Don’t lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive...
– from the song ‘Eye of the Tiger’ (film Rocky III)
Having played cricket at the club level, my father had a fondness for narrating accounts of exploits of various players. One such story was about Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Though Tiger, as he was popularly known, passed away last week, his legend lives on... not just, for what he achieved, but also for the manner in which he did it.
At the age of 20, just six months before he got selected to play for his country, a car accident left him with a severely impaired right eye. However, there was no stopping him as a batsman who relished scoring at a brisk pace and hooking the fast pacers and stepping out against the spinners. Tiger lost his eye but did not lose sight of his ambition.
After losing his eye, even pouring water into a glass was a challenging task and one can well imagine the complexity in judging the motion of the cricket ball. And as India’s youngest captain to date, he had to not only justify his own place in the side, but also win over the respect of his team mates. His statistics may not appear dazzling, either personally or as captain, but they mean little when taken into context.
Pataudi changed the face of Indian cricket with his mindset. My father believed that the can-do belief that future teams displayed has its roots in Tiger’s fighting instinct ... To be better at surviving the worst of subversions in our life, we must not allow dreams to die... rather look ahead like Tiger did with a single eye!
Tiger has shown that if we happen to lose a crucial eye
Let’s BE BETTER at ensuring that dreams do not die!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
NOT LATER!
There was a man who toiled day and night to make things better for his family. Even evenings were spent attending classes to equip him for promotion in his main career. Whenever the family complained that he was not spending enough time with them, he would point out that he was doing all this for them. After all, he too, craved for time with family.
His hard work paid off and he kept getting promoted to better salaries and greater responsibilities. The situation turned better for the family, but he was still constrained for time to spend with them. Eventually, one fine night, he declared his decision to give up work to spend time with his family. He died in his sleep that night!
The best of intentions cannot be procrastinated upon to a point where they become irrelevant or inconsequential. So often, in the quest to enhance existence, we give up on the things that constitute living. We have to be better at adding the value of timeliness to all our important priorities… especially the important ones.
Houses require money, material and maintenance, but homes thrive on relationships, which grow only with a sense of belonging between family members, which is aided by sharing of smiles and sorrows, of hopes and worries, of dreams and teams… not just as an occasional emotion kept for later, but as a regular recurring action… again and again!
Don’t put off priorities for later, things may not be the same
Let’s BE BETTER at regular timeliness… again and again!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
His hard work paid off and he kept getting promoted to better salaries and greater responsibilities. The situation turned better for the family, but he was still constrained for time to spend with them. Eventually, one fine night, he declared his decision to give up work to spend time with his family. He died in his sleep that night!
The best of intentions cannot be procrastinated upon to a point where they become irrelevant or inconsequential. So often, in the quest to enhance existence, we give up on the things that constitute living. We have to be better at adding the value of timeliness to all our important priorities… especially the important ones.
Houses require money, material and maintenance, but homes thrive on relationships, which grow only with a sense of belonging between family members, which is aided by sharing of smiles and sorrows, of hopes and worries, of dreams and teams… not just as an occasional emotion kept for later, but as a regular recurring action… again and again!
Don’t put off priorities for later, things may not be the same
Let’s BE BETTER at regular timeliness… again and again!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, September 12, 2011
DO IT!
Amateurs worry about equipment,
Professionals worry about money,
Masters worry about light,
I just make pictures!
– Vernon Trent
Visual artist, Trent’s famous quote captures the choice of attitudes for not only photographers but all other professions and activities. He articulates the dilemma of the amateur as well as the master and the professional. So often, in the quest for excellence, we are paralysed by inaction.
The crippling motives could range from concerns of the availability and quality of resources (worry about equipment), to the desired benefits (worry about money) to the vagaries of situational hurdles and problems. However, proactive persons ‘do it’, regardless of the resources, benefits or situation.
When we ‘do it’, we reach the crucial threshold point between planning and doing. Thus we make the tipping transformation from talking to walking that talk! However, this does not mean totally ignoring factors of material, money, etc. It is more about choosing action over inaction... We take flight when we look beyond fetters. To be better at real living, we must quit worrying and choose to ‘do it’!
Don’t halt at every crossroad of inconsistent worry
Let’s BE BETTER at ‘doing it’ rather than be sorry!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Professionals worry about money,
Masters worry about light,
I just make pictures!
– Vernon Trent
Visual artist, Trent’s famous quote captures the choice of attitudes for not only photographers but all other professions and activities. He articulates the dilemma of the amateur as well as the master and the professional. So often, in the quest for excellence, we are paralysed by inaction.
The crippling motives could range from concerns of the availability and quality of resources (worry about equipment), to the desired benefits (worry about money) to the vagaries of situational hurdles and problems. However, proactive persons ‘do it’, regardless of the resources, benefits or situation.
When we ‘do it’, we reach the crucial threshold point between planning and doing. Thus we make the tipping transformation from talking to walking that talk! However, this does not mean totally ignoring factors of material, money, etc. It is more about choosing action over inaction... We take flight when we look beyond fetters. To be better at real living, we must quit worrying and choose to ‘do it’!
Don’t halt at every crossroad of inconsistent worry
Let’s BE BETTER at ‘doing it’ rather than be sorry!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Monday, September 5, 2011
4 M's
From the formative years to adolescence and adulthood, a teacher inspires, motivates and guides the student on the journey of discovery, learning and knowledge. The teacher can make or mar the learning attitudes of students. Good teachers move beyond job description to a lofty task of facilitating positive transformations among young minds.
Teachers are expected to play multiple roles that could be described as 4Ms... as a mentor, motivator, (role) model as well as monitor. And since, everyone is in a teacher’s role in some situation or the other; we need to be better at empowering our attitudes and approaches with the 4 M’s template.
Does our teaching employ a mentoring approach instead of an only-instruction-transferring methodology? Do we choose to inspire with motivation? Do we practise what we preach and ensure that we are consistent as role models? Do we monitor the progress of the learner so that we can be better equipped to facilitate future learning needs?
In the answers to the above questions, we shall discover the best practices to adopt as a teacher. Surely, if we look back at the teachers who made a maximum impact on our attitude, knowledge and skills, we well notice that they were sensitive mentors, enthused motivators, responsible role models and diligent monitors.
Mentor, model, motivator and monitor, they say
Four M’s to BE BETTER as a teacher every way!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Teachers are expected to play multiple roles that could be described as 4Ms... as a mentor, motivator, (role) model as well as monitor. And since, everyone is in a teacher’s role in some situation or the other; we need to be better at empowering our attitudes and approaches with the 4 M’s template.
Does our teaching employ a mentoring approach instead of an only-instruction-transferring methodology? Do we choose to inspire with motivation? Do we practise what we preach and ensure that we are consistent as role models? Do we monitor the progress of the learner so that we can be better equipped to facilitate future learning needs?
In the answers to the above questions, we shall discover the best practices to adopt as a teacher. Surely, if we look back at the teachers who made a maximum impact on our attitude, knowledge and skills, we well notice that they were sensitive mentors, enthused motivators, responsible role models and diligent monitors.
Mentor, model, motivator and monitor, they say
Four M’s to BE BETTER as a teacher every way!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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