For things that didn't happen.....

This sounds crazy, but what if things we are using in day today life were never invented? Whether it is electricity, wheel, air plane, wireless communication or wired telephone, refrigerator, computers, laptop....list can be as long as you are able to think!!  Our life would have been totally different beyond imagination.

Today we cannot think even in dreams without latest and greatest technologies of modern world. Any discussion, talks and buzz, or movies & TV serials, academics, government or even small farm is using things invented by few people who made a mark in history.

But what if those things never happened in first place? What if Graham Bell never got interested in acoustics, speech or ever thought of inventing something that we call it telephone? What if Thomas Edison didn't had passion for experimenting? What if internet never came out public from scientist room?

But hold on... how do we ever know things we use and enjoy on daily basis existed in its first place? How do we know if things invented just didn't happened? The truth is we would never know that, same as we don't know how our life would be after 10 years! This is because we are consumer of those things. We make choices from what is available to us.

Few years back, we were happy with internet using dial-up modem (and paid more than what we are paying for broadband today). Whenever you use internet, phone will not work. When someone calls, your internet was interrupted. But we were still happy. At that time, we never thought of broadband. We never believed we can download hundreds of gigabytes in an hour? Oh.. but we were more than happy to "see" internet working and have morning tea reading news on computer instead of newspaper!

While we were dreaming of getting 2 GB hard disk newly available in market from existing few MBs not enough for installing game, there were few people working on making today's broadband happen in real.

Now think for a moment - what if we are also one of them who may invent something that can change the world? And if that is true, what if we don't do certain things we are suppose to do to lead to that invention? What if we live life differently than what we are made of? What if something drives us on different path leading to somewhere else than what we were supposed to do?

Honestly there is no answer to this. Because we don't know. Because humans are typically ignorant of "unknown" factor of life. Because we don't care of what is not in existence! Because, as said, we make choices from what is available to us!

But there are few people who do care. They think differently. They know within that they are made for doing something that leads to things that are valuable for the society and world. They know if they follow their path, their dreams and the soul, it will eventually lead to glory.

But most of them fail. Why? Because even though they know their potential, they are happy with what they have or doesn't drive themselves to lead for difficult path of glory. Some just give up facing struggle in complexities of life, some give up favoring easy and happy life trying to avoid any hurdles and bumps, some give up due to lack of resources, due to lack of enough support, inspiration and some just not able to cop up with odds of day today life!

Eventually things that are bound to happen, just doesn't happen at all. And irony is no one will ever notice it, because no one knows their importance as they have not seen it or realize it.

Kudos to people who came out from all such struggle and manage to be focussed and lead to path they always wanted to follow. It is not easy.

But pity on ourselves for many people who fail to do so for their own reasons. It is not a failure of that person, but is failure of we as people. A person of true spirit will get through such hurdles of life anyhow. But I am not talking of few people who will do it. I am talking of most of people who are not able to make it and unfortunately get unnoticed.

Try to "care" for people who want to make a mark, who want to do something good for society and the world, whom you can trust and see them doing in real. Give them space, time and resources to make it happen. As such, they don't need help as such people are self-independent and can find their way by any means, but at least don't make yourself a reason of failure by going against them. Make their journey easy which will eventually make our life better and worth living.

 

 

 

Windows to MAC is easy!

Unlike others told me and lot of articles on web to support that moving from Windows to MAC OS is difficult, for me it was just the other way. I found MAC more convenient compared to Windows and transition was very easy. It is just one day I am using my new Mac Book Pro, but it seems i have been using it for years :)

The truth is MAC is very user friendly, intuitive and no hassles of "manual" configuration of system , Internet, peripherals and then installing various software before you can actually use it. I have to "plan" for re/installing Windows as it usually take 6-8 hours to install & configure software after Windows OS installation before i can start using it for efficient work as a software developer. For MAC it hardly took an hour as most software / utilities are pre-installed and ready to use.

Apart from user-friendliness, I like the most is its keyboard, track pad and display which was decisive before purchasing laptop as it should suit my eyes, typing speed (over 60 wpm) and sheer speed I can attain to use it for development.

As windows user for almost 15 years, there are few basic things i am missing in MAC or may be i need to find alternative way / or shortcuts i just don't know yet. Example: Backslash, Insert mode, Print screen button and Page up/down keys. There are lots of free open source software available for MAC so hopefully i will not miss Windows other than playing games like Ages of Empire! :)

Smart manager - eliminate follow-up routine

One of the challenging task for a manager is to keep balance between tasks, their priorities and tasks assigned to team. It is very common to drive into "follow-up" routine causing your own priorities go haywire. If you have a team which is either used to be "followed-up" or doesn't do their job on time, you are in big trouble.

Higher priorities should be given to your own task as a manager as relatively the impact would be more if it is not done on time compared to tasks assigned to team. If you spend more time just following up with team to ensure they do their job, you won't be able to meet your targets.

To achieve this, it is important to encourage team and set process so that you doesn't have follow up on daily basis. It is required to setup process or have discipline such that team pro-actively gives status at end of day/week instead of you follow up for the same.

Minds are like parachutes..

Minds are like parachutes - works best when open!

If you get engrossed into routine work and thoughts all the time, mind gets stagnant and cannot think beyond your circle. Out-of-box thinking is possible if you think open, beyond yourself and your vicinity.

An open mind is one which is open to new thoughts, innovative ideas and goes beyond what you think is possible. You can dream big and see opportunities if you can think openly and dare to see things as it should be rather than it is now.

Accepting Change..

It is a natural tendency of human being to avoid anything that puts him away from status quo. We resist change because we always want to be in safe harbor and believe it to be the only place for living. We oppose alteration to the aspects of normal life we are comfortable with. We are so much engrossed to customary routines that we are unable to figure out the positive aspects of change.

There are moments in our life that once pass through them; there is no going back. Therefore, we avoid choices at the time of change that we must make and seek escape routes. We look for transformation, but fear resurrection.

Many of us accept change as if it is the last resort. Accepting change meant an end of life for them. Have you ever seen an alcoholic throwing away his glass with drops of wine in it or a smoker who forget the cigarettes at the desk? A smoker knows that inhaling tobacco is injurious to health. A drunkard understands that alcohol is killing him. However, they will never stop until the point they know what their addiction is doing to themselves, their families, and their love beings. Its not the change, but the resistance to change that is killing them!

Once we make change and accept the new and better way of life, we wonder why we kept avoiding that for so long! We spent so much time and energy just to avoid change and preserve the status quo, as it would have taken to make the change!

The message is clear. To conquer death, you only have to die. What is needed is the confidence to take over your routine habitual life to accept and act upon the change as encountered. Never get so much habitual to any thing, whether good or bad, that it becomes impossible to get away with it later. Follow the famous 80-20 rule. Change is a part of life, which keeps one ahead in the race. Understand that there is also a life at other end, which requires your seal of approval to flourish.

- Atur