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	<title>Exploring uncharted waters</title>
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		<title>How to build a career</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:19:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, they say, &#8220;To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work&#8221; and i am sure all of us will agree on it. Almost all successful men and women loved what they did and were extremely passionate about it. But is pure passion and love alone sufficient to build a successful career? From my personal experience though, there are a few more ingredients required to make a career flavoursome! First on the list, be objective. Yes, knowing what you want to achieve is equally important as passion and love. Without knowing the destination, there is little or no hope that the journey will even take us there. Initially, when a career starts, it is difficult to form objectives, but it tends to come over time. The key thing though is to keep actively looking for an objective right from the start, even though it is unclear. The second magic ingredient is to be proactive. A typical career is littered with opportunities, regardless of the type of job. There is always a scope to improve things in any job and it definitely pays to be proactive to spot these opportunities. Proactiveness is a by product of vision. Only people who have a vision about the future would proactively be able to look for opportunities. And believe it or not, opportunities make or break a career. Third in my list is capability. No matter how many opportunities present themselves before us and nor does how much passion we possess, if we lack the capability to progress, then the career might be heading towards a dead end. By capability, i mean education, skill set and knowledge. And these are equally important to be successful as anything else. Fourth and the least referred by many is contacts. In this ever changing world, where people are hired and fired all the time, it is extremely important to know people who can provide help and sometimes an opportunity to progress in the career ladder. Finally, luck. It might be surprising to see luck listed here, but it always is an essential ingredient to success. Many times in my own career i have realised its importance. No matter how capable we are and how proactive we can be, if things around us don&#8217;t work as they should, there is simply no way ahead apart from waiting for it to get better. It is only for the chosen few that life automatically gifts these five points. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to do it the hard way to succeed. Good Luck and have a happy new year! Related posts:A secret recipe to successGetting on the management trainSpotting high performers


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/01/getting-on-the-management-train/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Getting on the management train'>Getting on the management train</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Spotting high performers'>Spotting high performers</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>The counter intuitive theory</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/the-counter-intuitive-theory/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/the-counter-intuitive-theory/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Dec 2010 19:23:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1618</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Intuition is probably the second highest level of knowledge humans can gain with the highest being, spiritual truth. With Intuition, we know answers, but we just cannot reason out and justify them.  So much closer is intuition to the real knowledge of life and its meaning. When i was very young, my father once told me a story. A story of a rich man who wanted to give away all the money he had. The more he gave away to the poor, the more he got. Unlike other stories, this wasn&#8217;t intuitive. Ever since i heard this story, there has been something unexceptionably attractive about counter intuitiveness. Looking at everyday life, we see whatever tastes good is most probably not healthy for our body. And without exception, we all feel fresh and active after a tiring physical exercise. There is a clear unintuitiveness about these established theories that are a part of our everyday life. It&#8217;s not trivial things like food or exercise that are a part of this undoubtedly subtle expression of nature. Human expectations reverently follow this theory with almost no exception.  The moment we decide to give up our expectation about something, we seem to be well placed to get it &#8211; and that is counter intuitive. There is no explanation as to why this theory works the way it works, but it does! So the question is, is intuition really the second best knowledge known to us? Is there more to counter-intuitiveness than intuitiveness? Can we understand more about life and its purpose by following counter-intuition than intuition? Prahlad Jani, a holy man in India claims not having eaten for the past 70 years. While science generally strives to be the first to ridicule such news, i wonder if he has gotten better in understanding the counter-intuitive theory. May be by not eating we wouldn&#8217;t die like we might intuitively believe? But then, there are literally thousands of people dying everyday because of hunger. If counter intuitive theory works, then surely they all should thrive like Mr.Prahlad Jani. I think the answer could be down to our belief system and consciousness. It might sound a bit lame, but our mental power truly outweigh our physical capabilities. There have been a few sightings of saints and sages meditating in the Himalayas without much clothing to protect them from adverse weather. Such events are down to mental power rather than just physical ability to brave the cold. Our body is filled with numerous switches &#8211; switches that our brain can use to control everything from moving arms and legs to heart rate and breathe. Some controls like moving are consciously controlled while other ones like breathing are sub-consciously controlled. The sub-concious is like a machine that is programmed and can only do tasks it knows. It requires mental ability to take control of this sub-concious part and consciously control all the switches in the body. I have even read a story of a man who by staring at a wall for a while was able to crack it &#8211;  just by focusing his mental power. Call it coincidence or magic, there is something that is not intuitive in these things. And the explanation why only a few are able to do it is because they are concious of themselves and know what their own body is capable of. Perhaps, our body is a lot more capable than what medical science currently understands. But to utilise it completely we need to believe that it is capable of things. And that belief only comes from taking over the sub-conscious and becoming conscious. Thinking on these lines, there is another thought. The world we see is extremely logical. Its just that we can&#8217;t understand what we haven&#8217;t learned yet. But more on this thought later! Related posts:How conscious are you?Weird Thought:The energy domainRevisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/how-conscious-are-you/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How conscious are you?'>How conscious are you?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought:The energy domain'>Weird Thought:The energy domain</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;'>Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Persistence or Desperation &#8211; What breeds success?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/persistence-or-desperation-what-breeds-success/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/persistence-or-desperation-what-breeds-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:54:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership qualities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[observations]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1539</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The story of infamous Persian king Mahmud of Ghazni whose persistence to invade is talked about even after a 1000 years. Its not just Ghazni or its not just kings that have succeeded by extraordinary Persistence. Take trees for example. They don&#8217;t give up making new leaves every spring and they do it for decades, sometimes for centuries. Persistence, truly is the essence to succeed. But what about those who succeed within the first few times or even the first time? Is that down to just luck? But how can some be lucky all the time? Isn&#8217;t that just against the laws of nature? May be its down to ability and knowledge? The answer, I think lies in desperation. How many times have we all thought &#8220;this is my last opportunity. After this i will give up&#8221; and emerged successful? I can say with confidence that has worked out more than any other strategy or plan i have devised, in order to succeed. By dedicating ourselves to a cause, we learn from our repeated failures, while with desperation we come under tremendous pressure that we sometimes can&#8217;t even logically think, let alone learn. So, how does it work? How could possibly desperation &#8211; a human emotion &#8211; help us achieve more than what systematic planning could do? A creationist, who sees everything in this world as the will of god would say that god possibly understands desperation more than anything else and gives a helping hand. A rationalist, who seeks reasoning behind every thought, might say that we subconsciously gather help and resources when we are desperate and that subconscious planning helps us achieve more than what we plan and execute. To me though, the reason is of second nature. Clearly, desperation seems to have a special place in the success map. But i think the price comes with an &#8220;If&#8221; clause. Desperation needs to be natural and should be a true occurrence rather than self-perceived pity. A naturally occurring desperation definitely seems to hold the key for success! Related posts:Success is not just luck!Four phases of successA secret recipe to success


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		<title>Don&#8217;t just take!</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/dont-just-take/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/dont-just-take/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:35:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[observations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was told by my colleague at work about an awareness and support campaign to help prosthetic cancer patients. The campaign is named &#8220;Movember&#8221; (www.movember.com) referring to a moustache grown during the month of november. Tempted by this creative idea, i signed up for it and decided to grow some facial hair last month and i must say people loved it On a serious note, there are a few things to think about. Many thousands of people die every day across the world due to cancer and it is very difficult for normal people to imagine what it is like to be living with cancer. I lost my aunt to cancer many years ago and i try and do my bit to support charities and help create awareness amongst people. Charities and events are great but every one of us need to have an internal push to help the society and the needy. The financial mess and various other factors has made the world to be increasingly interested in taking rather than giving, while common sense says that is unsustainable. Be it signing up as an organ donor or giving blood once in a while or even donating to charities and participating in fund raising events, there are numerous ways to help the society. We all spend a lot more for ourselves rather than help someone else because its our hard earned money. But realistically, its the society that has shaped us to get where we all are. I have seen people change their attitudes about giving back once they face a crisis in their life  and when they become takers, though it would have been wonderful if that change had happened much earlier! Because the truth is, it is impossible to live alone and we need a society &#8211; that is healthy and pleasant &#8211; to be happy. And i am getting increasingly nervous that individualism might overpower the concept of society in the 22nd century! Related posts:Is Technology killing Society?Today’s Inventions – Inspiration or Marketing?How to make most out of you and your money


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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Technology killing Society?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/11/is-technology-killing-society/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/11/is-technology-killing-society/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:33:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1654</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Its all about social networking these days. Everyone, young or old has a facebook or a twitter account. Even the Queen of England has recently joined facebook &#8211; at the age of 84! The elderly who were left out of the internet revolution are trying to play catch up now. And, with the invention of devices like the ipad, which are targeted to make life much easier and simpler, very much like the invention of the automatic car, they are catching up much more quickly. The young ones on the other hand spend tens of hours everyday hooked onto internet, sharing what they did last evening, with people they haven&#8217;t even seen. Surely, this is something the the older generation doesn&#8217;t approve of, but are left with no choice apart from accepting this to be the norm! Thinking about the current situation makes me wonder &#8211; are we effectively losing the concept of a social structure &#8211; something that the human race had fine tuned over many centuries. I am sure the concept of society is much more necessary or else our forefathers would have lost it long back. Or was it just a lack of choice then? Whatever the case, the upcoming generation have a serious issue looming in terms of their perception of society. They are made to think that a society is something that is built around an individual (meaning themselves) and they can choose to what level they want others to be a part of their society. This is a paradigm shift in the way humans have perceived themselves and their society, but the question is &#8211; are we going to make life difficult for ourselves? The concept of a society is so very important to us that we always emphasise team work and coordination. Extensive experiments in both sociology and psychology have been conducted to understand how group behaviour affects our decisions and perceptions. And without any doubt, a group always shines ahead of an individual. The younger generation would argue that the group that shines is always self-formed and not forced like the society of the past. Teuvo Kohonen, a Finnish scientist, performed extensive research on Self Organising Maps, where he studied the idea behind group formation in humans. He then developed an artificial neural network where machines can potentially solve problems based on this group formation idea. Its not just human groups that have been under the spotlight for scientific research, ant colonies have been studied in the past and efficient optimisation algorithms have been developed based on their team work and group culture. Though we may say, we are losing our old concept of society, we will still have to live in groups &#8211; albeit these groups will tend to be more self organised and might have different characteristics than the one we are used to. If you ask me, I would classify this change as natural evolution. Honestly, only time will tell. Related posts:Don&#8217;t just take!Defining GODPoverty and inheritance


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		<title>Sync or Swim</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/11/sync-or-swim/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 21:27:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Well being]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1597</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There used to be a program on television called &#8220;sync or swim&#8221; where the host Jamie Aditya travels to various countries with strong cultural roots and tries to learn and perform their traditional dance and music, all in a week&#8217;s time. As the name suggests he is left with two options &#8211; either sync and learn the local culture or swim, meaning lose the competition! It is a wonderful idea which i think depicts the truth of our every day life where we are left with exactly same choices &#8211; either sync or swim! Whether it is taking up a new job, moving to a new country, venturing into a new business or just learning something new, we are realistically left with only these two choices. And, the sooner we sync in this unknown territory, the easier we make it for ourselves. Being an inquisitive person, i always wanted to try new things and learn new stuff. This often put me outside my comfort zone, sometimes too far away from it. But from my experience i can say that life hands us a secret energy boost to tackle an uncomfortable situation, every time we encounter it. But even then, only some of us choose to take it and go for a head-on fight, thereby stretching our comfort zone and increasing it day by day. Sadly, most of us choose to shy away from it due to the fear of stepping into an unknown territory. Expanding the comfort zone has clearly been on my agenda ever since i started working. I admit i won&#8217;t be able to throw myself into awkward position all the time and come out of it successful, though that is something i aim to achieve. The truth nobody shares about conquering comfort zones is that it gets easier every time it is done and to some extent addictive. It probably is addictive because of the satisfaction it gives after it is done. Adversity, truly brings the best in us. If you look at the people who have succeeded in life, they all should have passed the &#8220;expanding the comfort zone test&#8221;. Without being in uncomfortable situations and successfully conquering them, there is very less chance that any of us can go all the way up. But syncing is not just about being successful in an uncomfortable zone. It is also about jiving with the environment and emotionally bonding with the surroundings. As we sync, we subconsciously learn what surrounds us and form an untold yet personal relationship with them. Humans can communicate between each other and so the benefit of syncing is apparent and the need to sync with other creatures becomes very blurry. The truth is any being cannot exist on its own and everything in this world has to co-exist. So its the untold symbiotic relationship that is formed between all the beings that makes the world going. By syncing with this environment we live in, we form a synergy with the world and are in a position to recognise and respect others. The awareness we obtain by syncing is enormous and this is exactly where the worldly pleasure of being &#8220;successful&#8221; meets the spiritual pleasure of being &#8220;together&#8221; with our environment. Related posts:How far would a Million pounds go?A secret recipe to successLiving a worry free life


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		<title>Working with various cultures</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/working-with-various-cultures-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/working-with-various-cultures-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:53:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1575</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The world is a small place nowadays and we invariably tend to meet people from many cultures and various nationalities in day to day life. Although we would accept that it would be refreshing to meet a person with a completely different cultural background, it would be equally daunting due to the cultural differences. I have personally faced these problems when i had to communicate with people from various countries for work. I have had times where i desperately wanted to express what i felt but due to nuances in culture it turned out to be difficult or even impossible at times! Eventually though, i was presented with an opportunity to work with Americans, Chinese, Finns, Norwegians, Germans, English, Japanese and Indians. And, here is what i learnt working with people from various cultures. I have tried to generalise as much as i can, but as we know, it is impossible to generalise cultures based on a handful of events. But anyways, this is my shot&#8230; Indians: India has evolved a lot in the past decade or so due to a number of Multi National Companies that have set up base looking for cheaper development costs. Through these changes, there has been a definite shift in work attitude although i should say, the management style hasn&#8217;t changed drastically from the past. I see that some young managers are better than their older counterparts due to their exposure to various styles of management around the world. But predominantly, it is a very strong hierarchical management style that is followed. Superiors are held high and subordinates are treated sometimes like cheap chips!! The manager holds the final say &#8211; if he is not satisfied then the job is incomplete. This frustrates the employees but works very much in the clients favour. Most Indians work long hours and i think most of them are happy to work long hours without expecting much returns. Indians are of highly socializing type and would openly discuss issues at work that westerners deem highly personal. Overall, it is a good experience to work with them but it is challenging to work for one of them. Americans: Contrary to the Asian style of &#8220;small talk first, business next&#8221;, Americans get straight to business and leave the small talk to the end. What might be seen as a very arrogant gesture elsewhere is seen as straight forward business in America. This is because Americans have a very strong and forthright style of management and are at ease to question people if they think something is not right. They are extremely sincere at work and never mix personal time with official time. America was built from scratch due to hard work and passion and that can be seen in every day behaviours and attitudes. There is a huge emphasis on equality and at the same time freedom and choice &#8211; both at work and off work. Norwegians: I was lucky to have travelled to Norway for a few weeks where i had an opportunity to work very closely with the people there. Norwegians tend to respect others a lot and there is an emphasis for individualism. But what is not there is the concept of &#8220;one man show&#8221;. They do delegate a lot of work and at the same time give enough respect for the individual and expect them to complete the job given to them. They trust people very easily and i have seen them get quite disappointed when the person doesn&#8217;t stand up to what he committed. Finns: Although Finns are a completely different lot and cannot really be associated with any other culture, they have some similarities with Germans in terms of planning and executing things on time and efficiently. Almost all the Finns are surprisingly introverts and would not speak out even if there is an opportunity to do so. From some of my Finnish friends i understood that a talkative person is trusted much lesser in their society. I even remember my Finnish colleague trying to recollect a name of a person explaining &#8220;That tall, talkative guy&#8221;. It is such a distinct feature! The Finns try to be experts in their fields and generally do not take up an job if they don&#8217;t know how to do it and that i think is the secret of their success. They also have an amazing work-life balance and take off at least 4-6 weeks every year to reflect on things and to get them back on track. They are very passionate about saunas and a lot of official meetings tend to happen there. They think they can take better decisions when they are relaxed enough. Japanese: Japanese are very helpful once they see you as a part of their &#8216;group&#8217; or &#8216;society&#8217;. It is very difficult to build a reputation with them but once that is done, they trust and respect what is said. The Japanese like to please others and their strongest concern might sound like a weak acceptance to one who has been used to western cultures. Patience is paramount when dealing with Japanese and any aggressive action is not seen very favourable. The Japanese tend to live very close together &#8211; which explains the population density seen in Japan, and are highly social when compared with the people in the west. There is also a very strong &#8216;customer is the god&#8217; attitude that is prevalent in the work environment and i have seen people go to great lengths to satisfy a customer requirement. So if you deal with a Japanese company just be aware of what you are asking for. The answer will generally be a &#8216;yes, we can do it&#8217; and they would work really hard to ensure that is done. English: I have spent a good amount of time in the UK and have worked with a number of them. The English as anyone would say are extremely polite in whatever they say. The first tip to work with the English is learn to say &#8216;please&#8217;, &#8216;sorry&#8217; and &#8216;thank you&#8217; . These will be of good use during a conversation. The English are very eloquent and they get to talk easily to strangers. They are brilliant in management and they generally have a co-ordinative style of management when compared to their American counterparts who predominantly have an authoritative style of management. They like to work with people and get things done rather than pushing them down a bureaucratic route. They generally make people welcome and comfortable while doing business and are definitely better in socialising than any other Europeans i have worked with. As you can imagine, one cannot write about various cultures in a few lines and be done with it. I hope these tips come in handy while doing business with people from these cultures. Good luck! Related posts:Losing authorityJapanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?10 tips to impress an interviewer


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/losing-authority/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Losing authority'>Losing authority</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/the-japanese-culture/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Japanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?'>Japanese Culture &#8211; What can we learn from them?</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 tips to impress an interviewer'>10 tips to impress an interviewer</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Spotting high performers</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:57:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1558</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is always a challenge to successfully manage people, though the perception amongst the working population is mostly contrary. The challenge gets even better when a team of high performers have to be managed. And this is exactly where almost all managers fail. High performers come in a variety of forms &#8211; from the most arrogant of types to the most humble and this variety makes it even more difficult to generalise their existence. But this doesn&#8217;t mean they lack any common traits. Almost all high performers have very well defined traits that put them under the spotlight. And it is this commonality that helps spot them in the first place. So, the first rule to successfully manage a high performer is to spot one! Trait 1: Learning The most interesting character of a high performer is the ability to learn things very quickly. This is needed because knowledge is the only edge that sets people apart. In this ever changing world, it is not easy to learn new things. And to deliver better results than the &#8216;normals&#8217; means learning things quicker than them &#8211; and this is no easy feat. So, it doesn&#8217;t matter what the task is, high performers are always quicker than the average &#8211; to learn the task and start executing it. Trait 2: Sharp and efficient It goes without saying that people who perform well are extremely sharp and understand even the smallest of changes that happen around them. Not only they are sharp enough to understand the situation and environment, they seem to have an optimisation algorithm pre-programmed by nature that keeps their actions and solutions extremely efficient. Though it is counter-intuitive, sharpness and efficiency are interlinked. If we are not sharp enough obviously we cannot make the most efficient decisions. And high performers excel here. Trait 3: Passion Well, it is a well known theory that only true passion brings out the highest possible performance in us. The problem is most of us don&#8217;t succeed in finding our passion even until we die. High performers on the other hand are the ones that have found what their passion is and have put in enough effort to bring their passion to fruition. Passion has very high shelf-life and lives on for a very long time. And high performers use it to their benefit. Trait 4: Lack of interest to impress Sometimes, lack of interest to impress others, mostly superiors, tends to appear as arrogance. But unfortunately, it is an inbuilt trait of high performers.  They are more focused on getting the job done and seem to enjoy the satisfaction that stems out of it rather than spending time to bend and bow towards pointless bureaucracy. This is a wonderful distinction between the normals and the real performers. Trait 5: Confidence High performers in general openly admit ignorance because they know their true potential. With the power of confidence by their side, they are generally not afraid to ask stupid questions and at the same time spill out a gem of an idea. We tend to brand people who ask simple questions as naive and incapable, but from my experience this attribute should never be seen in isolation. Trait 6: Praise Every one loves to be praised &#8211; but high performers absolutely adore them. They somehow seem to allow this weak point to unconsciously grow. Praise, magically brings in more performance out of high performers which is exactly opposite to the normals! So to spot a true performer, throw in a bit of praise for something they have done &#8211; and you know what the result should be. Good luck spotting!! Related posts:A secret recipe to success10 tips to impress an interviewerHow to build a career


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 tips to impress an interviewer'>10 tips to impress an interviewer</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How to build a career'>How to build a career</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Weird Thought: Why aren&#8217;t we programmed?</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/weird-thought-why-arent-we-programmed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:31:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alternate Theories]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Its not that spiritual leaders copy what each other say, yet they all come up with the same old message. Every leader talks about inching towards eternal love, harmony, peace and the beauty that these bring. And what&#8217;s amazing is that these claims are entirely irrelevant of what philosophy they preach or which religion they follow. Jesus Christ asked his fellow followers to be loving and peaceful, so did Mohammad, Buddha and Aurobindo. From the oldest of spiritual leaders to the newest and the youngest, they all ask us for the same thing. Though what they ask us all to do, appears very easy and doable, it sometimes contradict the interpreted truth. I say contradictory because, every spiritual leader believes that god created this world, or at least, that god had a hand in creating this universe &#8211; from all the rocks and animals to plants and humans. If a powerful creature of this incomprehensible capability can create all or a part of this universe, giving us the power to think, the power to talk and walk, the power to understand and execute, then it probably would have been very easy for him to have programmed us with lot more love and strategically omitting hatred by all means. This exactly is what bemuses me. Why would such a super power create everything and leave us to sort ourselves out? If the intention for sustainable living is to shower each other with love and peace, then why not just give us that? Why give us a choice in the first place to either love a thing or hate a thing? I don&#8217;t think i will call all the spiritual leaders naive &#8211; I truly believe that they have a better understanding of the system that i (or most of us) haven&#8217;t got. Accepting their call for love and peace is the ultimate truth, it confuses me why the almighty lord stands with his hands tied back, not forcing what he wants, but patiently waiting for us to align with what he wants! If the final point of this extraordinary journey of life is perpetual happiness, why do we go through all the hassle? Why not just hand this happiness over to all the beings and let them exist perpetually? Some may argue that we were born with happiness and all the problems and sadness are men made. But what about premature death due to ill health and earthquakes? If the target is to make everyone happy forever, then why create sadness? Or why let us perceive something to be sad? I can&#8217;t believe that all spiritual leaders would have been wrong and so probably the ultimate intention is to attain never ending peace. Either that, or what love and peace means to us is way too shallow than what they claim it to be. May be if we spiritually grow to understand what love truly means, we probably can decipher the exact meaning behind their preaching. Or even, love and peace could be the only understandable terms for commons like us to embark on a spiritual journey. Once we start the journey striving to achieve love and peace, we probably end up finding the real truth and the ever existing question of &#8220;WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?&#8221; Either way, in my eyes, the world appears to be precisely balanced in a conflicting mix of a definite, clearly written down goals and a genuine effort to provide choice. Related posts:Weird Thought: The world and the universeWeird Thought:The energy domainWeird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thought-the-world-and-the-universe/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought: The world and the universe'>Weird Thought: The world and the universe</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/weird-thoughtthe-energy-domain/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird Thought:The energy domain'>Weird Thought:The energy domain</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/weird-thoughtour-brain-master-or-slave/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?'>Weird thought:Our Brain-Master or Slave?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>Revisiting &#8216;the purpose question&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/revisiting-the-purpose-question/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:45:24 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conscious living]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1528</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Almost a year ago, i tried writing my ideas about life and its purpose. There were many comments and further discussions followed, both online and offline. A question such as this, is the pinnacle of knowledge, that once we know the answer to it, we probably lose interest in this life. Looking this life from a non-scientific way, keeps telling me that nature is restricting us not to know the reason of our own existence. Hence the dis-interest in many of us to know that answer to this question. But at the same time, diversity is embedded in every bit of nature&#8217;s creations. Hence the interest in some of us to know the answer to the same question. When I read what i wrote earlier, i see that i have had a sense of urgency in concluding this topic. Childishly, i have thought that this question can be discussed in a 1000 word article. Though i concluded the earlier article, the question never faded in my mind and none of the answers sufficed. Its always good not to have an answer to a question &#8211; the lack of knowledge helps understand the question and analyse the answer better. I felt that this question doesn&#8217;t have a logical answer, so there is really no point trying to derive one. But i thought may be there are clues in this very world, surrounding us everyday, showing what the purpose of our life is! The thought, i felt was an interesting one. So i went about observing small things that happen around us and trying to generalise what i saw into a response to the purpose of our very own existence. Though i find pleasure in building new things, by virtue of being an engineer, the pleasure i obtain by observing nature is incomparable. Nature in its very minimal of tasks makes me baffled. Every thing i have tried to observe makes me think, this must be the work of a genius. Either we are designed to perceive nature&#8217;s acts as a sign of ingeniousness or not, i don&#8217;t know. But looking at every single element in this world, i get the feeling they have a definite place and purpose. They do exactly what they are meant to do and if they didn&#8217;t, the system, it appears, would collapse! The year long observations taught me two facts of nature. We all have to learn We all have to ensure our species survives. The facts are simple and i honestly don&#8217;t know why they have to be followed. If you look at the world, you could see everyday from a tiny ant to a massive elephant, every being has to learn as it grows. It could be where to find water, or it could be how to run away from a predator. In some sense, this learning is necessary to make sure we are up to speed on the ever changing world. Without learning and adaptation, many species might not have survived at all. So we could say, learning is a requirement to ensure the existence of the species. That brings us to a more mesmerising fact &#8211; the  need to ensure we continue to exist. What could be the reason for that, I don&#8217;t know. But it seems it has to be done. We all are doing what we are doing to ensure this golden rule is unharmed. Everything else like ambition, love, emotions, target, success, failure, friendship and what not are only second nature and are tools to aid us achieve this golden rule. Apart from this, you, me or anyone, really doesn&#8217;t seem to have any other purpose to exist! &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211; Do i really believe in what i have written? Yes, I passionately do. Do you have any alternate thoughts that you think i should know? Then, please don&#8217;t hesitate to comment. Related posts:The purpose of Life!Weird Thought:The energy domainThe counter intuitive theory


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