The Art of Self-Management -1

Having worked for over three decades as a manager in several organizations, I am tempted to write a piece on the "Art of Self-Management". Managing oneself and managing an organization are intertwined. If one can effectively manage oneself, chances are better for a person to mould as an all-round manager. The purpose of my writing is to draw upon some of India's ancient wisdom and provide quick guidelines to learn the secrets of Self-Management. I intend covering the subject in several phases. This article is the first in the series.

Take a look at ourselves. Each one of us is a manager, consciously or unconsciously. Don't we manage our bodies, our homes, our money, our families and so on? Our growth is related to our ability to manage our thoughts and attitude towards the objects and individuals around us.

Swami Vivekananda said, 'Expansion is life. Contraction is death'. Expansion that is guided and managed positively for the welfare of all, is indeed good management. Self-management has to be both broad-based and goal-oriented, both for internal growth and external endearment.

When the whole world is changing rapidly, we cannot but change. So, this may be a good time to give a thought on how we should change and learn the techniques of improved Self-Management.

When we refer to self, we usually refer to personality, that is conditioned by behaviour. A sense of self is a connection to one's natural state of being. Once we are aware of our conditioning factors, we can also bring about a change in the conditioning. Recognize that self-management is conditioned by various factors. The most common factors are - I call them 4Is- Inertia, Impulse, Instinct and Intellect. Since it is believed that humanity evolved from the inert matter, impulsive plant kingdom and the instinctive animals, our intellect is to a great extent governed by them. Whether it is true or not, it does seem that among the human beings there is intelligence expressing itself as inert or inactive brain, as impulses, as instincts, as intellect and as intuition. All of us are governed by one or more of them. Every person is endowed with intellect. It is left to the individual either to use it, abuse it, ignore it, or make it powerful to make it intuitive. Much depends on how we use our intellect to conduct ourselves.

In short, Self-management is recognizing the conditioning factors, managing them and improving one's own intellect. When the intellect is not used, it is inertia. When it is sporadically used, it is impulse. When it is silently used, it is instinct. When it is actively used, it is reason or discrimination or rationalism. However, if it learns from earlier mistakes and blossoms into better judgement in every situation, it becomes intuition. Effective Self-management should unfold that latent intuition.

Ancient Wisdom

Our ancestors lived in an environment conducive to contemplation, meditation and self-luminous intuition. The world today has significantly changed. We now live in the age of cut-throat competition, high-speed internet and instant results, materialism, selfishness, and globalization. Survival is getting tougher. Morals are getting outmoded. Righteousness is becoming scarce.

Despite such a frightening scenario, let us not lose hope. Divinity is hidden in each of us. Let us take guidance from our ancient scriptures. all and dynamism is the conspicuous trait of the youth. Direction is the need of the hour. The latent light of Godliness will very soon shine well for the well being of all.

We often hear of the words "Aham Brahmasmi" meaning 'I am Brahma". Hinduism believes that each soul is potentially divine. That means, we have the ability to outgrow all inertia, impulses, instincts and perversions, and thereby shine with inherent radiance. Our thoughts affect our character and eventually our destiny. Let us draw upon the experience of our wise ancestors and learn the art of self-management.More to follow.