Month: June 2010

Leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes that ‘it’s fine to lose your temper as long as you have a good reason‘

Who defines a good reason though, eh?

Anyway, I lost my temper today. Funnily enough, it was not even because I was provoked, it was because someone else was.. haha..

Anyway, I tried staying silent for a whole 15 mins to let it pass, apologized and I’ve moved on..

But, it does leave a sour taste in the mouth nevertheless..

Good reason or not..

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On further introspection, I realized a couple of things –

1) I hadn’t moved on, whether I liked it or not. I was still reflecting on what went wrong..

2) Gladwell in ‘Outliers‘ says it takes 7 consecutive things to go wrong for a plane to crash. I think there is a similar such equation applicable in an anger scenario for every one of us which is bound to be useful..

3) After the quote about ‘grace under pressure‘, I think I could have done better to live up to it. Lots of room for improvement, as always! :)

At dinner, yesterday, we had one of the restaurant managers come to us and say ‘Welcome! How are you ‘ (with a big smile) and then, right when we finished, he took a photo for us and said ‘Thank you for coming! I hope you had a great meal‘

Small courtesies..

They make such a big difference..

There was a time (when I was in my rebellious teenage years) that I used to think that it is not necessary to say ‘Thank you‘ or even ‘Please‘ to people I knew very well. I mean, why bother? And close friends often said ‘Hey, don’t keep saying thank you! Why are you being so formal‘..

I’ve said that as well..

But hearing a ‘Thank You‘ and knowing what you have done has been appreciated is a wonderful feeling..

Small courtesies DO count. There’s no ‘small‘ thing.. I am always reminded of this quote –

Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things… I am tempted to think, there are no little things

What are we looking for?

First of all, I’m the email kind..

I’m generally looking for an email with a personal touch, a note, a message – akin to receiving a letter by snail mail from someone just relaying news, happiness, talking about life etc.

We might be closer to each other than ever before in this digital age, but the need for that personal touch still exists. Why else do we have so many marriages breaking up, serial job quitters..

The big question here is – Are we giving others the opportunity to enjoy a note with a personal touch? i.e. Are we giving away what we would like to see?

I’m in what I’d call a transient state. It’s that state right between sleep and consciousness. I love this state as it’s dreamy, wistful, generally positive and reflective.

It’s not often I get to be in this transcient state. Life seems to be pretty packed – even in my holidays!

Reflecting, things change so much in a matter of a few days. This is a period of big change in my life – transitioning from a student to a working professional. (My, the 2 words seem scary!) And thanks to changes afoot especially on plans of what will happen in the next few days, it is a period of uncertainty..

I love uncertainty. I think it brings out the best in people. It’s a test of what people are made of. Even if you may struggle through it and not like it one bit, it will still call for peak performance, whether you like it or not..

I went back to schools I studied in today. (Well, 2 out of the 3 I spent a total of 7 years in – one of them doesn’t like alumni back funnily enough) If you are of comparable age and go back to your hometown, do go and visit your school and teachers. I’m amazed at how much love and affection they hold for every student, everytime. Feel humbled by it..

Friendship is a lovely thing. You can often pick up threads from you left off. If this is combined with a discipline that also helps stay in touch, we have a killer combination to make sure we maintain relationships.

I’ve been exchanging thoughts about confidence, character and skills via email with a friend. Always interesting – expressing views often tells me who I really am and what I stand for.

I realize I lay a lot of emphasis on character. ‘Who you are speaks much loudly than what you say‘

‘When we are children, we live and love to be touched! Why does it make us uncomfortable when we grow?‘ – asks Morrie. So true, why does it?

I got my international driving permit today. I did it without paying off/bribing anyone to do so. It took 4 visits to the transport office, taking some amount of insolence from the guys at the lowest level but it was a personal decision inspired by ‘Be the change you want to see‘. Mom put it in perspective though remarking that it would only be possible if I had the time. What if I didn’t? She’s right, I’d’ve just paid extra and finished the job..

Perspective. It’s amazing how a day or two can change your perspective about things. I’m a tad annoyed with the world cup betting thing now since my bets are not falling in place. I’m going through a bet drought.. haha

It’s amazing how the world cup converts so many people into big soccer fans.

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Cheers to love, happiness, laughter and life! :)

Wow, wow and wow! I definitely need this one!

TGIF i.e. Thank God It’s Friday!

Have a nice day! :)

I’m not a betting kind of person. I’d hate to put any money on anything. But, thanks to an amazing initiative by a friend at our company, we have a world cup betting contest on that has lead me to follow the results of every game. It is very exciting as the betting process is very simple. We just place a score prediction and are awarded points based on how accurate it is (4 if we get the exact result, 3 if we get the goal difference i.e. if we predict brazil win 2-0 and the result is 4-2) or 2 if we predict just the winner..

A few life learnings from this experience –

-> Betting is NOT only about luck. It becomes about luck when we bet with our emotions. Otherwise, it’s just careful preparation with an understanding of what you are betting for.

-> Careful prep and a football understanding doesn’t ensure that we’ll win every bet. But ensures we’ll get most about right. Over the past 4 days, the top 4 have been relatively unchanged as the climbs have been consistent.

-> Don’t mix up emotions. This is a big one. I had decided that Mexico would beat France day before. But as both predictions for South Korea and Greece didn’t go my way, I chickened out and did the conventional – went for France. And guess what happened..

-> Go with your gut.. Another big one!

-> Have fun.. That’s what it is about. I can see how this can become an obsession. Self control, as always, is everything.

-> Bet on a fixed investment. The moment there are stakes, I can see there could be trouble.

I’d like to see how this turns out. I can see that this will greatly help any team bond and maybe it is something to try out in the future with family and friends! :)

3 kinds of people when it comes to their effect on others. I think moods do play a role when it comes to a person’s effect on another, but largely, it’s the presence (or lack thereof) of a passion/love for life that makes the difference.

Some people make us come alive, make us want to ‘go out there and have fun’, achieve things, energize others and so on..

What kind of an effect do we have on others? And if it is that we leave people energized.. is it consistent?

Food for thought..
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I felt drained, sick and very anaemic after a particular meet today while feeling extremely energized after a meet yesterday and that got me thinking thus..

Yes, you..

for reading/following/commenting/giving a reaction (in the little reactions bar that allows you to indicate if the post is cool, interesting or not-good)

The whole point of a blog versus a personal journal (in my humble point of view atleast) is to first, have a readership and second, to add value to the readership in one way or another. And having any sort of activity on the blog i.e. commenting, following etc is literally bloggers bliss – atleast for me.

And it is very easy to read a blog regularly and yet not leave any mark on it (via comments) etc. I’ve done that myself but over the past couple of years, I realize how much it would mean to a blogger to have activity.. and I’m trying.

And hence, I thought I should write in to ‘Thank You’!

I look forward to checking out the profile of any new follower, replying to any new comment, even checking out your reactions to the various posts. Every bit of activity is very special..

Thank you for making the effort.. Appreciate it! :)

It’s ridiculous to see the number of comparisons that have been made over the last few days. Everybody seems to be pointing to one factor or another that make this world cup inferior. These range from a seeming lack of goals to a possibly annoying increase of vuvuzelas.

This is like comparing the younger sibling constantly to the older sibling who was the better student, the better athlete and the better child.. Lay off the kid already!

Goals are not indicators of the quality of football. Take Brazil vs North Korea for example – would a 4-0 victory have meant improved quality of football? Would it have done justice to excellent organization that effectively denied one of the world’s best goal poachers lack of space? or reduced one of the most destructive attacks in the world (who could afford to drop superstars like Ronaldinho and Pato altogether) to taking shots from outside the box?

Let’s get done with the comparisons, move on.. and enjoy the spectacle.

Because that’s what it is, a spectacle..

Good morning all.. have a nice day! :)