what for i am here? I am here to chat with you.
Shall we talk about Sabine's formula?
(No)
Shall we talk about High speed aerodynamics?
(No)
Shall we talk about Electromagnetic theory?
(No)
Shall we talk about quantum mechanics?
(No)
hmmmmmmmm...then what shall we talk about?
Shall we talk about love?
(Yes)
yes..i am going to talk to you about how to love your career and life and how to plan them.
You all must be wondering as to why i chose this topic.You have enough professors who are vertically qualified to write long equations and explain the technical matter as they have got knowledge on the subject. so, i thought why to bore you with the same stuff.
Do you all like this topic?
(Yes)
Why did i select career and life? This is because all of your doing a professional course. i.e most of the time you are going to be tied up with your job. So, your profession and life are inter-related. They can not be viewed separately.
(one gains knowledge by reading or listening to knowledgeable or experienced people or by observing others when they perform. Experience, which is a combination of knowledge and skill, comes when you do it yourself. You perform a job with the learnt knowledge and learn the skill and additional knowledge when you perform a job yourself)
I know as to what you want at this moment in life. All of you are hit by the fear of unknown... am i right?
The questions in your mind are..whether i will get a job or not? What sort of job i will get? what is expected out of me by the employer? How much salary i will get? Whether my dreams will come true or not? What is the work environment going to be? How i should work? Will i get an understanding life partner? Whether my married life will be succesfull or not? Will i be successful in my career? Will i get admission for my post graduation abroad or not?
Did i judge your mind correctly?
The answers for all these questions are in your hands. Not in other's hands. Then why to worry? Just forget the worries, remove the anxiety and through the tension. Just be happy and do what is required. That is all. Your life will be successful. Most of the time the anxiety induced stress is the major drag in your life which pulls you back and affects your performance. So, throw away all these anxiety inducing questions from your mind. Free your mind. Now just listen to me. I will tell you what you have to do. Just do that. You will be successful in your profession and overall life.
Will you all do it?
In most of the issues i am going to speak, you will have differing opinions. If there are thousand people here, there can be thousand opinions. I am going to tell you about what i have learnt, experienced and observed during my last 45 years of life on earth. My aim is not to force you to follow my path. My aim is to make you think on the issues that i am going to discuss. That is all.
Also, on each of these topics i can talk for nearly an hour. But due to the restriction of time i will limit to only ignition of the issue in your minds. In case you want to know more on these, you can contact me on email id MRAMASUBRAMANIAN1@YAHOO.CO.IN
Now let us get back to the topic.
What is career? career is a course of successive situations that make up a person's occupation. i.e job has got a specific time duration for execution in an organisation. But career spans over many years. It indicates potential development of an individual through training before every elevated appointment in the hierarchy of an organisation. i.e once you are appointed in an organisation you serve in that level for a short time...may be one or two years..then you are trained for your next job...thereafter promoted or shifted to this new job...after some time you are again trained for the next job and appointed...like this it continues throughout your career...
Every one has different opinion about career and life. It depends on what he wants in life. But the biggest problem in life is no one knows what he or she wants in life at different points in time because it changes with circumstances. The other biggest unknown is our own skills and competency levels in each skill. Every job requires a specific knowledge and skill. Whether we have it or not, we don't know. So, how are we going to match our skills and competencies to those required at the job?
All of you were born about 20 years back as just a 'Human being'. You were of no use to a family or organisation or society. During the developmental process from child hood to now, you were exposed to the environment at home, school, society, college, media, books, experienced people etc and have learnt a lot through all your five senses, most of the time without your knowledge. All this learning has shaped your overt and covert behaviours. Now you are 'Human Resource' and you are required for an organisation, a family and the society. Managing the resources in you to the optimum level is the challenge for both you and the organisations. So, you need to be a good HR manager to manage your own resources for your success in life.
All of you are engineers. You are aware that anything can be considered as a system and the characteristics or behaviours can be listed and predicted. An equation can be written for that system which will govern the system. Human being is the only system for whom you can not write the governing equation and predict the characteristics and behaviours as every human being is different and even in different situations and times. Therefore, you yourself do not know what you want, what will be your behaviour, when etc...
(what is learning?...learning is any process that results in relatively permanent change in behaviour...the behaviour that can be externally visible..i.e overt..or that rests in the mind...i.e covert)
Believe me, for 98% of people the career choice is mostly by chance. Not by choice. for e.g you take any teenager. Ask him what he wants to be. When he sees an aeroplane doing aerobatics he wants to become a pilot. When he sees an armed forces guy in uniform he is impressed with it and wants to join the armed forces. When he sees an IT guy driving a Benz car, he wants to join an IT firm. When he sees vijay mallya and his posh life, he wants to become a businessman. When he sees Abdul Kalam, who is my college senior, he wants to become a scientist. When he feels the fame of A.R. Rahman he wants to become a music composer. When he walks out of a cinema theatre after seeing a vijay movie, he wants to be become an actor.
Do you all agree with me?
All these are fantasy choices. Not based on our skills and competencies. Most of us pick up our career like this. If we are not focussed on these fantasies, then we will score some mark in +2, join an engineering college and sit infront of a guy like me listening to a lecture, attend the campus interview, get selected, the employer will put you in a project, you work on it and get branded as a specialist in that and throughout your life you dwell in that well, whether you like it not. Now see how your career gets shaped..by the chance...and not your choice. Scientists say that a person becomes capable of understanding his skills when he is 40 and makes a realistic choice of his career. Sad! is it not?
Select your profession based on skills and competencies...not on interests
Most of us select a career based on our interest. Interest depends on how much of direct or indirect happiness and involvement the career can give you. Direct happiness means the happiness you get when you do the job. Indirect happiness means...performing the job may not fetch you happiness...but that job might fetch you more money or something else using which you can fulfill your desires of life and get happiness. If you feel that a particular career can give you more direct or indirect happiness and involvement then you choose that course or career. Is it the correct way? What happens if you do not have the skill, ability, and knowledge' that is required for that job? you will be a failure. This will make you feel depressed. Scientists say that you should select a job in which you have the skills, knowledge and high competency levels. Interest is not necessary. They say that if you have skill then you will certainly perform well and be successful. You can win easily. You will get noticed by your superiors fast. When you are rewarded for your good work then automatically you will develop interest for that job. So, select your job or career based on your skills and not on your interests. It may be a fantasy.
1. Read as much as you can. In your engineering discipline you have many subjects. Read well the subject of your interest. In other subjects put in your best. Read widely and in depth to what ever possible extent. Just don't worry about your marks. It is required only to enter the first screening process. So, maintain whatever percentage of marks possible by doing well in the subjects of your interest and doing the best in the subjects which do not like. Improve your general knowledge. Increase your general awareness by reading news papers and other magazines and journals related to science, your engg discipline and the related industry. Read the information about the organisations you want to join, what they are doing and what do they expect from their employees. In general all employers look for the analytical ability of the individual. i.e how the individual is able to analyse information and draw logical conclusions. Because, on job, every second you will analyse the available information and take decisions. During the initial years the knowledge you gain in the college will be the basic information with which you will draw up conclusions. So, read to the best of your abilities.
1. Improve your communication skills. English is the global language and language is the medium through which your knowledge flows. So friends, talk to every one in english. All of us are good in technical english which is just making sentences with passive voice. But when it comes to communication related to day to day activities, or explaining a non technical process or a general topic or convincing other person then we are struck. Friends, please remember. Nothing comes by fluke or chance. Everything comes by planned and focussed regular practice. I studied in a corporation school till 5th and in tamil medium till 10th. Whenever some one asked me anything in english i just answered 'I don't know english' and ran away. (Once i wrote a story on this in Ananda Vikatan, a copy of it is available with the HOD for the notice board...you can read leasurely...) Then i realised that proficiency in english is a must to come up in life. Since then i communicated only in english with every one. Now i am what i am. So, don't feel shy. Don't worry about the criticisms of others. Those who criticise are of no use to you. Keep away from them. Team up with those who want to improve their english and shape yourself. Don't think that you are in pre-final or final year. It is never too late. Even now you can pick up within one month with concerted efforts. Form small groups, discuss about the day to day issues, your subjects, some times about politics or what is happening in the society or college or class room, teach your juniors, take some classes, participate in paper presentations in your college and other colleges, conduct mock up interviews and group discussions at a small level in the hostels or in actuals at faculties. All these will improve your ability to convey, convince and confidence in you to address a group of people. If uneducted politicians can do it why not by a highly educated person like you!
2. Improve your soft skills. It is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills (part of a person's IQ), which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities.
A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful if they train their staff to use these skills. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization. For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.
It has been suggested that in a number of professions soft skills may be more important over the long term than occupational skills. The legal profession is one example where the ability to deal with people effectively and politely, more than their mere occupational skills, can determine the professional success of a lawyer.
Examples of soft skills are:
* Participate in a team (i.e team building)..be cooperative with others..have patience..listen to other's ideas..if you think and take a decision, it is only one brain work. If you listen to 10 brains then you get the synergic power of more than 10 brains. When you implement this decision obviously it has to be a success only. So, conduct and participate in group discussions, association meetings, hostel meetings, faculty discussions. Do not be a passive listener. Actively participate in the discussions.
* Lead a team (i.e leadership)..be the leader of an association or NSS or any forum or even a small group with a specific task. Learn about the leadership qualities and follow them whilst being the team leader. Primarily 'Lead by Example'. Just do not be a preacher.
* Unite a team amidst cultural differences
* Teach others
* Provide services
* Negotiate
* Motivate others
* Make decisions
* Solve problems
* Observe forms of etiquette
* Interact with others
* Maintain meaningless conversation (small talk)
* Maintain meaningful conversation (discussion/debate)
* Defuse arguments with timing, instructions and polite, concise language
* Feign interest and speak intelligently about any topic
* Listening
* Coaching
Now, why soft skills are important? In any organisation you will deal with Money, Materials and Human beings. Money and materilals are inanimate. Their behaviours, characteristics and properties over the entire life time is known. Also, what ever you can achieve with them is also limited. For e.g with 100 rupees what you can buy is limited. With a metal sheet of definite dimention what you can make is also limited. But human beings are unpredictable systems whose behaviours, characteristics, properties and capabilities cannot be forecasted. They are dynamic throughout their life time. Their capabilities are unlimited. Therefore, money and material resources are easily manageable. Skills required to manage them are known and can be acquired. Managing the Human resources, which are varied and changing all the times with unlimited capacity is a challenge and requires spcial soft skills. This is the reason why the employers look for soft skills in employees. They are the essential skills required to coexist in harmony with other human beings in a team or group, match the aspirations of the individual with that of the organisation and perform optimally.
If you do these three things, rest be assured, you will get the best company and the best job. If you carefully observe, all these three things are only in your hands. Not in other's hands. So, why to worry..just do it! You will be happy and successful too.
Now how to select a job matching the skills? What are your skills? There are so many methods available through internet to assess your skills and competency levels in each skill. But the authenticity and credibility of these tests are not proven. So, just don't worry. All human beings possess multiple skills. Different competency levels in each skill. Also they have the ability to grow a new skill and improve an existing skill. So, assess your skills utilising the best of the available methods. Sharpen them. Grow them. Match them with the profession and select it. After selecting the profession you may find that it requires some more additional skills and additional competency levels in the exisiting skills. Now you shape yourself. A perfect match is never possible. Adapting and applying minor corrections to the needs of the profession is the only best strategy. For e.g if you are not good in your subjects then do not select 'Design' and 'R&D'. If you are not good in communication skills do not take up 'Sales'. If you are good at analytical ability then take up 'Marketing'. If you think that you are the jack of all trades and master of none or you feel that you are misfit for engg profession and just landed up in this college by compulsions then do an MBA and wash away all your sins. After your MBA no one will ask about your engg..they will ask only about your specialisation in MBA..your engg back up will help to seek job both in manufacturing sector and finance sectors. This is the advantage of engg. So, just don't worry. Be happy. There is a solution for every problem.
What you do does not matter. How you do matters.
This holds good even in the college. What course you do does not matter. How you do it matters. So, all of you doing non conventional engg courses like leather, chemical or fashion tech etc..just do not worry. Your discipline does not matter. Only your knowledge in the subjects, your soft skills and general awareness about the industry, society, country and world is what is important. You will get a good job and certainly will come up in life. Through IT and taking up management education you can always change your profession. For e.g i am an instrumentation engineer, joined a marine engg profession, specialised in aeronautical engg, vertically spcialised in aircraft maintenance management, super specialised in Human Resource Management and now carrying out research in psychology...sometimes write stories in magazines too...that is life...i myself do not know which all fields i will enter into before i get burried at the pappanaiken palayam burial ground! My class mates are also like this. They have diversified to different fields. So friends, do not worry. Through computers and information technology changing your fields of work and interest is very easy. You just concentrate and do well in your studies. After you join an organisation do not worry about the type of job you are doing. Do not compare yourself with others. Just focus on your job and do it well. You will be certainly rewarded.
Be different.
India is a country with a large human resource. So, if you look at one knowledge or skill there are thousands and lakhs available in the competition. So, the winning strategy is 'to be different'. To be distinct amongst the lakhs. So, develop certain special skills and knowledge which are required for the organisations, which are not abundantly available and every one cannot easily afford to gain that knowledge or skill. For e.g an aeronautical engg student can learn flying through flying clubs if he can afford the cost, you can work on week ends or festival holidays or vacations in an organisation and gain exposure and professional experience which can make you distinct, those interested in design can work in ISRO, VSSC etc, a marine engg student can qualify in diving etc
Be a global employee.
With economy growing, industrialisation all over the world, boundaries of work vanishing if you qualify to be a global employee then you have plenty of oppurtunities. If you know only tamil then you are a regional employee and your job oppurtunities and growth prospects are limited. In such situations you cannot have big dreams in life. If you know English and hindi you can be employed anywhere in india and therefore your job oppurtunities and growth prospects increase. If you learn a foreign language and know the culture of that country then you become a global employee and your job and growth oppurtunities become unlimited. This will also make you distinct and different among other students and employees. So, learn French, German, Chinese and Japanese. Even one language can change your life drastically! It increases your job oppurtunities even within india.
Keep education as routine in life.
All of us brush our teeth every day till death. Same way we eat, breath, take bath till death. They are basic routines to be alive. Same way continuing the education till death is the basic requirement to live. The day you stop studies, you will perish. That is the end of your profession. So, keep reading about your present profession, next profession etc. If possible consolidate that education with an academic qualification the way i do. In india the first screening for any job is by specifying the minimum educational qualification. So, keep reading, keep educating yourself. It will always help to shape your life and profession.
Don't be an Ashoka tree. Be a Banyan Tree.
I have seen many people piling up their human resources in one profession only. If they do not succeed then they feel dejected, depressed, do not know what to do next, feel that they have failed miserably in life, some commit suicide, some suffer psychological illness and spoil their life, some pick up addictive habits and loose their job, spoil their family life and loose peace of mind. In a competitive world with changing economic situations this is common. So, be wise. Diversify your human resources. Do not put them in one basket. If you are an Ashoka tree, if some one cuts the top or removes the roots then you will fall down miserably. If you spread yourself to other professions too and spread your branches and roots everywhere then probably you can become taller than an ashoka tree, some one cutting few branches will not affect your happiness as other branches are growing and certainly no one can remove all the roots as your roots are spread all over and they are ever increasing. So, be a banyan tree.
Keep in touch with academia.
As i said earlier, keep educating yourself, keep visiting educational institutions, keep giving lectures, sharing your experiences...like the way i am presently doing...it might ignite some minds...change lives...shape the society...there by you are doing a social cause or responsibility of your education, profession and the mear living on this earth. It will also help you to take up an ever lasting career of teaching as teaching has no age limit, increases and deepens your knowledge on varied subjects, helps you to get more young friends of different generations who will keep your socialisation going, might change you too, keep abreast of the changes in the profession, academics and society, helps you to do research, publish research papers in national and international journals, attain fame in academic socity, earn more money and of course the most important one...helps to get immense everlasting satisfaction and happiness of serving others and especially the young students who are the pillars and makers of the future world! This could be one of the branches and roots of the banyan tree i mentioned earlier.
Change your subject every 5 to 7 years.
One can master a subject and contribute significantly to that field in a period of five to seven years. Therefore, change your subject of study or research after that. It will help you to grow like a banyan tree so that there is no monotony, life becomes interesting, you feel like you are born again, your job oppurtunties widen, your knowledge also improves, you will find your perceptions in life change, you become a better human being to your self, your family, society and to the world and no one can knock you down any time.
Performance and Potential.
I have seen, most of the employees focus only on doing their present job well. Whatever job or responsiblity given, they will put in their best effort to do it well to the satisfaction of their superiors. This is what is called performance. Remember. It can only fetch you some rewards like abroad trip, monetary increase, prizes, awards, appreciations in public etc. This only will not get you the promotion. You need to parellely improve the potential also. Potential is the knowledge and skills required for performing the future job. You need to find out these after joining the organisation and grow them in you. Otherwise you may not get promoted. Donot cry later and pick up bad habits and spoil your physical and mental health. So, remember, performance in present job and growing the potential to take up the future jobs or responsibilities are a must to grow up in the organisational hierarchy even if you change organisations and professions.
Be a 'Strategic Karma Yogi'.
Karma means do not expect any returns from your job. You might ask me 'sir, how to live like that?'. I will explain how to do your karma and gain returns also. For this you must 'WORK TO LEARN' and not 'WORK TO EARN'. When you work thinking that you are working to learn more about that profession, to improve your potential, knowledge, skills etc then you will read more about that profession or job or task, discuss more about it with experienced people in that profession or job or task, you will focus your attention and energy, you will use your brain more, your self involvement will be more, you will breath and eat that job in life, you will be creative and therefore you will obviously do that job well. You will be appreciated. You have now become more knowledgeable, skilled and experienced than what you were earlier. This will give you lot of satisfaction, confidence in handling such jobs in future. So, even if you are thrown out of the job you can get another job with your experience. Imagine, if you work like this every second, minute, month, year then you will acquire so much of experience in life that no one can shake you. You will be a banyan tree with deep roots widely spread. You need not bother even if you do not get the reward or promotion. This is what is called karma. Now how to get the returns too.
For this...BLOW YOUR TRUMPHET!..so loud that it is heard not only to your immediate boss, but also to the higher echelons in the organisational hierarchy, and every one comes to know of your good job. This will ensure that you are rewarded suitably and your hardwork is not masked by other throat cutters and under the belly kickers.
Remember, when you work the karma way and blow your trumphet too, you will be like a star...no one can mask the light emanating from you. When you only work the karma way, there is a possibility that you are a lantern and some non ethical elements can mask your light and stop you getting the reward.
Now let us see what happens when you WORK TO EARN. When you work like this your mind is all the time thinking about the reward, you have an anxiety thinking 'will i get the reward...will any one grab it...what will happen if i do not get...who are the competitors...how i can cut their throat...etc. This anxiety stresses your mind..diverts your thinking..does not allow you to involve completely...you are unable to think...makes you to take up wrong, un ethical and illegal paths...the anxiety induced stress always make you to perform grossly below the required level...you do not learn..do not gain experience...so, you land up in a big failure and not getting the reward...makes you feel depressed...as you were running behind the reward like a mad dog...some commit suicide also..become a mental patient...thrown out from job..can't take up a new job as you no more a human resource...
so therefore, WORK TO LEARN and not WORK TO EARN.
Is intelligence important to be successful in life?
My personal opinion and experience is No. I am of the opinion that every normal human being possesses average or above average intelligence which when supplemented with hardwork can fetch success in life. For e.g i don't think i am an intelligent person. I did my primary education at corporation school. My subsequent secondary and higher secondary school education also were from mediocre schools. I was an average student. Only when i joined B Sc (Applied Sciences), missing the engineering admissions, i realised that i have to put in hard work. When it worked and successes followed i started believing that to be successful, intelligence is not required. Hard work can do wonders. Infact, psychology says very high intelligence is an abnormality as it generally affects emotional quotient. So, friends...do not feel that you are not intelligent than your friend. If you put in hardwork, you can supersede him in your profession.
Hard work throughout life is essential.
I have seen many putting in hard work only for short periods and relax thereafter. This is wrong. The day you relax, your fall will start. Therefore, hard work should be a life long activity to keep growing continuously in the hierarchy of the organisation and earn more money.
70% and 30% fact
All of you have seen how our brain appears.
(power point presentation)
if you see this picture, the hind brain or the cerebellum forms a very small part, roughly about 30% of the total size of the brain. But it is the one which is responsible for keeping a human body alive. i.e coma state. In this condition if you see the vital organs like heart, lungs, kidneys etc which are functioning involuntarily under the direct control of the cerebellum only are working. They keep the body alive. i.e the body can not move and perform any task. Remaining nearly 70% of the brain is responsible for the living of the human body. All that he does like thinking, motor movements, sensing, emotions, craving for desires, motivation, feelings, beliefs, mood changes etc are all due to this major part of the brain. Most of the brain and behavioural disorders are due to changes in this part of the brain. Therefore, this 70% is required for a human being to live and any damage to this part of the brain will affect his behaviour. 30% of the brain..i.e cerebellum is a must for any human body to be alive and any damage to this part will make the body dead.
Who is the richest man on earth?
can anyone tell me the answer?
The richest man is the one whose 'wants' or 'desires' are less. Friends, there are two important words in life. 'Needs' and 'Wants'. Needs are the basic physiological requirements for our body to be alive and live. Without these the human being can not live happily e.g food, air, shelter, sex. 'Wants' are the desires which motivate us to move towards higher states of happiness. Basically all luxuries of life. If your wants are more, endless and beyond your reach then it can lead to misery. If they are affordable and achievable within a descent time frame, then you will be motivated and live a physically and mentally healthy and happy life. So, the one who has very less and affordable wants or desires in his life is the richest person.
How to plan goals of life?
Do you all have goals in life. How many of you have? Can you raise hands!
What is your goal?
Many have goals as buying a Mercedes Benz car, or buying a flat or villa or buying a diamond or platinum jewellary etc...Do you think these people will feel satisfied in their life throughout? No. Please remember, anything you get through money in general can give only a short term happiness. It cannot give everlasting happiness. Moment the happiness of possessing it is achieved, then the happiness vanishes. We reach a state of unhappiness or not being happy. We again look forward for the next goal or keep cribing that life is boring. If our goal is self-actualisation, then we will never feel frustrated.
Believe me, every human being has five hierarchy of needs. Whether he or she knows it or not his mind always constantly and silently searches for these needs. Let us see what these needs are.
(power point presentation)
The great scientist Abraham Maslow, in 1943 said that all human minds search for these five levels of needs.
As per him all human minds look first for the physiological needs. Please observe closely...he says 'needs'..meaning human bodies can not live or function without these.i.e food, shelter, air, water and clothing...and for human beings to live happily with satisfactory physical and mental health..i.e sex, sleep, homeostasis (i.e regulated internal environment of the body which tends to maintain a stable, constant condition) and excretion. Albert Maslow terms the remaining also as needs...in the context of those needed to satisfy the psyche of human beings or keep them motivated to work in an organisation...but in my opinion they are a type of 'wants' as without these also the human beings can remain alive with some level of satisfaction. Now, once these basic needs are met his mind automatically searches for the next higher need. i.e security needs. i.e personal security, security of his property, Financial security, Health and well-being, safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts etc...the two needs are known as physiological needs as they affect his body first. Once this second need is met then his mind looks forward for the next higher need namely Social needs without his knowledge, which involve feelings of belongingness. It involves emotionally-based relationships in general, such as:
* Friendship
* Intimacy
* Family
Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs ("Safety in numbers"), or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs. Once this is achieved then the mind seeks the next higher level of need namely Esteem. All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. It is also known as the belonging need, esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued. It could be in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. People with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. Many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can also prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels. Once this level is achieved then the mind looks migrates to the next higher need Self-actualization. “What a man can be, he must be”. This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. For example one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions. In order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs.
One can talk for many hours on these needs but what is important within the scope of this speech is...out of the five, first two are physiological needs and remaining three are psychological needs. Most of us achieve the physiological needs. We have difficulty only in achieving the psychological needs and that is why it is a big challenge for the HR managers. If one is not able to achieve the next immediate higher level of need, then he can not achive the remaining higher levels. Once the individual is unable to achieve the next immediate higher need, He or she goes wonky. It affects the individual's physical and mental health, happiness, moods, performance in the profession, social life, family life etc., He generally does not know what happens in him, he can feel something he is missing, he is not happy in life, he feels has every thing but still not happy, his mind is searching for something which he does not know, he feels he is just existing and not living..this is a transient state...then he comes down by one level and his desire to achive the need would be more vigorous than it was earlier when dwelled at that level. For eg. if one is unable to achive the self-esteem needs, then he will fall back to social needs but would crave for love, affection, inclusion and acceptance more vigorously.
Now, having known these five needs, all of you can analyse your ownselves where you are, you can analyse your behaviours and relate to your need states. The duration for which an individual dwells in each need or transient state depends on the satisfaction or happiness level the individual achieved in each state.
Now, let us go back to our goal setting. If you set your long term goal as self actualisation in your field of work or interest and the short term goals traversing through the remaining 4 goals then you will find that you will be happy and get the feeling of fulfillment in life at the end of it. If your goals are different from these then you will not be happy. You will land up in a situation of 'I am not happy. I don't know the reason'. It will affect the physical and mental health of you and your significant people i.e to those you are significant and those people who are significant to you...generally family members and close friends...Also, if your goals are not made in these lines your transient misery periods of traversing from one level to another level can be longer.
Don't worry. Most of you will reach the self-esteem level. I can assure you that. But if you are strategic, goal focussed and continuously hardworking then you will certainly achive self-actualisation.
Most of us in life set our goals as getting a good job, owning a big house, making big money and wealth etc which are achievable before 40 yrs of age. This is what our concious mind looks for and it looks for only physiological and security / safety needs. Therefore, the concious mind sets only these goals. We do not know what the unconcious mind looks for which is driving the concious mind. Actually it looks for social needs, self esteem needs and self actualisation which are psychological needs. So, nearly at 40 when the physiological, security and safety needs are fulfilled, as you have not set your goals beyoned these, the mind starts searching for the next need. The same time problems of children education, wife menopause, perception of less love and affectio from wife due to her menopausal reactions like anger, frustration, depression in life, high financial needs in family, health getting affected with chronic life long medication requiring illnesses like eye glasses, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, falling professional graph, higher demands from professional front, perception that wealth saved is less etc affects the mind of the individual. All added together forms the mid life crisis which further affects his physical health, mental health, professional growth and overall wellbeing of the family too. Therefore, setting goals matching with the maslow's needs of a human being is essential to avoid midlife crisis.
Shall we talk about Sabine's formula?
(No)
Shall we talk about High speed aerodynamics?
(No)
Shall we talk about Electromagnetic theory?
(No)
Shall we talk about quantum mechanics?
(No)
hmmmmmmmm...then what shall we talk about?
Shall we talk about love?
(Yes)
yes..i am going to talk to you about how to love your career and life and how to plan them.
You all must be wondering as to why i chose this topic.You have enough professors who are vertically qualified to write long equations and explain the technical matter as they have got knowledge on the subject. so, i thought why to bore you with the same stuff.
Do you all like this topic?
(Yes)
Why did i select career and life? This is because all of your doing a professional course. i.e most of the time you are going to be tied up with your job. So, your profession and life are inter-related. They can not be viewed separately.
(one gains knowledge by reading or listening to knowledgeable or experienced people or by observing others when they perform. Experience, which is a combination of knowledge and skill, comes when you do it yourself. You perform a job with the learnt knowledge and learn the skill and additional knowledge when you perform a job yourself)
I know as to what you want at this moment in life. All of you are hit by the fear of unknown... am i right?
The questions in your mind are..whether i will get a job or not? What sort of job i will get? what is expected out of me by the employer? How much salary i will get? Whether my dreams will come true or not? What is the work environment going to be? How i should work? Will i get an understanding life partner? Whether my married life will be succesfull or not? Will i be successful in my career? Will i get admission for my post graduation abroad or not?
Did i judge your mind correctly?
The answers for all these questions are in your hands. Not in other's hands. Then why to worry? Just forget the worries, remove the anxiety and through the tension. Just be happy and do what is required. That is all. Your life will be successful. Most of the time the anxiety induced stress is the major drag in your life which pulls you back and affects your performance. So, throw away all these anxiety inducing questions from your mind. Free your mind. Now just listen to me. I will tell you what you have to do. Just do that. You will be successful in your profession and overall life.
Will you all do it?
In most of the issues i am going to speak, you will have differing opinions. If there are thousand people here, there can be thousand opinions. I am going to tell you about what i have learnt, experienced and observed during my last 45 years of life on earth. My aim is not to force you to follow my path. My aim is to make you think on the issues that i am going to discuss. That is all.
Also, on each of these topics i can talk for nearly an hour. But due to the restriction of time i will limit to only ignition of the issue in your minds. In case you want to know more on these, you can contact me on email id MRAMASUBRAMANIAN1@YAHOO.CO.IN
Now let us get back to the topic.
What is career? career is a course of successive situations that make up a person's occupation. i.e job has got a specific time duration for execution in an organisation. But career spans over many years. It indicates potential development of an individual through training before every elevated appointment in the hierarchy of an organisation. i.e once you are appointed in an organisation you serve in that level for a short time...may be one or two years..then you are trained for your next job...thereafter promoted or shifted to this new job...after some time you are again trained for the next job and appointed...like this it continues throughout your career...
Every one has different opinion about career and life. It depends on what he wants in life. But the biggest problem in life is no one knows what he or she wants in life at different points in time because it changes with circumstances. The other biggest unknown is our own skills and competency levels in each skill. Every job requires a specific knowledge and skill. Whether we have it or not, we don't know. So, how are we going to match our skills and competencies to those required at the job?
All of you were born about 20 years back as just a 'Human being'. You were of no use to a family or organisation or society. During the developmental process from child hood to now, you were exposed to the environment at home, school, society, college, media, books, experienced people etc and have learnt a lot through all your five senses, most of the time without your knowledge. All this learning has shaped your overt and covert behaviours. Now you are 'Human Resource' and you are required for an organisation, a family and the society. Managing the resources in you to the optimum level is the challenge for both you and the organisations. So, you need to be a good HR manager to manage your own resources for your success in life.
All of you are engineers. You are aware that anything can be considered as a system and the characteristics or behaviours can be listed and predicted. An equation can be written for that system which will govern the system. Human being is the only system for whom you can not write the governing equation and predict the characteristics and behaviours as every human being is different and even in different situations and times. Therefore, you yourself do not know what you want, what will be your behaviour, when etc...
(what is learning?...learning is any process that results in relatively permanent change in behaviour...the behaviour that can be externally visible..i.e overt..or that rests in the mind...i.e covert)
Believe me, for 98% of people the career choice is mostly by chance. Not by choice. for e.g you take any teenager. Ask him what he wants to be. When he sees an aeroplane doing aerobatics he wants to become a pilot. When he sees an armed forces guy in uniform he is impressed with it and wants to join the armed forces. When he sees an IT guy driving a Benz car, he wants to join an IT firm. When he sees vijay mallya and his posh life, he wants to become a businessman. When he sees Abdul Kalam, who is my college senior, he wants to become a scientist. When he feels the fame of A.R. Rahman he wants to become a music composer. When he walks out of a cinema theatre after seeing a vijay movie, he wants to be become an actor.
Do you all agree with me?
All these are fantasy choices. Not based on our skills and competencies. Most of us pick up our career like this. If we are not focussed on these fantasies, then we will score some mark in +2, join an engineering college and sit infront of a guy like me listening to a lecture, attend the campus interview, get selected, the employer will put you in a project, you work on it and get branded as a specialist in that and throughout your life you dwell in that well, whether you like it not. Now see how your career gets shaped..by the chance...and not your choice. Scientists say that a person becomes capable of understanding his skills when he is 40 and makes a realistic choice of his career. Sad! is it not?
Select your profession based on skills and competencies...not on interests
Most of us select a career based on our interest. Interest depends on how much of direct or indirect happiness and involvement the career can give you. Direct happiness means the happiness you get when you do the job. Indirect happiness means...performing the job may not fetch you happiness...but that job might fetch you more money or something else using which you can fulfill your desires of life and get happiness. If you feel that a particular career can give you more direct or indirect happiness and involvement then you choose that course or career. Is it the correct way? What happens if you do not have the skill, ability, and knowledge' that is required for that job? you will be a failure. This will make you feel depressed. Scientists say that you should select a job in which you have the skills, knowledge and high competency levels. Interest is not necessary. They say that if you have skill then you will certainly perform well and be successful. You can win easily. You will get noticed by your superiors fast. When you are rewarded for your good work then automatically you will develop interest for that job. So, select your job or career based on your skills and not on your interests. It may be a fantasy.
1. Read as much as you can. In your engineering discipline you have many subjects. Read well the subject of your interest. In other subjects put in your best. Read widely and in depth to what ever possible extent. Just don't worry about your marks. It is required only to enter the first screening process. So, maintain whatever percentage of marks possible by doing well in the subjects of your interest and doing the best in the subjects which do not like. Improve your general knowledge. Increase your general awareness by reading news papers and other magazines and journals related to science, your engg discipline and the related industry. Read the information about the organisations you want to join, what they are doing and what do they expect from their employees. In general all employers look for the analytical ability of the individual. i.e how the individual is able to analyse information and draw logical conclusions. Because, on job, every second you will analyse the available information and take decisions. During the initial years the knowledge you gain in the college will be the basic information with which you will draw up conclusions. So, read to the best of your abilities.
1. Improve your communication skills. English is the global language and language is the medium through which your knowledge flows. So friends, talk to every one in english. All of us are good in technical english which is just making sentences with passive voice. But when it comes to communication related to day to day activities, or explaining a non technical process or a general topic or convincing other person then we are struck. Friends, please remember. Nothing comes by fluke or chance. Everything comes by planned and focussed regular practice. I studied in a corporation school till 5th and in tamil medium till 10th. Whenever some one asked me anything in english i just answered 'I don't know english' and ran away. (Once i wrote a story on this in Ananda Vikatan, a copy of it is available with the HOD for the notice board...you can read leasurely...) Then i realised that proficiency in english is a must to come up in life. Since then i communicated only in english with every one. Now i am what i am. So, don't feel shy. Don't worry about the criticisms of others. Those who criticise are of no use to you. Keep away from them. Team up with those who want to improve their english and shape yourself. Don't think that you are in pre-final or final year. It is never too late. Even now you can pick up within one month with concerted efforts. Form small groups, discuss about the day to day issues, your subjects, some times about politics or what is happening in the society or college or class room, teach your juniors, take some classes, participate in paper presentations in your college and other colleges, conduct mock up interviews and group discussions at a small level in the hostels or in actuals at faculties. All these will improve your ability to convey, convince and confidence in you to address a group of people. If uneducted politicians can do it why not by a highly educated person like you!
2. Improve your soft skills. It is a sociological term relating to a person's "EQ" (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communication, language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that characterize relationships with other people. Soft skills complement hard skills (part of a person's IQ), which are the occupational requirements of a job and many other activities.
A person's soft skill EQ is an important part of their individual contribution to the success of an organization. Particularly those organizations dealing with customers face-to-face are generally more successful if they train their staff to use these skills. Screening or training for personal habits or traits such as dependability and conscientiousness can yield significant return on investment for an organization. For this reason, soft skills are increasingly sought out by employers in addition to standard qualifications.
It has been suggested that in a number of professions soft skills may be more important over the long term than occupational skills. The legal profession is one example where the ability to deal with people effectively and politely, more than their mere occupational skills, can determine the professional success of a lawyer.
Examples of soft skills are:
* Participate in a team (i.e team building)..be cooperative with others..have patience..listen to other's ideas..if you think and take a decision, it is only one brain work. If you listen to 10 brains then you get the synergic power of more than 10 brains. When you implement this decision obviously it has to be a success only. So, conduct and participate in group discussions, association meetings, hostel meetings, faculty discussions. Do not be a passive listener. Actively participate in the discussions.
* Lead a team (i.e leadership)..be the leader of an association or NSS or any forum or even a small group with a specific task. Learn about the leadership qualities and follow them whilst being the team leader. Primarily 'Lead by Example'. Just do not be a preacher.
* Unite a team amidst cultural differences
* Teach others
* Provide services
* Negotiate
* Motivate others
* Make decisions
* Solve problems
* Observe forms of etiquette
* Interact with others
* Maintain meaningless conversation (small talk)
* Maintain meaningful conversation (discussion/debate)
* Defuse arguments with timing, instructions and polite, concise language
* Feign interest and speak intelligently about any topic
* Listening
* Coaching
Now, why soft skills are important? In any organisation you will deal with Money, Materials and Human beings. Money and materilals are inanimate. Their behaviours, characteristics and properties over the entire life time is known. Also, what ever you can achieve with them is also limited. For e.g with 100 rupees what you can buy is limited. With a metal sheet of definite dimention what you can make is also limited. But human beings are unpredictable systems whose behaviours, characteristics, properties and capabilities cannot be forecasted. They are dynamic throughout their life time. Their capabilities are unlimited. Therefore, money and material resources are easily manageable. Skills required to manage them are known and can be acquired. Managing the Human resources, which are varied and changing all the times with unlimited capacity is a challenge and requires spcial soft skills. This is the reason why the employers look for soft skills in employees. They are the essential skills required to coexist in harmony with other human beings in a team or group, match the aspirations of the individual with that of the organisation and perform optimally.
If you do these three things, rest be assured, you will get the best company and the best job. If you carefully observe, all these three things are only in your hands. Not in other's hands. So, why to worry..just do it! You will be happy and successful too.
Now how to select a job matching the skills? What are your skills? There are so many methods available through internet to assess your skills and competency levels in each skill. But the authenticity and credibility of these tests are not proven. So, just don't worry. All human beings possess multiple skills. Different competency levels in each skill. Also they have the ability to grow a new skill and improve an existing skill. So, assess your skills utilising the best of the available methods. Sharpen them. Grow them. Match them with the profession and select it. After selecting the profession you may find that it requires some more additional skills and additional competency levels in the exisiting skills. Now you shape yourself. A perfect match is never possible. Adapting and applying minor corrections to the needs of the profession is the only best strategy. For e.g if you are not good in your subjects then do not select 'Design' and 'R&D'. If you are not good in communication skills do not take up 'Sales'. If you are good at analytical ability then take up 'Marketing'. If you think that you are the jack of all trades and master of none or you feel that you are misfit for engg profession and just landed up in this college by compulsions then do an MBA and wash away all your sins. After your MBA no one will ask about your engg..they will ask only about your specialisation in MBA..your engg back up will help to seek job both in manufacturing sector and finance sectors. This is the advantage of engg. So, just don't worry. Be happy. There is a solution for every problem.
What you do does not matter. How you do matters.
This holds good even in the college. What course you do does not matter. How you do it matters. So, all of you doing non conventional engg courses like leather, chemical or fashion tech etc..just do not worry. Your discipline does not matter. Only your knowledge in the subjects, your soft skills and general awareness about the industry, society, country and world is what is important. You will get a good job and certainly will come up in life. Through IT and taking up management education you can always change your profession. For e.g i am an instrumentation engineer, joined a marine engg profession, specialised in aeronautical engg, vertically spcialised in aircraft maintenance management, super specialised in Human Resource Management and now carrying out research in psychology...sometimes write stories in magazines too...that is life...i myself do not know which all fields i will enter into before i get burried at the pappanaiken palayam burial ground! My class mates are also like this. They have diversified to different fields. So friends, do not worry. Through computers and information technology changing your fields of work and interest is very easy. You just concentrate and do well in your studies. After you join an organisation do not worry about the type of job you are doing. Do not compare yourself with others. Just focus on your job and do it well. You will be certainly rewarded.
Be different.
India is a country with a large human resource. So, if you look at one knowledge or skill there are thousands and lakhs available in the competition. So, the winning strategy is 'to be different'. To be distinct amongst the lakhs. So, develop certain special skills and knowledge which are required for the organisations, which are not abundantly available and every one cannot easily afford to gain that knowledge or skill. For e.g an aeronautical engg student can learn flying through flying clubs if he can afford the cost, you can work on week ends or festival holidays or vacations in an organisation and gain exposure and professional experience which can make you distinct, those interested in design can work in ISRO, VSSC etc, a marine engg student can qualify in diving etc
Be a global employee.
With economy growing, industrialisation all over the world, boundaries of work vanishing if you qualify to be a global employee then you have plenty of oppurtunities. If you know only tamil then you are a regional employee and your job oppurtunities and growth prospects are limited. In such situations you cannot have big dreams in life. If you know English and hindi you can be employed anywhere in india and therefore your job oppurtunities and growth prospects increase. If you learn a foreign language and know the culture of that country then you become a global employee and your job and growth oppurtunities become unlimited. This will also make you distinct and different among other students and employees. So, learn French, German, Chinese and Japanese. Even one language can change your life drastically! It increases your job oppurtunities even within india.
Keep education as routine in life.
All of us brush our teeth every day till death. Same way we eat, breath, take bath till death. They are basic routines to be alive. Same way continuing the education till death is the basic requirement to live. The day you stop studies, you will perish. That is the end of your profession. So, keep reading about your present profession, next profession etc. If possible consolidate that education with an academic qualification the way i do. In india the first screening for any job is by specifying the minimum educational qualification. So, keep reading, keep educating yourself. It will always help to shape your life and profession.
Don't be an Ashoka tree. Be a Banyan Tree.
I have seen many people piling up their human resources in one profession only. If they do not succeed then they feel dejected, depressed, do not know what to do next, feel that they have failed miserably in life, some commit suicide, some suffer psychological illness and spoil their life, some pick up addictive habits and loose their job, spoil their family life and loose peace of mind. In a competitive world with changing economic situations this is common. So, be wise. Diversify your human resources. Do not put them in one basket. If you are an Ashoka tree, if some one cuts the top or removes the roots then you will fall down miserably. If you spread yourself to other professions too and spread your branches and roots everywhere then probably you can become taller than an ashoka tree, some one cutting few branches will not affect your happiness as other branches are growing and certainly no one can remove all the roots as your roots are spread all over and they are ever increasing. So, be a banyan tree.
Keep in touch with academia.
As i said earlier, keep educating yourself, keep visiting educational institutions, keep giving lectures, sharing your experiences...like the way i am presently doing...it might ignite some minds...change lives...shape the society...there by you are doing a social cause or responsibility of your education, profession and the mear living on this earth. It will also help you to take up an ever lasting career of teaching as teaching has no age limit, increases and deepens your knowledge on varied subjects, helps you to get more young friends of different generations who will keep your socialisation going, might change you too, keep abreast of the changes in the profession, academics and society, helps you to do research, publish research papers in national and international journals, attain fame in academic socity, earn more money and of course the most important one...helps to get immense everlasting satisfaction and happiness of serving others and especially the young students who are the pillars and makers of the future world! This could be one of the branches and roots of the banyan tree i mentioned earlier.
Change your subject every 5 to 7 years.
One can master a subject and contribute significantly to that field in a period of five to seven years. Therefore, change your subject of study or research after that. It will help you to grow like a banyan tree so that there is no monotony, life becomes interesting, you feel like you are born again, your job oppurtunties widen, your knowledge also improves, you will find your perceptions in life change, you become a better human being to your self, your family, society and to the world and no one can knock you down any time.
Performance and Potential.
I have seen, most of the employees focus only on doing their present job well. Whatever job or responsiblity given, they will put in their best effort to do it well to the satisfaction of their superiors. This is what is called performance. Remember. It can only fetch you some rewards like abroad trip, monetary increase, prizes, awards, appreciations in public etc. This only will not get you the promotion. You need to parellely improve the potential also. Potential is the knowledge and skills required for performing the future job. You need to find out these after joining the organisation and grow them in you. Otherwise you may not get promoted. Donot cry later and pick up bad habits and spoil your physical and mental health. So, remember, performance in present job and growing the potential to take up the future jobs or responsibilities are a must to grow up in the organisational hierarchy even if you change organisations and professions.
Be a 'Strategic Karma Yogi'.
Karma means do not expect any returns from your job. You might ask me 'sir, how to live like that?'. I will explain how to do your karma and gain returns also. For this you must 'WORK TO LEARN' and not 'WORK TO EARN'. When you work thinking that you are working to learn more about that profession, to improve your potential, knowledge, skills etc then you will read more about that profession or job or task, discuss more about it with experienced people in that profession or job or task, you will focus your attention and energy, you will use your brain more, your self involvement will be more, you will breath and eat that job in life, you will be creative and therefore you will obviously do that job well. You will be appreciated. You have now become more knowledgeable, skilled and experienced than what you were earlier. This will give you lot of satisfaction, confidence in handling such jobs in future. So, even if you are thrown out of the job you can get another job with your experience. Imagine, if you work like this every second, minute, month, year then you will acquire so much of experience in life that no one can shake you. You will be a banyan tree with deep roots widely spread. You need not bother even if you do not get the reward or promotion. This is what is called karma. Now how to get the returns too.
For this...BLOW YOUR TRUMPHET!..so loud that it is heard not only to your immediate boss, but also to the higher echelons in the organisational hierarchy, and every one comes to know of your good job. This will ensure that you are rewarded suitably and your hardwork is not masked by other throat cutters and under the belly kickers.
Remember, when you work the karma way and blow your trumphet too, you will be like a star...no one can mask the light emanating from you. When you only work the karma way, there is a possibility that you are a lantern and some non ethical elements can mask your light and stop you getting the reward.
Now let us see what happens when you WORK TO EARN. When you work like this your mind is all the time thinking about the reward, you have an anxiety thinking 'will i get the reward...will any one grab it...what will happen if i do not get...who are the competitors...how i can cut their throat...etc. This anxiety stresses your mind..diverts your thinking..does not allow you to involve completely...you are unable to think...makes you to take up wrong, un ethical and illegal paths...the anxiety induced stress always make you to perform grossly below the required level...you do not learn..do not gain experience...so, you land up in a big failure and not getting the reward...makes you feel depressed...as you were running behind the reward like a mad dog...some commit suicide also..become a mental patient...thrown out from job..can't take up a new job as you no more a human resource...
so therefore, WORK TO LEARN and not WORK TO EARN.
Is intelligence important to be successful in life?
My personal opinion and experience is No. I am of the opinion that every normal human being possesses average or above average intelligence which when supplemented with hardwork can fetch success in life. For e.g i don't think i am an intelligent person. I did my primary education at corporation school. My subsequent secondary and higher secondary school education also were from mediocre schools. I was an average student. Only when i joined B Sc (Applied Sciences), missing the engineering admissions, i realised that i have to put in hard work. When it worked and successes followed i started believing that to be successful, intelligence is not required. Hard work can do wonders. Infact, psychology says very high intelligence is an abnormality as it generally affects emotional quotient. So, friends...do not feel that you are not intelligent than your friend. If you put in hardwork, you can supersede him in your profession.
Hard work throughout life is essential.
I have seen many putting in hard work only for short periods and relax thereafter. This is wrong. The day you relax, your fall will start. Therefore, hard work should be a life long activity to keep growing continuously in the hierarchy of the organisation and earn more money.
70% and 30% fact
All of you have seen how our brain appears.
(power point presentation)
if you see this picture, the hind brain or the cerebellum forms a very small part, roughly about 30% of the total size of the brain. But it is the one which is responsible for keeping a human body alive. i.e coma state. In this condition if you see the vital organs like heart, lungs, kidneys etc which are functioning involuntarily under the direct control of the cerebellum only are working. They keep the body alive. i.e the body can not move and perform any task. Remaining nearly 70% of the brain is responsible for the living of the human body. All that he does like thinking, motor movements, sensing, emotions, craving for desires, motivation, feelings, beliefs, mood changes etc are all due to this major part of the brain. Most of the brain and behavioural disorders are due to changes in this part of the brain. Therefore, this 70% is required for a human being to live and any damage to this part of the brain will affect his behaviour. 30% of the brain..i.e cerebellum is a must for any human body to be alive and any damage to this part will make the body dead.
Who is the richest man on earth?
can anyone tell me the answer?
The richest man is the one whose 'wants' or 'desires' are less. Friends, there are two important words in life. 'Needs' and 'Wants'. Needs are the basic physiological requirements for our body to be alive and live. Without these the human being can not live happily e.g food, air, shelter, sex. 'Wants' are the desires which motivate us to move towards higher states of happiness. Basically all luxuries of life. If your wants are more, endless and beyond your reach then it can lead to misery. If they are affordable and achievable within a descent time frame, then you will be motivated and live a physically and mentally healthy and happy life. So, the one who has very less and affordable wants or desires in his life is the richest person.
How to plan goals of life?
Do you all have goals in life. How many of you have? Can you raise hands!
What is your goal?
Many have goals as buying a Mercedes Benz car, or buying a flat or villa or buying a diamond or platinum jewellary etc...Do you think these people will feel satisfied in their life throughout? No. Please remember, anything you get through money in general can give only a short term happiness. It cannot give everlasting happiness. Moment the happiness of possessing it is achieved, then the happiness vanishes. We reach a state of unhappiness or not being happy. We again look forward for the next goal or keep cribing that life is boring. If our goal is self-actualisation, then we will never feel frustrated.
Believe me, every human being has five hierarchy of needs. Whether he or she knows it or not his mind always constantly and silently searches for these needs. Let us see what these needs are.
(power point presentation)
The great scientist Abraham Maslow, in 1943 said that all human minds search for these five levels of needs.
As per him all human minds look first for the physiological needs. Please observe closely...he says 'needs'..meaning human bodies can not live or function without these.i.e food, shelter, air, water and clothing...and for human beings to live happily with satisfactory physical and mental health..i.e sex, sleep, homeostasis (i.e regulated internal environment of the body which tends to maintain a stable, constant condition) and excretion. Albert Maslow terms the remaining also as needs...in the context of those needed to satisfy the psyche of human beings or keep them motivated to work in an organisation...but in my opinion they are a type of 'wants' as without these also the human beings can remain alive with some level of satisfaction. Now, once these basic needs are met his mind automatically searches for the next higher need. i.e security needs. i.e personal security, security of his property, Financial security, Health and well-being, safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts etc...the two needs are known as physiological needs as they affect his body first. Once this second need is met then his mind looks forward for the next higher need namely Social needs without his knowledge, which involve feelings of belongingness. It involves emotionally-based relationships in general, such as:
* Friendship
* Intimacy
* Family
Humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, whether it comes from a large social group, such as clubs, office culture, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs ("Safety in numbers"), or small social connections (family members, intimate partners, mentors, close colleagues, confidants). They need to love and be loved (sexually and non-sexually) by others. In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression. This need for belonging can often overcome the physiological and security needs. Once this is achieved then the mind seeks the next higher level of need namely Esteem. All humans have a need to be respected and to have self-esteem and self-respect. It is also known as the belonging need, esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued. It could be in a profession or hobby. Imbalances at this level can result in low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. People with low self-esteem need respect from others. They may seek fame or glory, which again depends on others. Many people with low self-esteem will not be able to improve their view of themselves simply by receiving fame, respect, and glory externally, but must first accept themselves internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can also prevent one from obtaining self-esteem on both levels. Once this level is achieved then the mind looks migrates to the next higher need Self-actualization. “What a man can be, he must be”. This forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need pertains to what a person's full potential is and realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. For example one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions. In order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs.
One can talk for many hours on these needs but what is important within the scope of this speech is...out of the five, first two are physiological needs and remaining three are psychological needs. Most of us achieve the physiological needs. We have difficulty only in achieving the psychological needs and that is why it is a big challenge for the HR managers. If one is not able to achieve the next immediate higher level of need, then he can not achive the remaining higher levels. Once the individual is unable to achieve the next immediate higher need, He or she goes wonky. It affects the individual's physical and mental health, happiness, moods, performance in the profession, social life, family life etc., He generally does not know what happens in him, he can feel something he is missing, he is not happy in life, he feels has every thing but still not happy, his mind is searching for something which he does not know, he feels he is just existing and not living..this is a transient state...then he comes down by one level and his desire to achive the need would be more vigorous than it was earlier when dwelled at that level. For eg. if one is unable to achive the self-esteem needs, then he will fall back to social needs but would crave for love, affection, inclusion and acceptance more vigorously.
Now, having known these five needs, all of you can analyse your ownselves where you are, you can analyse your behaviours and relate to your need states. The duration for which an individual dwells in each need or transient state depends on the satisfaction or happiness level the individual achieved in each state.
Now, let us go back to our goal setting. If you set your long term goal as self actualisation in your field of work or interest and the short term goals traversing through the remaining 4 goals then you will find that you will be happy and get the feeling of fulfillment in life at the end of it. If your goals are different from these then you will not be happy. You will land up in a situation of 'I am not happy. I don't know the reason'. It will affect the physical and mental health of you and your significant people i.e to those you are significant and those people who are significant to you...generally family members and close friends...Also, if your goals are not made in these lines your transient misery periods of traversing from one level to another level can be longer.
Don't worry. Most of you will reach the self-esteem level. I can assure you that. But if you are strategic, goal focussed and continuously hardworking then you will certainly achive self-actualisation.
Most of us in life set our goals as getting a good job, owning a big house, making big money and wealth etc which are achievable before 40 yrs of age. This is what our concious mind looks for and it looks for only physiological and security / safety needs. Therefore, the concious mind sets only these goals. We do not know what the unconcious mind looks for which is driving the concious mind. Actually it looks for social needs, self esteem needs and self actualisation which are psychological needs. So, nearly at 40 when the physiological, security and safety needs are fulfilled, as you have not set your goals beyoned these, the mind starts searching for the next need. The same time problems of children education, wife menopause, perception of less love and affectio from wife due to her menopausal reactions like anger, frustration, depression in life, high financial needs in family, health getting affected with chronic life long medication requiring illnesses like eye glasses, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, falling professional graph, higher demands from professional front, perception that wealth saved is less etc affects the mind of the individual. All added together forms the mid life crisis which further affects his physical health, mental health, professional growth and overall wellbeing of the family too. Therefore, setting goals matching with the maslow's needs of a human being is essential to avoid midlife crisis.
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