Reflections One

In his book You’ll See It When You Believe It, Dr. Wayne Dyer offers some interesting and helpful suggestions for personal transformation.  A synopsis of these suggestions is shared here for your reflection.

• Practice thinking about yourself and others in formless ways.  Take a few moments each to evaluate yourself in terms of pure thought and feeling.  Watch yourself acting and interacting.  Do not criticize or judge, simply note how your form is behaving and how it is feeling.

• Use the observer exercise (mentioned above) with other people.  Notice how they may destroy their potential for happiness and success because they identify exclusively with their forms.

• Make an effort to go beyond your comfort zone on a regular basis.  Listen to the real you inside who is encouraging you to transcend yourself.

• Make an effort to cease labeling yourself as a means of identifying who you are as a human being.

• Begin to view your mind, your non form side, as new and miraculous.  Know that your mind is capable of transcending your form and that your body is in a larger part controlled by your mind.

• Work each day to clear yourself of the two factors that do the most to inhibit your personal transformation: negativity and judgement.

• Examine how you treat the physical or visible you.

• Allow yourself time to medicate quietly by yourself.  Meditation is a powerful tool, and it is as simple as breathing.  You should choose your own style of meditation.

• Above all else, be kind and understanding of yourself.  Be especially kind to yourself if you behave in a way you dislike.  Talk kindly to yourself.  Be patient with yourself when you find it difficult to be a “holy” person.

The Magic of Learning

Learning is for life and you are made out of learning.  There are a few things in life that are undoubted facts and one of them is that throughout life, you will always be learning. No matter what age, we all go through learning processes whether it is for our businesses or careers, parenting, communication skills, relationships and even for our hobbies. Yes more people will have the urge and ability to learn more than others, but at the end of the day - everybody is learning continuously.

Therefore it makes perfect sense to obtain good learning skills sooner than later. Having good study habits and some tools to increase your ability to learn would make all the difference. The following are some tips and techniques you can apply to any learning situation.

Ask Questions - Whenever possible, never hesitate to ask questions whether you think they are important or not. I have been taught that the only silly question is the question not asked. It has been proven time and time again that the students who participate in class, and the members who participate within groups in general, like online forums, are the ones who gain the most knowledge.

Teach What You Have Learned To Others - This is something that I personally do all the time by writing articles of what I have learned, I am sure you have been through the same process. Just think of a time when you were explaining something to a friend and then all of a sudden the "aha" bell rang inside your head. You get the sense of feeling that what you have just said (presented) makes more sense now, than it did before. This is because when you "teach", you are forced to think holistically. This means that you are "relating" and interconnecting knowledge you already know; it is basically the opposite of memorizing.

Learn To Speed Read - This is a process which I have learned in the last few months and which is very easy to do with some practice, but at the same time very effective. Most of us learn by reading, so what if you could read twice as fast, or even three times as fast, as you can now? To speed read, you need to take a pen/pencil or use your finger while reading. As you read you move your finger or pen across the lines at a much faster speed than you would normally read. Your eyes must focus and follow the tip of your finger/pen, not on the actual words. By using this technique you are actually removing that "inner voice" you hear, which is basically reading to yourself. The faster you move your pen across the sentence; your mind learns to read "chunks" of words at a time, instead of reading word for word.

The way you learn plays a significant role on your retention rate. Your retention rate is what you remember after you have learned something. To explain things in more depth, we need to look at the "cone of experience" model by Edgar Dale. This model implies the following:

- When you learn by only reading, you will remember approximately 10% of what you have read.
- When you learn by only listening (i.e. lectures, podcasts) you will remember approximately 20% of what you hear.
- When you learn by only watching videos or images, you remember approximately 30% of what you see and hear.
- When you learn by watching a demonstration, you will remember approximately 50% of what you see and hear.
- When you learn by participating in a discussion or workshop, you will remember up to 70% of what you write and say.
- And when you learn by performing a presentation, where basically you become the teacher, you will remember up to 90% of what you teach.

As you can see, learning by active means such as discussion and engagement, you will learn a lot more than just by reading or listening, which is passive learning.

Shine with purpose

When you have a purpose in life you start shining like a star.

The purpose in life brings you new zeal and zest in you to achieve more, to climb more in the ladder of your success dreams.  It will make you soar high as an eagle making your dreams come true.

Money is not the key to happiness.  Winning the lottery and spending the rest of your life on a tropical island - while intoxicating to the ear - is not the key to happiness.

What is, on the other hand, is exciting news.

Over the past few years, science and psychology have been experiencing quite a shift in focus, thanks to men such as Dr. Martin Seligman. It couldn't have come too soon.

The New Psychology

 
Through his work at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Seligman has created an entirely new branch of psychology. Instead of focusing solely on neuroses in life, he decided to study what makes us feel good.

Since the first days of his groundbreaking work, positive psychology has definitely caught on.

One of the focuses of this branch is - you guessed it - happiness. Through the work of countless positive psychologists, the path to such feelings has become more and more clear.

The Key to Happiness

They've discovered through their clinical investigations that happiness is tied tightly to your strengths - the things you're good at. People have been proven to be happiest when applying their unique skills toward a challenging project or goal.

You don't need millions of dollars or a personal island to be happy. All that you need is already within you. Discover your strengths, apply them to a challenging goal, and you'll see for yourself.  The key to shine yourself always is understanding and learning yourself continuously.

So the Mind, So the Body

Just take a look at any of today’s news-stand magazines or any newspaper daily, chances are that one of the leading articles will be on the management of stress and fitness. Stress is one of the leading causes of illness in the present competitive world, and more and more we have been reading the vital links between body, mind and spirit discovered by doctors and scientists. Emotional stress can weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to diseases.

Disease-prone people often exhibit emotional dependence, and dissatisfaction with their key relationships. Lousie Hay, author of “Heal your body” says, “I find that resentment, criticism, guilt, and fear cause the most problems in ourselves and ourlives. Whatever is happening, ‘out there’ is only a mirror of our inner thinking.”

It is a religious duty to maintain health. Eating, drinking, sleeping and waking and exercise are very much part of it as prayer and worship and daily work. They vitally affect one’s thinking, temper and temperaments and the way one looks at the world. A healthy body makes a healthy soul.

Dynamics of Group Discussion

The person who learn’s from mistakes is the one who has the wisdom, and who repeats the mistake is the one who does not.

Here’s a list of the most common mistakes made at group discussions:

Emotional outburst

Ragini was offended when one of the male participants in a group discussion made a statement on women generally being submissive while explaining his point of view. When Ragini finally got an opportunity to speak, instead of focusing on the topic, she vented her anger by accusing the other candidate for being a male chauvinist and went on to defend women in general.

What Ragini essentially did was 

* Deviated from the subject.

* Treated the discussion as a forum to air her own views.

* Lose objectivity and make personal attacks.

Her behaviour would have been perceived as immature and demotivating to the rest of the team.

Quality Vs Quantity

Rajan believed that the more he talked, the more likely he was to get through the GD. So, he interrupted other people at every opportunity. He did this so often that the other candidates got together to prevent him from participating in the rest of the discussion.

* Assessment is not only on your communication skills but also on your ability to be a team player.

* Evaluation is based on quality, and not on quantity. Your contribution must be relevant.

* The mantra is “Contributing meaningfully to the team’s success.” Domination is frowned upon.

Egotism Showing off

Raman was happy to have got a group discussion topic he had prepared for. So, he took pains to project his vast knowledge of the topic. Every other sentence of his contained statistical data – “20% of companies; 24.27% of parliamentarians felt that; I recently read in a Jupiter Report that…” and so on so forth. Soon, the rest of the team either laughed at him or ignored his attempts to enlighten them as they perceived that he was cooking up the data.

* Exercise restraint in anything. You will end up being frowned upon if you attempt showing-off your knowledge.

* Facts and figures need not validate all your statements.

* Its your analysis and interpretation that are equally important – not just facts and figures.

* You might be appreciated for your in-depth knowledge. But you will fail miserably in your people skills.

Such a behavior indicates how self-centered you are and highlights your inability to work in an atmosphere where different opinions are expressed.

Get noticed – But for the right reasons

Jayram knew that everyone would compete to initiate the discussion. So as soon as the topic – “Discuss the negative effects of India joining the WTO” – was read out, he began talking. In his anxiety to be the first to start speaking, he did not hear the word “negative” in the topic. He began discussing the ways in which the country had benefited by joining WTO, only to be stopped by the evaluator, who then corrected his mistake.

* False starts are extremely expensive. They cost you your admission. It is very important to listen and understand the topic before you air your opinions.

* Spending a little time analyzing the topic may provide you with insights which others may not have thought about. Use a pen and paper to jot down your ideas.

* Listen! It gives you the time to conceptualize and present the information in a better manner.

Some mistakes are irreparable. Starting off the group discussion with a mistake is one such mistake, unless you have a great sense of humor.

Managing one’s insecurities

Sumana was very nervous. She thought that some of the other candidates were exceptionally good. Thanks to her insecurity, she contributed little to the discussion. Even when she was asked to comment on a particular point, she preferred to remain silent.

* Your personality is also being evaluated. Your verbal and non verbal cues are being read.

* Remember, you are the participant in the GD; not the evaluator. So, rather than evaluating others and your performance, participate in the discussion.

* Your confidence level is being evaluated. Decent communication skills with good confidence is a must to crack the GDs.

Focus on your strengths and do not spend too much time thinking about how others are superior or inferior to you. It is easy to pick up these cues from your body language.

GD Preparation

While selection tools and techniques like tests, interviews etc. provide good data about an individual, they fall short in providing real life data of how an individual would be performing in a real life situation especially a group situation. Team work being an integral part of the BPO work profile, it is important to ascertain group and inter-personal qualities of an individual. Group discussion is a useful tool to ascertain these qualities and many organizations use GDs as a selection tool along with Personal Interviews, aptitude tests etc. A GD is an activity where

*Groups of 8-10 candidates are formed into a leaderless group, and are given a specific situation to analyse and discuss within a given time limit, which may vary between twenty minutes and forty-five minutes, or

*They may be given a case study and asked to come out with a solution for a problem

*They may be given a topic and are asked to discuss the same

1. Preparing for a Group Discussion: While GD reflects the inherent qualities of an individual, appearing for it unprepared may not augur well for you. These tips would help you prepare for GDs:

Reading: This is the first and the most crucial step in preparation. This is a never ending process and the more you read, the better you are in your thoughts. While you may read anything to everything, you must ensure that you are in good touch with current affairs, the debates and hot topics of discussion and also with the latest in the IT and ITES industry. Chances are the topics would be around these. Read both for the thoughts as well as for data. Also read multiple view points on the same topic and then create your point of view with rationale. Also create answers for counter arguments for your point of view. The electronic media also will be of good use here.

Mocks: Create an informal GD group and meet regularly to discuss and exchange feedback. This is the best way to prepare. This would give you a good idea about your thoughts and how well can you convince. Remember, it is important that you are able to express your thoughts well. The better you perform in these mocks the better would be you chances to perform on the final day. Also try to interact and participate in other GD groups. This will develop in you a skill to discuss with unknown people as well.

2. During the Group Discussion:

What do the panelists assess:Some of the qualities assessed in a GD are:

Leadership Skills – Ability to take leadership roles and be able to lead, inspire and carry the team along to help them achieve the group’s objectives.

Communication Skills – Candidates will be assessed in terms of clarity of thought, expression and aptness of language. One key aspect is listening. It indicates a willingness to accommodate others views.

Interpersonal Skills – People skills are an important aspect of any job. They are reflected in the ability to interact with other members of the group in a brief situation. Emotional maturity and balance promotes good interpersonal relationships. The person has to be more people centric and less self-centered.

Persuasive Skills – The ability to analyze and persuade others to see the problem from multiple perspectives.

GD is a test of your ability to think, your analytical capabilities and your ability to make your point in a team-based environment.

These are some of the sub-skills that also get assessed with the skills mentioned above:

• Clarity of thought
• Group working skills (especially during a group task of case study discussion)
• Conflict handling
• Listening and probing skill
• Knowledge about the subject and individual point of view
• Ability to create a consensus
• Openess and flexibility towards new ideas
• Data based approach to decision making

While, it is not possible to reflect all these qualities in a short time, you would do well if you are able to show a couple or more qualities and avoid giving negative evidence on others.

How do I take my chance to speak: Trying to interrupt others while speaking would only harm your chances. Instead, you may try to maintain an eye-contact with the speaker. This would show your listening skills also and would help you gauge from his eye-movement and pitch of voice that he is about to close his inputs. You can quickly take it from there. Also, try and link your inputs with what he has spoken whether you are adding to or opposing his arguments. This would reflect that you are actually being participative rather than just doing a collective monologue.

• How to I communicate in a GD: Be crisp and to the point. Be fact based and avoid making individual opinions that do not have a factual base. Make eye contact with all the members in the group and avoid looking at the panelists while speaking. The average duration of the group discussion provides an average of about 2-3 minutes per participant to speak and you should try to speak about 3-4 times. Hence, you need to be really crisp to reflect the most in those 30-40 sec. slots.
• How do I convince others and make them agree to my view point: A lot of candidates make it their mission to make the group reach to a conclusion on the topic. Do not forget that some of the topics have been eternal debates and there is no way you can get an agreement in 15 mins. on them. The objective is not to make others toe your line but to provide fact based, convincing arguments which create an impact. Stick to this approach.

• Do leadership skills include moderating the group discussion: This is a myth and many people do try to impose their order on the GD, ordering people when to speak and when not to. This only reflects poor leadership. Leadership in a GD would be reflected by your clarity of thought, ability to expand the topic in its different dimensions, providing an opportunity to a silent participant to speak, listening to others and probing them to provide more information. Hence, work on these areas rather than be a self-appointed moderator of the group.

• Listening: This is a key quality assessed during the GD about which many participants forget. Active listening can fetch you credit points and would also provide you with data to discuss. Also, if you have an average of 2-3 minutes to speak, the rest of the 20-25 minutes is required to spent in active listening. For this, maintain eye contact with the speakers, attend to them (like nodding, using acknowledging words like -I see ok, fine, great etc.). This would also make you be the centre of attraction as you would appear non-threatening to the speakers.

• Behaviour during the GD: Be patient; don’t get upset if anyone says anything you object to. Stay objective and don’t take the discussion personally. Also, remember the six C’s of communication – Clarity, Completeness, Conciseness, Confidence, Correctness and Courtesy. Be appreciative & receptive to ideas from other people and open-minded but do not let others to change your own viewpoint. Be active and interested throughout. It is better to participate less if you have no clue of the topic. You may listen to others and take clues from there and speak. You would be assessed on a range of different skills and you may think that leadership is key, you need to be careful that you don’t dominate the discussion.

• Quality Vs Quantity: Often, participants think that success in group discussions depends on how much and how loudly they speak. Interestingly, it’s the opposite. Also, making your point on the topic, your views are important and the group needs to know. This will tell you are knowledgeable and that you participate in groups.

• Summarizing: If you have not been able to initiate the discussion, try to summaries and close it. Good summarizing would get you good reward points. A conclusion is where the whole group decides in favour or against the topic and most GDs do not have a closure. But every GD can be summarized by putting forth what the group has discussed in a nutshell. Keep the following points in mind while summarizing a discussion:
  • Avoid raising new points.
  • Avoid stating only your viewpoint.
  • Avoid dwelling only on one aspect of the GD
  • Keep it brief and concise.
  • It must include all the important points that came out during the GD
  • If you are asked to summarise a GD, it means the GD has come to an end.
  • Do not add anything once the GD has been summarised.

Some Positive Task Roles in a Group Discussion:You may want to play one or more of them:

• Initiator
• Information seeker
• Information giver
• Procedure facilitator
• Opinion seeker
• Opinion giver
• Clarifier
• Social Supporter
• Harmonizer
• Tension Reliever
• Energizer
• Compromiser
• Gatekeeper
• Summarizer

Negative Roles to be Avoided

• Disgruntled non-participant
• Attacker
• Dominator
• Patronizer
• Clown

Engineering GD Topics

·         Is China a threat to the Indian software industry.

·         Role of UN in peacekeeping.

·         Position of Women in India compared to other nations.

·         Environment Management.

·         is china a threat to Indian industry

·          India or west , which is the land of opportunities

·         "BALANCE BETWEEN PROFESSIONALISM AND FAMILY"

·         Effect of cinema on Youth

·         Education in India compared to Foreign nations

·         What is the effect of movies on youth. is it good or bad)

·         Are studies more beneficial in India or in Abroad.

·         "Environment-Whose Responsibility".

·         Present state of Indian Cricket team

·         How to deal with international terrorism.

·         Should we pursue our policy of dialogue with Pakistan?

·         Is peace and non-violence outdated concepts?

·         Is Globalization Really Necessary?

·         What shall we do about our ever-increasing Population?

·         Corruption is the price we pay for Democracy.

·         Foreign Television Channels are destroying our culture.

·         What India needs is a Dictatorship.

·         Kaun Banega Krorepati is less about knowledge but more about money and personality.

·         Beauty contests degrade womanhood

·         Is India a Soft Nation?

·         Value based politics is the need of the hour

·         Religion should not be mixed with politics

·         How to deal with high oil prices

·         Our cricketers are not to blame for match fixing

·         Multinational corporations: Are they devils in disguise?

·         Should there be limits on artistic freedom (the controversy on Fire).

·         Does banning fashion shows and New Year parties save our culture?

·         Some simple but effective electoral reforms will enable us to retain the present parliamentary system and ensure the preservation of democracy in India.

·         Nuclear war cannot be won and should not be fought.

·         Cricket as a national obsession is a detriment to other sports.

·         To develop India has to empower women.

·         Formulate the government's health policy to control the spread of AIDS.

·         Advertising is a waste of resources.

·         Privatization will lead to less corruption.

·         State is the biggest violator of human rights.

·         Beauty pageants are a marketing gimmick.

·         Voting rights to illiterates in India is illogical because it is widely misused.

·         Joint family is a blessing in disguise

·         Higher education should be made possible only for those who can pay for it.

·         Women cannot successfully combine both career and home

·         Women are good managers.

·         Indians perform better as individuals rather than in groups.

·         Business and ethics go hand in hand, or do they?

·         Developing countries should spend more on development than on defense.

·         Technology: The Ism' Of The New Millennium?

·         Religion And Politics Should Not Mix

·         Science Is A Boon Or Bane

·         All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy

·         Capitation Fees Should Be Abolished

·         Brain-Drain Has To Be Stopped

·         Business And Ethics Can't / Don't Go Together

·         Are women As good as Men Or Inferior?

·         Nothing Succeeds Like Success

·         Should India Break Diplomatic Ties With Pakistan?

·         Age and Youth: Experience And Young Talent

The Magic of Giving

No matter how well or how poorly our lives seem to be going, we can become part of a greater flow of good and increase our awareness by doing something more than we have to do by giving of ourselves. One of the main keys to abundance is realizing that abundance doesn't come by getting more it comes by giving more.

It becomes clear that when we do a particular activity, we have to realize what best we can contribute to the highest to bring about harmony in that particular activity. When we merely try to hold on what is given or entrusted to us, life may seem to take away event hat. But when we choose to use what life has given us, the return of abundance can include friendship, companionship, financial blessings comes in wonderful ways. The Universe holds nothing back from the one who lovingly and sincerely gives.

As we become aware of our potential for giving, there is no limit to the good we can receive. Giving can naturally lead to actions that are positive experiences for all concerned.

Enthusiasm Plus

Have you ever wondered why some individuals hang on against all odds until they turn certain defeat into victory while other abandon the race, sometimes in sight of the finish line?"   Then what's the big difference between the person who quits and the person who persists.  ENTHUSIASM

Enthusiasm comes from the two Greek words and they let you look into the root of the word - into its basic, fundamental, original meaning.  The first is 'Theos,' which means God.  The other two words are 'en-tae' which literally meant 'God within you.'  Enthusiasm is one of the most successful factors that plays a very important role in bringing that extra zeal and zest to the goals that you set yourself for success in your life.  If you think back on your life you will agree that whenever you lost your enthusiasm for any activity you also lost your desire to keep working at it - and when that happened it was eventually pushed aside.  You didn't call it quitting, but that's what it was.  In many minor matters your quitting didn't really matter so much, but in your major life functions such as your career the results are often disastrous.  

Whoever you may be:  student, lawyer, doctor, software engineer, teacher, minister, coach, manager, CEO,  you will have many struggles and battles of importance in influencing others, achieving your desirable goals and eliminating your undesirable habits. 

You will win or lose depending upon your willingness to pay the price to regularly engage in thinking and planning time and to use your mind power to develop a truly positive mental attitude and eliminate the negative.

YOUR ENTHUSIASM MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.