Monday, 20 January 2014

Top 100 websites

I found this on Ted blog, the top 100 websites that you should know and use. It is an interesting collection of websites and is characterized by themes. I have pasted some themes that interest me below. You can find the complete list here... http://blog.ted.com/2007/08/03/100_websites_yo/

I read hbr blogs frequently, I also have an app on my smartphone and I diligently read a tip everyday.
I have seen kickstarter.com and I think it is a collection of some brave ideas.
I have used coursera.org to do a couple of courses in finance.
I have seen khanacademy.org, but I didn't enjoy those lectures much.

Apart from that, I have never used the rest. Never heard of them. Considering the sluggish pace at which my money is growing, I definitely have to visit getrichslowly.org. Rest will have to wait, no chance of even clicking and opening them this year!

BUSINESS + E-COMMERCE
AUDIO + VISUAL
EDUCATION
CURIOSITY & KNOWLEDGE
ONLINE RESOURCES


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Top 25 books

I love my books and I thoroughly enjoy reading them. I have a small library of books in my house, not a lot, may be about 20-25 books. But then, this collection started only about 3-4 years ago. One fine day, I want to build my own wavy shaped book shelf and decorate the study room with my collection of books!

 Today, I stumbled upon time's list of top 25 management books of all times. I'm so glad that I've read about 7 of the top 25 and I can tell you that they are all fantastic reads. I own three more that and I hope to read by end of this year. I'm tempted to buy some more from the list, but I think that will too ambitious for this year.

 Here is the list. The books I've read are highlighted in Green, Blue is books I own and plan to read this year. The rest will have to wait :(





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Friday, 17 January 2014

Silence please


A good friend of mine once told me that "The sound of silence can be deafening". Back then it sounded like a joke and all I did was laugh out loudly. 

Silence is awkward for most people. For me, it was definitely a challenge. As a kid, I struggled with silence. I was very uncomfortable and I always tried to fill it with some chatter. There was never a dull moment when I was with friends, probably because I never gave silence a chance! And if there was silence, I would usually fill it by humming a song in my awful voice. People who were knew me well noticed it, and whenever I hummed a song, asked me if I was ok.

As adults, a lot of us still struggle with silence. We have the uncomfortable habit of filling silent gaps with superficial talk. Or, we purposely avoid situations where noise is absent. We turn on the radio, play some music, call friends or family, or turn on the TV to fill this void. And the media makes great use of this by sensationalizing news and playing songs and videos that satisfy our senses. 

Smart phones and technology has made the situation even worse. They say that on an average, a person checks his phone at least 40 times a day. That's an average of 40 mins lost during the day. I think that is because we have lost the habit of staying silent. Of staying by ourselves.  

By silence, what I really mean is silencing the mind, calming down, slowing down. Giving the mind enough rest and putting it to use where it is absolutely needed. One of my goals for this year, (apart from fitness of course!) is to work on silencing the mind. Slowing down, stepping back and giving myself a better chance.

To put in the words of the great Bruce Lee: 

"Empty your mind, be formless. shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. Be water, my friend." 
 
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Saturday, 4 January 2014

Sisiphus

Temperament determines behavior. Behavior is the instrument for getting us what we must have, satisfying our desire for that one thing we live for. The temperament has left us all with a hunger that must be fed daily.


Sisiphus was punished by Zeus so that he had to push an enormous rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll to the bottom while he rested. In a sense, we are all Sisiphus. Today we satisfy our hunger by our actions - which is whatever our temperament dictates. But come tomorrow and we must do it all over again. Yesterday’s achievement will not do!
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Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Please understand me

"If I do not want what you want, please try not to tell me that my want is wrong.

Or if I believe other than you, at least pause before you correct my view.

Or if my emotion is less than yours, or more given the same circumstances, try not to ask me to feel more strongly or weakly.

Or yet if I act , or fail to act, in the manner of your design for action, let me be.

I do not, for the moment at least, ask you to understand me. That will come only when you are willing to give up changing me into a copy of you.

I may be your spouse, parent, your friend or your colleague. If you allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong and might finally appear to you as right - for me. To put up with me is the first step to understand me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness. And in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and, far from seeking to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences.

Well, stranger, there isn't any way you can really understand me, but if you stop trying to change me to look like you, you might come to appreciate me. I'll settle for that. How about you?"

- Taken from the book Please understand me

I am reading this fantastic book and the opening page just blew me away. I simply could not stop myself from writing about it here. And as always, if I find anything more interesting I will definitely share it here.  
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Saturday, 14 December 2013

All ... are equal

And there you go, Drucker has confirmed my strong belief that all men (and women of course!) are created equal! Everybody is just fine the way they are, there is no real need to change everything upside down. It is all about the image you carry in your head.

Let me make my point without further ado...

"Among the effective people I have known and worked with, there are extroverts and aloof, retiring men, some even morbidly shy. Some are eccentrics, others painfully correct conformists. Some are fat and some are lean. Some are worriers; some are relaxed. Some drink quite heavily; others are total abstainers. Some are men of great charm and warmth; some have no more personality than a frozen mackerel. There are a few men among them who would answer to the popular conception of a “leader.”

But equally there are colorless men who would attract no attention in a crowd. Some are scholars and serious students, others almost unlettered. Some have broad interests; others know nothing except their own narrow area and care for little else. Some of the men are self-centered, if not indeed selfish. But there are also some who are generous of heart and mind. There are men who live only for their work and others whose main interests lie outside—in community work, in their church, in the study of Chinese poetry, or in modern music. Among the effective people I have met, there are people who use logic and analysis and others who rely mainly on perception and intuition. There are men who make decisions easily and men who suffer agonies every time they have to move."

- The effective Drucker
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Tuesday, 10 December 2013

So what motivates people?

Really, there is no one answer! Drucker says it is a futile exercise to find one right thing that suits all. I obviously have had my share or should I say my attempts at motivating people. It is more on the lines of mindful influencing by tapping into the realms of motivation.

Anyway, I found a very interesting one today. It is... Beliefs about what makes us effective that decides our motivation. If we pick a task and we think it will not make us "effective" - in terms of money, position, power etc whichever is important to that person, then he/she will not be motivated to do that task. I think this  is called the utility value of task or something on those lines.

Eons ago I had read something about Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. I did not realize how important and how meaningful it was back then. Maslow himself did not believe that the theory was complete enough to be adopted. I like it though and it is something I sometimes rely upon as well. You can read more here...
http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm

-Sandeep kowshik

P.S - Now, try asking developers to do some testing!
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