One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big notice on the door on which was written:
“Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym.”
In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who that man was, who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room.
The more the people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: “Who is this guy who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he died!.” One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood near the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin; everyone who looked inside it could see himself.
There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:
“There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU. You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends changes, when your parents changes, when your partner changes, when your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life. “The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself.”
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Recipe for success - Eat the frog
I came across a beautiful article about success. I would like to share it with all of you.
If you are wondering that a person who eats frog must be insane, then the answer is big NO. The long term benefits of eating frogs are substantial – glowing cheeks, shining hairs, muscular body, and a healthy heart. Even now if you are resisting eating frogs then let me tell you how to do it. Let’s start – hold the frog tight and put it in your mouth. Don’t think; just put it in your mouth. Ummm. How does it taste? Yummy, Yummy! What!! You don’t like eating it? Stop lying! Oh okay okay, it stinks, it got stuck in your throat. No, No please don’t vomit, hold your nerves. Yes, that’s it! See it’s over! It is not as hard as you thought. You have swallowed the frog and you are still alive (though the poor frog is not). Now you have gained all vitamins and proteins necessary for a healthy body in short time which pizzas, chips and drinks would have not provided during lifetime.
Daily, we come across activities which we don’t really enjoy. Jumping out of bed at the first alarm bell, making the first sales call, learning from criticism, following up with prospective clients, regular gym routine, planning the day in advance – all these are examples of eating the frog. One doesn’t really enjoy the process but once performed, the results are extra-ordinary. Eating the frog refers to performing the task which is crucial for our growth but performing the task might not be fun. We tend to procrastinate, avoid such task and then later regret our decisions.
The irony is the more displeasing the task appears, the higher is the rate of return attached to it. 80/20 rule applies here also. Generally 20% of your action will result into 80% of achievement. Prepare a to-do list for your day. Now observe and you will find that if you roughly complete 2 tasks out of 10, you will have a successful day. Yes! You have guessed correctly, those 2 tasks are the frogs, the ones which you want to postpone. But the case with the frog is that it is easier to eat it fresh, than to swallow it rotten. The more you procrastinate, the harder it becomes. If you give yourself time to think, the mind will come up with thousands of reasons why it is okay not to eat the frog and avoid brief pain. Do you recollect, last time you decided to sleep just for 5 more minutes and got up an hour later, last time you said to self that you will start exercising from tomorrow and you are still waiting for that tomorrow, last time you delayed reading that business book and now it has become a part of dusty shelf. The formula is simple – stop thinking and just do it!
The difference between highly productive people and others is that the former are good at eating frogs. Entrepreneurs take risk, athletes undergo rigorous practice, leaders take tough decisions – these are activities which ordinary people avoid. You know what is important, don’t procrastinate, just do it. The more frogs you eat the healthier you will be, the more difficult tasks you perform the wealthier you will be.
If you are wondering that a person who eats frog must be insane, then the answer is big NO. The long term benefits of eating frogs are substantial – glowing cheeks, shining hairs, muscular body, and a healthy heart. Even now if you are resisting eating frogs then let me tell you how to do it. Let’s start – hold the frog tight and put it in your mouth. Don’t think; just put it in your mouth. Ummm. How does it taste? Yummy, Yummy! What!! You don’t like eating it? Stop lying! Oh okay okay, it stinks, it got stuck in your throat. No, No please don’t vomit, hold your nerves. Yes, that’s it! See it’s over! It is not as hard as you thought. You have swallowed the frog and you are still alive (though the poor frog is not). Now you have gained all vitamins and proteins necessary for a healthy body in short time which pizzas, chips and drinks would have not provided during lifetime.
Daily, we come across activities which we don’t really enjoy. Jumping out of bed at the first alarm bell, making the first sales call, learning from criticism, following up with prospective clients, regular gym routine, planning the day in advance – all these are examples of eating the frog. One doesn’t really enjoy the process but once performed, the results are extra-ordinary. Eating the frog refers to performing the task which is crucial for our growth but performing the task might not be fun. We tend to procrastinate, avoid such task and then later regret our decisions.
The irony is the more displeasing the task appears, the higher is the rate of return attached to it. 80/20 rule applies here also. Generally 20% of your action will result into 80% of achievement. Prepare a to-do list for your day. Now observe and you will find that if you roughly complete 2 tasks out of 10, you will have a successful day. Yes! You have guessed correctly, those 2 tasks are the frogs, the ones which you want to postpone. But the case with the frog is that it is easier to eat it fresh, than to swallow it rotten. The more you procrastinate, the harder it becomes. If you give yourself time to think, the mind will come up with thousands of reasons why it is okay not to eat the frog and avoid brief pain. Do you recollect, last time you decided to sleep just for 5 more minutes and got up an hour later, last time you said to self that you will start exercising from tomorrow and you are still waiting for that tomorrow, last time you delayed reading that business book and now it has become a part of dusty shelf. The formula is simple – stop thinking and just do it!
The difference between highly productive people and others is that the former are good at eating frogs. Entrepreneurs take risk, athletes undergo rigorous practice, leaders take tough decisions – these are activities which ordinary people avoid. You know what is important, don’t procrastinate, just do it. The more frogs you eat the healthier you will be, the more difficult tasks you perform the wealthier you will be.
A Good Quality Of A True Leader
(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum, Philadelphia, March 22, 2000
Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?
Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience.
In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3...
Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980.
I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space.
Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.
By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready.
As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order.
My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket.
In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.
That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference.
The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in AP]
Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself.
He took responsibility for the failure…
He said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support.
He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed.
Now, I was the project director, and it was myfailure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.
The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded.
The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference.
Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."
I learned a very important lesson that day.
When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.
Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?
Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience.
In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3...
Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980.
I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space.
Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.
By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready.
As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order.
My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket.
In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.
That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference.
The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in AP]
Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself.
He took responsibility for the failure…
He said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support.
He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed.
Now, I was the project director, and it was myfailure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.
The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded.
The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference.
Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."
I learned a very important lesson that day.
When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Do you possess Alexanders leadership qualities?
Alexander the Great, the Greek king, once led his troops across a hot, arid desert. After nearly two weeks of marching, he and his soldiers were near death from thirst, yet Alexander pushed ahead.
In the noonday sun, two of his scouts brought what little water they were able to find. It barely filled a cup. Alexander's troops were shocked with he poured the water into the burning sand.
The king said, "It is of no use for one to drink when many thirst."
Treating those who report to you as partners or associates will not work if it's only a scheme of a strategy. It must be a genuine heart-felt expression.
In the noonday sun, two of his scouts brought what little water they were able to find. It barely filled a cup. Alexander's troops were shocked with he poured the water into the burning sand.
The king said, "It is of no use for one to drink when many thirst."
Treating those who report to you as partners or associates will not work if it's only a scheme of a strategy. It must be a genuine heart-felt expression.
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