The Art of Concentration

Your ability to concentrate has dramatic impact on the efficiency with which you do anything, even on the way you view and live your life. But it's a skill we seem to be losing. In the 21st century our 24/7 lifestyle enables - and expects - us to multitask constantly, to try to achieve more and more. In fact, this state of agitated distraction may even be physically harmful. Dr Dharma Singh Khalsa of the Alzheimer's Research Centre in Tuscon, Arizona, believes that the stress hormone cortisol is a fact in brain degeneration.But the good news is that you can change this; the brain continues to be "plastic" all your life. You can decide to improve your concentration - and current research suggests that in so doing you actually simulate the growth of new brain cells.

Techniques for Concentrating:

PREPARE Warming up to your task increases your chances of success. Rather than crashing into bed late the night before, then rushing out of the door in ten minutes flat to arrive late at your workplace, get a good night's sleep and rise early enough to have breakfast. Then take some exercise - even just walking for 20 minutes - before or on the way to work. Actively making "time out" between home and work creates an excellent space for thinking.

ORGANISE Start with the task you know requires the most concentration. You should be able to focus on this for up to 90 minutes, after which you'll benefit from a break. Allowing enough time for a task is important, because it can take your brain up to 20 minutes to "reboot" each time you have a break off and come back.When you've completed all you can, review what you've done, work out where you'll pick up again and make a note of the next steps you need to take.
Approaching work in an organised way - taking notes, creating mnemonics, asking questions - will also train your mind to receive information in an enquiring and engaged way for future tasks, even when you aren't making physical notes.

KNOW YOUR PURPOSE If you know where you're going with a project, you're much more likely to stay focused. If you have a big task to do, start by breaking it down into sections or stages.

REMOVE DISTRACTIONS A study by IT company Hewlett-Packard found that 62 percent of British adults were addicted to email, checking messages during meetings, after hours, even on holiday. It's been argued that there's a lot in common between these email users and gambling addicts - they get a reward only sometimes, but the chance of getting a reward keeps them going back.

Allocate time to answer emails, but don't interrupt another job to do so. If you have an email alert noise, switch it off.

When you do read an email, deal with it immediately - answer, file or delete.
Unless you need a reply, put "FYI only - no reply necessary" at the end of your email and encourage others to do the same
When you get unsolicited information you neither need nor want and there's an 'unsubscribe' option, use it

VISUALISE "I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture in my head," says championship golfer Jack Nicklaus. You too many find that envisaging your desired outcome helps you concentrate. Another strategy is to be consciously aware of times when you did really concentrate - not necessarily when working but maybe listening to music or doing a crossword puzzle. What did it feel like> Try visualising that same sensation.

LISTEN Active listening is different from just hearing. When listening to someone, look at them, make mental notes of the key points as you listen and make affirmative movements to acknowledge you're listening. You should be able to repeat back in your own words the gist of what's said.
Oddly, which ear you use can also be a factor. We naturally tend to favour one or the other when, say, using the phone, but theres evidence that the right ear us better for concentrating because it connects directly to the left brain, the side that processes language. Right-ear-dominant people do seem to find learning easier.

RELAX Fatigue is the enemy of concentration. Moreover, some leisure activities can actively promote you ability to focus. In the 1970s Mihaly Csikzentmigalyi professor of psychology and education at the Claremont Graduate University in the US, made a study of what he called "flow" - "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake". It's what athletes call being "in the zone", the holy grail of concentration. He found that it can be experienced when we relax, too: those who played sports and games experienced it 44 percent of the time, those who engaged in hobbies 34 percent and those who watched TV 13 percent. So not only can relaxation give you important downtime but it can also help you learn to concentrate better.

LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE
Good lighting aids concentration and full-spectrum light has been shown to be particularly helpful - it mimics daylight and inhibits the production of melatonin, a brain chemical that signals it's time for sleep. Avoid fluorescent light, which is tiring on the eyes because it flickers.

Source:Reader's Digest

Reminiscences of college life
It was the year 1960. Having completed my school final, I had to decide on my future career. Medicine was ruled out as blood and flesh were anathema to my family. Could I pursue a liberal arts course like history or geography or literature or social sciences? When I discussed this with my friends and well wishers, they ridiculed the idea, saying that liberal arts people ended up as clerks, leading a hand to mouth existence. Else, one has to set a goal of reaching the pinnacle by entering the administrative service. For a person hailing from rustic background that seemed a distant dream. Therefore I decided to take up engineering, at the degree level. The next obvious step was to gain admission in the Pre University course, with Mathematics, physics and chemistry as core subjects.

Madura College was a well established one, run by the TVS group. I got admission in section A of the college, with advanced English as a special elective.
We had some of the best teachers in my class. Section A comprised the cream of the students, there being 6 sections, each with a strength of 60 students. Our mathematics teacher Professor Veeraraghavan, was considered a young tiger, being the disciple of 'tiger' Thothathiri Iyengar. He used to solve enormous number of problems in mathematics. We were bowled over by his remarkable teaching, and looked up to him as our role model. The advanced English paper was handled by the Head of the department Professor Vedanarayanan himself. We had Julius Caesar as the text, and the professor transformed the class into a medieval stage and all the characters came alive and kept us on tenterhooks. The non detailed text was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. There were two principal characters called Pip and Estella. The paper was handled by a spinster called Janaki madam. She was the only woman teacher in the entire college. We were anxiously waiting to see how she would handle the portion where Pip kissed Estella. When the particular piece came, the madam gracefully skimmed through it, and our eager anticipation was thrown into the gutters.

The Chemistry professor Sundaram conducted his classes in the chemistry laboratory itself. He taught us with practical demonstration of each experiment. He expected us to reproduce his notes verbatim in the class tests. You either scored centum in his tests or just got grace marks. It was rot learning, but it helped us get the highest grade in chemistry. And it was one subject that still keeps me fascinated.

The college used to conduct debates and literary discussions, both in Tamil and English. The pre university students were encouraged to take part in these activities. I was called upon to give a talk. It was about a journey to my native place called Villur. I started off well, but mid way my mind became completely blank, and I had to sit down without completing my talk. This initial defeat spurred me to participate in all future events, until I developed a flair for extempore speech.

I was a cadet in the NCC. The rigours of parade and marching did not have much appeal for me. However the puri, vada and coffee served at the end of the parade was what sustained my interest in the NCC. Moreover, as a cadet, I was not up to the expectations of the Senior officer. Therefore from cadet I was re-designated as the quarter master Sargent, whose responsibility was to go to the mess, and fetch these items, to be distributed at the end of the parade.

The college celebrated the annual day as a gala festival. There was special lunch and evening high tea for all the teachers and students. His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore was the chief guest. He was a burly person dressed in regal splendour and bearing a majestic appearance. He gave an inspiring speech. This was followed by the highly motivating speech of the Chairman of the governing council Mr. T S Rajam. Both were wonderful speakers, making us wonder how they have mastered the alien Saxon language.
I was put up in the hostel of the college. Hostel stay was most enjoyable part of the college life. The hostel was located in a vast campus, forked by the railway tracks of Rameswaram and TIrunelveli. So you can be sure of hearing the whistling sound of rail engines throughout the day and the night.

The hostel mess was the best liked place, because the food was cheap and excellent. In the morning we were served dosa or idly or uthappam or puri or pongal or vada, accompanied with sambar and chutney. Iyengar style of cooking added to the taste and flavour. But the sad thing was that everything was limited. And for a growing young lad of 16 or 17 years of age, always
ravenous, this was totally inadequate. So I resorted to ‘looking after’ the cooks and the servers, so that when they served me, one or two additional scoops of the items used to land on my plantain leaf. Other inmates were aware of the secret arrangement, but they did not grudge, as I usually sat near close friends only; and occasionally treated them to the latest cinema fare.

The College Hostel was located in a low lying area, and prone to flooding at the slightest breach of the Madakulam tank. This happened at least twice in a year during heavy rainy seasons. The entire hostel submerged in one foot of water, so that the hostel had to be closed for a week, until the water receded. The students had to vacate the rooms and go home for the period. The hostel authorities gave us money to meet travel expenses, and we joyously went home for a mini vacation. On our return we prayed for another bout of rain and flood, atleset within the next 6 months.

What a wonderful college life, that has now become part of the memory.
 

The Hindu : Today's Paper / OPINION : Beyond the Right to Education lies a school of hard knocks

The Supreme Court's recent mandate that private unaided non-minority schools should reserve 25 per cent of seats for underprivileged children is being hailed as a landmark ruling. The spirit of the decision is indeed laudable as it reflects the egalitarian ethos of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Thus, as private schools open their doors to children from marginalised sections of society, the government pats itself on the back for engineering a social revolution. Aside from the logistical complications this entails, the government's congratulatory mood is both premature and misguided for a number of reasons. Undoubtedly, education is the quintessential passport to greater opportunities — be they economic, academic or social. As the RTE Act holds, all children, regardless of their family backgrounds or individual profiles, should have access to a meaningful education that empowers them to read critically, problem-solve analytically and think imaginatively.

ASER study

However, our collective enthusiasm for the court's decision would turn out to be misplaced if anyone bothers to do basic math. According to a study published online by Dr. Wilima Wadhwa of Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), enrolment in private schools in 2008 was 22.6 per cent. While this figure is likely to have increased since, over 70-75 per cent of our children still attend government schools. Even as private schools reserve 25 per cent of seats for economically backward children, the vast majority will still be schooled in government-run institutions. Moreover, most children in rural areas attend government schools. According to the District Information System for Education 2010-11, as many as 84 per cent of children in villages attend government schools.

If the RTE Act has to be implemented in letter and in spirit, the government cannot ignore the quality of education it provides under its roof just because it has “won” the reservation battle with private institutions. Even as the government makes private schools “socially responsible,” it still has to bear the onus of educating the majority of children. Further, the assumption that private schooling is superior to a government education is based on the fact that children in the former tend to outperform the latter in examinations. But that is a superficial reading of facts.

Once we scratch the surface, we find that other factors also contribute to children's better outcomes in private schools, as indicated in a study conducted by Dr. Wadhwa. When parental education, tuition classes and economic disparities are controlled for, the difference in reading scores between government and private schools falls drastically from 20 per cent to five per cent. In addition, we have to recognise that private schools differ vastly in terms of the quality of education they provide. This is why there are serpentine queues from the early hours of the morning for admissions into kindergarten in a few reputed schools. The scramble for seats is evidence of the dearth of quality education.

Just herding children into private schools is not going to ensure their learning unless teachers are sensitised and trained to deal with children with different profiles. According to a study conducted by Wipro and Educational Initiatives, there are significant differences in the scores of children attending schools affiliated to the various national and State boards. Besides, children in the “top” private schools also exhibit rote learning and prejudiced thinking on sensitive socio-cultural issues.

Three factors abroad

Thus, we cannot overlook the fact that our educational system, both government and private, is in need of serious overhaul. In 2007, McKinsey and Company published a report that analysed why some school systems in the world ranked highly in international assessments of literacy, numeracy and problem-solving year after year. Top performing countries included Belgium, Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea. While the countries sported vast differences, both culturally and politically, three factors regarding their education systems were common to all high performing nations.

First, a teaching job in these countries, unlike in India, is a high-status profession. In addition to receiving salaries comparable to other well-paying jobs, teacher training courses are highly selective and admit only the cream of graduates. Second, teachers are provided intensive training and new recruits are mentored on the job. In our country, teachers tend to work in isolation and inexperienced teachers are expected to handle a class on their own without additional guidance. Third, in the top-performing countries, schools try to offer the best possible education for every child by supporting those who lag behind. These schools monitor student performance closely and intervene when children fall behind by employing special educators who are trained in remedial instruction.

Thus, both government and private schools need to implement systemic changes. The coming academic year is an apt starting point when the RTE goes into effect nationally. Private schools need to welcome poor children wholeheartedly and prepare to meet the educational demands that this reservation will bring. Our educational establishments are generally insensitive to children with learning difficulties with most schools lacking formal remedial programmes. As children from weaker sections enter their portals, the need for such services is only going to increase.

A U.S. study

A study in the United States revealed that the vocabulary of a three-year-old child of professional parents was 1,100 words whereas, a child whose parents were on welfare had a vocabulary of just 525 words. Under the RTE, poor children were admitted in 2011 into Shri Ram School, New Delhi. An article in the Wall Street Journal quoted the principal, Manika Sharma as saying: “The teachers have come into my office and broken down. They say, ‘Help us. There is no learning happening for the other affluent children. What we achieved in one week with kids before is taking three weeks.'” Writer John Gardner aptly says, “The schools are the golden avenue of opportunity for able youngsters but they are also the arena in which less able youngsters discover their limitations.”

As private schools open their doors, educators have to ensure that children from poor homes do not feel threatened by their more able and affluent peers, both academically and socially. Schools need resource personnel who can counsel and help these children realise their potential. In addition to supplementary remedial classes that help students bridge the academic divide, all children should be sensitised on getting along amicably. Even as the child who comes to school in a chauffeur driven car, studies alongside the chauffeur's child, the government cannot shy away from upgrading infrastructure, enhancing teacher quality and promoting educational attainment in public schools. As a society, we need to make a concerted effort to achieve educational excellence, both government and private. Private educators and the government have to work synergistically to loosen the shackles of our strictly stratified society.

Euphoria over the Supreme Court's nod for the RTE Act could evaporate if we do some hard math.

( Aruna Sankaranarayanan is Director, Prayatna. E-mail: arunasankara@gmail. com)

A one day seminar on Selecting Projects and Presenting Technical Papers was organised in the college on 5th April, 2012. The Resource Person for the programme was Dr. S. Suresh Kumar, Principal of Vivekanandha College of Technology for Women, Tiruchengode. He is also the Vice-Chairman of IET-Chennai Networks, India. Mrs. A.K.R.S Anusha - Coordinator, IET-VICKRAMCE initiated the proceedings. Dr. Suresh Kumar started the session with the definition of Project, Symposia, Conference and Journal. He said “Projects must give solutions to the existing engineering problems”. He further said that the students must develop the art of observing and listening keenly in order to identify problems.

“ To come out successfully in any project, one must listen, understand, think and execute.” In his presentation Dr. Suresh said “ Innovative ideas from young minds form the core ideas for projects.” He also clearly explained the difference between conference and symposia. He distinguished between presenting papers in conferences and publishing papers in Journals. Reading Journals is the first step to identify problems and then one must identify the scope for future enhancements. He further said that innovative ideas can be published as conference papers. When the innovative ideas are implemented, they can be documented along with the results and published in journals, which as a result will motivate to go for that extra mile. He encouraged the students to leave no stone unturned by making optimal use of their potential to come out with flying colours in their lives. He said “One must encounter the challenges of life boldly and fly above the cloud like eagle unaffected by the thunders and rain.

He said “ Engineers are like doctors whose job is to solve the problems pertaining to engineering field. He advised the students to participate in technical symposiums and other competitions to enhance their presentation skills. He encouraged the students to keep trying hard until they achieve success. 103 IET members participated in this programme and reaped the benefits.

Success Lessons from Politicians !
The title may elicit an exclamation from some of you “what is there to learn” as most of the society seems to be disillusioned from the politicians because of the governance and the corruption issues, but let us stop and think as to what our chosen representatives may be doing right and can we learn something from them.
Here are a few of the typical character traits which we can definitely imbibe:-

1. Persistence and Perseverance
 Politicians never give up, no matter how much down the ladder they may appear to be. They have the uncanny ability and knack to resurrect themselves and bounce back.
 It is worth analyzing this trait as it is not a small thing to brave all the odds when one is down in life and work/struggle/fight one’s way back to the top again. This needs tremendous faith and courage and a ‘never-say-die-spirit’

Normally one tends to feel dejected after setbacks and defeats and even gives up the pursuit of goals that were planned. We have to understand that success and failure are two sides of the same coin and will come our way during the course of our journey in life.
If we patiently work towards achieving our goals and persist despite some adverse situations, our chances of success increase manifolds.
2. Focus
Politicians are very much focused and never have any confusion, as far winning the elections and retaining their chairs is concerned.
We must also never lose sight of our objectives and goals, which need to be pursued with a single minded devotion. Most of time we lose sight of the ‘forest’ and concentrate on the ‘trees’ alone, which distracts us from the larger picture.
3. Communication ability and Charisma
All the politicians are excellent communicators and tireless orators. They are able to expound on almost all the topics with passion and fervor. This ability to appeal and get across to others is an exceptional talent, which should be appreciated. Everyone can improve one’s communication ability through hard work and practice.

Politicians’ Charisma is based on their ability to instantly connect with total strangers. They make everyone feel loved and wanted by maintaining a clear eye contact and firm hand shake and even by hugging total strangers.

Normally a person is shy or reticent and cannot get across to others in a short span of time. It needs to be understood that others will get attracted towards us only if they get due attention and feel that we are genuinely interested in issues which concern them.
4. Ability to face criticism
It is normally said that politicians have a very ‘thick’ skin and never have heart attacks. (As they do not have a heart!) Actually they are used to divergent views, criticism and even humiliation at times and have to learn to live with all that. Even when attacked from all sides, seasoned politicians do not lose their cool, bide time to let the storm blow over and again set about their task with single minded focus.
Being overly sensitive to remarks/comments and criticism of others in not a good trait and one has to learn to rise above that, if one wants to pursue the journey without getting derailed.
5. Hard Work
Politicians can work long hours, travel extensively and attend marathon meetings. All these things they do almost on a regular basis, besides meeting scores of people and listening to them. These are facts and need to be well understood.

 Traveling in heat and dust, meeting members of the public and attending sessions of the assembly need lot of stamina. The seemingly overweight and ageing politicians have an abundant mental stamina, even if they are not physically fit. The younger ones diligently work on their fitness and stay in top shape.
The idea is to understand that there is no substitute to hard work and long hours, no matter what the profession is.
Persistence, focus, good communication, ability to take criticism constructively and work hard with passion are the qualities we need to learn for successful forays in any professional field of work.

During the euphoria of the final years of the twentieth century, a revolution was happening among all the other revolutions. Seemingly overnight, the Linux operating system caught the world's attention. It had exploded from the small bedroom of its creator, Linus Torvalds, to attract a cultish following of near-militant geeks. Suddenly it was infiltrating the corporate powerhouses controlling the planet. From a party of one it now counted millions of users on every continent, including Antarctica, and even outer space, if you count NASA outposts.

Not only was it the most common operating system running server computers dishing out all the content on the World Wide Web, but its very development model -- an intricate web of its own, encompassing hundreds of thousands of volunteer computer programmers -- had grown to become the largest collaborative project in the history of the world.

The open source philosophy behind it all was simple: Information, in this case the source code or basic instructions behind the operating system, should be free and freely shared for anyone interested in improving upon it. But those improvements should also be freely shared. The same concept has supported centuries of scientific discovery. Now it was finding a home in the corporate sphere, and it was possible to imagine its potential as a framework for creating the best of anything: a legal strategy, an opera.

Some folks caught a glimpse of the future and didn't like what they saw. Linus's round, bespectacled countenance became a favoured dartboard target within Microsoft Corporation, which was now faced with its first honest-to-goodness competitive threat. But, more often, people wanted to learn more about the kid who -- if he did not start it all -- at least jump started it and was, in effect, its leader. The trouble was, the more successful Linux and open source became, the less he wanted to talk about it.

The accidental revolutionary started Linux because playing on a computer was fun (and also because the alternatives weren't that attractive). So when someone tried to convince him to speak at a major event by telling him that his millions of followers just wanted to at least see him, in the flesh, Linus good-naturedly offered to participate in a dunk-tank instead. That would be more fun, he explained. And a way of raising money. They declined. It wasn't their idea of how to run a revolution.

Revolutionaries aren't born. Revolutions can't be planned. Revolutions can't be managed.
Revolutions happen ......

-David Diamond

...And sometimes, revolutionaries just get stuck with it.

-Linus Torvalds

-From the book Just for Fun, by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond

you can read the book if you like this.

Fascinating facts about the invention of the Ballpoint Pen by Ladislas Biro in 1935. BALLPOINT PEN

The first great success for the ballpoint pen came on an October morning in 1945 when a crowd of over 5,000 people jammed the entrance of New York’s Gimbels Department Store. The day before, Gimbels had taken out a full-page ad in the New York Times promoting the first sale of ballpoints in the United States. The ad described the new pen as a "fantastic... miraculous fountain pen ... guaranteed to write for two years without refilling!" On that first day of sales, Gimbels sold out its entire stock of 10,000 pens-at $12.50 each!

Actually, this "new" pen wasn't new at all and didn't work much better than ballpoint pens that had been produced ten years earlier. The story begins in 1888 when John Loud, an American leather tanner, patented a roller-ball-tip marking pen. Loud’s invention featured a reservoir of ink and a roller ball that applied the thick ink to leather hides. John Loud’s pen was never produced, nor were any of the other 350 patents for ball-type pens issued over the next thirty years. The major problem was the ink - if the ink was thin the pens leaked, and if it was too thick, they clogged. Depending on the temperature, the pen would sometimes do both.
The next stage of development came almost fifty years after Loud’s patent, with an improved version invented in Hungary in 1935 by Ladislas Biro and his brother, Georg. Ladislas Biro was very talented and confident of his abilities, but he had never had a pursuit that kept his interest and earned him a good living. He had studied medicine, art, and hypnotism, and in 1935 he was editing a small newspaper-where he was frustrated by the amount of time he wasted filling fountain pens and cleaning up ink smudges. Besides that, the sharp tip of his fountain pen often scratched or tore through the newsprint (paper). Determined to develop a better pen, Ladislas and Georg (who was a chemist) set about making models of new designs and formulating better inks to use in them.

One summer day while vacationing at the seashore, the Biro brothers met an interesting elderly gentleman, Augustine Justo, who happened to be the president of Argentina. After the brothers showed him their model of a ballpoint pen, President Justo urged them to set up a factory in Argentina. When World War II broke out in Europe, a few years later, the Biros fled to Argentina, stopping in Paris along the way to patent their pen.

Once in Argentina, the Biros found several investors willing to finance their invention, and in 1943 they had set up a manufacturing plant. Unfortunately, the pens were a spectacular failure. The Biro pen, like the designs that had preceded it, depended on gravity for the ink to flow to the roller ball. This meant that the pens worked only when they were held more or less straight up, and even then the ink flow was sometimes too heavy, leaving smudgy globs on the paper. The Biro brothers returned to their laboratory and devised a new design, which relied on "capillsry action" rather than gravity to feed the ink. The rough "ball" at the end of the pen acted like a metal sponge, and with this improvement ink could flow more smoothly to the ball, and the pen could be held at a slant rather than straight up. One year later, the Biros were selling their new, improved ballpoint pen throughout Argentina. But it still was not a smashing success, and the men ran out of money.

The greatest interest in the ballpoint pen came from American flyers who had been to Argentina during World War II. Apparently it was ideal for pilots because it would work well at high altitudes and, unlike fountain pens, did not have to be refilled frequently. The U.S. Department of State sent specifications to several American pen manufacturers asking them to develop a similar pen. In an attempt to corner the market, the Eberhard Faber Company paid the Biro brothers $500,000 for the rights to manufacture their ballpoint pen in the United States. Eberhard Faber later sold its rights to the Eversharp Company, but neither was quick about putting a ballpoint pen on the market. There were still too many bugs in the Biro design.

Meanwhile, in a surprise move, a fifty-four-year-old Chicago salesman named Milton Reynolds became the first American manufacturer to market a ballpoint pen successfully. While vacationing in Argentina, Reynolds had seen Biro’s pen in the stores and thought that the novel product would sell well in America. Because many of the patents had expired, Reynolds thought he could avoid any legal problems, and so he went about copying much of the Biros’ design. It was Reynolds who made the deal with Gimbels to be the first retail store in America to sell ballpoint pens. He set up a makeshift factory with 300 workers who began stamping out pens from whatever aluminum was not being used for the war. In the months that followed, Reynolds made millions of pens and became fairly wealthy, as did many other manufacturers who decided to cash in on the new interest.

The competition among pen manufacturers during the mid-1940s became quite hectic, with each one claiming new and better features. Reynolds even claimed that his ballpoint could write under water, and he hired Esther Williams, the swimmer and movie star, to help prove it. Another manufacturer claimed that its pen would write through ten carbon copies, while still another demonstrated that its pen would write up-side down. However, the effect of the slogans and advertising wore off as soon as the owners discovered the many problems that still existed with the ballpoint pens. As the sale of the pens began to drop, so did the price, and the once expensive luxury now would not even sell for as little as 19 cents. Once again, it looked as if the ballpoint pen would be a complete failure. For the pen to regain the public’s favor and trust, somebody would have to invent one that was smooth writing, quick drying, nonskipping, nonfading, and most important didn’t leak.

Two men, each with his own pen company, delivered these results. The first was Patrick J. Frawley Jr. Frawley met Fran Seech, an unemployed Los Angeles chemist who had lost his job when the ballpoint pen company he was working for had gone out of business. Seech had been working on improvements in ballpoint ink, and on his own he continued his experiments in a tiny cubbyhole home laboratory. Frawley was so impressed with his work that he bought Seech’s new ink formula in 1949 and started the Frawley Pen Company. Within one year, Frawley was in the ballpoint pen business with yet another improved model-the first pen with a retractable ballpoint tip and the first with no-smear ink. To overcome many of the old prejudices against the leaky and smeary ballpoint pen of the past, Frawley initiated an imaginative and risky advertising campaign, a promotion he called Project Normandy. Frawley instructed his salesmen to barge into the offices of retail store buyers and scribble all over the executives’ shirts with one of the new pens. Then the salesman would offer to replace the shirt with an even more expensive one if the ink did not wash out entirely. The shirts did come clean and the promotion worked. As more and more retailers accepted the pen, which Frawley named the "Papermate," sales began to skyrocket. Within a few years, the Papermate pen was selling in the hundreds of millions.

The other man to bring the ballpoint pen successfully back to life was Marcel Bich, a French manufacturer of penholders and pen cases. Bich was appalled at the poor quality of the ballpoint pens he had seen and he was also shocked at their high cost. But he recognized that the ballpoint was a firmly established innovation and he resolved to design a high-quality pen at a low price that would scoop the market. He went to the Biro brothers and arranged to pay them a royalty on their patent. Then for two years Marcel Bich studied the detailed construction of every ballpoint pen on the market, often working with a microscope. By 1952 Bich was ready to introduce his new wonder: a clear-barreled, smooth-writing, non-leaky, inexpensive ballpoint pen he called the "Ballpoint Bic." The ballpoint pen had finally become a practical writing instrument. The public accepted it without complaint, and today it is as standard a writing implement as the pencil. In England, they are still called Biros, and many Bic models also say "Biro" on the side of the pen, as a testament to their primary inventors.

 

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venkat

It is often said that innovation is at the core of sustainability, but turning that abstract idea into action isn’t always easy. How do true innovators actually make the leap from status quo to full-on disruption? First, a definition. Innovation doesn’t necessarily entail creating something new. It’s not the same as invention. Rather, innovation usually involves a fresh perspective on something that already exists--taking an idea, a technology, or a material (or aggregating several) and then considering how their use can create a positive impact in a new and better way. The process of making this leap is often scary, and requires a certain amount of gumption, as well as copious amounts of leadership, entrepreneurialism, and good design.

Innovation doesn’t necessarily entail creating something new. It’s not the same as invention.

Autodesk’s interest in discovering how history’s greatest innovators worked their magic is obvious (the company develops design, engineering, and entertainment software), and the application of innovation to sustainability is even more critical for us. That’s why my colleague Bill O’Connor began researching the 1,000 greatest innovations of all time last spring. O’Connor called the investigation the Innovation Genome Project. The goal was to discover and codify patterns and practices that people could apply to their day-to-day work to be truly innovative. As O’Connor worked with a team of MBAs from Hult International Business School to review the first 100 innovations, they quickly identified six questions that famous innovators have consistently asked and answered to generate ideas that can lead to new innovations.

These six innovation questions are:

o What could I look at in a new way? (Steve Jobs looked at the computer in a new way, leading to the Mac and the personal computer revolution.)
o What could I use in a new way? (Paleolithic humans turned fire from a scourge into a means of cooking, heat, light, and protection.)
o What could I recontextualize in space or time? (The Sumerians moved language from spoken to written form, expanding its power and reach.)
o What could I connect in a new way? (Thomas Edison connected the light bulb to the electrical grid, leading to electrified cities.)
o What could I change, in terms of design or performance? (Nearly 3 million years ago, the world’s first “innovator” transformed a simple rock into a stone hand-axe.)
o What could I create that is truly new? (In 1776, American colonists created the first “intentional” nation, based on specific abstract principles.)

So my team and I tried it. We used these six questions to come up with software that would solve a problem we had heard over and over again--that of customers telling us that they’d like to design using sustainable materials, but they couldn’t justify the extra expense. Because the materials were more “sustainable,” they assumed that they were more expensive. The third question was our catalyst. What could we recontextualize in space or time? That question led us to two more that put us on the right track: Why do all the existing design tools look at environmental impact but not cost? Whom can we bring in to create a tool that understands both?

The perfect partner to help us solve this problem was Granta Design, a materials information and technology company. They helped us develop the Eco Materials Advisor feature which we released last spring. With Granta’s materials expertise and their access to the best raw materials cost and availability data, we created a tool that illuminates both the environmental and financial costs of various materials, which can have surprising results. A silicone grip, for example, might actually make more environmental sense than a natural latex grip that requires almost 100 gallons of water to form and manufacture. Sustainability problem-solving doesn’t need to be about paying for more responsible products; it just takes a few innovative questions to make it work.
 

-© FCE
 

V. Krishnan, Principal Training Architect, Campus Force, HCL Tech. at TimesJobs.com IT & Tech Skills Dialogue Bangalore'11 from Girish Bindal on Vimeo.

     Sam Horn has had the opportunity to address to more than a half million people in more than 35 states since 1981. Her keynotes, training workshops, and conference presentations consistently receive excellent evaluations and are influential to be used immediately at work, at home, and in their community. She is the top-rated speaker at both the 1996 and 1998 International Platform Association conventions in Washington DC, and won the 2003-2004 Outstanding Capital Speaker Award. When TV newscaster Diane Sawyer was asked the secret of her success, she said, "I think the one lesson I've learned is: there is no substitute for paying attention." Are you thinking, "I agree, but HOW do we improve our ability to focus and maintain attention—no matter what?" These five FOCUS tips can help you concentrate better—whether you're working in a busy office, studying, or trying to finish a project. Here’s Horn sharing her success formula on FOCUS:

F: Five More Rule

There are two kinds of people—those who have learnt how to work through frustration, and those who wish they had. From now on, if you're in the middle of a task and tempted to give up, just do “FIVE MORE!” Read “FIVE MORE” pages. Finish “FIVE MORE” problems. Work “FIVE MORE” minutes. Just as athletes build physical stamina by pushing past the point of exhaustion, you can build mental stamina by pushing past the point of frustration. Continuing to concentrate when your brain is tired is the key for S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G your attention span and building mental endurance.

O: One Think at a Time

Samuel Goldwyn said, "If I look confused, it's because I'm thinking." Feeling scatter-brained? Overcome perpetual preoccupation with the Godfather Plan! Make your mind a deal that it can't refuse. Allow the mind to take bribes; surprisingly it does! Instead of telling it NOT to worry about another, assign it a single task with start-stop time parameters. For instance, "I will think about how to complete writing an essay early when I get home tonight, and have a chance to join family for the dinner; for now, for the next thirty minutes between 7p.m. and 7:30 p.m., I will give my complete focus to practice this presentation so I am eloquent and persuasive in my seminar."

C: Conquer Procrastination

If you don't feel like concentrating, or putting off a task you're supposed to be working on, that's a form of procrastination. R. D. Clyde said, "It's amazing how long it takes to complete something we're not working on." Procrastination never did anyone any good; or rather it just worsens everything. Delaying will only double up things, add on to your guilt, and make this onerous task occupy more of your mind and time. Hence, acquire all your spirits and conquer procrastination.

U: Use Your Hands as Blinkers

Picture your mind as a camera, and your eyes as its aperture. Most of the time, our eyes are "taking all in" and our brain is in "wide-angle focus." But what if you have to prepare for a test and you need 100% concentration? Well, cup your hands around your eyes so you have a narrow, "tunnel vision" and you are looking solely at your text book. Placing your hands on the side of your face, blocks out surroundings; so they are literally "out of sight, out of mind." (Feel the vitality of those words.)

S: See As If for the First or Last Time

Instead of mindlessly rushing here, there, and everywhere, one should pave way towards being filled with a sense of awe and appreciation for the present task, and the present moment. Next time when your mind is million miles away, simply look around you: you would really “SEE” your surroundings. Study that, as if it is the first and the last time in your life. You’ll appreciate the glory and the beauty in every single element! Marvel at the creator’s craftsmanship, and plunge into work with full passion.

Remember, great opportunities come round only once and you must not let them slip away!

Thanks for reading!

May you FOCUS right!