Category: #30trust

#30trust

Enthusiasm: A Blog Post

Sanjay Sabarwal
Love of Beauty, Ralph Waldo Emerson
Image by Glenn Franco Simmons via Flickr

Enthusiasm by Mars Dorian
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” is a great line from Emerson. If there’s no enthusiasm in what you do, it won’t be remarkable and certainly won’t connect with people on an emotional basis. But, if you put that magic energy into all of your work, you can create something that touches people on a deeper level. How can you bring MORE enthusiasm into your work? What do you have to think or believe about your work to be totally excited about it? Answer it now.

My work matters.  That is my mantra.  Before I had convinced myself that nothing  I did mattered to anyone.  That what I was doing was a waste of time, and now I realize that no one said that, but I was made to feel that way because some did not understand, others it was not meant for and the ones that appreciated it most told me infrequently.  I now realize that asking for constant compliments or feedback for what I do is foolish and counter productive and that just getting the projects done has become satisfaction enough and now in fact made me enthusiastic for what I do.

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#30trust, Myself

Speak Less, Do More/Ask Less, Act More

Sanjay Sabarwal
Project Management Knowledge Areas
Image via Wikipedia

It’s funny that this topic about un-acted projects came up because due to this exercise, I am finally beginning on a project that has been on the back burner for months.  The main reason for it has been lack of focus and my emotional insistence that it is a huge project that I do not have time or knowledge for.  But yesterday, as I spent 20 minutes just breaking it down into smaller pieces, it hit me that the project had been HUGE in my mind but in reality was something quite doable if broken down and done little by little (how do you eat an elephant? piece by piece).

Just like my life, I have made it more complicated than needed, ignoring the reality that everything in my life is a combination of being blessed, luck, and hard work.  I am luckier than most, yet that does not explain away the success that has been around me.  When I am honest with myself, it’s my passion for music, friendship, love and family that have gotten me the benefits surrounding me.  I am well aware of how arrogant this post sounds yet that’s not really the intention.  It is just that I need to remind myself occasionally that I had a lot to do with my drive to be better and chances I have received in my life.  It has been much too each to defer to others and think they know me better than I know myself, but the real truth is that I have picked the advice that suits me best, ignoring others and that has been the key to who I am today.

P.S: Only 10 days left to the Ralph Waldo Emerson writing challenge and I am already eager to take on another so starting checking out www.meetup.com so I can become part of a writing group. 🙂

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#30trust

Facing and Fearing: A Blog Post

Sanjay Sabarwal
Lost: Missing Pieces
Image via Wikipedia

1) The cost of inaction is not much truth be told if I accept my life as it is.  I have amazing friends, family, wife and work yet what is missing is my creative soul.  I feel I traded that in somewhere in my first marriage and it has taken me decades to realize how much I miss it.  As materially wealthy as I am, my soul is poor and starved for action and the more I have done this writing exercise, the more I see how it is to get out of inaction.

I have so much more to gain by trying that the only failure that will string is the lost chances to write.  I see myself writing regularly and lately my visions for work and love have gotten clearer as if I was in a fog and until writing cleared away the cobwebs, I was merely content.  Now I am full of energy, working out, writing, loving, planning things, it’s as if I am running out of time, and I want to get it all done and now.

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My Future: A Blog Post

Sanjay Sabarwal

Invent the Future by Cindy Gallop
A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

My favorite quote of all time is Alan Kay: ‘In order to predict the future, you have to invent it.’ I am all about inventing the future. Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now.

I sit here, mind blank, full of the past, not much of the present and none for the future.  Those are my initial thoughts until I realize that I am present, I am here, and I change my present and future if I choose to.  For the first time in my life, I ran 3 miles.  To some, it may not mean much but for someone who like who was convinced that he could never run more than a mile, I saw a future of me running a marathon, getting new running shoes, perhaps a treadmill in the garage, full of future thoughts because I dared to do something in the present.  It is now that I realize that my future is right here, right now, these words because they are the reason I keep wanting to write more, express more, get better than just whining.  My future is my wife (who I am still getting to know) and what we will do together (perhaps travel, perhaps have children, or perhaps just spend more time loving each other, friends and family.  What is the future but the possibility of the present?  What I do today, right now will make my future, I see that now.  Each day I work, work out, write, love her as well as family gets me closer to the life I have always wanted.

#30trust, Writing

Wholly Strange And New: A Blog Post

Sanjay Sabarwal
Janss_Steps,_UCLA
Image via Wikipedia

Wholly Strange and New by Bridget Pilloud
When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name;—— the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Can you remember a moment in your life when you had life in yourself and it was wholly strange and new? Can you remember the moment when you stopped walking a path of someone else, and started cutting your own?

Write about that moment. And if you haven’t experienced it yet, let the miracle play out in your mind’s eye and write about that moment in your future.

(Author: Bridget Pilloud)

I remember the first time I started free style writing, it was under a timed essay for NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English), where we would write about anything.  We had practiced many themes and topics in preparations but when the test started, I began to write about the time pressure, the room, describing my reasons for writing and it was then I truly knew I would win the contest.  At that moment, my grammar was perfect, the words flowed, and although we had 5 page minimum with 2 hours, I ended up writing almost 12 pages about my life with my horrible handwriting, but it was bliss.  It was clear.  It made sense. I knew I would end up going to UCLA and win the only scholastic award in my life that meant anything.  I don’t remember erasing much and at that time typing was not allowed yet my hand was sure and steady as I wrote about the room, setting my future in motion.

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One Thing: A Blog Post

Sanjay Sabarwal
Grave of Ralph Waldo Emerson at Sleepy Hollow ...
Image via Wikipedia

One Thing by Colin Wright
Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take a moment, step back from your concerns, and focus on one thing: You have one life to achieve everything you’ve ever wanted. Sounds simple, but when you really focus on it, let it seep into your consciousness, you realize you only have about 100 years to get every single thing you’ve ever wanted to do. No second chances. This is your only shot. Suddenly, this means you should have started yesterday. No more waiting for permission or resources to start. Today is the day you make the rest of your life happen. Write down one thing you’ve always wanted to do and how you will achieve that goal. Don’t be afraid to be very specific in how you’ll achieve it: once you start achieving, your goals will get bigger and your capability to meet them will grow.

Write. Then Write Some More.  At some point, the words have to matter, have to make sense, have to fill out the thoughts swirling around my head, have to come out onto this blank space or paper before they are lost forever.  So Write.  That’s the ultimate goal.  That’s the end line.  Think, ponder, wonder, question and then write.  Write until it all bleeds out, and the hurt lessens, the past firmly finally deal with. write until there are no more issues left, write until all the indecision’s, regrets and what-ifs are put away and just focus on that one precious goal.

 

Write.  Then Write some more

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