Striving towards Excellence

-Karthik Gurumurthy

You know what's wild?  Success is not measured by what you do compared to what others do. Success is measured by what you do compared to what you could have done with the ability God has given you. The whole objective of this blog is to recognize, develop and use your abilities to the maximum. It's really about making the most of what you've got!

Think about it like this: You could be making bank at your job, but if you're miserable doing it, can you really call that success? Maybe for you, success means loving what you do AND making decent money AND helping others. It's like making your own success recipe!

The trick is figuring out what success looks like for YOU before you start chasing it. It's like planning a road trip - you've gotta know where you want to end up before you start driving, right? When you do this, something awesome happens - your brain starts getting excited about reaching that goal, which actually helps you keep going when things get tough.

Here's what's really important: YOU get to decide what success means in your life. Want to measure it in dollars? Go for it. Want to measure it in smiles? That works too! The key is deciding what "winning" looks like for you BEFORE you start playing the game. That way, when you hit those goals, you'll actually know you've made it!

Bottom line? Success isn't about keeping up with the Joneses - it's about making the most of what you've got and defining the win on your own terms.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

"When you arrive at your future, will you blame your past?"
-- Robert Half

What holds you back from being and doing more?

In your journal, list what you believe is holding you back.

Have you blamed people or factors outside of yourself?
It's important to understand that ALL problems are rooted inside us. Even the blocks that appear to be outside of us are only reflecting back an issue we have inside that we have not yet owned. Once we address our inner issue, the outer situation no longer troubles us.

The buck always stops with us. We step into our power when we accept responsibility for our lives.

"The most self-destructive thought that any person can have is thinking that he or she is not in total control of his or her life. That's when, ‘Why me?’ becomes a theme song."
-- Roger Dawson

"...look at that word blame. It's just a coincidence that the last two letters spell the word me. But that coincidence is worth thinking about. Other people or unfortunate circumstances may have caused you to feel pain, but only you control whether you allow that pain to go on. If you want those feelings to go away, you have to say: ‘It's up to me'."
-- Arthur Freeman

-Karthik Gurumurthy

1. Carry a notebook everywhere because you need to capture important ideas. Fight boredom with creative writing, vision casting and planning.

2. Get clear on the results you want to create before you think about strategies and tactics.

3. Know what you do best and what only you can do. Those are the things that should get first priority on your schedule.

4. Be willing to do what is necessary but don’t do what you’re not best at unless it is absolutely necessary. Delegate what you can.

5. Don’t try to outsource your creativity. As for input and ideas, but take responsibility for your own creative output.

6. Think again. And again. Spending money without forethought is expensive.

7. Know yourself. Schedule according to your style and preferences.

8. Don’t do what is easy, do what is important.

9. Have a few priorities but a long to do list.

10. Write it down as soon as you think it.

11. Don’t do things out of obligation. If it doesn’t represent an opportunity, why are you doing it?

12. Question for the beginning of the day: what are the most important things I want to accomplish today? Question for the end of the day: what did I accomplish today?

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I believe that the purpose of life is twofold:

• First, we have a human duty to discover who we truly are and access our highest abilities.
• Second, once we discover who we truly are I believe we have an obligation to present our gifts to the world in a way that adds value to the human beings around us.

So, step one in fulfilling your life’s purpose is to understand that the doorway to success does not open outward but inward. In other words, the first step to claiming your destiny is to begin the journey of discovering your best self.

I believe every human being has to do the inner work called to do. I invite you to press the pause button on your life and to consider whether you are taking steps on a regular basis to access your highest abilities, your best talents and your authentic self. I know life is busy and it is difficult to make time to reflect and ponder in this day and age but life slips away very quickly and it is easy to get caught up in an unconscious life. The elite performers on the planet and the most fulfilled people have the same quality: they pay attention to life and are very awake. They make time on a daily basis to keep deepening themselves and moving through their fears. They know their weaknesses better than their strengths. And rather than running away from all the things that they are resisting, they run towards them and in doing so they transcend them.

Here are 3 practices that I offer you to help you claim your destiny by discovering your best self:

1. Keep asking yourself the following question: “What am I resisting most in my life?”. We all have blocks that limit us. At our core, we are infinite potential, ideal health, unconditional love and pure fearlessness. In other words, everything that we want to be we already are. We are simply blocked to accessing our highest potential. Just as an artery to the heart can become blocked, our access to our greatness can become blocked as we pick up other people’s limiting beliefs and the fears taught to us by our early teachers. By doing the inner work, we become conscious of our blocks. And the more we pay attention to them, the more we can make choices around transcending them.

2. Practice solitude, silence, and stillness on a daily basis. All of the deepest answers to your biggest questions already lie within you. Science is starting to show that the heart’s intelligence is extraordinarily powerful. In the past, we have believed that the brain holds all our intelligence but this is no longer the case as proven by the new field known as Neurocardiology. Five thousand years ago the mystics were already inviting us to listen to the heart's wisdom and to govern ourselves accordingly. When we go into silence, we can still hear the mental chatter that dominates our days and connect with the deepest part of ourselves.

The more we can go into silence, the more we can let our hearts guide us to living a truly authentic and inspiring life. Make your positive affirmations about where you want to go and practice your self-talk.

3. Connect to a Crusade. It is essential, in claiming your destiny, to connect to something higher than yourself. Every great leader who has ever walked the planet before us discovered a Cause. Discovering your “big vision” will serve to motivate you, give you more energy than you have ever experienced and help you to stay focused and inspired through the difficult times that every human being must face sometime along the journey. Discovering your Crusade will help you shift from a focus on success to a commitment to significance. It will help you step out of your current life and step into your highest possibilities so that you feel a deep sense of mission about everything that you do. And remember, for a Crusade to be effective and to truly engage you at your core level, it must ultimately be something that adds value to human lives and makes a difference in the world. When you shift from a compulsion to survive toward a commitment to serve, your life cannot help but explode into success.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

For some people, life is miserable and marriage does not work thus leading to impatience and misery.

I would like to say that if your marriage has failed, can one not treat failure as a learning experience? Failure is a fertilizer for success. Failure is God’s or nature’s purpose to teach us something profound. Many times relationships do not work because men and women are not sensitive to each other’s comfort and discomfort zones. This unawareness leads one to tread into the other’s discomfort zone. Once this happens, one is unhappy and feels that the other is responsible for it. Then each one is busy maintaining a score of one’s hurt and settling accounts with each other. To be aware of each other’s sensitive zones helps in understanding each other very well. But, some people will say that there are so much struggle in their lives. Struggle is a part and parcel of life. Make the struggles sacred, give them eyes to see, ears to hear, and heart to feel, legs to walk.

Then one would have implanted sacredness in one’s struggle, which in turn will lead one up the ladder of success. Of course, this will take time. One should learn to wait with understanding and commitment.

The following story gives the insight of how to see things in a proper perspective.

A man went to a shop, picked up a beautiful cup. The cup started talking to him. “I was not lovely before the pot-maker made me so?”. “I felt wreathed in pain while being separated from earth. But the potter said, ‘Just wait.’ “Then he put me into an oven and heated me up. I felt completely burnt. He said ‘Just wait.’

He poured hot paint on me. I felt the fumes and irritation. And finally he took me to a mirror and said ‘Now look at yourself.’ Oh, what a change! I found myself so beautiful”.

We have to wait; our struggles have a cosmic purpose. When our agenda is not fulfilled, it gives us pain. But the universe has its own plans. We just have to learn from experiences, make some changes in our plans, thought process, be consistent and persistent, stay steady. We have to wait and make our struggles sacred.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Courtesy,happiness and enthusiasm are all good habits. You can literally force yourself to be courteous, happy and enthusiastic with every person you meet. After you have forced yourself to be so for a short period of time, the habit takes over. 

Good habits are hard to acquire but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to acquire but hard to live with. We build our character from the bricks of habit we pile up day by day. My  Kindergarten friend Sudarsanam (fondly referred to as Susi) is a perfect example of Courteous.  My good friend Vijay is enthusiastic, excited and passionate about he everything does.  His nick name is "Enthu". My good friend Ranga (Rangasubramanian) is always happy and thankful. From my good friends, I have learned to practice these qualities on a day-to-day basis.

-Karthik Gurumurthy 

Some things are better left unsaid which I generally realize after I have said them.

#Laterealization

-Karthik Gurumurthy

What are the things you didn’t learn in school that have proven most value to you in life?

I’ve asked myself that question. I’ve learned much over the years and but am most interested in those things that have provided the greatest benefit; those things that have improved the quality of my life.

Currently we do not have kids, but I know once  we have them, these are the same lessons I want my kids to learn. While they could learn them on their own, I feel responsible for guiding them in these lessons. What follows is a short list (in no way exhaustive or in any particular order) of those life lessons I believe will most benefit them.

Being able to talk to anyone.

The ability to engage a stranger in conversation is not only an important life skill but the gateway to rewarding relationships.

The power of a simple daily plan.

Know at the outset of each day the two or three important things you desire to accomplish.

The rewards of work.

Many divorce the monetary compensation of work from the discipline and reward it instills. Work should be more than transactional. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment that comes from a job well done regardless of the pay or lack thereof.

The undependability of luck.

Life isn’t a lottery ticket. You can’t depend on happenstance and fortune to make your way. The only luck you can count on is the luck you make with your wit and hard work.

The value of lots of experiences.

Those who try little limit themselves severely. The more things you attempt, the more quickly you learn what you really value.

The ability to extract lessons from whatever happens.

No teacher will follow you through life to tell you what you should have learned from what happened. Reflection about what can be learned from anything that happens is the key to lifelong learning.

The willingness to confront facts and take responsibility.

You only get full credit when you take responsibility. Facing harsh facts is never easy by always essential. The question always reduces to “What can I do to positively affect this situation?”

How to handle money.

Money provides means but it doesn’t provide skills. While earning money is something almost everyone learns, learning how to handle it is too often neglected. The ability to save, manage and invest money is necessary for the accumulation and effective use of money earned.

How to be bigger than circumstances or the limitations of others.

Petty people are never an adequate excuse to be petty. The noble are those who can maintain composure and act with dignity regardless of their situation.

Resilience.

That is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and defeats, and to do so as quickly as possible. The ability to get back on your feet when you’ve been knocked down by life is crucial.

These are all lesson taught directly in word and indirectly in deed. The latter is most powerful.

Dear Friend,
If you are here and you are tired of the struggle; if you seen more pain than gain and you've been working hard for little or no perceivable progress; you've been weary for so long that you've forgotten what it feels like to be rested; it's taking longer than you ever thought it would take and you see those around seeming to succeed with the success you wish you had...

Yes, you are well aware that the road to glory is narrow and yes, you understand the road is not straight, but of late it 's so winding that you wonder if you're just running around in circles. You've been beaten up, knocked to the ground and kicked, and that's just by your own inadequacy and you just hope that you are able to conceal it with a brave face so that no one notices your discouragement. More than once, you have wondered if it's worth the effort. And you have lost count of how many times you've wanted to give up and drop out.

Well, I have been sent to tell you that if your goal is not just be a decent father, but to be a great one; if your goal is to be a mother who inspires and teaches her children to do something beautiful with their lives; if your goal is to be husband who exemplifies the definition of love and courage; to be a wife who by her grace and countenance brings out the best in others; if your goal is to be a parent who sets a tone in the home of peace and security, a parent who leaves a legacy of faith and prosperity for generations to come; if your goal is to a brother who is dependable, a sister who is trustworthy; if your goal is to be a person who overcomes fears, failures and self-criticisms; to be a person who rises above all disappointments to make a positive contribution to the lives of others...

If your goal is to complete the mission; to stay true to what is right; to be a leader who inspires others to do the same; if your goal is to one day stand before God and hear him say, " Well done good and faithful servant," then by all means, look up, get up, shape up but don't give up. The best things in life happens to those who DON'T GIVE UP!

-Karthik Gurumurthy

"As long as one keeps searching, the answers come."
-- Joan Baez

Why? Why? Why?

Asking ourselves 'why?' helps us delve deeply into our main motives -- why we do what we do. This process helps us go deeper into our reasoning, habits and unconscious beliefs. Once we become aware of our underlying motives, we can choose to change them, if we wish.

Regularly ask yourself, "Why am I ...?" Listen closely for the answer that surfaces in your mind, and write it down. Now look at your answer and ask why again. Continue with this process to reach the true source of your motivation.

"Men are more accountable for their motives, than for anything else ...."

-- Archibald Alexander

-Karthik Gurumurthy

One of my friends I was speaking with wanted to share his concern for the upbringing of his children in America. How was he to keep them away from drugs, alcohol and glamor? He was terrified with all the news and media. He said “My life is miserable whenever I think of my children in this permissiveness. What should be my approach to the bringing up of my children?”

Often I question the very genesis of such an enquiry. When we operate out of fear, we transmit the energy of fear to our children; in a subtle way, of course. If we were to operate out of trust, we would transmit trust to our children.

We have to realize that our actions are born from our thoughts. Our thoughts are the products of our values, and values come from our own belief system. If we believe life is miserable, we attract misery; if we believe life is beautiful, we attract happiness. This is called the ‘Law of Attraction’.

We get what we focus on; so focus on the fact that good things will happen to our children. This is one of the strong variables, which would impact our children.

But the parent asks lovingly, “Why do children detest advice?”

The question is, are they really against advice or the way we administer it? Every parent should be sensitive to this aspect.

Reflect on this story: A money-minded son after having his lunch wrote a note to his mother that she owed him $25 and he gave a detailed account- $ 5 for cleaning the house, $ 5 for washing the dishes, $ 15 for mowing the lawn. The mother was shocked on reading the note. She however decided to educate her son.

In turn she kept a note on the dining table, which read- “Oh! Son, you owe me nothing.” My account runs like this:

$ 0 for cooking your food

$ 0 for washing your clothes

$ 0 for ironing them

$ 0 for cleaning your bathroom

$ 0 for taking you to the doctor

$ 0 for the present on your birthday

$ 0 for taking you to the school and bringing you back

Finally, dear son, you owe me nothing; because I love you.

The son read this note and was deeply touched.

Children are not against advice; but they are very sensitive to the way it is administered. The heart of education is the education of the heart.

“How can I learn to advise in this manner?” asks the parent.

Reflect on this: Have you observed birds building nests? They build in such a way that when it rains, not a drop of water falls in the nest.

How did the mother bird learn the art of such an engineering feat? It is said that when the mother bird is pregnant, intuitively this knowledge arises. Love for the offspring brings out this latent wisdom to build the nest.

Let your love guide you and not fear.

Love will show you the way.

My friend nods in affirmation that love is the supreme power. He further asked, “How to deal with children’s boredom despite the variety in entertainment through media?”

Reflect on this story:

A boy complained to his grandmother, “No one likes me at school and life is bitter. My teachers reprimand me, friends are better than me in sports, some friends are better than me in studies and I feel bitter about life”.

“Shall I make a cake for you?,” asked the grandmother.

“Good, I badly need to sweeten my life,” said the boy.

After some time, she gave him flour. “This is not cake, it is so bitter,” screamed the boy. Then she gave him little baking powder.Again the boy screamed, “This is not cake, it is so bitter.” Then she gave him an egg. “This is not cake, it is not tasty,” screamed the boy.

Then the grandmother lovingly told the boy, “Individually each one of them is not tasty but when put together; it becomes a cake”.

“In the same way,” she said, “Individually your experiences are bitter; but join them together with commitment and transformation. Add the sugar of your being and make it a cake. Life is like cooking, you should just make it happen.”

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I have been reading "Eat the Frog" by Brian Tracy. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who wants to work effectively..If you can commit to yourself about practicing the principles Brian talks about on a regular basis, you will definitely see great results in your work. Some words of wisdom from Brian are as follows:

• Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
• Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.
• You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.
• The more credit you give away, the more will come back to you. The more you help others, the more they will want to help you.
• Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.
• People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.
• Your self-confidence is directly connected to how much you feel you are making a difference in your world.
• Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.
• Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, "What is the most valuable use of my time right now?"

-Karthik Gurumurthy

“If we have to lead, we need to learn” most of us know that our first lessons were learnt at home and mother is our first teacher. As we grew up, we started learning new things from different sources, we feel we have graduated from the initial classes and move on from our parents - our initial teachers. Unfortunately what we miss is the learning what we can gain from these initial teachers about leadership.

Is it not true that mother thinks from the heart and not from her brain when it comes to do anything whit the child? Is it not true that when she loves, it is unconditional?Good leaders are no different, even if they get ideas in their brain, when it comes to execution, which requires people; it is done through the heart.

I recall a wonderful quote - “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”. We might be genius, but people don’t care and will not follow until they know we care for them.

The most important thing in good leadership is truly caring. The best leaders in any profession care about the people they lead, and the people who are being led know when the caring is genuine and when it’s faked or not there at all. When it comes to caring, who could be a better teacher than mother? By learning to care we learn to lead.

It is like searching for peace externally all around us and many of us even travel long distance in the quest and in reality it is so easy to find it if we travel few inches internally to our heart. Same way, we have the best teacher to teach leadership at home, let us start learning leadership from home.

 
Thanks to mom and dad for a great example.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Today is Birthday of legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova.  Martina Navratilova was once asked, “How do you maintain your focus, physique and sharp game even at the age of 43?" She gave a humble reply, “The ball doesn’t know how old I am”.

You need to stop yourself from stopping yourself. Every game in life is actually played on a 6 inch ground – the space between your two ears. We don't live in mansions, townhouses or apartments. We live in our mind which is an unlimited area. Life is great when things are sorted and uncluttered there. Keeping the mind messy with hatred growing on the table, regrets piling up in corner, expectations boiling in kitchen, secrets stuffed under the carpet and worries littered everywhere ruins this real home. The key factor to performing well in life and in every arena, is the ability to control the quality and quantity of your “internal dialogue”. Performance is potential minus internal interference.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

My father always tells me that it could take several years to build your reputation and yet it can be lost in few seconds. I truly believe that few things are as important as your good name. You can not put a price tag on getting your phone calls returned. And yet, so many people on the planet today suffer from short term thinking. They go for the cash grab in order to get the quick win. But, business success is all about relationship success. And that takes time. By under promising and over delivering, finishing what you start, being a great listener and delivering outrageous value for you clients, you will win their trust as well as their respect. That will promote your personal brand: your reputation. Guard your good name as one of your most cherished assets. Be impeccably honest and never do anything that will tarnish what you stand for. This will lead to a long career in business as well as a highly fulfilling life.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Do you know what it feels like to disappoint someone?

Have you ever disappointed someone at work?

We probably all know what it feels like to disappoint someone. It’s not a good feeling. “I’m disappointed in you” are painful words for anyone to hear, whether you’re a child, employee, or spouse.

And when those words come from someone you work for (or work with), it may cause you to fear the repercussions, or even doubt if you are a good fit for the role. Thinking this way only does more harm than good, which is why it is important to know what to do when you disappoint someone at work.

Disappointment is one of the most unpleasant things to experience. So how do we deal with it?

What to Do When You Disappoint Someone At Work

When you disappoint someone at work (it is inevitable for us all – we are all only human, after all), how can you address disappointment to rectify the situation in the quickest and most productive way?

Here are 4 things you can do when you disappoint someone at work.

1. Apologize

If you made a mistake, or are responsible for the error that occurred, apologize for the disappointing behavior. Do not get defensive. You should also be sure to not overthink it.

Try to think about why the person is disappointed in you.

If someone is disappointed, they are upset.

Getting defensive will only cause the situation to get worse. Apologize for your role in the shortfall of expectations and look for ways to address the situation.

When I talk with senior leaders,  I explain that by trying to find a solution or having open communication about the mistake that was made, you can avoid confrontation and deal with it in a respectful and professional manner.

2. Understand it

What happened to cause disappointment? Why is the person disappointed? What did you do or what did the other person perceive? Was it a simple misunderstanding?

Could it be something simple, like you rushed through a project or forgot to check a detail of the project that made a significant impact later?

Maybe you took on more than you could handle and this is a wake-up call to scale things back.

Use this as an opportunity to find areas of improvement that you can work on. And always remember to use problems as opportunities to grow.

Find the cause so you can understand how to go forward in a positive way.

3. Identify a fix

Once you understand what caused the disappointment, it will be time to come to the table with possible solutions to prevent a repeat of the disappointment in the future.

This is a great way to do “damage control” and show your employer that you are proactive and that you actively want to find a solution to the problem.

This has the potential to immediately reduce the disappointment and negative emotions. The person you are working with will be relieved to know that you are taking them seriously and willing to prevent future disappointment.

4. Accept

Remember: nobody is perfect.

It is perfectly normal to feel bad about the mistake you made. Remember that everyone makes mistakes.

The fact that you feel bad about disappointing someone is a sign of maturity.

You are the kind of person who is intentional about keeping commitments and doing a good job.

No one wants to intentionally disappoint someone, especially if that person is someone they work for or work with. But there will still be situations where it occurs.

Pave the Way for Future Improvement

How will you react the next time you disappoint someone at work? Use the above recommendations to help solve the problem. You can also use the above tips in other aspects of your life. If you disappoint a friend or family member, these tips can help minimize the damage.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

It's difficult to lead effectively if you're not managing your time well. Interestingly, our inability to be as efficient as possible often has more to do with what we're not doing than what we are doing, according to time management expert Donald E. Wetmore, author of Beat the Clock and Organizing Your Life.

In a recent article on darwinmag.com, Whetmore outlines several mistakes that can keep you from achieving peak productivity each day. Here are a few:

• Neglecting to clean up your work area. "Studies have shown that the person who works with a messy desk spends, on average, one-and-a-half hours per day looking for things or being distracted by things," Whetmore says. "That's seven-and-a-half hours per week."

• Starting the day without a plan. This causes you to "begin yourday by responding to the loudest voice … and spend it in a defensive mode, responding to other people's and events' demands," he writes. "You will have worked hard but may not have done enough of the right things. Time management is not doing the wrong things quicker. That just gets us nowhere faster. Time management is doing the right things."

• Skipping lunch breaks. Contrary to popular belief, habitually working through lunch will not give you more time to accomplish your work. "After doing what we do for several hours, we start to dull out," Whetmore explains. "A lunch break, even a short 15-minute break, gives us a chance to get our batteries all charged up again to more effectively handle the afternoon's challenges."

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Today is the 93rd Birthday of the legendary UCLA Coach Wooden. On this day, we can ponder over his thought-provoking maxims.

• " Don't measure yourself by what you accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."
• “Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”
• “Discipline yourself and others won't need to.”
• "Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life."
• " You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
• "Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights."
• “You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.”
• ‎"Ability is a poor man's wealth."
• “Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them, and your foes won't believe them.”
• "The time to make friends is before you need them."
• "Never try to be better than someone else. Learn from others and try to be the best you can be. Success is the byproduct of that preparation."

Simplicity is the key to effective teaching.  Great teachers like Coach Wooden, are great simplifiers. They take complex ideals or skills, break them down into their component parts, then teach them one simple piece at a time. Then they gradually add new ideas or new skills, one at a time, drill them repeatedly, and enable students to gradually achieve mastery without being overwhelmed by complexity.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

A professor began his class by holding up a glass  with some water in it. He held it up for all to see & asked the students,' How much do you think  this glass weighs?'

'50gms!' .... '100gms!' ......'125gms' ......the students answered.

'I really don't know unless I weigh it,' said the professor, 'but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?'

'Nothing' the students said.

'Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked.

'Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the students.

'You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?'

'Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis &have to go to hospital for sure!' ventured another student & all the students laughed.

'Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?' asked the professor.

'No'

'Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?' The students were puzzled.

'Put the glass down!' said one of the students.

'Exactly!' said the professor.' Life's problems are something like  this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head & they seem OK. Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache. Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.

It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to 'put them down' at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh & strong & can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!'
Remember  to 'PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!

by Karthik Gurumurthy

You know what it’s like to feel unmotivated. You sit and stare at your to-do list, and nothing on it inspires you at all. It’s just a string of tasks that you wish you didn’t have to do. Simply getting started seems to take an unfathomable amount of effort.

Yet, you don’t always feel that way. You know what motivation feels like, too. You have times when you can’t wait to get started on something – a much-anticipated trip, a big project that you’ve been looking forward to sinking your teeth into, a new course that you’re taking, or a job which is going to be so satisfying when it’s done.

So how can you make sure that you are motivated, whatever the task at hand?

 

Psychologists distinguish between two forms of motivation, internal and external. The effects of each might feel the same – excitement, being keen to “get on with it” – but the two types of motivation arise from different places.

Internal Motivation
Internal motivation comes from within. It’s the sort of motivation that you get when you’re doing something you enjoy; when the task itself is its own reward. Think of something you love – perhaps computer games, playing the guitar, cooking, painting … any activity you enjoy. You never procrastinate over it, do you? It seems almost silly to ask that – of course you don’t, if anything, you put off other tasks in order to do the ones you enjoy!

One way to make your to-do list easier is to put as many tasks on it as possible which are things you love. Sometimes they might be hard, or you might feel a little resistance to getting started – but once you’re doing them, you find them fun.

In some cases, that might mean rethinking your career choice or your lifestyle. If your life is made up of a whole string of unexciting or unpleasant tasks, how did you get into that situation? What can you do to change it?

When you’re engaged on something which makes you internally motivated, you’ll find that:

• It’s fairly easy to maintain your concentration
• You’re keen to do well because the task deserves your best effort
• You’d do it whether or not you were paid or rewarded in any way

Intrinsic motivation can be a powerful force – but it can also be subject to your moods; when you’re feeling cheerful and upbeat, you’re more likely to enjoy what you’re working on than when you’re feeling low. And for some tasks, there’s simply no way you’re going to enjoy them. That’s where extrinsic motivation comes in.

External Motivation

External motivation comes from outside. This is the motivation which gets you to plough on with something you don’t like all that much … because you know there will be a reward at the end. Think of a time in your life when you stuck with something in order to reach a particular goal: maybe you studied hard in college not because you loved studying, but because you wanted to get your degree. Or perhaps you worked in a job that bored you because you needed the paycheck. On a day to day level, you probably clean your house because you want it to be a pleasant place to live – not because you really love cleaning.

Sometimes, people think that extrinsic motivation is shallow or false – but it can be a very powerful force. Most difficult things become more bearable when you’ve got something to look forward to at the end.

With external motivation, you’ll find that:

• It might be hard to concentrate – you may be tempted to procrastinate
• You want to do the task to a high enough standard to get the reward or achieve the goal at the end, but you don’t care much about it being perfect or excellent.
• You’d be much more reluctant to do it if there was no reward.

External motivation is easier to manufacture than intrinsic motivation. If you have a string of tasks which need to be done, but which don’t interest or excite you in any way, can you find extrinsic motivation? That might mean:

• Promising yourself a reward at the end (e.g. a cookie, a new DVD, some “me time” to indulge)
• Focusing on the goal rather than on the process – the finished result
• Finding a way for the completed task to give you public acknowledgment or acclaim (easier said than done – taking a qualification would be one way, or joining an organization focused on that particular area)

What works for you? Are most of your activities intrinsically or extrinsically motivated – or is it a bit of both?

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Possibly the best definition of Accountability I have come across anywhere.

“I think that without owning something, over an extended period of time, like a few years, where one has a chance to take responsibility for one’s recommendations, where one has to see all recommendations through all action stages and accumulate scar tissues for the mistakes and pick oneself off the ground, dust oneself off, one just learns a fraction of what one can. Coming in and making recommendations and not owning the results, not owning the implementation, I think is a fraction of the value and a fraction of the opportunity of learning to get better.”

- Steve Jobs, addressing the students of MIT Sloan School of Management in the spring of 1992.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

My writing is my own road map – it shows me the way forward.

It lets me tell my stories and share my beliefs with the world at large.

When I write, I belong in the here and the now. 

Writing helps me discover myself, my innermost world of thoughts that often lies trapped under the layers of duties, daily chores and responsibilities that sum up my day.

I write to connect with myself.

Writing is a way of clarifying my thoughts, reflections and beliefs to myself first and then, to the world.

Writing to me is about finding meaning and then sharing it with the world.

I write to be fully alive and free, to find contentment because I’ve always wanted to do so for a very long time, not knowing why.

Writing helps us make art out of everyday, ordinary moments.

I write because it allows me to create something through words and then, at the press of a button, gives me that indefinable joy of sharing it with others across the world.

We all go through experiences that teach us some difficult life lessons. I write because it pushes me beyond the barriers of everyday existence into a world of possibilities. The path may not always be smooth and predictable, but there are new horizons to explore always, which add to more adventure in life, away from the staid and the ordinary.

Writing makes one view life with a multi-coloured lens to be able to present the myriad hues of the human condition to the reader. Each moment of anticipation is full of excitement about what could happen in the next.

As I said earlier, my writing is still a work in progress. It is not about the destination, but all about the journey!

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Today is my best friends birthday.  Wishing her long, healthy life, abundance of Happiness, and wishing her tremendous success in all her endeavors. She is my favorite speaker and every time she gets to speak on stage, the audience is pumped up. What is special about Shobana?

Shobana has lot of great traits but today I am going to share about her speaking skillset and what I have learned from our speeches.

Mark Twain was once asked the reason for his success. He replied back, " I was born excited". One of the chief reasons for success in life is the ability to maintain a daily interest in one's work, to have a chronic enthusiasm. When Shobana speaks, she has contagious enthusiasm. You can be really enthusiastic only when you are convinced about the topic you are talking about. Sincerity, earnestness, enthusiasm and determination to give yourself to the audience for a few minutes into a feeling of agreeement with you, a friendliness for you, a willingness to be interested. 

What I have learned from Shobana is, to give a speech that catches the attention of the audience, the speaker needs to be convinced first. That is what I have observed with Shobana. I have seen this trait with a lot of good speakers. They get a number of yes- responses. With more yeses,  you are setting the psychological process of listeners in the affirmative direction. The more the Yeses we get at the outset,  the more likely we are to succeed in capturing the attention for what we are sharing. Shobana always finds a common ground of agreement  to connect with the audience.

She also stirs emotions by being intensely earnest, her spirit shining through her eyes, radiating through her voice and proclaiming itself through her manners.  Doing this  communicates the conviction to the audience. She reveals to the audience how deeply she believes in what she says and gets audience to instantly like her through her funny and friendly ways getting rid of audience's skepticism and defensive mindsets. She personalizes her talk based on the audience which is the best way to get the buy-in from the audience. To summarize, following are my takeaways from observing her for the last couple of years.

The Do's

• It is better to talk about something you earn the right to talk about through your own experience.
• One should talk about something they are excited about.
• It should be something you are eager to tell your audience about.
• Good to have brief notes of interesting things you want to mention.
• Talk should have some illustrations and examples.
• Practice/ rehearse your talk by conversing with your supportive friends.

The Don'ts

• Don't write out your talks
• Don't memorize the talk word for word (verbatim)
• Don't imitate anyone, be yourself.
• Speak to express , not impress.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Today for this year , Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon  jointly will be awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Here's a brief overview of their achievements:

Peter Agre:

• Education: M.D. from my alma mater Johns Hopkins University (1982)
• Discovery: Identified and characterized aquaporins, a type of protein channel that allows water molecules to pass through cell membranes. This was a groundbreaking discovery as it helped explain how water, essential for life, is transported within cells.

Roderick MacKinnon:

• Education: Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University (1982)
• Discovery: Determined the three-dimensional structure of potassium channels, which are ion channels crucial for transmitting nerve impulses and maintaining muscle function. His work provided insights into the mechanisms of ion channel function and paved the way for the development of new drugs.

Both Agre and MacKinnon will receive half of the prize money for their independent, yet complementary, contributions to our understanding of cell membrane channels. Their discoveries have had a significant impact on various fields, including cell biology, physiology, and medicine.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

It can be difficult for leaders to pause before acting. But when was the last time you stopped to ask, “Why are we doing it that way?” Leaders must constantly explore new ideas and seek out new thinking from those around them. You need to regularly ask uncomfortable questions and think about whether to change or abandon an existing strategy. Just because some method has been used for some time doesn't give credibility.

The best leaders step back and look at the big picture every so often. They surround themselves with diverse teams and capitalize on opportunities to hear and experiment with new ideas. They give themselves time to surface divergent opinions that ultimately lead to smarter business decisions.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Don't just satisfy your client, wow them. Don't just meet your boss's expectations, do more than what's required.  Come in earlier, stay later, work harder, produce more, produce higher quality, multiply value wherever you are and whatever you do. Show the people you serve that they come first, that you value them, that you are loyal to them, that you care about them. If you do this all the time, you will experience rising success on a steady consistent basis.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Like most people, you probably lean on filler words while speaking, such as “um,” “ah,” or “you know.” But these verbal crutches diminish your credibility and distract from your message. To drop them from your speech, replace them with pauses. Start by identifying the filler words you use too often, and then pair them with an action. For example, every time you catch yourself saying “like,” tap your leg. This word-action pairing will help you be more aware of how you speak. Next, replace the filler words with a silent pause. This is the hard part, and practice is key. As you notice a filler word escaping your lips, don’t say it — just stay quiet for a moment. If you still find yourself struggling, try recording yourself while you talk about your day. Practice using pauses instead of filler words as you recall the day’s events. Over time, you’ll build a habit of not using filler words at all. You should seriously consider joining an organization such as Toastmasters who can help you overcome these issues. Two years back, my wife took me there and it is a wonderful organization where people are nonjudgmental, and the environment is very encouraging & uplifting to identify the areas and you can fix those issues by giving speeches regularly and work on improving yourself.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Travel is one of the things  that I long to do.  I have written a poem about the twenty countries that I would love to visit in the next twenty years.

Twenty lands unfurl, a tapestry grand,
From Cambodia's temples, to Hong Kong's bright strand.
In Japan's serene gardens, find peace in your soul,
While Swiss mountains pierce clouds, stories untold.

Germany's castles whisper tales of old times,
Fiji's turquoise waters soothe weary minds.
Australia's outback, vast and wild and free,
New Zealand's fjords, a symphony.

Canadian Rockies, peaks pierce the blue,
Netherlands' tulips, vibrant and new.
Seychelles' beaches, paradise found,
Maldives' bungalows, serenity profound.

Portugal's charm, cobbled streets wind and sway,
Sweden's icy beauty takes your breath away.
Denmark's hygge, warmth in the winter's embrace,
Chile's Andes rise, a majestic space.

Peru's ancient ruins whisper secrets untold,
Thailand's smiles shine, stories to unfold.
Bhutan's happiness, a lesson to hold dear,
Indonesia's islands, beauty ever near.

Finland's saunas, cleansing body and mind,
Twenty lands to explore, treasures  you'll find.
So pack your bags, let wanderlust take flight,
The world awaits, bathed in golden light.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

The weak manager bemoans low budgets and constraints. Great leaders see possibilities in what they do have. We often spend too much time on what we are not good at or comparing ourselves to others. Shift the focus- understand the things you are good at and passionate about, and make them force multipliers, unlocking success defined in a way that uniquely fulfils you. You’ll think having wings is useless if you see them as dead weight, holding you back in a race in the dirt. You may think otherwise when you realize you were born to fly.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

We have to be thankful for what we have. Every day when you look at someone in the Obituary column, they would always want to trade spaces with you. So, whatever we face is nothing.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

This is the start of a new initiative..I always love to write and share what I know. Would like to take one step at a time. Wanted to thank my parents, my brother, my wife, my teachers for all the love and support. Let's make it happen.