This Blog is Moved To http://www.anbusivam.com

How to Do What You Love to Do?

2010-11-29T04:51:00.000-08:00

Moving to www.anbusivam.com

2010-06-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Thank you all for your wonderful support, encouragements and criticisms.

I am moving to my Own Domain, now let's continue our journey together @

http://www.anbusivam.com

Looking forward for your support as usual.

Thanks for Visiting my Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

My Ice Breaker Speech: I am an Optimist

2010-05-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I was instrumental in bringing up the Philips/NXP Toastmasters club also served as Vice President, Education there. I was totally out of public speaking for more than two years after I left NXP. Now I am a member of Bangalore Toastmasters Club, one of the Bangalore's oldest club with lots of very eminent speakers. It's great to be part of this wonderful club. I gave my first speech from Toastmasters competent communication manual, i.e Ice Breaker. Find below the transcript of my speech, it would be of help to know more about me.

I am an Optimist

No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, I would always love to raise my sight and see possibilities. To my surprise they're always there and I always see them.

Good Evening Fellow Toastmasters and Guests.

“Humility is like an inner wear, essential, but indecent if shows off”, but people in my home town don’t mind showing it off. This city has gained universal recognition as the leading source of Hosiery and Knitted Garments. It is the garment capital of India, also called Textile City. It is Tirupur in Tamilnadu.

Yes, I was born in a small village near Tirupur to a middle class family whose main occupation is farming. They named me Sivakumar, but I would love to be called as Siva.

Childhood:
Situation at home was not so great when I was young. In spite of all difficulties, when all my cousins were sent to farm fields or garment factories to work, I and my sister were the only lucky ones to attend school. I must proudly say that, today I am standing here in front of you only because of my caring parents and loving sister.

I studied in a wonderful school. Neither I can forget the first day I went school with my grandmother crying all the way from home, nor can I forget the day last day of my 12th standard with tears all the way back to home. We were 6 of us together like a rainbow for 14 continuous years and those were the colorful years in my life.

About my Education:
From my early childhood I was fascinated by electronics. My grandfather had a transistor radio that was very precious to him. He would never miss the morning and evening news every day. One pleasant evening, when Sun was saying good bye to Moon I opened it up out of curiosity to know, what is there inside..?. But, later I realized that opening it up and breaking into pieces is far easier than assembling it together. Somehow with few more screws and wires still remaining, I could make it work the way it was working and that’s a significant accomplishment.

I was totally depressed when I failed to get admission into engineering after my 12th class. There was no one to guide me and not enough money to get things done.

Suddenly this wonderful opportunity came knocking at my door disguised as my father’s friend. When I met him, he asked me “If you are so keen in electronics, why don’t you join a polytechnic...? Then you can very well join an engineering college directly into the second year. It’s called lateral entry.”

I took that as a positive challenge, did my diploma in electronics, passed with flying colors and stood first in my class. Then I went on to study Electrical & Electronics Engineering to come out as a first engineering graduate, in fact a first graduate in our entire family circle.

After a short stint with Wipro and few years with Philips/NXP, now I work for Qualcomm for the past 2 years. My job is to make sure that, your high end mobile phones work even after 10 years from now, flawlessly like it is working today. I do the reliability engineering of mobile semiconductor ICs.

Hobbies:
One of my teachers used to say “Keep yourself engaged in good hobbies, not just for time pass, but something that can be turned into a full time career when you wish or get bored in your routine work”.

My hobbies include reading, writing, listening to music. I read and try to experiment a lot on Self Development, Human Mind and Spirituality. I would love to understand the people around me. I’ve done a Diploma in Counseling Skills last year and I am looking forward for a Masters in Psychology through distance education this year.

Two years ago I picked up Blogging, I blog @ http://www.anbusivam.com. By the way Anbusivam is my pen name with which I used to write some amateur Tamil poems on the last pages of my college notebooks. Even now I used to in some of the lengthy and boring office meetings.

After about 15years I decided to cycle again and bought a new bike last month. Now I cycle 26kms every day, five days a week to and fro between Indiranagar and whitefield. When people ask me “Are you crazy to cycle in this traffic..?” I say, “Yes I am, look into the positive part of cycling. It’s healthier, happier and greener”.

I was happy in life, until I got married 6 months ago. Now with my wife Sangeetha in life, I am happier than ever. She is a home maker, having keen interest in drawing and painting. I am giving in all the support and encouragement to her present goal, which is to expertise in Tanjore Painting.

Beliefs:
I am a deeply rooted spiritual being. But, I am certainly not religious. In my simple understanding: “Love is the one and only universal God”.

I also sincerely believe to a large extent we are the Script writer, Actor and Director of our own movie called Life in this world.

When my friends ask, “How could you take every thing positively…?” I say, I choose to be an optimist, because it does not seem to be much use being anything else.

Optimism is in my blood, I am B+ve. I am an Optimist.

Thanks for Visiting my Blog.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Pleasure of Cycling

2010-03-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I came back from school, was depressed and sad about the way things are going on in life. We, a group of 6 have decided to start cycling to school from next month onwards. Now it's the first week of the new month and I am the only one don't have a bicycle yet. I've told my father and asked my mother too....but nothing seems to be happening. That night I resisted from eating dinner, went to bed without talking to anyone. I know that my parents are aware of the reason for my anger. To my great surprise next day when I come back from school there was as bicycle parked in front of our home, though it looked little older. My mom told me that it was from one of my dad's friends. His son was using this cycle for the past 2 years and now he is studying fin a boarding school. Dad had taken it from him for a little lower price.

I was so happy, hugged my parents for getting me a new cycle (new to me anyway). I wanted to run my friend in the next street to tell that I am going to join them tomorrow morning to school. I went to bed so happily, woke up early in the morning, took out an old cloth, cleaned it perfectly. I could make it shining like a new diamond, of course it is for me.

Started my first day ride to school and I will never forget that experience in my life. I think this happened almost more than 15 years ago, but I could never forget this experience in my life. I think Bicycle is one of the best inventions by the mankind. Simply by connecting two wheel, frame and pedal there comes a wonderful means of transportation. No emission of harmful gases, no pollution, no harm to the environment, no fuel needed, zero running cost and so on.

After so many years, I decided to cycle again. Now to my office. I was totally unaware of what had happened to bicycles all these years. When I started looking out for details, I found there are bicycles with gears nowadays. I wondered why do a cycle need 21 gears, while my yamaha is having only 4. I could get lots and lots of details and information for various bicycle enthusiasts and online biking communities like BikesZone, Bangalore-bikers Club, GogreenGocycling and Criticalmass. I could see that, bikers are more than happy to welcome any new biker into their group, provide lots of support and encouragement.

After lots of study and survey I bought Hercules Ryders ACT110, started cycling to office for the past 2 weeks and look forward to continue cycling for ever.

Go Green, Go Healthy, Go Happy, Go Cycle...!!!

The pleasure of pedaling a responsive, wonderful machine, while enjoying the roads, moving along effortlessly, is always awesome in cycling.

Thanks for Visiting my Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Opportunity Knocks Only Once

2010-02-21T05:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Opportunities are always plenty in this vast world, but how many of us are ready to grab that in our life…? At least how many of us are aware of the opportunities we come across in our lives…?

Family and society in which we are born are a chance given to us by creation, but what we become in life is a choice left for us. Chance is something decided upon us, which is beyond our control. Choice is something that we can decide for us, which is completely in our hands to choose. Many of us think that our life is predestined and nothing can be done beyond that.

We have all said at some point of time in our life or often hear people saying:

“It’s all fate”, “Luck is not in my side”, “According to my horoscope”, “It’s bad time for me”

Yes, it is going to be really bad time until we wake up and look for opportunities in life.

Opportunity knocks our door only once. That single moment in our life comes only once and never returns. We may end up getting similar opportunities later on in time, but the one that came will never come again.

A young man wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, "Son, go stand out in that field. I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter."

The young man stood in the field awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out came the biggest, meanest looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through.

The barn door opened again. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one he thought. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through.

The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull, he said to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to grab.....But alas.... The bull had no tail.

There are three kinds of people in this world: First, the ones who make things happen. Second, the ones who see things happen. Third, the ones who wonder what happened?

If we are a kind of person who is attentive to things around us, I am sure we could readily recognize that. If we are a kind of person who is keen on achieving great things in life, I am sure we would definitely make the best used of opportunities given.

An individual may possibly have number of abilities and talents, yet he or she could be a miserable failure. Unless the person is aware of her abilities and has the courage to act upon it, she is going to be a failure. Great people knew their abilities and make the best use of at least one of their talents, excel in that, reach greater heights.

Great men and women don’t wait for the right opportunity to come at their door steps; instead they act upon to create the opportunity in order to move ahead in their path of great achievements. These are the people those who make things happen. They don’t sit and wait for the opportunities to come to them; instead they desperately go in search of opportunities and put in all their efforts to make things happen.

Michael Dell says, “Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Whether you’ve found your calling, or if you’re still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life’s work.”

Unless you are planning suicide, there is no better time then right now to start doing what you have been thinking about doing for far too long. The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. Just open your mind to different possibilities, different ways of examining an object, a problem or a challenge, and it can provide you with many inspirations and fresh ideas.

Another key point is to act diligently upon the opportunity grabbed. Many of us though get right opportunity; fail to make the best use of it. We end up doing mundane activities those are useful neither for ourselves nor for others. This is because our mind is tied up with petty little things that will give quick gratification. Basic tendency of human mind is to look for quick results at present and immediate pleasure now rather than long term satisfaction at later stage. We should constantly tame our mind to seek permanent happiness in life and not look for instant pleasure. We should constantly focus our thoughts and efforts towards vital and precious activities that will take us forward in our path of success.

With the ability to identify right opportunity, attitude to honestly work on it and sincerity to make the best use of it; making great things happen is an absolute possibility in this world.

Let’s make great things happen.

“When we wake up to the choices given to us,
smartly catch hold of them,
diligently work on them with sincere efforts,
surely we will achieve great things in this world.”

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

You Are Your Solution in Life

2010-01-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

All of us have problems in life. I don't think any one can ever find a person without a single problem in this world. Life by itself is a sequence of problems posed in front of us from various facets of life. Most of the time we spend all our time in searching for answers and solutions for our life's own problems. In this entire process the most important person involved is "YOU". Only simple solution for all your life's problem is YOU. Hence the best way to make your life wonderful is to take good care of you.

Yes, it's all about "You".

What you can do for YOU:

- Take quality time off from your daily chores to give yourself.

- Enjoy your own company.

- Be happy and feel good about you.

- Treat yourself with great love and utmost respect.

- Feel you are more worthy and most deserving.

- Look for the positive and good qualities in yourself.

- Focus on these great qualities you love about yourself.

- Have a great belief in your own abilities.

- Have a positive regard and respect for yourself.

- Even kiss yourself often to appreciate yourself.

You are the designer of your destiny. You are the director of your own movie called life. You are the one and only authority having complete control over your life's choices. So, better take good care of yourself.

Ultimately it's all about "You". i.e YOU, YOU and YOU

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Life Lessons from Children

2009-11-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Today November 14th is Children's Day in India. I had a wonderful opportunity to take part in Children's Day Celebrations organised in our office. Colleagues had come to office with their children and family today for the gala celebrations.

As usual I took up my role as an "Observer", started observing the cute little children over there running around, playing, singing and dancing. Kids just live their life enjoying every moment, enthusiastic about everything, eager to learn, curious about everything and with full of contagious energy. Practical life lessons we could learn by just observing child's play is plenty.

Few learning's from those cute little ones are here:

1. Live every moment:

Children live their life spontaneously. Literally every moment is experienced just during that moment and is thoroughly enjoyed. Nothing is pre-planned, they take life as it comes without much of worry. Kids don't waste the right moment at hand in thinking about the future or past, they just live in that moment completely involved. We adults always repent for what happened in the past or anticipate what would happen in future, and in that very process we miss the present right in front of us.

2. Ask lots of questions:

Kids ask lots of questions on matters very trivial to adults. What...? Why...? How...? When...? Where...? would be their major vocabulary once they start understanding things around. There would always be greatest level of curiosity to learn, to understand and to know about every thing around them. Most of the time they may not get answers for all their questions, but it doesn't stop them from asking more questions.

3. No emotional baggage's carried:

Children never carry emotional baggage's like we adults do always in life. Kids don't carry on with their emotions in life. As child I used to quarrel with my sister, we fought a lot for simple things in life. But that will last for not more than few minutes. We will be playing, jumping and running just after that. But now as grown ups we experience each and every situation with some or other pre-conceived ideas in life.

4. Contagious positive energy:

I would always consider "Contagious positive energy" to be the best in children. They enjoy life with full of positive energy that's instantly contagious. Doesn't matter how big our problem is, simply watching a child's play would make us happy and enthusiastic. Their positive energy is highly contagious.

5. No Inhibitions:

Inhibitions are meaning less in Children's world. They just don't worry about anyone and anything around. Unlike adults they don't worry about the consequences, just never bother what others would think. Kids would always want to be themselves, irrespective of where they are. They carry around themselves as just they are.

6. Curious about everything:

Children are curious about everything around. Curiosity is what makes them touch the fire, catch a fly, eat a bug, run onto the streets, jump from the stairs and many more. Always be ing curious to explore new things gives them a never ending learning experiences.

7. Ego Less:

There is nothing called "ego" in Kid's world. Children never have "I" conscious, they just go with the life as it comes without any egoistic thoughts. They fight and quarrel for a moment and next moment we would find them playing as if nothing had happened. The best part of child's behaviour is complete surrender to the loved ones most often the mother.

8. Express the Feelings:
Children would freely express their feelings no matter they are. Their feelings are readily available on their faces for every one to see. Kids don't hide or conceal their feelings and emotions, instead they express them right at that moment. We don't have to guess what's a child's feeling as it will be very obvious in her face. Openly expressing feelings makes life easier and simpler of us and people around us.

I've just listed few practical learning's we could take from Children. Of course we all has gone through that life as a child, but somewhere in the process of growing up we've acquired few things that are not very useful to us and dropped down few things that may be of great help in life.

Let's go back to our wonderful childhood, wake up the little child in us, live life king size.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Yes, It's Ok to Start Again

2009-11-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

It's been more than two months now since I wrote a blog post.

After 2 long months, I am back to blogging. Yes, it’s been more than two months now…two long months. It is really long as I have missed almost more than 8 weeks of blogging. Initially I thought of taking break for a month after my wedding, but it got extended to more than two months. I was too busy in setting up our new home, also had friends visiting us with lots of love and kind wishes. It’s been overwhelming to receive good friends and kind relatives at our new home.

In spite of all my counseling classes and learning’s, I always used to wonder how I am going to cope up with a new relation called spouse in my life. I was worried how I am going to share my personal space with someone else whom I did not know for years. Fortunately, we had more than 3 months after we met till our marriage day. We shared a lot about our likes, dislikes, our childhood, school and college life, about our family, friends, relatives and many more. Now with my loving and caring wife Sangeetha beside me, life has taken a new facet. It’s nice to see lots of things are changing in life for good and better.

I feel great and rejuvenated to come back to you all through this blog again.

With this I am starting again.

I am sure I'll share more useful, interesting and informative thoughts here.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Being Right or Being Happy

2009-08-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When I wrote about being right or happy in my previous post, many of my readers were keen to know more about it. Here comes my thoughts and understandings on one of the key learning’s from my counselling course.

"Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy...?"

Think for a moment when you were in an arugment and want to be right, don't you remember that you had to compromise on your happiness. I realised this when I was in an argument with one of my friends few weeks ago. I obviously wanted to make my point, knowing that he is not correct. But he was not in a mood to accept that he is wrong, which would be a blow to his big ego. After long arguments and counter arguments, I suddenly realised that the discussion had stuck into an endless circle, without any further progress. I started playing devil's advocate, carefully changing side to accept his point knowing very well that it's not right. I decided to do this only to stop those endless arguments just to prove a point. When we departed he was really happy that his point was accepted and finally he had won the argument. But I am sure that he himself had a doubt on the entire discussion and the point he was conveying and trying to convince me.

Later in the evening when he was little relaxed, I approached him with a clean reference supporting my argument stating that I was right in the morning. In no time he accepted the truth and apologised for being adamant during the morning discussion. I felt happy and he too was.

When I was thinking about the day that evening, it did strike to me that, though I was not right in the morning ultimately I was happy at end of the day. Many a times we tend to stick to our point in arguments and discussions with our loved ones, friends and colleagues without even thinking about the real purpose of the argument.

We should be courageous and courteous enough to give up something, though we know we are correct, while letting the other person win over us. This will be of utmost important especially with our family and loved ones, where the relationship and bonding is of highest priority than being right in a petty issue. Moreover these kinds of heated arguments and discussion always lead to fights shifting focus on the person instead of the real issue. When we are discussing an issue with another person, let's better put our focus on where it should be, on the real problem, not the other person.

When we choose being happiness over the need of being right, obviously a great relationship blossoms over there.

Whenever we are stuck in an argument with our loved ones, we should ask ourselves.

Do you want to be Happy or do you want to be Right...?

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Looking Front and Marching Ahead

2009-08-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

After my previous post on Looking Back, I lately realised that I had almost forgot to look front. Now, I've decided to march ahead with newer learning’s and experiences in life.

At this juncture both in my Personal and Professional life, big changes are taking place that's going to bring in more responsibilities with greater expectations. At personal front I’m getting married on 2nd September. It's taking up most of my time after work and that's the main reason for no regular updates here in www.anbusivam.com.

I am sure Life is going to be colorful with lots of new experiences and learning’s particularly in terms of understanding personal relationships. I am used to live alone, away from my parents now for almost more than 5 yrs. I think I've become less sensitive to the under currents of actual feelings and emotions expressed to me in all these years. May be I should spend some more quality time looking within myself to understand me as a person first and next relationships with my near and dear ones. I am trying to be more sensitive to the feelings expressed and unexpressed sometimes.

My DCS (Diploma in Counseling Skills) would be of greatest help to make my life really fruitful and joyful. I can never forget one question that I’ve learnt on relationships, which is “Do you want to be correct or do you want to be happy…?” Mot of the times we want to be correct, want to be perfect, continue the argument just to prove that other person is wrong and at the end what remains is not happiness, but a bitterness in relationship. The moment we let go those compulsions to prove a point or to be perfect always, close relationships would bloom into flowers of happiness.

Off late I am getting comments from my friends that most of my recent posts are based on emotional and psychological factors. Yes, after my counseling course and little experiences with the few clients I’ve got, I think mental wellness is utmost important than any great leadership qualities in life. Sound mind in a sound body is the basic stepping stone to any great journey in life.

I am starting to look forward and march ahead with new thoughts, ideas and experiments in life to understand ultimately “What makes us do what do we do…?” that is "Motivation" in life.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Leadership & Motivation - Looking Back

2009-07-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Last evening, I was just looking back into all my earlier blog posts and it's amazing to see the amount of information that's been collated here in one place over the period of more than 2 years with 84 articles as of now. Yes, when I started this blog with my first post on a fine morning of May, 2007 this was the only intention. All I wanted was to bring in the interesting and useful details that I come across on my most favorite topic "Leadership & Motivation" in one single place. Moreover the best part is the encouragement I get from you the Readers of this blog that keeps me on my toes to get in more and more useful articles that will help us make our lives better.

I still remember what I said on one of our early Bangalore Bloggers Meet, "I've started this blog just for myself to collate some of the useful information I come across, read, experiment, and learn on Leadership & Motivation at one place which, I would be able to look back in future just by click of a mouse. Adding to that it would be great if I can get some sincere readers to this blog and the greatest happiness would be if my thoughts and ideas here in my blog can help them in making their lives better".

Of course I like all my articles, but some are worth mentioning here again. Find here some I liked the most when I looked back yesterday.

Being an ardent lover of nature, I loved these two when I worte and even now when I read after almost 2 years.

Leadership = Gardening

Human'Culture' Vs Agri'Culture'

This one is my favorite as many of my visitors coming from search engines lands up in this page.

Why do we need motivation...?

I like this as I talked about enjoying the present, while getting ready for the future.

Doing What We Love Vs Loving What We Do

I love this only because I get lots and lots of visitors searching for the quote "God made the Earth, but the Dutch made Holland" and also I like my quote "God made me in the Earth, but I made my Life".

Dutch Made Holland – A Lesson for Life

This talks about my own personal fear of starting this blog, writing in English and how I did overcome that. I am really happy for starting this blog (Inspired by my friend Himanshu Sheth ) that has become a great platform to express and share my learning's to the world around me. This also keeps me on to read, learn, experiment and share much more in my life.

Where does the strength to work on weaknesses come from?

This is one of my most favorite, as I wrote this after a home work of little survey asking the question "What is that, ultimately you want in life...???" to people I come across everyday.

Choosing to be Happy :-)

Power of deciding our happiness.

This was written after realising the power of encouragement to achieve, from the Indian Premier League Cricket season 2008. And these lines I like the most "Close your eyes and imagine a cheerful group of cheerleaders in front of you with "Whoos-Hoos" and "Shake Ups" for all those commendable things you've done in your life till this moment."

What about becoming our own cheerleaders?

This article was based on Indira Nooyi, PepsiCo's CEO. According to her there are 5 skills that's the hallmark of a good leader that leads to "Performance with Purpose".

PepsiCo's Leadership Philosophy of Performance with Purpose

I wrote this after my NLP(Neuro Linguistic Programming) lessons, all about Getting into and Getting out of our emotional states/situations.

Power of Association and Dissociation.

Greatly inspiring experience sharing from my visit to Spastic Society of Karnataka and my interactions with those special children with special needs and abilities.

Motivation from Special Children

One another unforgettable inspiration from Prof.Raundy Paush

Brick Walls Are Not There To Keep Us Out

My latest one on similar lines...."Brick walls are no there to keep us out"

I Will Not Quit

Yes indeed its very true that, "A Small Change Can Make Big Difference" most of the time in many areas of our life.

Small Change Can Make Big Difference

Experience is the "bestest" teacher that always results in the most enduring lessons.

Experience - The Best Teacher

I am sure I would like to list all my 84 articles here, but that may not be possbile. Every article or post had its own significance at that time of writing and some like mentioned above are very relevant any time in the past, present and future as well.

At this juncture. I would like to thank all the good hearts that keeps me encouraging in keeping this blog most interesting, informative and above all the most useful in daily life. Many Thanks to all my good friends, kind well wishers and sincere visitors/readers of this blog. My heartfelt gratitude to each one of you those help me, support me and inspire me to go on in life with a passion towards "Leadership & Motivation".

Thank You All. Keep visiting, give your most valuable comments and feedbacks.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

I Will Not Quit

2009-06-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

"When faced with a huge mountain, I will not quit, I will keep on striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel underneath or simply go around to get past. Yes, nothing can stop me."

I came across this saying few days ago and was thinking of writing on this yesterday. As I am getting busy with few of other things in life, writing a blog post had almost taken a back seat. Last night I made a point to wake up early to write this and here I am.

Quitting is something that's so easy for some and way too hard for others. One of my friends is such an expert in quitting; he quits and comes out of almost every thing that he starts within few weeks time. Another friend of mine is struggling so hard to quit something in his life, which he is not able to in spite of all his efforts. Normal human tendency is to find blame excuses to stay away from hard working, time consuming, effort taking tasks.

Why do people visit this blog? or why does self-help a big business all over the world? We all need a strong push at times when we are stuck in front of a huge mountain. The moment we encounter it, we stumble with fear of failure and we convince ourselves to quit the journey. Very few strong minds determined to reach their goals, having great persistence will obviously not worry about these obstacles in the journey of life. They very well know that quitting is not the solution to problems in life and the very problems will make them better in life. Imagine a life without a single problem, I am sure it's not going to be interesting for long time. It will make a routine and boring life.

As I've written in one of my earlier posts, "brick walls are not there to keep us out". Obstacles, brick walls or mountains what so ever we call, they are there only to check and evaluate how badly we want things in our life, it's just there to see the validate the sincere determination of our journey in life.

Yes, of course quitting is not the solution always but in the same time it should be okay for us to give up and let go at times. Our persistence shouldn't disguise into stubborn-ness over time. This should be a very careful process, we should not misunderstand giving up out of weakness, procrastination, fail to put in sincere efforts and to be in our comfort zone. We should be quitting after a careful study of all possible situations saying "Hey, you know what? this is definitely not going to work, there is no point to sticking to it anymore, it's better to quit, spend our time and effort in other goals of life."

And I think quitting, should always be last possible option in life's goals and journeys.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love

Anbusivam

Power of deciding our happiness.

2009-06-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

"What is that, ultimately you want in life...???"

When I asked this question to people I know from all walks of life, starting from a grade 5 student to as elderly as 95 yrs old. The final answer always lead to someting like this,

"I want to be Happy in Life, Happiness is what I want."

I am sure each and every single action we perform in our lives is to seek happiness. Be the CEO of a million dollar corporate or a floor boy in a small office, irrespective of caste, creed, status and religion, happiness is what we all seek all the time. Unfortunately we seek something all over the world that is actually hidden within ourselves in abundance.

With few personal experiments in my own life, I am completely convinced that we can never find real happiness outside us. If we happen to find happiness from something or someone outside us, then its never going to be a permanent one. May be that will last for a second or a minute or a day or for few months. Never can one get a permanent happiness from the external things outside in this world. We human beings are creatures of choice. We have got the great boon of choosing to be happy irrespective of what happens outside. This may sound too philosophical on the first go, but actually this is the ultimate truth that we need to understand.

For example, you have a simple mobile phone with which you can make only phone calls, that being your basic requirement. You feel miserable, seeing yourself in the midst of your friends who are gadget geeks playing around with their high tech phones with which calls could also be made. Now, thinking that you will get happiness with a brand new phone, you buy a new phone with all possible features in it. You think that you are the happiest person in this world with your new gadget, only until you come across an another friend having a device better than yours. At that very moment your happiness ceases to exist and you start thinking you could have bought this one. You feel miserable again.

Here your happiness is fully based on a mobile phone. You the intelligent being had given out the power of deciding your happiness to a lifeless electronic instrument.

We all have made and heard the following statements in our lives:

"You make me unhappy"

"You are making me furious"

"I'll be happy, if you love me"

"I am always upset because of you"

"I don't like to see you"

"I hate this traffic"

The moment we start fixing things outside to make ourselves happy, its going to be a never ending process. Instead we should be fixing things within us. In the sametime, we shouldn't be neglecting the external things that will make our living comfortable and easy in this world. No doubt the world has become a better place to live with all the scientific and materialistic advancements. All those material stuff should be seen as something that will only make our physical existence little easier. They never can give us permanent happiness that we seek in our lives.

The ultimate point here is the moment we take charge of our happiness, nothing external can control it. Happiness will no longer be something that we pursue all through our life. Happiness will always blossom within us.

"Let's not give away the power of deciding our happiness to someone or something outside us"

With Love,

Anbusivam

Bangalore Marathon Open 10K in 68mins.

2009-05-31T04:29:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Hurray......I could complete today's Bangalore Sunfeast Marathon open 10K in 68mins.

Though never had any timing target eariler, I thought that I'll not take more than 1hr 30mins. But completing in 1hr 8mins was really a great achievement. I was just jumping with joy and happiness at the finish line. Now I know my limits. Next year target would be 10kms in 40mins.

My daily treadmill runs for the last 2 weeks gave me lots and lots of endurance to keep myself going especially in the last 2kms of the circuit. Adding to that my morning trainings on the road too helped me a lot to get used to the kind of terrain we ran. The great levels of enthusiasm and energy in the air is an another important factor for me to make it. Cute little childre, elders and lots of people were cheering up on the sides of the road all along the run. Whenever I slowdown or start walking I came across these people who encouraged to run. Many Thanks to all those unknown good hearts.

Ultimately it was a great fun, elated feeling, boost for self-confidence and I knew my limits now.

With Love,
Anbusivam

PS: Hope to share some race day photos soon.

Power of Aiming High

2009-05-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Few weeks back I got a mail on Bangalore Sunfeast Marathon and I decided to take part in that. When I had to choose between 2 options I went ahead with the second one. First was to run 5.7km Majja Run and second was to 10km in Open 10K Run. When couple of my friends insisted to join them on Majja Run, I was interested only in 10km run. At that time I was not very sure if I would be able to complete 10km with some of my irregular running experiences. I had my own apprehensions and self doubts, but something inside me pushed towards 10km. I was also fully aware that its going to be a big task for me with the limited time available to train from then.

The important point to note here is, if I had taken up 5.7km run then I am sure all my trainings these days would not have crossed even 3km. Now with my enrollment into 10km run, all I see in front of me is "How am I gonna complete 10k...?". Obviously when my target is 10km, running more than 5km every day seems to be too less for me. I am pushing myself to reach atleast 8km this week and then to hit my target of 10km on the Race day i.e coming Sunday, 31st May 2009.

When I was thinking on this simple experience in my life, I realised that keeping a greater goal and aiming high will always make us reach greater heights than having some mediocre goals in life just for the sake of having it. I have a great hope on myself that I will be able to complete this 10km run. I don't have any timing targets, all I want is to complete 10km run successfully. That would surely give me lots and lots of confidence to take up much higher goals.

I sincerely think this "Power of Aiming High" works pretty well in almost all areas of our lives. What's the worst thing than can happen in aiming high...? may be we will not meet our aim or target. But at the end what we have accompolished would be surely much more than what we could have otherwise.

Would you like to share some great acheivements in your life with this wonderful "Power of Aiming High".

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love

Anbusivam

P.S: I'll let you know my run details this Sunday evening.

Quotes from Heraclitus

2009-05-16T18:09:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Reading my earlier post on Change, one of my good friends with whom I used to work some five years ago introduced me to Heraclitus. Heraclitus(535BC - 475BC) a Greek philosopher, known for his doctrine of change being central to the universe.

I found his quotes greatly though provoking, and I am really amazed by the relevance of each and every word said even now at present. Here are some of them,

The one I liked the most is:

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

The one my friend liked the most is:

If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trial. If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.

And some of them are:

Character is destiny.

Nothing endures but change.

This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.

You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

The road up and the road down is one and the same.

Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.

Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Change is the only changeless

2009-05-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Every time I think about some change....I always remember 2 famous quotes I've come across. First one is "Everything changes, only change is changeless" don't know who said this and the second one from Mahatma Gandhiji "Be the change you want to be". Many a times we tend to bend and mend others into our own ways. Trying to change others always ends up in vain and leads to a lot of pain and displeasure. We are not comfortable in changing ourselves as there is a lot of risks involved in that, mainly stepping from the known to an unknown is always fearful, scary, and anxious.

Let's think for a moment how important is "change" in our lives. Neither sorrow, nor happiness is going to be permanent in life. Anything and everything in this world has to undergo the process of evolution and hence change is inevitable. If at all change has not happened, this world would have reached a state of stagnation and no progress would have happened all through these years. In spite of seeing so many changes every day in this world, we are still skeptical about change.

Change at first frightens us, as we have to come out of our comfort zone. and then the fear of uncertainties that would show up. Any change that has to happen outside is most of the times pretty easy, where as any change that has to happen within us is the most difficult thing to happen. But the beauty is when a moment had come for an internal change within ourselves, nothing can stop that. Once we are fully convinced about the change, our mind automatically lookout for ways and means for the change to happen rightaway. To reach that state is the most difficult task in life, as our mind will always put forth number of excuses in the name of valid reasons so as to oppose the change. Once we gain the ability to understand the trick that our mind would play, it will be lot easier to appreciate and embrace the change.

Some of the statements I hear when a change is imposed from outside are:

1. It's too difficult.
2. It's not gonna work.
3. We've tried this before or we've never tried something similar.
4. This too visionary or lacks vision.
5. We've always done it this way.
6. We already have a proven method in place.
7. I am not sure, if this will be good for us.
8. I don't think this is logical.
9. We don't have enough time and resources.
10. It just doesn't make sense to change.
11. ... and many more.

Some of the statements I hear when a change is embraced within are:

1. Wow....it's an excellent change.
2. I am sure its gonna to be good for us.
3. We are bored of doing it the same way.
4. We should try something new.
5. This is the right moment for change.
6. To change is for a greater vision.
7. We should take a chance.
8. Let's try it out.
9. We should explore new avenues.
10. It's challenging to experiment.
11. ... and many more.

As we noticed, it's all the mind's smart play. All these statements are more subjective to the individual and his/her perception towards the change. We come up with any of the first set of statements if we are forced to change and we bring forth the second set of statements in case we are fully convinced that the change is essential at that point of time. We always see these two different groups of people in this society and I am not here to say which is good or which is good to be in.

All I can say from my little experience, is if we are a person who would take some time to think with a larger perspective before jumping into conclusions we would always belong into the second group. It does not mean that we should happily accept and appreciate all the changes that's happening, instead we should have the ability to discriminate the good and bad, not based on our own personal likes and dislike, but purely from a holistic point of view.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Attitude + Action = Achievement

2009-04-22T21:54:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Page.

Attitude, with Action is everything……and that’s what I’ve learnt last week from a simple person at our office gym.

We had a trainer in our office gym form “FitnessOne”, a city based fitness centre till last month. This man whose name I don’t want to mention, no doubt was physically fit to be a gym trainer. But, his attitude I am sure was not very useful either to himself or to us the gym users. He used to come down to our office every evening at 4.00pm till 7.00pm. He was least bothered about who is coming in there and what people are doing inside. He just comes and will sit on the chair, would just relax watching people working out in the gym. When some of us voluntarily started talking to him, he only talked about the money he earns by training people individually in the city centre where he worked in mornings. He never used to help or guide us; instead he will not even answer properly when any of us ask about the way of doing some exercise. Once when I asked about the usage of cross ramps, he gave me some answer and added that he’ll charge so much of money for individual training in his centre. He also had an attitude of looking us at someone who is using our office gym facility free of cost as if he is running our office. Fortunately end of last month he just vanished off and we got a new trainer from FitnessOne in the interim only for a month.

This gentleman is Bala, from whom I learned attitude and action are two key things of achievements in life. Bala would quietly come in and would do nothing for first days except looking keenly on to the entry register, figuring out are coming regularly to the gym. Slowly he started voluntarily coming down to the users and correct their mistakes while exercising. He would tell this is not the way to this particular exercise, what would be the issues if done wrong, will also teach them what is the right way of doing that and benefits of that as well. Slowly people building trust on him, and he started concentrating personally on almost every one helping them to chalk out a weekly workout plan. Yesterday he called me to teach some specific abdomen exercises as his interim period of one month is coming to an end by next week. He wanted me to learn them properly before he leaves us. We’ve requested FitnessOne to post Bala as a permanent trainer in our office gym and waiting for their reply.

Bala could have taken his role as a trainer very lightly as done by our previous guy as he is going to be here only for a month. But he had chosen to take it seriously and sincerely. He was so simple, straight forward and down to earth with us. His wonderful positive attitude along with his committed action gained all our trust and support for him. I think this is his great achievement.

Attitude + Action = Achievement

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Prolific Power of Anger

2009-04-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

In most of my counselling sessions I find people, either unable to identify or totally unaware of their own feelings and emotions. I wonder how will they be able to relate themselves with their family and friends, being ignorant of one's own emotions. One of the key emotions that dominate us more than often is "Anger". People say "I shouldn't be getting angry at all", once a young boy told me "My parents should suddenly forget that there is an emotion called anger", one girl student said in a workshop "One thing I want to get rid off is, my anger". Most of us strongly believe that anger is a negative emotion and is to be suppressed. We tend to hide it from others and from ourselves too. I remember my childhood when I was clearly told not to get angry when elders are there around. I was even told getting angry is a worst thing a child can do and for many years I believed that, neither it is good get angry nor it is good to express my anger..

Do you think anger is such a dangerous and unwanted emotion that is to be totally get ridden off...? Remember last time when you were angry...?

I surely don't think so. Anger is one of the core emotions that is of most necessary to the man kind. All the problems we see around are not because of anger or getting angry, but only because of the way we express our anger.

Can you think of the ways you would choose to express your anger..? What do you do when you are really fired up...? what do say when you are fuming in anger on anyone or anything...? what would be the reaction of your friends and family around...?

Anger, not handled properly may lead to dangerous consequences like verbal/physical abuse, road rage, aggressive behaviours, threat to life, mental depression and so on. Yes, in some extreme cases anger could be totally destructive and irreversible, to the extent of murder. We all know that anger is such a powerful emotion that can reach its peak in spur of a moment within no time. Most often anger comes out with an outburst of enormous energy, which is generally expressed in a not very useful way either to us or others.

I think the best way to handle anger in a more efficient manner is to deeply understand the way it is triggered up in us and how do we express that. It's important to divert that outburst of energy in to a more productive and useful one.

Here are a few steps to make the best use of the Prolific Power of Anger.

First and foremost, accept and acknowledge that you are angry, when ever you are.

Learn the truth that, anger is a most common human emotion and indeed its good to get angry being a normal human being.

Introspect to identify you own anger spots (identifying everything that can trigger anger in you, by looking back into your own past when ever you were angry)

Think from an objective point of view, what are the ways you've been expressing anger in all these years from your childhood till now.

Evaluate them, are those ways of expressing anger is really useful or do you really feel sorry and regret for what you have done...?

Think of what could be the alternate ways and means that your anger could be expressed with out any harm to you or others around...?

Think of how can be the energy outburst diverted into a positive, more useful purpose of getting things done in a diplomatic way...?

Learn to express your anger in a very calm, yet aggressive manner without loosing your temper, while holding the ability to stay with your rationale thinking.

Anger, is an excellent emotion nature has given to the man kind. It sometimes protects us, helps us in making decisions, it gets things done, comes handy to make our point and many more.

Anger is always a good emotion to have, if we know how to express it and handle it effectively. Go ahead, Get Angry.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Experience - The Best Teacher

2009-03-30T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

While I was travelling from my home town to Bangalore last night, numbers of thoughts were rambling in my mind due to couple of comings and goings in my life. I was thinking of my recent experiences and lessons I am taught by them…therefore got a thread for this post.

Yes, I am absolutely convinced that experience is the best teacher in our lives. First Person Experience in particular is the “Bestest” teacher. I agree that its always good learn lessons from others experience and not to burn our finger once again to learn things. Yes reading biographies, listening to experiences, seeking wisdom from our elders are all means of taking lessons for us to make our lives easier. What we learn through experience is more lasting than that acquired through reading. It is accurate, complete and permanent. It is first-hand knowledge. But, nothing can teach us as good as our own personal First Person Experience. I’ve learnt that, grueling experiences at some point of time will always be a great saviour at some later stage in life and I am sure it’s pretty much true for all of us. A child does not stop playing with fire till he burns his fingers. He learns from his own experience.

Moreover, involving as a first person brings in all the senses of ours into the situation and our brain precisely records that experiential learning so that, it would be readily available for us in future at the right moment when needed. Before crying out “Why Me…?” we should understand that the experiences we have had all through our life is not just to test our faiths in some unknown beliefs, but only to make us as strong as what we are today. We should be thanking the experience and feel blessed for having given this wonderful opportunity to learn. There is profound meaning and purpose to everything that happens to us. May be we are not aware of the purpose right when things are happening to us, but certainly looking back we can very well understand that, its all well connected to our present:

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer said,
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.

It’s also interesting to know that, two of us exactly experiencing a similar experience may feel entirely different based on so many factors. It may depend on our child hood, up bringing, society, family values and many more. Hence it is important to experience the experience personally in first person to get the best out of it.

Experience is the "bestest" teacher that always results in the most enduring lessons.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With love,
Anbusivam

Alcoholic Leadership

2009-03-22T03:28:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I know you must be wondering, what's this Alcoholic Leadership...???

Its all about taking leadership over alcohol and not letting that bottle take over us. We had an excellent session this morning in our counselling class by Mr.Vincent representing AA (Alcoholic Anonymous, a world wide organisation), Bangalore. He shared his personal life experiences on his 25yrs of addiction and how he poured alcohol completely out of his life 15yrs ago. Since then from 1995, he is very instrumental in working with AA, Bangalore reaching out to alcoholics and their families to get out of alcoholism.

AA defines alcoholism as "A physical allergy, coupled with mental obsession, leading to spiritual bankruptcy".

Alcoholism by itself is a deadly disease that succumb mankind to a lowest level in life. I personally knew few of them in my family and friends, who are alcoholics leading a miserable life.

Image courtesy (http://images.inmagine.com)

Its not that they wish and happy to lead life in a miserable way, but they've no other choice as they are programmed to the core with the barrels of alcohol that have gone in all through these years. Even if they badly want to come out of that misery, they will not able to do so, as things have gone out of their hands and mind. Hands starts shaking and shivering without that peg in the morning, mind is out of control fantasizing that one day every thing will be alright. Most importantly they make a promise every day not to drink, though they very well knew that their day is going to end up drinking anyway.

AA is an excellent self help group that has made a remarkable change in thousands of lives all over the world. Here is their famous twelve step program to overcome addiction.

THE TWELVE STEPS PROGRAM OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

In these days of widely accepted social drinking, its very very important to be aware that, alcoholism starts with a very first drink in some point of time in our life. I am not here to say don't drink, it is absolutely an individual's choice to make. All I would like to request is

"Let us be the Leaders in this world and not allow those mere bottles to take over us".

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Note: If you are willing to help an alcoholic in Bangalore, please get in touch with me to know further details on AA, Bangalore fellowship. Thank You.

Great Indian Democracy..Where is it heading...?

2009-03-13T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Now, time has come for the Great Indian Democracy to reinvent itself. I strongly believe this is one of the best times that the younger generation of this wonderful nation can assertively make their voice heard to the country. These days we hardly see any politician who also works for this society and the people those elected him/her. One can clearly see every where from north to south, east to west, the inability of our Indian politicians to rise above their very narrow mentality and their own personal agendas.

Where are we heading....??? I am afraid, if this trend continues for next 10 years, our entire democratic system will collapse and people will take up law and order in their hands, which may lead to dire consequences. We very well know that, all we need is a Great Leader of all times, capable of taking the nation to next greater level.

It's more than enough and we the people are badly badly sick of

dynasty politics,
ruthlessly selfish leaders,
ridiculous freebies,
undelivered promises,
criminal and unethical law makers,
corrupt minds,
opportunistic hearts,
money and muscle powerplays,
madly power greedy,
thoughtless actions,
useless statements,
absurd behaviours,
and on......and on.............,

I am seeing a number of so called leaders willing to become the top brass of our country, and I wonder if any of them even think truthfully if he/she deserves that......??? I can understand that in a democratic country like our's anyone and everyone can have that wish, but as a common sense they should also think about their credentials and abilities to deliver on commitments.

Oh....I am sorry to talk in an alien language "deliver on commitments" what's that....???

One of my friends asked how to choose a better politician....how do I know whom to vote for....?

I think we should not be having that dilemma at all. I know a simple rule. In fact that's is pretty easy, all we need is to just choose between what we want, "worse" or "worst"......?

Let's make our vote count.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Let's Become Wiser Said Warren Buffet...!!!

2009-02-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I talked about simplifying our lives in my previous post, Voluntary Simplicity.

One of my friends shared some wonderful thoughts from the great investor of our times Warren Buffet and I am sharing that with you all. I am sure this is nothing new, as he says its all the wisdom of our elders that will make us financially wiser.

Hard work: All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income.

Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.

Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.

Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

Auditing: Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.

Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet.

Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm sure that those who have been practicing these principles will remain in good financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Life of Voluntary Simplicity

2009-02-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Phew…!!! Job loss every where. I am literally seeing frowning faces every where....and the questions they ask are "How is it going in your company...?, any lay offs ...?".

Organisations are into cost cutting mode. Managers are looking for reducing the operating costs in each and every corner, even to the extent of buying low cost toilet tissues. For individuals, I believe this is the right time to come out of consumerism. which many are blindly falling prey to. In this time of global economic melt down, leading a simple life means a lot for survival.

Only way we individuals can cope with these kinds of situations is with “Voluntary Simplicity”. Voluntary simplicity comes from within. It is the only way of more sustainable human existence in this world. Voluntary simplicity is a matter of personal responsibility and conscious awareness of how we live on the planet. It means identifying the difference between our needs and our wants. Needs are those things that are necessary for our survival - food, clothing, and shelter. Wants are all the other things we desire and to a large extent are driven by media advertising. Simplicity as a life-style is the identifiable difference between needs and wants, and the awareness.

We must live simply, so that others may simply live. - Gandhi

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. - Hans Hofmann.

Practical Steps to Simplifying Our Life:

Get yourself with what you really need and not what you want.

Limit your buying habits. If we can escape materialism, we can easily get into the habit of buying less. And that will mean less stuff, less spending, less frustration.

Limit your media consumption, media advertisements dominates most of our buying decisions. Simplify your life and your information consumption by limiting it.

Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity.

Before you buy something, write the item down on a note and if you still want it after a month, purchase it then.

Have a Buy Nothing Day.

Walk down or take out your bicycle to round the corner shopping.

Decide what is really working in your life and let go of that which no longer serves you.

Brew your own coffee at home instead of spending time and money in that posh café corner.

Find friends who know the glass is half-full or in other words, find friends who share the same value system as you do.

After all the above,

Always ask: Will this simplify my life? If the answer is no, reconsider.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Counselor Chalisa...!!!

2009-02-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Hanuman Chalisa is a Hindi poem on Lord Hanuman written by Shri.Tulsidas, which is recited as a prayer by Hindus. The moment I came across an excellent poem on Counselors , I shared it with my DCS ( Diploma in Counseling Skills) classmates of Banjara Academy. I would say nothing else in this world can depict what counseling and counselors are all about as perfectly as this one poem does. I am really really grateful for the person who had written this wonderful poem. Its simply amazing combination of words together that makes a huge impact. And yes, we as counselors decided to recite this day in and day out. We named it "Counselor Chalisa".

Here it goes:

"Counselor Chalisa"

I can't give solutions to all of
life's problems, doubts, or fears.
But I can listen to you and
together we will search for answers.

I can't change your past with all it's heartache and pain,
nor the future with it's untold stories.
But I can be there now when you need me to care.

I can't keep your
feet from stumbling.
I can only offer my hand
that you may grasp it
and not fall.

Your joys, triumphs, success,
and happiness are not mine;
Yet I can share in your laughter.

Your decisions in life are not mine to make, nor to judge;
I can only support you, encourage you,
and help you when you ask.

I can't prevent you from

falling away from friendship,

from your values, from me.

I can only pray for you,

talk to you, and wait for you.

I can't give you boundaries which I have determined for you,
But I can give you the room to change, room to grow,
room to be yourself.

I can't keep your heart from breaking and hurting,
But I can cry with you and help you pick up the pieces
and put them back in place.

I can't tell you who you are,

I can only love you and be your friend.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

What is Leadership - an Art or a Science...?

2009-01-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Today in office at the lunch table, we were talking on Leadership in context with Satyam's scam, I would say it's indeed Ramalinga Raju's fraud.

Then came a question: Leadership - is it an Art or a Science...???

One of my colleagues said, "Leadership is an art, not a science. It depends mostly on sensitivity to circumstances, courage to face reality and a continual willingness to do whatever it takes to bring others along with an artistic eye for the future".

One another colleague said, "Leadership is a science, not an art. It purely depends on the ability to gather the data available around, gather tangible information and take appropriate decision on that for the future".

I believe "Leadership is more of an art with some science. Its all about dealing with people and situations those would probably lead to a better future if led in the right way".

What do you think on Leadership, is it an Art or a Science...???
Share your thoughts and comments.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love.
Anbusivam

Small Change Can Make Big Difference

2009-01-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Yes indeed its very true that, "A Small Change Can Make Big Difference" most of the time in many areas of our life.

A Better technical term that can well explain this idea is "Butterfly Effect" (or sometimes referred to a Chaos Theory). A butterfly's soft tiny wings can make changes in the atmosphere, that may ultimately may alter the path of a Tornado, it may even create or prevent the occurrence of tornado at certain location. It doesn't mean that flapping of a butterfly's wings only can create tornado, but its a consecutive chain of effects whose initial conditions would be different if not because the flapping wings of a butterfly.

Does this Butterfly Effect play a role in our relationships....??? Yes to a great extent.

Small gestures and reciprocations could make a huge difference in the way our relationships take course. Most of the time we take things for granted in our close relations. We don't even think of saying a Thank You to our parents, spouse or friends as we believe that they are obliged to do things for us, as after all we are there for them. Understanding some of the subtle feelings of our loved ones and supporting them the way they need (not the way we would need in a similar situation) would surely change the relationship into a stronger one. I've come across people who, feel pressure in their relationships now as they failed to address these small and subtle needs to nurture it into a stronger one.

Does this Butterfly Effect play a role in our work....??? Yes to a great extent.

Looking carefully to the smallest details while starting a project is very very critical in our work place too. A subtle mistake while getting our customer's requirements would end up in a big trouble at the finishing of the product. This would definitely take a huge expense to correct at the final delivery stage.

Every morning, the time it takes for me to reach my office greatly depends on what time I start from my home. It usually takes 30mins if I start at 7.20am. It takes more than an hour if I start at 7.30am. I used to wonder how come just a 10mins difference in the initial condition makes a huge impact of more than 30mins at the destination. In fact the number of vehicles come out on the road increases more than twice in that 10mins delay and it literally looks like butterflies crowding on the road....:) Yes, this is nothing but a Butterfly effect.

Again, Yes indeed its very true that, "A Small Change Can Make Big Difference" most of the time in many areas of our life. We should be looking out for those subtle things, that can really make big difference.

Thank for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

New Year Afformations...!

2008-12-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

Hell0 Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Wishing you all a very prosperous New Year 2009.

Read it again....not Affirmations, its "Afformations". Before we talk about Afformations, let me tell you something that happened last week. Last Friday after dinner we discussing on some movies and suddenly my sister brought in the topic of an old time singer who was my favorite in school days. Surprisingly I was not even remembering his name and tried all my best to recollect it by all means from my memory, but couldn't. That night when I went to bed, I was unable to sleep without knowing the name of that singer. The question of What's that singer's name...? occupied my mind completely and it was a long night indeed.

Being a student of Human Mind, I just wondered how smart our mind is. It was literally stuck in a question, trying all means to find answer for that. Almost all of us are wired with this inherent curiosity to find/search answers for the questions posed to us in our lives. I was thinking how can this tendency of Human Mind to seek answers to the questions can be used in the field of self development.

After various searches in Google, I ended up with "Empowering Questions" which took me to this wonderful world of "Afformations" a word coined by Noha.St.John of The SuccessClinic. His wonderful book The Great Little Book of Afformations talks in detail about the power of Afformations.

Unlike affirmations, afformations are not just positive statements. Its all powerful positive questions. I've been using positive affirmations since my NLP days, but yes there is always a conflict between my conscious and subconscious mind each time I repeat my affirmation statements. As Noha says in his book, "I am rich" is indeed believed to be a positive affirmations. Important thing to notice here is do we sincerely believe this affirmation statement or do we doubt them..? Okie if I believe it and then, what's next after this art of convincing ourselves with what we are not. Noha's Afformations takes us to the next level, that is the new way of asking powerful questions to which our mind automatically try to find out the answers leading to greater results at the end.

According to Noha,

Affirmation --> "I am Rich", this is a statement to which our mind says "Yeah, Right". It all ends there most of the time.

Afformation --> "Why am I Rich?", this is a powerful positive question to which our mind starts seeking/searching answers. In the process we find all possible means and ways to become rich actually.

In this New Year 2009, We can simply modify all our negative questions into positive, empowering questions which will cause our mind to focus on the positive possibilities.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love.
Anbusivam

Leadership Skills for Legislators

2008-12-16T16:51:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I was very happy and it is good to see our legislators sitting in the classrooms of IIMB the elite management institute, trying to learn the new way of social management. Yes, ofcourse they need it.

Who else can make this happen other than our great Indian Inspiration Dr.Abdul Kalam sir. He is an amazing Indian who deeply energies and inspires the youth of this nation to a greater level. I don't think there is anyother leader who could create this inspiration and passion throughout the nation. I am sure every school going children knows who he is and what's his dream 2020 is all about.

When Karnataka Legislators decided to take up a 3 days management class from our former president and some senior professors of IIMB, there is a hope that they would have at least picked up some basic managment lessons to implement in their constituencies.

Acording to Kalam, a leader must have the following eight qualities:

Vision
Passion to bring true the vision
Ability to travel on unexplored path
Know how to manage success and failure
Courage to take decisions
Nobility in management
Transparency in management
Work with integrity

The main problem I see is , as a country we have labeled politics as service to the society. During the days of independence people entering into politics were considered to be sacrificing their personal and family priorities for the sake of National priorities. Now even after 60 years of independence our politicians still think that they are doing a great service to the people and the society, while actually doing all possible things to keep their personal and family priorities on the top. I believe that this irony of thought and action should be fundamentally changed.

Why can't we consider at least our elected representatives as an executive of a company, who is accountable, perform, deliver his promises, fold his sleeves and get into action.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Leadership in the Times of Crisis

2008-12-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When the entire world was glued to their television sets, watching the great mayhem of this year in Mumbai I was equally angry on our so called Leaders as any other young Indian. The 60 hours of action seemingly like a Hollywood blockbuster at last came to an end with unfortunate loss of the innocent lives.

It was very obvious, as a nation we are not even near ready for these kinds of times of crisis. Crisis is an unexpected, sudden disaster that can deeply impact the lives of the people, disrupting even their very existence in this society. Now with this Mumbai event it’s clear that not only Nations but businesses, institutions and even individuals need to be prepared to these kinds of crisis. Today’s society is more and more becoming vulnerable to these kinds of dastardly terror acts as it is easy for any one to get hold of the necessary materials, technology and expertise to make weapons of mass destructions.

In an open society where we value the freedoms of movement, we definitely can’t guarantee stopping these attacks completely. All that we can do is to make our best possible efforts in putting up all possible hurdles to carry out even a simple attack on the innocent lives around. In fact the Mumbai attacks clearly showed that, we don’t even have given a simple difficulty for those mindless animals to carry out such an outrageous act. It was just a cake for them into those high profile buildings. This is really a matter of deep concern for all the citizens of this country.

Leadership that can promptly act, make things happen quickly in the times of crisis is what we need. For all these years, we’ve allowed these problems to be part of our lives. At least this time it’s heartening to see the young Indians waking up, who don’t want to allow the problem to be part of their lives, instead wanted to deal with it strongly. We should be demanding our leaders to make things happen and make it clear to the world that we as a country will not allow these kinds of dastardly acts in our soil anymore in any form. We should firmly make it apparent that will go to any extent to address these issues right now at this moment.

Some critical points for the leadership during times of crisis I could think of are:

Be proactive and not reactive (let’s at least have a crisis management team in place to handle such times of crisis)
We shouldn’t even think of what to do when the moment hits us, instead we should be prepared in detail on what are the priorities in the times of crisis (faster we act, quicker we can take charge of the situation)
Speculations and rumors are the killers in times of crisis. (we should have a one singe reliable communication channel to the people, instead of every one taking out to take political mileage out of the situation)
We should be careful of every word spoken during crisis (especially for the media and political leaders)
We should learn to rise to the occasion, leaving all our differences aside (religion, caste, creed, etc…)

As I always say, we often relate the word "Leadership" with politics, business, sports, and very few areas of our lives. Many a times I've noticed people think and talk, that Leadership is all about position. But, I strongly believe Leadership is everybody’s business. It is for men, women and children. It is for families, business and communities. It is for me and you. It is for each one of us.

Let’s take charge and make sure for a Fundamental Change in this great India. Jai Hind.

With Love.
Anbusivam

Leadership through Physical Fitness

2008-11-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When I was doing my regular weekend long-run this morning, the thought stuck in my mind was, "Is there a relationship between Leadership and Physical Fitness...?". From my few experiments and little experience I am fully convinced that, Yes there is a great relation between one's Leadership Qualities and his/her Physical Fitness.

It is also true that, children involved in rigorous physical activities like sports and games could concentrate better in their studies as compared to the children who spend most of their time with computer games or television.

Here is what physical fitness can bring in to our lives,

1. Keeps us healthy and fit.
2. Positively impacts our personality.
3. Increases our self confidence.
4. Certainly clears of all the stress and tension.
5. Brings in lots of clarity in thinking.
6. Provides more behavioral choices.
7. Increases our ability to handle stress.
8. Increases our endurance.
9. Makes us more flexible.
10. Gives better emotional stability.
11. ...
12. ... i am sure this list could go on and on.....!

Research have proved clearly that there is an obvious connection between the employee muscle and employee behavior. A study undertaken by Naval postgraduate school, gave organizations a better idea of what to expect from improved management and employee muscle. The results indicated the improved physical fitness can significantly affect the individual in terms of changes in personality and behavior. The changes also appear to have a significant positive effect on individual leadership traits.

Barack Obama, one of the very few fittest presidents usually starts his day in the gym. He says,

“I tend to be a healthy eater. So I probably could get away with cutting my workouts back a little bit. The main reason I do it is just to clear my head and relieve me of stress. It’s a great way to stay focused.”

One key thing to remember is, what ever we do, its all going to come back to us.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

My Presentation at IgniteBangalore2008

2008-11-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page

I am sharing the presentation slides from my talk at IgniteBangalore2008.

What is Ignite?

If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.

IgniteBangalore was the first of its kind in India organized by the folks from McKinsey here in Bangalore on Thursday, November 13, 2008. I must say it was an excellent evening, with enthusiastic and wonderful crowd. I was one among the 12 presenters , who were from different walks of life passionate about Technology, Biking, Humanity, Social Contribution, Child Education, Political Awareness, Innovation and so on.

World May End Tonight Ignite Bangalore

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

(Hope the video will be up soon too)

These slides were running at one slide per 15secs, I had 20 slides and 5mins to talk. Let me know if you can think of what I would have talked there...???

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Hardwork Can Only End In Great Results

2008-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

For the first time I've shamelessly copied few excerpts word by word from a wonderful article of SiliconIndia. Thanks to my friend Pradeep of SiliconIndia, for one of the best article that has ever come in SiliconIndia. (In my humble opinion)

This is a story of brothers who have proved clearly that no matter what the external circumstances are, but a sincere hard work had to end in great results. There is no other way actually. Nothing can be substituted to Hard Work in the world of consistent success. Though hard work may not be the only attribute for success in life, but I am sure every thing else without hard work is meaning less.

It's an amazing life lesson from Kalyan Raman, VP.Technology and Head of Amazon Bangalore Centre and Kumar Srinivasan, CEO of Global Scholar. This brothers had proved that sucess comes to those who dare to dream and have the spirit to make it true. This really inspired me to daringly dream for a next level in my life.

Do Visit this Link for Sure:
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/48412

Disclaimer: Inspiration Guaranteed.

Thank for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Yes, I am a Valuable Person

2008-10-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog page.

I am writing this post when most of Bangalore is snoring in a cold midnight suddenly jumping out of my bed. Though writing a blog post has been one among my high priority tasks for the end of my work week, I thought of doing it tomorrow as I was little down with some overwhelming emotions and feelings. In spite of all, I couldn't resist myself jumping out of my bed to complete this task, prompted by Scott Peck.

I picked up a very interesting book "The Road Less Traveled" by Scott Peck last week. As usual I am sticking to it like a lizard on the wall and I will, until I complete it. Scott says,

"The feeling of being valuable - "I am a valuable person" is essential to our mental health and is a cornerstone of self discipline. If we feel ourselves valuable, then we will feel our time valuable, and if we feel our time to be valuable, then we will want to use it well."

I personally value my time spending in blogging to the most purposeful in my life This is the time during which I really think more critically, try to get more information, understand the subject to its deeper and subtler levels and so on. As I value blogging to the core, I was unable to sleep while that is not completed as required to be. This can also be looked as a way of "Delaying Gratification" means, by which I am ready to sacrifice a cozy sleep in this cold midnight in order to get this task of blogging accomplished on time.

Let's all value ourselves and hence value our valuable time to put it for our best purpose.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Congruent Living

2008-10-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome Anbusivam's Blog Page.

I am doing my DCS (Diploma in Counseling Skills) from Banjara Academy. Our teachers both Dr.Ali Khwaja and Raja Reddy are wonderful people. I really love and enjoy myself in this course with excellent classmates helping me to understand myself and others in a better way.

As a part of the course work we were out of Bangalore this weekend to Manthan, a six-acre farm located in Yelahanka (outskirts of Bangalore), belonging to the Banjara Academy serves as the venue for the many activities of the Academy. Manthan is an ideal weekend getaway in its wonderful serene surroundings. Two full days were all about "SelF AwarenesS".

I personally had a wonderful experience there, during the camp I could really get to know some of my unknown traits those are useful neither for me nor for anyone else. In fact those qualities in me were roadblocks to some extent in my interpersonal relations. So, having identified them I am gonna sincerely work on them to get rid of them to replace with some very useful qualities there in place. I did some soul searching there to identify few good qualities those will be certainly useful to me and in my interactions as well.

"Congruent Living" is the right phrase I would like to put in place for what I want in life. Carl Rogers originated the word the term congruence. For him congruence is only when our thoughts, feelings, emotions, values and behaviours are aligned in same direction. I always find meditation to be an excellent technique to strive towards congruence. I am sure this is helping me a lot in my never ending journey from the present real-self to the ideal-self.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Brick Walls Are Not There To Keep Us Out

2008-10-08T07:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Couple of weeks ago I realised that I am almost stuck with one of my personal goals. All my efforts ended up in vein and I was about to give-up. My thought of giving up broke, when I came across this wonderful video of Carnegie Mellon University Professor Randy Paush's Last Lecture.

Randy talked about his application to Walt Disney Imagineering, saying "I dashed off my letters of applications to Walt Disney Imagineering, and they sent me some of the damned nicest go-to-hell letters I have ever gotten". But the rejection didn't discourage him and eventually wound up doing work for Disney.

He said, "The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something." In other words, the brick walls of rejection help us figure out who we really are and what we really want.

Randy went on to say, "The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people."

So I asked myself , "How badly do I want that goal to be achieved? How good are my climbing skills to climb across? Or do I think success is 'too hard' to achieve and just give up?". After all these questions I started working with all my effort towards that goal and it looks like I am making some decent progress if not great steps ahead.

I am happy for not giving it up....!!! Find here the (Video)

Let's understand that, "Brick Walls Are Not There To Keep Us Out "

Thanks for visiting for my page

With Love,
Anbusivam

Street Smart Leadership

2008-09-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When I was walking along the busy commercial street last evening, I noticed a young boy selling balloons on the road side. I was curious to know the way he does his business. I opted to wait and observe him rather than going and asking him questions about his way of business. I quietly picked up a cone of ice cream and stood near him, to observe what's going on there.

My observations:

1. First thing he did was gave a flashing, catchy smile at the little children looking at him and his balloons.

2. With his smile and some funny actions, he inspired the children to ask for a balloon to their parents.

3. He had a variety of balloons, round, long, twisted, doll like...etc in various colors.

4. He had no fixed rate for the balloons, it depends on the attire of the child and her parents. He charged Rs.15 to a posh looking family in a brand new car and Rs.5 for the same balloon to a middle class family. He even gave it out for Rs.2 to a poor child on the street.

5. He knows how to fix the rate according to the person....as well. The price starts with two to three times the basic price and comes down gradually if the buyer seems to be bargaining too much. Same balloon is fixed at a reasonable price if a decent and quick buyer is seen in front.

I am sure this young boy on the street side had acquired these skills just by practice, and experience not by reading any best selling books. All the above the very necessity of not loosing a prospective buyer.

We have the most highly educated, literate and engaged workforce in our corporate world. And these graduates from elite institutions are most of the times from well to do families and they hardly know what "Street Smart Leadership" means. Street Smartness is just a combination of life experience, intelligence, awareness, cleverness, guile, humor, ingenuity, agility and ability acquired beyond (or in place of) formal education.

I sincerely believe "Street Smartness" is a greatly valuable commodity these days for those who want to get ahead of those elite and highly educated.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusiva

Motivation from Special Children

2008-09-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Last Friday I had a great opportunity to visit Spastic Society of Karnataka, which is a special school for children with special needs. It was a part of my Counseling course and I was not even aware of the meaning of Spastics till I go there to see those wonderful children.

Yes, this school is mainly for children with Neuro-muscular disorders, Developmental and Learning Disabilities. All the teachers there are well trained special educators with lots and lots of care and empathy for those children. It was absolutely an amazing experience when we were taken to the classrooms. Those children seems to be enjoying and having a great time in their own world with their special school, special friends and special educators. Paradoxically I felt a huge pain and agony to see those innocent little ones in need of special care. Children were very happy to see us and they were well trained to handle thier basic physical needs and ettiquites by themselves. And the best part I observed is those children are highly helpful to eachother than the children we see in normal schools.

In spite of being differently-abled with special needs, I felt somehow the nature had given those little ones something more than what we all have and striving for. That something is Happiness. They are just laughing, giggling, smiling, talking, and playing all around with no big sorrow and worry on their disabilities. They also do some wonderful paintings, craft work, bakery products. We picked up some wonderful paintings and nice biscuits those were made by the children themselves.

The greatest Motivation I got from the visit is "When those children can be happy and enjoying life all the time, why can't we too...!!!"

Please, find out a special school near your place, do visit them, just spend some time with those little one's and help them as much as you can. I am sure you'll feel great and contented at the end of the day.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Becoming a Motivational Leader

2008-09-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When I was browsing through my older folders this evening, I just came across this very interesting piece of information from Brain Tracy on Becoming a Motivational Leader.

Create a Big Vision:
To become a motivational leader, you start with motivating yourself. You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively toward its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with you to fulfill that vision.

Set High Standards:
You exhibit absolute honesty and integrity with everyone in everything you do. You are the kind of person others admire and respect and want to be like. You set a standard that others aspire to. You live in truth with yourself and others so that they feel confident giving you their support and their commitment.

Face Your Fears:
You demonstrate courage in everything you do by facing doubts and uncertainties and moving forward regardless. You put up a good front even when you feel anxious about the outcome. You don't burden others with your fears and misgivings. You keep them to yourself. You constantly push yourself out of your comfort zone and in the direction of your goals. And no matter how bleak the situation might appear, you keep on keeping on with a smile.

Be Realistic About Your Situation:
You are intensely realistic. You refuse to engage in mental games or self-delusion. You encourage others to be realistic and objective about their situations as well. You encourage them to realize and appreciate that there is a price to pay for everything they want. They have weaknesses that they will have to overcome, and they have standards that they will have to meet, if they want to survive and thrive in a competitive market.

Motivating people properly will bring out their best:
Since you have built self-esteem and self-confidence in your employees, sales and output have been on the rise. When I started unlocking the full potential in all of my employees, performance and output have increased.

Motivating People to Peak Performance:
By learning my techniques you can get extraordinary performance out of ordinary people. With this video you will learn the 21 best methods ever discovered to manage and motivate other.

Accept Responsibility:
You accept complete responsibility for results. You refuse to make excuses or blame others or hold grudges against people who you feel may have wronged you. You say, "If it's to be, it's up to me." You repeat over and over the words, "I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible."

Take Vigorous Action:
Finally, you take action. You know that all mental preparation and character building is merely a prelude to action. It's not what you say but what you do that counts. The mark of the true leader is that he or she leads the action. He or she is willing to go first. He or she sets the example and acts as the role model. He or she does what he or she expects others to do.

Strive For Excellence:
You become a motivational leader by motivating yourself. And you motivate yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming everything you are capable of becoming. You motivate yourself by throwing your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion. You motivate yourself and others by continually looking for ways to help others to improve their lives and achieve their goals. You become a motivational leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and support in every way.

Your main job is to take complete control of your personal evolution and become a leader in every area of your life. You could ask for nothing more, and you should settle for nothing less.

"It's not what you say but what you do that counts" is my favorite thought provoking statement in this article, which I think is the essence of a being a Leader.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

David Allen's - "Getting Things Done"

2008-08-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

When I was browsing through a near by book store this evening, I came across an interesting book titled "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. A quick read through that book gave me a number of tips and tricks to get things done in our personal and professional life.

Its all about productivity, achieving maximum out of our life while managing anxiety and stress to a great extent, making life simple and effective. "Getting Things Done" abbreviated as GTD is a simple and flexible method for managing our day-to-day tasks or activities, so as to maximize personal productivity. GTD basically changes the traditional focus of prioritizing the tasks to meticulously keeping track of opportunities and commitments for action. I wrote this post after a quick glance of the book and yes, I am yet to start reading the book.

I'll come with a detailed post after reading the book and experimenting some of the very interesting concepts of GTD.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Siva

Power of Association and Dissociation.

2008-08-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's Blog Page.

Let's do a quick experiment before reading further. Think of two situations from your past, one pleasant and another unpleasant. Carefully notice when you recall those incidents, wether you relive them or just recall them as an observer. If you've relive them, experience the same emotions and feelings as if you are undergoing the same situation right now then you are fully associated with the incident. In case if you can objectively observe yourself going through the incident in the past then its clear that you are dissociated with the incident.

Now how does this association and dissociation helps us in our lives...???

Simple thumb rule I would prefer to follow is associate with positive or useful things in life and dissociate from the negative or not useful things in life. I think I've told this in one of my earlier posts as well. Few months ago I went to the hill station Ooty with few of my good friends. One of them had been to Ooty the previous year with her family,and they had a wonderful time spending there, enjoying with the nature. But, one unpleasant incident was, she had lost her gold ring in the lake. This time when we decided to go on a boat ride that particular friend was not at all ready to come with us, as she had closely associated that unpleasant memory of losing her ring in the same lake the previous year. Though she had so many other very pleasant memories from her previous visit, she has closely taken that incident to her heart and started reliving the same old incident right in front of us. We could see her literally going through the same experience she had when ring was lost. If she could have dissociated herself from that incident, she could have objectively thought about how to keep the valuables safe during such a boat ride and still enjoy and have fun in that beautiful lake and boat ride.

If you are seeing someone getting depressed, dejected very often, I am sure they dissociate from their positive experience and associate into the negative experience. Learning to choose when to associate and when to dissociate gives us a profound way of living our lives.

If we want to truly enjoy our lives, two basic principles to be followed:

1. Associate with the pleasant memories, so that we can relive that, relish the joy, enjoy all the happy and pleasant state of mind and use those positive attitudes for the success of our future.

2. Dissociate with the unpleasant memories. so that we can revisit that purely as an observer or onlooker, learn from it, correct our mistakes of the past and still use those learning for the success of future.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

India Vision 2020:

2008-08-15T01:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog Page.

This morning when I was reading an article on freedom struggle, a strange thought came into my mind. I started imagining how India will be if it goes into the hands of a leadership that is really really young, strong, dynamic, energetic, ethical, truthful and, diligent with a great vision for education.

I went back to my memories of a great book by Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam along with Dr.Y.S.Rajan – "India 2020 : Vision for the new millennium".

Dr.Kalam in one of his speeches elaborated the concept:

“Transforming the nation into a developed country, five areas in combination have been identified based on India's core competence, natural resources and talented manpower for integrated action to double the growth rate of GDP and realize the Vision of Developed India.

These are:

Agriculture and food processing -- with a target of doubling the present production of food and agricultural products by 2020. Agro food processing industry would lead to the prosperity of rural people, food security and speed up the economic growth;

Infrastructure with reliable and quality electric power including solar farming for all parts of the country, providing urban amenities in rural areas and interlinking of rivers;

Education and Healthcare: To provide social security and eradication of illiteracy and health for all;

Information and Communication Technology: This is one of our core competencies and wealth generator. ICT can be used for tele-education, tele-medicine and e-governance to promote education in remote areas, healthcare and also transparency in the administration; and

Critical technologies and strategic industries witnessed the growth in nuclear technology, space technology and defence technology”.

I am sure imaginations and dreams are alwaysthe stepping stones of a greater achievements. Yes, it sounds extremely exciting and inspiring, but these great men had given us the wonderful requirements and great national goals to be achieved. Now, we the younger generations have all the responsibilities to bring this true.

Let's strive to bring this India Vision 2020, a reality much ahead of the year 2020.

With Love,
Anbsivam

Swami Vivekananda on God and Religion

2008-07-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

I wanted to write my thoughts on God and Religion. I've been into this spiritual quest of understanding what is God? who is the creator? is he really sitting up above the clouds in a place called heavens? what is the need of prayer?........these questions goes on and on......!!!

Yes, sometime I get some answers but more often nothing but confusion remains. Being an engineering student, I always tend to look for logical answers than a conclusion that is merely based on faiths. Okie, I'll spend some good time to put down my own thoughts and understandings in one of my next posts.

For now, I've some thoughts from the Great Hindu Monk of all times Swami Vivekananda here:

"Many years ago, I visited a great sage of our own country, a very holy man. we talked of our revealed books, the Vedas, of Bible, of Koran and of revealed books in general. At the close of the talk, this good man asked me to go to the table and take up a book; it was a book which among other things, contained a forecast of the rainfall during the year. The sage said "Read That". And I read out the quantity of rain that was to fall. He said, "Now take the book and squeeze it". I did so and he said "Why, my boy, not a drop of water comes out. Until the water comes out, its all book, So until your religion makes you realise God, it is useless".

"A man may believe in all the churches in the world, he may carry in his head all the sacred books ever written, he may baptise himself in all the rivers og the earth, still if he hasno perception of God, I would class him with the rankest atheist. And a man may have never entered a church or a mosque, nor he performed any ceremony, but if he feels God within himself and is thereby lifted above the vanities of the world, that man is holy man, a saint".

You are most welcome to share your thoughts on the above passage.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Great Leaders Wallpapers.

2008-07-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Came across some nice wall papers from www.leadershipnow.com.

"What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we have gone." - Winston Churchill

"No man is good enough to govern another man, without that others consent." - Abraham Lincoln

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Find here the Great Leaders Series

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

A Meditation on Winning Habits

2008-07-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

A very interesting and though provoking article I came across in SiliconIndia Magazine by Dr. Santanu Paul Vice President, Global Delivery Operations.

The last decade has seen engineers of all dispositions gravitating towards IT - like bees towards fresh blossom. Everyone knows that the profession pays remarkably well, and people are buzzing about the chances to catch a piece of the action. Interactions with aspiring IT professionals indicate that many do not have a clear view of what capabilities are expected of them, and which character traits are likely to accelerate careers and unlock growth opportunities. This article is an attempt to shed some light on the ‘winning traits’ that separate good IT professionals from ordinary ones.

First and foremost, a genuine passion and aptitude for software as a technology is an absolute must. A burning desire to become a master craftsperson is the hallmark of great software professionals. Couple that with high ability to learn and you have a winning combination. Regrettably, as the profession has become more lucrative, it has attracted mediocre dabblers and mercenaries who care little about the profession itself, except for the financial opportunity it represents. This must stop, or else over time we will have to witness the dilution our position as an IT-savvy nation.

If aptitude is a must, attitude is paramount. A ‘can-do’ mindset works wonders. The knowledge economy needs people who are self-directed and self-motivated. Most IT companies are moving too fast to have the time to baby-sit those that need excessive supervision and maintenance, are overly defensive or cautious, or for whom the glass is always half-empty. Because time to result is key, the industry disproportionately rewards the positive-minded; people who see opportunities in problems, not problems in opportunities.

Effective communication is just as critical. People who listen, speak, write, and present clearly and meaningfully in English have an unfair advantage over those that do not. Effective communication is not about imbibing Western accents – it is about clarity of thought, articulation, and purpose. It is also about the ability to listen to others with respect and learn from their viewpoints and opinions.

In his classic book ‘Emotional Intelligence’, Daniel Goleman writes about the importance of EQ, or emotional quotient. In no industry is EQ more valuable than in IT; after all, the lifeblood of the industry is effective collaboration between bright, capable, and sensitive people across service providers, customers, and customers’ customers. If you are blessed with a high degree of empathy and self-awareness, the IT industry is for you. For this reason alone, one can conjecture that women have an edge over men in the IT profession.

The next winning trait is teamwork. Every great achievement in the IT profession is a direct result of exquisite teamwork. In fact, nothing is more detrimental to an IT project than a self-absorbed IT professional bent on being a hero and engaging in one-upmanship. If you have ever watched a pit crew in action during a Formula One race, or admired the harmonious muscularity of a professional rowing team, you have a very good idea of what high performance IT teams look like.

Natural leadership skills are always at a premium. The ability to inspire and motivate fellow team members propels young IT professionals very quickly towards higher levels of responsibility. The ability to ascribe success to teammates and the willingness to take responsibility for failures is the hallmark of a natural leader. An IT professional with strong technical competency, natural leadership skills, and a desire to serve team members selflessly is guaranteed a glorious career in the profession.

Last but not the least, a commitment to global citizenship and pluralism is a must. The IT industry is truly global, and professionals that are comfortable with cross-cultural dialog have a major advantage. This usually means an appreciation for diversity, a willingness to welcome and even celebrate differences between cultures and individuals, and a ready acceptance of the fact that both the East and the West must learn from each other. There is no such thing as a Bangalore-class or India-class professional. Either you are a world-class professional, or you are irrelevant.

Here is the original link.
http://www.siliconindia.com/guestcontributor/guestdesc.php?69

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Leading Life in a Simple Way

2008-07-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

These days, almost all my interactions and general talks ends up in the topics on increasing oil prices, rising commodity prices and rising inflation (This week's Indian inflation number is @ 11.36% hitting its 13year high). I am sure you too are hearing these talks everywhere in a bus, train, airport, mall, market and in all over the places.

Phew…!!! Companies are in to cost cutting mode. Finance managers are looking for reducing the operating costs in each and every corner, even to the extent of buying low cost toilet tissues.

Only way we individuals can cope with these kinds of situations is with “Voluntary Simplicity”. Voluntary simplicity comes from within. It is the only way of more sustainable human existence in this world. Voluntary simplicity is a matter of personal responsibility and conscious awareness of how we live on the planet. It means identifying the difference between our needs and our wants. Needs are those things that are necessary for our survival - food, clothing, and shelter. Wants are all the other things we desire and to a large extent are driven by media advertising. Simplicity as a life-style is the identifiable difference between needs and wants, and the awareness.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann.

Practical Steps to Simplifying Our Life:

Get yourself with what you really need and not what you want.

Limit your buying habits. If we can escape materialism, we can easily get into the habit of buying less. And that will mean less stuff, less spending, less frustration.

Limit your media consumption, media advertisements dominates most of our buying decisions. Simplify your life and your information consumption by limiting it.

Learn to live frugally. Living frugally means buying less, wanting less, and leaving less of a footprint on the earth. It’s directly related to simplicity.

Before you buy something, write the item down on a note and if you still want it after a month, purchase it then.

Have a Buy Nothing Day.

Walk down or take out your bicycle to round the corner shopping.

Decide what is really working in your life and let go of that which no longer serves you.

Brew your own coffee at home instead of spending time and money in that posh café corner.

Find friends who know the glass is half-full or in other words, find friends who share the same value system as you do.

After all the above,

Always ask: Will this simplify my life? If the answer is no, reconsider.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Excellence Always from Tom Peters

2008-06-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

In my previous post on Personal Brand, I just wrote down some of my thoughts, that popped up while pondering over the term "branding our own self" with the global brand Coke as an analogy. Interesting comments/replies from my friends and readers came in, which made me dig further into the aspects of branding.

My further study on personal branding ended up in the homepage of Tom Peters, an American writer on business management practices. The term Personal branding is thought to have been first used and discussed in an 1997 article by Tom Peters. Personal branding is the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands.

His famous book In Search of Excellence was published in 1982, and became a bestseller. Here is an interesting video from Tom on "Excellence Always"

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Leadership in Building Our Personal Brand

2008-06-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

After my previous post on PepsiCo's Leadership Philosophy, here I’ve some thoughts to learn from Coca-Cola alias Coke.

The moment, I thought of writing on branding, first came in my mind was the survey I came across last year from Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2007. The brand “Coca-Cola” ranks 1^st among the 100 global brands surveyed, with the estimated brand value of worth $65B.

Personal Branding is some thing that each one of us should sincerely think about. I am sure the moment we hear the word “Coke” number of thoughts comes up in us about Coca-Cola, which is nothing but just a soda. In the same way, the moment when someone hears “our name”, what are the kinds of thoughts that occur in their mind…? Do we really have control on what others think of us…? Can we manage our reputation, perception, image that other people have about us…?

If not 100%, I am sure it is possible for us to have a substantial control of what others think of us. This could be made possible only by the way we live, the values we choose, the way we interact with others and the way we give back to the society. Key point to notice here is, we need not blow our own trumpet, but let’s clearly communicate to the people around us about what our values and ethics are, particularly through our deeds not just words. It’s nothing but creating an identity, mage or a perception on us.

Starting point of this is to answer this important question “What do we want to be known for?” When we seek answers for this question sincerely from the bottom of our heart, we would be able to effortlessly create our own reputation in our family, among our friends and colleagues, wherein they will clearly understand the kind of person we are.

As pertinent to any other brand, some of the key qualities of our personal branding should be honesty, clarity, reliability and consistency. Of course, better branding plays a key role in every aspect of our lives like getting a graduate school admission, finding a perfect soul mate, getting a good job and so on.

Above all it’s not going to be an overnight process; it has to be built brick by brick with utmost sincerity. Let’s start building our own “Personal Brand”, I am sure its going to be a pleasant life time pursuit.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

PepsiCo's Leadership Philosophy of Performance with Purpose

2008-06-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, PepsiCo's CEO, named frequently as one of the most powerful business leaders in the world, listed as fifth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine, named among Time's most influential people in 2007 - 2008, spoke about the key roles that PepsiCo's employees play in realizing the vision of "Performance with Purpose".

Nooyi says, she believes that each one of PepsiCo’s 185,000 employees is a leader. There are two reasons for this. First, PepsiCo is a meritocracy. Hard work gets recognized. Second, PepsiCo has an entrepreneurial culture, so people have the ability to take the initiative to develop good ideas.

These are some skills that Nooyi believes to be the hallmarks of a good leader:

1. Competence:
You must be an expert in your function or area of expertise. You will become known for that.

2. Take a stand:
You must be known for your courage and confidence to act and say what you believe is right.

3. Communication skills:
Communication skills are critical. You can never over-invest in them.

4. Coaching:
Surround yourself with good mentors. Listen. Learn. Your mentor is a major force.

5. Your moral compass:
Have the strength and courage to do what’s morally right, not what’s expedient. Your moral compass must be your true north.

She also says that, Companies that want to grow and prosper must attract the best people to come to work for them. That means having a work environment that inspires people, motivates them, and brings out their best.

According to her, it’s important to create an inclusive culture: a place where people can “bring their whole selves to work.” A place where diverse values, beliefs, and practices are treated with respect. It’s also vital that people are shown respect by speaking to them with truth and candor. Give people honest feedback. Let them know where they stand. Be clear about what they need to do to improve or to reach their career goals.

Find below her interview for ASTD's training and development magazine T+D. --> Performance with Purpose

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

What about becoming our own cheerleaders?

2008-05-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

It’s been long time since I posted an article here. Thanks to our great BSNL for restoring my broadband connection after more than 3 weeks.

Last night, when Rajasthan Royals trampled Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs http://www.ibnlive.com/news/royals-drub-daredevils-enter-ipl-final/66297-5.html, looking at those cheerleaders I thought, Why not have such a team to cheer us every time we accomplish in life? Oh, Yeah. Having Redskins to Shake Up for all our scores is way too much of imagination and practically impossible too. If that is the case then, What about becoming our own cheerleaders?

When we are on a project, for example like writing this article, we would've laid out an action plan with specific steps and schedules. I would prefer to start from choosing the theme, relevant information useful to me and my readers, appropriate anecdotes and quotes, good pictures and of course a captivating topic. Each step I complete is an achievement and yes it’s a success too. If I fail to give my own recognition and pats on the back for reaching these small milestones, then definitely I will not be able to retain the energy and enthusiasm to complete the entire project. But, if I’ve my own Redskins awaiting inside myself for those “Shake Ups” and “Whoo….Hoos” when I reach these small milestones, then I am sure I’ll be much more enthused and energized to take up the next step with lots of confident and bliss.

I am sure each and every one of us here are earning for some or the other form appreciations, pats on our back from our friends, colleagues, parents, teachers, and whomsoever. What if we have our own cheerleaders within ourselves ever ready to cheer up for each and every small accomplishment’s of ours.

Close your eyes, and imagine a cheerful group of cheerleaders in front of you with “Whoo-Hoos” and “Shake Ups” for all those commendable things you’ve done in your life till this moment, that includes reading this small piece of article on becoming cheerleaders within us too.

Make a separate section for “Success” in you personal journal and write down all your daily achievements. It doesn’t mean that, you’ve to find a final completion of some project or an activity; it could also be a smaller stepping stones towards a higher goal. Include also, the things trivial things we do in our daily routines and those taken for granted. Make sure every day, before your bedtime thanksgiving, just have a look at it and let the cheerleaders within you go ahead to do those “Shake Ups” for all your great achievements for the day.

Come on....Let's become our own cheerleaders.....Get ready to "Shake Up" :-)

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Choosing to be Happy :-)

2008-04-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Reading my previous post When I grow up! I want to be a little boy, one of friends was sharing his childhood days with me over a cup of coffee. I always feel great and wonderful seeing people talking their joyful days of young age.

(One of the best expressions I clicked recently)

Last night when I was pondering over various things, landed up there in that conversation I had with my friend. I deeply felt the joy and happiness of my early days, those blissful moments. But, when I look at my present life, I had a tough question, “Where is that happiness, which was there with me moment after moment???”

As grown ups, we wait for someone or something to make us happy. May be, easy going university teacher, no traffic jams way to work, always green stock market, never troubling children, ever understanding boss, pretty wife, rich mother-in-law, admiring friends, it goes on and on. The moment any of these is not coming the way we wish, then starts the trouble. We become the embodiment of all distressing emotions like hate, anger, and frustration.

As a child, what was our state of emotion? Is it not happiness always? I am sure we remember our young days, where in someone or something has to make us unhappy. Our siblings, friends, parents or teachers some one should make us unhappy, otherwise we are just happy jumping, running without any reason and playing always.

Now, I can hear you saying, Do you want me to be happy in spite of all the turmoil’s happening in my life..? Yes, life is never a bed of roses for any of us, and that’s why life is life. If we can understand that Happiness is nowhere else but it’s now here within us. When it is there with in, why wait for some to trigger it? We should takeover the control of turning it on ourselves. Something like an automatic water level controller in our homes, we’ve an enormous reserve of Happiness with in ourselves (Ground Sump), just by choosing to be Happy at any moment we want (Overhead Tank) we can automatically control our emotions (Electric Pump) to fill us with the Happiness.

A popular greeting card quote by Henry David Thoreau says:

“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.”

Let’s Choose to be Happy and Yes, Being Happy is Our Birth Right.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

When I grow up! I want to be a little boy

2008-04-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Chinmaya Mission, Bangalore gave me a great opportunity to spend three days of my last week in a serene atmosphere at Chokkahalli 60kms away from Bangalore. I was with wonderful children of 8th, 9th and 10th grades. Being with them brought back my childhood days, which made me write this post...!!!

Do you ever yearn to be a child again? “Sure I do”

Joseph Heller said “When I grow up! I want to be a little boy”

Well, we all were children at one point of time with a lot many dreams and beliefs about our life when we grow up. As a child we never had any problems, worries, sadness, tension, anger and sense of failure. Children celebrate other’s victory because they know that they don’t have to be best at everything they do.

An infant's mind is unconditioned for it is not influenced by the world. Such Pure mind is free of imprisonment from false ego — lust, anger, greed, delusion, jealousy, selfishness, fear, desires, confusion, conflict, fear, grief. As an infant, we all were born with such a pure mind! However, afterwards, while growing up, we were programmed and trained to identify with the feeling of "mine, mine!”. In the process, side by side, false ego gets developed as we grow from infancy to adolescence. The moment physical ego becomes stronger in us, we become prisoner of cravings, fears and delusions. To all of us too-serious, on-the-edge, busy-and-preoccupied adults Many of us miss the freedom of childhood

Have you ever keenly observed children playing…..watching the child’s play is a wonderful experience. Child doesn’t care about consequences, it has no inhibitions, it has no fear, and all it knows is happiness, happiness and happiness.

There is a small kid next home in my home town and I used to play with him whenever I go home. One day he came back from school complaining about the girl next door who is his classmate. He was telling his mom, that he had a big fight with her in the school; she had taken his eraser and broken his pencil too. He had decided that he will never talk to her or play with her.

Then a little latter I saw him going to her home and call her to play, and both were playing, laughing, giggling as if nothing happened at school. I just went near and caught him and asked that he was telling that he will never play with her just a few minutes back to his mom. He told me something that instantly caught my mind, that I can never forget, that was “Anna! That was in the morning, this is evening…that was at the school, this is home!!!” The children never carry all the way with them, the big baggage of ego as we grown up do always. Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us still can.

Have you not seen a child in anger, at one moment, kick, scratch, pull the hair, beat, cry in the lap of its mother, sometimes cry rolling in the floor? But as soon as that anger is gone, the same child in all its pure love freely runs to its mother laughing, giggling, kissing and making mother totally forget all the past and get her ready to do anything to protect and nourish the child? Have you watched this? In a child's heart, the clutter of failure and judgment are not there for us to stumble over. In a child's heart the fears and pain of life's wounds have not shortened the stride or clipped the wings of imagination. In a child's heart, the eyes do not see the boundaries of nation, state, race or culture.

Be then a child in life, but let's understand it dosen’t mean being childish, ita all about being a child like. There is a huge difference between childish and child like. That’s what our great ancient masters insisted….get into the state of “Bala - Buddhi”.

“Bala – Buddhi” also characterizes the state of complete inner surrender.

“Bala - Buddhi” is transparency, Pure Truthfulness.

Let’s all rebounce back to our Own Nature, “Bala – Buddhi” i.e. Child like.

As it is said in the great book of Christ -

“Who ever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven!!!”

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Taking Ownership of What We Do.

2008-04-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

I am writing this after a sleepless night....!!! Phew, Last evening, I found out a major mistake I've made in my work.....that's going to end up in some serious issues. So, I've a lot of fun and learnings awaiting next week. The best part of it is, I got an interesting thread to write here this morning.

Now, these kinds of situations could happen to all of us, but the important point I want to highlight here is, how do we handle them..??? Yes, of course one gets upset, panicked, irked with so many other nervous feelings. The moment you drain into them, situations becomes more and more complex to handle. Any common man will go through all these, what will make us different is how are we equipped to quickly come out of these situations to think for an objective solution or a corrective action at the earliest.

When we talk about Leadership, Taking Ownership is the most essential quality of any leader. Most of the time I’ve seen people start finding faults on others, blame on the situations and circumstances. How easy is it for us to just kick the ball out of our court..? Taking owner ship is all about accountability of both good and bad including our mistakes, excuses and failures. Taking ownership is just to point ourselves whether things go right or wrong. Yes, we all know this and we’ve read a lot on taking ownership. Though we are aware of what it means to take ownership, we are panicked when put into a real situation. In spite of all our knowledge on sailing in life, especially at times of rough weather we tend to loose control of our ship.

Simple, the possibility of looking at ourselves and correcting our course of journey becomes only possible when we stop the ball in our court. Although moving it onto others may give us a quick relief as it might take of some pressure on that moment, it really becomes tough to take further corrective actions as we become impotent to the situation. When we own our actions and attitude we can easily put right our mistakes and overcome failures, I am sure we experience a surge of potency and a sense of pride.

We can create a huge turn around in our life just by a small turn around to ourselves in taking ownership.

Affirmations we can use:
* I am accountable for all my actions.
* I take complete responsibility.
* I see what needs to be done, and do it.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Where does the strength to work on weaknesses come from?

2008-03-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Reading my thoughts on identifying our weakness in my earlier post one of my regular readers Saranya sent me an email saying “I agree entirely! But then, where does the strength to work on weaknesses come from?”

Firstly, congratulations for identifying the weakness. The moment we know our weakness, 50% of the problem is solved right away. Knowing the weakness and being aware of it in our daily lives by itself is a great strive towards overcoming it.

Though I had plans to write, I was always hesitant only because I was not really confident in my proficiency in English language, especially its grammar. I registered this blog page and waited for almost six months to write down my first post with an amazing video of my all time favourite speaker and motivator Tony Robbins on why we do what we do.

How to overcome my weakness? Where does the strength come from?

Few thoughts from my personal experience:

1. I was aware that I am not so great in English writing. But, still I wanted to write. That “wanted-ness” was so strong in me; I just went ahead and wrote. The moment I come out of my gigantic initial inertia, sailing was smooth and effortless.

2. I looked for ways to improve my English, asked my friends, colleagues to point out the mistakes I make while talking, in my emails, in my blog posts and so on. They were only happy to help me out. Thanks to all of them.

3. I was not resolute to have zero mistakes in my writing on first go. I was easy-going and kind to myself saying “It’s OK to make mistakes, but not to repeat them often”.

4. I decided that, I’ll never let down my passion in moving towards the pleasure of being a good writer as said in my mode of motivation.

I’ve a long list of experiences/opinions to share, but it would be really great if you can share some of your thoughts on overcoming weaknesses…? --> here as comments

Your thoughts / comments / ideas / experiences are most welcome, which I am sure are going to be of great help for me and my readers.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

NextGenWomen's "Women 2.0 Summit"

2008-03-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Starting from my beloved mother, dearest sister, admirable maths teacher till my current project leader, there were lot of women who made and are making my life wonderful. I take this great opportunity to express my thanks and gratitude to all those women out there.

Happy Women's Day to all you wonderful women out there!!!

The SmartTechie is organizing "Women 2.0 Summit" on March 10, 2008. International Women's Day celebrates the progress women have made economically, socially and politically. This unique one-day Summit is organized in the honour of International Women's day. Women 2.0 Summit provides a platform for like-minded women to learn, develop, connect, and network so that you can harness your inner qualities and bring out the best in you as an effective and authentic leader.

At this summit, nearly 1000 women technology professionals will come together to celebrate the great strides women are making in their companies and in the business world. It's obvious that diversity has an enormous, tangible meaning. Highly successful professional women from the technology industry will share their knowledge, experiences and insights to help empower more women to achieve their goals. At the Summit, there would be four panel discussions on: Ascending the Corporate Ladder, The Lady Entrepreneur, The NextGen Developers, The Intrapreneurs. This exciting summit will consist of lectures, skill building exercises, and group discussions. Highly interactive and engaging, we assure you that the one-day summit will be useful, insightful and lots of fun too.

When:
March 10, 2008
9.00AM to 6.00PM

Where:
Ambedkar Bhavan
Millers Road
Bangalore 560 001
Karnataka, India

Register Here:
NextGenWomen's "Women 2.0 Summit"

Speakers Include:
Anagha Gadgil, Technical Manager, Avaya India

Aparna Pujar, Director - Media Products, Yahoo! India

Bharati Jacob, Managing Partner, Seedfund

C Mahalingam (Mali), EVP & Chief People Officer, Symphony Services

Dr. Ramanujan Kashi, Senior Research Scientist, Avaya India

Jessie Paul, Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro Technologies

Mangala Gowri, Research Scientist - India Research Labs, IBM

Mrinalini Ingram,Senior Director, Finance, Globalization Center East, Cisco

Pamela Kumar, Director - India STG Engineering Labs, IBM

Sapna Maheswari,Developer, ThoughtWorks Technologies

Sharada Satrasala, Director, Strategic Supplier Management, TI

Vani Kola, Managing Director, India, NEA-IndoUS Ventures

Vasantha Erraguntla, Senior Engineering Manager, Intel

At this summit, nearly 1000 women technology professionals will come together to celebrate the great strides women are making in their companies and in the business world. An excellent opportunity especially for Women. Don't miss it.

With Love,
Anbusivam

To Be Successful Identify Your Weakness

2008-03-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends.

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Yes, If we want to be successful we must be willing to objectively identify our weakness. But, not only identifying, the next important step is to sincerely work hard to overcome those weakness and come out stronger than ever.

The most common question asked in interviews is, “what are your strengths and weaknesses…?” and second part is always the most dreaded part of the question. Everyone has weaknesses, but who wants to admit them? Most of us would readily come up with a long list of our strengths and suddenly stumble when we have to list our weakness.

It’s all well and good to talk about our strengths, but every coin has two sides. The purpose of evaluating our weaknesses isn’t to induce misery or frustration. But it can prove to be a very eye-opening experience. And it opens the door for a great deal of awareness and improvement. We should be analyzing not only our strengths, most importantly our weakness very often, only to understand and take necessary corrective action.

I’ve seen people being diffident about their weakness, and drown into the mode of insecurity when someone asks about their weaknesses. If we are unaware of our weakness, where is the way to deal with it? Accepting our own weakness is not really a great aspect, its simply being honest to ourselves. The moment we acknowledge our weakness, then there is a possibility towards overcoming them and evolving as a stronger individual.

Let’s look at things objectively, recognize and admit weaknesses, make conscious decisions on what to do about them. Until we are subjectively attached with our emotional insecure feelings, there is no way we can understand our weakness.

Let's be objective to identify, understand and fix our weaknesses to be successful.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Power of Language from Taare Zameen Par

2008-02-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

About a week ago I watched the most applauded Hindi movie Taare Zameen Par. There is a scene, after in which the little boy Ishaan had a fight with another boy, got yelled at by his dad, after a shower he comes into the room where his dad is stuffing his suitcases.

Here goes the dialogue:

Ishaan : Papa, where are you going…?
Dad : I am leaving the house, I’ll not come back.
Ishaan : I am sorry Papa; I’ll not do it next time. I am veryyy sorryyy Papa.
Mom : Why are you scaring the child? Dear, Papa is going on an official trip, not because of you.

A single word, his mother said changes his emotions completely. Yes, by changing a word we can scare a child to any extreme. One frightening word can make a child shake and cry. The moment we change that word back to a pleasant one, the child is perfectly fine. Simple words can carry deeper meanings, create stronger feelings and attitudes.

Language is not just a mere communicating tool; it can change attitudes, transform lives. Words communicate not just the literal meanings; it does much more than that. Simple words communicate emotions, fears, happiness, confidence, joy, sorrow…and so on. Writers use language to illustrate and describe thoughts, situations and factual content. In our schools, colleges, offices and in the society, we are constantly confronted with languages either inspiring or depressing. How often we come across a person who really understands the power of language?? I think most of the times, most of us, use language just for the sake of talking, complaining, fighting, and screaming at others. We all know the importance of language, but we always overlook that in our every day conversations.

Constructively chosen language benefits the most. Simple turnaround in our language can bring wonders in our life. The moment we learn to use language efficiently, to get the best out of every situation we encounter in our life, the journey called Life becomes easy and effortless.

Let’s understand the power of language. Let’s make our lives easy and effortless.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Standard of Life Vs Standard of Living

2008-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

There are two most critical things in life, one is the “Standard of Life” and other is the “Standard of Living”. We human beings have done so many things to fix our external things so as to increase our standard of living and nothing has been done to understand the standard of life.

The irony to be noticed here is, as much as we do to increase our standard of living; so much is the trouble we create to our standard of life. I was happy when I had an old television without a remote control and now that tiny electronic hand held device goes below the couch or its batteries are exhausted or its keys are not working…..finally it brings in annoyance and makes me upset.

Oh...no, I am not advocating to stay with the old ones, the point I am want to make here is, we human beings should learn how to handle the external factors those were created only by us for our own external comfort. The very creation of these comfort facilities should not put us into a depressed and anxious state of mind.

Right at this moment our standard of our life does not depend on the house we’ve or the car we’ve parked outside or our bank balance. It’s solely based on “How Happy Are We…?” One could be a great millionaire but he may never be happy and one could be a homeless beggar but still he may feel delightful and absolutely happy in this world.

Let’s understand that, increasing out Standard of living makes our lives easier in this world, but it can never bring in happiness and joy forever. Increasing our Standard of Life is the only way we can be ultimately happy and blissful.

Swami Chinmayananda says:

“The material growth and prosperity raise the ‘standard of living,’ whereas the spiritual inner rehabilitation improves the ‘standard of life.’ Both the ‘standard of living’ and the ‘standard of life’ have to be equally developed and balanced in order that one may sail through life’s different challenges with ease, poise, comfort and cheer.

The ‘standard of living’ is like the mast of the ship. If it is to be high, the keel must be made deep and wide enough to prevent toppling and this depth of the keel measures the ‘standard of life.’

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Peak Performance

2008-02-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

While we were trying to understand “Mind Training” in my previous post, one of my friends Jay was very curious about “Peak Performance”. Often he asks about the phrase “Peak Performance” in my blog heading.

Here go my understandings on “Peak Performance” the term that is mostly used by athletes and sports persons. If you watch carefully the world’s finest players like Roger Federer, William sisters, Sachin Tendulkar, Viswanathan Anand, Michael Schumacher and many others, all these players consistently outperform their opponents. How is that possible only for them…? Only because these players always maneuver at their peak and they are mentally not ready to accept anything less than that, “The best out of them”. Yes, they do fail some times but the vital point to notice is, they come back faster and much stronger than ever.

It doesn’t matter how often we fall; it’s how often we bounce back matters.

If we’ve climbed a small hill or ventured out on a trek, we’ll better understand this. When we are at the foot of the hill it’s really thrilling, exciting and curious about the stride. If we notice carefully the emotions and feelings of our friends or team members during the trek, I am sure at least one or two may not want to climb; they are comfortable with where they are. Most of us will start at full momentum with of lots of enthusiasm, eagerness and interest. Time and again in the middle of the course many of us look at the peak anxious, concerned and doubtful about completing the full climb. At the same time, we look back to the foot to feel happy, confident and convinced in our ability to climb the hill.

Here, we will see some more among us will not continue further, they would choose to sit back comfortably half way on the mountain. These are the people, think that they have done more than enough and happy with what they’ve got. Very few of us push ourselves to complete the trek to explore the peak of the hill.

When we reach the peak, there exists nothing. It’s just a crest of the hill, no great world wonders there. But, the moment we touch the peak wow it’s awesome, it’s splendid to feel as if we’ve conquered this world, bare minimum the smallest town around. There is nothing above us except, the beautiful blue sky and those floating clouds around. Once in life time if we touch the peak we will never settle anything less than that in future, no matter it’s a small hill or a huge mountain, because we know the happiness and bliss to be at the peak. That is where, all those finest players would love to be in every game of theirs.

And most importantly when we are at the peak, looking at this very huge mountain, open sky, never ending landscape makes us feel we are just a small creature in this massive universe. There blossoms humility, respect and kindness towards all creatures around us.

Let’s strive to reach the peak in all our endeavors in life. See you there.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Mind and Its Training

2008-01-31T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

Mind, is a product of the impressions we have gathered so far in our lives, from the beginning onwards to date. Goaded by these impressions, an irresistible mind, wild and surging, drives us endlessly crazy. Only with thorough knowledge of the strategies of the mind and a full control of ourselves, we can hold the mind back to the point of concentration.

In one sense training the mind is to train it to behave. It is like catching a wild horse and turning it into a circus horse to do feats to order. How is it done?

Swami Vivekananda teaches:

Before we control the mind we must study it. The easiest way to get hold of the mind is to sit quiet and let it drift where it will for a while. Make no effort to control the thoughts, but watch them as a calm lake stretched before you and the thoughts come and go as bubbles rising and breaking on its surface. This will gradually lessen the circle of thoughts. We shall be surprised to see, when we begin this practice, how many hideous thoughts will come to our mind. As the practice continues the turbulence of the mind may increase at times, but with our sincere efforts the mind will become a circus horse.

Buddha teaches:

Nothing is more exhausting than a wrestling mind. Meditation is the only way to calm down one’s mind. By training the mind “we can transform the way we think, speak and act”. Mind training is not mere calming the thoughts; it is a way of going beyond to experience one’s innate natural self and radiance.

Let’s identify a meditation technique that is best suitable for us, purse it earnestly to Let Mind Run The Body.

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Let Mind Run The Body

2008-01-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

This morning, I went out in the streets of Indiranagar. Yes, I haven’t run long-stretch for a fairly long time. When I started last weekend, I wasn’t able to complete my full target of 1hr on the roads, but today I could do it. Yes, I did.

When I sat back relaxed to give it a thought, I realised that, I could achieve that only because of the Mind Training I did last night about the morning’s long run.

Mind Training…??? What’s that…???

Simple, it is some thing like preparing little ones for school. Yes, indeed lots of preparation happen much before a child goes to school. Parents enthrall their children with interesting stories and create pleasant fantasies in the young minds about school, new friends, play ground, sing, dance and learn. When an impression that, “Going to school and learning is fun” is created, then the child’s self confidence and motivation level ascends and now, the child starts waiting eagerly for the first day at school.

Likewise, training our mind becomes essential when we are running towards greater dreams and goals in life.

When mind and body are not completely aligned into one single goal or mission, most of the time body takes control. This is what happened in my previous weekend; my body was running the mind. Body is least interested in stretch targets, it’s more comfortable in accepting something less than what it is capable of without any pain involved.

But, this weekend it’s the other way. Mind was running the body. Hence I was able to complete my stretch target. Surprisingly I noticed that, mind sincerely listens to the body as well and adjusts its pace accordingly without stretching the body too much.

All this is because of Mind Training I did the previous night.

The empires of the futures are the empires of the mind.
- Winston Churchill

Ok, let's talk about how to do "Mind Training" in my next post

Thanks for visiting my page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Dutch Made Holland – A Lesson for Life

2008-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

The moment I stepped out of Schipol Airport in Amsterdam at 2PM on 1st Dec, I ran into the coolest weather that I’ve ever experienced in my life. I don’t think I can explain in plain word, that’s an experience to be felt, especially for someone from southern part of the sub continent. Thank goodness my friend was there to pick me up from Airport. We took a train to Nijmegen and on the way…….Oh Yeah; I’ve been talking about this all through the holidays and started here aswell.

Ok…coming to the business….yes, Dutch Leadership…!!!

In Netherlands they have a saying

“God made the Earth, but the Dutch made Holland”

Located at the mouth of the Rhine River, the Netherlands is a gateway to northwestern Europe and participates in the European common currency, the euro. Rotterdam, the world's and busiest general-cargo port, includes Europoort, a petroleum-refining center. When we are just talking of defending the fishermen folks and their villages from sea much after the horrific Tsunami devastation, Dutch started their defenses against sea much before almost 800 years ago. They built Dikes and Levies to protect their landscape from Invasion by the surrounding sea, as more than 60 percent of land is much below the sea level. Dutch water authorities (Rijkswaterstaat - in Dutch Language) are supposed to be the most advanced and admirable in water management. Interesting information I heard is, about 60 percent of the country is farmed with super-efficiency by just 2 percent of the population. Wow….that’s really amazing.

Hey..As I am writing this post, it is reminding me of a school time story 'The Hero of Haarlem", a nameless Dutch boy saves his country by putting his finger in a leaking dike and stays there all night, in spite of the cold.

Lucky to be there on the Christmas month, entire country was colorful with lot of decorations and gifts around. Though they celebrate Christmas in a splendid way, one will hardly find crowd in the Churches even on Sunday mornings, as most Dutch are not really regular in visiting Churches and almost more than 80 percent of the people I me don’t really have any great faith in God. May be they were busy in building dikes to protect their beautiful country against the sea, which still continues as a tradition.

Yes, I believe this is a great lesson for us; those striving to achieve great things in this world. Let’s not blame God or hold Him responsible for the happenings around us. Let’s be courageous enough to take things in our hands and have control over them. No one else can help us as truly as oneself.

Just by modifying the Dutch saying let’s say

“God made me in the Earth, but I made my Life”

Wish you a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

I sincerely believe, you had some useful information and worthwhile spending time here with me.

Thanks for visiting my page.

Dankuwel.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Coool...Winter in Holland..!!!!

2007-12-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

Netherlands, a nice Dutch country happened to my winter trip (oh yeah, its official. Why would I choose Holland myself in this winter...?)

Huh...in this damn cool weather, temperature is going down till -5 degC. Yeah, its very much new for me, but to my Dutch collegues surprise nothing could hold me all alone inside the apartment in the weekends.

I got a lot to learn, especially when I wore my favourite hat "Blogging on Leadership".

I've pleanty of details to share and will update in detail after coming back home to India.

Wish you all an excellent new year.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Mode of Motivation

2007-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

After writing one of my earlier posts Why do we need motivation…? I started eagerly observing people around only to understand their mode of motivation. Though it widely varies based on various factors, people’s mode of motivation is broadly based on the two ways, towards pleasure and away from pain. Our life becomes easy, if we can find out what the mode of motivation is for people around, those whom we want to inspire, influence, motivate etc.

Just by asking simple questions, we can easily find out one’s motivational mode. I asked a simple question to two waiters of a small south Indian restaurant nearby here in Bangalore. My question was “What makes you do this job?” in different occasions. First guy said “Sir, I did not like my previous job, I quit and I am here now in this restaurant. It’s all my fate; no one can help….hmm….hmmm”. Second guy said “Wow, I want to build a home in my village, open a small hotel there and settle down with my family”

Here we could clearly see the two different motivational modes. People with Inspiration/toward use words like “achieve”, “success”, “attain”, “accomplish”, “victory” and those with Desperation/away use words like “pain”, “avoid”, “get out of”.

If we can get to know the motivational modes of people around, then I am sure it’ll be pretty easy to get things done, by using the right choice of words and appropriate communication.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Oops...Coudn't Catch up with BCB5.

2007-11-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

I couldn’t catch up with the Barcamp this time due to some busy schedules in office, worked all through the weekend. To add fuel to the fire, I am getting mails from BCB mailing list saying...“I had a great time in BCB5”, “BCB5 was really wonderful”…….and so on :-)))

While trying to catch upwith the happenings there in BCB5, I found one of my friends and a very active fellow bangalore blogger Sanjukta's blog covering BCB5 in great details.

Sanjukta's BCB5 Coverage

With Love,
Anbusivam

BCB5 - BangaloreBarcamp Winter Edition

2007-11-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

Much awaited and the most happening BCB5 - BacampBangalore5 is coming as winter edition this weekend, 17th and 18th November 2007 @ IIM Bangalore. Again this unconference is a collective edition similar to BCB4 with some modifications and improvements.

Its a great opportunity for meeting likeminds, learning and have great fun. The best part of barcamps is, we as participants are going to create the complete flow, contents, talks and discussions of the entire conference..oops its "Unconference". Register yourself @ BarcampBangalore5 and take part in the discussions to make BCB5, a great grand success.

BCB4 was my first encounter with such an unconference and that was really an excellent experience. Look into my previous posts BCB4-Day1, BCB4-Day2 to get a feel about BarcampBangalore.

See you there in IIMB this weekend....!!!

With Love,
Anbusivam

Doing What We Love Vs Loving What We Do

2007-10-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

When one of my friends asked, “What inspires you to write this blog?” I picked my journal only to turn the page I visit almost every day.

Sometime ago I wrote in my journal “Siva, you are here to do what you love to do, don’t ever settle for anything less than doing what you really love”. Yes, when I read this page every time, it reminds me the nights without sleep, terrifying thoughts flowing through my mind with full of doubts about the future. I’ve never had such longer, sleepless and contemplative nights afterwards. I am sure all of us had such sleepless nights in our lives, until deciding on what do we want from our life.

It’s chic among the new generation to say, “One should be doing what he/she loves”. Play guitar, travel the world, explore new things, write poems and of course if you are good at, money will follow. Research says that more than 80% of the young employees today are really not keen in what they are doing; instead love to do something else other than the job in hand. But, why are they stuck with the same old job? what stops them from taking that extra step? I’ve answers form my life.

Reality is indeed different; I have so many other commitments/responsibilities to my family members and myself. Let me not deny the fact that, my financial and economical conditions are not well enough to take that risk at present. May be I am not yet prepared to take up that trip through the road less traveled. I am sure, its going to be challenging and fun doing what I love. If I am not doing what I love, how am I handling my present until I start my journey on the highway towards what I love to do? There will be no energy, enthusiasm and fun in pursuing the dreams when there is a sense of dissatisfaction about what I have at present.

So, am I going to love what I do? Yes, I may not love my work; instead I love to do my work at present with 100% diligence. Somewhere, I read: “There is always a choice about the way we do our work, even if there is not much choice about the work itself.”
I need to find the truth in that message, while getting ready, taking all possible efforts to jump start the highway journey. I also understand the risk of having too much of attachment to the present may probably fade the futuristic vision.

As I wrote in one of my previous posts Why do we need motivation…? I am getting closer to Inspiration in pursuing my dreams and goals in life.

This could be a blessing, while enjoying the present and getting ready for the future.

Thanks for visiting my blog page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Producing Next Generation Leaders

2007-10-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

We often relate the word "Leadership" with politics, business, sports, and very few areas of our lives. Many a times I've noticed people think and talk, that Leadership is all about position. But, I strongly believe Leadership is everybody’s business. It is for men, women and children. It is for families, business and communities. It is for me and you. It is for each one of us.

Now, I’ll take a back seat and want you to add in your cents here as comments. I really would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

As a country are we producing moral leaders?
Are our schools and educational institutions teaching some life skills too?
Are the present generation bureaucrats’ ethical leaders?
Where are we failing in producing great inspiring leaders?
What could be done to get on ethical, inspiring leaders as our decision makers?

Eagerly awaiting for your thoughts..!!!

With Love,
Anbusivam

Evolving Minds - Science Workshop

2007-10-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Anand, founder of evolvingminds is one of my good friends who shows tremendous amount of interest in others development. Though we don’t meet very often, one question he asks every time we meet is “When are you quitting your job?” Yes, Passionate young man I’ve ever met.

Being a physics enthusiast, he came out of the corporate jungle to pursue his dream of producing excellent young minds, started evolvingminds to bring down science & technology in simple and experiential forms to the younger generation. Helping the children in creating their own dreams and vision in their early age is really important in this world, full of opportunities and challenges. The key concept of evolvingminds is, helping them to explore their natural surroundings through thought provoking experiments, hands on activities and project works in Sciences, Mathematics and Technology.

Now, as a part of holiday events Evolvingminds is conducing “Dasara Science Camp” from 13th to 17th October, 2007. Excellent opportunity for parent’s to gift their child a great learning experience with lots of fun.

Find below the details:

Now, if we want to contribute our few cents in creating bright future by helping our children fly with colors in their life, let's share this workshop details with our friends, family and colleagues.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Let's Make Things Happen...!!!

2007-09-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Here is my first attempt to record myself and publish an Audio Podcast on "Let's Make Things Happen...!!!"

Enjoy Making Things Happen.

Awaiting your comments and suggestions.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Why do we need motivation...?

2007-09-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

When I am asked why do we need motivation in our life? I ask what makes them wake up everyday, rush to work irrespective of various problems in office and involve in regular routine. If we think these are really painful every day, then what makes us do the same mundane activities day after day all through our life?

As Anthony Robbins put it, “There are two things that motivate us to success: Inspiration or Desperation.

While operating from inspiration side, we strive to achieve something really great in our life and we are fully dedicated towards that higher goal or purpose. In that pleasure of pursuing the higher goal we normally tend to overlook the smaller pains and troubles we face in our day to day lives.

While operating from desperation side, we strive to get out of something that really bothers us and we are equally committed to work towards something better than what we are today. In that pursuit of coming out of the pain at present we normally tend to overlook the smaller pains and troubles we face in our day to day lives.

Inspiration or desperation, none of them is fully right or wrong, and no human being is operating completely from inspiration or desperation side. We tend to act according to the situations around, entirely based on our existing patterns that have been programmed all along our life since childhood. Either way is appropriate moving towards pleasure or moving away from pain, where as people moving towards inspirational goals are widely appreciated by the world around us.

A nice quote I came across just flashed in my mind and that goes like this:

The world is moved by highly motivated people, highly energetic folks, enthusiastic men and women who want to achieve something great and believe in greater aspirations.

Let’s find out our appropriate style of motivation that will drive us towards our greater purpose in life.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Excerpts from SiliconIndia Leadership Summit

2007-09-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Isn’t it great, to have leaders of top companies sharing their leadership wisdom on a single stage. Yes, SliconIndia magazine made true in its SiliconIndia Leadership Summit held on Friday, 31 August.

One could see CEO’s and managers of big corporate houses, starting from pioneers of technology to small startups striving to take technology into a new higher level. I must say I am one among very few participants below 30yrs old. Leaders from different walk of lives added additional appeal to the summit.

Here are few excerpts from the summit and my learning’s out of spending a day with great leaders and visionaries. And the best part was none of them proclaimed themselves as leaders, instead they were humane and humble. Humility was the most commonly used word and every one of them insisted Humility as a must have quality to become a successful leader.

Sharad Sharma, CEO, Yahoo! India R&D gave first keynote speech on “From Offshoring to Incubation”. He talked in detail about, the importance of moving up in the global value chain by stepping ahead in to product incubation in place of offering only services. He said emerging markets are highly fragmented, hence one should come with niche solutions with customer focused design and innovative marketing. Only way to sustain and succeed is to out innovate in respective core domains by quick accelerating innovation, transfer of ideas and technologies within companies across global design centres and creating new products in close proximity to the emerging markets. He also insisted Leaders should encourage in bringing up “Intrapreneurs” with in their company to move fast ahead.

Ramesh Srinivasan, EVP, Bally Technologies India gave his keynote address on “Identifying Great Leaders Early”. He said “What I am today is lot of impressions people left on me”. He insisted the importance of identifying early leaders in a organization and the need for grooming them into future leaders. Though I personally couldn’t agree with few of his points, he gave a totally different perspective about early leadership.

Here are few key qualities of an early leader:

Humble and paranoid (Again Humility took first place)
Excellent work ethics
Great at improving
Can do attitude
Customer pleasers and not boss pleasers
Striking common sense
Challenging attitude
Respect for others
Aggressive commitments (will honor most of them)
Will not win popularity contests among team members
Peers will complain
Very good teachers
Not great long term thinkers (keen in completing the task in hand)
Attention to details
….and so on.

Dr. Vivek Mansingh, Country Manager, Dell India R&D enthralled the audience with his keynote speech on “Leadership through success: The Ramayana Way!”. He said we in India always “over manage and under lead” and I personally feel the same, as that’s how we’ve been learning from early school days.

He started with Daniel Coleman’s research paper "Leadership That Gets Results" published in Harvard Business Review. He also emphasised “Emotional Intelligence” as a key quality of a leader. Then went on to Ramayana from which he took few verses, where in Rama explains to Vibhisahan, what leadership means in a metaphorical way.

Rama said,

Battle field - Have a Noble cause or worthy result for fighting the battle.
4 wheels of the chariot – character, courage, ethics and valor
Horses to drive – strength, energy, passion, discrimination and empathy
Reins that’ll control – forgiveness, compassion, equanimity and consistency
Flag on the top – integrity and righteousness
Armours to fight the battle – right skills and attitude

Of course, Vivek was surrounded with the usual controversial topics in Ramayana, and lot of heated discussion went on during the lunch as well.

Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, Managing Director, Texas Instruments India gave his keynote speech on “Leadership traits for emerging markets”. Bobby said volatility and uncertainty are the main characteristics of any emerging market. One who can plan accordingly and play effectively to mitigate the risks involved around uncertainties will emerge as a market leader in his domain of expertise. He said anchoring on customers, making right judgments/decisions on time to market neither too early nor too late and quality of the product will alone decide leaders in an emerging markets. He went on to add that leadership styles in developed countries will not suit our needs as we are totally different economically and culturally as well. Hence, we should learn from western leaders, apply accordingly in our context to be a successful leader.

There were interesting panel discussions on - how successful leaders think, great leaders take risk, managing the most talented and managing leadership derailers.

Overall, SiliconIndia Leadership Summit was an excellent platform to learn directly from the real life experiences and insights of great Indian corporate leaders.

Thank You SiliconIndia!!!

With Love,
Anbusivam

SiliconIndia Leadership Summit

2007-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

SiliconIndia: Professional Network for Global Indians is organizing a Leadership Summit, which I am sure is going to be an excellent platform for the leaders of today and tomorrow. Agenda seems to be very interesting as the CEO's of top technology companies are attending to give keynote speeches, involve in panel discussions and share their thoughts and experiences on leadership.

When:
August 31, 2007
8.00AM to 5.00PM

Where:
Taj Residency, Bangalore
41/3, Mahatma Gandhi Road
Bangalore 560 001
Karnataka, India

Register Here:
SiliconIndia Leadership Summit

Speakers Include:
Sharad Sharma, CEO, Yahoo! India R&D

Naresh Gupta, MD-Adobe Systems India & SVP, Adobe Systems India

Anil Gupta, Vice President, Sun India Engineering Center

Vijay Anand, Vice President, Oracle India

Dr. Albert Stritter, VP & Managing Director,Infineon Technologies India

Sanjeev Kumar, VP & Head, BEA Systems India R&D Center

Srini Raghavan, Managing Director, Bally Technologies India

Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, Managing Director. Texas Instruments India

Alexius Collette, CEO, Philips Innovation Campus

Sanjay Singh, Managing Director, Akamai Technologies India

Makarand Teje,President & COO, AppLabs

SiliconIndia says that, this is a closed-door invite only Summit, which allows for free exchange of idea’s and experiences among the attendees. Leaders gather in a dynamic forum for lively conversations and penetrating questions about the business, technology, innovation, and opportunity.

An amazing opportunity to learn form the leaders and don't miss it.

Participate, Contribute, Enjoy and Learn to Lead...

With Love,
Anbusivam

Leadership Means....

2007-08-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

One of my friends asked me "oh..you are writing on Leadership? ok..What exactly do you mean by Leadership?".

I thought for a while and replied,

LEADERSHIP is

L - Love, love what you do, do what you love.

E - Enunciate, articulate your thoughts clearly.

A - Adore, have utmost esteem, love, and respect to everyone.

D - Dynamic, being highly active and energetic.

E - Empathise, understanding the people.

R - Respect, regard your team with honor and esteem.

S - Splendid, admirable in character.

H - Honest, honorable in principles, intentions, and actions.

I - Integrity, adhere to moral and ethical values.

P - Propelling, to drive forward towards greater goals.

Enjoy Leading....!!!

With Love,
Anbusivam

Human'Culture' Vs Agri'Culture'

2007-08-03T22:00:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Human'Culture' is essentially the interpersonal relationships, I am talking about. Relationship is the way we relate with people around at home, work place, club or community. We are always surrounded by people with varied interests, attitudes, behaviors, dreams and so on.

Yeah, I got the same question you’ve now. Why agriculture here? in the concrete jungles, where we live today. I am sure our younger generation either doesn’t know or never had a chance to understand the great wisdom of our age old farmers and their cultivation methods. By saying Human'Culture' equivalent to Agri'Culture' the point I want to make here is Personal Relation is almost equivalent to Cultivation. If one can understand the simple things to be followed in cultivating a crop and getting a good yield out of it then the same principles could be effectively used in our personal space as well for better relations.

After publishing my earlier post on Leadership = Gardening , I had been to an interior village in Tamilnadu to attend one of my cousins family function. Every time I go there I would say the amount of knowledge and wisdom I get is always in abundance. Yeah, it’s from an 80yrs old Granny nearby. The way she interacts with people is amazing and I’ve never seen such a person in our great corporate houses. Lessons one could learn from her can never be found in any best sellers or from great management gurus. It had come all the way from her 80yrs of lively experience in that small village. She could relate any personal relation with agriculture and cultivation. Here, I am posting few of my learning’s form our Granny’s wisdom.

Agri'Culture' : No quick fixing and short term corrective action will work.

Human'Culture : Quick fixing will actually worsen the situation in relationships.

Agri'Culture' : Cultivation is a pursuit and can’t be done in a weekend.

Human'Culture : Rebuilding relationships (marriage, Children, friendships etc) just can’t be done over a weekend.

Agri'Culture' : Procrastination in cultivation destroys the crop and yield.

Human'Culture : Procrastination in personal relations ends up in great emotional stress.

Agri'Culture' : Cultivation is based on Natural laws regardless of our awareness or obedience.

Human'Culture : Personal relations are based on emotional feelings regardless of the individual.

Once she asked, Can you go days without milking the cow, and then get out there in a weekend and milk like crazy? So also in our personal relations, there is no quick weekend fix as such. It should be a pursuit day in and day out.

In cultivation, one should prepare the ground well before the rains, put in the seeds on time, water it and weed it regularly, then naturally there is growth, development and yield. Same simple steps would work very well in our personal lives as well.

Let me know your comments and thoughts on this.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Day 2 @ BarCampBangalore

2007-07-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Lot of action in day 2 rather than day 1. First day was almost to know who is who and understand what is his/her expertise. Second day was full of action packed...only made possible by the organisers and their sincere efforts in maintaining a pretty good schedule chart.

Lot of insights were given in Startups collective on ideas, business plans, approaching VC's and so on. I think BarCamp is the only place where one could get this kind of real life experiences. That was amazing. Bloggers collective had interesting sessions like mobile blogging, photo blogging , corporate blogging, making money out of blogging, blogging for social cause.

Here are some photos from Day-2 of BarCampBangalore.

Vjiay from proto.in and Tejas - sharing thoughts @ Startups collective.

Arun Ramanathan on Photo Blogging.

For a Social cause by Social Collective BarCampers.

Ok..now let's get back to our business...and my next post will be on
Human'Culture' equivalent to Agri'Culture'.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Day 1 @ BarCampBangalore

2007-07-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

As I said in one of my previous posts, had been to BarCampBangalore today. My first encounter with some thing called unconference. It was really great to be part of almost 400 plus young, energetic and enthusiastic minds with fresh ideas at IIM-Bangalore . Being an unconference, participants were encouraged to actively share their thoughts and ideas. People came up with impromptu sessions and talks.

I took part in Startups group and Investors group, couldn't catch up with Bloggers group as it happened in concurrent. I would say, the best part of such conferences is hanging around to meet up people during breaks, getting to know, sharing ideas and becoming friends. Had a chance to talk to Kiruba Shankar an active member of open source community and many more interesting geeks.

Here are some photos from Day-1 of BarCampBangalore.

Myself , Thej and Himanshu

Prof.Kumar from (NSRCEL-IIMB) on Startups in India.

Eager participants catching up with Dr.Musa on Investment Basics in the corridor. Wow...real spirit of an unconference. Dr.Musa ,is a medical doctor turned into financial advisor by choice.

Going to be interesting tomorrow as well.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Leadership = Gardening

2007-07-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

While going to our farm with my dad last sunday, I noticed a number of saplings planted along the stretch. With a big question in my face I looked at my dad, he said municipal corporation is doing this. Usually I see them cutting down trees to widen roads. That was a real surprise for me. I asked, who'll water these and take care? and his reply was a smile again. I am sure, unless these saplings are watered regularly and carefully protected from stray animals, they becoming grown trees is highly impossible.

That moment in my mind, flashed an article I came across last week, "I equate leadership with gardening" by Vivek Sharma.

Vivek Sharma is the Vice President, India Design Center, STMicroelectronics. He says, he feels like a gardener when he works with people. He wants to see them grow into tall trees with branches laden heavily with bunches of blooms and fruits.

While every one around is talking about rupee becoming stronger and cost factors involved in outsourcing, he says "Cost Competitiveness" comes third and not first, as is normally believed. Acoording to Vivek, first comes "Indian Competence" and "Our abilty to communicate" seconds it.

He gives an excllent outline about how a leader should be. He concludes with saying "A mindset conditioned by Abundance Mentality is important for success in any endeavor."

Click TheSmarTechie for the complete thought provoking article.

Happy Gardening.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Blog'a'loreans- Meet

2007-07-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

Wow…..that was simply superb. It's my first encounter with such an enthususiastic and passionate crowd. Yeah….it’s all about Bangalore Bloggers meet…some one named it blog’a’loreans meet, it took some time for me to get it right. You are correct Blog’a’loreans = Bangalore bloggers.

People were behind Ashwin...for one reason his T-Shirt.

Hari’s idea on Web NGO…was really great…I am sincerely thinking of the ways I can contribute to that noble cause.

I am sure this team is going to rock in Barcamp Bangalore

With Love,
Anbusivam

Do You Know Your LQ - Likeability Quotient?

2007-07-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

One of my friends is in Ireland for an onsite project work form a Bangalore based company; she was sharing her experiences when she landed up there a couple of months ago. She had a tough time initially finding an accommodation there, also her project mates who were there already at the client’s site hardly helped her in finding the same. Where as, her Irish colleagues supported a lot.

She said….”Wow…Irish people are friendly and cool…I like them..!!!”.

I was wondering, why do people like or dislike someone? We encounter number of people in our daily lives and somehow we like very few to a larger extent, what happened to rest of the others? Why they are not liked?

While pondering over the same thought, I ended up here...

The Likeability Factor – by Tim Sanders

The Likeability Factor, defines “likeability” as “an ability to create positive attitudes in other people through the delivery of emotional and physical benefits.” Regardless of a person’s position or age, being likeable greatly increases his or her chances of having a happy, fulfilling life, both professionally and personally. Likeability is not just an accident of nature, however; it is a set of skills that can be learned, practiced, and perfected.

If you really wan to check your LQ - Likeability Quotient, here is Tom’s L-Factor Self Assessment

Likeability is not a mandatory skill to achieve or reach our dreams, but it helps a lot in the very process of journey towards our dreams.

I personally feel one’s Likeability is greatly influenced by the following:

Positive Attitude
Self Confidence
Listening Skills
Empathy
Contribution
Humor

Ultimately one should like oneself before expecting others to like her....

"The art of being yourself at your best is the art of unfolding your personality into the person you want to be... Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others." - Wilfred Peterson

Happy Increasing your LQ, All the best.

With Love,
Anbusivam

BarCamp Bangalore

2007-07-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam’s blog page.

I am really excited, as I am going to bump into BarCamp Bangalore to be held on Saturday-Sunday, July 28, 29th, 2007; 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM at IIM, Bangalore. This is the first time I am going to attend an unconference. I am endeavoring to unlearn the customary concept of conferences, which is embedded deeply inside form my college days. I think organizing such unconferences will demand a huge amount of time and effort than a usual conference. Only a team of well organized dynamic people can make such an unconference happen.

Thanks a lot to all good hearts contributing in their efforts for this Barcamp Bangalore.

Just wondering, how would it look like at IIMB with lots of young, energetic and enthusiastic minds with fresh ideas convene? Wow….its going to be great.

Don’t miss this great opportunity, come let's enjoy meeting likeminds, learning and have great fun.

With Love,
Anbusivam

14 great human mistakes...

2007-07-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

At the end of a hectic and fully occupied Sunday, I just took out an old book from my book shelf, turned to page no.176 (was a random choice) and here's what I found…

Orison Swett Marden once identified 14 great human mistakes. He felt it was a great mistake for us to:

1. Set our own standard of right and wrong.
2. Judge people accordingly.
3. Measure the joy of others by our own.
4. Expect uniformity of opinion in this world.
5. Look for judgment or experience in youth.
6. Endeavor to mold all dispositions alike.
7. Yield to immaterial trifles.
8. Look for perfection in our own actions.
9. Worry ourselves and others with what cannot be remedied.
10. Fail to alleviate all that needs alleviation so far as lies in our power.
11. Fail to make allowance for the infirmities of others.
12. Consider everything impossible that we cannot perform.
13. Believe only what our finite minds can grasp.
14. Expect to be able to understand everything.

For those who don’t know Orison, he is the founder of Success Magazine, is also considered to be the founder of the modern success movement in America.

You can find more about Orison and his works here Orison Swett Marden

Happy Learning, All the best.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Why we do what we do

2007-07-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

Welcome to Anbusivam's blog page.

Just came across www.ted.com an interesting website of an excellent annual conference that brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers.

Here is my most favourite one, world's leading life coach Antony Robbins talks about "Why we do what we do".

Watch, Learn and Grow.

With Love,
Anbusivam

My First Post

2007-05-17T02:27:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends.

Love is Great!!! Love is God!!!

With lots and lots of love,
Anbusivam