Monday Blues: It is finished

Coming after an Easter Sunday, I would like you to ponder upon the words Christ spoke on the cross - It is finished. When a lifetime dream, his ambition and goal is achieved and he fulfilled his destiny on the cross, Christ chose to speak these words - It is finished. What a wonderful relief and joy it is when you have successfully accomplished your task and delivered.

This monday, let us concentrate on delivering what you have kept pending for a long time and finish it, so we can close on that chapter. This monday, be a finisher.

Believe

Your strength lies in what you believe.
You can only do what you think you can.
Start believing.
Start doing.

Found this image online and couldn't help stealing it.

Accent & Credibility

Money Control: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger overcame his accent and secured the trust of voters but new research shows that an accent can impact a person's credibility.

In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers from the University of Chicago found that people unconsciously doubt harder to process statements more than easily understandable ones.

"Instead of perceiving the statements as more difficult to understand, they perceive them as less truthful," Shiri Lev-Ari and Boaz Keysar said in the study. The result of this unconscious mental operation has an "insidious impact on millions of people, who routinely communicate in a language which is not their native tongue," they said, adding that an accent might reduce the credibility of job seekers, eyewitnesses, reporters or news anchors.

In the first study 30 people listened to phrases such as "a giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can" or "ants don't sleep" in Austrian-German, Korean, Italian, Polish, Turkish and other accents and graded them as to how likely they were to be true. "People were just influenced by the accent, so when people had an accent people rated the sentences as being less true than when people heard them without an accent," Lev-Ari, a post-doctoral researcher in psychology, explained.

In a second experiment, the researchers asked people to consciously correct for the accent, and forewarned them of the accent's potential impact on their judgment. The 27 native English speakers, however, were only able to compensate for moderate accents, and as they became more pronounced, the participants found themselves doubting the information more.

"It's just a natural thing that we do ... we're just not aware of it," said Keysar, a professor of psychology.

Keep your mask on

[If you feel the tone of this post is strong, skip the last para]

I am sure you would have faced this. You spend time together, talk and do things together and after a point think you know the other person in and out. Usually after this point your confidence and trust on the other person has reached such a state that small aberrations would skip being noticed and even if they are, they wouldn't matter much to you. But you think you know someone until you find out things that scare you. Some people are so good at acting, tricking and cheating that if there is a doctoral certification, they would be eligible for honorary bestowing. Ever heard of wolf in sheepskin? Well there are too many phonies in sheepskin around and I hate that.

Does this mean I am asking you to doubt everyone and everything? The answer would be no, a firm NO. But shouldn't you be careful? You can act most of the time but somewhere your real attitude would come out and you are busted. You can't fool all the people all the time. The best thing is to stay what you are. If you hate it so much, think of how you could change. Pretending as someone else and showing off a false attitude wouldn't help you for long. There would be temporary gains and fun but the aftermath is usually worse.

How would you handle this? Especially when you see the actual colors of someone you trust come out before you? Depends on how important the other person is for you and how long you could cope with that. How would I handle this? Hmmm... lemme see... There would never even be a question of the person being important or not, close or not. Better keep your mask on or be far away. Really really far away.

Pic

I'd love running to live... but where is your product?

When you can't please don't harp on it. Reebok, Adidas, Nike failed to meet my requirement today. I was at Forum mall, Bangalore trying to purchase a pedometer from the so called fitness brands and the salesmen had no clue what it meant.

Some even suggested that it is a large machine which would be sold in big shops and not in sports retail outlets. I don't blame them for not knowing what it is but the brand behind it. How come you don't have any accessories mentioned in your website available for sale at your outlets? That too in a Tier I city like Bangalore?

When promises and expectations don't match your customers walk away. Sometimes for good. It is no longer about the product but the total appeal. This time you guys loose it. In case you can't or don't want to, ensure you mention about it in your site that these products are unavailable at so and so outlets. Better give a list of outlets where the consumer can buy. And update your staff. Before you ask me to run to live, keep your product ready.

* Conditions apply

If you've worked, you haven't seen it all but you get an idea of just how low a company can stoop to. Most of the firms hand a contract that "is just a formality" that "needs to be signed right away" or that deals with "basic protocols". Always ask for a copy, take it with you, read it, reread it and make sure you know what's on the paper you have just been handed. If you sign it , it means you agree with what is said on the paper. Let me put it in a better way, you're basically agreeing to everything that's put forth in the contract. Next time you're asked to sign something don't sign it blindly. You'll thank me later.

Companies when hiring or selling try to get away by printing conditions and rules about how they can escape from responsibility. Especially the list is long and font is indecipherable. I think this is a short sighted move. You are only cheating me by tricking and hence losing my loyalty and trust. It should be the other way round. The main focus should be on how you can help me use it and come back for repurchase and not on how you can be put of the warranty or guarantee net. Instead go and make a better product.

Learn 2 Trust

People don't expect you to be honest. Trust me on this. Everyone expects you to cheat in the exam, games, tell lies and make up things. They just can't believe that there can be some one who is honest. This is in their psyche. Doubting didn't start with Thomas after all. It was always there. Its tough to convince people you are not lying, that you don't cheat. Every time I tell people I don't cheat in the exam or game I get those weird looks as if I am an alien! But stay the way you are if you one of this diminishing tribe. If you belong to the doubting then you need to change your mind. There are people who ARE HONEST. Just because you are not doesn't mean everyone are like you or just because you have had a bad experience don't stop trusting others. Its not the time to breed distrust, just not yet. Learn to trust.