You are what you believe

You Are What You Believe

 

The most important quality you can ever develop is having belief in yourself. The belief that you can, without a shadow of a doubt achieve success in every area of your life. Virtually every person has the capacity to do wonderful things with his or her life. But the greatest single obstacle for most people is self-doubt. Many people wish they could accomplish certain things but lack the belief that they can actually do it.

 

When people under achieve in any part of their life, it is their beliefs more than anything else that hold them back. Self-limiting beliefs act as breaks on our ability to achieve our goals. Many of us have high hopes, dreams, and aspirations, but we let doubts creep in and undermine our talents, abilities, and effectiveness.

 

Each one of us has feelings of inferiority because we feel that we are not good enough. We think that we are not as good as other people, and we feel that we are not good enough to acquire and enjoy the things we want in life. Often we feel that we don't deserve good things. Even if we work hard and have some achievements in our life, we often feel that we are not really entitled to our successes.

 

The Universal Law of Belief says that whatever we believe, with feeling becomes our reality. We don't believe what we see; instead, we see what we believe. Our beliefs form a screen as to how we see the world, and we never allow any information that is not consistent with our beliefs to pass through it. Even if we have beliefs that are totally inconsistent with reality, we won't let them through because our beliefs have become true for us.

 

The most common and also the most harmful beliefs are the ones that are self-limiting. These are beliefs about yourself. For example, believing that you can't achieve something because you don't have enough money or education. You might believe you can't achieve something because you are the wrong sex, race, age, or it is because of the economy. Most of these beliefs are not true, but they will hold you back nonetheless.

 

The fact is, you deserve every good thing that you are capable of acquiring through the use of your talents.

 

The only real limitation on what you can be and have, is if you lack the desire. If you set a goal and want to achieve it badly enough, nothing in the world can stop you from achieving it, as long as you're willing to persist long and hard enough.

 

To develop positive beliefs, you have to decide exactly where you want to end up in the future. The clearer you are about the result you want in your future, the easier it will be for you to change your actions and behaviours in the short term. This in turn, will assure that you achieve what you want in the long term.

 

Once you've clearly decided on the type of person you want to be, you will have already taken a major first step in developing new beliefs. In order to incorporate your new beliefs into your every day life, you have to discipline yourself to act exactly in every situation as if you already were that person. When you begin to act like the successful person you want to become, you will actually adopt their values, qualities, and characteristics. And they will then become a permanent part of your personality.

 

If you consistently act like the person you want to become every day and in every situation it will begin a chain reaction. Your attitude will change and become more positive. This will then build stronger and more positive beliefs. And your beliefs will then, exert a positive influence on your values.

 

You have no limitations on your potential except for those that you believe you have. Successful people are not extraordinary or special in any way. They are not different from you or I. But, all successful people do have the unwavering belief that they can accomplish anything that they really want in life. You are a good person. From this day forward, see yourself as the very best you can be, and refuse to accept any limitations on your possibilities. Once you develop that belief in yourself, and you act in accordance with your beliefs, your future will be unlimited.

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I work in the dark, I do what I can, I give what I have, my doubt is my passion and my passion is my task. The rest is the madness of art.......
- Prayagraj Patel

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Asian squirrels

Economics focus

Asian squirrels

The enormous build-up of foreign-exchange reserves in Asia is less sinister than it looks
 

ON ONE economic measure at least, China has overtaken Japan: it now has the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves. The combined reserves of the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority stood at $833 billion at the end of June. By now, given their recent rate of growth, they could be nudging $870 billion-worth, most of this in dollars—well ahead of the $830 billion in Japan's coffers at the end of last month. Asia as a whole now has a stash of more than $2.5 trillion, two-thirds of the world total, up from $1 trillion in 2000.

A new report *, published by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies in Geneva and the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research, explodes some popular myths about the causes and likely consequences of this enormous stockpile. For instance, some American economists and politicians assert that the build-up of reserves in Asia proves that the region's governments are intervening on a huge scale to keep their currencies undervalued as part of a mercantilist strategy of export-led growth. If they let their currencies rise, it is argued, America's external deficit would shrink painlessly. By any measure, Asia's reserves far exceed its needs. However, the authors of the report dispute the claim that this growth in reserves is the product of a deliberate plan to keep currencies cheap.

Asia's critics often focus on countries with fixed exchange rates. In fact, holders of the seven biggest reserves exhibit a range of currency systems, yet have all seen similar increases (see left-hand chart). Until this year, the biggest build-up had been in Japan, whose currency floats. Of the seven, only China and Hong Kong had formal pegs to the dollar, and in July China shifted to a managed float against a basket of currencies. The other four countries (South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and India) have varying degrees of flexibility. For instance, the South Korean won has risen by 28% against the dollar since 2002.

 

The motive for accumulating reserves differs by country. Japan, for example, has been battling against deflation. Selling yen for dollars was widely seen by foreign economists and policymakers as a sensible tactic in this fight. The aim was not just to hold down the yen, but also to expand Japan's monetary base and thus to reflate the economy.

Nor does the mercantilist story fit the facts in emerging Asian economies. Current policy is largely a response to the East Asian financial crisis of 1997-98. Before then, most of these countries ran large current-account deficits and had severely overvalued currencies. When their reserves ran out, devaluation was forced upon them; it was not a planned policy choice. Indeed, at the time of the crisis, they were criticised for not letting their currencies fall sooner. More recently, most countries have allowed some rise in their exchange rates against the dollar, but governments have understandably been eager to rebuild their reserves as ammunition against any future crisis.

It is also hard to accuse China of running a cheap-currency policy, since it passed up an opportunity to devalue the yuan at the time of the Asian crisis. Moreover, an increasing proportion of the expansion of China's reserves has reflected inflows of hot money betting on a revaluation of the yuan. In 2004 China's addition to its reserves was three times bigger than its current-account surplus. More generally, trade surpluses have not been the main cause of the increase in Asian reserves. In many other economies, the growth in reserves has been twice as large as their current-account surplus (see right-hand chart), thanks to inflows of foreign direct investment and speculative capital. In other words, rising reserves need not imply currency manipulation in the strict sense implied by the IMF Articles of Agreement.

One would normally expect to see a current-account surplus offset by an outflow of capital as the private sector exported excess domestic savings. But Asian countries still have relatively underdeveloped financial systems. Central banks have instead performed as intermediaries, using the surplus dollars to accumulate foreign reserves.

Shifting the blame

In any case, a revaluation of Asian currencies would have little impact on America's current-account deficit. The only real cure is for Americans to save more. The increase in China's external surplus has anyway been far too small to account for America's deficit. Between 1997 and 2004, China's current-account surplus widened by $36 billion, while America's deficit expanded by $529 billion. The external position of all the rest of emerging Asia improved by $125 billion. The combined surplus of commodity exporters (the Middle East, Russia and Latin America) rose by much more: $233 billion.

But even if undervalued Asian currencies are not the main cause of global imbalances, that does not mean that the build-up of excessive reserves in Asia is healthy. Does it make sense for economies to put so much money into low-yielding American Treasury bonds? One solution is for countries to split their reserves into a liquid portfolio (ie, Treasuries) and a separate national wealth portfolio. As an example of the latter, the authors propose the setting-up of an Asian Investment Corporation, which would pool some proportion of reserves and manage them on commercial lines with greater freedom to invest in higher yielding assets such as company shares and bonds.

Another problem is that heavy buying of dollars has inflated money supplies and pushed down interest rates. The danger is that cheap money leads to a misallocation of capital, undermining future growth. Even if Asia's exchange-rate regimes are not to blame for America's deficit, they still might not be in these countries' long-term interest. Policymakers may have drawn the wrong lesson from the Asian crisis, believing that bigger reserves are the best way to avoid a future crisis. The correct lesson is that currencies should become more flexible.

* "Official Reserves and Currency Management in Asia: Myth, Reality and the Future". Geneva Reports on the World Economy 7, September 2005

Source: The Economist

Speech by Narayan Murthy

LOVE YOUR JOB, BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN COMPANY STOPS LOVING YOU... Narayana Murthy

Extract of Mr. Narayana Murthy's Speech during Mentor Session:

I know people who work 12 hours a day, six days a week, or more. Some people do so because of a work emergency where the long hours are only temporary. Other people I know have put these hours for years. I don't know if they are working all these hours, but I do know they are in the office this long. Others put in long office hours because they are addicted to the workplace. Whatever the reason for putting in overtime, working long hours over the long term is harmful to the person and to the organization. There are things managers can do to change this for everyone's benefit. Being in the office long hours, over long periods of time, makes way for potential errors. My colleagues who are in the office long hours frequently make mistakes caused by fatigue.

Correcting these mistakes requires their time as well as the time and energy of others. I have seen people work Tuesday through Friday to correct mistakes made after 5 PM on Monday. Another problem is that people who are in the office long hours are not pleasant company. They often complain about other people (who aren't working as hard); they are irritable, or cranky, or even angry. Other people avoid them. Such behavior poses problems, where work goes much better when people work together instead of avoiding one another. As Managers, there are things we can do to help people leave the office. First and foremost is to set the example and go home ourselves on time. I work with a manager who chides people for working long hours. His words quickly lose their meaning when he sends these chiding groups e-mails with a time-stamp of 2 AM, Sunday. Second is to encourage people to put some balance in their lives.

For instance, here is a guideline I find helpful:
1) Wake up, eat a good breakfast, and go to work.
2) Work hard and smart for eight or nine hours.
3) Go home.
4) Read the comics, watch a funny movie, dig in the dirt, play with your kids, etc
5) Eat well and sleep well.

This is called recreating. Doing steps 1, 3, 4, and 5 enable step 2. Working regular hours and recreating daily are simple concepts.

They are hard for some of us because that requires personal change. They are possible since we all have the power to choose to do them. In considering the issue of overtime, I am reminded of my eldest son. When he was a toddler, if people were visiting the apartment, he would not fall asleep, no matter how long the visit, and no matter what time of day it was. He would fight off sleep until the visitors left. It was as if he was afraid that he would miss something. Once our visitors left, he would go to sleep. By this time, however, he was over tired and would scream through half the night with nightmares. He, my wife, and I, all paid the price for his fear of missing out. Perhaps some people put in such long hours because they don't want to miss anything when they leave the office. The trouble with this is that events will never stop happening. That is life!! Things happen 24 hours a day. Allowing for little rest is not ultimately practical. So, take a nap. Things will happen while you're asleep, but you will have the energy to catch up when you wake.

Hence "LOVE YOUR JOB BUT NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR COMPANY"
Have a great day ahead!!
Regards.