Capacity and Purpose

Your greatest revelation in your life time is your true purpose. Purpose is not created by you. Purpose creates the "you" in this world. Your purpose is unique to you and your very own. It might not always be apparent, in fact mostly its not! Therefore, We can get quite confused about purpose. So, how do we know what our purpose in life is? This question is pertinent to bringing out the best in you - your capacity.


Here are five distinct ways by which anyone can find their purpose:


1. Knowing What we do best: How do we know what we do best? It is something which, has made you turn out a product of your effort, which is well accepted by the world, and perhaps people say, "that is what you do best." Now, you might not alwats get this appreciation from every one you have delievered your product to, but most of them might say or make you feel that way. Then know that you do that well and perhaps that is your best.


2. Knowing What excites us: We don't get excited by everything we do. There are tasks that dampen our spirits, there are some that lift our spirits. So the latter category tasks are those, which when you do, is like an inner calling, like a smooth expression, that does not feel like labor. The prospect of doing this kind of job, makes you happy and wait in anticipation. You enjoy the waiting for it, you enjoy the process of doing it and you enjoy the after-feel of it. In short, through and through enjoyable activity.


3. Knowing the Opportunity: Now, this might not be something, you can sit, reflect and know. It happens. At times, an opportunity opens up for you and you at once realize that you are suddenly caught up in a vortex of activity that you relish doing. You would not have been through anything like it before. The change takes over almost like a hurricane and sweeps you off the feet. You might  be tired and grounded after a while, but you settle to the fact that, "yes, this is what I always wanted to do.. so, let me do this to the exclusion of other things". Now, as fancy as this may sound, and also given that, this might not be an experience of one and all, it still, is a very powerful way to find your purpose, when it happens.


4. Planning it out: Some of us are good at planning and love predictability. We operate in the realms of certainty, most of our lives would accept anything as our purpose, only if it falls into the framework of planning and organizing. So, these people, have known their tastes very early in life, then they build on it steadily till they build an empire on it. The beginnings of all such work is hardly gregarious. It just happens, day after day after day and accumulates. Discipline is the name of the game and these people typically develop a taste for doing something, even if they despised doing it, earlier. It is as though, purpose was never any secret to these people, it was just that it was acting out from haltingly to incessantly, through these people.


5. Getting out of the Penny Trap: Most of us work for money. off course, we enjoy doing some aspects of the work. However, there are going to be some aspects, we loathe doing. But, over a period of time, we tend to accept them as necessary evil, and learn to live with it. This continues, because it serves our instinct of survival.  An interesting question to ask though, is, what can you continue to contribute even if you are not paid a single penny? There you are, most things in your agenda, fizzle out. A few remain and the underlying commonality in how you approach these few responsibilities, would be based on your purpose. By isolating these few things, you would get to understand your purpose.




There, you are- the five ways of finding our true purpose. Each of us would not need all five. We might need one of them or t times a combination to find our purpose. When we find our purpose, we are automatically harnessing our inner capacity to manifest the goals, that are aligned with our Purpose. 


Till the next blog,
Cheers
Kota

Capacity & Consistency

Hello Again!


The little break in adding to my blog, made me think about the magic word,  "Consistency"... yes, it is a magic word. When you can consistently add units, you seem to reach, over time, the "Infinity"... well I do not mean reaching infinity literally but, close to it. However, no one can deny the fact that you are infinitely farther than where you started.. and that is called growth in capacity!


To be able to do anything consistently, you should be able to do it "for a first time". Yes, it is important. Well, you might ask, "what is so difficult in starting an activity?" - let me tell you- it seems to be so! For many of us, getting started is a problem. The famous, "Intention - Action" paradigm seems to plague us, no end. I wonder, how many beautiful ideas hit our internal radar, and how many see the light of the day in terms of just a first step.. in fact. most ideas are dropped even before they are ever considered! Now, I mean it - literally, the pace at which we think and jump from thought to thought, makes many a pearl of wisdom, to perhaps shine for a fraction of a second and disappear- to resurface only much later, when we see the manifestation of the idea through someone else as action- and then we think in a trice, "Oh, but I thought of this too, in the first place".


Consistency is a matter of discipline. It is accessible to all, pretty much like the wayside scenery is available to all. But it takes someone to keep moving ahead along the road, to enjoy the scenery. So also, it takes a forward movement from each of us, to reap the results of consistency. When we take a re-look at the word, "Consistency", we realize that it consists of the word, "Consist"!. The word suggests that , it is bringing out every time, what is already there - what we have - and this is Capacity.


What are the challenges to being consistent? Definitely not lacking in capacity-- in fact the challenge becomes a challenge, only because we have a capacity to contribute. So, here are the top 5  challenges -


1. Losing sight of our purpose
2. Getting bored
3. Distracting priorities
4. Lack of excitement and enthusiasm required to act on it.
5. Inability to deal with road blocks.


Lets examine each of these,


1. Losing sight of our Purpose: happens when I am not connected to my purpose, constantly. What is this purpose? It is what you can do best in your life, it is perhaps based on a talent in you or what you have always done- either way, that is the best you can do- aligning everything you do to this, is the secret of having an uninterrupted journey that excites you no end;


2. Getting Bored : refers to the state where, you have started something well, continued for a brief while, and the sheer familiarity of the task, makes it less exciting for you. You want variety and this is something that you have already seen.... your mind asks, "is there anything exciting? anything sensational? Anything different? This also means that, assuming you get something different, very soon you would want something different again! So, staying different or wanting something different becomes a constant in your life.. and you would be the proverbial, rolling stone, moving from experience to experience.. an effective way to counter this can be to realize that, inherently no task is boring or glorious-- its your attitude towards the task, that makes it so, and for those, who have been going thru life's experiences, it is easy to understand the multi-million dollar revelation - you can adjust, tweak and alter your attitude to suit your success-- lets not get bored from now on...


3. Distracting priorities: If life was a one way game, where all is happening only because of who I am, my agenda would prevail. However, we observe that, in this multidimensional act, each of us have our own agenda. Non-human aspects viz. weather, have their own agenda too. So, is it practically possible, not to have distractions? No. They would be there. Remove one and another might come. So, the solution is not in removing distractions but in being focused only on what we want. Consistency of application of our capacity, has to have a laser sharp focus. Lets not shop around, trying to figure out what to do, or hoping some things work. We need to make it happen- and this needs focus. When we focus, distractions, don't trouble us anymore.


4. Lack of Enthusiasm: Comes from boredom in a big way. However, could also be because, you do not identify with the purpose. There are other reasons it can happen. Poor health, frequent failures, lack of encouraging company, or even lack of time, can all affect the enthusiasm factor. The only way to turn around this is to just remind ourselves that, "We can do it!", We can do anything, if we can only apply our mind to it. Not for nothing, we came thus far, and we have it in us to go further- much further than what you thought. You have done it in the past and you can do it again. Just relive all the glory of past achievement- within no time you would be ready for new assignments. Surround yourself with people who are enthusiastic about what they do, people who seem to have the energy to express. Over a period of time, you would be the one to pass this on to as many as possible.


5. Inability to deal with Road Blocks: Progress means nothing, without road blocks. What is the joy or fun in getting something, without any effort? roadblocks are natural effort triggers. They challenge you, at times create fear- but mind you - they never tell you, " I am Impossible". That statement is what, we tell ourselves. And then we go on to prove that we are right. There are four major behaviors when road blocks are encountered.


 a. Retreat- just get back to perhaps find another route or just not do anything. There might be a few times in life where, this approach also benefits.


b. Bypass - just go around and find a way- this is the most natural way and might delay your goals a little, but is very much possible.


c. Cross Over - find a way to go over the road block - if you are a pole vaulter, you might just jump over like that, if you are normal, you might get a ladder to cross over.


d. Go Through - this is tough, but very effective. You find something sharp, something to bore the block and then just drill through, you would find yourself the other side. 


Depending on who you are, you could choose one of the last 3 ways given and clear road blocks.


So, we see that Consistency for Capacity expression is a certainty, if we can identify and address some of these challenges,


Till next blog,
Cheers
Kota

Capacity to GROW

Life is all about four ingredients:


Growing
Rowing
Owing
Wing!


Growing refers to developing the innate capacity to flourish. It refers to the process of reaching out to set benchmarks called Goals. It refers to the stretch that is required to move out of our comfort zones. As the word suggests, it is a present continuous stage, which means , as we read this blog or while doing anything we are growing!. Hair grows, nails grow, and if nothing is going, time is ticking and human is getting older - growing. However, it is time we differentiate between conscious growing and unconscious growing. Growth, like the examples I gave here i.e hair growth etc, are unconscious and are  on auto pilot. There is hardly anything for you to do to directly affect it. However, Conscious growth is the only one that gets the best out of you. It is painful, because it is stretching. It is gainful because - yes, you guessed it, because, it is stretching!. A Stretch is always good, it enhances your flexibility and overall fitness. It keeps you ready for anything. It shows you about who you can be, because who you can be is who you are unexpressed. Growing is a way of this expression.


Rowing refers to navigating the waters of life, purposefully. This is better understood, when contrasted with mindless meandering, that is often purposeless. Someone with a purpose rows towards a destination. There is also the sense of timeliness about it. Ever looked at the sinews of someone who is used to a lot of rowing? That is the result of years of navigation. Not easy! But so it is with getting caught up in the wild currents of turbulence called life and get swayed in all directions! It takes courage to row and row and row. Rowing also refers to the power of organisation in a human, akin to saying, stacking anything row after row. It symbolizes discipline and therefore again stands for setting a purposeful life. 


Owing refers to need to contribute or give it back. Man Owes it to Nature for everything he receives from there. In the cycle of getting and giving, man therefore becomes a fantastic instrument or channel for the expression of nature's potential or capacity. That is what Human is- a medium for nature's expression.   Owing also means forgetting yourself to give yourself away. Else you could be coming in between your inner nature and outer nature! 


Said a world famous violinist about his success in playing Beethovan’s Violin, “I have splendid music, a splendid violin and a splendid bow. All I need to do is bring them together and get out of the way.”


Lets give it back, instead of holding it back!


Finally, Wing refers to freedom to soar to greater heights. Wing is that which lifts your spirits, lifts your mood, lifts your stature, so that your progress is faster. The lifting wing can be your positive outlook of life or an attitude of gratitude. Anything in life, that weighs you down with self pity, sadness and sorrow mars your progress and is positively dangerous for your success. On the contrary, lifting thoughts, beliefs and emotions can make your life fly in its true colors. Power of Wing, improves your relationships, performance, self belief and quality of your life in general. 


With an objective of GROWING, when you persist with the ROWING, you get many opportunities of OWING , resulting in finding your WING.


Keep flying,
Till the next blog,
Cheers
Kota

Human Capacity and Desire

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

Confucius

A tree evolves from a SEED. This means that the blue print of the tree in all its entirety has been there in the DNA of the seed. Else, it should be impossible to have a tree from a seed. So also, a human from the embryo. The seed of success in human capacity needs an agent to be uncovered and let go. In the case of a seed, the agents are Sunlight, Soil, Water, nutrients and of course Time. In the case of Capacity to bloom into personal excellence, the necessary conditions are summed up as HEART(the seat of Desire):

H - Hard Work

E - Encouragement

A - Ambiance

R - Relaxation

T - Time

It is worthwhile to observe each of these conditions that are responsible for unlocking the door to personal excellence.

Hard Work is a blessing. It teaches, coaches, mends, bends, creates perspiration and yet enables inspiration. It safeguards your need to feel good about yourself. There is a also totally a  different view, which, Hard Work presents to some of us. It is tough, it is unnecessary, it is turmoil, it is horrible, it spoils the comfort etc. Now which view would you want to take? The former view grows you and takes you slowly, but surely to personal excellence. The latter view looks at personal comfort temporarily, but exposes you in the long run to decay and even extinction.

Encouragement is a requirement for Hard Work to be consistent. Now, encouragement can come from within or from the environment. Both are required. When things are going your way and your mood is positive(which by the way, it should be most of the time), encouragement comes from within. How ever, when chips are down and you seem lost, it has a great value too when it comes from outside. Encouragement sustains the hard work and makes it easy to move on, even against challenging situations.

Ambiance is all about what surrounds you. It can look like one covering you up from all sides, deluge you with its nature, but, strangely it enables your capacity to germinate forth. However, it would shape the nature of expression of capacity and make you a dwarf or a giant in terms of capacity. Being surrounded by a hostile ambiance can make you a dwarf and being surrounded by a promoting ambiance can bring out the best in you, very soon.

Relaxation is not an option. It is a need. However, it is a mid term break, short enough to ensure that your progress continues, but long enough to see that your tiredness of activity is removed and you are rejuvenated. There is no one prescription for relaxation. It can come in many flavors. Some people have it in silence, while some in chatting. Some in music, while some more in logic. Some solve puzzles, while some more just doze off. Find what relaxes you enough, before you take your next big leap. So, relaxation can be defined as an interval between two bursts of hard work.

Time. It is the essence. It is the context for what is contained in life. All growth of success or expression of capacity makes sense, only when it happens in time. Why is Time given to me? It is To Improve ME. Off all the resources given to man, it could also be the one that is mostly taken for granted by most of us.But when used properly, it will be the context in which the blossoming of Human Potential happens so gloriously. Fills everyone with awe and happiness. 

Let us, therefore, nurture the desire of the HEART to actualize the personal excellence from the seed of Human Capacity.

Till the next blog

Cheers

Kota

Capacity and a share of the PIE

Human Capacity is the essence of Human Life. It follows, therefore, that Capacity is also affected by Cycles, as is the case with Human Life. In fact, in the larger perspective, our entire life is a cycle. So, every moment or combinations of moments are cycles. A cycle has an up and a down. Nature goes in cycles like day/night, seasons or calendar events.So, Human capacity should also be following such natural cycles, in terms of its expressions.


The first cycle that affects capacity is Physical. Like all other capacities, Physical capacity is genetically conditioned. However, a lot can be developed through periodic conditioning. Workout done with regularity can enhance physical express-ability and make it go on for a longer time, with least downtime.Physical capacity is also based on the input or fuel you feed it with, because, junk you feed, junk you breed! Right energy is what you feed, energy is what you harvest. The physical discipline required seems to be so tough for most of us because , we either don't find a good reason for expression of capacity or we fear the effort. However , if we can start from at least one of them, and commit ourselves to it for a while, great achievements are possible. It is not as much about being spectacular as it is with being persistent. For example mind says," I have already worked out yesterday, so let me relax today." This is precisely when you bring the strong reason to your mind on why you chose to exercise, in the first place. And then since, putting effort might be your weak area, all that you need to do is , tell yourself, "can I work out for only the next 5 minutes?" .
You are most likely to experience a workout for longer than 5 minutes! 


The second cycle is Intellectual. When you practice on a regular basis, to push your thinking to newer levels of achievement, it unfolds your intellectual capacity. It starts off with you taking slightly tougher problems than what you can handle right now and working on it with determination, till you get a solution. It calls for continuously  upgrading your knowledge, skills in your chosen areas. These upgrades should be part of your daily, weekly and monthly goals. More and more practice of taking challenges in mathematics is a perfect example of how intellectual capacity can be increased.


The third cycle is Emotional Cycle. It starts with observation or self awareness. Emotion is a high quantum of energy within you. It usually is accompanied by the current of energy that can sweep you off your feet, if you cannot find your hold. Anger, Sadness or even euphoria are all examples. So, what is capacity building here? It is your ability to use these emotions, not lead you in a habitual pattern, but , into the groove of a new response you want to choose. Therefore, it calls for high levels of awareness. The next time you are about to get onto an emotional trip, just become aware and hold fort. Don't get into the usual pattern of behaviors, and instead choose a new way of behavior that would not make you restless or leave you with lack of peace.


What we should know is that these three cycles i.e Physical, Intellectual and Emotional are constantly hunting cycles in our lives. They usually have a cycle that is almost equal to a lunar month. The combination of these three is what we call PIE-- being aware of the share of these three in our lives can help us regulate our capacity to blossom at its best.


Till next blog,
Kota

Capacity for Leadership

Human Capacity is  scalable. It is what we take from within. Who can say,  how much is there? But we can say, how much we are able to take out. Ultimately, what seems to matter in this world is what is patented, rather than what is latented.


Leadership is one of those aspects, I feel,  that is grossly misunderstood. This is because, we have a notion that leadership is a position. And anyone in that position, is taken for a leader. While this might true from one angle, I feel that it is not an universal truth. There might be a few very good leaders in Leadership positions , and there might be more of followers in Leadership positions. The same person can exhibit Leadership in certain situations and does not do it in others. This is because, Leadership is what one does, rather than where one is. Leadership, in short, is a capacity and its expression. So it is quite possible that at times we express it and at times, not.


So, what is therefore the linkage between Human Capacity and Leadership? Readers would recall in my previous blog, where it was said that, Capacity is a function of Self Belief. The best expression of self belief that one does is his or her Leadership, while not so best ends up as follower ship. It follows that, in any role that anyone plays, you could operate with differing levels of Leadership capability, because , it is based on what you can draw out as capacity. Whenever you feel a need to extract the best out of yourself, and push yourself to newer frontiers, you are calling up the expression of your leadership. On the contrary, you feel dreary about the task, and are perhaps waiting for the completion of it, you would most probably be not showing up your capacity for leadership. 

It is all about bringing Leadership to what you do, and not trying to bring yourself  to Leadership level. 

The first step in doing it is to be aware of your current level of capacity contribution, when you are going through it.


The second step is to assess if your current level of disposition is right for the job, in terms of passion, energy and intensity.


The third step is to call for that from within and put it all into what you are doing.


The fourth step is feel the difference in output and feel good about it.


The fifth step is to sustain it for as long as possible.


A small example, as an application to the above 5 step - principle:


Say, you are in a group of people who are talking about a so called crises situation or a pain point that came up in your organisation,  and everyone in the group thus far have been generally very negative about it. You see that, the magnitude of negativity is thriving as time goes because, everyone is contributing to the general pool of negativity. 


So using Step 1, you would become aware that you have been part of the negativity too and that is not bringing the best representation of what you can stand for.


As a second step,  you see that you can do differently than passively accepting what is happening.  So, you bring in more positive intent into the whole issue.


As a third step, start putting out your positive intent in the group in small doses. You might get resistance, don't react emotionally. Just listen, and put more positive intent.


As a fourth step, you will see that some of the people recognize your contribution and would start supporting you and perhaps acknowledge the leadership in your thinking. Feel good about it.


And as a last step, repeat the same with other situations or even in the same situation, as long as you are required to be there.


What, actually you have done is to call forth, your Leadership Capacity by saying no to your Follower-ship capacity. Believe me, we all have this opportunity, Right Here, Right Now.


Till the next blog,
Cheers
Kota

Human Capacity and Self Belief

"Believe in yourself" - seems to be an age old axiom. 


Why is it that securing a healthy self belief, so difficult and rare? Suffering from a lack of self belief might not look very obvious for many, in the day to day living. It also does not mean that, there are no achievements in their lives. We have our achievements when things go our way and we have our failures when the turn goes the other way.High achievement is accompanied with elation and euphoria, whereas the low turn is accompanied with dejection and self pity. So, overall Self belief in us seems to be low, only appearing high, clothed in the way things around are set up. Else, the true self belief comes out naked.


When it is true that opportunities are all around us(and you would have to accept the assumption, because, there are a few who grab them as if they picked a fruit from a low hanging branch!), how come we find it tough to even trace them out?  In fact, if experiences speaks truth, most of these opportunities look to us like monstrous problems! The difference is in our focus-- what am I habituated to look at in every stimulus that comes to me? Opportunity or problem? our responses have a choice here because  the flavors of both views are contrastingly different. Opportunity sounds, tastes and seems sweet, Problem sounds, tastes and seems bitter- that is the difference, there might be one in a hundred or a thousand, who, for the heck of it loves the bitter, given a choice! Rest others who too still embrace problems, when given a  choice, do not do it because they loved it always- they just started exercising their choice, irrespective of what they felt about it, and sooner than later, the action of doing, overpowered the feeling and colored it to make them like what they are choosing! It works - every time.


In an average to more than average human capacity, taste of success is a reality at some stage. They have seen it happen. And the self belief seems to have soared to new heights, suddenly anything looked possible and things seemed to just fall in place. They got attention from people and they were heard. The ideas seemed to be coming in at the right time and they looked capable of creating situations of advantage for themselves-- in short it looked like they reached!! And then the magic starts waning a little, we are a little more grounded on several occasions. Not that things would go bad so suddenly, but most of us seem to be hitting a plateau -- no effervescence anymore, no kick out of what you do, a glaring difference in your thought and action, leading to erosion of self belief!! Precisely then, what is it that is  required here? what does one do, to live up to one's capacity and build it more from here?




This is where we need to RECREATE ourselves. Our earlier period of rise was no dream and the present period of plateau is no curse. Both are just indications of our inherent self belief. It is important for us to know that, our self belief is a sum total of our thoughts, we held about ourselves- don't discount the trivial thoughts too! - they count. Everything counts. when chips are down, when life is monotonous, when going might be smooth, but too smooth to excite you to jump around and you are waiting for the proverbial, "Push from the unknown", that is when you need to recreate yourself. 

Recreation is a process of altering your self belief to new standards. 

Here's how the process goes: 


1. Observe yourself when you are dragging and pulling on, but not jumping with excitement about life.


2. Look at the nearest situation of a stimulus- it could be about calling someone to wish them on their birthday. However, your current mood perhaps is preventing you from reaching out to people- one of the symptoms of low self belief. Precisely then, give yourself a self infusion of new energy - tell yourself that you are good to connect and really can make a difference to their day, tell yourself that, by reaching out, you are showing your sense of confidence in relationships, just pick up the phone and call. Get as much intent as possible in your words and tone- and you will see magic happening! the other person would profusely than you, and yo hang up. You will fell sop good about yourself and would be ready for another call.


3. What you would not so easily catch here is the point that, within no time, you are miles away from your past mood! you RECREATED yourself. The onus is on you and don't leave it to external stimuli again. 


This is like completely taking charge of our self and operating from a new locus of self belief. So you start with small things and carry this self infusion process with more complex situations too... and every time you would come out much stronger than before... it radiates from you...


you see, RECREATION is actually so simple...Lets do it as and when we need to see the capacity in us, bigger than challenges around..


Till next blog
Kota