Month: September 2010

Man in the Glass..

A poem I read today.. Simply brilliant!

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what THAT man has to say.

For it is not your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back in the glass.

Some people might think you are a
straight shootin’ chum and
call you a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum,
If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

He’s the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,
For he’s with you dear up to the end. And
you have passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
and get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you have cheated the man in the glass.

By Peter Dale Winbrow Sr.

6 Ways to Supercharge your productivity – HBR

1. Make sufficient sleep a top priority. Schedule your bedtime, and start winding down at least 45 minutes earlier. Ninety-eight percent of all human beings need at least 7-8 hours a night to feel fully rested. Only a fraction of us get that much regularly, in part because we buy into the myth that sacrificing an hour or two of sleep a night give us an hour more of productivity. In reality, even small amounts of sleep deprivation take a dramatic toll on our cognitive capacity, our ability to think creatively, our emotional resilience, the quality of our work, and even the speed at which we do it.

2. Create one to-do list that includes everything you want or need to do, on and off the job — and I mean everything, including any unresolved issues that merit further reflection. That’s the essence of David Allen’s simple but profound work (see Getting Things Done). Writing everything down helps get it off your mind, leaving you free to fully focus on what’s most important at any given moment.

3. Do the most important thing first when you get to work each morning, when you’re likely to be have the highest energy and the fewest distractions. Decide the night before what activity most deserves your attention. Then focus on it single-mindedly for no more than 90 minutes. Productivity isn’t about how many tasks you complete or the number of hours you work. It’s about the enduring value you create.

4. Live like a sprinter, not a marathoner. When you work continuously, you’re actually progressively depleting your energy reservoir as the day wears on. By making intermittent renewal and refueling important, you’re regularly replenishing your reservoir, so you’re not only able to fully engage at intervals along the way, but also to maintain high energy much further into the day.

5. Monitor your mood. When demand begins to exceed your capacity, one of the most common signs is an increase in negative emotions. The more we move into “fight or flight,” the more reactive and impulsive we become, and the less reflective and responsive. The first question to ask yourself is “Why am I feeling this way, and what can I do to make myself feel better?” It may be that you’re hungry, tired, overwhelmed, or feeling threatened in some way. Awareness is the first step. You can’t change what you don’t notice.

6. Schedule specific times for activities in your life that you deem important but not urgent. With so much coming at you all the time, it’s easy to focus all day on whatever feels most pressing in the moment. What you sacrifice is the opportunity to take on work such as writing, strategizing, thinking creatively, or cultivating relationships, which may require more time and energy, but often yield greater long-term rewards.

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Thought this was very apt!

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Check out the original article here

iPhone and Android..

Had it not been for the fact that the IT in my company supports the iPhone, I would probably have been agonizing over whether to go for an iPhone or an Android. Now, however, I am a proud owner of the iPhone4.. And here’s the thing..

I walk into the MRT this morning and casually glance around, I see roughly 60% of the people in my compartment playing games on their respective iPhones. Among this demographic was an old grandmother, a young kid (who couldn’t have been older than 3) and a bunch of working professionals..

Is it cool to own an iPhone? Probably not.. but I realized a few big things today –

1) Apple has made it ‘seem‘ cool..
2) Steve Jobs has mended his ways and for a change, gone for the masses. He understands geek psychology after all. Geek psychology would dictate going for the lesser known (cue: linux and even Mac OS) and the relatively tougher to use (here, just picture a Mac user trying to work in a team full of windows users with windows only software..). And who can blame them, it’s akin to professional tennis players using smaller rackets as it’s tougher to control but more rewarding when you do..

My mom has occasional trouble using the Android but seemingly, little kids have no trouble using the iPhone. So, all of a sudden, we have Google playing to the needs of the geeks and Apple playing to the needs of masses (by just implementing astounding simplicity combined with a genius app store concept. Case in point – even Nokia phones have more options to customize incoming ringtones but of course, they don’t have apps anywhere as cool as what Apple does).

The bigger realization here however was that while it was only the ‘geek‘ demographic who experimented with smart phones in the early days (Think Palm Pilot etc), the smartphone user base is dominated by ‘non-geek’s‘.

And while I may not be a big fan of many of Apple’s moves and while I may admire the Android OS’s openness, full credit to Jobs for making a device so bloody simple that it is loved by the masses, yet making sure it retains it’s ‘coolness‘ factor.

On seeking validation..

Validation does matter, doesn’t it?

We like people who like us..

We like quotes and stories that validate us..

Who are successful people after all? Those validated by society, is it not?

Many great men weren’t ‘successful’ during their time as they weren’t validated by society..

But they turned out to be great in the long run.. Think Jesus, Galileo etc..

So, do we seek validation or not?

Should we care or not?

At this point, it is but a question..

Obsessing about the end..

There was a time, not too long ago, when I was very concerned about how many hits I got on my blog every day. I was monitoring the numbers at every opportunity, checking on my follower count etc. It was a source of great pride that a blog I created 2 and a half years ago with very simple goals had grown so big..

Somewhere along the way though, I realized I felt ‘commercial’ and that was not the point. I was suddenly wondering if I should 2-3 posts a day to increase the clicks. And it was only a matter of time, before this system crashed..

I think the best part was sitting down with myself and just going back to why this blog was created – a learning a day. A simple concept had been over-complicated..

The best part about the actions following this realization is that all I’ve cared about over the past couple of months is delivering good quality posts.. and forgotten about the end. True, the numbers are not as high as they used to be when I used to have 3 odd posts a day..

But, I’m convinced that obsessing about the end results in a not-so-memorable journey. And that’s not what life is about, is it?

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This is just a musing. I’m not sure if the learning comes through to you as a reader but it was a big one for me! :)