That Little Chap of Mine

To feel his little hand in mine, so clinging and so warm,

To know he thinks me strong enough to keep him safe from harm;

     To see his simple faith in all that I can say or do,

     It sort of shames a fellow but it makes him better too;

And I am trying hard to be the man he fancies me to be,

Because I have this chap at home who thinks the world of me.

     I would not disappoint his trust for anything on earth,

     Nor let him know how little I just naturally am worth.

But after all, it's easier that brighter road to climb,

With the little hands behind me to push me all the time.

     And I reckon I'm a better man than what I used to be,

     Because I have this chap at home who thinks the world o' me.

                  (author unknown)

Constant Companion

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

I will Push you onward or drag you down to failure.

I am completely at your command.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn over to me and I will do them - quickly and correctly.

I am easily managed - You must be firm with me.

Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.

I am the servant of great people, and alas of all failures as well.

Those who are failures, I have made failures.

I am not a machine though I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person.

You may run me up for profit or run me for ruin - It makes no difference to me.

Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will place the world at your feet.

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I?

  

I am Habit.

Author Unknown

What I Wanted and What I Needed

When I asked God for strength
He gave me difficult situations to face

When I asked God for brain and brawn
He gave me puzzles in life to solve

When I asked God for Happiness
He showed me some unhappy people

When I asked God for wealth
He showed me how to work hard

When I asked God for favours
He showed me opportunities to work hard

When I asked God for peace
He showed me how to help others

God gave me nothing I wanted
He gave me everything I needed

attributed to Swami Vivekananda, but no authentic source for this attribution is yet found.

The Secret of Visualisation

What do some of the world’s most influential and successful people have in common?

They all use the practice of visualisation to realise their dreams and goals.

  
Jack Nicklaus has won a record 18 professional majors and is considered the best golfer in history. He has described how he used visualisation extensively to help him prepare and win at golf.

    
Tiger Woods was taught how to use visualization and imagery when he was a boy by his father, Earl. Tiger visualizes exactly where he wants the golf ball to go. Tiger Woods uses visualization to become one of the best, if not the best, golfer in the world today.

    
Arnold Schwarzenegger, five time Mr. Universe, four-time Mr. Olympia has not only used visualization for athletic success but also credits it for his success as a movie star: ”When I was very young I visualized myself being and having what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it.”

This involves visualising the end result of your goal or desire .The concept of visualisation techniques has been known for ages.

Visualisation should be done in the “present tense”. Let’s say you’re looking to own a brand new car. You want to visualise yourself in the car and feel the moment as if it is happening this instant and not at some time in the future.

In other words, feel the sense of joy in owning the car, rather than the sense of wanting or the sense of desire for the car.

If you are looking to improve your sports skills, visualise yourself playing the game perfectly. See yourself making perfect moves, shooting every basket, making the perfect swing. Feel the joy you feel when you play the game well.

If you are looking to shed some pounds, see yourself healthy and fit. Feel the joy of having a beautiful body. See people complimenting you.

If you’re in sales, you can see yourself making the perfect pitches. See your monthly commission statements showing ever-increasing figures.

Absorb The Whole Thing - From Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

This means spending time staring at or listening to the desired skill—the song, the move, the swing—as a single coherent entity. People in the hotbeds stare and listen in this way quite a lot. It sounds rather Zen, but it basically amounts to absorbing a picture of the skill until you can imagine yourself doing it.

"We're prewired to imitate," Anders Ericsson says. "When you put yourself in the same situation as an outstanding person and attack a task that they took on, it has a big effect on your skill."

Imitation need not be conscious, and in fact it often isn't. In California I met an eight-year-old tennis player named Carolyn Xie, one of the top-ranked age-group players in the country. Xie had a typical tennis prodigy's game, except for one thing. Instead of the usual two-handed backhand for thatage, she hit one-handed backhands exactly like Roger Federer.

Not a little bit like Federer but exactly like Federer, with that signature head-down, torero finish.

I asked Xie how she learned to hit that way. "I dunno," she said. "I just do." I asked her coach: he didn't know. Later Li Ping, Carolyn's mother, was chatting about their evening plans when she mentioned they'd be watching a tape of Roger's match. It turned out that everyone in the family was a huge fan of Federer; in fact, they had watched just about every televised match he'd ever played on tape. Carolyn in particular watched them whenever she could. In other words, in her short life she had seen Roger Federer hit a backhand tens of thousands of times. She had watched the backhand and, without knowing, simply absorbed the essence of it.

The Talent Code - Daniel Coyle

Often time s when one looks at the end product, be it a book, a sculpture or painting   we here the exclamation that it’s the work of a genius blessed by God. Daniel Coyle shatters this Myth in his book “The Talent Code”

“The great piano virtuoso Paderewski was once playing before an audience of the rich and the royal. After a brilliant performance, an elegant lady waxed ecstatic over the great artist. She said, ‘Ah Maestro, you are a genius!’ Paderewski tartly replied, ‘Ah yes, madam, but before I was a genius I was a clod!’ What he was saying was that his present acclaim was not handed to him on a silver platter. He, too, was once a little boy laboriously practicing his scales. And even at his peak, behind every brilliant performance there were countless hours of practice and preparation.”

“Consider Michelangelo. From ages six to ten he lived with a stone-cutter and his family, learning how to handle a hammer and chisel before he could even write. After a brief, unhappy attempt at schooling, he apprenticed to the great Ghirlandaio. He worked on blockbuster commissions, sketching, copying, and preparing frescoes in one of Florence’s largest churches. He was then taught by master sculptor Bertoldo and tutored by other luminaries at the home of Lorenzo de’ Medici, where Michelangelo lived until he was seventeen. He was a promising but little-known artist until he produced the Pietà at age twenty-four. People called the Pietà pure genius, but its creator begged to differ. “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery,” Michelangelo said, “it would not seem so wonderful at all.”

Leadership Philosophy - Peter Koestenbaum

Peter Koestenbaum, Ph.D., founder and Chairman of PiB.Net and the Koestenbaum Institute, brings leadership philosophy to business people globally. He has been close to business executives and their deepest concerns, sharing with them insights and feelings, new perspectives and more serviceable adaptations.

“The best leaders operate in four dimensions: vision, reality, ethics and courage. These are the four intelligences, the four forms of perceiving, the languages for communicating that are required to achieve meaningful, sustained results. The visionary leader thinks big, thinks new, thinks ahead – and most important, is in touch with the deep structure of human consciousness and creative potential. You must gain control over the patterns that govern your mind: your world view, your beliefs about what you deserve and about what’s possible. That’s the zone of fundamental change, strength, and energy – and the true meaning of courage.”

– Peter Koestenbaum