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Sunday, 11 January 2015

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'Famous Five': Reflections on renewal

The new year has dawned. As usual, people tend to have New Year resolutions. My suggestion is to go beyond resolutions, to have specific reinforcements. For that, we need to focus on five facets of life, which I would like to call 'Famous Five'.

Why famous? Because they are all what we know. That is simple common sense. Yet, the truth is that common sense becomes uncommon in the midst of chaos, confusion and clutter. I am talking of the need to take care of physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions of our lives.

This is a good time for renewal, an awakening to the reality with a focus on being better. We need a renewal in each of the facets, in making 2015 a meaningful period of prosperity.

Physical renewal

The human body is the vehicle that takes us through the journey of life. Being healthy and fit are of utmost importance, despite our constant negligence of them. Finding quality time for physical exercises on a regular basis will be one sure cure for physical inactivity.

Having a healthy dietary pattern, in opting to be fit than fat, is another vital need. Make a decision today to allocate time for it and to respect the commitment. That is what a renewal is all about.

Mental renewal

It is about sharpening ourselves. As Stephen Covey said, one of the seven habits of highly effective people, 'sharpening the saw' is essential for growth and success. Ensuring that knowledge and skills are regularly updated and upgraded is what we need to focus on.

Tom Peters gave a challenge to US managers a decade ago. Look back over the past six months and see whether you have acquired any new knowledge or skills. If the answer is 'no', you are stagnating with a blunt saw.

The internet, a vast ocean of knowledge, offers a variety of informal learning methods. Learning has become a part and parcel of our lives. As Socrates said a long time ago, we learn from "the womb to the tomb".

Emotional renewal

There are people who have successfully passed their exams, but have miserably failed in their lives. Being aware of constructive emotions and destructive emotions, surrounding our lives, is the first step. Laziness and anger are two common examples of destructive emotions. Enthusiasm and determination are common constructive emotions.

As experts on Emotional Intelligence (EI) say, self awareness should lead to self-regulation. That is when you are in control of your emotions and channel them towards achievements. This is especially true if you are at an organisational leadership position. As Daniel Goldman, who popularised the concept of EI advocate, leaders should be 70% more emotionally intelligent than the others.

Social renewal

As we know, no man is an island. Human beings are social animals. Human connectivity is an essential need for any community to foster. In a high-tech world, where speed is a key factor, the high-touch dimension of relationships should not be neglected. I have seen many achievement-oriented executives who are 'married' to their jobs while their neighbours take care of their families.

A renewal should ensure the fostering of relationships with the team at work and more importantly with the team at home. Building better relationships, taking quality time off from your work to be with your loved ones, getting involved in voluntary work are some of the popular activities in this respect.

Spiritual renewal

The four renewals are not possible without the underpinning one to all of them, which I call the spiritual renewal. There is a difference between being spiritual and being religious. One can visit a church, temple, mosque or a kovil every day, but be at constant loggerheads with neighbours.

Being spiritual is much deeper, moving beyond rituals and being righteous. It needs a set of values that governs your behaviour. Honesty and integrity can be the commonest examples. Harmony between your set of values and the corporate values of your organisation will ensure long-term association of you and your organisation.

Results

Awakening of one's physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions should lead to a better understanding of oneself. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their seminal HBR article titled 'Making of a Corporate Athlete', describe vividly the importance of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual 'capacities'.

According to them, organisations cannot afford to use their employees' capacities, while ignoring their physical, emotional and social well-being. The key point here is the need have a balanced approach towards performance.

Renewed employees will reinforce their commitment towards assigned tasks in achieving the expected results. In essence, they ensure the attainment of human results.

May 2015 usher an era of prosperity through productivity. That can be only possible by having the rigour of going for stretched targets with a renewed commitment as a well-balanced person.

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