Reaching There

Yay, let's celebrate! All of us have to deal with appreciation at some point in our lives, whether at work or personal life. It could be in form of an email, recognition, comment, Facebook likes, retweets on twitter or simply a big fat trophy! Appreciation comes in many forms, shapes and sizes too. Recently it was bestowed on me as well, it came as a pleasant surprise. Often it is followed by a multitude of feelings that range from greatness to humility.  During the latest instance of appreciation I decided to do a small experiment. I did a self-study and noted down the various thoughts that came into my mind during the next few minutes. Yes, all of this was within the next ten-fifteen minutes I say. Feeling 1 Wow! (trying to makes sense of all this) Feeling 2 I really did a good job this time, yay! (heart starts pumping ferociously) Feeling 3 I am doing better than others, double yay! (I'm higher than cloud number nine Mr. Adams) Feeling 4 ...

Indian Ocean, Durban, South Africa A few days back I realized I am going through a writer's block! This got me thinking how I can get out of it? It occurred that the best way to get out is write it out. To go through the storm I'll have to ride the stormy waves! No other way out. And if I can go through this storm I will have to do this self-psychoanalysis. But what should I write about? Probably if I can take you through the writer's block I may find the cause of this problem. So please bear with me while I write it out for you. Writer's block is a "condition" when a writer loses the ability to write something new. The desire seems to have dried out and mind has suddenly become less receptive to inspirations floating around. Inspiration is all around us; in form of trees, birds, people, sky, sea or even divinity. But the challenging part is to wait till something brews inside the mind until it is ready to pop out. The "wait" is the hardest and ...

For most of us the best days of our life were the childhood days. Everything was fresh and exciting. A piece of paper to a toy gave us a world of endless possibilities. Each and every moment we were ready to learn new things. Almost nothing felt boring. Lack of ideas or no time for play was boring! God! Everything felt like a source of endless possibilities. Success, failures, disappointments, anger, selfishness and other emotions just felt like a phase that would bring something and then go. Fast forward twenty odd years ahead, you're in your twenties nearing thirties (or any age you are in). Life has become a drab and you are pushing your way through it. A piece of paper is just a piece of garbage. A toy, I can't even understand now why I played with those "things"! The moments of learning have given way to a seemingly endless race of fighting for the next level of success. The excitement of finding something new in small things has faded away and financial wants...

Be yourself, be natural, don't be somebody else. We all have heard these words sometimes in our lives or at least have reached this realization based on some experiences. Like you I too have thought about this sometimes in my life and work. The meaning of being yourself or being true to oneself sound a bit abstract concepts. Can it be explained in easier terms? Recently watching Jodie Foster's interview on Inside Actors Studio, she said something that stuck with me. Jodie Foster on being asked a question about what should a new actor should show the producer to get his or her foot in the door. It sounded like a sensible question to ask. I am curious about what others' are interested in seeing in me that would make them like me or hire me or marry me! In others word I am generalizing myself for others' convenience. I am aligning myself to what society or media has deemed to be usual and suitable to be liked or hired or married. Before wandering too far giving my own ...

Am I growing? If I am, what is the parameter of my growth? Is it the right parameter to measure my growth? These are the questions that bugs me often these days. I try to ignore these questions. But they keep stirring in my mind as small storms which don't cause much disruption but gives a feeling of restlessness. I had a meeting  with HR department a couple of days back. The objective was to listen to employees' concerns on various matters. In a room full of twenty employees the majority of questions were about finances, promotions and hikes. All relevant questions but it left me a bit dumbfounded. Is this all to it, are we living the life with a sole aim of planning the finances? Is this the only way we measure ourselves, with the money we take home at the end of each month? So as long as my paycheck increases every year I am growing? I hope it is not the parameter of my personal success. I hope I can find and experience something beyond the bills in my hand. So what is a b...

The biggest challenge anyone can have is to adopt a different perspective than their own. It calls us to use every ounce of trust, respect and care we can garner from our conscience or heart. A perspective not our own leaves a feeling of vulnerability and insecurity; emotions we always try to run away from. Yet these are the emotions which can lead to higher rewards and realizations if we develop the patience to sustain them for longer periods of  time. What is a different perspective? It is the point of view you haven't explored yet. It is the deviation from the fixed, the desire to find out what's beyond the horizon or simply the desire to experience the unknown. Whatever we do with our lives there is always other things that could have been done too! But it is not always about taking the bold step into the unknown. It is just about accepting the presence of unknown. This itself leads to an enlightenment that it's not always about me. It's about somethings which may...

In industrial engineering it is a very common to observe a system to learn about it and suggest ways to improve it.  As an industrial engineer I have spent numerous hours collecting data on machining assembly lines and operator moments on a shop floor. The collection and analysis of data is the heart of any process improvement process. It helps to study the current behavior of a system (a system could be an assembly line, flow of shoppers in a departmental store or your internet searching habits). After all the data has been collected analysts/engineer try and make sense of it. This leads to a baseline formation on which you can base your improvement process. After a certain prescribed time you measure the change due to the improvement and evaluate the progress. It is a long and painstakingly slow process. A major such study is called Time & Motion Study. It is very similar to our lives. Our lifetime is a series of time and motion. A time is our natural progression from being...

The life is a series of lessons we begin to learn from the day our consciousness rises above our own self-existence. It was a giant leap in astronomy when Nicolaus Copernicus came up with a mathematical model which proved that Sun, not Earth, is the center of the universe. Similarly when we realize the significance of nouns (person, place, animal, thing or abstract idea) which are around us, we develop a better understanding of our surroundings. We realize the value or the reason why things are as they are, around us. As the ego melts away we become more receptive to all the positive energy coming in from various sources. Even the minutest form of positive energy can give us a big boost in understanding ourselves. There have been various examples in history of a seemingly weak ideas (energy) resulting in some of the most powerful movements. Mahatma Gandhi was the outcome of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi thrown off a train at Pietermaritzberg in South Africa. Perhaps a legend, but Sir Issa...

The physicist J. J. Thompson discovered electrons, the smallest known elementary particle until the advent of quantum physics, in 1897. He used a cathode ray tube to "detect" the presence of electrons but no microscope exists which can see the subatomic particles like proton, electron or neutron. All these subatomic particles make up an atom. The atom is million times smaller the thickest human hair. Quantum physics has further discovered subatomic particles such as quark, lepton and gauge bosons. Scientists are using a Large Hadron Collider at a cost of $9 billion, with a diameter of twenty seven kilometers; it is a particle accelerator which uses electric fields to propel subatomic particles at very high speeds so as to collide such beams of particles with an intend to study smaller particles formed as a result of the collision. But no scientist would ever see any subatomic particle with his or her naked eye. The scientists consider universe to be very large and of infini...

राधे राधे  “Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion.” Kate Reid. An interesting quote to say the least. Expression is defined as "communication of your beliefs or opinion through various sensory mediums". It is the single most important tool for us, the social animals. It is the way to define who we are, not only to others but to ourselves too. Most of the time our opinion about us is based on the external inputs we get from our parents, peers, friends etc. But we have always lacked the courage to sit down and define ourselves. For in defining ourselves we come across flaws we have so far ignored for our own mental benefit. But like a beautiful building the weakness lies not in the facade we see but in the dark corner of the basement where a beam is slowing rusting. It is the dark corners in ourselves we have always ignored but continuously worked on improving the facade.  Laura Linney in describing a good actor's brains says the ques...

Why is red red? What is an amphibian? What is a right angled triangle? What is a galaxy? What is efficiency? Who was Deming? Who is God? What is spiritualism? Who are we? These are some of the plethora of questions that arise in our minds during our lifetime as we grow from an infant to an adult. Sometimes we struggle a lot before we arrive at an answer. And arriving at an answers through research and struggle brings us joy and increases our wonder.  Well, I am not going to answer any of the above said questions. However the question I am worried about is "Why do we stop asking such innocent questions as we grow up"? Particularly the last three questions which play an important role in our lives. The last three questions came in our mind a lot of times but we never delved into researching and finding answers. The inquisitiveness and sense of bemusement vanished as our age increased by a one every year on our birthday. Although the concept of learning organization is...

राधे राधे  I came across an interesting proverb while watching an interview of Sir Anthony Hopkins "Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday". It helped me to reinstate in my mind what Shri Krishna says in Gita "karm kar phal ki chinta mat kar". We always finally come to realization that we are helpless. We are a flawed species with far too many complexities going around in our minds. Our mind always races to form an image which is based on our prejudices and experiences. Whether it is forming an image that I am smarter than others or believing I will never be able to do "that" thing. The image make us believe that we have the power to change or not to change circumstances surrounding us. But ultimately we are too flawed to be powerful so He blessed us with uncertainty. Not knowing is the biggest gift we have. We are free to try unknown emotions, unknown fields, unknown feelings knowing that outcome is not known from the start. While wri...

राधे राधे  "Look at the bigger picture".  We have heard this phrase quite a few times in our lives from our parents, teacher, managers, peers etc. I have wondered at times what exactly does it mean! Is it looking at things in a holistic manner or does it mean putting myself out of the equation to observe something? I was never clear about it until a few days ago. But when it hit me I could not stop thinking about it. I have finally figured out what it means to me. To understand the roots of my understanding you will have to bear with another understanding of my own. I have believed for some time that we create a bubble of all things we are comfortable with around us. Whether it is our favorite newspaper or our family. This is the bubble which gives us a feeling of protection and warmth. We don't want to venture out of it. The same goes for our thinking. We have practiced thinking in a particular way that familiarity leads to monotonicity. In a movie called "Proof...

Actors talk about their performances as the best when they were in the moment. Meryl Streep in one of her interviews says she likes to research a lot about the role and when going to act she tries to forget all about it. In this way she is letting her instincts guide her through the process. These instincts were developed partly from the research she did and partly from her own previous experiences. Similarly for us learning about ourselves plays an important role in living our life. Unconsciously we gather a lot of information about us during our daily life. We learn about our tastes, likes, dislikes, allergies, passions, weaknesses etc. But when somebody questions us to list our strengths and weaknesses we draw a blank! Why is that? We believed we knew what we are. But we struggle to describe ourself, our passions, our goals etc. Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj in His discourses talks about the real "me". In ancient Hindu scriptures the real "me" is the soul while bo...

The Japanese work " kaizen " means improvement. In more common practice, especially in the world of manufacturing, it is interpreted as "continuous improvement". While going on internet looking for meaning of "kai" and "zen" I came across a myriad of meanings. The following are some of the meanings: Kai: change, effect, use, world, story Zen: good, meditation ( from Sanskrit word  dhyānam,  "meditation") If you search the word "kaizen" on web you'll find hundreds of link related to productivity improvement. But for a moment if I leave my industrial engineer mind and just concentrate on the word itself I get a whole new perspective on "continuous improvement". Let us try and see how can we relate with kaizen. Someone has wisely said "Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely". Everyday we see changes happening around us. The whole universe itself is in a continuous series of motion...

Hi, this is my first post for the year 2010. Happy new year wishes to all of you! As the year end approaches we all make new year resolutions. We decide to get rid of our vices in the new year. We all wish something good will happen to us in the new year. We believe we'll be better off than we currently are. But unfortunately new year is a moment when the date changes to a different year of the millennium. Sounds pretty depressing? For the new year I wish to share something with you. I got a chance to talk with my friend last year. We talked about our college days and how innocent we were about the realities at that time. We shared how our dreams have changed or have taken a backseat. Of course we are more mature than we were years ago. But have we lost the ability to dream? We have become so accustomed to living in the present that we are missing out on whole lot of dreams of the future. Leaders/visionaries always talk about the bigger picture and how we should always look for i...

I have always wondered what makes people successful in their lives. Although most of us relate success with only our professional lives. But our lives are a mixture of personal and professional achievements as well as failures. Both of these aspects are so interrelated that it is impossible to prioritize one over the other. There is always a need to see and continuously evaluate an holistic views of our lives.  All around us are people that we admire for their success. The success is not limited to monetary amounts but includes all possible roles we play during our lifetime. Success is about being a caring parent, an eager student, a loving son, a doting husband, a courteous clerk, a helpful manager, a great dancer, a passionate artist, a hard worker or just about anything we do in our lives. In all of these roles there a few similarities that stand out among other that all these "successful" people share. So what do all of the successful people share among themselves?...

Inside an Actors Studio: Steven Speilberg I recently watched Steven Speilberg's interview on James Lipton's Inside the Actors Studio (on youtube!). One of the biggest piece of adivce was his answer to how he direct child actors in his movies. There are quite a few movies in which his story was told from a point of view of a child (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Empire of the Sun). He answered "I don't treat them like children I treat them like my peers". He further added that the moment he begins treating them like children he would become the overbearing adult. This gave me an indirect lesson on how manager or a team leader should treat his team members. He should treat them like individuals who have their own individuality, personality, aspirations and emotions. He should respect their existence in the team and listen to their opinion with a "porous" mind. The reason I used "porous" mind because such a listener gives the oppor...

God has blessed us with an remarkable instrument which is responsible for our actions. Mind is described as the seat of the faculty of reason. Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj says "Mind alone is the cause of both bondage and liberation". Kripaluji Maharaj further says "It is the inherent nature of the mind that it cannot remain still even for a fraction of a second/ And the consequence of our devotion depends on the attachment of mind/ It's our mind that has to devotion not our physical senses". Even Albert Einstein said "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift". This leads me to my question "Why is mind considered so important?" Before we even try to understand the importance of mind we have to define it in simple words. An uncomplicated definition can take us farthest in our quest. Mind is comprised of intellect, memory, im...

Recently I read two articles which have given me a unique insight into two different things but essentially they point to the same ability. I'll just quote a portion from them one by one and in-between add my own thoughts. 1. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/07/why-you-need-to-fail.html In this blog at www.harvardbusiness.org the author, Peter Bregman talks about having a growth mindset. He says "If you have a growth mindset, then you use your failures to improve. If you have a fixed mindset, you may never fail, but neither do you learn or grow. " He adds further, "A growth mindset is the secret to maximizing potential". The "growth mindset" is the ability to take risks and if that risk ends in a failure learn from it. He talks about settings goals that will enhance your performance. These goals at first sight don't look easily achievable. To someone else your goals may even look foolhardy. But a reason behind setting these goals is ...