If marriages are made in heaven then?

If marriages are made in heaven then:

• Why the hell you have to look for the one that is made for you?
• Why you have been given option to choose the one?
• Why you want to get married on the earth?
  

Some people say that "Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on Earth", does that mean that if one doesn't get married then one breaks the law of heaven/earth/nature?

Does it really feels like living in a heaven after you get married?

I really, really don't know why I am so confused about the thing called marriage, may be because, I definitely see myself getting married within a year.

Am I getting married because I want to or I have to?

Am I trustworthy?

Today, my mind was so full of ideas that I unable to decide on what to blog. Hence I decided to analyze myself......

Am I a trustworthy person? The answer can be "yes" or can be "no".

I break trust only when I feel there is not going to be any kind of harm to the person who trusted on to me.

Dream Deferred

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Time Management Strategies: Are they Effective?

I have been reading different articles of "Time Management Strategies", One thing that most of them write is time management is all about Planning and Prioritizing your tasks.

In brief almost all advise you to do the following:

• Do proper planning of all the tasks on daily basis.
• Prioritize your work, e.g. by making to do list and putting top priority work on top.
• Divide large assignments and tasks into their component parts.
• Review you plan on a regular basis.
• Eliminate interruptions by closing your office door and letting telephone calls go to voice mail.
• Learn to say "no" and to focus on what's important to achieving your goals.
• Find a calendar system you're comfortable with, and use it for all your activities.
• Build flexibility into your schedule to accommodate the unexpected.
• Learn how to effectively delegate.
• Set time limits on tasks.
• Take a break.

I find it weired that most of the article talk about only planning the time management strategy for performing a task rather than identifying minimization of time wastage while doing a task or identification of the reasons for an individual to feel the need for time management strategies.

As we all know that there are only 24 hours in a day and if we add the extra time and effort for planning and executing time management strategies, we end up at the same place. Also. our priority changes on daily basis, one cannot avoid interruptions, sometime its difficult to say no and to delegate.

There is a belief that if you just work harder you can get more things done. Time management operates on the philosophy of trying to cram more and more stuff into your calendar and you end up working harder trying to get everything done.

So the best strategy for effective time management is to identify the time one waste (e.g. long tea and lunch breaks, chatting and talking on phone during office hours, unnecessary status meetings, checking personal e-mail at office time) while going through the daily tasks/chores.

Therefore, my time management strategies are:

• to identify and minimize my wastage time,
  
• start working less than you expect by taking balance amount of responsibility,
  
• to always promise less and deliver more,
  
• to take care of my health by taking meditation/yoga/exercise,
  
• to take task as it comes and change priority as a newer task comes.

So what are your effective time management strategies?

Innovation, Innovation Everywhere

In many organizations including mine :-) there is a firm belief that to survive in a business you need to innovate and, majority of our bosses believe in that. But some times the buzz word innovation can make the basic aim of development of new products and services futile.

I quite like the IBM advertisements on innovation with punch line "Stop Talking, Start Doing". They really capture the confusion and dilemma occurring in the minds of software community people.

In a recent published article in "The Wall Street Journal" describing how car manufactures are creating new ways for drivers to start their cars. Instead of manual keys, more than 50 2008 models feature push-button starters. Drivers of push-button cars still have to carry a small device that emits a wireless signal that authenticates the driver.

I am not at all against new technological advancements, but what exactly was wrong with using a physical key to start a car? The process is familiar, it is easy to transfer a key to another driver, and the process takes about 10 seconds.

Saving 10 seconds is wonderful in today’s hectic world, but there’s a catch. In exchange for saving those 10 seconds, drivers have to make sure they don’t walk away with the activation device in their pocket when they valet-park their car. More importantly, they have to hope that their new key doesn’t run out of batteries or malfunction. While some activation systems include manual keys, using those keys involves following a complicated set of instructions, with helpful owner’s manual advice like “call your dealer.”

As we read in our school days that "necessity is the mother of all invention" is quite true. I believe that innovations are to make our life easier, and its not necessary to innovate/re innovate everything that exist just to impress others/bosses.

A beginning!

Its been nearly an year since I have been thinking of starting my own blog, but it could not happen.

I have been waiting for a great innovative idea and interesting topic on which i could start my own blog. but as you see it never happened.

So, finally I decided to just jump into the ocean and try to learn the art of swimming as the waves of my fickle mind travels during the course of the time.
And, here I am, sharing my view, thoughts, personal experiences and dreams as time passes by!

Sumantra