Book Review

'The Three Mistakes Of My Life'

                              By Chetan Bhagat

          The three mistakes of my life is a beautiful book about three best friends and a journey through life. Govind, Ishaan and Omi's unconditional friendship is profoundly engaging to read.

       It is about the three mistakes of Govind Patel a math’s teacher and businessman with two wonderful best friends, Omi and Ishaan. We are introduced to this true friendship whereby together they work hard to fulfill their dreams. Through pliant and struggle they stay by each other and see part the negative. Continue to build their shop and gain contacts.

          This is definitely one of my favorite book of all time by an acclaimed writer. It is a story which takes us on a journey to  their life which proves reality.

1.          Comment on the symbolism in the poem The road not taken ...

      The poem has title 'The road not taken' not the road less travelled by. It focus on the lost Opportunities the road that poet did not take.

          But the poet made a choice and took a path. In taking that path he gave up his chance to make the other one which symbolically mean to the choice he made in his life and how they are going to affect his life. What could have happened if he made a different choice? What was life would have been like?       

          It makes us to think about some situation when there are two or more options and one has to be choose. The situations may be of Jobs, countries,  universities or any day to day activities facing the fear of choice. These are not always easy, because either we success or not which matters a lot in ones life.

          An example of this would be when Robert frost says, "Though as far that, the passing there, had worn them really about the same" This means that the road were basically the same. He also states this when he discribes how they equally lay and covered with leaves. And he choose the one which is less traveled or not preferred by others.

          The Poem is a wonderful and simple. It is about lost Opportunities and the complexities of choice not just choosing path that fresh and new.

2.          What is the barriers of effective        communication?

The process of selecting and organizing symbol to represent a message requires skills and knowledge. The obstacles which can interfere with the effective message are as under. There are seven types of barriers of effective communication.

Ø Physical barriers

Ø Perceptual barriers

Ø Emotional barriers

Ø Cultural barriers

Ø Language barriers

Ø Gender barriers

Ø Interpersonal barriers

1. Physical barriers:

Physical barriers are easy to spot – doors that are closed, walls that are erected, and distance between people all work against the goal of effective communication. While most agree that people need their own personal areas in the workplace, setting up an office to remove physical barriers is the first step towards opening communication. Many professionals who work in industries that thrive on collaborative communication, such as architecture, purposefully design their workspaces around an “open office” plan. This layout eschews cubicles in favor of desks grouped around a central meeting space. While each individual has their own dedicated work space, there are no visible barriers to prevent collaboration with their co-workers. This encourages greater openness and frequently creates closer working bonds.

2. Perceptual barriers:

 Perceptual barriers, in contrast, are internal. If you go into a situation thinking that the person you are talking to isn’t going to understand or be interested in what you have to say, you may end up subconsciously sabotaging your effort to make your point. You will employ language that is sarcastic, dismissive, or even obtuse, thereby alienating your conversational partner. Think of movie scenarios in which someone yells clipped phrases at a person they believe is deaf. The person yelling ends up looking ridiculous while failing to communicate anything of substance.

3. Emotional barriers:

Emotional though to barriers can be overcome, but are important to put aside to engage in conversations. We are often taught to fear the words coming out of our own mouths, as in the phrase “anything you say can and will be used against you.” Overcoming this fear is difficult, but necessary. The trick is to have full confidence in what you are saying and your qualifications in saying it. People often pick up on insecurity. By believing in yourself and what you have to say, you will be able to communicate clearly without becoming overly involved in your emotions.

4. Cultural barriers:

 Cultural barriers are a result of living in an ever shrinking world. Different cultures, whether they be a societal culture of a race or simply the work culture of a company, can hinder developed communication if two different cultures clash. In these cases, it is important to find a common ground to work from. In work situations, identifying a problem and coming up with a highly efficient way to solve it can quickly topple any cultural or institutional barriers. Quite simply, people like results.

5. Language barriers:

 Language barriers seem pretty self-inherent, but there are often hidden language barriers that we aren’t always aware of. If you work in an industry that is heavy in jargon or technical language, care should be taken to avoid these words when speaking with someone from outside the industry. Without being patronizing, imagine explaining a situation in your industry to a child. How would you convey these concepts without relying on jargon? A clear, direct narrative is preferable to an incomprehensible slew of specialty terms.

6. Gender barriers:

       Gender barriers have become less of an issue in recent years, but there is still the possibility for a man to misconstrue the words of a woman, or vice versa. Men and women tend to form their thoughts differently, and this must be taken into account when communicating. This difference has to do with how the brain of each sex is formed during gestation. In general, men are better at spatial visualization and abstract concepts such as math, while women excel at language-based thinking and emotional identification. However, successful professionals in highly competitive fields tend to have similar thought processes regardless of their gender.

7. Interpersonal barriers:

       Interpersonal barriers are what ultimately keep us from reaching out to each other and opening ourselves up, not just to be heard, but to hear others. Oddly enough, this can be the most difficult area to change. Some people spend their entire lives attempting to overcome a poor self-image or a series of deeply rooted prejudices about their place in the world. They are unable to form genuine connections with people because they have too many false perceptions blocking the way. Luckily, the cure for this is more communication. By engaging with others, we learn what our actual strengths and weaknesses are. This allows us to put forth our ideas in a clear, straightforward manner.

Communication is not a one-way street. To have others open up to you, you must be open yourself. By overcoming these barriers to communication, you can ensure that the statement you are making is not just heard, but also understood, by the person you are speaking with. In this way, you can be confident that your point has been expressed.

3.      Effective presentation strategy

Basic steps for presentation strategy

vFormulate a strategy for specific audience.

vDevelop a flexible flowing structure.

vCombine prepared material with an enhancing, not distracting, presentation style.

Strategy

        Understands your purpose and role: It is critical to be very clear about our purpose in the communication.

It involves knowing your audience the occasion and the expectation of your audience.

Structure

        Once you know what you want to say you need to concretize the material into meaningful message.

Audience is expected to answer.

o  I agree with the importance of topic but how are you just define your ideas?

 

Points to organize idea for presentation strategy

o  Start putting your topic in context you might want to provide an outline or roadmap.

o  Postures tones; don’t lean.

o  When appropriate think of ways to encourage audience participation.

       

Impressive presentation and body language

        An idea comes to mind and you have deside to follow a guide to effective presentation.

§  Ordering  the presentation

§  Developing the content

§  Delivering the presentation

Ordering the presetation

        The general purpose of most business presentation falls at this once of sections: to inform, to persuade and

To recommend.

Developing the conent

o  Restate the purpose of meeting.

o  Provide closure to presentation.

o  Always end with positively marked.

Delivering the presentation

        The goal here is to deliver a presentation that the audience understand accept and remember. The first component of great presentation is visual skills.