Understanding Human Psychology

  In the pursuit of success, the journey is often marked by persistent efforts and unwavering determination. While the significance of hard work cannot be understated, it is essential to recognize that success is ultimately measured by its outcome. Efforts, no matter how dedicated, find their true value when they manifest into tangible results. Success is not merely a product of laborious toil but a reflection of the goals achieved, milestones crossed, and objectives realized. The outcome becomes the yardstick against which success is gauged. Consider a business venture – the countless hours spent strategizing, planning, and executing are truly valuable when the venture flourishes, attaining profitability and market recognition. Similarly, in personal endeavors, be it academics, sports, or any creative pursuit, the true measure of success lies in the end result. This perspective doesn't diminish the importance of efforts; instead, it emphasizes the dynamic relationship between effo

Today I'ed like to talk about 'The Invaluable Lessons of Necessity: A Teacher Beyond Compare' In the journey of life, necessity often emerges as a compelling teacher, guiding us through challenges and imparting lessons that transcend conventional learning environments. It is through necessity that we often find ourselves pushed to acquire new skills, innovate, and rise above our perceived limitations. In this blog, we will explore the profound impact of necessity as a teacher, drawing insights from personal experiences in navigating the realms of professional growth, creative pursuits, and academic endeavors. Embracing Change at the Workplace One of the most common arenas where necessity acts as a transformative teacher is the workplace. When faced with the need to adapt to new technologies or software, individuals are often thrust into a realm of discomfort that demands quick learning and application. Take, for instance, the experience of learning a new software at the off

At times you wonder, what can you do different for other people around you? Can you do something which they will remember you for a lifetime? Well we all have that potential to do something which is so difference that people remember us for it. Have you ever thought why people write there autobiography? Yes most of the times they write to inspire others. They want to celebrate their life story. They want to inspire others by talking about the successes and struggles they have been through, the steps they took towards success, they want to talk about what are the take away which others can also follow or maybe tweak something in that and then follow. Your Stories can inspire someone to pursue their dream. Never doubt the impact of sharing it. I do understand that everyone is just living their life and may not have the thought and time to share their stories. However the truth is there is so many so so many of us who have wonderful stories to share and to get inspired from. Do we all req

  Once upon the time there was a huge oak tree which stood proudly on the banks of a river in the forest. At the foot of the oak there grew many reeds . They often spoke to each other about how different life is for them. The oak said he could view far and have a 360 degree view of the surroundings.  He seemed very proud of his height and slender self. The reeds listened silenty and also at times advised the oak to look at the ground to know what is happening right where they are growing. The oak refused to look down and bow down. He said flexibility is not my nature.  Just then, the winds turned vicious, the soil started to loosen, crazy winds took over. The oak tree, sticking to its nature, did not flex and uprooted. While the reeds bowed, flexed and stuck to the soil, they survived the storm.  Times demand us to be flexible, bow down when we know we can't stand tall, and take alternate routes when required. If we don't budge stating it's our nature, then the loss is none

  A raven once looked at a swan and got quite jealous of the beauty of the swan. The pure white feathers, the slender long neck, the delicate manner in which the swan would float around in his pond. The raven thought to himself 'I wish I could be the swan.' He got an idea that he would swim in the same pond all day and may be he also would get the snow white colour of the swan. He jumped into the pond and fluttered there all day.  His natural instinct didn't like swimming, but he was waiting for his feathers to start changing colour. He got another idea, to change the way he looked he thought let me eat what the swan eats from the river. Again his body seemed to reject what he was eating, yet the raven persists and put his efforts all day. As the water and weeds did not agree to his natural body type he grew thinner and weaker by the evening. He then asked the swan, how did u manage to get so beautiful and white? The swan said, I was born this way. What's the moral of t

 Recently my child has developed a new interest in solving puzzle pieces. The colourful pieces attract her to mix and match the pieces and put the picture together. After she made one small one, I clapped and rejoiced with her. Then she took to making another. After a few pieces, she got tired and broke the whole thing. The look on her face told me she found it difficult and got irritated to try anymore. I said "Hmm Making and breaking the puzzle? Why you started in the first place anyway? Come on think about how exciting it is to learn something new and be able to finally achieve it." And then I said to myself, "The recognition, feeling of achievement, what was that motivation which brought you till there before you even think of giving up on anything, think through, why are you even here?" At times life is keeping you over occupied with all aspects. It is natural to feel too stressed while managing so much. However, when you think of giving up, just find a light

  A farmer planted seeds on his farm and rested for the rain to fall and seeds to flourish into crops. Two seeds started talking. One said I feel so lazy, I do not want to grow up so soon. Growing up is so boring and even tedious to do. I think I will rest in the soil for a while.  The second seed which was buried deep already felt the urge to grow. He said I am waiting for the rain to fall and it is my duty to flourish and bloom into a beautiful plant. That is what my life is for and I will do what I am supposed to do.  As time passed the seed that rested slept for days and months and the other one grew tall and green. One day the farmers dog was playing on the farm and since the spot where the sleeping seed lay was open and barren, he dug it up. The seed was unearthed. The farmer's hen came pecking there and ate the seed. That was the end of a life not well spent.  Learning has to be continuous to be impactful. It cannot be a one off time of training or reading something. We are

  It was pooja at home. It was Shalini's wish that her daughter and her son in law came in and sit for the rituals since they were in town. It would also be their first pooja after their marriage. However her daughter refused. She said ''mom I don't really think it matters. I am tired. It is a Sunday and I want to rest as in the entire week I will not get rest and the pooja really does not matter much to me. Please pray to the lord Ganesha from my end." If you were in Shalini's shoes now, how would you feel? Shalini was really upset that why her daughter who was brought up in a particular way, thought in this fashion that was asynchronous to her thoughts. What made her actually say those words that the pooja didn't really matter? It was upsetting for Shalini, and she could not really do any much but remain in the same thoughts over and over. Bringing the same thoughts again and again, the entire day the result was the entire day was spent in ruminating of w

 It is often felt that children are difficult to handle, we require a lot of patience with them. But I guess it's not just children, it is even adults at times. Adults also find it difficult to understand your point at times and rebel. What can you do with them? They are also vulnerable at so many times. Are they different than children to deal with at such times? At times being available for them is all what they need you to be. Just be there for them and things will change when they work on it themselves. Let me tell you what I am trying to say using a beautiful story. One day there was a sage who lived in the thick forest. A 20 year old boy who lived in the nearby habitat, came across the sage. He was mesmerized by the aura the sage carried and instantly decided to have the sage as his master. The boy often would come to the forest and meet his master, exchange ideas and discuss on life and would go back to his home.  One such day he came to the forest in search of his mater. He

  Teachers have profound impact on the minds of the young and the older. There is no age for learning. You can be a student all your life. However, few have the geniune interest for studying and applying it to real life. It's not about ability. As ability can be there or developed if there is a will. For those who do not have the passion, it takes a lot from the teacher to ignite it within the student.  But salute to the ones who shape minds, who make futures, who play the mentor and guide to bring learners out of limiting beliefs. Today's children are bubbling with energy, overexposed to external stimuli and carry numerous questions. How can their energy be channeled in the right way. As parents handle one or two kids. But teachers handle atleast 20 or more in class. Definitely the number per class is not lesser than that. An amazing portrayal of what I mean here in the picture. A teacher is like a DJ for learning.. 1. Shifts what matters from everything else. 2. Creates the r

I sat in the auto and put my lunch bag to my right and my laptop bag to my left. And the very next minute felt a bit uncomfortable as I reached out with my left hand to open the chain of my laptop bag to fetch my ear pods. Why? To my left hand this action felt alien as usually my bags are kept the other way round and my right hand goes into the laptop bag zipper to reach the ear pods. Sounds simple.. try it yourself and see how this small change makes you feel conscious and pull your attention to a task which you did almost monotonous.  I was attending a training recently where we spoke on patterns of behaviour, exiting comfort zones and rewiring our minds. Is this also rewiring? I wonder! While I brush with my dominant hand, i tried using my left hand one day and I was again feeling that I'm paying extra attention to that action and actually building a different neural pathway for the same activity. NLP states that every individual can learn any skill if he wants to and that too a

  This is the last part to the series of blog which I was writing related to competence. Here I will talk about unconscious incompetence. Well, as the name suggest, you are completely unaware about what are the knowledge, skills and abilities which are lacking in your portfolio to do a particular job well. This is a blind area for the individual because the individual has never set, and thought about the same in his very busy schedule.  The very basic requirement which he will need to know to fulfill a particular task and even conduct a job search for self. I've met coachees who are very difficult because they are at the basic level of understanding of their KSAs and completely in their own world. They may not even realise that I am not knowing this skill to go to the next level. Never explored the unknown and never planned to walk that path. To them, one day, when somebody points out to them about a particular competency they lack in, or about a particular competency which they ar

  Enlightenment is when a wave realises it is in the ocean. Wow! The wave knows what it is capable of, and so should we:) There are facets of competence which each and every individual possesses. By that I mean the parameters of competence and we will discuss one of it in this blog, that is Conscious Competence. Every person for doing a particular job requires a particular set of competence.  In my earlier blog, I had spoken about competence and also how necessary it is to be aware about your competence. So what is this awareness? Being aware is about being conscious about what competence I am having. This is known as 'Conscious Competence'. At times what happens is the person knows what is required for him to perform on the job and also knows that he possesses particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA). It has been proven in his past job, or in his current job that he is capable of doing that particular job role that in particular is aiming to grow . In a coaching situa

  In a training session I asked my audience to introduce themselves. I invited them to describe their special qualities by using adjectives for themselves, while they introduced. It turned out that few did not find positive words for describing their qualities. For example a woman stated “I am Stubborn Seema.” (name changed to protect identity). I paused the introductions for a bit, and looked at her with a certain disbelief in my heart. How can one describe self with such a negative quality and that too in an open forum. The woman was trying to say she is stubborn and that is in all the aspects of life and that would reflect in the training room too. If that is the case, I was sure the rest of the training days, I would have a student in the class who would be not absorbing the ideas I put forth and a difficult to interact element. I wanted to change her outlook and refresh her perspective about herself, then and there. So I questioned her, “Okay, so if you say you are stubborn. Can y

  Recently I was attending a session on counseling where we were discussing energy exchange between the counsellor and counseled. We also spoke about how a counselor must be able to empower the client by maintaining the same energy within. By energy here I do not mean the obvious physical display of energy or physical strength. Energy here means the energy our aura reflects, the energy charge which every atom in this universe has.    Coming back to the session, I heard a question pop up to our speaker, 'Sir, many-a-times I have heard that we must stay away from negative people, negative energy. That drains out our own energy drastically. Sir, but you asked us to empower everyone. What do you suggest in case of negative people who drain our energy?' There was a pause and gripping silence in the group. I felt like many resonated with this question.    I too got answers, in form of different thoughts, which I was not sure of whether right or wrong. But yes what I felt were my

Creative Problem Solving When the ball pen did not work in space, as ink did not flow in absence of gravity, millions were spent to develop a pen which would work. Then came a very simple suggestion, simply use a pencil! Although many of us have heard of this story which describes how simple solutions can be arrived at, when seemingly complex problems are thought through with a calm mind. This story is purely fictional and just to explain the concept of valuing simplicity over complexity. The solution may be right in front of us most of the times.  A video on a channel shows a young woman was given a math problem to solve, which she, after few minutes, gave up. When a child sitting beside her solved it in one go. This was the problem and the solution. Problem : 5 + 5 + 5 = 550 (add one straight line to make both sides equal) Solution : 5 4 5 + 5 = 550 A website, whatwedoallday, trigged my thoughts further towards the simplicity in which seemingly complex problems can be managed and

  Learning comes naturally when you are motivated to learn. A child learns how to sit, walk, move around, and talk. Although we know these are gradual progressions which any individual makes in his life, as growth and survival instincts, it is also a motivation to learn, grow and engage in that new action. We learn so many things in our life time due to this drive within us. Hunger teaches us the understanding of food and at times how to cook. The need to remain connected has taught us how to use new technology, applications and devices which offer that connectivity. Wonder if the schools offer that kind of motivation to learn! In my times, I had not faced any strong desire to learn new subjects, know about different topics as the curiousity was not generated by the education system itself. With the New Education Policy 2019 in India promising a major reform in the learning culture of schools, it is just a matter of time that the claims are proven correct. The hindrance to impleme

  To learn you need to unlearn and relearn and associate your learning with something in your daily life.  You cannot keep learning new information unless you  revise and practise for improving retention. To improve memory and learning, you need to practice the newly learnt information over and over again. Just taking in new information would be like pouring tea in a cup, which will eventually be full and over flow untill you consume some tea, that is ustise the learning practically. Reading and knowing about new things brings immese intellectual satisfaction, but it does not necessarily guarantee retention. To assure yourself of adding value by spending time to learn new things, we must challenge ourselves by putting them into practise in different ways in our daily schedule. According to an article in APA, learning performance is enhanced if students engage in deliberate practice.   A Youtube video of certified speaker, corporate trainer and guinness record holder on memory, Nishant

  What is common sense for today's generation is innovation and science for the previous one. My husband said this to me. And that made me ponder on. Our lockdown life, due to covid, has prompted the government to apply strict rules. One of that includes 'only essential services will work from office'. Since I work in one of those sectors, it was my usual day to work. On my way back, I booked a cab service through an app; just a regular affair for me. The driver called and asked me where I was, I told him to follow the map, but he failed to understand and asked me for directions. While he arrived, I was on the phone, so I gave the OTP of the ride to the driver. Engrossed in my convesation, waiting for the ride to begin, I started to get impatient. I asked the driver what the matter was. Then I saw him struggle with the app to put the OTP and get the directions. Losing my temper I asked him to make it quick and finally gave him inputs to get going. Soon after, the driver sta

Simple Pleasures of Life    As a child, I loved to play with balloons, the attractive colours, the fact that it could rise in the air and float for a while before falling down, the shapes and sizes it would be available in and the ones which were blown on parties and weddings, all, so fascinated me. I felt elated playing with one. Owning a balloon to yourself at a party was pride and happiness for a child, in our times.     As I grew up and got swankier games to play with, I had forgotten the humble balloon and what it could teach a child, and how it can keep a child entertained for a good deal of time, until a few weeks ago when I saw the happiness on my child’s face when she got a balloon to play with. After a hard day’s work, I retired to take a walk in my society, as a woman passed by with a bunch of balloons, each tied to a stick, and each had some grains of fine sand put inside before being blown up. That caused a light rattling sound when the balloon was shaken. The woman came t