Want Excellence? Learn to take Ownership.

Want Excellence? 

Learn to take Ownership.

Are you trying to lead a life where you are committed to displaying excellence in everything that you do? This is a wonderful way to lead your life. One way to reach this point is by taking ownership and responsibility for all of your actions.

Once you 'own' your choices and accept the consequences you will be viewed as a person who can be respected. Other people will see you as someone who can be counted on, and this is a huge trait to own.

The easiest way to display ownership is by not making excuses. If you were late for an appointment don't come up with a ridiculous excuse. Tell the other person why you were late, apologize for not calling to let them know.

It really is so easy to blame outside influences for your mistakes or oversights. While no-one can control one hundred percent of what happens, you can control how you respond to certain situations. This reaction can completely change your life.

Examples of things you can take ownership for include your relationships, your education, your fitness and your social life. As you start to take ownership you will find that you feel more confident and have a purpose in life.

Along with ownership you need to learn how to be flexible. Are you currently willing to do things differently? This means not being stubborn when something isn't working. Take advice and attempt to change what you are doing. If you do you will begin to excel at more tasks and this helps increase your confidence and self-esteem.

Becoming a flexible person means that you are happy to respond to a situation in a different way. When you are flexible you are not rigid and set in your ways.

This brings us to another important factor in the quest to committing to excellence with everything you do. This is the step of adding balance to your life.

When you live a balanced life you are focusing on those things that hold meaning to you. At the same time, though, you are still mindful of those around you. You make choices that are related to the way you feel and what you are thinking.

Balancing your life entails knowing when you have to not go out with friends so you can finish up an important project. You recognize the importance of staying healthy and fit and act accordingly.

When you combine taking ownership, being flexible, and balance, into your life you will be well on your way to leading a life where you are committed to excellence. 

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The tiger's whisker

Once upon a time, a young wife named Yun Ok was at her wit's end. Her husband had always been a tender and loving soulmate before he had left for the wars but, ever since he returned home, he was cross, angry, and unpredictable. She was almost afraid to live with her own husband. Only in glancing moments did she catch a shadow of the husband she used to know and love.

When one ailment or another bothered people in her village, they would often rush for a cure to a hermit who lived deep in the mountains, and not Yun Ok. She always prided herself that she could heal her own troubles. But this time was different. She was desperate.

As Yun Ok approached the hermit's hut, she saw the door was open. The old man said without turning around: "I hear you. What's your problem?"

She explained the situation. His back still to her, he said, "Ah yes, it's often that way when soldiers return from the war. What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Make me a potion!" cried the young wife. "Or an amulet, a drink, whatever it takes to get my husband back the way he used to be."

The old man turned around. "Young woman, your request doesn't exactly fall into the same category as a broken bone or ear infection."

"I know", said she.

"It will take three days before I can even look into it. Come back then."

Three days later, Yun Ok returned to the hermit's hut. "Yun Ok", he greeted her with a smile, "I have good news. There is a potion that will restore your husband to the way he used to be, but you should know that it requires an unusual ingredient. You must bring me a whisker from a live tiger."

"What?" she gasped. "Such a thing is impossible!"

"I cannot make the potion without it!" he shouted, startling her. He turned his back. "There is nothing more to say. As you can see, I'm very busy."

That night Yun Ok tossed and turned. How could she get a whisker from a live tiger?

The next day before dawn, she crept out of the house with a bowl of rice covered with meat sauce. She went to a cave on the mountainside where a tiger was known to live. She clicked her tongue very softly as she crept up, her heart pounding, and carefully set the bowl on the grass. Then, trying to make as little noise as she could, she backed away.

The next day before dawn, she took another bowl of rice covered with meat sauce to the cave. She approached the same spot, clicking softly with her tongue. She saw that the bowl was empty, replaced the empty one with a fresh one, and again left, clicking softly and trying not to break twigs or rustle leaves, or do anything else to startle and unsettle the wild beast.

So it went, day after day, for several months. She never saw the tiger (thank goodness for that! she thought) though she knew from footprints on the ground that the tiger - and not a smaller mountain creature - had been eating her food. Then one day as she approached, she noticed the tiger's head poking out of its cave. Glancing downward, she stepped very carefully to the same spot and with as little noise as she could, set down the fresh bowl and, her heart pounding, picked up the one that was empty.

After a few weeks, she noticed the tiger would come out of its cave as it heard her footsteps, though it stayed a distance away (again, thank goodness! she thought, though she knew that someday, in order to get the whisker, she'd have to come closer to it).

Another month went by. Then the tiger would wait by the empty food bowl as it heard her approaching. As she picked up the old bowl and replaced it with a fresh one, she could smell its scent, as it could surely smell hers.

"Actually", she thought, remembering its almost kittenish look as she set down a fresh bowl, "it is a rather friendly creature, when you get to know it." The next time she visited, she glanced up at the tiger briefly and noticed what a lovely downturn of reddish fur it had from over one of its eyebrows to the next. Not a week later, the tiger allowed her to gently rub its head, and it purred and stretched like a house cat.

Then she knew the time had come. The next morning, very early, she brought with her a small knife. After she set down the fresh bowl and the tiger allowed her to pet its head, she said in a low voice: "Oh, my tiger, may I please have just one of your whiskers?" While petting the tiger with one hand, she held one whisker at its base and, with the other hand, in one quick stroke, she carved the whisker off. She stood up, speaking softly her thanks, and left, for the last time.

The next morning seemed endless. At last her husband left for the rice fields. She ran to the hermit's hut, clutching the precious whisker in her fist. Bursting in, she cried to the hermit: "I have it! I have the tiger's whisker!"

"You don't say?" he said, turning around. "From a live tiger?"

"Yes!" she said.

"Tell me", said the hermit, interested. "How did you do it?"

Yun Ok told the hermit how, for the last six months, she had earned the trust of the creature and it had finally permitted her to cut off one of its whiskers. With pride she handed him the whisker. The hermit examined it, satisfied himself that it was indeed a whisker from a live tiger, then flicked it into the fire where it sizzled and burned in an instant.

"Yun Ok", the hermit said softly, "you no longer need the whisker. Tell me, is a man more vicious than a tiger? If a dangerous wild beast will respond to your gradual and patient care, do you think a man will respond any less willingly?"

Yun Ok stood speechless. Then she turned and stepped down the trail, turning over in her mind images of the tiger and of her husband, back and forth. She knew what she could do.

Source: Korean fable 

The two patients

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on holiday.

And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every colour of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their bath only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and, after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you." 

What They Don't Teach in Business School about Entrepreneurship

Right Place...Wrong Place (Inspirational Hindi Short Story)

जनवरी की एक सर्द सुबह थी, अमेरिका के WASHINGTON DC का मेट्रो स्टेशन. एक आदमी वहां करीब घंटा भर तक वायलिन बजाता रहा.इस दौरान लगभग 2000 लोग वहां से गुज़रे,अधिकतर लोग अपने काम से जा रहे थे. उस व्यक्ति ने वायलिन बजाना शुरू किया उसके तीन मिनट बाद एक अधेड़ आदमी का ध्यान उसकी तरफ गया.उसकी चाल धीमी हुई वह कुछ पल उसके पास रुका और फिर जल्दी से निकल गया.

4 मिनट बाद: वायलिन वादक को पहला सिक्का मिला. एक महिला ने उसकी टोपी में सिक्का और बिना रुके चलती बनी.

6 मिनट बाद: एक युवक दीवार के सहारे टिककर उसे सुनता रहा,फिर उसने घडी पर नजर डाली और चलता बना.

10 मिनट बाद: एक 3 वर्षीय बालक वहां रुक गया, पर जल्दी में दिख रही उसकी माँ उसे खींचते हुए वहां से ले गयी.माँ के साथ लगभग घिसटते हुए चल रहा बच्चा मुड -मुड़कर वायलिन वादक को देख रहा था.ऐसा ही कई बच्चो ने किया और हर बच्चे के अभिभावक उसे घसीटते हुए ही ले गये.

45 मिनट बाद: वह लगातार बजा रहा था, अब तक केवल छः लोग ही रुके थे और उन्होंने भी कुछ देर ही उसे सुना.लगभग 2 0 लोगो ने सिक्का उछाला पर रुके बगैर अपनी सामान्य चाल में चलते रहे.उस आदमी को कुल मिलकर 3 2 डॉलर मिले.

1 घंटे बाद: उसने अपना वादन बंद किया.फिर से शांति छा गयी.इस बदलाव पर भी किसी ने ध्यान नहीं दिया.
किसी ने वादक की तारीफ नहीं की.

किसी भी व्यक्ति ने उसे नहीं पहचाना.वह था, विश्व के महान वायलिन वादकों में से एक,जोशुआ बेल.जोशुआ 1 6 करोड़ रुपए की अपनी वायलिन से इतिहास की सबसे कठिन धुन बजा रहे थे.महज दो दिन पहले ही उन्होंने बोस्टन शहर में मंचीय प्रस्तुति दी थी,जहा प्रवेश टिकिटो का औसत मुल्य 1 0 0 डॉलर था.

यह बिलकुल सच्ची घटना हैं. जोशुआ बेल प्रतिष्ठित समाचार पत्र ‘WASHINGTON POST’ द्वारा ग्रहणबोध और समझ को लेकर किये गए एक सामाजिक प्रयोग का हिस्सा बने थे. इस प्रयोग का उद्देश्य यह पता लगाना था की किसी सार्वजानिक जगह पर किसी अटपटे समय में हम खास चीजो और बातो पर कितना ध्यान देते हैं? क्या हम सुन्दरता या अच्छाई की सराहना करते हैं? क्या हम आम अवसरों पर प्रतिभा की पहचान कर पाते हैं?

 Original English Version:

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?