To me and many others Srila Prabhupada was first and foremost someone who truly cared, who completely sacrificed his own comfort to work for the good of others. He had no private life, but lived only for others.
- Mukunda Goswami
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
WON'T CHANTING HARE KRISHNA SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS?
From the outset, Srila Prabhupada expected devotees to exercise common sense. This includes proper care of their bodies and minds.
Addressing various life issues via coaching does not diminish one's standing as Lord Krishna's devotee.
Coaching can also contribute to settling disputes, improving communications, resolving family crises, and removing a variety of other obstacles to devotional service.
Gita Coaching process encourages attentive chanting of 16 rounds in one go, every single day, and a regular reading and preaching of Prabhupada's books.
Addressing various life issues via coaching does not diminish one's standing as Lord Krishna's devotee.
Coaching can also contribute to settling disputes, improving communications, resolving family crises, and removing a variety of other obstacles to devotional service.
Gita Coaching process encourages attentive chanting of 16 rounds in one go, every single day, and a regular reading and preaching of Prabhupada's books.
BUSY
Leader means he must... He's always busy how to make you happy, how to make without any cares, anxiety.
- Srila Prabhupada
- Srila Prabhupada
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
INTERNALIZE AND APPLY THE BHAGAVAD GITA PRINCIPLES WITH THE HELP OF A COACH
The Gita Coaching is a process of learning, renewal, application, and feedback that will help you develop the essential skills necessary to live the Bhagavad Gita. It is a step-by-step path for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, human dignity and spiritual intelligence. With a coach, you can actualize this spiritual, principle-centered approach for solving your personal, spiritual and professional problems.
How Does A Coach Assist You?
• A Coach holds you responsible for taking action to create your own results
• A Coach helps you to envision and clarify what and where you want to be
• A Coach holds you accountable to act on your highest priorities
• A Coach helps you improve how you approach interaction with others and create a foundation of trust and mutual benefit
How Does Coaching Help You?
• Coaching helps you apply the process of deep understanding of other people to create interdependent and mutually beneficial relationships
• Coaching plugs you into the power of 1+1=3, helping you work with others to discover the best solution
• Coaching will release your potential by helping you make time for the things that renew and enliven you
Forming New Habits Takes Time
As your coach, I am committed to help you transform your life through the Bhagavad Gita. Coaching will help you become more effective by changing the way you approach yourself, your relationships, and your service.
This type of deep transformation requires more than a cosmetic change in techniques; it requires a change in habits—a process that takes time and accountability.
Coaching Lays A Comprehensive Foundation For Change
During the coaching process, we will work together to understand and develop the spiritually-based habits of personal, interpersonal, professional and organizational effectiveness.
Long-Term Benefits Of Coaching
Gita Coaching is a learning and implementation process that will ensure that you are better able to internalize and practice the principles of the Bhagavad Gita.
Increased effectiveness in living the Bhagavad Gita will mean greater success in all facets of your life.
I will be your partner, invested in your success. I will help to support, guide and motivate you to apply the Bhagavad Gita principles to your life in a way you have not done before.
Note: In the business world, studies have shown that the coaching provides a return on investment (ROI) of 352%. That means $1.00 spent on coaching converts to $3.52 in increased productivity. [Source: Jack Phillips ROI study, 2001]
How Does A Coach Assist You?
• A Coach holds you responsible for taking action to create your own results
• A Coach helps you to envision and clarify what and where you want to be
• A Coach holds you accountable to act on your highest priorities
• A Coach helps you improve how you approach interaction with others and create a foundation of trust and mutual benefit
How Does Coaching Help You?
• Coaching helps you apply the process of deep understanding of other people to create interdependent and mutually beneficial relationships
• Coaching plugs you into the power of 1+1=3, helping you work with others to discover the best solution
• Coaching will release your potential by helping you make time for the things that renew and enliven you
Forming New Habits Takes Time
As your coach, I am committed to help you transform your life through the Bhagavad Gita. Coaching will help you become more effective by changing the way you approach yourself, your relationships, and your service.
This type of deep transformation requires more than a cosmetic change in techniques; it requires a change in habits—a process that takes time and accountability.
Coaching Lays A Comprehensive Foundation For Change
During the coaching process, we will work together to understand and develop the spiritually-based habits of personal, interpersonal, professional and organizational effectiveness.
Long-Term Benefits Of Coaching
Gita Coaching is a learning and implementation process that will ensure that you are better able to internalize and practice the principles of the Bhagavad Gita.
Increased effectiveness in living the Bhagavad Gita will mean greater success in all facets of your life.
I will be your partner, invested in your success. I will help to support, guide and motivate you to apply the Bhagavad Gita principles to your life in a way you have not done before.
Note: In the business world, studies have shown that the coaching provides a return on investment (ROI) of 352%. That means $1.00 spent on coaching converts to $3.52 in increased productivity. [Source: Jack Phillips ROI study, 2001]
THE STRATEGY OF PREEMINENCE
Why do some entrepreneurs gain levels of success so much higher than others? Most often, it's due to the fact that they have a better philosophical strategy.
They approach dealing with prospects and clients with a deep desire to really help and solve their problems.
They have an external focus of how they can serve and not an internal focus of what they can get. I call it the Strategy of Preeminence.
Would you want to buy something from someone who just wants to sell or from someone who is protecting you and is looking out for your best interest?
The first thing I want to do is change how you define your customers.
Customer: A person who purchases a commodity or service
Client: A person who is under the protection of another
Even if you call your buyers customers it's important to think of them as clients.
The strategy of preeminence simply means that you will not let your clients buy more or less than they need to get the results they seek. It's a powerful yet simple strategy that can transform your business. I'm always amazed at how many business people will say and do whatever it takes to make a one time sales rather than taking time to understand the client's desired outcome. And then having the courage and moral obligation to tell the client what they really need. Sure, you may end up with a smaller initial sale, but you will have made a new friend. And they will buy again and again and send you referrals.
You must set the strategy of preeminence at the beginning of your relationship before someone buys from you. You can do this by becoming a trusted friend or advisor- so this needs to be a part of your presentation.
Create a presentation or system that automatically includes how you worry, care, and show concern for your clients even if they decide to buy elsewhere.
You must commit yourself to a level of study that most of your clients will not want to undertake. The strategy of preeminence will help you avoid concentrating on your wants and needs and puts them where they belong ----on your clients.
Imagine a father walking into a store to buy a bike for his son, what is he looking for? What does he need? Does he just want a piece of metal on two wheels? Of course not. He's looking for one of the most joyful experiences of a lifetime---teaching his son to ride a bike. He wants a memory that he can tell his grandkids. He wants to hear his son yell," Look dad. No hands."
So, do you sell this father the most expensive bike in the store? Maybe if that's the best solution to his problem. But you definitely should tell the father that you've seen hundreds of dads come in to buy their child's first bike and you know how wonderful this occasion is. And possibly a less expensive model would be better because so many kids crash their bikes.
You might also want to mention that the dad should make sure he has collision insurance on his car. You make the sale and you also become a trusted advisor. The father realizes that you didn't just sell him a bike but you protected him. He became a client. In a couple of years his son will need a new bike or he may have other kids who want new bikes. Where do you think he will go to buy it?
If you focus on giving value and advice instead of manipulating, you win over many more prospects. One of the biggest mistakes I've seen in over 30 years of working with businesses is that they focus on the wrong thing. They fall in love with their product, service, or company. However, falling in love with your clients means taking responsibility for their well-being.
You have to put their best interests ahead of your own. Here's a few ways to establish the strategy of preeminence:
• You are not just selling information, you are selling qualitative leadership.
• You have to develop empathy for where your prospective clients are.
• You have to adopt a different mentality to be preemptive.
Being preemptive means that you are the only viable solution to a problem, that you are the only one who understands.
You have to want to help people and connect the dots for them. Make a commitment to start practicing this strategy in your business today and watch your results soar.
The nine steps of the “strategy of preeminence” are:
1. You establish yourself and your relationship with everybody as their most trusted advisor. As their advisor, your job is to give them the best reason, most heartfelt external perspective on what’s best for them. You have a “you” attitude, “you” meaning “them” and not yourself. Always focus on them.
2. You try to put into words the gnawing feelings, the desires, the frustrations they feel that are never verbalized.
3. You tell them the truth as you see it.
4. Never let them do things that are not in their best interest.
5. You tell them what you see life to be in your own words, and you don’t hold back even if they won’t like you for it, because you see yourself as their most trusted advisor.
6. I told you, you fall in love with them, not your business or your product.
7. Realize that it’s not what you say that makes people buy from you, that makes people hire you, that makes people give you raises, it’s how much more value you can give them that they desire, prize, and really want.
8. You make yourself stand out as the only viable solution that they’ve got, to a problem that you alone understand and verbalize, or an opportunity that you alone see and can really put words to.
Finally, you will find that in order to be successful you have to first want to make other people successful, in order to be loved, you have to first love, in order to be interesting you have to first be interested. The mere opposite of what you want is what you have to give first and then you are likely get back the desired result or outcome.
By Jay Abraham
They approach dealing with prospects and clients with a deep desire to really help and solve their problems.
They have an external focus of how they can serve and not an internal focus of what they can get. I call it the Strategy of Preeminence.
Would you want to buy something from someone who just wants to sell or from someone who is protecting you and is looking out for your best interest?
The first thing I want to do is change how you define your customers.
Customer: A person who purchases a commodity or service
Client: A person who is under the protection of another
Even if you call your buyers customers it's important to think of them as clients.
The strategy of preeminence simply means that you will not let your clients buy more or less than they need to get the results they seek. It's a powerful yet simple strategy that can transform your business. I'm always amazed at how many business people will say and do whatever it takes to make a one time sales rather than taking time to understand the client's desired outcome. And then having the courage and moral obligation to tell the client what they really need. Sure, you may end up with a smaller initial sale, but you will have made a new friend. And they will buy again and again and send you referrals.
You must set the strategy of preeminence at the beginning of your relationship before someone buys from you. You can do this by becoming a trusted friend or advisor- so this needs to be a part of your presentation.
Create a presentation or system that automatically includes how you worry, care, and show concern for your clients even if they decide to buy elsewhere.
You must commit yourself to a level of study that most of your clients will not want to undertake. The strategy of preeminence will help you avoid concentrating on your wants and needs and puts them where they belong ----on your clients.
Imagine a father walking into a store to buy a bike for his son, what is he looking for? What does he need? Does he just want a piece of metal on two wheels? Of course not. He's looking for one of the most joyful experiences of a lifetime---teaching his son to ride a bike. He wants a memory that he can tell his grandkids. He wants to hear his son yell," Look dad. No hands."
So, do you sell this father the most expensive bike in the store? Maybe if that's the best solution to his problem. But you definitely should tell the father that you've seen hundreds of dads come in to buy their child's first bike and you know how wonderful this occasion is. And possibly a less expensive model would be better because so many kids crash their bikes.
You might also want to mention that the dad should make sure he has collision insurance on his car. You make the sale and you also become a trusted advisor. The father realizes that you didn't just sell him a bike but you protected him. He became a client. In a couple of years his son will need a new bike or he may have other kids who want new bikes. Where do you think he will go to buy it?
If you focus on giving value and advice instead of manipulating, you win over many more prospects. One of the biggest mistakes I've seen in over 30 years of working with businesses is that they focus on the wrong thing. They fall in love with their product, service, or company. However, falling in love with your clients means taking responsibility for their well-being.
You have to put their best interests ahead of your own. Here's a few ways to establish the strategy of preeminence:
• You are not just selling information, you are selling qualitative leadership.
• You have to develop empathy for where your prospective clients are.
• You have to adopt a different mentality to be preemptive.
Being preemptive means that you are the only viable solution to a problem, that you are the only one who understands.
You have to want to help people and connect the dots for them. Make a commitment to start practicing this strategy in your business today and watch your results soar.
The nine steps of the “strategy of preeminence” are:
1. You establish yourself and your relationship with everybody as their most trusted advisor. As their advisor, your job is to give them the best reason, most heartfelt external perspective on what’s best for them. You have a “you” attitude, “you” meaning “them” and not yourself. Always focus on them.
2. You try to put into words the gnawing feelings, the desires, the frustrations they feel that are never verbalized.
3. You tell them the truth as you see it.
4. Never let them do things that are not in their best interest.
5. You tell them what you see life to be in your own words, and you don’t hold back even if they won’t like you for it, because you see yourself as their most trusted advisor.
6. I told you, you fall in love with them, not your business or your product.
7. Realize that it’s not what you say that makes people buy from you, that makes people hire you, that makes people give you raises, it’s how much more value you can give them that they desire, prize, and really want.
8. You make yourself stand out as the only viable solution that they’ve got, to a problem that you alone understand and verbalize, or an opportunity that you alone see and can really put words to.
Finally, you will find that in order to be successful you have to first want to make other people successful, in order to be loved, you have to first love, in order to be interesting you have to first be interested. The mere opposite of what you want is what you have to give first and then you are likely get back the desired result or outcome.
By Jay Abraham
Monday, March 24, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
LIMITING DECISIONS
Limiting decision is any statement or conclusion about life, your capabilities, or what's possible that limits you in some way.
A belief, on the other hand, is a feeling of conviction about something that is true, right, real or possible for you.
Any belief that we have is always preceded by the decision, either consciously or unconsciously, to accept that belief in our life.
What type of limiting decisions do people make?
I am this body.
I need money in order to be happy.
I don't have all the resources I need to succeed.
It's impossible to become a pure devotee.
It's too hard to get up at 4 am.
It's impossible to hear my rounds.
I can't deal with difficult people.
All of these limiting decisions will prevent a person from moving powerfully forward and actualizing their full potential.
Decisions can be possibility filters.
Take an honest assessment of the decisions you've made that limit you in some way.
In order to elevate and expand your consciousness, you need to explore your self imposed limitations.
A belief, on the other hand, is a feeling of conviction about something that is true, right, real or possible for you.
Any belief that we have is always preceded by the decision, either consciously or unconsciously, to accept that belief in our life.
What type of limiting decisions do people make?
I am this body.
I need money in order to be happy.
I don't have all the resources I need to succeed.
It's impossible to become a pure devotee.
It's too hard to get up at 4 am.
It's impossible to hear my rounds.
I can't deal with difficult people.
All of these limiting decisions will prevent a person from moving powerfully forward and actualizing their full potential.
Decisions can be possibility filters.
Take an honest assessment of the decisions you've made that limit you in some way.
In order to elevate and expand your consciousness, you need to explore your self imposed limitations.
Monday, March 17, 2008
NEW GLOBAL RELIGION
This weekend I have attended a big NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) seminar in London, looking for some new life coaching tools.
As I looked on while 4000 (four thousand) people marched into the huge Alexandra Palace it hit me that personal development has become a new religion.
There is no need to go to the church or the temple anymore. You can go to an amazing multimedia success seminar a have the greatest time of your life.
I was thinking, why is this so?
One answer that comes to mind is that personal development is about ME, about my success. And therefore it's more interesting than religion, which is about GOD, or serving God.
Success teachers have become new saviours of the people. They help them give up their bad habits, limiting beliefs and negative emotions. And thus become apparently happy in this temporary world.
The powerful speaker has done extensive research on how to work with your mind so it can be "programmed for success". He has created many "new generation tools" that will help people perfectly manipulate matter, both within and without their body, so they can enjoy the material world to the fullest, as he himself does.
During the break, one gentleman told my friend that he has been into NLP for 20 years. We asked him a few simple questions about the soul and the death and he seemed confused.
Although I did find a few self dicipline and focus tools at the seminar, I was disillusioned with some of the "peak" moments of the course (despite the mention of "spirituality" and "our divine destiny") when the speaker shouted:
"You are light and the light is you! You are the universe and the universe is you! We are all one!"
I was waiting for him to say to the audience: "You are God." He didn't.
Despite all this nonsense, few interesting things happened.
During the above "sermon" by the speaker, I visited the toilet and met there a young man who was putting a new liquid soap above the sinks. I decided to ask him waht he thinks of all of this. He said: "Is this some kind of motivational staff? Anyway, although now these people are maybe motivated, tommorow these people will have to face the reality of their lives and motivate themselves."
I found this remark of a "toilet boy" very smart.
One of the presenters mentioned a few times the phrase "for the love of God", probably common in Australia (where he comes from).
I liked that.
Another presenter, during the prize competition, selected an Indian young lady's name from the basket to compete for a prize. Her name was Caitanya, and as he struggled to pronounce it he managed to say Caitanya five times to the 4000 excited seminar attendees. I was very happy about it and personally thanked him afterwards.
I also encountered the powerful carismatic main speaker on his way to the stage. As I approached him when he was passing by I asked him: "Did you ever have any Hare Krsna's at these courses?"
He said: "I don't know. Most probably. Are you a Hare Krsna?"
I said: Yes! - delighted that he has chanted the holy name.
So who knows, maybe that's the begining of an end of his great temporary material success and the start of his spiritual success.
We were asked to choose a buddy for the three days of the seminar to support each other, making sure we come on time for the sessions, do all the exercises and have fair breaks.
I was very glad that a young English gentlemen, who was my buddy, told me he is interested in spirituality. I told him about the Bhagavad Gita and our philosophy a bit and we are now negotiating time to meet at our great Govinda's restaurant in Central London.
As I looked on while 4000 (four thousand) people marched into the huge Alexandra Palace it hit me that personal development has become a new religion.
There is no need to go to the church or the temple anymore. You can go to an amazing multimedia success seminar a have the greatest time of your life.
I was thinking, why is this so?
One answer that comes to mind is that personal development is about ME, about my success. And therefore it's more interesting than religion, which is about GOD, or serving God.
Success teachers have become new saviours of the people. They help them give up their bad habits, limiting beliefs and negative emotions. And thus become apparently happy in this temporary world.
The powerful speaker has done extensive research on how to work with your mind so it can be "programmed for success". He has created many "new generation tools" that will help people perfectly manipulate matter, both within and without their body, so they can enjoy the material world to the fullest, as he himself does.
During the break, one gentleman told my friend that he has been into NLP for 20 years. We asked him a few simple questions about the soul and the death and he seemed confused.
Although I did find a few self dicipline and focus tools at the seminar, I was disillusioned with some of the "peak" moments of the course (despite the mention of "spirituality" and "our divine destiny") when the speaker shouted:
"You are light and the light is you! You are the universe and the universe is you! We are all one!"
I was waiting for him to say to the audience: "You are God." He didn't.
Despite all this nonsense, few interesting things happened.
During the above "sermon" by the speaker, I visited the toilet and met there a young man who was putting a new liquid soap above the sinks. I decided to ask him waht he thinks of all of this. He said: "Is this some kind of motivational staff? Anyway, although now these people are maybe motivated, tommorow these people will have to face the reality of their lives and motivate themselves."
I found this remark of a "toilet boy" very smart.
One of the presenters mentioned a few times the phrase "for the love of God", probably common in Australia (where he comes from).
I liked that.
Another presenter, during the prize competition, selected an Indian young lady's name from the basket to compete for a prize. Her name was Caitanya, and as he struggled to pronounce it he managed to say Caitanya five times to the 4000 excited seminar attendees. I was very happy about it and personally thanked him afterwards.
I also encountered the powerful carismatic main speaker on his way to the stage. As I approached him when he was passing by I asked him: "Did you ever have any Hare Krsna's at these courses?"
He said: "I don't know. Most probably. Are you a Hare Krsna?"
I said: Yes! - delighted that he has chanted the holy name.
So who knows, maybe that's the begining of an end of his great temporary material success and the start of his spiritual success.
We were asked to choose a buddy for the three days of the seminar to support each other, making sure we come on time for the sessions, do all the exercises and have fair breaks.
I was very glad that a young English gentlemen, who was my buddy, told me he is interested in spirituality. I told him about the Bhagavad Gita and our philosophy a bit and we are now negotiating time to meet at our great Govinda's restaurant in Central London.
Monday, March 10, 2008
EXERCISE
by Mahatma das (Mahatma.ACBSP@pamho.net)
Exercise
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of your spiritual practice last week?
If you answered less than 10 I have another question.
What would it take to make it a 10?
Now write down everything you could do to make it a 10. Don’t think about what is practical, what you are able to do, etc., just write down what your spiritual practice would look like if it were a 10.
Now you know what you need to do.
Read over your list. How does it make you feel? Enlivened, challenged, scared, lazy, depressed, discouraged?
If you have negative emotions that’s ok. You don’t have to ignore them. Often they can help you realize how bad you feel by not taking your spiritual practices seriously. In any case, if you allow your emotions to deter you, it means you need to increase your determination. You can act in spite of your fear, in spite of your doubt. “Arise, o chastiser of the enemies."
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” Napolean
And it is said that the road to success is a toll road.
I can already hear your mind making excuses, saying, “but --------.”
I have an answer for your mind.
“A winner is someone who talks himself out of excuses.”
Here’s another one to help you through the difficulties
“Every noble work is at first impossible."
So you roll up your sleeves and start to do more of the things you’ve known all along you should be doing and avoid doing the things you know have been hurting your spiritual life.
If down the road your enthusiasm wanes, remember this:
“Success is like a garden, It always needs weeding.”
And here’s another truism to push you when you are down:
“Winners do what losers don’t want to do.”
I can hear your mind saying (wow, it’s so loud I can hear it all the way in Alachua), “What if I don’t succeed?”
“If you are doing your best, you will not have to worry about failure.”
There is no failure in Krsna consciousness. The effort itself is the success.
“There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is to not be true to the best we know.”
I know it is hard to change. You look at your list and you see it requires change to improve yourself - and that might make you uncomfortable. But you pay a price for staying the same, for remaining comfortable.
If reading this text makes you uneasy, it’s probably because you know you need to change.
You have read this far and maybe you haven’t started this exercise yet. Maybe you are not planning to do it. If so, please answer the following question.
If you don’t do this exercise, what excuse will you tell yourself?
Now look at that excuse, (or list of excuses) very carefully. Study them, contemplate them. They are like gold and diamonds for you because here might be the very secret, the very core of what might be holding your practice back.
After each excuse, write the following, “to be more Krsna conscious,” For example, if your excuse is, “I don’t have time,” it should read, “I don’t have time to be more Krsna conscious.”
If your excuse is that I am afraid I will fail, your excuse will read, “I am afraid I will fail to be more Krsna conscious.” I think this will help you see your excuses is a different light - or should I say, in the light.
“The minute you start making excuses you have lost.”
Can you really afford to lose?
Exercise
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the quality of your spiritual practice last week?
If you answered less than 10 I have another question.
What would it take to make it a 10?
Now write down everything you could do to make it a 10. Don’t think about what is practical, what you are able to do, etc., just write down what your spiritual practice would look like if it were a 10.
Now you know what you need to do.
Read over your list. How does it make you feel? Enlivened, challenged, scared, lazy, depressed, discouraged?
If you have negative emotions that’s ok. You don’t have to ignore them. Often they can help you realize how bad you feel by not taking your spiritual practices seriously. In any case, if you allow your emotions to deter you, it means you need to increase your determination. You can act in spite of your fear, in spite of your doubt. “Arise, o chastiser of the enemies."
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” Napolean
And it is said that the road to success is a toll road.
I can already hear your mind making excuses, saying, “but --------.”
I have an answer for your mind.
“A winner is someone who talks himself out of excuses.”
Here’s another one to help you through the difficulties
“Every noble work is at first impossible."
So you roll up your sleeves and start to do more of the things you’ve known all along you should be doing and avoid doing the things you know have been hurting your spiritual life.
If down the road your enthusiasm wanes, remember this:
“Success is like a garden, It always needs weeding.”
And here’s another truism to push you when you are down:
“Winners do what losers don’t want to do.”
I can hear your mind saying (wow, it’s so loud I can hear it all the way in Alachua), “What if I don’t succeed?”
“If you are doing your best, you will not have to worry about failure.”
There is no failure in Krsna consciousness. The effort itself is the success.
“There is only one real failure in life that is possible, and that is to not be true to the best we know.”
I know it is hard to change. You look at your list and you see it requires change to improve yourself - and that might make you uncomfortable. But you pay a price for staying the same, for remaining comfortable.
If reading this text makes you uneasy, it’s probably because you know you need to change.
You have read this far and maybe you haven’t started this exercise yet. Maybe you are not planning to do it. If so, please answer the following question.
If you don’t do this exercise, what excuse will you tell yourself?
Now look at that excuse, (or list of excuses) very carefully. Study them, contemplate them. They are like gold and diamonds for you because here might be the very secret, the very core of what might be holding your practice back.
After each excuse, write the following, “to be more Krsna conscious,” For example, if your excuse is, “I don’t have time,” it should read, “I don’t have time to be more Krsna conscious.”
If your excuse is that I am afraid I will fail, your excuse will read, “I am afraid I will fail to be more Krsna conscious.” I think this will help you see your excuses is a different light - or should I say, in the light.
“The minute you start making excuses you have lost.”
Can you really afford to lose?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
I WANTED TO CHANGE THE WORLD
By Unknown Monk, 1100 A.D.
When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town.
I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
My family and I could have made an impact on our town.
Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town.
I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
My family and I could have made an impact on our town.
Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
THE FIVE DISFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM
The 5 dysfunctions are sequential, ie., the existence of 1 dysfunction leads to the next one happening, and so on.
1. Absence of trust
Team members don't trust each other enough to have honest and open intellectual debate during the decision making process. Everything is political during meetings without the kind of frank and open exchange needed to hash out the best ideas and plan.
This leads to....
2. Fear of conflict
Since people don't trust each other, whenever bad or sub-par ideas are proposed everyone keeps quiet. Nobody wants to confront the issues and instead defers judgement, afraid of hurting other's feelings. There is an atmosphere of
"artificial harmony" which masks the actual underlying discord. People keep quiet during the meetings only to come out of it and confide to their friends that they don't agree with whats happening.
This leads to....
3. Lack of commitment
People aren't going to commit to a plan or idea that they think is wrong and/or wasn't a product of vigorous and objective intellectual debate. Due to the illusion created by "artificial harmony" they may act like they are committed, but behind the scenes they reveal that they are not on board.
This leads to....
4. Avoidance of accountability
Nobody is going to feel accountable to an idea or plan that they didn't feel commited to in the first place.
This leads to....
5. Inattention to results
Ultimately the dysfunctional team, because the individual members don't feel accountable, just are not able to get any results. They tend to tell everyone that they did their part (ie their department, or their task, or their sub-group) performed. But the team as a whole doesn't accomplish the results that they need. Kind of like a basketball team where they miss their result (ie., scoring more points than the opponent----winning the game) but each team member doesn't pay attention to that failure to attain the result. Rather they each fixate on how each one of them was able to do their own little part nicely (like dribble properly, or pass the ball, or shoot the ball nicely.) Instead of focusing fully on the team results, they focus on individual performance.
The solution is to first build a strong sense of trust among the team members. In this environment they all feel comfortable to openly express their ideas, feeling that they are truly a valued member.
There are no turf-battles in this situation, so there is no fear of conflict. Then, even if there is a failure to reach a total consensus on a particular issue; and the team leader may have to make a decision that a member doesn't agree with---the team member can accept the team's decision.
The team member feels that everyone's opinions were valued and the decision was the product of frank, open, and objective debate. So there is commitment to the plan even though it is not necessarily the one they originally would have chosen.
They feel accountable to do their part to make execute the plan, and ultimately are able to focus on and acheive results.
- From The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
1. Absence of trust
Team members don't trust each other enough to have honest and open intellectual debate during the decision making process. Everything is political during meetings without the kind of frank and open exchange needed to hash out the best ideas and plan.
This leads to....
2. Fear of conflict
Since people don't trust each other, whenever bad or sub-par ideas are proposed everyone keeps quiet. Nobody wants to confront the issues and instead defers judgement, afraid of hurting other's feelings. There is an atmosphere of
"artificial harmony" which masks the actual underlying discord. People keep quiet during the meetings only to come out of it and confide to their friends that they don't agree with whats happening.
This leads to....
3. Lack of commitment
People aren't going to commit to a plan or idea that they think is wrong and/or wasn't a product of vigorous and objective intellectual debate. Due to the illusion created by "artificial harmony" they may act like they are committed, but behind the scenes they reveal that they are not on board.
This leads to....
4. Avoidance of accountability
Nobody is going to feel accountable to an idea or plan that they didn't feel commited to in the first place.
This leads to....
5. Inattention to results
Ultimately the dysfunctional team, because the individual members don't feel accountable, just are not able to get any results. They tend to tell everyone that they did their part (ie their department, or their task, or their sub-group) performed. But the team as a whole doesn't accomplish the results that they need. Kind of like a basketball team where they miss their result (ie., scoring more points than the opponent----winning the game) but each team member doesn't pay attention to that failure to attain the result. Rather they each fixate on how each one of them was able to do their own little part nicely (like dribble properly, or pass the ball, or shoot the ball nicely.) Instead of focusing fully on the team results, they focus on individual performance.
The solution is to first build a strong sense of trust among the team members. In this environment they all feel comfortable to openly express their ideas, feeling that they are truly a valued member.
There are no turf-battles in this situation, so there is no fear of conflict. Then, even if there is a failure to reach a total consensus on a particular issue; and the team leader may have to make a decision that a member doesn't agree with---the team member can accept the team's decision.
The team member feels that everyone's opinions were valued and the decision was the product of frank, open, and objective debate. So there is commitment to the plan even though it is not necessarily the one they originally would have chosen.
They feel accountable to do their part to make execute the plan, and ultimately are able to focus on and acheive results.
- From The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
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