Are you suffering from ''Excusitis"?

By Gamini Rajakaruna

According to Dr. Schwartz., a victim of this thought-disease goes through the following mental processes.

"I am not doing as well as I should. What can I use as an alibi that will help me save face? Let's see poor health? lack of education? too old? too young? bad luck? personal misfortune? problematic wife? the way my family was brought up?"

Once the victim of this disease has selected a "good" excuse, he lives with it. Then he relies on the excuse to explain to himself and to others why he is not going forward. And each time the victim makes the excuse, the excuse becomes imbedded deeper within his sub-conscious mind. Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilised with constant repetition. At first the victim of excusitis knows his alibi is more or less a lie. But the more frequently he repeats it, the more convinced he becomes that it is completely true, and that the alibi is the real reason for his not being the success he should be, says Dr. Schwartz.

If we want to be successful in our lives, it is important for us to vaccinate ourselves against this mind deadening disease. Excusitis appears in a wide variety of forms, but the worst types of this disease are health excusitis, intelligence excusitis, age excusitis and luck excusitis observed Dr. Schwartz. Here are the ways how we can protect ourselves from these four common ailments as suggested by Dr. Schwartz.

Health Excusits

He wants us to think for a moment of all the highly successful people we know who could but who don't-use health as an excuse.

He, points out that the perfect specimen of adult life is non-existent. There is something physically wrong with everybody. If you are suffering from health excusitis, you have to get vaccinated against it, says Dr. Schwartz. Here are the four doses suggested by him. They are:

* Refuse to talk about your health. The more you talk about an ailment, even the common cold, the worse it seems to get.

* Refuse to worry about your health.

* Be genuinely grateful that your health is as good as it is.

* Remind yourself "It's better to wear out than rust out?".

Intelligence Excusitis

Most of us make two basic errors with respect to intelligence, according to the observations made by Dr. Schwartz. They are:

We underestimate our own brain power and, we overestimate the other fellow's brain power.

Because of these errors many of us cheapen our own value. We fail to tackle challenging situations because it "needs a keen brain". But along comes the man who is not concerned about intelligence, and he gets the job done.

What really matters is not how much intelligence we have, but how we use what we have, says Dr. Schwartz. He emphasised that the thinking that guides our intelligence is much more important than the quality of our brain power.

He further explains this as the reason, why the door to top flight executive positions are closed to many junior executives. Sour, negative, pessimistic, depreciating attitudes rather than insufficient intelligence, hold back thousands of young executives, observes Dr. Schwartz. We often hear that knowledge is power. Dr. Schwartz is not agreeing with this famous saying. According to him this statement is only half the truth. To him knowledge is potential power. Knowledge is power only when put to use and then only when the use made is constructive.

Once someone asked Einstein how many feet there are in a mile. Einstein's reply was:

"I don't know. Why should I fill my brain with fact I can find two minutes in any standard reference book?"

Einstein, taught us a big lesson, says Dr. Schwartz. The lesson he taught us was that it is more important for us to use our minds to think than to use it as a warehouse for facts.

If you feel you too are suffering from intelligence excusitis follow the three easy ways suggested by Dr. Schwartz , to cure it.

Never underestimate your own intelligence and never overestimate the intelligence of others. Concentrate on your assets. Discover your superior talents. Remember, it is not how many brains you've got that matters. The thing that counts is how you use your brain. Manage your brains instead of worrying about your IQ.

*Remind yourself several times daily. "My attitudes are more important than my intelligence." At work and at home, practice positive attitudes. See the reasons why you can do it, not the reasons whay you can't.

Remember that the ability to think is of much greater value than the ability to memorise facts.

Age Excusitis

"I am too old ( or too young) to break in now. I can't do what I want to do, or am capable of doing, because of my age handicap".

He says it is surprising and unfortunate that few people feel they are "just right" age wise. He observes that this excuse has closed the door of real opportunity to thousands of individuals. They think their age is wrong, so that they don't even bother to try.

The "I am too old" variety is the most common form of age excusitis according to Dr. Schwartz. He says this disease can spread in subtle ways. Paper and Magazine articles on the topic " Why you are too old at forty" are popular, not because they represent true facts, but because they appeal to many worried minds looking for an excuse, observes Dr. Schwartz.

The " I am too young" variety for age excusitis does much damage too to themselves says Dr. Schwartz . He says youth is a liability only when the youth thinks it is. Many young people feel that they are being held back because of their youth. Dr. Schwartz tells us that age has no relation to ability, unless you convince yourself that years alone will give you the stuff you need to make your mark.

Luckily age excusitis can be cured. If you are suffering from age excusitis, curing yourself often opens doors to opportunity that you thought were locked, says Dr. Schwartz. He further adds by pointing out that, when you beat your fears of age limitations, you add years to your life, as well as success.

If you too are suffering from ths excusitis here are some suggestions from Dr. Schwartz to help you to beat them down.

Look at your present age positively. Think "I am still young" not "I am already old". Practice looking forward to new horizons, and gain the enthusiasm and the feel of youth.

* Compute how much productive time you have left. Remember a person age 30 still has 80% of his productive life ahead of him. And the 50 year old still has a big 40% the best 40% of his opportunity years left.

* Invest future time in doing what you really want to do. Stop thinking. "I should have started years ago". Instead think " I am going to start now, my best years are ahead of me".

Luck Excusitis

As a cure for the Luck Excusitis, Dr. Schwartz advice us to understand the law of cause and effect. 

He wants us to take a second look at what appears to be someone's "good luck" . He says that if we carefully examined the situation, that we'll find , not the luck but preparation, planning and success-producing thinking of the individual preceded the good fortune. Also he says if we take a second look at what appears to be someone's "bad luck", that we will discover the specific reasons. He observes that the so called "Lucky Guy' receives a set back, he learns and profits. But when the so called " Unlucky Guy' loses, he fails to learn.

Due to the above facts Dr. Schwartz advises us not to waste our mental muscles dreaming of an effortless way to win success.

Excusitis explains the difference between the person who is going places and the fellow who is barely holding his own. This is why Dr. David J. Schwartz identifies Excusitis as a mind deadening thought disease. 

He says every failure has this disease in its advanced form, and most "average" persons have at least a mild attack of it.

Are you suffering from excusitis? Only you will know.

Commercial banks claim wage hike hits bottomline

In an atmosphere of ballooning staff costs, nine private banks finally signed a collective agreement with the Ceylon Bank Employees Union (CBEU) last week. 

Meanwhile, banking sector analysts pointed out that spiralling staff cost had not been offset by increases in revenue.

The collective agreement, which guarantees industrial peace for three years, provides for a salary increase of 27.5 per cent from April 2000 and a further 2.5% increase the following year Employers Federation officials said. It also grants arrears of a 22.5% increment from April 1,1998 and a 25 per cent increment from April 1,'99 to March 2000.

The agreement follows a bitter dispute between the union and the banks, which was finally referred to an industrial court by the minister of labour. However, at the height of the dispute customer service was affected by go slows while both parties hurled ugly accusations at each other.

But collective agreements, which have secured industrial peace, have been an important aspect of the relationship between these two parties and an informal dialogue between the Employers Federation (of which the banks are members) and the CBEU resulted in an agreement being reached out of the industrial court. 

The collective agreement was initially due to be renewed in March 1998 but the banks would not agree to the employees' demand for a 50% salary increase. This was later brought down to 35% but the banks were willing to concede only a 20% increase. A 25% increase suggested by the labour minister was rejected by the employees. Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Habib Bank AG Zurich were parties to the collective agreement.

Ceylon Oxygen may expand investment

Meanwhile, the company's turnover for the year ended 31 December 1999 increased by 0.75 per cent YOY to record Rs. 453 mn. Profit after tax increased to Rs. 122 mn from Rs. 61 mn the previous year.

Stagnation of the industrial sector had an impact on the growth of the company, Chairman, Ceylon Oxygen Ltd., R. N. Hapugalle told shareholders in his annual report. 

In 1999 the fabricated metal industry, beverage industry and electronic industry were stagnant in their growth. 

However, the company has sought to focus on market development opportunities in cryogenic applications. These applications could offset the declining growth in the company's mature markets such as gas welding. Improvement of manufacturing processes will be stimulated by the proposed purchase of a dry ice press and the introduction of Argon cylinder filling. Earnings per share in 1999 was Rs. 13.65 in comparison to Rs. 6.25 per share in 1998. Current assets to current liabilities was 2.6: 1.

Damas ties with Blue Diamonds

Both companies will also set up a jewellery boutique here and a few satellite stores in the Maldives. The boutique and shops will house a range of designer jewellery from Damas. It will include The Harmony Collection - a 22 Kt gold jewellery range designed to please all ages, The Aura Collection - a 24 Kt. Jewellery that comes with a "Buy Back" guarantee and The Kiss & Cuddle collection - a range of branded white gold jewellery studded with diamonds, among others including BDJW's own collection of jewellery. Damas also offers a range of pearl jewellery and designer jewellery watches. 

Damas Jewellery LLC is one of the leaders in the Jewellery trade in UAE and is also a leading importer of jewellery. It is renowned for its exclusive and wide range of internationally reputed designer jewellery and timepieces. 

Tourism in the doldrums

Earlier this year, analysts forecasted a modest 2.6 per cent growth in tourist arrivals for 2000, but indications are that it will be revised to a negative figure. 

The Ceylon Tourist Board's (CTB) hopes to spend a total of US$ 5 mn in 2000/1 on international promotions to counter the bad publicity and improve the countries imagemight be invain, if the prevailing situation continues.

CTB officials were unavailable for comment when going to press. 

Further, prospects of political violence during the scheduled parliamentary elections this year adds more pressure to the industry's down fall. 

Industry officials said that it was a bad time for them to be in business and as a result their planned room expansion project might be put on hold until a proper consensus was reached. 

The industry is getting all soppy because the majority of West European tourist arrival bookings are generally made three to six months in advance and the security concerns over the last few months has hindered the peak winter season which extends from November to March. 

"No West European tourists, no much money," officials said.

West European arrivals accounting for 63% of total arrivals and grew by a strong 15.4% YoY in 1999 and was largely responsible for the record performance in the year. 

With West European arrivals being primarily for leisure purposes, they are more prone to security concerns as they have the option to go to other international destinations. Recovery in the West European arrivals will be slow in 2000.

Nevertheless, analysts forecast that South Asian arrivals will grow faster due to an improving economic climate, while East Asian arrivals are also expected to grow, but at a slower rate, as it is taken off a high base. 

In 1999, tourist arrivals in April and August was boosted by a large South Asian religious conference and political violence in competing destination of Indonesia . 

However, total arrivals increases is estimated at a modest 2.6% YoY to 448,000 in 2000. A more stable security environment is expected to enable a stronger arrivals growth of 9.7% to 491,500 tourists in 2001.

CB ups Reverse Repo

The latest increase comes after the Bank raised the reverse repo rate by 0.25 percentage point the previous week. Tuesday's increase pushes the reverse repurchase rate from 13.25% to 13.75. 

The bank's move to raise the reverse repo rate was widely expected, after the government's recent annoucement to borrow an additional Rs. 10.0 bn via the domestic market, money brokers said. 

The reverse repurchase rate hike indicates that interest rates are on the rise, money brokers added.

Tea Update

Further drops anticipated 

High growns lost Rs. 6.71 per kilo from Rs. 125.19 per kilos previously, while mid growns lost Rs. 4 per kilo to Rs. 117.84. Low growns declined marginally as a few varieties fetched fair prices. 

In last weeks auction too prices declined drastically. In addition, the 6.6 million kilos of tea came under the hammer at last week's auction despite being a one-day auction. This added further pressure on prices. 

India

Moreover, in a bid to keep its Pakistani market, Indian tea exporters are looking at a third country to channel its tea through. 

Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers reported that Indian trade with Pakistan - a major Indian tea importer had suffered a setback due to the on going Kashmir conflict. Hence, the Chairman of the Indian Tea Association, R S Jhawar had told wire services that the industry was thinking of using a third country channel to resume tea exports to Pakistan. 

He had said that, exporters were likely to use the Middle East route and trade through a place like Dubai to Pakistan, which was a viable option.

Software for Tea

The software is currently used in South Indian plantations and Sri Lanka is the first country to receive the software. Officials said that, other sector specific software would be developed and marketed subsequently. However, Sri Lankan plantation companies have been slow in embracing the technology revolution. Only a few large plantation companies have actually got their operations online todate. But officials said that companies had already inquired about the software and had requested demonstrations. Officials said that they were confident that they would be able to successfully market the product here as it was ideally suited for the local market. 

Market report

Market climbs up

The All Share Price Index rose 5.39 per cent to close at 468.8 while the Milanka Price Index gained 8.09 per cent to register 758.2. The MBSL Midcap index rose 3.6 per cent to close at 781. Average turnover for the week was Rs. 68.1 mn while minimal foreign participation led to net foreign outflows of Rs. 5.9 mn.

The indeces have recovered because of the absence of aggressive foreign selling witnessed in the past month, Director, John Keells Stock Brokers, Nandakumar Nair said. Given the good valuations there is domestic buying interest in bluechips which have been bombed out, he added. If there is no foreign seeling the market could recover more next week, Nair said.

The market has been progressing because of greater confidence in the military front, Head of Research, CDIC Sasoon Cumberbatch, Diluk Desinghe said. If the government continues to hold ground in the north continued confidence in the market is likely but set backs will have adverse effects, he added.

There will be profit taking in the plantation sector next week, brokers form Forbes ABN Amro Securities predicted. If the market slides further buying interest will develop, they said.

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