My Old Friend

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,

And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows
I like him just as well,

As in the days when I rang his bell.
And he rang mine but we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name.
Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim
Just to show that I'm thinking of him."
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner, yet miles away,
Here's a telegram sir," "Jim died today."
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend.

Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love someone, tell them.
Don't be afraid to express yourself.
Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.
Because when you decide that it is the right time it might
be too late.

Seize the day. Never have regrets.
And most importantly, stay close to your friends
and family, for they have helped
make you the person that you are today.

Ek Software Engineer

Apne Project ke bojh tale daba jaa raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

zindagi se haara hua hai,
par "Bugs" se haar nahi manata,
Apne application ki ek ek line ise rati hui hai,
par aaj kaun se rang ke moje pehne hain , ye nahi janata,

din par din ek excel file banata ja raha hai
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

das hazaar line ke code main error dhoond lete hain lekin,
majboor dost ki ankhon ki nami dikhayi nahi deti,
pc pe hazaar windows khuli hain,
par dil ki khidki pe koi dastak sunayi nahi deti,

satuday-sunday nahata nahi, week days ko naha raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

Coding karte karte pata hi nahi chala,
bugs ki priority kab maa-baap se high ho gayi,
kitabon main gulab rakhne wala , cigerette ke dhuyen main kho gaya,
dil ki zameen se armaanon ki vidayi ho gayi,

weekends pe daroo peke jo jashna mana raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

maze lena ho iske to pooch lo,
"Salary Increment" ki party kab dila rahe ho,
hansi udana ho to pooch lo,
"Onsite" kab ja rahe ho?

wo dekho onsite se laute team-mate ki chocolates kha raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

kharche badh rahe hain,
baal kam ho rahe hain,
KRA ki date ati nahi,
Income Tax ke sitam ho rahe hain,

lo phir se bus choot gayi, Auto se aa raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

Pizza gale se nahi utarta,
to "Coke" ke sahare nigal liya jata hai,
office ki "Thali" dekh munh hai bigadta,
maa ke hath ka wo khana baar roz yaad ata hai,

"Sprout bhel" bani hai phir bhi, free "Evening Snacks" kha raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai,

aapne ab tak li hongi bahut si chutikiya,
Software engg. ke jivan ka sach batati ye akhri kuch panktiyan,

hazaron ki tankhwah wala, company ki karodon ki jeb bharta hai,
software engg. wahi ban sakta hai, jo lohe ka jigar rakhta hai,
hum log jee jee ke marte hain , zindagi hai kuch aisi,
ek fauj ki naukri, doosri software engg. ki , dono ek jaisi,

is kavita ka har shabd mere dil ki gehrayi se aa raha hai,
Wo dekho ek Software engineer ja raha hai...

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Source: A forwarded mail... :)

You can do anything - but not everything.

Excerpt from "You can do anything - but not everything." interview of David Allen.

I really liked this article.

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So a big part of setting priorities is being clear about your values?

Be careful. That's a very popular notion these days: If you focus on your values, then you'll improve the "balance" between your business and personal lives. Give me a break. Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won't simplify things. You'll just discover even more stuff that's important to you.

I've been working with the most values-driven organization that I've ever come across. And it has a big burnout problem. People there are always invited to collaborate; everyone wants to play. But how many 7 AM-to-7 PM meetings can you attend? You want to attend all of them because your values tell you that they're all important. But your spouse and your kids start saying, "We never see you."

We suffer the stress of infinite opportunity: There are so many things that we could do, and all we see are people who seem to be performing at star quality. It's very hard not to try to be like them. The problem is, if you get wrapped up in that game, you'll get eaten alive. You can do anything -- but not everything. The universe is full of creative projects that are waiting to be done. So, if you really care about quality of life, if you want to relax, then don't focus on values. Just control your aspirations. That will simplify things. Learning to set boundaries is incredibly difficult for most people.


Most people make the opposite choice. They feel such a sense of responsibility to their job and to their colleagues that they become even more harried ...

Which is utterly self-defeating. Your sense of "responsibility" is a function of your response ability. I learned that in karate. Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax. The power of a karate punch comes from speed, not muscle. And a tense muscle is a slow muscle.

In other words, you can't do things faster until you learn how to slow down. How do you slow down? It's all about the dynamic of detachment. You have to back off and be quiet. Retreat from the task at hand, so that you can gain a new perspective on what you're doing. If you get too wrapped up in all of the stuff coming at you, you lose your ability to respond appropriately and effectively. If your inbox and your outbox are completely full, or if people are screaming at you, then it's difficult to back off and think about things at a different level.

Have you ever felt as though time disappeared? Say, when you're really into a good movie? Or when you're busy doing something that you love, and the morning just flies by? From my spiritual practices, I know that when you get to some levels of existence, space and time seem to vanish. When I'm at those levels, I don't even think in terms of space and time anymore. When everything really lines up for me, speed is not an issue, because I have found my own rhythm. That rhythm may seem lightning fast or deathly slow, but inside me it's all the same. It's outside time.

Look at the best martial artists. They move very slowly. The faster you type, the slower it will feel to you, because you surf with your thinking. The same thing applies to reading: The faster you read, the more time will disappear, because you'll be able to feed stuff to your brain as fast as your brain can process it. That's why speed readers have better comprehension. They've trained their eyes to recognize stuff as fast as their brain can handle it.

But it's hard to leave space and time behind when you're distracted. If there's an open loop, space and time will find it. And anything waiting for a decision is an open loop. If there's a stack of papers on your desk, you have to decide on a course of action. As long as you've let that pile into your world, it's got a hold on you. What's the very next thing that you need to do? Until you decide on that, there's a gap between where you are and where you need to be -- a big black hole that will suck you in.

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Source: You can do anything - but not everything.
Author: David Allen, one of the world's most influential thinkers on personal productivity, offers his unique advice on how to keep up the pace -- without wearing yourself down.