What to do after job retirement? – ‘Mentoring Young People’

People are living longer in this century due to availability of better health and social care facilities. Pace of change in social lives is also very fast in recent decades due to the emergence of internet, social media, and mobile communications, etc. In such situation, this world is facing new dilemma of high aging population around. On one view, these elder generations have gained huge experience in life and build on piles of wisdom because of having overcome many challenges in their lives. On the other aspect, these elder generations need to keep up their pace to adapt to social changes around to make their lives interesting and lively among the current younger generations. Out of nowhere, curiosity arise – what elders can do when they retire from their jobs, not only just to enjoy their own lives but also to contribute to the society in their last peg of lifespan.

Retired senior citizens can guide middle-age adults who are in-charge of various organizations by sharing their own experiences of running those institutions in the past. Advices of seniors are often useful to such middle-age adults since they have encountered failures in the past and lived through crises by amending mistakes. Technicality of doing things can be learnt but wisdom of common sense (i.e. gut feeling) needs to be passed on from one to another. Senior citizens may not need to work for a living, but sharing know-how experience to middle-aged adults may stimulate their brain power back again and help keeping them in-touch among their peer groups still even after retirement. Senior citizens may form groups or social clubs among liked minded friends and colleagues of their age based on similar interest of sports, or previous careers, or social cause, or fun habits to enjoy, etc.

Kids and school going teenagers often tend to bond better with grandparents than with their own parents. In this way, grandparents may indeed support the kids to shape their characters and personalities for future. Parents may be too busy to make earnings for the family in order to lead a better future, but in the process, they often may miss to rectify small mistakes of their wards that can lead children on wrong paths of no return. At times, children can be very stubborn and family can be in chaos due to tensions between parents and growing up teenagers. In such scenarios, presence of grandparents can ease the atmosphere within the family bringing happiness and mutual understanding.

Since people live longer now and social change is also rapid due to impact of new technology trends on people, senior citizens have to re-learn new ways of doing the same old habits. About shopping, online shopping using credit card is the new trend; about banking, it is about online and phone banking; about watching TV, it is now digital flat TV with touch screen or online streaming; and so many other examples. Even middle-aged adults often have to re-learn various habits of doing things newly, or else, they will miss opportunities in their careers and not able to get along with changing trends in the society. Thus, senior citizens also have to show interest in the various social trends if they are to live in tune with trends in the society. This social change is not something this generation or last generation nor next generation can ever stop; the only way forward for everyone is to adapt accordingly.

Most teenagers and youths find honored to have met senior citizens who possess command over intellectual ideas of high significance over relevant topics in the society. They may even follow those elders (as fans) who are still up-to-date with modern technologies or social trends. Most senior citizens often become role models for the school going teenagers and youths; because their lives are all in the limelight having proven and passed through almost every phase of a human lifespan. As modern lifestyle for everyone is spent on being too busy competing with each other for a better life, retired senior citizens may offer peace of mind and calmness to current generation by sharing their wisdom through occasional interactions.

Mentoring is similar to coaching or teaching or training or advising, but still different from these terms. Intention of mentoring is neither to teach someone what one knows to the other nor just about to advise a junior by a senior. Mentoring is like parenting in the sense that ‘the mentee is allow to create own imagination of their life ahead, and mentor only ignites the mentee’s passion enabling realization of dreams while keeping the mentee on check from possible mistakes’. Of course, it is good to have a mentor who has some experience of the topic or scenario the mentee is in the past. Yet, role of mentor is not inclined towards technicality as a trainer; rather, it is understanding like a coach and still allows the mentee to lead own path.

Retired elders from work or any senior citizens can indeed enjoy mingling with teenagers and youths by only just adapting their willingness to do so. They can act as mentor to younger generations, which will not only spice up their retired lives but also able to still influence the society they were once the shapers of social trends. Young people also can avoid falling into uncertain pitfalls in life by listening to experiences and wisdoms of elders. Mentors are like trust-worthy friends who listen with full attention and share their honest opinions.

Thus, we can clearly see that there is a win-win situation for both senior citizens and younger generations to engage often in all means of discussion themes. Elders can learn about modern trends followed by teenagers (enabling them stay relevant to the current society), while teenagers can gain experiences of elders (enabling them shape own lives ahead better).

About the Author:

Shanjoy Mairembam (BEng, MBA) is a Business Strategy Consultant based at London (UK). He supports mentoring of young entrepreneurs in ‘conceptualization of ideas into business case’, and offers role of a ‘Business Doctor’ to local NGOs/SMEs in Manipur.

For further info, visit http://www.shanmaiconsulting.com; E-mail: shanjoym (at) gmail (dot) com

 

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Focusing on Positive energies around self

The power of belief is so strong that the task in front looks almost half done if one believes on self towards his/her approach to the success of the goal. Understanding the potentials of self is critical to analyse where one is weak and one is strong. Every individual comes across various positive and negative feelings/emotions daily around self. People often get annoyed by disturbances around self and wish to be free from anything that he/she does not like to be around. In such circumstances, focusing on positive energies around self is the key to happiness and prosperity in life.

There is no replacement for hard-working effort, yet believing self that one can do the task is very critical for the final outcome of the task. Visualizing the end in mind and approaching the task in front provides the individual to prepare well in advance. Unexpected outcome of a task beyond anyone’s prediction is something not to be worried about, because the task executed may not be actually meant for the individual. Instead, the individual should refocus all the energies within self towards a new task and explore his/her inner strengths towards success in life till he/she finds own destiny.

Life is very short if number of days, months, and years are counted for every one of us. Now year 2009 has completed and a new year 2010 has already set in. Thus, each one of us has so far passed through many setbacks as well as wonderful moments in the past years. Some may feel totally exhausted and even not having the will to carry on in life. Yet, what we should be remembering is that, in spite of all the hurdles in the past, we still have come alive so far by overcoming everything and, now we still have the opportunity to smile or still make a new life filled with enlightened vision. It’s the choice that each one of us has to make for self in the New Year where one should go ahead for future.

Nothing has ever happened automatically without an individual’s thought about the task. Good or bad outcome to anyone will never have happened unless the individual has ever dreamt of at least for a moment in life. Yes, things do sometimes happen like miracles from nowhere. But, negative thoughts bring about negative outcomes and positive thoughts create new opportunities in life. As the mind thinks, we are attracted to the thinking whether we like it or not. So, we should practice to think positively in life. When the entire strengths in the body is utilised to achieve the dream/thought, the individual get the expected result of the action on the thought. It’s that moment when we say ‘Destiny’ and ‘Effort’ collide.

So, earlier the better to self-analyse one’s potentials and build on the strong characteristics one possesses by updating knowledge around self. Every individual has got weak characters on self and it’s true that one should look after improving those weak points. But, life is too short to improve on everything one lacks and hence, one should optimise the available time on life by balancing the weak points on self and focusing on the strong inner-strengths on self.  There is always a way out in life and one should look for innovation & change to bring prosperity in life. Remember – Positive energies around self bring about smile on face and a reason to live on.

Wishing a Happy New Year 2010 to everyone!

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The Ultimate Treasure of Life – ‘Inspiration’

Without a cause, there can’t be an effect. So, anything around us happens because of a cause. An idea will remain only in philosophy unless it’s executed. There is life on the physical body, only when it has the soul. Thus, in spite of the presence of all the resources on an individual, like strength, talent, skills, and intelligence, etc, nothing worth without the magic word “Inspiration“. For something to happen, for something to realize, for something to achieve in this world, “To get inspired” is the key value that every individual must strive hard to make all the difference.

Human beings are smarter and more intelligent than other living beings, because we are continuous learner. When the learning stops, the individual is no more in sink with the world. When an individual grows up, he/she is not sure what is destined for him/her. Everyone expects someone to come and tell what he/she is expected to be in their life-time. All the great people we have seen so far have tried by self reasoning what skills they possess, what passion they have, and what extra qualities they own. So, the first step on any individual who wishes to make an imprint in this world needs to understand the extra resources that he/she possesses since birth till date. Skills and knowledge come only out of experience. But, gathering them too requires another key value called “passion” to learn. Thus, our education we had so far, our communication with everyone, our relationship with people around us, etc are the means of getting the resources that we possess today. So, the onus of trying to understand what EXTRA the individual possesses that will define him/her remains with self.

Secondly, having a purpose for the task to be executed is the main step once an individual realize own worth. So, it’s similar to igniting the light on the lamp whose main purpose is to bring about brightness on darkness.

Imagine there is a brand new car filled with everything that needs the car to drive. But, interestingly, that car will move only when the driver decides to drive it in the direction that will take him/her to the destination. Similarly, we may have got enough potential within us to realize various wonderful ideas. But, to take control of self to execute those ideas into action, we need something to excite our will to do the task. And that excitement happens because of something that can inspire us.

Finally, the question comes up – How to get inspired?

Every individual has a different way of thinking. So, it differs how every great people had got inspired in their life-time which made them to remember as what they are as of today. And it is not necessarily true that we also will get similarly inspired by following their way of living and principles of life; but to read their biographies & their ideas do will help us to shape our personalities.

Interestingly, ‘Music’ is one of the finest inspirational things that can hugely impact our instincts at the moment of need. As an example – this may be the reason we have national anthem in most countries worldwide. And moreover, we use to get something amazing being felt at our conscience at the sound of a particular musical tune. Similarly, someone can get inspired via various ways, which one of our five senses – eyes, skin, nose, ear, and mouth can feel the spirit.

The journey of self discovery has already started for everyone since birth. Now, it’s up to the individual to try to find what EXTRA does one possesses that can make a difference among the crowd, and the way to get self inspired. Only those who can understand these two criteria will be remembered as ‘The Man of principles” and he/she will gain self dignity from everyone around.

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4 C’s to achieve your vision – Curiosity, Creativity, Cooperation, and Courage

Human intelligence comes out of the urge to learn new things as we come across from birth till being an adult. The complete life-span of an individual is indeed a journey to explore, to understand, to recreate new ideas for the well-being of self and the environment around. Time is valuable more than anything and it’s the basic wisdom that says ‘Life is a struggle which requires passion, faith and contentment for what an individual does during the life-span’.

Today’s generation needs to understand the basic 4 C’s to help self in defining the purpose of one’s life – namely Curiosity, Creativity, Cooperation, and Courage. This 4 C’s applies to everyone irrespective of age. None is 100% sure of exactly what life is all about, but scientific reasoning explains that its better to have some purpose and try working on that during the life-time.

The first C – Curiosity means ‘a state in which you want to learn more about something’, i.e. the urge to explore the unknown aspects of something that excite your attention.

For example – If a student wishes to get good score in the examination or a contest, he/she needs to have the curiosity to explore what has to be done to be among the winners; or, if a person wishes to realise an idea into action, he/she needs to understand how the same idea can be brought to reality before hand; and so on.

For something to realise, for something to start understanding, for something to create newly, a person definitely has to a ‘Child’ in the first place i.e. the urge to know, the passion to learn, the purity in concept, the dream to adventure have to be there on the person, just like a child carves for knowing things around due to curiosity.

The second C – Creativity means ‘the ability to create’, i.e. the passion to realise something new to the current environment out of internal instinct.

For example – If a student prepares for the examination or a contest using own tips of expertise quite different from others, then he/she has the creativity to think and realise extra-ordinarily; or if a person comes up with a new idea to realise the old concept in a better and efficient way, then he/she has the creativity to invent or discover the ways that others dare to go about; and so on.

Having decided what to learn and what to achieve is indeed a great step toward achieving the vision, but creativity is the aspect of life that will distinguish among the experts/competitors.

Great leaders or great scientists or any extra-ordinary individual are those who dare to be different in approach for realising the same objective with a creative mind. Creativity has to be associated with optimistic attitude and the individual should question self whether the creative mind is on the right track or its leading towards complexity unnecessarily.

The third C – Cooperation means ‘joint operation or action’, i.e. the need for working together as a team to achieve the objectives being set.

For example – if a student is able to win in a contest or examination, then it is in fact the team effort of the family being reward individually on the student since the people & the environment around him/her are the key criteria of his/her success; or if an individual wishes to get success in life or career, then, cooperation with the surrounding (which may be his/her family, or colleagues, or friends, and so on) is critical since the thinking, the motivation, the physical health, etc will depend on the people & environment around him/her.

It is therefore very essential for every individual to create the right environment around him/her so as to succeed in life/career (which includes the company of friends & colleagues, the books one read, the films/songs/audio-visuals one listens/sees, the food one eats, the habits one follows, and so on).

The fourth C – Courage means ‘a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear’, i.e. the positive attitude to deal with the subject in front with a purpose irrespective of any fallback on the expectations.

For example – If an average student dares to compete with the top ranking brilliant students in a contest or examination using her/his own tips to be among the winners, then, he/she has definitely the courage and has understood the meaning of self-dignity; or if a person focus majority of effort & time on the strengths that he/she has, and the remaining capacity on minimising or controlling the weakness, then the person has indeed the courage to deal with the situation in front.

Courage does not refer to being always bold, but being giving one’s full effort intelligently with respect to situation.

Thus, anyone can follow the 4 C’s for his/her vision to realise – since there is a need to dream (curiosity), a need to visualise (creativity), a need to stimulate the right resources (cooperation) and a need to believe (Courage).

Human intelligence comes out of the urge to learn new things as we come across from birth till being an adult. The complete life-span of an individual is indeed a journey to explore, to understand, to recreate new ideas for the well-being of self and the environment around.

Time is valuable more than anything and it’s the basic wisdom that says ‘Life is a struggle which requires passion, faith and contentment for what an individual does during the life-span’.

Today’s generation needs to understand the basic 4 C’s to help self in defining the purpose of one’s life – namely Curiosity, Creativity, Cooperation, and Courage. This 4 C’s applies to everyone irrespective of age. None is 100% sure of exactly what life is all about, but scientific reasoning explains that its better to have some purpose and try working on that during the life-time.

The first C – Curiosity means ‘a state in which you want to learn more about something’, i.e. the urge to explore the unknown aspects of something that excite your attention.

For example – If a student wishes to get good score in the examination or a contest, he/she needs to have the curiosity to explore what has to be done to be among the winners; or, if a person wishes to realise an idea into action, he/she needs to understand how the same idea can be brought to reality before hand; and so on.

For something to realise, for something to start understanding, for something to create newly, a person definitely has to a ‘Child’ in the first place i.e. the urge to know, the passion to learn, the purity in concept, the dream to adventure have to be there on the person, just like a child carves for knowing things around due to curiosity.

The second C – Creativity means ‘the ability to create’, i.e. the passion to realise something new to the current environment out of internal instinct.

For example – If a student prepares for the examination or a contest using own tips of expertise quite different from others, then he/she has the creativity to think and realise extra-ordinarily; or if a person comes up with a new idea to realise the old concept in a better and efficient way, then he/she has the creativity to invent or discover the ways that others dare to go about; and so on.

Having decided what to learn and what to achieve is indeed a great step toward achieving the vision, but creativity is the aspect of life that will distinguish among the experts/competitors.

Great leaders or great scientists or any extra-ordinary individual are those who dare to be different in approach for realising the same objective with a creative mind. Creativity has to be associated with optimistic attitude and the individual should question self whether the creative mind is on the right track or its leading towards complexity unnecessarily.

The third C – Cooperation means ‘joint operation or action’, i.e. the need for working together as a team to achieve the objectives being set.

For example – if a student is able to win in a contest or examination, then it is in fact the team effort of the family being reward individually on the student since the people & the environment around him/her are the key criteria of his/her success; or if an individual wishes to get success in life or career, then, cooperation with the surrounding (which may be his/her family, or colleagues, or friends, and so on) is critical since the thinking, the motivation, the physical health, etc will depend on the people & environment around him/her.

It is therefore very essential for every individual to create the right environment around him/her so as to succeed in life/career (which includes the company of friends & colleagues, the books one read, the films/songs/audio-visuals one listens/sees, the food one eats, the habits one follows, and so on).

The fourth C – Courage means ‘a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear’, i.e. the positive attitude to deal with the subject in front with a purpose irrespective of any fallback on the expectations.

For example – If an average student dares to compete with the top ranking brilliant students in a contest or examination using her/his own tips to be among the winners, then, he/she has definitely the courage and has understood the meaning of self-dignity; or if a person focus majority of effort & time on the strengths that he/she has, and the remaining capacity on minimising or controlling the weakness, then the person has indeed the courage to deal with the situation in front.

Courage does not refer to being always bold, but being giving one’s full effort intelligently with respect to situation.

Thus, anyone can to follow the 4 C’s for his/her vision to realise – since there is a need to dream (curiosity), a need to visualise (creativity), a need to stimulate the right resources (cooperation) and a need to believe (Courage).

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Time to patch up after the Conceptual Change about Marriage

Social Relationships & Interpersonal relationships between the guys & the gals of Today’s are changing fast as scientific thoughts & social advances come about in their minds. Days’ are gone “when women have to confine themselves just to the household activities and Guys taking the dominant role in social relations”. Due to the growth of liberal societies, many women are visible holding good positions in many institutions and taking a responsible status on par with the men. But, any changes in the social interpersonal relations have to be dealt with care and we should understand the possible impacts. One such case study is about the “Institution of Marriage“. Keeping the discussion with the focus only on the various diverse cultures in India, the status of Indian women is beginning to grow up on par with that of the men.

Though we can find the news of “Dowry”, “torture of married women by in-laws”, “poor treatment of gals with respect to guys”, etc at times; we do begin to hear the news of many powerful women emerging in our societies. Gals living in cities are more liberal & have realized self-dignity. Many gals are now working & earning in most cities. They are ambitious in their careers like the Guys. They don’t like to comprise just like that with regards to job & personal freedom for the sake of getting married. Gals now prefer to be single rather than getting into troubled marriages, because of the ability to earn & lead a secured life single-handedly with complete personal freedom. They wish to wait till they find a life-partner who could understand the self-dignity of being a gal, with respect to their career & personal space. Thus, we can see many single & well-qualified gals in the age range of 27-35 yrs. in most cities. The number of such well-qualified singleton gals is increasing as the day passes by.

Though we can feel the improving living standard of gals on par with guys in our societies, ours is still a male-dominant society in common. Even though most of our guys are educated, they still allow their old parents (both literate & illiterate) & family members to continue the customs of “dowry” and other family rules to force the young gals to suffer physically & mentally targeting the gals’ personal aspirations at the time of marriage. This is indeed bad. It seems like no moral learning nor any moral value is coming out of the education one has obtained so far in their lives. Only a change on the mentality of few guys & few families won’t be able to change the whole society. But, somehow the change needs to be started somewhere to allow the quantum change in the social interpersonal relations between the sexes.

Its time to understand by academically well qualified guys that they are the masters of Today’s Generation & the creators of Tomorrow’s. The future course of social relations & the various interpersonal relations between the sexes depends on them. Every guy has to understand the simple principle that gals too are human being like them who have the similar feelings & dreams in life to realize. Social norms & regulations should not be partial towards them. If any such conditions are prevalent in today’s world, Guys need to take the lead to make a change to allow the gals to breathe the same fresh air. There should be a mutual consent of trust & self-respect among guys & gals. A family is out of the relations between a man & a woman (after getting married) and the family may comprise of a gal & a guy at least as their children.

So, the point is we should not allow forcing ill treatment to the gals of other family that is going to get married to guys of our family. We should have the heart to feel what & how we will feel if the same disaster happens to gals of our own family. The happiness & prosperity of their wards is what every family wishes, whether it is a guy or a gal.

Guys of Today’s generation should think to allow their counterparts to feel the same fresh air as they do breathe. They should create a mutual friendship with the gals even after getting married to them and have a soft understanding of the gals’ feelings towards their personal aspirations & dreams too. Though it is goodwill to mankind to uplift the living standard of the gals in our Indian societies, the gals do need to have thoughts where they are really heading, after getting much liberty & personal freedom. Today’s gals are working as doctors, engineers, lawyers, civil servants, ministers, army officers, etc in every ways of living in our Indian societies.

Most gals of Today’s believe on the concept of self-independence to find personal space, financial security & great heights in their personal career. They begin to loose the confidence to the institution of “Marriage” due to the fear of compromise on their freedom & personal career aspirations. They are unsure of the situations that may happen after getting married to some guy of other family. They prefer to stay single rather than get into troubles of bad-marriages. They are not ready to sacrifice or compromise most of their personal aspirations just like that which they have worked hard enough to get at, for years.

But, we do have a saying “Too Much in anything is not good”. Loosing the faith on “Marriage” is not a sign of good future in terms of social interpersonal relations. There needs a balance in the personal career aspirations & the family values (about the institution like marriage) by both sexes. The impact out of marriage between a guy & a gal who care only about their personal career ambitions & works will be heavy on their wards.

Lack of care & love on their kids will have huge negative impact on the kids’ mentality & future life-styles. Not always hefty money & huge financial assets can help a kid become responsible individual in the society; rather they will create spoilt-kids of next generation who in turn will trouble the society. Not always good & great individuals come out of well-to-do family or families of well-earning father-mother. Whatever the names & assets, the parents of Today’s are earning will go priceless & worthless; if their own wards become spoilt kids who are unable to safeguard themselves due to lack of care while they are brought up. The parents may loose the helping hand & care of their wards at their old age, if they miss out to share the beauty of love & care of being in a family.

Then, what is the worth of medals & money, one has piled up in life so far, if one can’t pass away happily when one is old enough to struggle for existence in this world. That is the key area that both Today’s Guys & Gals need to think together more seriously. So is the need of discussion about the “Marriage” and the formalities around it.

May be both Today’s single guys & gals are currently looking out for the “Mr. Right” or “Miss Right” who can understand each other concerns related to personal freedom & career aspirations; but, its not late to think about the possible consequences too, if they are serious about the future generations. Today’s guys & gals can enjoy to the extreme they wish, whether as a single or as a couple (i.e. live-in relation) getting all the personal freedoms & respectable positions in workplaces. But, Loosing faith on institution like “Marriage” will give a negative signal to the growing up kids, which may result in unexpected issues in future. Human society is differentiated from other creatures on the ground that we have strong bonding of love between parents & their wards.

Such is feasible out of the trust on the institution called “Marriage” as it keeps a binding rule on both the guy & gal. So, some genuine & special responsibility is imposed on both the guy & the gal getting married, to take care of the future of the newly born kids who are the safeguards of the coming Future.

Thus, it is time, that the well-qualified gals have a thinking on whether they are interested only on their lives of Today’s or the lives of human society of tomorrow; and the guys too to have a thinking on giving a comfortable space to the gals so that the gals too can feel similar free atmosphere both personally & as a member of family in the society. All such outcomes can be only be feasible, when guys & gals of Today’s have a free-frank chat about the institution called “Marriage”. Lastly, both need to remember these words – “Satisfying all personal desires & needs in one’s personal life does not amount to doing any good of being born in this world; rather they both do have a responsibility to take, for the next generation as well, if the human civilization is to go on with respect on this Earth above other living creatures“.

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How to Achieve Success

Meaning of Success:
Achieving the target which is being thought or created before hand in any way of life, may be termed as “Success”.

Analysis of the word “Success” being compared to the word “Winning”:
Difference with the word “Winning” – “Winning” refers to gaining the medal or reward in a way of life or work with or without any effort or prior planning. It may be by God’s Grace or by Good Luck charm, or incident achievement, or anything..

Everyone likes to get success in anything whatever we do. So, Scope of success and path to Success is what everyone dreamt of for. What is said okay, for a way of life, may not be applicable for other way of living. But, it does help us to make a chart of things to be considered how to get success on what we do.

Essentials of “Success”:
1) Clear objective – Concrete goal which is touchable i.e. which is measurable.

Explanation: – Keeping goals like “Becoming a good person in life” is not a concrete goal, though the goal is indeed good one. It is very difficult to plan and analyse the goodness of an individual or the way to define the word “good”.

But, if one decides to become “a Doctor”, “An Engineer”, “A Lawyer”, “A Businessman”, etc.; he/she will be able to achieve what he/she had wished for i.e. “a good person” side by side, if the individual maintain the personality of the goal effectively. At the same time, becoming “A Doctor” or “An Engineer” does not mean the individual is already a good person; but, if we think things in positive way, we will be achieve what we have dreamt of by keeping concrete targets.

2) Good Health – Health is wealth.

Explanation: – All our thinking will go waste if we are not physically fit enough to get at our wishes. So, along with target of achieving success, there must be proper health & fitness planning so that we are mentally & physically sound to work hard for the goal in mind.

3) Good Support & Environment – Achieving Success in any way of life needs support (may be from friends, family, or others) which may be psychological or may be physical help.

Explanation: – It is rare in this world to be able to do everything required in life by a single individual. If one has to get something, one has to help him/her in some way or the other.

In fact, it is a team effort i.e. achieving the success in an individual’s life via the guides of people & environment in the surrounding. It is expected to see a gentleman out of a gentle family at most.

4) Clarity in understanding of Self – Knowing the internal instincts & the weakness of self.

Explanation: – We keep on learning everyday and we keep on adapting to the situations every time. It is all because of our thinking capability. For achieving success on something we do, we need to get aware of what are really need in the way we wish to do.

Based on the finding of the requirements, we can establish the strong points in our character and the weakness on self that will try to pull us down in the way to success.

5) Punctuality & Strong Determination – Setting a target and trying to achieve via proper step by step planning punctually.

Explanation: – It is well known from the saying that “Rome was not build on a single day”. For achieving success on what we do, we need to be patient enough and follow clear laid out plans punctually.

6) Good Personality – The Personal character in action, in thinking, in behaving.

Explanation: – One needs to develop one’s personality from Day One towards the goal what one wishes to be. It is very difficult to imitate someone else at the last moment. Whatever one learns every single day is what we all accumulate and use them in today’s life.

That is how our personality comes about. It is difficult to change our personality suddenly. Based on the goal and way of life, one needs to develop and learn to develop a matching personality so that there is success in the way of life.

Generalised Steps to “Success“:
1) Finding the target
2) Understanding the requirements and limitations
3) Understanding self and matching the requirements with self
4) Making a process (not just only rigid steps) to achieve the expectations towards the goals
5) Having a Back-up planning in executing the steps in every process
6) Maintaining a feedback or loop back on the steps being executed to analyse the success rate in meeting the targets with respect to planning.

Thus, in fact achieving success is a simple process. It is similar to having a checklist of things to do be done and verifying whether the individual has completed all the requirements.

Lastly, “Success” is all, not just about achieving targets in some way of life. There are lot many in life. Sometimes, it does help us to understand ourselves more, if we do look from the outside preview whether our success is really indeed leading us to the right ladder of our career & life. It is worth waste if we realise we have miss our precious life while trying to achieve success in some other way of life which is not at all related to our life goal or career.

Another caution is, all the failures in life are not indeed real failure. There too, we need motivation & positive thinking to consider the failure as the chance to experience beforehand the final countdown. If we indeed analyse the past mistakes and put strong determination, we will win someday if not today.

So, we need to dream, plan, & execute – all within the specified time. It’s worth remembering “where there is a will, there is a way“; but at the same time, it is also important to keep reminding ourselves “There is no second chance in Life; & Time just comes and goes for ever“.

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Many Good People everywhere, But Why only few Great People?

We, humans, have something called Mind i.e. thinking capability, which makes us different from the whole living beings in the Universe. We learn from the past incidents and develop our knowledge for the future. As ‘Mind’ is the most dangerous and also the most fabulous abstract, we humans are different in approach and life-styles as the individual thinking varies. This article is all about what makes we humans, think and act; why is there many good people and why only a few Great people; what makes people good; and what are the habits & abstracts that make up a human to think and act.

Well, first of all, let’s try to understand what makes up a full human being in thinking and acting. We can consider four abstracts namely; Mind (Talent), Heart (Passion), Body (Need), & Spirit (Conscience) from which an individual derives its individuality & personality. ‘Mind’ is something through which we humans think practically and analyse using our acquired knowledge & experience in life; so it is nothing but our talent i.e. our expertise learnt from life. This is what we call as ‘IQ (Intelligent Quotient)’. ‘Heart’ is something through which we humans emotionally think and take a decision in our lives, i.e. the thinking is out of our desire and wishes which may be in or out of profile of the natural principles. This is what we call as ‘EQ (Emotional Quotient)’. ‘Body’ is something through which we humans feel the thinking & needs physically, i.e. we show our likes or dislikes based on our physical desires. This is what we call ‘Attitude’. And lastly, ‘Spirit’ is something unknown that we humans always feel inside our mind & body like another individual answering to our queries & doubts in life, i.e. our conscience. This helps us humans to decide & think, and every time giving it’s own version of decision like the God’s advice directly. This is what we call as the ‘Sixth Sense’.

Thus, the final outcome and action of an individual is based on the combined effect on the above four abstracts. An individual’s behaviour, habit, likes, dislikes, personality, and so on… everything depends on how far the individual capitalise his/her effort to understand the above four abstracts. This combined effort will give the individual an image of own in the society, where we live. We will come back to discussion on how these four abstracts make a difference between good people and great people. For now, we will first try to analyse what makes people good, i.e. what makes someone efficient & successful in life or career.

There are many habits that we humans use to develop from being born till the last breath. We do have these habits, but those who understand these habits in-depth and those who try to match the same on self… always gets the success stamped in their life and career, someday or the other day. So, what are these habits? –

Habit No 1: – Be Proactive
This means – one should be responsible for the thinking, or the idea being developed & being decided to go ahead in life or the career. The opposite of this word is ‘Reactive”. If someone does a work or an idea or a duty; just because he/she has to do, or someone/something is compelling to do, then, that is nothing but just reacting to the responses from the environment. But, the saying here is that the individual has to take some moral responsibility like ‘Indeed this idea or job is mine, and the responsibility to give success is own; and the reward/medal out of the idea is for self’. If so, there is maximum efficiency out of the capability one has on self.

Habit No 2: – Begin with the End in Mind
This means – every idea or thinking should be all completed with proper justification & reasoning in mind before final practical implementation. The person has to have a clear idea of what to do, how to do, where to do. In short, the individual should have a clear final goal and clear blue-print in his/her mind; and then, the individual has to start executing the idea with the goal in mind

Habit No 3: – Put First Thing First
This means – to organise the thinking and steps chosen as per the thinking and analysis for executing an idea into action, as first, second, third … in an order. Every idea has its way of implementation based on the strategy chosen by the individual’s expertise and desire. So, the final result may be the same, but the approach may be drastically different at times too. And hence, the individual has to chart out the various steps and process identified related to the idea to be implemented; and then, focus on the first step/process first and the rest on the order of the reality

Habit No 4: – Think Win-Win
This means – one should always keep in mind the confidence that he/she is going to win if the strategy so chosen is executed which has been developed taking into consideration of all the impacts from the surroundings and uneven situations; and so there is no way the individual is going to lose. In short, the idea is one should feel he/she is going to win and just win, as he/she is on track as per the self planning. When the mind is set, nothing on earth can stop the individual from executing the task, unless there is another miracle to stop the same

Habit No 5: – Seek First to Understand, then, Understood to seek
This means – before really trying to gather the info about the idea to implement, it is necessary to understand how to gather the info. One may have some ideas to implement and also knows what things to gather to execute the same. But, if the means and method of gathering the info are not relevant to the situation, he/she may get into trouble and; instead prove the individual to be something totally different from what he/she is trying to prove via the own idea. In short, it is ‘understanding the means of expression and means of interaction so that the current situation is also not disturbed; and at the same time, the requirements of the idea are made and gathered’

Habit No 6: – Synergise
This means – to understand all the qualities and strengths an individual has on self, and then capitalising on the combined strength or idea of the individual. Everyone has some higher capability or strength compared to others, as God had created every human being differently with some extra quality on self. So, it is the responsibility of the individual to find out what is there on self that people don’t have; and how he/she can prove the in-born instinct to all thus getting success and fame in life time

Habit No 7: – Sharpen the saw continuously
This means – to develop the ideas and fine tune the same rigorously, as there is only one constant in this whole universe, which is none other than “CHANGE”. In order to make sure the steps/processes being followed to execute the idea into reality, to be able to work or compatible with some magic, irrespective of time and moment; one should always update the knowledge and skills by putting life & colour into the old processes/steps so chosen long time before, via understanding the changes and the need for adaptability

These habits are all there in every individual and the only difference among us is that how far an individual realises them collectively and capitalises the self thinking on them. If one is well aware on these habits after being compared to self ideas, then, for sure, the individual will become efficient in life and get success in life or the career chosen. In short, the individual will be good; but not great. Then, what makes someone great and what are those habits differentiating Great People from Good People.

We, humans can be efficient in our daily works and career being chosen, by following the check-lists being prepared for the same to follow punctually and effectively. It is like being having a checklist of things to do to the manufacturing workers, to make sure the product to be developed is shifted out with the quality & the standard being promised to the customer and which is being thought to realise at the first instance. Thus, to become good is pretty simple and idealistic to realise if one is not lazy and if one is enthusiastic in life on what he/she has chosen to go ahead.

But, Good people are not always good in all the fields of life. Being becoming more & more ‘Good’, will not make the individual ‘Great’, but instead it will pull down the ‘Good’ to ‘Bad’ and ‘out of time & condition’. So, there is another constant that we can feel which doesn’t change at all i.e. “CHOICE”. Choice is something that we humans will have at every instant of time and life on whatever we do and think. Even not having a choice to do something is indeed a choice, i.e. to choose the same or leave the same. The thinking mentioned here, is to capitalise and focus on the four abstracts explained above to make the difference.

Life is not one-dimensional, but multi-dimensional. This means that getting success in one field of life is not the real success in life. We are living in the society and so we are not just living on our ideas, but in the mixture of the ideas of every other individual. So, it is not enough just to understand self; but it is still more valuable to understand others too. One needs to be careful of success in life; i.e. whether one is really on the right ladder or the wrong ladder. We may get medals of success in life for executing some ideas into actions, but if that success is not going to count in my real life and real goal in life, then, what is the use of the success. One may seems to be happy getting so many success in life in the career or the field one is preceding, but, whether the individual is sure the success medals are leading him/her to the right path of life. Thus, in order to be to among the ‘Great People’, one has to change the strategy/career path based on the combined impact of the above four abstracts in life. Or, the individual will be just a ‘Good Person’. One needs not just to realise own voice but one needs to inspire others to realise their voice; so that the other people can understand that the individual is indeed GREAT & not just Good.

[Note: This article is about my learning from Franklin R. Covey’s “THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE” and my own interpretation of it]

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