Kenrick Vaz

A Hole in the Boat

A man was asked to paint a boat. He brought his paint and brushes and began to paint the boat a bright red, as the owner asked him.

While painting, he noticed a small hole in the hull, and quietly repaired it.

When he finished painting, he received his money and left.

The next day, the owner of the boat came to the painter and presented him with a nice check, much higher than the payment for painting.

The painter was surprised and said “You’ve already paid me for painting the boat Sir!”

“But this is not for the paint job. It’s for repairing the hole in the boat.”

“Ah! But it was such a small service… certainly it’s not worth paying me such a high amount for something so insignificant.”

“My dear friend, you do not understand. Let me tell you what happened:

“When I asked you to paint the boat, I forgot to mention the hole.

“When the boat dried, my kids took the boat and went on a fishing trip.

“They did not know that there was a hole. I was not at home at that time.

“When I returned and noticed they had taken the boat, I was desperate because I remembered that the boat had a hole.

“Imagine my relief and joy when I saw them returning from fishing.

“Then, I examined the boat and found that you had repaired the hole!

“You see, now, what you did? You saved the life of my children! I do not have enough money to pay your ‘small’ good deed.”

So no matter who, when or how, continue to help, sustain, wipe tears, listen attentively, and carefully repair all the ‘leaks’ you find. You never know when one is in need of us, or when God holds a pleasant surprise for us to be helpful and important to someone.

Along the way, you may have repaired numerous ‘boat holes’ for several people without realizing how many lives you’ve save. ❤️

Make a difference….be the best you…

Waiting on the World to Change

We all have had lofty dreams of changing the world and making a difference. At times, I am so frustrated with all I see happening in our country, city and even our locality. We expect others to change – change their callous attitude towards the environment, the less fortunate and at times even towards us. Change the way things run in our country, the corruption, the greed, the selfishness…oh the list goes on and on and on! Many a time we may even catch ourselves expecting the same of our family and friends.

Can’t help but think of John Mayer’s song Waiting on the world to change

Changing the world seems impossible and that is because we are looking at it the wrong way. Focusing on changing people, social structures will only lead to conflict and negativity. At times, with all good intentions, we think of this as helping others. Yes, helping others feels good, and if we are making a difference, we should feel better, right? Most of the time by helping others, we are actually just distracting ourselves from helping ourselves.

There’s this little story told of a philosophy professor catching his student at class staring out at the window gazing at a young lady. He told the student “What are you looking at? Rather than looking outside, take a look within and introspect!”

Very deep and profound…look within and see how you can improve yourself so that you attract her with who you really are. Similarly with change, why wait on the world to change, start small and start with changing yourself!

And this leads then to the Ripple Effect. If you have ever watched a ripple in a pond expand, or heard one person’s laugh result in a room full of laughter, you know how little actions lead to monumental movements.

If we all change a little, become a little better, and inspire others, through our actions, to do the same, together we can change the world. Start by making a small ripple in the pond.

For example, if we want everyone else to stop littering and cleaning, why not start by simply picking up what others have thrown in your own society/road. I still remember our English professor at Xavier’s, Verona Vaz, exhorting us to lead by example in the local trains. When you see someone about to chuck something out of the window, request them to hand it over to you. I still remember so many students having the side pockets of their bags always with biscuit packets and what not, collected simply from leading by example!

Changing the world seems daunting. However, the small changes you make each day eventually lead to big changes. Little by little, as you change yourself, you will become confident. You will become strong. You will become brave. Without even knowing it, you may change the world.

Boss vs Leader

Every time I think of what it means to be a leader, the story of George Washington comes to mind

One day during the American Revolutionary War, George Washington rode up to a group of soldiers trying to raise a beam to a high position. The corporal who was overseeing the work kept shouting words of encouragement, but they couldn’t manage to do it. After watching their lack of success, Washington asked the corporal why he didn’t join in and help. The corporal replied quickly, “Do you realize that I am the corporal?” Washington very politely replied, “I beg your pardon, Mr. Corporal, I did.” Washington dismounted his horse and went to work with the soldiers until the beam was put into place. Wiping the perspiration from his face, he said, “If you should need help again, call on Washington, your commander in chief, and I will come.”

Like me, I am sure you too have role models who walk the talk. We have plenty of examples from Gandhi to Mandela. One modern day role model that comes to mind is Virat Kohli. He has stopped endorsing Pepsi and fairness creams because of their association with junk food and racism.

Here is a lovely infographic to check where you stand :)

There’s No Such Thing As Overnight Success

Overnight successes don’t happen overnight. Stories of overnight success are a myth, or greatly exaggerated. And no great thing is created suddenly. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

No great thing is created suddenly
Epictetus

Steve Martin, the famous comedian, summarises his stand-up career in the following words: “I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success.”

Malcolm Gladwell speaks of The 10,000 hour rule in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. In essence the rule is this: “to become an expert in anything, you need to spend 10,000 hours practicing it.” We are all blessed with talents and gifts. What separates the “overnight successes” is plenty of time and effort to attain perfection.

In a study on peak performance by Anders Ericsson, the lives and habits of violinists at an elite Berlin music academy were studied. The students were categorised into three groups based on their skill. These were the “best violinists”, the “good violinists”, and violinists from the music education department (the “music teachers”).

What Ericsson found was that there was one key factor which separated top performers from the rest. It was this: they put in more time and effort to develop their skills. With more deliberate practice than their classmates, the violinists developed their skills to a remarkable level. There was no “innate talent” which separated the musicians, no shortcuts to their success. Not a single elite violinist was able to achieve their level of mastery without thousands and thousands of hours of effort. The key difference between average and incredible is the time it takes to get there.

The road to success is not straight.
There is a curve called FAILURE,
A loop called CONFUSION,
Speed bumps called FRIENDS,
Red lights called ENEMIES,
Caution lights called FAMILY,
You will have flats called JOBS.
BUT
If you have a spare called DETERMINATION,
An engine called PERSEVERANCE,
Your insurance called FAITH,
Your driver, GOD!
You will make it to the called SUCCESS

WWDC – iOS 15: Live Text

With iOS 15, you now have the ability to read and understand text in photos if you have a phone with an A12 Bionic processor. Apple uses secure on-device intelligence to help you discover more in your photos, quickly find what you’re looking for, and relive special moments.

Live Text intelligently unlocks rich and useful information in images, so you can make a call, send an email, or look up directions with just a tap on the highlighted text in a photo.

It understands seven different languages: English, Chinese, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. And with system-wide translation, you can simply tap and translate.

Live Text also works in the Camera app, so you can point your iPhone camera at text on the go and quickly take action on useful information.

Visual Look Up highlights objects and scenes it recognizes so you can get more information about them. You can quickly learn more about art, landmarks, nature, books, and pets simply by tapping a photo on your device or on the web.

Seeing is believing! Here is Craig demoing this at the Keynote

WWDC – iOS 15: Safari

The totally redesigned Safari coming with iOS 15 has a lot of cool things that will make it much easier to use across your iPhone, iPad and Macs. Apple shared two goals that were kept in mind with the new Safari

Making controls easier to reach with one hand
Putting content front and center

The very noticeable change is the new URL/search/tab bar at the bottom of Safari which makes it so much easier to access with one hand on the Pro devices. Having developed a few extensions for Safari, I am keen to see how these work now on the phone. But the interesting one for me is tab groups.

Chrome has tab groups which works very well. On iOS however, based on what we saw in the keynote, tab groups look and work a little differently, with labels in your tab bar and a side menu.

Tab groups sync across platforms as well, so you don’t have to worry about extensions or synchronizing stuff, and you can even share them with others. Sharing a tab group is pretty nice and I see myself using this feature a lot.

The new design may take some time to get used to, especially all the different swipes. But the redesign is much needed and useful!

The Four Re’s

Chasing our dreams and goals is never going to be an easy ride. We are bound to get exhausted, overwhelmed, frustrated and even have thoughts of giving up. When I go through this gamut of feelings, I know it is time to take a break to reset, readjust, refocus and restart.

Dale Carnegie used to tell a story about two woodsmen who spent the day chopping firewood. One of them took frequent breaks–every hour or so, he’d stop and take a break. The other worked all day chopping wood, only taking a single, long break to eat.

At the end of the day, the woodsmen who had taken the frequent breaks had chopped almost twice as much wood as the worker who didn’t rest. The obsessive woodsmen asked the one who took frequent breaks how he’d managed to be so much more productive.

The other woodsmen replied, “Didn’t you notice that every time I took a break, I sharpened my axe?”

Yes, we do need to take breaks to sharpen our axe!

This poem by Edgar Guest gives me enough motivation to keep going when the going gets tough

Don’t Quit
Edgar A. Guest

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit –
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns.
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a fellow turns about when he
Might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow –
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than it seems
To a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up when he
Might have captured the victor’s cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out –
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And when you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit –
It’s when things seem worst,
You must not quit.

Of course it is also important to know that It’s ok to give up on your dreams. We are all meant to fly, it just takes time to earn our wings

WWDC – iOS 15: Focus

Of all the interesting stuff Apple discussed, the one that made me go “WOW” was Focus. It is something that I always wanted on my phone. Ever since we’ve been working from home for over a year now, it has been very challenging for me to disconnect, to have that clear separation between your work and personal life.

Some of the key points on this feature from yesterday’s keynote:

Filter notifications and apps based on what a user wants to focus on
Customers can create their custom focus or select a suggested Focus
Focus suggestions are based on users’ context, like their work hours or while they are winding down for bed
When Focus is set on one Apple device, it automatically applies to their other Apple devices.
You can create Home Screen pages with apps and widgets that apply to the moment of focus to reduce temptation

I would have been happy with just notifications..but trust Apple to go two steps further with even allowing you to customise your home screen and widgets. And also syncing it across all your devices!

Can’t wait to get my hands on the beta to start playing around with Focus!

Which features are you looking forward to?

The Secret, The Mirror

This quote by Paulo Coelho reminds me of the Law of Attraction from “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. The book introduced many people to the concept that their thoughts may influence not only their actions but the experiences that they bring into their lives as well. So what does the law of attraction mean?

If you focus your attention on achieving a goal and believe not only that you can do it, but that you already have done it, you can achieve virtually any goal you set your mind to.
If you focus on what you don’t want, you are inadvertently drawing that into your life. For example, if you constantly ruminate on what is stressing you, you’ll actually draw more of those situations (and accompanying stressed feelings) into your life. Instead, the trick is to focus on what you do want in your life, and you’ll get more of that.
The Law of Attraction, the principle that you attract whatever you focus your energy on (good or bad), works with relationships, possessions, goals, and anything else you are able to focus on—even your own health.

If you see yourself as confident and believe that you can attain your goals, then others too will have faith in you. If you come across as hesitant and unsure, then others too will doubt. “The Mirror” is a lovely poem by Justin Farley that touched me deeply the first time I read it.

The Mirror
Justin Farley

The mirror stands tall and peers with endless eyes,
full of the power to change your course in life.
It’s skilled in planting and sowing your demise,
yet is always willing to inspire and energize.
It’s the instigator of failure’s reprise,
or makes goals and dreams actualized.
The mirror grants the viewer a new image with each sunrise,
but only reflects back what the mind supplies.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

The Devil’s Beatitudes

If the devil were to write his beatitudes, they would probably go something like this:

1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers.

2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked – I can use them.

3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church – they are my missionaries.

4. Blessed are the trouble makers – they shall be called my children.

5. Blessed are the complainers – I’m all ears to them.

6. Blessed are those who are bored with the minister’s mannerisms and mistakes – for they get nothing out of his sermons.

7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church – for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.

8. Blessed are those who gossip – for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

9. Blessed are those who are easily offended – for they will soon get angry and quit.

10. Blessed are those who do not give their offering to carry on God’s work – for they are my helpers.

11. Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister – for he shall be with me forever.

12. Blessed are you who, when you read this think it is about other people and not yourself – I’ve got you too!