It is the ability to make good decisions in difficult situations.
Being clever at the right time. Never panic,
there is always a solution for your challenges.
An interview was going on in the final round,
the interviewer asked candidates to choose between the two –
10 simple questions and one really difficult one. The candidate
opted for difficult question. The interviewer asked: what comes
first – an egg, or the Hen?
The candidate promply responded: the Hen. The interviewer
was surprised with candidates’ quick response, and asked –
Why? What makes you think like that?
The candidate smiled and replied: you cannot ask me second
Question. You agreed for one difficult question!
The candidate could do it, because she did not panic, think
Calmly, and acted accordingly.
In a store in USA, a man asked for ½ kg of butter.
The salesperson, a young man said: there is only 1 kg pack
available in the store. The man insisted on buying only ½ kg
So the boy went inside to Manager’s room and said:
“An idiot outside wants to buy only ½ kg of butter”.
To his surprise, the customer was standing behind him.
So the boy added immediatgely, “And this gentleman
wants to buy the other half.”
After the customer left, the manager said: “You saved
your position by being clever enough at the right time.
Where do you come from?”
“I come from Brazil. The place consists of only prostitutes and
Fooball players.”
The manager replied coldly: “My wife is also from Brazil.”
To this the boy was stunned for a moment, but regained
his posture, and asked excitedly: “Oh yeah? Which team
does she play for?”
Everyone is not gifted with presence of mind. How do you then
develop it?
- Listen carefully – listen intently as if this is the last time
you are hearing it. Don’t start judging from few words
from the speaker. The speaker is not just sharing
her/his opinion, they are adding some valuable
information for you.
- Observe – concentration and focuse are the key elements
You have to observe the performance you liked.
- Multitasking – not all are good at it. If you are one of them,
focus on one task at a time. If not, when you are handling
one task, you start thinking of next; and risk both the
tasks.
- Prioritise – do it soon, else you start thinking of the other tasks
and loose focus on all tasks – on hand and waiting for
your actions.
- High and Low attention tasks – switch to low attention
Task for some time while doing high attention task.
e.g. if your doing a large project work, switch to
housekeeping documents for 5 – 10 minutes and
come back to project work, giving your mind rest and
refreshing.
- Take short breaks – you cannot focus continuously
for 8 hours. Divide your whole job in small chunks
of 1-2 hours and take 5-10 minutes break in between.
- Be comfortable – Make sure your work environment
is comfortable to you, or adjust yourself to it.
You cannot blame environment for missing important
things.
- Keep moving – keep your body moving, like during an
exam, the students keep moving in the room; or,
the speaker/presenter keeps moving while preparing
her/his paper. It helps focusing on what you are doing
- Emotional balance – you might have personal issues
that keeps you bothering from concentrating on your
job. Separate your personal life from professional
life.
Suresh Shah, Pathfinders Enterprise
My thoughts in above write are inspired from Antoni Aloy’s drama Presence
0f mind (2001) script