Friday, October 20, 2006

Zen thinking altitude

How high can you reach? What's your ultimate altitude?

With respect to what Jesse Jackson or Donald Trump are saying about that, I state that

Aptitude + Attitude = Altitude




In other words: the level that you reach is a combination of your natural given talents (aptitude) and your attitude.

To raise your altitude, you'll have to change and improve your attitude by learning.

This "learning" is well demonstrated by the English language trainer, Sreenadhachary, at a workshop on the "Importance of English Language in M.N.C.s".
Sreenadhachary trains Indian man and woman in learning English with simple principles:

  • A positive frame of mind and learning from mistakes are both needed to improve
  • Good learners make mistakes unknowingly and correct themselves knowingly
  • The glory lies not in avoiding a fall but in getting up every time you fall down

Sreenadhachary uses several other techniques to achieve that job aspirants improve their accent and try to speak English in the way an Englishman does.

However one general rule could be added:

"To Speak English", "Think English"


In fact this rule could be generally applied to an higher altitude and new principle or formula:

"To XXX YYY", "Think as YYY"


Where you could substitute for XXX verbs like "help", "fight", etc.
For YYY you could substitute all kind of nouns like "English", "your best friend", "God", "your enemy", etc.

By substituting different verbs verbs for XXX, you'll first conclude that it doesn't apply, but on a deeper thinking-level you'll grasp it, learn from it and know what to do.



A nice application of this Zen-like-thinking is a Sun Tzu like quote like:

To beat your enemy, think like your enemy


Be sure not to mesh up with the pitfall that "thinking like" is the same as "becoming-like".
By "thinking like thousand different people", you don't become like one of them, they'll all enrich you on your path, YOU !

However.. see what happens if you substitute "Think" by "Be" or "Become like" (i.e. "to beat your enemy, become your enemy"). Dare you?

Remember, it's your decision to change your attitude and to decide to make this day a beautiful day


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