STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH

 

There is no straight-jacket formula for success. It is an assortment of strategies combined with precision, and of course luck and destiny play  their roles.

When we see the lives of great leaders, it looks that they have not been extra-ordinary to reach to that level.   Only their passion drove them insanely great.           

 

Steve Jobs falls into  this rare category of unconventional leaders. The world is abyss to carve out his difficult lessons. His biographer Walter Isaacson says that he acts as if the normal rules don’t apply to him.

          Jobs’ life is a story of rags to riches. The reason behind why people attentively listen to his words is  that he brought passion, intensity, and extreme emotionalism to everyday life that helped to shape his products viz. iMac, iPod, iPod nano, iTunes Stores, Apple Stores, MacBook, iPhone, iPad, App Store, OS X Lion.


            For me he is an essence of arduous spiritual practices doing silently behind scenes. He abhors the idea of ''market research'' to see what customers wanted. He says that customers don't know what they want until we have shown them. He invoked Henry Ford's line " If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, Á faster horse !

           His earthly sojourn of 56 years is worth to be remembered. He redefined the way we do personal computing. Now computers not only shrank their size, but envious features were injected  into their circuit boards   making sharing of data & multimedia an effortless spool across all devices and platforms.

          The company, Apple he co-founded in his parents’ garage in 1976 rose as the world’s most valuable company. When asked why he has a tendency to be rough on people, he replies that “look at the results”.   His inspiring leadership could be emanated from the fact that each year he takes his top 100 people on a retreat so as to indoctrinate them with his philosophy. He loves white-boards because they give him complete control of  situation and they engender focus.

         The ads of his products are always unique in a sense that they give much larger meaning. Take this ad appeared in his first marketing brochure : “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

       His product launch sessions are worth to be watched. Even being in the midst of provocative technological aids, he hates power-point presentations.  His argument is palpable. He says that ‘I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. People would confront a problem by creating a presentation. I wanted them (his team) to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they are talking about don’t need Power Point.’

           One would never forget his immortal words at Stanford University on June 12, 2005 ”Remembering that I will be dead soon is the most important tool I have ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not follow your heart.”

         At another occasion, he says that “your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Though, the fate has mercilessly taken away jobs from the world 5th October 2011 by pancreatic cancer, his pragmatic approach to life continues to inspire succeeding generations.

EMPATHY - THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT TO LIVE LIFE AT GROUND ZERO

When you  see people in destitute, you show  sympathy to them which will not mitigate their miseries as they  need the required help for which you must have empathy.

Empathy means step into other’s shoes. It is just like reading their mind and thinking from their perspective. Unless you are at ground zero, you can not think at their level. The moment you think at their level, then you could establish a divine contact with them and whatever the little act of kindness you do,  not only soothe them but  also brings them a tremendous inner joy.

Understanding the problems of others and giving a  lending ear are some of the noble acts which will rise you above beastly existence.

In fact, sensitivity and creativity are twin sisters. The moment you have one, the other comes naturally to you. Having empathy reflects your degree of sensitivity and concern on fellow beings/creatures.  So you must come out from the pre-conceived mindset and start responding in a more constructive way which will leap the otherwise foggy relationships,  whether it is within family or society.

I was awe-stricken when eminent Hindi film hero Aamir Khan who hosted the famous TV show " Satyamev Jayate " started crying while hearing the heart-wrenching stories of a victim in his show. In fact, my eyes were welled up with emotion when I watched the episode titled "domestic violence'. But the cynical media accused him of 'acting' and the director of program Satyajit Bhatkal brushed aside such claims and said that Aamir is a sensitive person. He cries on  regular basis even for the smallest of small things. Like Bhatkal said,  any sensitive person will be moved when he or she listens such heart touching stories

After all, we are all humans blessed with the divine quality of empathy and those who indulge in acts of cynicism should be taught a lesson, of course with more empathy !

BEWARE OF DEHYDRATION

 

The familiar scene in most  of the Indian homes is that water is served only on demand. So it becomes increasingly the individual’s lookout to gauge his/her daily water needs. Neglecting this important fuel crams the body processes.

Water is, in fact, the most important liquid which is  the primary transporter of nutrients in the body. About 70% of human body is water. Health experts say that we could survive without food up to 5 weeks but not more than 5 days without water.

Lack of water in the body immediately affects  the blood volume and thereby burdens the heart and kidney with over-work.

A 2012 study by a team of health scientists led by Lawrence E. Armstrong, Professor of Physiology at the University of Connecticut (U.S) brought out some chilling facts before the world. The research finds that even mild dehydration can alter a person’s mood, energy level and ability to think clearly. The ill-effects of dehydration are equal both in high-energy consumed treadmill walker and a person sitting at rest.

Health experts define mild dehydration as less than 1.5% of water volume in the body. The tests further reveal that our thirst sensation does not really surface until we are 1 or 2% dehydrated.   By that time dehydration  already sets in and shows its impact on our mind and body’, says Prof Armstrong.

When it comes to the cognitive tasks that affect due to dehydration, scientists find that it affects the areas of vigilance and working memory.   Some subjects also experienced fatigue, tension and anxiety when mildly dehydrated.  The impact was found more on females than  males.

When dehydration occurs, the neurons in the brain detect it which signals to other parts of the brain regulating mood. So the solution lies in hydrating the body on regular  basis.

The daily dose of water that our system needs is 8 glasses or 2 liters. The barometer for our hydration level in the body is to check the colour of urine. Healthy urine colour is ‘very pale yellow’. If the urine colour is dark yellow or tan in colour, it indicates a greater dehydration. The study cautions proper hydration for high-risk groups such as elderly people with diabetes and children.

Considering the profundity of the issue, one should not water down this caution !

 

DON'T SKIP THE BREAKFAST !

 

The myth that body is a structure should be removed from the mind before you  ritualize any fitness regimen.

Health experts say that it is not what we eat, but when and how that matters a lot in any weight-loss programme.  It looks a difficult task to control our cravings on what we eat rather than what we should eat.  It is also the timing that plays a crucial role as digestion rhythms are in symphony with nature's cycles.


After a night's dinner, when you wake up in the morning, it is very essential to stuff your system with some food. It means that the fast should be broken soon enough to maintain secretion of digestive juices so that the body maintains optimum level of energy.

But a working day morning is like a sprint for most of us and some of them prefer to skip breakfast to manage their time which is totally foolhardy. This can have a devastating effect on their bodies and sleep rhythms.

Experts say that people who eat breakfast produce more melatonin, a hormone produced by pineal gland and therefore sleep better.

Fitness experts recommend to eat breakfast, preferably fruits. If you are on weight-loss programme, better to start your day with fresh fruit juice - orange, apple, melon, pineapple which supplies the water content, the essential fuel to your body for detoxification.

In an interesting study undertaken in 2011 by a market research company, about 18% of males and 13% of females between the ages of 35 and 54 are breakfast skippers. The research also finds that skipping breakfast may increase a woman's diabetic risk. Another study found that skipping breakfast was associated with hypertension, insulin resistance and elevated blood sugar levels.

The better way to take a leisurely breakfast is to wake up a little early so that the most important food of the day is not fanatically gulped into throat due to paucity of time !

HONE THOSE WRITING SKILLS !

There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.

                            

                                            -   William Makepeace Thackeray

Because of your uniqueness, you have your own set of experiences/ judgments in response to outer happenings in the world. They need to be constantly channelized in the form of writing.  If you go untapped those creative thoughts, they get buried inside you .

Experts say that to write, your inner environment must be serene. William Zinsser says that ' writing is thinking on paper'. In fact all your experiences become a distilled wisdom and settle in a retrievable place and  you must inculcate the habit of choosing the right ones in the right time.  I personally feel that writing helps to  integrate your creative right brain with logical left brain. One great man sagely advises to exercise the writing muscle everyday even if it is only a letter, note, a title list, a character sketch or a journal entry. He further says that writers are like dancers, athletes and without that exercise, the muscles can not be strengthened.

To become a writer means, you need to be an avid reader. One essential element for good writing is to give a lending  ear and one must also listen to the sounds of one's own prose. Peggy Teeters says that the only way to learn to write is to write.

Honing writing skills is a painstaking job.  More word power means more fire power. If you are armed with less vocabulary, it means you are poorer by expression which may not help in improving your writing skills to  rivet the readers .

James F. Stephan gives a tip here : " originality does not consist in saying what no one has ever said before, but in saying exactly what you think yourself".  To write means to have a patience. The written prose is vulnerable to constant editing as new ideas continue to flow in the mind.    As the mind is a factory of ideas, every time when I sit for writing, a new wave of thought sweeps through and a natural editing of written lines happens.

The writing ability severely batters when the family atmosphere is not conducive. So you must be careful to have harmonious relations. Economy of words is another secret of writing. Thomas Jefferson says that the most valuable of all talents is   “never using two words when one will do.” L.P. Hartley advises that it is better to write about things you feel than about things you know about. Eugene Lonesco has made the task cut out for a writer " A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.”

Personality Development Guru Robin Sharma says that "Maintaining a daily journal is one of the best personal growth initiatives you will ever take.” He further says that “it offers you the opportunity to have regular one-to-one conversations with yourself.”  You may not become a professional writer,  but  in between your hectic professional life, writing on chosen subject with your insights help others benefit from your writing.  That's why Robin Sharma asks to write as little as 15 minutes daily in a private journal which can improve health, functioning of your immune system and above all your overall attitude.

Dr. Deepak Chopra, the famous Indian American doctor and also a prolific writer  once replied that he is neurotic and compulsive about writing.    

The success stories of writers is endless. Chetan Bhagat, the youth writer who shot into fame with his first English novel “Five Point Someone’   is an IITian with - management degree from IIM . He left his job  as an investment banker in a multi-national company to settle as writer and the rest is history. The New York Times called Bhagat 'the biggest selling English language novelist in India's history". Time magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.

Writing is such an enticing act that  transports the ideas of writer to the succeeding generations.

To wrap up in the words of Harlan Ellison "writing is the hardest work in the world. Lonelier, and nobler and more enriching !!

WAKE UP WITH FIRE IN BELLY !

 

Tomes were written about the immense health benefits of early rising. Benjamin Franklin says that ' the early morning has gold in its mouth'. What beauty lies in rising early and how it impacts your quality of work life are the questions you must dwell up on yourself.

 Deepak Chopra, the mind-body medicine expert and the author of famous book "Ageless Body, Timeless Mind" says that when you live with right questions, the life will move into answers. He further says that you must treat your body as an energy and information field and not as a fixed  structure.

In fact, when you rise early, the day appears to be slowed down and you feel leisurely to accomplish all your chores without any tension. If you have any creative hobbies, early rising is a perfect vessel to nurture those hobbies.

Don't be in indoors after you wake up. Go for a morning  run or walk to a nearby woods / park/ green patch. In those solitary walks, knowingly or unknowingly you tune-up your system. Experts say that it is the gift you have to give to yourself daily !

One great man sagely advises to get up early to have  a bullet-proof mindset. It is true that when you have passion to your work, literally you will wake up with a fire in the belly. When you wake up early morning, you feel mystically connected to your higher -being and the body is naturally at the peak of its performance.

Personality Development Guru Robin Sharma says that new habits are like new pair of shoes. First 40 days the habit needs to be nurtured blindly so that it almost becomes your second nature. If you mentally program before night at what time you need to wake up, you could wake up perfectly to that time without the aid of an alarm clock , because your bio-clock would act upon and wake you up.

Instead of jarring alarm clocks, Deepak Chopra says, you can set some soothing music to play at the time you want to get up and that will work. He further adds that your intention to wake up will stir you even before the clock plays music.

Physical fitness and early rising are inter-connected. If you are super fit, you need less number of hours for sleep. Richard Whately wraps up that " lose an hour in the morning and you will be all day hunting for it".

SUN - THE SHINING STAR

 

In fact Sun is the living wonder right in front of us. Without His rays, no living species would survive and the Earth would freeze into an ice ball.   Though we made some inroads into knowing other stars in the Solar System, our research on Sun is still at nascent stage.

When I talk about Sun, I am reminiscent of a Sun Temple in my Home State Andhra Pradesh, India, called Arasavalli Sun God temple situated in the coastal district of Srikakulam. It is one of the ancient Sun God temples in the country. The beauty of the temple structure is such that sun rays fall on the feet of the idol twice in the year during March and September in early hours of the day. This ancient temple is believed to have been built in the later half of the 7th century by Devendra Verma, the Ruler of the Kalinga Kingdom.

When it comes to  research on the Sun, it is reported  that   a group of scientists from Hawaii, Braziland California have measured the diameter of the Sun with unprecedented accuracy by using a spacecraft to time the transits of the planet Mercury across the face of the sun in 2003 and 2006. They measured the Sun's radius as 696, 342 km with an uncertainty of only 65 km.

It is believed that this gigantic ball of spinning gases is about 5 billion years old. The base material is Hydrogen (71 %), Helium (26.5%) and other elements (2.5%). The nuclei of hydrogen collide and fuse to form helium and this chain reaction produces energy, which among other things, lights and heats the solar system.

Scientists estimate that the mean distance between Earth and Sun is about 150 million km. If translated into flying hours, it means that a jet aircraft with 1000 km/hr would need more than 17 years of non-stop flying to reach the Sun.

Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer (1571-1630) produced the first accurate model of the solar system.  Inspite of so many advances in science,  deeper aspects of life and origin of Universe are  shrouded with mystery.  We can't be able to connect dots and what Arthur Eddington said to the world 84 years ago in his work : “ The Nature of The Physical World, 1928 (291)” still holds good: Something unknown is doing and we don't know what it is.

So the home point is, we are part of that mystery which we are trying to solve!

THE LEADER IN YOU

 

Book Review :

Dale Carnegie is one of the foremost personality development gurus of 20th century in America.   During his time, Dale was known to conduct famous courses on self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking and interpersonal skills.

Now so many leadership courses are on offer at http://www.dalecarnegie.com/ and all the current courses are based on the ideology of  Carnegie whose books are sold widely  throughout India.  His famous books include How to Win Friends and Influence people and How to stop worrying & start living.

The above book is in fact not written by Dale Carnegie, but each chapter of the book starts with Carnegie's famous quote.  The chapters dwell at length on the real life situations underlying the core management principles of Carnegie.

The back flap of the book says  that the co-authors Stuart R. Levine and Michael A. Crom offers Carnegie's time-tested human relationship principles to demonstrate how anyone can harness creativity and enthusiasm to work more productively.  The book offers very rare insights of authors   to strike a balance between work and leisure.  The book also guides you to achieve  your goals and increase your self-confidence and above all, the book facilitates you to identify your own leadership strengths.

The interesting chapters on subjects such as Listening to Handling Mistakes bring a total transformation in your life.  It injects a positive mental attitude into your life  to achieve the goals set for yourself.

The crux of the book lies in overcoming your worries and tread a path to success !