Sharpening your axe

There is a good story written by Stephen Covey that I want to share:-

Once upon a time there were two men who lived in the same forest and decided to have a contest of chopping wood. The first man was in a good physical shape and very muscular. The second man was in good shape but smaller in stature and wiry.

They would chop wood all day and at the end of the day compare to see who had chopped the most wood.

The first man laughed to himself and thought that there was no way this wiry little man could beat him. So they began the contest.

Every 45 minutes the smaller man took a break and he seemed to just wander off somewhere.

The first man laughed again to himself and said “yep there’s no way this wiry little man is going to beat me.”

This happened several times during the day. At the end of the day the two men compared their piles of chopped wood and unbelievably enough the wiry little man had chopped twice as much wood as the physically fit man had.

He said “I don’t understand. Firstly, I’m twice your size and twice your strength! On top of that, every 45 minutes you rolled off and took a break or a nap or something. You must have cheated.”

The smaller man replied “I didn’t cheat. It was easy to beat you because every 45 minutes when you thought I was taking a break, I was out back sharpening my axe.”

I love this story because it always reminds me, how important it is to “sharpen your axe.”

To compete in Day to Day life it is important to persevere and for this one needs to update regularly.

We can compare it with the story where smaller man was sharpening his axe in regular interval breaks. One should sharpen his brain to work efficiently.

There is an underrated quote by Abraham Lincoln:

“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

Perseverance

Perseverance is the Key to success. It is commitment, patience, endurance and hard work. Every field requires dedication and perseverance.

Heroes are a breed apart. They defy the paradigm. They challenge the equilibrium.

Their dedication and commitment towards work make them different from the others.

Giving up is an easy option in life but perseverance towards work is what makes one a Hero.

There are many examples of this:

“People should retire at the age of 60” but Amitabh Bachchan , who was once ruined financially, was voted as the youth icon at the age of 60.

We always say “An Individual can never make a difference” but Mahatma Gandhi did.

There is a famous quote “Success Comes with Experience” but the 16 year old Sachin Tendulkar rocked the cricket world with his bat.

“One doesn’t need education to go in the corporate world”, Bill gates.

If “One needs money to make money” then Dhirubhai Ambani would never have been in the Indian Business Sector.

It is their passion, commitment and perseverance that makes them Heroes of this world. They challenged themselves and stood apart from others.

Dale Carnegie once said- “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

Indelible Impressions

There is an old saying, “Practice makes a man perfect.”

When we practice a skill regularly we master that particular skill.

This clearly shows how important it is to implement it on a regular basis.

To continue to be successful, one needs to read books related to business, surf the net, attend seminars and be an initiator other aspects which help us in improving our skills.

One should be constantly striving to learn and push oneself on a regular basis to learn new things. “Challenge one-self, not others”.

Regular practice will create indelible impressions and will help one in scaling great heights.

Let’s compare this with real life situations. Suppose one mark’s a table with a knife and repeat this on a regular interval on the same mark. The mark will become permanent and it will remain the same even after many years.

Now if one mark’s the table just once and sees it after many years, one will find dust on it and the depth of the mark will not be the same as it will be after marking it daily for a period of time.

This is termed as “Indelible Impressions”. If one sharpens one’s brain regularly, then the brain will remain as it was.

There is a saying “If you’re not getting better you’re getting worse.”

One should practice daily to be perfect and sharp.

THE EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM AND THE SECOND MOUSE GETS THE CHEESE

The early bird gets the worm, meaning it is good to work proactively, instead of delaying them. The second mouse gets the cheese, because the first mouse gets trapped in the mouse-trap and the second mouse grabs it by starting late and learning from the mistakes made by the first mouse.

The dichotomy is that if the early bird gets the worm, is true then how is it possible for the second mouse to get the cheese, to be true too? 

If one wants to grab opportunities then one must get a head start before anyone else and be like the early bird that gets the worm.

But if one loses the opportunity or misses out something very important and another person achieves it, then, one can just learn from others’ work and achieve one’s goals.

Success comes when one works hard and prepares well. It is the effort that we have put in to achieve something that gets the result.

One can’t just make a team and play without practicing before the match. Planning strategies before performing any team task is very important, otherwise the team can't win.

One must work hard to succeed is what I have learnt. I have also been taught that taking initiative is very important and working without any procrastination is the ladder to success, making me believe in the part - “early bird gets the worm”.

However, in my career I have realized that doing things after observing other examples gives better results. By waiting and judging others’ performance I get to learn from their mistakes and do a better job than them, by following the part- “second mouse gets the cheese”.

At last I would like to say that we should keep motivating each other and work hard to achieve our goals. To be like the early bird or the second mouse is everyone’s personal choice. Both achieve their goals in their own ways.

“Failure is the key to success.”

Failure occurs from mistakes. One should learn from mistakes and move forward in life. Ups and downs are part and parcel of life. Similarly, failure occurs when life wants us to focus more. One should never give up in life. For many individuals, giving up in their life is an easy option but they never realize that God is testing them, and their tenacity and whether they can handle the burdens of their life. Giving up is the biggest mistake that an individual makes in life.

“One must not worry if a problem can be solved and why to worry if the problem has no solution.”

Another reason for failure is copying others to achieve success.

This builds a wall in between success and the achiever, because, it keeps gratification at bay.

 For every lock there is a key, in the same way for every problem there is a solution so always solve problems yourself.

“Taking initiative and doing things innovatively is the key towards success.”

One should try to avoid mistakes in life but failure is also the biggest teacher. Keep in mind a positive thought towards, treat failures as learning experiences, don’t repeat the same mistakes in future.

Let me share another thought which resonates deeply with me and has meaning in every word-

“Mistakes are painful when they happen. But year’s later a collection of mistakes is called experience which leads to success.”

OH CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN

This blog is a dedication to a very special teacher I met in organization. This is a blog written by a friend in which I contributed.

“For me she is my motivator and mentor. She fills with me passion and energy whenever I see her. She is the only person to whom I want to contact whenever I am feeling low in life. She has always taught me to learn to take the positives from everything in life. I always feel like saluting her whenever I see her. Her enthusiasm and passion towards sports and her ability to empathize with people is a great source of motivation for me. She is a perfectionist. The way she talks about her students, about her son, her husband and her career fills me with admiration for her. I have not seen a person who is passionate about every single aspect of her life. Thank you so much for being such an inspiration and a true mentor.”

Now, here is what she had to say:

Every time I saw the movie Dead Poets’ Society I wished I had a person in my life that could pump as much energy and enthusiasm in me for life as the character played by Robin Williams did for his students in the movie.

Throughout my school life and my graduation I looked for that one person whose passion for life could touch my heart. I met a lot of passionate people but for the first time in so many years I met someone whose passion for her work and her family is so inspiring that I wish I could have that level of passion in me.

 The first time I met her she impressed my mother and my aunt, who were apprehensive of leaving me in a hostel in Gurgaon. She told my mother about the rules and regulations and the security measures being taken by the management for the safety of the students. There was faith in my mother’s eyes, belief that if this woman is saying something it must be true. She was immediately ready to leave me in the hostel because she believed in the discipline that this woman can inspire in me. On the way back home, my mother told me that if at the end of the next two years in this institute I could imbibe a few of her qualities I will be able to attain all my goals in life.

 Be it the friendly smile she gives each of us every day, the warm hug she gave us in the hostel when we missed home, the way she shared her whole life-story with the class just to help us understand the concepts she was teaching, the way she made us all stand up and sit down in the middle of the class to stop us from feeling drowsy in class and the way she let us take a break in class and rest a bit when we told her we hadn’t been able to sleep much the night before; she inspired and motivated us all with her actions.

I, now, understand how passion and discipline in life can make me the person I aspire to be and I have her to thank for that. I may not be able to stand up on a table, in class, and salute her and say the words but in my heart, every time I see her or think of her, I want her to know that my inner self stands up and salutes her and says – “OH CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! ”

Fear : To face it or to run from it.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

 FRANK HERBERT, DUNE

In My Opinion, F.E.A.R is Face Everything and Recover or forgets everything and run.

Like every coin has two sides, the word FEAR has the two meanings. It depends on how an individual handles it.

For me, sometimes, this small word creates so many difficulties that I can't think of a way out of them.

I still face difficulty in my life as to how to handle this small word which has very big hazards associated with it. "Fear if once chosen will always result in failure. There is only one thing that can make a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

I must adapt FEAR only if I can achieve resilience after it. This is the simplest way to achieve success in life.

If I face everything then it makes me feel that I am brave and after facing all the ups and downs when I recover, it gives me a motivational feeling towards my life. It gives me hope. It gives me the courage to stand up and face my problems and to keep on winning over each of it that brings me down.

At the same time a part of me just wants to forget everything and run, ignoring the reality around me and staying in my comfort zone. Sometimes I just want to hide and give in to all my fears and choose the easiest way out of difficult situations i.e. running. I don't know what others think about this but FEAR many a times remain a FEAR. It haunts me.

FEAR of losing a friend,

FEAR of career,

FEAR of change,

FEAR of getting low scores,

FEAR of facing a mob,

FEAR of taking an initiative,

FEAR of fulfilling expectations,

FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR!!!!!!!!

My Story on Friendship day,

I was sitting here thinking

Of the words I want to say,

But they just wouldn't come out right

So I found a different way,

In 1935, the American Govt. killed a man on the 1st Saturday of the month of August.

As the news of the killing got around, the man's best friend committed suicide on the next day i.e. on Sunday. So in his memory, the 1st Sunday Of the month of August was officially declared FRIENDSHIP DAY. Imagine how beautiful and strong, the bond of their friendship was and how committed they were to it.

Strangers, when they spend time together become friends. The attachment and care between them is not measurable. Each of us in our life has many friends. Some pass by like time and some of them change our life.

Those who make an impact on our life become our best friends.

It is difficult to find loyal, trustworthy people in this fast moving world where everyone is absorbed in their own pursuits.

There are still people with a golden heart, who live on this beautiful planet.

We must respect, care, and love our true friends.

I met a stranger 4 years ago and now the present status is, a beautiful relationship between us.

Every relationship between two people is based on trust and respect.

Never doubt your loved ones, be with them when they need you.

Always see the positive side in people and try to strike a compromise, when necessary.

At last I take the opportunity to thank my friends, old and the new ones with whom I have forged a lasting bond, for being there for me in every phase of life.

TO MY BEST FRIEND:

I got a piece of paper,

And I wrote this poem for you,

But there's no way to thank you

For everything you do...

For always being nice to me

And staying by my side,

For helping fix my problems

And never leaving me behind,

For accepting my thoughts and feelings,

Though you do not understand,

For never giving up on me

And being my best friend,

For making me laugh

And letting me cry

And saying you'd miss me

If I were to die,

Everything you mean to me

You could never know

In all the ways you've changed my life

I could never show,

The way you take care of me,

You're my shining star,

And though it's so incredible,

That's just the way you are,

Before I get too mushy

It's time for me to go,

But before I leave this ink-filled page

There's one thing you should know,

As long as we are living,

No matter when or where,

If you ever need me

Just call and I'll be there,

I'll climb a thousand mountains

And swim a thousand seas

Anything to be there

Because you've been there for me….

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!