Month: May 2010

From Disorganized to Organized..

It’s 5AM in the morning IST. Here is an attempt at switching schedule from fully nocturnal to more human-like. And it has started with a feeling of being completely disorganized and one of nothing being in control.

I’m not sure if this is a common one, but it is one I feel from time to time when everything around seems to be in disorder and no work gets done anyway..

So, I’ve decided to put down a 3 steps to get from disorganized to organized..

1) Clean your workspace/area. Nothing like getting the surrounding/environemtn all perked up first..

2) Write down all the things bothering you at the moment. Writing over typing as writing is neuro-muscular i.e. helps our brain think better..

3) Make a to-do list of simple next steps, make a simple priority list based on importance and get chugging with something small..

So, here goes..

Breakfast @ Saravana Bhavan..

The book I read today said that more people buy titles of books than contents and that a book sold a million additional copies by just changing its titles. So, I decided to experiment a bit with titles of my post.

What is true is that the post is about the breakfast I just had @ Saravana Bhavan, Anna Nagar (that’s 5 mins from home by car). However, it is more about the events leading up to it than the breakfast itself that intrigued me..

How it happened
Leading a completely opposite schedule has its advantages. This is not a half baked night schedule where I sleep at 3 and wake up in the afternoon. No, I completely eliminate the waking up in sweltering heat part and wake up just as the sun sets! Yesterday was the first of this early morning breakfast adventures.. with a friend after a long night of quite some work, had a lovely breakfast and went back to sleep.

Today, being alone, I debated.. initially, I felt I should probably sleep and wake up in time for football at 5pm. After some tossing and turning, I decided I was still a tad injured (I’d fallen and got bruised a bit last time I played) and anyway, the thought of delicious ‘pongal‘ with sambar and ‘ghee roast‘ won.

So, I was set and ready to go.. and I had a few thoughts along the way which I felt I should write about..

-> Our car has an inbuilt sound that plays when the car is on reverse gear (pretty useful in a crowded place to warn anyone passing by..). I realized how deafening the sound is early in the morning and tried to minimize by reversing the car quickly. Realized how forgiving I am when it comes to things I do. Had it been somebody else, I would probably have cursed them leaving so early in the morning..

-> About 4 out of 10 vehicles actually stopped at the early morning traffic signal. Things are changing in India apparently.. a few years back, that number would have been 1 or 2..

-> The guy in front of me stopped at the red light at a ‘major‘ signal and jumped the red light at a relatively smaller one. Reminded me of a dialog in a movie -‘Do crimes come in different sizes?‘

-> Why do some people wait all the way till the seconds count to the green signal is down to 10(from a number like 60) and then jump the signal anyway. Is it our desire to ‘get ahead‘??

-> We become happier with ourselves when we start keeping small promises. It is when I just parked my car at Saravana Bhavan that I realized that I’d forgotten my wallet at home. While it was tempting to curse myself, I decided to keep my pro-activity promise, smile and enjoy the ride. And boy, did that feel good..

The amazing thing about a positive attitude is that it annoys so many people that it makes it worth the effort.. haha..

-> I had a nice quiet meal by myself listening to ‘Think and Grow Rich‘ by Napoleon Hill..

Very interesting book.. He calls all obstacles ‘Temporary failures‘. I like that.. Maybe I should make sure every stumbling block is always called ‘temporary failure..

-> ‘Success should need no excuses, failure should have no alibis‘ – another interesting line..

-> Your success can only be as good as your plan – and the last one..

-> The service at the place was atrocious. Luckily, the food made up for that..

-> Drove back to be greeted by Grandad who had woken up and was grinning at my late night snack (as I will be off to bed soon..). Thank god he finds it amusing.. :D

-> Who says night people ‘miss the early morning’? I had a lovely early morning.. Now, it’s time for bed..

Haha.. :D

The story of cool..

I am a footballer..

When I just began learning football, I tried learning to whack the ball really really hard.. as I thought was cool..

and then I grew up..

When I was a few years into learning the game, I learnt every sort of stepover and trick that would bamboozle defenders and make fools out of them.. as I thought that was cool..

and then..

Years later, I realized all I needed to work on was learning to put the ball in the back of the net, every time I got the chance – learn it well enough to be able to do it when my concentration was slipping, when my spirits, morale and confidence were down, when my team was losing my hope..

If I could just score.. forget the fancy tricks, the fancy stepovers, the urge to whack the ball in, the urge to show off..

If I could just put the ball in the back of the net and get the job done, every time..

now, that would be cool..

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Reminds me of Nike – Just do it!

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I wrote this after some thought after a discussion with a friend on the whole ‘being cool’ concept.. Football seemed to be the easiest analogy. Apology to not-so-football-inclined readers..

The Big Idea – Soak Your Mind

“Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.” ~ Marcus Aurelius from Meditations
Powerful!

What are you soaking your mind in? Thoughts of living consistently from your highest self? Desire to create an optimal life of service, integrity and love? Sweet. Keep on soaking. :)

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Good one. Thanks Brian Johnson

Hey there Delilah..

Hey there Delilah
What’s it like in New York City?
I’m a thousand miles away
But girl, tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can’t shine as bright as you
I swear it’s true

Hey there Delilah
Don’t you worry about the distance
I’m right there if you get lonely
Give this song another listen
Close your eyes
Listen to my voice, it’s my disguise
I’m by your side

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
What you do to me

Hey there Delilah
I know times are getting hard
But just believe me, girl
Someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar
We’ll have it good
We’ll have the life we knew we would
My word is good

Hey there Delilah
I’ve got so much left to say
If every simple song I wrote to you
Would take your breath away
I’d write it all
Even more in love with me you’d fall
We’d have it all

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me

A thousand miles seems pretty far
But they’ve got planes and trains and cars
I’d walk to you if I had no other way
Our friends would all make fun of us
and we’ll just laugh along because we know
That none of them have felt this way
Delilah I can promise you
That by the time we get through
The world will never ever be the same
And you’re to blame

Hey there Delilah
You be good and don’t you miss me
Two more years and you’ll be done with school
And I’ll be making history like I do
You’ll know it’s all because of you
We can do whatever we want to
Hey there Delilah here’s to you
This one’s for you

Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
Oh it’s what you do to me
What you do to me.

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Beautiful.. :)

Of excitement to fear, calm, life and formula 1 racers..

‘Do I sense excitement? At times like this, it’s vital to stay calm.. the excitement can easily turn into anxiety and fear‘..

This sentence in a novel I was reading got me thinking..

The whole ‘living‘ and ‘life‘ concept as it is presented to us seems highly overrated. The whole point of life and living, we are told, is to experience the highs and lows, feel the insane thrill and excitement, happiness and sadness etc etc..

But, it’s becoming more and more evident to me, atleast, that if we do ever want to do anything ‘cool‘ with our lives, then being calm is the way to go.

This can be anything – building a business, running our own little ventures, leading a band, captaining a sports team, why – even driving a formula 1 car.

This sport is among the sports with very high ‘coolness‘ factor after all given men drive cars at insanely high speeds easily experiencing the ‘highs’ in life. Now, here are some facts –

1) F1 drivers in general are the coolest calmest cats on the planet. For further proof, look at the countries they come from – mostly ice cold countries in and around Scandinavia.. (we become like our environment)

2) Kimi Raikkonen is called the ice-man..

3) These guys are ridiculously disciplined when it comes to following their routine before a race and their cool-ness would seem to dictate a party lifestyle. But, it was a big surprise to the Singapore paparazzi when these guys called it a night very early on most days to keep up with their sleep schedules..

I found this very interesting..

I’m beginning to also draw parallels to the whole over hyped ‘go-with-the-flow’ concept. It dictated that living life meant going with the flow and not being ‘robotic‘ and organized. But, I’ve realized over the past 5 months that being organized gives us a LOT more license to be free and go with the flow than the real thing..

Food for thought..
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Disclaimer: It could just be that my background has to do with the perceptions about living life being about highs and lows etc..