David Allen's - "Getting Things Done"

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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.

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With Love,
Siva

Power of Association and Dissociation.

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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.


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With Love,
Anbusivam

India Vision 2020:

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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

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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.

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With Love
Anbusivam

Great Leaders Wallpapers.

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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

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With Love
Anbusivam

A Meditation on Winning Habits

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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

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With Love
Anbusivam

Leading Life in a Simple Way

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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:

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

2. 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.

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

4. 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.

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

6. Have a Buy Nothing Day.

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

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

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

10. 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.

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With Love
Anbusivam

Excellence Always from Tom Peters

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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"

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With Love
Anbusivam

Leadership in Building Our Personal Brand

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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.

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With Love
Anbusivam

PepsiCo's Leadership Philosophy of Performance with Purpose

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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

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With Love
Anbusivam

What about becoming our own cheerleaders?

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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" :-)

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With Love
Anbusivam

Choosing to be Happy :-)

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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.

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With Love
Anbusivam

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

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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!!!”

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With Love
Anbusivam

Taking Ownership of What We Do.

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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.

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With Love
Anbusivam

Where does the strength to work on weaknesses come from?

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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"

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

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

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

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

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