Sounds Interesting

Don't let the cups drive YOU!!! Enjoy the COFFEE instead!!!- Sounds Interesting

Don't let the cups  drive YOU!!!  Enjoy the COFFEE instead!!! 

A  group  of  alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit  their  old   university  professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with large  pot  of coffee  and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking,  some expensive, some exquisite  - telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. 

When  all the students had a cup of  coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you  noticed,  all  the   nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving 

behind  the  plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only  the  best  for   yourselves,  that  is the source of your problems and stress. 

What  all of you really wanted was  coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each  other's cups. 

"Now if life is coffee , then the  jobs, money and position in society are the  cups. They are just tools to hold  and contain Life, but the quality of 

Life  doesn't change. Some times, by  concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in  it." 

So folks, don't let the cups drive you...,  enjoy the coffee instead. 

GOOD is not GOOD where BETTER is EXPECTED  and the BEST is POSSIBLE!!!!!

Win Customers by Getting to Know Them

Win Customers by Getting to Know Them

Only by truly understanding your customer can you deliver what they want. Technology makes it possible to get to know your customers more deeply. Here are three ways how:

Acquire customer info. Use every interaction as an opportunity to collect data, and don't rely on the customer to provide it. Loyalty programs that include automated cards can gather data on spending behavior and preferences.

Slice and dice the data. Don't use broad segments to create a marketing strategy. Finely parse the data so you can understand customers on a more granular level.
Identify and cater to core customers. Instead of emphasizing how much a customer spends in one transaction, calculate their potential worth over time. This will help you identify core customers whose loyalty it pays to earn.

Is It Necessary To Control Our Expectations?

Life is largely a matter of expectation - Horace 

Today's general human tendency is that nobody shows interest to fix a ceiling limit on their expectations. Nothing looks harm in it - is it not?
Of course, what could prevent you from expecting something? We usually receive what we forecast. So, expectations are like dreams - which we wish to attain over a period of time. 

So, what exactly am I trying to say here on Controlling our Expectations? May be a lateral thinking though!!

People often don't know to differentiate between their wants and needs. Let me put below their definitions in simple language: Want - something you would like to have; Need- something you have to have.

When you wish to fulfill all your needs - its a normal expectation. But when you wish to fulfill all your wants - its abnormal!! Yes, it is...

Right from our childhood, everyone taught us how to elevate to next level in life. Rarely few think & educate us about how to be happy in present life with what we possess. 

A person owning a bicycle expects to have a scooter & a person with scooter aims to own a car and so on... But when they get what they wanted, are they satisfied? If yes, then there is nothing to discuss on this. But in reality, their expectations keep growing till their last moment of life, may be till their last breath...

Please remember - compared to the age of Universe which is few million years, a human life occupies only a very small portion - roughly 60 - 70 years... If most of the time we spend on expectations, then is it not a crime when we do not care on the things which we possess at present? 

If you own a bicycle, enjoy it fully.. If it had put you under trouble when you are in a hurry, simply accept it. Because, once you were longing for that bicycle... Today just because it put you under trouble, you should not hate it & start expecting to own a scooter. Because the more you become luxurious, the more difficult when that luxury is not available to you at some moment. 

Expectations also leads to misery sometimes. A simple example - Two friends A & B live in an apartment complex. A is familiar with sleeping at night without Air Conditioner. But for B - without AC, he never slept and/or he can't...without AC...

Just imagine if one day that AC goes on repair & it will take a couple of days to service it. Will B be able to sleep well in night? Because luxury had made him inflexible and his body/mind doesn't accept any situation other than a predetermined one... If B had controlled his expectations long ago, by managing without ACs, he could manage such tough situations easily.

Being Simplicity is a Wealth... Lao Tzu says "I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."

Now you decide whether Expectations need to be controlled or not...Choice is yours...

Is Our Life Really Monotonous?

Unpredictability, too, can become monotonous - Eric Hoffer

Well. We often keep complaining that our life is monotonous and hence drowsy. There are several reasons why we feel that our life is monotonous. For example – we start from our home to office everyday almost at the same time, same route, same traffic, similar stress and other factors that claim to be repetitive in our day to day life.

But, in contrary I strongly believe there is nothing repetitive or monotonous in our life. Though we come across many unique examples in our routine life, there will certainly be a difference that shall be minor or major…

The fact is that we often ignore the unique moments by being inactive on most instances in our day to day life. We might miss some wonderful scenery of birds flying on the sky when we stuck up in a traffic signal. Our focus might be only on the RED turning GREEN & if at all possible, is there a way to start moving ahead before GREEN appears… If there are 40 or 50 seconds remaining for the RED signal to change as GREEN, we can start looking around for at least 35 or 45 seconds.

You may notice your neighbor in a nearby vehicle, or you might watch a small cute kid starring at you, may be you notice a traffic police struggling to clear the traffic, someone may be assisting a blind to cross the road, etc.,

Are these cases – a monotony one? Certainly you will not agree to that.

It is true that we often miss all such ‘happenings’ around us by simply thinking about something else or in other words, without focusing on the PRESENT MOMENT…

Our thoughts go either to PAST or starts thinking about FUTURE when we are in PRESENT. Whether someone agrees or not – this life is completely unpredictable. Life’s enjoyment or happiness lies with accepting the unpredictability and being very active on every moments of life… If we do so, the word ‘monotonous’ disappears from us and there will be no drowsiness at all. 

Are Thoughts Really Controllable?

Are Thoughts Really Controllable...?


“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out”. - Winston Churchill

How true it is... We must be more cautious before saying something - is it not?

If your words hurt someone - then the only option available to you if you wish to maintain relationship with that person is to ask for an excuse for the words which you have used which made them hurt !!

At this moment, we become no other than a 'slave' to the word which we use... Churchill said that rightly! 

But, can we always take control over the words which we use? It is tricky since all our words are primary representation of our thoughts. Whatever we think 'inside' comes 'outside' as words... There always exists a logical connect. In Tamil, there is a famous saying "எண்ணங்களே செயல்களை உருவாக்குகின்றன".

In real life, our thoughts are uncontrollable (of course, I am not here to speak on the Meditation Mechanism where thoughts are brought under control).

A very simple example - When we drive a car or ride a motorcycle on the road, it is not that our minds / thoughts are idle or keeps thinking only on driving safely... Our thoughts goes all over the world... we may think of our childhood memories, trips to a picnic spot with friends, arguments had with your loved ones, favorite foods, economy, price hike, inflation etc., etc., While driving itself, someone focuses on scolding the one who drives rashly or disturbs him/her.

Though controlled thoughts are recognized as "good" by many, I question myself - Why to struggle with something which is actually interesting when allowed to go on its own way.

Instead of playing a set of songs in MP3 player with 'SHUFFLE OFF' if you listen it with 'SHUFFLE ON' - I bet you will enjoy more. Because, you are not aware of the next outcome! This is applicable in life too. Can we judge what is going to happen next? Certainly -'No'!

Similarly, we must be ready to accept the Life on a 'as is' situation...

I am sure it gives peach of mind.