Fix Habits to live in “Winning stream”

Daily rhythm

Once we are certain of what is it that we seek to find or believe there is a need to change, define our expectation and convert those expectations in the form of values that can be written down and then translated into every day actions. Firstly with everything we do in life we need to ask ourselves, why we are doing this, how does it benefit us and the people we love?  

Don't hold back on positive appreciation.

Do something nice not just for the sake of doing it.

Help an elderly person lift or carry a parcel.

Clear the table after a meal if it's not your normal practice.

Answer to messages, calls and mail just in time.

Bring rhythm to our daily routine.

Refrain from a negative pointer. 

Positive habit generates and promotes good will. One small step towards your positive habit can have a tremendous positive effect on our overall day. No matter what problems occur during the day, remind ourselves of how we started with a positive habit and nothing can upset our day otherwise we will be a dead duck.

I want to fix my habits

In my office at APTECH (Business Consulting and Computer Education group) in the year 1994 I was receiving a heavy daily mail covering a wide variety of matters examinations, curriculum, student complaints, and business issues and so on. I was operating on the policy that every letter must gets an answer. Nonetheless I used to come to my office and find a formidable pile of letters and get dismayed. Visualizing the amount of labor of having to think out replies to those letters, my mind would internally start grumbling “Why do people write so many letters do they not have any other work, other than writing letters?”, but I learnt that the only way to effectively answer letters would be to answer them no sooner they arrive. If I keep it in the pending folder it would get old and then I would have to re-open all letters, to gain the back ground on the content and so it was very painful than answering them as they arrive. Similarly any activity not if I don’t done regularly it starts piling up till one day it looks like a night mare to even attempt the huge pile. That’s when our mind will prick saying we are incapable for our role and job, and eventually we may have to probably quit the job itself. So I therefore continued that habit of answering the email as it arrives at a fixed interval which helped me live peacefully.

Cultivation of a careful and consistent regular rhythm of positive habits is the key to becoming successful not the other way round.

Stay on with the purpose in life with bells on

Google the purpose

When you think deeply and try to contemplate on why you exist, what your purpose in life is, what do you endeavor to achieve, you need to listen. Reach out within the deepest recesses of your mind, heart and there you would find the answer on why do you feel the need to change, improve, excel, win in your endeavors, in your relations, in your expectations of yourself and of others. The kernel and shell of life is work. We need to be happy workers. The purpose of work is happiness, which certainly includes taking care of our basic needs. Foremost among them is the need to attain fulfillment which involves growth and climbing ladders having purpose of life is not lost somewhere down the life. We have a duty to show the world to which we belong in a better light. I believe that change is possible.  The creative expression of our power lies in growing into the better as a human and a person. Our rich potential future will go to dogs if lose the purpose in life.

Story of Buckminster Fuller’s life was once like most people, full of going to parties, football etc. He was a “wild lad" in his early days.  Then something happened which changed his life forever.  His daughter Alexandra who was only around 6 years old was very sick at that time. He left the house one day, promising to be back soon. Before he left, he promised Alexandra, he would bring her back one of the small flags that they have at the football, as it was her birthday. Buckminster Fuller didn't return home after the football. He didn't return home for three days. Presumably he was partying. When he finally arrived home, his wife told him to not to waste time apologizing to her, but to go upstairs and see his daughter immediately. Alexandra had taken a turn for the worse. When Fuller picked his daughter up in his arms, he said hello to her. Then she asked him if he had brought the flag. The disappointment was enough to end her slender hold on life. She died in his arms.

After that Fuller felt so bad, he went for a walk, and decided to end his life. But as the story goes, he heard a voice saying something along these lines -``you do not have the right to end your life. It is not yours to end. Your life has a purpose. You have not yet done what you came here to do."

Guru Nanak Sahib was born on 15th April, 1469 at Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi in the present distrect of Shekhupura (Pakistan), now Nanakana Sahib. Guru Nanak's father, Mehta Kalyan Das, popularly known as Mehta Kalu was the agent and Chief Accountant of Rai Bular. Guru Nanak 's mother was Mata Tripta, a simple, pious and extremely religious woman. At the age of 38, in August 1507, Guru Nanak Sahib heard God 's call to dedicate himself to the service of humanity after bathing in "Vain Nadi" (a small river). The very first sentence which he uttered then was, "There is no Hindu, no Musalman". He then undertook long travels to preach his unique and divine doctrine (Sikhism). He rejected the path of renunciation Tyaga or Yoga, the authority of the Vedas and the Hindu caste system. Guru Nanak Sahib emphasized the leading of householder's life (Grista), unattached to gross materialism. He attacked the citadel of caste system of Hindus and theocracy of Muslim rulers. He was a born poet. He wrote 974 hyms and these were included in Guru Granth. He was also a perfect musician. He with the company of Bhai Mardana composed such tunes in various Indian classical Ragas that charmed and awed wild creatures like Babar, subdued saging kings, raved bigots and tyrants, converted thugs and robbers saints. He was a reformer as well as a revolutionary.

Begin with small steps

Eager & Beaver

Dream big, however winning can only start with small steps. Don’t wait for the big win, bigger moments to come in your way. Rather you need to begin with small steps of progress, step by step, we keep moving towards our dream, till one day it becomes a dream come true. When we are aiming for dream to be accomplished we must start with small and when it comes to finishing off our tasks, we can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Citing an example, History of IBM:

1880: Starting various technologies came into existence that would form part of IBM's predecessor company.

1890: The U.S. Census Bureau contracts to use Herman Hollerith's punched card tabulating technology in the 1890 United States Census. Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company is later merged into what becomes IBM today.

1914: Flint recruited Thomas J. Watson, Sr., from the National Cash Register Company to help lead the company. Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer service, an insistence on well-groomed, dark-suited salesmen and an evangelical fervor for instilling company pride and loyalty in every worker".

1924: C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), citing the need to align its name with the "growth and extension of its activities".

1937: IBM's tabulating equipment enabled organizations to process unprecedented amounts of data, its clients including the U.S. Government, during its first effort to maintain the employment records for 26 million people. During the Second World War the company produced small arms for the American war effort.

1952: Thomas J. Watson, Jr., became president of the company, ending almost 40 years of leadership by his father.

1973: IBM engineer George J. Laurer developed the Universal Product Code. 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3660, a laser-scanning point-of-sale barcode reader which would become the workhorse of retail checkouts.

1981: The IBM PC, originally designated IBM 5150, was introduced and it soon became the industry standard.

1991:  IBM sold Lexmark, and in 2002, it acquired PwC consulting.

2005:  The company sold its personal computer business to Lenovo, and in the same year, agreed to acquire Micromuse.

2009: IBM acquired software company SPSS Inc. Later in 2009, IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing program was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by U.S. President Barack Obama.

2011: IBM's closing value of $214 billion surpassed Microsoft which was valued at $213.2 billion.

2012: Fortune ranked IBM the #2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees, the #4 largest in terms of market capitalization, the #9 most profitable, and the #19 largest firm in terms of revenue. Other rankings for 2011/2012 include the following:

#1 company for leaders (Fortune)

#1 green company worldwide (Newsweek)

#2 best global brand (Interbrand)

#2 most respected company (Barron's)

#5 most admired company (Fortune)

#18 most innovative company (Fast Company)

IBM present with over 388,000 employees worldwide in 170 countries. IBM employees have earned five “Nobel Prizes”, four “Turing Awards”, five “National Medals of Technology”, and five “National Medals of Science”.

Success never came in a day or one year. There were many ups and downs in the history of IBM and many leaders lead the company through times of challenges, mistakes, revivals, technology drivers, environment and competitive hurdles. Fact remains that each and every big moment starts with a humble small step. 

Be with the truth nothing but the truth

Icon of Truth

You need to begin somewhere, so start with the truth – with the basic facts that you are talking about. Once the truth has been established, then back up what you say with your auctioned results. We can ask a simple question: “What is true?” If you feel drinking or smoking is bad for you, recognize that first.  It’s important to recognize what is true, even if you’re powerless to change it.  You might hate your job, but are financially committed to stay there.  We can’t change our behavior by lying to our own selves about what we know to be true. The job of practicing what you believe becomes infinitely easier if you have first acknowledged the truth of the situation.  If you can realize the truth, you will eventually adjust your behavior and life to coincide with it–even if that is difficult at first.

“We were forced to shut down the restaurant for six months. The financial loss was massive” – Jay Singh. Jay Singh, who studied international Relations and Economics at Brown University in the USA, was a successful consultant and banker before he entered the food industry. Currently, the co-founder of JSM Corporations, Singh incurred huge losses when he was forced to shut down operations at his restaurant Hard Rock Café due to licenses issues in 2006. The restaurant reopened a year later and Singh has since achieved other milestones. He effectively managed to get the investors to fund the business and today the restaurant is a trade mark among others in the country. Through all the valleys and mountains of challenges he faced, he was with the truth and never gave up on his dream. [ASPIRE Aug’2012]

Aesop, the famed Greek storyteller, told a story about a shepherd boy who would fool his friends by saying that a wolf had come to eat their sheep. When his friends found out that he was fooling them they stopped believing him. One day when the wolf really came he cried out for their help but they thought he was just trying to fool them again and all the sheep got eaten up by the wolf, so should not be like a “Crying wolf”.

Dig in and do actual work

Actual  work

When you believe what you say are the facts, then, you need to dig in and do the actual work that establishes the fact of what you believe in. It also establishes your practices – in every walk of life. According to Stephen R. Covey, “Only the disciplined are truly free. The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites, and passions.” If you begin to incorporate to the behaviors associated with “Dig yourself” into your professional life – thinking, collection, processing, organizing, reviewing, and doing these will naturally flow into your personal life. After all, it all depends on that fact that you can teach yourself to be maximally efficient. 

An example of doing actual work, in all situations: There was a farm house in the village a place over hundred fifty year old. In the house there were many items in and around the house, including a old clock that went tick-tick, tick-tick clinical sounds during nights which were common in the house and it was right in the middle of the dining room. One day there was a violent cyclone one end of the eye of  cyclone crossed farm house from left to right and the old house pass through the tremors and few hours later one more time other side of the cyclone eye crossed the house with full power and the whole house was damaged and many portions of the house had even collapsed. But the old clock continued its tick-tick as if there was no cyclone at all. “Tick-tick, tick-tick” it said and it was operating with same clinical sounds after the cyclone had calmed down. Robert Louis Stevenson made a wise statement “Quite minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or in misfortune at their own private pace like the ticking of a clock during a thunderstorm”. Unless we dig into the work in all situations and circumstances with a coolest mind we will not survive as individuals to accomplish our chief definite dream.

No more monkey business: I believe it all starts with your attitude towards the actual work you do. How keen are you to get in? It is all about the burning desire, passion, ambition and going against the grain which is crucial and makes all the difference. Unfortunately, most of us today want posh offices, expensive cars and fashionable gadgets but do not want to dig in and do the actual work hence we fail to push ourselves forward and we express ourselves with crocodile tears.

First of all believe in what you say

Believe in

An ace up your sleeve: There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren't the way you had hoped they would be. That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down. But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself. There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it solely depends on you to accept them. Constantly keep yourself on the right track, despite all the hurdles and distractions. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of “who you are” and “where you belong”. So when you face days filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself. Remember what you want your life to be. Believe in yourself and people will be forced to believe in you. Millions of people fail to believe in a life they have always wished to live. They fail to realize their ambitions and give up on their big dreams no sooner they encounter the first obstacle. One of the strongest causes for this attitude is that they do not believe in themselves.

During the Dot Com boom, practically everyone was buying internet stocks madly. One of the few people who didn't buy them was Warren Buffet. At that time, everyone criticized Buffet for his extreme caution and skepticism when dealing with these new stocks. Few years later, after the Dot Com bubble took place everyone lost a lot of money while Buffet ended up being the second richest man in the world!

Alex Haley received 200 rejections before he published the novel "Roots" which is now published in 37 languages, won the Pulitzer Prize and had become a popular television miniseries in 1977.

In the early development stages of Microsoft, the company was going to be sold. The buyer turned the offer down because he thought that people wouldn't need to put computers in their homes. Then Bill Gates became the richest man in the world!

Sometimes things happen to you, which at that particular moment may seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in retrospection, you will realize that without having overcome those obstacles, you would never have realized your potential, strength, will power. Walk the talk boils down to being able to first believe in what you say.

Walk the talk

Show with your actions

The day you start institutionalizing “walk the talk” life shall show the dream to reality path. – Dr. V. V. Rao.

Often people say one thing while their actions indicate something else. Therefore, one of the fundamental principles for a person of character and discipline would be to consistently be able to “walk the talk” and that would mean practicing what you preach, not merely in words, but in deeds and action. As it has rightly been said, “Actions speak louder than words.”

Citing an example, ‘The joy of the nudge Olympics London 2012’:Within Olympic venues each worker was given a single task so that nothing would distract him or her from the main task and in turn keep the focus intact which might be a simple task such as carrying the kit bag to the starting block, removing a rake and smoothing the sand. “Simplicity and clarity” are the guiding principles, says Paul Deighton of the London organizing committee of Olympics. The volunteers were rewarded only with a garnish purple-and-red uniform and that was an actual display of “Walk the Talk” of the term “Volunteer”. [Economist July’2012].

If I say I am punctual, I have to demonstrate through my actions by being punctual about time, about my responses, about actions that I need to take. Even basic acts, such as phone-call which I promised to make, about any action or promise that needs me to deliver as promised – and more importantly on time.  Punctuality needs to be associated with my every action and thought. I cannot believe myself to be punctual if I cannot establish that fact through my own actions.  When I arrive late for a meeting, I do not respond to a call as promised, when my e-mails remain unacknowledged.

People say they want healthy food, but at the same time junk food vendors still make millions each year.  People say they want awareness of the world affairs, and yet they tune to 24/7 coverage of daily soaps. These may sound like trivial things that one may tend to overlook, however, when I say “walk the talk”, it would mean, I need to be able to practice in every small or big action and deed what I talk. It means to back up what I say with my actions and our bite can’t be worse than our bark.