ARISE, AWAKE, AND STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED!

This clarion call of Vivekananda is essentially a mantra for the modern man. Vivekananda placed great emphasis on “awakening”; so what exactly does this awakening constitute? The fact that you are reading this article indicates that you are awake, right? Nay, that is being awake at the physical level. Real awakening is when one wakes up to the beauties of one’s own inner self. It is the realization that one’s body is a temporary “shell” and the real self, the “inner you,” is Atman [soul].

To attain self realization, one has to awaken to truth—higher levels of wakefulness. There are four such levels. The first is the apparent wakeful attentiveness with which we move about and busy ourselves everyday. We are very much like others, alert and aware, when thus awake. But Vedanta reveals four categories of wakefulness:

the fully awake
the wakefulness of the mind only (as while dreaming)
the wakefulness of the self alone (as in deep sleep) and
the illumination of the self (awakening into the Over-self).
These are named as Sthoola, Sookshma, Kaarana, and Mahakaarana [The Gross, The Subtle, The Causal, and the Super-cause].

The Upanishads say, “Get up, arise, awake”; time is fleeting fast. Use the moment while it is available, for the best of uses, the awareness of the Divine in all. When you die, you must not die like a tree or a beast or a worm, but like a man who has realized that he is Maadhava [God]. This realization is the consummation of all the years you spend in the human frame.

In the mirage of modern life, when one is forced to fulfill never-ending obligations and when responsibilities and burdens weigh on man with all force, how can one even think of realizing the indwelling spirit? The answer lies in realizing the fleeting nature (temporariness) of worldly objects. When man realizes that all he does is perishable and will not lead to real happiness, the burdens will cease to hold weight any further.

There is a beautiful illustration: There was once a man traveling by train. While seated in the train, in the foolish assumption that the responsibility of carrying the luggage was on him, he placed the luggage on his own head. Would it have mattered if he had put the luggage on the train’s floor? The train was already bearing the burden of the man and his luggage. Modern man can be likened to such a traveler. While traveling through the journey of life, he places all worldly burdens on his own head. While in reality God is carrying both man and his burdens, he assumes all burdens on himself and invites worries and unhappiness.

It is man’s incessant desire to run after worldly objects that has caused the burdens to increase in the first place. When desires are controlled and work is done in a spirit of dedication to God, work then becomes worship and burdens lighten automatically. When God blesses man with a Volkswagen, he wants a Lexus. When he gets a Lexus, he wants a BMW. These desires are endless and with the progressive fulfillment of every desire, man unknowingly increases burdens. At first, man makes objects, such as cars, work for him, but when he has acquired them, these objects start making a man work (for their upkeep).

So do we need to throw away all our work and sit in laze? We should work

with love and perform with a selfless motive
and not seek any reward for our deeds
In a spirit of dedication to God.

A beautiful story comes to mind: One night a man had a dream. He dreamt that he was walking with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand; one belonged to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there were only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’ll walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there are only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you the most, you would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

The story illustrates God’s infinite compassion. Let us from this day make a commitment to ourselves. We will perform all our actions as if they were for God; let us spend our time in performing sadhana [spiritual exercises]; let us arise from our present states; awake to the beauties of our inner selves; and tirelessly march toward God until we achieve the GOAL (self realization).

A Droplet And A Ripple........

It was there, clinging on to the edge of the leaf and was about to fall, fall into the little puddle of water below… The Droplet.

Yes, the droplet was ready to give up and surrender its existence to the little puddle below but something made it cling on, a little longer; perhaps a desire to stay that fraction of a second more in the company of the green leaf, the same green leaf that held it, nurtured it and was now ready to offer it to the little society of droplets underneath.

What was it? Just a droplet! Where did I come from? No one knows. Perhaps a fog, a dew, an overnight drizzle perhaps from nowhere but it was now here. It existed and existed with a distinct identity, an identity that was now to be submerged into the flow of millions - to be lost.

Reluctantly, the droplet left the shelter of the leaf. All the time it went down, it pointed towards its once safe, soft and sure shelter. And then with a little 'whimp' it dropped into the puddle.

Don't know what strength the droplet had in its heart or what amount of agony or what purpose it set itself to make it so heavy.

As it fell, it created a huge ripple all around it. Yes, it was the sign of revolution. It said that it was here to make changes, to transform the society of droplets into the way it learnt intuitively from the soul of the world, to live with a distinct identity.

But, something else happened. The ripple it sent around gradually died out and with time, silently the pool of droplets engulfed it. And its existence was lost.

But yes, the water in the puddle never remained the same again because the droplet fell, the ripple was created, the mud was churned, and the color of the society of droplets changed forever.

We may be a droplet in the ocean of people but it requires only one, to churn what lies within us, to change the course of destiny.

How to Get Instant Energy

How to Get Instant Energy

Your body creates energy from nutrients, oxygen and invigorating stimuli, such as fragrance. Natural mood, beauty and body boosters such as these suit our increasingly busy lives because they provide an instant lift and are so simple to do each day.

Breathe Fire! - Sitting for long periods causes carbon dioxide to build up in your blood, which in turn makes you sleepy. The ‘breath of fire’ is a traditional yoga exercise that helps clear the lungs completely. First, breathe in deeply through your nose, and then exhale using 15–20 short, sharp bursts, clenching your stomach muscles to really push out each burst. Repeat three times.


Massage your Ears - According to traditional Chinese medicine, stimulating acupressure points on your ears increases blood circulation, and thus energy. Vigorously rub your ears all over for about a minute. They should start to feel hot and, almost immediately, you should feel more alert. Start at the lobe and massage up to the top of the ear.


Take a Power Shower - Sprinkle eucalyptus oil on the floor of your shower before stepping in. Stand under steaming hot water and rub your body with a loofah. The eucalyptus scent stimulates your brain, while the hot water and the rub-down increase blood flow, sending oxygen to your cells where it’s transformed into energy.


Wake up with a Break - Your body can only handle about 45 minutes of sitting without becoming fatigued. Get up and march around briskly for 3 to 5 minutes, or do some quick stretches or squats.


Make a Splash - Dip a face washer in cold water and wet both the front and back of your neck. Then gargle with cold water for a couple of seconds. Your neck and throat are rich with sensitive nerves, and by stimulating them with the cold water you shock them into the ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction, which temporarily shifts more blood towards your brain. 


Take Care and Have a Healthy Day. 

Motivational Operations By Brent Filson

There's an inexorable law operating in business. I call it the law of UP — Unfulfilled Potential. One can see aspects of this law working in other areas:


For instance, in neurophysiology, humans are supposed to use only a fraction of our brains' capabilities; in technology, superconductivity is not yet widely available; and in medicine, the harnessing of the body's abilities to fight cancers is only just beginning to be understood and realized.

But the law of UP is particularly dominant in the business world — and especially in operations. Operations is the blocking and tackling of any organization, the fundamentals that create the foundation for consistent success.

It's such an important function that in many companies the Chief Operating Officer is usually the next in line for the job of CEO. If a company is not doing operations well, all of its other functions are diminished.

Having consulted with operations leaders in a variety of top companies for two decades, I've seen that many are unfortunately strict adherents to the law of UP — for one main reason: They've neglected an all-important results-driver, motivation.

Clearly, many factors further operational excellence: capital, cycle time, technological advancements, quality, efficiencies, etc. But motivation is the most fundamental, operational determinant at all, for it drives all the others.

After all, operations is the sum of people doing many jobs; and when skilled people are motivated to accomplish those jobs, great results happen.

But many operations perceive motivation as "soft" — as opposed to the "hard" factors of cycle time, quality control, etc. — and so either ignore it or struggle with actualizing it on a daily basis.

I see motivation, however, as a "hard" determinant of operations that can be a concrete, a practical results-producer.

I'm going to provide four imperatives that you can use right away to achieve consistent increases in operational results. But before I do, I'll offer a working description of motivation. For leaders often fail to motivate others because those leaders misunderstand the concept of motivation.

The best way for me to describe it is to describe what it is not. Motivation is not what people think or feel. It's what people do. Look at the first two letters of the word, "mo." When you see those letters in a word, such as "motor", "motion", "momentum", "mobile", etc., it usually means action of some kind. Look at motivation as action too. If people are not taking action, they are in point of fact not motivated.

Motivation is not something we can do to somebody else. It is always something that that someone else does to themselves. Look back over your career, and you will see that the motivator and the "motivatee" were always the same person. As a leader, you communicate, but the people whom you want to motivate must motivate themselves.

Motivation is not a dispassionate dynamic. It is an "emotional" dynamic. The words "motivation" and "emotion" come from the same Latin root word, which means "to move." When we want to move (motivate) people to take action, or in truth have them motivate themselves, we engage their emotions. Put another way: People will not take action for more results faster continually unless their emotions are engaged.

Finally, the best way to enter into a motivational relationship with people is not by distant communication but the kind of face-to-face speech that has people make the choice to be committed to your cause.

Those are descriptions of what motivation truly is. But descriptions alone won't help you meet the challenges of UP. You must follow clear imperatives to help you transform descriptions into results.

Here are four that will help you cultivate motivational operations.

1. Give leadership talks not presentations. The difference between a presentation and a leadership talk is what Mark Twain said the difference between the almost right word and the right word is. "That is the difference," he said, "between the lightning bug and lightning."

Let's understand the basic difference between the presentation and the leadership talk. Presentations communicate information; but leadership talks have people believe in you, follow you, and, most important of all, want to take leadership for your cause.

My experience has taught me that 95% of all communication in business is accomplished through the presentations. However, if 95% of communication were accomplished through the leadership talk instead, leaders would be far more effective in getting results.

So before you speak to people, and leaders speak 15 to 20 and more times a day, ask yourself if you are simply providing information or are you motivating those people to motivate themselves to take action for results.

2. Create motivational systems. Most operational leaders are good a systemizing quality initiatives, cycle time, efficiencies, etc. But few understand that some of the most important systems they can put into place are systems that help people make the choice for motivation.

A particularly effective motivational system is one that saturates operations with "cause leaders."

Unquestionably, people accomplish a task better if they are not simply doing it but taking leadership of it instead. When we are challenged to take leadership, we raise our performance to much higher levels. With that in mind, create systems that identify cause leaders, challenge them to take specific leadership action, and support those actions through systematized training and resource allocations.

3. See results not as an end but as a motivational process. Clearly, you have to get results. But many operations leaders misunderstand what results are about. I teach leaders the concept of achieving "more results faster continually" — not by speeding up but instead by slowing down and working less, by putting the motivational imperatives into practice. Leaders understand the "more results faster" aspect — but they often stumble when it comes to the "continually" aspect.

We can usually order people to get more results faster. But we can't order people to do it on a continual basis. That's where motivation comes in. Instead of ordering people to go from point A to point B, say, we must have them want to go from A to B. That "want to" is the heart of "continually."

When we understand results this way, understand that we must achieve "more, faster" on a continual basis, then we begin to make motivational operations a way of life.

4. Challenge people to be motivational leaders. The imperatives are powerful when you use them consistently. But they are even more powerful when you have your leaders use them and teach others to use them. After all, you alone can't create motivational operations. You need others to help you do it, especially those mid-level and small-unit leaders. If they are not putting the imperatives into practice every day, your attempts to raise the standards of operations to a consistently high motivational level will falter.




Define the success of your leadership by how well your leaders are leading, and you are well on your way to making motivational operations a reality.

Once you begin to institute motivational operations by applying the four imperatives, the law of Unfulfilled Potential becomes your competitor's worry, not yours.

De-Stress Your Work Day

Career stress? Here's how to simplify your 9 to 5.

1. Get a Head Start

Leave home 30 minutes earlier than normal. Studies find that the less rushed you feel in the morning, the less stressed you'll be for the rest of the day.

2. Bring Snacks

Bring a spill-proof coffee cup filled with your favorite brew to the office, and have a bag of nonperishable snacks on hand (try protein bars, dried fruit and nuts, juice boxes, or pretzels). Going for more than a few hours without a snack can cause your blood sugar levels to drop, and you'll end up exacerbating stress. This way, even if you have to work through back-to-back meetings, you'll be able to grab some fuel.

3. Give Yourself Some Credit

Most of us don’t take enough time to praise ourselves for doing things well. So when you’ve completed an interim or long-term goal, tell yourself—out loud—what a good job you’ve done. You’ll get a burst of confidence that will go a long way towards helping you maintain your cool amid the workplace madness.

4. Schedule 10 Minutes of “Worry Time”

Close your office door or go sit in an empty conference room and think about what's stressing you out. Bring a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns: My Worry; Why It Worries Me; Worst Thing That Could Happen. Once you confront the worst-case scenario, and realize that it probably won't ever happen, you can get back to work with your worry load lightened.

5. Manage Your Email

With about 5.5 trillion emails sent each year, it's no wonder your inbox is overflowing. To keep from stressing out, cut down the amount of time you spend reading and sending emails. Don't waste a message acknowledging receipt of an email, and put responses in the subject when possible so you don't have to compose a new message. Finally, use the “rule of three”: if you’ve gone back and forth on a topic three times and you’re still confused or have questions, pick up the phone.

6. Stretch

This is especially important if you have a sedentary job. Try lifting your legs up and stretching them for 30 seconds. This movement reduces the risk of blood clots that can result from sitting too long in one position. Another useful exercise is to put one arm behind your neck and stretch it by holding on to the elbow with the opposite arm. Switch sides and repeat.

7. Have a “Perspective Reminder”

Stress can overpower you at times, but your troubles are smaller than they seem. To remind yourself of that, keep a picture in your office—the earth taken from space, a starry night or the ocean—and look at it whenever you feel overwhelmed. Amid countless stars and the timeless crashing of waves against the shore, how important is that deadline, really?

8. Plan Ahead

When work is challenging, devote some of your down time, like weekends and evenings, to making a to-do list for the next week. Make a list, place boxes next to each item, and tick off the boxes as you get things done. You’ll avoid forgetting anything, you’ll stay focused on the job, and it’s very satisfying to tick off those boxes.

9. Socialize With Colleagues

Suggest a once-a-week gathering with your co-workers where you can talk about a particular work issue. Use your collective brain to figure out how to do something better, enhance productivity, or improve relationships.

10. Remind Yourself Why

Make a display in your office to remind you of your personal life. Include pictures of your spouse, children, and pet, a photograph of yourself doing something fun, plus a memento that reminds you of a special occasion. When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed and stressed out, take five minutes and simply enjoy the display. Recall the day each picture was taken. Hold your memento and return in your memory to the day you got it. Now you’re ready to return to work.

The Two Most Important Practices in Life

The two most important practices in life necessitate the proper management of time and the continual development of personal relationships. 

Possessing an elite social status with an abundance of money, a solid education, and even perfect health will seem irrelevant in the face of routine loneliness.  What’s the point in striving for personal success if you don’t have anyone to share your story with, or enough time to enjoy it? 

All too often in the news we read success stories supporting the endeavors of young career professionals that put “their lives” on hold while in pursuit of the prestigious career and job title of their dreams.  I’m not saying it’s wrong, I truly believe you should pursuit your dreams.  Putting all your effort into achieving something you truly desire makes sense… it is basis behind the every person’s dream.  However, there must be a balance.  The time spent on business matters can never be recovered.  If sufficient time is not allocated to fostering new relationships and nurturing current ones, will the end result suitably reflect the original envisioned dream, or will it leave something to be desired?

Remember, you can easily invest your time in exchange for money, status, education, and health; but nothing can buy you more time.  Make sure you spend it wisely, leaving enough time for the people you care about most.

10 CONVERSATION TRICKS

1. Feign sincerity with eye contact and repetition: Make eye contact, echo what the person is saying to you back to them, and nod in understanding (even if you're not).

2. End a conversation with body language: for example, simply standing up (or crossing your arms, or speeding up to a "fast walk") to indicate it's time for that person to go and you're busy.

3. Ask sensitive questions indirectly to skip awkwardness: Use it when the info you need from someone is somewhat sensitive, use the bluff ("the breakup must've been hard, huh?") or blame others ("so has anyone asked about your prison time?") or the indirect inquiry ("what year did you get divorced?")

4. Use silence to win arguments and nail a negotiation: for example, when the other party offers a price, opt for a long pause to indicate hesitation, which might prompt them to go lower. In the case of arguments, prolonged silence may frustrate the other personal but it'll also make you look like the winner.

5. Soften critiques with the sandwich method to soften the blow: start with a compliment, then mention your critique, then end on a positive note.

6. Say "no" gently or say "yes, but....": For example, "I'm in the middle of several projects right now" to "I'm not the right person for that job."

7. Ask questions well

8. De-code office jargon: Client want to "touch base"? Manager want to "get on the same page"? Search Google for "Office Slang".

9. "Pace and lead" an irate person: Instead of remaining calm, match the other party's emotional intensity to show you're empathetic, then lead the complainant to a calmer level of discourse.

10. Become a human lie detector: Note sudden changes in voice pitch, rate of speech, or "ums" and "ahs," a change in eye contact, and body position.