Candid Writing

Do it!

2011-07-10T22:05:00.000+08:00

I just read a great quotation:

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Awesome

2011-06-30T19:36:00.000+08:00

Today I am in a mood to write something. I just saw an awesome video that has changed my mood. What's amazing is that how few words we hear from someone authentic can touch our own authenticity -- and leave us feeling great. People who show the guts to rise up from the deep valleys of misfortune and come out appearing to be the most fortunate become an inspiration for all others. I deeply admire such people. Here is one such guy: Neil Pasricha with his awesome talk at TED.

Remembering Names - Other Than Your Own

2010-10-08T10:11:00.002+08:00

I am terrible at it: remembering names. Tomorrow I am supposed to make a presentation and likely to face it: meeting strangers; trying hard to remember their names; and still the names not just slipping out of memory but not even registering themselves in the first place.

Recently, while waiting for the guests for a get-together at our home, I called my wife to ask the name of the husband of one of her friends. She teased me, "Oh! You're preparing to introduce the guests with one another." That's true, I said. And it was not that I was meeting this gentleman for the first time: I was meeting him the fifth time. And still...his name was not ready to surface in my memory.

On the other hand, I have also experienced that when I meet a person who has some peculiar characteristics (e.g., speaks loudly, cracks interesting jokes, wears some crazy dress, etc.), I don't need much effort to remember the name of such a person. Probably, that's where lies the clue: We need to associate names with some peculiarity about the person. Well, there is more to it.

Here is the remedy to this potentially embarrassing but interesting problem. And as this video shows, one should not take this issue too seriously. Let it be fun!

Communication Skills:
How To Remember People's Names

Decision Making

2010-09-20T23:16:00.001+08:00

Life is a series of big decisions -- which field to pursue, which college to go to, what to become, whom to marry, which company to work for, where to live and so on -- and their consequences. And then smaller decisions like which fruit to eat, which shirt to wear, which movie to watch, which book to read, which car to buy, etc.

Are we capable of making rational decisions?

Sometime back I received a booklet from Singapore's Health Ministry, which described HOTA (Human Organ Transplant Act). The Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) is about an organ donation system that allows (with people's own consent) for the removal of kidneys, livers, hearts and corneas from Singapore citizens and permanent residents after their death, for the sole purpose of transplantation.

The package also included a form which required you to "opt-out" if you were not interested in donating your organs after death. In other words, if you don't opt out, you're already "in." This letter was sent to all Singapore citizens and permanent residents aged between 21 and 60.

What did I do with the form? How did I deal with this rather scary subject of organ donation? First I kept it aside, telling myself to bother about it later when I have time to read the whole booklet and think about it. Later on, after couple of days, I looked at it, but still didn't feel like doing anything about it. After few more days, I just left it as it is, silently telling myself to forget about it. In other words, I didn't take any decision, which meant I gave consent for the default option: agreeing to donate my organs.

Why was I so reluctant to decide on this issue? Was the form itself involved a clever tactic to make people agree for joining HOTA? Behavioral economist Dan Ariely provides a beautiful explanation for these two questions and shows how naive we are when it comes to making decisions.

Mind Over Body

2010-08-06T11:54:00.000+08:00

I've heard about this cliche "mind over body," but like many such stuff, it has never sunk into me. Today, however, I've seen something that has made me realize that this it true: Mind does play a great role in how body would behave.

Unforgettable Encounters

2010-05-25T23:08:00.002+08:00

I went for a hair cut this evening. I went to the same shop--the New Star Hairdressing at Serangoon Road--where I have been going for the last 15 years, except for just a few occasions, maybe less than six, when I did stray from the beaten path. And over the years, I have developed a kind of relationship with the owner of this shop, an old, happy guy. I usually chit chat with him about only one topic: his vacations. When is he going for the next vacation and where? That's my usual question and then our discussion erupts. It turns out he has been to all the major tourist destinations in the world -- London, Switzerland, US, Paris, Australia, etc. And being a Tamil-Indian, he goes to India at least once a year.

Today's visit was no different. He started cutting my hair, and, for a while, I was wondering why cutting hair doesn't cause pain. After all, hair are part of the body and as long as they are on the body, they grow, which means they, too, have life. And yet, hair don't give you any pain while they get slaughtered. After this little digression into the life of hair, I came to our usual topic of discussion: his next vacation. He smiled and informed me that he was off to India in two weeks time, but this time he was going for a medical check up. That settled my curiosity, and soon he settled my hair.

As I paid him the money and was about to leave the shop, he gave me a small white packet. Slightly taken aback, I asked him, "What's this?" He replied, "This is a souvenir for you--a key-ring. We have completed 50 years!" You've been cutting hair in this shop for the last 50 years? Completely relaxed and smiling, he said, "I started when I was only 20. Now I am 70." I shook his hand and could only utter one word: Great!

What draws me to this shop though it is bit far from my home? I guess, it's this kind of interesting encounters that I look forward to. But more than that, it is this guy himself--always relaxed, smiling and watching a Tamil film on the overhead TV-- and always with a plan...for his next vacation!

Getting Struck by Words

2010-05-25T10:09:00.000+08:00

Can words strike us like someone hitting with a staff? Yes, I have been struck twice so far today, and it is still just 10 am!

What makes a good day?
This sentence is from the Corner Office section of The New York Times. Really, do we ever bother to think about what makes a good day for us?

Another one...

Old yearning can be hard to lay to rest.
This is from the book Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul. Well, that seems like a rare encounter with truth.

This is True

2010-05-05T09:20:00.000+08:00

A man never sees all that his mother has been to him until it's too late to let her know he sees it.

- William Dean Howells (1837-1920)
American Novelist, Critic

Well, today, on 5th May, is my mother's death anniversary.

It Matters How You Are Going To Finish

2010-04-23T10:53:00.001+08:00

It's amazing how, what we watch and hear can transform instantly the way we feel. I felt deeply inspired after watching the video below. As usual, I came across it while looking for something on the Web, a "something" that I didn't know what it was. It's a testimony to the paradox of life--those who get badly knock down and pushed into a deep hole of misfortune often spring back to soar to great heights, and become a source of inspiration for all those who live "normal" lives.

Fleeting Moments: View From Just Outside My House

2010-04-01T21:32:00.002+08:00

Why We Work

2010-03-25T04:43:00.000+08:00

I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday about "why we work." For most people, the answer is straightforward: to earn money, to support family and/or to be successful (to be somebody). Let's call it category A. Then, there is a category (call it cat. B) of people who do it for reasons beyond themselves. These people (extreme examples come to my mind: Gandhi, Mandela) simply do it for the sake of a cause beyond themselves. And finally, there is a third category (call it cat. C): These people just do it for the sake of doing it. They fall in love with what they do, and they simply want to enjoy themselves. This category includes great performers like singers, dancers, poets, scientists, etc. Well, I am slightly stuck here. I am not sure who is the best example of this category. Perhaps, Steve Jobs. Perhaps, Einstein. Perhaps, the great Indian mystic, Osho. Perhaps, Picasso and Vincent van Gog. Perhaps, Leonardo Da Vinci.

The difference between A, B and C is this: In A, the goal is self reward. In B, the goal is to make a difference in someone else's life. And in C, there is no goal: Doing work itself is the reward!

Now, coming to the truth of it: Which category I belong to? Well, I am in A. However, there have been times when I have suddenly fallen into B and C, but such situations lasted for a few minutes or hours. And the next question: Where do I wish to belong to? I would like to be both in C and B. The journey continues...

This very post is not just the result of the conversation I had yesterday. This question has been bothering me since I watched the following video:

Benefits of Failure

2010-02-14T22:35:00.003+08:00

Like many people, I spend a good proportion of my time browsing the Internet. I visit CNN, Time of India and New York Times sites several times a day, besides Gmail, of course. Often, I hear a feeble voice asking me, "What the hell are your searching? Do you know it?" I hear the voice, ignore it and move on to the next destination in the cyberspace.

Today was no different. Not knowing what I was looking for and not finding anything interesting to read on my usual destinations, I happened to visit the Web site of TED. And there, I found a real gem. It's a commencement speech at the Harvard University by JK Rowling, the author of Harry Potter series of novels. And she, successful as she has been, talks about something that we all want to run away from: failure.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

God, me and our relationship

2010-02-07T11:11:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine called me yesterday, and we had a long discussion about the most profound topic of all: existence of God. I have a few observations about my own connection with God:

1. Whenever I visit a temple, which is bit rare, I simply feel no connection with the statues there. Sometimes, I fail to recognize the various Gods housed in the temple.

Because of this lack of connection, I also don't feel like bowing down or folding my hands in front of those statues.

2. Having said that, I do remember thinking about God in certain specific situations. This has invaribaly happened in the hospital when one of my family members (mother, father, daughter, wife, etc.) is seriously sick and/or undergoing some kind of surgery. My interpretation of these instances is that when I am really, really desperate about something, I do turn to God.

3. Do I believe in the existence of God? Well, based on my actions, it seems, I am a believer, but only in certain specific situations. In normal day to day life, I don't think of God at all, and I don't worship.

4. I must add here that the reason for this strange relationship with God lies in my upbringing. I never saw my father and mother worshiping, except on festivals. We hardly visited temples though there was one nearby. I remember my mother telling once: "God lies in our deeds. Just do the right thing."

5. Finally, let me conclude with where I do see the glimpses of God: When I come face to face with a really innocent child, I do sometimes get this feeling that I am encountering God. So not only in a hospital, I do think of God when I am with an innocent child. The key word here is "innocent."

I had no plans of writing about God or anything today, but that's life: Unpredictable and mysterious.

Creation is pleasure

2010-01-27T11:49:00.000+08:00

I have been thinking of writing something and yet avoiding it. That's the challenge with this activity of writing. More often than not, I keep having two divergent thoughts: First, I want to writing something, and, second, I have nothing to write about. In the end, I land up writing nothing, except in my thoughts.

Let me end this tiny post with the following quote:

I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about. By Oscar Wilde [Irish Poet, Novelist, Dramatist and Critic, (1854-1900)]

I am happy to have written something today. Creation, however small and mundane, is pleasure.

Wet cheque book: Message from the universe?

2009-08-16T22:17:00.000+08:00

16 Aug 2009

Is there some higher intelligence that is witnessing all that is happening in our lives and sending us messages to guide us? An unusual happening this afternoon led to the popping up of this question in my head.

My wife and I were sitting around a round table in a place called Seng Kang this afternoon. We're with a property agent who had taken us there to show a flat, for these days we're searching for a new flat as the place we're currently renting has been sold off by the owner, and we're supposed to move out soon.

All three of us were engaged in a deep discussion about the houses we had seen and what kind of prices we should be offering. It appreared we had hit a dead end in our house search: The houses we liked were beyond our reach and the ones which only our pockets liked were far from "love at first sight." Suddenly, my wife took out the cheque book from her purse and started waving it. At first I thought she wanted to show to the agent that we were serious and prepared to pay if he could get us a good flat, but soon I realised she had other urgent reasons to be doing so.

The cheque book was wet! It turned out she had kept a water bottle in her purse (along with the cheque book) and the bottle had leaked some water to soak up the cheque book.

My immediate reaction was that if there was any message from this bizarre incident, it was that we shouldn't buy a flat. (As such, I've been avoiding walking down the path of buying a house and have lived comfortably in a rented apartment for the last 15 years...a sort of record in Singapore.) And there was a logical background to my "no go" conclusion: Till date, we have seen at least 25 flats, but have not been able to come close to buying any. And the time is running out. We have to vacate the rented house. So we're tired of viewing houses every weekend while perched on the the edge in terms of time.

Our property agent, however, had a different opinion about the wet cheque book. He said water was considered to be auspicious according to Chinese tradition and wetting of the cheque book was a good omen. (Indeed, many people in Singapore have small fountains in their homes.)

Good omen or bad omen? We will know it soon as it's a matter of 2 or 3 days before we would have to conclude, one way or the other, this adventure of buying a house: Either we will take a plunge or we will get out of this sizzling market and start searching for a rental flat like the one we have now. What happens next?

18 Aug 2009

Today was our D-day. We had no choice but either to finalise a flat or drop the idea of buying one all together. I was not so hopeful when we went out with our agent, but I did take with me the cheque book-not 100% dry and crisp as it should be but not wet either.

We were to view two flats. I didn't like the first flat but my wife, a pretty desperate home-buyer by now, felt it was "okay" and we should be considering buying it. I didn't say anything, and we quietly proceeded to see the second flat.

We reached at the right time (8:30 pm), but when our agent called owner's agent, she didn't reply. In Singapore, you can't just directly go and see a flat. You must call the owner's agent and get clearance to proceed for the viewing.

After 20 minutes of anxious waiting, she called and informed she was sorry for not answering our call as she had kept her phone by mistake in "silent mode"-again not a good omen.

At last, we entered the flat, but came to know that the owner himself was not available and only his wife was around (along with the agent). I felt it was bit odd as this was the second time we were coming to see this particular house (when you go to see the same flat second time, it means you're ready to make a final decision).

We moved around appreaing to see it again, but our minds were already made up: We were going to buy it. All we needed was owner to say yes to our offer ($), which our agent had conveyed to the owner's agent couple of days back.

The owner's agent tried to stretch us a bit from what we had offered but we stuck to our position (which was already pretty stretched. After a brief discussion among all of us and a teleconversion between owner's wife and himself (who was in office), we got the final nod. They too were ready to sell!

In Singapore, when you finalise a flat, you've to pay $1000 to the owner immediately, It's a kind of booking the flat for a period of 14 days till you sort out loan, etc. So I took out my cheque book and cut a $1000 cheque for the owner. I did mention that the cheque book was wet couple of days back, so if the cheque bounces, they would know the most probable reason.

Looks like, in this case at least, the message from universe was not what I thought: Don't buy. Instead, it was: Buy, because that's what eventually happened. I now feel that when you're badly stuck with a big decision, maybe, the universe does send messages to guide us. It's a different matter whether we can discern those messages.

Pursuit of Happiness: Just Two Questions

2009-08-01T06:00:00.000+08:00

I read something in the New York Times yesterday, which struck me for its profound importance in our daily lives. It's a blog entry by Maira Kalman: And The Pursuit of Happiness.

Maira talks about Benjamin Franklin, his numerous inventions and how he went about living his life. It seems Franklin had an interesting habit of asking two questions every day, one in the morning and the other in the evening:

Morning question: What good shall I do today?

Evening question: What good have I done today?

The immediate impact of reading this stuff was that I woke up my daughter at 7 am, which she, as expected, resisted, but couldn't help against my steely resolve to "do some good," and then took her to the basketball court. The play was fun, of course.

Well, not surprisingly, Maira's entry has already climbed to the top spot in NYT's current list of the most e-mailed articles. It deserves. Have a look: And The Pursuit of Happiness

I don't sing if I don't mean it

2009-06-27T18:12:00.001+08:00

I often think of writing something, but don't do so. I am a typical aspiring writer who "thinks" a lot about writing, but actually writes less. There're times, however, when you feel compelled to say something. Today happens to be such a day.

The world is mourning Michael Jackson's sudden death. I have been reading about him, watching his songs and wondering about his immense talent--the God's gift.

It's mesmerising to see him dancing and singing. And I will never forget what he said in an interview given when he was still a kid: "I don't sing a song if I don't mean it." That very much sums up for me the magic of his art.

Buddha's enlightenment: My daughter's nightmare

2009-05-28T20:10:00.000+08:00

At this very moment my wife is struggling to teach our 8-year-old daughter the subject of social studies. Of course, tomorrow is my daughter's SS exam. I just overheard my wife telling her, "You are not able to remember because you're not taking interest." And what the kid is supposed to remember? About Buddha, his enlightenment on a full moon day, Vesak day celebrations and more of similar stuff.

When I arrived home this evening from work, my daughter greeted me with two innocent questions: What is tradition? And second, what's enlightenment? I could answer the first one, but for the latter, I was speechless. How to explain enlightenment which is one of the rarest phenomenon in the history of our evolution? As far as I know (or suspect) enlightenment is about rising above the mind and operating at the level of just pure consciousness (awareness). How on the earth a student of class 3 suppose to know about enlightenment?

I feel compelled to write about what's happening because this episode, now playing in front of me, has touched some ancient memories. What's happening between my wife and daughter is exactly what happened between me and my mother--decades back--when I was in primary school. Like my daughter I was also taught by my mother, SS being her favourite subject. And indeed, I too used to be at loss to appreciate why one should know about when Babar invaded India, who was Akbar's father and how many wells Ashoka got drilled for the citizens of this kingdom. Like my wife, my mother felt I needed her help otherwise I would not get "good marks." I don't remember getting good marks ever in SS. In fact, once after an SS exam, during the exit interview (interview about how many questions did I do, what I wrote, etc.), my mother got so disappointed that she just threw the examination paper in sheer despair.

Life has come to full circle. Now, it's my daughter's turn to struggle with SS and her mummy's turn to "teach" her.

I feel like intervening and telling my wife that I deeply understand the problem of my daughter's lack of interest in SS and that repeatedly telling her to take interest won't help. "Taking interest" in something in which you're not interested is not simple. Interest in not connected to a switch that can be simply flipped on. I feel like empathising with my daughter and telling her she is okay. Nothing wrong in not having interest in SS. But this is no time for such an intervention when we're just a night away from the exam.

What's there in SS to hook a child? Why should a child feel interested in knowing that Buddha got enlightenment while sitting under a tree on a full-moon day? It's a subject that doesn't throw a challenge of solving problems unlike maths. It doesn't dazzle a child with the mysteries of the outer world unlike science. It doesn't offer opportunities for creative expression unlike languages.

Well, I am not a teacher, but having been a student, I feel a subject can be made interesting or uninteresting by the way a teacher presents it to the students. Sometimes, a teacher should stop and ask herself: Why should my students be interested in what I am teaching beyond the compulsion of having to sit in an exam? If a teacher can find an answer to this question, learning could be fun, not a burden.

As for my daughter and wife, I am going to share my thoughts with them tomorrow. Let the examination be over.

Blank page

2009-04-10T06:58:00.000+08:00

A blank page. That's what you start with when you sit down to write. But, in contrast, the mind is full of all kinds of thoughts. At any point of time, the mind could be occupied with thoughts about what happened yesterday, what could happen in future, what should be done today, and so on. The mind is like a crowded street with traffic flowing non-stop. On the street, one can easily watch the traffic, but can we watch our own mind and the traffic of thoughts it is carrying?

I remember reading about "real-self or pure consciousness" in spiritual books several years back, but, at that time, I was not able to appreciate as to what this "real-self" was. Many books and years later, I accidentally came to a Web site on meditation, which prescribed one simple exercise: See if you can count up to 40 without allowing any thought to enter your mind. Once I did that exercise I realised it was not easy to count without a thought crossing my mind. But the greater realisation was that there is someone who can watch the mind itself like a security guard and witness whether any thought crossed or not. And this guard is what is real-self or consciouness, which is conscious of what's going in the mind.

After that exercise, recently, I came across another exercise, this time in the book, Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. A simple exercise again: Just say to yourself, "From this moment onwards, I will catch the first thought that crosses my mind." Again, some arbitrary thought will flash in the mind, but the greater reality is that someone is watching that thought. Normally thoughts come and go, and this "someone" is asleep, but, it seems, with practice, it is possible to stay more and more alert to what's going on inside the mind.

As my current understanding goes, in the end, we're neither the body nor the mind, which is full of thoughts, ideas, opinions, memories, etc. What we are simply the consciouness, just an awareness. Something like a blank page!

Writing again

2009-04-08T21:38:00.000+08:00

I have not written on this blog since 2006. Why? I don't know, but what propelled me (so-called motive) to write earlier has, it seems, vanished. I am definitely a changed person since then. Yes, this is true that I have been feeling uncomfortable about not writing, and so I have decided to make a beginning again. This time, I am writing just to feel better and get rid of this nagging feeling of not doing something that someone inside me is calling me to do.

Today, I read something about "acceptance" in the great book that I have been reading: Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I feel like writing a long explanation of this concept, but let me do it some other day. I am not yet prepared to talk about this heavy topic.

Another book that I have been reading is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I must admit that every time I read it, I do get this feel that I can never write long, complex sentences like Dickens. Some of his sentences are like long paragraphs, stuffed with loads of commas and semi colons. Speaking of commas, I read this expression somewhere: Mighty comma. Yes, despite trying to conquer comma by reading various grammar books and trying online exercises, I still feel comma is indeed a mighty entity in the English language, and I am small in front of it.

Having written about two books, I now recollect this thought crossing my mind every time I am reading a book: Am I addicted to reading? Will I start writing only when I unlock some of my time and attention from reading? Who knows? Probably time knows!

Designer punctuation - Ellipses

2006-11-19T19:24:00.000+08:00

I was tweaking my profile on my Web site and was listing the contributions made by the field of engineering to our development. I created a list, which read like this: buildings, roads, bridges, air-conditioning, computers, trains, cars, electricity...

Yes, as the list grew long, I felt like cutting it off by using three dots (known as ellipses) in the end. But before using it, I grew bit suspicious about my intention. Is it correct to use ellipses for such an application? Upon checking, it turned out that my suspicion was correct. You can't!

Ellipses, the three dots (...), can be used only with the following rules:

1. To show that some parts of a quoted material have been omitted. For example:

Normal sentence: He went on to say, "I am ready to learn about ellipses, though I know I am unlikely to use them."

With ellipses: He went on to say, "I am ready to learn about ellipses... unlikely to use them."

If the sentence ends with ellipses, add a period after the ellipses, like this:

He went on to say, "I am ready to learn about ellipses, though I know I am unlikely...."

2. To show a pause or hesitation. This type of use is very popular in scripts for videos and movies.

I have a good news for you, but...will tell you tomorrow.

Let me end here because grammar is such a... dull topic to deal with, read about and think about.

Atul
http://atulmathur.com

Issue trees

2006-11-07T17:48:00.000+08:00

Hi,

Imagine a tree being chopped and cut. The small and big branches, with leaves still green and alive, are falling. Even the trunk is not spared; it's in pieces. What have you got now? Yes, the tree is gone, and you're left with the branches, leaves, fruits(?)--all lying together in an untidy pile. The tree used to be so structured and orderly. But now, this heap? It's a total mess. There is no order to it.

The transformation of the tree into a messy heap is a process of going from order to disorder, from clarity to confusion, from structure to non-structure. And this process can be useful for writing, if we just reverse it.

Often, when we want to write a report, a proposal, an article or even an important letter or e-mail, we feel bit confused. Where to start? Where to end? What to cover and in what order? What to leave out? Having faced this situation many times, I feel the prime reason for confusion is that though we roughly know the various issues or points involved, we are not so sure about their flow and order. It's like having a heap of issues, not knowing which one to pick first, what's their relative importance or their logical order. You see the parts, but not the whole. And the way to shed the confusion, you guessed it, is to construct a tree--an issue tree!

Constructing an issue tree involves putting issues in a hierarchical structure, starting with the main issue, then going to sub-issues and then to sub-sub-issues. Once you do that you start seeing the relationships between different issues and their relative importance in the context of whole.

I tried this idea recently when I wrote an article on "project management." Not unexpectedly, I felt daunted by the sheer number of issues involved as PM is a huge subject. My challenge, however, was to overcome the confusion and write an article within 2,000 words. So, I first wrote down all the issues, small or big, that came to my mind without bothering about their possible order in my article. That was like creating a heap of issues. Then, I began constructing an issue tree, which is about going from big to small to smaller issues.

At the top, I put "project management," the trunk! Then came three main branches:

Branch A: characteristics of a project
Branch B: project life cycle
Branch C: project management practices

Next, under branch C, I went one level down and constructed few sub-branches: planning (C1),
control (C2), scope and change management(C3), risk management(C4), leadership and people management(C5).

Finally, to the sub-branch C1 (planning), I attached few sub-sub-branches: Work Breakdown structure, CPM, PERT and PM software tools.

Once the structure was ready, I started feeling much relaxed. I now knew that if I put together the various pieces according to the structure, my article would fall in place. And it did!

God bless the trees! Let no one chop them down. They are a symbol of clarity, structure and order, especially for anyone who is facing a heap of issues.

Atul
http://atulmathur.com

Vocabulary: First guess, then see

2006-10-11T01:22:00.000+08:00

Hi,

My vocabulary? All I can say is that I wish it were stronger, wider and deeper. While reading newspapers and magazines, I do get stuck, more often than I would like to, with words who suddenly appear like Greek. And when I face such a "faceless" word, normally, my next move is to pick up my dictionary or go to dictionary.com Web site. After checking the meaning, though I continue reading, it's not the end of the problem. These new, difficult words turn out to be quite slippery. Before I get a firm grip over them, they often slip out of my memory. What to do?

Recently, I came up with a new way of tackling this problem. What I do is that every time I come across a meaningless (for me!) word, I first try to guess its meaning. Even if I have no clue at all, I still come up with my best guess, knowing well it could be dead wrong. Only after making a guess, I look up for its meaning in the dictionary. I find this new approach interesting for three reasons:

1. My retention has improved. I no longer forget new words so easily like I used to earlier. Though I read the word precocious several days back, I still remember it refers to children who develop particular abilities at an age earlier than usual.

2. I have found that guessing is not always off the mark. Sometimes, perhaps 20-30% times, I find it hits the bull's eye. So when I came across the word certitude, I felt it seemed to do something with certain and indeed it turned out to be true: Certitude means feeling of certainty, lack of doubt.

3. The best thing is that it has become a kind of fun to guess and then check how far or how close I am to the real meaning. It gives a feeling of thrill and mystery. Now, instead of feeling disappointed with such difficult words or trying to avoid them, I look forward such encounters.

Try it! It's funny!

Atul
http://atulmathur.com

No e-mail day!

2006-09-30T17:28:00.000+08:00

Hi,

I just read something interesting in The Straits Times published from Singapore. After spending most of the morning exchanging e-mails with his assistant, who was sitting 6 meters away, Mr Scott Dockter (Chief Executive-PBD Worldwide Fulfillment Services) got so fed up that he declared Fridays as "no e-mail" days.

This development comes against the backdrop of some startling stats:
- 30 billion e-mail messages are exchanged throughout North US each day, a tenfold jump from 1998
- An avg. US worker wastes two hours a day on non-work activities (e-mails...)

Now, the staff at PBD have to talk with each other, at least on Fridays, if they wish to communicate. Before "no e-mail" days, Dockter was receiving 150 messages per day (his managers were getting 300-400), but two months after the Friday declaration, his traffic dropped by 75 percent. And also, the lost art of face-to-face conversation among employees has been restored.

The situation in most offices is quite the same with people getting deluged with e-mails and hitting "reply all" button without hesitation. Salute to you, Mr Dockter. You took a bold step to tame the e-mail monster.

I am wondering what would I do if I have to do something about the e-mail monster. Some thoughts that cross my mind:

- First of all, I would set a personal example by not sending unnecessary e-mails, being careful about hitting the "reply all" button, checking my e-mails only once every three hours and relying more on face-to-face or telephone conversations.

- I would get people trained on how to use e-mail to improve the productivity rather than allowing it to damage it. We have all been trained to write letters, but I wonder if any school system is teaching people to communicate by e-mails.

- I would arrange to conduct regular surveys to assess the number of e-mails people are dealing with at different levels.

What would you do?

Welcome!

2006-09-30T09:50:00.000+08:00

Hi,

As of today, I have three areas of interest:

- career
- innovation
- business writing

For the first two, I write regular newsletters-Career Tips and IDEAS. I don't feel like creating another newsletter to communicate my ideas about business writing. So I have chosen to create this blog.

On this blog, you will find ideas about improving your writing to do well at work. An average person spends almost 50% time, if not more, reading or writing. Doesn't it make sense to master writing?

Atul
http://www.atulmathur.com