tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82445796700459266222024-03-13T12:45:19.423-07:00Managing Life... and WorkSurviving life... at rest and at work!Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-42352248373896016232016-05-24T07:02:00.002-07:002016-05-24T07:04:05.599-07:0052 Taking on a long term project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I just
finished giving (writing) a set of examinations for an MA in Sociology. This
little project has taught me a few useful things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">First, how
to take a project like this to conclusion. Any project which is going to last more
than a few days or weeks is going to require a certain blinkered attitude. You
cannot afford to think too much about the worth of it, for example. The MA in
Sociology (or any subject, for that matter) is just a metaphor, and the
principle may well be applicable to many an other long-term undertaking. If you
want to only talk about doing MA degrees in a ‘distance’ mode, I only have to
say that it forces you to read a lot of original stuff that you wouldn’t want
to spend your time on normally. For me, it adds value in my work, in my
writing, in my thinking. It also gives me an idea of what parts of these
subjects are perhaps more interesting, useful, or sensible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">But you can’t
stretch this utility aspect too far. Much of the stuff is actually irrelevant,
much of it mere speculation, some of it errant nonsense. It is a sobering
thought that the human species has actually survived all these millennia in
spite of all this nonsense. That realization itself is worth all the effort. </span>But if you
stop to consider why you are doing this, you will probably be tempted to drop
it midway. So once you have decided (in some whim of the moment) to start such
a project, and you have invested a certain amount of time and effort, you need
to just put blinkers on your critical eye and go through with it regardless of
doubts. There is a verse to Agni in the Rig Veda which has the rather cryptic
phrase “maa no ati khya”, which is translated as “do not show too much to us”.
I understand this as the poet’s realization that too much information about the
future causes a waning of the spirit; reveal not to us too much, let us do what
we are doing in the faith that you are there. This is perhaps a portent of the
Bhagavad-gita which exhorts action without attachment to the possible results.
This is the attitude that will take you through a longish, and probably rather
tedious, project of this nature.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The second
lesson is to do things in bits and pieces. As far as doing a degree is
concerned, one subject comes after another, one paper after another, one
question after another, one paragraph after another… you get the idea. After
some time you get used to the grind, and your mental stamina increases. This is
probably one of the main benefits of entering such a programme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Another
benefit I see in taking up a long-term project, is that it occupies your mind,
gives you a focus, and most of all, takes care of the dreaded existential
question of what you will be doing with yourself every day. The worst thing in
a person’s life is not having too much to do, but not having a particular job
to look forward to day by day. Of course, any intellectual exercise like doing
a course, or taking up a craft or hobby, is going to also exercise your mind
and keep it alert and flexible. Sometimes it takes an effort to keep going,
much as it takes an effort to get out and take a morning walk or jog every day.
But as the stamina rises, it becomes easier, even enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Even the
physical exercise of going to the exam center, finding the seat and sitting and
writing for three hours (for five days at a stretch) has been a fruitful experience.
It takes you out of your comfort zone, and keeps some of your old faculties and
abilities alive. I am sure other such undertakings will have their own,
similar, benefits, apart from the thing in itself. And do not worry whether it
is going to be really useful or anything… it hardly matters, that is not the
point, and as long it is not harmful or troublesome to you or others, what the
heck… you are entitled to your little adventures!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-34417926476446160172015-12-30T06:38:00.000-08:002016-03-14T20:41:56.265-07:0051 Taking little bumps in your stride<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The experts
say that the best way to operate in the Stock Exchange is to invest for the
long term, and just not look at our shares in the meantime. In other words, put
in your money (of course, on solid companies’ shares, not unknown speculators),
and forget. The inexperienced person, on the other hand, keeps a close watch on
the share prices, and dies a little at every dip and goes over the moon at
every rise. When we first start looking at the share markets, we tend to think
that serious players must pore over the pink pages every morning with the
coffee. But serious investors don’t really do this! They don’t expect to cash
in every time there’s a few points rise, because they know that brokerage and
taxes are going to erode their profit, and they will be stuck with the question
of reinvesting the money… are they going to be waiting for the next fall? In
fact, I cashed in just before the 2014 elections (expecting a hung parliament
and a stock market crash), but the Modi government won with a high margin (at
least in the Lok Sabha, the People’s House), and the stock market soared… I
haven’t had the heart to get into the market again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Now I find
this as good an analogy as any for the way we ought to be responding to life’s
little aggravations. Most of the time, if we just wait out a period, things
sort themselves out. The more we push, the more the resistance. If you think
the wheel is stuck, you rock the vehicle back and forth, and your pushes have
to be synchronised to the movement of the wheels. That will give you the advantage of what is known
as ‘resonance’ in physics… small movements can build up to a crescendo!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We probably
know people who fret and fume at every little irritation or delay, which means
all the time! They end up with stress, high blood pressure, acidity and even
diabetes… brought on by the constant stress. On the other hand, if you let things go, you will have time for
the important things. After all, you don’t climb every pebble you come across
in your path… you step over the small ones, and go round the big boulders. It’s
called taking things in your stride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-63628516113209868542015-12-28T04:36:00.000-08:002015-12-28T04:36:56.508-08:0050 Knowing when you’re ahead!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I
frequently have been spouting the homily that if you’ve got two legs, two arms,
and two eyes, you’re already well off and should have nothing to complain
about, but should go ahead and enjoy using them. Well, I can confirm that this
is no platitude, but one of the most profound verities of life. I can say this,
because I’ve got a broken leg and can tell you it’s no fun to be hobbled!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"> So if you feel hassled because you’ve got to
go and do the shopping, I say, by God enjoy it! There’s nothing like the charm
of wandering the aisles of a store, among all those comforting aromas of
detergents and soaps and spices and bakery products and so on… why would you
not enjoy it! Similarly, what a great thing to be able to go into the kitchen
and fix a meal or a drink, whenever you feel like it! What a blessing to be up
and about walking in the morning sun, or running up the stairs to your private
library, or whatever! Or driving your kid to some place or picking up a friend
from a bus station or airport! Or fixing your pet dog or cat its evening meal
or rolling a ball for it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">On the
other hand, there is not much use fretting when you are laid low by some such
thing, and it may be better to do the best with what is left. I read a very
nice article the other day about the books one has not yet read, and the
realisation that perhaps you’ve got more books than you’re going to be able to
read in the time left (and some of the great books of the world are actually so
dreary that it’s probably a waste of time reading them in all their long-drawn
out original). The author jokes that some books, like Proust’s <i>Remembrance of Times Past</i>, can be
thought of only when one is really ill, or has broken a leg and is laid up! So
I am using this time to read up on certain academic topics that one wouldn’t normally think of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">We’ve all
read the adage that no one ever regrets not having spent more time at work, meaning that when you
reach the end, you generally wish you had been closer and kinder with your
family. So how does one feel when one’s mobility is compromised, perhaps in the
long term (or what’s left of it)? Well, I don’t think I have too many regrets,
except perhaps that I wish I had been attentive enough to document all my trips
and visits to the field with photographs. Apart from this I could have a sense
of regret that my pursuit of interests like music and academic writing couldn’t
be pursued seriously. However, what I realize is that most people are unable to
do more than one thing properly at a time: in my case, my job and career has
more or less taken the centre, and I guess that’s nothing to complain about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-66765249206262726222015-12-12T23:52:00.000-08:002015-12-12T23:52:16.605-08:0049 Keeping an open mind, being flexible<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The world’s a big place – it’s bound to
challenge the assumptions we form on our own little experience at any stage in
life. Therefore, it’s all the more essential that we keep our minds open on
many issues of importance to our own well being, and that we are prepared to be
flexible and ready to change our opinions, and our plans, as circumstances
develop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">One of the basic aspects on which we will
probably change our minds more than once has to do with our professional life
and career. Of course there are people who know from an early age exactly what
they want to become and be doing in their lives, especially those who have a
vocation for, say, medicine or the priesthood and so on, and the lucky few also
find ways to fulfil their early ambitions. But it is also a common occurrence
that many of us don’t have such a clear vision of our own futures, and so we
more or less drift into academic courses and end up dong totally different
things in our professional careers. And some of these are extremely influential
and even powerful – such as the civil services or politics. Not every person
who does, say, chemistry or physics in college ends up in a scientific lab or other
position tailored to the degree. This need not dishearten us, as the first
degree is a basic experience at garnering knowledge in a field, and the skills
learnt in the degree course can be applied in a general way to other fields as
well. For example, the politicians who have to respond to climate change or
pollution with policy measures, may be grateful for the scientific matter they
may have encountered early in their educational experience, even if they never
went on to become scientists. And similarly for other disciplines.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Another sphere in which one has to be
prepared for a change in approach is in matters of love and marriage. Of
course, we are aware that in these matters there is a gulf between the west and
the east, with a strong emphasis on the freedom of the individual and the quest
for personal happiness in the modern western societies, which leads to frequent
breakups and repeated attempts at finding the ideal partner. In the more
traditional societies of the east, however, there is not that much of
importance given to personal gratification, and till recently people were
expected to stick with their marriage come what may, as it was seen as a union
families rather than individuals. In fact marriage has been seen as a sacrament
rather than a contract, and hence individual likes and longings have been
downplayed, leading to long-standing unions and minimal levels of divorce etc.
However this has been changing of late, as modernisation and urbanisation takes
hold in even these traditional societies, but with more freedom and
individualism, feelings of isolation, disappointment, and anomie (the absence
of accepted norms) also creep in. In any case, it would be advisable for us to
be prepared to compromise on our youthful ideas of the ideal partner, and at
some point to settle for ‘second best’
if we want to move on from bachelorhood to the married state and so on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">As the wise person said, life is what is happening
to us even as we are making plans for our lives. There is rarely one single way
of conducting ourselves in our lives. Unexpected illnesses or failures, unforeseen
offers and opportunities, all conspire to make our plans go awry, but ultimately
there is some enjoyment of life’s bounties in most circumstances. That is, if
we do not look too closely at the ones that got away, and if we do not compare
ourselves too frequently with our friends, relatives, colleagues and the neighbours
around us.</span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-27243861805105007942015-12-02T06:32:00.000-08:002015-12-02T06:38:45.415-08:0048 The danger of trashing your own institutions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">For a few
years, I served in a government which went about trashing all the institutions
in the country The ruling coalition had a number of brash and rather brattish
personages that delighted in jeering at the rank and file in the government,
and glorifying the private sector. Indeed, they became the most strident
critics of their own institutions, and built up so much negativity and a lack
of confidence in the system that it got translated into a general depression of
the economy itself. Their party lost badly in the next elections to a leader
who presented a more optimistic and hopeful vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The lesson
I draw from this is that it is self-defeating to trash one’s own institutions.
Criticism, even if made with good intentions as a route to self-improvement,
tends to give a one-sided picture that fails to recognise or acknowledge the
enormous efforts and sacrifices made by the rank and file to keep the show
running, harping only on the points where the system is falling short. It
demoralises those who are slogging away silently, without really calling forth
any improvement. It amounts to a massive
self-goal in the world of management and governance. This, incidentally, is the
complaint against the fourth estate, the media and the intellectuals: by being
constantly critical, as in ‘theory’, they allow not a glimmer of hope to seep
through; like the naxalites, they have much to criticise in the existing world,
but no cogent picture of what system will replace it in such a way as to remove
all such deficiencies. Because different sections have their own sense of
grievance and their own agendas, the revolutionary is able to cobble together
sufficient force for the process of destruction, but the movement then flounders when the time comes to set up alternative working institutions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">How then
can we make critical analyses and statements, which are obviously required if
we are to make changes and improvements, without inducing this negativity and
sense of despair and alienation? The leader has to first take the trouble to
recount and publicly recognise the achievements in the existing set up. Then she
has to convey a sense that he has walked a few steps ‘in the boots’ of the rank
and file: she has to get into the trenches and make a stand shoulder to
shoulder with them, so to speak. There has to be some acknowledgement of the
bottlenecks and shortage of resources, and a recognition of some of the heroic
efforts made by them. There has to be a public demonstration of a reasonable
sense of proportion, for instance by drawing comparisons with other sectors and
organizations, perhaps even other countries. Having done all this, then perhaps
the leader will be justified in identifying areas that need improvement.
Chances are that the very exercise of recounting the achievements and obstacles
– what is known as the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
exercise – will itself impose this sense of proportion and perspective, and the suggestions for improvement will be
couched in terms of a sober appraisal of what is possible and how the required additional
resources can be garnered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">The other
way of going about this business of making suggestions is to approach the whole
thing from the outside, from the international consultant’s point of departure.
This approach makes a sweeping indictment, writes off the present actors as
hopeless and clueless, and throws out some broad, probably unimplementable and
impracticable, prescriptions, and depart the scene, leaving the people on the
ground with bruised egos and diminished sense of their own worth. The brattish
approach preaches from a pedestal, ignores the elephants in the room, and talks
in generalities and clichés (you can see how irritating these are in this very
sentence!). If this type of leader were in charge of the defence establishment,
for example, she had better not turn his back to the troops!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Since I was
at the receiving end of this type of leadership in the forest service, I have
done a SWOT of my sector <a href="http://forestmatters.blogspot.com/2014/12/02-challenges-facing-forestry-in-india.html" target="_blank">here</a>. An example of the high-falutin’ and absurd
advice thrown out by international consultants who talk down to the implementers
is this piece <a href="http://muddle-kingdom.blogspot.com/2015/11/04-myrdals-advice-on-education-and-our.html" target="_blank">here</a> about educational experts’ prescriptions for Indian education in
the 1960’s, which thankfully we did not follow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-56613253354889888112015-11-28T12:44:00.000-08:002015-11-28T12:49:49.568-08:0047 Incremental, cumulative change or drastic disruptions?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It’s common
to hear that things need to be changed drastically, that the whole existing
structure has to be thrown out, a whole new generation of people has to be
brought in, and so on. This attitude developed especially during the 1980s
onward, when leaders like Thatcher in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>
and Reagan in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>
attacked the entrenched interests and structures that were resisting the open
or liberal economy. With the collapse of
the soviet socialistic bloc and the exposure of the weaknesses of centrally
planned economies, many other countries, even communist China in the 1980s and
quasi-socialist India in the 1990s, decided to switch to less controls, more
free market in their economic systems. The initial success of this change-over
encouraged people to search for those critical ‘game changers’ that were
required to set them on a totally different growth path. Thus the tendency
during the recent decades for the drastic transformation as the spirit of the
times, bolstered by ideas such as the American economist Schumpeter’s concept
of the ‘destructive creativity’ of capitalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">But here’s
the thing: in our daily lives, we may not have such opportunities all the time.
There are some situations in which, perhaps, a sudden and drastic change of the
set up is possible and even desirable (my favourite example is using a change
of place to stop habits like smoking!), but mostly drastic changes are a big
challenge and an imposition in themselves, rather than a boost to a whole new
trajectory. So much of the average person’s effort and ingenuity has to be
dedicated to just arranging matters again after a change The transactional
costs, in other words), that little is left over for a grand new venture.
Indeed, one has to use all the strengths and resources garnered in the old
system to stabilize the new structure, so there is no thought of jettisoning
the old completely. The more the change, the more of the same thing, as the wag
so wisely remarked (I think it was Oscar Wilde, in French). As we grows older,
the range of possibilities also contracts inevitably and inexorably, so once
again we’ve got to work with what you have rather than dream of starting afresh
on a clean slate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Each one of
us has a severely limited scope of drastically transforming our circumstances.
Mostly, the external world is a given, and we have to settle for some idea of
our place in it and the extent that we can draw support from it. It may appear
that a drastic change of job, or place, or spouse, would open up our lives, but
it may be more resource-effective to instead list out the positives in our
exiting situation first ‘before giving up our day job’, as the saying goes. This
does not mean that we should never embrace change; the point is that we should
check first whether we have really extracted all that is possible from the
existing situation, and whether we honestly expect something more or better in
the new situation. If we have been ineffective or neglectful in addressing
difficulties and bottlenecks in the past, how are we sure that similar
obstacles will not crop up in the future scenario as well? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">That is, we
should avoid the blunder of comparing the worst of our existing situation with
the best of another (mostly) imagined set up. A sober analysis should include
both potential losses and gains, the ‘pros and the cons’ of each alternative,
and then strike a balance. Unfortunately, as societies modernize, the
individual is freed more and more to pursue their individual, private search
for the best deal, leading to such social changes as higher divorce rates and
lower commitment to others’ interests, and so on. Psychological disorders,
stress, suicides, and so on are often
indicators of this (futile) quest for the ‘pot (of gold) at the end of the
rainbow’. Alas, there is no end of the rainbow, not pot, no gold, but perhaps
beneath your feet at the very place you are standing on, there is something, a
possibility of improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">I can cite
a couple of examples. A new ruler, they say, starts by rearranging his
generals. A modern state does not have this luxury of seeming action, but there
is a great temptation to start ‘new’ institutions. I put that in quotes,
because, as Oscar Wilde hinted it’s very often the same old same old, just
dressed up in new colours to fool a believing public. A classic example (for
the Indian context) is the winding up of the Planning Commission of India by
the Modi (NDA) government, maybe because
the new PM felt that the Commission’s petty functionaries had exercised too
much budgetary control on the elected state political leadership. But here’s
the irony: they went ahead and set up a new institution called the National
Institute for Transforming India (acronymed NITI, which means ‘policy’ or
‘strategy’ in Hindi/Sanskrit), but with the same staff and infrastructure. They
could as well have saved themselves all the trouble and bad press, and just
clipped the mandate of the original Planning Commission -- an incremental
change <a href="http://forestmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/09-forestry-and-planning-commission-iii.html" target="_blank">(see this article of mine on forestry in the Planning Commision)</a>. Of late, the ruling party has come round to the realization that they
can’t bulldoze through drastic changes without taking the opposition along, and
they seem to be climbing down from a ‘game-changer’ to an <b>incremental </b>mode! The previous UPA government, too, was a captive
of the ‘game-changer’ syndrome, as they tried to repeat the success of the 1991
liberalisation strategy in the 2000’s; the tendency was to berate existing
institutions like the existing civil services, the research institutions, the
public sector undertakings, the existing infrastructure, schools, colleges, and
so on, trying to shift much of this to the private sector and NGOs, and so on.
The constant criticism of existing structures only served to spread a pall of
gloom about the country’s situation, so that indeed the UPA government could be
said to have snatched a resounding defeat from the jaws of victory in the 2014
elections. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Unless
you’re a leading business magnate who can hire and fire regardless of other
considerations, you will have to pursue change within the constraints of
keeping the existing institution going --
it may be a corporation, a lab, an academic institution, or anything. Take
a research institute: you may think this one has to be closed down and a new
one started ithout all the baggage, but there is no doubt that the new
institute will also suffer from the same problems, whether it is budgetary
support, or recruitment of the best personnel, or lack of financial delegation,
or interference from others, or whatever. Much of the administrative effort in setting up a new institution – getting the
statutory clearances, finding land, finances and other resources, setting up a
management structure, procuring hardware, and so on – would be a waste of time,
as you would only end up again at the beginning, at ground zero, as it were,
and would have to face all over again all those problems that bedevilled the
old institution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">It might
well be a much wiser use of the limited managerial resources, and your own
limited time and tenure, to actually deal with the real problems in the
implementation of the ongoing programmes of the existing institution, in an <b>incremental</b> fashion. Trying to wind up
the old institution would not only sap your own energies and waste your own
time and talents, but also create a huge hostile force that would have a stake
in your failure. The corrosive effect of the negative ‘narrative’ required to trash the existing institution would
also have far-reaching, and damaging, effects on the credibility and morale of
the new set up as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB">Of course,
if you are mentally decided on a change,
then perhaps no rational analysis is going to slow you down; but would be
advisable to limit such impulses to the relatively minor decisions like getting
a new car or computer or smartphone!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-42314233874712875202015-10-31T06:08:00.000-07:002016-03-14T21:05:45.150-07:0046 Getting it right – the first time around<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be most effective
and use our time and energy optimally, we have to develop the habit of doing
things as thoroughly as we can the <b>very
first time</b> we do it! I think I’ve said something about this before, but it
bears repeating. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s true that a
positive attitude says that one should always give a second chance, and not
write off something or someone based on first impressions. But then situations
in our fast-moving world often just don’t have the wherewithal to offer that
second chance. This is where a consistent approach of doing as complete a job
as feasible the first time itself will increase the success rate in the long
run.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the activities
in which the first-time-best principle always seemed to kick in was in
photography, of all things! When out in the hills, you walk round a bend, and a
fantastic vista opens out. Or you may be driving, and as you crest a slope, a
broad valley spreads itself in the evening light. Stop and take a few
photographs! You may think that you can get the scene on your way back, but the
light may not be good, the point of view not so perfect (imagine having to walk
or drive with your face turned backwards!). You may not even come back that way
on your return trip! So stop the car, get down and use your best technique, and
capture the light! Take off the backpack, wipe your forehead, and take the
trouble of taking those perfect shots!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the common
sayings in hobby photography is “f8 and be there”. Turning this around, it
could also mean “Carry a camera wherever and whenever”. “Be there” is wherever you
happen to be! I still regret not following this advice on all my field trips
and official tours, because there is no way I’m going to be able to visit so
many field spots by myself. So most of us are reduced to taking snaps of the
cat or the dog.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another activity in
which I find the truth of this principle, every day almost, is in reading and
writing. In the course of any substantial writing project (say a term paper or
a thesis), we are tempted to write very sketchy outlines as we go along, hoping
to be able to hunker down in the final couple of months or weeks and produce
the final masterly version. But then we find our references are all over the
place, we are unable to locate many of them, we are unable to understand our
own notes, and the subject has become so stale we feel like tossing the whole
lot into the can. Writing requires a certain state of euphoria which comes only
the first time we explore a subject; sadly, almost everything goes flat when
kept too long. So here’s where we should sit down and write what looks like the
final version from the start, just as if we are not going to be able to revisit
that part again. The last time I did this was my for my fellowship which got
over just a month back (hence the gap in postings). Luckily, I had followed the principle of composing more
or less the final draft during the entire
two-year period. I found that there was no way I could go back and redo any of
the earlier chapters in any depth… but since I had written them up exactly as I
would a final version, complete with references, page number citations, and so
on, I had very little editing to do at the final stage. I was able to print out
and deliver the mandatory three copies of the report, and even submit it for
publication, and vacate my room on the last day of the fellowship. This was
providential because I then went and broke a leg (my own, to clarify) – meaning
that there would have been no scope for going back for any work after the final
date!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that’s the other
reason we need to take each opportunity or challenge as the real thing, and not
as trials. We don’t know what nasty surprises the future has waiting, so most
of our achievements are as they are fashioned during the run-up. As the saying
goes, life is what is happening even as
we’re planning it the way we imagine it should be. Let’s not leave it to the
next assignment, or the next meeting, or the next visit to our parents or visit
from our kids… let’s be a good friend or family member right now, with whoever
is around, let’s get it right the first time around, as it’s happening in the
here and now! <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-36925894576233079722015-04-24T05:03:00.000-07:002015-04-24T09:56:37.299-07:0045 On working to a PhD<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Getting a doctorate by research is probably
the most challenging pursuit any of us will possibly contemplate. In my
experience, it is an ultimate test of character, rather than of intelligence or
knowledge. It’s what most of the young people at my institute are engaged on,
and what many others (including a few retired ones!) may get interested in. Here’s
my own take, from doing a PhD in the University College of North Wales, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangor</st1:place></st1:city>, during the 1980s;
things may be a little different in other places, in other times, but maybe my
experience may be of some interest or even guidance to someone struggling with
this great undertaking!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A doctorate is a sort of crowning
achievement of one’s academic career. Conversely, it is not an essential
qualification for a satisfying professional life. Practitioners in the field
may even harbour a thinly veiled contempt for the PhD, as practical experience
is deemed to be more valuable to society than mere academic learning. In fact
doing a PhD is sometimes viewed as an escape from the drudgery of a mundane job,
a way of extending adolescence, as it were. It separates out the ‘men’ from the
‘boys’ in popular parlance (if the sexist bias can be condoned!). It is true
also that sometimes an academic stint is a welcome break from the frustrations
of a job or career, especially if one is getting shunted to the backwaters or waiting for the next promotion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One has to accept that doing a PhD is one
of the most difficult and challenging undertakings a person could think of, and
so the choice between the drudgery of the regular job and the relative freedom
of an academic life has to be made with full fore-knowledge, even if it is
going to be a temporary commitment. The difference between practicing in the
profession and doing a doctorate is that the doctoral aspirant has to identify
his or her goal and purpose all by themselves, not to speak of working out an
acceptable theoretical framework, methodology, exhaustive survey of the state
of knowledge, and the actual field work. The practitioner, on the other hand,
usually has these main aspects of the job already laid out and defined;
responsibilities are clearly specified, operational practices are spelled out,
and standards also clearly laid out. So the individual has very little to add
except a work plan. A normal job is also
usually not an isolated undertaking, as there is usually a team and an
organization to take you along and forward, and any deficiencies in individual
members are nicely made up by complementary qualities in the others. The system
carries all of us along.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Doing
a PhD, on the other hand, is one of the most painfully isolated and
isolating endeavours a person can take up. It is not for nothing that the scholar
is popularly imagined as locked up in an ivory tower, agonizing over some
intricate problem or pondering some great mystery. Usually, of course, the
scholar is breaking his head over some obscure arguments or trying to make
sense out of someone’s opaque writing. The PhD scholar has to master the bulk
of work in his chosen field and topic, then think of something new in it, and
develop it into a study and thesis.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Before this, of course, the aspirant has to
zero in on a field and topic. For a person just out of a master’s course, this
may well be the most challenging hurdle. This is why it may indeed be
advantageous to get into the real world first and work a few years in the
field, even if there is an underlying intention of doing the PhD at some point.
The years in the working world give substance and life to the dry theories
studied in college, and also give time to understand the priorities and
identify some promising avenues for expanding or extending what one has studied.
If one keeps alive a sense of curiosity and self-observation in the field,
certain problems or issues or situations may present themselves that can be
fruitfully developed into a thesis. The PhD topic and title then formulate
themselves, over the course of the few years spent working in the field, without
the intense search that characterizes the first year of a fresh graduate’s
attempt. One’s approach to the field of specialization may also shift, maybe
from science to management, or technology to psychology, and so on. In some
cases, the very field of interest itself changes: it is not at all certain that
one’s career will develop in the same subject as the first degree! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">If you do join the PhD programme without a
clear conception of the topic, then be prepared for a longer induction period,
which may entail at least a year of assiduous reading, in greater depth and
width compared to your undergraduate days. This means, that you will read in a wide
variety of topics within your broad area of interest, but pursue certain
selected topics to greater depth. All
the basic literature in your field will be a part of this initial grounding,
but you will also take up more detailed work in some topics, perhaps referring
to journal papers, even visiting the field to look at some aspects first-hand, or
having discussions with learned people. It will be difficult to keep a focus
during this period, but I feel this will the most valuable part of the PhD
experience, that will provide a base for much of your future work, looking
beyond the narrow focus of the PhD thesis. This initial period of learning is
like an ‘internship’ or ‘apprenticeship’ that will give you the academic
maturity needed to formulate your research work, even though you may find that
much of the work done during this initial, exploratory phase, will not actually
find a place in your final thesis, but may be useful much later on as you come
back to it to follow up individual lines of interest in later years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Toward the later part of the first year of
reading, hopefully certain ideas will
start occurring to you that you feel can be worked into a cogent research
proposal or outline. Perhaps some modification occurs to you in the assumptions
or construction of the models people have been using in your field. Perhaps a straight application of the existing
principles can be made in a new geographical region you are familiar with that
may throw new light, and so on. Or perhaps you are thinking of contrasting
situations that can be studied to test some hypothesis (case studies are
useful, since controlled experiments are usually not possible in sociology or
institutional studies). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Intense reading is difficult to sustain
over long time periods, and you will have to do it in short chunks of an hour
or two at a time, followed by some different activity (or a bit of relief with
your fellow-scholars at coffee!). In my case, the peer group (overseas
students, most of them working professionals back home) used to have a rollicking
time over extended coffee hours… the PhD scholar is a pitiful specimen, and
people tolerated our whiling away hours in small talk, gossip and joking about
English culture (our Celtic hosts loved to join us in rolling the heads of the
Saxons!). The brain is often working best when you have given it a rest…
over a long period of months, your ideas
will arrange themselves into some sort of a cogent structure.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">By this time, therefore, you will find
ideas forming in your head that can be naturally and easily developed into
small notes or outlines for a study or paper. This is the time to start
writing! And if you can get feedback from your supervisor or trusted colleague,
all the better. Some of these topics may appear really boring at the outset,
because you have to collect a lot of detailed material, but once a certain mass
of material has been so collected, the subject will start getting a life of its
own, and begin to appear more interesting and feasible. As it gains substance,
it will start appearing familiar and viable!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">We will expect this process to lead
naturally to one or a couple of serious research topics for your PhD thesis.
This is the time to start putting together all the basic literature and sources
of data, and even drawing up a tentative chapter list, and designing tests,
surveys or experiments as the case may be. These can be tested in the
exploratory phase, some field data collected, then fine-tuned and agreement
reached with the supervisory team. The second year, then, will be engaged in
serious work on the core topic or couple of topics, collection of data or field
surveys, collation and analysis. At the same time, you may have to reorganize
the literature and background material to reflect the topic you will be
focusing on. Hopefully, by the third year, you will have enough material to
write up in a systematic and rigorous way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Here’s a couple of hints to make the
writing process a little easier and faster. <b>First hint</b>: during the initial, reading, phase, bookmark any
quotations that strike you in any way. In the old days, we used to literally
create a physical bookmark, i.e. a slip of paper, on which we would write out
the quoted sentences. This is done now with computers, obviously, and you could
even scan the page or paragraphs required and save them a file. Now the real
hint here is to record the exact reference to the source when you enter the
quotation, just as if you are citing it in a paper, complete with year,
edition, publisher, and page numbers
because after a year or two, it may become difficult to trace the actual
source publication. In other words, <b>get
it right the first time around</b>! It will save you endless searching later on
(which will take time away from your researching!), even if much of the
material you collect is not used in the actual thesis (it may be useful to you
many years down the line, when you are writing your other papers!).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The <b>second
hint</b>: don’t start your writing with the introductory chapter! Of course,
you could draw up a list of section headings for the chapters, to keep you from
overlooking any important aspects over the course of time, but usually, if you
sit down to write your Chapter One, you will find either that you are unable to
start (writers’ block), or that your introduction goes on and on until it
reaches an encyclopedia size! The alternative, which I am suggesting based on
my own experience, is to leave the initial chapters in an outline state for the
time being, and concentrate instead on your actual work and analysis, from
which will emerge your main conclusions and suggestions for policy and future
work (the last chapter!). So, contrary to our management gurus, I am suggesting
that you <b>put the last thing first</b>!
After you have the draft of the final part, you will feel more confident, and
you will have a good idea of how many pages you will have for the introductory
portions. Since you wouldn’t want your thesis to exceed some 200 to 250 pages
(max!), you will be able to draft your introduction, lit. survey, methodology,
etc. in the most efficient manner, saving time and effort that you could put to
better use in polishing up your later chapters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">When I was in the initial phase at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangor</st1:place></st1:city>, my supervisor
told me that the British system didn’t give so much importance to guiding the
scholar, as to the individual’s own ideas and initiative. According to him, he
would be lucky to see his guide once at Christmas every year, so we should
count ourselves lucky that we were able to see and talk to our guides almost
every day during the coffee hour! Even though we were able to see them, we
would find it difficult to initiate serious academic discussions; this is
understandable, since we had to first go through the basic reading phase before
we were in a position to actually benefit from any discussion! This gave us
enormous freedom, but kept us awake nights wondering what we were doing! I
even got my hands on a book by Phillips and Pugh, <i>How To Get a Ph.D. A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors</i>,
to help me understand the process in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>! I guess it comes down to your
particular situation and style of functioning in each case (this book even has
a chapter on how <b>not</b> to get a PhD!). </span>I notice that the approach is different in other systems, and in my current institute, for instance, I find much closer supervision throughout the PhD.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A final word: this business is a test of
character, because you have to have the grit to stay with the process until you
are over the hump and coasting to the finish. The biggest hump, in my
experience, is settling on the actual topic. If you register without a clear
idea of this, you will have to go through that initial phase of reading widely
and deeply to get a hang of the field and its possibilities. If you have come
back to academics after a few years working, you may have a better idea of the
area in which you want to work, and your reading may then be much more focused
and detailed in that area; you may also have a certain body of information and
even specific data that could make it easier. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Sometimes, because you are basically
applying someone else’s thinking to your chosen area of focus, you may yourself
not have a clear picture of your own work. That was the case with my PhD
thesis; indeed, because I got what I thought were less than satisfactory conclusions,
I had been a bit puzzled and deflated all these years, until I got a flash of
intuition of the real meaning of my thesis just a few weeks back (after over 30
years!)… if you’re interested, look up my article here: <a href="http://forestmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/13-applying-economic-analysis-to.html">http://forestmatters.blogspot.com/2015/02/13-applying-economic-analysis-to.html</a>.
The point is, that it takes time for ideas to develop, and even more for
understanding to mature. The PhD award itself only certifies your basic ability
to hang in there for a few years and complete the project; it is merely a
license to go forth and practice, and does not make you an ‘expert’, which can
only come from years of activity in the field.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US">References</span></h4>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Phillips, Estelle M. and D.S.Pugh. 1987. <i>How To Get a Ph.D. A Handbook for Students
and Their Supervisors</i>. Indian edition, 1993, published by UBS Publishers’
Distributors Ltd., New Delhi, by arrangement with Open University Press,
Buckingham.</span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-79363447878574181122015-03-01T18:09:00.002-08:002015-03-03T00:28:13.539-08:0044 The power of focus for the 'Renaissance Soul' <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Margaret Lobenstein
describes the multi-interest character as <i>The
Renaissance Soul</i>; such persons tend to get excited by many things at a
time, but find it difficult to choose; love new challenges but once these are
mastered, get easily bored; take up many hobbies briefly; feel trapped and
restless even in successful jobs. They want variety and fresh challenges all
the time! In her 2006 book, this
pioneering inn-keeper turned life and career coach has many suggestions to get
such a life while still making ends meet. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The essence of Margaret’s
advice is expressed in these three points: firstly, get focus, so that you are
able to get into action; secondly, get money by “linking your passions to a
source of income”; and how to organize your time to match your “Renaissance
soul rhythms”. Regarding the second (income), she suggests many options to
finance your wanderings and love of variety: pursue different careers,
sequentially; or get an “umbrella” job that “embraces many interests”; get two
jobs rather than one; get a J-O-B that “serves one’s interests”; or even a
“single career path” that allows you to
accommodate many interests. I think I got lucky with the last alternative, as a
career in the forest service allowed me not only to indulge my love of nature and
travelling, but also gave me the time and the support to pursue higher studies,
occupy positions in different fields and levels in general administration,
teaching, research, policy direction, even the corporate world, apart from
developing other interests and hobbies on my own, like music and photography.
Plus, as I explained before, it gave me a good retirement scheme – enabling me
to satisfy both passion and pension!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An initial exercise
recommended by Margaret Lobenstein is to identify your five or
half a dozen <i>core values</i> that you
feel are most important to you <i>now</i>, from
a list of fifty or so. You could also match your life goals (from a list of ten
or so) to circles of different sizes to get a feel of their relative importance
to you. She also gives you the ‘obituary test’. Once you’ve done these self-discovery
exercises, you are supposed to find it easier to reorder your life to give more
space to your highest priority values and goals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The book suggests that
one way to move out of the paralysis of choice, and achieve more of your
Renaissance soul goals, is to narrow down your priorities to four or so activities
at a particular period in your life, or to identify your <i>focal points</i>. This is an acknowledgment, of course, of the
limitations on every person’s time and resources. It will be impossible to do
all those fifteen activities you are fascinated by, all together, so the strategy
is to dwell <i>at a time</i> on a short list
of three to five (“When it comes to Focal Points, four seems to be a lucky
number for Renaissance souls”). This
would be akin to the Serial Master type of Scanner in the previous post
(Barbara Sher’s book): they get their variety, plus they are able to get on
with some activity instead of being eternally undecided and flitting from idea
to idea. As you get into each of these limited areas of interest, you may find
you’ve had enough of some of them, and can happily retire them in favour of
other, more interesting activities. Of course, if you do not want to abandon
them altogether, then you will have to keep them on the ‘back burner’ till you
are done with the other choices, and circle back to them at a later period of
your life like the cyclical Scanners of the last post.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An interesting part of
the book is the advice on how to bring the circle of passions and the source of
income closer together. Margaret calls this the J-O-B, spelling it out letter
by letter, as distinct from a routine soul-deadening
livelihood as in ‘don’t give up your day job’. One has to pick a J-O-B that in
some ways complements the focal points of one’s real interests and values.
These are the five possible benefits of a J-O-B: it could be a source of
income, a source of energy (not competing with the focal point passions!), a
time saver, a way of getting training or equipment, or a means of networking.
The J-O-B chosen should supply at least a couple of these benefits.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Personally, I am not
quite sure that a series of temporary positions will amount to a satisfactory
career in the long term, but I suppose the job situation is different now, as
many youngsters do want to build up their own outfits after a few years of
working for others. A variety of occupations and experiences may be
advantageous here. A lot of people are trying to combine a love of outdoors
with photography, conservation, or with a business like running a resort or a tour
outfit, or running nature camps for kids, for instance. It may be interesting
to do a little study of where they all end up: as publishers or film makers or restaurateurs
or directors of NGO concerns – or political activists? To give the author credit, she does advice
that even if the day job amounts to a long-term (full time) career, it should
be used to advantage to support the passions, by thinking of it as a J-O-B
rather than feeling handcuffed and frustrated by its demands on your time and
energy. I think I like this option, as it may save a lot of young people from
going astray in pursuit of moon dust! Another interesting and fruitful idea she
offers is to find an “umbrella” career position that can provide a legitimate
job title as well as a cover for your current focal points.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s lots more good
advice here, including suggestions for young people in choosing courses at
school and college. A point I really like is that you may be attracted to a
process of learning some occupation, but may not really be inclined to take it
up as a career: “sometimes success rests not in the product but in the
process”. She suggests the PRISM test of the current Focal Points to identify
your priority interests: the test of Price, Reality, Integrity, Specificity and
Measurability. This jargon should appeal to the management-oriented types
amongst the Renaissance souls (or Scanners, if you prefer).<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of us have
probably experienced short periods of intense immersion in some project or
activity under the pressure of some deadline or obligation, when things seemed
to come together of their own and our inner system seemed to be humming along
powerfully in synch with events in the outer world. The author Robert Greene in
his book <i>Mastery </i>describes the
experience of focus this way: “Instead of flitting here and there in a state of
perpetual distraction, our minds focus and penetrate to the core of something
real. At these moments it is as if our minds – turned outward – are now flooded
with light from the world around us, and suddenly exposed to new details and
ideas, we become more inspired and creative... Once the deadline has passed or
the crisis is over, this feeling of power and heightened creativity generally
fades away. We return to our distracted state and the sense of control is gone.
If only we could manufacture this feeling, or somehow keep it alive longer… but
it seems so mysterious and elusive.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yes, Margaret does
have a Focal Points workbook to maintain, with one section for each Focal Point
(and a miscellaneous appendix for all the rest!). Like I said in the last post,
this is my weak area, and I tend to just keep a very untidy daily cashbook sort
of diary with a running list of ideas and things to do, rather than formal work
charts or critical path charts (“working backwards from the goal”). I’m sure by
now that I will be neither opening resorts nor running NGOs, and I will be
amusing myself by myself in my own way - but perhaps you may be made of sterner
stuff!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Books cited</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Greene, Robert. 2012. <i>Mastery</i>.
Profile Books Ltd., <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lobenstine, Margaret. 2006. <i>The Renaissance Soul. Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to
Pick Just One.</i> Broadway Books, <st1:place w:st="on">New
York</st1:place>.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sher, Barbara. 2006. <i>What
Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything? A Leading Life Coach’s Guide to Creating
a Life You’ll Love</i>. Rodale International Ltd., <st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place>.</div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-6660229078569026352015-02-28T01:11:00.000-08:002015-02-28T04:36:53.394-08:0043 The Scanner take on multiple vocations!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’re still on the subject of doing many things at a time,
or over a lifetime, which we started with in the last post. Like I said, there
are a couple of books which address this very topic in detail. The first of
these is <i>What Do I Do When I Want To Do
Everything? </i>by Barbara Sher, sub-titled “A leading life coach’s guide to
creating a life you’ll love”. Barbara’s main plank is that people who like to
keep trying new things, never settling down to one vocation, much to the
frustration of their families and well-wishers, may be just made to be learners
throughout their lives. She calls them (us!) “Scanners” (I will use the word always
with a capital S, to give it a proper weight and dignity, like President or
Comptroller).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apparently it is the process of taking up a subject or field
of activity and studying it deeply enough to be competent in it, that motivates
Scanners. I think I meant something like this in a previous post (#37 To find a
purpose) when I talked about making the process itself interesting so that one
is not too involved in the results. For Scanners tend to leave the subject when
once they have achieved a certain level of familiarity; they are not in the
game of doing the same thing over and over again as a job… sounds familiar!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sher has a detailed typology of Scanners: we can be Serial
Masters, who like to take up one thing at a time, master it, and then abandon
it; or Cyclical Scanners, who tend to circle back to older interests over a
period of years (my front burner - back burner idea makes me this type, I
guess). Others are Samplers, who like to try a number (dozens) of things,
without going too deep into many of them. Whatever type you are, Sher’s message
is that it’s alright to be like that, even if you don’t get to leave behind a
legacy in any of them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the most useful (if that can be said of any Scanner
activity!) is the idea of keeping a Scanner Daybook, to record all your
fleeting inspirations and ideas every day by the hour. The way the author
describes it, it is meant to be a sufficiently heavy and impressive looking
tome, preferably well upholstered and fit to display on its own stand (like an
illuminated bible or domesday book or something!), with large unlined pages to
receive your thoughts, compositions, drawings, recipes, samples and
memorabilia, like da Vinci’s notebooks. I gather that the idea of the Daybook
is to use one pair of open pages for each idea or project that occurs to you,
and keep on opening new pages as each new idea strikes your mind. Over time, it
is supposed to end up as a complete store of all your ideas, even if you
haven’t acrtually worked through any or most of them. As you add detail or
achieve progress, I guess you are expected to fill in notes in the two-page
spread over the years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have to confess that this may be a bit beyond my
persistance and work habits, although the idea sounds good. I have so far used
a series of discarded diaries for my note taking, using separate ones for my
work-work activities (mainly the light-weight, flexible, spiral-bound notebooks
they hand out in seminars and training courses), which last up to a month each,
and a separate series for my project ideas, for which I use the out-of-date
hard-bound diaries that accumulate all the time (of course, they have all sorts
of other matter printed on each page!). These latter are my version of the
Scanner Daybooks, but far from looking like a beautiful souvenir, they are full
of dense scribbling that I myself sometimees
find it difficult to decipher!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have seen two examples of the beautiful life-time records
that Sher is apparently thinking of. One is the field notebooks of the famous
Indian bird specialist (ornithologist), Salim Ali: he has recorded each day’s
notes in a beautiful handwriting, complete with drawings and other stuff. I
guess they are preserveed in the Bombay Natural History Society at Mumbai, but
I saw one sample kept under glass at the Sultanpur bird sanctuary near <st1:city w:st="on">Delhi</st1:city> many years back. I
haven’t been able to locate any scanned images of his journals, but here’s one,
of his handwritten note at Rangantittoo bird sanctuary near <st1:city w:st="on">Mysore</st1:city>, Karnataka. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilviY_gAEuH-ql07SxdPdZeSu2il741SUPYFGfLDdOBWOehgjC-t9MOSRWeJRJZK2SghX5di7IVRvADFuGmoBfLjPMBo24myZP78APmhUvJs-fSZqAUTBaIQnxgjhvTpyJWAF1ucbQ2-zC/s1600/Salim+Alis+appreciation+in+Log+on+Ranganathittu+in+his+own+hand+writing-web.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilviY_gAEuH-ql07SxdPdZeSu2il741SUPYFGfLDdOBWOehgjC-t9MOSRWeJRJZK2SghX5di7IVRvADFuGmoBfLjPMBo24myZP78APmhUvJs-fSZqAUTBaIQnxgjhvTpyJWAF1ucbQ2-zC/s1600/Salim+Alis+appreciation+in+Log+on+Ranganathittu+in+his+own+hand+writing-web.JPG" height="134" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other example was the field diaries maintained by the
professor heading the Centre for Development Studies, <st1:place w:st="on">Swansea</st1:place>,
whose system was even more elaborate. He used to record his notes in two
copies (using pencils!) through a carbon paper, and then he’d tear away the
duplicates and sort and file them classified by topic, while the original would
be stored away obviously in order of date (year and month). So his study would
have these arrays of identical looking diaries, and the loose sheets would have
been filed away in their separate folders, subject-wise. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I never tried to emulate Salim Ali’s system (it was just too
perfect!), but I remember I did foolishly try the good professor’s, but I gave
it up after a few days and reverted to my shabby system of a running entry of
notes on everything (including the daily to-do list!) in a series of
mismatching notebooks and diaries. But at least I have all of them bundled
together somewhere! On occasion, I would type up important bits and print them
out for my files and folders on specific subjects. One suggetion that I have
always used is to collect information on specific topics in big ‘ring-files’ … an essential for any type of research. I also
have this thing about collecting newspaper cuttings (which gives you the uncanny
ability to pull out quotes and allusions from years back!). The accompanying
picture shows how easy it is to get behind in this department!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9k_-HeXf2o8sVi2lUEOpToeqejFOeVGYhWtHI8TNzs775QanKtL7L9FrjuvnDqdLuEnFBtoR8Vq2-fW-LlAqsZ8osEYUgzJqL7L_BT6_3D0cg_t7UpVYEroazd4yXK5IuEfhziS0jiwx/s1600/DSC_0678-web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9k_-HeXf2o8sVi2lUEOpToeqejFOeVGYhWtHI8TNzs775QanKtL7L9FrjuvnDqdLuEnFBtoR8Vq2-fW-LlAqsZ8osEYUgzJqL7L_BT6_3D0cg_t7UpVYEroazd4yXK5IuEfhziS0jiwx/s1600/DSC_0678-web.jpg" height="132" width="200" /></a>I tried to work Sher’s Daybook system before writing this
piece – I even dug out a nice artsy-looking old empty diary for the purpose –
but I find that this two-page spread per idea is just too tedious (for me!). So
my Scanner Daybook has degenerated as before into a diary where I can go on
jotting down ideas as they come, and mentally slotting each into its relevant project
slot (one longs for an automated categorizer like Lotus Agenda, a PIM which I
have described in my www.doingtheDewey blog). Then as I get to doing whatever needs to be done in
respect of each item, I can make a note of this ‘action taken’ and cross it
off. Indeed, I find now that this is very similar to the diary I maintain for
my financial activities (investments, major purchases) – while it would be
great to have each item classified under different heads (fixed deposits,
provident funds, savings certificates, furniture purchases, equipment,
vehicles, and so on), what I have learnt is that it is crucial to just make a
single serially numbered entry in the ‘daily’ book, with the date, value, and
date of maturity and expected value wherever appropriate. Then I just have to
scan the list once in a while to tend my garden (or attic) of possessions. As I
convert one thing into another, or throw it away, I cross it off and enter a
reference number for the new thing(s). I am now down (or up!) to the 500’s,
that many transactions having been
recorded over the years!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the Scanner Daybook in my case is nothing but a daily
Ideas-book. I don’t exactly monitor my ‘projects’ here, but in case some
activity develops further, I use another notebook to record notes, ideas, etc.
regarding that subject. So Music, for example, has its own notebooks,
Photography likewise. But my ‘daybook’ has a jumble of everything. One day I
hope to cross off everything in the older volumes, but till then I realize I
have a ‘Scrabbler’ rather than a ‘Scanner’ daybook!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another idea that I
really like is to set off specific areas of the house for specific activities
or projects. I think this is more practical than organizing a single daybook
for all projects together. It’s like each hobby has its own corner, like you would have separate sub-directories on a computer, or in real life a books corner (or
room!), a carpentry corner (in the garage), and a garden shed (or box). Sher
suggests making a Life’s Work Bookshelf to display the results of whatever
you’ve done or collected in each field over the years, even if it doesn’t amount
to anything earth-shattering.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, of course, you do need to have some source of
income to support all this happy hunting. The ideal thing, of course, is that
you get paid to do what you love (become a paid travel writer or
resort-reviewer, for instance!), but if it ends up looking too much like work,
you may rebel! So there is the compromise of a ‘good enough’ job to keep you
going. In my case, I was lucky to ‘stumble upon’ a profession that has a lot of
in-built variety (the forest service), so I think I had no qualms about sticking
to it for 38 years in a most un-Scanner manner, while I developed various
interests on the side!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll describe the other book, by Lobenstine, next post.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Books cited</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lobenstine, Margaret. 2006. <i>The Renaissance Soul. Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to
Pick Just One.</i> Broadway Books, <st1:place w:st="on">New
York</st1:place>.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sher, Barbara. 2006. </span><i style="font-size: small;">What
Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything? A Leading Life Coach’s Guide to Creating
a Life You’ll Love</i><span style="font-size: x-small;">. Rodale International Ltd., </span><st1:place style="font-size: small;" w:st="on">London</st1:place><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-14287915802496075072015-02-17T18:49:00.000-08:002015-02-17T18:49:15.800-08:0042 Doing many things at a time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are times when one feels like ‘taking up’ or doing a
number of major things all at the same time. Opportunities to be a ‘polyglot’
or a ‘polymath’ of this sort may have been limited in the past, when you took
up a certain profession and stuck to it, but today with the enormous resources
available at our fingertips, thanks to the Internet, opportunities abound. In
fact, anybody surfing the web and coming across blogs like this is pretty sure
to be a questing type themselves! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my experience, however, it becomes difficult to do take
up more than one (or maybe two!) things seriously at a time, so some thought
has to be given to the best practical way of applying yourself to a number of
pursuits. I will share my own experience with this, and also refer to two books
which I found especially insightful, <i>The Renaissance
Soul</i> by Margaret Lobenstine and another book with a longer title by Barbara
Sher (see reference list at the end of the post).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Firstly, why would this be a problem at all? I can think of
at least two major reasons. One is that we have to be able to earn a living
(unless we have inherited ample wealth, which then has its own problems!), so
there has to be a primary skill or competence that is the basis of our
productive life. In practical terms, this means that we will have to
concentrate on a narrow range of activities for the sake of the profession.
This automatically limits the depth and intensity of our engagement with all
other pursuits, making them secondary to the central profession.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A second consideration could be the limitation of resources:
of time, energy, mental stamina, and of course money, plus our own individual
capacities and capabilities. Of course there are inspirational stories of
individuals who have overcome fearsome odds to excel, but then chances are that
they would have made one thing their major goal. We are talking of a different
attitude to life here, where no single activity or pursuit is considered
overwhelmingly important, and a number of them appear equally interesting and
feasible. How do we manage this in a single lifetime without an endowment of
any limitless resources?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My own strategy has been to use the natural ebb and flow of
activities in any career to accommodate diverse interests. The career one
chooses (or falls into!) itself is often a matter of chance or the effect of
pre-disposing factors (what one’s friends are looking at, the family or clan traditions, the coming together of a
certain opening with our situation at a certain point, and so on). Having taken
up a career, however, one may find that it doesn’t advance in a straight upward
line, but instead may circle around considerably in an apparently unproductive
manner. Of course you have to give all of your energy and focus to the main
job, especially in the initial period, but there will be times when things
aren’t progressing that smoothly, when for one reason or other you find
yourself in a sideline or backwater where nothing much seems to be happening,
or you have to wait a couple of years for an opening, and so on. These are the
periods in your life to develop the lateral interests that had to be set aside
in your busy years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This strategy is the ‘front burner-back burner’ strategy I
have referred to previously. It has been helpful in dealing with certain
difficult patches in my main career, and now especially after retiring (which
could become a continuous bad patch without these additional interests and
pursuits!). Indeed the concept of ebb and flow is relevant even for those
intensely and passionately committed to a single dominant thing in their lives
(the cause of conservation, or child or animal welfare, or helping the less
fortunate, for example), as they need at least one alternative activity to
manage stress levels and tide over bald patches. However, this doesn’t mean
that one endlessly takes up new activities at random, because that would only
result in a frittering away of one’s time and opportunities without achieving
anything, a path to frustration and cynicism. So one has to have a limited set
of parallel interest, say a half dozen of them, which are pursued over a
lifetime, some more seriously. You have to choose the level of proficiency
aimed at in each pursuit, of course, depending on your basic interests and the
progress you are able to make. Some activities which you may have taken up when
young (mountain climbing, for instance) may have to set aside as age takes its
toll. That’s the advantage of having a tidy ‘portfolio’ of five or six
different interests over a lifetime.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One caveat which I would like to lay out here is that these
interests need not become a source of self-castigation if you don’t make good
in them. You don’t really owe anybody anything for the time and resources you
have invested in these pursuits (provided they are within reasonable limits,
and not at the cost of your family and career obligations!), and every person
is allowed a certain amount of goofing off. It’s like paying the proverbial
tithe, except that this is to yourself and the nurturing of your inner spirit.
Hopefully it makes you a kindlier, less frustrated person!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have found, however, that even with these caveats, it is
rarely feasible to develop more than a couple of activities or hobbies at a
time. If you are doing some research for writing on a particular topic or
theme, for instance, that itself becomes a major pursuit (apart from your job).
If you want to bring it to some fruition, this would have to be given priority
over a sufficient period of time. Other pursuits and interests would have to go
to the back burner, or be bundled into storage boxes until their turn came up!
Doing a Ph.D. or an academic course comes into mind as quite a challenging
pursuit, for instance. The key here is that this has to be made the primary
second string activity (besides your day job), and some adjustments may have to
be made in your other diversions like TV-watching, hotel-hopping… and internet
surfing! But it is entirely worth the effort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll review the suggestions in the books cited in the next
post… and also say something about my experience with doing a Ph.D. in case
someone is in that bind!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
Books cited</h4>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lobenstine, Margaret.
2006. <i>The Renaissance Soul. Life Design
for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One.</i> Broadway Books, <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sher, Barbara. 2006. <i>What
Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything? A Leading Life Coach’s Guide to Creating
a Life You’ll Love</i>. Rodale International Ltd., <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>.</div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-811754767646099812015-01-28T09:17:00.002-08:002015-01-29T23:28:45.290-08:0041 Eternal vigilance is the price of survival<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the last post, I
looked back at my experience of the CAG audit and how enervating it is. Mulling
over these memories, I am struck by a single important ingredient in public
service (government jobs): the crucial necessity of being eternally vigilant,
even paranoid. Let me try and explain with some illustrations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
One of the unexpected
facts of public administration is the ambiguity of the legal and procedural
framework. You would think that with
over two hundred years of the modern bureaucratic state (well, maybe it is
closer to a hundred and fifty years), all the rules and regulations, the laws
and policies, would have been sorted out by now, tweaked and harmonized,
fine-tuned and spruced up to meet specific objectives. This is the assumption
that many of us start with in our careers. As I read the statement of a central
minster about decentralized administration some time back, if only the
objectives were clear, powers and procedures were unambiguous, and sufficient
funds and personnel were provided at the start of every year, the panchayats
(decentralized governance bodies) would be able to achieve results. It occurs
to me that this is the plaint of every functionary and worker in the system.
The reality, alas, is far different.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the real world, objectives
are spelled out in only the vaguest terms, and one has to give body and flesh
to them as one goes along. The budgets and working rates are not approved and
assigned at the start of each year, and the executive officials in the field
have often to arrange interim funding themselves (sometimes they have to get
the cash from the local moneylender!), in the hope that the funds will be
approved and released finally (sometimes this doesn’t happen, and they are left
holding the can, as the saying goes). Staff positions are usually half vacant
(and of those in position, the dreaded 20-80 rule comes into play!). Rules are
unclear, often contradictory, and court rulings cryptic. Administration, at
least in the public sphere, therefore, is like weighing a handful of active
frogs in an open pan balance.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the controlling
officers, the situation is one that constantly poses intractable problems and contradictions.
Because they have to be constantly taking decisions that are on the edge of
legality, they have to be constantly vigilant that they are covering their soft
body parts (to put it delicately!) all the time. For those taking financial and
discretionary decisions, the occupational hazard is enormous, because anybody
can question them anytime (the immunity that used tto be given to public
servants for decisions taken in the course of their duties, apparently ceases
the day they retire, as they cease to be public servants from that date, according
to a court ruling).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But constant vigilance
does not mean that one can stop taking decisions. That will go on, but there
has to be a constant vigil that somewhere or other, one is not making some
serious mistake or overlooking some critical rule or policy decision by the
competent authority. This entails a repeated study of the rule books, court
judgments, and so on. Since one cannot do this alone, it calls for a certain
amount of discussion and even gossip, which is what officials do when they get
together and talk ‘shop’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s another
interesting thought. Hundreds of papers or files will be passing through your
hands every day. You may get only a few minutes with each of them. You will have
to carry out all your due diligence on each and every one of those files during
those few minutes that it crosses your path. That is the level of vigilance
that is called for. You need to keep your faculties engaged and alert, and not
allow yourself to relax even for a second, because something may slip past your
guard. If you are not feeling up to examining each file as it comes, you should
keep it aside or take a break until you are in the proper frame of mind. Sometimes
it takes weeks or months for that to transpire. Behind every officer’s desk,
there is usually a shelf where certain intractable files are stowed away until
the gods send a message and a solution appears. That is what is meant by
eternal vigilance!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Having said all this, let me hasten to add a mitigating thought. Especially if you are at a senior level, be aware that the file before you has probably taken a long and tortuous route to get to your table, and that the fate of many persons may be hanging on your decision. If you are uncertain about how to proceed, there is always the temptation to toss the problem into someone else's basket by referring upward, returning down for further information, or referring laterally. If the decision is something within your jurisdiction, try your best to resolve issues by discussion and consultation before sending the file away, especially if you will be able to do somthing good by taking a decision. Especially if you are irritated by spelling mistakes, get them corrected on the draft, but keep the file on your table! For it may take another few months for the file to move down and up the chain before it comes back to you and provides you an opportunity to make amends.</div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-92005928013242881772015-01-16T09:39:00.002-08:002015-01-28T08:43:18.933-08:0040 Dealing with audit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a totally
different topic from the recent posts on saving and retirement. Getting back to
dealing with the sort of challenges that routinely come up in one’s working
career, this one is about dealing with audit, especially in government. People
are generally concerned about how the public expenditure is being carried out,
because it is about their money, collected through taxes; there is not that
much concern about what private people and corporations are up to. Private
audit, therefore, is all about certifying the accounts; audit of public
offices, however, is about digging for dirt and catching the people on the
wrong foot. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br>
As a project director
of one of our externally-aided projects, I was unfortunate enough to get
involved with a “special audit” or a “performance audit” conducted by the central comptroller and auditor-general (CAG). <br>
</div></div><a href="https://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.com/2015/01/40-dealing-with-audit.html#more">Read more »</a>Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-15210677104391649762015-01-06T10:53:00.000-08:002015-01-16T09:47:52.534-08:0039 Become (and stay!) a millionaire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s an extraordinary book which tells you how <st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region>’s
millionaires came to be so. Stanley and Denko (both PhDs) in their book <i>The Millionaire Next Door. The Surprising
Secrets of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s
Wealthy</i>, demolish many myths or notions about the wealthy. Almost every
line has a nugget of information, based on studies and surveys, that show how
most of them accumulated their wealth the hard way: by working hard and
steadily, minimizing expenditure, and saving and investing assiduously. The
majority are self-made millionaires in their own lifetime, not inheritors of
fortunes. The secret is that they don’t live like millionaires: they live in
ordinary neighborhoods, drive ordinary cars, they maximize their assets
(investments, nest-egg, cumulative capital), not their consumption expenditure,
they are “compulsive” savers and investors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br>
</div></div><a href="https://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.com/2015/01/39-how-to-become-millionaire.html#more">Read more »</a>Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-80779468758836034952015-01-03T22:49:00.000-08:002015-01-03T23:06:09.459-08:0038 Enjoy saving and investment – as a hobby!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
The principle of embarking on a course for some intrinsic
values rather than just for a material goal, suggested in the previous post (37
To find a purpose), has an application even in something as arcane as the
pursuit of assets and a nest egg for retirement! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Consider the goal of attaining the accumulated assets we
require to maintain our living standards after retirement, which can loom like
a formidable mountain in the early stages. Like real mountain-tops, the more we
advance, the farther it seems to keep receding (local guides, who know too well
the discouraging elusivity of these things, keep enticing you on by cheerful
assuring you that’s it’s just a shouting distance away – in Hindi, “haak-bhar
door hai, sahib!”). We saw the arithmetic of it in previous posts (36 Saving for retirement – the professional
view, and 34 Retiring comfortably, or your life term savings plan); but as you
can see, it can be dry and enervating to understand how it works exactly,
especially as there are so many conflicting factors: incomes, expenses,
inflation, taxes, compounding, discounting, erosion of value, liquidity versus
security, and so on and on. Then there is the drudgery of dealing with the
petty bureaucracy and exacting paperwork of bank accounts and provident funds
and insurance policies and income taxes. There is a temptation to give up the
whole thing and let momma (or the government) deal with it!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The one sure way to
take the drudgery out and instill even as dry an undertaking as investment and
taxes is to approach it with the mindset of a willing student. In fact, make it
a hobby rather than a responsibility! If it’s income tax, designing your own
spreadsheet and fitting in formulae to do the computations, designing reports
(however rudimentary) and so on can be an interesting exercise and a challenge
to your computer skills. Once the templates are drawn up, the drudgery is taken care of and you only
need to post up the year’s transactions. Similarly, keeping track of your
savings and investments – the fixed deposits (FDs), PPF account, and other
instruments – can become confusing and exhausting if you don’t devise a
tracking system (I have described mine: keep entering the items serially in a
diary with details, dates, values and source and destination), amount at
investment and at maturity, and then review frequently). This also can provide
some engaging moments.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tracking tax
deductions, roll-over of matured deposits, and so on is also something that
will have to be done on a regular basis. Filing income tax returns also is
easier if taken as a hobby project rather than as an imposition. The challenge
is to understand the rules of the game, devise our own ways of doing it, and
the reward is the satisfaction of having achieved something to “beat” the
system (not really, nobody can beat the tax department, but it’s good to think
of it as a competition!). The same with shares and the demat account you need
to work them: the joy is in beating the market, not so much in any profit you
may book. My neighborhood baker was a share trader in Mumbai for twelve years,
and his conclusion is that it’s a mug’s game: he made 12,000 rupees net profit
(or loss, he’s not sure!) after all that effort. Now he runs a bakery for the
challenge of it – again, the competitive spirit!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just as in music,<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; vertical-align: super;">1</span> you
learn for the intrinsic worth of it and not to gain audience appreciation, so
too in building a corpus: once you get engaged in the intellectual pursuit of the
process, you will be hooked, and will not feel the act of saving and the
mechanics of investment as a chore. Of course, one should not go to the other
extreme of getting obsessive about saving, and trying to pinch pennies at the
cost of one’s comfort and well-being. It’s a long term activity, and should be
a source of pleasure and learning rather than a punishment!<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<sup>1</sup>and in blogging!<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-74723305007226884682015-01-03T10:16:00.000-08:002015-01-03T22:57:21.060-08:0037 To find a purpose<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Getting off the
subject of saving and investment, one of the fundamental issues in our lives is
to find something to do, some goal worth striving for. I think one has to be a
little discerning about the type of goals one fixes on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A basic fact of life
is that we are not very much in control of results, so any life plan that
starts with a result objective is going to be dicey (likely to end in
frustration). For example, if I set out to become a world famous performer –
say, a musician like Ravi Shankar – I may end up trying to emulate his pathway
to international fame and glory (some of it entertaining and gratifying, some
painful and challenging). Unfortunately, there is little likelihood that I (or
any other aspiring music learner today) will be able to reach even close to his
level of achievement and creativity in precisely his way. Or if I set out to
become the President of the <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region>.
Or even a Nobel winner or the Best Blogger award winner of the year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This may sound
surprising, and a little self-serving, as we are brought up on the principle of
striving for high goals, however distant, and not giving up. But the essential
difference is that we are striving for certain external results in the above
examples, which only one of maybe many thousands (if not millions) who set out
on those paths can ever hope to achieve, and the non-winners are bound to feel
disappointed and dispirited. So what is the alternative?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suggest that we have
to redefine the objectives to give primacy to what we could term the innate
values in each of these fields of human endeavour. We don’t set out to get the
world food prize (if there is such a thing!), but to address some problem in
our neighbourhood – maybe collect unused food and reach it to orphanages. (It’s
not something I am into, so this is just an example, not an exhortation). I
learn a language to appreciate its literature, not become an expert and decipher
a dead script (unless, of course, it’s my PhD topic!). I register for a PhD not
just to become recognized as an expert (although that of course is a
significant result of getting the degree, especially at the start of an
academic career), but because I am getting interested in a topic and I feel I
have enough material and ideas to develop the dissertation. I devote time to
learning music not because I want an audience to cheer for me, but because I
want to understand the grammar of it, the techniques of performance, and develop
my own technical and imaginative skills. Audience appreciation would be a far
lower priority. I keep a dog not because I want to show it off in dog shows,
but because some innocent pup needs a home (I’m a cat person myself!). And so
on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This example of music
is especially instructive. I have heard (and read) many accomplished musicians
state the central principle that a performance is mainly for one’s own edification
(musical appreciation or spiritual uplift), and not for the audience’s. Serious
classical musicians see their study and performance as a way of spiritual
renewal, communication with something higher and bigger, a form of prayer. Vilayat
Khan, the sitarist, says in his performances that it is a form of prayer, <i>ibadat</i>, as does Bismillah Khan, the
shenai player. Rajan and Sajan Mishra of the <st1:place w:st="on">Banaras</st1:place>
school of vocal music frequently invite the audience to join them in their
meditation through the raga. They often perform with closed eyes, as if the
world before them dissolves and they are in a vast inner space. This is the
spirit which needs to infuse the learner, rather than learning a few set songs
for impressing audiences. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bhagavad Gita,
that central text for Hindus (and many others!) stresses the importance of effort
without too close an attachment to the possible fruits of action. This is an
acknowledgement of the principle that we are in control (relatively speaking!)
of our efforts, but the results are at the mercy of so many other factors that
we need to make only our side of it a goal, not the end results. This is not
being ‘other-worldly’ or impractical, but just a way of remaining actively ‘in
the game’ even though we know that results may not be one hundred percent in
our favour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, this
doesn’t mean that we can get away with being negligent or less than diligent.
It only means that we may not get the worldly success and accolades that our
efforts really deserve, but that should not throw us off our stride and cause
unhappiness, because the effort itself has been a reward. This sort of approach
shouldn’t be dismissed as a loser’s
rationalizations or as an example of ‘sour grapes’, because really if all that
will give us satisfaction is the first
prize (or even any prize, most competitions would not attract sufficient
participants. And that goes for the competition of life, because there are
always people who are going to be better, faster, stronger, cleverer, and more
successful than us. That doesn’t mean we all give up and sit on our haunches! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
One last comment is
that while effort is to be valued for its intrinsic worth and for the value of
the process, still some discretion and good sense is needed in setting even
these goals. Granted we may be well aware of the improbability of becoming a
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (great vocalist), but if we don’t have a voice, we need
not torture ourselves trying to become a stage singer (and our neighbours!).
There are however different levels of musical expertise (just as an
illustration, but I confess that I am also writing about learning raga music! <a href="http://www.learningragamusic.blogspot.in/" target="_blank">here</a>), and we could
become a cultivated listener, musicologist, anecdotist, discographer, database
developer, recording technician, even a critic, or a teacher, and so on without
getting frustrated by our lack of singing capabilities. Similarly in all walks
of life. We can be a good bureaucrat in our little office, without aspiring to
be the Prime Minister, or an excellent club member even if we are not a Sachin,
and so on ad infinitum.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-21541868371301357112015-01-02T21:23:00.000-08:002015-01-08T22:20:59.439-08:0036 Saving for retirement – the professional view<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
In a previous post
(34 Retiring comfortably, or your lifetime savings plan) I
referred to a pretty nice book by one Paul Westbrook, JK Lasser Institute (<i>Saving for Retirement</i>, Wiley, 2003), which deals with these
questions in a professional manner. I’ll run through his main conclusions and
see how my own home-spun analysis stands up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
First, the main points
about the arithmetic of saving. <br>
</div></div><a href="https://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.com/2015/01/36-saving-for-retirement-professional.html#more">Read more »</a>Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-65285542121193063592014-12-31T23:21:00.000-08:002015-01-21T02:29:11.384-08:0035 Passion versus pension<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
People sometimes make
light jokes at my passion for a safe pension! The usual
choice that become-great books advocate is: Passion over pension. This means,
you are asked to follow your passion even at the cost of a regular income,
because guaranteeing a pension essentially requires a long-term savings plan,
which requires a steady income, which comes from a steady job, and so on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course there are
people who have made it good the hard way, after years of struggle and
dedication, and we all admire them. Indeed, all the great things in the world
have probably been achieved precisely by such driven souls – all the inventions,
the great treasures of art and literature, great empires and also, sadly, great
atrocities and disasters. These few thousand individuals in history have
literally defined what it is to be human. The present series of homilies is
obviously not meant for such individuals, who are quite unlikely in any case to
be stumbling around the Web searching for stuff to browse. On the other hand,
single-minded pursuit can often turn into an unhealthy obsession. What we are
discussing here is meant for the remaining great majority, people who have a
variety of likes (and dislikes), who have different expectations from their
jobs, their hobbies, their pastimes, their leisure and work, and so on. For
such of us, working a steady and long life at our jobs, our work organizations,
and our careers or (if we are lucky) our professions, literally defines us. We
do not get to define the world, unlike the thousand greats of history.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The wake-up fact for
us is that there is rarely just one thing that we are meant to be doing in our lives.
Interestingly, very few actually stick to the professions they got their
education in. I haven’t come across the statistics (if I do, I will incorporate
them here), but when I look at all the classmates in my chemistry batch at
college, only a handful actually became chemists (professors, manufacturers,
inventors, researchers of chemistry). Others turn up in unexpected places – one
was finance secretary in the central government at the same time I was the head
of the forest service! There are bankers, artists, activists, authors,
analysts, managers… very few chemists. You get the drift… so what you did in
college need not become your defining qualification, and you will probably end
up doing a bit of many things over a lifetime.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you are not destined
for greatness in one particular field, you have the challenge of creating
meaning for yourself in whatever you happen to be doing at a given period in
your life. Even in a profession, where you would expect to be doing the same
thing over a lifetime (thinking of surgeons or lawyers here), circumstances may
conspire to give you breaks and changes in between. I was a
chemist-turned-forester myself, and expected a lifetime of planting trees (this
is meant a bit tongue-in-cheek!), but ended up doing many other things: cutting
them, for a start, but also teaching, researching, managing companies, sitting
in secretariats… even sitting in a foreign university doing a PhD (about which
I will share my experience shortly!).<br />
<br />
Instead of sitting and moaning about
having to abandon one’s passion, why not get down to whatever is going on in
our lives at the moment and applying ourselves to it with passion? Of course
this can seem a bit synthetic and even heartless at times, as though passion
can be poured out of a bottle, but at least dedication, enthusiasm, commitment
to the organization’s goals and to the best interests of our co-workers and
clients, can be good substitutes for the so-called passion we have to leave
aside.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Here's another thought: there is a favourite ploy of greatness salespersons (self-actuation writers, that is) of posing the question: when you're dead, and find nobody at your funeral, what are you going to regret more: that you spent less time at the office, or at the home? (OK, that's a bit of a caricature, because when you're truly dead, there are obviously other things you're going to be worrying about; but only a little, because the question is ususally posed at your deathbed!). Now I know of very few persons who would be willing to swap a career of jobs outside the home, of business trips and parties, assignments and challenges, for a sit-at-home lifetime. There has to be a balance, of course, but the first thing every young person wants as they grow up, is to be rid of the control of the parents and relatives, and strike out on their own (financial assistance, however, being always welcome if it comes with no strings attached). <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
So when the question
is posed in training programmes and public sessions, which will you choose –
your passion or your pension – I usually cause some giggles by emphatically
voting for the latter. With a pension secured, I may still be able to follow my
real interests after retirement – like writing that masterpiece (which we all
thought we would produce once we bought our first word processer!), but without
the pension, there would be neither. So the
advice to those wanting to strike out on their own and follow their
star, is to think well before giving up the “day job”… or abandoning the spouse
with the day job! Which is why our talk about retirement necessarily involves
long-term savings and investment plans, growth of savings over long time
periods, and other such unexciting things!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
(You could say I have a ... passion for pension!)</div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-76354272142534375432014-12-31T09:31:00.001-08:002015-01-03T22:50:40.209-08:0034 Retiring comfortably, or your life term savings plan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve been talking
rather glibly about retiring and having a ball (see Post 29 Retirement
as “The Freedom Years”, Post 28 Managing retirement). But this sort of assumes
that we’ve managed our savings and investment strategies, during our working
life, sensibly. How much do we have to save to achieve this?<br>
</div></div></div></div></div><a href="https://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.com/2014/12/33-retiring-comfortably-or-your-life.html#more">Read more »</a>Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-84257120383470754712014-12-26T10:08:00.001-08:002014-12-26T10:10:12.109-08:0033 Finding the rhythm in our affairs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the keys to
managing our various responsibilities and affairs (and I do mean the mundane
type, not the romantic!) is to find a certain rhythm in them – and to maintain
it! Let’s take a few examples to illustrate this principle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Any job, say as a
project manager, will call for a certain cycle of events: planning the coming
year’s program and budget, submitting the budget and getting sanctions, issuing
tenders or notifications, assigning works to agencies, reporting the previous
year’s activities, calling mid-term review meetings and reports, preparing our
own half-yearly and annual reports, and so on, round and round the revolving
cage. Often we see people getting stressed out because they seem to always be
lagging behind in this relentless cycle. But we don’t need to fall behind, as
most of these activities or actions are pretty much pre-ordained. The smart
thing to do is to start preparing for them in advance. For instance, we know
very well that there is going to be an annual report of the previous 12 months
due by, say February in draft form and by June with final figures (well,
government works slowly!). We need to draw up the template right from the first
quarter, filling up whatever figures are available, leaving columns for
quarters yet to come and the totals for the year. The rest of the text could
well be drafted in the course of the year: the background, the planned activities,
the descriptive and background material, the heartfelt tributes and
acknowledgments, and so on. The final task becomes all that much faster and
easier at the end of the year, when we also have to prepare the annual accounts
and close and balance the books. We saw a similar need for rhythm in mundane
activities like planning the annual tax payments and filing returns in the last
post. There is a similar value in having a rhythm in our daily cycle of
activities, in balancing between work, rest and recreation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is in our working
life. Something similar applies to our life on the whole. There is a rhythm, a
periodicity, to the whole life cycle, and we need to go with the rhythm rather
than work against it. There will be phases when things move fast, and we have
to be ready to hop on: job offers, transfers and promotions, challenges,
transitions, tensions to deal with. There will be periods when we will be
learning, and periods when we will do things practically. There will be periods
when nothing much seems to be happening, when life becomes flat and a bit of
drudgery, when we will have to grit the teeth and ride through it. We need to
pace ourselves accordingly, rather than flail against the course of things. We
have to use the energy in our circumstances to gather momentum. There is not
much use putting our shoulders against the wheel; a small nudge is enough,
however, if we apply it in the same direction it is moving. This is the
principle of resonance, where small increments applied in cycle build up the
energy beyond expectations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An institution, or a
team, that has this sense of timing and rhythm, where the team members are able
to coordinate their efforts, will perform more effectively. There is a palpable
sense of power under control in such
environments, almost like the low throbbing of a powerful engine powering a
huge ship along. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-50421575062720844592014-12-25T23:43:00.000-08:002014-12-31T03:02:28.699-08:0032 Paying your income tax<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Are taxes always a
worrisome task in March every year? Perhaps you are not sure of the total income,
you have not updated yourself with the current tax slabs and allowances, you do
not have the record of deductions and savings … the list is endless. The way to
avoid the end-point hassles is, of course, to start assessing yourself from the
beginning. You can start by entering each month’s salary and deductions into a
spreadsheet, and in my case this has stabilized as a complete tax calculation
application with separate pages for salary, interest incomes, house property,
capital gains (which is now empty because I have abandoned shares!), and a
master worksheet bringing it all together. I save the newspaper of end-February
which usually has the tax proposals, and the issue in end-March which has the
finance bill as voted in Parliament (these are of course available on the
website of the income-tax department nowadays, but having the paper version
saves a little time). You can note down the changes in slabs and rates,
deductions, and any other significant stuff (like concessions for senior
citizens!), and start computing the tax likability from the start. By the third
quarter, I start seriously paying up the anticipated cumulative tax dues in
installments. This way, at the end of the year, there’s little calculation to
do, and no standing in queues with other harried late stirrers!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just a caution: make
sure to check the calculations by hand (a manual check of the spreadsheet, if
you are using one), as sometimes old data and formulas could be left behind and
cause unexpected mistakes- like claiming too much deductions or using old slabs
or rates of tax!</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why don’t most people
do this in practice? One factor, I feel, is the general (and quite
understandable) resistance to parting with any of our hard-earned moolah to the
government. So the last three months’ salary is often entirely consumed by
taxes, since the accounts department usually gets the provisional tax return
from you in December. Actually there are also rules about how much of the
anticipated tax you need to pay by each quarter (I think about half has to be
paid up by the third quarter), called advance tax. If you haven’t kept up with
these installments, the income tax authorities may even charge you interest on
the quarter-to-quarter shortfalls (even after you’ve paid up the whole amount
in March!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m finding a strange
problem nowadays because of all the interest income coming from the fixed
deposits from the retirement payments. The problem is that the banks deduct
some 10 to 13% as TDS (Tax Deducted at Source), but generally won’t give you
the correct figures until after the end of the financial year (usually only by
the end of June in the next financial year!). In the meantime, you have to pay
up the balance 20% of the tax on your interest income, by 31<sup>st</sup> March
of this financial year. It’s difficult to get the correct figures of income
since the banks are so busy toward the end of the year. In practical terms, what
I do is to make an approximate estimate of interest accrued by multiplying the
principal amounts into the interest rate for the appropriate number of months
the deposit has been in force during the 12-month period, and I just pay it up
before the year-end (I may have to encash a deposit or two to get the required
funds). Incidentally, that’s another little ploy I have of keeping things
flexible: I split my deposits into manageable amounts. I also have a system of
making each deposit for a slightly different amount: say you want five deposit
certificates, you make them for respectively 10000, 11000, 12000 and so on;
this is a way of numbering them serially without assigning numbers. This avoids
confusion about how many deposits are still there and how many have been closed,
and also keeps the bank accountants from terminal despair!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Should you file income
tax returns even if you are below the taxable limits? I personally feel you
should, because it always helps to have your accounts audited and certified by
the tax authorities every year (in case you need a tax dues certificate, for
any reason). Secondly, it gives a good training ground for you to build up
familiarity with the main rules, the process of preparing and filing the
returns, and so on, when there are no high stakes involved. Then when you do
start getting into the taxable range, you will not have a stressful learning
curve. As the psychologists say, we feel the pain of loosing money more than
the joy of getting an equal amount: that’s why if we learn later on that we
have missed some exemption or other loophole in the rules, it makes us feel
really bad. It’s wise to learn all this when we are not even in the tax net, so
that we are prepared for better times when the taxman will come a-calling!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One last suggestion
here: how do we find the money to pay our taxes? One sure thing is that if we
postpone payments, they become more and more difficult. That’s why the income
tax rules require the employer to deduct taxes at source. But as mentioned
above, the TDS rates are usually only 10%, whereas you may land up in a higher
tax slab toward the later part of the year, and then be forced to pay up your
entire salary as taxes during the last two or three months. When I had multiple
demands on my salary, I used a method that helped me budget my money without
too much pain. I made columns for these different ‘heads’ of payment in my chequebook (there's usually a few ruled pages for entering transaction details stitched into each chequebook), such as school fees, loan repayments, household, savings, selfish
pursuits, and of course taxes, and so on, and split up each month’s salary
income among these heads. Money
withdrawals or cheques issued were also entered under the appropriate heads,
and balance available also calculated head-wise. Of course sometimes one or the
other head would go into the red (since sudden demands always arise), and then
one has to make larger ‘appropriations’ for those heads in the next month’s
salary. You will notice that this works for those getting regular salary; it
beats me how business people manage their personal expenses, and increases my
admiration for them! <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a measure of
abundant disclosure, let me say I have just paid up large sums as advance tax
after closing a couple of my fixed deposits! <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-7333928163280856612014-12-20T07:53:00.000-08:002014-12-20T08:07:25.696-08:0031 Micro-managing your staff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a discussion the
other day with a management expert who lectures in American institutes and
claims to be advising the new Modi government (in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region>) on good practices. One of
the things he was talking about was that as a tax-payer, he had the right to
know where the government bureaucrats
who were being paid through his taxes (the secretaries in the central
ministries, no less) were at any moment. He has, accordingly, advised the
government to set up biometric checking in and monitoring facilities in the
ministries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to hide a smile.
I did tell him, though, that I also had started off in my own career in the
forest service with this sort of conviction. I took the daily attendance
register very seriously, and got it to my table precisely fifteen minutes after
opening time and checked off the late comers, and forced them to apply for
casual leave (if they turned up) and threatened them with disciplinary action
if their late arrival was chronic. And so on…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can guess that
much of my time and energy was consumed pursuing attendance. Similar close
supervision was extended to other parts of the organization. After some period
experimenting, and once I got into the saddle, so to speak, it transpired that there
were so many things to do, and so many people and agencies to maneuver through
and around, that it dawned on me that working this system entailed much more
that putting in hours. I graduated to a different approach, where I tended to
leave a long and lax rope, insisting mainly on work output and quality rather
than hours and punctuality. The fact is that
working to rule is simply not going to get results. Let me try to pick out the weak
links in my friend’s argument. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Firstly, the fact that we pay taxes counts for
very little. If we actually strike a balance in our accounts, we will realize
that a great many things are actually being subsidized in our daily lives. Our
taxes are only a tiny part of it. In any case, my taxes (after all, even civil
servants pay taxes!) will entitle me to a very miniscule part of our
secretary’s time. Just because we pay taxes, that doesn’t mean that the
secretary has a billion supervisors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, it’s poor
management practice to harp on these minor things. It is easy to hold the
bureaucrat to account for his attendance, but it will cramp his functioning.
Often, the bureaucrat has to be absent from the office part of the day, so that
the normal work of the staff can be taken forward. If the boss is sitting
around all the time, they will be sure to keep calling the office staff and
getting in the way. Too much interference with the office doesn’t allow the
work to go forward, and too much control on the bureaucrat also is likely to be
similarly counter-productive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, the secretary’s
job doesn’t mean constant availability. In fact, no private company will keep
their senior executives available all the time to the public. It will hamstring
the civil servant from doing his job in a free and fair manner. Even the
political boss has to be insulated to a certain extent, and in fact we need
institutions and procedures which will take the onus of decisions off the chief
executive’s back in the interests of his or her health and sustainability. If
everything is short-circuited to his table, there will surely be a burn-out or
physical collapse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, the actual work of public administration calls for
ceaseless activity outside of office hours and beyond the call of the written
codes and procedures. Work-to-rule simply does not work. Ordinary people rise
to the demands of situations and deliver to the best of their abilities in
challenging situations. They even put their lives at risk in certain
circumstances. This sort of work ethics is fostered, not by nit-picking, but by
developing an ‘<i>esprit-de-corps</i>’, a
sense of being part of a special community (uniforms and dress codes are a part
of this), of mutual regard and unquestioned loyalty. Nobody should ever think
that they have single-handedly achieved anything (except maybe poets!), and the
simplest achievement still demands the assistance, support and who knows what
else from a long chain of persons and agents.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are a couple of other facets to this problem of
extracting work. One is the inevitable 20:80 “rule” <a href="http://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.in/2012/05/11-20-80-rule-and-way-to-joy-on-budget.html" target="_blank">(see post 11)</a>, which implies that a most
of the work is going to be carried forward by a minority of the staff and
resources in any organization. Related to that is the “rule” of fives <a href="http://managinglifeandwork.blogspot.in/2012/06/12-rule-of-fives-deploy-resources.html" target="_blank">(see post 12)</a>, which
says that out of every five people, two will be highly effective, two will be
uninterested or actively hostile, and there may be one in the middle who may
swing either way depending on how you treat him and where he sees his (or her!)
advantage. Issuing memos and scolding
will probably push him into the anti-camp. So it is your choice, as leader, to
choose where you will expend the maximum energy. I have heard too many stories
about (and from!) officers who embarked on a battle royale with individuals
they considered bad eggs, to recommend this approach. It saps the leader’s
energy, clouds his vision for the larger organization, leaves the hard working
ones feeling neglected, and generally shrinks the organization’s stature and
image. It is a classic example of a lose-lose strategy. Especially in
government, where the time given to an individual in any position or
organization is limited to a couple of years or so, it would be strategically
wise to work on the strengths rather than try to set right the deficiencies.
Let the last percentage points go!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am so glad I retired before this biometric monitoring
became main-stream. I let my staff also manage their schedules, as long as it
did not hinder the work or the requirements of the public. I had no problem all
the years I was head of institutions… and I like to think that their time also
was made pleasant by the absence of clock-watching and nit-picking on my part.
So my suggestion to the advisors would be to focus on the work, the procedures,
and the output, and leave the details of attendance and discipline to the internal
organization. </div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-62807414156971069602014-12-17T09:33:00.000-08:002014-12-17T09:33:27.151-08:0030 Try not to burn your boats before you find your bridges<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ok, that may be too much of a mixed metaphor… but you get
the underlying idea. In fact, it would be better not to burn your boats ever…
even after you’ve crossed the river (which was the original proverb), because
not only may you want to return that way sometime in the future (see what
happened to Alexander and his men on their retreat!), but someone else may need
to use them in the meantime. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dropping the metaphor, what I am trying to say is that it is
always better to keep some options open, even if you are pretty sure that
you’ll never consider them ever. When I left my M.Sc. course in the last
semester for the forest service, I was pretty sure that I would never consider
taking up chemistry again or coming back to the institute. Fortunately for me,
my father made a simple suggestion that I leave a note with the institute
explaining that I was leaving for the service, and requesting them to consider
allowing me to complete the course at some future date. As we all know,
registration is kept alive for a certain number of years, and there is usually
the option of resuming a course within the permissible time span. After my
training period was over (that’s some three years!), I did go back and finish
my last semester… and all on the strength of the little note I had submitted,
which had been kept on my file in the department with the Head’s noting that I
might be given a chance to complete the course when and if I approached them in
the future. That M.Sc. didn’t lead to a career in chemistry, but I did manage
to write a nice paper that integrated forestry science with the chemistry of
natural products, and more importantly, provided a basic qualification for
registering for other courses of study like the Ph.D. in the <st1:place w:st="on">United Kingdom</st1:place> on a Commonwealth
Scholarship. So this is a direct example of leaving your boat tied up on the
bank after you’ve used it (as is the accepted etiquette, incidentally!).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another context in which this adage is very important is in
quitting places and relationships. It is always better to split up amicably,
whatever your immediate inner feelings. Since nobody is really going to care
about your opinion of them (do you take what others think about you seriously…
especially your parents? I thought not), no good is going to come of telling
them what you think of them before leaving. Don’t get fooled by the “exit
interview” into disclosing your real feelings (which may not be all that
palatable)… on the contrary, give a few compliments and say how valuable the
association has been and how you will cherish the memories. If you do leave in acrimony,
the news is sure to get around and you may be type-cast as a difficult
character best avoided by future prospective employers. The crucial thing to
understand here is that you are not going to make the other person feel
remorseful by listing all the things they have done wrong. Any damage will be
to your own image, and future prospects. Who knows, the person you imagine to
be your enemy now may well turn out to be a well-wisher in the long run! This
especially applies to parents and parental figures in general!</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One last illustration of this curious phenomenon of things
turning out differently in the long run: often the persons with whom you used
to have the worst fights turn out to be the persons who remember you in later
years! The old bosses who hated your guts all those decades ago (I’m sorry,
that’s how much time I have spent in this business of managing life!) form a
band of friendly old geezers in their sunset years. All they remember is that
you were somehow closely engaged with them, a part of their life experience,
and the specifics of your quarrels are often forgotten or overlooked. After
all, how many people actually exist in this world who know you or knew you
through all those formative years? A handful,
if I am not mistaken. I guess old married couples (at least in my generation)
stick together on the same principle… much to the mystification of the
youngsters!</div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-60480571084692400252014-12-06T00:21:00.000-08:002014-12-06T10:17:52.417-08:0029 Retirement as “The Freedom Years”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
While we’re on the topic of retirement, there’s a cute book on “The Freedom
Years” by Michael Shea <a href="http://books.google.co.in/books?id=e5UbwB5Lz1MC&pg=PP4&dq=freedom+years&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wM6CVLqkB9eRuASvwoHgBg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(find it on Google Books)</a> that gives a whole lot of detailed stuff about what to
do after retirement, and most significantly, how to prepare for it. I call it a
“cute” book (a rather unscholarly term!) on account of the decidedly cute,
rotund Wodehousian character on the cover clicking his heels in the air, and in
the cartoons by Frank Dickens throughout the book. It’s cute also because the
author uses a free, conversational, friendly style that considerably reduces
the foreboding effect of the subject.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://encrypted.google.com/books?id=e5UbwB5Lz1MC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&edge=curl&h=80&w=50&zoom=5" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted.google.com/books?id=e5UbwB5Lz1MC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&edge=curl&h=80&w=50&zoom=5" width="126" /></a>The book argues that there is no law that requires everyone to retire at a
particular age like sixty or sixty-five, and especially to settle for a life of
inactivity even if one does retire formally. The health of seniors is much
better than in previous generations, and we will have to manage our life after
retirement just as we did our working lives, as it could stretch to decades
with good health and energy. The author calls these the “freedom years”, as
there are now few obligations or deadlines, and he advises us to take advantage of
this, not by giving up and becoming a couch potato, but by using the time and
opportunities to do the things we really love and could not devote time to all
these busy years. He also terms this the “trailblazer generation”, as it is the
first to enjoy such good prospects into old age, with all the developments in
medical treatments and better health and facilities for fulfillment.<br />
<br />
I like
especially Chapter Four on “Switchover Tactics”, which stresses the importance
of maintaining some structure in our daily regimen after retirement, and has a
list of doable suggestions. I like the one on taking up favorite hobbies,
joining courses full-time to explore subjects that had to be kept on the
back-burner (and so on). This last is especially feasible for many of us, and
will give us the structure in our daily and weekly program, and keep a
worthwhile goal in front of us and finally leave us with a sense of
achievement, plus an extra discipline in our intellectual armory that will
expand our understanding of things and provide a different frame of reference
to relate to. And it’s really important that the mind is kept active and open
to new ideas and approaches: this will also reduce our sense of frustration
with the way everything is different and how things are going getting beyond us
(it was a Roman poet, who commented on how every generation moans about the
youth and recollects the days of old with nostalgic fondness; we do it, and the
youngsters of today will themselves grow over time into old fogies and complain
about <i>their</i> younger generations).<br />
<br />
An especially striking thought afforded by the author is the maxim of
looking forward, and minimizing the nostalgia for the past. It should be quite
obvious to us that the roles of leader, boss, dictator, or sage that we played
(because of our grey hairs, age and long decades of experience, and seniority
in the profession or organization) are
not going to be with us once we retire. It may be necessary to start again at a
much more modest level in a new organization or activity (say, as a student
again, or just an extranumerary or “adjunct” person), without feeling the loss
of power and prestige. The thing to avoid is the temptation of hovering around
the old place, trying to wangle oneself onto committees and stuff, getting in
the way of our successors in office, continuing to play politics in the
organization. That would be demeaning ourselves and facing an inevitable fall
in prestige and goodwill in any case; far better to withdraw ourselves
gracefully, and seek out totally different avenues for exercising our abilities
and interests. “Our life still remains a journey, but we’re better off looking
at it as if we’re entering a new world, with new scenery, options, excitements
and challenges.”<br />
<br />
The author gives us a timely reminder of the gap between the so-called
biological age and the real age. Some people seem to age faster, others look
younger than their real age not just due to their genes, but also by the way they
have looked after their bodies (and minds!), their weight and bearing,
mannerisms and level of activeness, and so on. In this context, I feel that
some people just decide to start acting old: not getting up and walking around
briskly, starting to expect others to fetch and carry, and exhibiting what my long-suffering
wife calls a “learned helplessness”. These are mannerisms that are self-fulfilling:
if we start acting as though we can’t remember things, we will develop a bad
memory that much faster, and the same applies to not getting up off the couch,
or taking the dog out, or walking to the store, and so on…<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>The Freedom Years</i> by Michael Shea
was published in 2006 by Capstone Publishing (a Wiley company), <st1:country-region w:st="on">England</st1:country-region>, and reprinted 2007 by Wiley India, <st1:place w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:place>. ISBN
978-81-265-1389-6 (paperback). <a href="http://books.google.co.in/books?id=e5UbwB5Lz1MC&pg=PP4&dq=freedom+years&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wM6CVLqkB9eRuASvwoHgBg&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">(Find it on Google Books)</a></div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8244579670045926622.post-40349522244269959212014-12-03T21:45:00.001-08:002014-12-04T22:04:53.784-08:0028 Managing retirement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
I’m getting back to
this blog after a hiatus of two years, during which time I’ve retired and
returned from <st1:city w:st="on">Delhi</st1:city> to my home and family in <st1:city w:st="on">Bangalore</st1:city>. So I guess the
first thing is to share the retirement experience!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all, I
absolutely do NOT miss the job at the ministry in <st1:city w:st="on">Delhi</st1:city>, and all the meetings and hustle and
bustle and dealing with irritable and irritating people! I do not know whether
this is a special feature of government jobs, but very few persons in similar
circumstances have expressed any regret or longing for he old days after
retiring. This has been a very pleasant experience, because the feelings of
regret or nostalgia for the past seemed to have been a common thing in my
father’s generation (I may be mistaken!).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One difference in the
situation of persons retiring now may be that there are just so many more
things to do, thanks to modern technology and the communications and
information revolutions. There are more channels to watch, more web sites to
browse, and many of my colleagues and contemporaries have taken to Facebook and
such things with gusto. My generation has probably been the luckiest in human
history (born in the 1950’s, we would be just post- the baby boomers, I guess):
this is the generation that grew up in many countries at the beginning of the
brave new era of self-determination and democracy (some countries like South
Africa had to weight a while longer), a faith in ideals and in the promise of
technology, and many new institutions and initiatives to take part in. In <st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place>,
the middle class soared, with limitless possibilities through new institutes
for specialized higher education and development of science and technology; the performing
arts, commerce and so on. This generation went all over the world, and laid the foundation of the diaspora in
the technological frontiers of the world, like <st1:place w:st="on">Silicon
Valley</st1:place>. The social scientists and intellectuals had not yet cast
gloom on the party by their predictions of doom and mayhem, the shadow of
religious fundamentalism had not fallen, rationalism and the scientific
approach still held out promise and had not been eroded by the doubts of
relativism and post-modernism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coming back to the
post-retirement phase, a friend had offered the view that you can do anything
you wish after retirement: you can
relax, or travel anywhere at your sweet will and fancy, you can read, write,
take up courses, engage in voluntary effort, join clubs and societies, and
almost anything else. All this, of course, assuming that you have prepared
yourself and the family for the decrease in income and the withdrawal of
support from the office or company. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One way of doing this is obviously to plan
your savings strategy right from the start of the career; some people say that
you need to save only 15% of your income during your working years, but I am
not sure it is enough; better to save the very maximum you can spare, so that
compound interest rapidly builds up the reserves and soon makes up through
interest for the inevitable halving of the pension or other official retirement
income. The human tendency is to discount the future (termed myopia or
short-sightedness in anticipation of the future); so extra effort is needed to pay attention to
distant future needs. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other issue is, of
course, to do with what is called life cycle planning, since one is not sure how long one is going to be alive; if one has a
general pessimism about the life span, saving for eternity may not have much
appeal. The only sensible approach, I feel, is to assume that you’re going to
have a pretty long life (an eternal life, in fact); there is no use regretting
vainly in the sunset years that you’d put by more. The problem here is, of
course, that you may have to carry the accumulated savings to your last day,
since you need the regular interest to see you through without seriously
troubling your descendants. The corollary is that you will have to leave the
accumulated capital to them, which is good in many ways, as it reduces your own
temptation to splurge wildly and spoil your health, and it makes the heirs a bit
kindlier and indulgent if they can look forward to a reward for putting up with
your terminal foibles and troubles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Retirement gives an
opportunity to do all those things you never had time for: so enough of the
excuses, get up and get going. A friend gave a novel way of looking at it: he
calculated the number of days required for each activity, say personal health
and hygiene, entertainment, managing the finances, drawing up income tax
returns, attending to family get-togethers and social events, hobbies, and so
on, and came to the conclusion that here would be no time to sit and brood! Of
course, one thing to avoid is getting too closely involved in household matters
and the personal lives of your family, especially the next generation; best to
keep a wary distance and proffer advice only when asked. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So that’s the thing to
do after retirement, of course always keeping in view that there’s going to be a
long way ahead. Retirement is a start of a new journey, not the end of
everything. As far as the erstwhile job and all its glories, let us comfort
ourselves with the gratitude for having had it as long as we did, rather than
pine for its loss; what’s more, all those who came after us are also going to
be retiring soon, and within a few years the people we knew in our working
lives would all be in the same boat with us, so the pain of comparing our lot
with others will diminish and disappear. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(As a token of abundant personal disclosure, I have to add that I am improving my initial retirement
years by taking up reading and writing,
which I could not develop systematically during the busy years on the job.
Going to an institute solves the problem of being all dressed up with nowhere
to go; I anticipate the need to travel to a work spot outside the home will diminish
over time).<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Dilip Kumar PJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.com1