Run! Its fun, not childish.

"Change" is the only solution to bring liveliness to our life. Everybody knows this but why don't we ourselves go for it and sometimes resist to happen. We expect that the change should happen on its own, leaving to the destiny, and then if it brings fun we will enjoy otherwise we will challenge the situation. So, don't wait, go for it. Here is a small incident.

The distance between the office and Raj's home is about a kilometer. Daily after gruelling work at office he wearily walks to his home. Today he met Rohit, 10 year old boy who stays next to his door, in his small cycle. He said Rohit, "Let's have some fun today". He challenged with Rohit that he will run fast and reach home earlier than the latter. Immediately race began between the two - Raj ran using his full effort, pushing his artificial boundaries and Rohit rode very fast.
The race was full of fun and they reached the home with in 4 minutes. Wow! How this short journey has turned into so much of fun? Raj and Rohit enjoyed it.

Today young people aged between 24-30 years old can't/don't run at all except to catch a bus or like that. Innumerable number of reasons such as feeling adulthood, looking the act as childish, sickness etc. are making them not to have this kind of fun. Poor Guys! They need to change to have this fun.

Stock Market Game

Stock markets are booming. The bull run so far is very encouraging. And all players want the answers of evergreen questions in the markets - "Will the boom sustain and scale to new interesting levels?", "Can we expect a correction down the line?", "Which stock at this moment is still undervalued?", "What would be the impact of global interest rates on Indian equity markets?"and so on.

The stock market activity always lures me which brings both returns and risks. So to eliminate the risk and to have fun we had a simulation game replicating the stock markets. On flashing of news tickers & prices, portfolio managers will issue trade orders to their brokers. Initially my friend and I teamed up and became fund managers. But due to infrastructure breakdown (my broker's laptop didn't work) we had to quit from the game with out even starting. Though dissappointed, I met a team and told them I offer you share in my chips packet and in return we become consultants of your team. So every team was given Rs. 1000000 as inital capital investment and in hour and a half game the one who has highest assets will be the winner. We took every decision very serious just like investing our money in real markets.

In the first three round our asset value didn't change much. Later on, our fund picked the pace and always outperformed other fund managers till the end. During the last round another team was very close to our team and if we make any wrong decision in haste we will lose the game. At that point of time we thought we outperformed all the time, it doesn't mean that it should continue forever and should remain happy even if we lose the first position.But the zeal in us to always stand first never moderated. We took right decisions and proved us as the best fund managers by earning Rs,1400000. The margin between us and first runner up was about a lakh.

Its really great not to get discouraged when you were out of the game (even for no fault of yours), and to have fun supporting another team and there by being in the game. You know the team even gave us 50% as the consultant fees. Hey, its not Rs. 200000. Some t-shirts and other gifts from various sponsors.

Change Attitude

When we do something for the first time it would be fun, challenging, and sometimes more adventurous. But when we accomplish the same mission many times the charm in it vanishes. Do you agree?

Well, previously on some occasions I had felt like. But if I carefully observe, I feel the phrase "charm in it" is very important. Charm in the mission would always be there but the interest to accomplish in the good old way will be diminished. The desire to become rich will never go, but the way to become rich will differ. If it doesn't differ and has only one monotonous process, all may not like to become rich. Or to be simple, even in a game if you win every time with out any resistance you lose interest.

Technique to be always in high spirit is very simple and powerful - "Change". Treat the mission as a game. And any game with out fun is dreary. Alter the goals, rules, challenges and strategies. Its your wish whether to change one at a time or all simultaneously. Make your expeirence always a new one.

Diwali - Festival of Lights

Deepavali , festival of lights is one of favourite festivals. I light the crackers such as flowerpots and vishnu chakras, bhuchkras etc., and make the my world bright. This Diwali I decided to learn a sanskrit verse every month. In this auspicious day lets recite a great verse from Sama Veda.

OM
ASATOMA SADGAMAYA
TAMASOMA JYOTIRGAMAYA
MRITYORMA AMRUTANGAMAYA
OM SHANTHI, OM SHANTI, OM SHANTI

You may not forget the meaning but I do. I got it from a web site. So here is the meaning for me.

Lead us from darkness to light
From ignorance to truth
And from death to eternity
Let peace prevail everywhere

Marketing by Techy geek (Part-2)

I went home jumping and screaming, "Hi, We all are going to a cultural event, I have got passes each worth Rs.500.” Latha, my favorite loquacious sister was overjoyed seeing the concert tickets. Later, after having dinner my mother asked, "What happened? Are you okay now? I think after dinner now you are normal." With out noticing surprise in my face, she continued with her soft tone, "You never dropped me to the temple even once from the past one year and all of a sudden you are taking us to some concert spending a lot of time and money.” She felt happy but told that dad and she are going to uncle's home. I felt bad about my so called busy life ignoring family. Thanks to this workshop, I will now spend some time with my family.

The next day in the office, during the lunch break I told to my colleagues about the concert, aroused interest about it. Most of them were interested but at the end rejected politely giving various reasons - lack of interest, other appointments, busy life and high price of the ticket. All my hopes to sell at least five tickets gradually thrashed as each hour passed. Even my friends expressed the same and even gave me advice that there are many events aired in the 100 television channels, watch and enjoy them. Two friends agreed, but they will confirm after checking their appointments.

“The Result – this workshop has ruined all the peace in my life. If I can't sell this peanuts worth ticket how can I sell my expensive applications in future. Until now I sold to only two tickets to me – sis and myself. Similarly, will I be the only person who buys my applications? This workshop is visualizing all my inabilities. I am fed up completely.”

When I reached home drearily, my sister asked whether I can arrange two more tickets for her friends. I was on cloud nine when I heard her words and I offered them 2 tickets immediately. I slept thinking, “God, your deeds are always unpredictable, you always give me surprises”.

As it was friday, I had too much work at office. I had gone for a break to get fresh air amid hectic work. For brunch, I ordered pine apple juice at the office canteen. While I was sipping the juice, the canteen guy tapped on my back and said, “I heard that you had got passes for a concert. I would be happy if you can give me two.” What's going on here ? This guy has bought who earns hardly Rs.4000 per month and my colleagues who earn thrice than him can't afford. Oh God! Again you are unpredictable.

And finally in those ten days I sold 8 tickets for the concert. Is it not a great figure? I feel its great. Various lessons I learned from this workshop are lifetime experiences. You Wanna try to attend this workshop?

Marketing by Techy geek (Part-1)

"Who is going to help me now? How can I accomplish this? All that I know in my life is to sit in front my computer, building applications, debugging the expensive bugs, playing games and maintaining nice relationship with my boss and colleagues. To accomplish my goals I attended this workshop. The Result - "

"I am a typical techy guy who likes to learn business leadership skills. I read some books, listened to some speeches. But this time I came here to this workshop to know more details", I introduced to the enthusiastic audience. After listening to a number of leadership qualities, marketing lecture started. Listening to the stories, marketing strategies like "22 immutable laws of marketing" I had different views to various tips that are being discussed. To some points my expression was - "Wow! Fantastic! I had never thought in that fashion", to some aspects I whispered to my colleague - "Any one knows that, very simple", and to some tips I thought - "That's all crap". Finally I felt satisfied feeling that I learned valuable lessons in that informative workshop.

At the end of the workshop, to my surprise I was given 25 tickets for a cultural concert and I had to sell them with in 10 days using the imparted knowledge and own marketing skills. Thinking about the future how to sell them I boarded a bus. All my thoughts like were disturbing my peace of mind - “How can I do that? What did these people teach me? When they were babbling all the nonsense I clapped enthusiastically, now I understand that they just reproduced what I can read in the books. Waste of time and money.”

In the bus I started talking to my fellow passenger and then unknowingly told about the event and ticket fare. He almost got irritated thinking of me as a sales person who wants to pester him. He gave me a serious glance. Immediately I told him, “I am just informing you, not making you buy” and got down from the bus with out talking anything more.

Then after some time I started calculations. I can sell 4 tickets to my family including myself, may be around 10 to12 tickets to my friends and colleagues. And remaining 9 tickets? Hey, I never did this job. It seems difficult. After a little bit of time I soothed and motivated myself - "It's okay Arun, You can do. You know a lot of friends and their friends too. Be cool, you can do. Don't you remember just one week back your manager praised you in presence of all that every body likes Arun and all think that Arun has the capability of making even big things happen.” Now, I got the confidence.

Buying Toys for children

Children usually like to play with toys. My mom used to buy toys worth Rs150/- each costs from Rs3/- to Rs20/- (very cheap in those days) during my childhood. And my friend's dad used to buy him two toys or games (Rs. 120/-, Rs. 50/-) approximately spending same amount. What is the difference between the two practices?

A child likes to play a toy only for few minutes and then after some time s/he needs the new entertainment. So it’s better to have many toys. And next reason is that most of the children break or damage the toys with in no time. If the toys are very costly and less, mom has to think other ways to make me happy or spend more bucks. So, keeping all this in mind to make me happy she buys inexpensive play ware frequently constrained to her budget.

But one counter-intuitive argument is there. When I went to my friend's home he had electronic/automatic games and I liked a lot to play with them as I didn't have them at my home. I used to think why mom is not buying such games. So, often I asked to my parents to buy such games and they bought very rarely. I was happy with that. But my mom's logic was cent percent correct as I used to play with them for maximum period of 5-10 days and then kept them somewhere in the store room either in broken or normal state.

I don't know whether I follow the same pattern exactly or not as I am being 7 years old, I hardly can observe, analyze my mom's logic. But when she told me when I am grown enough to understand her strategy I got enthused to know how great my mom understands the child's psychology and makes her child happy.

Win the losing Game

Chess is one of the games which captivate me all the time. When I learnt chess from my dad, I actually learnt the philosophy of life.

Learning chess is very interesting for a child and teaching a child requires a lot of patience. If I had played some silly move, my dad used to show me the mistake. And I used to withdraw my wrong step and go for another move. Slowly, I starting thinking alternative paths, looking ahead about 4-5 steps before I decide on any move.

But can you imagine the reason how we keep on playing the game even though we lose the game? The answer may be by making ourselves aware that no game can be won with out learning properly and adequate practice. That's great.

When ever I lose the game I had two options. One is playing the game again and again, waiting for my turn to win. Another option is to just leave the game which makes me defeated every time I play.Dad used to motivate me saying "You need just a little bit of practice." But being a child can I understand that? Can I enjoy the game losing it? When I play the chess, the mission of my life is to trap and kill the opponent’s pieces one by one ruthlessly and win the game. But when I play with my dad who is a very good player, how can I win the game?

Of course I get motivated after listening to my dad saying that we can't win the game just by knowing it or by playing few times. Even then losing the game continuously (and that too by good players who don't make mistakes so often) makes some of us get bored. So, how to carry on the motivation to try forever with out quitting?

My dad had the great timeless answer for it. In the middle of the game, he used to just exchange the sides. He takes my king's army which is in a very weak position and I am offered his powerful strong one. It’s Very Simple. Hey, it's also not an easy task to be in the strong side. I used to lose all my army before winning the game. But gradually it made me to learn how to play the winning game and finally the game itself.

With the course of time, I learnt to take his weak position and offer him my winning army. And then there had the real struggle, how to win over the strong army with my new weaker one? I realized the way to master the game. Win the game when I was actually in a state of losing! I enjoyed the both, victory (sometimes) and even defeat.

The question "Can we enjoy the game when we are losing it?" now has a positive response from me. I enjoyed the defeat. And it's surprising to see me to enjoy getting beaten.

And the question “Being a child, can I understand that to win we need practice?” seems wrong to me. Actually a child won’t care whether he loses or not, but in adults their ever growing ego does. Adults must understand this simple fact and must continue child like eargerness to learn.

Don't break your head for normal problems

When you are at the crossroads, you make the decision which effects your life and in particular determines your future. Some may feel this situation interesting, challenging and some see it confused, terrible. But still you need to take the decision. That's life.
Another important point to note is that you may think all moments as critical, turning points but actually only a few in your life will be the defining moments. Thus, there is no need to put your brain completely and worry, every time take the decisions.

Algorithm DecisionMaking
// Don't spend too much time for normal issues
{
If "Are you really at the point of no return?" then
Analyze fairly for ample time but with upper bounds
else
Just think for a few minutes about the problem
Take the Decision
}