Power of Visualization

If I ask you to think of an apple, what will come to your mind? The word apple as in APPLE or a picture of the fruit called apple. It will be the latter. Yes? It is so because our mind thinks in terms of images, and not literal words. These images are the software that designs our lives. If there was some way to use this power of creation, what would you like to create? What is the upper most thought in your mind right now? Let me take a guess. I think it is to clear CAT and get into one of the topmost management schools; a dream come true. Yes, this dream can come true if you add the element of visualization to your top notch preparation plan. It is the final nail in the coffin (pardon my morbid language, but than the competitive world is about do or die).

What do you understand by this term: visualization? It means seeing through your mind’s eyes. When you think of those horrible thoughts about being in the examination hall, holding the paper, and realizing that you don’t remember a thing. That is visualization. The only thing is that your focus is on the wrong things. We generally focus on things that we do not want in our lives. These are fear-based thoughts that haunt our imaginations. They don’t leave our space even in our dreams. What you must understand is that these scenarios are sabotaging your efforts towards success. So whenever such doomsday thoughts occur to you, just repeat the word cancel three times; cancel, cancel, cancel. It is like pressing the delete button. This cancel mantra works. Try it.

Right! Now that you have taken care of all the negativity bothering you, you need to fill the space vacated by negativity with positive visualizations. Einstein had said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I am certain that you have taken care of the knowledge part over the past six months or so of your preparation for Cat; now get ready to handle the most important part now i.e. imagination/ visualization. This art takes into account that our mind does not know the difference between an imagined performance and a real performance. Yes, it is a proven fact, and we are going to take advantage of this. Perspiration and imagination both are needed in this most challenging time of your lives and you must use them both to be successful. Leave no stone unturned, as they say. Well, let me show you how to go about it

In this visualization, I would invite you to imagine what you do want, i.e. an admission in an institute of your choice; in great details. Since CAT is looming large. Let us focus on that part first. Since you will need to close your eyes in order to visualize, you may read all the steps before hand or ask someone else to read them out to you, while you follow the steps. Are you ready to embark upon this journey to success? Well….

Get comfortable and close your eyes.
Pay attention to your breathing. As you breathe in and breathe out, feel the relaxation.
Take three deep breaths, and feel yourself relaxing even more deeply.
Now, imagine that you are entering the examination hall with great confidence. There is a smile on your lips and hope in your heart. You are anxious but very very confident. Feel that confidence in your body now. Breathe in this confidence and let it seep into your body cells. Breathe out any negative thoughts that come to you at this point of time.
Now, imagine yourself sitting at your desk in the examination hall. You are very poised and self assured. The examiner has handed over your question paper to you. Say a small prayer of gratitude and align yourself with your purpose (success).
Look at the paper in your hands. Go through the questions. Feel that you know the answers to all the questions. Your confidence is growing. Feel it inside you now.
Start writing the questions after allocating time to each section. Feel that you instinctively now the right answers. Circle the right answer on your OMR sheet with complete confidence (in your mind’s eye).
Imagine that you have completed the paper. You are confident that you have done very well. Breathe in that confidence. Hand over the paper to the invigilator with a smile and walk out of the room confidently (keep imagining).
Meet up with your friends and discuss the paper. Feel your confidence growing as your answers match the correct answers. Feel the excitement in your body. Breathe this excitement in, to assimilate it in your DNA.
Imagine visiting the CAT website for results and seeing that you have got more than 99 percentile (choose whatever number you want).
Imagine receiving an interview call from your favorite institute.
Use all your senses, your thoughts, and your feelings to imagine this experience.
How are your parents and your friends reacting to this news? How are you reacting? Feel it all right now. Celebrate your success in your mind. Today is the day when ordinary becomes extraordinary. It is a day where anything is possible. Enjoy your glorious moment.
Let yourself experience all this as though it has already manifested in your reality. Savor the experience.
And last but not the least, when you are completely in the experience, detach from it. Yes, that’s right. Just let the desire go. As the saying goes, let go and let God. To be attached to your desires means that you are fearful about them materializing. So detach, detach, detach, let go.
When you are ready, open your eyes, and come back to your regular consciousness: relaxed, refreshed, and ready for what comes next.

If you have been preparing for the D-day to the best of your ability, if your life purpose is clear to you, if you are passionate about doing an MBA then this visualization technique will manifest all that you desire in your life. You can visualize similar steps for clearing GD, PI and converting your call. In fact you can use visualization to attract anything into your reality. Yes, ANYTHING. When you send clear pictorial messages to the Universe, it lines up with your intention and commitment.

Visualization brings you in alignment with your goal and makes you commit to it. Someone has very rightly said, “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy. The chance to draw back! The moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. All kinds of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from this one decision (to use visualization) that you wouldn’t have dreamt will come your way.”

All the best for the D-day! EXPECT success.

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Success Sutras

What is the most common cause for failure? In my experience, there are many such causes. There is no point in discussing the causes, without looking at the cure. After all we do not need to understand how we can fail; we need to understand how we can succeed. So let us take a close look at some remedies for some of these causes.

Be Decisive

Lack of decision heads the list of thirty odd major causes of failure. This is a common enemy that each one of us must conquer. If you study all the successful people (past and present) in this world, you will realize that every one of them had/has the habit of reaching decisions promptly, and changing these decisions slowly (if they do need to be changed at all). Unsuccessful people on the other hand reach decisions slowly, and change them very quickly and often.

Unsuccessful people are easily influenced by the opinions of others. They let the newspapers and gossiping neighbours do the thinking for them. If you analyze people, you realize that every one has a whole lot of opinions to be wished upon any one ready to listen to them. In fact opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. If you are the type who gets influenced by opinions while reaching a decision, you can bid good bye to success.

Improve your memory

A good memory really helps in being successful. There are many fun ways to sharpen, exercise and develop your memory, just as you develop your muscles! These are:

Every night before you fall asleep, try and recall all that you did and saw during the day. Try to remember the names of all the people that you met during the day. Try to recall their addresses.
Improve your power of observation. A great exercise to do this is in a shopping mall! Look at a store window for a while, now walk away, and write down the names of as many objects as you can recall. This method is very convenient and effective for improving your power of observation.

Develop the ability to concentrate. Make an effort to concentrate on your reading. Try to read as rapidly as possible. Choose a quiet environment to read where you are not distracted by noise or interruptions. Avoid fidgeting while reading. Light reading is fun, but reading of serious articles and books help develop your power of concentration much more effectively.
Close your eyes and picture words, names, and numbers that you especially want to remember. It helps if you speak these out aloud.
When you are introduced to someone, repeat the name several times in your mind. Use it as many times in your conversation as appropriate.
Word, name, place, or object associations work well for some people. In this process you memorize by associating a person with something similar or contrasting.

Learn better and faster

· Discard all limiting beliefs about your capacity to learn. If you think that you are a slow learner than that will become your truth.
· Relax so that the information is well absorbed. When we are relaxed we use our entire brain for learning, thus learning faster.
· Create a mental map of what is to be learned. Mental mapping is a great learning tool.
· Read your passages aloud in a dramatic tone. This not only makes learning fun, but helps you absorb material better.
· Listen to some calming music. It works on certain brain areas that influence learning.
· Make learning fun by making a game out of it. This re-activates your child-like ability to learn effortlessly.

Boost your Confidence

Self confidence is one commodity that puts you out there, shines a spotlight on you, and helps you astound the world with your presence. People brimming with self-esteem are the ‘lucky’ guys; but what about those people who still need to figure out a way to develop this wonderful skill.

You must understand that developing self-esteem is no mystical deed. It is not something that has been programmed into your DNA by birth. Self- confidence can easily be cultivated, if you so desire and intend. The cool colleague you so admire at work, has not necessarily inherited this trait. In all likelihood he had to work hard to overcome his shy demeanor, before becoming a self assured ‘dude’.

Knowing your strengths makes you feel worthwhile and boosts your confidence level. So get up and assess yourself. Ask yourself, ‘Who are you?’, and ‘Where exactly are you in life?’ Be honest and brave to take a good look at yourself, but do not berate yourself. Be self disciplined. Analyze your inner critic. Silence him. Don’t let that inner voice tell you that you are not good enough. Don’t ever believe that others are better than you. Pay attention to those thoughts that cheer you up. Pay attention to those thoughts that tell you how good you are. Never focus on your negative aspects. Remember that whatever you focus on, grows in your life. So be careful of what you focus upon. For example if you want to clear CAT, ‘see’ yourself scoring 99 percentile, and hear people congratulating you on your success. Feel confident and excited about your success

Never let yourself be overcome with despair. Use each opportunity to determine ways of improving yourself. Take stock of all your achievements. What have you achieved in life? What are you good at? What talents do you have? What are your special skills? Be proud of your fine qualities and hone them.

Are you afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and appearing awkward? Are you the type who hangs back from the rest of the crowd? If you are a shy person, you need to overcome that. You prevent people from seeing the ‘real’ you if you let shyness prevail. You need not dominate conversations and hog all the attention; all you need to do is ‘speak up’. Show respect, empathy, and recognition to others. Come out of your shell and learn to be alert. Interact with people. Be open.

St. Francis of Assisi had said, ‘Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly….. you are doing the impossible.’

Do the impossible, and EXPECT success.

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Believe to Succeed

I am certain that anyone who can ‘think’ harbours a sincere desire to succeed. Each one of us wants to succeed in whatever we do. We want all our endeavours to be ‘successful’. Wow! The very thought of success raises my vibrations. Do you feel them too? No one, I repeat no one ever wishes to deliberately fail at anything. (Although the onlookers might feel that way about some people!)

Now the question arises that if everyone wants to succeed, why don’t they do so? What stops them? There must be umpteen answers to this question, but after interacting with a large number of people I have come to believe that the answer to the seven lettered word ‘success’, lies in another seven lettered word ‘believe’. Most people do not ‘believe’ that they can win. Losers certainly do not believe that they can make it. What stops them from believing in success? Is it something as common as repeated failures? Do you see a pattern here? More we succeed, more we start believing in success; it is as simple as that.

You must have heard this famous dictum, ‘All things are possible for those who believe.’ Are you one of those who believe in success? Those who face difficulties in being successful should listen to American psychologist and philosopher William James, who said, “Believe and your belief will create the fact.”

What determines our belief system? Mostly it is based upon our evaluation of something. We wish to clear CAT, but keep telling ourselves, ‘It is not easy to crack CAT. I don’t think I will be able to do it.’ Generally when we re-evaluate the situation, our belief about that situation changes. Try telling yourself, “Fine, CAT is a tough exam. It is meant to be tough to separate the chaff from the wheat. But I am doing my best. The other aspirants too are like me. We all have an equal chance of winning. When I put in my best, I get to join the best institute.’ Does it feel any better? Does it make you believe in success? For a while at least, it does. If you keep thinking these thoughts along with your sincere preparation, what do you think will be the result? Yes, SUCCESS.

Most of us waste our lives, not trying to accomplish anything of value because we don’t believe in ourselves. We hardly know anything about our true potential. Once we start re-evaluating ourselves, we begin to understand our marvelous mind and its possibilities. More you learn about yourself and your magnificence the more you will start believing in yourself. You will see marvelous things happening to you. There is a sleeping giant inside you. It is time to wake it out of its slumber. It is time to either create or disintegrate. It is time to believe in yourself.

If you do not believe in success, you stop growing and start rusting away. There is a tremendous life force inside you that is pushing you for greater expression and expansion. If you do not use this life force you will begin to shut down. On the other hand if you believe in this life force and co-operate with it, you will become a powerful success magnet.

Who hasn’t heard of Sir Edmund Hillary? When he failed in his first attempt to climb the Mount Everest, he shook his fist at a picture of the unconquerable mountain and said, “Mount Everest, you beat me once but I’ll beat you eventually, because you’ve grown all you’re going to grow…..but I am still growing.” What faith, what confidence, what belief!!! Can we match his conviction? If we can, we can succeed at just about anything we set out to do.

Look at the challenge in front of you. Now you have two choices. Either you slink off to hide in a corner or you see this as an opportunity to transcend all your past limitations, and succeed. Be grateful for this Mount Everest of all exams: the CAT. This is an invitation from the Universe to help you grow and stretch into a great expression of your true magnificence. This exam is a blessing in disguise. Use it. Be grateful for it.

Try believing in yourself. See how it feels. Can you make your dream come true? Do you carry that burning desire to succeed? Desire your success with all of your heart and manifest it in your reality. Have you read ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne? Do you believe in Law of Attraction? Besides belief, the burning desire to achieve success will ignite a fire within you that will attract success to you with an incredible force.

Most MBA aspirants take CAT because they think that their life will get better with an MBA from a premier institute; but inside of them they do not have that intense desire for an IIM admission. When you fail to mix your belief in success with an intense desire to succeed, you send a message to the Universe that it is not something that you really want.

When your heart is on fire with the desire to succeed, you will attract all the right things. Right opportunities, right preparation material, right faculty, right study group etc! You will find it easy to believe in success. Visualizing a favorable outcome will become your second nature. It will become effortless to think success thoughts. You will attract all the qualities that you need to succeed: Courage, belief, persistence, hard work, easy assimilation of facts, quick recall, and a powerful will to win.

An intense desire coupled with belief will light up your complete being. It will produce a great magnetic force that will enable the law of attraction to remove every possible obstacle from your path and make your dreams come true. So don’t cheat yourself by not believing in yourself. Don’t listen to people who say, “Aren’t IIMs hard to get into? Don’t you have to be really smart to crack CAT?” Don’t let anyone sway your belief in your dreams. Continue imagining and feeling success.

In these chaotic times that are filled with confusing messages from a great number of competitors, learn to ignore the nay-sayers. Perceive yourself as the best; have faith in your abilities and use our talents to your best advantage.

Control your own perception of yourself, and EXPECT success.

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How to overcome preparation blues?

Less than two months are left for the D-day to dawn. Every MBA aspirant is beginning to get the jitters; after all cracking the CAT is no child’s play. But does it really need to be like this? Do you really need to get into these preparation blues at this stage? No, no way. Let us just get out of this crap-trap and fasten our boot straps. Here is how.

Preparation is not only about studying for long hours; there are many other supporting factors that enhance your learning.

Health:

If you keep sitting in a place for a long time, while studying, please move your legs a bit. Shake a leg as the saying goes. It gets your blood flowing which helps sharpen your concentration and recall.
If you are in the habit of skipping breakfast, think again. Creativity is often at its peak in the morning, eating ‘protein’ laden breakfast helps feed your brain cells. If you suffer from frequent headaches, please check the amount of protein in your diet.
Never, ever, eat a heavy lunch. It makes you feel drowsy. You can lose precious productive hours this way.
Stress of any kind inhibits your ability to absorb and recall information. This inhibits learning. Sometimes just absorbing some sunlight and reducing refined foods in your diet, helps reduce stress. Taking a short walk around the neighbourhood may help. Taking a 15 minutes break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop studying. These breaks help your mind to relax and absorb information.
Whenever you feel tired or stressed out go take a shower. Water is a universal solvent; it dissolves all your negativity and washes it away, leaving you freshened and loosened.
Laugh often. Laughing relaxes your body and a relaxed body is more receptive to ideas.
Play video games to relax. Video games can be an effective aid in learning.


Perspective and Focus:

Alternate between studying Verbal and Quant. This change of subject focus helps in better assimilation of both.
Use all three ways of learning: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. Involving all your senses in learning make for a much better absorption and recall.
Learn meditation and meditate for about 15 minutes everyday to tap into your inner resources, and strengthen your ability to focus. Walking meditation is a very useful tool.
Focus on what you are studying. Don’t get distracted. Don’t try to watch TV at the same time, and don’t worry about other things while studying. Anxiety is best avoided. If you take three deep breaths every now and then, you will feel relaxed.
Read as much as you can. Give a breadth of topics as well as depth.
Give yourself deadlines; limit your time for learning some concept in that given time. By learning to constrain yourself, you will achieve more in less time.
Plan your learning. As Led Zeppelin says, “There are two paths you can go by. You can take a haphazard approach to learning, or you can put in a bit of planning and find an optimum path.” Plan your time and balance your learning.
Learning happens in layers. So build your base knowledge first upon which you can build advanced concepts.


Recall techniques:

Efficient Speed reading helps in filtering out a lot of irrelevant information.
Using acronyms and mnemonics helps remember information.
Use visual aids. Draw or sketch what you are trying to remember.
Use mind maps to see the relationship between different ideas.
Brainstorm with your friends. Brainstorming involves verbal activity, writing, and collaboration with your friends. Don’t shut any idea out. It will help you assess your own level of preparation.
Use various symbols for learning. Create your own particular symbols.
Organize your thoughts on what needs to be done for each day.
Loosen yourself up through playing rhyming games and uttering non-sensical words from time to time. It also stimulates ideas.
Learn by osmosis. Record some important lessons in your own voice and playback these lessons whenever you want to.
Writing notes by hand stimulates ideas. The same does not happen while typing your notes. The simple act of holding a pen or pencil in your hand massages acupuncture points which in turn stimulate ideas.
Organize your notes by using sticky color tabs to partition chapters for easy referral.
Revisit complex concepts in order to fully absorb them. Repeating and revising improves absorption and speeds up learning.
Collaborate with others. Form study groups.
Quiz yourself. Test what you have learnt to re-enforce the information.
Create an FAQ and write everything you know about a topic. You can even create a blog about a topic.
Learn critical thinking. Critical thinking takes your learning ability to a whole new level. It involves good analytical skills to help the ability to learn selectively.
Learn complex problem solving. Learning is part of this process.
Ask questions to yourself. Make your learning interactive, with your friends.


Self motivation techniques:

Give credit to yourself for each day’s learning.
Focus on the result that you want to achieve.
W. Clement Stone once said, “Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve.” Believe in this dictum. If you keep your mind focused on this saying, hurdles will seem surmountable.
Think positive. Have faith in your abilities to achieve your goal.
Organize your time well. Make your ‘to do’ list and prioritize the tasks.
Remember that if someone else can do it, so can you. Believe in your infinite potential.
Before you start working on a topic, decide what you already know and figure out what you don’t know. Then learn the later.
Multitask. Multitasking helps in time management.
Think holistically. It is a mindset, so develop it.
Remember that 80% of the concepts take 20% of your time and effort to learn, while 20% of the concepts take 80% of your time and effort. Recognize and ascertain which ones are which.
Challenge yourself. Put yourself through tough assignments. People are often more intelligent than they realize. There is more to you than you take credit for. In a world that compartmentalizes and categorizes everything, most people are not too sure where they ft in.
Teach others. The best way to learn something is by teaching it to someone else. Teaching forces you to learn. Sharing your knowledge is the best way to gain more knowledge.
Persistence always pays. Don’t give up. Anything one human being can learn, most others can learn as well. Einstein had said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
Remember there is more than a new way to learn. Never believe that you can’t learn.
Relax, don’t worry, and stay happy.

As always EXPECT success!

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Newspapers prepare you for CAT

As a CAT aspirant there is one advice that you consistently hear from all and sundry; and that is about reading newspapers regularly. Whether anyone has any idea about CAT or not, s/he knows that reading a newspaper is very important for clearing any competitive exam.

The basic idea behind this advice is that you need to stay abreast with the happenings in local, regional, national and international arenas. But besides all this, what makes reading the newspaper absolutely essential is ------ the default benefit of developing our Reading Comprehension and Reasoning Ability skills.

Francis Bacon once wrote, ‘Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.’ A good newspaper does all these. It plays wonders as far as promotion of reading skills is concerned. The poorest reader can find ideas from pictures, captions and advertisements that add to his knowledge of the world and make it possible to bring his reading experience into play. Superior readers find an unlimited ceiling in the newspaper; columnists and editorials offer ideas that are provocative and challenging. In developing mature readers the newspaper has great potential.

Let’s examine how you can use the humble newspaper to your advantage.

Use the newspaper for increasing the Word Power

By the very nature of its language, the newspaper displays a vocabulary, which is simple, vital and yet commonplace; but you also come across a number of new and unfamiliar words. Circle these words. (On different days, you can choose a different page of the newspaper to do this exercise.) Consult a dictionary and note down the meanings of these circled words. You can initiate some interesting activities with these words ---

- Prepare vocabulary booklets. Arrange the words in alphabetic order; learn them and use them in conversation and writing wherever appropriate.
- Prepare vocabulary cards with the word on one side; and the dictionary meaning along with the newspaper sentence using the word, on the other side.
- Prepare word games by writing all the words that rhyme with a chosen word. To increase the fun you can use only those rhyming words that you can find in the newspaper. (I can hear some of you whining, ‘wish we had that much time to spare!’)
- Prepare word games using the synonyms and / or antonyms for a chosen word.
- Find one root word from your vocabulary booklet and make two more words, one using a prefix and the other using a suffix.

Use the newspaper for improving Eye-Span

A wider eye span helps in efficient reading. If you feed your eyes piecemeal, they in turn feed your mind piecemeal, and the result is a fragmentary thought pattern which is difficult to synthesize into an integrated whole.

Newspaper columns are so narrow that you can begin with reading each line with no more than two fixations. Gradually with little practice you will be able to read a newspaper line in just one fixation.

See the middle word of each line of the print, down the column. Train your eyes to activate your peripheral vision by seeing the words on either side, through the corners of your eyes. This may not be an easy exercise in the beginning but just 15 days of practice, for 10 minutes a day, will increase your eye span.

Use the newspaper for increasing your reading speed

Make use of simple articles and interesting news items for increasing reading speed. Time your reading of a passage, and try to read the same passage in lesser time, next time.

Keep a check on lip movement and sub-vocalization. These habits hamper your reading speed.

Use the newspaper for learning Skimming and Scanning skills

Skimming is used for getting the bird’s eye view of the printed matter. You can get a comprehensive idea of a regular newspaper’s content in just 3 minutes. (This will be good news to all the souls short on time!) This can be done by skimming the front-page headlines, the main headings on the rest of the pages and a few relevant details in the body.

Scanning is done to locate some material quickly. You should use ‘the inverted-Pyramid approach’ for this. In a newspaper the heading follows a full sentence regarding the incident and then the details about it.

Use the newspaper to learn flexibility in reading

Flexibility in reading can be achieved by shifting gears constantly. You should vary your reading speed according to the purpose at hand.

- ‘Skimming’ is the fastest rate of reading. It includes reading selectively for specific purposes such as finding a reference, locating material or reviewing material already read. While skimming, it may be desirous at times to skip material or slow down to other rates.
- ‘Rapid reading’ is the rate at which material is read for pleasure or relaxation. Familiar material is reviewed and information is obtained for temporary use.
- A ‘normal rate’ is used to find answers to specific questions, to solve a problem, or to read material of average difficulty.
- To master the main idea and pertinent details a ‘careful rate’ of reading is used. At this slow rate material can be evaluated; details in sequence can be noted, outlined and summarised. Material with unusual vocabulary or style needs to be read carefully

Use the newspaper for Critical Reading

Cartoons make good material for critical reading. You can initiate an interesting debate in determining why a cartoonist expressed himself in the way he did.

An editorial page is an excellent place to try to discern the motive behind the writing. The editorial writer’s aim may be to convince, to interpret, to inform, or to amuse. At times he may just comment on the weather or a holiday. Most of the well-written editorials always present a rational argument. Their arguments begin with certain premises, consider the relevant facts and draw the conclusions that seem logically to follow.

However, there are pros and cons for most topics and room for different opinions. You should be able to distinguish facts from opinions; classify ideas; compare and contrast views; see cause and effect relationships; draw conclusions and weigh validity of facts & generalizations.

Comprehension skills are improved when you read regularly and extensively.

So what are you waiting for? Use the news, go grab a newspaper!

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How average guys can crack CAT?

Are you an average guy? Do you dream of cracking CAT and zoom on the highway to success? Do you think you can do it? Well, let me show you how you can do it. CAT is after all an exam that turns all the tigers into pussycats!!

The biggest fear about taking CAT is just that …. A fear of the unknown! If you can tackle this fear half your battle is won. What are you so fearful about? It is just another exam? Or is it? It has been over-hyped just because a whole lot of people seem to be out there competing with you for those paltry seats. If you remove this fear of competing against the very best, and concentrate on bringing out the very best in you, you are almost there. Yes, almost but not quite.

To really get there you need to do an honest check of your strengths and your weaknesses. I am not speaking of your physical strength here. I am more concerned about your strengths in verbal and quantitative skills, and if you are serious about cracking CAT, you should pay serious attention to them.

There are no set formulas for cracking CAT. You speak to fifty successful candidates and each one will tell you a different story. What does this mean to you? It means that you should follow your own path to success. Listen to everyone. Learn from all, but make your own strategies and follow them to a T.

Students often ask me when is the right time to start preparing for CAT. My answer invariably is: the right time is right now. If you have decided to take CAT, what stops you from preparing for it? There is no right time like the present time. The verbal ability section demands a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. The Quant section wants you to understand numbers, their play and its application. The GD looks for your interpersonal, communication, and team skills. The PI is concerned about your knowledge of your self. It is as simple as that. Put in this manner it does not seem like the Herculean task it is made out to be. It actually isn’t.

So, if you have been diligent about your grammar exercises, have been reading books, understanding the basic math formulae, discussing your point of view with your friends and family, taking interest in the national and international affairs, and knowing exactly what you want from life….. Nothing can stop you from cracking the CAT.

The problem is that you have not been doing these things. Perhaps you have not been doing most of these things or all of these things. In that case, you need to start right now. There is not a moment to lose. You can not put your dreams on hold, just because you did not wake up in time. Now is as good a time as ever.

First of all start reading. You may ask, ‘reading what?’ My answer is, reading anything that interests you. When we are interested in something, we do it to the best of our capability, and that is always a good point to start from. Later as you become comfortable with the idea of reading, you should start reading newspapers (The Hindu is the best paper in India today. No other paper can match the quality of its language. Even their news perspective is very unbiased.), magazines (The Economist is the best magazine to read. You can read most of its articles online as well.), and books (by Richard Bach, Ayn Rand, Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emile Zola, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Orwell Hermann Hesse, Salman Rushdie, Daphne Du Maurier, Nietzsche, J. Krishnamurthy etc). Taking a membership of a library really helps. E- Version of many books can be downloaded from the internet as well. I am told that many such books are exchanged on the Orkut communities.

All this reading will help you in improving your vocabulary, and comprehending implied meanings. For grammar, there is no book that can beat good old Wren and Martin. If you go through this book a couple of times, the grammar section of CAT will not haunt you anymore.

Start re-visiting your school math books. NCERT books for class VIII, IX, and X are invaluable in understanding Geometry. It is a fact that the CAT questions in Geometry are at NCERT level. A wonderful book for Algebra is Hall and Knight Higher Algebra. Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Pradeep Pandey is also a very good book for quant preparation. Once you are comfortable with the basics, start practicing CAT questions. Take help of Vedic Math. It may seem daunting at first but it is a fun way of learning math. Give it a try. Many successful people swear by its efficacy.

If you are still a student, start improving your academic performance. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to boast of a consistent performance. As you know every bit eventually counts on the D-day. Remember, it is never too late to start performing well.

The other question that is invariably asked is how much time to devote for preparation of each section. Again there is no one answer to this question because a lot depends upon your comfort level with each section. Generally, if you study for four hours everyday, devote two hours to quant, one hour to verbal, and one hour to DI. Your general reading and discussion time is not included in these four hours. It is best to study all three sections everyday so that your preparation is more balanced. In any case your real study time is only till August. After that SIMCATS would start and your preparation planning would change as per your performance analysis.

And finally, have confidence in your dreams. If you are given these dreams, you are also given the where withal to achieve them. So carry on……….Expect SUCCESS.

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How average guys can crack CAT?

Are you an average guy? Do you dream of cracking CAT and zoom on the highway to success? Do you think you can do it? Well, let me show you how you can do it. CAT is after all an exam that turns all the tigers into pussycats!!

The biggest fear about taking CAT is just that …. A fear of the unknown! If you can tackle this fear half your battle is won. What are you so fearful about? It is just another exam? Or is it? It has been over-hyped just because a whole lot of people seem to be out there competing with you for those paltry seats. If you remove this fear of competing against the very best, and concentrate on bringing out the very best in you, you are almost there. Yes, almost but not quite.

To really get there you need to do an honest check of your strengths and your weaknesses. I am not speaking of your physical strength here. I am more concerned about your strengths in verbal and quantitative skills, and if you are serious about cracking CAT, you should pay serious attention to them.

There are no set formulas for cracking CAT. You speak to fifty successful candidates and each one will tell you a different story. What does this mean to you? It means that you should follow your own path to success. Listen to everyone. Learn from all, but make your own strategies and follow them to a T.

Students often ask me when is the right time to start preparing for CAT. My answer invariably is: the right time is right now. If you have decided to take CAT, what stops you from preparing for it? There is no right time like the present time. The verbal ability section demands a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. The Quant section wants you to understand numbers, their play and its application. The GD looks for your interpersonal, communication, and team skills. The PI is concerned about your knowledge of your self. It is as simple as that. Put in this manner it does not seem like the Herculean task it is made out to be. It actually isn’t.

So, if you have been diligent about your grammar exercises, have been reading books, understanding the basic math formulae, discussing your point of view with your friends and family, taking interest in the national and international affairs, and knowing exactly what you want from life….. Nothing can stop you from cracking the CAT.

The problem is that you have not been doing these things. Perhaps you have not been doing most of these things or all of these things. In that case, you need to start right now. There is not a moment to lose. You can not put your dreams on hold, just because you did not wake up in time. Now is as good a time as ever.

First of all start reading. You may ask, ‘reading what?’ My answer is, reading anything that interests you. When we are interested in something, we do it to the best of our capability, and that is always a good point to start from. Later as you become comfortable with the idea of reading, you should start reading newspapers (The Hindu is the best paper in India today. No other paper can match the quality of its language. Even their news perspective is very unbiased.), magazines (The Economist is the best magazine to read. You can read most of its articles online as well.), and books (by Richard Bach, Ayn Rand, Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Emile Zola, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Orwell Hermann Hesse, Salman Rushdie, Daphne Du Maurier, Nietzsche, J. Krishnamurthy etc). Taking a membership of a library really helps. E- Version of many books can be downloaded from the internet as well. I am told that many such books are exchanged on the Orkut communities.

All this reading will help you in improving your vocabulary, and comprehending implied meanings. For grammar, there is no book that can beat good old Wren and Martin. If you go through this book a couple of times, the grammar section of CAT will not haunt you anymore.

Start re-visiting your school math books. NCERT books for class VIII, IX, and X are invaluable in understanding Geometry. It is a fact that the CAT questions in Geometry are at NCERT level. IMS quant material is very good for the number system. A wonderful book for Algebra is Hall and Knight Higher Algebra. Quantitative Aptitude for CAT by Pradeep Pandey is also a very good book for quant preparation. Once you are comfortable with the basics, start practicing CAT questions. Take help of Vedic Math. It may seem daunting at first but it is a fun way of learning math. Give it a try. Many successful people swear by its efficacy.

If you are still a student, start improving your academic performance. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to boast of a consistent performance. As you know every bit eventually counts on the D-day. Remember, it is never too late to start performing well.

The other question that is invariably asked is how much time to devote for preparation of each section. Again there is no one answer to this question because a lot depends upon your comfort level with each section. Generally, if you study for four hours everyday, devote two hours to quant, one hour to verbal, and one hour to DI. Your general reading and discussion time is not included in these four hours. It is best to study all three sections everyday so that your preparation is more balanced. In any case your real study time is only till August. After that SIMCATS would start and your preparation planning would change as per your performance analysis.

And finally, have confidence in your dreams. If you are given these dreams, you are also given the where withal to achieve them. So carry on……….Expect SUCCESS.

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Strengthen your Strengths

Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking into a room. Here you meet the ‘you’ of ten years from now. How does this person look? What is he wearing? Where does he live? What kind of lifestyle does he lead? What car does he drive? What does he do? Is he an entrepreneur or a business executive? How successful is he? What is his net worth? Go ahead, ask him these questions and let your inner-self answer you.

If you were given only three choices about the ‘you of the future’, which one would you choose?

a) Someone worse than what you are now. Not doing well in life, depressed, and broke.
b) Exactly how you are now. Absolutely no change in your position and finances.
c) A far more successful, happier, wealthier version of the present you.

Anyone with an iota of confidence will choose the third option. Of course you can’t be worse off than you are today, nor can you remain static; so the only option left is to move forward. Now how much forward you move, depends entirely on how well you use your unique strengths.
The other day I was reading a forwarded mail, which contained Mr. Azim Premji’s famous speech on what he has learnt during the course of his stupendously successful life. I love this speech and never tire of quoting from it. According to Mr. Premji, we must always begin with our strengths. To illustrate his point he tells this story of an imaginary rabbit. This rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?
This story sums up the thrust of our focus not only in preparing for MBA entrance exams, or while writing the exams, but also at every step in our lives. Because as Mr. Premji says, “While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.”
So with this beautiful lesson in mind, ask yourself some more questions now:

What are my strengths?
How can I build them up further?
How can I use my strengths to correct my weaknesses?
Am I using my strengths on a daily basis?
If not, then how can I use my strengths for test preparation, at work, and in life for a bigger purpose?
What is my bigger purpose?

These questions will lead you to do some soul searching, and the answers that you get will lead you on the path to success. When you sincerely ask yourself, “Why is my life not the way I want it to be?” the only answer you will get is that you are not using your strengths to the fullest. We all have our strengths: strength of purpose, strength of conviction, strength of character, the ability to work hard, the ability to learn easily, the ability to apply what we learn and so on…. You need to identify your strengths. For the purpose of taking CAT, you can think of strength in terms of your subject matter. Are you good at vocabulary? Is grammar your strong point or is it the critical reasoning? What about comprehension? Do you enjoy reading? How good are your logical skills? What about data interpretation? Do you work better under pressure? How quick are you in solving quantitative problems? Are your basic fundas clear? Do you speak well and confidently? Are you clear about your aspirations? Do you carry yourself well? Are you in tune with the world affairs? Honest answers to these questions will give you a list of your strengths.

When do you feel most energized and happiest? These must be the times when you are doing what you love to do. Think of those times. What are the strengths that you bank upon or exhibit during these times? Be proud of those, and think of new ways to incorporate these abilities into other areas of your life. Using your strengths strengthen them. As they say, “Use it or lose it”. This applies to everything in our lives.

I believe that all of us carry strengths inside us that are waiting to be identified, revealed, and expressed. Your strengths have been given to you to contribute in your progress, to make an impact in your life. You are meant to use your strengths in a constructive way, in order to build your future. Once you realize this truth and take action you will not only energize your own self, but your entire environment.

You need to dream big, but just dreams are not enough; you need to develop the habits of a winner. By a ‘winner’ I mean someone who, by his own definition of winning and losing, is pulling ahead of the game and achieving what he set out to achieve. Wining is not about just working hard, it is about maintaining or losing motivation.

So, psyche yourself about achieving your goal. Know that you just have to do it this time. Get ready, follow your plan of working on your strengths, and stay determined. You already have a picture of where you want to be in about ten years time, so just take off! Don’t get distracted by life, make your life an ally. Don’t lose focus. Review your goal each day, several times a day. Concentrate on ‘what’ you need to be doing and ‘when’ you need to be doing it.

You deserve to achieve your goals, and once you optimize your strengths, your goals are as good as achieved!

As always, EXPECT success!!

Advanc’edge MBA, June 2008

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Give and take

‘Give more in use value than you take in cash value’, these value-loaded words by Wallace Wattles are a golden advice for anyone looking for progress in life. What Mr. Wattles understood and wants us to understand is the fact that there is value in giving to others much more than they expect from us. Do we always follow this dictum? I doubt it. Because if we did, we would have all been ‘successful’!

There is this corporate truth that the companies pay just enough to an employee so that he won’t quit, and the employee works just enough so that he/she won’t be shown the pink slip. Hence each one is contributing, just enough, while they are capable of contributing so much more. Giving just enough and that too with strings attached only keeps you in a constant state of fear (fear of being found out), and lack (what will I do if I am thrown out of this job?).

Doing a job to the best of your capability brings feelings of ‘joy of learning’, ‘enthusiasm of stretching your limits’, and the ‘satisfaction of a job well done’! You’ve got to experience it to believe it! When you start bringing more value to your work regardless of your pay, you get noticed by all. When you more than fill your present place (post), it is time to move to a bigger place. All this happens almost automatically! You become just a witness to your own growth. If you look around, you can find live examples of this in your own organization. What is it that they do differently from others?

If you bring value and enthusiasm to your work, the Universe will conspire to bring success to you. You may get a raise, or unexpected good news. You might even attract the attention of someone who will hire you at a much better position. Because people who add value to their work are welcome everywhere! I admire people who deal with grumpy complaining customers the entire day, and still have the joy and enthusiasm to share with others. When you give more value than the money you receive, the money has to rise to come to level with you. There is no other way to progress in life, than to add value to your work.

Most people contribute the very minimal to their jobs. They are the first ones to leave the office when their time is up. They never show any initiative. And then they wonder why they don’t get promoted. It is not only the number of hours that you put up at work, but also the quality of work that you do in those hours. If you fill those hours with creativity, diligence, enthusiasm, learning, and initiative; sky is the limit for you!

You can offer value in many ways. You can give suggestions about how to make your company more profitable. You can inspire others by your efficiency and speed of accomplishment. You can pay attention to details, and you can go an extra mile in a crisis. If your heart is in your work, all this and much more is possible. The idea is to create worthiness around you. How you manage it is up to you! Are you willing to give it a try in your life?

An enthusiastic performer has a strong sense of purpose and deep values. He also has a compelling vision. He makes informed choices with clarity of thought. He is committed to open communication and new ideas. He shares his thoughts, opinions and feelings without fear. He adapts to changing conditions like a pro. He enjoys high self esteem, and his morale is always high. Can any one ever contain such a man? He is unstoppable. He is a winner for life. Are you prepared to be just such a man? If yes, then from now on start giving more in ‘use’ value, than you receive in ‘cash’ value. And witness the magic work in your life!!!

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What Motivates You?

In my capacity as a ‘Life Skills Coach’, I often ask people what motivates them to achieve success in life. Over the years I have realized that while extrinsic factors like money, opportunities for growth, better lifestyle, being a leader are on top of most people’s lists, the moment I dig a little deeper, a lot of intrinsic factors come up. Sometimes people themselves are not aware of these motivators themselves. It is quite a revelation to them, and to me. I now understand that a big piece of our motivation is based on our character and our personality. Whether we like it or not, the fact remains that we are who we are.

It is a well known fact that our personality gets fully formed by the time we are seven years old. This personality remains stable under all our outward façade. This consistency in our personality is a boon for us to understand our motivating factors. If we can analyze our personality traits, we can know what really motivates us. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, it is true.

What do we mean by motivation in the first place? Everyone right from our parents, teachers, professors, and managers speaks of motivation, but no one really explains what motivation is and how it works. In my understanding, motivation levels out to wanting something to be better than what is. It is the reason for engaging in a particular behaviour. It energizes, and mobilizes us towards achieving our lofty goals, and satisfying our needs. We need to be motivated for everything; from eating healthy foods to improving self-esteem. Nothing seems to work without motivation.

Motivation is what leads people to work hard. It is what drives people to improve inter- personal relationships. On the other extreme, a lack of motivation leads to carelessness and callousness. Motivation impacts performance in all spheres of our lives. Some people go to the extent of defining performance as a function of one’s ability and motivation levels. Where ability or ‘can do’ is based on skills and knowledge that accrue from one’s experience, the motivation or ‘will do’ is based on personality traits such as, one’s disposition, interests, and behaviour patterns. Both ‘can do’ and ‘will do’ are important for a successful performance in all endeavours.

Generally we are more concerned about acquiring technical skills. We feel proud of our learning ability, and flaunt our past achievements. In all this our personality traits remain ignored and hidden. Once we realize that these traits are an important determinant of our talents and our success, we start paying more attention to them. In the field of management, personality plays a very important role, because a manager has a strong impact on the whole organization. So as MBA aspirants, it is very important for you to know your personality traits.

What are these personality traits? There are five basic dimensions of personality. These are:

Being open. Open people appreciate creativity, adventure, unusual ideas, and a variety of experiences. They are open to life itself. Everything is a learning opportunity for them. Satisfaction and accomplishment are especially important to these people. They are driven by their hunger for adventure and need for achievement. Self esteem motivates them. They love challenging work, and are motivated by the very challenge that the work offers.

Being conscientious. Conscientious people tend to plan rather than being spontaneous. These people are self-disciplined, and dependable. They seek achievement through caution. They make calculated moves. Obligation remains a major motivator for them. They do things because things ought to be done. Feeling of responsibility motivates them to help others. They love to be recognized for their work. They love autonomy. They do something when they feel that their work is important, or what they are doing is significant.

Being extroverted. Extrovert people seek stimulation. They like people’s company. They exude energy and positive emotions. They are a delight to be with. They work for enjoyment. Fun motivates them. Fringe benefits become more important than safety. They feel motivated when they know that there is a substantial probability of succeeding in their endeavour. They do things that give them pleasure. Repetitiveness of a task puts them off. Monotony de-motivates them.

Being agreeable. Agreeable people are pleasant. They are accommodating in most situations. They adjust in any environment. Their motivation comes from being liked by others. These people seek praise and approval all the time. Their chief motivator is the need for affiliation. Job security is very important to them. They like regular competency feedback, empowerment and a sense of belonging. They will do anything to mesh with the rest of the crowd.

Being neurotic. Neurotic people tend to be negative most of the times. Their stress tolerance is very low. They need instant gratification. Their motivation is based on receiving rewards immediately. They need re-enforcers from time to time, and coercion to put in their best effort. They are driven by their need for power. They love status. They require active encouragement from the environment.

While these are broad personality dimensions, most of us fit in one or the other dimension easily. Analyze yourself. Where do you fit in? American financier and banker John Pierpont Morgan said that a man always has two reasons for doing anything; a good reason and the real reason. What is your good reason for doing MBA? What is the real reason? Do some soul searching and find your answers.

True motivation starts with a need and a vision. The dream and the desire to achieve the impossible makes one move along the path of success. Creativity pours in at this point and makes you take inspired actions. In such a scenario, dreams are realized and magic happens.
So develop a love for learning. Become involved with new adventures. Seek new opportunities. Learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Develop the ability to overcome barriers. Bounce back from failures. There must be something in your life that gets you completely excited. Discover that passion. Analyze the lifestyle of your dreams and let this picture motivate you.

My motivation comes from my desire to be free. To have the freedom to live the lifestyle I dream of; the freedom to explore new ideas. Where does your motivation come from?

Remember to be successful, you must EXPECT success!!!!!!

Advanc’Edge MBA, May 2008, Chitra Jha

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Right Decision at Right Time

In our day- to- day living we make decisions in every moment. Some of these decisions are taken after a great deliberation while some happen automatically without us giving them a conscious thought. These decisions determine the course of our lives over a period of time. These decisions create our destiny. They make us the co-creators of God. It is a continuous process. Just as people differ from each other, so do their decision making styles. But each person eventually is a sum total of all the decisions made by him till date.

Decisions can be rational or irrational. They depend upon our thinking and feelings, judgment and perceptions. Sometimes intuition plays an important role as well. At times our pre-conceived notions come into play. There are times when our decisions conform to other’s expectations of us. Taking decisions makes us feel that we have control over events. How do you make your decisions? What determines your decision making process?

If we want to be true to ourselves, we should never make decisions that are not ours to make in the first place. It means that we should know when to make a decision and when to just let it be. Sometimes letting the events flow, having full faith in the process of life, is a better decision than trying to exercise control.

Always remember that there are no right and wrong decisions. Your decision is just one action amongst many alternative actions. Each action has a consequence. You choose the action that produces the most productive consequence. That is all. Don’t become too righteous about things. That makes you judgmental about others and their decisions.

Do not take decisions on the spur of a moment. If you have made a mistake and the decision is reversible, don’t let your ego come in the way. Go ahead and change the course of events. Any non-reversible decision should be taken after a lot of deliberation.

A good decision making habit is to make the decision in writing. When you make notes and keep your ideas visible, it is easy to take the right action. Your decision should be based on what is right, and not on who is right. Writing provides clarity of thought, and guides you to make the right decision.

Don’t procrastinate. Keep making decisions as and when required. Do not sleep over them for too long. Too many pending little decisions turn into monsters of complex decisions that are difficult to deal with.

Who are the people affected by your decisions? Involve them in decision making process. That will increase their commitment to you. Do not worry unduly about the correctness of your decisions. Trust yourself, and trust the Universe to guide you at each step. Your job is to decide a course of action, and leave the rest to the intelligence of the Universe.

Before making decisions look at the outcome that you are looking for. Identify the alternatives available to you. What are the risks associated with your decision? Evaluate all these parameters and go ahead with confidence and élan. Remember that you have the right to be wrong. Don’t forfeit this right.

Most of the decisions that we make in our lives are mundane. Delegate those decisions to others to make. Always keep in mind the implementation of your decisions. Once a decision has been made do not look back. Take stock of the situation and focus on your next step. Do not regret a decision. Remember, it was the right thing to do at that time. Now shift your focus to what is right in the present moment.

Some of the factors that determine your caliber as an empowered decision maker are:-

Self Esteem
Courage
Honesty
Love

The most precious gift any parent can give to his child is the gift to make right decisions at the right time. Most of us do great damage to our children by making all their decisions for them, at the pretext of knowing what is best for them. Every one including children must listen to themselves and think for themselves. That is the hallmark of being a responsible human being. Then you can’t blame others for your failures and your misfortunes. You will learn to take responsibility of your actions.

Be what you are. Be objective about yourself. Identify your weaknesses and your strengths. Being honest with yourself guides you to take most appropriate decisions at all times. Care about yourself. Know that your abilities are being used in a correct manner. Embrace all your decisions. Embrace your life.

Accept the present moment completely, without any judgment. You are no more and no less than what you are at this moment. In the next moment you are free to make a new decision that has the power to change the course of your life. Only you and your decisions carry that power. Acknowledge and accept this power within you.

Never envy others. Envying others and their growth is detrimental to your growth. When you make up your mind about the direction that you are going to give to your life, the things start changing. Everything starts with you and your decisions.

Some people suffer from Decidophobia. It is the fear of making your own decisions. Instead of deciding how to live or what to believe in, a drifting person simply follows the ‘Status Quo’. These people are unable to make even small decisions. They let others decide for them. Such people can never be happy with their lives. They are a dissatisfied lot. They can not look at the bigger picture. They can not generate any action on their own.

In our culture most of the decision making is left to the husbands and the fathers. For some reason men are considered to be better decision makers. With the changing outlook, these patterns are also witnessing a change. It is time for each one of us to own the responsibility of our own decisions and their consequences.

Eternal Solutions, April 2008, Chitra Jha

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Personal Excellence

No matter what you do in your life, doing it to the best of your abilities brings in great rewards. Making a commitment to personal excellence ensures a life full of success, passion, and fulfillment. Why is excellence so important? It is a well known fact that the results that we experience are always in direct proportion to the quality of our actions. If we put in half hearted actions, we achieve minimal results. If we give our absolute best, we achieve miracles.

The concept of excellence can be applied to any area of our lives, be it our health, wealth, career, or relationships. Sometimes we do just a ‘good enough’ job and call it our best effort. Who are we fooling by doing that? We are only fooling ourselves. We can get good results from putting in a ‘good enough’ effort, but we get excellent results only by achieving excellence in our work. One question that I often ask myself is, “Am I willing to settle for ‘good enough’?” At times I am, but most of the times I am not. Especially when it comes to my life, and my relationships, I am not willing to settle for anything that is not excellent.

In my experience, people do not give their best, because deep down they feel that they are not capable of it. What about you? Do you think that if a task requires effort, it is not worth doing? Do you avoid working any harder than you have to? Do you think that great success is only reserved for truly gifted or incredibly lucky? Are you more focused on quick results, even though they may not be the best results?

Research has shown that any average person is capable of achieving at least 20 times more than they currently do. Do you believe in this statement? Does it ring true in your life? Are you capable of achieving much more than you have done so far? The moment you are willing to consider that you are capable of more; you are in the right mindset to change your life for the better.

Be honest and take a good look at what you have accomplished in your life so far. Are there any areas where you could have done better? Did you shy away from increased responsibility at work? Were you passed over for a promotion? Did you give up your dreams? Did you think that life is too difficult?

If you want to achieve excellence in life, the first step is to acknowledge and accept that your present circumstances reflect the quality and quantity of actions that you have taken so far in your life. You may feel uncomfortable acknowledging it because it effectively means that you are the cause of your stunted growth. However, unless you know where you are and why you are there, you can not make further progress.

Do not judge yourself for your progress or the lack of it so far. Be kind to yourself. Berating yourself and feeling bad about things does not help your situation in any way. Just get a clear understanding of where you are and where you want to go. Tell yourself that you did the best you could with the knowledge that you had so far, and make a promise to yourself to aim for excellence. After all excellence is not about what you do but how you do it.

To understand yourself better you need to ask a few questions.

What is important to you?
What do you live for?
What have you always wanted to do?

Answering these questions would set you on an amazing journey of self-discovery and stupendous growth. Are you ready for it? Are you aware of the activities that make your heart sing? The trick lies in indulging in these activities more often and with more enthusiasm. Be totally involved in these activities.

When we are involved in something that we feel passionately about, we automatically give our all to it. We are able to devote all our energies to the task at hand. In the process of enjoying ourselves, we lend more power to the end result of these activities. Ask yourself do you want lukewarm results or powerful results? The choice is entirely yours.

Sometimes we get too bogged down about the mundane things that just have to be done. It is easy to slip into half-hearted efforts of drudgery and most of the times we do just that. Have you ever thought what may happen if you start paying more attention to your routine tasks? To begin with, start focusing more on the benefits of the work that you do, rather than on the work itself. Create a sense of inner pride about everything that you undertake. For example, don’t do your job because you have to. Do your work as though it is the most important job in the world.

Why must you do that? Why should your attitude matter in such a simple, routine thing as your work? The fact remains that if you approach your work with grudging obligation, a few things will happen.

You won’t enjoy the process. You are more focused on just getting it done. You won’t give full attention to the process.
Since you didn’t pay full attention to the process, the results will not be satisfactory. The results may be ‘okay’, and you might be fine with it, but won’t ‘good’ be better than ‘okay’? And won’t ‘great’ be better than ‘good’?
You will miss out on a great sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done.

If you wish to experience a greater sense of joy and fulfillment in your life, enjoy the things that you do, and expect excellence from yourself. Settling for anything less is insulting your divine potential!!!!!!!

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Secrets of Success

Have you ever wondered about the secrets of success? Has it ever occurred to you that there must be something amiss in your efforts to be successful? Are you living the life that you want to live? Do you feel energetic and alive all the time? Are you passionate about what you do? Do you face each day with expectation and excitement? Do these questions make you uncomfortable? Well, my purpose is to shake you out of your complacence and urge you to move to the next level.

Why is it that so few of us get to be ‘successful’? Being successful takes learning some skills that are present in all successful people. These skills are not necessarily taught in our schools and colleges. That is why a formal education leaves us high and dry on the path to success. Are you willing to give some time to learn these skills to stay ahead of the pack?

There are five character traits that finally determine the chances of your being successful. Some of these distinct traits may be present in you, some you may need to learn. Let us examine these ‘Success Sutras’.

1. Discipline

We know that hard work is the key to success, but hard work without discipline is of no use. Discipline makes you set goals. It helps you manage your time. It makes you measure the results, and finally it helps you maintain an overall balance in your life. So inculcate some discipline in your life. It pays.

2. Passion

Like I said earlier, it is more than just hard work that lets you taste success. How you hold on to a dream determines your success. I agree life does come on hard at us sometimes. It is our passion for what we do that makes us sail through these difficult times. You must develop an instinct to press on and dream mega dreams. Whatever it is that you do, unless you do it to the best of your capability, it is not enough. Passion is the driving force that makes you put in your best effort.

3. Risk

Risk is that ability which makes you step out of your comfort zone. It is not always about rolling a dice and taking a chance. Your willingness to face the challenges on the road to success makes you defeat your complacent attitude. That is your risk taking ability. It is an ability that is valued very highly as a leadership trait. You must be ready to face challenges, regardless of the cost. Your willingness to take risks gets your adrenaline pumping, and helps you move ahead.

4. Optimism

They say, ‘You are what you think about.’ Your self-esteem, self-image, and confidence come from your optimism. Do you see the glass half full or half empty? Your answer to this question determines your rate of success. A positive outlook is the precursor to success. Once you have achieved that, you are ready to take on the world. You should not be boastful, but you must develop a genuine sense of self-worth. You must find value in being yourself. If you are optimistic, you are always a pleasure to be around.

5. Interpersonal skills

You must understand that relationships are fundamental to overall success. That includes personal relationships and your individual ability to deal with people. Factors like negotiating, selling your ideas, and public speaking are all necessary for ultimate success. Don’t always stay in the background. Know when to speak, and when to listen. Be confident of your abilities but don’t try to put others down.

Do you agree with me so far? Can you take some time out and analyze yourself on these critical parameters? Are you satisfied with your appraisal? If yes, is there a scope for improvement? If no, what are you going to do about it? By just choosing to examine yourself, your odds of achieving success have skyrocketed. Now you stand a better chance of making a significant turn in your life; a turn towards success. Now you know what you need to do in order to best impact your life. Now you are aware of your challenges. Are you ready to take the next step?

The next step is – Action. Just understanding things and concepts is not enough. You need to move further than that. Take action to improve yourself. Internalize these concepts. Turn your challenges into opportunities. Take help from your parents, friends, colleagues or teachers. Make it your mission to work on yourself. Look for the answers, direction, and guidance that you need in order to improve your chances of success. Taking an action now will enhance your life for years to come.

Remember, if you make the choice of not taking an action, the challenges that face you today will only grow bigger in size, and tackling them will become that much harder. But the choice always rests with you. It is your life after all. You write your own life script. No one else can do it for you.

By imbibing these five character traits you will develop that much talked about quality called charisma. Charisma is the ability to influence people positively. You may have noticed that all successful people are charismatic. They develop this quality over the years. Once you grasp this power it can never be taken away from you, but like every other good thing it takes deep willingness on your part to achieve it.

So, wake up. Hone your ability to speak well. Sharpen your listening skills. Master your persuasive talent and stop sitting on the fence. Do you have the courage to do all this? Are you ready to make the change right now? Remember, that deep inside you, you have the capability of dealing with all your challenges. When a challenge is placed in front of you, the mechanisms of dealing with it are also revealed to you. Just show your willingness and let your inner self guide you. If roadblocks come your way, as they certainly would; believe that they are there to strengthen you.

As always, expect SUCCESS!

Advanc'edge MBA March 2008

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Walk the Talk

“Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.”
–John C. Maxwell, Author of ‘Developing the Leader within You’

Most of us pay a lot of attention to our communication skills and that is very desirable indeed. But we usually forget the fact that our body is also a communication tool. The fact is that 99% of people are unaware of the way they project themselves to others. However, the transfer of information through body language takes place nonetheless.

Experts in the field of communication often quote the 55/38/7 ‘Rule’ that states;
Research has shown that people derive only about 7% of the meaning of a
communication from the words per se which the speaker uses (verbalised emotion), about 38% is based on the tone of the voice the speaker uses, and over 55% from the speaker’s body language. Another general rule states that the spoken word carries about 15 % of the total information being exchanged, while body language carries the remaining 85%. Whichever rule we follow, it is clear that our body language outweighs our words in importance by a large margin. Unfortunately we pay all our attention to the spoken word and neglect to acknowledge our body’s language.

Experts also maintain that words carry only information; while body language carries emotions as well. If you want to know what kind of relationship two people have, watch their body language, rather than listen to their word.

Our education lays a lot of stress on spoken word and we spend a lot of time and energy mastering it. While speaking we must also remember that our voice, that carries these ‘all important’ words, is an important part of our personality. We use it to express many subtleties that go beyond the literal meaning of our words. What we say can mean many different things, depending on which voice tone we use. Politicians, leaders and speakers from various fields understand the importance of their voice as a tool to influence others and hire voice coaches. We need to use a soft, well modulated voice to convey our confidence in ourselves.

It is easy to learn the spoken word, it is not so difficult to train our voice; but controlling body language takes a lot more than that. The fact is that most of our postures and gestures are carried out without our being conscious of them. The body creates such gestures and movements because all its actions are governed and controlled by thoughts. Any movement means that some thought that exists in the mind is being expressed. Everything that our body does conveys something. That is why the body movements are called, ‘thoughts in motion.’

If our spoken word is in alignment with our sub-conscious thoughts, our body language reinforces our words. Problems occur when our spoken word and our body language are in conflict with each other. It implies that what we are saying is not true, because our body can not lie. Our body conveys our true, deep thoughts.

So how do we control our body language? Is it completely beyond our control? Fortunately that is not the case? We can control our movements to some extent by being aware of our body’s language and by paying attention to it.

There are some golden rules of conveying a positive impression, using our body.

1. Always look at someone directly in their eyes during a conversation. This may seem difficult at first but it is definitely the number one body language ingredient to make you successful when interacting with others. Looking directly into someone’s eyes does not mean that you stare at them. In fact, never ever stare at someone. The trick lies in tracing the inverted triangle formed by the speaker’s eyes and nose, and letting your gaze move around in that area.

Normally, you need to maintain eye contact for around 60-70% of the time during an interaction; any longer and you run the risk of making the other person feel self conscious or uncomfortable. Remember that you want to convey a feeling of comfort and genuine trust in yourself. Any more eye contact than this and you can be perceived as too intense, any less and you can give off a sense of disinterest in them.

2. Always stand up straight. You should not slouch. Not only does this make you appear shorter but it projects you as a person with low self-esteem. Good posture isn’t about standing at tin-soldier attention either; it’s about carrying yourself so you look as if you have a spine and a purpose. The key to walking tall is, knowing where you are going.

Your posture can have a significant impact on how you feel. Look at your posture as a subconscious reflection of your state of mind. Next time you notice you’re feeling a bit down or low, take a look at how you are standing or sitting. Chances are you will be slouched over, with your shoulders drooping down and inward. This collapses the chest and inhibits good breathing, which in turn can make you feel nervous or uncomfortable.

3. A smile can give any one an instant facelift. Smile is your most powerful body signal. Though it is not recommended to smile constantly (it will convey the impression that you are searching for approval), you should make an effort to appear happy and optimistic.

4. When speaking to someone, it is important to use body movements but avoid making rapid, repetitive gestures. Picture someone who is nervous while speaking in the public; this is exactly what you are not aiming for.

Your arms are a direct indication of how open and receptive you are to everyone you meet and interact with. The more outgoing you are as a person, the more you tend to use big movements with your arms. The quieter you are the less you tend to move your arms away from your body. Strive to keep your movements somewhere in between the two. This will project you in the best possible light.

When gesturing, imagine a box that goes from your chin to your waist and is as wide as your shoulders. Keep all your gestures within that box. Make sure when you move your hands, that they remain closer to your body than your elbows are. Thus your hand movements will appear controlled and unthreatening.

It is important to keep your arms out to the sides of your body or behind your back, if you are standing and interacting. This displays a sense that you are comfortable and confident with your surroundings or situation.

Avoid crossing your arms while speaking. This makes you unapproachable and conveys a host of negative behavior. People read this as a defensive, nervous gesture. You might not feel that way; it might simply be a position you find comfortable, but perceptions are very important in any communication.

Don’t ever point with your fingers. It reminds people of being scolded. Use your whole hand and gesture with an open palm when you need to indicate something.

5. Legs are the most difficult parts of our bodies to consciously control. It is also no accident that they are the farthest from our brain. They tend to move around a lot more than normal when we are stressed, nervous, or being deceptive. Try your best to quiet your body and keep your legs as still as possible in most situations, especially at interviews or work meetings.

Be conscious and careful how you are crossing your legs. Should you cross at the knees or the ankles? It is best to avoid crossing your legs, and under no circumstances put one leg completely over your other knee. This position is known as the ‘Figure Four’ and is perceived as a defensive posture. However, you may cross your legs at the ankles if that makes you comfortable.

6. Learning how to position your head when interacting with others can be a tremendous tool to have. It can be a very effective and versatile resource, depending on the message you wish to convey.

When you want to feel confident and self assured, keep your head leveled, both horizontally and vertically. You can also use this straight head position when you want to be authoritative and want your word to be taken seriously.

Conversely, when you want to be friendly and in a listening, receptive mode, tilt your head just a little to one side or the other. You can shift the tilt from left to right at different points in conversation. This is interpreted as respectfully listening with interest.

7. Touching your face, and scratching around the mouth or cheek area, are considered a dead giveaway. These gestures imply that you are lying; and even under the best of circumstances, look kind of weird and gross.

Finally, it is all very well to learn some of these positive body signals, but like I mentioned earlier, body can not lie. Its language comes from the subconscious and we can not fake it for long, and all the time. If you want to have sustained success, it has to come from within. You have to look at the big picture. If you lack confidence or self-esteem, or if you possess a negative attitude, first work on these areas. As you begin to transform these inner beliefs, your body will speak a different language. What is more important is that it will be a real, true part of you. The following quote says it all.

“It’s never too late to be, what you might have become.”
- George Eliot, Famous Victorian Novelist
Advanc’edge MBA, March 2007, Chitra Jha

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Winners Vs. Losers

Who is a winner? To me a person, who decides to do something and then does it, is a winner. At the same time someone who decides not to do something and doesn’t do it, is equally a winner. A loser on the other hand decides to do something and doesn’t do it or decides not to do something but goes ahead and does it under external pressure or persuasion. What do you think of these definitions? Do you agree with me?
If you notice carefully, the entire matter of being a winner or loser rests on your capability to take a decision and follow it through. Decision making is a major leadership trait. All successful leaders (I am not using the word ‘manager’, as I find ‘leader’ a far better suited word for the aspiring new generation) are quick decision makers. By quick I don’t mean, in the heat of the moment; or by not thinking it through. It means to assess a situation in all its hues quickly and to take a decision based on that assessment. It is good to make quick decisions, but the most important thing is to follow these decisions through. A loser falls well short of following his decisions and seeing them to their ultimate completion.
Winners view the world as a benevolent place. To Albert Einstein’s famous thought provoking question, ‘Is this a friendly Universe?’ the winners always answer in affirmative. They feel that the world is full of great opportunities and wonderful people. Winners see the world as mainly good with some bad bits. The losers view the world as mainly malevolent with some good bits. How do you view the world? Your answer to this question speaks volumes about you and your station in life.
Winners have the habit of visualizing their future in bright technicolour details. They approve of themselves and know that they are worth much more than what they have at present. Life is an exciting adventure for them. They live it to the fullest. Losers view life as a chore. If someone casually asks them, ‘How is it going?’ they will open their box of woes. ‘Just getting along.’, ‘Life goes on.’ are standard responses. What do you think life will dole out to them? Like Aladdin’s genie, life would say, ‘Your wish is my command.’
Winners are dreamers. They dream big, because they know that today’s dreams are tomorrow’s reality. They work backwards from a future dream to the present day and make their plans to achieve their goals. Losers too dream, but they don’t back up these dreams with systematic action plan. What are such dreams called? These dreams are no more than ethereal hot air.
Winners possess another great quality- Discipline. Their discipline keeps them going during temporary setbacks. Thus they convert their ‘yearning power’ into their ‘earning power’. What do you think the losers do? When going gets tough, they hang their boots. They proclaim that the luck is not in their favour. They give up too easily.
Winners value time. They guard against procrastination, the thief of their precious commodity, their time. Losers discuss amongst themselves that they will start working one day real soon, but that day doesn’t dawn. They are unaware of the thrill of victory after a job well done. They are not willing to pay the life’s cost of admission to the big league. They do not know the enjoyment of work, their pleasures lie elsewhere. They do not put their best efforts into anything. Who would want to keep company with them?
Winners take care of their physical fitness. They know that neither their body nor their mind will work at an optimal level without it. Therefore they give attention to their habits, diet and exercise regimen.
Winners have pleasing personalities. They acquire the art of making themselves agreeable to others. They learn to negotiate with others without creating friction of any sort. They are flexible and adaptable. They harmonise with any given environment and possess necessary magnetism to attract others. Who wouldn’t want to be around such a person?
Winners understand the value of initiative. They never have to be told what to do and how to do it. They create plans and translate them into actions through their initiative. They do not need to be supervised all the time.
Motivational speaker Shiv Khera’s famous quote, ‘Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently’, is indeed very apt.
To be a winner for life, identify what your ideal life will look like. Create a compelling vision for your future. Formulate exacting goals for its achievement. Never give up on your hopes and dreams of a bright future. Overcome temporary setbacks. Look at them as great learning experiences.
Earl Nightingale, one of the earlier personal development teachers, and co-founder of the publishing house ‘Nightingale-Conant’, defined success as ‘The progressive realization of a worthy ideal.’ As long as you are ‘progressing’ towards an ideal that you think is worthy of achievement, you are succeeding. Enjoying the journey makes it all the more worthwhile. You will do well to remember that the word ‘worthwhile’ means that your goal is worth your time and energy. Think about that. Are your goals worthy of your life?
If you consider the fact that the price for your achievements is your time, which is all that you have of any real value, you will soon see the importance of having a goal that is worthy of your most prized possession. So go back over your goals and see if they meet the criteria for being worthy of you, not the other way around. If not, then maybe you need to stretch yourself and go for something of more importance to you. You will be a real winner then.
Practically speaking, your actions and your behaviour determine how your destiny will unfold. Knowing that your fate is in your hands, what are you going to do about it? Are you ready to be a winner? Remember in order to get something you’ve got to give something. So give up dependence, procrastination, laziness, need for approval, self criticism, and the loser attitude.
If a window of correcting the course of your life exists, why not open it and let in some fresh air? The basic question, however, remains to be answered. Answer it now. The question is, ‘Are you willing?’
The choice is yours. The window is open. And you can begin now.
Co-create your life and expect success.

Advanc'edge MBA, February 2008, Chitra Jha

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No Mistake Syndrome

Most organizations suffer from this malady called the ‘No Mistake Syndrome’. I believe that the person who makes the least number of errors happens to also be the person who does the least amount of work. Do you agree? Why are we so afraid of making mistakes? Our fear originates in the environment of our organizations. If all goes well with a new idea, there are many takers for the credit, but the moment something goes wrong every one wants to wash his/her hands off that idea. And the hunt for a scapegoat begins! Who would want to come up with creative ideas in such an environment?

Why is it that managers show little capacity for tolerating mistakes? The fact is that today’s managers are in too much of a hurry to climb the corporate ladder. They do not have any time for mistakes. They want immediate results to show to the world that they make things happen. Their main concern is their own growth strategy. On the other hand managers, who have a stake in their company’s growth, realize that mistakes, problems, and errors (whatever you may call them), always come with a hidden potential for a greater good. History is replete with such examples.

A pharmacist was trying to produce a ‘general’ tonic, when his assistant ‘by mistake’ dropped carbonated water into the brew. Thus Coca Cola was born. Charles Goodyear ‘by mistake’ dropped a piece of rubber that had sulphur and white lead in it on a hot stove. That was the first ‘vulcanization’ of rubber. Alexander Graham Bell was trying to make a hearing aid for his hearing-impaired wife. He failed in that endeavour, but in the bargain presented the world with long distance telephony. Dr. Spencer Silver was trying to make a permanent adhesive, his failure to do so eventually gave the world a most useful temporary adhesive, which made ‘Post-it’ possible. Without these mistakes the world would have been a poorer place.

If an organization wants to experience vibrant delights of innovative ideas, it needs to learn tolerance for errors. It needs to understand that there is a great learning inherent in a mistake. The challenge for the managers is to unearth that learning and share it with the concerned employees. Let these mistakes inspire them to strive harder, for better results. Leaders who support their employees in such times earn respect by bushels.

How about facing these challenges with the joy, abandon, and playfulness of children? Learning gets enhanced in such an environment. No wonder children’s learning curve is much sharper than that of adults!

Tuning in to the inner guidance also helps in overcoming problems. But fear, worry, and resultant stress separate us from our inner guidance. We find ourselves in a vicious cycle of being unable to cope. That is when we wish problems and mistakes away. But our wishing does not help, because errors are an integral part of the learning process. There can be no real learning, if no mistakes are ever made. In stead of looking at mistakes as things to be feared, we should look at them as challenges to be looked forward to.

One reason for fearing mistakes is that we are inwardly afraid. We are under confident of ourselves and our abilities. Mistakes make us feel vulnerable. We forget that a fear based response is always counterproductive. How can we let go of this fear? When we are confident of our own worth, we are ready to take charge of our mistakes. Taking charge requires taking action. Action through thought, action through word, and action through deed! A person who is willing to take charge has no time to complain and blame other people. When we take charge, we announce to the world our determination to do a task to the best of our ability. If in doing that some mistakes are committed, so be it. That doesn’t lessen our commitment. We carry on regardless, and eventually achieve success.

At the same time we must be ready to ‘analyze’ the task at hand. Understand our mistake and make a dispassionate decision whether we need to put more energy into it or let it go. Learning to let go is an integral part of learning from our mistakes. It means that we have taken the decision to let go of a person, situation, or an outcome. Great leaders know when to hang on and when to let go.

Any mistake must finally lead to a positive change of behaviour that paves the path for achieving organizational growth. Just showing intolerance for mistakes is not going to empower the employees, nor will it help us achieve organizational outcomes. The solution lies in taking the problem by its horns: and making the employee say; ‘Now it makes sense.’ ‘I understand it now.’ The only way to insure that mistakes don’t happen all the time is to know your employees’ strengths and to delegate tasks accordingly. You need to also understand the gaps between real capabilities and projected capabilities, or perceived capabilities. Even after that if mistakes happen, own them and learn from them!

The Times of India, Ascent, 12/12/07, Chitra Jha

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Your Personality Affects Your Chances Of Success

Your personality is your calling card. You carry it with you all the time. And yes, your success in any endeavor, including an admission in one of the IIMs, is determined by your personality.

There are some factors in your personality that you cannot do much about. For example, you can’t grow any taller (or shorter!) now; you cannot help your complexion (despite all the whitening creams!) There are many other cosmetic factors that require a lot of money and surgical expertise to correct, but these should not be of much concern to you.

You have to learn to shape, re-shape, and fine-tune your personality traits to such an extent that physical appeal should be enhanced despite all these so called God given short comings.

To be able to effectively do that, first you need to look at yourself objectively, identify your weak areas and work upon them. You must also look at your strengths and build upon them. It is always helpful to know our true selves and our personalities.

Our personalities are influenced by the way we manage our emotions. All of us are influenced by our emotions at one time or another. Emotions make us human. In fact Emotional Quotient is being considered as more important than Intelligence Quotient in most corporate circles. Emotions determine our behavior. The problems occur when instead of controlling our emotions, we are controlled by them.

Most of us remain in danger of being led by our emotions, but people with an emotional personality get easily influenced by emotions. They may get up one morning feeling depressed and follow that feeling throughout the day. Or they may wake up feeling angry, wanting to shout at someone, and end up doing just that. Someday, they may start feeling sorry for themselves, and sulk the entire day. They don’t know that they can control and manage these emotions to their advantage. The way we handle our emotions, determines our personality type.

There are four basic personality types. These are:-

Choleric

People with choleric personality are born leaders. They are emotional and enthusiastic about their achievements. One of their major strengths is that they can get a lot accomplished in a given time. Their major drawback is that they tend to get bossy at times. They are goal-oriented, and motivated by new ideas and challenges. They always have a plan and move towards it with diligence.


Phlegmatic

People with phlegmatic personalities usually do not show any emotions. They are more logical. They don’t get easily excited. Sometimes they come across as being ‘emotionally dead’. They are usually dull and bland about everything. They are generally ‘low-key’ type of people.


Sanguine

Sanguine personality types are the most emotional type of them all. They are bubbly and seem to bounce through life. When a Sanguine personality enters a room, it draws everyone’s attention. Such a person can be heard above everyone else in a crowded room.
Their major drawback is that they have a tendency to get on other’s nerves, but they themselves don’t notice it. They are so full of fun and energy that they are oblivious to anything other than having a good time. They are not very disciplined. They never make plans and even if they do they can’t remember it for more than five minutes. They are the ones who park their car in a parking lot and can not remember where they had parked it. The best part is that they don’t even worry about it. In fact they find it rather funny. They are always full of such funny stories to entertain others.

Melancholy

Melancholy personalities have the most trouble with depression. They are the deep people. They are the thinkers and the organizers. They are so organized that everything about them reeks of order. They believe that there is a time and place for everything and everything should belong to its place. They are really neat people. They always have a plan and they follow it to a T.

Most of us are a blend of two or more of such personality types. However, one of these traits is the most dominant one in us. Rest all are our sub-personalities that raise their head now and then. It is during those times when we surprise ourselves and others by behaving in a non-characteristic fashion. Can you find your own dominant personality type now?

You may well ask how my success depends upon my personality. The pathway to success lies in being ‘balanced’. Whatever personality type you are, you need to find a balance. Whether we like it or not we are in this world where challenge upon challenge confronts us, circumstances restrain us and our inner self mocks, sneers or cheers us (depending upon the circumstances!). Each day brings new battles whether we want them or not, and whether we are up to them or not. In such a scenario, the only thing that we can choose is- our response. And our response is determined by our personality. A balanced personality, responds with ‘responsibility’. (Responsibility means the ability to respond).

Our thoughts, our feelings and our behaviors are inextricably linked with our personality. Any activity in one area influences the other areas.



For example, let us say that you have decided to improve your vocabulary. Such an improvement will help you understand complicated issues and will also give you confidence to talk more professionally at work. This increased confidence would naturally make you feel better about yourself and also enhance your job opportunities. So you study a vocabulary book, and you learn new words and terms. But when you try to use a new word around another person, your sub-personality laughs and tells you that you sound phony. In a second your confidence collapses. Self-doubt creeps in. You start fumbling for words and feel miserable.
Once you learn how your personality is sabotaging your progress, you will be better equipped to keep your sub-personalities under control. You will become adept at getting a grip on life and becoming the person you most want to be.
Our Vedas say that self knowledge is the only true knowledge. I couldn’t agree more because all other knowledge is subservient to self knowledge.
Discover this truth for yourself and expect success.

Advanc'edge MBA, January 2008

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