Have you became a victim of the monetary marketing?

Day 31

So today, my wife's agenda was to go shopping at Macy's because she received a 25 dollars coupon from them. I tagged along with my wife for a walk to the mall and participate in the shopping with the newly found treasure of 25 dollars from Macy's. The plan was to go to store and shop for 25 dollars worth and then walk around the mall for some good exercise. Well half of the plan worked, and Macy's succeeded in their monetary advertisement. We walked out of the store spending over 100 dollars.

So here is my question: Have you became a victim of the monetary marketing?

It is amazing, how a small token of 25 dollars can drive customers to revisit the store. Unfortunately the small token of 25 dollars doesn't get you far and the customer winds up spending money they had not planned before. Have you caught yourself staring at an item you don't need but you are debating because the item it is on sale?

What is really wonder what kind of formula is used by the vendors to target their customers? Have you heard about RFM analysis? According to Search Data Management (2005), "RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) analysis is a marketing technique used to determine quantitatively which customers are the best ones by examining how recently a customer has purchased (recency), how often they purchase (frequency), and how much the customer spends (monetary)." The theory identified 80 percent of the business are from 20 percent customers.

So next time you receive a free token from a vendor, they have identified you in the 20 percent of the customers that cannot hold back when at a shopping spree. I am positive, that the RFM analysis enables the vendors to calculate the months in the year you shop the most. A marketing strategy based on your historic trail of shopping, with an intriguing token of appreciation for a month you shop the most.

"The best strategy of marketing is creating an experience for the customer of a win-win situation, and not feel marketed."

~Lenji Jacob


Reference:

Rouse, M. (2005) What is RFM analysis (recency, frequency, monetary)? Search Data Management Retrieved August 31, 2012, from http://searchdatamanagement.techtarget.com/definition/RFM-analysis

When is the last time you have had a "Me Time" for you?

Day 30

Today, after an exciting visit to a clinic, I made a decision to have some "me time" in the evening and go walking after a meal. Truth be told, I have not done brisk walking in a while, and I could see myself struggle a little after very little exploring. The walk was pretty relaxing and I got time to actually enjoy the scenery, full moon, and some awesome breeze. I was liking this concept of "Me time", where I spend this time walking in great companionship and at the same time my body was thanking me for good exercise.

So here is my question: When is the last time you have had a "Me Time" for you?

In our busy lifestyle, we run to home, school, college, work, children, homework, errands, social gatherings, happy hours, etc but when do you actually spend some time for you? Without taking time out for you, you become an automated working-clock. With advanced technologies, smartphones, social networking website, etc the minds of the people are always inquisitive and busy. The rushes in life depicts signs of pattern and behavior. Is having time just dedicated for you with no interference real hard to find?

Has the concept of me time refocused towards group activities? Is this the reason, people join group activities like weight watchers, zumba dancing, and many more where you will be forced to participate and be more successful?

Intellectual and Psychological studies have indicated that people who spend some time of day with "Me Time" have great success outlets. This time channels to let out your frustrations, problems, etc and focus on doing things that brings happiness and passion back to you.

"Spending sometime for yourself on daily basis makes sure that you don't get lost in transition."

~Lenji Jacob

What are your kitchen rules?

Day 29

Today, I was in the kitchen cooking a pasta dish which I think turned out pretty well. Normally, when my wife is present at home, I would shy away from cooking. The reason I shy away from cooking is because we have different cooking and cleaning approach in the kitchen. My wife likes to clean the kitchen simultaneously while she is cooking and I like to finish my cooking and then clean the kitchen. So when I am cooking in the kitchen when my wife is present, she will walk around cleaning and putting away the spices. It feels like she is in my way of cooking, and for her it feels like I am a messy cook. This leads to argument at times. There are some battles you just don't want to fight. So I normally don't cook anything when my wife is around because of the kitchen rules.

So here is my question: What are your kitchen rules?

In the household, who gets the decision to make the kitchen rules? See in a restaurant, there are hierarchy of chefs from the head chef to the line cook. The head chef makes the kitchen rules on the cooking preparation methods to the kitchen maintenance protocols. At home, how do you determine on who is the head chef? Is it based on your cooking skills? Is it based on the dominant cook? Or is it the battle of sexes?

Let me try to take the kitchen rules to another level. I have visited homes of some Brahman families that consider kitchen equivalent to a holy place. A little background on the topic of Brahman: Vedic scholars, priests, vegetarians, highest class in Hinduism. I have heard rules like you can not wear shoes in the kitchen, you cannot enter the kitchen until you shower, etc. The most hardest rule I have heard is "You can not enter the kitchen because you are not a Brahman or because you eat meat."

"The best part of cooking is bringing the different components of food together, to create that perfect bite of satisfaction."

Here are some of the pictures of my dishes I have created in the past

~Lenji Jacob

What is your take on heaven and hell?

Day 28

Ok! I am not a very religious buff but I ran into a very interesting conversation today. The ideology of heaven and hell. I understand different people have different opinions on this topic, and no one is judging any believes,  This is just my rambling on this topic. I heard a song on YouTube by Albert King today that stated "Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die." Coincidentally one of my friend blogged: Is hell real? Will the world be a better place if the theory of hell was real?

So here is my question: What is your take on heaven and hell?

The theory of heaven and hell would incorporate as the following "If you do good deeds in life, you will go to heaven and If you do bad deeds in life, you will face hell. Heaven serves happiness, and hell serves punishment." But the calculation of heaven and hell is normally classified as the aftermath of life, and this is why the song of Albert King is extremely powerful. Death is a guaranteed phenomena that humans face at the end of their life, but the aftermath of life is unknown. My biased outlook on this topic is that your purpose on earth is to live to the fullest.

Why are we concerned on the aftermath of life? Why don't we focus on our purpose to live the life to the fullest? If you live your life miserable, unhappy, sad, devastated, negative, etc, isn't that equivalent to hell? But if you life your life improving, building, happy, positive, etc. isn't that heaven on earth? Why do we worry about the aftermath, when we can live the concept of heaven and hell today? Why worry about the unknown when the known can be positive?

"Why worry about the next heartbeat, when you have not completely finished living the current heartbeat"

~Lenji Jacob




Reference:

Albert King -- Everybody Wants to go to Heaven, But Nobody Wants to Die - YouTube . (2011, May 16). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved August 28, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb-EJEWRxlM

What is the biggest compromise you have done?

Day 27

In an argument between couples, the commonly found debatable topic is compromise. A loosing argument can be completely turned around by the topic of compromise. The attempt is to make the other person feel guilty and quite for a favorable result of argument. I guess the concept of "Love and War" applies where everything is considered fair.

So here is my question: What is the biggest compromise you have done?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2010) compromised can be defined as "A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions." Look careful at the definition of compromise, both parties makes concessions.

So when debating the topic of compromise, why is the concession of the other person becomes silent or irrelevant? What is the actual purpose of making an compromise? Does the purpose of compromise mean it can re-verbalized at a latter time? Isn't the purpose of a compromise mean, we  have achieved  understanding terms? Isn't is better to ignore the topics that caused friction previously in a present argument?

We compromise and adjust on daily basis that includes family, friends, work, and just plain life. We made that compromise because we care about our self and the other person. The proportion of care between self and other person could vary, for example a mother will compromise something for a new born baby, a compromise in a business partnership, compromise of couples, a compromise on what to do on a Saturday evening and many more similar events.

"We compromise as a selfless act because we care about "I and You" and not to win an argument debate."

~Lenji Jacob


Reference
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. 

When is the last time you visited an historic place

Day 26

Today we decided to go have our late night dinner at Ben's Chilli Bowl. The place is filled with pictures of known celebretes. President Obama's is one of the many prominent pictures hanging on the wall at Ben's. We see many tourists visiting this location and taking pictures in front of the place.

So here is my question. When is the last time you have visited an historic place?

What do you think about the difference in ambience of a history or non historic location? Do you feel proud to be at a historic location? People spend hundreds of dollars just to visit history and feel the ambience.

"History is a continous series of events, you never know when you become a part of history"

What is your calling of work?

Day 25

Not sure if this is an appropriate topic for the weekend, because weekends are normally designed for resting and relaxing. But we spend many years of life going to a college, and working a certain profession for many years. We might be satisfied with our current job, current salary, current working options and opportunities but do you think there might be another profession that could make you happier

So here is my question: What is your calling of work?

Why do people change profession after working many years in a line of work? Do you think you current line of work is the work of your calling? When at the age of 16 or 18 when we decide to go to college, do we really know what is the profession of calling? Imagine if colleges had the ability to actually understanding the true way of measuring the student's professional calling, then do you think we have as many job jumpers? An academic counselor at an college, what is the education background? Will good psychologist become good academic counselors?

If you are following a professional calling, do you think you have the feeling this is only a job? Do you think the rate of productivity will be higher than today? As a recruiter, how does the recruiter analyze a candidate out of 10 other candidate? Even a better question, how do you pick a resume out of 100 resume for a job application? What if creativity or writing is not a calling but numbers and budgets are the calling? How does the applicant with excellent budgetary skills present a presentable resume? The recruitment panel must have a different procedure and standards for every designed position in the company rather than have one unique procedure flat across the board.

"The perfect job is a job that is not a job but your professional calling"

~Lenji Jacob 

What are the expectations of a date night?

Day 24

Today my wife called me in the afternoon and asked me to be ready to a surprise evening. I agreed and was ready in the evening. Not sure what was the surprise that was holding up, but I was up for a challenge. The evening composed of a happy hour and dinner at a restaurant, and then to watch a movie at the Egyptian theater, that has the high definition digital. So the surprise was a date night, and we were content with the evening. 

So here is my question: What are the expectations of a date night?

Do the standards of the date expectation vary from the first day to the dates that follow the first date? The first date we make sure we are very well in tune with the program. There is a fine dining restaurant, a main evening social event, sometimes flowers for the lady, etc. One the first day at dining we make sure we order food that doesn’t make us look very clumsy in front of the other person. But the highest expectation of the first date is the first Kiss.

How do you measure the excitement of the first date and the dates that follow? Is it the first date more exciting because you are unfolding the unknown? Do the excitement of the first correlate to the opportunity of the first kiss? How would you define a good date? How would say the date has met all the expectations level?

A perfect date would include two people lost in their own world, forgetting the world around them with no expectations

~Lenji Jacob

What is your favorite spot?

Day 23

Many people travel miles and miles away to get to their favorite spot. A spot where you can sit back, relax and even plan your day.

So here is my question: What is your favorite spot?

Interestingly this question will have many answers? As weird as this sounds my favorite spot is a parking lot facing the street. I have spend many hours at a parking lot talking to clients, talking to friends, planning out the agenda for the day, and many more.

Does it really have to be a vacation spot to relax? Do you have to travel miles away from home? What do we look for when choosing the favorite spot? Where have you spend the most time of your time other than home, work, and running chores?

"A place on earth that enables us focus on our lives is worth complementing."

~Lenji Jacob

How effective are the job fairs?

Day 22

Recently I had gone to a job fair conducted in Virginia. The fair was conducted between 10am to 3pm. The parking lot of the center conducting the job fair was full, and I understand the desperation cause due to high unemployment rate. I walked into the center, signed my name and walked in to the hall for my first job fair. There were approximately 30 companies present for the job fair, but over 200 people present for this fair. People were dressed professional and walking from one company to another with their resumes in their hand.

My question: How effective are the job fairs?

The members representing the companies were in a rush to complete the job fair. The representation was they were on a punishment and had to represent the company not on their own will. Some people were accepting resumes, and some recommended the participants to apply online at their website.

What is the purpose of a job fair? Who are the members present at the job fairs representing the company? How much of a recruiting background do the members representing the company posses? What happens to the resumes that are accepted by the different companies? Why are companies present at the job fair, if the whole purpose is to direct the people to their website? Do the companies receive a tax break to be present at the job fairs?

I question the effectively of the job fairs, because how does the job fair even select one ideal candidate without a brief interview? The average time spend with participants are not more than a minute? What is the percentage of success people have received from the job fairs?

"Prospecting your career level to the next advancement level salutes all avenues of opportunities regardless of the success ratio."

~Lenji Jacob

Is taming our differences a relationship survival kit?

Day 21

The best part of the relationship is sharing the similarities in life, and we are in agreement with the other person in the relationship. The challenge in the relationship is the disagreement or the differences. Tell me have you stopped talking to someone, or cannot see someone eye to eye because of these difference. What happens when the disagreement gets out of hand? Is it the end of the relationship?

Here is my question: Is taming our differences a relationship survival kit?

When in an argument based on differences, how many times have we attempted to rationalize the conversation of the opponent? Even a better question, at the point of argument, is the opponent your friend? Is the battle on the same topic that started the argument or differences? Is there a possible, that we may bring up conversation that we may regret in future?

Will the progression of argument be confined if boundaries are set? The biggest part of taming the difference would be following the five minute rule. Studies have discovered in a conversation on a topic, the maximum attention span is five minutes. Many marketers follow this theory and attempt to bullet points the topic in the first five minutes.

Do you think many divorces or broken relationship could be saved by knowing when to stop the difference? A healthy difference can present the characteristics of critical criticism and have the potential to become constructive. In a difference, the key is to realize the other person is listening and not defending. When a person is defending the argument, the difference argument has crossed the boundary because a sense of accusation is developed.

“Differences can be constructive in limited boundaries, excessive differences could be destructive.”

~Lenji Jacob

Friendship, is that a constantly changing phase of life?

Day 20

How many of us remember the name of the first friend we made in our life? Even better how many of us are in touch with their first friend? In life we have come across many faces and swore "friends of ever" but as time pass the bond fades and then the friendship? Today at many social interactive network media a friend request is commonly observed, and many friendly reunions are made possible because of the social networking sites. In my lifetime, I have been blessed with some good friends, and cherish every moment of the friendship. But at the same time I have made friend and don’t even know their where about.

Here is my question: Friendship is that a constantly changing phase of life?

As human we are social animals and are constantly making friends in different arena like schools, colleges, work, social gatherings, etc. The duration of bond of friendship can vary from couple of hours to a lifetime. Not knowing the absolute truth that most friendships are environment acquaintance and the friendship will cease after we exit the specific environment. For example, when we are in school or college we make good friends, but the education is complete, we all walk in different directions.

Why does friendship fail? Is it just mere concept of “out of touch, out of mind?” How many times have we made attempts to be in touch with a friend we really cared? Friendship is an investment, and why do we let our investments lose? Have you been there for your friend’s falls and rise? Have we become selfish and self consumed in our lives that we don’t have the time to spare for a bond we once created?

"You are your best friend, because you have been there for all your falls and rises."

~Lenji Jacob

Bidding Farewell, why is this challenging disposition?

Day 19

Today one of the closest family have decided to complete their tenure in the country and move permanently back to India. The family played a big impact in the life of my wife. The family played the role of mom and dad for my wife. With the decision of the family to go to India, my wife was undergoing the feeling of losing a guardian, a sense of being alone, etc. The farewell experience is painful, and sad. Technically when you are wishing someone goodbye to start a new chapter in their life it should be a happy event, but we experience differently.

This is my question: Bidding farewell, why is this challenging disposition?

Many people react differently towards the attitude of telling someone goodbye or farewell. If possible, many people will attempt to avoid the farewell interaction. Airports are a great venue where you can feel and see this experience. Tears, prolonged hugging, attempting to make one more conversation, one more kiss and many more are some of the farewell interaction characteristics played.

Is it the selfish human nature that makes the farewell experience tough? With advanced technology we have the ability to see and talk to our loved ones on the phone, but why do still feeling the sulking mood to bid farewell? When we bid a farewell the following elements are challenged: feeling of void, sense of security, sense of loss, and many more.

The losing battle to the” sense of having” makes the farewell a de-stimulating situation

What is the type of education you prefer: Online or Traditional?

Day 18

One of the most blogged arguments on education is traditional education versus online education. University of Phoenix is one of the first universities to bring the concept of accepted online education into the system. The concept of online education was designed for members of armed forces and working adults. Traditional universities opposed the idea of online education, and the graduates from online university were challenged at the job market. But today, the theory of online education have changed and many universities are incorporating online education to the education syllabus

My question is: What is the type of education you prefer: Online or Traditional?

I completed my Masters in Business Administration with an online education system. The style of education gave me exposure to a virtual working environment, and the team members on projects were from different time zones. The online education helped gain a good balance between personal life and education commitments. Discipline and research were the some of the key elements required to be successful. With not having the privilege to have live interaction with classmate, the students developed a reporting system for the projects. Every project included contractual agreements with scope of responsibilities for every member in the dead, and assigned commitment dates. Personally I found this style of learning helpful when transitioning to a working culture. Many graduates from online universities are starters of new projects, business owners, consultants, etc.

I would not have been able to complete the Master’s program in a traditional on campus education with full time work. Is there a designated age when the concept of traditional on-campus education is close to impossible? Why was the concept of distant learning designed for working adults? Was the concept designed because the demand of discipline is higher than traditional colleges? Why do people attending the online education feel the work load is higher than traditional on-campus education? Are the graduates of online education still challenged in the job market?

“Education is an important aspect of human development, but is the schematic of how the education is obtained important?

~Lenji Jacob

Reward for a bad service?

Day 17

On a Friday night if you go out to eat at any of the restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Carrabba’s, Bertucci, etc. an average wait is approximately 30 to 45 minutes. The diversity of crowd that includes family members, couples, friends, first dates, etc are all waiting and wandering around the vicinity with a buzzer in their hands or pockets. An extremely busy restaurant has the possibility of showing characteristics like loud atmosphere, slow food service, more waiting, and finally the bill arrives. The weekend dinner expedition for a simple dinner night has been stretched out almost three hours with the waits included, and now you are nipping the pen to decide on the tip. Mostly your average tip will be around 15 to 20 percent of the bill. A 20 percent tip for this experience, I wonder how much would you tip for a good service?

This is my question: Reward for a bad service?

What is the secret for these restaurants that people go back every weekend? People have experienced these long wait times and busy services but still decide to go back to these restaurants. Do the name brands of the restaurant play for the return of the customers? Do these restaurants create a social status rating for the customers that are dinning at these restaurants in front of their social settings? 

The restaurant has created 15 to 20 percent tipping as accepted rewards for the excellent service and experience by the customers. Has the accepted rewards percentage rooted in the minds of the customers that they automatically tip the rewards regardless the standard of service or experience? Even at a bad experience, why does the customer feels hesitant to tip below par or no tip?

So when you want to spend some quality time rather than quantity time, what action do you take? I love low keyed restaurants because the experience is personal, ambiance is inviting, service is more appreciated, price is on par and rewarding doesn’t feel hassled.

“If you reward a bad experience, how do you reward the good experience?”

Do you believe in "life is full of chances"?

Day 16

In our lifetime at some point we have heard words like new opportunity, second chances, finally a break through, etc. The impact is better when you are least expecting of an opportunity, and on the verge of quitting on hope.

My question is do you believe in "life is full of chances"?

Today in the midst of bad economic times and high unemployment, what is the clarity of hope? How long does it take for life to adapt into the thought process of second chance for a person living in a broken relationship, or having lost a loved one? How many people are working a job for survival and have given up on their dream they wanted to pursue in life? When you see an opportunity or meet a new person, what is the secret of knowing the opportunity about this new connection?

Have you ever faced this scenario?

A decision you made in life and it failed drastically. You were extremely bummed on this failure, but soon an opportunity knocks on your path. The new opportunity is much better than the opportunity you had lost and the failure was the cause you found the new opportunity. I guess the saying holds true in this scenario “Everything happens for the best.” It is just that you may not have seen the opportunity immediately at the point of failure.

I am starting a new career path, and this was a struggling dream that I always want to pursue in life. This pursuit took me couple of years to achieve, but finally a break through.

“A new day is a day full of opportunities and chances, just embrace every moment.”

~Lenji Jacob

Freedom, are we really free?

Day 15

Belonging to an Indian origin, Aug 15^th is a proud moment as India celebrates the 65^th year of Independence. Under the British rule for approximately for over 200 years, India got their freedom in Aug of 1947. Happy Independence day to all my Indian brothers and sisters.

Here is my question: Freedom, are we really free?

In my early childhood days every year on Aug 15^th, the movie Gandhi with Ben Kingsley playing the character of Gandhi played on Doordarshan channel (the only Indian channel in the early eighty’s). All the family members will repeatedly watch this movie every year, with a sense of patriotism. Most of the schools had Independence parade to celebrate the Independence of India. The students wore white uniforms and were out in the sun all day attending the event. The sun, the heat could be tiresome, and this could be the reason only few kids came out to play in the evening.

Growing up, did we actually know the meaning of Independence? Yes we knew the definition of Independence, and the historic value of Independence. But not experiencing any slavery or cruelty did we really know the value of Independence? For the generation that was born post the independence of the country, was Independence Day an official day off, fireworks, celebration, etc?

Another question I always asked was, are we really free. Is all our battles over? Did the country actually achieve what the freedom fighters and freedom struggle war desired for? Or has the battle shifted from the battle of countries to the battle of classes? The political battle- is that the battle for freedom of the people or power play?

With all these confusing questions in my head, I still celebrate the Independence, the independence that gave me the ability to be free, think, learn, live and grow.

“Your freedom is a well packaged gift presented to you by the many heros who lost their lives wrapping the package”

~Lenji Jacob


References

A. R. Rahman - Maa Tujhe Salaam (Vande Mataram) With Lyrics + English Translation - YouTube . (n.d.).YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved August 16, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPeJFjJ1SNs&feature=related

 Jana Gana Mana - India National Anthem English lyrics - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.. Retrieved August 16, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yMvU73Wr7Q&feature=player_embedded#!

Is the waves a silent clamer

Day 14

There are times when we are sitting by the ocean, all of a sudden you feel the waves have a unique way of calming your mood, and you feel well relaxed.

My question is: Is the waves a silent calmer?

Interestingly the are many documents talking about the waves and calmness like many poets have quoted the calmness, many artist illustrated pictures to demonstrate this, many travellors have documented the calmness, and many more.

I spend an evening at Virginia Beach and experienced this calmness first hand. Away from the craziness of the fast paced lifestyle spending the time at the beach was extremely relaxing. Just sitting by the water enabled me to think and refocus on the elements of life.

Why do people spend plenty of money to come to the ocean, resorts? Why are some promising and beautiful weddings conducted by the water? Does this point them away from the stress of their life? Why does the government spend plenty of attention to these ocean front vacation spot? Do they know this secret? Why are these places a revenue generator?

"It is Amazing that the rough tides approaching the land, reciprocate a calming edge to the rough tides of human life"

~Lenji Jacob

Habits and when did this happen?

Day 13

During the course of our life we hear words like "Good habits, Bad Habits." The character of a human is defined based on the habits database of the person. Based on the sociology studies, social gathering encounters people together with similar habits. So it is just not the character of human but their whole social relationship is build on the foundation of habits. Because being social is important for humans, the concept of habits is important aspect of life.

So here is my question: Habits and when did this begin?

According to Dictionary (2012), the concept of habit is defines as " an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary." So based on this theory it has to become a behavior pattern. A pattern is the repetition of actions to an surrounding environment could be classified as a behavior pattern. This is an interesting human characteristics when a continuous behavior pattern occurs, the reaction becomes a second nature to the similar environment. Secondary nature trends towards involuntary behavior and thus the evolution of habit.

Some of the common found habit is lying. When the first lie is undetected, the potential ability for the second lie at is a similar situation is conceived more at ease. The more effective the ability becomes, the more stronger the behavior pattern evolves. The art of lying has the potential to become a habit of a human. This art could be practiced for personal gains or just mere habit.

The involuntary reaction, can this be changed once developed? What is the ease of changing habits? The concept of habit can be involved based on your surroundings that could involve elements like people, substance, believes, culture, and many more. The examples of forced changing habit would be : the loss of loved one and our interactions with person, attempting to quit habits like smoking or drinking, and many more.

Why do we want to change a habit? There are socially accepted habits classified as positives and negatives. The idea of social acceptance focus towards integration of the positive habits in the personal database.

"Eliminating a habit-an involuntary behavioral action demands higher energy than building a habit, so be selective on your choices"

~Lenji Jacob

Reference

habit (2012) Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 13, 2012, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/habit

When do educators feel their job is completed?

Day 12

IFRIENDNET is a nonprofit organization that provides mentorship support in English for Dominican Republic and Haiti. I am one of the educators at the organization. An interesting incident happened at training today. A statement from Dominican Republic students who spoke zero English couple of months ago said “you don’t have to translate every word anymore we understand a little now." This moment was filled with a great sense of satisfaction.

So here is my question: When do educators feel their job is complete?

I will start my question with the parents because parents are one of the first educators for a child. As an educator for a child for basic elements like potty training, story reading, teaching the alphabets, and many more, when does a parent feel when is there part completed as an educator. I raise this question to parents, because as a parent you do not have the privilege of accessing a syllabus for the education of your child.

Personally, the school years were some of the best times of my lives. Surprisingly some of the concepts and stories I have learned in my school days, I have carried it along for over 20 years. Teachers encounter students with different learning styles, learning calibers, intelligent levels, non-corporative students, and many more. Using syllabus as guidelines, teachers complete their teaching requirements annually for new batch of students every year. But, when does a teacher feel their job has been completed?

What are the emotions a teacher undergoes, when the student has achieved success? If a student recognizes the teacher for their educational work and the impact it has provided to their life?  What is the true gift to the teacher, attaining a 100 percent passing grade or the teaching has changed the life of a student for the better?

Planting a seed is passion or job but watching the seed blossom is blessing or achievement

When must we quit?

Day 11

“Try and Try until you succeed” this is a quote that I remembers from a story that I learned in my childhood about King Bruce and a spider. The story revolves around a lost king in battle learned a spider that gave me the inspiration. This is an excellent inspiration thought for life, and we must make numerous attempts to achieve success.

But my question is: When must we quit?

I raise this question because in this fast pace competitive world, when we are making numerous attempts to success, there must be a point to quit or reconsider the evaluation. Do we pursuit every project to success, even if the outcome is only failure? When repetitive failures engaging in reconsideration of a new project, a bad consideration?

Have the rules of the theory try and try until you succeed changing? So in any project what is the point we must choose to reconsider the project and cease the current project?

Quitting a failed project and engaging a working project for success cannot be claimed as bad decision. So based on this theory the decision of quitting, we can document progress from the current. Lets us see in a working culture, stockbrokers, day traders go through this scenario on daily basis, when they must quit following a current stock for progress.

So for next time, when you make the decision of quitting anything, look for the direction of the progress of the decision. Is the decision trending a progress or a regress

The concept of quitting, that can enable progress is positive. 

~Lenji Jacob

The power of Friday

Day 10

Ideally the work schedule is Monday through Friday. So when we are not at work on a Monday morning and the heart is craving and wishing for the day to be Friday.

So why is there a saying “Thank God it is Friday?” and what is the power of Friday

So as a social animal humans are seeking an opportunity to reenergize by prevailing the opportunity to spend with their loved ones. On a work week, we are tired by the fourth day, but now on the fifth day, the technical Friday are you really tired? Do you feel a boost of energy on Friday?

Personally for me, Friday is a boost of energy. I have more energy on my two days off, more than the whole week of energy at work. Personally I feel the ability to spend time with friends and family, at the time social hour helps in the reenergize process.

What happens to the brain? Do you think the brain is trained to lookout for a day for a break? But what is really a mental break? Is it when we don’t have to function under any guidelines or restriction? Do you agree we could be more productive on our days off, because of the high energy levels?

If every day was a Friday, and if the energy level of celebration correlated for a Friday then the production is on a rise

~Lenji Jacob

Do prayers help us?

Day 9

Religion is a topic I avoid having a conversation, because I believe personal beliefs should stay personal. People from different walks of life have different experience with religious beliefs. This is my personal experience, I belief in God and tell my thanks to him daily but when I am in trouble or in pain, I see myself praying for help and support

So here is my question: Do prayers help us?

Why do we pray? Is it because the human dependability is at the peak at times of vulnerability? Not sure what is the true reason, but praying in need has provided me the hope. I am sure religious gurus will have another view point on the concept of praying? But the feeling of talking, helps you reanalyze your problems, and my by praying in a strange way wanting the required results for the problem.

So based on this context, the process of praying helps the human depressurize the problem by talking the problem out, inspirational words of wisdom, mood focus, and many more. So once the person has less tension, we can improve the clarity in improvising the resolution for the problem.

Prayers help by clearing the fog of problems in human minds and bringing clarity to the rainbow of hope or resolution.

~Lenji Jacob

Do tears have a healing effect?

 Day 8

A common sight and audio, hearing and sighting of small children cry. But as our age progresses the impact of tears becomes a rare sighting. As adults there are times when the emotion takes control of your balance and you cry. I always wondered on why do we cry.

Do tears have a healing effect?

As an adult, there have been times when we feel the emotional imbalance and maybe have a tear. Do we actually cry when we have reached the break point, or the maximum of tolerance? Do we feel better after the tear ceremony process is over? Are we able to focus better after the break down and lay out plans to reconstruct?

According to the association for psychological science (2008), a research indicates the participants reported improved mood restoration after crying. Interesting fact, so with crying, the person breakdown completely, and the idea of frustration is flushed out. So demolish before you reconstruct.

Based on this research, is the idea of crying really bad? Does it sound like a healthy approach relieving the person? Does this concept stand its validity only based on the personality of the participant?

Tears provide a temporary healing effect with mood improvement. But the true uplift is processed with the help of family and support

The biggest comfort for pain is family

~Lenji Jacob

Reference

Association for Psychological Science (2008, December 19). Cry Me A River: The Psychology Of Crying. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 8, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081217123831.htm

The quest of approval

Day 7

In the journey of our life as humans we have always pursuit towards the sanctioned nods. As a child we have looked towards our guardians, as adults we looked towards employers, friends look towards friend, and many more. 

But here is my question: what is really the quest of approval?

For every action or decision we take, we hold responsibility. Based on this concept for every smallest decision we take in life, we need the approval of self. Even when we look to other for approval, we are actually looking for confidence in our personal approval. Think about a scenario at work: you processed certain actions, and decisions on a project, and when you feel the results are adequate to your approval, then the project is forwarded to attain the level of confidence from your supervisor.

There are times we feel extremely frustration about some decisions in life? Why does this happen? Why are we frustrated about the decision? Did we approve of the action? Or was that action a forced result? Personally I feel the biggest challenge or frustration of life happens when we perform an action that we personally could not approve. In this case why do we raise fingers or blame other for an action we performed? Do you agree the quest of approval starts within first, and then the second person?

Don’t blame others for your action because of the quest of approval of your action lies within you

~Lenji Jacob

What is the impact of culture ignorance?

Day 6

In the world of globalization two aspects has been working parallel to each other - the culture effect, and the stereotyping effect. In today’s culture the organizations and schools are attempting to introduce the concept of cultural awareness and acceptance of diversity. How successful are we in blending and understanding the cultures; or does the base idea still remain white, black, brown, etc.

What is the impact of culture ignorance?

On Aug 5^th 2012, a sad impact of cultural ignorance was illustrated. A shooting occurred in the temple of the Sikh Community located in Wisconsin, Iowa. What was the cause of the shooting? News reporting documents the cause of the shooting correlated to a misunderstanding of culture and stereotyping. Because of the Sikh community men wear a turban on their head, and the presence of facial beard; there is common misunderstanding that Sikh’s are Muslims.

Responding to the shooting the Sikh community responded as "If people have misconceptions about who Sikhs are, they should know we are peaceful people. We believe in one God (Richissin, 2012)." The community feels violated at their place of worship. The injury to an innocent human being because of violence is devastating, but if the cause is cultural ignorance it is disturbing.

Along with global growth, what have we done to understand the other cultures? Is the concept of globalization limited to the profitability of the pockets? How can we implement a program to reduce the impact of cultural ignorance? With the augmentation of the interracial community, what are the educational protocols of cultures?

Blending the horizons of cultural awareness increases the clarity of the colorful life

~Lenji Jacob

Reference

Richissin, T (2012, August 5) Iowa Sikhs React to Wisconsin Sikh Temple Shooting: 'We Are a Peaceful People' - Ames, IA Patch. Ames, IA Patch - News, Sports, Events, Businesses & Deals Retrieved August 6, 2012, from http://ames.patch.com/articles/iowa-sikhs-following-wisconsin-sikh-temple-shooting-we-are-a-peaceful-people

What is the logic behind in picking logic?

Day 5

“Number 2 comes after Number 1, and that is a logical statement.” This is an interesting fact; there are things that are taken into consideration because it is a logically accepted fact. I always wondered one question

What is the logic behind in picking logic?

Is the concept of logic something that works for a group of people or Is it universal?. What is the process in establishing a new logic into the system? Does all logic work the same for all the people, or does the concept of logic changes based on what is true for the person?

According to Oxford dictionary, the definition of logic will incorporate “reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity: experience is a better guide to this than deductive logic (Oxford Dictionaries Online, 2012).”

Now this is an interesting fact, reasoning conducted or assessment, but now that will depend on your educational, experience, IQ background. Are the principles of validity uniform or universal? What about cultures and their influence of logics? So technically a logically statement for one person may not be the logically statement for the other.

What are the guidelines of establishing a new logic? I guess to establish a new logic one must follow the path of “thinking outside the box.” What is really thinking outside the box, make an assumption of what is logic is false? What is the correlation with logic and era for example Aristotle logics, Plato logics, Newton logics, and many more. So the concept of logic has been evolving as the human race is evolving?

For a new logic ignore all the validity of the current logics.

Reference

Oxford Dictionaries Online (2012) Definition of logic - Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English) Retrieved August 5, 2012, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/logic

How much satisfaction do you need to get satisfaction?

Day 4

On a daily basis we hear key words like “Customer Satisfaction”, and the key outlines designed to uplift satisfaction levels and goals. Many company surveys primarily focuses on attaining the numbers in accomplishing the customer experience and measuring the degree of satisfaction. From the key saying “The customer is always right”, I believe the trend has shifted to measure the customer experience, and customer satisfaction. In the cell phone technology era, there are many applications for apple stores, and android stores that will help the customers rate their satisfaction level for other customers. People constantly review rating sourced programs like Urbanspoon, hotel ratings, hospital compare, doctor ratings, and many more.

How much satisfaction do you need to get satisfaction??

I have always wondered this question. Does this have any co-relation to the supply and demand ratio? The more prospective avenues of satisfaction you supply, the higher the demand bar of satisfaction approaches. Has the concept of satisfaction been abused by clients and customers to receive the compensating perks provided by many levels of organization. Has the bar of compensation become a marketing trend for competitions or a new avenue of advertisement?  

Do you think the concept of satisfaction has turned out be byproduct of marketing, where the ideology of need has been engraved by the advertisement companies more than required? How about the bond between the satisfaction and expectation? First time you received an excellent customer service, the satisfaction level has been attained, but on the second time the same form of customer service is expectation. To receive the satisfaction mark for that customer service then the level of customer service is higher than the expectation,

Do you think this statement will be ever heard?

“I have enough satisfaction in my life and I don’t need any satisfaction anymore.” 

The power of sibling-hood

Day 3

Today is my sister’s birthday. This is the day, every year I normally wait for the clock to tick 12:00am to wish my baby sister a happy birthday, so here is a shout out to her!!!

“Happy birthday Vili, you are best sister that any brother can ask for”

So given this is the auspicious day when I was blessed with a wonderful sibling, there could not have been a better day to talk about the power of sibling-hood.

According to the Journal of Family Psychology, “An ecological systems view of development acknowledges that children develop in a complex social world and that it is necessary to try and capture changes in the environment (Volling, 2005).”

Growing up there is millions of memories where I have laughed, fought, argued, bonded, and many more. In a way it has helped in the development of my character. With a sibling, it is the first lesson for social development and acceptance in the child development process.

Ever heard about Raksha Bandhan?

In India there is a day dedicated to celebrate the siblinghood. It is called “Raksha Bandhan- The bond of protection”, where Raksha = protection and Bandhan = bond. Here billions of sisters tie the thread of Rakhi on their brother’s hand. It always felt special when my sister tied Rakhi on my wrist.

So what is the power of sibling-hood?

A nonjudgmental friend, a support system, emotional awareness and a comfort zone are some of the powers of siblinghood. This enables in developing characteristics like understanding, sharing, friendship, love, support system, and many more social skills. The level of communication between siblings could be rated higher than the level of communication between a parent-child. Sibling can communicate things with each other that they cannot communication with a parent or friend.

So what about Sibling rivalry?

Sibling rivalry has both pro and cons in the child development process. With sibling rivalry the child is exposed to elements like critics, competitive aptitude, managing problems or conflicts, negotiation, and many more similar elements.

Regardless of what I do, you have got my back!!! – A feeling priceless.

Reference 

Volling, B. (2005) The Transition to Siblinghood: A Developmental Ecological Systems Perspective and Directions for Future Research. Journal of Family Psychology, 19(4), 542-549. Retrieved August 3, 2012, from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/volling/files/

Can Failures lead to more development than success?

Day 2

When a project cannot receive the solution or success as deserved the feeling is pain, anger, frustration, and many more. But think about the true outline of what happens when you are facing a failure? When we are facing a failure we work on multiple scenario and process to resolve the problem. With every failure we are also learning the lesson of elimination for the same problem that comes in the future. Many discoveries and inventions were a result of a failure, for example the chocolate chip cookies were a failed baking experiment (Mont, 2011). The world enjoys the chocolate chip cookie and many renowned businesses are built to accommodate this failed baking project.

What is the stand point of the project when the project has achieved the success? A project comes to a stop, celebrating the success point. What is the scope of creativity or development for the project after attaining the success? To improve the success of the current project, a new project must be initiated. The new project will involve the series of failures, elimination, creative and critical thinking, and many more similar scope.

So technically failure is not a bad experience, it could be classified as a learning experience or a development process. Then why are people afraid of failures? A failed system demands for learning process, innovation, development and possible new discoveries. A success system ideally calls for replication, because an established system just needs to be duplicated and not re-invented.

“Failures have given us chocolate chip cookies, what has success given us – a moment of satisfaction?”

~ Lenji Jacob

Reference:

Mont, J. (2011, May 18) 17 Products That Were Invented By Accident (Main Street) Retrieved August 2, 2012, from http://www.mainstreet.com/article/small-business/17-products-were-invented-accident

What is commitment?

Day 1

Hello Readers, I wanted to start a new blog and I was mentally searching and scanning to figure out what topic should I start writing the blog. Mentally I had a made a commitment to attempt to start writing this blog every day. The thought of commitment worries me about maintaining the promise to self. I am hoping there will not be breach of promise because of my daily life commitments. Commitment is the word I used and it occurred to me that there no better topic to start than the topic of commitment.

So what is commitment or committed?

To start the conversation on commitment I researched the local dictionaries to source the meaning of the word and according to the oxford dictionary commitment is defined as a dedication, rules of engagement with restrictive freedom or a promise (Oxford, 2012). The idea of a true promise should not really have a deadline, and a commitment should process in the same method.

But in reality has the idea of promise become a technical word today?

Today with social communication as an accepted form of networking we see status like being in a committed relationship, committed but complicated and couple weeks down the status changes from being committed to not being committed. Has commitment become a fashion statement or the latest status?

Does the concept of committed have a life span or is it an endless endurance? Let’s look at another scenario, when a child is born the new parents make a promise or commitment to protect the child. But as the child reaches adulthood what happens to the sense of commitment? Is it as strong as when the child was born or does it take a backseat?

Interestingly recently I had made a study on the four types of generations for a project namely: Veterans Generation (1922-1940), Baby Boomers (1940-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), and Y Generation (1980 – 2000). The research study observes different types and levels of commitment in each of the respective groups. For example, in a work culture, the veterans worked in one or two firms all there life, but Y Generations have 3 jobs in 3 years. Now does the concept of commitment create the sense of culture?

How about the idea of making a commitment or promise to self? There have been times we have made promises to ourselves and some of these promises may have lasted a lifetime but most of them have been shelved at some point in your life. So theoretically the idea of commitment should be permanent but practically the idea of commitment is life’s biased intervention.

So then if promise or commitment is not permanent (?) then what is the idea of permanency (?) or follow through (?)

~Lenji Jacob

Reference

Oxford Dictionaries Online (2012) Definition of commitment - characteristic, promise and responsibility Retrieved July 30, 2012, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/commitment?region=us&q=commitment