Attitude & determination

Determination is the key to implement any worthwhile project. Determination brings consistency in our efforts. It also motivates us to work hard for a task we have undertaken. Determination triggers perseverance which is an almost essential element in achieving significant success. But this indispensable quality of human being depend entirely on their attitude.

What is determination?

It is the process of becoming resolute, of bringing firmness in your endeavour. Without determination one cannot hold conviction which is essential to convince people. Unless you are determined to follow your path, distractions may attract you attention. You lose focus. In such cases the efficacy of your efforts is bound to suffer.

How is determination related to your attitude?

Your attitude to life is extremely important in deciding your daily performance and how you want to lead your life. Your attitude will help you to set goals which need to be achieved. Each of your goals will require a separate plan of action. It you lack determination, due to your casual attitude, even written specific and SMART goals may become meaningless. Because your plans need to be implemented, these require perseverance which can come only when you are determined to do. The implementation will happen with determination to perform. Thus attitude and determinations are inter-related. In fact, these are intertwined.   

People who make significant progress are often called lucky. But they do not know how much hard work was put in to achieve that success. As Colin Powell said, “A dream does not become a reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” Any worthwhile goal or project is achieved with determination, dedication, self-discipline and lots of efforts. Further if your determination is fixed, your efforts are never wasted. Few things cannot be achieved if you have skill, and use diligence.

How determination works?

Determination is also doing. It is not just a decision. It pushes you to do what you have decided to do. it makes you do things what need to be done at what time even if you don’t like it. It is said, “Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction. Whenever you strongly desire to acquire something, you can’t stop thinking about it. Determination tells you that if you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it. Road to success is under construction till it is completed. The same passes through many terrains; some are easy but others are difficult. Determination drives you ahead through difficult terrains which happen to be the strength of determination.

Finally, determination enhances your self esteem. Self esteem in turn helps you to make you attitude positive impeccably.

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Four Secrets of Happy Living!

Life has many facets: habits, aspirations, goals, significance etc. It is rare that there has been an artist who was also a good householder and a progressive human being. When I say a good householder, I mean one who facilitates the family in all respects. He not only provides for them materially but also emotionally. This is so, typical for a family man. But when we talk of an individual who doesn’t have a family, they too will have to find out their goals; what they want to do in life by controlling or changing their habits. In these circumstances it is difficult to imagine an artist who is totally devoted to his/her passion for art putting similar emphasis/importance on all the other aspects of life, as said above.

Therefore I think we must understand and practice the ‘Secrets of Happy Living’.

1.      The first secret, according to me, would be ‘Self Awareness’. An individual needs to be conscious of his own body, state of mind including thoughts, actions, ideas, feeling and interaction with others. Besides, self awareness has to be a continuous process. It’s only then that you can mould your thoughts, actions and relationship with others. Without doubt, this requires a constant review. The process teaches you how to go about finding solutions to the problems.

2.      The second secret is setting priorities. It is not only fixing the priorities but also scheduling them according to their relative importance. We must remember that when we schedule a task and provide a time slot, it is not necessary that time allocated will always be found sufficient. Time management is another important aspect to be reviewed from time to time. The discipline that you require for constant follow up requires a logical approach. It should have nothing to do with the moods of the person. When a particular task is not finished as per schedule you need to provide the next slot and abide by it. This protocol alone can bring about the desired results.

3.      The third secret is necessary to develop a keen sense of focus. To my mind doing only one thing at a time is the best approach. As far as possible there should be no interruption. Equally important is your total mind and soul into what you are doing. One has to start living in the present, moment to moment. Deliberate effort may be required for some time but then it becomes your habit and you start navigating you life as if you are flying an airplane.

4.      Lastly, the fourth secret is your speech. It is critically important. Because we have to interact with colleagues, family members and the society at large, we must choose our words and use them effectively. Any wrong choice or casual approach towards this very important aspect of human personality can be disastrous. Speech must always be clear; words should be chosen with discretion and spoken effectively. Speech helps to maintain and improve our relations in any environment.

To conclude I would like to say that a successful life in modern times requires us to know and practice these and any other secret that works for us.

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Bad News: Time Flies Away / Good News: You are the Pilot

If there is one thing that is equally distributed by the Lord Almighty, that is Time. And it is the most important of all resources. Proper use of time makes the people very successful and vice-versa. With the fast development of technology, executives are expected to be far more productive. It is possible. But it calls for more efficient use of your time.

In fact, over the years our attitude towards time has changed. Today, each one of us has become aware of cost of time.

One can effectively use time if the goals are written down. The specific goals make it mandatory to write down a plan of action. And when you have worked out your plan to achieve your goals in respect of important aspects of life, there is hardly any time which you can afford to lose.

I would like to mention here that some habits need to be changed to be more time productive. These are:

1. Procrastination is the most potent culprit which destroys some of your most precious time. It is only important tasks that you want to carry out as a priority. But if the task is challenging, many a time you tend to postpone it. In the process, you lose time but more importantly the burden or guilt of not attending to important work makes you time inefficient. So having a habit of procrastination even in the smallest measure is not permissible.

2. Time has the habit of expanding to work to the time allotted. Even if you are able to do a job in two hours, but you have four hours available, the work will expand to fill all four hours. So what is the remedy? Allot lesser time to the task. You may have to stretch yourself a bit. Do it. But, save time.

3. Another villain which steals away your time is indecision. Whenever you are not able to decide between two or more options, you lose time. You must learn to be more decisive. Normally decisions are not taken because of risks associated with the decision. We must remember that not taking any risk is the biggest risk of our life.

4. Verbosity in our speech is another time-wasting demon. We need to be terse in our communication. It just requires better focus and a determination of not using more words than are necessary.

5. If we follow the system of diving our tasks into four quadrants as propounded by Steven Covey of “Seven Habit of Successful People”, we can surely save time which is often wasted.

There are some suggestions to use our time more productively. These are:

• Keep a Time Log for 2-3 days. Understand the normal, routine use of your time. Now study the same to find out where you can save time. The exercise will not go waste. In process the credit balance of your time current account will increase.
• If you want to become really time efficient follow the rule of 60 : 25 : 15.You must try to complete your routine (daily tasks) in 15% of the available time. Besides, 25% time should be spent on ongoing projects. Finally, spend 60% of your time on developments, innovations, and new projects.
• Make a to-do every day morning and try to complete the jobs which must be done on that day. In this list, you must keep in mind the priorities. In fact proper prioritizing your tasks enables you to use your time very productively.

Working out priorities:
You must analyze your tasks. Then place them in three distinct categories:

1. Tasks which are important as urgent. These cannot be carried forward.
2. Tasks which are important but not urgent. For example, looking after your health and going for a walk daily is important but not urgent.
3. Tasks which are neither urgent nor important. These should always receive the least importance.

While making your to-do list you must be realistic. Don’t pack too many things in a day which cannot be completed. If is unnecessary to create a burden for yourself. This will decrease your efficiency.

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Power of good Habits

What is habit? 

Habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated frequently and tends to occur subconsciously. Bad habits intrude your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals.  Breaking any habit can be difficult. For instance, if a person smokes regularly it becomes his habit and even if he feels to quit, it becomes difficult for him to give-up.  

Psychologist and philosopher William James proclaimed that the entire life is nothing but a series of habits that we form repeatedly. The power of habit is been explained by various authors and motivational speaker.  One of the famous Author Stephen R. Covey, wrote and published a book known as “The 7 Habits of successful People” describing an approach to being effective in attaining goals.   

To achieve excellence in big things, one should develop the habits in little matters. Keeping the desk clean, removing the clutter in your mind, etc. all these small things can be practiced again and again. If you can instill these habits into your life, you can create the foundation for achieving your goals. 

However, here are the 8 Habits of Highly Productive People that you have to adopt to get the best out of you!!  

1.       Ruthlessly Cut Away the Unimportant

That’s right. Try to focus only on the important things, and cut away everything that’s unimportant. There is no point doing something that is unimportant. So push yourself to quit wasting time, and bring yourself back to the production mode.

2.       Allocate breaks strategically

Productivity declines over time without taking brakes. Take plenty of breaks throughout the day. The rule of thumb would be to take a 5 to 10 minutes break every 2 hours of work. Breaks are a highly effective way to boosting your productivity. 

3.       Remove productivity pitfalls  

Things that limit your productive must be thrown out.  It can be the music you listen to when you work, your phone calls, alerts from your inbox, your slow computer, the internet, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. These things trap you and prevent you from getting things done. 

4.       Tap into your inspiration

No matter what field you’re in, your inspiration is the key to your output. So, channel your inner muse. Keep on thinking and contemplating the things that motivates you. And definitely you will find that your focus increases thereby upsurging your productivity. 

5.       Create barriers to entry

Don’t make yourself too accessible. If you’re too accessible then you will face a lot of interruptions. Nowadays people can connect with others very easily with the touch of button (text, emails, calls, etc.). Therefore, guard your time to improve your productivity.

6.       Optimize time pockets

Make the best of every minute. For instance, if you’re working for 10 minutes ensure that you achieve maximum outcomes in that 10 minute and then you can take time off.  You usually get time pockets while waiting for people, commuting, chess app, reading books, or planning. 

7.       Set timelines

Be clear on what you want to achieve, and then set your timelines for them. When you set timelines, you set the intention to complete the work on time, hence paving the way for the reality to manifest.  

8.       Automate everything possible 

Technology today has made automation possible for a lot of things we do.  Hence, find a way to automate every task and let it be your habit. If you outsource, delicate, automate your task   obviously your productivity will improve. 

Another important Habit that you must build to increase your productivity is Prioritization. Always there is a constant tension between the urgent and the important things.  Important activities should be of high priority because they are the things that contribute significantly in reaching your goals. Whereas urgent activities may or may not relate to your big-picture objectives, and usually they do not make any significant contributions.

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Dictionary meaning of POISE enlightens us!

 
 

What is Poise?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, poise is defined as calm, confidence, in a person’s way of behaving or a quality of grace moving in a confident attractive fashion; balance in the way a person moulds or
their body. Examples: he would be embarrassed for a moment but would quickly regain poise. Her confidence and poise show that she is a top model.

Further example: 

A lady with a lot of poise says - I am enough, I am full of sparkle and compassion, I genuinely want to make world a place I love. I practice kindness; I am not afraid of truth, I am loyal, adventurous, supportive and surprising. I am a woman, I am enough, I make mistakes but I own them and I learn from them, sometimes I make a lot of mistakes.

Only if you have poise, you can be confident, you can be graceful & elegant; you can be anywhere and make your presence felt. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it as explained by the famous philosopher, Aristotle.

Oscar Wilde once said "Now-a day’s people know the price of everything and the value of nothing".

A poised man knows the value. He may also know the price but considers value more important than price. It can also be attributed that grace and elegance will never go out of fashion as poise and elegance are always loved and appreciated. It can also be said that key to winning is poise to be maintained under stress, among other qualities. Such is the importance of poise. Poise can also be felt inside one’s feelings, character and thoughts. It’s  just being oneself, being at ease and never fighting oneself, never underestimating one’s abilities. It is pretty impressive to see students standing in front of their peers. It takes poise, talent and courage because poise remains with us. Audrey Hepburn, a British actress of yester years said “poise is the knowledge that you are never alone, for beautiful eyes, look for good in others, for beautiful lips look for words of kindness and poise. Opt for the knowledge that you are never in dire difficulty”. 

It also means to beat defeat with dignity, to receive criticism with homour and humility. These are also the marks of maturity and elegance. All in all, it is poise. It can also be stated that one should never hesitate, never try to hide oneself and be afraid of facing consequences or have shame, standing up on the values one believes in. Never to regret the past; it’s a waste of time as there is a reason for everything. Every terrible thing that one must have gone through in their lives also leave some messages. Every mistake that has happened would have a deep meaning associated with it. The only way one can earn respect is if one respects themselves and to do what he/she considers is the right thing; not to apologies for being oneself. Accepting your mistakes committed requires a lot of poise.

In a stress full situation, one can be concerned or little worried as well but maintaining poise you can overcome all negative feelings. Poise can also be mean as one’s ability to balance the extremes of life. Sometimes we find life difficult like a turbulent sea. But poise helps to maintain equanimity and dignity.

It is said that “never go through life, but grow though life". In other words always be original, be yourself. Don’t try to duplicate someone in the process however successful the person may be, never try to copy or imitate others.

Further, life is like riding a bicycle. To keep one’s balance he/she must keep moving and never be stuck. Never think of past; never worry about future, but learn to live in the present. Our present alone and shape our future.

How to achieve poise?

Focus in your work gives you poise; patience gives you poise. But achieving success without work can only be found in the dictionary. Likewise maintainning poise without efforts is  not conceivable at all .The necessity to do one’s work or perform duty has been emphasized in our  great book of knowledge - The Bhagwat Gita. It says man maintains his balance, poise and sense of security only if he is moving forward. If he is stuck, he is dismayed and not able to perform his duty. He loses poise as well.

Sir Winston Churchill who had set an example and was an institute in his own right wittily said. “A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity but an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty but keeping balance in both the situations".

We must remember that poise and power are inseparably associated. It can be stated that the calm and balanced mind is strong and great mind but the hurried and agitated mind is a weakling. So never be in a hurry and never try to do anything ‘yesterday’. Be patient as the things do take their own time.

Never be upset with the circumstances if it is not in your favour and despite genuine hard work. One is not able to perform, as per expectation always. But patience is the key. And so is poise the ultimate key to elegance and success.

Thanks for reading.