Power of the index cards:

 

Power of the index cards:

I first read about the index card in a book on presentation skill…

I forget the name of the book ; This book was about the use of the 3-act play to create presentations;

RobertMcKee - the hollywood playright is a king on this concept;

3-act play consists of act-I , act-II , act- III

• Act- I is the opening ,setting
• Act-II : the body :
• Act-III : the closure;

 So the author asks to construct the presentation in the above manner ;

And the main themes or bylines to be recorded in the index cards;

 And then once all cards are done : 

you shuffle the cards ; literally - to determine the sequences;

 Many of my speeches in Toastmasters  are ordered this way;

 I write and write and write

Like a story ; and then perfect it; perfect it ; perfect it;

Linking the opening to the conclusion;

To deliver speech in a matter of 7 minutes;

 is it not?

Coming back to the index cards , Ryan Holiday has written an article on itself;

 In my MBA , I used to use the flashcards - a version on Index cards for revising subjects 

using the GoConqr app;

It worked perfect and well!

Ten Commandments of Engineering

 

Ten Commandments of Engineering : 😊

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF ENGINEERING

1. Thou shalt heed thy calling, which is to make an aid to decision

and not a work of art which pertained but to itself.

 2. Thou shalt not confuse form with substance for a little insight is

worth many data.

 3. Gild not wild guesses with refined analysis.

 4. Cast not words into the shape of numbers for the sake of

worshipping these numbers into equations which yield no

truths.

 5. Thy words must have depth, scope, and clarity, but the greatest of

these is clarity.

 6. Confound not thy fellows with long words of doubtful meaning nor

use many words for few ideas.

 7. Know that there are many things which cannot be put into the

shell of a nut nor into a table nor yet a mathematical formula.

 8. Thou shalt not ride thy philosophic hobby horse up and down

between the lines of an argument.

 9. Put not thy burden on the shoulders of others by demanding

judgements on ill considered arguments; nor call for many facts

when few would serve.

 10. Thou shalt cause thy followers to read thy assumptions as well as

thy conclusions, lest they be led blindly into foolishness.

Henry David Thoreau:

 

Henry David Thoreau:

Till recently : I have not sought out  for gurus or mentors in my life; rather I was preparing myself for  the guru to arrive

 But now, I can proudly say that found I one in : Henry David Thoreau ;

Thoreau holds  a master black belt in simplicity:  reducing life to its essentials; 

I have read his book Walden for over 5 times now; full readings ; 

now I need to read it more in chapters and chew it and chew it and chew it and digest it

like the Drum-stick stub dipped in the sambar (Indian Curry);😋😋😋

Oh man! : Thoreau : you are a master of philosophies of Eastern, Chinese ,Greek and Roman; 

who learnt the classic literatures in their own original language rather than in translations;

 and all this hailing from the land of the consumerism : USA: 

Thoreau's lessons are a whiff of fresh air !!!

this man makes a mockery of the modern day living : railroad etc.,  not to denigrate them : 

but to emphasize the fact that just because you can commute faster from point A to Point B  

does not mean that your  civilization has grown! 

another point he makes is : just because you dress like a king you don’t become gentlemanly!

Thoreau! Thoreau! Thoreau!

He talks about the Philosophy itself : Philosophy is not preaching from the pulpit ; 

but Philosophy is the way you  live : an Operating System ; Principles ; 

Codes on which you live and adhere to 100% of time; no deviation whatsoever; or just this time alone;

Clayton Christensen concurs that in his article : "How will you measure your life?" 

for each one its different! You got to find that! Nobody can tell you that! You got to find that! 

Sorry! That should be the main motivation of your life! And what I am realizing is that : how do you measure your life ? 

It Is not going to be one of these : 

Money! Power! Fame ! Position! Houses you own! Where you live! Cars you own! Because they can come and go! They can be take away! Yes they can be taken away!

You got to be measured by something else : Trust, Confidence, Enjoyment, Integrity , Intention

 Stuff of permanence even if intangible!

·       Trust : Do people trust in you? Are you building it? Working with Candor and Honesty

·       Confidence : Are you confident about what you do?...Zinsser…

·       Enjoyment : Are you enjoying what you do? If not what's the purpose! …Zinsser

·       Integrity : Do you know the values and live by those? …

·       Intent : Why are you doing what you are doing ? ..Simon Sinek

·       Simplicity : Are you leading a simple life? - Thoreau 

Power of the written word:

 

Power of the written word:

Reading the ideas directly from the source ,the classics; 

there is an important paragraph in Walden where Thoreau talks about the importance of the written word rather than the spoken word…

He calls that Orator's words can be transient as it can be carried away by the mob frenzy; while the written word is eternal as it has no such illusions; what a powerful thought process!

Another article that I came across : Aytekin Tank : on the habits in the Medium website :

Tank says that for him the morning exercise works and then as he enters the office : he picks on an important problem and starts dumping in his thoughts on paper for an hour. 

Also he says that for the first 5 minutes or so nothing goes perfect but after that the stream of consciousness kick in and thoughts and patterns emerge; 

this is the brainstorming I am talking about; and then Tank follows this by organizing the thought into a useful form such as email ; powerpoint or a document;

Amazon Boss Jeff Bezos recommends a meeting on a similar style : where the presenters have to present a thought using Word document rather than the powerpoint! Great!

There is a Power to the written word! 

What to write ? you ask ! 

Whatever! The objective is to simply write! I have recently figured out the power of writing;

 writing helps to clarify; especially as thoughts are circular; 

same ones keep coming again and again; and when you put that on paper some kind of relief comes in; this is what David Allen talks about in his productivity project;

On writing well:

 

On writing well:

By William Zinnser

Key points:

The most importance sentence in the article is the first sentence! William Zinnser

• You have to personalize it! Create humanity in your writing!
• Use Roget's Thesaurus to get the apt words!
• Confidence, Enjoyment, Integrity and Intent are the values of the Writer!
• Be an entertainer while you write! Have humor peek at the end like a snap!
• If the process is sound ,the product will take care of itself
• Do not worry about the tyranny of the final product; 
• the first draft always sucks; you got to write ; re-write ; re-write; In fact the first draft should suck ; use the editing as a tool to refine you content;

How to find your Voice

How to find your Voice

 Yesterday I got an excellent phrase from the medium ; - 

Write to express and not to impress;

yes ; I need to take this to the heart;

be creative to express and not to impress;

too often I find myself doing things to impress others not myself!

now but my urge comes about the need to impress others of what I do ; is it not? 

Yes; that’s where the phrase : write to express than to impress; express yourself 

- through writing recording , painting ,drawing, archery sports ; even work ; 

Try to express yourself use it as a means of exploring yourself; be creative in the ways that you do things ;

create something new; keep creating okay; no issues; good , bad ugly;

keep creating ; the beauty is keep doing it; yeah; you have to keep doing it again and again and again; and then a some point you will get your voice ;

you will see your voice; hear it;  

it is like what Ira Glass talks about; 

you have to keep doing it; doing it ; polish it; polish it; until  then you hear the voice;

And then things start clicking and moving and do well; is it not?

Might be this is what srinivas rao talks as "audience of one" . You have to create for yourself - not for others ;but yourself; yeah and then you have to be happy about your creation ;

 say it’s a funny podcast : you have to laugh - no other go; 

without laugh - I mean your own - without you enjoying the laugh - 

the product will not look good to others; audience of one ; 

change begins with constituency of one; 

I am signing off now with Praggnaanandhaa -the then 12 year old Chess Grandmaster father's words - 

He does not worried by results - he just enjoys playing chess!

Oh wow! - is it not the same mindset that I should be in ? 

Ego!

 Ego!

Ego Ego burning bright! - Douse it!

Ego Ego Rock solid! - Crush it!

Ego Ego Thick as Syrup - Dilute it!

Ego Ego Powder form- Sublime it!

The "I" is the source of all Troubles

Go beyond The I

Role of Manager :

 Role of Manager : from SBIOA news bulleting

 

·       Knows intricacies of business well

·       Buffer : who percolates vision to team & translates into execution

·       Inculcate behaviors : Safety, Quality, Integrity, Trust

·       Owns responsibility for the mistakes of the Team

·       Improves knowledge and Skills of team

·       Identify meaningful opportunities for Team

·       Help identify the essence from complexit

• Resolves Conflicts Amicably

Principle : Ray Dalio

 

Principle : Ray Dalio

Better to have decision making system rather than forecasting system ;

 

How does this decision making system work?

Statistics Based:

Collect Data => Fit Data into regression (Data Model using training) =>

 Test on data model (using test data) => validate model => 

use real-time data => decision;

Principle based:

Define Principles(based on statistics) => Analyse => Decide ;

Compare both decisions and verify;

Success is an inside Job

 Success is an inside Job

Success is an inside job;meaning,

 Don’t do anything just  for fame, money, power, position ; 

When you put yourself together, world comes together;

Put yourself together;

What is that one thing you can do everyday about Life, so that if I do it, everything else becomes unnecessary or easy?

Spiritually connect with yourself everyday! 

Though Contemplation; and meditation!

Keep posing questions through journaling! Contemplation

Answers will come! Yeah answers will come

Solitude; Stillness; Silence;

Learn from books;

Which authors?

·       Henry David Thoreau;

·      Arthut Schopenhauer

·       Erwin Schrodinger

·       Albert Einstein

·      Swami  Chinmayananda

·       Sri M

·       Werner Heisneberg

·       The Upanishads

·       Thirukkural

·       Tamil Literature

Read one of those books every day 

Just one paragraph 

Make a note of one wholesome thought 

This is how you can put yourself together!!!

Thinking Outside the Box!

 Source : Vijay Govindarajan

From <http://www.forbesindia.com/article/pre-budget-2015/vijay-govindarajan-we-need-big-bold-ideas/39689/1>

Thinking Outside the Box:

The idea of game-changing innovation came to me while I was watching a Rajinikanth movie: 

In the climax, the villain  kidnaps the heroine in a Mercedes-Benz. Top speed 220 KMPH The police give chase in Indian  Police Jeep 1970 model !!!…Top Speed unknown…not for security reasons... :-) 

just because ..speed gun has lower threshold limit to measure : 7 KMPH…  

Meanwhile, Rajinikanth enters here in this scene…rather I should say makes an entry!!! …..comes airborne from somewhere nowhere… 

Fans in theater go berserk…coconuts are broken….Milk sachets are out….

An Encore…is being asked for….

Now Rajnikanth is onto his business….jumps on to this vehicle…that does not need any fossil fuel to run…can go through even narrow alleys and ramp up on the mountain… does not even maintenance …

Yes! Rajnikanth is on the saddle in horse. It is a good move because the horse can maneuver its way through narrow alleys and even climb a mountain, which the Mercedes (and the police van) cannot do. It’s only a matter of time before Rajinikanth overtakes the car and rescues the heroine. 

That is thinking out of the box.

Yogasana vs Exercise!

 Asanas are different from exercise

Yoga Guru - Dinesh Kumar

Exercise is a movement of the body alone;

In Asanas, you need to coordinate breathing

along with Body movement; 

Even if you do not get the full movement - posture

That is fine

As long as you coordinate breathing with the movement!

Success is peace of mind!

 Success is peace of mind

John Wooden

“Success is peace of mind; 

Peace of mind is : 

An outcome of the self-satisfaction in knowing 

You made the effort to do your best

To become the best that you are capable of”

On ambitions

 The Human Machine

Arnold Bennett

On ambitions 

70% of ambitions are not realized at all

90% of realized ambitions are fruitless!

Ambitions are easy - 

As to be ambitious involves Greed, Envy, jealousy

Which are abundant in supply

And even those ambitions that are attained -

They result in disappointment

Because they were chosen without knowledge of Real value

Or without knowledge of what they cost! 

So what to do?

Have an ambition - 

To live life strictly according to commonsense 

During the next 24 hours

And such a disciplined brain 

Will show the unnecessaries of most ambitions!

Mortality

 Letters from a Stoic

Seneca

Mortality

Now is the time to reflect that

Not only all things are mortal

But that mortality is subject to no fixed law

Whatever can happen, can happen today

Wholesome Thought!

Letters from a Stoic

Seneca

And wherever I am, I carry my own

Meditations and pondering in my mind

Some wholesome thought

Ponder in my mind some ‘Wholesome’ thought ;

As you sit for 30 minutes 

Take one thought 

Take One Idea 

Take one problem 

And ponder about it in a wholesome way;

Arnold Bennett   talks about this in the book The Human Machine

Concentrate the brain for a given time 

Exclusively upon a good resolution -every day!

For example, when you enter a confrontational situation,

The frictional tone occurs in the mind

And there is the voice;

But this can be overcome - How?

The regular daily concentration of the Brain, 

For a certain period of time

On the non-frictional tone!

This is what my daily blog is about!!!

My daily consumption of some wholesome thought!

Desire and Despise

 Letters from a Stoic

Seneca

Life is well enough furnished -

But we are too greedy about the furnishings

Something seems to be lacking 

And always lacking

It is in the power of any (wo)man to despise all things,

But of no (wo)man to possess all things!

Cravings

 It is not the natural hunger that cost us dear,

But our solicitous cravings!

Letters from a Stoic

Seneca

A small amount is enough to satisfy Nature

For Nature has limits

On the other hand, we have cravings driven by Artificial 

‘Thirst’ that has no limits

For example, the financial wealth needed:

The goal-post keeps moving in the craving Man’s frame of reference

Wanting more and more

Playing more and more

Without realizing:  How can you hit the goal when

You yourself are moving the goal-post?

Until you grow old - tired and weak

And then realize the pointlessness of the whole game played! 

Use Bio-mimicry, to imitate Nature

And Learn from Nature

To have the limits set!

Search for Truth

 Truth

Everyone - Be Scientific or Spiritualists are in search of Truth

But truth is highest level of Intelligence -

That I cannot hope to comprehend with my Intellect alone;

As Jiddu Krishnamurti says :

Intellect is merely thought , 

Functioning independent of emotion

While INtelligence is capacity to feel as well as to Reason  

All I can do is to put up my perspective vision of Truth

Line up the Principles aligned to it

And conduct myself through the day to align with my principles

My notes systems earlier with Zettelkasten and now with daily writing

Is in a way my approach to construct hierarchy of mental models

Interlinking of topics- both science and spiritual 

And at some point , I hope and can only hope

All the hierarchy will lead up to the Root -

The Truth!