Archives for May 2010

Inspirational Quotations #326

May 30, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Isn’t it the mind that translates the outer condition into happiness and suffering?
—Matthieu Ricard (French Buddhist Monk)

The hardest time to tell: when to stop.
—Malcolm Forbes (American Publisher)

We don’t believe in rheumatism and true love until after the first attack.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (Austrian Novelist)

It is better to drink of deep griefs than to taste shallow pleasures.
—William Hazlitt (English Essayist)

Anything simple always interests me.
—David Hockney

There is but one way to be born but a hundred ways to die.
—Chinese Proverb

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.
—Margaret Thatcher (British Head of State)

The one charm of the past is that it is the past.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet)

Virtue is praised, but hated. People run from it, for it is ice-cold and in this world you have to keep your feet warm.
—Denis Diderot (French Philosopher)

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.
—Albert Camus (Algerian-born French Philosopher)

Inspirational Quotations #325

May 23, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

Integrity has no need of rules.
—Albert Camus (Algerian-born French Philosopher)

A hug is the perfect gift–one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.
—Ivern Ball (American Writer, Aphorist)

As the rays come from the sun, and yet are not the sun, even so our love and pity, though they are not God, but merely a poor, weak image and reflection of Him, yet from him alone they come.
—Charles Kingsley (English Clergyman)

The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.
—Peter Medawar

Happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length.
—Robert Frost (American Poet)

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, then, especially, being free from flatterers.
—Samuel Johnson (British Essayist)

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
—Thomas Edison (American Inventor)

Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
—Hyman Judah Schachtel (American Jewish Religious Leader)

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.
—Unknown

You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
—Anne Lamott

Nature creates ability; luck provides it with opportunity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

When a man dwells on the objects of sense, he creates an attraction for them; attraction develops into desire, and desire breeds anger.
—The Bhagavad Gita (Hindu Scripture)

Inspirational Quotations #324

May 15, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

Happiness walks on busy feet.
—Anonymous

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.
—Ayn Rand (Russian-born American Novelist)

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.
—Rabindranath Tagore (Indian Hindu Polymath)

Wisdom doesn’t come with age. Wisdom comes with wisdom.
—Neil Simon

To confess your fallibility and then do nothing about it is not humble; it is boasting of your modesty.
—Eliezer Yudkowsky (American Scientist)

Live according to Nature, runs the maxim of the West; but according to what nature, the nature of the body or the nature which exceeds the body ? This first we ought to determine.
—Sri Aurobindo (Indian Yogi, Nationalist)

Hard is it to be in the world, free, yet living the life of ordinary men; but because it is hard, therefore it must be attempted and accomplished.
—Sri Aurobindo (Indian Yogi, Nationalist)

Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving; make every day a holiday and celebrate just living.
—Amanda Bradley

It is better to live with wild beasts wandering in the mountains, than with fools even in the comfortable and heavenly halls of the Lord of Gods.
—Neetishatakam

Inspirational Quotations #323

May 10, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Climb mountains to see lowlands.
—Chinese Proverb

It isn’t what you do, but how you do it.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.
—Earl Nightingale (American Motivational Speaker)

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
—Annie Dillard

It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.
—Tony Robbins (American Actor Author)

It is impossible to live pleasurably without living prudently, and honorably, and justly; or to live prudently, and honorably, and justly, without living pleasurably.
—Epicurus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

The very best way to learn self-control is by practicing self-control.
—Sterling W. Sill (American Mormon Religious Leader)

What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.
—Henny Youngman

Happiness is like peeing your pants: Everyone can see it, but only you can feel it’s warmth.
—Unknown

Only a life lived for others is a life worth while.
—Albert Einstein (German-born Theoretical Physicist)

I see God walking in every human form. When I meet different people, I say to myself, “God in the form of the saint, God in the form of the sinner, God in the form of the righteous, God in the form of the unrighteous.”
—Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (Indian Hindu Philosopher)

Telecommuting: Out of sight, Out of mind

May 7, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Perils of telecommuting: Disconnectedness and diminished face time

For over four decades, employers have offered telecommuting and other flexible work arrangements to boost employee morale, promote work-life balance, and retain skilled workers. In spite of the ubiquity of electronic communication and accessibility to travel, a growing body of research has shown that it is significantly harder to build and maintain social relationships electronically than it is in person.

In the 1960s, Hewlett-Packard (HP) pioneered flexible work arrangements as part of its legendary “HP Way” culture. However, in year 2006, HP surprised employees and the HR industry by deciding to cutback telecommuting in one of its divisions to encourage employee interactivity, promote teamwork, and enable skilled workers to train the less-experienced employees.
A few years ago, an internal IBM study revealed that when teams went more than three days without a meeting, their happiness and productivity suffered. This promoted the “Making IBM Feel Small” initiative to promote face-to-face contact among its employees.

It’s important of show up and be “there”

Telecommuting - The importance of being 'there' Getting management to recognize you for your achievements and consider you for promotions and leadership positions has never been more challenging, especially at large companies. As I have mentioned in my previous articles, career success is no more about “who you know,” but rather about “who knows you” and what they know about you. Earning this recognition begins by showing up, “being there” and acting the part of a dedicated, enthusiastic employee.

Look, companies rarely promote employees who are not around to solve challenges and slug it out during tough times. For those of you who wish to graduate from individual contributor roles and get promoted to team-leader or management positions, telecommuting comes with a cost—reduced face time with your peers, management, and customers, and diminished opportunities to foster your management’s trust in your abilities. Therefore, telecommuting can be an impediment to climbing the corporate ladder.

Three Great Commencement Speeches by Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and J.K. Rowling

May 4, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi 9 Comments

The commencement season is upon us. On these momentous occasions, students celebrate their academic achievements and prepare to transit from one pivotal life experience to another.

In graduation speeches, students hear reflections of personal stories and timeless advice from accomplished individuals. While commencement speeches are brimming with plenty of patently obvious advice such as “pursue whatever you do with passion,” speeches such as the ones featured below are truly motivating.

I have coached many students graduating this year and I have recognized that, despite a gloomy job market and other challenges ahead, this year’s graduating classes seem to be more optimistic than previous classes with which I have interacted. My very best to them.

Steve Jobs: “Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life”

Steve Jobs cofounded Apple Computer Inc. at age 21 in 1976, got fired in 1985, and returned in 1997 to lead one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in business history. The product and marketing visions he has since executed have elevated him to the status of a business and media superstar. Steve Jobs had a cancerous pancreatic tumor removed in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009.

In his 2005 commencement address (transcript, video) at Stanford University, Steve Jobs urged graduates to pursue their dreams and fulfill the opportunities in life’s setbacks:

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. … Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Bill Gates: “Address the world’s deepest inequities”

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and Corbis, is currently the world’s most influential philanthropist. His Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated billions of dollars to world health causes, particularly toward the eradication of infectious diseases.

In his 2007 commencement address (transcript, video) at Harvard University, Bill Gates urged graduates to discover and help solve the health and social inequalities that the world faces:

I left Harvard with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world—the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair. … Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries—but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity—reducing inequity is the highest human achievement.

If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. … I hope you will come back here to Harvard 30 years from now and reflect on what you have done with your talent and your energy. I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone, but also on how well you have addressed the world’s deepest inequities … on how well you treated people a world away who have nothing in common with you but their humanity.

J.K. Rowling: “The benefits of failure”

J.K. Rowling, the celebrated author of the Harry Potter series of fantasy novels, is a classic “rags to riches” life success story. At the age of 28, as a depressed, unemployed single mother who lived on welfare, J.K. Rowling started writing the first Harry Potter book at a café. Within five years, thanks to the success of Harry Potter, she rose from obscurity to literary prominence and became a billionaire.

In her 2008 commencement address (transcript, video) at Harvard University, J.K. Rowling urges graduates to persist through failures and despondency:

Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. … Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.

Inspirational Quotations #322

May 2, 2010 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
—Scott Adams (American Cartoonist)

Success is peace of mind, a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming, and not just in a physical way: seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be yours as well.
—John Wooden (American Sportsperson)

An elephant can be tethered by a thread–if he believes he is captive. If we believe we are chained by habit or anxiety, we are in bondage.
—John H. Crowe

To aim at the best and to remain essentially ourselves is one and the same thing.
—Janet Erskine Stuart (English Catholic Nun)

A vulgar mind is proud in prosperity and humble in adversity. A noble mind is humble in prosperity and proud in adversity.
—Friedrich Ruckert

To be content with little is hard; to be content with much is impossible.
—Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (Austrian Novelist)

Sometimes the best gain is to lose.
—George Herbert (Welsh Anglican Poet)

The habit of being happy enables one to be freed, or largely freed, from the domination of outward conditions.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish Novelist)

The powerful exact what they can; the weak grant what they must.
—Thucydides

A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.
—Alexis Carrel (American Surgeon)

Relationships are like Rome. Difficult to start out, incredible during the prosperity of the ‘Golden Age’, and unbearable during the fall. Then, a new kingdom will come along and the whole process will repeat itself until you come across a kingdom like Egypt…that thrives, and continues to flourish. This kingdom will become your best friend, your soulmate, and your love.
—Helen Keller (American Author)