Learning !

I noticed that in the last 3 weeks, I've been depending on TED for my weekly blog. In the process based on the learning, I realized that I don't spend enough time reading and learning. And the best way to do that is to read and listen and watch. And so I've decided that I'll spend the next 8 weeks going through as many TED talks as I can and culling the most useful (IMHO) ones and post them in my blog. This will help me become better and in the process, some of you may even find the output of the exercise useful.

Learning : 1 of 8

Since the next 8 weeks revolve around learning, what better topic to start this series than with "... learning everything online."

The nerd's guide to learning everything online
John Green

Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us ... well, we don't. But we still love to learn -- we just need to find the way that works for us. In this charming, personal talk, author John Green shares the community of learning that he found in online video.

Say your truths

I've been spending the last several weeks with family. Mainly my siblings. And around us were several other relations and several siblings. I observed that while on the surface they seemed ok with each other, under the surface there was a lot of unspoken animosity. Serious enough to be obvious even to others such as myself.

I was grateful that our sibling rivalry stood out for being less rivalry and more loving. Relatively speaking of course. Nevertheless, there are tiny bits of baggage that I carry as am sure do my siblings. And probably my wife and kids. And doesn't it make sense to "Let it go." While its easier said and even easier written, its probably hard to do. As someone once said and if they didn't they should have, "Acknowledging is the first step to doing."


Say your Truths and Seek them in Others
Elizabeth Lesser

Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and truth-telling. "You don't have to wait for a life-or-death situation to clean up the relationships that matter to you," she says. "Be like a new kind of first responder ... the one to take the first courageous step toward the other."

Motivation

One of the issues we've been grappling with is motivation and employee engagement. Dan Pink showed me how we were approaching the problem completely wrong. What he's saying seems to make sense and we plan to try it out. Who knows. It may actually work.

The Puzzle of Motivation
Dan Pink

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.

Taming your wandering mind

One of the biggest issues I have with this blog is getting my wandering mind to focus on writing a blog. Once a week. And I fail miserably. This talk will hopefully help me cure that. Or at the very least, make it less of a problem.


How to Tame your Wandering Mind
Amishi Jha

Amishi Jha studies how we pay attention: the process by which our brain decides what's important out of the constant stream of information it receives. Both external distractions (like stress) and internal ones (like mind-wandering) diminish our attention's power, Jha says -- but some simple techniques can boost it. "Pay attention to your attention," Jha says.

A 2nd Miracle

Reia graduates. With flying colors.

On April 2, 1997 a tiny girl weighing 850 gms (1.87 lbs) and whose weight dropped to 770 gms (1.69 lbs) was born and spent close to 2 months in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) of Bombay Hospital was born. And when I held her for the first time, she seemed to fit in my palm and I wondered, what was to be. Nevertheless we had a miracle baby. One that no one expected to make it. Except her Mom, Ives, who always believed in her daughter. She was premature and was born after just 26 weeks. We hadn't even got around to picking a name. And were so hassled , we couldn't even come up with a name. So we just got rid of the "F" from our elder daughter's name Freia, and named her Reia.
https://lobodecoded.blogspot.com/2010/05/miracles-do-happen.html

As it turned out, Reia was a fighter, and fought her way slowly but surely putting on a few gms at a time, to where we could take her home. We took her to preventive physical therapy sessions and she got glasses she refused to wear at 2.

She grew up to be a bubbly, enthusiastic child who loved life and lived life queen-size. She was a kind of a bully, albeit a cite one, which she continues to be. Both a Bully and a cute one. During the intervening years, we found early on that she had not one not two but all 3 of the learning disabilities. Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. Academics were a challenge for her, especially in the Indian context where all the knowledge acquired during a semester is tested in 1 exam at the end of the semester.

We would have happily allowed her to dropout and get home schooled. She refused and loved school in-spite of the challenges. She shifted schools in the 9th grade so she could take alternate subjects that were relatively less taxing. And when I was temporarily moving to the US on work, she chose to check it out. As luck and fate would have it, we ended in Wilton, CT in a wonderful school with some amazing teachers. And she graduated.

http://lobodecoded.blogspot.com/2015/06/reia-graduates-finally-and-with-sense.html

They were supportive and not only did she manage her classes, she managed to make it to the Honors list on each of the 12 quarters she was there. We were happy for her and though she'd be done with school. She had other ideas. She decided to take up college. And joined SCAD in Savannah, GA.

With a lot of hard work, a good school, amazing teachers and some guardian angel friends she did well. Once again, she managed to be on the Honors list. And the person sending the mails happened to be Jesus. So every quarter, we'd get a message. Jesus has come. Again.

On Friday, she graduated. "Magna Cum Laude". i.e. "With Great Distinction". Something I didn't think could happen in my wildest dreams. Not the distinction. Just the graduation.

Joined at her graduation by her grandmom, uncle, aunt and cousin.

Her Scad family that made it possible: Tiffany, Caroline & Michelle.

Graduating Class Photo - 2019 

At this point I have no words to express my awe and delight and so will end with:

"Congratulations. You have done what I never thought possible. Go out there and make a difference. Not only to yourself and your family, but to the world at large."

Reia always insist on proof. So just in case ever forgets, "Here's the ploof", :)