Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Power of a Dream

As a Kid we all had dreams,to become a pilot,to become a speaker,to become a writer,etc.But when we become grown up,we forget to dream and get into our daily grind.

Barrington Irving dreamed to become a pilot.Born in jamaica and raised in miami,florida,he became the youngest person and first african-american to fly solo around the world.

He got his passion when he was 15years old.He did odd jobs like washing flights by private jet owners for money to get flight lessons.He spoke in churches and schools about aviation.

His efforts were noticed by local community leaders and he got a scholarship and enrolled into florida memorial university to get academic and flight training.

In 2005,he founded a non-profit organization called Experience Aviation Inc., to help young people who pursue careers in aviation.

He was asking companies to sponsor him for his round-the-world dream,but no one came forward.So he started to ask for aircraft parts donation.He raised parts worth of $300,000 and asked columbia ,an aircraft manufacturer to build an aircraft for him.
Chevron came up with helping him with fuel.

On March23rd,2007 he started his journey around the world in his aircraft called "Inspiration".In june27th,2007,23 year old Barrington created history when he landed in miami,florida after his trip.

It is an inspiring journey for young people to leave their fear,dare to dream and reach for the stars.

Check out: http://www.experienceaviation.org/

Thanks to Wes Hopper's blog where i read Barrington's story.
Visit Wes Hopper's blog at: http://www.createsuccessseminars.com/blog/2007/03/power-of-vision.html

How to Meditate

Meditation gives you peace of mind and relieves stress.
Meditation gives clarity and focus,concentration.
Meditation enhances your spritual growth.
Meditation helps you to control your thoughts.

Here is a video on how to meditate:

Friday, June 20, 2008

How to succeed in Inter-personal Relations

I read the book "How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie.
This is the second time i am reading this book.It is a classic on its own merit.It is a Bible of Inter-personal relations.

Dale Carnegie was born in 1888 in Missouri,USA.He worked as a salesman and an actor.He started teaching communication classes to adults in YMCA.He wrote this historic book in 1936.He established his company Dale Carnegie & Associates Inc., in 1954.

This book contains simple,practical ideas in handling people.Its speciality is that it contains lot of real life examples.

Here are the things i learnt from this book:

Fundamental Techniques in handling people:

1.Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2.Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3.Arouse in the other person an eager want.


Six ways to make people like you:
1.Become genuinely interested in other people.
2.Smile
3.A Person's name is the most important to that person.
4.Be a good listener.Encourage others to talk.
5.Talk in terms of other person's interests.
6.Make the other person feel important.

12 ways to win people to your way of Thinking:

1.Avoid Arguements.
2.Respect other person's opinions.
3.If you are wrong,admit it.
4.Begin in a friendly way.
5.Get "yes,yes" from the other person.
6.Let the other person do the talking more.
7.Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8.See things from others point of view honestly.
9.Be sympathetic to other person's ideas and desires.
10.Appeal to nobler motives.
11.Dramatize your ideas.
12.Throw down a challenge.

9 Ways to be a Leader:

1.Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2.Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3.Talk about your own mistakes before talking about others.
4.Ask questions instead of orders.
5.Let the other person save the face.
6.Praise every improvement.
7.Give the other person a fine reputation.
8.Use encouragement.
9.Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

It is a great book to read again and again and follow it to become successful.

Visit: http://www.dale-carnegie.com

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Gift from GOD

She is amazing.She got a great voice.She is a musical gift from God.
She is Charice Pempengco from Phillipines.She is 15 years old.Her mother is also a singer.She told that she learnt the singing techniques from her mother.
Her mature voice,her passion for singing and her confident stage presense makes her unique.

She made to the final of a singing contest for a television show "Little Big Star season 1" in Phillipines(she sang "I will always love you" by Whitney Houston).
Her album was released in sweden.He won a singing contest in korea.Her song in youtube made her come to U.S and participate in Ellen show.Here is the video clip:


Monday, June 16, 2008

Think and Become Wealthy

I read the Book "Think and Grow Rich" yesterday.
This is my third time reading this book.
It is a self development classic.It is like a Bible to self improvement.
It sold over 15 million copies.

It was written by Napoleon Hill in 1937.He interviewed many successful people as per the request by the billionaire Andrew Carnegie,in all kinds of industries and profiled the reason for their success in this book.He spent 20 years to complete this project.This edition is Revised and expanded by Dr.Arthur R.Pell.
Dr.Arthur added the modern day success stories of men like Bill Gates,Stephen Spielberg,Arnold,Howard Shultz,Bruce Lee,etc.

He outlined the secret for success in this book which is "THINKING".
Everything starts with your thought which manifests in physical form later.

Here are the 13 steps to Riches:

1.Desire :
This is the starting point of all achievement.One should have a burning desire about what he wants.

2.Faith:
This is one of the fundamental character for success.Have faith in yourself,you can do whatever you want.

3.Autosuggestion:
This is one powerful method to program your sub-conscious mind about your goal.

4.Specialized Knowledge:
This is more necessary in this competitive world.Aquire specialized knowledge in whever field you are in.

5.Imagination:
This is a great tool to attain what one wants.Visualization is creating a picture in your mind about what one wants and leads to physical creation.Visualize vividly with very minute detail about what you want.

6.Organized Planning:
Without planning,one can't achieve he wants just by imagining and visualization.One should have a solid plan.

7.Decision:
This is one of the key traits of successful people.They will decide very quickly and change later if needed very slowly.

8.Persistence:
This is one of the most important characters needed to be successful.
Do your job,give sometime to manifest,you will get what you wanted.

9.Power of the Master Mind:
One can't do everything.Two minds are more powerful than one.
Form a group of master minds to achive your goal.

10.Mastery of Sex Transmutation:
Sex is one of the powerful stimuli to action.One shouldn't over indulge in sex.
Divert and Use this powerful energy to achive success.

11.The Subconscious Mind:

Subconscioud mind is very powerful.But it can be easily programmed.
It doesn't know the difference between Reality and Unreal.
Visualize and create mental pictures about what you want,hear about what you want,subconscious mind will help you to achieve it.

12.The Brain:

This is the broadcasting and Receiving station of thoughts.
So broadcast good thoughts and recive in return the good stuff.

13.The Sixth Sense:
The Gut feeling or instinct.This can be developed by contacting with Infinite Intelligence,by practicing meditation,spending a private time with oneself.

There is a whole chapter on overcoming our fears like poverty,criticism,ill health,loss of loved ones,old age,death.
Finally there is a chapter dedicated to avoid susceptibility to evil influences.

This is one of my all time favorites.Read this book again and again whenever you have time.This will lead you to the path of success and prosperity.

Visit: http://www.naphill.org

Watch this Inspirational Movie about Attitude:

The Power of Attitude

Friday, June 13, 2008

Back to Fundamentals

I have seen Nammalvar's interview with Gnani in Kumudam WebTv on today.
Nammalvar is a natural agriculture expert and Gnani is a celebrated journalist.
Here is my email to Gnani after watching the episode:

India is an Agricultural country.Unless we go back to our basics,there is no solution to food crisis.We have ten acres of land,five acres of which are cultivatable.My parents are still there looking after the lands in salem,Tamilnadu.

We find very tough to find people to work in our field.There are very few now to work in the fileds.All are migrating to cities to work for contruction,road pavement,moved to chennai,mumbai,kerala for betterment of life.

My friend Raju's village Kodur near chitoor in A.P.There are very few now doing agriculture there.Atleast one person is in Gulf countries from Kodur.Their parents and relatives are living with the bank interest from gulf money ignoring agriculture.

There is no ROI in agriculture anymore.My father is only spending every year
but he is not getting any return from agriculture as the rates are low,no rain,the wage for workers are very high.People are losing their hope on agriculture.Raw materials are highly priced,every farmer is always in debt.

Since there is no return every year,they can't payback agricultural loans.
The farmers who are not paying,susceptible to JAPTI from bankers,which is one of worse days of farmers life which i have seen once for my neighboring farmer.
Lot of lands are becoming either horticulture(growing broilers for meat and eggs)
or Prawn culture(growing fish).

Every land owner is forced to use tractors as there is a shortage of labour.
Farmers are so used to new farming that they forgot natural methods.

Unless government is going towards farmer helping policies and farmers are confident of doing agriculture again,there is very little hope now existing for agriculture in india where still lot of its majority population living in villages
and doing agriculture.

India needs self awareness from its people.They have to know their self worth.They need self confidence.

Then comes the fundamentals right,like Agriculture,Education(especially females),Health care,Poverty eradication.Every one should become productive without following politicians and cinema,without going after freebies,without going to Liquor shop.

If we follow vivekananda "ARISE,AWAKE,STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED",
India will emerge as world leader as it has the most younger population.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Why you won't need to board on a plane for conference

It is a Technology wonder.
It is called On-stage Telepresense which gives the participants, on stage experience while speaking to each other.It is a collaboration between cisco's Telepresence with Musion's 3D Holographic display technology which gives you a real-time virtual presentation.

Watch this video:

World’s first Live Holographic Video Feed from California, USA to Bangalore, India

http://www.musion.co.uk/Cisco_TelePresence.html

I came to know this from Guy Kawasaki's blog at : http://www.blog.guykawasaki.com/

You can wonder why this post in a self development blog,but this is one of the example of how much humans can achieve by thinking creatively and out of the box.

Habits of Effective People

I read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey recently.
Over 15 million copies of this book sold.

Stephen R. Covey is a respected Leadership Authority, Organizational consultant and Author.
He is the author of several acclaimed books like The 7 habits of highly effective people, First things first, principle-centered leadership, The 7 habits of highly effective family.

The seven habits are divided into three parts:

Part one: Private Victory

Habit 1 : Be Proactive

This habit is about principles of personal vision.

Habit 2 : Begin with the end in mind

This habit is about principles of personal Leadership.

Habit 3 : Put first things first

This habit is about principles of personal Management.

Part Two: Public Victory

Habit 4 : Think win/win

This habit is about principles of Interpersonal Leadership.

Habit 5 : Seek first to understand, then to be understood

This habit is about principles of Empathetic Communication.

Habit 6 : Synergize

This habit is about Creative Cooperation.

Part Three: Renewal

Habit 7 : Sharpen the Saw

This habit is about principles of Balanced Self-Renewal.

This book is very detailed, lot of research went into it.But it looks like a PH.D Thesis,so dry to read.Personal Improvement book should be easy to read and follow,this is my personal opinion.

Visit: http://www.stephencovey.com/

Sunday, June 8, 2008

11 Ways To Eat to a Healthy Life

Here are some of the eating habits to have a healthier life:

1.Drink Green Tea:

Less caffine,more healthy Anti-oxidants.
It will increase your metabolism.

2.Drink eight glasses of water:

Drink 8 glasses of water every day.Water purifies your body and helps in smooth excretion of toxins and wastes.It boosts your energy.

3.Eat a good breakfast:

Don't skip your breakfast.Eat a good,healthy breakfast.Since your body is fasting for a longtime,a good breakfast is vital to get back energy.

4.Eat early at night:

Eating early at night(try to make it 7pm) helps in good digestion,relaxed sleeping,less work for your body to digest.It is a very good tip for weight loss.
Eat less at night,take light food.

5.Eat lot of Fruits and Vegetables:

More colourful your food,more healthy you are.
Eat more fruits and green vegetables.They are the primary source of all vitamins and minerals,fiber our body needs.
You are less vulnerable to chronic diseases if you eat more fruits and vegetables.
Eating fruits and vegetables helps in weight management.
Visit: http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/benefits/index.html

6.Eat in small portions:

Don't eat a full course meal at one time.Eat in small portions at a regular intervals.

7.Eat only when you are hungry:

Eating only when we feel hungry helps in easy digestion and weight management.

8.Cut down on SSO:

Cut down the amount of Salt, Sugar, Oil.Enough salt is already there in what we eat.Excess salt is very harmful for our body.More sugar leads to more weight.Oil is a good way to add more fat.

9.Say no to Fast Food:

Say no to fast food,they are fake foods as per Randy Gage.
They are not healthy.Spend some time to cook your own food.

10.Don't eat in hurry:

Don't eat in a hurry.This may seem to be impossible in this fast paced world,but it is practically possible.Chew your food,don't swallow it in a hurry.Chewing helps in good digestion.

11.Fast whenever possible:

Fasting is one of the powerful methods to clean up your body.
It gives more rest to your body.
It can be weekly once or monthly once as per one's own plan.
Drink lot of water,juice on the day of fasting.

"HEALTH IS WEALTH".
All the best for good Health!

Self Improvement Newsletters and Ezines

I have a long list of some wonderful newsletters.I enrolled in major self-improvement websites for receiving newsletters.They are really enriching my knowledge and they are like vitamins to my soul.
Here are some of the Best Newsletters:

1.Jim Rohn's Ezine:

This is one of the best ezines.Full of great stuff on personal development.
Articles by Jim Rohn and other authors,a moremost authority on self development,vitamins for minds by Jim,seminar details and book offers,etc.They have an affiliate program also.It is a weekly ezine.
Visit: http://www.jimrohn.com

2.Your Achievement Ezine:

As per the ezine:
Your Achievement Ezine is committed to helping our readers grow both personally and professionally by consistently applying time proven principles and ideas in areas such as time management, leadership, communication, sales, investment, marketing and goal setting from many of today's recognized authorities on success.

Free subscription to Your Achievement Ezine, have them send an email to subscribe@yoursuccessstore.com with Join in the subject.

Visit: www.yoursuccessstore.com

3.BrianTracy Newslatter:
A very useful newsletter from another leading figure in self development areana.
As per Brian,his newsletter:
It's my goal to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster than you ever imagined - and my newsletter is one powerful way I can help you.

My newsletters will help you connect with your goals. Each issue includes powerful techniques detailing exactly how you can succeed. Millions have succeeded using the information found in these newsletters - and now its time for you to succeed.

Visit: http://www.briantracy.com

4.Bob Proctor's Insights of the day:

It is one of the mails i eagerly open each day for its inspirational content.
As per the website:
Strat your day with apositive message to reflect upon.
Receive an uplifting quote monday through thursday and an inspirational story on friday.

Visit: http://www.bobproctor.com
http://www.insightoftheday.com

5.Denis Waitley Newsletter:

It is another newsletter full of great content.
As per Denis Waitley,his online newsletter:
My goal is to offer valuable, relevant, leading edge, and interesting content, with some innovative and refreshing differences from the other ezines and newsletters you may be receiving.

If you would like to subscribe, send an email to: subscribe@deniswaitley.com
Visit: http://www.deniswaitley.com

6.Dr.Wayne Dyer's enews:

This is one of the inspirational enews from the leading authority in self development dr.wayne dyer.

Visit: http://www.drwaynedyer.com

7.Seeds of Success:

It is a compact newsletter from the success magazine.
Small nuggets of self improvement tips like health tips,cool your temper.

Visit: http://www.successmagazine.com

8.Robin Sharma newsletter:

He is one of the leading leadership coach.
Independent Survey Puts Robin as #2 in the Top Ten List of Leadership Gurus: Leadershipgurus.net ranked Robin #2 of the top 10 leadership gurus in the world.
In a survey that went to over 22,000 business thinkers world-wide Robin was recognized for the originality of his ideas, his international impact and his presentation style.
This is a monthly newsletter,full of ideas on leadership and self development.
Visit: http://www.robinsharma.com

9.Steve Pavlina's newsletter:

This steve pavlina's personal insights newsletter.It is one of the more detailed newsletters which carry more indepth study on personal development.
His Articles are great.His Podcasts are awesome.
Visit: http://www.stevepavlina.com

There are so many other great newsletters on self improvement.It is an ocean,jump into it,you will enjoy!

How to Roll off graciously from a project

I am an IT Consultant working for 10 years,7 years in U.S.
I worked for major fortune 500 companies like AT&T, AOL, COMED, DUKE ENERGY, EDS.
I worked twice for Fairisaac.
I rolled off recently from a short term assignment.
Here are some of my Tips to Roll off graciously:

1.Finish off all your assignments.
2.If you think,if you can't be able to make it within 5pm on the last day,inform your supervisor well ahead.
3.Send a thank you mail to the entire team you worked with.
4.If your supervisor or team members are free in the last day,go for a team lunch.
5.Ask their permission to give their contact details for further reference.
6.Collect their business cards.
7.If you have a Linked-in(http://www.linkedin.com) a/c,ask for a Testimonial.
8.Hand over the laptop or other materials,remote access key,badge to the right person.
9.Cleanup your working space before you exit.
10.Clean up your computer if you stored any personal files.

After the Roll off,keep in touch with them,you never know,you may be called in again.
I got the opportunity twice so far with the same client based on good referral.
Hope these tips are useful.
All the best in your job search!

Thoughts for today!

Products I Recommend!