Pareto principle!

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

The 80/20 Rule means that in any set of things (workers, customers, etc.) a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are considered trivial.

I first learnt it in my computer engineering course. I vaguely remember it was something to do with Software Development cycle or something like that.

I revisited Pareto principle in my MBA days.

I recently re-revisited a revised Pareto Principle (90/10) when I read an article supposedly by Stephen Covey which said that "10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react."

Now, 5 months down in 2008, I realise that not only I am revisiting Pareto principle, I am LIVING it.

As 16th June approaches (the day Fountainhead School opens to 200 bright new faces), my mind is a muddle of excitement and stress. (I had a similar feeling when I was in my 9th month of pregnancy waiting for Sunay to arrive).

A lot of vital things for the school are being done in the last 20% of time. Sometimes, I wonder, was I inefficient earlier/ napping for the past 5 months? But hey! the Italian economist said this in early 1900's. So, I assure myself that it is normal and keep going on.

On some days, I am at my efficient and effective best,am productive at work and am a happy,worn out individual when I go to bed. On some days, I am stressed, panicky and move around with a sense of urgency which refuses to translate itself into productive work and I sit up in the middle of the night thinking of the work that I need to do tomorrow and what I could have done today.

I need to direct this nervous energy in productive work...

So, signing off now..

In double digits now!!!

Sunay boy is 10 months old today!!

In another 2 months, he will be a year old! I know its so cliched but time has really flown by..

Have planned today to plan my week ahead so that I dont get stressed out with work.

Will blog soon.. looking for some inspiration to write about..

I could get addicted to this!!

One thing that I love about children is that they are so expressive, attentive and unconditional about their love! I get to witness this amazing phenomenon about children every once in a while in school.

I remember when I was back from maternity leave and was in class one day. I had a long night and looked tired. Next day,I had a good night's sleep and was fresh and energetic in class. A girl, all of 4 years, told me "kya baat hain! Aaj aap fresh aur cute lag rahe ho".

Another incident which happened recently: I was wearing a long skirt to school. This was a Wednesday, the day when children have a free choice in deciding what to wear to school. (The rest of the days, they are in their school uniform). One girl told me “Mujhe bhi skirt pehenna chaahiye tha, fir main bhi acchi lagti thi, aapke jaise).

It is such WOW ! moments that I realize how natural and instinctive children are!

Motherhood too brings its share of WOW! Moments. Whenever I reach home for lunch, Sunay almost dances on seeing me and leaves whatever he is doing and demands to be picked up! I wonder, when was the last time anyone was so happy on seeing me that he actually danced???

This kind of love, attention and compliments can be addictive!!! Especially for a person like me, who is “high maintenance” when it comes to emotions!!

Signing off now..

It’s a Sunday morning and this summer has been the most gentle summer I have experienced in Gujarat in the past 5 years. I am loving it!!

Hibernation ends!!

My sis recently complimented me on how I could manage blogging when Sunay was 2 months old. Thats when I realized that I have not managed to blog since that.

So, I now officially welcome myself back to the world of blogging..!!!

While in Delhi recently, I was discussing with cousins on government, governance, poverty etc etc. That time, Vardan and I spoke about how Surat really has an efficient government and municipal corporation. Vardan also spoke about the slum rehabilitation housing schemes that we see in various places in Surat. Such schemes have been misused or unused in places like Delhi, Mumbai etc. I recently happen to pass by such a slum rehabilitation housing society close to where I stay. It was such a pleasant surprise! It was clean, well maintained, nice garden, lawn and the best part of all- a day care center. Very very impressive! I felt pretty good about living in Surat at that moment!!!