30 things we need – and 30 we don’t

A simply fantastic article by Tony Schwartz on HBR
Thanks KD for sharing
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Do you have the feeling, as I do, that in the tsunami of everyday life, we’re getting too much of stuff we don’t need, and not enough of what we do? Herewith my first set of suggestions about how to redress the imbalance:

WE NEED LESS: WE NEED MORE:
Information Wisdom
Shallow billionaires Passionate teachers
Self-promotion Self-awareness
Multitasking Control of our attention
Inequality Fairness
Sugar Lean protein
Action Reflection
Super sizes Smaller portions
Private jets High-speed trains
Calculation Passion
Experts Learners
Blaming Taking responsibility
Judgment Discernment
Texting Reading
Anger Empathy
Output Depth
Constructive criticism Thank-you notes
Possessions Meaning
Righteousness Doing the right thing
Answers Curiosity
Long hours Longer sleep
Complaining Gratitude
Sitting Moving
Selling Authenticity
Cynicism Realistic optimism
Self-indulgence Self-control
Speed Renewal
Emails Conversations
Winning Win-win
Immediate gratification Sacrifice

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Profound!

Some things are meant to be

I’ve learnt to accept this in time.
I am a firm believer in the power we have over our destiny. Having said that, there are very many things not in our control as well and I just feel we are happier when we keep focus on what is.
Sometimes however, these worlds collide.
It was my 3rd day in London and I’d just seen a new place in ‘the docklands’. And as I was talking to my colleague, my phone was snatched. This involved a bit of a struggle and I found myself instinctively clutching and pulling but the phone eventually fell down and closer to the snatcher, who grabbed it and ran.
Cops and investigation followed. I could even see my phone on Mobileme for a while but the cops couldn’t step in to make an arrest without a ‘victim’s statement’ and I guess I came to accept it was a lost cause.
The cop at the scene said something which I remembered from time to time. He said ‘You’re going to be playing this incident over and over again in your ahead. And you will wonder what you could have done differently. Just remember that such things happen so fast that we have to learn to accept what happened, and move on.’
He was right. I did replay the incident with some replays involving me heroically chasing and sliding to trip the snatcher.. (we are after all heroes of our own life story). I even wondered why I chose to switch sims onto the phone just the day before that. I had to go through some pain as the iPhone4 requires a microsim..
Eventually, I did move on and just began to accept that some things are meant to be. It made it easier to swallow.
On the brighter side, I narrowly escaped a horrible deal on a flat and managed to land a great little place in a great neighborhood. And as bad as losing a phone was, I’m glad it was still a possession and not an attempt at my life.
These incidents often put such things into perspective.
The reason this crossed my mind was because after a call yesterday, a friend said something to the tune of ‘Great job! Seems like it’s just a positive time. Everything seems to be going right for you during this time. Just keep doing more.’
I smiled.
Not everything is perfect. But, that doesn’t stop us from doing great work because things are almost never perfect!
That comes with accepting that some things are meant to be.
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On that note, mugging/snatching aside, I love London as a city. More on that another day..

On Breakfast meetings

Rudy Guiliani’s day always began with a breakfast meeting with his core team. His insistence on the daily morning meeting is stuff of legend. Whether they had a packed schedule or not, his core team knew that the breakfast meeting would stay as a part of the agenda.

5 outcomes that happened as a result that I thought were important-

1. Everybody on the team knew they would be given an opportunity to voice their concerns. Everybody felt heard.
2. Victories and accomplishments were celebrated often. This helped the team get closer.
3. Non-core team members also joined in when necessary. So, everybody felt involved.
4. Everybody knew that Guiliani would follow up on their tasks the next morning. So, nothing got delayed!
5. The group reviewed daily and weekly priorities regularly as a unit and cohesion was achieved. Guiliani carefully built his team into a great unit and it was this team that carried New York through the 9/11 disaster. All those breakfast meetings had ensured that they were prepared! Rome was not built in a day after all..

Guiliani’s breakfast meeting idea is an example of taking a simple action and repeating it consistently (like a screw or a vise). For more, do check out the article from Seth Godin here.

So, let’s schedule breakfast meetings for all high priority tasks this week! :)

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Modern day oxygen

I shifted in to my new place today and I felt choked for some weird reason.

The apartment felt well ventilated so I didn’t quite understand why I felt that way.
I had just eaten lunch an hour ago so it wasn’t my stomach.
And then it hit me.
So, I rushed out for my first round of shopping and got my oxygen mask.
The little dongle was my window to the world. I could feel myself breathe in relief as I saw my email come right in after 20 hours, when I saw ‘football365’, ‘alearningaday’ and ‘facebook’ load.
Modern day oxygen, in my humble view.

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On that note, I’ve been trying hard to make it a point to spend a few hours without looking at a laptop or a phone. Just sitting and enjoying time by myself, lost in my own thoughts. That’s been very refreshing..