Read the passage given below:
Attitude Problems
1. Fear of failure is an attitude problem. All of us postpone things. We procrastinate. We rationalize. We make excuses. We foolishly believe that to be creative and to have a positive attitude and to simply do things, we have to have all kinds of preconditions. You can find several excuses for waiting to be more creative. But scratch the surface of these smooth and logical rationalisations, and if you’re honest, you’ll see the face of a little demon, the fear of failure, hiding there. Zig Ziglar reminds us that this is nothing but an attitude problem: “The future can be depressing or magnificent—it is not correlated to the present or the past, past failures or successes. It is only our attitude towards these failures or successes which determines our future.” You can change yourself by changing your attitude without fear of error.
2. Problems cause stress and stress reduces our effectiveness. So it is very logical that once we solve our problems, we should be able to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Incidentally, we can’t eliminate problems unless we opt for the final exit—the very thought of this itself is stressful! What causes our problems? Well, roughly speaking one third of our problems are there because we are alive and kicking; another one-third of our problems are created by ourselves; and the remaining one-third of our problems exist because of greed and ego.
3. When too many problems are causing you enormous stress and strain, do the following: (i) Think...there must be a better way to solve these problems. It helps to remember the crow and jug story! Recall similar stories and incidents. (ii) Ask, ask, ask...from yourself and from others, how to do things in better ways. May be certain things should not be done at all or should be clubbed with other activities! Don’t forget that even stupid questions will get your intelligent and common sense answers. (iii) Do it now! Start doing it. Don’t forget that the first step towards solving a problem is to begin. The first step is the most difficult one, but taking it will kill procrastination—a disease or a problem in itself. Do not forget to priorities your problems first. Those which are “C” category jobs should be delegated to others, but do not forget to check and recheck till these get done.
4. There is always a silver lining in any gloomy situation, provided you starve the problems and feed the opportunities. For every problem, there could be several solutions, and solutions point towards opportunities. Apply the MISER concept to solve problems. MISER...where M stands for Merge, I for Improve,
S for Simplify, E for Eliminate and R for Reduce. MISER is an excellent conceptual sieve that helps in reducing many problems to a very few ones. —Pramod and Vijay Batra
On the basis of your understanding of the above passage, answer ANY TEN of the questions given below:
Question. Most people procrastinate because:
(a) they are not creative
(b) they adopt a wrong attitude
(c) they are too lazy to do anything
(d) they wait for better opportunity
Answer: B
Question. Our effectiveness gets reduced by ..........................
(a) problems faced by others
(b) depressing time is painful
(c) stress
(d) problems disheartening us
Answer: C
Question. The best way to tackle a problem is .........................
(a) to defer it for sometime
(b) to seek help of a friend
(c) to think of an easy solution
(d) to begin at once
Answer: D
Question. Which option shows the correct use of the word ‘provided’ as used in para 4?
(a) We have provided our best service to our customers.
(b) You will certainly score good marks in the exam provided you study diligently.
(c) We have been provided with some extra facilities.
(d) Public are provided with all possible supports by the govt.
Answer: B
Question. How can we justify that fear of failure is an attitude problem?
Answer: Fear of failure makes us believe that we should have all kinds of preconditions. So we procrastinate, rationalise and make excuses.
Question. Our future is determined by our attitude towards ......................... .
Answer: past failures or success
Question. We can’t eliminate problems because we are afraid of final exit. (True/False)
Answer: False
Question. How can efficiency and effectiveness be increased?
Answer: Problems cause stress and stress reduces our effectiveness. So once we solve our problems, we would be able to increase our efficiency and effectiveness.
VWhat are factors that cause our problems?
Answer: Our problems are there because we are alive and kicking. We are greedy and full of ego.
Question. What steps should be taken to avoid stress?
Answer: There are three steps to be taken to avoid stress are: thinking, constantly asking yourself, and doing it.
Question. What does the term ‘starve the problems and feed the opportunities’ mean?
Answer: The term ‘starve the problems and feed the opportunities, means for every problem, there are innumerable solutions which point towards opportunities.
Question. What is the negative impact of fear of error?
Answer: Fear of error discourages us to bring any great change in our career
| CBSE Class 12 English Note Making Passage |