Satire on Motivational stories

A Tale: Story of the sand in the jar - Here is a story I came across on setting priorities.



One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of "Efficient Time Management". Commencing his lecture, the professor pulled out a big glass jar from under the table.





Next, he took out a bag of rocks, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the rocks, one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, "Is the jar full?" The managers replied, "Yes".

Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, "Is the jar full?"

At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, "apparently not!"

"Correct", replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles.

Yet again, the professor asked, "Is the jar full?" and as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, "What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?"

With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, "We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks."

"No", replied the professor. The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is:

If we don't put all the larger rocks in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later.

The old professor continued, "What are the large rocks in your life? Health? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Cause? Taking time for yourself?"

What we must remember is that it is most important to include the lager rocks in our lives, because if we don't do so, we are likely to miss out on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself, What are the Large Stones in your Life? And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your "Jar of Life".



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Gyan Guru's learning's





Well that was a nice little story, with a hug huge dollop of Gyan (knowledge) as a 'take away'. My mind goes back to my childhood, days bereft of television or the laptops, our favourite learning posts were grandma's stories, and locally available Tamil magazines or children's magazines. In those days, India was not yet outward looking, apart from snippets of the 'would u believe it kind', or a reference to an earth shaking international event, these magazine were full of the old world charm, containing a weekly medication of moral stories, stories from the Panchatantra, stories from mythologies & about freedom fighters, and of course the usual updates on Tollywood & Bollywood (Hindi & Tamil Cinema, as we call them).





So the mind is still fresh from the stories about sages who cursed people to be stones, about wicked magicians who's life resided in a parrot deep inside a well in the jungle, about brilliant ministers who solved every puzzle put forth by clever schemers in the emperors courts, about court poets who had to prove their greatness by challenging others to a poetic duel etc.





Unlike the minds of today, we were not reared up, aspiring for 'Wall Street', Fleet Street, or Madison Avenue, but more made for the Paranthe Wali Gali (a food street in Delhi). A satiating meal and a bed time story with all the siblings huddled together, followed by a tight sleep, and dreaming about discovering a house made of chocolates,  was how carefree life was, as against today's clearly focused, by the clock-work, Yoga to Coaching Classes to dance classes again back to coaching class routine of youngsters today.





Oh! I have digressed. The point is, that the stories continue, but the flavours have changed, if, earlier the stories were about good vs. evil, today the stories are more about performance, earlier the stories were about contentment, today the stories are about wholesomeness, earlier the stories had not commercial connotations, reverse is the case today, when all stories can actually be mapped to some business intent.





Coming back, to our professor. I found the learning very elevating, but as stories go, they are only as good as the meaning that each one of us makes out of them.  So I asked some of my colleagues, their take on it, before the trainer could.





I leaned across to the gentleman on the right, who was focused on the bowl of peanuts placed on table, with one eye already on the crunchy wafers laid out on the training table. I still don't understand, why the corporate's of today, can't detach work-shopping from eating, but then there can always be another story to it, I guess, to be penned separately.





Sir, I asked the colleague, what is your take on the Jar?  Well, he replied, emitting a loud burp, bowls always remind me of food.  You see the large stones are like the leg pieces of the chicken, he replied with a nostalgic glint in his eyes, and the pebbles you see, are the starters that are served in a party, or these peanuts that you have just devoured I wanted to add. You see these pebble things are big enough to contain the initial pangs of hunger, but not something that can fill your stomach, he continued! I waited, nodding my head, with abated breath for more enlightenment. You see, the large stones can also be the 'Rasogullas', * or your South Indian 'Rava Ladus' *, but today I would rather prefer them to be Leg pieces, he burped again. "The sand", I exclaimed! Oh, I have no place for sand in my life, you see, I would rather have some gravy,  that can fill the whole jar, like the yummy garlic and cream gravy that my wife makes with feesh, he replied in his typical accent. Then where is the place for the water I asked him. Not to worry! He replied, I start with the Jackie Daniel's with soda, and once I start then there is always space for more and more, not to worry about the water he smiled in his accent.

(* Desserts not to be missed while in India)





So much for the training, I now really wanted a different perspective to the story and I turned to the guy behind me, who sat there frowning as if the world is going to come to an end. What happened friend, I asked. "Dammed trainings", he replied, "always happens when you are planning an off", he replied.  Why what happened, and what do u think of this Jar thing, I asked. You know Mandira? He asked. The Bedi?  I said. No, he replied, my wife. Well the stones are the tasks that she sets me. Aah, I could not push back a sense of dvu. "Like today I was to pick up my mom-in-law from the airport, and had to cancel it for this stupid training" he continued.  Oh so she is not coming is she ?,  "You see there can be nothing more insulting for the mom- in-law, not to be received from the airport, so I had to send my assistant instead",  he muttered,  seething with anxiety.  Now this is one story I did not want to prolong.  How could I tell him that the stones that he talked about are not stones but monoliths around his neck?





By now the logics were getting fuzzy in my head. I really looked for one bright spark in the group. "The Boss" I now remembered, if there was one person who could throw light on this story, it was him. Sir, I whispered, what a brilliant training, I said, just to be in the right side of the 'Bull'. Grrr...  He grumbled true to his nickname. Sir... the 'Jar', I tried to continue as he interjected. "Reminds me, why was you presentation so jarring yesterday"? He grumbled in a constipated tone. I sheepishly tried to divert, Sir, 'the rocks'!! ... Yes son, The Rocks,  you see Bahamas Rocks, Mauritius Rocks, Bangkok Rocks,  one can rock all night at these places son, he smiled uncharacteristically. Do remember to complete the project while I am away, he winked, "I know with whom", I thought to myself.





After that one intervention, I gave up, if The Boss can't throw light, (not the disc probe) no one can.





So you see stories are only what one makes out of them. By habit, I have always read stories to escape from the present, I continue to do so even in this age, picking out a learning from an event is gift, a gift that one needs to start practicing at an young age, so what if it hurts the child in you, so what if it takes away the fairy tale out of the story, so what if it dumps you into a harsh world that is 'today'. Always try to identify the rocks in your life, rocks that can be replaced with gravy, rocks can be as exciting as in rocks in the Bahamas, or they can also the biggest barriers to your success, remove those that are barriers, keep the jar brimming, let the cup splash, as they say in Hindi, the more it splashes, the more there is life. 'A complete Life'



















































































































































































































































A Tale : Put a shark in your tank





The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. 





If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste. To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish.





The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference.





Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish. So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan?





To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged so they remain active in the water, and yet fresh when delivered at the ports.





Gyan Guru's learnings





Well like the disclaimer I had already put in, I am no management guru, so hardly can comment on the various learning's that come out of the above story, like, as to how in a group, something like a shark, keeps a group on their toes, &  helps in pushing their performance a few notchs etc. Can't help remembering the similarity with the case of the Egyptian slaves being whipped during the construction of the pyramids. Its sad that we acknowledge the fact that men cant perform unless whipped.  A far fetched conclusion but a sad one nevertheless.





Here's my twist to the story : The fishing companies are thrilled by the results that the shark provide, and are making good profits.  In a one-up-manship, one of the fishing companies in order to achieve their aggressive budget targets, try to add one more shark to the pool to keep the fishes more charged up. Over a period the shark counts increases ( you see the fishing companies also added some female sharks to the tank).  The sharks have a whale of a time (oops pun unintended). They eat more and more fishes,  the production reduces,  eventually the sharks become quite rounded. They keep barking at the poor fishes, and swallow as many as they can.  The fishing companies are now in despair. They are unable to manage the cost of maintaining the sharks,  So one fine day, one of the fishing company lets call the company ''Shark-o-soft' decides to kill the sharks. Killing sharks is illegal, so Shark-o-soft decides to take them to the shores of a developing company and kill them there because of lax regulations. Having killed them  don't know what to do with the shark meat.  They decide to trying to sell it at cheap prices in the local market. This desperate measure to save themselves hits the jackpot, as the shark meat becomes a rage in the market, soon it starts getting exported to countries already starving of hunger,  the management is  thrilled in having discovered a new business opportunity. There is sudden demand for shark meat, and the stock prices of Shark-o-soft hit the roof. So here are the learning's-





Innovate          Innovate & Innovate

         One          shark  fires up the team

         Too          many sharks add to cost and only erode the bottom-line

         If          necessary sacrifice the sharks and make a business out of them

         Those          who create new lifestyle habits can make a pile of gold for ex.          Apple did with Iphones





So if you are a fish don't worry, there will soon come a time when the fishing company will tire of the sharks, and you will be free once more.





These were thoughts that came to my mind, but I dismissed all of that as products of my skeptical mind. You see the management books cant be wrong and I was never good at management studies, no wonder I am still at the bottom of the pyramid.



There are other thoughts which struck me, I had to brush them aside. You see I had no explanation for them for example,





Why          did the Japanese not take to our Indian Dal Makni and pudina          parantha, why did they insist on fresh fish ?          

         If          their shores were always devoid of fresh fish, how did they get into          this habit of eating only fresh fish in the first place ? Why were          they so finicky.          

         Did          they have Pepsi or Coke with their fish,  Were they getting a fresh          supply of these drinks or where these drinks also stale,  if so          then how did they make their drinks fresh - put sharks there also          ?





O Oh, I am getting late, the sharks are coming, get back to you folks latter, need to catch up on my work.