Will Your Job be Exported

In my opinion the problem of outsourcing for the future generations, as stated in the article by Ian S. Blinder is a bit exaggeration in present times. If I were to hear this statement ten years ago I would have responded differently than I am now. The reason being that the problem is not new and is not just a problem for the future generation; it is indeed a matter of concern for the present i.e. our generation too. Anyone who has tried to acquire a job in Information technology or service industry can relate to this issue. In past one decade or so, thousands of manufacturing, IT and HR functions have been expunged in the U.S. as a result of outsourcing. In fact today in most organizations the idea of outsourcing is considered first before hiring any new employee. Due to changing times and fierce competition, good education is no longer the only criteria for getting a well-paid job; one needs to have the right set of skill too. Impervious professions such as healthcare jobs that were considered not offshorable before aren't immune to such trends anymore. Telemedicine is one such avenue which is fast emerging and is taking over many of the jobs traditionally performed by an onsite physician or nurse. There are several healthcare professionals such as—physicians, surgeons, nurses who have had to reduce their number of working hours as some of their duties can now be performed by another person sitting miles away or by hi-tech computers (Robots). So today, in my opinion, no job is recession proof or offshoring proof. But then what is the solution as just talking about the issue and not doing anything won't do any good to anyone. Government and educational institutes can play a larger role here. Due to high unemployment figures our Government has tried to create jobs and introduce programs to help displaced workers. Providing right training to right kind of people will be beneficial for the entire society. Since there is very little we can do to stop offshoring due to Corporate and Government policies; a change in a way we get our education or choosing the right path can be help avoid some of the pain associated with offsourcing.

Sleep Debt and Mortgage Mind

In the article, ‘Sleep Debt and the Mortgage Minds’ William Dement and Christopher Vaughan have used the metaphor to discuss a very perspicacious issue of today and that is, Sleep Deprivation. Sleep deprivation and accruing sleep debt seems like a new phenomenon that has cropped up in past few decades. Globalization and the changing forms of societies have engendered greater expectations in us, at personal and professional level.  Even though technological advancements have made our lives easier in many ways, the new challenges and demands of the modern times and a stiff competition has resulted in a constant struggle to maintain work-life balance and thus has shifted our focus from this basic meaningless activity we call sleep. The lack of sleep, however, gradually begins to show its effect on our physical as well as mental faculties creating a debt; and every time we have this sleep debt accumulated; we mortgage our mind and suffer. So to get our mind (or sanity back)—the debt needs to be paid off promptly. There is no doubt that we as a nation are “a sleep sick society” as indicated by Paul Martin (464). The phenomenon is so frequently occurring that now even in medicine; ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFS’ is a recognized form of disease and is invariably associated with frequent episodes of inadequate sleep. With rising concerns over the issue, sleep disorders are now getting a close scrutiny of researchers and healthcare professionals. Sleep, says Martin, “occupies about a third of each human’s life and up to two thirds of a baby’s time” (507). So there must be a good reason why we spend that much time of our life performing this seemingly meaningless but pivotal activity. Dement and Vaughn have compared sleep with hunger as in both the cases we don’t get satiety unless we have had enough. Thus sleep like other biological activities such as eating and drinking is considered essential for our well-being and maintaining a good health. When we accumulate a sleep debt that is not paid off we reduce our cognitive ability and our mind (and also the body) doesn't function to its full capacity and ability. Consequently we suffer as we do not have full control over it to be able to get the productivity we want. Of course it is due to ‘Sleep Debt’ and the fact that our ‘mind is mortgaged.’ And the only way we can pay off our debt and get this control back is with good amount of regular slumber. So think about it, are you a sleep debtor or sleep defaulter?

Conscious Mind Vs Unconscious Mind

This week’s assignment was really interesting. Although at first, I was a bit unsure as to how to approach it. Then I thought on most occasions, I try to present myself in a poised and polished manner, so how about exhibiting a totally opposite behavior. I decided to act rowdy and blatantly to see what the kind of reaction it would incite. I received varied reactions ranging from shocking, to perplexing to deep concern. I also observed that that it made no difference to those who knew me little or didn’t know me at all. But to those who know me well such as close friends and family members; it came across as a shock. In fact a few of my friends showed concerns about my health and offered to sit down and talk about the issues if I was having any. The overall experience a little perplexing though, was yet truly laughable. But it made me think intensely and analyze what behaviorism is all about and yes it truly is a skill that is acquired through conditioning. We see the world from someone else’s eyes. Our everyday actions and interactions are not based on our own idiosyncrasies, but rather on other’s acceptance and/or societal expectations. Our behaviors and mannerism are deeply ingrained in not our performance, but in how we want to be perceived as. Not sure if it can be linked to the Darwin’s theory of ‘the survival of the fittest’ because we as humans don’t want to be labeled as a bad element of the society, so to avoid getting extinct we adapt our ways according to others without even analyzing them. As kids we all like to act whichever way we want, but are constantly corrected or reprimanded for inappropriate behaviors. Thus as we grow we learn to ignore some of our internal instincts and behave how we are expected to, in a civil society or I should say according to the social norms and folkways. Some of these behaviors are incorporated deeply in our conscious (and sub-conscious) minds as ‘unconscious incompatibilities’ that we are completely unaware of them. And to change those behaviors into ‘conscious compatibilities’ we have to scrupulously work on them and remind ourselves over and over again. This results in unneeded attention and awkwardness, which I felt throughout this activity.

Public Speaking

Public Speaking!! When I hear these words what comes to mind first is anxiety, nervousness, losing train of thoughts, dry mouth, increased heart beat and uncomfortable body language and that I am standing in front of the audience scared and lost. Yikes! That is kind of a nightmare. But this is what happens when you are not comfortable with public speaking and have issues like speech anxiety. It is surprising how an individual who is super smart, intelligent and very communicative in one-on-one or group settings may get totally stumped and be a completely different  personality when it comes to standing in front of the audience and speaking on a topic. The spotlight effect mentioned in the book always gets me.  During presentations, I feel like I am in a spotlight and everyone is looking at me. It’s like I am being analyzed or judged invariably by everyone standing in front of me, so instead of focusing on the contents of my presentation I start paying attention to the noise factors. I guess it sometimes results in a chicken and egg effect as the reason for speech anxiety, according to psychologist is the fear of making a mistake and due to nervousness if I do end up making a mistake not only it slipshod my presentation but also makes  things worse for the future. Therefore, it is important to not let any abject memories affect you as your past life experiences do have an impact on your ability or inability to deliver a good presentation. Also I agree with the uncertainty reduction theory and can totally relate to it. Having moved from another country and a different culture makes you a little diffident as you may not be aware of certain social norms or may not have the language proficiency. I have always felt that my anxiety is partly associated with this factor as sometimes I’m afraid to speak up for the fear of refutation. After reading the chapter, I felt that I can use some of the techniques mentioned in the book, to help me avoid public speaking anxiety and be an adept speaker. I guess the mantra is as long as you stay in control and keep your presentation interesting, your audience continues to stay with you and everyone has fun…..

A few things about me

This is the my first time blogging. It feels kind of awkward to talk about yourself like this, but I'll try. I'm a trained physician from a foreign country and have got my Masters degree in health management. I love to learn new things and strongly believe that, there is no age for learning, it's a life long process. There's so much stuff, too many things I don't know about that it makes me wonder gosh....do I have enough time. I recently attended a series of wine tasting classes.  The class included some aspects of wine making, which like everyone else I never thought I knew anything about. But a lot of it was basic chemistry. It was kind of interesting how the stuff you learn in school can be associated in a fun event like wine tasting and makes you thing....hmm so this is what it is. It was a great experience. The more interesting thing is that when you are a chemistry student it makes you think about all the chemical reactions that take place when you're tasting the wine or in the chemistry lab while experimenting you think about how your experiments can impact wine making....OK I guess that's a lot of chemistry talk. But that's the way I like it, learning and also passing on the knowledge to others in a fun non-stressful way. 
I am hoping to have a lot of fun in this class and looking forward to learning more about all of you. Because as much it is learning, communication is important too. Gaining knowledge is useless, If we are not able to pass on this heritage to next generations. Three cheers for learning and communicating.....

Testing.....