FROM DILIP MUKERJEA

"Genius is in-born, may it never be still-born."

"Oysters, irritated by grains of sand, give birth to pearls. Brains, irritated by curiosity, give birth to ideas."

"Brainpower is the bridge to the future; it is what transports you from wishful thinking to willful doing."

"Unless you keep learning & growing, the status quo has no status."

Saturday, August 1, 2009

ESTABLISHING DISCIPLINE, by Konosuke Matsushita

You get up in the morning, wash your face, and perform your morning rituals. Your family joins you. Your day begins with a simple and sincere moment of reflection.

ln the evening, you repeat the ritual. It need be nothing formal, but by observing a set order of events each morning and evening, you establish a rhythm and rigor in your life. A certain degree of regularity is important in whatever we do.

A life without any sort of regular rhythm falls into inertia-there is no motivation to work, no time set aside for good ideas to emerge, and good things are lost.

The same goes in business and in management. An enterprise run without rules and regularity will, in due course, collapse. It may hold up all right in good times, but will topple quickly in caseof recession.

Just as the strongest embankment can collapse if it is full of ant's burrows, a big enterprise without rigor and rules will cave in.

By establishing some rules in the small things in life, we can cultivate the resilience and strength to succeed in big things.

Discipline is important in cultivating rigor and regularity. We should strive to acquire discipline in daily life, for it serves us personally as well as prevents us from inconveniencing others.

We should do our best to discipline ourselves and establish a life with rhythm and rigor.

[Excerpted from the July 2009 issue of Japan Close-Up, published by the PHP Institute, Japan. Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989), was the founder of Panasonic Corporation.]

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