A lot of people I know including me (assuming that I know me well :) ) have this problem of getting bored with something within a short period of time. Why and how does this happen? For example, take your new smart phone that you killed yourself to get. What happens after a few months? If you belong to the general population you would get bored with it after a while.
Your job? This happens too. The job you always wanted seems a little boring after a few months or a couple of years. You want to do more or you get frustrated as to why there is no progress for you as well as why the company doesn't use your talents effectively.
After so many years of thinking about this from personal experience, this is what I figured out. Not many companies will make use of your full potential. This is a common feature in most companies, unless you are in a situation where resources are scarce and then you will work a 16 hour day to make up for 3 other members you should have in your team!
Many people leave companies looking for challenges. They feel they don't use their full potential. Most of the time, they don't find what they are looking for. If you feel like this, I may have the answer for you. Few principles to think about are:
1. If you have a lot of excess energy and passion for work, YOU need to make use of it. Its YOUR responsibility.
2. Any new activity that will seem challenging at first becomes easier as you gain practice and it seems less challenging. This is normal. You need to keep challenging yourself if you start feeling bored.
3. As long as you put in the required hours and deliver what you need to deliver, the company you work for will not complain.
4. Finding something more to do may not be always practical in the place of work.
This is the process that I have come up with to help you manage this excess energy. You can even use this for your current job, if there is a possibility to expand your role. REMEMBER - this will mean more work - one of the principles of success from Napoleon's book is that you have to do more that what you are paid for !!! I never said this is going to be easy did I?
1. Put down a list of things that you love doing.
2. Mark the ones that you don't have time to work on.
3. Pick the one which is most practical to do now.
4. It is also good to identify your strengths.
If you are a creative person, you could pick a few things which are creative but new to you. For example, if you are a highly creative technical person, you can take up music or even cooking or even interior designing as a hobby. Although this will be new to you, you can still learn something new as your basic talent is creativity. It may seem odd at first but the moment you develop this new skill you will feel much calmer. If your basic talent is organising, you can put your effort into things which need organising. This may be something in the community, a CSR activity or simply organising an event.
Key point - unless you have the passion to use your energy and do something different, you will not get anywhere!
The objective is to have a repertoire of things you can do when you feel bored! If today all you can do is either develop software, or sell a product effectively and yet you feel bored whilst getting high performance ratings, you are a good candidate for this. If you don't do something now, the chances are that you may feel unhappy about your life and your work even if you perform well. Something always seems to be missing :).
Over the years I have developed a few things that I do just to get rid of my excess energy. These are in line with my strengths. The basic strength I have is creativity and the need to improve something from what it is. I also need a base to work with and then keep improving it as I go along. I used this concept in learning to cook, to compose music and start writing. I also like to teach people how to improve themselves. This is all in addition to my job that does take a load of my time. This helps me to feel less bored with life as I have a few things to keep me occupied during the time I am awake! And during the time I am asleep? Well I'd rather not say :)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Thoughts become your destiny
Deepak Chopra in his wonderful literature mentions that your thoughts define your destiny. Take a look at yourself now. The person you are now, is a realisation of your thoughts in the last 10-15 years of your life. If you examine your thoughts right now, you will have a good indication of where you will be in the next 10 years.
I saw the movie "The Secret" and read Deepak Chopra's - Spontaneous fullfilment of desire. I am a firm believer that your thoughts do help you to achieve your life's purpose. If you do have negative thoughts, you can be sure that these thoughts will manifest themselves and you will go down a negative path.
Thinking positively is no easy feat. We are bombarded everyday from all sides that we are not good enough, our world is about to end and that we are useless! How do you keep a clear head when everyone around you is negative?
Buddha said something quite interesting about the company you keep. He said, "Keep company with people who are better than you, who's thinking is positive and intelligent. Don't keep company with fools or people with bad intentions." The first step in thinking positively is that you need to be with at least one person who is better than you. If you can't find a person, don't keep company with anyone! OK I am joking, but I hope you get my point. As a practise I gravitate towards people who think positively and who have a positive vibe about them. I do interact with others, but I keep it to a minimum.
Your mind is easily influenced by thoughts. The source of your thoughts could be from your environment, your parents, your friends, spouse, children and also you. Early in our lives, our mind is programmed according to what we see around us. We create a mental map about what we see and experience. This may or may not be reality. If your father says that poor people can't be trusted you will create that in your mental map of the world and most of the time since your judgement is shaded by his thought, you will only see what fits this mental filter. You will refuse to see otherwise. Any experiences to the contrary will be dismissed as an exception.
Based of your age, you may have to de-programme your mind with some of these perceptions. To do that you need to identify what those are. These will be things you are uncomfortable with. For example, you may be uncomfortable talking to your boss simply based on the perception that he doesn't listen to you. If this perception has been created by either you or others, you need to re-examine that perception. What are the instances when he didn't listen to me? What are the examples of when he did listen. Did I ask why he didn't consider my idea? Did he have a point? You have to take the emotional reaction out of the incident and examine with a fresh eye. Your boss may even have a perception that you don't come up with ideas! That is simply because you gave up after one try or based your behaviour on other's experiences.
So you can reprogram your mind to think differently and take action. If one idea is cast aside, ask for feedback. Improve on it and present it again. Even look for evidence that your idea may have still been accepted and the boss takes credit for it! This is OK. What matters is that your idea was implemented and that you are able to come up with good ideas. Never ever hold back an idea just because you wont get credit for it. An idea that is NOT implemented is worthless.
Positive thinking is not easy. Try this little experiment. Create a small thought in your mind to come to work 15 minutes earlier. Keep this thought in your mind as you drive. This should not be a worrisome thought and should not get you in a stressful mood. Keep the thought and the intention and see what happens. You would be amazed at the result. The first step to positive thinking is to have the intention clearly in your mind on what you want to accomplish. This helps you build an awareness in your mind about what you want to do. It will also help you see opportunities in the traffic that you usually ignore when you think that you will never get to work on time. "I will not get to work on time" thought will close your mind to opportunities that will enable you to go to work on time.
While you read this, put this thought into your mind - "I want to see the color red" and look around you. Something amazing will happen: you will start seeing all the red color stuff around you. You can do it with any color. This is how our mind works. You can ask it to perceive things or to identify things you want it to identify. Your mind is a tool which is far powerful at either destroying your life or taking you to great hieghts. You use your phone to keep in touch with people. Your mind is no different. Its a tool to help you live your life. It can also destroy you if you don't use it right.
There is another thing about thought that is hard to understand. They can come true!! You won't believe me, but how many times have you thought of a long lost friend and he/she calls you suddenly. How many times do you think about wanting that phone or laptop and suddenly you come across a shop that sells the same brand. There is a certain quality about our thoughts that has a connection to the outside world. Its like we are in a network and our thoughts can have far reaching effects.
However, its an art that needs to be cultivated. You have to start with something simple and develop your positive thinking ability. You also need to know what you want to accomplish. Simply asking for a iPad has no value to you. You may end up with an iPad but why do you need one? What is the ultimate purpose? So in the end it boils down to knowing what you want to do in your life and how you set up its purpose. Then all the thoughts you have can be in line with it.
Thats about it for now. Hope this helps since it has helped me so many times. If you want to, you can read up on Deepak Chopras' Spontaneous Fullfilment of desire or Watch "The secret". The former is a more scientific approach to explaining thoughts and the latter is a more new age video. But it does work! I can guarantee that.
Have fun and keep life simple!!
I saw the movie "The Secret" and read Deepak Chopra's - Spontaneous fullfilment of desire. I am a firm believer that your thoughts do help you to achieve your life's purpose. If you do have negative thoughts, you can be sure that these thoughts will manifest themselves and you will go down a negative path.
Thinking positively is no easy feat. We are bombarded everyday from all sides that we are not good enough, our world is about to end and that we are useless! How do you keep a clear head when everyone around you is negative?
Buddha said something quite interesting about the company you keep. He said, "Keep company with people who are better than you, who's thinking is positive and intelligent. Don't keep company with fools or people with bad intentions." The first step in thinking positively is that you need to be with at least one person who is better than you. If you can't find a person, don't keep company with anyone! OK I am joking, but I hope you get my point. As a practise I gravitate towards people who think positively and who have a positive vibe about them. I do interact with others, but I keep it to a minimum.
Your mind is easily influenced by thoughts. The source of your thoughts could be from your environment, your parents, your friends, spouse, children and also you. Early in our lives, our mind is programmed according to what we see around us. We create a mental map about what we see and experience. This may or may not be reality. If your father says that poor people can't be trusted you will create that in your mental map of the world and most of the time since your judgement is shaded by his thought, you will only see what fits this mental filter. You will refuse to see otherwise. Any experiences to the contrary will be dismissed as an exception.
Based of your age, you may have to de-programme your mind with some of these perceptions. To do that you need to identify what those are. These will be things you are uncomfortable with. For example, you may be uncomfortable talking to your boss simply based on the perception that he doesn't listen to you. If this perception has been created by either you or others, you need to re-examine that perception. What are the instances when he didn't listen to me? What are the examples of when he did listen. Did I ask why he didn't consider my idea? Did he have a point? You have to take the emotional reaction out of the incident and examine with a fresh eye. Your boss may even have a perception that you don't come up with ideas! That is simply because you gave up after one try or based your behaviour on other's experiences.
So you can reprogram your mind to think differently and take action. If one idea is cast aside, ask for feedback. Improve on it and present it again. Even look for evidence that your idea may have still been accepted and the boss takes credit for it! This is OK. What matters is that your idea was implemented and that you are able to come up with good ideas. Never ever hold back an idea just because you wont get credit for it. An idea that is NOT implemented is worthless.
Positive thinking is not easy. Try this little experiment. Create a small thought in your mind to come to work 15 minutes earlier. Keep this thought in your mind as you drive. This should not be a worrisome thought and should not get you in a stressful mood. Keep the thought and the intention and see what happens. You would be amazed at the result. The first step to positive thinking is to have the intention clearly in your mind on what you want to accomplish. This helps you build an awareness in your mind about what you want to do. It will also help you see opportunities in the traffic that you usually ignore when you think that you will never get to work on time. "I will not get to work on time" thought will close your mind to opportunities that will enable you to go to work on time.
While you read this, put this thought into your mind - "I want to see the color red" and look around you. Something amazing will happen: you will start seeing all the red color stuff around you. You can do it with any color. This is how our mind works. You can ask it to perceive things or to identify things you want it to identify. Your mind is a tool which is far powerful at either destroying your life or taking you to great hieghts. You use your phone to keep in touch with people. Your mind is no different. Its a tool to help you live your life. It can also destroy you if you don't use it right.
There is another thing about thought that is hard to understand. They can come true!! You won't believe me, but how many times have you thought of a long lost friend and he/she calls you suddenly. How many times do you think about wanting that phone or laptop and suddenly you come across a shop that sells the same brand. There is a certain quality about our thoughts that has a connection to the outside world. Its like we are in a network and our thoughts can have far reaching effects.
However, its an art that needs to be cultivated. You have to start with something simple and develop your positive thinking ability. You also need to know what you want to accomplish. Simply asking for a iPad has no value to you. You may end up with an iPad but why do you need one? What is the ultimate purpose? So in the end it boils down to knowing what you want to do in your life and how you set up its purpose. Then all the thoughts you have can be in line with it.
Thats about it for now. Hope this helps since it has helped me so many times. If you want to, you can read up on Deepak Chopras' Spontaneous Fullfilment of desire or Watch "The secret". The former is a more scientific approach to explaining thoughts and the latter is a more new age video. But it does work! I can guarantee that.
Have fun and keep life simple!!
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