No Dilemma

As long as you live in the competitive world there is no need to be a saint. Be as materialistic as possible. Don't try adopting a middle path. You will neither be here nor there. Once you become a saint then never get back to the materialistic world. By maintaining this binary stand you will not have any confusion. Moreover, initially you will be able to excel in this material world and later end your life in a peaceful way by becoming a saint.

Passion has to be your Profession

If U have to make it really big "your passion has to coincide with your profession". So, try figuring out what is your passion because you will be concentrating all your energies towards that alone. This in fact is the secret of all people who have reached the zenith in their respective fields. It is as simple as this ( really?). Well, it may look simple, yet many people in this world find it extremely difficult to figure out what is it that they are really passionate about ( including myself).
You will spend most of your time in your profession, if that becomes your passion, just imagine about the feats that could be achieved.
No frustrations, No diversions, you can completely immerse yourself in your work. This is the only path for you to reach the "epitome of success". So, cheers friends, it is possible for all of us to achieve something big by following the simple principle mentioned above.

Freudian slip

I came to know about this phenomenon in one of our team outings. I will try explaining the phenomenon to you. You might have observed that many people convey certain messages accidentally ( This is a specific case of the generally observed phenomenon - "The slip of tongue"). Although the person may deny that it was just a "slip of tongue" or unintentional that in fact is his or her true emotion or opinion (or could be a simple fact) , the semi-conscious release of the repressed truth ( or feeling or intention).

Ex: A person using some other lady's name to address his wife or girl friend reveals something about his promiscuous relationship with that lady. (Now this is just an example :))

So, after reading about the phenomenon, I hope U will pick the subtle clues or hints given by the people with whom U interact. ( Especially your kith and kin) .

Preachings

Our lives could be broadly classified into two phases:

Influx phase: As the name suggests this is the in-flow phase, during which a person should try to imbibe as many good qualities and knowledge from the environment (or from other people) as possible through observation. This phase involves more of copying.

Efflux phase: Again as the name implies it is the outflow phase during which we pay back the society using all the knowledge gained during the previous phase. This phase involves more of our individuality and carving a niche for ourselves.

These phases are not strictly mutually exclusive and could overlap to certain extent.

There is no point in leading all our lives only in knowledge seeking. Imagine the progress that could have been achieved by the human civilization if everyone in this world had only the leech mentality.

Secret of success

Shun or seek the ego depending on the situation.

Don't U think it makes sense? If not, Let me try convincing U. Now if somebody questions Ur ability or challenges U, U should seek your ego and prove the other guy wrong.At the same time if a person is highly successful and there is a lot that U can learn from him then shun your ego and just approach the person and seek the necessary help from him. ( U should never hesitate or wait for the other person to approach U, as the need is yours and not his.)

Motivation

Give your best with zest in all your quests. ( and forget about the rest:))

My observations about the mind.

Many people would have made the same observations as I have done. The only thing I am trying to do is just document some of those things here.

First, I have found that our mind generally can process about 2 tasks simultaneously. For ex: A person is driving and at the same time he is singing or speaking to some other person .

Its very difficult to increase this multitasking number above two. Even though, we may feel that we are able to do more than 2 tasks simultaneously, i feel our mind carries out those tasks sequentially but the switch happens so quickly that it gives an illusion that those tasks are carried out simultaneously. As we have "persistence of vision" in the same way we can call it "persistence of thought" .

The next observation is common . Our mind operates in two planes i.e. it has something called short term memory and long term memory. I would not like to go in detail w.r.t to this observation as it is a very obvious concept.

One thing I keep wondering is why is that sometimes we will not be able to recollect certain thoughts when someone interrupts us. I have personally observed this phenomenon many a times in my own life.

One explanation I can think of is the thought is erased before it is matured.