Even though this book is old, this is very apt at this point, to make good and bad times work for us by maintaining mental stability and positiveness all the time.
Name of the Book: Peaks and Valleys Author: Spencer Johnson (Bestselling Author of “Who moved my cheese” book) No of pages: 100+
The Theme of this book : In the entire lifecycle, everyone goes through good and tough times. Our tendency would be enjoying too much during good times and getting upset too much during tough times as it shows the lack of maturity in dealing with the gift and uncertainties.
This book gives perspective on dealing with good and bad times of life in a story format and easy to read.
I especially recommend to entrepreneurs and business leaders to get perspective on managing good and tough times in business.
The essence of the book is given below.
Valley (Tough Times): This time is an opportunity to learn more about life. Find the good hidden in a bad time. Could you make use of it? Do more service to others. Learn from the mistakes; develop strategies, competency development for a better future.
Peak (Good times):
This Time is for celebrating the achievement and enjoy the moment. But, be humble and grateful for being on the height. Reflect on what good things made your top and look back on the path you have come across. Sustain it.
Prolonging Peak (Good times):
When we are in peak, the tendency would be to get into complacent and arrogance. Instead of it, practice humility, do good things better, and do more service to others. Always remembering to reach the valley as part of the cycle.
Be mentally strong now, and everything will pass on!
"Sometimes we can not change the circumstances, but we have a choice to choose our attitude and actions"
Given the lockdown period, each individual has a choice to develop the competency and today we have multiple options. Given below some of the options which i am personally exploring and suggesting you as well.
1. Online courses:
Variety of subjects available in the market place and depending on your interest you can pursue any short term course.
Medium.com Harvard Business Review -HBR Management Tip Gita 365 - Spiritual contents (Apps) ( Thanks to my friend who had suggested) Youtube channels of your interest mainly on Interviews by professionals to get new perspectives and fresh ideas
3. Evergreen / classic books to be read forever:
Personal and relationship perspective enhancement The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho Law of Success in 16 lessons – Napoleon Hill Awaken the Giant within –Anthony Robbins Discover your Strengths – Marcus Buckingham Why Mars and Venus Collide –John Gray The road less traveled –scott Peck The Habit of Winning –Prakash Iyer Seven habits of highly effective people –Stephen Covey Valuvaana Kudumbam, Valamaana India-Prof Kanagasabapathi Living with the Himalayan Masters –Swami Rama Rich dad, poor dad – Robert Kiyosaki Business growth perspective Five Levels of Leadership – John Maxwell Blue Ocean Strategy The Goal –A process of ongoing improvement –Eliyahu M Goldratt The machine that changed the world – James womach The high-performance entrepreneur –subroto bagchi Stay Hungry stay foolish –Rashmi bansal I too had a dream – Verghese Kurian
( Will suggest regional language-Tamil Books if you drop me a mail )
4. Some good/new management books can be explored :
The Fourth Industrial revolution -Industry 4.0 - Klaus Schwab Profit First CEO factory -HUL experience Kindle Life - Swami Chinmayananda Lean startup Edge - Turning adversity into advantage Trillion Dollar coach Emyth -revisited The next step- In individual and social development -Madhusudan Reddy Compilation of Vivekanandar speech at Chennai ( i will send based on request which i compiled)
5. Eat, Sleep well, watch movies along with family and be cool as everything will pass on.
Reflect and Be grateful for everything you have in life ......
Ultimately, you need to be happy and peaceful irrespective of circumstances !!! That is also competency to be developed.
A bird asked a BEE, “After continuous hard work, you develop the honey, but a man steals the honey… Do you not feel sorry about that? Then the Bee replied,“Never... because a man can only steal my honey, NOT the art of making honey...”
In professional life, sometime you may face a situation someone takes credit for your work, and your recognition may get delayed.It is just got delayed, not denial.Those are temporary setbacks and your skill, innate talent is unique. No one can take away from it. You will get recognized for what you deserve and what you possess.
Those skill, talent, knowledge are acquired only by investing your time/energy in sharpening yourself through observation, reading, venturing into new things, exploring new opportunities and so on. Invest yourself and upgrade yourself. That will be with you always. Keep investing in your skill and talent development.That will be the permanent asset and high return on investment!
