CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY

 

In the game of cricket, two fast bowlers are known for their unique distinction of bowling the least number of “no balls.” They are, India’s Kapil Dev and Pakistan’s Imran Khan. How did they achieve this great feat? Even at the net practice they bowled consistently without overstepping the line.

 “Consistency is what transforms average into excellence.”

 Every achiever in every field has gone on to become a champion because they practiced every day. An Olympian will lose his muscles in twenty-four hours if he does not exercise. That is the kind of commitment that is required to become an Olympian. All of us aspire for so many things. New year resolutions are made. But when we start doing it, somewhere we lose interest, become lazy, and discontinue sooner or later.

 I was a person who could not sit for even five minutes in meditation. I used to become restless. When my spiritual guru came into my life, He insisted that we sit in non-doing everyday for ten minutes. Out of my reverence for Him I started sitting consistently in silence every day. From ten minutes it has progressed to one hour every day without absenteeism! It is fourteen years since I began meditating on a daily basis. Needless to say, my life has totally transformed. From the seat of meditation, a mere wish becomes a command to the universe.

 “Desires become Deservingness through Consistent Directed Self-motivated Intelligent Effort (CDSIE)”

 Anything that is consistently done over the years leads to transformation.  Be it exercising every day, becoming a champion in a sport, aiming for good grades, waking up early, being on time all the time, any habit that you want to drop or pick up, a discipline you wish to inculcate or creating a world record. What you can conceive and believe you can achieve, if you do it consistently.

 “Anything that is imperfectly done, but on a daily basis, produces far greater results, than what we do perfectly, but once in a way.”

 Start with a small goal. Attach the right emotions to what you want to achieve. Work on it every day without absenteeism.  Make it a habit. Then, start again with another goal. Repeat it. What we can become in the process of achieving our goal is the motivation.

 “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not an act, but a habit.”

   A little more effort, few more attempts, a couple of repetitions, some more practice, one more day, and we would have achieved our goal. Champions realize that the bounties of life are always beyond the imaginary finishing line. So, they do not give up. They are relentless, persevering and unstoppable. Put your hands up and be counted as a champion.

 

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

COMPETENCY OR COMPETITION

 

 

“If you think you can do it, that’s Confidence, If you do it, that’s Competence.”

 

Every seed has in it the potential to become a forest. It only needs to be nurtured.  Even the most potent seed will not germinate if it is thrown on an infertile soil. Even an ordinary seed will sprout if it is sown in a prepared soil. Children are born with great talent. We must help them to discover their potential. Encouraging them will alone help them to blossom to their fullest potential.

 

“There’s no comparison between the sun and the moon. They shine when it’s their time.”

 

Are we criticizing them for everything, or comparing them with others and making them feel less? Comparisons bring out the worst in them and not their best. Children will never appreciate anyone comparing them. We are simply fanning the flames of hatred and jealousy in them. We are unnecessarily creating an unhealthy competition among children.  Instead we need to work on building their competency.

 

I must confess that I had neither confidence nor competence in me during my childhood. In fact, I suffered from inferiority complex. I had low self-esteem and a poor self-image. This was because I was constantly compared to my cousins and friends for my looks and for my academic performance. It affected me a lot. By default, I started working on my competence by participating in competitions. and by putting my hand up for all cultural programs. I managed to create a niche for myself in school. People started noticing me. I started growing in my own eyes and thereby in the eyes of the world.

 

“The most beautiful thing you can wear is Confidence.”

 

Ever since, I have only grown more and more in my confidence. Today, nobody will even believe that this was my past. I have got past my past. I gifted myself a new ME by achieving small victories. Beauty also, I realized, was only skin deep. It is a fading phenomenon. You need to be beautiful within. That is what I keep working on every day. To become a beautiful human being, whose heart beats for the world.

 

The world sometimes does not spare anyone. Rising above the comments of the world will truly liberate you. Don’t get even with the world. Get ahead of the world. All you need to do is to consistently build your competence, which in turn will give you confidence.

1.     Do not compare yourself with anyone

2.     Compete with your own past

3.     Ensure that your today is better than your yesterday.

4.     Keep building your competence

5.     Make yourself the Numero Uno

 

Identify the areas where you need to improve. Set short term goals for yourself. Keep achieving your targets. This is the reward you give yourself. Then nobody will be a competition for you. The world will come in search of you.

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

DEALING WITH TRANSITIONS

 

 

 “Existential glory is in creating all as equals. Human glory is in ensuring that we don’t die as equals.”

 

Transitions are never comfortable:

 

The little child screaming and refusing to enter the classroom is a phase in life.  The transition from being at home and sitting in the class with absolute strangers, is always a difficult one. Once you become familiar with your surroundings, you get into a new comfort zone. Every stage in life comes with its own challenges.  Transitions are a part of our life. From home to school to college to workplace, we have no choice but to adapt ourselves to the new environment and the new faces with whom we have to interact. So also, from our primary formative years to our secondary formative years to adult life to old age, there will be a lot of physical and psychological changes as we transition from one stage to another.

 

“Face fear and fear goes; avoid fear and fear grows.”

 

From an awkward teenager who is unsure of himself to a confident young adult, who is well dressed and comfortable in his body, is a period of transition. From being bullied by classmates to emerging as a fearless person, ready to face the world, is a transition. From being afraid of facing the audience to becoming a remarkable speaker, is also a transition. From being an introvert to transforming to an extrovert is an uncomfortable transition.

 

Transition brings about transformation:

 

Transitioning from a homemaker to a Principal and then a Correspondent was quite challenging for me, as my personality itself had to undergo a great change, my entire lifestyle had to be modified, my priorities had to shift. I had to integrate individual interest with the larger interest. The transition was not easy, but I was willing to go through it and thus reached a new comfort zone and a different level of maturity.

 

Willingly embrace change:

 

The caterpillar can never become a butterfly if it is not wiling to break out of the cocoon.

Change is the willingness to give up who you are, in order to become what you can be. Hey, instant gratification is so pleasurable, but our growth comes from delayed gratification. Do you complete your daily assignments and then indulge in pleasurable activities? Do you create time to exercise or do you feel lazy? Do you eat health conscious food or tongue conscious food? It calls for tremendous will power to transition.

 We have to give up to go up! You must be wondering how. 

  Ø List all your go up goals.

 Ø Work on one at a time.  

  ØConsistent Directed Self-motivated Intelligent Effort can take you closer to your goal. 

 

Legendary people always put their life in transition. You are also only an evening away from glory if you are ready to put your life in transition.

 

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

 

 

LOVE IS NOT LOVE THAT PAMPERS

 

The giraffe in the zoo litters a calf. The mother giraffe kicks the newborn soon after birth, sending her flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground. This is repeated till the tired baby giraffe learns to stand on her feet. The mother giraffe does this because she knows that the lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So, unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack, it will have no chance of survival. But human beings take their own time to evolve. From the baby stage to adult life, it is a period of evolution.

Overparenting:

As parents, we love our children unconditionally. We want to give them a beautiful life. We don’t want them to be deprived of anything that we were deprived of in our childhood. Hence, we indulge as parents, by giving them whatever they want. This is how many of us have learnt to show our love. Children also see this as parental love. Indulgent parents do not set boundaries.

We should not teach children to measure love through gifts or by pampering them. A wrong can never be right. We should not overlook the mistakes children commit because of our overt love for them. Accepting everything they do, agreeing to their demands, buying them everything that they ask, are not the ways to show our love.  There has to be loving firmness in our actions. They must learn to adjust and adapt with the world outside, where they may not be able to have their ways.

 I remember, as a child, my mother gave us a lot of freedom. But she was clear that we have to use it responsibly. So. Childhood days were fun-filled. We knew our limits and we did not go beyond that.

 “Attitudes don’t care where they are shaped, but once shaped, they become our behavior, either creating us or destroying us.”

 Do we need children’s approval for everything?

Children may not like to be told, “no.”  However, we must do only that which will propel their growth. Love is love, that creates. Rewards and punishments must not be attached to their behavior or their performance in test/exams. Insisting on delayed gratification will go a long way in getting their life right. Love and attachment should be experienced by children from the warmth of the parents and not from anything else. We should never argue with the world to justify our children’s mistakes. This will only mislead them in life.

What can you do as a parent?

If you really love your child, empower them.

1.    Involve your child in household chores.

2.     Teach them to say sorry and thank you.

3.     Inculcate values and discipline in them.

4.     Let them learn to respect elders.

5.     Instill in them a value for money.

6.     Appreciate them when required

 Parenting is a learnt trait. You don’t get it right always. But you must keep trying, and that’s the spirit of a hands-on parent!

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

PUNCTUALITY

 

Today we are in an era where we are exploring the possibility of life in another planet, advancement in technology, groundbreaking changes in the field of medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and many more. When the whole world is surging ahead, some of us are still struggling to get our fundamentals right. Even to reach a place on time is a Herculean task for us. When are we going to get beyond the ordinary challenges and set our sights on great achievements? When are we going to transcend? Why even waste our time arguing and giving excuses? Do we realize that small holes can sink a mighty ship?

Lack of discipline in life can cost us our future. There are certain things that we need to get right in life before we aim for anything big. Time Management is not clock management but life leadership. Habits are formed when we are very young. Children should be urged to dream Big. To get the larger picture right, every piece in the jig saw puzzle should be in the right place. This is true of our life too. To become extraordinary in life, every moment in life should be productively utilized. Success does not come that easily to anyone. It is a combination of so many qualities that we imbibe. Attitude, skill, knowledge, perseverance, time management, relentlessness, are just a few of those qualities. Success is, small efforts repeated.

Punctuality is nothing but being prompt. All those of us who are punctual are organized and systematic. Productive use of time happens only when we are prompt. How we plan the day makes all the difference.  Our actions are our circle of influence. Are we beginning the day on time or is there a delay? This will determine whether we keep running behind schedule or we complete our work on time. This helps us to believe in ourselves and builds our confidence. It helps us to win the trust of the world.

When I developed this quality of being punctual, I first grew in my own eyes. I realized that, if I say it, I will do it. It gave me great freedom. I felt liberated from my shortcomings. I no more had to give excuses to the world. I became the master of my life. My day was decided by me. Life became so disciplined and hence, very productive. I was able to motivate the world around me. Punctuality is only a decision. Decide today and turn your life around. Resolve to be “On time, all the time!”

 

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTROSPECTION

 

“Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom.”

 The school had given an option to the students to write the exam in the Honesty Test room, where there wouldn’t be an invigilator.  A group of students grabbed the opportunity for the wrong reasons, as they felt that it was a short cut to success. To their disappointment, some of the students who wrote the exam with integrity, spilled the bean. They informed the teacher about it. The teacher summoned the students and conducted an enquiry. The students accepted that they indulged in malpractice. The teacher told them that they were not cheating her, but themselves. She added that, short cut to success will always cut short their success.

 

The rest of the students from class twelve were summoned. The teacher addressed all of them. Initially there was a lot of restlessness amongst them.  They were not in a mood to listen to her long sermon. The teacher was not ready to give up. She knew that this was the right time for her to din sense into them as they were in the final year of school and would leave in a few months’ time. She told them that she would like to share with them one thing that changed her life. The students were curious to know what it was. She said, “I was in the habit of blaming someone whenever I did something wrong. My father noticed this and told me that every day, before going to bed, I must run through my entire day from the time I woke up. This will help me to reflect on my actions. By practicing this every day, over a period of time, I began to develop self-awareness. Introspection has become part of my life now. It helps me become aware of my actions and to correct myself.”

 Introspection is the best tool for self-development. In introspection you become the subject of your own study. It leads to self-awareness. Self-awareness gives life to our inner voice and our inner voice guides us in our life. So, awareness is the key to progress. By introspecting we will realize where we went wrong, and a correction can be made. Progressively it will help us to grow in the right direction. When we don’t introspect, we keep committing mistakes over and over again. The teacher asked them to maintain a journal in which they would put a tick at the end of each day, if they were right, and a cross if they were wrong. She concluded on a note of triumph by saying,  ”This will help you get closer and closer to YOU.”

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting

I AM A CHAMPION

 

“When you discipline yourselves to the best practices of life you become a benchmark to the world,”

While I was reading the book, “The Lives of Great Men,” in which the author traces the lives of the Movers & Shakers of the world, I found that they were all very ordinary people before they became extraordinary individuals. They had certain exceptional qualities in them that made them such achievers. They embraced the best practices of life and disciplined themselves, and hence became a champion in life. Not all can become a champion, whether it is championing a Cause or becoming a champion in a chosen field.  

There are so many entrepreneurs in the world, but only one Ratan Tata, one Mukesh Ambani, one Jeff Bezos or one Elon Musk. There are so many dancers, singers, sports persons, actors, musicians, etc. But only a few are world renowned. Only a few are considered as champions. Many run the race, but only one person wins the gold medal. He is called the champion and the others are called the also rans.  What sets the champions apart from the rest? What makes them an achiever? Is it capability, or luck? Or is there something more than all these?

1. Champions are highly “Passionate” about what they are doing. They want to be the best.  Hence, there is a lot of sincerity in their action. They will not compromise whatsoever. There is a burning passion for what they want to achieve. Hence, they never feel tired.

2. Champions have very high “Energy Levels.”  Enthusiasm is a part of anything they do. That gives them the energy they need. The Cause they represent or the goal they wish to achieve, gives them high energy.

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting