Everything you say..

must be correct! Hmm..thats a tricky statement. But well, what that really means is try and check what comes out of that mouth. :) Well.. lets take me for an example.. for a long long time, I was a perfect example of fluff when it came to numbers! I would always get my numbers wrong – 25 would become 45 and 1000 would become 1500(not always on the increase but yeah..). Its only now that I have begun thinking twice before coming out with the first thing on my mind. Lucky for me, I was with people for whom numbers were sacred and caught me by checking..

The point is that I can’t obviously rely on this police-ing system. What I say better be checked, and right.. takes going that extra mile – but doesn’t anything good require just that?

Sleep…

Yes, I have done the unforgivable! Missed yesterday.. Post Mortem – It was a day dedicated to that wonderful thing – sleep! A blissful 24+ hours at a stretch(well..save for a 2 hour journey in between) was just fantastic. There were times when I was wondering if I should be up; there’s no lack of stuff to do. But eventually, decided against it..

That’s really my learning – if you need rest, just go for it!

Slow and Steady..

Well..the usual maxim. Its really good to go slow and easy as I am beginning to understand. I never really understood the meaning of ‘slow..steady..easy’ etc. I’ve been the opposite at all points in my life. Its like – if I’m told.. ‘hey..can you get me a coffee’ – I go bolt! Full speed ahead and generally end up knocking a few things, people etc. In this mad rush for well..everything.. am generally always knocking something or the other. Take today for example(I’m consciously moving a bit slower now.. but even then), I walked into a room in a hurry and stepped on mail. There was that moment when I knew the door was opening slowly because of some obstruction but before I could stop, I’d stepped on the mail.. just an example..

Anyway.. I guess the biggest benefit of moving slow is that we get time to think. I used to do this a lot in the ‘on the spot’ speech competitions. After given the topic, I would generally walk up slow, maybe trip on the stairs if I can pull it off, adjust the mic, cough, test it and then start. All to buy some precious thinking time of course.. ;). Well..thinking is good.. even when you’re walking into a room. As always, a small detail that can kill.. :D

Once in a while..

it is really good to do something which you completely suck at! Well, I had a fun 2 hours playing cricket – which is generally very different from my experiences while playing football/badminton/table tennis where I would rank myself about average and just above. Cricket is one place where I’m generally about 1/10 and felt its high time I just played to see what it felt like. What do you know.. it was lots of fun! Just the fact that I was absolutely powerless to change the course of anything apart from knocking the ball around a bit and bowling a few straight at the batsman, it was just good to chill for 2 hours and basically, not compete and have fun!

In all the excitement, I got myself involved in a bone crunching collision involving my head and a friend’s jaw(and had two other near misses – one of which was when I was close to being beheaded by the ball). Interestingly, its a while since I’ve been hurt that way despite higher competitiveness during games like football. It was an accident, but maybe it just helps sticking to games you know.. anyway.. go figure! Bottom line… helps if we underline what we are playing for. If its for the joy of keeping fit, then its guaranteed fun! And doing something which we suck at helps keep those humility levels in check.. :D

Start Positive..

is a generic rule for everything. I guess ‘be positive’ is ideal even..

The reference here is to feedback in particular. It is very easy to fall prey to laughing(mocking even..), pulling a leg(jokingly or even not so..) etc when hearing an idea, an initiative etc. Always good to start with ‘Good start!’ and then follow it with everything. Better still, follow up with a bunch of positives(5 being a good number..)

Easy to talk about, but extremely hard to do.. as am finding out!