Bamboo In The Wind

It is tempting to do what pleases you. Spending the time the way you please gives you the sense of entitlement that you are in complete control of outcomes that come from it. You must realize that a random schedule and ensuing actions provide instant gratification. It creates the busyness that creates triggers. But in the process, the randomness makes you lose focus on the importance of non-impulsive, slow, and steady actions. Non-reactionary actions are thoughtful and are cognizant of their adverse implications. While the short-term outlook is pleasing and provides instant gratification - these outcomes mean little in the longer horizon. What helps is making a conscious change in how you think and act. The more you know about your need for instant gratification, the more you circumvent that in favor of long-term satisfaction by planting thoughts that focus on minor improvements with doing what is critical and has no immediate gain. Thinking and acting for no visible immediate gain is ...

There are set norms that govern our surroundings. Things are expected to work in an established way. Societal structure expects it to be so. We call it compliance. When interacting with someone or doing something individually or in a group setting, we are expected to comply with such expected behavioral patterns. The way to do that is by demonstrating actions consistent with such practices.  There are many ways we are told to illustrate our behavior. For example -  Be humble, greet when you meet someone, help strangers, and act for the betterment of those socially deprived, be truthful. While these are generally good traits to demonstrate, they are often clouded by the environment and experiences we encounter. Our core thoughts typically create experiences that make us proud of our actions. But when mixed with world affairs, it may cloud our judgment. This is precisely where we break the norm expected by the surrounding environment.  If we feel confused, act confused. If ...

Self-deceit is a deception that leads you to believe you can do no wrong. You end up covering the weakness in your belief system with a wrapper that develops a facade.  The underlying cracks in your belief system still need to be addressed. The worst part is you are unaware of them. Self-deceit is a menace that bluffs you to think you are on a solid foundation. You need to recognize that the foundation is due to the support system around you, which relentlessly worked in the interest of the larger good while dealing with its shortcomings. The short-term behavior coupled with over-emphasis on success and fame leads to misguiding principles that promote places self-interest over the welling being of the surrounding. While leading life entails navigating the path with your own bearing to pursue wellness in self-interest, you must always remember the gracious and unconditional extension of support on the offer along your journey! Self-deceit yields short-lived deceptive notions of succ...

There are instances where you constantly grapple with the nature of decisions made. You feel unhappy about having made them. On the surface, everything you decide on will yield a good outcome. You desire that there was something more to be done. That is a sign of not making the decision that resonates with you. While making decisions, you often think about the decision's impact as it would be considered from others' perspectives. While in usual times it makes a lot of sense, it is usually not kind to you. You waste so much energy to please others and do everything to keep others happy. You have to ignore self-interest and do what makes you feel unsettled.  This is the worst form of decision-making. Where, despite being in command, you end up making yourself miserable. Healthy decisions watch self-interest and those of others. They are the ones where you are prepared to know that you may only make some people happy. But you must feel good about those yourself. Whole-heartedly. W...

It is hard to do succession planning because, at the outset, it requires openness to thinking that you are indispensable and someone else might make a good choice for what you have and are involved in. The strange thing about succession is that you do not think someone else deserves to be in your spot - having what we have and doing what we do. You think you had special abilities that got you where you are. You are here because of the trust placed by someone around you.  Unquestionably. They had a gracious mindset.  They were open to conceding their position and saw their new role as vital to progress, even when someone else took over what they had.  That is an uncannily secure and decisive self on display!

Often you buy things that come with an inclusion list of what is available out of the box. You may step into a restaurant with an unlimited lunch offer. It is paid for; you better eat even if your food diet does not permit food grains.  You may buy a feature-rich TV set with an OTT subscription and unlimited movie plan. That comes built-in, so use it. No matter if you need digital detox!  Your travel packages with a whole-day sightseeing plan are packed with a growing list of destinations. You better visit, even if we want to take it easy and feel tired on a given visit day. The trouble with the inclusions is we end up doing something unwanted because it is free. Saying no to undesirable things is a much better option. It is always better than going for free! Same for our careers! Don't force unwanted on yourself if it does not resonate with you. Say no!

How we make progress is often unobvious. We are working heads down, making small moves here and there. The results we get force us to make adjustments and alter the direction of our efforts.  In that sense, forward motion means the right direction for what we do. We are creating a path of lesser friction.  As we go along, the right way shows that the factors contributing toward completing our intended job are falling in the right places, and the friction-causing factors are diminishing. The implicit part here is how we make adjustments and alter the direction. The intricate part about changing the course is the decisions we make.  Decision-making is a complex process that aggregates our emotions arising out of a dynamic assessment of the situation we are dealing with. It is then followed by overcoming emotional factors that create chaos and confusion, driving us into a false sense of fear that we might have a fall.  Good decisions help us create physical actions to p...

Assembling thought builders is a constructive way to solve many problems we think only we can solve.  The reason for it is more straightforward to get more brains to think about what is broken.  When the elephant is in the room, everyone sees the same object differently and describes it differently. The same notion can be applied to solving significant problems. Often our views are unilateral., insufficient, and incomplete in detail.  When we can articulate the importance of what we have on our mind and assemble thought builders around it, we build a community that generates the collective will to solve the problem.  The willingness of people to join the community stems from their acceptance of the problem being worthy enough to solve. Often we want to solve futuristic problems, game changers. But more often, it's best to look at the area that has been around for a long time.  The one that has yet to evolve much and creates bothers too many. Building a community...

There is so much emphasis on leadership, mentoring, coaching, etc. Simply put, these fields of study and practice focus on developing personalities where we learn to make clear decisions in self and broader interest. We draw upon role models from the present day or the past. We are looking for an inspiring decision pattern because they face situations before we face similar problems in present times and have made great strides to progress from places of difficulty and have done so repeatedly. What is interesting about role models is it makes see them and their thinking and their work independent of our own. Once we discern their ways it is easier for us to see our own to be similar! When we do, our fears disappear, and our actions exude confidence. But before that, see, we must!

Yes, it is difficult being good! Am I doing the right thing? It is a dharma question. It has answers that suit us and hurt us. The reason is that the question makes us ponder how we think and apply the most substantial biases to everyday situations. When self-interest overpowers and clouds our judgment, the actions we take may be colored morally right, but the basis for them is shaky. Such actions are not in the significant interest of anyone. When generosity takes precedence, it clarifies how our actions affect those we are touched by. Then the steps draw up a comforting bridge of honesty, inclusiveness, and truthfulness that others find walking easy on. And the sincerity is reflected in our dealings. Regardless of how we decide to go, the thunders after we act tell us the reality. The best situation is that what we think and do can be without an explanation. So, we must perceive our place on a scale the self-interest and generosity very well.

We tend to act on a superficial understanding of the problem and create solutions for the effects we get from the problem than the root cause of the problem. This is hugely expensive. The same results of the problems revisit in no time. A well-running paper manufacturing factory in a rural area ran into unexpected downtime. The reason? The paper sheets began to tear apart as the sheet traveled for the final paper rolling process. The factory supplies paper to the Print media and packaging industry. The management team ordered a thorough investigation of the breakdown. The investigation went something like this: They asked why the sheets started to tear apart, and the answer was some water drops fell on the paper and softened, and the sheets began to break apart. "Why did water drops fall on the paper?"  "The water pipe beside the production line carrying paper had rusted." "Why did the water pipe rust?"  "Because the water pipe was old, it required ma...

That little bit you can ask to prod and make someone think outside the box makes all the difference. You may not see it beyond your instinctive input, but it can do whole lot for someone who sees that coming.  No matter our area of work, it boils down to templatizing our response. Make it structured, have points to say, an argument to make as it relates to the topic. Everything is planned and orchestrated to narrate the story that is the making of our first thought. But what if it does not resonate with the recipients? Then the assumption that our perspective about our work is relevant to others collapses. The good news is that those who engage you have different goals. Some are eager to receive what you have. And then, few others are there to experience your offering and that of many others like you.  The goal these people carry when they engage you is to tap into the energy in the room. They probe you, make you uncomfortable, ask difficult questions, and suggest ways to impr...

Priorities indicate our most immediate focus on getting something essential to us done. Time and again, we prioritize ourselves with non-essential and know about that only after feeling a vacuum, even after completing our tasks. Vacuum felt after finishing supposedly vital work is a significant indicator of how we accumulate unimportant and irrelevant tasks driven by preferences that are often not our own. We run into this situation because of peer pressure. Choosing to do things defined by others as our priority and treating those as our own is the biggest mistake that starts it all. There are things you do to live, and there are things you do for your liking. While workplaces force priorities upon us to make our living within the established work routine, we can find what we enjoy doing for our own sake. Making sure that you can express yourself for your own sake despite being surrounded by the limitations of the environment around us is a vital ability. It requires us to sense when ...

It is not what you see alone that matters. What you see, understand, and feel together gives you a better sense of the world. The gut feeling gives you an understanding of the softer aspects of what you are seeing. To get the most out of any situation, it is therefore vital to deploy both sensory abilities. The information absorbed when you see something is understood through facts and biases we possess.  What you feel often tells you if the knowledge absorbed is closer to your belief system. Your follow-up actions depend on what you have seen and how you felt about it.  The confidence in any action you take is fueled by the feeling that you are working in tandem with your belief system.

Every now and then, our inner fire begins to flicker. In our daily hustle, it remains unnoticed.  Left unattended, flicker becomes rapid enough to self-destruct for the lack of oxygen it needs.  We know it is the clearest sign on our radar that all is not well.  Before we do anything about it, there comes a time when the fire goes out. Our interest drops to its lowest point. We feel caged and stuck.  That is the moment well past when we first got the signs of trouble. Just when we feel hopeless, the dousing fire bursts into a burning flame with an unexpected encounter with someone unanticipated!  That encounter is entirely possible because we were open to it. The expectations and disappointments disappear, and the experience we get from them germinates into actionable purpose. The needed oxygen of sorts! It rekindles the inner spirit when we remain in the fray for chance encounters.

So many times, you solve problems only to create many more. Solving problems means providing intervention. You solve problems because you think your interventions will make a difference. What if new issues show up despite the intervention? Then, that means you need to be equipped to solve the problem. Often that happens when your view of the problem is based on the quest for confirmatory bias. It comes from looking for patterns in the current situations in something you already know and have experienced. This creates a substantial blind spot and assumes that the situation warrants action. This means what you saw and thought was amplified by your biases and turned into a truth requiring some action. The action is likely flawed when this assumption is based on an incomplete understanding. The remedy is the take a problem and look at it from all neighboring angles. At work: think from the employee, peer, manager, company, partner, or customer perspective. In personal life: think from imme...

One scenario exposes you to discrepancies between the treatment you receive as you move from initial interest to committing to sale to post-sales support. As you experience the product and need help, you get the sense that you are expected to be in the queue, figure it out, and refer to the manual.  You find that you are no more a priority once you are a customer and reflect a completed sales transaction. The transaction is scuttling temporarily. It translates into one-off interaction. The other scenario shows you an entirely consistent treatment from showing interest to buying something to receiving full support well into settling down with the product usage. The experience is fulfilling, accountable, and caring. It has the potential to develop the desire for repeat interaction. Do you care about who you are solving it for? Solving the problem continues beyond building cool stuff. 

One says, "Our blankets are made from the best quality imported wool with designs that hail from the best art design schools manufactured using the world's best weaving machines." The other says, "These are the blankets made from carefully upcycled good quality clothing, craftily handwoven by women. The unit focuses on consistently generating rural employment for women. A portion of the proceeds from the sales goes towards the education of children of artisans." Both of these are examples of solving a specific problem.  The first one peddles the solution with no-nonsense promotion. It might be bought by a few hundred.  The second one tells a real story behind the problem being solved. It might reach several hundred of thousand, if not more.

Explorations, by all means, are revealing. They make you, as an explorer, learn things. But random quests can show a need for more interest and willingness to chase depth.  Because of internal chaos, explorations turn out to be self-pleasing acts of frequently changing involvement to overcome distractions.  Such acts in no way ignite you, let alone others! They are simply acts of creating busyness to hide behind the curtain of trying to learn for self. Explorations that lead to development, however, take a different route. You still explore to learn but find a way to disseminate your learning.  For no purpose, you recite your learnings. Others may overhear your recitals and find a meaning for themselves in them.  In social media, an explorer in you might make others hear your musing.  Often that turns out temporary ; the critical question is, will they sustain with your spiel long enough and continue to find meaning in what you recite?  That depends on whet...

You expect quick progress. It only comes with a cost. It needs shortcuts. Shortcuts have the side effects of ignoring what is best for you in the long term.  Until then, you are happy thinking you played the game well and got to the finish line unscathed.  It is all momentary. The worst part is that you will only know the side effects once you are affected by them. The best way to do this is to focus on getting better. Not on when you get there.  Act consistently.  Rest assured that  others will let you know if actions need changes.  They sure do. But the best answer comes from you.  You will know when you are marching in a way it makes you happy. You will feel it.  You want more of that feeling. That very emotion begins to demand more of that action from you. Before you know it, you are gathering the momentum in a way you want.  However, you will never see the building momentum. And that is fine.  You feel it inside.

While on the surface, it looks straightforward, it is a big deal to get started. It has signs of overcoming all the mental and physical hurdles. Fear that we might not see success, resistance to thinking it can and is our responsibility, the discomfort that we might get a company that makes us feel out of place, running out of ideas or resources -- there are many hurdles we create that freeze us. Beyond this imaginary line is the possibility to succeed, zeal to start an action, muster support from all quarters, build interesting deep relationships, and get a sense of achievement. What gets us over the line of obstacles? Courage, grit, belief, and trust all come from within. On the other hand, being open to hearing others out develops unimaginable bonds. Asking for help fetches hands from those who are never felt suited to support us. The tremendous support we receive from those who already believe us take us by surprise! More so when we learn that they knew we would get involved, take ...

A group comprises opinions of people from varied backgrounds. That makes it converge on ideas challenging. It takes enormous energy, synergy, and clear articulation to get others to understand what binds us.  We routinely see examples of smooth-sailing groups that attach themselves to seemingly powerful causes and yet fall apart at the slightest sign of alternative thoughts. It also takes an open-hearted acceptance of the lead taken by someone other than us. Others opine, take objections, set the tone, or unilaterally change the status quo. And to notice and allow it along the contours of the zones of disagreements is good broad thinking. It makes it dissipate into the realm of evolving understanding, making us eligible to be part of the group. When we recognize that, we find solace in constructing purpose-based groups where we realize the importance of building the union of the purposeful collaborative machine. It is the one that is inclusive. It gives rise to the ecosystem that c...

What arrests progress is the confusion of the mind. It gives rise to increased uncertainty and inserts fear. Fear is a staller. It stalls action, which feeds into further disarray. It is a downward spiral from there. Some situations will lead to insufficient understanding that, triggers such a regressive cycle. Composure is a state of mind that deals with unexpected, insufficient, and unfavorable with calmness and with a pinch of salt. All adverse reactions are a result of commotion that comes from being unprepared. We simply did not think of anything that could derail us. When we are well prepared for all possibilities and outcomes, we can walk through scenarios that result in a fall. We have imagined unfavorable effects and created an understanding of what circumstances can make those. So, when such a scenario occurs, there are other instances of us dealing with it. That lowers the possibility of us reacting to the imbalance and being shocked and surprised. Composure reflects just th...

There are instances where the team is in place, but our work is based on something other than the expected teamwork.  A large chunk of cooperation depends on the openness of the team. Openness is often construed as constantly checking about the work or asking if everyone is ok while performing the duties. What do we do when everything looks in agreement on the surface, but there are unseen cracks underneath? We often fail to understand the undercurrents that drive the behaviors seemingly in agreement with a larger goal, yet the goals are elusive despite it. The reason is there is no internal alignment to what is committed externally. A good leader understands the importance of addressing underlying fractures early on. That forms the basis of open expressions about what works and does not. Teamwork is just this exchange that continues to develop the belief in each other!

I t is easy to get swayed by the attention we get and thinks it will be that way forever. You get attention because there is something you do that has the right ingredients. The usefulness of what you do is valued based on how you treat others with a sense of care and diligence. Solving their material pain point is essential, but more is needed!  Keeping the promise of being reliable is one of them. The moment we take our focus from the softer part of the experience, the material part of the experience, however solid, begins to melt. The crucial part of making the softer experience believable is keeping your promise! It does not matter if you falter in doing what you committed to doing. What matters the most is keeping your word!

We are shackled by what we are told. The narrow worldview of what we learn as youngsters are amplified by workplaces that define the depth of work for us. It constrains our understanding of the world and adjusts our experience, limited by the goals of our profession. Such a state is problematic in the long run. We continuously discover what we know needs improvement, which puts us in a bind. We are surprised when we find that what we know differs from what others do.  It is because of the new information that comes from a dimension we never thought of. That dimension often comes from a different field of study: work and life experience. And yet, the foundational principles from there applies in the context of our knowledge or situation. Together, both dimensions might deliver a much better understanding and results. In the face of the unexpected, we must recognize that the reality around us is multidisciplinary. We must keep taps open to mixing new perspectives from multifaceted th...

The state of uneasiness comes from not knowing the path forward. Uncertainty amplifies the confusion further. It translates into fear, and then it follows inaction. Frozen! The composed mind knows how to deal with uncertainty with attempts and trials. Fear still exists. The willingness to try out instantaneous thoughts wavers our minds to possibilities. Instead of fear, we are in action and free to think.  Being able to remain present is a significant asset. At the least, it shows that you are aware of the present situation and open to withering a storm! The worst about any danger is we might fail or lose! Once we know it, being unperturbed is the way to keep our game going!

What you become comes down to the values absorbed and brought into action. There is a reasonable amount of advice coming our way.  Our ability to sift through the deluge of demands for better behavior determines what we imbibe in ourselves.  The discipline to bring it into action correctly is even more challenging. We know when it is not suitable for us because it may not be right for others. Seeing what resonates with us and making some of it our own ethos requires huge open-mindedness. Especially when much of it comes by observing and learning from someone else. Our belief in those we learn from and the commitment someone shows to doing things for us builds that trust. When we find someone of stature, we must know we have found a guiding force we can follow. Most cultures of families, societies, and workplaces run solely because there is recognition of the presence of the guiding force!