Acronyms to kick start the New Year

Just thought that this set of acronyms would provide each one of us the perfect inspiration for the New Year and hence I have chosen to share the same here. It would be a very person or a very dumb person who would not accept the fact that he/ she did not face failure in the past and particularly in the year just gone by. Most times the failures could be attributed to incompetence, inefficiency, tardiness or carelessness. However often when we attempt something new we are not successful in the first attempt and we are dejected. Many times we refrain from attempting something new purely because we are afraid to fail. Yet when we reflect on all the progress we have made right from the time we clumsily held  a pencil in the hand and attempted to write the alphabets to the numerous times we feared drowning in the pool while learning to swim or the numerous bruises that  testified to the difficulty we had in learning to cycle we realize that failure did not hinder our resolve. This is because to FAIL was just an acronym for First Attempt In Learning.  Resolve to attempt something new each month and master it or make significant progress in it by the end of the month.

For sure, you would have committed blunders and felt that it is the end of the road as far as your future was concerned. Yet, despite the admonishments and embarrassment you faced you still got another chance to redeem yourself. Perhaps you failed an exam or did not honor a commitment. Possibly you did not clear a number of job interviews or worse still never got a call for a job interview despite applying in numerous places. Some of you may be stuck with a boss who is often critical and unappreciative of your work and threatens you with dismissal. The fact is that despite these very daunting circumstances you still live with hope, possibly you have even managed to be successful in your academics or career and you have expectations to a even better future. All this, despite you often feeling that it is the end of your dreams. This clearly demonstrates that the END is merely an acronym that reminds you the Effort Never Dies.

One word that hurts us most is the word No which to put it mildly is a point blank refusal our plea. As children we may have craved for the best toys and clothes only to be stonewalled with a firm NO. Maybe as teenager you were forbidden from attending late night parties or perhaps even encountered the pain of being rejected with a firm no by a person whom you had a crush on. It is equally possible that as a professional your subtle and not so subtle requests for a pay hike has been dismissed with a curt no. For sure every NO hurts but once we come to terms with it, we rationalize that there is always a Next Opportunity.  

So, as the poet Longfellow says in his poem ‘ The Psalm of Life’

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait

The First Attempt In Learning may not be successful but you must remember that Effort

Never Dies and  that life always gives us the Next Opportunity to be successful.

Action Points:

• During this week walk up to complete strangers and wish them for the New Year. ( it is not as difficult as it first seems). Also observe their reactions for it give you clues as to what you did right or wrong.
• Ask your best friend/ sibling/ parent/ colleague to tell you honestly about the one habit / aspect of your personality that they would like you to change / improve/ work on. Ensure that you make a fervent attempt to try to work on it during the year.

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LEARN

As man developed and evolved over the centuries, the key to the progress was the effort he/she made to adapt, adjust and advance which was made possible by the ability to LEARN. Learning was a mix of being enriched by experience, progressively experimenting, acquiring new skills and developing through analysis, thinking and creativity. What made the process smoother was the realization by each successive generation that through the process of learning each once was collectively and individually experiencing that Life gets Enriched As  Resources are Nourished.

When one set about to learn, there were specific competencies that we sought to improve but interestingly the learning nurtured much more than just one aspect of life. When one sought to became a better hunter, it was not the mere hunting skills that developed but the tools of hunting evolved, the styles of hunting changed and even the approach to what was to be hunted was carefully discerned.  In school today, the array of subjects that a student is taught is focused on giving an opportunity to everyone to have a feel of the various hues of learning and in the process helps one to have basic skills in key areas of life be it mathematics, an idea of geography, grasp of language skills etc.

Sports as an area of learning was focused on nourishing the energy and enthusiasm that forms the core of youth. It helps one develop his/ her physique, stamina, flexibility and in addition helps one discover the hidden talent and potential as a sportsperson. That apart, team sports bring out the team spirit and cohesiveness required to succeed, the realization that there is a leader and subordinate relationship, that individual skills alone cannot guarantee success etc. The sports arena also highlights the importance of being very fit, the realization that there are off days when even the champion looks very ordinary and that competition will always be around to challenge and compete.

As one goes about living one’s daily life, the process of learning continues consciously and unconsciously. Bringing up a child, balancing a career and a home, coping with sudden changes and calamities etc. are all events that we are never formally trained in or taught about. However the learning in most cases happens unconsciously, occasionally painfully but always fruitfully. If one seeks to learn, one must have the right attitude, the willingness to pay a price for the learning and the courage to experience the learning even if there is risk and danger attached to the process. A learning attitude is all about nurturing the mindset to accept what comes our way and to hope that we get a benefit even obliquely. Every experience is an opportunity to learn and many a time the experience can be painful, distressing and demoralizing. Nevertheless the gain is in realizing that it is not the end of the road. The best learning comes from putting into action or practice what is absorbed. Despite the best attitude, the best preparation and extensive practice, the reality is always unpredictable. We then LEARN that when we are willing to be lifelong students Life gets Enriched As Resources are Nourished though our experiences, by our own experiments and our positive expectations.

Action Points:

1. Jot down the 3 new things you learned during the last one week. It could relate to your work, it could be something you gained from the TV/ neighbor/ children/ friend etc.
2. Outline some new things you would want to learn. This could relate to your passion/ profession/ whim / or as a challenge. How will you outline the way you plan to achieve this and put some clear deadlines to begin and allocate the time for it too.

Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

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TEACH

To Educate And Coach Humanity is the focus of all those who TEACH

One of the noblest professions, teaching is both an art and a science. The nobility of teaching stems from the fact that we are sharing our learning, our expertise and our experience with others with a view to making them educated, confident and independent. The science of teaching outlines the rules and theory which will help one to effectively impart the learning in a structured manner, provide guidelines for evaluating the learning and provides stimulus for upgrading ones own knowledge. The art of teaching focuses on stimulating the students to be attentive, encourage learners to experiment and personalize the style of imparting the teaching.

As the saying goes’ Feed a man and you will make him dependent on you but teach him to fish and he will become independent’ The nobility of the teaching profession lies in the fact that you are giving back to society at large, much more than what you have personally got from the world. Real teaching is all about guiding pupils through the basics, encouraging them to explore the more advanced and facilitating and encouraging them to move beyond he frontiers of academics and books and unlock their potential, be more creative and change the world. Understanding and empathy are two qualities essential for any teacher. There are times when the students feel restless, defeated and frustrated more so when they cannot cope up with the pressures of learning by rote, the weight of parental expectations and unfairness of being compared with peers on pure academic results alone.

Teaching is not limited to merely the classrooms. Our first teachers in fact are out parents, elder siblings, grandparents, uncles and aunties, neighbors and friends and religious instructors, all of whom instill in us the values, the virtues and the social graces so essential to make us gentlemen and ladies. Our good qualities, our bad habits, our thought process, our body language are all greatly influenced by the early teaching we received in our growing up years in the non formal world of family life, social life and religious process. Very often, many of what we imbibe is based observation of the examples set before us by family, society and community around us.

Real teaching therefore is the responsibility of each one of us because by our thoughts, words and deeds we are setting examples for the young to follow. Our lack of patience, our intemperate language, our penchant for gossiping and bad mouthing are all silently observed and incorporated by those around particularly the children and the youngsters. It would be best if we can be polite, courteous, well mannered, use the three magic words of please, thank you and sorry in our day to day living, for then if the youngsters follow and imitate us, they will be well tutored in life and we can be proud and feel flattered; as they say ‘imitation is the best form of flattery’

Action Points:

Have you attempted the challenge posed in the previous post of 7th Feb.2010, where you had to make as many words as possible of 4 letters or more with the alphabets  E T F S N S A and ensure that the alphabet F appears in all the words. Please attempt this challenge now!!

1. Check out your own academic performance when in school and college. It would be unfair and unreasonable to expect your children to do disproportionately better than yourself in their academic performance.
2. Check out your bad habits and the most common criticism about yourself given by your spouse, friends, colleagues etc. Ask yourself if you are setting the right example for others to follow. Outline steps you will take to curb your bad habits.

Many of you are anxiously waiting for the answers to last week’s problem. Here are the words that you can make with the given alphabets and with the F appearing in all the words.
Fate, Fast, Fest, Fans, Feast, Feasts, Feat, Feats, Fastens, Safe,

How many CLAPS did you give yourself?

 Power Act - from http://www.actspot.com/ is focused on -

 Powering your Spirit to ACT Now.

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