Lack is Luck

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. This is an adage that has stood true till date and will remain true forever. Whenever the human mind has felt a lack of something that has always set a process of thoughts to run in order to solve the lacking. Today no one has to invent a pen because it already exists. When there was a need for a device that could be used to write on paper and which could be used again and again just by refilling, man invented the pen. Not just with invention of materialistic things, lack plays a very important role in the discovery of the self as well.

I remember one of the interviews of Shah Rukh Khan where he had mentioned that he was afraid of being poor and hence he worked very hard to become rich and famous. You would have read or heard many such similar stories where in some people would have felt a strong desire for having something in their childhood but due to the lack of resources they or their family couldn't afford what they wanted. This lacking fills in a very strong motivating factor in them to work towards earning what they wanted. In this process man learns the different difficult lessons of life. Life is like a game of different levels. More the levels we want to grow through, more the challenges and more the problems to be solved, more the lessons to be learned and skills to be developed. Only when a person feels a dire lacking of something that he needs or desires does he develop the spirit of working. Today's younger generation has been pampered with all that it asks for by the loving parents while the same parents are worrying as to why their kids are becoming lazy and obese day by day. When a kid is getting all that it wants without even working for it just by asking it's parents, why in the blue sky would it search for a reason to work? Some lessons of life have to be learned the hard way but seldom the blind love of parents allows them to realise this.

Motivation or inspiration can only be passed through words but the sources of these lies in the lack of basic and dreamed necessities of human mind. Harder you work, luckier you get. Harder the situation, harder you'll work. Hence I came up with this blog 'lack is luck'. At that time of lack, one might feel sad but that will be the trigger that will make one develop to the position that he/she will deserve what one lacked before. Eager to know your feedback on

is.mohanbn@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/ismohanbn
www.twitter.com/ismohanbn

Respect commitments to the self

Commitments are the most important promises that we make to ourselves and to others. Commitments are also used in certain other different scenarios such as personal commitments or family commitments or business commitments where in sometimes they are not just promises but are contracts or dire necessities without fulfilling which the life cannot proceed in a sound manner. If we expect someone else to believe in our commitments, we must first believe in us that we will live upto the commitments that we make to ourselves.

New year resolutions are some of the common commitments that people make to themselves and hardly few percentage of them are ever fulfilled throughout entire lifetime. It all depends upon how much of respect that we give to our own words. I still remember an example wherein Mahatma Gandhiji had stopped eating jaggery for some days just to advise a son of His disciple not to eat jaggery, because Bapu felt that if he couldn't stop eating jaggery, he couldn't advise someone else on the same lines. So he took a commitment to Himself that he wouldn't eat jaggery. The prime motive of His was to lead by example and hence he respected even this small commitment to himself though the situation would have got resolved by He just adivsing the little boy. Just because of his commitment to lead by example he could forfeit his desire for jaggery. Such should be the respect that we give to our commitments. Sometimes we make commitments out of motivation during a small period of time and after that motivation subsides we start disregarding our own commitments and break them. The reason for this is that we forget the reasons for our motivation that we had sometime back. So how do we make sure that we don't break these commitments?

If you can live upto the commitments that you make to oneself then you can easily fulfil the commitments made to others. Hence I will talk or rather write about just three simple steps to make sure that we respect and fulfil the commitments made to the self. First, write down the reasons for you taking up any commitment and preserve this to read and re-read everytime you are working towards this commitment irrespective of whether you have or have lost the motivation. If you have lost the motivaion, reading will trigger it back, if you still have the motivation it will just multiply by re-reading the reasons for the same. Second, there will be certain instances when you will be dragged away by negative forces such as laziness or ill health or disinterestedness or disturbed feelings due to which even reading doesn't bring back the motivation. At these circumstances, just remember that by breaking the commitment you are going to further worsen the situation and just by doing the small work required will definitely make the situation better. Its a simple human psychology which always becomes happy when you do something that you think you cannot do. Third, the belief inside us in ourselves grows everytime we stand for what we speak. We don't have to make big commitments to change the country or the society or the world. Small simple commitments that we make to change ourselves positively can be more than sufficient to cast an impact towards global betterment because you are bound to definitely influence this character of yours into others around you.

Everyday blogging is one of the small commitments that I make to myself and fulfil but sometimes when I fail to do so, I come back with double the efforts to cover up the past failure. Hope to know your stories on self-commitments on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/Mohan.B.Nagesh
www.twitter.com/ISmohanbn

Incessant Practice to Perfection

Just 2 days back I had written a blog named as 'Create Thyself' wherein I wanted to convey the message that any person can become what he/she wants to be by developing any talent or skill that he/she desires to through proper planning and dedicated efforts. After this blog I got some questions from people as to how one can develop a new skill all of a sudden. To answer these doubts and questions I come up with the current blog 'Incessant Practice to Perfection'.

No one can ever develop any talent or skill all of a sudden. Everything takes time to grow and develop. We know that nourishment, minerals, water and sunlight help a seedling to grow into a tree. Similary persistence, perseverence, interest and efforts help any talent or skill to develop in us. The first step is the decision to develop the new skill that you intend to and to define it precisely to yourself. I would like to give my own example here as to how I developed my skill of blogging. Long time back when lot of people were already involved into blogging and used to share their thoughts, I used to feel very inferior to them because I didn't have the capability to put down my thoughts into right words. Then one fine day I decided that I must blog irrespective of my own comebacks and develop the blogging skill in me. Similarly in anyone before starting there's always a fear of lack of expertise. Expertise comes only after you've exercised your skill enough. So just accept the fear and move into action first. Once started practice must continue incessantly until one is satisfied of the degree of perfection developed. To do this there must be a commitment unto onself or a public one. I declared openly on facebook to my 500+ friends that I would be writing a blog a day and named it as ABAD commitment. As per the second step, once you declare what you would be doing publicly it always serves as a push on your subconscious mind because many conscious minds are aware because of your declaration. The third and final step is to keep practising consistently on a daily basis and innovating in every practice to make yourself better at the new skill which is an unending process limited to only your expectation and imagination.

I force myself to bring in a new concept into my blog everyday, include new vocabulary, new quotes, frame new similes and phrases and lots more. This is what keeps me also interested to do the same blogging everyday. As a result of my consistent practice for more than hundred days today I can write any blog within a matter of few minutes while I keep hearing that many others struggle for hours to put up one blog. Last but not the least results are very important. As a result of my blogging the output is nothing but blogs which are being read by lots of people all across the world because I displayed my talent as well. So while you are practising don't wait until you become perfect, keep showcasing whatever you practise to the outer world because recognition is one more source of motivation. I feel very happy that today people are taking print-outs of my blogs for reading and my articles are being published in online magazine. Also I received an e-mail from Mark Stuhlfaut(PhD),
Assistant professor in School of Journalism and Telecommunications, College of Communication and Information Studies at University of Kentucky after he read one of my blogs. You can just imagine the power of internet and the reach of my blog :)

I have shared my tips on how to develop and master a new skill or talent. Really appreciate if you can write back with your experience on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/Mohan.B.Nagesh
www.twitter.com/ISmohanbn