Dreams

If you can dream it, you can do it.

                            ~ Walt Disney

As a part of the various awareness programmes we offer to school students, through the service organisation SPARK, we were contemplating on doing a programme on Motivation for students of Std 7. We chose the programme title as, “Aspire to Achieve” as it was very much in lines, with the thought we wanted to sow in the young minds.

 

While getting ready the content for the programme, I thought of coining an acronym, so that it is easy to remember and recall. Instantly, I came up with this magic word - “DREAMS”. DREAMS are such powerful things,that motivate us to work towards achieving a goal. So, I thought it was a very apt word to be converted into an acronym. I then started to ponderfor one quality for each letter, which can ensure a person to succeed in life.After a lot of deliberation and discussion, with fellow SPARK members, we arrived at this.

•   Desire
•    Resilience
•    Energy
•   Action
•   Motivation
•  Self Discipline

We then tried to shortlist a role model of each quality, so that it would be easy for the students to connect.Though this exercise was primarily done, having the young students in mind, I feel that it equally applies to every one of us. So, let me elaborate a bit on each, to see how far we can relate with this.

Desire– Nothing happens in life without desire. All great accomplishments in the world, is the result of someone’s ardent desire. Desire is the fire that lights up one’s imagination to believe something is possible and to work towards it. All scientific invention and discoveries are a result of a desire to find a solution to a problem.

Resilience–Not all efforts give immediate positive results. Success is not guaranteed but failure should not break us down. We need to develop the “Don’t give up” attitude and the willpower muscle. The ability to look at failure as feedback and learning, is vital to help us continue to strive without losing faith and confidence in ourselves.

Energy– Just like a rocket needs fuel to propel to reach great heights, we human beings need energy too.  Energy comprises of our physical energy, mental energy and emotional energy too. Unless, we are able to streamline our energy in a particular direction, we will not be able to achieve our goals.

Action– All plan and no action, is like having a building plan without constructing a building. Without action, we cannot convert our dreams to reality. So, we need to put our thoughts into action. And quite often, it is the first step that is most difficult. Once we get the ball rolling, then it will pick momentum.

Motivation– Motivation is a combination of Motive +Action. So unless we have a strong motive, we cannot be consistent in our action. All of us have good days and bad days. There are days when we feel highly charged up and there are days when we feel low. We may not find appreciation for the work we do, but we need to constantly cheer ourselves up and stay motivated.

Self Discipline- Highly successful people have enormous amount of self discipline. They have a system and schedule in place and faithfully adhere to it. They don’t give into the temptations of daily distraction. Rather they stay focussed on their goals. They manage their time and resources prudently.

Let me end this article, with this favourite quote of mine

"Whateveryou vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass.”

If we look at this a bit more closely, we will be able to realise that all great achievers, had most of these qualities in common. Wishing all your dreams come true!

  D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

 

Skills for the Future

As a member of SPARK – a service organisation based in Tuticorin, which is into creating awareness among school children on a number of topics related to health care, legal issues, social concerns and career guidance, I have the opportunity to periodically meet school students and discuss about choosing their career paths.

We have two programmes on this regard. One programme is called “Pathfinder” for students of Std X, to choose the right path based on their interest areas and the next programme is called “Plus Two! What Next?” for students of Std XII, to make them aware of the many undergraduate/diploma courses available to them to pursue, after completion of +2. In this programme we advise them to apply the IKIGAI 4 criteria test, before choosing their higher education. The 4 criteria’s are:

• Passion - What are the things you like doing?

• Competency-What are you good at?

• Relevance – What do people want?

• Earnability – What will people pay for?

 

While the answer to question 1 and 2, can be found with some amount of contemplation and assessment tools, the answer to question 3 and 4 is something everyone is clueless about.  So this question posed on them, happens to backfire at me, a number of times, when they ask me, “Sir, which course do you think, will have scope in the future?”

 

With the rapid changes that are happening, especially in the era of artificial intelligence, it is really difficult to make a wild guess. And also considering that the students, I am meeting at the 12^th Std, will have at least another 5 years, to complete their studies before they could come to the workplace, we really don’t have any idea, how the scenario will look like, at that point of time. So, as a responsible adult, I should be advising properly, instead of giving some fancy answer which I feel is right, just to sound like a futuristic thinker.  It is a question of their career, which is a very important decision they are taking in life. So, I have been long contemplating over this.

I recently watched a YouTube video, by leading thinker of our times and the author of the popular books, “Sapiens” and “Homo Deus”- Yuval Noah Harari, and I seemed to find an answer for this nagging question in my mind. In that video, he talks about two skills that he says will be essential for humans to stay competitive over a long haul. The two skills are:

• Ability to UPGRAGE

• Ability to ADAPT

I pondered over it, and felt that, there is a lot of truth behind, his words. So, these two are interlinked skills, one following the other.

 

UPGRADE means that we need to start considering education as a continuous process that doesn’t end at school. We should continue to learn specialised skills in our own field and also diversified skills from other fields. Thankfully, we have so much of online learning options, available today in the form of webinars, online courses through websites like Udemy, Coursera etc, to learn any subject of our choice. So, we have to make a conscious effort to update ourselves and keep learning new skills that keeps cropping up as a requirement, to grow in our work place. It may be related to use of some new software, technology or machinery. Whatever it may be, we need to be prepared.

ADAPT means, that when some major shift happens and a dire situation arises, we should be able to shift job verticals or even move to a different industry. We should be willing to let go of our existing jobs, which no longer seem relevant or profitable and do the jobs that is in demand. Adding fuel to the fire, Prof. Harari says, that this transition might happen more frequently than we can imagine, within our life time. A rough estimate is a decade i.e. we should be capable of switching to completely new careers once in 10 years.  This is not as easy as it sounds. It is a difficult process, but this is anticipated reality. It calls for a major shift in our mindsets.

Time to question ourselves, what is it that we are preparing our children for at schools and college? Are we parting knowledge and skills or are we developing their attitude and ability to stay UPDATED and to be ADAPTABLE to the changing environment.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

Demography Dictates

Demography is the study of human populations, including their size, growth, density, distribution and statistics regarding birth, marriage, disease and death. Demographic analysis also tries to understand the human composition of a specific geographical area in terms of education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity.

I would like to share an incident, which made me realise the impact of demographic composition.

I had the privilege of attending the graduation ceremony of my son, Sidhaarth who completed his medical studies at Davao Medical School, Philippines.

The Graduation Ceremony was well organised as per the protocols and it was interesting for me to observe the many rituals that happened in the ceremony. Like every other formal ceremony, this programme too had the Prayer Song and National Anthem.

As students from different countries study there, they sing/recite the prayer song of all religions and also the National Anthem of the different countries, so that the students belonging to different religions and nationality feel pleased and proud.

And here is where something surprising happened. The first National Anthem to be played was the Indian National Anthem, although, the ceremony was happening in Philippines. This was followed by the National Anthem of other country students and finally the Philippines National Anthem.

Similarly, the first prayer song that was sung was the Hindu prayer, although, Philippines is predominantly a Christian populated country. And again it was followed by Muslim Prayer and then the Christian prayer.

I was perplexed as to, why it is so? Why is it that in a foreign country, they are giving a higher priority to a minority nationality or religion? At first, I thought it was because it is a protocol or sort of a courtesy, to play the Prayer Song or National Anthem of the host country last, but later I realised that it was the demography of the college students, that was the determining criteria. So, although the college is in Philippines, it is the demographic composition of the college students that decides the protocol.

If we look at the human evolution too or the way humans have migrated and occupied the land mass in this world, we can see that the dominant ethnic population, has an upper hand over the others. That is why; we can find the Chinese and Indians, in almost any part of the world. When opportunities become curtailed in a country due to excess population, it is natural for people to go out in search of a land that offers a better future.

Like the ancient Tamil scripture, Purananooru which says, “திரைகடல் ஓடியும் திரவியம் தேடு” which means “travel across the seas in search of wealth”. This is what every King or Ruler did too, from the past at the macro level.  It was either in search of Gold, Precious Stones, Mines or Oil. But in the micro level, people travel abroad in search of jobs, business opportunities, learning etc.

No wonder so many Indians have migrated to US, Europe and many other countries. We proclaim proudly that some of the best brains in the world are Indians. We have a proud list that includes Kalpana Chawla, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and Indra Nooyi to name just a few.  The Indian Diasora spread across the world has helped Indians find a much larger global presence.

While this has been a positive thing for a few ethnicities, it has been a threat to many natives too. There are many countries where the natives have lost their voice, because of the excessive inflow of migrants. Later, this becomes a cause of hue and cry, which leads to conflicts at the social and political level too. This leads to stringent laws against immigrants and it is a worthy concern of any country, as the native population are deprived of their jobs and opportunities. It is undoubtedly a proactive measure of any country, because it is inevitable that the demographic composition will have a big influence on the laws of the land.

 

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

HeArt of Giving

This world remembers only the Achievers and to be an Achiever we need to do something extraordinary, in some field of work.  We can be the most successful person in our respective fields, to make the huge impact. But, what if we are not able to? Can we still be remembered in this world? Yes, I think we can. We can be remembered, as an “Achiever in Giving.”

 

The immediate question that might come to our mind is, “If I need to give, don't I need to have something.  I am not Warren Buffet or Azim Premji, who after having accumulated phenomenal wealth, have given so much away for charity. What could I give? I feel so inadequate. I need to earn first and give later.” This is a common paradigm. Isn’t it? So, we are all busy in this world running behind money, trying to accumulate more and more, believing that we can only give, if we have more than enough. But the truth is we already have so much to give, other than just money. We are immensely blessed with so much bounty, but we fail to realize it, recognize it and appreciate it. So, let's see, what all we can give other than money.

 

To start with, we can donate our blood. A healthy adult can donate blood for about 6 times a year, but we can volunteer to donate blood at least once a year or when there is a need.

 

We can use our lips, to smile…. to smile at strangers. A casual smile can brighten up the mood of a depressed soul. And there is literally no limit to the number of smiles, we can give for free.

 

We can use our heart, to appreciate…appreciate people whole heartedly, without any expectation in return. Just appreciate the good work they do, big or small and that can motivate them to do a lot more.

 

We can use our mouth, to speak kind, positive and encouraging words… We are surrounded by a world of negativity, filled with doubts and fears. A positive word can be like a rain drop in a parched earth.  Saying positive, words can be an energy booster and a morale booster too. So, always be there willing to cheer and encourage people.

 

We can use our hands for so many good things… One good thing we can do is to plant and nurture a tree. The future generations will thank us for that.

 

We can lend our ears to listen… There are so many people going through a difficult phase of life. They don’t want any financial help. All that they want is someone to listen to their woes, without judging or advising.

 

We can give our time… There are so many old people, sick people and lonely people out there, who have no one to take care of them. All we need to do is spend some time with them and they will be so grateful to us.

 

We can share our knowledge… by teaching, guiding or providing awareness to youngsters…There are so many people, who can benefit by our expertise and experience.

 

And lastly when we die… we can donate our eyes or be a full body donor. Why burn or bury our corpse, when they can be used to light up someone’s life.

 

And all that we need to do this is just the thought and the heart to give. All that we have is useless, unless we use it for a good purpose. When we die, there is nothing we can take to the grave, but a few drops of tears, that we would get from the people whose lives, we have touched positively. People will not remember us for what we had, but will remember us for what we gave. This is the true reward of living a worthy life.

 

We are all mortals and we have no idea when our death bell rings. Let us not wait, to give, when we can give today.  When we live so, we can say with pride, “This world is a much richer place, because of me, but I didn't give away a single rupee.”

 

Give, Give, Give. Give all that you can, with all your heart. 

And be rest assured you will forever live in a thousand hearts.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com