Keeping Resolutions

#LivingStories
”I never keep my New Year's resolutions, so this year I resolve to gain weight, make less money, & hate my life”. - A cartoon by Glasbergen

#MyLearning
New Year resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep. The Vedas offer a 3 level hierarchy to test the intensity of our intentions.
L1: Abhilasha: A wish with little energy, with little impetus to move one forward
L2: Svatmi karana: Wish becomes important enough to influence thoughts and actions
L3: Iccha bhavana: Our desire, will, action, speech & thoughts, all become laser-focused on achieving the goal.

For L 3 focus, get a coach.

Nursing Innovation

#LivingStories
“If you inject a live virus into a healthy body, the body will react to it. And it's the same thing with organizations. They say they are promoting innovation but they are not, really. And if you happen to be in the innovation/disruption team, then the organization will attack you. So you need to find a way around it“. - Tobias Digswell,  Nobel Museum curator

#MyLearning
Do not stop at just innovating a product or a process, think through the strategy of how to inject and nurse the innovation through the whole system.

Spirit of The Season

#LivingStories
60 years ago this month, at the height of the Cold War, the emergency phone rang at the US Continental Air Defense Command. When the in-charge, Col.Harry W Shoup picked up the phone, it was a child asking to speak to Santa. Turned out, a local store had carried the phone number in an ad asking children to call to speak to Santa. Realising there would be a deluge of calls, Shoup ordered his operators to respond to ”every child who phoned in that night.” The tradition continues to this day.

#MyLearning
The milk of human kindness overflows during the festive season. Put it to good use.

The Well-Formed Mind

#LivingStories
In his TEDx talk, Sashi Tharoor speaks of the response of a village woman he spoke to. Asked the benefits of becoming literate, she explained she was now able to read bus destination signs, which she previously had to ask others. She could also read the street signs and therefore felt more independent. Tharoor also speaks of how, having a well- formed mind is more import than having a well-filled mind.

#MyLearning
How can I use the benefits of being literate to develop my intellect?  To not merely know facts, but to regard them with mindful curiosity & make meaning of them?

Using Emotions to Your Advantage

#LivingStories
“McEnroe needed to believe that the world was against him, he needed to get angry, to stoke the competitive beast inside of him. He played his best when hard done by - with justification or otherwise. Especially in the 70s and early 80s when the world hadn't been exposed to the ‘competitiveness’ and ‘aggression’ of the modern age, Mac the Mouth was an aberration.”
“…..but being too nice comes with a price too, especially if you are nice to the wrong person.” - R. Kaushik In the Wisden

#MyLearning
Anger and politeness, both have their uses. Use with discretion.

Metaphors Make Communication Easy

#LivingStories
Persistent efforts by Rahul Bajaj to convince authorities that his small car, built on his 3 wheeler rickshaw platform, still qualified as a 3, and not a 4 wheeler, were futile. He was being persistent as 4 wheelers are liable to pay more taxes, which drive up the price. Finally, he decided to give the example of the Gillette 3 blade razor. When they added two more blades, making it a 5 blader, did it still qualify as a razor he asked.
He got the permission.

#MyLearning
By linking abstract information to a concrete concept, it becomes easier for people to understand the information.

Taking Time Out

#LivingStories
Twice a year, during the busiest and most frenetic time in the company’s history, Bill Gates still created time and space to seclude himself for a week and do nothing but read articles (his record is 112) and books, study technology, and think about the bigger picture. Today he still takes the time away from the daily distractions of running his foundation to simply think.

#MyLearning
Taking time out to refresh one's knowledge, and think about the past and the future to make sense of the present, can have a profound effect on all parts of you.