Winning

On Saturday the various chapters from BNI Goa participated in a cricket championship. Our team, BNI Aparant won all the matches enroute to winning the championship trophy. It all started with the resolve to undo the previous year’s lacklustre performance where we did not cross the league phase.

Indeed, it is important to learn from the previous effort to note the shortcomings as well as the successes. Team captain, Sujeet and team mentor, Dinesh decided to do all the right things and make all the necessary changes.

Foremost was the resolution to hire the services of a coach, Prashant Kakode. The onus of identifying competencies as well as nurturing the potential was now in hands of the expert who was from outside. His judgement was accepted by all as being in the interest of the common good of the team.

The players were able to build on their strengths and work on their weaknesses by working to a plan. They put in the extra efforts that help one transcend the threshold of full on performance. They sacrificed small pleasures for the greater goal that beckoned.

The non playing members too played a role in helping out with resources, time and motivational support. Most importantly, members of Aparant were there to support the organisers as well as other teams. The spirit of sportsmanship gave further impetus to the winning spree.

All in all, the above factors united to create the necessary impact: Learning from previous experience, guidance from the expert, methodical preparation, widening the support base and sporting spirit. The same factors unite to impact in other spheres of life as well. It is a combination that increases the probability of winning.

Learn from the past, choose the right guide,

Work to a plan, widen the support, be sporting in your stride...

When we allow these to ‘unite to impact’

Surely, winning will seem so easy to surmount and ride!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Lightweight

A stone weighing 70kg is lifted on the fingertips by five, seven or eleven men who chant the name of saint, Kamarali Darvesh at his durgah at Shivpuri about 25 kilometers from Pune. The saint, who died 700 years ago, is said to be buried in that durgah. Faith seems to turn the heavy stone into a lightweight.

The above miracle loses shine when we see four persons lift such a stone on their fingertips without chanting any name. So often in training programs, we use a similar activity to showcase the seemingly magical phenomenon. Four persons use only their finger tips to lift a heavy person sitting on a chair. Lightweight youth have used their fingers to easily lift even a 120 kg person.

The explanation is simple. Lifting a weight on finger tips by four persons is based on the fact that the foursome uses their force at the same time to lift up the load. They do not feel the entire weight as it is equally distributed on their fingers. Besides the fact that the raising of the weight is done on the principle of leverage, it is very important that the foursome lifts together in unison to create the needed impact.

When four efforts unite in synchronising, the weight is equally distributed among the four. When we unite our efforts we are able to take on greater tasks. This unity of efforts is done by aligning, belief, actions and goals in a team. The impact of teams is enhanced by their ability to unite efforts. To be better at team working, we must unite to impact!

Let’s ‘unite to impact’ our efforts in a team, every date

And BE BETTER at turning heavy tasks into lightweight!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Unite to Impact

My tribe of trainers loves to use videos to underline the message. One such popular video was created in 2007 as part of the Lead India Campaign launched by the Times of India Group. It can be easily viewed on the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFs5vWxW-vc

The early morning traffic is blocked by a fallen tree. On either side, people await a solution to the problem. Some people seem resigned to their fate. Some curse the Government for not removing them from their misery. To make matters worse, the rain starts pouring and adding to the gloom

But a young child drops his school bag and ventures to push aside the big tree with his little hands. Put to shame, the onlookers, one by one start joining him. Little children, college students and practically everyone joins in. Together they are able to shift the obstacle.

What seems a huge hurdle is easily overcome when many hands come together. While the child’s innocent initiative triggers the coming together of enthusiastic support, it is also pertinent to note that the rest, who join in, keep up the persistence. The eventual success is because they unite to impact.

Henry Ford said so well that ‘Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success’. It is good to come together and keep together, but to be better at create the right impact we must work together with focussed intention. We must ‘unite to impact’ by team forming, team bonding and team performing.

A famous Buddha quote identifies two mistakes while walking the road… one is not starting and the second is not going all the way. So many good initiatives are reduced to nought because people give up before the initiative is actualised. We must choose to be better at sustaining a continuous commitment to the initiative we take on or the one we join in.

Let’s ‘unite to impact’ with focussed intention...

to BE BETTER at overcoming the obstruction!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Persevere

Today is the beginning of the second decade of Monday Muse. It started on the first Monday of 2004, in response to the request from the then National President of JCI India, Rajesh Chandak. The Monday morning email was based on my speeches delivered on his theme ‘Touch to transform’. However by March 2005, I succumbed to the pressure of Monday mornings. I quit.

Many readers called or messaged me to continue. I was pleasantly surprised to note that the very people, I had huge respect for, eagerly waited for my mail. Within four weeks I was back with a new name: Monday Muse! From rewritten speeches that I had delivered, it transformed into fresh writing. While my speeches were based on reading, now my writing was based on learning. Most importantly it was based on the latest musings on Monday morning.

Save for a few Mondays, when I was out of internet connectivity, it was shared on email, blogs and other e-groups. On days, when the muse seemed lost, earlier musings would be rewritten in fresh context. The writing based on learning was now moving to loftier level of thinking. It was triggering positive transformations in my various roles as trainer, orator, counsellor and analyst. Indeed the biggest impact of Monday Muse was on yours truly.

Surely none of this would have been possible, if I had not persevered. While it is good to start things, we need to be better at persevering with the initiative. So often, so many of us give up on a good thing, after getting into the habit of doing it regularly. It may be the morning exercise or the learning of a new skill or the pursuit of a hobby or the nurturing of a relationship.

It is said so well that ‘the drop hollows the stone, not through strength but by persistence’. Giving up immediately when you start is bad, but giving up after getting in the groove is surely a tragedy. To persevere we need to commit ourselves to not giving up. It is about making the choice of proactive living in the present time and space. My achievement is not in writing Monday Muse over ten years, it lies in the fact that I have chosen to persevere.

Monday Muse sustains on a choice to persevere...
no other way to be better at a cause that is dear!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India