Frog in the boiling water

'Cigarette smoking is injurious to health'. Everyone knows this, infact, it is printed in every cigarette packet. However it is shocking to know that a big mass (more than 25%) of our community has surrendered themselves to the cigarette smoking habit. Did you know? Researchers claim that the cigarette smokers increase their chances of lung cancer by five times. According to statistics, in US, every one person out of four, is a cigarette smoker. If you are a cigarette smoker and who do not believe these data, please avoid reading this post and save your time for smoking another couple of cigarettes!! **

I lost two of my close friends due to cigarette smoking habit. These real life tragedies impacted me a lot. How many more friends I'm going to lose to these cigarettes for the rest of my life !! I do not know the statistics of how many die / suffer everyday due to cigarette smoking habit. So, I decided to persuade to each and every smoker to quit smoking. I'm happy and proud that four of my friends stopped smoking. Though I had very small role to play, but the satisfaction I got out of it was tremendous.

Let us keep in mind that we are not a single entity. We have a loving family, passionate organization, emerging nation and a happy planet. Let us stay healthier for longer period to take care of our family, the organization, our nation and the planet. It is ok, if we do not improve our environment, but atleast let us not spoil them. Let us do our best possible to hand over a cleaner globe to our next generation. Today is the best time to stop smoking as well start preaching about the bad effects of smoking to the people around. Remember that when a person quits smoking, he reduces the risk of cancer and heart attacks to a great extent. He enjoys a better blood pressure. Along with him the people associated also get to inhale a pure air.

Ceaser was a pet dog of a wealthy family in a small town. Ceaser was taken utmost care that he was given the best food, best care, best treatment and so on. Ceaser was not exposed to the external world, so he wanted to run away from the house to enjoy the external world. One fine morning, as planned, Ceaser ran away from the house. He ran to the farthest of the town. In the evening Ceaser started feeling hungry. He had nobody to feed him. He had to find the food for himself. So he started searching for food. Unfortunately, for the next two days, Ceaser could not find any food. So, he was tired and weak. On the third day afternoon, in the hot sun, Ceaser managed to identify a bone in one of the streets. He was happy and caught hold of it in his mouth. Ceaser started biting the bone. As it was a brittle bone, Ceaser's mouth got hurt and blood started coming from his mouth. Poor Ceaser thought the blood was coming from the bone and started sucking the bone for more enjoyment. So more and more blood was coming from his own body to feed him. Ceaser did not realized it and eventually died.

According to Swami Sukhabodhananda, the people who have smoking habit are no better than the Ceaser mentioned in the above story. Cigarette smokers derive pleasure at the cost of their health and they pretend as though they do not know the fact that the cigarette smoking leads them to a quicker DEATH.

Remember cigarette smoking leads to addiction, where in, it would be very difficult for a person to control the smoking habit. One who cannot control his habits cannot control his destiny. People who do not have control over their destiny do not succeed. More over good health is one of the key ingredients for greater success. Hence the people who smoke cigarette are considered to be a failure, because they are short lived.

You have the option to be a responsive human or to be a frog in the boiling water. Finally, the option is yours.

Want to Succeed in Life? Stop smoking NOW and start Succeeding.


PS : ** 90% of the smokers would have read the full article, the first time. The other 10% of them would have bookmarked it to read it later for many times.

Six Thinking Hats - by Edward de Bono

This post is all about the book "Six Thinking Hats" by Edward de Bono.

About the Author : I feel that the author, Edward de Bono, is one of the few, who could make complex things easily understandable. He is also the author of the books called "Lateral Thinking" & "Parallel Thinking". His language is very simple to read.


About the Book / Concept : The books talks about the thinking mechanism and how get the most out of it. In fact, it was quoted in the book that using this principle / concept, in many big companies, discussion time were dramatically reduced to a great extent [say from 3 hours to 20 minutes!!]. Moreover, in many companies, they have this taught as part of their corporate training. Very interesting.

Why This Book ?

1. Many times, we would have noticed that we feel something really good and after sometime we would have felt otherwise. Why this swing?
2. Invariably, though we understand the pros and cons, we stick ourselves with one side and discuss. Mostly towards the fag end it turns out to be an argument. How to avoid this?
3. We feel that going back to and fro from +ves and -ves are bad. Is it good or bad?
4. It would be frustrating, when we are +ve about something and somebody is exactly opposite about the same. There is nothing good or bad about this, but still there is a frustration. How to make it a win-win?
5. How to reduce the discussion timings ?

About the concept : The author classifies our thinking into six types and refers them by six distinct colours. He symbolises thinking as Hat.
The following are the details of each Hat :

Blue Hat Blue colour is associated with sky. The upper limit, and hence signifies controlling factor. This is the thinking, which we use to make decisions, prepare agenda for a meeting, making a summary of a meeting etc.,

White Hat White colour refers to peace, neutrality. That means more to do with data. This thinking leads us to collect more information, stats / facts about a particular thing. It is only based on this white hat thinking, the blue hat thinking can make appropriate decisions.

Black Hat Black is associated with dark. Hence Black Hat thinking is to do with cautious thinking. This is like thinking about all the bad things that could happen, any danger. Over usage of this hat may lead to slowness.

Yellow Hat Yellow is associated with light, sun. Yellow hat thinking means positive thinking. More on the good things. Over usage of this hat may lead to over promising and hence overloading ourselves.

Red Hat Red is associated with blood. Red hat thing is more to do with emotions. It purely depends on the individual(s), culture, psychology etc.,

Green Hat Green is associated with vegetation. It symbolises mother nature. Green hat thinking is creative thinking.

How to use these Hats - an use case : Assume you are going to conduct a group discussion about "Team Changes". This is just only an usecase. First as a coordinator, you may come up with the agenda for the meeting and plan the sequence of the hats usage - eg.
1. Red Hat, 2. Black Hat, 3. White Hat, 4. Yellow Hat, 5. Green Hat, 6. Red Hat, 7. Blue Hat again.

This is Blue Hat thinking. Under each Hat thinking, I've given the example statements under each hat thinking in quotes.

1. Red Hat "I don't like this" "Again one more round of learning / training" - This may be the feeling of all including the coordinator.

2. Black Hat "What will happen to the knowledge gained so far?" "Is it really required right now?" - This is anyway everyone feels the same

3. White Hat "About 90% of the members who got team changed were more than 2 to 3 years old in the existing team" "About 8% of the members who got team changed were more than 1 year old in the existing team" "Only about 2% of the people were shifted 2 time a year and that too because of urgent project requirements" - Now this opens up a new dimension to the whole thinking.

4. Yellow Hat "This gives us opportunity to learn new technologies" "This gives opportunity to mingle with new set of people" "Keeping ourselves challenged is a great way to keeping ourselves ahead and active" - This is also true and everyone agrees.

5. Green Hat "May be come mentoring and some stipulated training time provided would make the transition smooth" "Some award scheme for the people who had transformed quickly and got into the new job quickly" - This opens up the doors to possibilities.

6. Red Hat again "Logical and can't help it" "Once in a while it is OK' - See how the thinking has changed.

7. Blue Hat to summarize "To summarise - Finally, the members felt that the team change is a logical and said it is ok to change the team once in a while".

From the above usecase, it is evident that the Six Hat Thinking help use to converge on things which would otherwise take longer duration.

Advantages of Using different Hats :

1. At the end of the discussion you would have felt that everyone felt the same.
2. It was easy to change the thinking using this hat concept
3. Since everyone in the discussion are made to wear the same colour hat, it is easy to converge and no distraction in between the discussion
4. Using different hats make users to give their comments freely without sticking to their original comments. Does not affect the ego of the person when changing the thinking
5. If we use the right mix of the hat, we can easily converge for a quick decision.

Auto-Rickshaw - Part 2

In spite of all the issues, which I've mentioned in my previous blog, still autoickshaws are the best medium of transportation in and around the city. It looked strange to me. When thought deeply, could find and appreciate the reasons. For the sake of ease, let me mention 'Auto-Rickshaw' as 'auto' henceforth.

People associated with the autos are a big community. This is one of the key reasons for its existence. There are many people who were involved in auto financing. Since the money involved in buying an auto is comparatively lesser, there are many auto owners. Among them some drive themselves for living and others let it out for rent. There is a huge auto driver community, some places they even get involved in some philanthropic activities. If you visit any place, could see these guys in khakhi uniform as groups. Along with this there are many auto mechanics who take care of the service and maintenance of these auto. So the auto community is very big a network and one of the reason for its sustenance in the market.

Mostly auto drivers are from the local surroundings. That being the case, they know the nook and corner of each and every street. Because of this they can take you through the shortest route to destination in shortest time span. At times when we do not know the exact address, auto drivers are the best persons who could rescue us. During the time of emergency, if the situation is well explained and the auto driver understands the need, he would ensure that we reach the place in time.

Autos are small, sleek and hence nimble. They are three-wheeled vehicle. The single wheel in the front and the hand bear type control for the turn control makes it more nimble and responsive. Because of these arrangements, they have the smallest radius curvature. The clear visibility the auto driver gets from the dashboard, enables them to make the exact cuts / turns. Hence the autos can penetrate into the traffic and reach the destination on time.

Autos are much safer than the two wheel drives and much economical than the four wheel drives. Since they are covered, we can escape from becoming wet during rains. Also to some extent prevents from the dust and pollution. The actual auto fare which we ought to pay the drivers are reasonably good for the time they save for us from these heavy traffic and for the reasonable safety we have while travelling.

We all know that the autos are the fastest vehicles to reach any place in the city during the busy traffic hours. But the reality, this is not always true. Because of the greediness of the auto drivers, the passengers were, taken for a ride by auto drivers. The quality of the service is a function of the quality of the infrastructure and the quality of the people who handle it. Instance where either one of the two (infrastructure or the people) is not up to the mark, then the whole thing sucks. Let's wait for the revolution, which would bring the people involved (auto drivers) to the dawn. Let's keep our fingers crossed!!

Auto-Rickshaw

Lessons are not to be taught, but to be learned. Through the following paragraphs, we would discuss about the lessons, which I had learned from the Auto-Rickshaws. Rickshaw is a small two-wheeled cart, for one or two passengers; pulled by a person. The upgraded versions of the Rickshaw are three-wheeled, named as Auto-Rickshaw, where the manual pulling is automated using mechanical devices. For the sake of ease, let me mention 'Auto-Rickshaw' as 'auto' henceforth.

Travelling by an auto is not all the pleasant, as it has to be. I was told that Chennai auto drivers dissatisfy their customers more than in any other cities of India. This is really pathetic and I feel sorry for that. While travelling by an auto, you would have faced either some of, or all of the situations mentioned below:

1. By the end of the trip you are astonished by the reading value it shows, as costlier (or even more) as your train ticket fare from your native place!!
2. No matter how much more you give, still the auto drivers would ask for more and more
3. For the unknown destinations, you get to travel the longest route

Following are the things, which I normally practice to avoid the above issues.

1. Know about the tariff fixed by the government.
2. Find out the approximate distance to your destination.
3. Based on the above inputs, calculate the approximate fare value.
4. Then talk to the auto driver about the acceptable value and the exact location. If the auto driver agrees then step into the auto. Otherwise, look out for another.

These practices, help in avoiding these issues. Because we agree on a rate with the auto driver, his expectations are set. So there is no question of more money latter. Also to ensure that he get the maximum profit, would then, take you through the shortest distance.

These tips can help you most of the time, but not all the time. It also depends on your need, the time of the need, the number of alternatives available, the time availability factor and at some crisis times. During any of these times, it is unrealistic to go by the above guidelines. For, it is not what we save on the auto trip but on the other important things which are to be accomplished / taken care of.

Working around the problem does not solve an issue by any degree. Whatever we are right now discussing is - Working around the problem. The main issue is related to the ethics and culture of the auto drivers. The system has to refine itself to better standards. For a simple trip, the customers need not do so much of preparations. Though the above may mostly work with people who know the regional language, but for the foreigners (for both outside the state and even worse for the people outside the country), the problem still continues. And it is this change in our society, which I'm awaiting for a longer period. There has to be a way out, I'm still unaware of it. If you know, please do let me know.


exact - mentioning the exact location is important in setting the right expectation. At times, this also becomes the source of an issue.

EVERYONE'S AN EXPERT by Seth Godin

EVERYONE'S AN EXPERT is the latest free ebook released by Seth Godin. It is about 32 pages document which talks about the search for Meaning. Through this book, Seth explains about the current web surfing trend and what is ahead of us. Then he talks about the ways and means by which we can increase traffic of our site.

The current generation of the search engines, provide clues than the actual meaning. One has to invest her time to find the meaning. The user on a quest to make sense, looks at various links and pages to understand enough before taking an action. So the current generation of the search engines can be called as Clue machines. Before making a decision, the user pokes in Google, Yahoo even some ads. And what the user does can be called as poking online. So the current generation of the web, web 1.0, delivers matches, but it does not deliver the meaning.

So we need to move on to the second version of the web, web 2.0, where the web enables its users to share meaning. There are two things which are to be taken care. First, people like to listen and the next one is people like to talk. Blogs addresses both the needs. As part of the web 2.0 initiative, we need to have a place where an user (stranger) can go to get some insight and meaning and then leave that site and go somewhere else. Seth calls this place as nowblog. The nowblogs are the best place to start and he even calls them 'Lens'.

A Lens filters light and shows only what is needed. Likewise, lens is a web page, which highlights one person's view of the web. Lens is like a signpost, which quickly answers - What do I need to know? and delivers meaning to the context. It does not hold content, instead it is an organized pointer living in a site filled with other, similarly formatted pointer. However it does not pretend to deliver the complete truth, but provides meaning and links necessary for the user to take action. Unlike a blog, a lens updates itself with RSS feeds and webservices, ie., would do fine without a lot of tweaking and maintenance.

Benefits of Lenses

Quote:

1. Lenses are free 2. A royalty payment. Royalties are earned from all the keyword clicks, affiliate income, and referral fees the lenses generate. 3. More traffic to your blog and your web sites. 4. A way to build credibility for yourself and your organization by serving as a trusted guide. 5. Increased search engine rank for you and the pages you point to.

The person who makes lens is called a Lensmaster, the Expert whom Seth mentions through the title of the book -- Everyone's an Expert.

Quote:

The lensmasters are individuals with strong personal agendas, expertise, causes, products and even opinions.

Who needs to build a lens?

Quote:

1. If you have a website and you're not happy with your PageRank, a lens will increase it. That's because a lens provides exactly what search engines are looking for: authoritative insight so people can find what they're looking for. (That's why wikipedia ranks so highly on search engines - they provide a good experience and satisfied searchers are what search engines are seeking.) 2. If you're an entrepreneur, your lens on a popular topic could generate three or five or twenty dollars a day in clickthrough and affiliate income. Which doesn't sould like much, until you start thinking like an eBay PowerSeller and build twenty or even fifty lenses on a variety of topics. Did you know that 750,000 people make a full - or part-time living on eBay now? The same effect will probably happen with lenses. Don't quit your job yet, but if you build the right lenses and promote them, you ought to earn some royalties.

In a nutshell, following are the top two points which Seth wants to sell through this book,

Quote:

The structured nature of Web 2.0, combined with the folksonomy of tags, makes a lens the perfect middleman between the content and expertise you've already got, and the surfers you've never met. Squidoo lets lensmasters build lenses quickly. Then it connects those lenses to other relevant lenses and provides a search engine to make it easy for any web surfer to find the right lens at the right time.

The Cheetah and the Deer

Sam was a 9 years old boy. He loves animals. He always wished that he had extraordinary power to understand what animals speak. His uncle once said that sincere prayers are always answered by God. So, Sam started to pray everyday sincerly.

All of a sudden, on one fine day, God appeared before him. Sam was really excited. When God asked his wish, Sam said that he wanted to understand what animals speak. Sam was lucky enough to get what he wanted.

The next day, early in the morning, Sam went to the nearest forest. He saw a deer which was about to start its day. The deer prayed to God asking Him to provide enough strength and energy to run faster than it's predator, so that it can save it's life.

Then Sam moved on and found a Cheetah, which was getting ready for its day. He also saw the deer praying to God. In it's prayer, it asked God to provide enough strength and energy to run faster than it's prey, so that it can get it's food.

From the above, Sam understood the following messages and lived happily.

1. Whether you are a prey or predator you need to run.
2. And it is not enough to run, but one need to run faster
3. When you are idle, either you are killed by your predator or starve to death (if you are the predator)

All about Failures

Generally we put our heart and soul to any work that we do. But it is always disheartening to know that it failed. The most frustrating part comes when we were not able to figure out the reasons for the failure. There are four reasons for any new product to fail. They are as follows :
1. Not many audience saw your product
2. The audience never bothered to become an user
3. The users never became a customer
4. The customers never shared it with others

Why not many audience saw your product? It is because of two reasons. The main reason is cluttering. There are too many options out there in the space, which makes users to get confused or carried away. The second reason is that your product is not remarkable, that it made an impact. In fact being remarkable is the solution for the first reason – cluttering.

Why audiences who saw our product never bothered to be an user? This is because there was no story behind the product, which appeals the audience. It is these stories that help people get more done, enjoy life more and even live longer. And Successful marketers are just the providers of stories that consumers choose to believe.

Why users never became a customer? There can be two reasons attributed to this. The first reason could be related to your own product. Be it the ease of usage, the performance, the cost etc., which makes the user to go away from your product. The second reason is that some other product offers better service, better usability or best cost etc., And the users may be pulled towards the other product.

Why customers never shared it with others? This could be because, the customers would not have felt fully comfortable. Also this could happen when the customers feels that the product is not worth talking about.


Reference : Seth Godin’s “All Marketers are Liars”