Justify Your Existence

I’m back from vacation. Trust me! No place like home.

We started with Dubai then went to different parts of north India and where we got severely tortured by chilled weather. Flight cancellations and train rescheduling pushed my change management skills to a new level. Hope you are aware- Delhi is known for extreme weather.

Now I’m proud to have first-hand experience at Burj-al-Arab (the only 7 star hotel in the world) and Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) and Palm Jumeira. Of course got a few photos clicked to brag about.

The most commendable thing about Dubai is- it’s built out of nothing but just a VISION. Few know that Dubai doesn’t have oil.

The place which once was a dusty Arab town is now a glitzy megapolis known of the best of luxuries in the world. I suspect if the concept like Desert Safari ever existed before Dubai marketed it. They must have got inspiration from Jungle Safari. Whatever be the case it deserves a must visit, where you explore sand dunes with twists and turns in a Toyota Landcruiser sometimes as steep as almost 90 degrees.

I forgot to mention legendary Palm Jumeira. We went there by road and had a coffee at newly opened the Atlantis. Hats off to the man who thought of creating artificial island like this. It’s truly magnificent. But missed the aerial view, which left the experience incomplete.

Places like these do inspire us to justify our existence by creating things which never existed.

King Maktoum, May God help you recover from the recent setbacks so that you keep adding new icons on earth.

Smile

My wife shared this poem with me yesterday and it's truly inspirational. You too enjoy it and keep smiling. Let this poem travel the world, you can simply email to the ones who you want to SMILE.

Love
Vivek

SMILE

Smiling is infectious,
You catch it like the flu,
When some one smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner
And someone saw my grin;
When he smiled I realised
I’d passed it on to him.

I thought about that smile
And realised its worth,
A single smile just like mine,
Could travel round the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin,
Don’t leave it undetected;
Let’s start an epidemic quick –
And get the world infected!

I Will Keep Trying

At my first job, I had a very dynamic and wise colleague who was recently promoted. I was curious to know what led to his promotion while many others could not succeed.
He said, “Interviewers asked me, what would you do, if a guy in your team is not performing despite your best efforts?”

Out of inquisitiveness, I asked, “how did u respond?”

He said, “I said, I will coach him again, help him out with his problems and try to raise his level.”

But the interviewers were not convinced, they asked again, “If the guy still doesn’t improve, what will you do?”

He said, “I will keep trying until he improves!”

I was not surprised. He was the best fit for the job.

Forgive for Your Own Sake

An early morning, when I turned on BBC, I was in the middle of an ongoing documentary. An old lady in late 50s was talking about her only daughter who was brutally killed after being sexually assaulted by a robber at the farmhouse.
Like others, she decided to fight for her daughter’s justice. The court case lasted for many years. At last, the accused was awarded a death sentence. Finally this is what she said, “… I had a satisfaction that the sinner was punished. But, still I was not at peace. One day I decided to see the convict at the prison. His face was stubbed and pale, and he looked hopelessly at me. I couldn’t believe. I was moved, something from inside stirred me and I decided to forgive..”

“..just in a moment my life was transformed. I felt as if I’m relieved of a big burden. I felt free.”

Revenge is a natural response right after we are hurt. It might console for a while but doesn’t set us free. We still live with a heaviness of guilt. The only way to freedom is forgiveness.

As a human, we feel generous while forgiving. Do it, not for anyone, but yourself!

Do You Check Your Unproductive Ego?

Ayn Rand quotes in her bestseller the Fountainhead-"Man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress." And I know there are millions of Rand-fanatic across the world including me. I too agree with her, but only if the ego is used productively.

When you look around, do you notice most of the disasters are caused because of ego.. rather unproductive ego?

Joseph is a functional head with poor Excel skills. He struggles for hours to get the formulae and links right, when he has to send the monthly MIS. He can seek help of Yana, his assistant, but he doesn’t. What stops him to reach out? Ego!

Vishesh has a justification ready for everything he says. He very well knows that he is not right. Still he does it, because he can prove others wrong. How do others feel?

Laura never says sorry, despite knowing she is on the wrong side. She feels a boss is always right.

Krish never walks to his team. He rather uses intercom to call them. He has a mindset that people should visit the manager not vice versa. He’s never thought how people will feel when he reaches out to them.

Whether it is family or work, social event or a private moment always have a check on your unproductive ego. By doing this you will open new doors of opportunity and success.