7 ways to push past procrastination

When you find yourself procrastinating on a particular project, or just delaying in general, it is always a good idea to ask why. If a task is difficult, it's difficult for a reason; you need to know what that reason is, even if it’s just a nagging habit you’ve developed.

Yes, procrastination can be just a habit, and sometimes society even rewards you for delaying action, such as late season Christmas bargains. It’s not always a bad thing to look before you leap - no one wants to make a poorly thought out decision. But if delaying is causing problems in your life, the reason could be due to anger, fear, or denial.

The next time you find yourself procrastinating on a particular project, ask yourself these questions.

Do I find it hard to just get started?

The hardest thing about everyday tasks is getting started on them. It's kind of like pushing a stalled car...once you get going, everything rolls right along. Push Past procrastination by setting up systems that help you. For example, I had a jigsaw puzzle that I just couldn’t seem to finish even though I wanted to use it as part of my wall decoration. I finally set it up on it’s own little table, then moved the table out into the traffic pattern where I would see it constantly. That got my attention, and got the puzzle finished.

Do I feel qualified to perform the task? Am I in over my head?

Being afraid that you will fail at something is a sure-fire way to get you to stop before you've started. Push Past Procrastination by being honest with yourself about your level of training in that particular task. Don't complain or procrastinate. Simply request help from someone qualified who can help you learn.

Is this something I really want?

I was having trouble finishing painting my kitchen and I couldn’t figure out why. As I started to really think about it, I realized that I didn’t really like the color. Martha Stewart said I ought to like it, but I just didn’t. As soon as I mentally fired Martha and got the color I wanted, I finished in no time. Push Past Procrastination by telling the truth about what you really want out of life. Live as the star of your own life, not as an extra in someone else's.

Does the task seem huge, even overwhelming?

Push Past Procrastination by breaking the job down into smaller steps to get it under control and manageable. Instead of considering painting the whole inside of the house, focus on only one room or even one wall. Schedule a specific amount of time that you will spend on it each day, or week. Set realistic goals for yourself, instead of expecting to accomplish everything immediately.

Are there too many things demanding my attention so that nothing of real value gets done?

Push Past Procrastination by setting priorities. Do things that are important to you and your life. Develop a filter system so that only what's contributing to your goals gets in. Making a task easier often comes with making a choice to adjust your schedule, re-allocate your money, or choosing how to spend your energy.

Is this really my goal, or is it someone else's?

Are you doing it to please someone? Obviously there's nothing wrong with pleasing the people you love. But if you find yourself in a role or job that no longer fits, it's a signal that you will need to find another route to take. Push Past Procrastination by examining how you spend your time, what roles you are playing, and how they relate to who you are at this time in your life.

Am I afraid of the outcome?

Procrastination may show up in employment when the fear of finishing one project without having another on the horizon may mean that you would get laid off. Procrastination may show up if you fear being blamed for bad results. Procrastination may show up in personal situations as a fear of losing what you now have, even if it's not what you want. Push Past Procrastination by having reserves. Without reserves, you live in fear. Fear causes you to make decisions you don't like, which in turn makes you procrastinate. Build reserves and fear will no longer slow you down.

Don't Copy if You Can't Paste

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. He said: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn’t my wife!"

The audience was in silence and shock.

The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!"

Laughter and applause.

A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a couple of drinks. He said loudly to his wife who was preparing dinner, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"

The wife went, "ah!" with shock and rage.

Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out"....and I can't remember who she was!"

By the time the manager regained his consciousness, he wason a hospital bed nursing burns from boiling water

Moral of the story: Don't copy if you can't paste!

Luck matters ;-)

With a pile of 300 resumes on his desk and a need to pick someone quickly, my boss told me to make calls on the bottom 50 and toss the rest. "Throw away 250 resumes?" I asked, shocked.
"What if the best candidates are in there?"

"You have a point," he said. "But then again, I don't need people with bad luck here."

- Becky Horowitz(Reader's digest)

Aspirations - Back then and now...

When I was a college going kid, my dad gave me a Desktop Computer. Portable drives were matter of luxury so, I started carrying my CPU along to college every day. That was the time I decided I will make myself so qualified that I will deserve a laptop.

5 years down the line - I reached to a level where I was given laptop. I have had so much of computers that my family would be completely pissed, my eyes were getting weaker and doctors will get pissed and the last thing I would want is to get a laptop to play with at home.

With great powers comes great responsibilities - that?s how it works, right? With a laptop there comes a wish from one's project manager that you will be able to work not only from office but also from home and hence be *more productive*. The fun will start when you manage to loose it; as they call it, there will be "consequences"!! It gets really "interesting" when I have to work while at home and my wife is supervising me for the time I attend to office. She would think I am giving more time to lapto than her.

Damn - my dream of laptop now turned out to be an umbrella up my ass!

Performance & Position ;-)

A Priest dies & is awaiting his turn in line at the Heaven's Gates.
Ahead of him is a guy, fashionably dressed, in dark sun glasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket & jeans.
God asks him: Please tell me who are you, so that I may know whether to admit you into the kingdom of Heaven or not?
The guy replies: I am Pandi, Auto driver from Chennai!
God consults his ledger, smiles & says to Pandi: Please take this silken robe & gold scarf & enter the Kingdom of Heaven...
Now it is the priest's turn. He stands erect and speaks out in a booming voice: I am Pope's Assistant so & so, Head Priest of the so & so Church for the last 40 years.
God consults his ledger & says to the Priest: Please take this cotton robe & enter the Kingdom of Heaven...
'Just a minute,' says the agonized Priest. 'How is it that a foul mouth, rash driving Auto Driver is given a Silken robe & a Golden scarf and me, a Priest, who's spent his whole life preaching your Name & goodness has to make do with a Cotton robe?'
'Results my friend, results,' shrugs God.
'While you preach, people sleep; but when he drove his Auto, people PRAYED’ It’s PERFORMANCE & not POSITION that ultimately counts.

Social Networking Sites - Reflecting Truth??

I am inspired to writing about Social networking again since I came across this article: Social networking sites reveal users' true personality

My first expression was... "really?", "Is it possible??", "Can people be this honest?" but now that I give a second thought to it, I think this is possible because of a few reasons

1. Netizens are growing more mature ? stalking ones's gf/bf and watching porn is not the *only* activities
2. Net has turned out to be an integral part of our lives (see this article)
   
3. People may find it easy to share the things when they are not surrounded by others
4. People feel more free to appreciate the shared things when none's watching '

I hardly get a chance to go online and catch up over Facebook and sometimes I think people don't have to publish details as granular as how much disgusting it was for my fellow mates when I farted in the tee! Knock it off guys... we don't want to know what are you doing every minute ! S wasting your time to update your status on all these sites?

But for sure when used such sites legitimately ? it will provide me wealth of information about persona of an individual.

Approach Matters - A Management Lesson

My two minutes were well spent on this repeat-forward and can't eschew from sharing with others! :)

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When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (Ink won't flow down to the writing surface). In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did Russians do?? The Russians used a Pencil!!!

One of the most memorable case studies I came across on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, did not get into complications of X-rays, etc but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on,and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes
out of the line.

Moral of the story: Always look for simple solutions. Devise the
simplest possible solution that solves the problem So, learn to focus
on solutions not on problems

This is how Media works…..!!!

Here is how the Indian TV news channel NDTV 24x7 would report the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme.

All names (except those of Jack and Jill), are fictitious.

Prashant - TV Anchor

Two persons have been injured in a freak climbing accident. Jack and his companion Jill had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water when Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after. Live from the hill, our reporter, Amrita Shah, takes up the story.

Amrita Shah

Thank you Prashant. Well, as you say, two persons - Jack and Jill - had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Suddenly, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Prashant.

Prashant

Thank you Amrita. What do we know about the hill?

Amrita

Not too much. Jack was going up the hill to fetch a pail of water when he fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "hill breaks crown of pail-boy Jack"]

Prashant

What news of Jack and Jill?

Amrita

Prashant, it seems that Jack had gone up the hill to fetch a pail of water. We know nothing about the pail, or how heavy it was but it seems that Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. I have here with me, an eyewitness to the accident, Mr Shahid Trivedi. Mr Shahid, tell us what you saw.

Shahid Trivedi

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Boy and girl tumble down hill. Water spilled"]

Amrita

Jack and Jill. What do we know about them? Are they brother and sister? Are they married? Just what were they doing on the hill together?

Shahid Trivedi

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail a water.

Amrita

And what happened next?

Shahid Trivedi

Jack fell down and broke his crown

Amrita

Go on.

Shahid Trivedi

And Jill came tumbling after.

Amrita

Prashant, there you have it. Two people innocently going about their business to fetch a pail of water when one of them falls down, breaks his crown, and the other comes tumbling after. Back to you in the studio Prashant.

[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Water errand ends in tragedy"]

Prashant

I have with me in the studio now, Professor Chandrashekar Belagare from the Indian Institute of Applied Hill Sciences. Professor: a hill; Jack; Jill; a pail of water. A tragedy waiting to happen?

Professor

Well that depends on the hill, the two persons, the object they were carrying and the conditions underfoot. Let us look at the evidence so far.

Jack and Jill

Went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down

And broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.

Clearly, one would suspect that if Jack’s fall was severe enough to break his crown then the surface of the hill must have been slippery or unstable. But I think we’re overlooking something quite fundamental here. Who was carrying the pail? Jack fell down and broke his crown and – this is the key – Jill came tumbling after. If Jack and Jill had been carrying the pail together, would they not have fallen at the same time? The fact that Jill came tumbling after suggests that Jack lost his footing first and perhaps knocked Jill over as he slipped.

Prashant

Professor thank you very much. So there we have it, two persons – Jack and Jill – went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Later in the programme, Osama bin Laden captured in Afghanistan, President Bush says rent-boy menage-a-trois was "just a brief lapse of judgement", and Pakistan launches nuclear warheads against key Indian cities. But next up, join us after the break for a studio discussion about hills, boys and girls and whether water-fetching trips should be supervised. We’ll be right back...

Relying on Social / Professional Networking websites while recruiting a candidate

I was browsing thru discussion on one of my groups at LinkedIn about leveraging websites like Facebook and LinkedIn to check a candidate's postings before recruiting him.

It tells me a few things ...

1. We do way more things than just googling out for summer internship projects... we socialize over internet!!
   
2. Social / professional networking sites are becoming defacto place to peep into anyone's activities

When it comes to taking an in-person interview; I make sure I "google out" the candidate's name to gather a few data points from not only Linked in but also from any other possible sources online!

The key here is to do this exercise before you get into an interview. This will help you gather some data points about what candidate is doing / has done in his / her professional life and more. Also, if you have developed any prejudices / doubts; during in-person interview, you can clarify by means of asking direct / indirect questions.

I do the same when I am appearing for an interview. If I knew the interviewer?s name in advance, I would like check his/her profile online so that I know whom I am meeting. It helps me better prepare for interview

Something to be aware of is that people have different personality when at work and when participating in discussions at Social Networking sites.

Net net: social and professional websites will definitely help you take a better (and informed) decision if you do note get carried away!

Now apply for a PAN Card Online

http://www.utitsl.co.in/utitsl/site/index.html

I used to part of a Distribution List people at work are free to post “NBR” (non business related) emails. And have this questions coming often – Does anyone know a PAN card agent?

UTI seems to have started PAN card services thru their Technology Services (erstwhile Unit Trust of India Investor Services Ltd) One can either download and fill the form or can go online and fill up the details. (I have not applied using these services so, please spare me from your critique)

The best thing is – they seem to have put guidelines also to fill up the form. Of course there is a scope for improvement but I am sure whatever little available there helps.

I also liked the fact that their service charges are affordable - 94.00 rupees :-)

Not many people know hence this blog entry.

Hope this helps!!

Setting Right Expectations Upfront!

Setting expectations will help one do better business. Successful company will develop a relationship with the clients by telling them will give you a good quality services – but nothing comes for free.

I have worked with software consultancy firms where in I have observed two schools of thoughts. Giving something for free to get the business and then charging high rates to get more business that’s first. The second school of thoughts is – set an expectation up front that there is nothing like a free lunch. We will charge you reasonable rates but we will not do anything for free.

IMHO doing something for free sets wrong expectations. Bring us to a rather philosophical point – grid. Let’s all agree it’s a only human to have unlimited wants! You give something for free and they will want more. This act of giving a free ride - generates grid in minds of the clients and they will ask for more. Again, if someone has to pay very high rates, I am sure they will have a lot more expectations too which will ultimately break the hell loose for the poor developers who will end up burning mid night oil not only for the work they are doing for free but also for the implementation phase where in they have to churn out more. Exceeding expectations is the most dreadful (worst) nightmare come true for them.

Morale of the story: If we set expectations right (and upfront) there are a few tangible advantages. :-)

Capital Markets - Managing Risks

I came across this lecture / webminar – How to manage risk using Price Behaviour analysis - not having base in trading and risk management, it was difficult for me to understand but after hearing it a few times, it makes sense. If you have 45 minutes to watch/listen – time spent will be well worth it.

http://transcripts.fxstreet.com/2009/11/monthly-webinar-how-to-manage-risk-using-price-behaviour-analysis.html

I don't want to crib about India as a country but is what they teach in universities outside India and we normally go by books… what an irony!

On a positive side - technology has enabled us to see whats going outside India and hope we learn soon! :-)

Johny Johny Reloaded

I got this re-loaded version of Johny Johny in a forwarded email. Humorous irony explains plethora of issues today's average Indian employee is facing after meltdown of financial services industry globally.

Enjoy maad! :)

--------------------------

Johny Johny Yes Papa

Pvt Company
Yes Papa

Any Motivation
No Papa

Many Tension
Yes Papa

Do u Sleep well
No Papa

Onsite Opportunity
No papa

Boss Ki Galiyan
Yes Papa

Increment?
Ha ha ha :)

Relationship Analysis :-)

Let’s list three facts:

# 1 – It has been observed & proven that action and reactions act in opposite direction in equal force (''To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction)

# 2 – A definitions is a means of limiting a subject – subject being any tangible / non tangible thing

# 3 – Relationships is humans’ way of describing how one associates self with others

Based on points above, isn’t it true that defining a relationship will actually create a pressure / tension in the opposite direction that will be waiting for a trigger point to bounce back. Trigger point is relative to variables like circumstances and individual. To me it more seems like a disaster waiting to occur!

Why is it so that we need to characterize the bonding and judge it and ultimately invent fallacies?

Why can’t we accept the very liquid form of relationships as it comes?

It is like water - it will easily adjust to the shape of the jar you try to capture it in. You will try to freeze it with characteristics; it will become fragile and tend to break…

Why do we have to be obliged to certain things or not do certain things cause relationship poses 'em on you?

Why can’t a relationship be just a relationship? Does water differentiate with other water? Water is just water – emotions are where relationships hail from and we should take them just as they come – why invent a disaster?

Dilbert explains Delays!!

Dilbert rocks! A typical project management irony well explained that too with humor! :)

Curious case of Indian Colleagues

I hate it when someone intrude in my privacy. It has been an often case that I have to attend meetings and carry a scratch pad. And my Indian colleagues will NEVER miss an opportunity to flip a few pages.

It is interesting to observe them do it. They will start with staring at clearly written name and then play their fingers on the note as if they are and my name is written in braille! (Stop touching my note book - its so Gay!)

They will take their shot the moment you have to attend something else! And even before you know they have it open... The next thing you will know is they are carefully reading every freakin thing you have noted down.

F**k you all my dear colleagues – go back to school and learn a little bit of etiquette and respect someone else’s privacy!!

What is confidence?? - A Joke

A hypothetical situation where 20 CEOs board an airplane and are told that the flight that they are about to take is the first-ever to feature pilot-less technology: It is an uncrewed aircraft. Each one of the CEOs is then told, privately, that their company's software is running the aircraft's automatic pilot system. Nineteen of the CEOs promptly leave the aircraft, each offering a different type of excuse.

One CEO alone remains on board the jet, seeming very calm indeed. Asked why he is so confident in this first uncrewed flight, he replies:

"If it is the same software that is developed by my company's IT systems department, this plane won't even take off." !!!!!!

That is called Confidence!! :-)

Rule #1...It's Golden.

I grew up in Trenton, a west Tennessee town of five thousand people. I have wonderful memories of those first eighteen years, and many people in Trenton influenced my life in very positive ways. My football coach, Walter Kilzer, taught me the importance of hard work, discipline, and believing in myself. My history teacher, Fred Culp, is still the funniest person I've ever met. He taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings.

But my father was my hero. He taught me many things, but at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with love and respect...to live the Golden Rule. I remember one particular instance of him teaching this "life lesson" as if it were yesterday. Dad owned a furniture store, and I used to dust the furniture every Wednesday after school to earn my allowance. One afternoon I observed my Dad talking to all the customers as they came in...the hardware store owner, the banker, a farmer, a doctor. At the end of the day, just as Dad was closing, the garbage collector came in.

I was ready to go home, and I thought that surely Dad wouldn't spend too much time with him. But I was wrong. Dad greeted him at the door with a big hug and talked with him about his wife and son who had been in a car accident the month before. He empathized, he asked questions, he listened, and he listened some more. I kept looking at the clock, and when the man finally left, I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He's just the garbage collector." Dad then looked at me, locked the front door to the store, and said, "Son, let's talk."

He said, "I'm your father and I tell you lots of stuff as all fathers should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this...treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated." He said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it, but I want to make sure it's the first time you truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said." We sat there and talked for another hour about the meaning and the power of the Golden Rule. Dad said, "If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't, your life probably will be very unhappy and without meaning."

I recently heard someone say, "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value." Truer words were never spoken.

What you just read is one of 28 short chapters in The Power of Attitude. It was titled: "Rule #1...It's Golden."

Neck Exercise (-:

I am sure many of us get paid to warm our seats. Jokes aside but I am sure software engineers have to not only sit for hours but also stare at computer for hours. I came across this pic recently and found it very useful.

The original email had a reference to a doctor who used this picture to advise his patients to exercise by just reading this message. No wonder it was effective - no patient came back to him after reading it!! ;-)

Take a look at it yourself and find it out. If you cannot see the full pic - click on it and may be you will be able to view it in Picassa (-:

When to move on from your current job?

So, I have been a loyal employee of X organization for 5. years and 8 months now. This is my second job. At my first job – I joined as a trainee and stayed with them for a reasonable enough time 2 years 1 months

Staying with one organization for long time kind of slows down one’s learning and hence growth as a person. Mind you, I am not talking about climbing up the ladder and getting higher ranks, that comes easy if you stick to one organization for long time. My point is learning – what you get to carry along which will help you become the person you are supposed to be. I wouldn’t totally disagree with the school of thought that states – one should own one’s growth.

Now, this brings us to important question – when is the time to move on? When one outgrows the organization’s growth that is the exit time. One should plan his exit well and have to be very calculative of all available options. Ensure you have more than 1 (at least 3 choices) which gives you *what you want*. Relocation, Salary Hike, Subject of interests to work on, Travel Requirements, Learning Opportunities are some of the things to keep in mind while closing on that final option.

I think change is the way of life – one needs to take some pains to learn new things and that’s the way to grow and such steps should be taken based on calculated risk.

A Solution to Unhappy Employees

As an early emperor in Xia dynasty said "A picture speaks a thousand words" - I came across this picture which says it all. :-)

From

Socialism - A Theory

I am not sure of the authenticity of this - but found it worth a couple minutes and a ponder. It is interesting to see how the educationalists give a first hand experience to the students which is just enough to imbibe the lesson and not severe enough to ruin too much.

-----

The late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.... :-)

The Law of the Garbage Truck - A Short Story

A quote said it very rightly - "Life is 10% what you make and 90% how you take!" I bumped into this story the other day and its worth a read.

The Law of the Garbage Truck
One day, I hopped into a taxi and took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly, a black car, jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed the brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I mean, was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,'The Law of the Garbage Truck'He explained, "



Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. NEVER take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on with the routine life." Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home or on the streets.



The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... 'Love the people who treat you right.. Pray for the ones who don't.'

Effort : A Management Lesson

Came across this in a forwarded message - worth sharing.

Effort:
The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster.
He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship's owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do.

After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. "What!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!" So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:


Tapping with a hammer ............ ......... .. $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap ............ ......... .... $9998.00


Morale of the story:
Effort is important, but knowing where and when to make an effort in your life makes a difference.

Manhattan - Appearances could be deceiving

I recently had to move to Jersey City - I will be staying for 3 more weeks for sure - while during my vacation to India. Since I was kind of jobless thought not to leg the opportunity despite the fact that I hate Jersey City for being crowded with Indians!!

Anyways, I had to run an errand to Sapient office at NYC and it was a thought provoking ride for me. Tall glossy buildings and pied vivid lights of Manhattan are absolutely captivating. Bridges in the NYC are famous of its own strength, traffic and history. Millions of tourists just come and visit the place to ensure completeness of their travel. The place has been a financial hub for the world since centuries. These are a few things which add to the sanguine of the city.

However, the most populated urban area has its own darker side. Probably only the ones who have to face it every day will be the ones who can relate to it. Poverty, dirty streets, puddles on the road, lack of discipline, high crime rate are very common things to be noticed if you just take regular street walks. Human greed is at its peak and material things define the success of an individual's life here. Kinda strange to know that people while passing by fails to acknowledge your presence.

Within 4 days of my arrival I am already dreadful about the risk that mechanical life may run over my suburban routine full of life - not sure how will I will be able to face 3.5 more weeks!!

While taking a walk back home, I clicked this glorious pic - it looks really nice. However... the reality - so deceiving!!