Stop subsidizing your Vending Machine
When we look at Vending Machines the first thing that comes to our mind is convenience. WIthout having to leave the building and go out to a shop, you can get something to munch in your office. But the same Vending Machine can become a curse if you are not sure how to use them. Over the top in many companies they are subsidized and that way you will eat and not munch. Now people would say there are healthy things to munch in the vending machine. Yes there are but they are along side chocolates, cheese and fired chips.
The Vending Machine does not tell you that you have had too much junk and you should choose one of the healthy munch-ables this time. It will vend anything you pay for. So who has to decide you have to. I am not against vending machines, they surely are a convenience but then when does convenience become a habit? And from experience I can tell you habits are hard to go and I find myself in the majority who find it tough to get rid of habits that are bad.
The first solution is that since it is convenience you should pay more. Stop the subsidies on the Vending machine and even charge them slightly more than the usual stores. Though I am not very sure is that is really practical. Nevertheless, subsidized vending machines should be a NO. I know that when the vending machine in the cafeteria increased the 25 cents to $1:00 many would come stand in front of them and blame and many would go back without buying. But yet people who really needed something to munch did that. Another interesting thing is that you should also have more portions of healthy munches than the unhealthy ones and that way people will make a choice for healthy ones because it gives you more buck for the dollar.
Is Sleep your real Enemy?
We use to live in a world where they said that too much sleep was the sign of laziness. The interesting this is that this thought went too far that now we battle the problems of having less sleep. Is’t that ironic, We change our lifestyles hoping for the better and it back fires. What no one ever really gave thought is even initially it was not sleep that people were against. It was the to waking up late in the morning. Sleeping late till the sun has risen all the way up was a sign of laziness, no having enough sleep.
It is also true that we have started to over commit in our lives. Many times people do that because they dont have a choice. If they dont commit beyond their ability someone else will and that will effect you badly. But what is the solution. Do you honestly believe that if you and another person have the same ability and skills will he have a better chance at life if he sleeps less and puts more time on his work. May be yes may be not. But what I have found is that, the whole point is to make the waking hours more effecting and not in cutting down the sleeping hours.
Think about it. If you found out that you actually waste 30% or your real waking hours doing nothing, do you think that realization can help you. May be it is time you really start looking at what you accomplish a day in real, not what you tell your manager you have worked on 
Resume Building and Jumping Ships
Earlier there was nothing called a resume building process that is tightly coupled with a person’s career. You finish education, get on the first job that comes and then retire from that job. Working for the Government and the private company was nothing different when it comes to the tenure you spend in a place.
But then it changed when people started changing the companies and they had to create resumes to apply for new jobs. Then firing became a norm in every industry and so people who were in a comfortable job one day found themselves jobless the next day. This started the process of Resume building where in a person writes and rewrites his resume as well as takes up jobs that will add value to the resume he has.
The choice of job became the choice of the company that you can put on your resume. Large Banks, Large corporations, even short commission services in Military all happened and added to a person’s resume and profile. But this over years generated a new wave. Youngsters leaving college started changing jobs every now and then. This is always started as Resume building exercise but then it gives way to fact that people are unable to stick on one job for long.
They jump ships for a myriad of reasons like friend or boss moving to new company, getting bored with current company, politics, and work pressure and so on. Why I say this is because if you are a senior guy hiring for a fulltime position in your group and you see a ten years experienced guy who has worked in 8 different jobs. What is your opinion? Will you feel good about it.
So is there a good time that one can be in a company and then move on. I would say 5 years but in a changing economy, it’s too long, but at least 3 is a good thing.
Jump ships because you have to not because you have nothing else to do
Education, Career and Passion
If you started your career in India as I did in the early nineties people had two choices Computer and Non Computer and as I moved on the years I found several people who in spite of taking non computer streams of education ended up in the computer field. Having done electrical engineering I myself found to be in the Information technology field.
This was in India where education was at one time not based on what you liked but focused on what could fetch a job. So engineering topped the list in comparison with the regular three years BA degree. But then there was also the Masters in Computer sciences (MCA PGDCA and several other post graduate courses that enabled way for people from non technical filedto jump into the IT bandwagon. So in reality it is true that opportunity in real world shapes the way education in a country evolves.
When I joined Engineering we had only seven colleges in my whole state of Kerala that provided undergrad engineering courses, and I had just one in my city. But then over the next few years with the advent of private colleges now we have so many more, if I am correct much more than 10 schools in my own city. Everyone was in engineering and then in specialized streams like web technologies, architecture and so on. And if you look at the situation now, finishing out of a technical school is no guarantee of a job and the only way you can get a job moves back to being able to contribute what the real world needs.
Career Switch was also never an option for many people in India before and that too is changing. They start in one career and then they make a switch even after 10 years in one field. The bottom line is we have two streams of activities going on at any time in people’s education and career journey here. One is what they have to do to make a living and the other is doing what they love. They go hand in hand and for some lucky ones they merge, but for manythey go hand in hand. So one of the important things apart from being good in studies and having an eye on what the real world needs you also have to keep your pasions alive. You don’t know when you will be ready to shift careers and merge them.
Never let go what you love to do even if you pursue a career in order to make a living
Doing something as your Life depends on it
This was what I learned when I started my professional career, told by someone as the definition for being a professional. Though over my career I have done several things both as if life depended on it and otherwise there was a stark different on the achievements and results. Obviously when my life depended on it the results were much better
Why do you end up doing things partially or as if life does not depend on it? That is a question people often ask themselves and it is often because the urge and interest that become the life blood of an action is missing.
While there is no doubt that you should do things as if your life depended on it, there are several things that push you to feel that way. A few of them are rewards, recognition, passion, a convincible need that this is an important thing to do. While we should try to do things as our life depends on it, we should also cultivate an environment where other people can do their job as if their life depended on it.
Your success on something depends on the fact that your life depends on it
Failures are louder than Successes
I can remember much of my failures than my successes and if I take a tab the side of failures will far outweigh successes. Is that bad? I don’t think so. It is just that your failures are much more louder than your successes.
Your failures will be more remembered and acknowledged by others than your successes, unless your successes are so magnificent that it washes away any traces of your failures. But this does not happen to everyone, people have to analyze, study and life a failure before they can bury it.
The worst thing one can do is try to cover up a failure, because that won’t help. We now live in a world where people would like to engage with someone who has tasted failure, because only they can understand and appreciate the true value of successes, even the smaller ones in life that makes you and your team moving.
Don’t hide your failures in order to prove successful, own it
Converting some stress into an element of joy
One of the troubling tasks in life is to find ways to avoid stress and do something regularly that makes you happy. The catch is that some of these items in life that make you happy have an expiry date. One such item is the time you spend with kids because they grow up so fast and no more remain kids. When they grow you are faced with many new perspectives of growing up that don’t exist when they are small kids.
Waking up a 5 year old on a weekday can be a real challenge and often stressful. But you don’t have a choice and you have to do it. The choice you have is to work around that stress. When I pick my 5 year old I also generously give him around 5 to 10 minutes to sit wrapped up in my hug and a blanket. We take this time to talk about some of his favorite cartoon characters and if any of them paid a visit during his dream last night. We also check what might be the fun stuff at school that day. Here he is mostly the listener and I have to be the talker, until he is excited enough.
Interestingly every day along with the busy schedule of getting myself ready, I look forward for these few minutes, though I am not sure if he looks forward for the same thing. But I know tomorrow he will grow up and not be the kid he is now and time would take this joy away from me.
There are some stresses in life that can well be turned to moments of real joy.
What is your Response Time?
Response time make and break customer relationships. Not just customer relationships, but any relationships, be it professional or personal. But interestingly all non responses are not because of tight schedule or a because of being busy, sometimes they are intentional.
Lack of knowledge on the responding side is a strong reason for non response to questions. A delay is chosen over an “I don’t know”. Many times the person does not want to respond, plain and simple or you are not in his or her priorities. Understanding responses is key to managing relationships (at least on a professional level)
Respond fast if you can, it makes a lot of difference to the receiver
Learning without being Taught
I often joke saying “My Learning started after my formal education ended”. It is not all that wrong in my case because during formal education I felt I was mostly taught and learning happened as a result of being taught.
But Life after the formal education was different, you had to take the initiative and learn, often going to the places where the knowledge to available. Many times from people who are not ready to share what they know.
Learning is not about the knowledge but also the skill of getting your way to knowledge
Standing up after a Fall
It is important that you stand up every time you fall because falls are inevitable in life and for life to move on you need to be in a standing position. To avoid a fall you should always be lying down and you do that only when you are dead
There is one more reason why you should stand up and that is because you are unique. Your life is lived only by you and so the problems in your life the thoughts and actions that come with it are all yours. People can help you stand up, but only you can do it.
Every fall is a lesson learned in life and to practice that lesson you need to stand up and walk
