Total Quality Person!

“If you are living someone else’s definition of success, then it is not TRUE SUCCESS.”
Most of us compare ourselves with others and desperation on frustration sets in. The often-heard statement is, “I am not as good as him/her.” This is how you start living somebody else’s definition of success. Many of us start creating idols in our minds and fall prey to the thought that only if we are as good as him/her, we will achieve success. If you really look at it, the idol of yours is as imperfect as you are. Look closer and you will find that you are good or better in many aspects than your idol. Mere possession of material wealth is not happiness as you see it. But, contentment is necessarily the most important ingredient to feel and act successful. Have you taken time to sit down and find out your plusses and minuses? Have you looked around and seen that many of your plusses are unique to yourself? Once you know what you are good at and what you are not that good at, keep evaluating whether you have taken one step for the better every day. In other words, ask this all important question, “Are you better than your previous best?” How does one better his previous best? The only way to do is to find out first what makes one tick? What is it that you enjoy doing? What brings out the best in you? What can propel you too much better heights of performance? Do something pretty simple.
Sit down, relax and write down the things you would like to do.
These should be what YOU LIKE and not what you think others will like. You should enjoy doing these things. Doing what you like and excelling in doing what you like brings out the best in you and you will see your competence sparkling all the way. Once you consistently live your life the way you like it, you will see that previously, you were being driven by thoughts and likes and dislikes of others than yours. May be, you find yourself with your success ladder leaning against the wrong building. You should find out the way to move this ladder to the building of your dreams. When you start being better than your previous best, you start upgrading yourself and you shine as a TOTAL QUALITY PERSON! Yes, as it is mandatory in quality, consistent performance and continuous improvement becomes an every day occurrence and you start delivering what you promised. You become an ACTIVATIONIST! Actions speak louder than words in your case. You start walking the talk and people around you start noticing you. Yes! You become a player than a mere spectator. Slowly and steadily, you will be emulated. Ask yourself this question, “Can I be regarded as a person who can be emulated?” Go ahead and ask another question? “What are those qualities in me that others would love to emulate?” Once you are the competent self and you know what you enjoy doing the most, keep pegging yourself at a higher-level everyday. Being better than your previous best will enable you to do just that. You do not have to complete Herculean achievements. The seventy five year old LIC Agent, who came for the workshop on selling skills, when asked as to why he thought fit to attend the workshop, said that even one point he learns that day can enrich him and his team members and he looked forward to pass it down to his grandchildren when he went home! What a great thought! Most of us learn for ourselves, but here is a person who extends his competence to others as well so as to keep the second line of leadership ever ready to take on the mantle of leadership excellence. You can evolve to be better than the best by communicating positively. A positive thought or a positive deed or a positive gesture can make the day for
someone and if it does, you have bettered yourself. It is well said, “Fifty years from now, no one will remember which shirt you wear, which car you drove, which bungalow you stayed or which club you went to. All that matters would be whether you had made a positive change in somebody’s life.
To communicate is to touch people at the right place, at the right time and in the right way. Talking and writing form only part of communication. When you communicate effectively, you touch people positively and you build a strong bridge between or among the parties in question. The first and foremost requirement for communication to touch someone is to mutually involve in the communication. You will certainly get enamored by the film star who gets the Oscar or the scientist who gets the Nobel prize or the author who gets the Booker price. However, it is momentary and it is very difficult to remember who got what after sometime. Although you have affection and adoration for the person concerned, there is no permanent bridge that is built to sustain the onslaught of time. Now, you think about another scenario. Don’t you remember the teacher who made your life a little different in school? No one ever forgets the name of the teacher who made his/her life a little better. Here, the bridge is built
strong and no advent of time or any tide can obliterate that positive impression created by that teacher. Yes! Can you list out ten such persons who will remember you after you are long gone and fondly remember the change you made in his/her life? Then, it is sure that you have communicated effectively. The other ways of achieving efficacy in communication are by showing gratitude, by giving more than what is expected and by sacrificing willingly. Gratitude is a divine quality. God pushes persons to high levels of competency if they show gratitude and pull down those who are ungrateful. One of the sure ways to fall from the peak of success is to ignore those people who helped you to reach the pinnacle. “No matter how big are your achievements,
SOMEONE always helps YOU.” One might pride himself/herself as a self-made man/woman, but the reality is that many would have given the extra push or pull that let you reach the peak. Mother Teresa said, “Give till it hurts.” She must have kept in mind both the giver and the taker. The person who gives should give without the question, “Should I give this much?” The person who takes should be made to ask, “Is it right for me to take so much from this person?” A preacher mentioned this incident in one of her articles. She was traveling in a bus which stopped at a traffic signal. She saw two women, apparently rag pickers who were sitting on the pavements of a closed shop. They had one child each with them, both aged around five. One child had a banana in her hand and was quite thrilled about it. The other did not have anything in her hand and was longingly looking at the child with the banana. The woman with the child who had the banana took the banana from the child’s hand and made it into two pieces and gave one to the girl child without any prompting and then went her way! Yes! For her and her child, the one banana was quite a wealth, but she decided to give even if it hurt her and her child! Sacrifice gives you inner strength and this is also divine. Only, successful persons with guts can sacrifice. They have the will to forsake and forgive too. The nature of forgiving, the attitude of sacrifice and forsaking something for the benefit of others put you on a loftier platform and others start noticing you. The ‘half naked fakir’ was noted by the world and the world wondered whether someone like him could have lived in this world. Sacrifice teaches you to expect the best and plan for the worst scenario. You will have to be careful not to expect rewards straightaway, but everything straightens out in due course of time. When you touch people with your positive communication, you tend to become a benchmark in your area and you also become a brand. The overall competence in you makes you shine better than the others in your field and a brand is built.
The mantra to succeed is not a one step solution, but it urges you to the right things in the right way, the first time every time. The key to success is not being a genius or winning a lottery or clinching one big deal. Today, you start by doing one small thing that can make a small positive difference and if you like the results, do it again and again. Over
time, the law of small differences will make a huge difference in your life.
As someone said, “To the question of life, you are the answer. To the problems of your life, you are the solution.” Many a time, we look around for answers and solutions when these are available with you and within you. We have been discussing about carving out a success highway for us, but the measure of success is in finding out the tools to achieve the same and applying the same in our lives. What are those tips or tools that can make us competent that success becomes a habit and you better the best every time? Being credible, reaching out to better standards, innovating to improve, expecting the unexpected and using synergy to better your performance can you the cutting edge.
“The world is moving so fast that often, someone who says that something cannot be done is proved wrong by someone who is already doing it.” Mr.Narayanamoorthy – Chief Mentor - Infosys
You are no more living in a world where there is a set pace and unhurried actions and you are treading on blissfully. It is one massive rat race in which winners are not only decided by how much they have accomplished, but by how well they have achieved. Look around you. You will see that ISO certification has become the general standard. Quality consciousness has reached such a feverish pitch that there is a queue for such certifications. People keep trumpeting about the six sigma certification soon after they start the documentation.
“Things do not turn up in this world until someone turns them up.” -Arindam Choudhuri
With increasing competition and sky rocketing customer demands came the onslaught of quality. The world saw the price factor losing its previous importance and people started talking about ‘value for money’. Changes in lifestyles made marketing challenges more complex This phenomenon made the word ‘quality’ liable for multiple interpretations. Today’s world demands quality at all levels, all the time. Quality also revolves round the person or the product or the services of the organization.
Quality is to deliver what is promised. Then, what are the criteria for measuring personal quality? The most important seems to be credibility. Credibility is cultivated by continuous and consistent performance by delivering what he/she promised.
Quality is paying attention to details. Quality is not in big things alone. Quality sparkles in small things too. In other words, there are no small things! Even if you are wearing a branded suit and expensive perfume, a pair of unpolished shoes can take the sparkle away. Quality is like reputation. It takes years to build and a day to ruin! Continuous improvement and consistent performance should be your watchwords. The world forgets all the good deeds of the past and focuses on the smallest faults and
pitfalls. Quality is not like reputation, it is reputation. Once you lose your reputation, it takes some time to regain the lost ground. Manage reputation like it is your life. Quality is doing things right the first time. The world is watching you. A second chance may not be given to you. Hence planning goes a long way to reduce the risk of misfiring. Quality is cultivating and maintaining healthy relationships. The riches you amas will have no meaning if you do not reach out to people. Liking people, maintaining and retaining relationships will enable you to grow richer in your emotional bank accounts. Quality is a journey and not a destination. The best bridge has not yet been built, the best poetry is not yet written, the best game has is yet to be played and the
best speaker is yet to emerge! There is scope for raising the bar every time and creating super levels in quality. Quality is being the best in whatever you do. As Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“If you are a sweeper, sweep like hell and strive to be noticed as the best sweeper in the world.”
Quality is adding value to people. Quality of a Leader Manager lies in developing the second line of leadership. Quality is to let people go so that they can get going. The name of the game is empowerment. Quality is offering services to your customers beyond their expectations. Customer delight brings the sparkle of excellence to whatever you are doing. Quality is having your passion ignited to pursue excellence. They go the extra mile in satisfying or even delighting the customer. Such people do not
compromise on quality. Quality shines on you when you choose to reject mediocrity and strive for excellence. You have to shrug off the comfort jackets and decide on bettering your previous best. Decide that you will be second to none and are entitled to get
the best. Often, you will find that you do get the best. Quality becomes a permanent feature on you when you do your duty plus a little more. Total Quality persons never shun responsibilities and ensure super levels. Even God had planned for us to show quality. He made the world and left it unfinished so that we may enjoy the excitement of creations. As Oprah Winfrey said, “Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” It is not enough that you show quality in patches. It is necessary to strive for QUALITATIVE QUALITY. Quality that spurs you to perform will get you the podium place. Yes, to run the race as if there is no finish line will give you that extra push to go ahead and WIN! Quality is going to be the business buzz word that is going to be with us for a long time. Being Total Quality persons will decide whether you are ordinary or extraordinary.Confidence follows competence. Competence dares you to perform and succeed. Confidence is the elixir that power drives you to success and beyond!

Seven Habits of Highly effective People

1. Be proactive
2. Begin with end in mind
3. Put first things first
4. Think win win
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the saw

(Stefen r Covi)

EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE

The child first starts working with the "Exercises of Practical Life" which leads to the overall development of the child. Here the child performs activities like sweeping, polishing, pouring, sorting etc.
The EPL are designed to teach the child to function in his own environment by teaching him how to cope with the things around him. The daily functions of our house are routine and simple to us but they are new and exciting to a child. So often we scold a young child for banging doors etc. and yet have we ever taken the time to show him the proper way of doing things.
It is only after he has learnt to master his home environment, then the child is ready to begin the more complicated process of learning. In the Montessori environment the child is introduced to activities like threading, which helps in the strengthening of the writing fingers. Similarly different activities like Solid Pouring and Liquid Pouring enhances the child's concentration. He learns the importance of hygiene through activities like sneezing, coughing etc. and social graces through activities like "Assalam-o-Alaikum". These activities indirectly prepares the child to move forward in the different areas of learning.
Practically Speaking (About Practical Life)

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING (ABOUT PRACTICAL LIFE)

The practical life exercises are the very foundation for the Montessori classroom. Concentration and development stem from these essential exercises. In this essay, I will discuss the importance of these exercises in conjunction with their aims and presentation. Practical life exercises take on different appearances in different cultures. No matter if a child is setting the table with polished silverware or polished chopsticks one thing remains undisputed, these exercises are fun. Certainly they have aims and controls of error. They are preparation for countless developmental and academic skills, but what draws the child to practical life and keeps him coming back is sheer pleasure. E. M. Standing writes, “The first thing to realize about these exercises of practical life is that their aim is not a practical one. Emphasis should be laid not on the word ‘practical’ but on the word ‘life’.” (Her Life and Work, page 213) The American Heritage Dictionary includes in its definition of “practical”, “Designed to serve a purpose without elaboration”. Therefore, these exercises can be viewed as purposeful and sensible, yet powerful. They are individual yet cumulative, simple, enjoyable tasks with a multiplicity of rewards. Initially, a child is drawn to the practical life exercises by the design and attractiveness of the material. A table washing activity for example could involve a brightly colored bucket with coordinating basin, pitcher and cleaning supplies. The lessons in the practical life area should be presented with precise movements and as few words as possible. The teacher must always bear in mind that the child will absorb more from watching than from verbal instructions. She should make every effort to maintain that the child’s attempt will be successful, thereby allowing him the freedom to pursue his inner needs and sensitivities. This is the direct aim of all practical life activities, to set forth the child’s ability and freedom to work in his own time and space. Indirectly, the child, through practical life, is addressing his attention to detail as each activity has a certain regiment of procedure and placement. While to the curious onlooker, these steps and placements seem tedious and exaggerated; it is satisfying to the child. We must remember that the purpose of these exercises such as polishing, may not be the end result of a polished piece of silver, but the concentration and attention given within the process itself. Maria Montessori viewed the practical life area as the most critical are of the classroom. Some instructors believe that this vital area should account for 25% of the classroom environment. It is in this area that a new student is introduced to his taste of freedom through movement, and the unfolding mind awakens to new discoveries. Each activity of practical life, through its pleasure to the child, has an indirect preparation for things to come. As a whole, practical life subtly invokes independence, leading to greater self-confidence. Concentration is enhanced through repetition. I have observed many children who will wash the same table, day after day. Recently one girl brought in every shoe in her house which could be polished and rhythmically and enthusiastically polished every one, every day until she was finished. Did she know that the circular motion in which she used to polish the shoe was an indirect preparation for handwriting? She did not care. It was fun!

The child in the Montessori classroom has no physical or social restrictions, leaving him free to socialize while enjoying his work. This social interaction will develop self-esteem and social awareness. As the child becomes more proficient in his work, his sense of worth will be further boosted by his ability to present a lesson to a younger child. Acceptable social behaviour will evolve through interaction encouraged in practical life. The grace and courtesy lesson will enable the young child to proceed in life with respect for himself and his peers. He will have the vocabulary and manners necessary for polite and interesting conversation. Furthermore, this simple lesson in practical life will lay the foundation for his sense of community. “Through practical life exercises of this sort the children develop a true ‘social feeling’, for they are working in the environment of the community in which they live, without concerning themselves as to whether it is for their own, or for common good.” (The Discovery of the Child, page 95)
The child’s spirit is nurtured through such activities as the silence game. In this lesson, the child learns reverence for himself, and his ability to create his own surroundings. The game, often played collectively, allows the individual child to be in touch with himself, even his soul. It teaches the child how to create and appreciate silence, not as punishment, but as a joy of controlling oneself, a joy of living. Exercises such as walking on the line and rolling a mat develop the refinement of the child’s large motor skills and movement around others. Presentations of such exercises can be given collectively, individually, or to a small group. Other activities within practical life promote fine motor skills, dexterity and coordination. The dressing frames promote all of these physical attributes, yet self-esteem is readily displayed the first morning a child dresses himself. Polishing and pouring promote hand-eye coordination captivating the child through the points of interest within the exercises. In later years as he is writing and reading, he will not realize that these simple activities helped foster his current skills and love of learning. The practical life exercises should entice, enrich and encourage the child. Intellectual enrichment is achieved through the child’s ability to absorb through his environment. He learns to organize his workspace in accordance with his environment. The cycle of activity in each exercise calls to his sense of order and self-esteem. I have seen children return their work to the shelf with great pride, then summon another child that the lesson is now ready for him. This independent cycle of activity invokes responsibility. As adults, we would do these activities with our thoughts in a thousand different places doing different things. No so with the child. The child’s mind is focused on his task and each particular step involved. He is in control of each step, producing logical thinking. His inner sensitivity of order is rewarded through this methodical, precise exercise. The control of error in each exercise does not produce feelings of frustration, but feelings of logical order and control leading to self-confidence. “Although the exercises are skill-oriented in the sense that they involve washing a table or shining one’s shoes, their purpose is not to master these tasks for their own sake. It is rather to aid the inner construction of discipline, organization, independence and self-esteem through concentration on a precise and completed cycle of activity.” (Montessori, A Modern Approach, page 71) So one might ask, how, through this methodical, logical area of the Montessori classroom can the child enhance his creativity? Each unique practical life exercise has a point of interest, a part that draws the child from within. Table washing has the soap on the sponge, the circles on the table made by the brush, the waterfall made by pouring the water from bucket to the floor sink. Many times children have brought me a sponge with a mound of suds on it and said, “Look Mrs. Bayliss, I made a wave.” The points of interest are aptly named, and become points of creativity. Practical life exercises have amazing purposes, aims, and developmental qualities, but I find that the beauty of practical life is that it is a place for children to relax. Time and time again, I have seen an older child busy with the rigors of the moveable alphabet or decimal system, then, their work complete, they enjoy a respite of pleasure through practical life. This phenomenon was illustrated to me recently at my own home. My eight year-old daughter had been in a Montessori school for four years. Now she is in a more traditional school with an adequate amount of homework. After we worked on her homework for a while, I gave her a break to go outside and play, to run off some energy before tackling another difficult phase of her studies. After some time outside, she came to me beaming, holding with the dog’s water bowl. “I washed the dog’s water bowl, doesn’t it look better?” I laughed out loud and called her my Montessori child. She found solace and relaxation through her own practical life activity. Practical life activities are to adults, a futile exercise, mundane drudgery, a means to an end. Yet to children, they are open doors to life and development. They are an enjoyable, intriguing adventure, a social gathering, a soothing comfort, a place to unwind. Practical life exercises are fun.

Annual Function 2009

Annual Function 2009 of Color's up Montessori School was held on 28th Feb 2009 at Children Library Complex Mall Road Lahore Pakistan. Students of Pre-Primary and Primary level performed excellent. Fancy dress show of reception level was so beautiful, in which different cultural dresses of four provinces , kashmir and traditional characters like heer, Ranjha and kids favourite superman, micky mouse was looking very nice.

Kids of Nursery level performed on jungle poem and rainy poem.

Senior Level performed on famous " lab pe aati ha dua ban ker" prayer of Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal ( national poet of Pakistan).

Prep class performing on Allah Hoo very amzing it was.

The wonderful performance of class one was on Nazia Hassan's famous song " Talli da Thaly" which was very much honoured by the audience and parents. Their Banghara was also very good.

Two plays " Red riding Hood" and " hansel and Gretal" was performed by Class 2 & 3.

Class three students performed wonderful on the theme song of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan the great singer of Pakistan.

Mr. Adeeb Javadin and Fozia Adeeb was the chief guest.

Mr. Sameen Shafaqat presenting shield to chief guest Mr. Adeeb Javadani.

The fmous singer mr. Zain (the hit films khoey ho tum kahan and Kurri Punjabi films) sung beautiful songs at the end.

Another famous character of Geo Tv program (Hum sab Umeed sa hain) American president obama entertained the kids as well as audience.