To live a live completely I just need to be present.

Being present at all times is one of the most challenging task. How many time have I read a paragraph, got distracted and read the same paragraph; and after some time realize by some link that I already read it. Ah! innumerable actually.
The same thing happens with me in a discussion, in a lecture.... I just dont be there all the time. Being completely present there is more than just being awake.
People generally confuse being awake with being conscious, in my perspective consciousness is about being at the place both mentally and physically.
The next question - How do I reach it?
Well the answer stops at concentrating, if you concentrate and dont let anything out of your conscious mind, that will give you a start in the direction.

Mastery of the tools

When we do any work, its typical that we use tools. The tools may not just be tangible items like spoon, fork, etc; they may also be intangibles like software.
The basic purpose of a tool is to ease the effort in doing things. Tools evolve just as humans evolve. These tools get more sophisticated with age; its important to be ready to accept these changes. One example I can think of is the text editor itself.
When typewriting was in vogue, it was almost incidental to make mistakes and correct it with a whitener, then the computers came in and with them the black screen command prompt editors like the vi of the present day. Then came the visual aided editors with basic functionality like the text pad and some improved formatting capabilities were added on... then came the wordpad... and the Microsoft word...97... with a lot new facilities to make the edition of documents really easy...the latest editions are making the work of a document writer all the more easier...
The person who typewrote documents if had changed and adapted to the new technologies would have hay day, and could reach out to a larger consumer base... that is if he not just mastered the speed typing but also the tools them self ( say the TOC, or the references etc) which makes the job even more simpler.... so the essence is ... master tools... they will stand good sted when you need them the most....

Never Give up

Most of the time we begin with some goal in the mind. Work towards it, then all of a sudden we stop working towards it after a few failed attempts. We complain saying we cant do it because of this this this and this....
The fact is, we fail only if we stop attempting. Another attempt is needed, who knows how close we are to achieving our long cherished goal? Most of us remember the story of king brute and the spider. The spider kept of falling in the attempt to build its web; but never ever gave up, before completing the web. When a spider can give in so much to attain what it wants to attain, we are after all humans!!!
Why do we generally give up? Well the reasons for giving up may be many; not interested in doing it, a disheartening experience, Finding it really hard to compete, or even the fear of failure. The fact is that a positive approach of going all out and facing the situation itself changes the dynamics of the system so much that the we feel an intense energy which helps us succeed.
Give up like impossible should not be a word in one's dictionary. An attempt which has not met with success has to be analyzed and seen how it can be better attempted and work to wards it...give it another try; don't give up.

Try somethign innovative every time.

If I do something the same way I get the same result, but one of us want status quo. Continuous innovation is an absolute necessity in life. We need to innovate and create a lot of satisfaction for ourself.
Innovation might be in varied aspects, the process or the product itself. Its necessary that we innovate on either of them to realize and obtain a greater knowledge level. Innovation if a natural process to human beings, not many creatures have the ability to innovate as humans do. The ability of the brain to create and imitate has given us this ability to innovative a prime place is all endeavors.
Its essential for a happy existence that we tap into this master talent of ours called innovation, within the framework of our duty there are a lot of innovation which is possible an which has to be done. An innovation need not be radical, it can be stepwise and innovate slowly to reach a higher level of sophistication.

Dont let work accumlate

An important thing which I have observed, by repeated mistakes of mine is that I let work accumlate. This is a habit of procrastination which is so omnipresent. When I have to do some work, there is something that is too small to do, I procrastinate to push it to the next day, a little more adds to it, I have a bit more to do that day, but I am a bit busy today, will do it tomorrow, well it has accumlated for a couple of days, but I think I have to give some more time than the stipulated time, so I will give a few hours this weekend. I push it even further; but on the weekedn there is something that is more precious and am hard pressed to finish it off, so I am not able to finish it.
This is typical of any person, though I have observed it in myself, I get to hear of it from a lot of my friends itself. So what is a good way to solve this problem. The solution is simple - The same old mantra of having a bit of patience to finish off the work before I sleep. It may require you to extend the sleep time by about 5 minutes, but it is worth it. This patience, will develop a discipline, which will help us take care of these small trivialities very quickly and with least effort over a period of time. I recall some of the things when I first did I took over an hour to do it, but through rigorous practice, I was able to reduce the time to less than 20 minutes. Once discipline sets in, we gain a mastery over time management. We have the energy to do much more than usual, we stretch our limits and improve continuously - kaizen as the Japanese people call it.
They practice this thoroughly, through effective use of this technique, Japanese auto manufacturers were able to challenge the US auto companies in their own market. This is the strength of keeping to the basics, practising for improvement regularly. So dont let things accumlate - It reminds me of a kannada adage which says - "What cannot be bent as a sapling cannot bent when it grows up to be a tree." So when you realise there is a small things to do, it means you can continuously work to improve it and reach a greater perfection. Strive for continuous improvement; even when you are hard pressed. The benefits are worth the effort.

Enjoy the journey

Many a times we want only the results, we are not ready to put in the effort to get things done. We expect results for any effort that we put in, not really checking if the effort is worthy of the results that we expect.
We look at the fruit, and expect all the fruits to be attained if we aim and hit the arrow, how ever what is more important is to get the focus, the effort, the tension in the string and a lot many parameters into consideration and then make our call. Inspite of all the external variations, we need to have enormous patience and practice in achieving the goal.
The purpose of a goal is only to give us directions, its is not the destiny itself. The effort put into achieving the goal, is a reward in itself. Through systematic effort to achieve the goal we would work upon our weakness and try to make them our strength. We intended to experiment and improvise and get perfect. So, do you think its the final achievement that makes us or breaks us?
Surely no, the effort put in makes it worth the reward immediately, the talent fostered and the skill generated will help us, and will remain with us all the time... so its more important to live in the present and enjoy the journey rather than complain about not reaching the destination...

Face Challenges upfront

Swami Vivekananda once gave an anecdote form his life experience - he had been wandering in the ghats of banaras, when a group of monkeys attacked him. He began running in the opposite direction, and the monkeys began chasing him. Some wise man sitting there, suggested - "Turn back and face the brutes"; when he tried facing them the monkeys began running away helter skelter.
Though this might be just an anecdote, it gives a lot of valid insight into the way we live. Most of the time we try to hide, or run away from our problems. The minute we decide to solve our problems, face them upfront, accept challenges things begin to change. We see success; we get breakthrough.
Life is always a challenge, what joy in living if there is no challenge in life???
Life keeps giving us ample opportunities to try and correct our self, improve over self. But blame it on the human nature - we generally crib or complaint and wont act to correct. We run away blaming fate or luck for having pushed us into situation; the reality might be that we have blocked our perception and avoid seeing the reality. We want to live in a world of pleasure, of happiness but dont want to work towards it.
Its time we wake up... accept things as they are, face the world, challenge our assumptions... work with enthusiasm, and not accept defeat. We are the masters of our destiny, we have it in us to change wht happens to us so lets not run away from the challenges that we face but live up to them and create history like never before...
Never say die...