Loud Thinking

Archive for December, 2013

International Olympic Committee (IOC), in recognition of the monumental services to the cause of sports, by the late Nelson Mandela, must honour him by designing the medals with the picture of Nelson Mandela, to be awarded during the next summer Olympics.

And as a befitting tribute to Nelson Mandela’s services for the sports, the next Olympics should also be named as “Nelson Mandela Olympic Games”.

In this regard, it will not be out of place to quote a statement of Nelson Mandela on sports.

Quote. “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.” Unquote.

RIP Nelson Mandela.

In the death of legendary Nelson Mandela, the humanity has lost its most brave and best friend.

“Some things don’t matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person’s heart — now, that matters. The whole problem with people is they know what matters, but they don’t choose it. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”

— Sue Monk Kidd

I always had doubts about the veracity of the ICC ranking system.
Look at the misery of the world number 1 ODI ranked team India, which is playing like novices against South African cricket team.

The murder of Indian bowling by the South African batsmen proves how much far ahead is Pakistani bowling compared to the rest of the world teams.

Peace is a state of harmony.

“Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously. The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots. In fact, it is always in proportion. That’s its balance.”

Osho (born 1931);
Indian spiritual teacher

Make the Most of Your Next Conference With Social Media

Dealing with logistics and meeting a new horde of people can make out-of-town conferences stressful, but using social tools can help you make them as productive (and fun) as possible.
With LinkedIn’s advanced search, find new or established connections in your destination city. If you want to meet with any of them while you’re in town, reach out ahead of time.
To minimize dress-code anxieties and packing hassles, use a Google image search to find photos of past years’ events and check out what people wore.
Use OpenTable to book 8-to-12-person tables at restaurants near the conference venue for each evening of the conference, and invite people to join you for dinner. (Saying you’re “convening a gang” avoids the implication that you’re paying for the whole table.) Enlist a few co-conspirators to invite two or three people each.

Adapted by HBR from Work Smarter with LinkedIn, by Alexandra Samuel.

An excerpt from
The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale

George Bernard Shaw said, “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, they make them.”

Well, it’s pretty apparent, isn’t it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.

Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn’t know where he’s going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry—his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing… he becomes nothing.

How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I’ll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.

Suppose a farmer has some land, and it’s good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn’t care. It’s up to the farmer to make the decision.

We’re comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn’t care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn’t care what you plant.

Now, let’s say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand—one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds—one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land…and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.

As it’s written in the Bible, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”

Remember the land doesn’t care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants—one corn, one poison.

The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn’t care what we plant…success…or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal…or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant must return to us.

You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond our wildest dreams. It will return anything we want to plant.

Motivation is the act of being provided with a reason to act a certain way.