Loud Thinking

Archive for September, 2013

In this world, the way of thinking is much more important than the actual action.
The secret of every satisfaction and happiness of life, lies in the positive thoughts and thinking.
A person, who is devoid of the priceless asset of positive thinking, shall not get any happiness and success with any of his actions. ~SuleMan~

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

— C.S Lewis

An Open letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Sports Affairs in the country – Way forward

Honourable Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab,

AoA.

Sir,

It may not be a news for you that Pakistanis are a true sports loving people. Nothing unites the nation more than the news of an international level victory in any sporting arena. I am greatly surprised about the fact, that why our successive governments failed to channelise the energy of our youth, towards the various traditional and non traditional sports, to lure them away from the engulfing culture of drugs and related crimes.

It should also be understood that Pakistanis not just only love the sports, they also understand its very basics as well. While victories are celebrated like a festival, defeats suffered after putting up a good fight, are also duly appreciated.

Nevertheless, the masses are so intelligent that they can easily smell the rat, when our teams lose to the minnows like Bangladesh, Ireland and Zimbabwe etc. Similarly, the whole nation knows how politics coupled with corruption, has spoiled the sports in the country, which has earned the distinction of the worlds BIGGEST nation, NOT to have earned a single medal in the Olympics, since the year 1994. While much smaller and poorer countries like Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Kenya, have proved that winning medals at international levels is just a matter of commitment, dedication and simple hard work, sans politics.

In the past, luckily our cricket, hockey, squash and some other sporting teams and players have been bringing laurels for Pakistan; with very little money, extremely small size governing boards and minimal politics. Gradually, the foundations of key sports in Pakistan were eaten up by the greed of money, rampant corruption, nepotism, politics and incompetencies of the successive governments, sports managers and the players combined.

If, we have to put the sports in Pakistan back on the right track, two basic things are necessary. Firstly, a vision and secondly, visionary leaders, to put Pakistan back on top, at the worlds’ sports map.

As far as, the vision is concerned, nothing ever said about sports can match the following quote of Mr. Nelson Mandela, “Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

Now, taking a cue from the above mentioned statement of Mr. Nelson Mandela, it is suggested that Pakistani government should slightly re-phrase it and declare the following as its mission statement: “Sports has the power to change Pakistan…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite Pakistani people in a way that little else does. It speaks to the Pakistani youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope for the entire Pakistani nation where once there was only despair, lawlessness, hunger, poverty, drugs, suicide bombings and alarming increase of suicides, due to the economic hardships. It is more powerful than government in breaking down the menace of terrorism which has blown the country to the smithereens.”

Coming to the visionary leadership, may be Pakistan is very lucky in the sense that its current Prime Minister, is himself a born sportsman. Moreover, if in the past, we had world class sports administrators cum leaders, like Syed Wajid Ali, AIS Dara, Brig. Rodham, AH Kardar, Air Marshal Noor Khan and last but not the least Zakir Hussain Syed; then even today we are lucky to have a great sports administrator cum leader (AVM Farooq Umar), who can be appointed as advisor to the PM, for revamping the entire sports canvas of Pakistan, in consultation with the provincial governments, all the sports governing bodies and sports lovers of the country.

The need for a dedicated advisor to the PM on sports matters is all the more urgent and necessary, keeping in view of the imminent lurking danger of the imposition of international sporting ban, on the participation of Pakistani players, due to the dispute, arising out of the warring sports bodies in the country, which may cause unimaginable and irreparable loss to the sports in Pakistan.

it is hoped that the above submissions, if juxtaposed with your recently announced package for youth, may bring the desired results for which, you have been dreaming about, for so long.

Wishing you all the success and Godspeed in your endeavours to turn around Pakistan, in all walks of life.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE

“Leave people to their opinions and judgments. They cannot harm you; it is their understanding that is faulty, not yours.”

— Leon Brown

To feel much for others and little for ourselves;
to restrain our selfishness and exercise our benevolent
affections, constitute the perfection of human nature.
Adam Smith

No society can surely be flourishing and happy,
of which the far greater part of the members are
poor and miserable.
Adam Smith

Labour was the first price, the original purchase –
money was paid for all things. It was not gold or by silver,
but labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.
Adam Smith

The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations.
Adam Smith

“Find someone who isn’t afraid to admit that they miss you. Someone who knows that you’re not perfect, but treats you as you are. One who gives their heart completely. Someone who says I love you and means it. Find someone who wouldn’t mind waking up with you in the morning and seeing your wrinkles and your gray hair but still falls in love with you all over again.”

— Author Unknown

Love is a feeling of warm personal attachment.

“When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless, that it doesn’t have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space.”

Pema Chodron (born 1936);
Buddist Nun

Spur Creativity by Setting the Right Constraints

Conventional wisdom holds that the best way to make a team more creative is to unshackle them from constraints. But you don’t need to remove all creative limitations – instead impose only those that move you toward clarity of purpose.

Focus on the vitals. What is the one thing you want your customers to know or do? If you could only communicate with them via a business card or a very short video, what would you say? Once you’ve determined that, you may be surprised by the superfluous pieces that once seemed critical.

Get uncomfortable. Challenge habitual assumptions and apply a different set of limitations to how you think about problems. A service company, for instance, could consider what would happen if it started offering the service the way a well-known brand in a very different industry would.

Adapted by HBR from “Boosting Creativity Through Constraints,” by Adam Richardson.

“My strength did not come from lifting weights. My strength came from lifting myself up when I was knocked down.”

— Bob Moore