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

Blessing?

In my training programs for teachers or trainers, leaders or managers; I start with a wish, ‘May you get audience like you!’ And then I add that my wish could be a blessing or curse depending on their attitude reflected in their actions towards the one communicating with them.

The loaded blessing implies that if they are positively responsive to what comes before them, the boon sought that they received a similarly positive response from the audience to their presentations. However if they were indifferent or negative in their response, the curse wished for a similar negative response from the audience to their presentation.

So often, so many of us decry the passive or regressive response of our listeners. However, it is pertinent to ask ourselves whether we are culprits to similar behaviour when we are on the other side. When we switch roles, we must choose to be what we expected the others to be when they were cast in the same role that we have now assumed.

If we want others to listen to us, we must be good listeners when it is our turn to do so. If we seek responsive participation, we too must be enthusiastically proactive in our role as participants. If we seek applause in the right places, we too must be generous in our appreciation when it is merited.

For the blessing to be a true boon, not curse, we must choose to be better at our behaviour which is worthy of the same high standards that we set for others. It is said so well that ‘lessons are meant to be learnt, not taught!’ We must imbibe the attitude of being to others what we want them to be to us!

Let’s BE BETTER at keeping the blessing not the curse
by being to others what we want them to be to us!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Free Choice

‘Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as it is black.’ - Choice offered on the Ford Model T.

In the late 16th century, Thomas Hobson rented out horses to university students at Cambridge. The students picked up their favourite steeds, and hence a few of Hobson's horses were overworked. To remedy the situation, Hobson began a rotation system, giving the customer the choice of taking the mount nearest the stable door or none at all. This rule became known as ‘Hobson's choice’.

Although, the term is used to mean ‘no choice at all’, Hobson’s choice is not an illusion of choice. Also, it is not the same as Morton’s fork which is a choice between two unfavourable options. It is a free choice in which only one option is offered. A person may refuse to take that option. The choice is therefore between taking the option or not. It is about aligning with either of the two alternatives: take it or leave it!

So often, we find ourselves in a vise over a situation of free choice. We feel cornered as we think we have no choice. However, it is pertinent to note that every road offers the option to walk or not. If we consider the option of opting out, we are liberated from the situation of single choice. Many people have made a successful paradigm shift in their lives and careers because they chose to be better at understanding the second option in free choice.

To BE BETTER at tackling the free choice…
have the courage to take or leave the vise!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Judgemental

Five men lost their way and were forced to spend the night in the dark woods. One of them heard a twig snap, and went over to see what it was that was walking by. He walked right into the side of an elephant. He put out his arms to either side, but all he could feel was the big body of the elephant. He said, ‘I think I have walked into a wall.’ A second man grabbed hold of the animal's trunk and shouted, ‘This isn't a wall. This is a snake!’

The third man touched the animal's tail. ‘This is not a wall or snake. You are both wrong. It is a rope.’ The fourth man decided that someone should really get to the bottom of things. So he crouched down on all fours and felt around the elephant's legs. ‘My dear friends," explained the fourth man, ‘This is no wall or snake or rope. What we have here is four tree trunks’

The fifth man was not so quick to jump to conclusions. He walked up to the front and felt the animal's two long tusks. ‘It seems to me that this object is made up of two swords,’ said the fifth man. Suddenly, there was a stroke of lightning in the sky and the elephant trumpeted a fearful cry. Now, the five men could see and hear the strange object that they had difficulty in identifying.

Surely, we find ourselves in similar predicaments where our minds are so prejudiced that quite often we jump to conclusions. We need to open our eyes, ears and our mind… both literally and in spirit. We need to unlearn our prejudices and ensure an open approach to fresh learning.

It is a human tendency to be ‘judgmental’… and it is this very tendency that obscures our vision, cloaks our listening and masks our learning. Before we speak or voice our ‘opinions’ we must ensure that we ‘understand’ all facets before we take a ‘stand’. Imagination is good, but if we are not to stray from reality, we must be better at ensuring that we are not judgemental!

To BE BETTER at avoiding being judgmental…
Focus beyond perception to be developmental!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Find Alternatives

‘For every ailment under the sun,

there is a remedy or there is none.
If there is one, find it…

 If there is none, never mind it!’

The above limerick reflected my attitudes and approaches in life as a teenager. It was sure-fire way to escape stress by just running away from the problem, if it could not be solved. This also indicated contentment with a singular solution to any problem. It would often mean getting stuck to mediocre static solutions.

However, years later, it is obvious that single answers often mask the appropriate alternatives. In the quest to come up with the solution, we do not get to the root of the problem. The first resolution ends up being the final one. Effectiveness is sacrificed at the altar of speed. With this new realisation, the last line of the verse of influence was unlearnt and revised as follows:

‘For every ailment under the sun,

there is a remedy or there is none.
If there is one, never mind it; 

if there is none, go ahead and find it

Truly innovative people are ones who search for better alternatives, never mind even if they already have a working answer to a problem! They refuse to be complacent and they constantly seek to be better at what they do.

Let’s BE BETTER at escaping complacency...

By finding alternatives that fuel efficiency!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.