Fun Quotient

Most of you might have heard about Intelligence Quotient (IQ), and recently, more about an Emotional Quotient (EQ), but what about a Fun Quotient (FQ)?. What is it?? 

Fun Quotient is the amount of time you spend doing things that are light-hearted or fun. It’s the amount of time you dedicate to whatever you consider to be fun like working on hobbies, games; sexual activity, dancing, going to the theater or movies, watching television, reading, spending time with friends, traveling, and playing sports.

How to Calculate Fun Quotient (FQ)?

You can calculate your Fun Quotient by keeping track of the number of hours you spend in a week doing things that are fun and then applying that number to the following equation:

______ ÷ 168 hours per week

= ______ Fun Quotient (# of fun hours per week)

How to understand what you are missing 

You might notice that this list does not take account of many activities like taking care of children; interconnecting with family members, partaking in community service activities, religious worship, new skills etc. When you add in all the activities carefully, there is very little time left for fun. It is no wonder people confess that they are tired and worn out.

Most people could use a preparation for improving Fun Quotient. As you make your plans for the week, include at least one fun activity for every day and then just do it. Recreational reading or quiet hobbies such as needlepoint or crossword puzzles can be taken to situations when you may find yourself sitting and waiting.

It is often easier to find a time for some fun when the day’s work is finished. A little light-hearted enjoyment before sleep can do a lot to reduce stress and increase the possibility of a peaceful night. A preferred music, a chat on the phone, a good book, a game, or a few minutes in Internet are instances of things that can be built into the daily plan prior to bed time. You do not have to follow the same repetitive every night.

Many people tend to let the fun activities fall by the wayside because they are viewed as being “non-essential.” Others think that because life is a serious, all of activity should become serious too. If you spend all your time working and/or dealing with the other serious issues, your quality of life will wear away. Having a little fun each day will protect your quality of life, and actually may improve your ability to handle the aspects that are difficult. If you can think of your fun quotient as part of your treatment for staying mentally and physically well, you may be better able to increase it and make it an integral part of your daily life – now and later.

How much do i have to sleep

In Today’s corporate world, this is a big question popping at everybody’s mind. We should spend up to one-third of our lives asleep. Most of us know that getting a good night’s sleep is important, but few of us actually make those eight or so hours between the sheets a priority .Some people claim to feel rested on just a few hour of sleep a night. 

Sleep is a naturally periodic state of humans characterized by altered consciousness, relatively subdued sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is illustrious from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more easily reversed than the state of hibernation. During sleep, most systems in an humans are in a delicate anabolic state (Constructive phase), accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems

            In humans, sleep deprivation has been studied up to 11 days, during which subjects are found to gain weight. Human deaths from sleep deprivation alone are not known. Sleep debt is the effect of not getting enough sleep; a large debt causes mental, emotional, and physical fatigue. Sleep debt results in reduced abilities to perform high-level intellectual functions. Sleep deprivation tends to cause slower brain waves in the frontal cortex, shortened attention span, higher anxiety, diminished memory, and a irritable mood. A well-rested human tends to have improved memory and mood.

Lack of sleep can double the risk of death from cardiac disease, but that too much sleep can also be related with a doubling of the risk of death. Sleep difficulties are closely associated with psychiatric disorders such as depression, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder. Up to 90% of adults with depression are found to have sleep problems.

Human sleep needs vary by age and among individuals. Adequate sleep is considered, when there is no daytime sleepiness .An average adult needs between 7.5 and 9 hours of sleep per night. However, many people can function with 6 hours' sleep. The amount of sleep needed to function the next day varies from individual to individual, and is determined genetically and hereditary. A person's major sleep period is relatively useless and insufficient when it occurs at the "wrong" time of day; one should be asleep at least six hours before the lowest body temperature.

To pave the way for better sleep, follow these simple yet effective healthy sleep tip

Stick to a sleep schedule, even on weekends.

Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual.

Exercise daily.

Evaluate your bedroom to ensure ideal temperature, sound and light.

Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.

Avoid hidden sleep stealers, like alcohol and caffeine.

Turn off electronics before bed.

Water scarcity and Human Population (Funny side --- yet true)

Media ,Leaders, Social activist ,NGO  all are talking about the resource scarcity due to population growth and climate change. This is driving us crazy, because we all wonder who is consuming this much resources ... why it is not replenishing. 

In this article, I am trying to link human population against fresh water availability on earth, in a different view and in a different perspective . This may look very funny and very absurd . But it's true !!!! 

Who stole our fresh water resources !!!!!!

Some Assumptions /Facts
• Water content in average Human body 60% (medical Finding) 
• Average human Weight: 50 Kg   (UN data says  62 Kg, But I presume 50 kg to average)
• Average water content in a human: 30 kg (Derived from the above details)
• Fresh water content in the world remain constant (matter cannot be made nor destroyed) 

The below graph shows population growth against water carried by the human population on the surface of earth. 

Phew!!!!  This data explains, how and where all the fresh water in the world is disappearing.

By year 2015 end , Seven billion humans population on planet earth is carrying 219 Million tons of fresh water in their body.  

So its like... You stole my water ??

Detect Arrogant People And Manage them

Do you always seem to cross paths with people who are stuck on themselves, intolerant of people different from them, rude or downright arrogant? These people can be a great source of potential pain, and this article is here to help you sort the arrogant from the not-so-arrogant

Pay attention to their conversations. Don't snoop, but when they're talking to you or to those around you, listen to them. Is it always about them? Do they get mad or irritated if the center of attention moves to someone else? These are good signs of arrogance.

Arrogance and haughtiness is often a reflection of limited life experience, and feeling concerned that those with greater life experience "have got something over them." Rather than seeking to find out more through questions and learning, arrogant people tend to simplify from their limited, narrow life experiences and try to impose their small worldview on others.

Jealousy of your accomplishments or seeming lifestyle can cause another person to feel smug or arrogant about something they think they do better than you do or own/have that you do not.

Arrogant people have an extremely strong need to look good. When you make them look bad - even if it is the slightest offense - they will usually be very mad at you. This happens when you question their look, intelligence, physical abilities, or anything else relating to their self-perception.

Challenge their worldview.Do not be aggressive––just distrustful and curious. If they get upset, gauge their anger. If it is minimal, they may be simply having a bad day. However, if they are enraged, then they may see you as questioning their "perfect little world." In addition, having one of those is usually indicative of arrogance. At some point or another, most people realize that the world does not revolve around them. Arrogant people respond this by creating an atmosphere that revolves around them, and get angry if they are reminded of the real world.

Ambiguity terrifies arrogant people because it suggests inadequacy, change, and lack of certainty. As such, instead of accepting that the world behaves randomly and at times very averse to one's likings, the arrogant person seeks to control everything and everyone, which of course, is an impossible mission.

Reality hurts when it intrudes; as such, an arrogant person is less likely than other people to self-reflect or analyze, thereby not seeing their own imperfections. They may also give themselves undue credit for positive feats instead of admitting the input of others or of situations

Learn the quality of their friendships. Do not be nosy or gossipy, but if they are happy with someone one day and hateful with them the next, that is a sign of them having many fair-weather friends. That is a sign of egotism, since it is very hard to be a truly good friend to someone who is stuck on themselves. Prideful people have a strong need to look good, and being self-sufficient is an effective way to do that. Since being a good friend to someone usually means helping him or her, they often cannot stand the thought of a good friendship. Ironically, arrogant people often cannot understand why they do not have any dependable and kind friends.

How do they treat those not like themselves? In other words, how do they treat those with different beliefs, cultural backgrounds, and ways of seeing the world? If it is naturally negative, then they are either over-zealous, ignorant of other people, or what to avoid those that challenge their fantasyland that caters to them and them only. Determine this based on their general personality and the people they are interacting with. Many times, prideful people have a serious "my-way's-the-only-way" attitude. This is simply a defensive mechanism for their false image or their fantasyland.

What is their personality like? Take note of how they act, talk, and use their social status. Do they have a general sense of "coolness"? Are they a gabber? Do they act like they own the place, or act like the "big dog"? Are they very keen on their self-image? •Many arrogant people have a false charm that no one seems to see through. However, the arrogant person is usually more than happy to show their cruel side to those that they don't like.

When they are cruel, their friends will usually ignore it or not do anything to stop it since they are afraid that they'll be treated badly by their "friend."

Mention people you know that they do not like. This is not meant to begin a conflict, but to gauge their conflicts, frustrations, and hatreds. If their criticism seems to be reasonable, they probably are not hubristic. If it's harsh, they are. For the most part, arrogant people see people that they do not like as threats to their perfect little world. The more they hate someone, the more dangerous that person is to their fantasyland. And in turn, the bigger the threat, the tougher the criticism.

Ask around to see what they have been saying about you. If they have been saying bad things about you, they may simply not like you. If they are nice to your face, but talk bad about you behind your back like it's their favorite hobby, then they probably have a problem with pride. Arrogant people often subconsciously know that they do not have any good friends. They recompense for this by creating the "impression" that they have many friends - they have a "quantity, not quality" mentality. Then they simply insult their trophy friends when they are not looking.

Be compassionate. Do not be critical of arrogant people or you risk having as negative an outlook as they do. Arrogant people are often trying to hide certain weaknesses and fears. Most of the time, the need for a strong and undisputable self-image comes out of deeply rooted pain. Obviously, you also don't need to be taken in by their claims to be bigger over you. Stay upright and detached. However, you can reach out and see the genuine good in them and praise what is real, rather than apparent or forced, talent. Sometimes, having someone push through the abruptness can free the arrogant person to be much truer to themselves, allowing them to stop shielding themselves so fiercely.

An enormous amount of weakness tends to hide behind arrogance. This leads to overcompensating, so that the weakness is deeply repressed. For example, if an arrogant person grew up poor but later becomes rich, he or she may be arrogant about everything they can now afford because they are covering up the fear of poverty from the past...

Successful Vs The survivor

You all might have heard about the success stories of people or groups, their exceptional hard work and tremendous achievements. Like wise how many exist in this world? Why we don’t have 7 billion tremendous success stories. Why success is behind only a few fractions of people? You call it fate? Then you are in the group of “The survivors”. The followers!!!

   

We all are frantically behind those success stories of others trying to know about those people, learn from them , copy from them, follow them and will ultimately become the survivors. Those people who are willing to compromise, their by labelled as “The Common Crowd” or will belong to the most common and favourite terminology “The Common Man “

  

Its time to think; why most of the people fall in the category of “The Common Man”. Because most of us will make compromise, we look for shortcuts to live the life successfully, we are emotional & human, and the magnitude of the selfishness is less. Do you feel strange? But that is a hard core fact. Yes, we all; the survivors are selfless!!

  

Most human have an urge to become an independent individual by the age of 15 to 18. But then they have to face the harsh realities of the real world; the realisation of the world will again send back some people back to their cocoon and the others will try to brave the world they are into. This is where you will be classified in the category of a successful person or the survivors. There are different aspects which are decisive on this classification.

• Capability to think big
• Observation capacity
• wisdom ,common sense & general knowledge
• Looking for shortcuts
• Creating the comfort zone
• Character
• Personality development
• The expectation from the family which was fed into person since childhood

To be continuied .....

Emotional Intelligence

For decades, a lot of emphasis has been put on certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, Math skill, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills etc. Researches were puzzled by the fact that while IQ could predict to a significant degree academic performance and, to some degree, Professional, and personal success, there was something missing in the equation. Some of those with fabulous IQ scores were doing poorly in life; one could say that they were wasting their potential by thinking, behaving and communicating in a way that hinder their chances to succeed.

                One of the major missing parts in the success equation is emotional intelligence, a concept made popular by the groundbreaking book by Daniel Goleman, Which is based on years of research by numerous scientist such as Peter Salovery, John Meyer, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg and Jack Block, Just to name few. For various reasons and thanks to wide range of abilities, People with high emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life than those with lower emotional quotient even if their classical IQ is Average.

Emotional Intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meaning of emotions and their relationship and to reason and problem-solve based on them. Emotional intelligence is involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion related feelings, understand the information of those emotions, and manage them.

What Emotional intelligence is not?

• Congestive intelligence (IQ)
• Aptitude
• Achievement
• Vocational interest
• Personality
• Static – Result can change over time

Four areas of Emotional Intelligence

Self-Awareness
·         Emotional self-awareness :-Recognizing emotions and their impact
·         Accurate self-assessment:- Knowing one’s strength and limits  
·         Self-confidence:-A strong sense of one’s self worth and capabilities

 Self-management

·         Emotional Self-control :- Controlling disruptive impulses and emotions
·         Transparency:- Displaying Honesty and integrity ; Trust worthiness
·         Adaptability:- Flexible in adapting to changing situation
·         Achievement :- the drive to improve performance based on inner standards of excellence
·         Initiative :- Readiness to act and seize opportunities
·         Optimism:- Seeing the upside in all events

Social Awareness

·         Empathy:- sensing the emotions of others ;Understanding their perspective and taking an interest in their concerns
·         Organizational awareness:- reading the currents, decision networks , and policies aat the organizational level
·         Service :- Recognizing and meeting the needs of followers

Relationship Management

·         Inspirational Leadership :- Guiding and motivation using a compelling vision
·         Influence:- Wielding a range of tactics for persuasion
·         Developing others :-Bolstering the ability s of others through guidance and feedback
·         Change catalyst :- Initiating , managing and leading in a new direction
·         Conflict Management :- Resolving Disagreements
·         Building Bonds :- Cultivating and maintaining a web of relationship
·         Team Work and collaboration :- cooperation and team work

How does Emotional Quotient (EQ) scores over IQ

1.       EQ is much less fixed than IQ
2.       EQ is Broader than IQ
3.       IQ is industry based , whereas EQ is emotional based
4.       EQ induces the hunger to learn and gain Knowledge
5.       EQ can develop over time
6.       Training , Coaching and feedback substantially improves EQ

You can develop Emotional Intelligence

®     “Rewire” your response to feelings
®     Change how you think about this
®     Alter your Behavior

Nine strategies for Promoting EI
1.       Taking time for mindfulness
2.       Recognizing and naming emotions
3.       Understanding the cause of feeling
4.       Differentiating between emotions and the need to take action
5.       Preventing depression through “Learned optimism”
6.       Managing anger through learned behavior or distraction techniques
7.       Listening for the lessons of feeling
8.       Using “Gut feeling” in decision making
9.       Developing listening skills

Importance of Emotion Intelligence in Organizations:

·         The higher you go, the more EI matters … the more social competence matters
·         50% of work satisfaction is determined by the relationship a worker have with his/ her boss
·         EI is a prerequisite for effective leadership across borders. It requires a high level of self-mastery and people skill ; Ability to put yourself into the position of others  

Who is Emotionally Intelligent; how does it matter?
                Emotional intelligence improves an individual’s social effectiveness. The higher the emotional intelligence the better is the social relations

          The high EI individuals, most certainly can better perceive emotions, use them in thought, understand their meanings, and manage emotions than others. Solving emotional problem likely requires less cognitive effort for this individual. The person also tends to be somewhat higher in verbal, social, and other intelligence, particularly if the individual scored higher in the understanding emotions portion of EI. The individual tends to be more open and agreeable than others. The High Ei person is drawn to occupations involving social interactions such as teaching and counseling more than to occupations involving clerical or administrative task.

        The High EI individuals, relative to others ,is less Apt to engage in problem behaviors and avoid self-destructive ,negative behaviors such as smoking ,excessive drinking ,Drug abuse or violent episodes with others . The high EI person is more likely to have processions of sentimental attachment around and to have more positive social interaction, particularly in the individual scored highly on emotional management. Such individuals may also be more adept at describing motivational goals, aims, and missions
       Emotional Intelligence has become an important consideration in HR Planning, Job Profiling, Recruitment interviewing and selection, management development, customer relations and customer service.

               

Strategies for Handling Workplace Violence

It seems as if violence in schools and worksites are so common that they only dominate the headlines for a news cycle or two. But even if the public is becoming desensitized to workplace violence, employers should be aware of the dangers and repercussions of violent incidents

Ten years ago it was terrorism and pandemics. But workplace violence has really emerged as a top threat, and not just in businesses that have a blue-collar workforce. Workplace violence is a growing concern for businesses ranging from IT firms to health care firms to banks to manufacturing companies.

When things that might seem small at first build up and aren’t addressed soon enough by an employer or an employee who might be experiencing them, that’s when things can take a turn for the worse and end up being a real incident that makes the news.

Unfortunately, no guide exists to help employers pinpoint the workers who might turn to violence. No one has ever and will ever come up with a profile of workplace violence that's sufficiently predictive to screen employees. As a result, companies often fail to address the larger issue surrounding workplace violence.

Workplace violence is an issue of increasing concern. In fact, 70 percent of Employees apparently are unhappy in their jobs. Sabotage could be even more deadly and a greater risk to our safety than bringing a gun to work. It could be poisoning products, creating environmental contaminants. These are all the kinds of things that we need to worry about and ensure that we don't have workplaces full of people who are angry, bitter and feel resentful.

The most dangerous person in the workplace is “the grievance collector” – an employee who has outstanding grievances related to the people, policies or processes in the workplace. Many of these frustrated employees first share their grievances before turning to violence. It’s typically signaled in advance. Employers should be aware of workers who may have mental illness, personality disorders, or who may be involved in domestic violence issues.

The programs aimed at addressing workplace violence should include the following elements:

•A crisis plan – don’t make a 200-page binder, just need to have a thoughtful plan that says, ‘If these things happen, what do we do?’” Employers should treat potential acts of workplace violence as threats that are just as serious as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, pandemics and power outages.

•A crisis team –have to have people who are going to take charge on a local level if there’s an act of workplace violence or a threat of workplace violence. If something happens and no one knows who to go to or who’s going to take the lead, things start breaking down

•Training – As is the case with any safety initiative, training is a key element in an employer’s efforts to address workplace violence. Probably the most important thing to prevent workplace violence is to provide some awareness training to help employees know what workplace violence is and how to recognize the signs and symptoms. If employees knowing how to recognize when there could be a potential for workplace violence in any form, and knowing who to go to when they see it.

•Practicing – Periodically, the crisis team should conduct tabletop exercises to simulate incidents of workplace violence

•An emergency messaging system – Good communication is essential in any crisis. But relying on a phone tree isn’t a viable communication strategy. Nor is relying on your building for critical information. Having a Web-based communication system that can send messages to employees via email, text or voice. If there’s a massive incident, a lot of times the cell towers get flooded, and voice messages won’t go through, but text messages will.

Are you Sympathetic, Empathetic, or Compassionate?

This article is to make you aware on where you position yourself among this feeling on a person or persons lower than your social status. What is “social status” meaning in this article? I am not talking specifically about the socially underprivileged people or about the below poverty line individuals. I am discussing about who are lower than our level in the society. In simple words “ lower in social hierarchy”

For example, Bill gate may feel like we all are lower than his social hierarchy, we may even receive a part of his charity program. like machine in hospitals , street lights ,even roads and infra-structure

We all have a certain level of feeling and responsibility to the group of people whom we feel lower than our social hierarchy. That responsible feeling could be defined in the three words, Sympathy, Empathy, or Compassion. The words looks very similar. Does it have a similar meaning? The answer is a big No

Sympathy - is the perception, understanding, and reaction to the distress or need of another human being. Sympathy is a feeling. Sympathy is a concern for the well-being of another only. In another words Sympathy is only a concern feeling or a thought.

If you’re sympathetic to the people below your social hierarchy, it does not any good for those people. A sympathetic person need not have to do an action. Most of the people in this world are in this category. We all have a bad feeling about the people who’s is not at par with us in the society.

Empathy is the capacity to understand what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes. It is understanding and sharing of a specific emotional state with another person. It is not as easy as we think. Most of the people think they are Empathetic. Very few people have the capacity to be empathetic, without undergoing the similar scenario. Example; to understand a hungry person, you have to feel the misery of hunger for period. Sympathy and Empathy are often used interchangeably.

Society does not have any advantage if your are empathetic, similarly like sympathy, you don’t have to act on your feelings. You can understand the people but you can opt out and does not to take action on the feelings.

Compassion: is really the act of going out of your way to help physical, spiritual, or emotional hurts or pains of another. That is a magical word because we have an action associated to it. Compassion may be considered rational in nature and its application understood as an activity based on sound judgment. More involved than simple empathy, compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to ease another's suffering.

Dalai Lama once said that "compassion is a necessity, not a luxury", and that without it humanity cannot survive. Compassion is a process of connecting by identifying with another person. This identification with others through compassion can lead to increased motivation to do something in an effort to relieve the suffering of others.

Now it’s is up to you to introspect on where you stand

Have you heard about a “Midlife crisis” ...

  

Mid-Life Crisis is a term that was first made up by Elliott Jaques in a paper called "Death and the Mid-Life Crisis" published by “The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis in 1965”. It is a time in which grown-ups come to realize their own shortness. A mid-life crisis may occur when a person meets within themselves because of unrealized goals and insights. When experiencing a mid-life crisis, people may re-evaluate their endeavors in terms of their dreams.The result may be a desire to make substantial changes in areas such as career, work-life balance, relationships, spending or even physical appearance. The situations lead to midlife crisis is typical to ones lives

Signs of Midlife crisis

•  Deep sense of responsibility for not accomplishing personal goals
• Fear of shame because of more successful colleagues/ friends
• Wish to achieve the feeling of youth
• Want to spend more time alone
• Confusion, hatred or anger due to work, health, economic, or social status
• Striving to correct the missteps they feel they have taken early in life
• Feeling that your life no longer fits you

How to manage midlife crisis?

 Do not give up hope. You deserve a second chance at your own life. Even if it is small, hug to whatever hope you can find. It will save you.

1. Find a new activity, try many different things until you find a perfect fit.
2. Frame yourself with constructive people, find some new friends.
3. Seek professional help; when you are down and out, an impartial neutral advice from a professional will get you back on track
4. Believe in your capabilities; do not ever stop trusting in your capability to master a crisis. You can /will do it.
5. Change what is not working. You have to change. Hard? Yes. Possible? Absolutely. Challenge all the things that are not working, one at a time.
6. Figure out what you really want. Keep a table, do whatever you need to do, in order to figure out what you really are and truly want in your life.
7. Take it one day at a time as it comes and, little by little, you will find yourself putting that crisis further and further behind you.
8. Treat your body right. What you need is a body that is in peak physical condition so it can help you battle those unpleasant emotions
9. Join a club or group. There may be people as you are. Find them and work together to conquer your crunches. However, it does have to be something that will inspire, uplift, and support you.