‘And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness, still another mile’
- from the song ‘I have a dream’ by ABBA
Quite often, trekking greenhorns despair about the length of the route. The regulars use two convincing suggestions to motivate the tenderfoot: First, the disheartened are reminded about the worth of the endeavour, by describing the charms of the destination. Next is the time tested motivation, “we are close… it is just a few more miles”!
However, the real trekking buff’s auto suggestion for himself will be to keep going ‘yet another mile’. The enthusiast will not want to just cover the distance; he will want to go beyond the distance. The difference between ‘just one mile to go’ and ‘still another mile’ is exactly the distinction between a smaller, immediate goal and the larger destination of our dream…
In the real world, an important principle of success in all walks of life, in all professions and all undertakings is the compliance of "going the extra mile". Search as much as you will for a single sound argument against this principle and you will not find it, nor will you find a single instance of enduring success, which was not attained in part by its application.
So let’s quiz ourselves:
Do I do more than what I am expected to do?
Do I render a better service than that for what I am paid?
Do I walk the extra mile to my larger destination of my bigger dream?
May our destination be dreams that are truly worthwhile
to BE BETTER at every endeavour, let’s walk the extra mile…
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
TEKISUI
A Zen master asked his young disciple to bring him a pail of water for his bath. The student brought the water and, after filling the bath bucket, threw on to the ground the little water that was left over. The master scolded him, “Why didn’t you give the rest of the water to the plants? What right have you to waste even one drop of water?” The young student attained Zen in that instant. He changed his name to Tekisui, which means a drop of water.
While the above moral would be apt for “save-water” campaigns, it holds within greater lessons for attitude towards resource management. We all know that it is the little drop of water that creates the ocean. Yet we tend to be wasteful and indiscriminate in our use of resources. We must learn to focus on waste reduction and alternate use.
We must recognize the significance of what may seem insignificant. Every drop of water counts. We must introspect and evaluate our attitude which is reflected in the way we use every resource… be it materials, be it energy or be it human resource... To be better at managing any and every resource, we must be careful to not be careless with any Tekisui!
The challenge is to live life less wastefully. The accountability is on us to look at the larger ownership of our world. Our rights to our resources come intertwined with the tag of responsibility. Ignoring the larger liability would result in nurturing our own peril. Let’s learn to deal with every Tekisui in a responsible manner.
We would BE BETTER if we do not waste…
any Tekisui at the altar of careless haste!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
While the above moral would be apt for “save-water” campaigns, it holds within greater lessons for attitude towards resource management. We all know that it is the little drop of water that creates the ocean. Yet we tend to be wasteful and indiscriminate in our use of resources. We must learn to focus on waste reduction and alternate use.
We must recognize the significance of what may seem insignificant. Every drop of water counts. We must introspect and evaluate our attitude which is reflected in the way we use every resource… be it materials, be it energy or be it human resource... To be better at managing any and every resource, we must be careful to not be careless with any Tekisui!
The challenge is to live life less wastefully. The accountability is on us to look at the larger ownership of our world. Our rights to our resources come intertwined with the tag of responsibility. Ignoring the larger liability would result in nurturing our own peril. Let’s learn to deal with every Tekisui in a responsible manner.
We would BE BETTER if we do not waste…
any Tekisui at the altar of careless haste!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, May 11, 2009
SING A SONG
My friend, Nirmesh Tyagi had a childhood dream to be a singer. Since his family was connected with the Hindi film fraternity, his talent was noticed early. However, offers to get him trained were let by. Years later, Nirmesh is discovering his happiness by singing at family occasions and opportunities at events of the JCI organisation, to which we both belong.
It is interesting to note what Nirmesh does to be better at singing. He buys karaoke music and sings to the tune at home, his car and whenever and wherever he can. All this singing not only makes him better as a singer… it maintains him in a happy, proactive mood. And that is an important learning!
There is an artist, a singer, a dancer, a story teller in all of us. But quite often our potential is unfairly condemned under our own expectation of its worthiness before an audience. It is foolish to compare ourselves with professionals. More importantly, the best of singers get better not by comparing themselves with the singing greats. Rather they get inspired by their icons to connect to the joy that comes from singing.
Joe Raposo said it so well, “Sing out loud, Sing out strong… Sing, Sing a song, Make it simple, To last your whole life long, Don't worry that it's not good enough, For anyone else to hear, Sing, Sing a song.”
Singing, painting, writing, et al are personal experiences as well. They give us happiness, satisfaction and more significantly a sense of focus on a positive way of looking at things. Our entire mental make up will be better if and when we sing… with or without karaoke music! After all, audience applaud the singer who externalises his personal connect with the happiness of singing…
We would BE BETTER if we would sing…
‘cause singing is such an excellent thing!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
It is interesting to note what Nirmesh does to be better at singing. He buys karaoke music and sings to the tune at home, his car and whenever and wherever he can. All this singing not only makes him better as a singer… it maintains him in a happy, proactive mood. And that is an important learning!
There is an artist, a singer, a dancer, a story teller in all of us. But quite often our potential is unfairly condemned under our own expectation of its worthiness before an audience. It is foolish to compare ourselves with professionals. More importantly, the best of singers get better not by comparing themselves with the singing greats. Rather they get inspired by their icons to connect to the joy that comes from singing.
Joe Raposo said it so well, “Sing out loud, Sing out strong… Sing, Sing a song, Make it simple, To last your whole life long, Don't worry that it's not good enough, For anyone else to hear, Sing, Sing a song.”
Singing, painting, writing, et al are personal experiences as well. They give us happiness, satisfaction and more significantly a sense of focus on a positive way of looking at things. Our entire mental make up will be better if and when we sing… with or without karaoke music! After all, audience applaud the singer who externalises his personal connect with the happiness of singing…
We would BE BETTER if we would sing…
‘cause singing is such an excellent thing!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, May 4, 2009
ROCK
For many years, a farmer had ploughed around a large rock in his field. He would curse the rock, every time he damaged his plough on it. Though he tried to be better at avoiding the rock, he managed to break yet another plough, one day. Remembering all the trouble the rock had caused him through the years, he finally decided to do something about it.
When he put the crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily with a sledgehammer. As he was carting the pieces away he also carried the smile of realisation of how easy it would have been to get rid of that rock sooner… if he had only tried!
We know of how the stream defeats the rock with its persistence… how the drop hollows the rock with constant falling... how the stone cutter with determined chiselling gives shape to huge rocks. But, perseverance would never happen if one did not choose to try. And the reality is that most rocks in our route may not be as big or as tough as we imagine them to be. But we would only know when we try!
Most of the time, the hurdles in our path seem larger just because we dread the bigger obstacles. But, those who are seized by the passion, to overcome every obstacle, find that not all rocks in their course are overwhelming. Somebody who shirks from preliminary effort would find the simplest of tasks to seem overpowering. It is said well that “never give up until you try”…
The rock in our way may not be what it appears
Let’s BE BETTER at overcoming failure fears…
- Pravin K. Sabnis
When he put the crowbar under the rock, he was surprised to discover that it was only about six inches thick and that he could break it up easily with a sledgehammer. As he was carting the pieces away he also carried the smile of realisation of how easy it would have been to get rid of that rock sooner… if he had only tried!
We know of how the stream defeats the rock with its persistence… how the drop hollows the rock with constant falling... how the stone cutter with determined chiselling gives shape to huge rocks. But, perseverance would never happen if one did not choose to try. And the reality is that most rocks in our route may not be as big or as tough as we imagine them to be. But we would only know when we try!
Most of the time, the hurdles in our path seem larger just because we dread the bigger obstacles. But, those who are seized by the passion, to overcome every obstacle, find that not all rocks in their course are overwhelming. Somebody who shirks from preliminary effort would find the simplest of tasks to seem overpowering. It is said well that “never give up until you try”…
The rock in our way may not be what it appears
Let’s BE BETTER at overcoming failure fears…
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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