although difficult in the begining, i have stopped commuting to and office by car. Yes i have started using company transport. Its so relaxing. No stress… No need to shout at the lane indiciplined drivers… No signals… Wow.. Just read some book, sleep and watch people driving frantically through the crippling traffic..

In fact i get to walk around 2.5 km per day (yeah not much but still) its now refreshing too…. In fact i see 6 am after many years.. Now i follow a time table… Atleast for some activities…

I should have done this long before…atleast i wouldnt be taking atorvastation…

Again another year is to become past…

Today is the last day of 2011… and tomorrow we are going to start disaster year according to Mayan’s.. Well we will know the truth by the end of 2012, so why think of that…. at least we have time till then….

Talking about resolutions, do we really remember what resolutions we made at the beginning of the year 2011??  Very few might remember….. (alas, not me  )  As a matter of fact I dont remember making resolutions for the past many years…

Now this year I have made some resolutions .. now was thinking how do I track if my resolutions are followed during the course of the year 2012…. and I came across a simply cool online free tool….. http://dontbreakthechain.com/  [dontbreakthechain]

I don’t mean, you can track all your resolutions using this tool,, but at least some (in my case all my resolutions) can be tracked using this tool…

So lets see what 2012 has kept in stock for us..

Happy blogging…

Vinu

 

 

No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport.

When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said:

“I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card.

It said:

Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.”

Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.” As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day.

He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself.

He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’” “That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said. “It sure has,” Wally replied.

“My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it.

You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.” Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab.

I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call.

The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting. Johnny the Bagger and Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. They decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

How about you?

What India Was

Five cannibals (Man eaters) get appointed as programmers in an IT company.

During the welcoming ceremony the boss says: “You’re all part of our team now. You can earn good money here, and you can go to the company canteen for something to eat. So don’t trouble the other employees”. The cannibals promise not to trouble the other employees.

Four weeks later the boss returns and says: “You’re all working very hard, and I’m very satisfied with all of you. One of our developers has disappeared however. Do any of you know what happened to her?” The cannibals disown all knowledge of the missing developer. After the boss has left, the leader of the cannibals says to the others: “Which of you idiots ate the developer?”

One of the cannibals raises his hand hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals says: “You FOOL! For four weeks we’ve been eating team leaders, managers, and project managers and no-one has noticed anything, and now YOU ate one developer and it got noticed. So here after please don’t eat a person who is working.” -BVK

India vs Australia [2004] match…

Brad Hogg took Sachin’s wicket.

At the end of the match Hogg gave that

Ball to Sachin for his autograph.

Sachin put his sign with one beautiful sentence,

“IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.” –

Till today Hogg could not take his wicket for the second time.

THAT’S CONFIDENCE & DEDICATION..!

HATS OFF TO OUR LITTLE MASTER SACHIN.

After this incident Brad Hogg and Sachin Tendulkar came face to face 21 times…but he could never get the Master Blaster out

Howzaaat!

Isolation hastens aging

Have you ever noticed how some people seem forever young while others appear to have aged far beyond their years?
According to a new book by scientists John T. Cacioppo and William Patrick, loneliness is often what makes the difference.
All of us are lonely at times. Being the new kid in school, going through a divorce or experiencing the death of a loved one can be painful. So can brief feelings of rejection, such as not being invited to a party. While these things hurt, time and change can lessen the pain.
But what is far more debilitating, research has shown, is persistent loneliness, which has as great an impact on physical health as smoking, obesity or lack of exercise.
“Chronic feelings of loneliness can drive a cascade of physiological events that actually accelerates the aging process,” Cacioppo and Patrick write in “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection” (W.W. Norton,  2008). “Loneliness not only alters behavior but shows up in measurements of stress hormones, immune function and cardiovascular functions. Over time these changes in physiology are compounded in ways that may be hastening millions of people to an early grave.”
Loneliness has been show to predict the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. And middle-aged people who are lonely tend to be less motivated to eat well, exercise and get enough sleep. They have lower self-esteem, which results in self-destructive behavior like excessive drinking.
Once loneliness becomes chronic, getting better can’t be achieved just by “coming out of one’s shell,” the authors say. What is required is a holistic approach.
Human beings are inherently social creatures. We care what others think of us. Social interaction and affirmation are basic necessities.
That’s why in history, banishment has been the most severe punishment short of torture and death. It’s also why teenagers use ostracism, the deliberate infliction of emotional pain for selfish ends — often with tragic consequences.
Although loneliness may put one at greater risk of depression, the authors say, “loneliness and depression are in many ways opposites.” Unlike depression, loneliness “is not a mental disorder.”
“Loneliness, like hunger, is a warning to do something to alter an uncomfortable and possibly dangerous condition. Depression makes us apathetic. Whereas loneliness moves us forward, depression holds us back,” they explain.
A persistent sense of rejection, however, can impair one’s cognition and lead to the kind of self-defeating behaviors (being critical or defensive, or aloof, for example) that result in rejection, thus perpetuating the cycle.
Although loneliness is not an illness and therefore cannot be treated with drugs, Cacioppo and Patrick say, cognitive behavioral therapy can help by changing how we choose to see things.
“By reframing our cognitive perceptions, we can begin to change our lives,” they write.
Part of their program goes by the acronym, EASE.
E is for “Extend yourself.” Take small steps toward interacting with others.
A is for having an “Action plan.” Join a club or volunteer at something, for example.
S is for “Selection.” Pursue those friendships that seem most promising.
E is for “Expect the best.” Be positive.
For these two biologists, their book isn’t just a way of explaining their research, but is intended to help people.
“It is my belief that, with a little encouragement, most anyone can emerge from the prison of distorted social cognition and learn to modify self-defeating interactions,” Cacioppo writes. “What feels like solitary confinement, in other words, need not be a life sentence.”

http://kyvoice.com/winchestersun/newerworld/?p=559

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Why?? I really wonder why people say this line? Companies hire us not for our loyalty, instead, it’s for our services. And, we chose a company not to be loyal, instead, to be remunerated for our service rendered. So, there is nothing loyalty does on each side. In fact, both should be just and transparent to each other. Be honest to yourself and keep ethics high on your part, and both will benefit.

When I see some of my friends/colleagues say they have a clean CV and are proud of being loyal to a company for long years, I just keep admiring their innocence. They are either too innocent or are too scared to step out and venture further.

Having a long-standing single employer in your cv doesn’t make it clean. Think if you have done justice to yourself. Moreover, it also depends on the organization size and culture. Will it safeguard its employees during a strong hurricane (recession) ? or will it shed you off, making you feel as if you were a pay load??

Getting into an MNC is not a big achievement, molding yourself to be an in-dispensable asset to your organization is the real challenge. The oldest leaves wither for even a small wind, but a leaf deep-rooted to the trunk survives a hurricane.

Appraise yourself on your corporate grounds. Step into their shoes and look at you… are you worth being employed.?? are you serving your purpose?? etc… if you are not able to justify yourself, then you are in deep trouble… Its time you come out of your loyalty world and harness yourself to meet up the requirements of the corporate.

Always remember, You are not the last employee alive, nor your employer is not the last employer alive..