What are your goals for #2018 ??

Play Hard*

It's easy to give up when times are tough and things aren't going your way. That's what 98% of the world will do. No stamina, no patience and no fight. The other 2% who start with nothing, will begin to live the life of their dreams because they simply MAKE A DECISION...

#WhatsYourWHY?

Use Neuroscience to Remain Calm Under Pressure By Geoffrey James

"The ability to keep your wits in a crisis isn't a character trait; it's a skill that you can learn in minutes."

Great leaders always seem to remain calm during situations that make mere mortals fall to pieces. Conventional wisdom says that the ability to remain calm is a character trait that most of us lack.

Neuroscience, however, has recently revealed that remaining calm under pressure is not an inborn trait, but a skill that anybody can learn.

Here's how it's done:

1. Understand the biochemistry.

The opposite of remaining calm is the state of "fight or flight," a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival.

The reaction starts when two segments of your brain called the amygdalae interpret a situation as a threat. This perception causes your brain to secrete hormones that tell your nervous system to prepare your body to take drastic action. Your breath gets short, your body floods your muscles with blood, your peripheral vision goes away, and so forth.

Since neither fight nor flight are appropriate in business situations, your body never gets a release. Instead, your hyped-up body tells your brain "Yes, this is a real threat!" and you end up with your brain and body in a feedback loop. To put it colloquially, you freak out.

In this state, chances are extremely high that you'll either remain frozen in fear like a deer in headlights or, driven to release the pressure, you'll say or do something stupid.

What are the other 3 points?

Continue reading the article:

https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/use-neuroscience-to-remain-calm-under-pressure.html

Have a great ahead!

What's Your State of Mind?

It is about our state of mind and what we expect to see...

Want to see sadness...you could see a deep sense of sadness even in the most cheerful face of Santa-Claus. Want to see happiness? You could see that even in this humble pair of cheerful slip-ons!

You could see sadness in the happiest of moments...you could see happiness in the saddest of times. Change your inner expectations and let negativity not flow onto others. Abra-ca-Dabra....do that and you will see sad faces smile and happy faces laugh louder than what you could imagine.

It is all about how you feel at that moment of time.

Mediocre Talent is good Talent... Because it is easily manageable!

Those were the words of an HR Director who obviously busted all understanding on Business Excellence through formidable Human Capital. He wanted the mediocre & under average was fine too - but not the good who he was weeding anyway. In his view strong leaders were “high maintenance".

"There are times when static is good and aggressive growth is not the demand " he said. Upon being asked who decides this - the answer was amusing. He decided that :-) Mediocre was need because the brilliant & capable, gave him acidity & a sense of inadequacy.

We can see how such a leader is a stunner who will dwarf the company in the long run. But who is to bear this cross? This has more to do with the organisation than the leader. Management, who allows the entry of such virus, is entirely responsible. 

Rich org see more of this disease than the bootstrapped or entrepreneur run org because they become over tolerant. At times a company that wants to maintain footprint but does not see value in the region, hires someone like this. The other is management who wants a puppet that is not particularly bright, but the company ends up experiencing the side effects of compromise. 

Bad talent at the top - JUST no excuses for that!

Are you hurt or Bad Day at Work? Read this...

On his first day in office as president, 

When Abraham Lincoln entered to give his Inaugural speech, 

One man stood up and said, "Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family" 

 And the whole senate laughed, They thought they had made a fool of Lincoln. 

 Lincoln looked at the man directly in the eye and said, 

“Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes for your family, and there will be many others here. Because he made shoes the way nobody else can, he was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes; he poured his whole soul into them. I want to ask you, have you any complaint? Because I know how to make shoes myself. If you have any complaint I can make you another pair of shoes. But as far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes. He was a genius, a great creator and I am proud of my father”. 

 The whole Senate was struck dumb. They could not understand what kind of man Abraham Lincoln was. He was proud because his father did his job so well that not even a single complaint had ever been heard. 

 Remember: “No one can hurt you without your consent.” 

 “It is not what happens to us that hurts us. It is our response that hurts us. Be excellent at your work

Who builds a great Company? People or Process ??

Possiblers !!

Those who have Idea, Imagination, Vision might not have Money. While those who have Money might fail to have Creativity to appreciate Ideas or have a Vision. 

This is where we get stuck, either in business or profession. 

So, either one is Visionary as well as Wealthy, or else, two different minds, one having Money and the other with an Artistic Vision to come together... 

 And I suppose both are not that Simple... 

 Then what Challenge one can take..

What's More Important ??

The Goal or the Process?

 To me it’s the process that has always stood out in importance. 

 The way I see it, unless you get the “how” right, you don’t really know “what” you can achieve or “where” you can go. 

 In my experience, we usually start with the “what” or the “where”. Processes are sort of stumbled upon along the way to the desired “what” or “where”. You hit a few and miss a few, and then arrive at the predetermined "what" or "where". In this sense, goals are limiting. 

 On the contrary, when I start with the “how”, I am forced to delve into the minute details. Streamlining the process clears the horizon for “what” can be achieved and “where” we could be led. The horizon, or the goal thus derived, is a lot better that I had ever initially imagined. 

 Wise men said, “The devil is in the details”. 

 What are your thoughts?

Enjoy the Ride. There is no Return Ticket.

George Carlin on aging!

(Absolutely Brilliant)

IF YOU DON'T READ THIS TO THE VERY END, YOU HAVE LOST A DAY IN YOUR LIFE. AND WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED, DO AS I AM DOING AND SEND IT ON.

George Carlin's Views his Wisdom on Age &  Aging

Do you realise that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?'  ‘I'm four and a half!’ You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.  YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50, and your dreams are gone....

But! wait!! !  You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN  30, PUSH 40, REACH 50, and make  it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that, it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's, and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST   92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG  

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning.    Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil’s   family name is   Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.  

5.  Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love   , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND, ALWAYS REMEMBER:

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

And, if you don't send this to at least 8 people - who cares? But do share this with someone. We all need to live life to its fullest each day!!

"Life's journey is not to

arrive at the grave safely

in a well preserved body,

but rather to skid in sideways,  

totally used up and worn out, shouting

'...man, what a ride!'

Book lover

Few words from Brida by Paulo Coelho.

"Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live, and she was always thinking that, in the future, she might regret the choices she made now. 

“I’m afraid of committing myself,” she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none. 

Even in that most important area of her life, love, she had failed to commit herself. After her first romantic disappointment, she had never again given herself entirely. 

She feared pan, loss, and separation. These things were inevitable on the path to love, and the only way of avoiding them was by deciding not to take that path at all. In order not to suffer, you had to renounce love. 

It was like putting out your own eyes not to see the bad things in life." - (Brida)

"When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way." -(Brida)

Thats a freeing thought

Add Value ....

Tasks, decisions, and initiation...

Doing, choosing, and starting...

Each of the three adds value, but one is more prize than the others.

Tasks are set up for you. Incoming. You use skill and effort to knock em down one at a time and move to the next one.

Decisions often overlap with tasks. There are alternatives, and you use knowledge and judgement to pick the best one.

And initiation is what happens when you start something out of nothing, break the pattern, launch the new thing and take a leap.

When we think about humans who have made change happen, institutions who have made a difference, cultural shifts that have mattered, we must begin with initiation.

What value-add did you spend yesterday engaged in? How about tomorrow?

Happy Brain, Happy Life

You can become more happy and positive than you are by systematically focusing on the bright side of things.

Human brains are more biased towards scanning or spotting negative or painful experiences. It takes conscious efforts to internalise positive experiences and heal the negative ones.

So even when we have good things happening around us, the pile of negative or bad memories naturally grow faster and the background experience of the day may turn out to be stressed, bad or not so great. 

When we practice looking for and being more aware of positive aspects of life, we fight off the brain’s natural tendency to scan for and spot the negatives.

By capturing a happy moment you:

1. Everyday Scan and capture 3 good things or positive experiences that happened today. It could be as simple as meeting a old friend, completing a task or getting yourself an ice-cream.

2. Pay particular attention to the rewarding aspects of the experience or the happy moment. 

3. Let the positive moments and thoughts sink in.

4. Keep relaxing your body and absorbing the emotions, sensations, and thoughts of the experience as you make a note of it.

Accumulating Positive experiences or emotions everyday don’t just feel good in the moment.

Over time, they produce far-reaching benefits, including a stronger immune system and a cardiovascular system that is less reactive to stress. They lift your mood; increase optimism, resilience, and resourcefulness; and help counteract the effects of painful experiences, including trauma. 

So, Steer Your Mind Towards Positivism!

The more you capture happy moments today the more likelihood of you being happy tomorrow.

#thinkconfidence #happybeing #Mind #Neuroplasticity #happy moments

SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE WITH MESSAGES

Thank-you a day keeps sad away!

Time and again there is quite a emphasis on expressing thanks. Consciously thinking and journaling 3 things you appreciate or feel thankful about some aspect of your life or people in your life, allows exploring your feelings. You will start to really appreciate what a gift life is. 

Here's are top 7 best ways to express your Thank you for best results:

1. Be as specific as possible—specificity is key to fostering gratitude.“I’m grateful that my co-workers brought me juice when I was sick on Tuesday” will be more effective than “I’m grateful for my co-workers.”

2. Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular person or thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.

3. Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.

4. Try subtraction, not just addition. Consider what your life would be like without certain people or things, rather than just tallying up all the good stuff. Be grateful for the negative outcomes you avoided, escaped, prevented, or turned into something positive—try not to take that good fortune for granted.

5. See good things as “gifts.” Thinking of the good things in your life as gifts guards against taking them for granted. Try to relish and savor the gifts you’ve received.

6. Savor surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.

7. Revise if you repeat. Writing about some of the same people and things is OK, but zero in on a different aspect in detail.

As you start capturing your thank you notes, 1-3 times per week, regularly, in two weeks time, you start to radiate and generate more goodness for yourself as you are aware of all you have and not just focus on your have-nots.

Here's are few benefits as you start capturing your thank you notes

1. Lowers stress levels

2. Feel calm at night.

3. Gain a new perspective of what is important to you and what you truly appreciate in your life.

4. By noting what you are grateful for, you will gain clarity on what you want to have more of in your life, and what you can cut from your life.

5. Helps you focus on what really matters.

6. Keeping a gratitude journal helps you learn more about yourself and become more self-aware.

7. Your gratitude journal is a safe zone for your eyes only, so you can write anything you feel without judgement.

8. On days when you feel blue, read back through your gratitude journal to readjust your attitude and remember that you have great people and things in your life.

#happybeing #gratitude #thankyou notes

Art of Seeing – Essence of Vision & Epiphanies of Perception

TWO SEAS “SEE” DIFFERENTLY….

In Israel there are two major bodies of water. One is the Sea of Galilee, a beautiful lake 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, filled with fish and surrounded by lush foliage. It is Israel’s largest fresh water lake and absolutely picturesque. The other body of water is the Dead Sea, 50 miles long and 11 miles wide and it’s shoreline is 1300 feet below sea level. I have been told that seven million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day, and the saline or salt content of the water of the Dead Sea is 10 times saltier than the oceans of the world. The Dead Sea definitely lives up to its name. No seaweed or plants of any kind live in or around the water. There are no fish or any kind of swimming, squirming creatures living in or near the water. And fish accidentally swimming into the waters from one of the several freshwater streams that feed the sea are instantly killed.

Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are fed by the Jordan River There is really only one difference between these two bodies of water, really only one thing that causes the Sea of Galilee to be beautiful and alive while the Dead Sea is barren and lifeless. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee takes water from the Jordan River, and then it gives water. The water simply passes through. As a result, the Sea of Galilee is full of life and beauty. The Dead Sea, on the other hand, only takes water, but it gives nothing back, and as a result it sustains no life. Those two bodies of water bear witness to a truth of human life. It is in receiving and then giving back that life and hope are sustained. In other words, The Sea of Galilee is a conduit, The Dead Sea is a container. The first is full of life, the second is full of death!

To a certain extent people are like the Dead Sea. Life is not just about getting. Its about giving. We need to be a bit like the Sea of Galilee. We are fortunate to get wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don't learn to give, we could all end up like the Dead Sea. The love and the respect, the wealth and the knowledge could all evaporate. Like the water in the Dead Sea. If we get the Dead Sea mentality of merely taking in more water, more money, more everything the results can be disastrous.

Make sure that in the sea of your old life you have many out let for love and wealth. Giving is gracious than receiving. Then you will open the floodgates of happiness and experience the magic of life.

Point of View !! What are You ?

Possible Changers for the Betterment !

ELUSION: WHY DO WE KEEP SO BUSY?

Elusion

– The act of escaping.

– The act of continuously hiding.

"There was the focus of seeking pleasure, and the numbing effect once they are finished, removing all specific thoughts from her brain. It ushered in the solid, dreamless sleep that otherwise eluded her."

-Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland

Something made me look back to my own life and the things I have been doing in the last couple of years. On scanning, I definitely could say that this was the time when I spent most of it doing the things I wanted to or living the way I wanted to. Some introspection and self-love helped me discover my favorite things or the ones that brought me joy.

But some close observance, I felt that whatever I was doing, I kind of overdid it. In a way, I was keeping myself too busy.

I wondered when was the last time I just did nothing. It’s always great to kill our time with the things we like doing. For me when not working, it could be exploring a new place, reading/writing, or listening to my favorite music or watching my kind of movies/Netflix etc. But then I asked myself some questions:

Why can’t I just relax or rest for a while?

Do I need to slow down a little?

Why am I overdoing everything; too much travelling, too much reading…?

On doing some research, I was able to get to the two sides of the discussion here.

The first one throws light on the idle mind and says that if we are idle it’s not only boring but leads to unhappiness. As we are humans who can think and feel the need of keeping ourselves busy, unlike the animals who mostly prefer to idle out their time and go around being lazy. However the point is we can’t keep busy just for the sake of being busy, but we need a reason, even if it’s a shaky one. Now that’s the catch here: A reason

I found the second view of this topic more interesting. Any day when we find ourselves not doing any of our favorite things we think that we wasted our day or call it unproductive. Because having more of downtime means we would be facing more of ourselves or our own lives which is not that easy.

Am I comfortable with the feelings of boredom?

Why do I feel unworthy and unlovable unless I’m overachieving?

All these questions conclude to “Elusion“, some kind of hiding that people tend to do. There is, of course, no doubt that when we keep ourselves busy in the things we love, it brings us sheer pleasure. It’s again correct that the time we spent doing the passionate things is meaningful for us, but not most of the time. They are easy means to hide and escape.

Our daily lives are nothing more than a long list of To-do lists which never seems to end. At our workplaces, we keep on contemplating with our targets, try to overachieve our boss’s expectations or at least try to match up with them. Same thing goes with our personal lives. We hardly can manage to save time to think about the day just passed on, rather we are always brooding on how will be our next day or future. We forget that we need to relax or we just don’t have to be “so busy” all the time.

Author Brene in her book “Daring Greatly”, tells us to ask ourselves the following questions:

“Are my choices comforting and nourishing my spirit, or are they temporary reprieves from vulnerability and difficult emotions ultimately diminishing my spirit? Are my choices leading my wholeheartedness, or do they leave me feeling empty and searching?”

Your take?

Some insights from

Are You Addicted to Being Busy?

The Need to Be Busy

Cover Page Source

"4 Traits that Fuel Success" - Great Info-Graphic by Paula Davis-Laack!

GROW Model of Coaching - Simple but Effective Tool for Managers to Act as Performance Coach...

Performance Management : Myths Vs Facts

Official Red Button Appreciation !!

Everyone on your team should have one...

When we hit the button, it instantly alerts the CEO or someone who willingly takes responsibility for what happens next.

And then the question: What are the circumstances where an employee should (must) hit the red button? Consider:

• A sexual harassment complaint
• A customer leaves over poor service
• There's pressure to ship inferior or dangerous products
• The wait in the customer service queue passes 8 minutes
• Any other combination of bribery, racism, dumping of effluents, breaking promises, cooking books, lying to the public, etc....

If you don't have a button, why not?

The red button makes it clear to your team that they should either solve important problems on the spot or let you do so, and that not treating a problem seriously is not an option.

And if you don't treat your project seriously enough to have a button, if there isn't a culture where you want people to either fix these sorts of problems or get them looked at immediately, why not?

We can compromise our way into just about anything. At least do it on purpose. 

How to Get There from Here - A Road Map for HR Analytics

Digital Culture Run Amok: The Case for Community Management

"Community management is cultural risk management in a world where your culture is what attracts and retains customers and employees." Rachel Happe Excellent article on the impact of digital and its relationship to #communitymanagement - 

(Read it @https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-culture-run-amok-case-community-management-rachel-happe?trk=hp-feed-article-title-share)

.. Get Inspiration for Encouraging Your Human Capital to become Your Company’s Best Asset

12 Months of Reinforcement | Aubrey Daniels International | Leadership

http://aubreydaniels.com

World Development Report 2017, Governance and the Law - Take a Look

 

 

As demand for effective service delivery, good infrastructure, and fair institutions continues to rise, it’s vital that governments use scarce resources as efficiently and transparently as possible. Good governance is critical to making policies work for development. We must harness private sector expertise, work closely with civil society, and redouble our efforts in the fight against corruption. Without better governance, our goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity will be out of reach. http://wrld.bg/U2v6308udBV

#Happiness is around of you...; don't need to find any big reason to stay #Happy

To All The HR in #2017

Chart Goals to Create a Road Map to Your Success

Why is Employee Productivity & Engagement always a Challenge??

Hard Hitting yet simplistic case for moving away from obsolete pillars of Organisation. Over Engineered structures, systems, processes. A case for embracing the holistic #Behavioural Agronomy approach, to foster mutually beneficial culture of collaboration.

 #Transformation #Management #OD #Business

See More  Details At

 http://www.ted.com/talks/yves_morieux_as_work_gets_more_complex_6_rules_to_simplify?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

Introspection and Witnessing

Give me a place to stand and I can move the earth, said Archimedes. So too when we wish to have clarity on who we are, and to understand the limits of our potential, we need to find a place outside of our self to gain perspective. This process of witnessing our thoughts dispassionately requires practice.

You can learn more here: http://bit.ly/2jHcAn9

Never Miss A Talk !!

 

Self-talk is basically your inner voice, the voice in your mind which says things that you do not necessarily say out loud. It can be a subtle running commentary going on in the background of your mind. It is very black and white - positive self-talk will help your performance, negative self-talk will worsen it.

Positive self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel good about yourself and the things that are going on in your life. It is like having an optimistic voice in your head that always looks on the bright side. Positive affirmation statements are short statements designed to enhance self-image, help you achieve a secure mental attitude and increase confidence.

Take, for e.g.

• "I am the greatest."

• "I am prepared and ready to go."

• "I am relaxed."

• “I am in total control.”

• "I believe in my ability to succeed."

Changing your self-talk is going to play a big role in increasing your chance for successful performances on a more consistent basis. Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. The important first step in this process is monitoring your own thoughts; the next step is controlling them. If you are able to control your thoughts, you can accomplish more than you were aware of - the task is a hard one, but more than worth the effort. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you are more likely to get things done and feel more in control of all that is going on in your life. The more you work on improving your self-talk the better you will get. It is like practising an instrument or going to sports training, it will not be easy to start with but will get better with time.

Just 2 – 3 minutes of your time in the entire week to follow them if it appeals to you.  I am sure it will invoke you for personal effectiveness.  You may circulate it further to your associates, peers and friends.

Affirmations to inspire boost and brighten your day in the most positive way!!

I wish you a wonderful week-end; and the week-ahead.