CNV3-I2-11- Executive Health

In a city college a heated debate was witnessed by several academicians and corporate bosses. The topic of the debate was – “Is the Data Analysis Technique really an all-time boon to the millennials?”. The debate was organised for the final year degree students with a clear objective of selecting talents for campus placements.

The group of the students that spoke in favour of the topic nicely explained how the millennials depend solely on the Google Search Engine, Analysis software, SPSS, Metlab, SAS, AMOF and Advance Excel etc for getting solution to any given problem. The variety of information and data, on any subject under the sun, is available on Internet. However, the people trained in analysing the vast data to arrive at the right solution to the given problem are equally required to find out a logical solution. Such students with analytical skills are always sought after by the business organisations in today’s competitive markets. This argument is supported by the following Sanskrit shloka:

हंस: श्वेतो बक: श्वेतो को भेदो बकहंसयो: |

नीरक्षीरविवेके तु हंस: हंसो बको बक: ||

Meaning: A swan is white; a crane is white. What is the difference between the swan and the crane? When it comes to extracting milk from a mixture, swan has capability to select milk and to leave water which the crane can’t. This shloka from ancient Indian Sanskrit scripture shows the importance of analytical skills and that those having with analytical skills are always honoured.

The Other View -- Paradox of Choice

On hearing such strong arguments, the other group of students went into frightening silence. The organisers were about to declare the competition as one sided. Breaking the silence, a student from the opposite group stood up and started speaking slowly but assertively. “ In the western countries in a lengthy research done by a famous psychologist Barry Schwartz who coined the phrase ‘Paradox of choice’ came out with his research findings that though increased choice allows us to achieve objectively better results it leads us to great anxiety, indecision, thought paralysis and dissatisfaction. The unlimited access to information often leads to greater fear of making wrong decision which further leads to nowhere near any decision. Incidentally it may be noted that a quick Google Search on ‘Science of Analysis- Paralysis’ pulls up over 1,330,000 resources. It only indicates the gravity of the issue posed in Paradox of Choice. In 2010 Lexis Nexis Survey showed that on average, employees spend more than half their workdays receiving and managing information rather than using it in their jobs! Studies in psychology and neuroscience reveal that analysis-paralysis takes a greater toll on productivity and wellbeing than just lost time.

The Science of Analysis-Paralysis

The student further added that psychologists Sian Bullock and Thomas Carr of Michigan State University (2005) say that the working memory is a short term memory system that maintains a limited amount of information with immediate relevance to the task at hand while preventing distractions from other irrelevant thoughts, which allows us to focus on the information we need to do our job in hand. As a result of incessant bombardment of vast data thrown at us by Internet, the working memory  gets depleted and it leads to lowering of our performance in mentally demanding tasks. In their findings they further stated that overthinking kills your creativity, eats up your willpower, and makes you less happy. They call this phenomenon as ‘Choking Under Pressure’. The opposing student in the debate concluded by asking the audience whether they would like the business leaders to get ‘Choked under Pressure’ in the real-life situations?

Why Choking Under Pressure happens?

Too many choices distract the human attention which leads to creation of confusion and fear in the mind. The fear leads to either postponing the decision or taking a poor decision.  As the fear grips the mind, contaminates other qualities like creativity, problem solving ability, willpower and intelligence. Once the intelligence is contaminated the decisions taken by the individual is bound to be either of poor quality or totally wrong.

Why fear grips?

Fear is defined as a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behaviour. Fear occurs in response to certain stimulus. The fear has many causes like- fear of health, of job, of finance, of property, of war, of natural calamity, of death, of breaking relationship, of consequences, of sense indulgence, of overeating, of obesity, of alienation etc.  Top of the list, for most of the humans, is the fear of death. Fear is one of the damaging feelings and its whereabouts are to be traced in emotions. For emotional wellbeing one must aspire for healthy EQ (Emotional Quotient). The dynamics are emotions are closely connected to our body, breath and brain functions.

• Breath gives vitality to physical body besides supplying oxygen to all the parts and organs. In Yoga system the breath is streamlined in such a manner that it controls and directs the emotions. Our emotions, feelings to which we generally refer as thoughts, play very important role in our daily activities like the way we eat, work, sleep, exercise, move around, occupations we undertake, take risks, reacts to stress etc. All this shape up our well-being.
• Breath and Prana are interchangeably used but they are not exactly same. Prana is the Primordial energy underlying all the forms of matter and energy.
• Upanishads (ancient Indian scriptures written in Sanskrit) say that Prana streams from sun flows into plants and is released in man and animals when they consume plant-based food. Prana powers the work of body, senses and mind of Jiva (the individual being).
• Gautam Buddha says, “All that we are is the result of what we thought”
• Einstein might have a concept like the concept of Prana when he discovered that matter and energy are interchangeable and there exists a unified field theory.

Studies done on healthy EQ (Emotional Quotient) & SQ (Spiritual Quotient)?

EQ decides the quality of emotions and feelings he carries and nurtures. Healthy EQ is needed for team building and leadership. EI (Emotional Intelligence) of the leaders play very important role in success of the organisation. EI has a benchmark model which consists of four competencies viz. Self-awareness, Self-management, Social awareness and Relationship management. (Daniel Goleman,1995,1998). Higher EQ of the corporate leaders help them understand the employees’ and customers’ behaviour; who are the major stakeholders in any business. EQ provides a solid tool in employees and customer handling activity by designing related policies.

Spiritual quotient (SQ) is the ability of an individual to go beyond his ego and reach the deeper layers of potentiality that lie hidden within us, (Zohar & Marshal,2001). Strong and healthy SQ is needed for bringing in fairness, trust, distributive justice, inclusiveness, larger good of society, health and happiness to oneself and to the world at large. Human beings are highly evolved creatures having a healthy mix of intellectual, emotional and spiritual contents, (Zohar & Marshal,2001). SQ replaces ego with soul, which is the non-physical, subtle, unseen and untouched part of human beings.

SQ is the mother quotient and determines and controls the level of other two quotients viz. IQ and EQ. After Daniel Goleman’s (1995) research paper claiming EQ’s more significant role than IQ, many scholars presented their research asserting that SQ is the ultimate quotient and is the basis of all other quotients in one’s personality, (Zohar & Marshal,2001; Wigglesworth,2004 & Griffith,2011).

Human capital can be better utilised when the entire workforce is equipped with SI (Spiritual Intelligence) which provides higher meaning and higher satisfaction while performing their daily activities. People with healthy SQ perform their duty not just to earn livelihood or purely due to economic considerations but to serve the society and manifest the creativity within, (Neck & Milliman,1994; Neal,2000; Kumar & Neck,2002; Fry,2003; McGhee & Grant,2008).

Bhagwat Gita on EQ & SQ

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते | एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् || BG 3:40||

Meaning: The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be breeding grounds of selfish desires. Through them, it clouds one’s knowledge and deludes the embodied soul.

इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्य: परं मन: | मनसस्तु परा बुद्धिर्यो बुद्धे: परतस्तु स: || BG 3:42||

Meaning: The senses are superior to the gross body, and superior to the senses is the mind. Beyond the mind is the intellect, and even beyond the intellect is the soul.

The selfish desires cause major issues with EQ. They have three dwelling places viz. the five senses, the mind and the intellect.

They cloud the original wisdom of the human being, corrupt it and lead to delusion. The senses are superior to the gross body, the mind is superior to senses and the intellect is superior to the mind. The’ Atman’ or ‘Soul’ is superior to all three.  Once the selfish desires take custody of these three one gets into emotional downfall. He experiences division, conflict and despair. For coming out of the situation one must put up efforts to seek help from the soul. The help is available if one starts practicing soulful meditation, to train the body, senses, mind and intellect to regain the lost harmony.

Pranayama & Chakra Meditation

The reader may find positive results in emotional turmoil by employing the following simple Yogic techniques:9

• Anuloma-Viloma-Pranayam—essentially breathing with alternate nostrils.
• Meditation on Third Eye Centre—concentrating on the portion between two eyebrows with fingers arranged in Prana Mudra and visualising indigo colour for activating pituitary.
• Meditation on Crown centre—concentrating on the crown of head with fingers held in Dhyana Mudra and visualising violet colour for activating pineal gland.

All that is required is a dedicated place in your room without much disturbance of others for 15 minutes per day on regular basis.

Best of luck for getting equipped with strong EQ nd SQ.

Prof Arjun Naik

HOD Life-Style Management, ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai