A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted
that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains.
All that
was holding them back from escaping the
camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.
As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as
to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and
escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try
to at all.
Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby
why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.
The trainer replied;
“When
they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and,
at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to
believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so
they never try to break free.”
The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and
escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just
wasn’t possible. The elephant can’t think out of the box. There is no
innovative quality bestowed. The elephant likewise if a person does not
innovate or think different than what he/she has been used to they are not
innovative.
While
creativity is thinking out of the box, innovation is putting into action a
creative plan. For innovating a product or service we must consider the
following:
What is required or desired by the users? It means that innovative
products or services must meet defined or undefined needs of the consumers.
What is possible with the existing technology? One has to keep
in mind the available technology innovation can ride or ameliorate on, so as to
make the innovation more achievable. Moreover, one really need not re-invent
the wheel.
What is viable in the market place? It is necessary to find out
the viability of the innovative product or service which has been conceived
before starting work on it. Truth be told, viability is critical to prevent
wasteful efforts.
Simply said, innovation is change that unlocks new value. The Following are the 7 steps that held, produce innovation smoothly.
In order to ascertain desirability to the users we must start with the concept crisis: If trying to upgrade a product/service one may ask the customers who its current users are. Observing the product in use and reviewing the difficulties and complaints faced by the current consumer will give a clearer picture of the desired modification or innovation.
After identifying what needs to be done a detailed plan including the target result has to be laid out. One should run brain storm sessions, and if a corporation, the company’s whole brain should be used. It is a myth that innovation is the brainchild of a single genius; rather it is the result of collaborative effort.
The organization needs to examine the related current patents before undertaking innovation. One should not find out later on, that somebody else already holds a patent for the innovation conceived and worked upon.
Failures are a part of creating anything new. Failures should not deter the process of innovation. It’s necessary to persistently follow the plan. Often results take longer than expected. Persistence is crucial.
During the process of creating an innovative product or service the organization should consistently review i)what new additions can be made ii) what new ways can be adopted that could change the design or the processes.
A friendly environment should be created and a keen sense of curiosity needs to be encouraged. At every stage the output reached is reflected upon. The process of innovation can be made smooth only with an in depth contemplation and an environment that promotes creative thinking.
Innovation is best achieved when a creative idea is selected & the leader is totally committed to that new idea. Passion produces results. The leader must also have good business sense and a broad understanding of how things feel inside or outside the company. The requirement is that of strategic thinking or of a ‘helicopter sense’- a talent for rising above the smaller details to be able to see the big picture. Such a leader is able to create a cohesive and driven team which is in turn is fully dedicated to the project. The plan must be prepared in a collaborative fashion. The team members should also contribute in making the plan. Team work needs to be ensured.
We all have to make presentations these days. Presentations, when we have to speak in Public. Undoubtedly, it is difficult and often avoided slyly. There could be various reasons, but the foremost among them is ‘Stage Fright’. Primarily stage fright occurs because of inadequate preparation and/or because of faulty preparation.
Let me give 4 important tips which will help you to prepare a good presentation.
1. Be clear about Objective:
The first tip is that you must be clear about your objective. Why you have been asked to speak on the subject and why you have accepted the invitation? Both must be understood and realized.
The best thing is to write it down. What is the expectation of your audience is something of cardinal importance. So, contemplate on it and note down the main points. It may require you to define the group, the profile, age group, gender mix, no of people, likesand dislikes or whatever other information you can gather.
2. Understand your audience:
Understanding an audience is at the core of any speaker’s reputation. It’s what drives effective marketing strategies, gets you more assignments and reconition.
But “understanding” isn’t a destination. It’s a journey. It’s a process of constant review, refinement and readjustment. Without regularly revisiting its target audience, the performance of a brand will decline at worst or stagnate at best. To ensure you have the tools and knowledge you need to understand your audience and grow your brand, we’ve constructed this guide to researching your audience, dividing it into segments and ultimately building accurate, useful buyer personas to drive your strategies.
3. Content is the King:
The next and critical step is the content. Even when you know the subject very well, you have to modify it every time you speak regarding the same subject. Redesign it, keeping in view your new audience and their objectives. Content is the king.
If you don’t have anything significant to say, anything which will improve then knowledge or something they can use in their daily life; then keep your mouth shut. In short, there must be good amount of takeaway from your speech for your audience.
One thing that has been helping speakers lately is to batch these types of activities. Have a content creation day or research day. Today, we have so many possibilities to find out stories behind any significant subject. Websites like, Wikipedia, Wiki how, Quora constitute great resource for seekers of serious research.
4. Express Effectively:
The third but most important part of your speech is your ability to express yourself effectively. Never think of impressing anyone. But you just have to express yourself. You should be able to communicate exactly what you have in mind. You are already clear about your objective and the objective of your audience. You have already gathered information which will interest them. You already know what you are going to give them as takeaways. But if you lose out in holding their attention, if your audience is not hooked by you on the subject, all knowledge might get wasted.
There’ s lots to consider when expressing yourself. Get the overview of effective expression and learn the Most Important Rule for Effective Communicating.
If you want to be a great leader you will have to get good at expressing yourself effectively to engage others and influence them.
8 Incredible Ways to Increase your Self- awareness and Develop Courage!
Self awareness helps you understand your personality, values, and deepest desires. Additionally, learning more about yourself helps you create your best life and make positive changes to improve your weaknesses. Being self aware boosts your emotional intelligence, so it’s a valuable trait that might help you relate to others. Raise yourself awareness and develop Emotional Intelligence by learning about yourself, building and getting feedback from others
1. Rank your top 5-10 priorities so you know what’s important
to you.
Make a list of the things you most value in life, such as your family. Then, choose 5-10 items on your list that are most valuable to you. Rank them in order of importance, with 1 being your top priority. This helps you understand what’s truly important to you. The process gives you a confidence that nothing important will be missed out by you. In turn it increases your courage.
2. Identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps you understand yourself so you can live your best life. Discover your strengths by assessing your knowledge, skills, and traits. Additionally, think of 3-5 times when you felt most successful in life. Then, make a list of areas where you want to improve to find your weaknesses. Start working on mitigating or eradicating your weaknesses. This is another step which will make you strong.
3. Write about your feelings and experiences in a journal.
Journaling helps you better understand your thoughts and emotions. Set a goal to write in your journal every day, even if you just write a little. Discuss what’s happening in your life and how you feel. Then, review what you’ve written to help you self-reflect. No daily experiences will surely help you to understand that how you should go about improving yourself in dealing with the day today problems. Understandably this develops your courage.
4. Allow yourself to feel your emotions so they pass.
Part of self awareness is being able to understand your emotions. Acknowledge how you’re feeling and give yourself permission to experience the emotion. This allows your feelings to pass. Don’t ever press any emotions. This is particularly so for feeling of sadness and remorse. You must remind yourself that these unwanted feelings are not going to help you in anyway. If you’re not going to hell why let them remain with you. Threw them out.
5. Determine what triggers you emotionally to understand
yourself.
Think about the times you’ve gotten really upset in the past. Then, identify what was happening in that moment. This is an emotional trigger that you have. Knowing your triggers helps you better manage your emotional reactions to them. It’s important for you to understand your emotional characteristics. Do you have fear of failures? Or that of criticism. Remember failure is a part of success. No criticism is valid. Don’t worry what other people say but keep on improving yourself day after day.
6. Meditate for at least 10 minutes a day for a clear mind.
Daily meditation helps you calm your mind so you can think better. Additionally, it helps you stay relaxed so you’re better able to control your emotions. For a simple meditation, sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Then, focus on your breath. It has been scientifically proved that meditation has helped many people to overcome even the depressions. What meditation does this to cleans your mind and remove the clutter. The problems are resolved easier. Meditation surely gives you internal strength.
7. Ask people whose opinions you value to give you feedback.
Identify people in your life who you think will give you an
honest, constructive evaluation of yourself. Then, ask them to tell you how
they perceive you, what they think your strengths are, and how you can improve.
Collect their feedback and review it to better understand yourself. Getting
feedback from people whom you can trust is very helpful in developing your
personality and enhancing your courage. While never depend on unsolicited
advice because a free advice is often more expensive. But when you are asking
feedback and also requesting them to be frank in their assessment, it’s going
to be very helpful as this is other people’s perception about you. This process
also makes you emotionally strong.
8. Pay attention to how others react to you.
Watch other people’s body language when they’re around you. Notice if they appear comfortable and approach you with ease or if they keep their distance or close them self off. Look for trends in how people act around you to get an idea about how you’re perceived. This is an effort to continuously improve yourself. You keep on noticing how people react to your conduct, to your speech, to your body language in to your actions; the process is enlightening and gives you immense knowledge to enhance your personality and become more courageous.
One needs to be a learner throughout his or her life. I suggest the following to be a good learner:
1. Always be curious to know things.
Always be curious to know things, to understand as well as assimilate. This is helpful in your wanting to know more. Curiosity, or the strong desire to learn or know something, originates from the Latin word ‘curious’ – eager to know, inquisitive. As children, we are born with an almost insatiable curiosity which, according to famous psychologist Jean Piaget, is critical for our cognitive development – for as children almost everything we encounter is a new experience. It is children’s need to make sense of the world that results in their incessant questioning – “why is the sky blue?”, “what makes it rain?” – And it’s their lack of self-consciousness that enables them to admit to their lack of knowledge or understanding.
2. Be focused.
In order that you enjoy the process of learning, be focused. If you focus you get the best out of your efforts of learning. Focus can help you accomplish a variety of professional and personal tasks, from studying for a test to finishing your work an hour early. There are various practical steps you can take to help yourself focus better and to stop checking your Facebook or phone every fifteen minutes. To stay focused on the task ahead of you, resist the impulse to give in to distractions, make a to-do list (which has built-in breaks) and resist the temptation to multi-task.
3. Never be afraid of failure. Never be afraid of criticism. It is only this fear that does not allow you to use your mind and soul into what you do. As a learner you have to be totally dedicated to what you want to learn and therefore be fearless. Fear is something we all experience, especially when setting out on any new undertaking. Failure is one of the most common and most damaging fears that many people struggle with. However, failure is often the first step toward success: highly successful people such as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson are very vocal about how often they have failed and how that has shaped their success.
4. Learning is a serious matter. Learning is not fun. It’s a serious matter. Give the attention and the required time that the learning deserves. Be patient and try to look for the final details of any process or anything about the subject that you are learning. One of the best things about life is that we never have to stop learning. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt. The best entrepreneurs in the world don’t act like they know everything. They all understand the fact that they have to continuously learn to be successful.
5. Whatever you learn you
should make it your own.
Whatever you learn you should make it your own. You should not learn only with a short time goal like to pass the exam, the interview et cetera. You should learn with a view to imbibe you’re learning into your personality. What you learn, you must use. When you use what you have learnt. You reinforce your learning. It you have a chance you teach someone what you have learnt .In the process this knowledge becomes your own and you can use it when needed.
6. Question everything for thorough learning. A good learner questions everything. Simple because these are written words or somebody has said it; don’t just accept. Questions that come to your mind need to be answered. Consult your mentor, teacher or your colleague. Questioning is a revered teaching technique from the days of Socrates, but there are ways, some traditional and some a bit more radical, to increase its impact and better prepare students to move beyond school in a way that provides deeper meaning and encourages greater contribution. Asking a variety of questions and question types is key to student achievement, along with increasing the amount of time allotted for students to think about the questions, but it is also vital that we move away from teachers asking questions as a solution to student learning.
7. Share whatever you have learnt.
You
should share whatever you have learnt. If anybody has some different opinion
just don’t override with your assumptions. Listen to him or her and check out
if they know better. Sharing knowledge, while it is a noble cause, helps you to
identify if you have left any missing links. Besides, you may learn more from
the person you share with. However, you need to share with the right people or group.
For example, if you share any learning about HR on LinkedIn, your connections
will very happy.
8. Listen to experts on
the subject.
Listen to experts on the subject. Attend a lecture if it is possible or simple go to the YouTube where videos are available on all possible thinkable subjects. Today, we are fortunate. We have Google. We have Quora and a number of other platforms that provide great information on any subject. Above all, we have YouTube. YouTube in the second biggest search en give on the net. It you don’t like to read, you just listen. There are many classroom lectures ever.
9. Don’t multitask, for
better learning.
Always follow the dictum of one thing at a time. Don’t ever do multitasking. That’s not the way a good learner should learn. Always follow the dictum of one thing at a time. Don’t ever do multitasking. That is not a way, a good learner should learn. You may have heard that multitask is bad for you, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain. Every time you multitask you aren’t just harming your performance in the moment; you may very well be damaging an area of your brain that’s critical to your future success at work.
10. Don’t expect too much
for your efforts.
Don’t expect too much of your efforts. Real learning requires persistent efforts and sometimes you need to persevere. Be prepared for that. Why do we expect great things and end up crying over it, people tend to exert too much effort in some things that’s impossible and expect it to turn out in their favor. We must learn that a person can’t have all the things in the world.
11. Develop emotional
intelligence.
Develop your emotional intelligence under guidance of a teacher or a mentor. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to tap into your emotions and use them to make your life better. Being in touch with your feelings allows you to manage stress levels and communicate effectively with other people, two skills that enhance your life both personally and professionally. Unlike IQ, which remains constant throughout your life, EQ can be developed and honed over time. Do all that you can to strengthen your emotional intelligence. It in an investment that will help you throughout your life. Daniel Goleman has made a yeoman’s service to the development of the society with his work on emotional intelligence.
If you
follow above there is nothing that you can’t learn and you will really enjoy learning
and be proud of it.
A lot has been said in favour of teaching English from the first standard itself. Many states including Maharashtra have introduced English from the first grade even in government / municipal schools. Our professional colleges like Engineering, Medical and other higher technical education colleges have English as medium of instruction. In spite of that, often the students are not able to express themselves in English confidently. The principle of a leading college of Architecture told me recently “Our students are excellent so far as the subject of architecture is concerned. They have great imagination. They can create excellent architectural designs. But the only problem is that they are not able to express themselves in English.” In architecture, engineering, medicine or any other discipline of higher education most books available are only in the English language. Besides, the technical terms used in these subjects are also in English. Therefore the knowledge and the ability to express in English becomes necessary for all students of higher education.
Furthermore,
with the coming of more and more FMCG Companies in India, the use of this
language is increasing by the day. This has added to the difficulties of the
employees, particularly in executive cadre. Those who cannot express themselves
in English fluently and clearly are at a great disadvantage. They are
good in domain knowledge and they are adept in performing their duties, yet the
inadequacy of English hurts them hard.
BENEFITS OF
RETAINING ENGLISH AS OUR COMMON LANGUAGE
Keeps Your Brain Sharp
Learning any language keeps your brain active and challenged. In fact, Your brain changes electrical activity and size when learning a new language. No matter what age you start at, there are benefits for learning a new language. When you decide to learn English, you give yourself an extra rigorous workout due to its complicated nature.
Make More Money
The world may not have a global
language, but English is the default option for countless forms of
communication across the globe. That’s why one of the benefits of learning
English is that it significantly boosts your hiring potential.
One of the
Best Languages to Learn For Travel
If you think English can only
take you to places like the U.S., U.K., and Canada, we’ve got some great news:
There are over 50 English-speaking countries around the world. And that doesn’t
count for all over the world. In many cities, particularly in Europe, English
is almost an unofficial second language where expats and tourists make up a
significant portion of the community.
Helps You Get Into Great
Schools
Like job applications, one of
the best benefits of learning English is the educational opportunities. If you
desire access to some of the best schools like Harvard, Stanford, Oxford,
Cambridge or MIT, then knowing English provides you an incredible edge. It’s
expected that around 2 billion people around the world will learn English over
the next decade.
Enjoy Classic Literature
and Films in Native Language
Over the past few centuries,
many of the world’s classic works of film and literature were created in
English. While you can gain access to translated copies, something always tends
to feel “off” about the final product. The same can be said for classic works
translated into English. These sorts of botched translations make it difficult
to appreciate some of the great works of English-speaking artists from
Shakespeare to Stephen King. From Hitchcock to Scorsese, to truly feel a great
work of film or literature it’s best to experience it in its native language.
Immigration Benefits
If you don’t Speak English, it could cause you to have a significant disadvantage. In the United States, to become a citizen,You must pass an English test. However, it isn’t just getting into the country where English is beneficial.
So what is the solution? Should most
of the work be done in Hindi which is our Rashtra Bhasha? Should all higher
education books be translated into Hindi? Or should English training be
imparted to one and all as our National Mission. Commercial organizations in
this case can organize English speaking training as a part of their efficiency
promotional effort.
SUGGESTED SOLUTION
There should be 3 language formula for a vast country with so many language like ours. Mother tongue or the language of the state should be compulsory. Likewise, English should also be taught form grade One . The student should be asked to choose one more Language which could be any other Indian language ( From the list of Indian languages) Which could also be Hindi. It is likely that most people would choose Hindi there should be no imposition of Hindi . Rather it can be promoted as all languages of the country should be promotes
Happiness is your own individual decisionTotal freedom to your pursuit of HappinessAge no bar for Pursuit of Happiness
Everyone in his/her life pursues various objectives and goals with the ultimate objective of achieving happiness. ‘Pursuit of the happiness’, these words initial used by US president Jeffereson Devis. Subsequently they were made popular by Martin Luther king in his famous speech ‘I have a dream’. No doubt, everyone has a right to pursue happiness in whichever way the person likes. However, very often we are so much involved in daily routine that we are carried away by the string of events. In the process, we lose focus on what we are trying to achieve. It will be a good exercise for each one of us to reflect on these words and work out and define what is how you plan to pursue your happiness. Firstly, we must understand that happiness is not just momentary pleasures of life. I do not say that pleasures of life should not be there. But that these should be only a part of our larger plan, which should addresses some or all of the related features of happiness. The following aspects are of immense importance in an individual’s life. Your attitude to life. One must have a positive attitude. Life is full of ups and downs. There could be challenges, successes and failures. Positive attitude means just to accept these as a part of life. You become a witness or an observer of what is going. At the same time, use your discretion to take decisions. It’s only then that we understand that we can remain composed and maintain our poise in turbulent times. In fact, it is necessary to maintain our poise even in the happiest time. None of the two situations last forever. Like every night is followed by the day. Every day is followed by night. But in life it may not be in the same order and the duration may also vastly differ.
Importance of your Goals: In order that you pursue happiness, you must define your
goals: in all of the following aspects.
Health goals. Good mental and
physical health is extremely important if you want to lead a happy life. Doing
what is necessary to keep good health is everyone’s duty. Regular exercise,
following proper food routine and maintaining positive attitude can ensure that
you are moving towards your health goals from day to day. Yet, it is a
continuous process to pursue throughout the life.
Career/ financial goals. If you are
successful in your career it expected that you will also do your financial and
remain comfortable but you have to find tune of your objectives and follow the
plan as devised.
Your family is undoubtedly equally
important and should feature in your pursuit of happiness, according to our own
Indian tradition. The importance of finance and family are critical in your
pursuit.
Then comes to your social goals.
What do want to contribute to the society and what you actually do, determines
how successful you are in following social goals. Here again, you need to
define and then follow your plan of action. The amount of success you achieve
in your social goals will add up in your happiness. It will also determine how
the society perceives and respects you. In other words, it means your
reputation is reflected by what and how you contribute to the society.
For leading a fuller, complete life
you must pursue some hobbies. At least one. It could be music. It could be
painting .It could be some sport. It could also be travelling, writing etc. But
the important thing is that you have atlaest one hobby on which you able to
spend some time. It must not only for name sake.
Last but not the least your
spiritual goals are also important. We all know that no one has to stay here
forever. Sooner or later we must depart. We don’t know where. This uncertainty
needs your spiritual pursuit. Whichever religion you may follow, you must
define your spiritual goals. These will eventually define how you are
remembered after your departure.
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.
Five types of Negative Emotions which may wreck your Life
First of all, we must understand what are negative emotions. What is the meaning of negative emotion? As human beings we are bound to feel happy or sad with situations or while interacting with people. Impact of such situation or such interaction is emotion. These emotions can be positive or negative. Positive emotions will make us feel happy. Negative emotions on the other side make us feel sad and unhappy. Both these categories of emotions are a part of human life. Both have a role to play. When these are left uncontrolled both these emotions do not help humans. In fact, they tend to add problems in the life which have to be dealt with.
So what should we do?
We must be self-aware and monitor our emotions at all time. What are the examples of negative emotions. Negative emotions are of five types. These are: sadness, anxiety, anger, guilt and shame or embarrassment. Let us examine each of these five types of negative emotions.
Sadness:
This is an emotion which hardly has any positive effect on life. In fact it saps away the time that we lose because of this negative emotion. Except for the fact that we have possibility to contemplate and experience nostalgia, there is no other gain from the emotion of sadness. It reduces energy. It reduces your desire to follow goals. You start feeling that there is no significance of life. If the sadness continues you lose your interest in life.
How to come out of this negative emotion?
The best way is to start doing something interesting. For example if you are fond of painting, start a new picture. If you are fond of singing, start practicing a new song. If you are a health freak, it is time that you start doing some exercise. In short don’t sit and spend away your valuable time in remaining sad.
Anxiety:
Next on the list is Anxiety. Some people may say that anxiety helps you to analyse the situation. It prepares you to meet the challenge ahead. It forces you to do all the preparation that you need to face new situation or a challenge. This is an example of self satisfying assumption. Anxiety will have a negative effect on your brain. Anxiety affects your ability to decide. And it should not be mistaken for need to prepare for meeting any situation. That does not require anxiety. It requires only your decisive thinking and discipline. Anxiety will only causes stress which will affect your productivity. Whenever you are anxious for a particular challenge which has cropped up in your life the best way is to sit down and write what are the possibilities. You have always to make a choice. If you don’t decide even that will add to your anxiety.
Anger:
The third type of negative emotion is Anger. Anger is the negative emotion which can be used to your advantage. But it will happen only if you are keen to use it. Keen to use Anger to motivate you to do something which you have been postponing. Anger also needs to be in control. When in control you can be sure that it will give you greater energy to face the situation which is difficult and which requires all concentrated effort. However if you think that Anger by itself will help you, if you think that it will solve your problem by itself, you are sadly mistaken. Unbridled anger can cause havoc. It will increase your stress and generate further negative emotions like vengeance or enmity and the like. So, you should be cautious that anger should not be allowed to rule over you. You should only think of using the situation or using this powerful emotion for furthering your course. It definitely enhances your motivation. It definitely increases your willpower to resolve the problem. But as I said earlier you must be in control of your anger. You should not allow anger to have control on you.
Guilt:
Fourth type of negative emotion is guilt. It is generated by your inner self. It happens when you feel that you have done something which you ought not to have done. It is indicative of lack of discipline on your part. It is indicative that you are tempted by small things. It is indicative that you have lesser control on yourself. It is indicative of the weakness of one’s character. How can we use this emotion to our advantage? We should remain self-aware and we should think before doing anything. Over the period you have realized that certain things which you did in the past, left the curse the feeling of guilt. It means that if you are shirking away from your responsibilities, you will have the feeling of guilt. So if you question yourself that you must avoid the negative feeling of guilt which will cause a negative effect on my health, on your thinking, on you brain, you may help yourself to avoid such inaction or even action which you feel will cost you dearly.
Shame or Embarrassment:
Last but not the least we should talk about shame or embarrassment. This negative feeling or emotion demolish our self-confidence. It can reduce our self esteem. This may not be entirely due to your character blemishes. It may be due to environment. Oftentimes there are some incidents where your peers or colleagues or others deliberately try to embarrass you. So what should you do? Whenever you are likely to face such a situation you have to prepare yourself. Maybe you remind one previous occasion when some people misbehaved with you. At that time recall what was your conduct. What was your reaction? How did you deal with the situation? Recall, if you had not handled it properly and that became the cause of embarrassment. You can plan out a different response. In any case if you want to avoid embarrassment which is affecting your personality, you have to do some kind of preparation. In life, if you want to be successful, you have to always prepare for challenging situations. Never be shy of preparation. Never think that you can handle anything and everything because of your ego. Ego has absolutely no place in life except when you mean self-confidence when you’re talking about ego
If habits are stepping stones, their choice should be the outcome of reality’s and targets’ cognitive approach. Acharya Rajneesh once proclaimed that “I am less interested in your chain-smoking but more interested in your habit. Any habit that becomes a force, a dominating force over you, is a great sin. One should therefore live more in freedom. One should be able to do things according to the situations but not according to the habits”.
Control Your Thoughts
If you don’t learn to control your thoughts or opinions, you will never learn to control your behaviour and if you don’t learn to control your behavior, you will never be able to build good habits. Habit creates the appearance of justice and progress has no bigger enemy than habit.
Change your thoughts & Actions
If you want to replace the bad habits with the good one, you have to change your actions, thoughts, habits and start doing small things differently every day. Habit change happens when you start with small things. Moreover, if you want to build courage, then simply act courageously. If you do something over and over again, you build a habit. Some people develop the habit of courage whereas some people develop the habit of non-courage.
Don’t Play a Victim
People who consider themselves as a victim will rarely produce positive result. Instead you must utilise the given opportunities and turn out the difficulties into a driving force to make yourself and the world better. Mind control is the result of self-discipline and habit. You either control your mind or the mind controls you. There is no half way compromise.
Be Practical
And at last, you realize that you can’t force loyalty, consistency, or even honesty. You can’t force them to keep their word, or to communicate, or to realize something special is right in front of them. You can’t make someone to put up a fight for your heart or change his/her own ways. Take a step back and reflect if your relationship has turned into battlefield of harsh words, mixed emotions, and constant bickering, you must ask yourself whether it’s worth anymore.
It is estimated that up to 90% of our daily activities are habits. If you want to improve your time management, then you need to improve your habits. Never ever allow ‘waiting’ to become your habit. Be fearless, live your dreams and take risks. Life is happening now and if you wait you tend to lose time. You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Remember your first duty is to ‘Yourself’ but it doesn’t mean that you have to be selfish. But it is necessary to be strong, capable and competent so that you can help others too.
The act of discovering who we are, will force us to accept that we can move further than we think. Success is nothing but a few simple disciplines, practiced every day, while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated everyday.
Always be yourself, respect yourself and have faith in yourself. Ensure to make plans and organize your discipline, thoughts, and devote attention to detail for creating something worthwhile but not for criticizing your own self. Karma comes after everyone eventually. You can’t get away with screwing people throughout your whole life. Don’t care about others identity, or what all the problems he/she undergoes around. Sooner or later the universe will serve you the revenge that you deserve.
Motivation is what gets you started, and habit is what keeps you going. It’s quite important to keep moving. There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that once unleashed can make any dream, vision or desire a reality.
Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. Either way it is all about your choice. So choose the right habits that enrich your lifestyle!!
Thanks for reading.
