The Subconscious mind

Idea and Choice

What is an idea? Is it a plan or is it a man? Actually it’s neither of them, because you can destroy a man and his plan but you cannot destroy an idea. A man can be killed, buried and forgotten but his idea can still last and change the world. We are all here to create ideas, believe in them and implement. But why do we have to create so many ideas? Ah yes, that’s my favorite question. It is because all ideas do not change the world or change ourselves, for that matter. You have to catch many fishes to get the best fish. The best way to have a good idea is to have lot of them. It’s the best idea that we want to work for. And that brings me to another interesting question – which one of them is the best idea? Well, it’s a matter of choice. We are different from each other because of the choices we make. It’s the choice between your ideas that define you or destroy you. We have witnessed the power of choice and the power of an idea, through the countless successful people around. And what happens when we have made the choice? Ah, now we are asking the right question. When you have made the choice, take it and plant it deep into your subconscious. And then you should chase it like a mad dog chasing cars.

An idea is simple in the mind. It’s only when we try to work on it that we realize it’s much more complex. But a great idea is always resilient. Once it has taken hold of your brain, it’s almost impossible to eradicate it. Now, its not you who possess the idea actually, but instead the idea possess you. Since, it’s the idea that is controlling your mind and your mind in turn controls you, which means the idea controls you! So, now you cannot eradicate the idea but what you can always do is improvise. Since, a man is known for his idea; no one would want to be known for the wrong one. Add to this my personal feeling – ‘no idea’ is better than a ‘wrong idea’. As one of my school teachers used to say – it’s easier to write on an empty slate than to erase the wrong things and write again

And that’s my whole point – choice! *Snap*, we have an idea, *snap* we have chosen it. Period. Because the snap doesn’t work further. We all have ideas and we keep getting them, but adequately put, the problem is choice.

Just like several other people, I am left with nothing but to choose. The time has come to make a choice -- Either I choose to be doing what I do or I choose to cultivate the idea.

(Inspired from movies -- The Matrix, V for Vendetta and Inception)
The Voice-Over version of this blog is here.

Dreams

Since the time we were kids, we were taught to dream- think about what we would become when we grow. We didn’t know how many colors a rainbow has, how many seconds a minute has and how many legs a centipede has. We didn’t know where food comes from and how to count money. Yet we knew to dream. We chose to become Doctor- maybe coz we thought they never fall ill, Policeman- it always felt nice to beat the bad guys, Pilot- who doesn’t want to rule the sky? Simple yet original dreams; unbiased and uninfluenced. Some call them castles in the air.

As we grew up, we realized that Santa is not real, even Batman and Superman are not real, not even Alice and Cinderella, hell even WWF is fake. Things started getting complex. We realized Doctors fall ill and Policemen are beaten in return. And now, a time comes to revise the dreams, with a more practical touch instead. We know we have to lead the life on our own. Parents and friends are there, but they are moral supports. Plus, if you forgot, they have their own lives too. We keep revising until we come to the most apt dream for us.

If you don’t study and do not become something in life, you do not exist. It’s difficult to survive; (if you felt ‘exist’ was an exaggeration) you won’t get a morsel of food for your stomach. Suddenly food and shelter are not taken for granted any more. You know now where food comes from. Your air castles are now shattered and your dream is turned to dust. You realize that life is not a box of chocolate, only Forrest Gump believes this till now. Life isn’t eternally pleasing to your five senses, I don’t know about the sixth sense (because I don’t see dead people :P) Life appears as the huge grain grinding mill, where you are the grain. Reality completes a full circle around you and rather than it being a part of you, you become a part of it.

As we grow up a little more, you have chosen your profession and have learned to earn your livelihood. Some travel by yards and some by inches. Some are termed as successful and others are branded losers. What happens to you now stays for the rest of the life. Just a moment, I guess you had a dream in the beginning. What happened to that? Thank God, you at least remember you had a dream of your own, because some people don’t. But any way it hardly makes difference, because the difference is just about having it in the mind or not. Having the life you wanted, is the real thing. At this point of life, you may have a quick recap of all your dreams or fantasies (the new word for your childhood dreams). If you have taken time to read this article till this point then try and take a moment more to reflect your inner self, your dreams. This is the time, where we have to make decisions, whether to realize our dream or let it perish in the back of the mind until it no longer can be revived. I don’t mean to say that give up what you are doing and chase your dreams nor do I want you to believe fairy tales again. I mean, don’t let your dreams die. Do what you are meant to do but also do what you want to do. The grandest achievements are in your small steps. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams (not my line).

We cannot go back and make a brand new start, but we can definitely go ahead and make a brand new end!

get SMART

Aim for a star!

Never be satisfied

with a life that is less

than the best,

Failure lies only

in not having tried-

In keeping the soul

suppressed.

Aim for a star!

Look up and away,

And follow its

beckoning beam,

Make each tomorrow

a better Today-

And don't be afraid

to dream.

Aim for a star, and keep

your sights high!

With a heart full of faith

within,

Your feet on the ground,

and your eyes on the sky,

Some day you are bound to win!

(By Helen L. Marshall)

Twenty years later, you will be/do/have what you plan today. Your exact definition of "success" may differ from mine or anyone else's, but most people would agree that it's about getting what you want out of life.Your first step has to be working out where you want to go. You need an objective...a destination...a goal.
"A goal is a picture you hold in your mind of an end result"
If you can't see the dartboard, you can't hit the bull’s eye.
The end result you hold in your mind represents the achievement of something you want to BE, DO or HAVE.
Only you know this. Answer them honestly and you're halfway there.
And then you gotta get SMART-

S -Specific

M - Measurable

A - Acton-oriented

R - Relevant

T - Time-limited

Specific...

... means that you describe your goal in as much detail as possible.
For example, instead of dreaming about a "new car", you decide on a BMW 320i, black, 2 years old, with chrome trim.
The more precise you can be, the better the system works.

Measurable...

... means that you'll know when you've achieved your goal.
That's why "happy" or "successful" are not goals as such. How will you know when you're successful? When you pass a certain exam? When you secure a certain job? A certain salary? Then write it down.

Action-oriented...

... means that the goal can be divided into a series of smaller steps or "actions" that you can take towards completion. So climbing a mountain is an action-oriented goal. Whereas "being comfortable" isn't a goal, it's simply a state of mind.

Relevant...

... means that the goal is important to ‘you’. It's something that you genuinely want, that fits in with your values and beliefs, and that you are prepared to work towards.

Time-limited...

... simply means you have to put a deadline on achieving your goal.
Why? Well suppose you have forever to do something... how long is it going to take? That's right, forever.

The act of putting something into writing is a very powerful process. It shows commitment on your part, but more than that, your deeper mind- THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND, immediately starts going to work on how to achieve the goal.
Will you take 5 or 10 minutes now to do the goal-setting exercise -- or will you "do it later"?
It's up to you. It's your life.
“You have a GOLD MINE, when you have a GOAL in MIND”

Excusitis

“Mil gaye hote dil se dil to bewafa sanam na hote…
Tajmahal to kai banva lete agar banane wale ke haath kalam na hote ...“
Nope, I am not writing a romantic post, but these are the lines of a majnoo suffering from EXCUSITIS! Yes, it’s a disease, a disease of giving excuses. Every failure has this disease in its advanced form and most people have at least a mild case of it. I know people who can write a book on excuses-‘1001 excuses’! Such people are quick to explain why they haven’t, why they don’t, why they can’t and why they aren’t. I don’t know any great leader suffering from it. If it was, then Theodore Roosevelt could have hidden behind his lifeless legs; Eisenhover could have ducked behind heart attacks; R Venkatraman could have said ‘I’m too old to be a president’.
Once the victim of this disease has selected a ‘good’ excuse, he sticks with it. Then he relies upon it to explain to himself and others why he is not going forward. And each time the victim makes the excuse, it becomes deeper within his subconscious. Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition. Like all diseases, this too has to be cured in its earlier stages.
A lame classification of forms of excusitis:-
1. Health excusitis
“My health is poor”, “I’m not fit for it”, “I have this disease” I have heard many. Now you hear this.
Hrithik Roshan was diagnosed at the age of 21 with Scoliosis and told he could never be an actor, dance and do all the things that a Bollywood actor needs to do. But now, he is the finest dancer in Bollywood. He also stammered until he was 15, but overcame it by extensive dialog practice. He was suffering from health problems but not health excusitis!
Kapil Dev was suffering from high fever when he made his 1st ODI century. Anil kumble broke his jaw during a Test match in 2002, but played until the end by tying a bandage around his face.
In 75% cases, health is just the state of your mind. Once, I was suffering from donno-what. I was diagnosed for 2 months, admitted for 16 days and finally a famous doctor from Budhrani hospital said, ‘You have no problem, it’s just the state of your mind. Leave medication, resume your normal life, you will be perfect’. And guess what, I was totally fit within a week! Mine was just an exaggerated weakness, which took over my mind and I got ‘Emotionally Induced Illness’.

2. Intelligence excusitis
I have heard people saying, “I lack brains” or “it takes a lot of intelligence to do that”. Most of us make 2 basic errors when it comes to intelligence: #1. We underestimate our own brain power and #2. We overestimate the other fellow’s brain power. What really matters is not how much intelligence you posses but how you use what you have. The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than the quantity of your brain power. Steve Jobbs is not a computer engineer, by education, still he rules the computer world.
There are some brilliant people who are failures. These people use their great brain power to prove why things won’t work rather than directing it to searching for ways to succeed. My dad once introduced me to a doctor in Ruby Hall who works for just Rs. 5000 even after getting a MBBS!
Don’t make yourself a fact-man (person who learns facts). Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile, to which he said, ‘I don’t know, but I can find out in less than 2 minutes’!

3. Age excusitis
This is a failure disease of never being the right age. People either think, ‘I’m too young’ or ‘I’m too old’. I wonder how few people know they are ‘just right’ agewise. Cleopatra Stratan was aged only 3 years when her two hours, 28 songs long concert was performed on August 20, 2006 in Bucharest. A 7-year old artist Kieron Williamson is named as world’s youngest successful painter. Michael Hussey debuted in ODI and Tests at 28 and 30 years of age respectively. He is currently the only player in the history of cricket to average over 50 in both forms of the game.
Curing out of age excusitis is not so difficult.

4. Luck excusitis
The worst one! “I attract bad luck”, “My case is different”, “Luck never favours me” and other countless quotes I have encountered. This is the easiest to acquire and the most difficult to cure. There is a cause for everything. In today’s world of scientific advancement, we have found a cause for every known phenomenon. Human affairs are no different. Its not ‘luck’ that gains George Clooney an Oscar, or Roger Federer a Wimbledon Cup. If it was the case then there would have been no competitions, but instead they would just place names in a barrel. The 1st name drawn would get 1st prize, and so on down the line.

People, who rise to the top in any occupation, get there because they have superior attitudes and use their good sense in applied hard work!

Excuse me please!