapted its plans in the event of further economic uncertainty.”

These reported performance figures for BA and their smooth denial of concern reminded me of the last time BA management hit the news. It was several years ago and Rod Eddington, the then chairman of British Airways, was responding on TV to concerns about the profitability of British Airways. He was having a moan about how the budget airlines were cutting into his market share, but he was still being quite bullish about the situation. He told the interviewer how, in the last three years, he had cut the operating costs of British Airways by 5% and that although the competition was tough they fully expected to maintain their market share.

What he did not say was that in the previous three years, to make that 5% saving, he had made redundant 16,000 members of his workforce. He must have had some idea of the consequences of those redundancies for the remaining workforce. How did he think they felt about it? Did he think they still felt good about working for British Airways? Did he think they still felt their jobs were secure? Did he think they felt proud of what had happened?

At the time Rod Eddington seemed supremely unconcerned by any of the consequence of his actions other than the ability to boast about the financial savings he thought he had made. The men and women who worked for BA had, in the main, been in their dream jobs. Pilots, who as schoolboys had dreamed of wearing Raybans while they lounged around in the cockpits of big jets. Cabin crew who used to dream of all the exotic destinations they would go to. Baggage handlers and support staff who at the time could use BA to nip over to Paris for the weekend for the price of a cup of strong coffee.

And then, by making 16,000 redundancies, Rod Eddington had at a stroke, completely changed the way that the remaining BA employees felt about what they did. He had changed their attitudes and behaviours from those of a proud group of motivated people, dedicated to the service of their customers, to a bunch of disillusioned job hunters. By making these redundancies, British Airways changed the behaviour of their whole workforce from a powerful group of people who were proud of what they did, to an apathetic, untrusting workforce who were only interested in where they could send their next CV.

In the latest twist of the BA failure saga, we read of the appeal from the current management for the workforce of BA to give the company one month’s work without pay to try to save the company. Since the days of Rod Eddington, management at BA have completely lost the loyalty of their staff by the way that they have behaved towards them, creating a morally bankrupt organisation. Make no mistake, this moral bankruptcy was caused by BA management. Now we see the current management attempting to cash a cheque against the BA account that they themselves have already emptied.

Is this BA management completely misreading the way that the workforce feels about the company they work for? Or is this a cynical manoeuvre by management to deflect the blame for the failure of the company onto the workforce? It is possible that the company will fail without these individual contributions from the workforce? The workforce must be aware that it is just as likely that the company will fail even after they have put themselves into personal debt to try to keep it afloat; the only difference being that when the company fails, even after the workforce have given their time for free, the workforce will be in an even worse position to support their families when the company goes under.

Either way, management have already broken the trust of the workforce and since no one in the management team appears to have offered to work for nothing, it seems even less likely that any of the workforce will be persuaded to stick their necks out. Do BA management truly believe that the workforce, working for nothing will save them or are they working a spin, which when the company goes to the wall, will enable them to say, “It was not our fault. We were let down by the workforce who would not support us.”

In this ongoing crisis we have to be very careful about what we do to survive and how that changes the way that our remaining workforce feel about they are asked to do. Ride roughshod over the workforce during the recession, because you can, and like BA, you will have a very hard time continuing to trade even when the rest of the world has resumed doing business. Or, take care of your people when they need it most and they will take care of you when you need it most. We can’t have it both ways. What goes around comes around.

In the last month or so, I’ve witnessed two store closings, three blog unpluggings, two staff fires, three complete re-namings of brands, and some serious slashing of product lines. YES! All making way for success!

Here’s the thing about defining fulfillment on your own terms. You don’t have to have a storefront to be a wildly successful retailer. You don’t have to get up early in the morning to beat the competition. You don’t have to keep staff who are slagging because you’re a humanitarian or unionized (besides, cutting someone loose so they can go hone their truer talents and bliss is profoundly humane). If it’s not working, you get to give it up – quickly, just like that.

Quitting is a form of enlightenment, I tell ya.

Yes, success is gritty business. You’ve got to hustle your bustle. You’ve got to eat intensity Wheaties for breakfast. But there’s a difference between happy rigor and inane slogging. Slogging doesn’t work. It just doesn’t. You can’t plant misery seeds today and expect to get a juicy crop next season.

I hear this time and again, “If I just hang in longer, maybe she’ll come up to speed. It might sell in the summer. If I dig deeper, I’ll learn to love Excel.”

‘Fess up – it ain’t workin’. You’re smart to see it. You’re brilliant if you move on.

Indicators of when it simply is not working:
1. You use “It sucks” in a sentence to describe any aspect of your situation.
2. You “drag yourself” to it.
3. Sunday night anxiety (dreading Monday).
4. Dismal sales (yes, the universe speaks to us through cash flow).
5. The bleak absence of synchronicity.
6. Not a whole lot of thanks coming your way.
7. Your mother is your best customer.
8. Seething resentment.

The clues are so generic that we just plow them over with duty and ego and fear of totally flopping.

But vitality is a sensation, and it requires a sensitivity to signals and surroundings – and the courage to flow and shout and stomp your feet in sync with the signals of life.

Don’t worry about how you’re going to fix what’s broke. Just notice what sucks with ruthless honesty. It’ll be a momentary rush when you do. You might even feel a strange sense of elation. And when you’re high on the truth, you’ve got a new vantage point of where to go next. Turn the lights off when you leave. Announce your new destination.

What about the fallout from this downturn and how will it affect employers, employees and the overall economy in the coming years?

This recession has been a huge shock; emotionally, financially, in fact in every sense of the word. Painful enough for the young and old alike to resort to suicide as an extreme step.

From an individual’s perspective, this has been the time to accept uncertainty as a fact of life. But, this has been particularly difficult for those who have long-term goals and prefer the stability of lifetime commitments to one employer or institution. Within such a context, having to accept uncertainty and potential threats to their economic and social well-being is making them uncomfortable and anxious, particularly when the risks are not understood or are imposed by others. When faced with these variables, the ability to carefully analyse risks or develop creative coping strategies in a formal way can be undermined.

Taken positively, this downturn is an excellent life lesson which again reinforces that human relationships and spirituality are far stronger foundations on which to build our lives than materialism and money. However, how many practice positive thinking is a matter of conjecture.

My concern is that the main casualties of this downturn would be the loyalty and trust that people have traditionally placed in organizations where they are employed. Casual job changing or hopping is a fairly recent phenomenon, at least in India and that too is limited to a few industries. Even today there are many people who have spent their entire lives in an organization. How would this affect employee loyalty in organizations that have restructured with right sizing exercises?

This makes me wonder, who is priority in a downturn? The loyal, long serving employees or the stock market players who buy the share when it goes up and sells the same when the company faces any issue? In many cases the frantic cost cutting exercises within organizations is not an act of survival but a strategy to protect the financial forecasts made, with an eye on the price of the shares. In that context, is it prudent to please the stock market or ensure that employee loyalty and trust are rewarded?

Are we creating more stock market players instead of loyal, productive employees in the society?

Being productive is about achieving our goals while making optimal use of the resources at our disposal. However, being productive may not be enough in today’s world! In fact, it is not good enough! Instead, we have to be creatively productive to succeed now! In the corporate world the term, ‘innovation’ is preferred to ‘creativity’ but in practical terms, the end result is the same. Innovation implies action and plans that work. Creativity implies lateral thinking and new ideas but those striving for success will concur that without ideas there is nothing to innovate so let us interlock both terms for our discussion. This will help us to be ahead of the game!

Let us consider the basics of my simple success equation.

Being Creatively Productive = Thinking out of the box + Working smart

Here are four tips on how we can be creatively productive at work:

Remember Change Is Always Happening.

Be aware and constantly watch out for changes in our environment. We must keep focused what our competitors, suppliers and customers are doing and be psychologically ready to embrace innovation by adopting and adapting new technologies to work smarter. The only constant in today’s world is change so mental flexibility in mandatory. Innovations might be resisted for several reasons including cost and a fear of big changes so be ready to consider several options when drawing up your proposal.

Resist The Urge To Be Complacent.

Be resilient and go the extra mile in what ever we do. We must be committed to making the extra effort to satisfy our clients and close the deal. We must resist the urge to expect one successful paradigm to be applicable to all situations. Research and document everything you can find that pertains to your client’s business which may not be included in your brief. Be ready to create uniquely customized solutions that will serve them in the short and medium term. Take time to consider a few unconventional solutions and keep them on file for future reference.

Be Ready To Play Different Roles.

Having a keen eye for continuous improvement by focusing on how we can incrementally enhance our processes and systems. One method is to listen closely to complaints and observations being made by colleagues in the workplace. While some feedback may just be useless whining, some may contain valuable insights about general perceptions and performance shortcomings that you may be overlooking.

A good source of inspiration and information is the blogosphere where many great minds and professionals go to vent and share ideas.

The hallmark of creative/innovative people is their mental flexibility. Sometimes they are open and receptive, at other times they’re playful and on occasion they can be critical. But one constant is that they’re all determined and persistent in striving to reach their goals. From this we may conclude that the creative process will demand that we play different roles within the workplace which are not described in any manual on business management.

Keep Looking In The Mirror.

Keep track of your failures and successes by using an effective performance management system to give focus and feedback. Be certain to set out clear objectives, ideally with quantifiable performance targets. Without continuous and honest evaluation, we will not be able to recognize our strengths and weaknesses and won’t be inspired to realize our enormous reserves of untapped creative potential.

I believe that these tips can lead to extraordinary achievements when coupled with the right mindset. And what is the right mindset? A willingness to express your creativity, a passionate determination to succeed and a positive outlook for now and the future.

I happened to watch this movie “Gone Baby Gone” recently. The story line is about a kidnapping which is shrouded in mystery. A private detective, the protagonist, who is hired to help out the investigation, finds out that the kidnapper is none other than the just-retired, honorable sheriff who had lost his child in a conflict and very badly wanted to father a child.

On the other hand, the kidnapped child’s natural mother is addicted to drugs and cannot care for her daughter. However, since her daughter’s kidnapping she has shown signs of becoming a more responsible person.

The core of the movie is the dilemma which the protagonist faces once he uncovers the truth.

The investigator is faced with a dilemma as to whether he should hand over the child to her mother who might not care for her or to leave her with the sheriff who will love, care and provide for her until she becomes an adult.

What should the protagonist do?

A video shot by National Geographic during an African safari gives us this scenario – a calf was attacked by 4 lion cubs which had the calf in their hold. There were around 50 African bison, which stood helpless and were about to witness the death of the little calf. The guards and crew of National Geographic also watched the incident but had guns in their hand! They could fire in the air and disperse the cubs and release the little calf or be mere spectators!

What should the guards and crew do?

Here’s another example, which many of you can probably could relate to:

A senior manager of a large MNC quit his job and started off on his own. The top executives in that MNC were his mentors, ex-bosses and good friends. A new assignment comes up in the MNC and they invite proposals from firms. This senior manager who has branched off on his own also participates in the process. He is aware of the project, the company culture and all other nuts and bolts which are required for successful completion of the work. Also his rates are low and nowhere near to his rivals. He charges actual + a thin margin as he doesn’t have to incur other sales and marketing costs. The proposal is otherwise professional. The top executives understand that the reason behind a strong proposal from their ex-colleague is his thorough knowledge of the company’s internals.

Should the top executives award him the contract or should they set aside his proposal and evaluate other proposals?

During one of my meetings at the Toastmasters’ Club, a very experienced toastmaster for 16 years delivered a fantastic speech. During the same meeting, there was a new member presenting his first speech as the icebreaker! He also did a good job but nothing in comparison to the experienced toastmaster. At the end of the session people voted for the best speaker. No marks for guessing. It was the experienced toastmaster. When he went on stage he offered to give the award to the new member who delivered the icebreaker speech.

The winner’s conscience did not permit him to accept the award. Was he right in going against the collective wisdom of the crowds?

When I reflect on certain incidents, statements and behavior of my friends, family and colleagues, I realize that most of their time and energy are spent on following the dictates of their conscience. I am no different, I too have been there, seen it and done it!

We all have spent quite a bit of time and energy in justifying our acts and words in one way or another. This compulsive need to be guided by our conscience takes a toll on human energy. We feel depressed when we are seen to be arrogant or inconsiderate, but feel elated when perceived otherwise.

We not only want to do the right things but also seen to be doing the right things. Is this necessary? Should we not keep it simple and say that it is all a perception issue. After all, the post-modern theory which is in vogue is that of “situational ethics” where the sense of right or wrong is relative to the situation. Tolerance is the key and any form of intolerance is considered sacrilegious. So, why bother about proving to the world that we heed our conscience? Let us regard others’ take on the situation as perceptional and opinionated and move on! But, something told me that this is not “right”!

I did some research to understand the root cause for all the decisions we make in situations like the ones mentioned above. As usual the research has taken me more than a month, raised quite a few questions, including the very existence of God! The final destination or the root-cause, I settled for was – the universal truth! The book The New Tolerance, by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler was the clincher that adjudicated my internal debate between situational ethics and universal truth/God and delivered the judgment in favor of the existence of universal truth and God!

The debate was well-structured by the authors of the article. Hence, I would like to cite them throughout the argument.

They say that whenever people encounter situations as presented above, if they were to apply “situational ethics” vis-à-vis “comparison to universal truth”, the world would be led into a subjective mentality of “whatever feels good”, which could have a devastating effect on the society.

What is “good” or “right” to you may be “bad” or “wrong” to someone else!

So, on the question of existence of absolute truth they conclude, “…If there are no absolutes, no reality, chaos ensues. Take the law of gravity for instance. If it were not an absolute, we could not be certain we could stand or sit in one place until we decided to move. Or if 2 + 2 did not always equal 4…What a mess that would be, but thankfully 2 + 2 does equal 4. There is absolute truth and it can be found and understood…”

To further cement their argument on absolute truth, they present pieces of evidence for the existence of absolute truth and hence God!

“Yes. First, there is the human conscience, that within us that tells us the world should be a “certain way,” and that some things are “right” and some are “wrong.”

The second pointer is science…”Science is simply the pursuit of knowledge, the study of what we know and the quest to know more. Therefore, all scientific study must by necessity be founded upon the belief that there are objective realities that exist in the world and that these realities can be discovered and proven…”

The third issue for consideration “… All the religions of the world attempt to give meaning and definition to life. They are born out of mankind’s desire for something more than simple existence…”

The authors also present interesting arguments against the atheist camps! They say that, if one were to claim absolutely that “God does not exist” then, the claim is itself fundamentally flawed. The claim of atheists is based on their “absolute knowledge or truth that God does not exist” which is contradictory to their belief that there is no “absolute truth”!

In conclusion, the authors’ state, “And if there is indeed a Creator, then He becomes the standard for absolute truth…”

Though the “universal truths” are generally accepted and recognized as the official formula of ethics and morals, they have come to be debatable in our post modern society. Not long ago, slavery, racism or discrimination in any form, family planning, abortion, euthanasia, gay and transsexual rights were taken for granted and treated as non-issues, prohibited topics and were consistently ignored. Today, the voices have grown stronger and effected some action.

Does this mean our society is weaning away from the universal truth and is following “situational ethics” or the principles of “cultural relativism” which we discussed above? The answer in my opinion is, No! The society is learning to be more tolerant and become more inclusive! The society wants these issues listed above to be added to the realm of universal truths! That way we can develop a sustainable society which is tolerant and inclusive.

In essence, there is a certain right or wrong, good or bad and it is judged against the universal truth which has been given to mankind by the Creator. We need to accept the fact that we are accountable for what we say and do. This means that we cannot apply the logic of situational ethics and get away with our words and deeds. I am not suggesting that we should explain and defend every act and deed of ours, but just that we need to be conscious of our behavior and if we realize (internally) that there is a scope for improvement, we should endeavor to do so!

I would like to conclude with this true story. The conflict in Bosnia and Serbia left thousands dead. It was one of the worst ethnic cleansings in recent times. The international community, UN and a team of scientists are spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to put together sets of 208 bones from different mass graves just to identify those who are dead and prove to the culprits that there is evidence of who was murdered and hence prosecute the murderers for their crime.

The international community, could easily prosecute the culprits as the whole world knows who committed the crimes, and give the hundreds of millions of dollars to Africa and help alleviate poverty there. But is it the right thing to do? No, every person who is charged needs a chance to be proven innocent or guilty as charged and punished accordingly. By spending the millions we could bring some respect back to the dead and their surviving families in a sense that, even after death, there is someone who will fight for justice and ensure that it is delivered to the survivors.

This ability to rationalize and internalize is a trait unique to human beings. It is not to be found among other forms of life. The rationalization will work only when we believe in a superior universal truth.

This ability to rationalize and internalize is according to me – God!

Simply stated, traditional marriage is grounded in a legal association between a male and female who agree to honour prescribed vows with an understanding to share their lives and care for each other until one passes away.

The legal obligation underlines the need for constant commitment and it helps to bring significant stability and meaning to human relationships. It motivates both partners to stay committed to their relationship through the happy as well as the challenging times.

A marriage is a lifetime investment of love, hope and aspirations.

A day begins at home and ends at home. Everyone possesses unique personal habits. Our daily activities may be a simple routine but it will change as we grow older. Also as human beings, our temperaments will also undergo transformation across the years. Nothing in life is constant. We evolve with time and our partner must be able to understand, recognize and appreciate these changes that come with time. We too must be emotionally mature and and mentally accommodating to allow our partner the space to grow into a completely self-realized individual.

Moreover, life will always present us with financial, health, emotional or spiritual challenges as we grow older and our partner should be understanding and supportive during the best and worst of times. Much care and sensitivity must be factored into any marriage to build up the trust and reliability factors. A marriage should be based on more than physical attraction, a desire to have children, or to please parents. There should be emotional, mental and spiritual compatibility or else both partners will be sentenced to a lifetime of alienation and bitterness.

Much care, and time should be taken before agreeing to exchange marriage vows and both parties should be apprised of the fact that marriage while bringing many joyful moments is also fraught with disappointment and tears. A successful marriage is like a good recipe whose main ingredients are love, commitment, understanding, concern and togetherness.

Ask any couple that has been married for over ten years. They will reveal that a happy relationship or good marriage takes hard work, patience, devotion, sacrifice and at times, heartaches in order to last a lifetime. For that, we need to find the right person and to be the right person. Martin Luther was correct when he wrote, “There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.”

But in these times of instant gratification and self-indulgence, how many of us are willing to work that hard?

I asked her what really transpired at her final meeting with the CEO and other officials. She said, “They tell me that as an auditor I had the benefit of hindsight and could therefore pronounce my verdict on what should have been done. But they, the executives, had to take quick decisions with limited time, insufficient information and other constraining factors.”

This brings me to an important point, the working of the mind after the event. Wisdom in hindsight is well known.

What is less well known is shown by an experiment conducted by psychologists that was conducted as follows: The subjects were divided into two groups. One group was given (a) a precise description of an event that did happen (example the collapse of a company) and (b) a series of relevant pieces of information available before the event. The other group was given the same data but was given a totally opposite end (say the huge profits of the company).

Both the groups were told that they were given the facts of an actual situation.

Both groups then confidently asserted that given the information presented to them, they could have predicted the result! Remember the two groups were given the same facts but opposite outcomes !

Psychologists found that there was no difference at all in the confidence levels of the two groups.
Once we are told the outcome it has the power to produce hindsight wisdom. You can read more details about this experiment in the book ‘Inevitable Illusions’ by Massimo Palmarini.

The implications of this tendency are serious. Careers can be destroyed by blaming someone for a wrong decision that appears wrong in hindsight but could not have been seen as wrong by the executive when he made the decision. Finding scapegoats relies on this tendency to find wisdom in hindsight.

What is unfortunate is that the auditor or commission of enquiry will be able to convince the scapegoat that he seriously erred and could have ‘easily’ anticipated the disastrous consequences of his decisions and actions.

This sad tendency is found among people of every area of human activity – science, management, politics, religion, history and so on.

In my workshops on Decision Making, I bring out the idea that the wisdom or judgement of a decision maker cannot be judged purely by the outcome of a course of action. It is possible that a good outcome may be the result of plain good luck and a bad outcome may be the result of plain bad luck, unforeseen changes in the environment etc.

What is critical is to examine the decision making process rather than the outcome.

I also suggest that a good decision or course of action may have to be audited with seriousness too.

Let me suggest a real life instance. The Indian Railways have been cited as a great turnaround story. Management gurus have written about this ‘phenomenon.’ The media has whispered that one factor significantly contributing to rising profits is as follows: The railways have been in the past illegally permitting overloading of wagons. The railway officials have been overlooking this and may be even been illegally rewarded for it even as the railways did not earn any revenue on the illegal business. Along comes a new dispensation that reasons as follows – why not permit the overloading of wagons and earn revenues? As for the danger of accidents due to weakening of tracks on account of overloading, we can assume that since such accidents have not happened in the past they will not happen in future!

Now let me ask you, what if accidents take place for precisely this reason of weakened tracks due to overloading? Right now we are all congratulating the Railways for the ‘phenomenal’ success. But what if the scenario I have painted comes true ?

I can predict the following: A commission of enquiry will either fix the blame on some unfortunate scapegoat or some other reason will be found for the accidents.

If we are to heed my suggestion that ‘good’ outcomes and decisions ought to be seriously audited seriously as well, the Railways may have to change tactics on this front. But I am sure nothing of that sort will happen. Why am I confident? Benefit of hindsight, after several such past experiences .

Now for a funny phenomenon I have witnessed. Once the results of a selection procedure are announced, I try to ask a successful candidate what accounted for his success against keen competition. In most cases I hear the candidate waxing eloquent on how he gave a ‘brilliant’ answer to a question in the final interview.
I suspect that had I asked my question before the results were announced he would not have been even able to recollect that question for which he had given the ‘brilliant’ answer.

Sometimes, it is quite difficult to interpret our actions and conclude if we are right or wrong. One of my professors had an interesting interpretation that is easy to understand and effective to improve the quality of thought.

We all are wired to think differently. Most of the times we think from our brain and so our decisions are based on some logic. The center of such thinking process is “me”. Logical thinking improves outputs such as power, pleasure, money, strength, growth, satisfaction, family welfare, etc., under given circumstances. We invest our money in schemes that provide highest return, buy stuff when they are on discounts and sell our property in high demand market. 

Some think from their stomach. They are driven by basic necessities such as food. Pretty much like animals. Many are compelled to think this way and never wire their thoughts to their brains. Someone below the poverty line will never negotiate for logic. He grabs what he gets. But let’s put it straight, this has nothing to do with poverty. It’s a mentality and many wired to stomach are above the poverty line! For such people, key milestones of the day are breakfast, lunch & dinner.

Yet a few think from a couple of inches below their stomach. Such people really are short circuited. They are driven by a desire for sex and only sex which is a pure play of animal instinct. Scenes in Hindi films of yesteryears with tiger or eagle hunting its prey depict such an instinct. The Nithari serial murders case involving Surender Koli and very recent incident of rape of two year old child in Mumbai are extreme examples of such animal instincts. It’s again a mentality which is beyond any logic or basic needs.

On the other hand, there are also some who think from their heart. Such people are emotionally intelligent. They do what is good (to others) than what is right! To understand this better, think of Mother Teresa.

None of us are ‘hard wired’. So under different circumstances, we think from our brain, stomach or heart. But for a given situation when we wire incorrectly, it short-circuits.

So it’s all about wiring your thoughts right. How do we accomplish this? All you need to do is to get started.

For a given situation, introspect where your thought is wired – the brain, stomach, a couple of inches below that or the heart.  ‘Go’ ahead if it’s wired to the heart and ‘stop’ if it’s a couple of inches below your stomach. If it’s wired to brain and stomach, don’t act in haste, step out of yourself and rethink if necessary. Be firm and try to do what is good than what is right.

I lost my job.

Funny how fast I became an actual victim of this worldwide earthquake. It took me about a couple of hours to understand that all my certainties were somehow linked to the idea of having a job, a fixed income, a wealthy lifestyle, the power to buy and acquire goods. And how a significant part of me had been actually deprived of basic needs such as time, joy and health, in the name of Production – the goddess of contemporary masses.

I spent a full week wandering around with a wide open smile on my face. I couldn’t help feeling just good and I happened to experience guilt while talking to people, realizing how lighthearted I was, in spite of all.

The decision came soon after the D-Day.

You know, I came to the sad – and yet understandable – conclusion that most of us live a double-dimensional life.

For someone like me, born in the early eighties, the concept of wealth was never questioned. I was raised with the equation Work = Wealth stamped on my passport. Go wherever you want but make sure to jump on board before it’s too late. The machine won’t wait for you forever and the best that you can do is to mould yourself properly, in order to fit in the system.

And so I did. I did it my way, of course, which was never precisely in line with the actual pre-made scheme, imposed by “society”. But I managed anyway. I joined a New York law firm first, to then experience a breakdown, followed by a series of random and very useful parentheses as a waitress, Italian teacher and so on. When I finally joined Barcelona, I thought I was over all confusions and I devoted myself in full to the search for a stable and secure lifestyle.

Wishful thinking…towards the wrong wishes, though.

Now I find myself in my apartment, there are rays of sun entering my room and nice sound from my music system. I am enjoying the destruction of the perfect, fake and illusionary balance I built for myself.

I made someone else rich with my innocent and professional commitment, that’s for sure. But who cares? Does it really matter? Is it truly the end of the world?

This last question deserved a closer and deeper look.

I spent sometime reading my very own words, which I lightly spread around the world in shape of stories, articles, blog entries. And I managed to recognize the answer, hidden in between lines and commas.

No, it is not the end of the world. It is quite the opposite, indeed.

We are experiencing a unique opportunity to enrich ourselves and learn how to sustain our lives in a considerable manner. Considerable for our own happiness, the health of the planet and the potential creation of a newly balanced general system.

Practically speaking, I looked for an answer to a trivial though fundamental question. What?

The “what” issue struck me in a moment when people are seriously struggling to make their way out of the employment crisis, because we must keep in mind that this is a human earthquake, first of all. And I couldn’t help thinking about families in need to feed and educate kids. A friend of mine, who is a teacher, told me that lately her young students are complaining because of hunger and that never-seen-before fathers are showing up to pick them up at the end of the school day. Unemployment causes food issues, first, but also reunites families. Just to prove once more that this is a double-sided medal. I devoted a closer look at small businesses, where bored employees are probably studying a degree while wishing for customers to miraculously appear and make their day. They most likely won’t sell an item throughout the day but hopefully are learning something practical for their next venture.

But my situation is different, I am lucky. I don’t have kids to feed and I do have a higher degree. After days of inner ponder and mind-mapping, I came to an astonishingly simple conclusion. I will make my way out there and help people, travelling where I can afford the luxury of not making someone else rich, while collecting diamonds for my very own soul.

Just like the character of one of my Tickles, I will be the one travelling all the way to India to actually put into practice my human rights degree and devote my energy to something that will enrich myself enormously and, hopefully, others.

I will pack a smile, strength, willingness and energy. This is all I need. In my pocket I will store drops of love I have received, which I will make sure to spread around with the same intensity they came to me.

I wasn’t responsible for this gigantic mistake that is currently affecting us all. My illusions are still up high in the sky but they deserve to be projected towards change. Change of perspective and direction. Turning illusions into reality is now a priority in my agenda and I firmly believe that more people are joining the club, right now.

This is a will. These are my last words about this moment, which I won’t call crisis ever again. I cannot speak for everybody, our stories are coloured with different shades. But to be myself completely, I had to let go and realize that I am still sure, now more than ever, and that nothing will be able to change my course of action towards my mission: enlighten my steps through hard work, spreading a renewed wave of energy among us, trying to put down a heavy stone to make my world a real better place.

The secret of success is known to both successful and unsuccessful.
Then why do we have to be told how to succeed?

By one and all?

Have you ever pondered and mulled over this aspect of life science?
I have.

The quote above was the reason to do so, as the word “volition” jumped out at me, years ago, when it was presented to me by a senior, through a very powerful presentation.

There I was referring to the dictionary to learn its meaning, later in the day.

The word had a good positive ring to it when it was pronounced emphatically so I had to know what it meant.

It turned out to mean…”will”…a very common word.

Here is what it literally means:

Volition: The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides. Will.

•    The act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision.
•    A conscious choice or decision.
•    The power or faculty of choosing; the will.

Having now understood what it means, allow me ask you now three questions.

•    Did you have the volition to succeed when you did succeed?
•    Didn’t you have the volition to succeed when you did not succeed.
•    Finally, do you now have the volition to succeed?

If you do not dismay, as you know the secret…you may have been wary of it all this while, but now you will get to know, for sure.

As one thing is for sure…”The only thing that stands between you and success is you”.

Success has got ‘u’ built into it by default.

You have/had the volition within you always, maybe lying dormant within you…you need to stir it up consciously now and then.
That’s all.

Get to do that consciously and constantly.

From “Got to do it” mode…you need to get to “Get to do it” mode…now!
As it is always now or never.

Therefore to succeed, as a habit, do it now… As, nothing succeeds like success!

With a little bit of reverse engineering you will realize that life is all about choices and not chances.

It’s the choices you make that drive you to action, or for that matter, inaction too.

Inaction is akin to inviting peril. Inaction invariably is preceded by procrastination and callousness. Identify their onset as soon as you can and then…jettison them immediately.

Once done, come and join me to “Kick the tire and light the fire” of the engine of action.

Action is driving yourself in the direction of results, both positive as well as negative.

With results happening, you are on the path of progress…progressing from the rabbit path, to a muddy track, to a road, onto a highway leading to a taxi track reaching out to a runway…to take off!

From the dumbbell called confidence.
To succeed.

Succeed…and  then land…back again on this runway, or for that matter any other runway, anywhere in the world, once you are deft and confident at doing just that…again and again. On the wings of patience, perseverance and a positive attitude.

Through repetitive attempts, you will too.

Fly.

As “they can fly because they think they can” is another quote that I have lived with ever since I was 20. Without fear of getting grounded or for that matter stuck in a quick sand—or worse, back-tracking over the same old ground(s), over and over again.

Attempt is a temptation that you need to be tempted to attempt.
That’s a conscious choice you have to make.

Whenever I look back at all that I have done and achieved I have narrowed down to the choices I made that lead to success…to the degree I desired.

Nothing more nothing else.

When I decided to hang up my gloves, it was a conscious thought and a deliberated action on my part, as I had had enough of that success.

I knew what I was doing and was ready to face the consequences too.
I did too.
No regrets.

As, here I am addressing and sharing thoughts/experiences with all of you, to tickle you to succeed, and get wherever you decide to go after.
Who knows, whether I would have been able to do the same, as an active combat pilot, had I not hung my gloves?

Then.
I am loving it here…and that’s true success for me.

Hope this piece of my “thoughtscape” helps you define, design, align, and spur you into action(s) too, to succeed as a habit…so that you do get to where you need to…so that you do love it as much as I love what I am doing, now a days.

As I made a choice, once I got to know and understand the power of choice coupled with, the power of now!

That understanding finally led me to understand the process of success.
So please make the right choices…don’t hold back on them ever.
If you don’t choose, you tend to snooze and if you snooze…you get to lose.

Choose now…set your choices as your goals…write them down…and then do not forget to assign time lines to each and every choice you make…as time lines breathe life into those very nascent thoughts that will finally spur you into action

Thoughts lead to Actions.
Actions begin with choices.
Right choices reach you to right results.

Right results = success = wealth, power and happiness.
Success = steely resolve + firm commitment + rock like determination = Volition = will (will+power)

–

Arun alias Axee is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.

Like thousands of others I also blindly chose the career path shown by parents & society without thinking what I really wanted to do in life and did not give any importance to what I really loved.

I love to dance, to write, to travel. These are the things I have loved to do since the time I can remember.

Today at 30 I’m a Supply Chain and Logistics Manager in a company where I’m struggling to connect emotionally and professionally with my environment. Of course my current assignment promises to take me to greater heights as my next role would be of a Supply Chain Controller! But is this what I want to do? The answer is No. And even though I decide almost every day that I will now do what I actually love to do, the thought fades away in less than 24 hours as I start tracking trucks and shipments!

In the volatile times our country has faced in the past few months we have realized that life is too short to be wasted. If you ask me for an idea of a perfect day I would say…one that allows me to take care of my daughter and work from home. But the thoughts of losing my independence, status, money and our grand lifestyle keep holding me back. It’s difficult to decide which way to go.

We keep putting our plans on hold for the right time to come…because of the time we’ve already lost. Maybe I could have also been a dancer or writer if I had pursued my interest at 20… and I let myself be happy with just the thought.

I look at my two-year-old daughter and wonder if I’ll let the same thing happen to her. After all in our Indian society we all want our children to become doctors or engineers, don’t we? Will I be any different? I really hope so. And that’s a promise I can make to myself.

And I hope that after reading this you would change your mind too!

–

Currently working as a Supply Chain Manager, Bhavna is a follower of Nicheren Daishonin’s Buddhism and has based her life on the Lotus Sutra of ‘Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo’ to win over any situation in life.

It was truly like swimming in the Dead Sea, you think you are swimming well, and little did you know that there was hardly any buoyancy! The buoyancy mainly being the inflated heads of most these men!

Dates and days came and went. Coffee pubs and restaurants saw me churning food into my plate or swirling dregs of coffee…all round. I just wished – God why is it so difficult to figure out what this guy wants!!

I wound up my record of finding the right man by the mid of 2007, for fear of getting placed into the Guinness book…or let’s be humble…Limca book of Records. I assured myself this is complete hogwash and that having choices doesn’t make sense. Is it a matter of choice or destiny that you end up with who ends up with you?

We are given choices at all times. We ask ourselves why destiny can’t just lead us. Is everything that is destined, a matter of choices that you make? Or are we preprogrammed robots that do as we are told?

If yes, then who programmes us? Who works on our motherboard and updates our databases? Are we genetically tuned to repeat the mistakes and glories our fathers and forefathers encountered?

Your circumstances and situations act as parameters for your choices. Therefore if you take a good look at your choices they are directed by what seems optimum at that time more than what I should do or how I go forward.

Media is an essential tool in processing our choices since it captures our attention almost 95% of our conscious time. Look at how media has built its repertoire of images today? You have such a conglomerate of images to choose what you see perfect in your visual space.

You have ads that compare the size of sanitary napkins to the size of a young girl. You have insurance policies that present death as hope! Think about the ad that shows a middle aged man rummaging through the refrigerator for dessert and then realises his kids wouldn’t have any left!

You have old people feeling so young thanks to the paint on their walls, and therefore forget about their grandkid screaming for help. You have a car being presented as a symbol of power, power that disturbs a man spending peaceful time fishing in a calm lake.

What are the images that are being played towards our choices? Or are our choices directing these images?

Do identify who is feeding your visual image! And then set your lens in focus: Identify what your visual image has been feeding you.

If your parameters (situations or circumstances or long term value systems) don’t correlate  with the images, then please don’t skew your results by forcing them to do so.

–

Caroline is a behavioural trainer who majored in wildlife biology. The apt words for the way she spends most of her time is observation and analysis. Leisure is mostly defined in terms of music, concerts or playing the piano.

Winners view the world as a benevolent place. To Albert Einstein’s famous thought provoking question, ‘Is this a friendly universe?’ the winners always answer in affirmative. They feel that the world is full of great opportunities and wonderful people. Winners see the world as mainly good with some bad bits. The losers view the world as mainly malevolent with some good bits. How do you view the world? Your answer to this question speaks volumes about you and your station in life.

Winners have the habit of visualizing their future in bright details. They approve of themselves. Life is an exciting adventure for them. They live it to the fullest. Losers view life as a chore. If someone casually asks them, ‘How is it going?’ they will open their box of woes. ‘Just getting along.’, ‘Life goes on.’ are standard responses. What do you think life will dole out to them? Like Aladdin’s genie, life would say, ‘Your wish is my command.’

Winners are dreamers. They dream big, because they know that today’s dreams are tomorrow’s reality. They work backwards from a future dream to the present day and make their plans to achieve their goals. Losers too dream, but they don’t back up these dreams with systematic action plan. What are such dreams called?  These dreams are no more than ethereal hot air.

Winners possess another great quality Рdiscipline. Their discipline keeps them going during temporary setbacks. Thus they convert their ‘yearning power’ into their ‘earning power’. What do you think the losers do? When going gets tough, they hang their boots. They proclaim that the luck is not in their favour. They give up too easily.

Winners value time. They guard against procrastination, the thief of their precious commodity, their time. Losers discuss amongst themselves that they will start working one day real soon, but that day doesn’t dawn. They are unaware of the thrill of victory after a job well done. They are not willing to pay the life’s cost of admission to the big league. They do not know the enjoyment of work. They do not put their best efforts into anything. 

Winners take care of their physical fitness. They know that neither their body nor their mind will work at an optimal level without it. Therefore they give attention to their habits, diet and exercise regimen.
Winners have pleasing personalities. They acquire the art of making themselves agreeable to others. They learn to negotiate with others without creating friction of any sort. They are flexible and adaptable. They harmonise with any given environment and possess necessary magnetism to attract others.
Winners understand the value of initiative. They never have to be told what to do and how to do it. They create plans and translate them into actions through their initiative. They do not need to be supervised all the time.

To be a winner for life, identify what your ideal life will look like. Create a compelling vision for your future. Formulate goals for its achievement. Never give up on your hopes and dreams of a bright future. Overcome temporary setbacks. Look at them as great learning experiences.

Earl Nightingale, one of the earlier personal development teachers, and co-founder of the publishing house ‘Nightingale-Conant’, defined success as ‘the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.’ As long as you are ‘progressing’ towards an ideal that you think is worthy of achievement, you are succeeding. Enjoying the journey makes it all the more worthwhile. You will do well to remember that the word ‘worthwhile’ means that your goal is worth your time and energy. Think about that. Are your goals worthy of your life?

If you consider the fact that the price for your achievements is your time, which is all that you have of any real value, you will soon see the importance of having a goal that is worthy of your most prized possession. So go back over your goals and see if they meet the criteria for being worthy of you, not the other way around. If not, then maybe you need to stretch yourself and go for something of more importance to you. You will be a real winner then.

Practically speaking, your actions and your behaviour determine how your destiny will unfold. Knowing that your fate is in your hands, what are you going to do about it? Are you ready to be a winner? Remember in order to get something you’ve got to give something. So give up dependence, procrastination, laziness, need for approval, self criticism, and the loser attitude.

If a window of correcting the course of your life exists, why not open it and let in some fresh air? The basic question, however, remains to be answered. Answer it now. The question is, ‘Are you willing?’
The choice is yours. The window is open. And you can begin now.