Life - A question between "Q & q"

Life is an interesting feature and may be compared in terms of many things we see around us. One way Thich Nhat Hanh compared life with an incandescent stick that burns. As the stick burns smoke coming off its tip create various forms. It looks alive and can perceive an existence a being, a life and can enjoy the fragrance that arises from the incense stick. You tend to catch the smoke forms and it eludes. As it reaches the end it starts burning more and looked beautiful. Oxygen was more around and the glow increased and subsided. We tend to ignore as we live and leave the fragrance and shapes of our lives that comes our way. It is true that in the stressful period of lives that some of us pass through, we tend to do multi-tasking thinking and feeling good about that. One should avoid burdening ourselves. The myth is that multitasking improves productivity. Zheng Wang of Ohaio University in his research found that while multi-tasking they feel emotionally satisfied from the work. Like those who watch TV and study at the same time. But research found that they did not achieve their cognitive goals. They felt satisfied not because they were effective in studying but addiction of TV made studying more entertaining. Any multitasking activities account for a good feeling. In affect the output is poorer performance. At this context I thought to bring about what makes some people reach the Leadership or No: 1 position in their careerist ambitions. The concepts that came to mind starts with 0 (ZERO) and I recall two management jargons that we use – Zero Defects and Zero Based Budgeting. Zero defects are a QUALITY perspective. You approach Zero defects in design stage itself so that like a new aeroplane or a most high performing motor car – you do not even think about a defect while you drive a car from the show room and quietly pass a few thousand kilometres of comfortable driving. It is made possible by thoughts at all stages of manufacturing looking at the outside world - which the drivers are as well the environments in which the vehicle moves. In our lives we can try out the same application of thought and do the best we can. What we do not have is resourcefulness and not resources. We can steer past our lives with near Zero defects or non-performances if we gear ourselves to a higher standard of living style. Zero Based Budgeting is about planning from Zero. In this concept we tend to ignore the earlier data and come current with the situation of business. It means that each activity is questioned as if it were new before any resources are allocated to it. Each plan of action has to be justified in terms of available resources in command and benefit to accrue, with no reference to past activities. Zero based budgets are designed to prevent budgets creeping up each year with inflation thus bringing in situations that we cannot manage well. The whole objective is about planning our lives, looking at our capabilities and needs. The lesser the gap the better we feel. This concept develops a questioning attitude. Wastage and budget slack are eliminated. Life is to be lived NOW and for that we ignore the past by disconnecting the umbilical cord of the past failures or sufferings. We need to be focused and stop switching channels like on TV. The second concept that we often come up to is about the 50:50 principle. It is about balancing life. Some of us fail and do not recognize the necessity of bringing in a time share that gives equal importance to the family and work. One must decide about the respective roles and purposes of life. We must establish not only a baseline of responsibility but also a level of understanding for one another. People who walk side by side through the troubles of life have a responsibility to support one another completely. It is about teamwork. It is about sharing. The more you share; the more we care. The contribution ratio should be 100/100. By this way every one gives 100% support to the cause or the target of performance. Using this concept, there is no falling short of measuring up. When I mention as 80/20 rule I thought to introduce the concept. I believe it’s fundamental to every business person – to every human being – as it could potentially change your life. The 80/20 rule sounds like a statistic and in some ways it is. As engineers we understand maths but here we stretch ourselves and look at feelings, ideas and concepts. The good thing about the 80/20 rule is that it has foundations in economics and has “proven” statistical analysis by a man named Pareto. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes. “Living The 80/20 Way” by Richard Koch shows how the 80/20 Rule of Living The 80/20 Way fit well because it discussed living life productively seeking maximum satisfaction by focusing on your passions. What Exactly Is The 80/20 Rule? It doesn’t matter what numbers you apply, the important thing to understand is that in your life there are certain activities you do (your 20 %) that account for the majority (your 80 %) of your happiness and outputs. Those are passionate things that you enjoy doing. At times we struggle and waste time performing activities that we don’t enjoy or we are not good at. Our time is spent procrastinating or working inefficiently doing activities that provide very little benefit. This often occurs when one lacks interest and to produce QUALITY output, we need to perform when we are 100 % mentally to do so. Focus on your passions, not material possessions. Living the 80/20 way is easy if we have the courage to go against conventional wisdom, we can work less, worry less, succeed more and make the people who matter in our lives happy. The statistical representation of Six Sigma describes quantitatively how a process is performing. To achieve Six Sigma, a process must not produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities. A Six Sigma defect is defined as anything outside of customer specifications. A Six Sigma opportunity is then the total quantity of chances for a defect. The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. In life we – human being always create errors in almost all processes including thinking. What to do when we conduct any kind of process is to review mid-term and have a feedback mechanism so that we are aware of mistakes and then we learn from those mistakes. The opportunity when we learn from own and others mistakes is that the error quotient in life processes reduce and we feel happy. Having understood that the above principle can work for us let us understand what stops from being a winner. This can be appreciated by knowing what happens at 212* F. At 212 degrees water boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And steam has tremendous power. One extra degree... makes all the difference. And, the one extra degree of effort in business and in life... separates the achiever from the rest! The margin for victory between an Olympic Gold Medal and no medal at all is too small. P T Usha can tell us what it means losing that extra 1 degree. It's your life and you are responsible for results. To get what we've never had… we must do… what we've never done. 212° is an attitude. The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life… is the will to try it and the faith to believe it possible. 212° belief fuels enthusiasm, and enthusiasm explodes into passion. It fires our souls and lifts our spirits. “It’s about perseverance and it is not a long race: its many short races, one after another”. It is not about losing, it is all about winning – the way you prove a QUALITY approach. We conform quickly not knowing that standards are set to be out-stretched to reach out new levels of performance and that is an attitude. Having performed we now look at performance review and the tool here is 360*performance rewarding. This concept makes us believe that the best is not what you measure. It is a test by all within the TEAM. 360 degree appraisal has four integral components: Self-appraisal; Superior’s appraisal; Subordinate’s appraisal; Peer appraisal. The cycle needs to be completed to declare the winner. Working in tangent reduces effectiveness and affects TEAM performance. The same is applied well in sports – the relay race. The baton change has to be smooth and less time consuming. All activities need to be in synergy. If we work with our ego alone we cannot get along well in any field whether it is business or life. We need to have an overall picture. It is about the VISION and MISSION of any performance measurement system. VALUES are integrated QUALITY support systems that enmesh the plans of creativity. Looking around is possible when we look internally and qualify to perform and win. Changing perceptions make good changes, and accepting others views help bring about Quality changes. Sustaining action is rather an important attribute to success. No one has made it to the top without continued action and review mechanisms and monitoring processes. It is about hard work and intelligent work. 24/7 is an abbreviation which stands for "24 hours a day, 7 days a week", usually referring to time period where any action whether it is a production line or service facility or any other business are to be run without interruption. It’s all about round-the-clock service, with or without the hyphens and probably may be called nonstop. Dream is about not being able to sleep to achieve one’s defined purpose of life. It fuels by itself, continuously with passion and energy is developed and integrated as a machine. When we discuss it here we are not looking at QUANTITY but purely QUALITY of performance and on time delivery. Now we come to the place we need to belong! No: 1 – and this is an expression that comes from Spanish, and it means "the best". Do we have the trait to be number – 1? It isn’t intuition. It isn’t persuasiveness. It’s not even resourcefulness - The decisive quality is courage. Without it, nothing matters. Courage can be developed. There is no safety net when we are on trapeze. If you commit to leading with courage and consciously work toward that goal in every decision you make, it soon becomes a response. According to Asper Staver the path to courageous leadership has six components. He sums them up using the acronym ATTACK: A: Accept your current circumstances. As a leader, you need to look reality in the face and accept it. T: Take responsibility. A courageous leader is willing to own the results of his or her choices. Don’t blame others for circumstances - You are the leader – not that every problem is your fault. But if you fail to do anything about it then it is your fault. Responsibility is not about blame; it is about response. T: Take action. Even if you may have complete data necessary to make decisions you need to make as a leader. You have to act in spite of it. A: Acknowledge progress. Many leaders are so goal-oriented they fail to see the individual steps of the process. Determine the desirable results, designate the benchmarks, and be certain those benchmarks are recognized as they are achieved. Celebrate the steps with the same energy and enthusiasm as if the goal were already accomplished. C: Commit to lifelong learning. If you are leading, you’re learning. If you’re not learning, you’re not leading, regardless of your title. So many principals get into a leadership role and act like they have "arrived." That’s the death knell for leadership success. Instead, commit to learning on three levels: learn about yourself first; learn about your people second; and learn about your environment third. K: Kindle relationships. Courageous leaders are constantly engaging people and caring about their progress. Courageous leadership doesn’t mean softening your approach with people. It actually means the opposite—toughening your approach. It means confronting people and challenging them, not allowing them to be less than you know they can be. In summary, let us understand it is all about numbers that reflect concepts – engineering is not only logic, it is a MAGIC if we find the meaning of concepts that we come across in management. In the 44 years connected to my professional life, I have seen and learnt many things from failures, and feel how easy it is to make an ordinary to extra-ordinary. It is about the MAGIC touch from within the self!