Canteen Fundas - How to Double Your Income and Your Happiness - Enthusiasm

 How you can double your income and your happiness by doubling your enthusiasm!

https://www.edexlive.com/opinion/2022/may/28/e-canteen-fundas-how-to-be-the-enthu-cutlet-of-any-team-and-how-it-pays-off-29081.html

E-Canteen Fundas: How to be the 'enthu cutlet' of any team and how it pays off

Enthusiasm is one of your most precious assets. Double your enthusiasm and you will double your income and happiness. Enthusiasm can be cultivated

Read and be enthused | (Pic: EdexLive)


‘I do like our Principal Mr Gupta,’ said Rinku. ‘But the one thing I don’t like is that he’s so dull and serious.’

‘True,’ said Rahul. ‘He is efficient and all that, but everything seems like a big burden with him leading the effort. Something’s missing in his leadership style. What’s it, bhaiyya?’




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‘Enthusiasm, my friend,’ smiled Rakesh brightly, banging his fist on the table. ‘According to John Adair, the author of Confucius on Leadership, some of the important qualities of a leader include enthusiasm, integrity, being tough yet fair, warmth and humility. Your principal seems to be suffering from a serious lack of enthusiasm.’

‘What do you mean, bhaiyya?’ asked Rinku. ‘He’s got a job and it must be done, that’s all. Right? Why add enthusiasm and all that to it.’

‘Rinku,’ said Rakesh. ‘Listen carefully — the secret ingredient to an interesting life is enthusiasm. You can do the same job or live the same life with enthusiasm and interest and enjoy the process. Enthusiasm is the ingredient that attracts people to you, lends you charisma. All great leaders infuse their work with enthusiasm, passion and energy. They are fun to follow, to share the journey with, however difficult, unlike some who’re serious and not enthusiastic about their work. Enthusiastic people achieve a lot more and happily so. They also adapt faster to changing situations, are more accepting of mistakes and open to others' participation. Now, who would you like to work with? Enthusiastic people or dull and serious types?’

‘Enthusiastic people any day,’ said Rahul. ‘Not people with long faces. They drain my energy.’

‘But how can anyone become enthusiastic overnight?’ asked Rinku. ‘Isn’t being enthusiastic a personality trait?’

‘Not really,’ said Rakesh. ‘One can cultivate enthusiasm like any other trait. You can build your enthusiasm muscle by working on it. I read about the magic of enthusiasm in Frank Bettger’s book How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. As a youngster, Frank was upset when he was told he lacked enthusiasm and was fired from his job. So, he forced himself to act like the most enthusiastic person around in his next job even though he felt very foolish. He found that he could, 1) Overcome his fear with his enthusiasm, 2) His enthusiasm seeped into others, and 3) He began feeling much better about himself. As a happy side effect, his income went up by six times! Frank’s mantra, which is valid even now is this — to be enthusiastic, force yourself to act enthusiastic. Enthusiasm, he says, is the highest-paid quality on earth. It is rare and contagious. And finally, he concludes — if you double your enthusiasm, you could double your income and happiness. Would you want to?’

‘Whoa, absolutely,’ said Rahul. ‘Makes sense. You have been talking about energy management and this is a clear case of that. So, you’re saying we should just choose to be the most enthusiastic person around and be that right?’



‘Yes,’ said Rakesh. ‘Just remind yourself every time your energy wavers. Force yourself to double your enthusiasm, even if it makes you feel stupid. Don’t let anyone take away your most precious asset, your enthusiasm. With some practice, it will become second nature very soon and you will see the happy side effects like increasing income, increasing happiness and well being. You’ll be happy and so will those around you.’

‘Hmm, now I see how important it is for leaders to be enthusiastic and joyful about what they do,’ said Rinku. ‘And not be serious like a headmaster ready to judge and punish everyone. In fact, I think we become good leaders if we are more enthusiastic.’

‘True,’ said Rakesh. ‘There is a quote by Confucius which says ‘To be fond of something is better than merely knowing it, and to find joy in it is better than to be fond of it.’ Being enthusiastic and joyful is being wholehearted, about doing things with complete commitment, without any doubt, with optimism. A good leader never gives up and never shows when she is tired. Adair quotes, ‘In your daily routine do not show weariness and where there is action to be taken of, give your best.’

‘Yes, bhaiyya,’ said Rahul. ‘I realise that when we do things enthusiastically it indicates that we’ve committed ourselves fully to that work. Lack of enthusiasm shows our lack of commitment which shows in results. I will now infuse all my work with complete enthusiasm and hope.’

‘And that will make work interesting for us and for others too,’ said Rinku with complete enthusiasm. ‘Woohoo! We’re doing the most interesting work in the world people!’

‘Incredible,’ said Rakesh. ‘You’ve both doubled your enthusiasm even as we speak. So be the most enthusiastic people around, encourage and infect others with your enthusiasm and most importantly, do not let anyone rob you of your enthusiasm. Remember, it’s your most precious asset.’

Pro Tip: Enthusiasm is one of your most precious assets. Double your enthusiasm and you will double your income and happiness. Enthusiasm can be cultivated — force yourself to be the most enthusiastic person and you’ll see results immediately. As a leader, be enthusiastic, because enthusiastic leaders make work interesting, attract others to do the work wholeheartedly and thereby, get good results.

One for the Archives - A Gathering of Old Friends at CV's Son's Wedding

 CV's junior Milind has been known to me since he was in school as a Under 16 kid. Then his progress to India Under 19, first class and IPL is known. So when he got married recently CV, our old tam mate from MCC, Osmania University and so on, somehow managed to call everyone he played with. Very sweet of him. 

Osman, Gaz, Vidyuth, Vikram, Shashi, Ifti, Swaroop, Mujtaba, Ehtu, me, Ravi, Balig, Sriram, Abbas, Ajmal and Bansi

Bansi and I went together to Taj Krishna and it was great fun meeting all the old team mates - Ehtesham, Vidyuth, Gaz, Shashi, Iftekhar, Balig, Mujtaba - and a whole bunch of others.

Like I said, one for the archives. Thanks to Mujjam for the idea and getting us all in. 

The Sundar Nagar Joy of Sharing Club - Second Initiative

 Darahas once again helped with this idea, fully supported by our President and Secretary, who also graced the occasion. There were some more kids this time - books (over 60 books), headphones, shoes, play stuff and some other things. Darahas planned the event out with many youngsters - I wish some more adults had come too.

The Lot or the Loot

Anyway, it was a Sunday evening and the book sharing event started at 530. After an introduction by Anirudh I spoke about my thoughts and then the President and Secretary spoke and then it was a free for all. It was interesting to know that a fe kids had brought a book or two to share and even more interesting to see a six or seven year old kid taking away books way beyond his age by the stacks - one can only hope he gets inspired to read them. One young girl was looking rather disconsolately at a National Geographic without a cover and I told her to take it - the inside content was far more valuable.

The new committee

One other youngster told me how he read Roald Dahl and showed me what he had picked up - RK Narayan, Ruskin Bond and a couple of well chosen books. Smart fellow and a definite reader. I am sure he could have picked up some more. One kid asked me for a suggestion and I told him to pick up Guns, Germs and Steel. I remember giving a few more suggestions - there were so many good books on display. I was tempted to pick up a coupe including Zero to One - but hey, it was gone in a jiffy. Te kid who picked it up came and asked me - is it a good book sir/ I had to hold myself and say Yes.

Anirudh compering - he did a good job!

Once again, almost 80-90% of the stuff went off. Just some odd things and a couple of books got left out. The sight of two kids carrying books away by the bag load was most heartening. Darahas made a young team which he says will take the idea of the 'Joy of Sharing Club' forward and I am hoping they will. The President and the Secretary said we could do this activity every last weekend of the month which is very generous of them. Darahas tells me that the Model Colony people have also sent their appreciation of the initiative.

All of us 

Good job Darahas. 

One other thing Darahas did was to organise a small talk by me to a bunch of youngsters who he felt were at a stage when they needed some advice. Rishikesh, Bharath, Kivanth, Akhil, Akhilesh and Prabhaas, joined in, along with Darahas and Anirudh. I shared stories about howto work towards a goal, the learning mindset and stuff. They asked quite a few questions which was heartening. We parted with the thought that we could meet again like this another day.

Thanks Vinod bhai, Smitha, Vinesh and others for sharing your books for the cause.        

Uh - Oh - Robert Fulghum

 It looked like one of those easy to flip by books with some interesting anecdotes and some home grown wisdom told in typical Fulghum style, I've read his books 'Kindergarten' one for sure and maybe one other one.

It was an easy read and full of anecdotes. The book has a tag line that says 'Some Observations from Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door'. Now I remember that there was something about a refrigerator but that's about it. Nothing more. There are stories about his friends, colleagues, neighbours (one about the lady with the dog), one about a sky funeral where Fulghum threw ashes out of the plane and they flew right back in - hilarious one that - I couldn't remember any other stories - maybe I was not paying attention. Or maybe I just got the feeling, that sometimes we write because someone wants us to write something like that other one, and it does not really work because we don't have anything to say really.

Anyway I cannot put blame fully on Fulghum. I was rather distracted too. But well, you could flip through it and learn about what's on both sides of the fridge. Thanks S for giving it to me. I will, in the spirit of things, let go of it too. 

How Come No One Told Me That - Prakash Iyer

 I have read two of his books 'The Habit of Winning' and 'The Secret of Leadership' and like his easy story telling manner of getting stuff across. He does what he does best with this book - many short stories from his life and work.

The book is split into many sections. 

Life Lessons. We begin with lessons from a boat ride (a boatman teaches lessons on humility and other stuff to get to the destination), left or right (we want stuff without knowing why, just because others want them), search for the tiger (missing the other beautiful stuff in the way), monkey that decided to jump (but never jumped - decide and do work instead of saying 'how can I help' or 'let me know').

Getting better - alteration tailor (how small alterations can make a big difference to life - to fit - go get yourself a coach), no option (burn bridges so you commit fully), table tennis, shot clock, judge a book by its cover (most times its right), quality vs quantity 

All in the Mind - What will people think (looking good vs being effective), Man who kept giraffes away (you cannot see them because I kept them away), Hanlon's razor (never attribute to ,alice what can be explained by negligence), 10th floor (illusion - it was the first floor), they are all like that (bias), car key (it's not as bad as it looks, stop blaming and look at what you need to do) 

What leaders do - Sully (landed his plane in the Hudson, gave credit to everyone else, last off plane), Upside down chart (the organisation chart turned upside down so the boss is at the bottom), Know your people (each lion is different) unlucky guy in the Q (can help others in Q), Starting point, Brown M&Ms (Van Halen story), Chairman's white kerchief (where the Chairman took out his kerchief and cleaned the dusty product), Mount Everest (more people die while coming down), talent needs opportunity (ABD got his chance thanks to his skipper)

Good advice - Socks and shoes (John Wooden and how he teaches his players how to wear socks and tie shoelaces), Never forget the lessons, why keep a dog and bark yourself (let them do their job), lion and antelope (do what's needed, not what is convenient), fight for orange (peels and fruit, and how they can resolve it peacefully if only they had known)

Better decisions - cleaning wardrobes (the right question - what would you do and not what did you intend to do), college dropouts and bomber planes (survivorship bias - look at where the planes were not hit because they came back), cobras (incentivising has other results), steering wheels and seat belts (change the perspective - instead of making softer steering wheels, stop hitting the wheel)

Influence - who are you kidding, popsickle hotline (one USP that everyone wants - create those moments), can you do me a favour (help others, ask for help), salesmen at Churchgate (plants in the crowd acting like hey are buying and getting others to buy as well)

Teamwork and culture - bicycle shed (can decide 10 billion project funding in 5 minutes but will take an hour to decide over cycle shed decision), team of stars (build a star team - good fit, right chemistry, eagles in formation), strong links and weak links (both have their place), being human, Kumble-Dhoni (latecomers called out and penalised - MSD penalises the whole team for one guy's misdemeanour), who picks up the tab (his colleague John Aravamuthan who taught him the principle of who picks up a tab as a principle), golden helmet, when traffic light turns red (do you stop or go through when no one is looking)

Leading change - Headlights in the morning, the best nailclipper (until I found another one), advice from a dentist (little water is best to gargle), power of 1% (aggregation of marginal gains), escalators (can you help those who cannot by coaching them and teaching them a lifelong skill), shoelace (how he found that there were different ways to tie a shoelace and its never too late to learn - also don't blame the shoe company because you don't know how to tie your shoe laces), Fosbury flop (game changing style of high jump), turning the ship (be patient, do the work and wait for the results, don't overdo)when you cannot understand why

What matters - magic of giving, last step (beware the last steps), who's your legacy

As you can see, a whole lot of stories, all of them interesting and explained simply and with great insight. I've picked up quite a few stories from Prakash's books to relate. As usual, worth reading. Pick it up. Easy, insightful and very practical.  

And for the record - I have all three of his books. 

      

   

The Yellow Diary - Marz

 Abhinay visited and we spent the day together chatting about this and that. After lunch we both participated in a 'Passion Test' session by Shobhs - which was pretty revelatory. This test of your true passions always throws up some surprises and I could see that my current passion was to enjoy my own company, laugh a lot, write, be close to nature and stuff like that. Abhinay also cracked some interesting stuff.

Anjali arrived and they both played some cricket and then did some collaborative painting. Later in the evening, after y walk, we sat down and I asked Abhinay to play a few songs that he has been listening to and he did. I find this the best way to catch up on music - years ago I would ask all my young nieces and nephews to share their top 20 songs and voila, I had a clue to their soul and to the latest in music.

Now Abhinay chanced upon this son quite by accident but the moment I heard the sound I was drawn to it. It sounded like a foreign language - think its Punjabi mostly - but cannot say. But the sound - man - I loved it. So here it is, thanks to Abhinay and Spotify, 'Marx' by The Yellow Diary.

I fully love the sound. None of their other songs sound like this though.

The Pune Diaries - And Back Home!

 I stayed back and got some more sleep while the others went to Gol Gumbaz for the early morning treat. They came back in an hour or more and after some breakfast we were out heading back to good old Hyd. The weather was a bit hot. The Google maps showed that the road via Gulbarga was shorter or quicker which was a big mistake. It might have been then but as the day wore on, the traffic increased and we could hardly get any distance going. Compared to this uncertainty, the Bijapur-Sholapur road was a certain thing - an hour and a half to Sholapur and five from there to Hyderabad. Superb roads all through.

But the road via Gulbarga was definitely more scenic and went through some lovely towns and villages, fields and greenery, rolling hills and small lakes. The sights of these districts - processions, people gathering for Sunday markets etc were all quaint to see. Things you'd miss on the highway.

Anyway, we made it home safely to Hyd by 4 or so. A couple of weeks of some work, some intense stuff, some fun and well, we're back!