On beginnings and thoughtfulness

Last two months have been very hectic at office as we worked hard for the annual CES event at Vegas and towards the release of our software for our #1 and #2 customers. Its always a big challenge to pull it off when three major releases needs to be done in the space of about 8 weeks. It was also fascinating to watch the reaction of all the stakeholders as the events unfolded. James Allen, in his classic "As a man Thinketh" said "circumstances does not make the man, it reveals him to himself". Could not have understood the meaning of this sentence better. My personal activities went almost close to zero (no blogging, no reading, no contribution to the non-profit that I'm part of and very little time for family). I want to thank folks who encouraged me to keep writing.

Hope to have a new beginning from this week as normalcy returns or seems so.

There are beginnings everywhere, mostly small ones and seemingly trivial ones and almost everything starts from small beginnings. I re-read the chapter Right Beginnings from James Allen's yet another classic titled Byways of Blessedness. James Allen stresses the need for strong and right beginnings - for example he believes in getting out the of the bed early in the morning and for some of us who are challenged on this front, asks a question - How are you to develop strength of will, mind and body if you begin everyday by yielding to weakness?

Loving, gentle, kind, unselfish and pure thoughts are right beginnings, leading to blissful results. If we accept this piece of wisdom from Allen, there are few questions to ponder:

• Have we discovered the vast importance of beginnings?
• Do we really know what is involved in a beginning?
• Do we know the number of beginnings we are continuously making and their importance?

Anyways, as I was pondering over the "beginning" this morning, a recent post (youtube video) by Tom Peters on thoughtfulness caught my attention. He says fundamental human decency towards one another is arguably the most important thing during these tough times. Thoughtfulness he argues, apart from making you a better human being, helps in retaining customers, employee satisfaction and brand perception. Its free. It speeds up things. It builds trust. It brings transparency. And the best of it "Thoughtfulness is key to your ability to look in the mirror and tell your kids about your job". I'm enamored by the word thoughtful. Thank you Tom!

Can we strive hard to have the right beginning and thoughtfulness in everything we do?


Thank you very much,


RamP!
ramp.ramp@gmail.com