Low self-esteem can be a formidable barrier to personal and professional growth. It affects how we perceive ourselves and how we interact with the world around us. However, the good news is that overcoming it is possible—and it’s a vital step toward achieving our full potential.
Here are some strategies to help you boost your self-esteem:
Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself as you would a friend. Acknowledge your feelings without judgment and remind yourself that everyone makes mistakes. This simple act fosters a kinder inner dialogue.
Set Realistic Goals: Break down your objectives into achievable tasks. Celebrating small wins can significantly enhance your confidence and reinforce the belief that you are capable of success.
Seek Feedback: Constructive feedback from trusted colleagues or mentors allows for growth and improvement. It also helps you gain perspective on your strengths and areas for development.
Surround Yourself with Positivity: Engage with people who uplift you. Building a supportive network can counter negative self-talk and remind you of your worth.
Develop a Growth Mindset: Embrace challenges as opportunities for learning. Viewing failures as stepping stones to success can shift your perspective and foster resilience.
Why Self-Esteem is Crucial for Growth:
Increased Resilience: Individuals with high self-esteem are often better equipped to face challenges, viewing setbacks as opportunities for growth rather than endings.
Enhanced Creativity: A strong sense of self allows individuals to voice their ideas confidently, leading to innovation and improvement within a team or organization.
Improved Relationships: Healthy self-esteem fosters respect and empathy towards others, leading to more meaningful and productive relationships, both personally and professionally.
Career Advancement: Confidence in one’s skills and abilities can lead to taking initiative, pursuing new opportunities, and advocating for oneself—all crucial for career development.
Remember, the journey to overcoming low self-esteem takes time, but every step you take is a step towards a more fulfilling life. Let’s encourage each other to believe in our capabilities and chase our aspirations!
Discipline, passion, and perseverance are three interconnected qualities that play a crucial role in achieving success and fulfilling one’s potential. Here’s how each contributes to remarkable results:
1.Discipline
Definition: Discipline is the ability to maintain focus, control impulses, and consistently apply oneself to tasks over time.
Importance: It helps individuals stick to their goals, establish routines, and make the right choices, even when faced with distractions or challenges. Discipline is essential for developing good habits and ensuring that progress is made toward long-term objectives.
Outcome: With discipline, people can effectively manage their time and resources, leading to improved productivity and performance. It creates a foundation for sustained effort and commitment.
2. Passion
Definition: Passion refers to a deep, intrinsic enthusiasm and love for what one does. It often fuels motivation and engagement.
Importance: When individuals are passionate about their work or interests, they are more likely to invest the time and energy necessary to excel. Passion drives creativity, innovation, and the desire to improve.
Outcome: Passionate individuals often find joy in their pursuits, making it easier to overcome obstacles and maintain motivation, which in turn leads to more significant achievements.
3. Perseverance
Definition: Perseverance is the steadfastness and resilience to continue working toward a goal despite difficulties, failures, or setbacks.
Importance: Life is often unpredictable, and challenges are inevitable. Perseverance enables individuals to push through tough times, learn from mistakes, and keep moving forward when the going gets tough.
Outcome: Those who persevere are more likely to achieve their goals because they don’t give up easily. This persistence can lead to personal growth, increased confidence, and eventually, success.
The Interconnection
When combined, discipline, passion, and perseverance create a powerful synergy. Discipline ensures that individuals stay on track, passion fuels their commitment, and perseverance helps them navigate challenges. Together, these qualities foster a mindset that embraces growth and learning, leading to remarkable results in personal and professional endeavors.
Real-World Examples Many successful individuals, such as athletes, entrepreneurs, and artists, exemplify these traits. For instance, an athlete may train rigorously (discipline) out of a love for their sport (passion) and continue to compete despite injuries or losses (perseverance). Similarly, entrepreneurs who are passionate about their ideas often work tirelessly and maintain focus, overcoming numerous challenges along the way to build successful businesses.
The strategic decision process refers to the systematic approach used by organizations to make long-term, significant decisions that shape the direction and scope of their activities. It involves several stages and key elements to ensure that decisions align with the organization’s goals, capabilities, and external environment. Here’s an overview of the strategic decision process:
Problem Identification: Recognizing and clearly defining the problem or opportunity that requires a strategic decision. This involves understanding the context and scope of the issue.
Environmental Analysis: Gathering and analyzing information about the external environment, including market trends, competition, regulatory landscape, and economic conditions. Tools like PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) analysis and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis are often used.
Internal Analysis: Assessing the organization’s internal resources, capabilities, and core competencies. This includes evaluating financial resources, human resources, technology, and organizational culture.
Setting Objectives: Establishing clear, measurable, and achievable objectives that the decision aims to accomplish. These objectives should be aligned with the overall mission and vision of the organization.
Generating Alternatives: Developing a range of potential strategies or courses of action that could address the problem or opportunity. Creativity and innovation are essential in this stage to ensure a wide array of options.
Evaluating Alternatives: Assessing the feasibility, risks, and potential impact of each alternative. This involves using quantitative and qualitative analysis methods, such as cost-benefit analysis, scenario planning, and decision trees.
Making the Decision: Choosing the best alternative based on the evaluation. This step often involves deliberation and consensus-building among key stakeholders and decision-makers.
Implementation: Developing a detailed action plan to execute the chosen strategy. This includes assigning responsibilities, allocating resources, setting timelines, and establishing monitoring mechanisms.
Monitoring and Control: Continuously tracking the implementation progress and measuring the outcomes against the set objectives. This step helps in identifying any deviations from the plan and making necessary adjustments.
Review and Feedback: Analyzing the overall effectiveness of the decision and the process used to make it. This includes learning from successes and failures to improve future decision-making processes.
2) How to be decisive?
Being decisive involves making decisions confidently and efficiently. Here are some strategies to help you become more decisive:
1. Gather Information Research: Gather relevant information to understand the options and potential outcomes. Consult Experts: Seek advice from knowledgeable people to get different perspectives. 2. Clarify Your Goals Identify Objectives: Be clear about what you want to achieve. Prioritize: Determine what is most important and align your decisions with these priorities. 3. Evaluate Options List Pros and Cons: Write down the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Consider Consequences: Think about the short-term and long-term impacts of each choice.
4. Trust Your Intuition Gut Feeling: Sometimes your instinct can guide you when logical analysis is insufficient. Past Experiences: Use lessons from previous decisions to inform your current choice. 5. Set a Deadline Time Limit: Give yourself a reasonable timeframe to make the decision. Avoid Overthinking: Excessive deliberation can lead to decision paralysis. 6. Reduce Choices Limit Options: Too many choices can be overwhelming. Narrow down the options to the most viable ones. Simplify: Focus on the most critical factors that will influence the decision. 7. Take Action Commit: Once you’ve made a decision, commit to it and follow through. Adjust if Necessary: Be flexible and willing to adjust your course if new information or circumstances arise. 8. Learn from Decisions Reflect: After making a decision, reflect on the outcome to understand what worked and what didn’t. Continuous Improvement: Use this reflection to improve your decision-making process for the future.
4) Why it is Necessary To stay positive in challenging situations?
Staying positive in challenging situations is crucial for several reasons, encompassing psychological, emotional, and practical benefits:
Resilience: A positive mindset enhances resilience, helping you bounce back from setbacks more quickly. It allows you to view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than insurmountable obstacles.
Mental Health: Maintaining a positive outlook reduces stress and anxiety, which can otherwise exacerbate the difficulty of the situation. It helps in preventing depression and other mental health issues.
Problem-Solving: Positivity fosters a more open and creative mindset, which is essential for effective problem-solving. When you are positive, you are more likely to think outside the box and find innovative solutions.
Motivation: A positive attitude keeps you motivated and focused on your goals. It helps in sustaining the energy and drive needed to overcome challenges.
Relationships: Positivity is contagious and can improve your interactions with others. In challenging times, strong relationships are crucial for support and collaboration, and a positive demeanor can help strengthen these bonds.
Health Benefits: Research has shown that positive thinking can improve physical health by boosting the immune system, reducing the risk of chronic diseases, and promoting overall well-being.
Perception and Reality: The way you perceive a situation can influence its outcome. By staying positive, you are more likely to notice and seize opportunities that can lead to a better outcome.
Performance: Athletes, performers, and professionals often perform better under pressure when they maintain a positive attitude. This mindset helps in staying calm, focused, and confident, which can enhance performance.
Leadership: Positive leaders inspire and motivate their teams, even in difficult times. This can lead to better team cohesion, morale, and productivity.Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Positivity can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that you can overcome a challenge, you are more likely to take the necessary actions to make it happen, thereby increasing your chances of success.
5) What are the best books available for learning about decision making?
Here are some of the best books for learning about decision making, covering various aspects such as cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, strategic thinking, and practical frameworks:
“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
This seminal book by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman explores the dual systems of thinking: System 1, which is fast, intuitive, and emotional; and System 2, which is slower, more deliberative, and logical. It provides deep insights into how decisions are made and the biases that influence them.
“Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness” by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
This book introduces the concept of “nudging” to improve decision-making in various aspects of life. Thaler and Sunstein provide practical examples of how subtle changes in the way choices are presented can significantly impact decisions.
“Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, delves into the irrational ways humans often behave and make decisions. The book explains why we make decisions that defy logic and how we can improve our decision-making processes.
“The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less” by Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz examines how having too many choices can lead to anxiety and decision paralysis. He discusses the psychological effects of choice overload and offers strategies to make better decisions by simplifying choices.
“Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
The Heath brothers provide a framework called WRAP (Widen your options, Reality-test your assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, and Prepare to be wrong) to help improve decision-making in both personal and professional contexts.
“Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts” by Annie Duke
Annie Duke, a professional poker player, shares insights into decision-making under uncertainty. The book emphasizes thinking in probabilities rather than absolutes and offers practical advice for making better decisions when the outcome is uncertain.
“Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction” by Philip E. Tetlock and Dan M. Gardner
This book explores the skills and strategies used by superforecasters—individuals who are exceptionally good at predicting future events. It provides valuable lessons on improving forecasting accuracy and decision-making.
Everyone loves to enjoy
beauty. The beauty of nature is captivating. but, what is beauty when it comes
to human beings? Beauty is not something that comes from physical appearance.
Physical attractiveness are deception; what matters really is the nature of a
person. It is true that beautiful or handsome people are more
appealing. But we can have a reliable relationship and long lasting trust only
on the personalities of people. Physical appearance of a person might fade as
years pass on; but their characters do not. So, we should nit judge anyone or
anything by the appearance. It is a great wisdom to realize that “Beauty Is In the
Eye of The Beholder”
If we all are familiar about the proverb “All
that Glitters is Not Gold”, then we would be aware that we cannot believe
someone by their appearance. When we are in the light of wisdom outer beauty of
a person will not drive us. What makes a person attractive is
the inner beauty.
People with inner beauty are those that love
to make peace with everyone, take care of fellow beings and try to follow the
path of justice.
How many of us remember the significance of physical beauty when we talk about King Maker Kamarajar? (Late Chief Minister Tamil Nadu).
Do we think physical appearance is important even after we hold Sports personalities like Sachin Tendulkar, Mary Kom, Maria Sharapova and many others as our role models? We do not see the appearance of these people to keep them high as our inspiration. Their talents and achievements are incomparable and that is what has made them world famous. If we think they have become famous by their beauty then it is our foolishness
The legends who have lived and made us realize the importances of inner beauty are: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. Nelson Mandela is a great man known for his sacrifice Mandela was willing to sacrifice in order bring equality and get equal rights for the Blacks in South Africa. He is definitely a legend with inner beauty. Mahatma Gandhi, who fought till death for Free India is a man of inner beauty. If we learn the sacrifice Mother Teresa made in her life to serve the poor, we will agree that Beauty lies inside not outside.
Only when we know what real beauty is, we will understand what we see in the outside is just a projection. What matters is the character inside. Like how we see a jack-fruit as a hard and rough fruits outside, but a sweet and yummy piece of delight inside, it is true that “Beauty Lies in the Eye of The Beholder”.
Contributed by Pravin More, a student of our Public
Speaking Course.
What is communication?
How can we define it? First of all let’s understand it’s origin and it’s
meaning. Communication is derived from the Latin word “communis” meaning to
share something or hold in common. Communication can be defined in following
ways:
Communication is the
process of exchanging information, ideas, thoughts, speech, signals, writing or
behaviour. First, let’s try to answer the most pertinent management
question. What is important in motivating people, forming a successful team,
getting all your work done? Answer is simple. Successful communication skills!
It demands efforts, it needs motivation. Motivational speaker, Tony Robin
stated that for effective communication we must realise that we are all
different in the way we perceiveg. So we must respect each other’s perspective,
then only we would lead to a successful communication.
Arguing is not
communication. It is noise. But responding without understanding is also not
communication. We all have our own choice to say yes or no. That choice is the
medium of communication. If you express that answer politely then only you can
have an effective communication. “You should know how to present your point in
front of others. There should be no chance of confusion with you.”
Winston Churchill said
“it is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look
forward to the trip”. If you qualify telling even rude words in such a way that
they turn to as good words for the listener than you are the master of
communication. This is how communication impacts the world.
In today’s fast going
world one needs to understand the importance of connecting with others and the
ways to do so. Most of us take the meaning of word communication as verbal
conversation. Does it mean only verbal communication? No, it’s half the
statement. Communication can be verbal, nonverbal or the body language. It
simply states that in today’s world what is said is important but what is not
said is equally important, Even the hidden objective is taken into
consideration. Communication skills are of more importance than anything
else, as it holds the personality of a person. As the old saying says
that there is a large difference in the word ‘having something to say and
having to say something’. They look similar but meaning of both is different.
Content, being the
king in communication, plays a major role in changing the whole personality.
Here again who takes the hold of audience or the listeners? More patient the audience
more is your benefit. But understanding audience is critical. They can
understand even what you have not spoken. You might be thinking what is the
difference? Difference is as clear. The one who understands what you have not
spoken is living in the present. He is there with his mind and soul in what you
are doing. Your communication skills including verbal, nonverbal and your body
language play a vital role here. So if the listener is impressed by your
communication skills then only he will be active in the process and further
interaction or communication is possible.
It’s not one way
process. It is open and two way path. It can be either the speaker affects the
listeners by asking questions, seeing to his body language or understanding
him/her, can be the other way round also. Again a question arises on the
lifestyle which you are living. Are you satisfied with it? Is your
concentration level upto the mark to meet the present day requirement? Or you
are still in some dreams while a lecture or another topic has started?
Today’s requirement
demands near 100% accuracy and concentration for a wonderful and beneficial
communication. The famous Management Consultant, Peter Drucker has stated that
most important thing in communication does, understand what is not said.
Observing this way, you can understand the full concept of what is being
spoken. Hence communication is not defined by its effectiveness but the
response of effectiveness. Audience plays a major role no matter it is one or
many. Until and unless communication serves the purpose of the listeners, it is
of no use. A well said quote will completely set your minds to it.
“Communication is dream more – compare less, listen more – talk less, love more
– argue less, hope more – fear less, relax more – worry less, believe more –
complain less, play more – work less.”
These quotes can be
taken as the steps to a successful communication. Author of the book ‘Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey has well said that often
people have character strength but they lack communication skills. And that
affects the quality of relationships. Generation gap is the best example to
support the above statement.
Communication must not
be complicated. It may not use very extensive vocabulary, it may be as simple
but as clear as possible. If ideas are not drawn into action, they just turn to
be simple paper work. Only with the help of communication skills ideas can turn
the dreams to a reality.
4 Intriguing
Possibilities of Communications
Let’s examine four
possible combinations of speaking & listening. This will enable us to
understand what communication can do to our lives and to our organisations.
Possibility
1.Effective speaking but poor listening. If this is the leader’s
characteristics the results could be as under:
It will increase your
focus. You may have generated good followers & good soldiers. But the
potential leaders will leave. There will be practically no innovation. Stress
level will increase.
Possibility
2.Effective speaking and active listening. That is the perfect combination for
the leader. The focus of the leader and of the organisation will remain in the
forefront. Things will happen fast. Loyalty of employees will increase.
Appreciation of mind and ability to enjoy the work will bring in more
breakthroughs, more innovations. People will collaborate with each other and
also compete with each other. The best will blossom with the leader’s effective
speech and active listening. An atmosphere of sustainable leadership will
prevail.
Possibility 3: Poor
speaking but active listening. It will amount to lack of focus. Also, waste of
time & money. There will be thrust on management by committees. People
might get an impression that anything goes.
Meanwhile active
listening will also result in the positives. The employees will become more
self-expressed. Application of mind by them will increase. There would be
greater innovation.
Possibility 4: Poor
speaking and poor listening. It will be nothing but a slow death of the
enterprise. The death of textile mills in Mumbai & Ahmadabad can be
attributed to this syndrome. Misunderstanding and conflicts will rule.
Opportunities will be missed. There would be high rate of attrition. Isolation
will result in fragmentation, and finally extinction.
Just perusing the
above possibilities would shake our slumber. Importance of communication will
then be fully realised. So, I will deal with both aspect of communication- good
speaking and good listening.
What should one do to
become an excellent Communicator?
First of all it is
necessary to have strong content. Content is the king. Effective communications
take this into account more than any other aspect of management or even life.
Content means domain knowledge. You can’t fool people with shallow thoughts.
Much less you can impress them. Lot of hard work goes into acquiring knowledge.
The biggest problem is seen when you have worthwhile knowledge but you can’t
use into your advantage due to lack of effective speech. Your expression
remains impaired. People would barely know that you are a storehouse of useful
information.
Then what should you
do? Become a good speaker. Practice the art and science of speaking clearly,
confidently and convincingly.
How do you speak
clearly? You must understand that speech in the result of decision to
communicate. You must also understand what goes into making voice and the
speech. The process in simple words is as follows. First of all ‘thinking’
clarifies the idea you want to project to the listener or a group of listeners.
Then brain sends a signal to the lungs and some breath is released. Breath
strikes the vocal cord to produce sound. But the words are created by the
speech organs. So in order to speak clearly, think clearly. Cultivate habit of
deep breathing. It enables to have sufficient breath to support strength of
your voice. This will also enable you to speak longer sentence without
breathing in between. The flow of speech will enable ideas to flow smoothly.
Listening intently is
equally important for good communication
Communication does not
mean only effective speaking. In fact, it is the beginning point. But even more
important is active listening. Active listening will bring about the results
that you are looking for. You communicate with someone or a group of listeners
with an objective. How can you influence others? By listening to them actively
or with your speech. How do you find whether you are a good listener or not? I
give below a checklist which is self- explanatory.
You must always use
this checklist to prepare for any important meeting particularly when you have
to speak to an audience!
1. Don’t think of what
you are going to say next when another person is speaking. Just focus on
understanding and assimilating what he/she has to say.
2. You must listen
with an open mind. Don’t try to relate with your own experience, similar
experience. When someone is relating a story in support of his argument, your
tendency to evaluate should be given a pause. Never be judgmental, as they say.
3. When you are
listening, try to recreate mentally what the other person is saying
objectively.
4. Try to see things
from the speaker’s point of view. Empathise and be compassionate while
listening.
5. Try to uncover the
intent of the speaker. All speakers may not be terse. Their verbosity may
require a little extra effort on your part to understand the intent. Make this
extra effort.
6. Think what results
you can produce through listening rather than speaking. If you want to
influence people, you will be amazed to observe how listening comes in handy
and helpful.
7. Listen a minute
longer than it is comfortable. That extra minute will give you extra input. In
any case, you are having a dialogue for understanding the other’s point of
view.
8. Last but not the
least; you must remember that your words of advice will be seen as unwanted
noise. Never give an advice unless asked for. If you are not convinced and the
solution demands that you must express your views, do that and say we agree to
disagree!
Communications pervade
our lives in more ways than we know.
Right from the time we get up in the morning,
we start communicating. We speak to our people at home. Each word that we speak
has some kind of signification. Either we request for help or we do something
for others at home.
We receive telephonic
calls. Our talk on telephone is either verbose or we are to the point. We
efficacy of our words determine to what extent we can influence the people we
speak to.
If we word to list all
the jobs that we have to do during the day, our productivity will be reflected
in the complication of our tasks. Normally one would not relate productivity
with our speech or with our communication.
If you are a team
leader, you’re expected to motivate your team members to perform certain tasks.
Your success as a leader depends on how successful your team members are in
their performance.
If you are working for
someone, your performance will depend on how best you can assimilate the
instruction. Evidently you may need some clarification on the job assign to you
this will also require you to communicate.
Effective
communication has certain prerequisites. These are:
1. Language: you must
have adequate knowledge of the language. These include grammar a reasonable
vocabulary and ability to make perfect sentences to express exactly what you
want to convey.
2. Body language: If
you are talking in person your body language plays an important role in your
interaction.
3. If you are talking
on the telephone the clarity of your speech and be efficacy of expression will
determine your effectiveness.
4. I f you are
sending a written communication making some request, again the result will
depend on the effectiveness of your letter or Email.
5. If you’re
communicating with a group of friends through social media, the success of your
task will depend on the words that you use while communicating.
6. If you are making a
presentation to a group of people, your objective will be archive partially or
holy depending on your performance during the communication.
7. If you are a
teacher and teach the students. The knowledge that your students may acquire
depending on how effective you are in your expression.
8. If you are an
advocate you will be able to convince the judge about you clients in a since
provided you use the language effectively. Otherwise even your solid evidence
can sometimes be our looked.
9. As a journalist you
are supposed to report the news as it may happen. You are not expected to
include your opinion in your report. But if you don’t have adequate control
over your written or spoken language, you will not be able to remain objective.
10. There is no scope
for any letup or fault by the General or the officer who is leading an
operation.
What has been said
above, when assimilated, will empower you to always use the ‘Double Edged
Sword’ of Communications to make you a winner.