Category: Personal Kaizen

The Most Effective Habit

meditation
(Photo courtesy melolou)

Amongst the millions of habits that find mention in the history of successful people, I believe the early morning meditation is the most effective. It is simple, has multiple advantages & can help everyone.  

Some people think that meditation takes time away from physical accomplishment. Taken to extremes, of course, that’s true. Most people, however, find that meditation creates more time than it takes.

– Peter McWilliams

In its most basic form, the habit consists of the following steps –

Step 1: Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight.

Step 2: Close your eyes & begin breathing through your nose. Feel each breath. Experience the inhale and exhale.

Step 3: Focus on the breathing for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Morning meditation is best done as one of your first activities in the morning – before newspaper or TV or coffee / tea.

Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time, we can learn to direct attention where we choose.

– Eknath Easwaran

If you are just starting with this habit, you will notice that initially your mind wanders about a lot. That is ok. Let those wandering thoughts come in, but gently bring your focus back on the breathing.

When practiced regularly over a period of time, this habit improves concentration, de-stresses & de-clutters the mind & increases positivism. 

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Story: Sow Your Seeds Today

carpentry(Photo courtesy darijus)

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the pay check, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.

Quotes To Live By – Learning, Richard Bach

“That’s what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we’ve changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.”
– Richard Bach –

LearningToFly(Photo courtesy redbanshee)

“There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they’re necessary to reach the places we’ve chosen to go.”
– Richard Bach –

Frustrated? Focus on making a constructive difference

frustrated(Photo courtesy Zach Klein) 

There are times when you feel everything around you is wrong. You get frustrated by the wrong attitude of people, the flaws in the system, the wrong way things are being done, etc.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn & complain, and most fools do”
– Benjamin Franklin

Perfect time to read this article by Marshall  Goldsmith & get a perspective of yourself in the bigger scheme of things.

Real leaders are not people who can point out what is wrong. Almost anyone can do that. Real leaders are people who can make things better.

So what can you do right now to get out of the rut ..to have a better life?

First, think about your own behaviour at work. Are you communicating a sense of joy and enthusiasm to the people around you, or are you spending too much time in the role of angry, judgmental critic?

Second, do you have any co-workers who are acting angry, negative & judgemental? Are you just getting annoyed with them, or are you trying to help them in some way to make a constructive difference? If you haven’t been trying to help them, why not give it a shot? Perhaps they’ll write a story about you someday.

This & more in Coaching That Changed My Life by Marshall Goldsmith.

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