Facing Challenges

Running away only increases the distance

 Running away from a problem only increases the distance between you and the problem. It does not solve any problem.

I too agree with many present day motivators that perception and description can create a difference. How we perceive a situation and how we describe a situation is very important in overcoming or conquering the situation. The perception has a key role. The description continues the perception. You may solve, overcome and conquer the situation according to your perception and the description of that perception.

Empowering words applied to any given situation makes a lot of influence on the attitude towards it, the method of solving or overcoming the situation and the final victory. But no empowering word in your dictionary can help you. It doesn’t really matter how powerful these words are if we don’t use them. Nothing happens unless we actually apply in life what we learn. The power of any skill or strategy is in its application. If we make it a habit to consistently incorporate the things we learn, even the simplest of life skills will have a profound effect on our life.

 So use empowering words for describing any situation in your life.

 What is a problem?

A problem is any undesirable difficult situation that poses a hurdle in your way of progress. It is the mountain in your way. It is the huge rock that tries to block the smooth flow of the river.

All such difficult situations can be perceived in two ways:

Problem

Challenge

 Repurpose the situation

 Words send signals to our brain

 The words problems and challenges send entirely different messages to our brains. 

Subconsciously, having a problem means,

 “There’s something wrong here.”

 Our mind hears,

 “This isn’t right, life is not as it should be.”

 By shifting our wording from ‘problem’ to ‘challenge,’ any situation can be repurposed.

So the next time you’re tempted to say you’re having a ‘problem,’ say you’re having a ‘challenge,’

There are no problems in life, just challenges!

 Problems or challenges

 Problems or challenges are a recurring part of everyday life.

Whether you choose to call them challenges or problems, certainly they happen.

However, it does change the way we respond to them and that little shift can make a huge difference.

 Every problem is caused by us handing a situation badly. Problem condemns us for our action that missed the mark.

Problem is an accuser.

 So we feel that it is our responsibility to regain the status quo. 

It means that we must struggle just to get back to where we were.

We are accused and it is our sole responsibility to make everything right.

So the struggle begins.

 And our whole energy is utilized toward repairing the situation though it may not be profitable at the end.

This is not a very empowering state of mind.

 Challenges send a different mental message. 

It tells our mind that everything is great. So great in fact, that we are ready to take on something new. 

To our subconscious mind, challenges are represented as opportunities. We see them as a way to move up to the next level. It’s our chance to demonstrate what we’re made of. Challenges urge us to untie the boat and sail towards the other end.

 A challenge encourages us to recruit our inner resources and to view the situation as a new opportunity. This is a very empowering state of mind.

 All problems are challenges. No challenge is a problem.

 Problems are to defeat us. Problems are to destroy us.

Challenges are to test and prove us. Challenges sharpen our talents. Challenges are to overcome

 Challenge is an attitude towards a problem. Challenges are turning points in our life.

 Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful

  Challenges are blessings in disguise. Their purpose is to encourage our soul’s pursuit of enlightenment. Challenges are gifts that allow us a chance to better our lives, not to worsen them.

 So learn to use the Challenge instead of the word problem.

The situation is the same. The mountain is the same. The storms are the same. But our attitude towards it is different. It really makes a big difference.

 With challenges we are not struggling to maintain the status quo, but we are heading towards the next level of success.

Challenges are positive, and though they may seem disturbing at first. They prove the essence of why we are here on the planet.

 FACE THE CHALLENGE

 Be motivated

 Why should you accept the challenge?

Live as a victor not a victim. Do not die as a victim. Even if you die in the course, die as a winner. Death during the war is heroic.

Place yourself always on the winning side. We are conquerors.

Fame, prosperity, health, happiness, peace etc are the profit of conquering a challenge.

 Do not run away

Running away only increases the distance between you and the challenge. Challenges do not abandon a coward but yields to a brave. So stand firm and look into the eyes of the challenge.

Those who are running to escape a challenge are running from opportunities. Every challenge conquered is a mountain added to your wealth.

 All winners are fighters          

 The only permanent solution to any problem is to conquer it. The success with a challenge is to overcome it.

Victory always demands a good fight.

Only fighters are winners. Only those who run races are winners.

 Do not fight your war with substitutes. Gather strength from all resources. You may be fighting the war with the aid of weapons and hundreds of soldiers. Still the fight must be yours. Only those who fight win the war.

 Declare your strength

 Do seek your weakness. Weakness is a foil to your strength.

An expert in a particular area is better than an all rounder.

Everybody has a history of conquering one or other mountain in their past life. Life is a continuous struggle against numerous odds. So look back and see the mountains you have already conquered. If you have already conquered one mountain, you can conquer the next one too.

 Keep your posture

 Every warrior should take a posture before the action. You are preparing for another conquer not for another defeat.

Every challenge is like a giant calling out for a fight. Every giant has his weakness for you to conquer it. There is nothing formidable in this world. Slowly the weakness of the giant will reveal itself. Strike at his weakness. He is willing to yield to the winners.

 Conquer the challenge

 Challenges enjoy conquerors. There is a way to conquer every mountain. There is a method to swim across the river. There is a way to conquer every challenge.

 Strike at its weakness. It will yield to a persistent fighter.

 Professor Jacob Abraham

professorjacobabraham.com

For Christian thoughts: www.thenaphtalitribe.com

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Fear gives Power

This is a Moorish proverb: “He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him.” The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of Morocco, Western Algeria, Western Sahara, Mauritania, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta.

This is an old wisdom that a minority keeps in mind to resist fear. They are the successful minority.

Why do lions roar? The roaring sound of the lion sends a chill into the heart of weaker animals. The roar of lions announces their presence in and around. The bigger the sound nearer they are. The ancient Kings in war used this tactics to defeat their enemies even before the war actually begin. They scared the enemies by a show of their might.

Fear is the strongest emotion of 21 century.

What is fear?

Fear is an apprehension of sufferings and loss. Fear is an emotion over something unpleasant which may occur in future. Fear is an unwelcome anticipation of pain, hunger, sickness, torture, dishonor etc. We are afraid of loss of property, income, time, health, power, honour and life itself.

Fear is caused by the belief in the existence of other personalities or powers that is against our life.
These personalities and powers are evil people and evil supernatural powers. Fear may have its base in our past life/the life of other people.

Fear has positive side too. It effects self restraint on us. Since we are afraid of suffering and loss, we try to avoid thoughts, words and action that may cause suffering and loss to us.

Fear as a negative emotion always has an enemy on the other side. It tells us always that we will be proven impotent against the enemy at any time in our life.

So we try to keep away the fearsome suffering and loss.

HOW

1. By trying to please the enemy/fear
2. Entering into a compromise/treaty with the enemy
3. By avoiding a confrontation with the enemy
4. By joining hands with a more powerful personality

The first three methods are that are of a coward.
We are acknowledging that you are afraid of the enemy.

We acknowledge:

His existence
His power to harm you
Your inability to stand against him.

By acknowledging the above three means we agree to remain subservient to fear.

That is what the Moorish proverb says. We are giving power and authority over us to fear. Hence fear rules over you.

Fear has many arrows in his quiver to keep us servile. Once we have subdued to him, it is difficult to escape. He is a relentless enemy who follows us to the grave. He will never bless us. He will try to ruin those who are disobedient to his authority.

He will try to convince us that:

We have no authority or no free will over our life
Everything in our life is controlled by fate or by some supernatural enemy power
Every happening is predestined and hence it will happen whatever we may do
The only way of escape is to live in fear of fear and subservient to fear.

The last option to escape fear of unexpected suffering and loss is to join a more powerful personality. People call Him GOD. God is almighty, omnipotent and omnipresent. Those who have joined hands with God have decided to fight against fear.

They believe that:

God is almighty – there none more powerful than God and hence more powerful than the enemy.
God is beneficent
God does not want us to live in subservience
With God we can overcome all enemies

Their decision is to:

Fight against fear
Defeat fear
Live a life of victory

The only option available to those who wish to live a life of victory is to fight and defeat fear.

Those who do not believe in the existence of God may try to depend on the power of their mind to defeat fear.

Let us conclude:
If you are afraid of fear, you live a defeated live, subservient to fear
Those who live a victorious life over fear live resisting, fighting, defeating and overcoming fear.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

The Old Kerosene Lamp

My childhood days were different in comforts and luxuries from these days. Though it dates back to only fifty years, tremendous fast changes have happened to my country during this span of time. Electricity is not a luxury now, but an essential comfort. But in my childhood days electric connection in a house was a luxury and a sign of social status. We had to make some wiring in the house, apply for electric connection in the Electricity Office and wait for three or four years to get a new connection to our house. Even applying for electric connection and telephone connection improved the social status. We also had to go through the same road for a new electric connection.

Before we ever got electric connection, we used kerosene lamps in houses. Kerosene lamps were available in different sizes and shapes made with different materials. Poor people used small kerosene lamps made with thin metal sheet with an open rope like wick at the top. The metal container at the bottom contained 100 ml or less kerosene. The lamp is lighted at the wick. The burning wick emitted light, smoke and the suffocating smell of kerosene.

We were richer than some others in the village. Our lamp was made of glass. The base was round and made from hard glass. Since it was transparent, we could see the kerosene inside. Above the glass base it had a burner made of metal. The burner held the flat cotton wick. The wick was white and clean. The burner and the wick had a removable glass cover. This thin glass canopy had a beautiful organic shape. Some of them bore small colored flowers on it as design. As the wick is lightened, the light falls through the flowers printing beautiful color patterns on the table or nearby walls.

As a small boy, it was my duty to light the lamp every day by dusk. I had to clean the bottom part, the burner and the glass canopy of the lamp from dust and smoke. My father was so insistent that the lamp should look clean. Only a clean lamp can send out clean light.

After cleaning all parts and the tip of the wick, I light the wick using a stick from the safety matchbox. I lowered the wick with the help of a small lever at the side of the burner to the minimum so that it will not emit smoke or will not put off. Then I placed the thin glass canopy over it. That was done with much precaution. After placing the glass canopy over the burner, I raised the wick slowly. This was the moment of the scientist and mathematician in me. The wick is raised to emit the maximum light but not any layer of smoke. Even the thinnest invisible layer of smoke could paint the canopy grey. If it ever happened, my father will not be happy at the inexpertise on my part.

The smoke on the glass canopy, if it ever falls on it, will hinder the passage of light emitted by the burning wick. The lamp cannot lighten my house. The white walls of my house will not be decorated by beautiful colorful patterns from the lamp. Thus the lamp fails to fulfill its purpose of existence. The wick burns, but no light in the room. No beautiful color patterns on the wall.

It is a precautious task to light and raise the wick to the maximum light and still keep the glass canopy clean from smoke.

Life should emit maximum light and beautiful color patterns around us. At the same time, our life should never cast a smoke shadow on others life.
This is the beautiful act of balancing life.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Fewer mistakes; fewer regrets

I do not decry mistakes. It is human to err.
Mistakes are synonymous with failures.
But failures are not always mistakes. Right decisions and right actions also may result in failures. So failures are not always the product of mistakes.
Mistakes are always failures. Rarely even a mistake may bring forth success. But that is never counted as success. That happens often in war. Very rarely mistakes committed by a sergeant or a military general may lead to victory. But in the ensuing analysis of the event, the action is always run down as fatal mistake and never rewarded. It is because a mistake is fatal in war whatever the accidental outcome is.
So mistakes are mistakes in spite of the nature of its outcome.

Mistakes are judged not by its outcome. Mistakes are defined by rules that govern the action. These rules are not written and not fixed. Every race has rules, every game has rules and every action has rules. Victory is not just the outcome but the successful outcome of an action completed according to its rules.

Mistakes are not always a purposeful action towards it. Many sincere attempts may also end as mistakes. Our life is not always our own life; it is the life of some others too. We cannot stand alone or without action on this great stage of life. We are born to this stage and from thence we are acting our role. There are some others always on the stage. We are to act with them and along with them.

Mistakes are harbingers of regrets. A mistake we commit is sure to lead us to failure. Every failure caused by a mistake takes us to regret.

Regrets are painful, discouraging and often disastrous. It murders our life force that helps us to move forward. It is a personal emotional crisis. It demands recoveries beyond our capability. Since time, money and health that are lost will never come back, causes incurable wounds.

I am afraid of regrets. I have had enough of it in my life. Nothing happened can be retrieved. Hence no wounds can be healed.

The only possible way to escape from regrets is to make fewer mistakes. I am not recommending a secluded life. Live the life in the midst of the crowd.
Life has given me certain lessons to help me to make fewer mistakes. They are personal. Every experience in life is personal and has a personal message to us. It leaves personal impressions on our mind that effect individual responses.

So what I have learned may remain very personal. Hence they are not general theories that can be applied to all and all problems I refrain from scribbling it here.

My only advice is to make fewer mistakes and less regrets.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Authority is the exercise of it

Authority is not an order on a paper, but the exercise of it.
One may be authorized to do an action by the order of a higher authority. He may have an order from his master on the authority over a group of people, materials or area. Still if he is not exercising it, the authority thus endorsed remains null.

All authority that man has comes from a higher authority. Authority is not self assumed. Self assumed authority is described by terms like dictatorship, totalitarianism etc. which is not desirable. The world has a hesitation to accept self assumed authority. So authority of all kinds must be supported by a higher authority.

What is this higher authority? Answer may differ from person to person. I prefer to presume that the higher authority is God, the Creator and Lord of the universe. You may disagree with me about God. That is alright. Still, we do not approve a self assumed authority. All authority of man must be endorsed by a higher authority.

What we discuss here is not the identity of the higher authority. Our discussion is that a mere endorsement of authority by a higher authority is not real authority. Authority is not an order from a higher authority, but the exercise of it.

Authority becomes alive only by speaking and acting upon it. A sleeping lion is not a danger. A wakeful lion which prowls and runs is a danger. Authority is not a title, not a position and not an office. It is the exercise of the title, position and the office. A sleeping police officer does not have any authority as long as he sleeps. He may be wearing symbols of the authority but they are not exercised.

How shall we exercise authority?

Authority can be exercised through intimidation and leadership. A successful leader never uses intimidation as a means to exercise authority. Intimidation is the tool of cowards and less talented people.
We scream when we see a poisonous snake because we are afraid of it. We yell out at a barking dog because we are afraid of it. A snake charmer uses sweet music and other techniques to pacify the snake. The master of the dog gives instructions to the barking dog to go back to its kennel in a soft voice. The village tricks of the snake charmer and the commands of the dog’s master in a soft voice are obeyed because there is authority in it. Intimidation is the tool of incompetent people.

Leaders exercise authority by being a model to his subordinates. Leaders do not command, but leads others into a job. Real authority is never felt, but always obeyed. It never humiliates, but uplifts. It is always an encouragement, appreciation, applaud and a positive comment. It leaves behind lasting impressions that are cherished.

So authority may be exercised by speaking, acting and leading.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Winners create history

Winners make laws. Losers follow them.

We are familiar with the dictum that history is written by the victors. History is always ‘his story’ the story of the winner. History is not always a record of the truth. It is a story narrated as seen by the narrator. The narrator wishes his successor to remember the events in a particular way as sees them. Hence history is not always an objective record; it is often subjective recordings endorsed by the government of a nation. Recorded history of the same event endorsed by a nation is different from that endorsed by another nation.

Victors write history. Victors make laws. Victors change history and laws. Victors change the world.
And the victims and the losers follow them.

The world accepts nothing from a loser. The only lesson he passes to others is not to follow his paths. No memorials are made to him. No poetry is written for him. No days are separated for him.

Jesus is still worshiped because he was a winner. He knew the secret power of success. His disciples understood the power of success in changing the world. So St. Paul advised Christians to live a triumphant life. Jesus would not have influenced the world so much if His life story ended with the cross. It went beyond the cross to the grave and to resurrection. The story did not end there too. It continued through his disciples conquering people. The life story of Jesus continues. It is a story of success.

I mean, only winners make history. Victims follow them.

Why a follower? Why can’t we be winners and create or change history?
Henry Ford did it. Bill Gates is doing it. Steve Jobs did it. Tata did it. Gandhiji did it. The Uncle Sam of USA, the poor butcher added a chapter to history.

Great men are born ordinary. Great men are created by their success in life. Success is a choice not a gift of fate. In fact, we all are born to be winners. There is no god or any supernatural power that wishes us to live a failure. We are placed in this world to conquer. Nobody is working against you stopping your journey to success. Success is only a matter of choice.

Decide. Arise. Walk towards success. Be a winner.
Do not be a follower, but be a leader.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

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Problems, Rivers and the Ocean

What relation is there between problems, rivers and ocean?
The answer to the question is the answer to another question: why do rivers flow zigzag? There is no river in this world that flows in a straight line. Even the rivers in the Garden of Eden flowed through winding paths to their destination, the ocean. If they could ever flow in a straight line they could save many miles in distance.

The answer to the question “why do rivers flow winding?” is very simple. Rivers flow through winding paths because of the obstacles in their way. The natural tendency of rivers is to flow straight. They always prefer to do so. Still if they find a rock, a huge tree or landslide on their way, they find a new path turning left or right. Rivers have no power to overcome these obstacles. They do not try to flow over these obstacles.

Rivers seem to be week before rocks and other obstacles. They do never stand before a rock, muster up strength and overcome the rock. Instead they flow left or right creating a zigzag path.

Let us note down five characteristics of rivers in connection with problems:

1. Rivers are weak before problems.
2. They do not wait to must up strength to overcome problems.
3. They prefer to flow always and go on flowing.
4. They evade problems, never face challenges.
5. They are not over comers, not victors, but victims.

Ocean is the destination of every river. Still ocean is different in facing problems. Ocean is a gathering of rivers. It has gathered the strength of many rivers. Hence ocean never accepts problems. It never turns away from problems. Whenever it faces a problem, it smashes at it with all its gathered might and overcomes it. Ocean conquers, subdues and flows over problems. It sinks problems to its bottom and challenges the world. Its posture is that of a challenger. It is never scary of problems. Ocean is a mighty force. It fills its territory and allows pilferers. It is not a coward and never gives way for problems.

1. Ocean is courageous before problems.
2. Ocean has gathered strength of many rivers.
3. Ocean never turns away from problems, but faces it.
4. Ocean conquers every problem.
5. Ocean is always a victor, never a victim.

Rivers will never accept challenges. It has a history of evading problems. Ocean never accepts failures. It always has been a conqueror.

Be a conqueror.
Be a victor, not a victim.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://www.professorjacobabraham.com

Self Awareness (Course material)

SELF AWARENESS

Ignorance is the cause of failure.
Ignorance is failure.

Failure is failing to realize yourself and failing to manage your resources.

Failure is failing to realize:

1. Your resource – who you are – your personality?
2. Resources that you accumulate
3. Are you successfully managing your resources?
4. How to manage your resources?

The 1 and 2 are yourself and 3 and 4 are how you profit from yourself.

I. YOUR RESOURCE – PRIMARY RESOURCE

1. Who You Are?

Personality is a construct, not an inheritance.

You are a unique personality
There are no two similar and equal personalities
You are not what you see in your mirror or your photograph
You are the unseen person inside your physical body
You are the tangible and experienced person beyond your physical body.

To understand your true self, let us dissect your being
You are not a mixture of a number of products, but you are a new and unique product
Many components might have gone into the formation of your personality

You are not salad of components
You are a new product formed in a crucible.

Crucible is:
a container in which metals or other substances can be heated to very high temperatures
a place or situation in which different cultures or styles can mix together to produce something new and exciting

The components put into a crucible are contributed by:

1. Your immediate society
2. Your larger society

1. Your immediate society – your family

i. Father, mother, grandparents, brothers, sisters and other close relatives.
ii. Traditional beliefs, customs and way of life of your family
iii. Political and religious beliefs of your family
iv. Habits of your family members
v. Family’s attitude towards money, nature, rich and poor people
vi. Financial security of the family
vii. The success and failure of your family members
viii. Ways adopted by your family for the sustenance in failures.
ix. How your family manage success. …. … … … etc.

All these components are put together into a hot crucible.

These are further added with components from the Larger Society.

2. Larger Society

i. Your village
ii. Your state
iii. Your nation
iv. Your religion

Larger Society consists of your Relatives, neighbors, friends, colleagues etc.

Components donated by the Larger society:

i. Traditions and customs/ beliefs and practices
ii. Political systems – similarities, conflict, values etc.
iii. Religious beliefs – similarities, conflict, values etc.
iv. Success and failures of people
v. Ways adopted by your family for the sustenance in failures and to achieve success.
vi. Your families attitude towards the Larger Society
vii. The attitude of the Larger Society towards you and your family
viii. Profitable and bitter experiences you and your family have received from the Larger Society

All these are put together in a crucible to prepare a new product – your personality – the true yourself.

There is a catalyst in this chemical reaction – your personal response to all these components.
Your personal response is not always your public response
It is your secret response in your heart – it creates certain impressions.
This catalyst makes the difference.
The product is always unique.
Do not live like a salad – a dissoluble mixture of different components
You cannot live like that
Even if you try it will create a conflict in your life – conflict within your own personality

You are unique
You are not like any other person
There is nobody like you

You are unique and so you have a unique resource or talent.

No river is like another river
No forest is like another forest
No tree is like another tree (of its own species)
No man/woman is like another man/woman.

Look deep inside you to find who you are:

1. A teacher
2. A writer
3. A statesman
4. A mathematician
5. A physician
6. An artist … … … … etc.

Everybody has his own resource

Even a beggar has his own resource – otherwise he would not survive
He has the resource, the talent to beg – he is successful in his trade

Now discover your own resource and write down:

I AM A TEACHER

II. RESOURCES ACCUMULATED – SECONDARY RESOURCE

Resources accumulated supplements to the primary resource.
Secondary resource cannot exist or work without the primary resource.
It has no existence and action outside the primary resource.

It only supplements, never act on itself.
It is only a faithful slave, not a master.

Resources gathered are:

i. Information gathered
ii. Knowledge gathered
iii. Expertise gathered
iv. Skills gathered
v. Accepted influences from the immediate and larger society

Resources gathered do not go into your personality
They remain as ‘ready tools’ with you.

A carpenter cannot work if he is not aware of the tools he has in his bag.
A writer cannot write if he is not aware of his talents and skills.

How you gather resources:

i. Reading/listening
ii. Interaction with others
iii. Expressing – writing/speaking
iv. Thinking independently

III. ARE YOU SUCCESSFULLY MANAGING YOUR RESOURCES?

Are you managing your resources well?

1. Do you feel that you are in your space – are you doing the right job according to your unique personality – are you an engineer working as a doctor – are you a teacher working as a teacher?
2. Are you really happy in your present career?
3. Do you enjoy your work – are you working out of love for the work or because of some other reason – will you remain in this career even if you are underpaid?
4. Do you believe that this career will lead you to the final success point in your life – the fulfillment of your life’s purpose – the true satisfaction

IV. HOW TO MANAGE YOUR RESOURCES

Poverty is poor resource management.

Managing your resource is making the best out of it.
It is turning the resource into successful life.
Successful life is not always creating wealth – it is fulfilling your life’s purpose
Success is attaining satisfaction in life.

Resources are different as individuals are unique
So there is no ‘Royal One Way’ to the management of resource.

Manage your resources to make the best out of it.

I. Use it
II. Trade it
III. Exchange it

Whatever you may do, never let your resources lay idle.

“None can destroy iron, but its own rust can! Likewise none can destroy a person but its own mindset can!” – Ratan Tata

CONCLUSION

What have you found?

1. What are your recourses – Your unique personality?
2. Are you successfully managing your resource?

Finding answer to these questions is knowing yourself and your present condition of life.

If your answer to the second question is positive, go ahead to success.

If the answer to the second question is negative, turn aside and move in another direction.

Professor Jacob Abraham

Leadership defined

Who is a leader?
A leader must have three characteristics.

1. He is not a static but a moving personality
2. He goes before his followers
3. He has a troop of followers
4. He leads his followers to new heights.

He is not a static but a moving personality

A leader must be ready to leave his comfort zone and move to unknown horizons. To remain comfortable where we already are, need no leader. Comfort zone offers no challenge. Moving out is facing new challenges. A leader is a person who is not satisfied with what he has already achieved. He looks beyond the present and sees new horizons to conquer. He is adventurous and thirsty for new victories. So he moves and never rest. Moving is life for him and rest is death. A leader is not satiate with any victory. He always sees more mountains to conquer.

He goes before his followers

A leader should take the risk of going before his followers. He is not a pusher but a puller; he does not push his followers to move forward but pulls his men along with him as he moves. So he has to go in front of others. He has confidence in himself. He is overflows with positive energy. He knows no fear and never gives space to ‘ifs’.
He is always:

1. Ready to take the risk of moving to unknown regions.
2. Must be confident of the success of the move
3. Ready to take the responsibility of the move

He has a troop of followers

What a leader without followers? Followers are a group of people who have decided to follow the leader without any persuasion except that of the vision of the leader. They are natural gathering not hired laborers. It does not mean that the troop of followers should not include hired employees. A leader of a business firm may have a many hired employees, but all of them are not his followers. Some of them are convinced of the vision of the leader and start following his dreams forgetting all about their wages. They need wages for their living, but they follow the leader because of his vision. This small group is the real follower. A true leader has always such a group of followers with him.

He leads his followers to new heights

A leader is one who leads others to new heights. A leader is not a person who maintains the status quo. Still moving is not enough. He must take all his followers along with him as he moves forward. He is not a lonely warrior, but the commander of a troop. Every war is fought with his followers; every conquest is made with his followers. He never moves alone, but with his faithful leaders. He never reaches a new height without his followers. His victory is always shared with his men. Without his followers he might not have conquered the new mountain of success. He never stands alone on the victory stand; his victory stand belongs to his followers also.
He carries his followers as he goes forward.

A leader is not a private entity, but a public entity among his followers.

Further reading:
Legendary Leaders @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/01/legendary-leaders.html
The Shepherd Leader @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-shepherd-leader.html

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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Never regret the past

What we are today is an entity chiseled by the past. We are being polished by the all experiences and feelings we are going through now. The process of perfecting our life will never end; it will continue to our graves.
We are born raw for this world to live. We are born inexperienced, unbalanced and unsteady and hence we stumble.
Our first attempts in this world are destined to fail.
We try to walk and fall; but our fall is never considered a failure. We are not born with the experience to walk upright in this world. So falling is necessary to learn to walk.
If we did consider the fall from our first attempt to walk as a failure in life, we would have never learned to walk.

How many times does the mother bird throw her little chicks down the cliff into the air to teach them to fly? The mother bird pushes her chicks down again and again till they learn to fly. At each failure to fly, the father eagle interferes and carry the little one back to the top of the cliff.
It is trying, failing and restarting again.
(read more on ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2012/12/fly-like-eagle.html)

Our past is not a matter of shame. The failures of the past are not a shame; they are the ingredients that combined together to form our present personality. If there were no such past, we would not have learned to live as we live today.

All our attitudes are a constructed mindset.
The process of constructing this mindset needs the failures of the past.
(read more on ‘attitude’ @ http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in/2013/02/attitude.html)

No one is born perfect with wisdom and practical know how to live a proper life. Wisdom is the natural product of considered experiences in our life.
How I learned to be a success at University examinations? I leaned it by writing examinations in lower classes. The wisdom of life is a mass of all knowledge in the past life.

Even if we were born at this age without a past, we are still likely to fall; because we have no back support of experiences. Age does not make us wise only experiences in life will make us mature.

Success in life is also as important as failures. Successes are also experiences. Success also leaves lasting impressions.
Success joins with failure to produce the final product.
Our present attitude or mindset is constructed with a compound of success and failure.
Without them we would have been different.

All our experiences in life are different from other people. The happiness, joy, despair, frustration and everything are different from those of others. Hence we are different from others.
As long as our experiences in the past are different from others, we cannot be the same as them.

Do not regret the past.
They have made us today.
Without them we cannot be the same.

Professor Jacob Abraham
http://professorjacobabraham.blogspot.in

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