Microstory 161 – Praise
I was listening to Jaysamit talk with Tom. In that, he mentions research on how a set of students who were randomly picked and praised in a class did well in the exam. It applied to me as well as I recollected some of my teachers who used to praise openly in class. One of the things I have learned from my father and mother was also about this art of praising. So I also decided to pay it forward and have been practicing at home for some time. You can’t demand praise and who knows it better. I noticed that my younger daughter was on her devices for a long time and I wanted to distract her and make her understand how I practice digital detox. She was head down engaged in watching the Roblox game. I delivered some gems of wisdom. I ended with ” You can look up to me”. She looked up and cleared her throat and then there was silence.
As GB Shaw said, ” Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn”.
That night, I slept off early. The next morning my wife told me that your words had quite an impact on her. She had taken out some A4 sheets and pencils and this was the outcome:
Microstory 162 – At Suez
When things do not go well we use the phrase ” You are at sea”. I checked out the meaning for it and found this: Someone who’s at sea is completely lost or deeply confused. The phrase “at sea” — or “all at sea” — has a nautical source: before modern navigational systems, when a ship was at sea, it was out of sight of land and therefore in a dangerous, uncertain position.
It was one of those trips where I was caught in a traffic snarl. I couldn’t help myself venting my frustration to the driver. My rants started with why did we take this route? How much more time? Is there any other route to get to our destination? On a call with my colleague, I said “I’m all at sea.”
Last week I saw an image from a plane of a traffic jam around the Suez canal. It was in the 10th standard geography class that I had to pin the Suez canal on the map and after that, I had forgotten about it. But with the container “Ever given” the whole world got a chance to understand the length and width of the Suez canal especially its turning radius. I also read the article ” Route Canal” and I couldn’t help myself laugh away to glory. On a serious note ” This was no laughing matter”. Then I saw the meme on how did this happen? Have you ever given a try in your life on something for the first time?
The next time I’m in a traffic jam, I can say “I’m in the Suez.”
Microstory 163 – Human Touch
It was in our wellness session organized in the office that I came across this video. Incidentally, I was hearing Seth Godin and it connected with me on this message.
Bruce Springsteins sang …
Share a little of that human touch
Feel a little of that human touch
Give me a little of that human touch
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