Meeting the challenge ..

"Life is not the way it is supposed to be. It is the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference" . There's beauty and ecstasy , there's sorrow and grief. It's just that no one is sure , what's going to come when . The challenge remains to maintain your success rate irrespective of all this.
For this, it is essential to identify the priorities and the key issues. Having priorities sorted out always helps in taking decisions at crunch times, when a challenge is thrown open. By key issues I mean , what performance and preparation level you are ready to accept.It will not always happen that the performance levels are reached for each challenge face, a tolerance policy is important. This helps to categorize a failure.Each below par performance(even a good performance) will surely provide pointers to what needs to be improved , what needs to be changed. Keeping a clear picture of the key issues in your mind will help to create an awareness, as awareness precedes change, a change for the better is on the horizon.

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No new posts until 29th April :)

Expectations.

Hmmm..expectations are of two kinds : external and internal. External expectations are part of the environment in which you live. They are thrust in your face during almost every conversation. Matthew Hayden once said , that when Sachin Tendulkar goes out to bat - "It is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man" . This is what external expectation is, completely summed up. Sachin manages this very well and hence is a successful person. Now, none of us have a burden of expectations comparable to Sachin but the idea remains the same- Manage your external expectations well. It's important that you play your own game and not somebody else's.
Internal expectations are derived from within yourselves , from your past achievements. This is very similar to your self-image. How highly do you rate yourself? There is a fine line in being unreasonable and cautious in this case.
The key is to manage expecations, to arrest the emotional engagement in expectations. It's important to remove yourselves from the environment briefly and reset your goals. This is one way to manage external expectations. Internal expectations can be controlled but external expectations can' t be.The greatest indicator that you are going along well , even when the external expectations are rising is the test of 'Quality-decison-making' . This is called 'Composure'. With the rising external expectations, it's imperative that your decision making isn't affected. There can be cases when you meet the external expectations but not your internal expectations, this isn't success. A few poor performances or a few poor results may drastically bring down the external expecatations, but you yourself know how good you are , so your internal expectations may continue to soar.

Koshish karne waalon ki haar nahin hoti..

Lehron se darkar nauka paar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahin hoti,

Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai,
Chadhti deewaaron par, sao baar phisalti hai.
Mann ka vishwaas ragon mein saahas bharta hai,
Chadhkar girna, girkar chadhna naa akharta hai.

Aakhir uski mehnat bekaar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahin hoti.

Dubkiyaan sindhu mein gotaakhor lagaata hai,
jaa jaa kar khaali haanth lautkar aata hai.
Milte nahin sahaj hi moti gehre paani mein,
badhta duguna utsaah issi hairani mein.

Mutthi uski khaali har baar nahin hoti,
Koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti.

Asaflta ek chunauti hai, isse sweekar karo,
kya kami reh gayi, dekho aur sudhaar karo.
Jab tak naa safal ho, neend chain ki tyago tum,
Sangharsh ka maidaan chhodkar mat bhaago tum.

Kuch kiye bina hi jai jaikar nahin hoti,
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahin hoti.

by Harivanshrai Bachchan

Mental Toughness

What is mental toughness?.. it's the ability to make quality decisions. This counts at crucial phases. If the performance of an individual is affected by a decision or a series of decisions then this becomes crucial. A good decision can be made , if at the present instant, the entire brain-power is devoted to making that decision . The compartments of the brain which are irrelevant to the task at hand should be locked.
I imagine that the human brain is made up of compartments or sub-systems. There is a separate compartment for business,friends,family,hobbies,education etc. While doing a task A, all mental resources at a given time , must be dedicated/utilized for that task itself.Otherwise , the ability of making decisions while doing A would be seriously affected and so would the outcome of A. It's just so important to fill each compartment with appropriate knowledge,information,skills and confidence. It's also important to know which compartment should be unlocked at the given time and also to how to lock other compartments .
Most decisions are validated only my implementing them, it's difficult to know what 'this' decision would result into.That's the whole point, if your compartments have been trained with all the necessary knowledge and skills, the chances of getting a good decision out of them is pretty good, but it may still fail!

Dream ..

A dream to fly with the wind,
So that I dont fall behind,
A dream to be the everest,
Beyond the reach of any sorrowful harvest.

A dream to rise above the ocean of defeat,
And not use the ejection seat,
A dream to sing my song,
Tirelessly as I travel along.

A dream to find that special being,
May the search not turn heart-robbing,
A dream to discover that obsession,
Alongwith that long lost passion.

A dream to venture out into the untread,
And follow the directions my heart said,
A dream to get the prize coveted,
Propelled by desire deep-seated.

A dream to live my dreams,
As I flow with my faith streams,
A dream to continue dreaming,
To enjoy life with dreams enchanting!!

By RT.

Make 'others' redundant.

4th in the series .. "if better is possible"...

Well...this is what applies to my day..today. I ask myself, "When people speak rubbish..does that mean they think rubbish too?" . The answer to this question, in my opinion is a firm YES. Any decently intelligent human being will not give any weight to such 'other' people. If you really care for and respect a person then his/her's opinion matters. There are a bunch of 'others' wherever you go and what they say is mere noise.It was never required of them to speak, their opinion wasn't required and if 'others' still wanna say something, it is just noise and it should not affect your thinking or for that matter even your vision(if your vision does get affected, it actually wasn't a vision).
The thing which you need to do is to isolate 'others' and don't even listen to them. By not listening to them I mean you don't evaluate what they say and so there is no chance of you actually giving their thoughts any importance. The people who matter, their words, should be evaluated but not necessarily acted upon. Because it's all up to you as a person , as an individual. The advice, the idea must be in sync with your vision and your mental framework must agree with it , then only you follow the advice.
The key is to make 'others' redundant, they don't exist or their words don't matter. Then your brain is open to only important ideas(important to you) and the chances of you being benefited actually increase.