"Talking about how busy you are has another undesired effect: It makes you seem ineffective"

Back in May I had published this quote (among others) that I had read in The Thinking Life, a thought-provoking book by P.M. Forni:

" 'I have no time,' we say, but we do, we always do. What we lack is the will or wisdom to commit our time to goals that would be smart of us to pursue. If you are really motivated to do something, you will make time for it. I am not arguing that you are not busy. Most of us are. I am simply urging you to consider that you are only as busy as you let yourself be."

I chose this particular excerpt to make the point that if we care enough about what we have to do, we will always find the time in which to do it.

The operative words are "what we have to do". And also "find the time".

Whether we are in full-time employment or in pursuit of an academic/vocational course, we may have little or no say in the nature of the tasks assigned to us. It is rare for a boss to ask you if you would like to do this or that job. And there is certainly no point in grumbling about the lack of time. When such is the case, surely it is to our advantage to tackle any assignment head-on by making the time for it and by caring enough about the outcome?

After all, if you love what you do, you get to do what you love.

Now here's another perspective on this tendency that many people have of asserting they are "busy as usual". Writing in The Week, the magazine's business editor Carmel Lobello says it is time to stop talking about how swamped you are because...

...talking about how slammed you are can actually damage your ability to connect and interact with people, which is bad for all aspects of life.

In Harvard Business Review, entrepreneur Meredith Fineman says, "To assume that being 'busy' (at this point it has totally lost its meaning) is cool, or brag-worthy, or tweetable, is ridiculous."

As my cool students would say, "True that."

Read Carmel Lobello's enlightening column in its entirety here: The worst word in business: 'Busy'.

PS: I remember that when I was working with Khaleej Times in Dubai, my colleagues would invariably respond to my friendly greeting "How are you doing?" with the retort "Surviving." But any time I was asked "How are you doing?", my response would invariably be "Thriving."

• ALSO READ: "How do you know you love your job?"

Author Mohsin Hamid on the difference between a novelist and a filmmaker

An excerpt from an engrossing book I have just finished reading:

As a novelist, I found it fascinating to watch a film being made. In many ways, Mira does what I do as a novelist — construct and painstakingly craft a story.

But she also does things I don't have to, like marshal 230 people for weeks on end. What I can do in a sentence or a paragraph, she has to build an entire set to do, and she needs carpenters, electricians and painters to do it.

I operate in a pleasant little cocoon, just me and my computer, quietly working away. She has to create this beautiful, impactful thing in complete chaos, with phones ringing, last-minute problems developing, traffic violations, electricity shortages — all kinds of crazy stuff.

I am much more appreciative now of how difficult it is to make a good film.

• Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in his short essay in Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist: From Book to Film

To read a review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (the book) written by Commits student Rigved Sarkar (Class of 2010) for the college newspaper, visit the Commits website: "Musings of a man changed (http://commits.edu.in/aug/six.html)".

To read a review of the film by New York Times critic Manohla Dargis, click on this link: "Dreams Are Lost in the Melting Pot". The New York Times also has an interview with Mira Nair.

• In addition, you should visit Mohsin Hamid's home page to learn more about the novelist (his latest best-seller is How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia).

How good is your grammar?

Find out by taking these interesting and instructive grammar tests:

1. From the Daily Writing Tips blog
20 Questions

2. From the Daily Telegraph (U.K.)
Good grammar test: can you pass?

3. From GrammarBook.com
Free interactive grammar quizzes 

4. From the Staples website (a quiz recommended by Commitscion Satish Perumal, Class of 2011)
Have you got a grasp of grammar?

5. Also, Grammar Monster has dozens of tests not only for grammar but also for punctuation. Check them out here.

And while you're at it, laugh your way through "19 Jokes Only Grammar Nerds Will Understand (The difference between knowing you’re shit and knowing your shit".

• Meanwhile, I am grateful to Commitscion Supriya Srivastav (Class of 2011), for posting on my Facebook wall a link to this hilarious yet very instructive "Word Crimes" video on YouTube: 

 

So, did you learn something from watching that video? I sure hope so. :-)

ADDITIONAL READING:

• "Good grammar is important for everyone, not just journalists"

• "How to avoid being a grammar goof"

• "Bad grammar, poor punctuation: a sure recipe for disaster at your workplace"

• "Everything you always wanted to know about the usage of punctuation marks (but were afraid to ask)"

MY NEW FAVOURITE NEWSPAPER

For the best news analysis; for the best Edit and Op-Ed Pages; for the best sports coverage; and, of course, for the best reading on Sundays (National Standard is the only daily in Bangalore that comes with a full-fledged free magazine on Sundays).

Thank you, Shekhar Gupta, editor in chief of The Indian Express Group, for launching National Standard in Bangalore on August 15 and making newspaper reading a pleasurable activity again.

• Also read: "Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!" and "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

Bravo, Viveck Goenka!

FROM VIVECK GOENKA TO INDIAN EXPRESS EMPLOYEES:

For me, the ideal business model has always been good journalism allied with a robust top and bottom line. I take pride in the fact that this company has never declared a dividend. Whatever money we make goes back into the paper and to the cause of high-quality and empowering journalism.

Bravo!

• Read Viveck Goenka's e-mail to Indian Express employees in its entirety on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "From: Viveck Goenka. To: Express employees".

To understand why this is a big deal, read the following Reading Room posts:

• "Paid news and the influence of newspaper owners"

• "In the New Yorker — "Citizens Jain: Why India's newspaper industry is thriving"

Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!

"... we never do paid news, or stretch any of the First Principles of Journalism."

 
AN EXCERPT FROM EDITOR IN CHIEF SHEKHAR GUPTA'S E-MAIL TO INDIAN EXPRESS STAFF:

We are today acknowledged to be one of the soundest news media companies within-our-size category. And no, we never do paid news, or stretch any of the First Principles of Journalism.

Never.

The truth is, it is overly simplistic to say, that we have a Chinese wall between marketing and editorial. We have never needed one. Because it is our colleagues in sales and marketing who have protected our editorial integrity with as much zeal and commitment as us journalists.

Bravo!

• Read Shekhar Gupta's e-mail to Indian Express staff in its entirety on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "Shekhar Gupta gives up charge as Express CEO".

To understand why this is a big deal, read the following Reading Room posts:

• "Paid news and the influence of newspaper owners"

• "In the New Yorker — "Citizens Jain: Why India's newspaper industry is thriving"

• ALSO READ: "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

Great news for media students, journalists, and newspaper readers in Bangalore:

On August 15, Indian Express launched National Standard in Bangalore:

Read all about it on sans serif, the blog published by Outlook editor Krishna Prasad: "A new paper in India’s most crowded market".

• “The new paper will be a quality paper for quality young audience, and Bangalore is that kind of a market, evident from our online market. Our largest base for online readers is in Bangalore.”
  
  ~ Shekhar Gupta on why Bangalore was chosen as the National Standard's launch-pad in the South (read Gupta's interview in Business Standard here)

• Also read: "Bravo, Shekhar Gupta!" and "Bravo, Viveck Goenka!"

WHY IS HARD WORK PITIABLE?

RUMER GODDEN

I have never understood why 'hard work' is supposed to be pitiable.

True, some work is soul destroying when it is done against the grain, but when it is part of 'making' how can you grudge it?

You get tired, of course, but the struggle, the challenge, the feeling of being extended as you never thought you could be is fulfilling and deeply, deeply satisfying.

~ RUMER GODDEN, English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books

• ALSO READ: "If you love what you do, is it 'work'?" and "How do you know you love your job?"

Why write "noted", "observed", "declaimed", "stated", "remarked"... when "said" does the job so well?

Rule Nos. 3 and 4 from Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing:

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.

The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” …

…he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances “full of rape and adverbs.”

Learn the other rules from reading this blog post by my favourite blogger, Maria Popova: "RIP, Elmore Leonard: The Beloved Author’s 10 Rules of Writing".

• Illustration courtesy: Joe Ciardiello/Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

• ALSO READ: "10 quotations from writers and editors on the importance of editing (or revision)" and "Writing: It's best to keep the basics in mind — because the basics will always be the best"

• EXTERNAL READING: "Remembering Elmore Leonard, A Writer Who Hated Literature"

If you read only one book this year, let it be this one

Back in August last year I had published a post about an inspirational book I had just finished reading.

I was so impressed with the thoughtful advice — and thought-provoking ideas — offered by Clayton M. Christensen and his co-authors in How Will You Measure Your Life? that I wanted everyone I know, especially my students, to read it. (That post — "Reading this book will change your approach to life" — continues to be among the most popular on this blog.)

Recently, I was asked to review the book for the August-September 2013 issue of Books & More.

Here is the review (based partly on my original post) in its entirety:

A life changer

Book: How Will You Measure Your Life?: Finding Fulfillment
Using Lessons from Some of the World’s Greatest Businesses
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, with James Allworth and Karen Dillon
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 206
Price: Rs. 299 (Flipkart)

IT IS RARE to find two people separated by some forty years in age raving about the same book.

When I wrote about How Will You Measure Your Life? on my blog some time ago, one of my students, Archita Nadgouda, who is in her twenties, wrote to say, “I cannot thank you enough for recommending this book to us! This was just the book I needed at this point of time when I’m embarking on a new relationship and planning a new career.” A few days later, Patrick Michael, executive editor of Dubai’s Khaleej Times who will soon be turning 60, posted his comments: “This is a must-read book for all, especially those starting out in life.”

On second thought, however, I am not surprised that both Archita and Patrick were entranced by what How Will You Measure Your Life? has to offer.

Like me — and like you — they must have asked themselves these universal questions many times over the years:

• How can I be sure that I will find satisfaction in my career?
• How can I be sure that my personal relationships become enduring sources of happiness?
• How can I avoid compromising my integrity?

Unbelievable as it sounds, How Will You Measure Your Life? not only provides the answers to these questions but also explains, with the help of real-life examples, how we can find fulfillment.

Slim in size but big on ideas, this book does not claim to offer simplistic answers. Instead, as in the introductory chapter, it provides insightful illustrations of how the theories this book propounds can help us in our lives. We first learn that people often think that the best way to predict the future is by collecting as much data as possible before making a decision. “But this,” the authors tell us, “is like driving a car looking only at the rear-view mirror — because data is only available about the past.”

The authors then explain why experience and information by themselves are not enough: “There are many times in life where we simply cannot afford to learn on the job.… This is why theory can be so valuable: it can explain what will happen, even before you experience it.”

Then, in the first section titled “How to Find Happiness in Your Career”, the authors examine what it is that really makes us tick, and follow it up with an enlightening debate on "incentive" versus "motivation". By the time we are through with this section, we understand clearly why motivation trumps financial incentive every time.

Section 2 deals with "Finding Happiness in Your Relationships". Too few of us seem to have understood that there is much more to life than our career. That is why we focus a great deal on becoming the person we want to be at work — and far too little on the person we want to be at home. We indulge in this self-destructive behaviour because, the book tells us, investing our time and energy in “raising wonderful children or deepening our love with our spouse often doesn't return clear evidence of success for many years”. Consequently, we over-invest in our careers, and under-invest in our families. What is the danger here? If we don’t nurture and develop those relationships, the book warns us, our family won’t be there to support us if we find ourselves traversing some of the more challenging stretches of life, or as one of the most important sources of happiness in our life.

The third and final section, which happens to be the shortest, is devoted to the topic of living a life of integrity. Titled "Staying Out of Jail" (how appropriate), this section explores a theory that, the authors say, will help you answer your final question: How can I be sure I live a life of integrity?

And, finally, here's a quote from the book that should motivate you to grab hold of a copy right away:

It is frightfully easy for us to lose our sense of the difference between what brings money and what causes happiness.

If you read only one book this year, let it be this one. Especially if you are young and have embarked, or are about to embark, on a career and a relationship.