Month: January 2011

Joy

I received a piece of very good news today.

First, it didn’t quite sink in.
After a while, it did.
And that’s when I looked back. If this was me two years ago, I would have gone into a 2 week high with little regard for anybody but myself.
But, this time around, I had work to do – of course. So, I decided to focus on work and take it in my stride.
Gradually, the celebratory air sunk in and then I began calling/emailing friends and family one by one to relay the news.
As I was thinking about whom to speak to, I thought of many – close family, friends, mentors etc.. and I was feeling both thankful and humbled. I had done very little after all – the real credit went to those who believed in me. And boy, the whole experience felt so good..
And it was SO much fun sharing that joy. Having been brought up as a single child, sharing doesn’t come naturally to me (it’s still a forced process) but if this is anything to go by, sharing is a mind-bender.
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I was also reminded of a couple of lines from the evergreen ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

The Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

But, it is also a fact that I love the ‘Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock’ on my iPhone.
Why did I get it?

I woke up VERY annoyed one morning. I was angry – angry with the world, irritable and even banged the table a couple of times when something didn’t work as it was supposed to. I don’t generally do that.
And, in the middle of the day, I took an opportunity to take a 20 minute nap. And voila.. when I woke up, everything changed. I felt positive, happy – different!
My Conclusions

I sat back, thought about what went wrong and concluded that my alarm clock might have rung at the wrong moment. I had slept 7+ hours and I wasn’t lacking sleep. Hence, decided to read more about ‘Sleep cycles’ as I’m fanatical about eliminating sources of negativity in a day.
And Voila…

I found the Sleep Cycle Alarm clock, bought it for $0.99 and began using it. The concept is simple – you place the iPhone at the edge of your bed, it records your body movements and calibrates the depth of your sleep. So, a normal night of sleep looks like this –
After 1 month of analysis, I’ve figured out that this is my ‘normal’. Deep sleep for a couple of hours and then ups and downs in depth of sleep.
If I’m very very tired, then I expect the graph to look like this –


When to wake you up?


And now, you probably see where the alarm clock adds value. If you give it a window of 30 mins to an hour, it will wake you up when you are closest to being awake.
The 3 coolest value adds for me have been –
1. Understanding how I sleep. After a month of data collections, I pretty much wake up and guess how I think I’ve slept. And by now, I’m getting fairly accurate! And just knowing this – typically makes me feel happy.
2. Great snooze!. Firstly, the alarm clock always tends to wake me up when I’m ready for it. And even if it’s 20 minutes before the ‘deadline’ time, it has a brilliant snooze. The snooze concept is that it snoozes if you just hold the phone (no fiddling around searching for a button required) and it calibrates according to time remaining. So, if your alarm rings with 20 mins to go – the snooze will likely be after 7 mins, then 5 mins, then 4 mins, then 3, then 1 etc..
3. Good feeling when I wake up. I was skeptical at first wondering if it was all psychological. But, my conclusion by now has been that even if it is, then that’s great. I feel great when I wake up.. and it’s generally added a lot of joy to a typically painful experience!
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Not sure if similar trackers/alarm clocks are available on your Blackberry’s or Androids – so I wish you all the best if you plan to search! For iPhone users, I’ve had a great experience. So much so that if they decided to charge me $49 for it, I would pretty much still pay.
And if you decide to take the punt, do keep me posted of your experience. My colleague just got it and I can see he’s been bitten by the bug too!
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Note: I found the clock useful when I had a 4 hour sleep night planned. Gave it a 1 hour window and again, worked like a charm.
Note 2: The alarm clock recommends you leave it on charge. Not necessary. On an iPhone 4 – it typically eats up only around 30-35% over 7-8 hours from my experience last month.

1 dollar every day

Oziola Mccarthy, an orphan by birth, grew up in wretched poverty and the only job she knew was washing clothes of the people in her colony. She had a habit thought – right from when she started working, she made it a point to deposit 1 dollar a day from her earnings to her bank.

One fine day Oziola, 87 years old, walked into her bank. Her bank manager asked her if she knew that her savings had accumulated to 250,000 dollars! Being the simple woman she was, she didn’t even know how much that amounted to or what it meant. Then, the bank manager placed 10 coins on the table and said – ‘If this is your money, what would you want to do with it?’

So, one coin went to her church, the next 3 to her relatives and the final 6 (i.e. $150,000) went to her local university for a special scholarship to ‘African American students who still knew how to dream’. At that point, her biggest dream was to see one of her scholars graduate but she doubted it – given her advanced age.

Fittingly, Oziola died at the age of 91, one month after she saw the first recipient of her scholarship graduate, and she died as a recipient of a honorary doctorate herself from Harvard University.

When this amazing washer woman died, many world leaders sent their condolences as she had inspired people all over. And when you think of it, at the root of it all was a simple concept- saving 1 dollar a day. A reminder that our lives are defined by daily acts of greatness..

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20 Tips for a Positive New Year

I must admit I’m not the biggest fan of lists but I thought this one was pretty good. Thanks Pickthebrain


1. Stay positive.
You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can know that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.

2. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement:
My purpose is_______________________.

3. Take a morning walk of gratitude.
I call it a “thank you walk.” It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

4. Instead of being disappointed about where you are…
…think optimistically about where you are going.

5. Eat…
…breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

6. Remember that…
…adversity is not a dead-end but a detour to a better outcome.

7. Focus on…
…learning, loving, growing and serving.

8. Believe that everything happens for a reason.
Expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.

9. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.
Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

10. Mentor someone…
…and be mentored by someone.

11. Live with the 3 E’s.
Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

12. Remember…
…there’s no substitute for hard work.

13. Zoom focus.
Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: “What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?” Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.

14. Implement the NoComplainingRule.
Complaining is like vomiting. Afterwards you feel better but everyone around you feels sick.

15. Read more books than you did in 2010.
I happen to know of a few good ones!

16. Get more sleep.
You can’t replace sleep with a double latte.

17. Focus on “Get to” vs “Have to.”
Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________.

Today I accomplished____________.

19. Smile and laugh more.
They are natural anti-depressants.

20. Enjoy the ride.
You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Learning a ZERO error sport

I sat for 7 continuous hours yesterday with a friend in an attempt to get an IT system up. As is the case with meddling with SQL and code (he did most of the meddling, for the record), it generally takes 3 times the amount of time you expect.
Since university days, it was my first tryst with IT in a long time and boy, was it frustrating. It is a continuous process of ‘trial and error’.
Now, our computer exposed generation is used to the concept of ‘trial and error’. That’s very acceptable but it’s easy to forget that the previous generations didn’t necessarily have the same approach to learning.
I realized this during lunch with a senior partner who comes from a family of pilots. He spoke about how his daughter’s attitude towards learning changed when she took a sky diving course. All of a sudden, she was faced with getting everything absolutely right. After all, one mistake and that’s the end of life as you know it.
He spoke about how it was contrary to her learning style then and how it massively impacted it. And he said that’s why learning a 0 error sport like flying, sky diving, parachuting etc brings with it a unique learning experience.
And that made me reflect. I’ve never learnt a zero error sport. Maybe it’s time to think about trying one.

Style does matter

We care about the packaging. Full stop.

Packaging, in itself, is an ever flourishing industry. No – this is not limited to the physical packaging of items. It’s to do with the packaging of anything these days – products (think: discount sales), people (think: matrimonial websites, Resume ‘enhancers’, public speaking coaches) or anything else we can think of.
Better packaging doesn’t mean the content is any better. It just adds emotional value. And that makes all the difference in the world.
And I can fully understand why.
Let’s think about it. Think about the last 10 times you have been received ‘No’ for an answer. (Maybe you’ll remember 5, or 3 – that’ll do). I can bet that you clearly remember what was a nice ‘No’ and what wasn’t. In fact, you probably harbor very positive feelings for the person who gave you the nice ‘no’ versus the person who wasn’t so kind while saying ‘no’.
The result was the same – the answer was ‘no‘ after all but boy, did the packaging of the answer make a difference!
When it comes to people, I refer to the packaging as style. And like it or not, if you are in a game that involves interaction with people, your style makes more difference than you can possibly comprehend.
This, my friends, is a biggie.