Seek Knowledge in Question – Embrace Chaordic Path

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I often find myself in situations where everything is in right order. In rhythm. In absolute harmony. Sometimes I have felt that “Order” is good. Order is the indication that I am on the right path. But sometimes – I just feel the opposite. Order in everyday life activities is the indication that I am playing safe. I am not living to the fullest.

There is always a bridge between order and chaos in life. The founder and former CEO of Visa credit card association, Dee Hock, once referred this as “Chaordic System” – an organisation that blends characteristics of chaos and order. Most people assume that “order” is harmonious existence. But, I feel its not. Accepting chaos and order in life and treating them with equal consideration is harmonious existence. If you quietly observe the nature around you – the living creatures and the evolutionary process – you can find the evidence to the statement I made. There is chaos. There is order. The system is Chaordic.

Maximum results from our self can be achieved by adopting Chaordic path. Living fully often can raise us up the ladder or pull us down. Embracing both success and failure equally and improvising towards achieving our ultimate vision is the essence of personal development. This is equally true in organisations around the world.

One way to “find order” or “create chaos” (or find your chaordic spot) is by asking questions. Asking better questions drive us to the right answers. Asking questions to seek true knowledge. Brilliant Idea. Clarity is the mother of mastery. Both personal and organisational.

Here is a list of 33 questions that I had blogged last year. Questions for self-empowerment and knowledge. I have updated and reframed them for better clarity and effectiveness. Here you go -

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33 Questions – Seek Knowledge by Question (original post from last year)

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Here, I have listed 33 questions that I reflect upon every Sunday night. These questions help me to stay focused and clear through out the week. They help me to stay “Chaordic”.

1. What are the things I am grateful for right now?

2. Where I want to be in 1 year, 5 year and 10 years from now?

3. What is the biggest challenge I have right now?

4. What is my most urgent problem now? What needs immediate attention?

5. If I could have anything what could it be?

6. How could I be of better service to others? How can I help others to help themselves?

7. What am my wasting time with? What is holding me back the most?

8. What am I putting up with? What am I tolerating (people, events and situations)? What drains my energy?

9. What is my career vision? What is my Life vision?

10. What opportunities I have now? What opportunities am I missing?

11. What changes should I make right now?

12. What risks should I take? What am I waiting for?

13. What are my goals? What are my priority goals? (BHAGs)

14. What’s pending in my IN-BASKET (A book in which I keep my day to day to-do lists)? What can I do to keep it up-to-date?

15. What does my ideal life look like? (Sit back, close your eyes, and just visualize)

16. What are my PASSIONS? What gives me the most Joy? What motivates me?

17. What is my purpose in life? (Simple to ask.. but you really need to think. Your purpose should not be just to yourself. It’s about how can you contribute to the society to make it a better place. How can your product of passion contribute to build a better world.)

18. What skills do I want to/need to learn?

19. Where am I out-of balance? Where am I stuck?

20. Do I have enough Joy/Fun in life? Do I play when I need to?

21. How is my self-esteem?

22. What will I have regretted not doing at the end of my life? When and how can I do it?

23. What is my support-system? Do I need a larger support-system? How are my connections? How can I associate or disassociate or limit my associations? (This is very important)

24. What about my IMAGE? IMAGE is Innovation, Mastery, Authenticity, Guts(Persistence) and Ethics? (Learnt this acronym from Leader who had no title from Robin Sharma – Wonderful book – Read it- More importantly Live it)

25. How can I focus completely on things that matter? How can I channel my creativity and grace?

26. How can I push myself more- both physically and mentally?

27. Who are my most inspiring role models? Am I following the lessons I learnt from them?

28. How can I improve my health and temperance?

29. How can I be a better Leader and Visionary?

30. What legacy would I like to live?

31. How can I improve my relationships?

32. How much of happiness am I pouring into my life right now? (Happiness is not the output. It is the input to life).

33. How can I do more of the following things-

  • Listen
  • Observe
  • Be curious. (Child-like)
  • Ask questions
  • Solve problems
  • Make connections (those worth doing)

Perfection is the process of getting better every day. Ask right questions – you will find answers. At least the path that leads to it.
 Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary and meaningful things in an extraordinary way.

I hope this helps you to find your own Chaordic path.

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These are my set of questions. Please do leave a comment below – mentioning one question that you like to remove or add to the above list.

On the top of the world as I write this post,
Jade Nagaraja

Your turn :-)

Driven by “Why” Consciousness

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What outcome do we choose to achieve by doing what we do?

Is it just the mere feeling of accomplishing your goals?

whyuse1Is it – raising your bank balance to higher levels?

Is it – making an impact – creating connections – serving your best service to leave everything you touch a little better?

I would opt for the last outcome.

I often see people doing things just because they need to. The main reason for this is that they are driven by “Why” and “How” of Life. Alternatively, if we can focus on “Why” of everything we do – this very idea introduces us to our better and intuitive personalities. Knowing why you do what you do – not only drives us to be the best in everything, but also helps us eliminate unnecessary things that we do to be “busy”!

Once we are driven by a Vision and a rational mind with “Why” Consciousness –

  1. We are able to impact more by playing our passions out. Impact by words. Impact by actions. Impact by example.
  2. We are able to jumpstart with energy (and reason) every time we fall. We persist in doing what we do. (Doing what matters. Better)
  3. Helps us to lead from where we are planted. We no more dwell in the past. We no more seek for better opportunities or materials. We simply become resourceful and “now” beings.

What outcome do you choose for what you do?
Have you found your “Why” Consciousness?

Approaching Success, experiencing Happiness

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Everyone has unique system of seeing, analysing and interpreting things in life. Everyone has a different approach towards his or her own success and personal achievement. We hope to fulfil our desires. We hope to be our best selves in everything we do. But hope is nothings unless we take suitable actions towards realising it. A friend of mine asked me a question on Product of Passion – “How can we succeed?” Well. We have all heard that success is a ladder. Everyone needs inspiration and courage to climb it. People need true grit and character to intentionally climb the ladder of success. Although everyone’s ladder of success is different, it’s still a ladder. By this I mean to say that, the basic principles of succeeding in life remain the same.

In this post, I want to describe an 8-step generic process, which anyone can use to create his or her roadmap to “success”

People often confuse happiness with success. Happiness is the process. Failure and growth are necessary outcomes that we might experience towards succeeding in what we want.

The 8-steps are:

1. Dream. What’s your Vision in life? 

2. Plan. What are your steps in fulfilling the Vision?

3. Create. Are we taking essential actions?

4. Deliver. Serve your audience with your creations.

5. Fail. Part of the experience. Exercise Grit.

6. Learn. Enjoying the journey and being the better.

7. Grow. 

8. Succeed.

Now let’s deal with each step separately -

Continue reading the post here.

Speak your options

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Originally posted on Product of PASSION by Jade Nagaraja.

You just do it. You force yourself to get up. You force yourself to put one foot before the other, and God damn it; you refuse to let it get to you. You fight. You curse.  You cry. Then you go about the business of living. That’s how I have done it. There’s no other way.
- Elizabeth Taylor

I’ve spent my schooldays and part of my college – following others. And there is no harm doing that. If you feel that it is worth considering a person or a group’s idea – why not consider/follow it? But the issue is- do we need to do this always? Or let me put this in another way – Is it good to follow the norm and standards even though you have other options in you head? Is it that difficult to have our say in the society? What does it take for every individual to first, respect their thoughts and ideas and second, to speak them out.

Speak your options

After a long time of self-assessment and observation of human behaviour – I have come to the conclusion that – We often feel safe to follow the norm and social standards. We do it out our fear – fear of failure and fear of rejection. We feel safe when we follow the norm, as the chances of being a “unique” failure are very less. We avoid to speak/follow our options (or at least test them) so that we are not rejected.

But the truth is, we do need to speak our options. We need not always listen and follow the norm. When we have our options and ideas – we need to speak them and lead others. We need to first respect our ideas. Unless, we do this, no one else will. 

Having your say and helping people to get a better perspective is all it is. We need not always be right. We may be wrong. But, it’s always worth a shot!

I have spent a part of my life understanding this. In my school days, I was always behind the “best guys”. I listened and followed the paradigm and rules set by my friends, teachers and others. When I fell in this mindset, I almost totally disregarded my original thoughts. Out of the fear of being rejected, I didn’t even speak! I just followed and lived by the standards. I was a wallflower. The only way to get out of this mindset – is to go and speak our options to the audience. It is only by taking action that we can realise our potential to lead and help people.

Once we start to speak our options, we gradually improve. 

  1. We display leadership. We realise that our ideas and thoughts are worth a shot. We realise that we are potential beings in the path of a better world.
  2. We may fail. We may succeed. We may be rejected. We might be accepted. All that matters is participation. By actively participating, we gain more and more confidence and self-esteem.
  3. Practice is the mother of creativity. By genuinely thinking and playing to our strengths, we unleash our creative potential.
  4. People gain trust in us. Trust is often a under spoken entity in modern business. By showing leadership, participation and confidence- our audience develop sheer trust in us. We become a “hero” in their hearts. Trust is everything. It is the most difficult thing to gain and an easy wicket to loose.

All the above experiences are possible, only if you decide to break your shackles of fear and rejection, only if you decide to respect your inner voice and only if you decide to speak your options to your audience.

Jade Nagaraja

Are you among the 1 per cent?

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What is the 1 per cent?

Great lives are not identified by their “bank balance” or by their “job position”.
Great lives are identified by the love they spread.
By the purpose they live by.
By the contribution they make to the world.

They are “the 1% of the society”. They lead, grow and contribute from where they are planted. They do not wait. They do not search. They create. They contribute. They are the “crazy ones” who make a choice to live a remarkable life by –

Image by Yana Ray

Image by Yana Ray

  1. Finding their purpose.
  2. Framing it. &
  3. Living it.

All it takes is grit and insatiable desire to make a difference. To stand out. And to have the courage to live and spread inner voice.

Are you?

The only way you can decide whether you belong to this 1% is to ask these questions. And to answer them honestly!

  1. What do I really care about? Am I really caring?
  2. Why do I do what I do? Is this the thing I want to do?
  3. What really matters?
  4. What is my most recognisable strength? Am I using it?
  5. How can I use my strengths to my advantage? How can I get paid for doing what I love to do? How can I live my passions?
  6. How can I be of use to the world?
  7. What are the immediate actions I can take now?
  8. What am I waiting for? Let me rock the world!

We are born to live! Not to “prepare for it”.

All of us can make a difference by living our passions out. Leveraging our strengths and abilities to contribute. By being the 1%. It’s our birth right to live our fullest selves.

Let’s bring it!

Jade Nagaraja

Mindset – How to cope with change

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“Tomorrow, before coming to my lecture, make a mindset to sit, listen, learn and ask questions for 2 continuous hours. It’s all about the mindset. With proper mindset, we can do whatever we want.”

“All great people are humble. When you learn more, you feel more humble. It’s all about being humble, open and systematic.”

These are the words of one of my favourite and most influential professors – Prof. K Karunakara. The story goes back to my undergraduate study – Bachelor’s of Engineering in Information Science at Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Tumkur, India. My obsessive interest in the field of Big-data analytics and cloud computing began here. It all began with a single insight – “Moving the entire campus into the cloud – allowing the students, teaching staff and management to collaborate and work together online. More importantly – in an efficient manner.” Only one person – my professor K. Karunakara, initially supported my idea. He gave me full support to work in the department computer labs – all night. My obsession reached a new level altogether when I came in contact with my needs. I am very grateful to my professor for believing me and teaching me some of the greatest lessons in life!

Image by Petr Kratochvil

Image by Petr Kratochvil

Having a right mindset is one of the important lessons I learnt during my stay in Tumkur, India. For me, a “mindset” is a set of assumptions that we make intentionally (as an individual or a group) in any situation and thereby influencing our behaviour and actions towards it. Having motivational and goal-oriented mindset will drive us towards necessary actions and behaviour. As each mindset depends on the individual’s perspective and frame of reference, it is up to each individual to understand his/her mindsets and corresponding behaviours and actions. Once, we do this, it’s a mere game to use it to our advantage to facilitate personal and group success. 

“The mind is a powerful thing. It can take you through walls.”
― Denis Avey, The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II

Growth needs change.
Both good and bad.
Whether at organisational or personal level.

Change in businesses and organisations are uncertain and random. Anything can happen at any moment. You may be left with a freedom of making any choice or you may have to follow the organisational norm at a given moment. Only choice you are left – is to play your best selves – to move the best pawn. And you can do it by applying specific mindsets.

Author and blogger, Daryl Conner suggests four specific steps towards it. How to use behavioural and mindset pattern in case of organisational change –

  1. Be familiar with the mindset and behavior patterns that usually play out during significant organizational transformations
  2. Recognize these patterns when they surface
  3. Be able to describe their impact in easy-to-understand language – to yourself, to your team and others who need it.
  4. Know what guidance to offer for each one or any combination that forms. Lead yourself and lead others.

At a personal level, having proper mindset and allocating proper time and effort into various aspects of being, will make all the difference.

Jade Nagaraja