Monday, March 18, 2024

Falter

If something, say a table, is not steady, we say that the table wobbles. If a child sways while moving, we refer to it as wobbling. While it may seem a problem, the learning is in the wobbles!

 

As children, we learnt to walk and ride a cycle through a long process of trial and error, of falls and repeated efforts. Our enthusiasm and encouragement by others made us stay at the task until it was accomplished.

 

The child keeps stepping ahead despite the falters. However, as adults we are swayed by failure. So often, so many of us resist the time to learn something new because we don’t like wobbling.

 

We must give ourself the permission to falter. Failure is an important part of the journey to success. We must choose to accept the faltering, learn from it and do what is required to correct the wobbles. 

 

The wobbling table can be set right by putting something under the legs. The wobbling child can learn balance by trying other ways. For the result to alter to a positive result, we must address the falter!

 

Move beyond the falter

The outcome will alter!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

#mondaymuse21stYear #pravinsabnis #since2004 #motivation #blogging #MondayMuse

Monday, March 11, 2024

Perseverance

Ernest Hemingway was in Switzerland, on assignment as a correspondent. Journalist Lincoln Steffens was impressed with Hemingway’s writing and asked to see more. His wife carried all his writings in a suitcase from their home in Paris. She lost it in the train.

 

At that point, nothing of Hemingway’s fiction had been published. Now, there was nothing left as his wife had packed both the originals and their carbons. Only two short stories survived the disaster. 

 

But when he lamented the loss to poet Ezra Pound, Pound called it a stroke of luck. Pound assured him that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts and only the best would reappear. Hemingway rewrote the stories and became a major figure in literature.

 

Indeed, with the loss of the manuscripts, and with time pressing to replace those vanished words in his bid to become a respected writer, Hemingway may have adopted and adapted the lean prose style for which he became famous.

 

Perseverance and failure cannot coexist. Failure happens when you quit. We can instead learn from it. We can unlearn the unnecessary and rewrite our efforts afresh. Perseverance can turn failure into an opportunity.  


Don’t get stuck at failure’s gate

Perseverance scripts your fate!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

Monday, March 4, 2024

Null Set

In algebra, a Null set refers to an empty set. A teacher mentioned the Indian woman astronaut as an example for a null set as until then no Indian woman had become an astronaut. One girl exclaimed, 'one day this null set will not exist!' The girl, Kalpana Chawla went on to fill the set!

 

In college, she was the only girl to opt for the aeronautical engineering course. During admission when asked to state her second option, she replied that she had none! 

 

During counseling, teachers tried to dissuade her as aeronautic engineering had limited job opportunities in the country. Most girls had opted for electrical engineering. Kalpana stuck to her passion. This was the first step to much greater achievements of India’s first woman astronaut. 

 

Imagination is important, but it is not enough. To be better, it needs to be transformed into a clear vision and backed by a motivated mission to achieve it. 

 

Null sets get filled when dreams are empowered by steadfast belief and committed actions. Indeed, it took courage of conviction for a small town girl to become the first Indian woman to straddle outer space. 


be better at achieving every desirable vision

null set gets filled with committed mission!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

#mondaymuse21stYear #pravinsabnis #since2004 #motivation #blogging #MondayMuse

Monday, February 26, 2024

Horizon

Speaking at an event of JCI Alumni Club at Goa, Ashrafali Nizari spoke about the horizon. He pointed out that the horizon gets wider as we go higher. His message was to stretch out and rise up to see newer horizons.

 

The horizon is the line at which the earth's surface and the sky appear to meet. It is also used to refer to the limit of a person's knowledge, experience or interest. Hence, our perspective is wider as we rise up in any team.

 

The word originates from Greek as ‘horizōn (kuklos)’ which meant ‘limiting (circle)’. The visible horizon represents the edge of what is known or manifest. But when go up in life, we tend to see things in wider outlook.

 

Even though we see it way off in the distance, the horizon is not the boundary. It’s not the limit. It’s just as far as we can see in the moment. But the possibilities are always greater as our horizon turns wider.

 

Where we are now is not the limit. Even if it feels that way right now. When horizon is based on a limited self-definition, with concepts that are false, then our horizon is artificially adopted. We must move on to the real horizon.

 

When we come to the completion of a project or a vision of ourself, we must choose to expand into a new direction. We must opt to tap innate abilities within that we have not yet realised. New horizons bring along new frontiers.

 

Stretch out to rise to newer heights

A wider horizon will come to sight!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

#mondaymuse21stYear #pravinsabnis #since2004 #motivation #blogging #MondayMuse

Monday, February 19, 2024

GUERILLA TACTICS

The legendary Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was an exemplary leader with high values, lofty vision, earthy humility and endearing responsiveness. One of many leadership lessons are his strategies for battle and governance. 

 

He maintained a small but effective standing army. Aware of the limitations of his army, he knew that conventional warfare methods were inadequate to confront the big, well-trained cavalry of the Mughals, which was equipped with field artillery. He chose and mastered guerrilla tactics.

 

His guerrilla tactics perplexed and defeated the enemy. He knew that the most vulnerable point of the large, slow-moving armies of the time was supply. He utilised knowledge of the local terrain and the superior mobility of his light cavalry to cut off supplies to the enemy. 

 

He refused to confront the enemy in pitched battles. Instead, he lured the enemies into difficult hills and jungles of his own choosing, catching them at a disadvantage and routing them. He used several methods to undermine his enemies, as required by circumstances, such as sudden raids, sweeps and ambushes, and psychological warfare.

 

Looking at the limited resource he faced, he chose effective utilisation of people and natural resource including warfare material and weapons. His method has been trigger for military related and governance related topics of research, besides competitive strategies in business as well.

 

Learn the lessons from Chhatrapati Shivaji’s life 

Guerrilla tactics can overcome every tough strife!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

#mondaymuse21stYear #pravinsabnis #since2004 #motivation #blogging #MondayMuse

Monday, February 12, 2024

Impartial


'Kabira khada bazaar mein, mange sabki khair

Naa kehu se dosti, Naa kehu se bair'

(Standing in the public square, Kabir wishes all well

No friendships with anyone nor any enmity as well)

 

Sant Kabir's doha (couplet) urges an impartial approach in public space. While we may have friends or enemies in personal space, in public we have to rise above petty positions.

 

So often, so many of us are consumed by an arrogance of power that emerges from the public position we hold. We allow the dust of our personal prejudices to affect the need to be fair and just. We end up being non partial.

 

It is said that 'with great power comes great responsibility'. The ability to have the right response, never mind the stimulus, is responsibility. The person before us is the stimulus but our response should not be affected by who the person is but what is the right thing to do.

 

Avoid rigid perception to be fair and just

Impartial is the way to be, sans any dust!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

 

 

#mondaymuse21stYear #pravinsabnis #since2004 #motivation #blogging #MondayMuse

Monday, February 5, 2024

Mistakes Allowed

Goa based, Ethernet Foundation organised its first edition of VAA! – Vivekananda Angel Awards on 2 February, birth anniversary (as per Hindu calendar) of Swami Vivekananda. The inaugural award was conferred upon Rudolf Schwartz, Goa’s guardian angel from Germany.

 

77 year old, Rudolf facilitated skill development of underserved students through his initiative:Indian Students Educational Aid Foundation which now runs 3 technical training schools, an Open School, a Nursing Bureau besides providing scholarships to over 3000 students for higher education.

 

He was 44 when he set off on his mission. He paid from his pocket for multiple trips to Goa to follow up with the local team. He convinced over 500 active sponsors from Germany. His consistent efforts bore fruit because he and his team believed that ‘it is allowed to make mistakes’. 

 

Many of us believe that errors are unforgivable blunders, fostering a culture of fear and stagnation. Mistakes are learning experiences. We must shift focus from the mistake itself to the decision-making process that led to it. We must understand that not all decisions will yield the desired outcome. 

 

Decision-making is primarily an act aimed at an uncertain future, making all decisions prone to potential error. If the thinking was sound but the outcome unfavourable, it is still regarded as a valuable decision in the quest for progress. Hence Rudolf says, ‘it is allowed to make mistakes’.

.

Efforts are important, Outcomes may break

Remember, it is allowed to make mistakes!


Pravin K. Sabnis