Choose To Be A Master

Choose To Be A Master                                                                       130211

                When students study at university for their first degree, they graduate with a Bachelor’s degree. This degree is usually general in nature and covers a wide range of topics. Most of the time, you will find that students from three or four different departments will be doing the same course. The bachelor’s degree is such that it covers a wide area in a specific field and gives guidelines to the students who want to pursue further studies so that they can choose one from among the several areas covered in the degree course.

                Not everyone studies beyond the Bachelor’s degree. In fact only a handful of the graduates take up further studies. But it is these few who become masters in their area of study. At Master’s level, the students choose to focus on a narrower area of study from their Bachelor’s degree. This specialisation gives them more insight into a smaller area and makes them experts. They do research on one area and make interesting discoveries, something that is not possible at Bachelor’s level. Their contributions to humanity are usually more than those who study at the lower level.

                In real life there are many areas where you can be effective. It is like studying at Bachelor’s level. You can do all things but you do not quite specialise in anything specific. If you were to be asked what you do, you would give a list of more than a dozen items. That makes you a bachelor and an ineffective one too. Those who make effective contributions to humanity are people who choose to focus on one area and keep learning about it until they become masters.

                If you have a headache, you probably visit a general practitioner. He/she knows how to treat general ailments and will do a good job with your headache. But if you need heart surgery or to have a brain tumor removed, I am sorry the general practitioner, useful as he is in other areas of medicine, will not be of help. The best he/she can do is to refer you to a heart specialist or a neurosurgeon. These things cannot de treated on a general level.

                There are many people who are satisfied doing things on a general level but they do not get as much from it as the specialists do. If your car has a problem and you want the carburetor fixed you better find a specialist. There are some general practitioners who will promise to do the special job at a low price but they usually end up messing things up. They do not get customers in the long run, because the customers they do a shoddy job for end up going away. If, however, you choose to go to a specialist for carburetors, you will get a perfect job done, but at a cost. The cost is usually higher than that charged by the general mechanics. It pays the specialist to specialize.

                You may be multi-talented and be able to do many things well, but it will be more rewarding if you choose to specialise in only one area. It takes more time to specialise in this way but in the end it will pay you more than many years of generalising can ever do.

                There are a number of things that you can do to set yourself on the path of specialising. Find one area in your life where you are very productive. Spend most of your time studying about how things work in this area. While you may do other things during this period of learning, make sure most of your time and efforts are directed in the area you want to specialize in. Over time you will start having ideas and solutions to problems that are unique. People will notice your unique way of doing things and they will look for you when they have a problem. It will take time, but in the end it will pay you more than generalising will ever be able to do.

                You can still choose to be a jack of all trades and a master of none. You will gain some respect from those you help, because they will be many, but you will not make a big impact, neither will you get much out of it. Those who specialise will be few, because it takes time and effort to do so; the same way that only a few people do a Master’s degree, but it is always worth it. In the long run, however, the specialist doctor will be paid more per patient attended than a general practitioner; a specialist mechanic will get amore per car serviced than a general mechanic. It does not matter what area you look at. The specialist gets more out than a number of general practitioners combined. You do yourself a favor if you choose to be a master in your own area of specialisation.

Position yourself for maximum effectiveness

Position yourself for maximum effectiveness                                              060211

            Technology these days enable us to watch what is happening all around the world live, thanks to satellite technology. These machines orbiting the earth are fed with information about something happening on one side of the earth and they reflect it in such a way that the receivers on the opposite side of the earth can receive these events as they happen. Due to such technology, we will be able to watch the cricket world cup games played in India as they happen.

            There are a number of factors that have to be fulfilled before pictures from other parts of the world can be viewed. Here are some of them.

1.         Presence of an aerial

As you read this article, you are surrounded by large amounts of radio waves carrying all sorts of information. If you do not have a radio receiver, however, you will never appreciate their presence. If you have a radio receiver and tune it to some radio station you will be able to enjoy the music or whatever programs they have on air. This ability to tune into a particular radio station is made possible by the presence of an aerial. An aerial is able to capture these waves and make the radio to decipher the message and convert it back to sound.

            For satellite communication, the aerial is also necessary. The aerial should be able to convert the coming signal into picture and sound. If the aerial is not present the entertainment that comes with the satellite signals cannot be enjoyed.

2.         The aerial must be connected to a satellite dish

            The signal that comes from satellite is so weak that the aerial cannot make use of it. The signal must be focused to one point using a dish. The dish is parabolic in shape, which means it makes all the waves that come from the satellite to fall on the aerial, (which is referred to as the LNB). Without the dish the signal is not strong enough to provide the sound and the picture.

3.         The direction in which the dish points

The dish must be pointing in the direction of a satellite that transmits the relevant signals. For effective communication, the satellite dish must point to the exact direction of the satellite. A slight deviation means the quality may be so poor, nothing effective will be received. If a signal from another satellite is required, the dish has to be moved so that it points in the required direction.

4.         Absence of obstruction between satellite and aerial

The signal from the satellite is so weak that a small obstruction between the receiving aerial and the satellite will make the signal too weak to be utilised. There has to be a clear view between the aerial and the satellite at all times. If there are heavy clouds or rain, the signal is usually disturbed. Channels become scrambled.

You are like a satellite system in more ways than one. For maximum effectiveness you have to satisfy a few conditions. First of all you must be sensitive to the needs around you. If you cannot detect these, you cannot solve the problems of the people you serve.

            Sometimes there is greater need for increased sensitivity because the signals coming in are not so clear. If you do not increase your sensitivity you may miss the signals and lose your effectiveness in the process. There must be no obstruction, whatsoever, between you and the people you serve, otherwise you will not be able to be effective in your service. Anger and unresolved issues place a barrier that makes it difficult to communicate with your clients.

            The most important thing is that you be positioned pointing in the right direction so that you get the best signal available. If you are positioned wrongly, even if there is a strong signal and the aerial is not obstructed, there is not going to be effectiveness. It is, therefore, very important to be properly positioned. Without this positioning you cannot be effective.

            There are many things in your life that will depend on your positioning physically, spiritually, mentally and financially. If any of these areas are wrongly placed, you will find yourself being ineffective in some area of your life all the time. You can look at your life closely and decide how best you can align your purpose to the prevailing situations so that you can be of maximum use. Your effectiveness seriously depends on your positioning.

Why You Must Focus On Doing Things Excellently

Why You Must Focus On Doing Things Excellently                               300111

            There is no substitute for quality whether you are selling a product or providing a service. What keeps customers doing business with one company for long periods of time is the assurance that the product they want is guaranteed, and at the best possible quality. There are many people who are talented orators who seem to grab every customer whom they approach but these customers do not seem to stay for long. These people specialise in talking but they do not follow up their talk with action.

            There are a number of reasons why you must focus on doing things excellently. Here are some of them.

           

1. Doing things excellently can become a habit - a good habit.

If you focus on doing things well all the time, it soon becomes second nature and there are a lot of good things that can come to you by simply being a dispenser of quality. When you have the habit of doing things well you will attract quality people in your life who will enhance your life in general and your business specifically.

2. Excellence will bring people to you.

Everyone wants to be associated with quality. It does not matter how expensive your service or product is, if it is value for money, customers will pay whatever it costs to have a quality product in their hands. There are times when people go shopping and are faced with the dilemma of purchasing an expensive but reliable product or a cheap but defective one. Most people go for the former. This is because a defective product means the customer will have to do shopping again sooner than later. And cumulatively defective products are more expensive than genuine ones.

           

3. Excellence will keep customers for longer.

There are times when things are desperate and customers buy the nearest thing on the market. There are service providers who take advantage of the desperate customers to serve them with sub-standard products. These customers get to study these products and know all the reasons why in good times such products should be avoided. The reckless business people see the boom in business as a sign that they can do anything with the customer and get away with it. The problem is that incompetence is as habitual as excellence. When good times come such a service provider will continue providing a service that is mediocre and unsatisfactory and in the end they get out of business.

            Do not be deceived when you get lots of business from a product that is defective. It means they know how your product is not to be trusted. When things get back to normal, customers will not buy your product even if you start producing standard products. Incompetence will kill your business in the long run.

4. Focusing on excellence means you do things right the first time.

If you set excellence as your standard, you will strive to do everything right the first time. This means you will spend your time effectively. Doing things wrong the first time and then correcting or upgrading later takes time and money. Besides, your products will always be associated with quality. All those you deal with will eventually appreciate your efforts and reward you by doing business with you for longer.

It takes time for people to associate your product with quality, but when they do they become loyal customers. For some time it seems futile to keep on focusing on quality products but a time comes when everyone will start talking about your product. There is no advertising better than that by word of mouth being spread by a satisfied customer. 

Since doing things excellently can be a habit, make an effort to develop this habit early while you are still young. Start with small things that are not as useful. Once you have this habit you will be able to maintain this character trait, and when you grow older you will reap the benefits that are only reserved for those who produce quality services and products can only.

Managing your habits

Managing your habits                                                                   230111

                Weeds are plants just like the crops you grow. If given a chance, however, they will thrive better than the desired crops. If you see weeds growing well in a piece of land, it means crops will also do well there. The difference is that weeds can flourish without any attention. On the other hand, lot of work has to be done if plants will do equally well.

                Everyone has some bad habits that he/she is trying to overcome. These are revealed at the beginning of the year when many people sit down to write their New Year’s resolutions. On the list are one or two things that must be stopped. These are the undesirable habits we are talking about.

                If you look closely in your life you will see one such habit that you do not want at all, but it keeps resurfacing every time. There is good news for you. The fact that a bad habit like that one is thriving in you means that you are fertile ground for good habit also. All that is needed is to manage your habits to make the good ones to do better than the bad ones.

                Weeds use different tactics to make sure they do better than the crops planted where they grow. The bad habits in us use the same tactics as well if you understand these tactics you can get rid of bad habits in your life. Weeds usually grow very fast so that they overshadow their rivals and get more sunshine for their growth. In doing so, they starve the crops of the much needed energy to grow. To ensure this, they have big leaves that will block sunlight from anything that grows under them.

Good habits, like the crops we grow, take time to develop. Bad ones on the other end grow faster. Soon they are taking the time needed for developing good ones. If you are not careful the bad habits will soon be taking all your time and strengthening themselves in the process. Every habit needs time to develop, and bad ones try to overshadow good ones by denying them the time to grow. If you want good habits to thrive, give them the time needed for them to grow. If you give time to the good habits, the bad ones will have no time to grow and dominate. You can starve bad habits of the attention they need and they will eventually die.

You have only twenty-four hours in a day and if you deliberately decide to schedule time for the habits that you want to develop, soon there will be no time for bad habits. That way you will slowly grow good habits at the expense of bad ones.

Weeds sometimes grow underground and show only a few leaves that they use to make their food. If you are not careful you will think that there are very few weeds in the field while they are busy finishing the nutrients for your crops. The impact of these weeds is difficult to appreciate because the damage is done out of sight. The damage is there, all the same, and something must be done about these weeds before they damage your crops. The way to go is to uproot them using a digging method. These are desperate moments and desperate measures are required to correct them. These weeds will not go by simple means like uprooting. They need you to go to the very roots and kill them from there.

There are habits that will need drastic measures to be removed. These will not go because you wish them away. Ignoring them will not help either. They will grow out of sight but when you see the effects later on, they will be so big you cannot ignore them. The time to act is when you see the few signs of these devastating habits. If you wait till the end there is no good habit that will grow in those circumstances. The best way to know such a habit exists is when all the good ones you try to grow seem to wither and die. Find the underlying habit that takes the nutrients away from your desired habits.

Weeds need to be removed constantly if you will win a war against them. They grow quickly and produce seeds fast. In one farming season you may find yourself fighting against the second generation of weeds. The best way to fight the war is to make sure these weeds do not produce seeds. It is an awesome task but that way you will be guaranteed of eliminating some species completely. Every time you enter the field, make sure you pull out one or two weeds. That way you will not give some of them time to mature. If you wait until the field is covered in weeds it may be difficult to remove them all in the scheduled weeding time. Look for bad behavior everyday and stop before it grows to become a habit that affects your life. This way you are in control. Once behavior grows to be habitual, you have to do more work to change it. You can manage your habits by destroying bad ones and encouraging the growth of good ones by giving them time to develop.

How to handle an Everest sized project

How to handle an Everest sized project                                                     160111

            When Brigadier Sir John Hunt, the leader of the 1953 British expedition to Everest was asked to summarise the reasons why they made it as the first team to reach the summit of Mount Everest, he sited seven reasons which I believe can be applied to any project that is considered big and guarantee success.

            It must be made clear that at the time of the climb of Everest there had been eleven expeditions sent to try and get information on Everest and eight of them had the definite mission of getting to the top. They tried and failed all these eight times with some so near yet so far. Just six months before the day of the ascent the Swiss team had reached within three hundred metres of the summit but failed to make it. Here are the seven reasons why Everest was concurred after over thirty years of trying.

            1. All those who climbed on Everest before the 1953 team

In saying this Brigadier Hunt was saying that without all the knowledge that they received from those who climbed the mountain before, it was going to be difficult to know what to expect and, therefore, impossible to make the necessary preparations. Many men had died on the mountain on earlier expeditions among them George Leigh Mallory who failed to return when he and Andrew Irvine attempted to reach the summit and apparently plunged to their death in June 1924. Only an ice axe was found later, marking the site of the accident. It was at their memorial service that a speaker pointed at a picture of Everest in the hall and declared, “Everest, we will climb you one day, because we can grow but you cannot”. It was this spirit that inspired one expedition after another to go back on the mountain, and bit by bit they gathered information that the team of 1953 used to make preparations and eventually reach the top.

            2. Planning

Of all the teams that went up the big mountains, none was as prepared as the 1953 expedition. The plans were drawn in detail well before they left for the Himalayas. They had planned to the letter what was going to be done at every stage. They had heard from the Swiss team about the problems likely to be faced and what to do to increase the chances of success. All the equipment was ordered according to this plan, and what a successful plan it turned out to be.

            3. Preparations

The team prepared thoroughly for the climb. They spent three weeks in the Everest region climbing to almost the highest peaks there so as to acclimatize. By the time they took the work to the real mountain they were already used to being at great heights, something that made them effective in all they did.  

            4. Excellence of equipment

The equipment that they used was designed specifically to suit their needs on the mountain. This made their stay comfortable and, therefore, they could carry out their tasks effectively. Their boots were lighter but warmer and resistant to freezing. The oxygen equipment was tested and redesigned to suit the conditions under which it was to be used. The tents were light but wind resistant. All this helped them reach the top.

            5. The Sherpas who carried their loads up the mountain

These are mountain men who live high in the mountainous Himalaya area and are greatly acclimatized to high altitude. These worked well under difficult conditions. It was them who carried many tones of equipment up the mountain; the equipment that these men used to get to the top. The team of thirteen who were on standby to attempt to reach the top could not carry heavy loads otherwise they would not have enough energy to reach the top. It, therefore, remained on these Sherpas to carry the bulk of the loads.

            6. The teamwork of the whole expedition

The team chosen was carefully selected according to their abilities apart from mountaineering proper. One was in charge of food; another on oxygen equipment used for climbing. Each one had a specific task according to the plan. Every member carried out their tasks without complaining. Others went on to take other responsibilities that they were not obliged to carry. They operated as a team throughout their stay on the mountain. The Sherpas who were carrying their loads also came in to compliment the teamwork and together they did the impossible.

            7. The favor of the weather

In the highest parts of Everest the weather is so severe that anyone found up there when it is at its worst will have no chance of survival. Some earlier teams failed to reach the top because the weather was too severe for anyone to climb. The 1953 team was fortunate enough to have clear weather when they had the right men in the right place. If they had arrived a week earlier or later the weather may have been different and the result may as well have been different too.

            When you have a project that seems to be too big for you, consider finding out from those who have ‘climbed the same mountain’ earlier. Use the given information to draw a plan that gives you details as much as possible about the things you will do. This means you do not waste time planning when the time for execution comes. There must be room, however, for slight changes on the ground. Follow your planning with serious preparations to make sure everything is going to work. Try the equipment to be used under similar conditions.

            To increase your chance of success, use the best equipment available for the task at hand. Make sure this equipment is available in the right quantities and specifications. Choose a team that can work together well under pressure. If there is no teamwork everything will collapse before reaching the top. All people in the team must be selfless enough to do things for the team and not for individual glory.

            When all these are in place you have to wait until you get the right conditions. This is the only thing you are not in control of. You have to pray that the conditions are favorable for the project to go through. If the economic or climatic conditions are not the best, the climax may never be reached, depending on the project at hand. It may take time to get the best conditions and all you have to do is to be ready to pounce when the conditions become favorable. This may take time depending on what you are out to achieve but it is worth the wait. You too can produce Everest type results if you keep doing things the way those who went up the mountain first did.  

The Value of Problems

The Value of Problems                                                               090111

            Most people cringe when they hear of yet another problem, but it is problems that make life tick. Every job is about solving one problem or another; some not as directly as others though. It is for this reason that we must value problems.

            All inventions and discoveries ever made were inspired by the desire to solve some existing problem. These men and women whom we call heroes today for discovering these solutions chose to face the problems that were there and tried to solve them. When they did they became heroes in the process. It is not those who shy away from problems who are great but those who face them head on.

            Problems usually do not disappear if we do not do something about them. For some time, they may go out of sight but they have a way of resurfacing at the most inconvenient time and place. When they emerge in this way the only thing to do is to face them, but it is usually not as convenient as it is when you address them when you are in control as far as when and how to solve them.

            There are many who have a tendency of sweeping things under the carpet. Soon the carpet is bulging in all places and causing those who try to walk on top to stumble and fall. When this happens the problems will once again become the centre of attraction because they cannot be ignored anymore. One way or the other problems are better addressed when they first appear.

            There are a number of ways of making sure that problems are valuable to you. The first is to realise that as long as you are alive you will face some problems. This will help you in the sense that you will always look forward to meeting the problems and this sort of prepares you for them. If you are prepared you do not panic when the problems arrive. In fact you can handle them with a level head because they do not surprise you as such. Once you realise that you are going to meet some problems somehow you are in a better position to solve them.

            When problems come your way, make it a habit to address them as soon as possible. This is because they do not go away on their own. If you keep them unattended you are giving them a chance to grow. A time may come when you have to handle many problems at the same time. Since one problem is usually enough to cause anxiety and stress, you are most likely going to be affected even more if you let problems accumulate until they are many. Solving problems as soon as they arise makes sure you are in a position to address one at a time unless, of course, if many of them happen concurrently, in which case you do not have control of events. Otherwise you will be assured of solving all your problems without being overwhelmed.

            When you address the problems that come your way, make sure you solve them as far as possible. A half solved problem is still a problem. It is like filling a five metre deep pit with soil until it is two metres deep. It is still a pit and as dangerous as a five meter one. You have to solve your problems until you are satisfied you have done your best. If there are any issues that will arise after some time you will address them as they come but make sure the problem is under control all the time.

            Problems have a way of strengthening you. If you face them head on they will give you the edge when other problems come your way in future. A tree that is planted and watered everyday may not appreciate that there are dry spells that come. When the watering is stopped the tree withers quickly. Because it is used to having plenty of water all the time, it usually loses as much as possible at any given time even in times of drought. For this reason such a tree dies quickly when drought comes. The same is true for individuals who do not want to face problems. They will be affected seriously when problem arise that they cannot run away from. They usually commit suicide when faced with what they call serious challenges.

            Ship builders use trees from mountain tops when making a ship's mast because it has faced windy conditions all its life. A tree from deep in the bush will not be able to survive the storms because it is shielded at all times by other trees. Endure the problems if you must but rejoice because these problems leave you a better person.

            Next time you have a problem in your hands appreciate the fact that it is one of the many that will come your way. Address the problem as soon as possible and as thoroughly s you can and because you will be a better person when the problem is over.

Prepare for the blessings that you are expecting

Prepare for the blessings that you are expecting                                         020111

            Happy New Year to you all! What a blessing to be found alive in 2011. I hope this year will bring to you the blessings that you expect. May it bring prosperity beyond your expectations.

            When some cargo is to be transported to some place by water transport, the boat or ship that is dispatched depends on the size of the river along which the goods are to be transported. If the goods to be transported are few, the smallest boat can be employed and all is well. If, however, large quantities of goods are to be transported, a larger vessel is needed, and a larger channel for the boat to fit in. The largest vessels are used to transport goods from continent to continent via the sea because there are no limits as far as the sea is concerned. It is wide enough and deep enough for any ship to travel.

            Water transport is used to move goods across big dams too. These vessels have a limit in terms of size because the dams on which they travel allow only a certain size of boat to travel comfortably. If the goods have to move through a river, the particular river has to always contain enough water to allow the boats to pass through; otherwise they get stuck in the sand. The river has to be deep enough and wide enough. If the river is small, it will allow only small boats, which will be able to carry only a certain amount of goods. If large quantities of goods are to be carried through a narrow channel then the small boats will have to do many runs through and in most cases only a limited number of these vessels can travel through at any given time since they may not be able to pass each other when travelling in the opposite direction.

            Your life is a destination of certain goods every time. The amount of goods that can come your way at any given time depends on the size of the river channels that you dig around you. If you have only small rivers around you, only small boats can come your way with limited resources. If you dig big rivers there is capacity for big vessels to bring larger loads to your port. A small channel compromises, not only the size of the vessels to come at any given time, but the number too. If your channel is one hundred kilometres long and allows only one boat at any given time, (because two boats cannot cross each other anywhere along the channel,) then it means for the duration of time when one small boat is bringing the few goods it can carry, you cannot hope to receive anything else. You have to wait for it to go back again the whole way before another one can come to replenish your supplies. If the goods brought are not enough to last until the next vessel comes then you are in trouble.

            There is hope in that the blessings that you want to come your way do not come via some physical river which you do not have control over its size. They come to you depending on your preparedness. It takes some time for a river to cut a channel deep enough for big vessels to come through. It may take a bit of time before you can receive the goods you want but you have to keep working at it. If you do not deepen and widen the channels, no one will do it for you. It is your responsibility to prepare yourself for the blessings you want.

            The areas you want the blessings to flow will determine the amount of work that you have to do. If you want academic rewards you have to increase your capacity in the academic sense. You have to spend many hours studying in order to get good grades. If you expect distinctions but continue to spend more time playing then you will not get the reward. The academic boats that can travel such a narrow channel will not be able to carry the distinctions that you want. You have to widen the channel and deepen it enough for big things to flow.

            If you want a promotion at work you have to work for it. The amount and quality of work that you produce should be commensurate with your expectation. You must have the papers that qualify you to occupy that position. If you do not do enough you may not be able to see the ship that you expect to come carrying your promotion because the channel that you provided is too narrow for such great things to fit in. Those who seek spiritual blessings will have to prepare themselves to work hard in the same way. Without this hard work there is no hope of receiving the blessings that you want.

            There are many things that could be yours this year if you work hard enough to prepare the way for these blessings to flow. What you will have depends on how prepared you are to receive it. Keep deepening and widening the channels.