being in present

Remember the college or even school classes and the vital part of class, attendance sheet. The name is called and prompt goes the reply from students - 'present'

Physical presence of an individual is what we can measure easily, hence we are so obsessed with it. But the question is how important is a physical presence? Instead of just a physical presence I think the present tense is very important and magic is to be in a present tense not only physically but mentally.

Everyone stays in present tense physically, but the real trouble lies in mentally being in present tense. I believe that the concentration is nothing but being in present state mentally.

Concentration is a very important factor for anyone's performance in school, in sport and even in office. When we read or interact or do anything and we don't concentrate or don't be there in the present tense mentally then we no doubt miss the learning of that moment. We become less efficient and actually waste that moment.

Why is it so difficult to be in the present tense mentally? I can't even attempt to answer this question but this is what happens when we try to concentrate -
1) Distractions: We pay more attention to the other non important factors in our surrounding than what is important to us at that moment.

2) Live in the past or day dream: While performing one act, instead of we being in that moment we pay more attention to may be a similar experience which we might have had or may be we start day dreaming, may be preparing for the success party before it is all over.

3) Prepare our story: While listening or learning instead of paying attention to what is new to us, we start correlation of the thing with our experience and many times with our merits or challenges. Instead of acquiring, we start building walls in our mind...'this is a piece of cake for me' or otherwise 'this is not my piece of cake'.

How do we prepare ourselves? That is a million dollar question, some tips though are -
1) Always be aware: Always be aware, check whether your brain is with you, whether it is in that moment with you. If not, then accept it and try to bring it back.

2) Engage yourself: One more way is to engage yourself in what is going on, is by asking relevant questions and setting a target for yourself.

3) Take a break: If these tricks of being in present are not working, take a break, and come back with full energy and try to master your brain. But don't run away from the situation.

Excuses...

Excuse is a one single thing that stop you from doing a good thing for youself and for the society.

If you don't want to do one good thing then you can come up with many excuses for not doing it, but you just need one good reason to do it.

By nature human brain seeks easier solution and excuse is the outcome of that nature. 'I am too busy to do it, have no time' is one common excuse. One more frequently used excuse is 'every one else is doing it, hence I will do it'. When it comes to actions, we don't want to do anything different and better than the others; but when it comes to end result we want better than anyone else.

We need to understand one thing, what we give is what we get. If we don't give 'outstanding' input (through our efforts), then we will never get 'outstanding' output. If we keep on finding excuses for not doing great work then system will also excuse us from its list of top achievers.

So its our choice, which side do we want to be on, and please don't try to find new excuse for not picking a correct choice.

Success in a team!

So what contributes to ones success in a team? My take on this will be 2D - Dedication and Discipline.
For me if a person is 100% dedicated towards what he/she is doing while following a set discipline or by setting a discipline then no one can stop you from being a star performer.
We actually can look at multiple examples which can prove this -
a) Sachin Tendulakar, highly talented player, but what separates him from other equally (or may be more) talented player is his dedication and discipline towards the game.
b) Rahul Dravid, highly successful player, but did he carried the talent from his birth, arguably NO. He nourished the talent by his well know dedication and rigid routine.

Both these Ds are so critical because these can only be measured over a long period of time, and so thus the success!

Change!

Change is the most integral part of all living beings, and is also the most difficult part too. Why is it so difficult? I guess there are two parts in this answer-
1) We are afraid of change.
2) We are upset with the change.

So, what is difference between being afraid and being upset? We are afraid because we are not confident of our ability to face the change. There is something within us which doubts our capability to face the unknown and succeed. Our past failures or other failure stories contributes to this. This thing is very internal, you can overcome this by preparing yourself in a better way for the change.

Being upset is something external, there are some elements outside your control that make you upset. You being not involved in the decision of change, some hidden things can contribute to make you upset.

After knowing this, as a leader how do you prepare your team for a change. As a leader you should be as transplant as possible with your team, don't keep any hidden agenda from your team, show your team what exactly is expected from them and what they can expect when the change occurs. Showing a realistic picture is very important, you should not frighten the team by showing pessimistic view neither should you be too optimistic and promise them what is not expected to happen. Being realistic is very important because it can help the team prepare for a change in better way, thus taking care of their fear of change. Also it doesn't left anything away from the team thus getting them involved in the change and removing that uncertainty and hence the upset feelings.
So, be open, and enjoy the change with your team and prepare for bright future!

1st step...why do I write?

I am on orkut, linkedin, facebook, and Twitter. I twit regularly (not daily though...), and a friend once asked me, 'why are you twitting? Is there anyone who is reading that scrap?' Well, I struggle for an answer after that, why do I twit? Why do I write? And, then one day I came across this quote, "The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe, that's why to know more about you, you should write and write.." I was thinking of starting my own blog, but the question was what the blog should be all about? I do follow many blogs, some are to spread the knowledge, some are about their daily routine & thoughts. I thought to myself, I can not write about both these things and ask some one to read that, because neither am I expert in some field to spread the knowledge nor am I celebrity in any sense. So, the question remains, what should I write in my blog, if I start any?
Because, I could not find the answer to my friends question, today I have decided to write for me. This is my space, I will share my stories, my experience, and my thoughts... so, this is my 1st step, lets see how far I can travel. As the famous quote goes, 'the journey of thousand miles start with one step', so I have taken my 1st step now, lets see how the journey goes...