Monday, November 14, 2011

Five Success Rules Reinvented - 5. Be real not virtual

BE REAL NOT VIRTUAL: I strongly feel that in spite of our scientific advances, the human interface is supreme and way beyond any glitzy new technology. True friendships and loving relationships flourish in real life even if they began in the virtual world. And this is my personal experience.

Why is it better to be real than virtual? Because nothing can replace the human element of communication, and nothing can convey our real feelings and emotions better than ourselves! Recently, the CEO of a well known organization was fired through a sms by the board of directors!

How often have you caught yourself calling someone on the phone, when it could have been easier and nicer to just walk up to them and speak! The noise of humanity, and rapidly increasing distractions of all the technology and gadgets around us make it very easy to be virtual than real. In fact, technology has bred its own share of disadvantages - one of the biggest of them being - getting disconnected from the real life that we are meant to live.

Here are five tips that I hope will help you be more real than virtual:
1. Make an effort to meet your friends once in a while. It is so easy to let years go by without meeting our best friends at times. 
2. Request a face-to-face meeting with colleagues whenever possible, instead of opting by default for conference calls or email discussions. 
3. Meet people especially, when you want to convey a bad news, a negative feedback, or an improvement suggestion. Being there to convey our real intention and observe the other person’s reaction is so important in ‘not-so-great’ situations. 
4. Keep Sundays – a no technology day – switch off the distractions of life, and observe the sea change you will feel in your peace of mind, your relationships, and your attention span. 
5. Have a cut off time for browsing the net, and hold yourself accountable to stick to it. Often, we browse the net simply because we don’t have anything else to entertain or interest us. Remember, the more we get entangled in the world wide web, the more we lose touch with our real hobbies, aspirations, and goals. 

My recent effort to be more real than virtual: Before I wrote and posted this blog, I wanted to make 'being real' a priority for myself. Over this weekend, I shut down my computer, and from morning till late evening, busied myself with reality and real people I could meet and talk to face-to-face. It was enormously exciting, and I met so many new people. Not to mention, my brain needed rest from my work on my laptop. I find myself more motivated and productive this Monday morning.

PS: This brings me to the end of the five part series on 'Five Success Rules Reinvented'. I hope it helped you to think and act in ways that can help you live your best life and lead yourself every single day!

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