Year: 2012

A fascinating year is about to end and an exciting new year is about to begin.

There are two things that you can do:

1. Make a powerful entry into 2014; or,

2. Float into 2014 and happen to show up in the New Year.

I am certain you would like to make a powerful entry into the New Year and make 2014 the best year you’ve had till now. If that’s what you are interested in, read on.

So that you can make an authoritative and a commanding entry in the New Year, it is important to do a review of the last year (2013) and take stock. I am going to recommend a set of questions that you ask yourself. I have broken these questions into 2 parts – one that reviews and completes 2013 and another set that helps you declare your goals for the next year.

It is important to know ‘What is so’ about your life at the end of 2013; and then ‘where do you want to be this time next year’ so that you can make an unassailable entry into 2014 and achieve the goals for the New Year. These questions will help you get a deeper understanding of where you are today and where you want to be this time next year.

I am suggesting this to you after having completed this exercise and I can state out of experience, once you have done so, you will be making a very powerful entry in to the New Year.

1.      What have I achieved in 2013?

While answering this question, what I did was to break up my life into important areas and identified what is it that I achieved in each of these important areas of my life, such as: my personal life; my work; my health & well-being; and, Gift Your Organ Foundation (NGO); Just writing down my achievements in each of these areas gave me a great sense of achievement and a lot of power to look at audacious and bold goals for the New Year! I suggest you identify the important areas of your life and list out your achievements in each of these areas.

2.      What did I learn new in this year?

I have a keen interest in reading and continuously developing myself and one of the ways I evaluate my growth is based on the new things that I learn. I can easily state that 2013 has been a year of a lot of lessons for me, a year of a lot of new knowledge that I gained and the most important recognition of how much I don’t know yet and still need to gain. The more I learn, the more I feel I don’t know enough and hence the more I want to learn.

3.      What is it that I want to acknowledge myself for in this New Year

We perpetually see the good in others and compare ourselves to others. No wonder then that most times we fall short. This is the time of the year to step back for a few moments and pat yourself on the back for all the good that you are and all the good that you have done. I made a detailed list of points that I wanted to acknowledge myself for. I acknowledged myself for the various achievements of the year in different areas of my life, to something as simple as acknowledging my new found patience in certain trying situations. I discovered a new me in this process of acknowledging myself. Try it, it is a lot of fun, I promise!

4.      What is it that I missed out on this year?

I missed out on a few of targets and certain self development goals. By simply distinguishing what I missed out in the last year, it has helped me re-evaluate these targets and goals and the ones that continue to hold its importance in my life have found a place in what I want to achieve in the New Year.

5.      What do I want to achieve in 2014?

There are two ways to approach any goal in your life – one is to first identify ‘what’ is your goal and then figure out the ‘how’. The other is to first look at the resources that you have, the effort that it will take, and then determine your goal. A lot of people first look at the ‘how’ and based on the `how’, they decide the ‘what’, i.e., their goal.

I am firm believer that you need to figure out the ‘what’ first and the ‘how’ will take care of itself. Think of all your dreams, make them specific, make them measurable, put a deadline on these dreams and go after them! If there is sincerity in your effort, the universe will conspire to achieve these goals.

Break down the important areas of your life and identify ‘where would you like to be this time next year’ in each of these areas. Like I did while reviewing 2013, I have identified where I want to be this time next year in my personal life, my work, health and the Gift Your Organ Foundation. I also included places I want to travel in 2014 and other fun things that I would like to do and people that I would like to meet.

6.      What new do I want to learn in the New Year?

I have also identified what new I want to learn in the New Year. There are some specific goals that I have for myself in this area and I am committed to achieving these goals of gaining new knowledge. There are some courses that I have identified and will commence in the New Year.

Feel free to add more questions if you would like. The more you question yourself, the more you will seek answers from yourself.

Once you have done this, one last but an extremely important thing that will be required is that you will need a structure of people around you with whom you will need to share these goals; people who will not allow you to be lackadaisical and will continuously remind you of each of your goals; people who will hold you accountable to take actions to achieve these goals.

I have created a solid structure of people around me that hold me to account. If you would like to create a similar structure, please feel free to contact me on coaching@sameerdua.com

I can guarantee you, once you have done this, you will not only make a powerful entry in 2014, you will conquer the year!

Make 2014 count in your life!

Good luck and have a blast!

(I had written a blog post in December 2012 and given its relevance again at the end of this year, I have simply adapted that post. However, I have re-done, in complete, the exercise of answering the questions mentioned above. I encourage you to do so too and see the value for yourself.) 

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership. India.

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In the last two years, one of the starting points of conversations has been the Gift Your Organ Foundation. Interestingly, I get introduced by my friends to people as one of the founders of the Gift Your Organ Foundation and from there on the conversations most times begin with Organ Donation, the organ transplantation scene in India, the work done by the Gift Your Organ Foundation and so on.

Last week, I had a close friend who had come over and was staying with me. He had visitors visiting him and I had the pleasure of being introduced to them. One of them was Amisha (name changed), a friend from Bombay. In this case, my friend had already spoken to Amisha about the Gift Your Organ Foundation and that I was involved with it even before we got introduced.

Not too far in the conversation, Amisha mentioned to me that her father’s eyes were donated and she had confirmation that two people got their eyesight because of her father’s donation. With moist eyes, she stated, ‘I felt my father’s death had a purpose’. I could listen to the pride in her voice and that pride to some extent had overcome the grief of her father’s demise.

That her father had to die was not in her control, but to give her father’s demise a purpose was in her control and she did exactly that.
In the last two years, I have seen so many such instances and each one of them is similar in this one sense. The family has such deep love for the deceased member and that love drives them to donate organs / tissues of the person.

Donating organs provides a new perspective to death. It provides a perspective of life after death, a perspective not of pain, but one which gives a lot of satisfaction and pride.

For information on Organ Donation and to pledge your organs, please visit the Gift Your Organ Foundation website. For any questions or clarifications, please email celebrate@giftyourorgan.org

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership, India.

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“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.” — Muhammad Ali.
After many years, over 12 – 15 years maybe, I boarded an Andheri-Churchgate fast train to get to Bombay Central. I had about 40 minutes before my meeting at the RTO office at Bombay Central to meet the RTO to discuss the organ donation option on the drivers license in Maharashtra. I thought the train would be the fastest way to get to my destination.

What followed soon after I boarded the fast train was nothing short of fascinating. I was catching up on news on the Times of India Blackberry Application and reading about Ajit Pawar’s resignation. I then noticed a ‘beggar’ who was well dressed and who introduced himself loudly in the first class compartment of the train in a deep, sure voice stating ‘I am Prof. Sandeep Desai’.

Just hearing the word ‘Professor’ caught my attention. A Professor? Begging? In a local train? – and someone who spoke such immaculate English? He could get a job anywhere, I thought.

I was now more interested in what he was saying than reading about Ajit Pawar’s resignation. The Professor continued saying that those who donated food to the poor, sort out their problem only for a day. But if the donations are made for their education, then it can resolve a poor man’s life. He added, ‘Education gives you the power to change your life. So I have decided to set up one English medium school in a year.’
What? You identify a problem and then make it so personal that you beg in the train for money? How crazy is that? Crazy it is, because Professor Sandeep Desai went on to add ‘So far, we have managed to start four schools in Maharashtra. The fifth school will be set up in rural Rajasthan. We have already bought land there and construction will start soon”. Four schools set up with money ‘begged’, and the fifth one in process!! UNBELIEVABLE!
He claimed to have won the Real Hero award by CNN IBN. Here was a ‘real hero’ begging in a train. I made a mental note to see if he indeed had won this award, and yes he did! I actually checked.

People choose their problems. Some choose their maids and drivers to be their problems; while others like Prof. Sandeep Desai make the country’s lack of education their own personal problem. How inspiring! Next time, remind me of Prof. Sandeep Desai when I complain about funding for the Gift Your Organ Foundation. Or maybe, I will not complain again? Maybe I will just get down to business – wonder if I have the courage that Prof. Sandeep Desai has?
Post Script:

I was so inspired with Prof. Sandeep Desai that I completed this blog (including checking whether or not he won the Real Heroes award before completing my journey home);
However, I had to speak to this man – I found his number and spoke to him – if there’s anyone who would like to support Prof. Desai’s efforts, I’ll be happy to forward his email Id and /or telephone number to you;
In case you are wondering – lots of people did put money in the donation box carried by Prof. Desai. And, he acknowledged, with the same grace, everyone who put a fiver, a tener or a hundred rupee note in his donation box. I also overhead a student volunteering to teach physics to the students of Prof. Desai’s school.

Such was this man’s impact!

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership, India

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Right now as you are starting to read this blog, there is an internal conversation going on in your mind. Your mind is perpetually in a conversation. Without you even trying, your mind makes meanings out of everything. It is automatic and you don’t even stop and think about it. The meanings that you make significantly affect the way you be (your being). And the way you be determines the way you respond or react to situations and circumstances.

Consider the last time you made a call and that the person suggested that s/he would call you back. You waited and waited for that call but that call never came. What meaning did you make at that time – that you are not cared for; the person doesn’t respect you; that person is arrogant; the person is playing games with you; and so on and so forth. The job of the mind is to make a meaning out of everything. And it mechanically makes a meaning out of everything, without you even realizing it. The real reason why the person did not call you back could be far from the meaning you made of it. But you continue to act in sync with the meaning you made. The important thing about the meaning you have made is that it changes the way you feel (your being) and these feelings change the way you interact with the world.

Stop reading this for a moment and think, right now, what are your current internal conversations? For example, your spouse may have said to you that she will not come along for dinner with you at your friend’s residence – what have you made of that statement of your spouse?; or your junior colleague told you that he cannot wait back to complete the task you have given her; or a friend has refused to go for a movie with you; or maybe a young attractive boy / girl has called you to say hello to you. Or anything else for that matter. Stop now and be present to what you are making of clear statements or situations in your life. You are a machine that makes meaning out of everything and once you are done with making meaning, the meaning you have made becomes your truth, on the basis of which you act.

The bad news is that these internal conversations are a part of you and will never stop. The good news is that you have a control over these. Being present to these conversations first is your access to altering these conversations. Once you are present to these internal conversations – you then have a choice to allow that conversation to continue or to alter that conversation.

None of the meanings that you make are better than any others in an absolute way. These are all ‘your’ meanings and not the reality. However, now that you have no choice and your mind is going to make meanings, you have an opportunity to train your mind to make meanings that empower you; make you feel fine and allow you to go through your day with peace and contentment. Generally, your mind naturally produces negative meanings and you then react based on these meanings produced by your mind and considered by you as the reality. Instead of reacting, choose to respond. A reaction is always immediate and normally negative. A response is calm, collected and chosen by you.

Be in control of this and choose your internal conversations rather than be at the mercy of these conversations.

Once again remember, your internal conversation is a matter of your choice – for your own sake be wise in making this choice. It is a far more powerful way to lead your life!

Sameer Dua, Founder Director, Institute for Generative Leadership, India

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