HABIT AND FAILURE

The Buzzard, The Bat, and the Bumblebee

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eightfeet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, inspite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins aflight from the ground with a run of ten or twelvefeet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he willnot even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisonerfor life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, aremarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take offfrom a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slightelevation from which it can throw itself into the air.Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It neversees the means of escape at the top, but persists intrying to find some way out through the sides near thebottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until itcompletely destroys itself.

In many ways, there are lots of people like thebuzzard, the bat and the bee. They are strugglingabout with all their problems and frustrations, notrealizing that the answer is right there above them.

POWER OF IGNORANCE

As a college student, George studied very hard and always late in the night... So late that he overslept one morning, arriving 20 minutes late for class. He quickly copied the two math problems on the board, assuming they were the homework assignment.

It took him several days to work through the two problems but finally he had a breakthrough and dropped the homework on the professor's desk the next day. Later, on a Sunday morning, George was awakened at 6 a.m. by his excited professor. Since George was late for class, he hadn't heard the professor announce that the two unsolvable equations on the board were mathematical mind teasers that even Einstein hadn't been able to answer. But George Dantzig, working without any thoughts of limitation, had solved not one, but two problems that had stumped mathematicians for thousands of years.

Simply put, George solved the problems because he didn't know he couldn't.

The Fred Factor

“The Fred Factor” is a book written by Mark Sanborn.It’s a beautifully written book which emphasizes on how easy it is, for human beings to provide extraordinary service to others and yet most of us fail to do so. The author talks about Fred, his postal carrier who has lot of zeal and creativity. Though in his job as a postman, he could hardly get recognition from his employer, he was always keen about providing service out of his way to his customers. He took special care of each and every customer of his and the author happened to be one of them. When he was new to the place where Fred was a post man, Fred came and introduced himself to Mark, welcomed him to his new neighborhood, understood his schedule and delivered his posts accordingly. Not only this, Fred gave him useful inputs about how burglars watch the piling up mails and come to know that there is no one at home and loot the house. The author, so impressed with his way, termed this positive behavior as The Fred Factor after which many organizations started Fred awards.
The author after meeting Fred started observing Fred like behavior in people he met. Some of the experiences really helped me understand what this behavior is. He says once he unfortunately did not have enough money for his travel when he went out of station for some presentation. An unknown person comforted him and gave money that was more than his requirement. The author was a stranger to that man. He was not aware if he would get it back. Yet he helped the author out of his way. Mark Sanborn later says that he sent the money back to him promptly as soon as he reached his place. Mark calls this behavior of the stranger as Fred like behavior.
Another time, Mark was in a travel with one set of good clothes other than the one that he was wearing. It was night time and he had to wait in a hotel to board his flight till morning in the airport. Something spilled over on his dress and no laundry service was available at that time. While he checked with a lady who was working there, she readily offered to take it home and bring it the following morning. Next day, she brought his dress not only after wash but also neatly pressed. He saw another Fred in her.
SO FRIENDS LET US BE ANOTHER "FRED" AND HELP THE SOCIETY.

PYGMALION EFFECT-A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

I remember a young lady who went to work for a company immediately after graduating from college. She seemed extremely talented but unbelievably timid.

She was assigned to a division-level marketing department where she assisted in the production of advertising and collateral material. Her supervisor associated her shyness with a lack of technical and conceptual skills. As a result, she was never included in brainstorming or planning sessions. The supervisor thought she was best suited to simple graphics layout and paste-up.
Frustrated that her talents were squandered on simple tasks, she applied to the corporate marketing department. The vice-president reviewed her resume and transferred her without interviewing her at length. His concept of the young lady was positive and assigned her to a series of important, key projects. She performed magnificently.

A few months later, the original supervisor was in the vice-president's office admiring the new corporate ad campaign. The project consisted of television and radio commercials, full-page ads for national publications and complete press kits. The supervisor asked, "What kind of a Madison Avenue rain-maker worked this kind of magic?" The VP replied, "This was all completed by that young lady you sent me. That was the best move I ever made!"

This is but one example of the dozens of cases I can document where individuals were literally hobbled by low or incorrect expectations. In many instances, the mind set of a co-worker or supervisor can restrict an employee's ability to become an excellent performer.

This cause-and-effect model applies to all aspects of our lives. The neighbor's young son asked if he could mow my yard. I told him I would talk to his dad first. The father said, "I don't think he can handle a mower. . Go ahead if you like." I assured him I would watch his son closely and be certain he could handle the equipment safely.
The boy not only knew how to handle the mower, but did such a good job, I asked him to help each week. His dad was amazed. "I never would have guessed," he said. "You should have given him a chance," I suggested.

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT SITUATIONS

A Merchant, driving his Donkey homeward from the seashorewith a heavy load of salt, came to a river crossed by a shallowford. They had crossed this river many times before without accident, but this time the Donkey slipped and fell when halfwayover. And when the Merchant at last got him to his feet, muchof the salt had melted away.

Delighted to find how much lighter his burden had become, the Donkey finished the journey very happily.Next day the Merchant went for another load of salt. On the way home the Donkey, remembering what had happened at the ford,purposely let himself fall into the water, and again got rid ofmost of his burden.

The angry Merchant immediately turned about and drove theDonkey back to the seashore, where he loaded him with two greatbaskets of sponges. At the ford the Donkey again tumbled over;but when he had scrambled to his feet, it was a very disconsolate Donkey that dragged himself homeward under a load ten timesheavier than before.

The same measures will not suit all circumstances.

CHANGE BRINGS CHANGE-A STORY

There's a story about a woman who did not keep a tidy house. One day someone gave her a beautiful rose which she brought home and put in a vase in her lobby. The rose, though, showed up the vase which was tarnished and dusty, so she polished the vase and set the rose and vase on the table.
But now something was wrong with the table. It looked terrible. It had to be cleaned as well. At last the woman stood back and admired the sparkling table, the polished vase, and the beautiful rose.
But to her dismay, the whole lobby and House now seemed dull and murky. Before she knew it, she found herself scrubbing the walls, washing the curtains, and opening the windows to let light and air into every dark corner.
We all deserve best. For achieving that we need to do some changes in our attitude, our mind sets, our life style etc. if you make one small change in your life, light up one small corner, in no time your whole life can take on a different look. If you're dissatisfied with your life at this point, give some serious consideration to that one area you could change.

Sitting on your talent

There was a man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn't want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.
The man said, "I don't sing."
But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!"
The bartender shouted across the room, "Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!"
So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song Mona, Mona Lisa sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole!
He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your "talent" is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not "What ability do I have that is useful?" It is rather "How will I use whatever ability I have?"