Skip to main content

Posts

What is most important for success - Knowledge, Power, or Wealth?

At our learning centre, we recently held a discussion on- “What is important for success- knowledge, power or wealth?” Importance of Power The participants in the discussions were entrepreneurs, corporate executives, bankers and others. Different views were presented by the speakers. Some considered knowledge as most important factor. They enumerated examples of successful people who had risen from being unknown to highly rated successful individual by consistently acquiring knowledge and gainfully using it. Knowledge in such cases did not necessarily mean any university degree or such other qualification. Knowledge, here, denotes application of mind of the practical knowledge received through any medium and using the same for earning name, fame and wealth. Steve Jobs is one such example. Our own Dhirubhai Ambani is another. Even Warren Buffet’s story is no different. It is rags to riches. While academic Knowledge has also helped lots of people to become successful

Smart Skills

Education is necessary, but skill is essential. Unfortunately, our education system per se is such that it hardly helps an individual develop skills. Much less the skills I think are most important for living life happily and successfully.  I am talking about two skills in particular - skill with oneself, and skill with people.  A child is born with some tendencies which may have a lot to do with his/her parentage. What is his father's attitude to life, what is that of his mother, and more importantly how their relationship with each other. While these factors continue to have their influence on the growth of the child, various other influences start playing an important role during the growing years. The teacher, the class mates, friends, relatives, and neighbors - all influence the child. It is hard to say how much these help in developing either of the two skills which I have mentioned above - skill with oneself, and skill with other people.  So what should

Personal Productivity

A few days back, we had a brain storming session on personal productivity. Organisational productivity is a subject that may attract more attention than any other in the management field. But what is personal productivity? Does it mean how does one manage his/her time? The answer is yes and no. Yes, time is an important aspect of personal productivity. Rather, it could be so provided your activities are aligned with your goals. And yet it is a lot more. Does it mean one’s achievement towards realization of personal goals? Not just that! Personal goals may change. Personal vision may change. And if one may say so personal mission statement if one ever cares to establish that – that also may change. When we talk of mission statement or vision or an organization, that hardly ever changes. But when we are talking of an individual, the factors that affect a person’s likes and dislikes, desires, drastically change with changing circumstances, or even without these. Accordi

Murphy's Laws

Most would think that Murphy was a pessimist.  His pessimism alone drove him to be a negative thinker.  In the circumstances, it is neither necessary nor prudent to take him or his laws seriously. What does Murphy say?  And what is the implication of his controversial laws? This is what I propose to share with you, today. Murphy's most talked about law is: 'If anything can go wrong it will.' Corollaries are interpreted by many as below: 1. Anything is not as easy as it looks. To me, this is a valid caution.  Often times a task appears a bit too easy.  It is so because we don't all the aspects.  Thereafter the difficulties that we face in completing the task leave us discouraged.  So, if we keep this dictum in mind, we shall be better prepared to do our own job surmounting whatever difficulties come our way. This attitude could be either due to casual conduct or being over optimistic, over confident and taking things for guaranteed.  Hope we all agre

What do you need?

What do you need Now a days, life is full of stress. Stress is the caused by multifarious reasons. Firstly, there is work pressure. This has increased due to the ever increasing competition. Life in the city is also becoming difficult due to distances and slow moving traffic. You take more time in travelling from home and to your work place than you ever did in earlier times.  Pollution is another major factor that saps your energy. On the one side you have less time for your productive work, with reduced energy level you tend to take more time in completing your daily tasks. So time-management becomes another issue. So what should you do? You cannot change the environment, the way the society is moving forward, the social conflicts are increasing. But you can certainly do one thing. Change yourself. Bring about a change in your personality, your perspective, the way you look at things, and the way you solve your daily problems. In order that you successfully do

Self-Confidence

Your confidence depends on how you have been influenced by people around you till now. Be it your parents, your teachers, your friends and others you have been meeting. Some of the influences have created positive impact. ‘Yes, you can do it and you must try’. This motivates you to act even if there is some risk. ‘No, you can’t do it’, ‘it is not for you’ ‘what will others say when you fail’- these are some of the negative thoughts, instilled by people around you, or due to your own brooding. These hold you back. Faith, Fear and Action are three most important ingredients of your self confidence. Today, everyone realizes the importance of self-confidence. Your career, your relations with others, your progress in life or even your reputation- all depend on your self- confidence. Your ability to overcome fears and your determination to take action even in adverse circumstances give it a boost. Anyone who wants to grow in life must develop ability to take some risk. Of

Stretched Goals

Setting Stretched Goals Today I’ll talk to you about the importance of goals in life. Anything that we do in life, we spend our precious time and money must bring about desired results. But often it does not happen. Why? Do we always try to figure out the reasons? If not, then why not? Because our goals are not clear. Because our desire to achieve the results is not so strong. So what should we do? Sit back and think that everything will be alright? Or, that our luck is bad? No! We must clearly define what we want to achieve. Write these clearly on our diary/journal. Make it known to the friends, family members, peers wherever it is necessary. Particularly to our well wishers. When we make our goals known to others, we become more committed. Then, we should create a strong desire within us to achieve our goals. We need to contemplate on these as often as possible. Further, we need to plan how to achieve our goals. Work out the plan and write it down. Spend some t