It feels good to be back blogging. I do not intend to blog about my work, but work and leisure and everything else is so interconnected that it is hard to keep one from affecting another. I am a grad student and at this point I feel kind of stuck, not going anywhere. I am at a point in my studies where a difficult transition needs to be made and things are a bit stressful. Anyway, I hope to keep a good pace of postings here on.
>>>>
Last Monday I had the chance to visit Michael Mazgaonkar here at our local A.I.D chapter. He had come to give a talk about his work. Michael has been living with Vasava tribals in Gujarat for last 14 years. Becoming one with their life and culture he and his wife are trying to maintain things that are wholesome and nourishing for their culture and introduce things that will make their life more easier. Sunil has a couple of posts that describes Michaeal's work very well (here and here). This article also summarizes their work very well. The day after the talk, I and another volunteer from our chapter had the chance to accompany Michael to visit a Ted and Kathy Carns. Ted and Kathy live in Laughlintown, PA. For last twenty something years, they have been living completely off the grid. They power their home with wind and solar power. They heat their home with wood. They grow a better portion of their food themselves. They drive their vehicles on ethanol made from maple syrup Ted collects from their trees and some waste sugar they get from a local pie factory. Their home is built from local stone and wood. Ted has a sawmill that he powers with the ethanol too.
Visiting this couple was like visiting another world. The extent to which they refuse to be dependent on things which we kind of take for granted is really amazing. Their whole life is just one big experiment in living in a non-conventional way. Another thing that struck me about them is the amount of creativity that goes in living a life like this. A lot of the things Ted has installed come from things that would otherwise end up as junk. They buy a lot of stuff from flea markets and yard sales. In Ted's words they are living off of the "great American excess". They themselves generate very little waste in their home.
Ted learnt most of his skills from his father while growing up. Without any professional training he has managed to learn just about everything that is necessary to find solutions to problems he has faced. When faced with a problem or when he has a new idea, he pursues it by digging up books and researching the internet for solutions.
I was so stuck in this top-down perspective of education that I found it very difficult to believe how this could be done without having some sort of training first. I felt that there is always a need for a teacher and student, a leader and a follower. Ted believes that it is just a matter of overcoming the fear of doing things on your own. Once you overcome the fear, learning comes naturally. This was such a big change of perspective for me that I can't even begin to describe my thoughts about it.
One aspect of Ted and Kathy's life interests me most as an engineer is the low-cost innovation. Simple innovations which are low cost and which can be easily implemented can have very huge impact. An example from Michael's work is the LED flashlights they have developed which are powered by the windmill. As an engineer I feel there is a lot I can contribute to this. By making these low-cost innovations open-source, there is a possibility to spread them effectively to areas (such as rural India, Africa etc.) where they are really needed. Initiatives like ThinkCycle have been experimenting with this process for a while now and it will be wonderful to see where this "open source design" concept goes.
>>>>
Talking about open source, I tried Open Office 2.0 and totally loved it. I plan to make a complete switch to it as soon as I can. I am really impressed by all the amazing products the open source movement has brought forth (all the Mozilla applications, Open office and all the the publishing platforms like Wordpress etc. and whole host of other things). I want to try Linux (I am a total dummy in that regard) and some other open source products now.
Anyway, that about sums up a lot of things that happened in the break...
Happy Holidays everyone!
Showing posts with label Random Thougts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random Thougts. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2005
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Update! Update!
:: The IIPM story and the 'blog war' that followed gets more coverage in mainstream media and it is now producing some sensible results.
:: Meanwhile here in the US, the Starbucks challenge awards were announced and version 2.0 of the challenge has been launched. At PennState I learned today that Higher Grounds cafe in the HUB serves shade grown, organic, fair trade certified, Seattle's Best coffee everyday.
:: The Carnival of the Greens is now on [read details about submitting entries here]. A lot of carnivals are going on around the blogosphere currently. Some interesting ones from the Indian Blogosphere are Bharateeya blog mela and SCIAN melt. Do check them out.
:: Over the weekend I saw a piece of standup comedy by an amazing desi comedian, Russell Peters. Check it out online (you may need a hi-speed connection for this). This guy is hilarious! Haven't laughed so much in a long time.
:: Finished reading State of Fear and will post about it soon. It made me think a lot about nature, environmental movement and whole host of other issues. For a while after reading the book I was definitely in a state of confusion about these things. Hopefully as I try to gather my thoughts and build my opinion about it, the confusion will reduce and clarity will emerge. In the meantime here's a funny post from Arzan's blog.
Technorati Tags: IIPM, Indian Media, State of Fear, Russell Peters, Carnival of the Greens, Starbucks Challenge, SCIAN melt, Bharateeya Blog Mela
- Mark Glaser of Online Journalism Review[OJR] has a detailed article in which my post about the string on institutes associated with IIPM gets a mention.
- Business Standard has an article by Kanika Dutta.
- The New York Times[NYT] carried the IIPM story [same story also on CNET news here] in its Technology section.
- CNBC-TV18 ran a story in India which stated that IIPM didn't have permission from the University Grants Commission [UGC] to offer BBA and MBA degrees. This story brought IIPM under the UGC scanner [read details here]. AICTE too has issued a notice to IIPM. The blog noise has finally created some real action and hopefully IIPM will learn a lesson and clean up its act.
:: Meanwhile here in the US, the Starbucks challenge awards were announced and version 2.0 of the challenge has been launched. At PennState I learned today that Higher Grounds cafe in the HUB serves shade grown, organic, fair trade certified, Seattle's Best coffee everyday.
:: The Carnival of the Greens is now on [read details about submitting entries here]. A lot of carnivals are going on around the blogosphere currently. Some interesting ones from the Indian Blogosphere are Bharateeya blog mela and SCIAN melt. Do check them out.
:: Over the weekend I saw a piece of standup comedy by an amazing desi comedian, Russell Peters. Check it out online (you may need a hi-speed connection for this). This guy is hilarious! Haven't laughed so much in a long time.
:: Finished reading State of Fear and will post about it soon. It made me think a lot about nature, environmental movement and whole host of other issues. For a while after reading the book I was definitely in a state of confusion about these things. Hopefully as I try to gather my thoughts and build my opinion about it, the confusion will reduce and clarity will emerge. In the meantime here's a funny post from Arzan's blog.
Technorati Tags: IIPM, Indian Media, State of Fear, Russell Peters, Carnival of the Greens, Starbucks Challenge, SCIAN melt, Bharateeya Blog Mela
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Consciousness
Read this interesting article about human learning abilities today. I continue to be amazed by the capabilities of human consciousness. Now, I know that this is not my field of expertise; but over the course of my readings I have become deeply amazed and interested in the studies about "consciousness". Consciousness is that illusory something which gives us the awareness that we exist. That same something probably is also the reason that we are aware of being aware. Gets a bit complicated soon, doesn't it? This article gives me hope not be deterred. Apparently a lot of scientist are trying to figure it out too!
The first time I came across different ideas about consciousness was when I read the books 'The Tao of Physics' and then 'The Web of Life', both by Fritjof Capra. To learn more, I read Roger Penrose's amazing book 'The Emperor's New Mind'. Now I want to read Ray Kurzweil's books 'The Age of Intelligent Machines' and 'The Age of Spiritual Machines'.
There are many pieces of this puzzle I guess, starting with "What is thinking?", leading to "what is the mind?" and ending with "what is consciousness?"; with a whole host of other things to figure out before a complete picture can emerge. I am most intrigued by the idea of consciousness being an "emergent property" of the body (not just the brain). The idea is that our sense organs, the nervous system and the brain form a network. An emergent property is something that emerges out of the multitude of small local interactions between the various nodes of the network. So consciousness is something that we feel when this whole network is working and exchanging signals back and forth. Surprisingly we are also aware that we are aware.
Taking this to the next level then, will consciousness emerge spontaneously if a certain level of complexity is established? Imagine the consequences. Cars have become incredibly complex these days and will keep getting even more complex. Someday there will be numerous sensors on the car feeding information to a central computer. The computer will be much more complex than the one on which I am working right now. (its already a Pentium 500MHz dinosaur!). There will be sensors to steer and drive the car, to detect problems before they arise in the engine and transmission, to operate the A/c system and a whole host of other things. Imagine if one day you take the car to the shop to get it installed with a new sensor and suddenly you realize that consciousness has emerged! At this point the car will be able to be consciously aware of its own existence!
You may want to be elated at first, now that the Age of Spiritual Machines has arrived. But imagine the problems this may cause. The car will have feelings and emotions. On a cold, wet day it may feel like not starting up at all when you will be in a hurry to get to work. It may be jealous of the shiny new Corvette parked beside it in the parking lot. It may be angry and grumpy if you miss an oil change or don't take it to the car wash. May be it will take itself to the car wash whenever it is in a mood for a shower. The newly conscious cars may rally against the destruction of the old "unconscious" cars and may declare them to be endangered species.
Somehow the idea that human beings could someday be able to create "conscious" machines seems a bit frightening to me. My fear is not about some "Matrix" like scenario where the machines take over. We aren't doing half a good job of taking care of all the sentient beings that exist naturally right now! Imagine a day when we add to that, sentient being created by "us".
We have come a long way from hunting the saber toothed tiger with clubs and rocks, largely due to our wisdom. However, I don't think that our capacity to use our wisdom wisely has evolved all that much. We still use our brains to do as many stupid things as good. So it would be good if some things are left for nature to do on its own.
Technorati Tags: Consciousness, Mind, Intelligent machines
The first time I came across different ideas about consciousness was when I read the books 'The Tao of Physics' and then 'The Web of Life', both by Fritjof Capra. To learn more, I read Roger Penrose's amazing book 'The Emperor's New Mind'. Now I want to read Ray Kurzweil's books 'The Age of Intelligent Machines' and 'The Age of Spiritual Machines'.
There are many pieces of this puzzle I guess, starting with "What is thinking?", leading to "what is the mind?" and ending with "what is consciousness?"; with a whole host of other things to figure out before a complete picture can emerge. I am most intrigued by the idea of consciousness being an "emergent property" of the body (not just the brain). The idea is that our sense organs, the nervous system and the brain form a network. An emergent property is something that emerges out of the multitude of small local interactions between the various nodes of the network. So consciousness is something that we feel when this whole network is working and exchanging signals back and forth. Surprisingly we are also aware that we are aware.
Taking this to the next level then, will consciousness emerge spontaneously if a certain level of complexity is established? Imagine the consequences. Cars have become incredibly complex these days and will keep getting even more complex. Someday there will be numerous sensors on the car feeding information to a central computer. The computer will be much more complex than the one on which I am working right now. (its already a Pentium 500MHz dinosaur!). There will be sensors to steer and drive the car, to detect problems before they arise in the engine and transmission, to operate the A/c system and a whole host of other things. Imagine if one day you take the car to the shop to get it installed with a new sensor and suddenly you realize that consciousness has emerged! At this point the car will be able to be consciously aware of its own existence!
You may want to be elated at first, now that the Age of Spiritual Machines has arrived. But imagine the problems this may cause. The car will have feelings and emotions. On a cold, wet day it may feel like not starting up at all when you will be in a hurry to get to work. It may be jealous of the shiny new Corvette parked beside it in the parking lot. It may be angry and grumpy if you miss an oil change or don't take it to the car wash. May be it will take itself to the car wash whenever it is in a mood for a shower. The newly conscious cars may rally against the destruction of the old "unconscious" cars and may declare them to be endangered species.
Somehow the idea that human beings could someday be able to create "conscious" machines seems a bit frightening to me. My fear is not about some "Matrix" like scenario where the machines take over. We aren't doing half a good job of taking care of all the sentient beings that exist naturally right now! Imagine a day when we add to that, sentient being created by "us".
We have come a long way from hunting the saber toothed tiger with clubs and rocks, largely due to our wisdom. However, I don't think that our capacity to use our wisdom wisely has evolved all that much. We still use our brains to do as many stupid things as good. So it would be good if some things are left for nature to do on its own.
Technorati Tags: Consciousness, Mind, Intelligent machines
Monday, September 26, 2005
Punctuation mark
The occurrence of a tragic event, in my own life or with someone I know... a close friend or a relative, is like a punctuation mark or more like a stop sign on a road in the middle of nowhere. Once in a while events occur which shake you thoroughly and make you stop and think about the validity of everything...the way to lead your life, your thoughts, beliefs, values... everything!!!
There are many facets to my reaction to such events... beginning with disbelief. It's as if the mind is not ready to accept the fact that such a thing could happen. Every once in a while there are these bolts of disbelief going through the mind saying, "No! This has not happened!" or asking, "Has this really happened...or is this just a bad dream or something?" Even days or weeks after the event I sometimes find myself facing this disbelief. It's as if a part of my mind forgot to walk into the future after such an event.
The worst feeling about such episodes is when there is very little that I can do physically to help. It is sometimes a cause of great frustration to me. Anger, I feel at such times, is futile; although perfectly justified in most cases. All that I can possibly do is hope for the best, pray and send my compassion and good wishes to the person.
Such experiences have always made me think about my own "lifestyle". I strongly believe in the wisdom that everything is connected as Chief Seattle said:
I found myself thinking like this yesterday when I heard that a horrible tragedy had befallen a friend. Once again I realized that there are many ways in which I may be contributing to the problems, which caused great harm to my friend... directly or indirectly as a member of the society. I feel it's my duty to start making my contribution to the solution. I have been reading a lot about Buddhism lately. I feel that Thich Nhat Hanh's 5 mindfulness trainings really capture the essence of this thinking. Each mindfulness training is a reminder: "Don't be a part of the problem... be a part of the solution."
I personally have found that meditating on this thought and trying to be a part of the solution gives me the much needed "outlet" from the whirlpool of emotions that such events stir up in my mind. It cures the frustration a bit and lessens the intensity of the bolts of disbelief. While sincerely hoping and praying for the well being of my friend, I find myself praying also for the strength and wisdom to stop being a part of the problem... and look deeply at the problem... and look deeply at my own life and change the things which I feel could contribute to the problem.
Sending all my good wishes and prayers to my friend today...
There are many facets to my reaction to such events... beginning with disbelief. It's as if the mind is not ready to accept the fact that such a thing could happen. Every once in a while there are these bolts of disbelief going through the mind saying, "No! This has not happened!" or asking, "Has this really happened...or is this just a bad dream or something?" Even days or weeks after the event I sometimes find myself facing this disbelief. It's as if a part of my mind forgot to walk into the future after such an event.
The worst feeling about such episodes is when there is very little that I can do physically to help. It is sometimes a cause of great frustration to me. Anger, I feel at such times, is futile; although perfectly justified in most cases. All that I can possibly do is hope for the best, pray and send my compassion and good wishes to the person.
Such experiences have always made me think about my own "lifestyle". I strongly believe in the wisdom that everything is connected as Chief Seattle said:
This we know...everything is connected, like the blood that unites a family. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons and daughters or earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web... he does to himself.I feel that solving problems that the whole society faces requires every member to think how he or she is contributing to the problem. We are very quick to blame individuals as the cause of trouble. If not we tend to point the finger towards a group. Hardly ever do we look at ourselves and ask "could it be that something I am doing... or not doing... is contributing to this problem?". I feel it is very important for me to ask this question to myself repeatedly. When I look deeply I find that for every problem that I think of as being "out there"... there are connections leading back to me, my lifestyle or my thinking.
I found myself thinking like this yesterday when I heard that a horrible tragedy had befallen a friend. Once again I realized that there are many ways in which I may be contributing to the problems, which caused great harm to my friend... directly or indirectly as a member of the society. I feel it's my duty to start making my contribution to the solution. I have been reading a lot about Buddhism lately. I feel that Thich Nhat Hanh's 5 mindfulness trainings really capture the essence of this thinking. Each mindfulness training is a reminder: "Don't be a part of the problem... be a part of the solution."
I personally have found that meditating on this thought and trying to be a part of the solution gives me the much needed "outlet" from the whirlpool of emotions that such events stir up in my mind. It cures the frustration a bit and lessens the intensity of the bolts of disbelief. While sincerely hoping and praying for the well being of my friend, I find myself praying also for the strength and wisdom to stop being a part of the problem... and look deeply at the problem... and look deeply at my own life and change the things which I feel could contribute to the problem.
Sending all my good wishes and prayers to my friend today...
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Here and There
There are so many things that I feel I am interested in... or want to do. Increasingly I am having a feeling that I simply dabble in many things and give them up after a short while. Not that I lost interest in most of the things... over time I find myself dabbling in those same things over and over... but without any definite structure or organization to it. So I decided not to take up anything new unless I can make a project out of it. Further... not to take more that 3 projects at a time (and this is regarding things that I do apart from work... ;-))
So here are some projects I have defined for myself:
Wish me well!
So here are some projects I have defined for myself:
- Binocular messier club: To build my interest in amatuer astronomy I bought a pair of 11x56mm binoculars last December. Have being using them pretty frequently now. So now the project is to observe all the Messier objects in the Astronomy League's binocular Messier Club program. That will give some structure to my observations. It will also need a fair bit of planning and regularity in my part... which is good... I guess :-) plus I will get a binocular messier club certificate too!
- The tree thing: (for lack of a better name)... a few weeks ago I picked up a field guide to north American trees at the local B&N. (No! its not the leather bound Audubon Society one... its a simple laminated pamplet kind). So the project for me is to go on short hikes around State College and get familiar with the trees. I know so few of them around here... I feel bad sometimes. When I was in India, Sampada and I had to run into a bookstore when the heavens started pouring suddenly. There I saw a really nice field guide to trees and shrubs in the Western Ghats. I wanted to buy it but it was a bit expensive and I was not gonna roam in the Sahyadris any soon in the forseeable future (if there is such a thing!). So I decided not to buy it then... but that is going to be on my project list one day! Oh! and I want to not my observations in a notebook or a sketch book.
- The website thing: I have tried once in a while to put up a small website but haven't gone anywhere with that. I was talking with my friend Manish with that yesterday. Only recently I figured out how to put devanagari text on the web using unicode compatible fonts. See the main reason why I wanted to put up my website was I wanted to have many of the Marathi and a few Hindi poems that I like to be online.... which leads me to a new project
- The poems thing: Over a while I have managed to collect a lot of my favourite Marathi, Hindi and English poems. But they are in different formats and some are just prints. So I want to put them up on the web in an orderly way. So the project is to put all the Marathi and Hindi poems in a nice format and then put them up on my website.
Wish me well!
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Why do we wander?
Why do we wander? I ask... what makes us go out and hike on trails. What pushes us to take our bike and roam on wild paths? What inspires us to take a raft and drift down wild white water? What makes us go out and gaze at the stars at odd times in the night? Why do we pursue the numerous hobbies that we do? What drives us....
My wife and I had gone to the Banff National Film Festival world tour this Sunday. We saw these amazing movies of people pursuing a variety of adventure sports...free climbers...bikers...hikers...white water enthusiasts...all kinds. It was really really fun to learn about all these sports... I would surely like enjoy some of them myself.
I have been trying to pursue a couple of hobbies myself for quiet some time now. I have been trying to learn photography. I have been trying to pursue astronomy. I want to hike regularly (even in winter snow if possible). What I have learned is pursuing any hobby.... not just an adventure sport... but any activity where you have to spend some time regularly...learning... practicing and enjoying something apart from your work...needs quiet a lot of discipline. Many of us have passions... likes and dislikes. But often we fail at turning that passion into a hobby. To do that you need discipline.
Most of my hobbies started with trekking or hiking I guess. I started going on small hikes with a handful of school friends. I guess the start was small bicycle trips to Kedya's farm house in Amanapur which is a small village near Kirloskarwadi - the town where I grew up. Then followed bicycle trips to Sagareshwar - a small animal sanctuary and temple near Kirloskarwadi. Then hikes to Machindragad (a small fort on a hilltop), Sajjangad, Chafal and Pali... all under the guidance of Gole doctor who used to hike a lot himself. Then while I was doing my undergrad in Pune I went to a lot of treks in the Sahyadris. Rajgad, Torana, Raigad, Sinhagad, Shivthar-ghal, Ram-ghal, Bhairavgad, Dhak, Harishchandragad, Lohagad... all of these forts and places in the Sahyadris are amazing places to hike. That somehow instilled the love for outdoors... a passion to be in the wild I guess. The love for adventure sports has come from these small wanderings in the beginning. So has the love for photography.
Astronomy is something that goes back again to childhood. There used to be these book exhibitions in Kirloskarwadi and my parents always encouraged reading.... so they bought us a lot of books. (Thats how the love of books has come along I guess....that plus the fact that there was no TV till I was in the 5th grade). I remember I had a book called "Nilae Aakaasha" (The blue sky) by Bhalba Kelkar I think. It had all sort of information about the Solar system, the galaxies and other astronomical phenomenon. Then my uncle used to give me one volume for "children's knowledge bank" every birthday. That too had a lot of information about astronomy. My father bought a lot of books from NavKarnataka bookstore in Banglore where he used to go often for work. I used to go to our school playground and look at the sky and try to recognize the constellations. That somehow fell back when I was in Pune. Now I am trying to revive it again
I guess the passion or liking for something is just a seed. The hobby is like a plant... it has to be watered and nurtured and cared for. Otherwise it won't grow. I don't think watching TV is a hobby....or for that matter any activity in which you don't have to use your mind and energy to do something creative or instructive can't be called a hobby. But what does a hobby do for us really? Why do some people pursue hobbies and some don't? Hobbies satisfy creative urge....they satisfy wanderlust...they enrich a mind...they give us a break from routine...ah! break from routine!!
Here is a chicken or egg question... Did the hobby come first or the routine? To pursue any hobby seriously you need to have discipline which means you ought to have a well defined routine. Then your hobby can become a welcome break from that routine. However my contention is that our need and desire to pursue the hobby drives us to enforce a certain discipline on ourselves....and thus forces us to create a routine... from which the hobby can be a welcome break. There are in fact people who have infact turned this paradigm inside out and made their hobbies a source of income and a full time activity. This does not happen with everyone of course. For most of us the routine comes first...our inspiration for work comes from things other than our hobby or passion. But imagine how great it would be if we could also say.... I work eight hours a day so that I can pursue my hobby for the rest of the day...
Won't it be great to say... "I work so that I can wander."
NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST.
(from Life Is Good)
Technorati Tags: Adventure, Biking, Hiking, Banff
Friday, April 01, 2005
Random
Random....
Today morning as I was walking towards the school I saw a bunch of blue flower buds just barely peeping out of the ground. It must be one of those perrenials sprouting....Spring has finally arrived (or so we want to believe). The weather guys are predicting snow today night....its already raining and might turn to snow!
Worked a lot on a project that I submitted late today. I don't know how this happens. In all the areas of my work where I want to see improvement....I know how to improve... I know the ideas... I know the fundamentals....but it just doesn't seem to work out. One thing I have found though.... keeping at it seems to tame the beast.... it gives up if you don't give up.
Anyway....still a lot of work to do for the next two days. I work with Association for India's Development (AID). We are organizing the Indian food festival. Our chapter organizes it every year here in State College. So I am busy with that now...
What does writing a blog do to someone? how does it help? hardly anyone at all reads it... so why write? For me it somehow helps to put thoughts in order... I get a chance to pick thougths....like
straws....blowing in the chaos of my mind...and lay them down in some semblance of order. I guess it also helps sprout new thoughts. Its a regurgitation of thoughts....it helps to digest them. It generates bits and pieces of learning in the wake....
When I go to India this time I want a real vacation....I don't want to go and meet people for "tea" every third evening...I don't want to attend any ceremonies...and weddings... I just want to stay home. In Pune I want to get up early in the morning and go to Vetal Tekadi (its a small hill near the school where I did my undergrad)....In the evenings I want to go out and have coffee with sampi, sonakka, mom and dad if they come! From the last 2 time I have experienced this.... although its a vacation for us...its pretty much business as usual for everyone else. Which works well for me in most cases....but every once in a while it happens that you tend to start a conversation with someone....and its going well...and suddenly that person realizes that he has some chore to do. And then it strikes you...."I am on a vacation here"...everyone else has work to do but me. I want to avoid that feeling. In the afternoon when everyone has something to do...I want to go on my own agenda. Need to start planning that now....coz I am going home on May 9th ! yea!
Anyway... wanted to check out how this email blog thingy works...hope it publishes well without all those html tags I have put in.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
How to put an elephant in a bottle...
That's a challenge...
So also is organizing your life...so that you can do all the things that you want to do... Which is what I have been trying to do for a long long time now! There are many many things that I want to do... and there always seems to be too little time. I think its a problem encountered by almost everyone.
Here are some things I have learned in trying to solve this problem.
1. There is no magic "formula" or "theory" that you can read from a book and use it. You have to find your own "formula".
2. There is no end to this problem... there is no "eureka" moment where you feel that finally you have become as organized as you ever wanted to be....there is always room for improvement.
3. Success comes in small and infrequent increments... so never hope for a day when suddenly all your tasks for the day will be done, all items crossed from the list and you have time for a good cup of coffee.
4. Sticking at it seems to be the best way to tame the beast. I used to get tired of a particular approach and give up soon. I also expected huge improvement in small amount of time. It never happened. Now I am getting better at it... so stick to it... keep working.
5. Being cheerful will improve your odds for success. You can be as gloomy and blue as you want about the mess around you... it still won't clean itself up. So cheer up and get back at it.
6. This particular one seems to work for me... hope it works for everyone. I found out that if I am able to overcome the laziness, the procrastinating tendancy etc.....just enough so that I make a small "beginning" and set things rolling.... then most of the time the momentum of things helps me to finish them.
Anyway... I haven't yet figured how to put the elephant in a bottle... but I think I am making some success in being able to do all the things I want to do.
So also is organizing your life...so that you can do all the things that you want to do... Which is what I have been trying to do for a long long time now! There are many many things that I want to do... and there always seems to be too little time. I think its a problem encountered by almost everyone.
Here are some things I have learned in trying to solve this problem.
1. There is no magic "formula" or "theory" that you can read from a book and use it. You have to find your own "formula".
2. There is no end to this problem... there is no "eureka" moment where you feel that finally you have become as organized as you ever wanted to be....there is always room for improvement.
3. Success comes in small and infrequent increments... so never hope for a day when suddenly all your tasks for the day will be done, all items crossed from the list and you have time for a good cup of coffee.
4. Sticking at it seems to be the best way to tame the beast. I used to get tired of a particular approach and give up soon. I also expected huge improvement in small amount of time. It never happened. Now I am getting better at it... so stick to it... keep working.
5. Being cheerful will improve your odds for success. You can be as gloomy and blue as you want about the mess around you... it still won't clean itself up. So cheer up and get back at it.
6. This particular one seems to work for me... hope it works for everyone. I found out that if I am able to overcome the laziness, the procrastinating tendancy etc.....just enough so that I make a small "beginning" and set things rolling.... then most of the time the momentum of things helps me to finish them.
Anyway... I haven't yet figured how to put the elephant in a bottle... but I think I am making some success in being able to do all the things I want to do.
Found Quoted at the local Jimmy John's Gourmet Sub shop:
If you do the things you need to do when you need to do them... then someday you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)