Do you postpone work?

Lazy people only think of doing things tomorrow or the day after. Problems and tasks are simpler or easier if you tackle them right now. Putting them off often ends up in you never doing it.   Some of us wait and wait until the entire things have just disappeared. If you find somebody who brags about what he is going to do tomorrow, probably, he did the same thing yesterday too. He will only brag and never do anything substantial.

There is a saying, ‘Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to the lazy man.’ 

Why do you put off things?   

Because the work is unpleasant or difficult or still you do not know how to do it? If the reason  does not fall in one of these, you do so as you are lethargic or simply lazy. If the task is difficult break it down into smaller elements so that each one does not look formidable.Generate adequate interest to get the work done at any cost. If you have too much to do, prioritize the whole thing. Do the most urgent ones first and so on; if there are still tasks to be completed assign them as the first priority of tomorrow.
 If you have the habit of postponing, it will erode your self esteem and confidence. Whatever is to be finished today has to be finished today itself.  If you procrastinate for tomorrow, you will postpone it for the day after and then for the next day. The task will remain unfinished. If procrastination becomes a habit you are in a dangerous web of never accomplishing anything.  

A common complaint for postponing is lack of time. This is only an excuse, a lame one at that. Because you have solid 24 hours each day like Mother Teresa, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Angelo or Gandhi. They accomplished so much and we are postponing our daily chores!

There is another beautiful principle. Time expands or contracts with work. If you have more work at hand, you finish each one faster. If there is very little to do you tend to take more time to finish a job requiring much less time. It is all in your hand. If you want to complete the entire work it can be finished on time.

If someone says, ‘I do not have much time,’  it only means he does not have much interest in that work. If one has genuine interest you will find time somehow. It is always lack of enthusiasm or direction and not lack of time.    

Live great!

Earlier we simply looked for a job to meet our basic needs. Today we need much more: fulfillment, joy, growth and a sense that we live for something worthwhile. We want what we do to create an impact around us.  If we concentrate on the value our work adds and the contribution we make we may feel satisfied. If we try to make a difference in the lives of others we will feel great.

But the tragedy is we just drift, doing our daily chores, going for work, eating, sleeping having perfunctory sex. We are living dead. We do not feel the warmth of living. There is a big difference between drifting like a floating log of wood and living with a purpose. We are oblivious of our capabilities and forget what positive contribution we can make to our dear ones, our neighbors or to the society. Everyone walking on this planet has some special ability hidden within. 

Many of us do not attempt to bring it forth. As Ruskin has put it, ‘the weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him and which if worthily used will also be a gift to his race.” You have to identify this special gift. You have to know what you really love from an early age. Pursue the subject you enjoy, do what your mind likes. The tragedy starts when you do not follow these rules. Unhappiness results if you are engaged in something or live with someone you dislike. Or still, when you idle away your time doing nothing meaningful.To feel really worthy be in an environment you love doing what you enjoy. Be healthy and vibrant:  exercise, eat your cherished foods (in small quantities), hear select songs and do not miss a chance to walk in the woods by the side of gurgling streams.   Spending time alone in natural surroundings will mute your inner confusions and liberate your mind to see your special roles down these trodden ways. Converse with the universal intelligence and seek guidance. Read books of great minds and reflect on the eternal truths contained therein. Indulge in your special pleasures-whatever they are -without a prick of conscience. There is no sin in the world other than hurting a fellow traveller.                                                                                                                                         

Are you happy? Take a test

Are you happy now?  Well that is all what really counts. The richest person on the earth- let it be Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Carlos Slim or anyone else – they all want to be happy and peaceful every moment of their lives. We are here to be happy. Everything points to just these 9 letters arrnaged in this order: Happiness. .                     How Can you be happy?   This is the greatest of all questions. There are as many answers to it as there are those who think about it. When you attain a goal you are happy, even the journey is enjoyable.When you overcome your dirty habits you become happy.   When you reduce weight you are happy too. hen you live with your dream partner you are happy.When you have lots of money you become happy. These are all things that will make you temporarily happy.  When the cause of the happiness is taken away, you become unhappy again.How can you be happy all the time? How can you feel an inner joy every moment? If you have wealth and a bad partner you might not be all that happy.  If you become healthy, without enjoying the food you love, you will not be really happy. Even if you became the president of a company through years of hard work, you will not be happy if you do not enjoy what you do. If you do not know what to do with the wealth you have amassed you may not be happy again.  You may be healthy, you may have an ideal partner but if you do not pursue your true calling, you cannot be happy too. We can have thousands of such permutations and combinations where you end up unhappy. 

How can we be happy all the time and feel the fulfillment of having passed this way?

Take this test and see how many of you have the general qualities of the happy ones.

1.     Those who are happy have fun and they feel good all the time. They would not be willing exchange their life with anyone else’s, however attractive the latter’s may be.   

2.  Happy people live longer.  Studies on nuns have shown that 54% of the cheerful nuns lived beyond 94.

3.     Happy, positive feelings change the chemical makeup of our bodies, producing chemicals that enhance immunity, cell repair, and building strength. Happy people have less stress.

4.     They have developed a balanced world view and are happy they have got this life. .   

5.     Happiness and optimism go together. Optimistic people see bad things as temporary and good things as permanent. 

6.     Study after study shows that happy people are more likely to be romantically involved and have multiple close friendships.  

7.     People who are in a positive or happy mood solve problems better and faster. Happiness also improves people’s ability to learn and remember things.

8.     They basically feel free to do what they want and are not restricted by others in any way.   

9.     Happy people want to love others and they try to avoid conflicts.

10. They are willing to cheer and help others.

11. Happy people try to be what they really are, do what they really like to get what they want.  

12.   Happy people are luckier.

13 They are not crazy for more money, more possessions. They appreciate and recognize what they already have.

14.  Happy are those who try to get what they want and enjoy it when they get it.

16.   They have something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

17.  They are not, like many others, pursuing happiness madly. They live it every moment, now and here.

18.  They love their work and do more than they are paid for.  

19  They keep themselves fit and healthy.

20.   What they think, do and say are generally in harmony.  

If you conform to 15 points or more you are generally a happy person.

I agree that inherited biology, temperament, and glandular functioning and all have a bearing on your happiness levels. But we have choices all the time; we can change the way we are. But if you are not happy you better stop worrying about it and see how you can be happy.  

A little inspiring story-Ambani

Dhirubai Ambani was born as the son of a primary school teacher in Gujarath a western state of India  The family managed to pull on with the meager income of an school teacher who could not educate his children properly. They were even hungry often.

The young Dhrubhai wanted to put an end to the poverty. He vowed to make better conditions for himself and others. He started thinking of ways to realize his dream. And off  he went to Yemen in search of a job. He worked there as a petrol pump attendant for years. He started saving every penny he could after sending something for his emaciated parents and other family members. He even collated the Yemeni one rupee coins, melted them and sold the same in the London bullion market to make a few bucks!

When he made some money he returned to India and started trade in spices in the 1950s.. As he walked through the streets of Mumbai  his thoughts were that of a king.  He started Reliance  with a few thousand rupees with one of his cousins. Later he parted company and was on his own. In a few years he set up a textile factory near Ahmadabad, in Gujarath and marketed the textile brand so aggressively that his competitors were eclipsed.  With his regular savings and honest ways he earned the goodwill of the bankers. They were willing to lend him any money he wanted.  But the bank loans were insufficient to realize his dreams.  He was dreaming big. With his indomitable will he influenced the central government and to pass legislation to import chemicals without much taxes for his industrial use. 

Further, he went public and made an appeal to the people  to invest money in his enterprise. He had already earned a name for honesty, hard work and trust worthiness. Whoever who knew him or heard about him came forward to invest. Money stated to pour in millions. He built the Jamnagar refinery against all odds,( the biggest in India) and soon Reliance became the largest  corporation in the country.   Every share holder was rewarded tenfold or hundred fold.

Before he died, in 2002  Reliance had become one of the biggest companies  in the world. Today it employees 85,000 people and pays more than 5% of the entire tax the central government collects.

He simply dreamt and became rich; his life is an excellent example of 'rags to riches' story  He once said, “24 hours of the day, 7 days of a week, 30 days of a month and 12 months of an year I think about only one thing: Reliance.” Anyone can succeed in a similar way.  Like Ambani, dream big, keep dreaming only that, build trust with the people, banks, your business associates, government and shareholders and reach dizzy heights.  

A Little Inspiring Story- Legless Legend

Mark Joseph Inglis, born on 27 Septemeber 1959, is best known legless mountaineer of the world, He is also an established  wine-maker, cyclist and motivational speaker.  He, had persistent dreams since his boyhood to stand at the top of Mount Everest. He started climbing mountains in right earnest since he was a little more than a boy. But in 1982  a great  tragedy struck. He got stuck in an ice cave near the peak of New Zealand’s majestic Mount Cook. As a result, both his legs had to be amputated below the knees due to frostbite. 

He did not give in. He redoubled his efforts on artificial metal legs and in 2006 his dream came true and he stood on the roof of the world- the summit of Mount Everest. He was the first double amputee to do so. Through this indomitable courage  he not only proved that anything is possible for anybody regardless of insurmountable obstacles  but he also collected thousands of dollars for the double amputees of the world.

He has a degree in human biochemistry and worked as a wine maker for more 10 years. After the accident  he was active as a cyclist and  was an ardent skier. He got several medals in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic  Games . Later the mountains beckoned him back and he scaled Aoraki Mount Cook in January 2002.  In 2004, he was at the summit of Cho Oyu, the 6^th highest peak in the world. From this summit he looked straight out at what people had told him impossible, Mount Everest.  And h made history by conquering it without legs!

He wants to make a difference in life and is not satisfied just being a voyeur. He pursues lifelong learning. He takes challenges head on and overcomes every stumbling block that comes his way. And his wife Anne, and  their  three children Amanda, Jeremy and Lucy are all a constant sources of inspiration and support for him.

Of late he has been inspiring people to excel through presentations to corporatations, schools and community groups.  He uses the lessons he has learnt to push the limits further. He is out there to support a lot of people who are in dire need of help. He wants to help the 400 million disabled people of the world! He has established in New Zeeland  a charitable trust, Limbs4all, with this in mind. He has also arranged artificial legs for the Sherpas who lost theirs just as he did.  To raise funds he conducts a number of activities including risky trekking adventures in the mountains of Nepal. Mark Inglis is a remarkable person of indomitable courage and is role model for all who want to achieve success in this life.   .

Live your lives!

         

As I sit in front of my laptop to begin, the words of Theodore Roosevelt come to my mind:  “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure …….than rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows no victory and no defeat.”  Well, how many of us are cut out for great victories and triumphs which this great man is talking about? Not many.                                                                                                                                                                                         And none of you will enjoy great victories if your mind does not want it. 

None of us is destined to wallow in misery or suffer throughout our life. None of us need to just ‘to pull on’ doing whatever little needed to get paid, feed our family, pay the bills and merge into the darkness ahead.

A lot of us are adjusting with a job we do not like, with a partner we do not love, and spend our days knowing very well that we are not living our life. This is going to be our greatest sorrow. We have failed in our mission here. We have not truly lived a single day on this planet. It is true that we got this life unasked. We have been lucky enough to be born in this century, in this country amidst abundance and advancement in every sphere of human activity. We are lucky that diseases did not cut short our life during early infancy or in childhood. We have been able to attend school, college and perhaps university to enrich ourselves. We have every comfort that our ancestors could not even dream of. But still in the heart of our hearts we are unhappy.  We are not living our lives.

Our thoughts and beliefs have been confined by our prejudices; we have never risen above the limits that were set in our mental and material horizons. We have been stuck with the precepts and tenets of our religion; we have been fettered by our cultural traditions. We have been leading a small life all the way convinced we are only capable that much and not more. Break these limiting beliefs!  Live the life you enjoy, you are destined for. Do the job you love, spend the free time the best way you want. Love those whom you like and say good bye feeling fulfilled and happy.  

Shame on India!

A new study (a report on the Hunger and Malnutrition  by the Naandi Foundation) based on the height and weight of more than 100,000 Indian children across 6 states, show that 42% of the under-fives are severely underweight and 59% of them are stunted (their height is much lower than the median height).  Roughly about 50% of the Indian children are malnourished.  Or, almost one in two do not get enough to eat and they are sick and emaciated.  This is another feather on India’s cap!

The Prime Minster of India has said it is a national shame!

It is shame on the ruling political leaders who follow wrong priorities! It is shame on those who have hoarded tons of money in the secret accounts of foreign banks! Shame on those government employees who exploit the poor and fatten themselves! Shame on all those who accumulate thousands of millions each year by graft! Shame on those who send rockets up (of what use has it been so far? How many of them have gone up? What have they discovered which have not been already known?)Shame on those who get a share of the billions in the purchase of aircrafts, ships, submarines and other military equipment!  Shame on all those politicians who manipulate public funds for programs where a big graft is assured.

Many say India is an economic power.

Many say India is a nuclear power.

Many say India is world military power.

And of course India is a space power too.  

Now look at the ground reality!  What a sad sight! Our children are suffering.  A consioderable percentage of them  will be dying without food, medicine and care! Let those sitting in the ivory towers declare in the world summits, at the height of their voice, India is an economic  super power, India is a military and space power while our children suffer and die!  Let religions condemn birth control measures like Mother Teresa did! what a service to India!