Why do I avoid Procrastinating?

TIME for SUCCESS

Each day, each one of us is on our toes running here and there to manage the things and to bring the things in order as per our own personal expectations. Many a times, I do have same question popping up in my mind that is I the only one who is getting confused in managing the things or it is common to all of us? Time is a finite resource" - A fact which is known to everyone but still widely misconstrued by most. I see it in a way that it is the only resource which is unbiasedly distributed to every single person on this planet and thus, a unique parameter, whose efficient management forms the basis of comparison among individuals.

I personally fight each day to manage the things in the best possible manner but still there is a learning happening each day. In crux, I will state that "One who fails to plan in turn plans to fail". Keeping oneself organised is of utmost importance in today's fast moving life. Therefore, one must allocate some time for scheduling and planning the things in advance. Why is it that most of us struggle to slice 24 hours of the day in the best possible manner? There is not even an iota of doubt that there will be many uncertainties coming on ones path to goal achievement. Formulating a clear plan for all these uncertainties may be almost impossible for anyone but from here originates the concept of prioritizing. One must be capable of taking a decision of what to do first and what not to do. An intelligent handling of such uncertainties is what brings the manager out of oneself, thus developing ones core skills of time management and uncertain events handling.

Apart from this, I will also like to highlight the importance of being flexible in daily life. Though planning in advance is a vital ingredient to success, but on the contrary, one must not be rigid enough so as not to accommodate even a minor change in the micro-plans. Change is a part and parcel of human life and we should accept changes in environment with an open heart rather than cursing it. One must have a positive attitude, clear motive in mind and mobilize ones mental energy towards his goal by systematically focusing on activities. This will also prevent the building on undue stress on one's mind because it is commonly seen that uncertain situations lead to stress piling.

A Quote By Swami Vivekananda

Why do I avoid Procrastinating? I personally avoid it because of one single thought in my mind that procrastinating just leads to an even bigger problem somewhat later. I am of the opinion that I should be ready to face the situation at present than handling it in future when many other things may crop up additionally. I must collate enough energy so that i should not keep on delaying the things unnecessarily. I should not let the lethargies overrule my plans. Now, this does not literally mean that I must perform the entire daily planned chores (without missing out on anything) irrespective of whatever the demand comes. This is where the act of balancing comes into play and it is finally I who takes a call on balancing the activities. One must be decisive enough on what can be given up temporarily, what can be done for a smaller duration and last but not the least what needs to be continued without a break/change? 

Once a person has clarity on this simple concept of time management, I think most of the problems related to "lack of time to do everything" will get solved on its own. Don't wait for the good things to happen to you automatically on their own, rather work consistently to make the good things happen. My consistent effort to manage my time effectively is one of those most important things that keeps me happy and stress free most of the times. In simple terms, to be able to have control over your life, manage your time and do not let it manage you.

Abishek Mittal
NMP XXVI - Class of 2014
MDI, Gurgaon

PS: Thank you Shilpa for enlightening me to key in my thoughts on this important topic !


 

Inclusivity in Education - An Indian Perspective

India has truly been a great nation since ages with a rich legacy running back to 5000 years. The earliest evidence of education system prevalent in India was found in Rig Vedas, which deals with the philosophy of life and practices of learning. During this Vedic era, the system revolved around the Gurukuls, where students used to live with their Gurus and learn by precept as well as by actual study and debates.

Since its independence from the British Raj in 1947, India hasn't been too much successful as a state in providing basic needs like education, healthcare and electricity to its citizens especially those residing in rural areas. Though India has consistently grown with a 8% average GDP growth over past few years, but how much benefit out of this growth has been transformed into building a better education system in this nation of 1.2 billion people? The education system in this country has persistently failed because of the vested political interests in framing policies and also due to consistent stress which is laid on getting marks in the exams at all levels (primary, secondary, graduation). More focus is laid on passing the exams rather than true learning. Students are taught by the society to join the race of pursuing additional degrees without introspecting whether it is actually adding any value to them personally or to the society. I believe that it is the overall negative culture in the system which is propelled by the various forces acting in unison - personal, social, political and economic interests.

Inclusivity in education, that I am referring to is about strengthening the current education system from its core and expanding its reach to all those who are willing to learn. As Swami Vivekananda has rightly quoted, "Education is a manifestation of the perfection already present in man", India needs to have a belief in itself and harness its strength by giving rightful access to education to each and every person living in this country who is willing to learn. 

To meet the current demand supply gap, government has already started taking some steps and is trying to expand the reach of educational institutes at all levels like establishing primary schools in rural areas, bringing in RTE (Right to Education Act), establishing new IITs, IIMs and AIIMS. But is government really monitoring the real effectiveness of their approach to tackle this menace or are we just converting an existing problem to a much bigger problem? In spite of these actions, education in India remains an opportunity to a select few. With high poverty and high drop-out ratio of students prevailing in rural schools, we need to give a clear thought on building an educational ecosystem keeping aside vested secular and political interests. 

The availability of cheap hardware, indigenous technology and coupled with higher broadband penetration can facilitate effective delivery of education electronically. Private institutes can be asked to help their government counterparts solely in the interest of nation. These institutes can come forward by offering nationwide courses and can utilize the revolutionary model of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) like Coursera and edX. As a citizen of this unique country, each one of us who has access to this scarce opportunity shall contribute for the development of this healthy ecosystem. We must start having firm faith in our unmatched educational history and leverage the power of knowledge sharing and collaboration.

It is to be clearly understood that foundation to build India as a strong nation has to be laid down at primary and secondary level by delivering quality education. Each one of us is more or less involved in a rat race by following one's parents dream or by working consistently to turn down the social neighbor's finger. On the contrary, we must devote our energies to promote free thinking everywhere. Innovative ideas must be encouraged right from school to college level. Young start-up firms shall be supported in their ideas to the full extent. It is to be imbibed that investment in education is for lifetime of an individual. Using the synergies of educated Indian youth, the growth of this nation will become truly inclusive and the day will not be far when we can rise up once again as a citizen of this proud nation INDIA !

Abishek Mittal
NMP XXVI - Class of 2014
MDI, Gurgaon







Disclaimer:  This is a personal weblog and the opinions expressed here are solely my own thoughts and are not written under any undue influence.

Is B really for Business?

NMP XXVI Participants Enjoying Sports

Things started settling down post the induction week and after enjoying a very peaceful weekend, I geared up for the regular courses in the coming week. Having a quick glance through faculty teaching pedagogy in this world class institute (MDI currently has tie ups with around 50 Top Global B-Schools), core courses began with a full bang, with loads of assignments, pre-reading material and group case studies to discuss. Unknowingly, many parallel activities started to pool in my daily chores. I had the opportunity to express my views in the Group Discussion event @ SharmaJi hosted by Daksh Creative Solutions in collaboration with Samsung on the "Role of Technology in Future Education in India". In the meantime, I was also invited to join the NMP26-Badminton Group on facebook and there I found my badminton partner who was unknowingly staying just opposite my room. Ashish Thakur, you have extended my nights and deprived me of my sleep in these past two weeks but I am really enjoying every moment of my stay at this place, learning to manage things practically. The creation of fear of surprise quizzes and CP marks (class participation) by each faculty member, insight into "Darna Mana Hai" type questions in Accounting class and brief guidelines by the Startegy Prof. Dr. Amit Kapoor at the fag end all made this week very happening.

Ice Breaker Party NMP XXVI Batch

With sense of formality still prevailing in the batch, and participants not knowing much about each other, my colleague Harleen and her friends took the bold initiative to organize an ice breaker party @ Takashila Wing-B. For the first time, EPGPM batchmates came together to meet informally at this event and exchanged their interests with everyone. Many talented colleagues finally got the stage to showcase their hidden talent openly and generate huge fan following among batchmates on facebook. The ball was kept rolling in the coming week and there was another pleasant surprise birthday party of Amit Gupta hosted by Wing-A mates. There were many live performances but the party ended with late night wild dancing on Punjabi hits.

Myself, being in consistent touch with the senior batch guys right from the beginning collected information on different hosts of activities undertaken by the previous batches. After discussions, I invited nominations for the formation of official Corporate Communications team and Alumni Relations team. With the batch support, the team was successfully elected within stipulated deadlines and officially put in place before the end of April '13. Along with these activities, the course silently kept picking its pace day by day. Asst. Prof. Rupamanjari Sinha (Microeconomics) was the first one to turn our fears into reality on coming lazy Monday morning; surprise quiz leaving each one of us with our eyes wide open after the class.  

Participants with Dr. Bhagwan Khanna

During the past week, I personally attended my first ever Book Launch event @ India Habitat Centre, New Delhi where Mr. Vineet Nayar (Vice Chairman, HCL) launched "From Smart to Wise by Prasad Kaipa & Navi Rajdou" . A couple of days later, Kevin Stolarick, Research Director, Martin Prosperity Institute (Rottman School of Management, Canada) delivered an influential guest lecture on "Importance of Creativity & Innovation". To introduce us to International Accounting, Dr. Bhagwan Khanna - an eminent faculty in the field of accounting (Ball State University, USA), delivered an interesting 5-lecture series citing beautiful examples from our daily lives. 

With so much happening each day and gaining knowledge from experienced international faculty has turned this course (National Management Programme @ MDI) Truly Global sitting here in India. Lengthy group discussions on HBR cases of Strategy, trying to convince every other folk of your group, has already started conquering my pleasant evenings. To be very frank, 24 hours in a day has really started seemingly so less to me for the first time that i am daily longing for few more hours.

Abishek Mittal
NMP XXVI - Class of 2014
MDI, Gurgaon