66 day challenge

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Picture credit - ​Hubris Crimes in Greek Tragedy and Law - ThoughtCo
Day 65 - Communication Skill
13 June 2020
Prabodh Sirur
sirurp@gmail.com
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My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise an ancient term ​Hubris​ from Greek Philosophers
and a Hindu mythological story around Hubris.
What is Hubris?
(Sources - ​Oxford Dictionary​)
Hubris is a behaviour to intentionally dishonour someone. Hubris comes
mainly from excessive pride and overconfidence.
The best ancient discussion of hubris is found in Aristotle's Rhetoric.
Aristotle’s ​definition of hubris​ is - doing and saying things at which the
victim incurs shame, not in order that one may achieve anything other than
what is done, but ​simply to get pleasure from it​.
The cause of the pleasure for those committing hubris is that by harming
people, they think themselves superior; that is why the young and the rich
are hubristic, as they think they are superior when they commit hubris.
The Learning
- By shaming and insulting someone (especially in public), we create
permanent enmity with that person
- In retaliation, the person may bring misery to us in future or may bring
harm to himself out of self pity
- Communication is a powerful tool; it has power to build someone or break
Story - Duryodhan’s insult (story from ​Mahabharat​)
They say the cause of the war between Kaurav and Pandav brothers is
Duryodhan’s insult by Draupadi.
Duryodhan (the heir apparent of the blind emperor Dhrutarashtra) and his
entourage were invited to Pandava’s amazing palace called Mayasabha.
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The palace was full of architectural wonders and many illusions built by the
architect Maya. For example, what looked like a solid floor was actually a pool
of water.
Duryodhan stepped on one such pool, and slipped waist deep in water,
drenched from head to foot.
Draupadi, the hostess and the Pandava queen and her maids saw this from
the balcony and joked that what happened was normal; what more can we
expect from a blind man’s son?
Such irresponsible and hurting comment from Draupadi made Duryodhan
angry and he vowed to kills Pandavas.
The Learning
Hurtful communication​ results in pain for the recipient. Commonly these
messages are combinations of profanity, threats or attacks on appearance,
competencies, origins or character. It causes loss of self worth for the
recipient of the communication.
If you are the recipient of such communication, how will you respond? Here’s
an example of a great response from ​Steve Jobs​.
My learning so far on this topic
Day 5 post​ - 5 Ways to Build Your Personal Brand Every Time You Speak
Day 15 post​ - 3 Simple Frameworks to Give Effective Feedback
Day 25 post​ - Pixar’s top 6 Rules of Great Storytelling
Day 35 post​ - Two TED talks - How miscommunication happens (and how to
avoid it) & The importance of emotional tone in the digital age
Day 45 post​ - Two Books - Skill with people & Made to Stick
Day 55 post​ - Two movies - The King’s speech & Arrival
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What is Communication Skill?
Communication Skill is the ability to effectively give and receive information.
Different types of communication - Verbal (oral/ written)/ Non-verbal/ Visual,
Formal/ Informal, One-to-one/ One-to many...
The purpose of communication - to inform, to express feelings, to imagine, to
influence, and to meet social expectations
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to ​become a go-to person​ by mastering the art and science of
communication​.
Follow the ​LAST model​ to build your personal brand as a Guru of ​communication​.
Learn​ - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of
communication
Apply​ -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to ​communication
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share​ - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train​ - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
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Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge​ to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge​ (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF​ defines Life skills as - ​psychosocial abilities​ for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals ​to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life​. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills​ for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills​ for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills​ for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The ​World Health Organisation​ identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
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6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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