Amol Borkar CUID578242850 5 Minds of the Future As described by Howard Gardner in his book 5 Minds of the Future the

five minds are most important that are essential for fostering the growth of the mind for future successes.

My personal views on the five minds of the future areThe Disciplined Mind According to Howard Gardner, the Disciplined Mind is one which has mastery of major schools of thought, including science, mathematics, and history, and of at least one professional craft. For me too it means the same one must always possess a class of excellence in at least one sphere of life. Deep and thorough knowledge about any subject is what separates oneself from others. Research tells us that it takes at least 10,000hours of deep dedication to become a master in any field. So this is not what starts and ends in between, daily time must be given in order to be a master in any subject or to develop ones abilities. Proper planning and daily execution is the only way for this. I also know that talking all this is really very easy. But if you really want to be a person who wants to flourish in his/her life mastery over a discipline is must and that means continuous honing of the skills too. Frankly speaking, I have never mastered in any of the domains and is a big weakness in me. .The important thing which I think is we must first identify with what we need to master ourselves. If the reason is not found its really waste to dedicate our time to anything. And if the reason is there, daily dedication with contemplation is way to attain this as they rightly say Do what you love, love what you do.

The Synthesizing Mind According to Gardner, the Synthesizing Mind is one which has the ability to integrate ideas from different disciplines or spheres into a coherent whole and to communicate that integration to others. There is a plethora of information available on the internet about anything we wish to know. Organizing the information from the plethora i.e. whatever is necessary is must. This also saves our valuable time. The important thing here is what information we must read and what we must ignore so that it can be well used for our self and others. The key is to synthesize the information in such a way that it gets meaning and can be helpful in our lives. Same with ideas. Our mind is always running with ideas, which idea to think upon and which one to wipe of the mind is really important to understand. Else it waste of time and energy. Even if we dont know anything in the beginning but if we understand that it is important to us and others, then we have to ponder upon it and properly integrate it. I personally feel that I am blessed with a synthesizing mind which is evident from various incidents from my past. I had a good habit of keeping things assembled and when I was in need of them I was able to get them easily. Another example is that I had a good habit of making proper notes from the lectures I used to attend in my earlier studies and when it was time of exams I could easily understand the concepts. A synthesizing mind thus leads to a systematic way of living and thinking. I got the opportunity to work with a couple of NGOs in my country where I got to work for orphan children and in the second place for the youth which I think puts some light on my synthesizing mind. It's really important to keep a note of whatever come across for the first time, because next time we get to know something more about it, it gets easier to recollect and understand at that time.

The Creative Mind A creative mind cant be built in a day or two. To have a creative mind one needs to be aware of different facts and also its applications. It is not that easy as it looks. Its like being a master of somet hing when such thinking can come. Also, one has to think out of the box to be termed as a creative person. A creative person is one whose work influences others to follow that in a course of time. If that doesnt happen its not creativity. Also if it gets accepted really soon still its not creativity. In short the work of a creative person changes the world in some way. Creativity cant be taught or placed in someone, it comes from within with depth of knowledge and practice. So with what I feel, calling myself creative with reference to my thinking will really be incorrect. Still there is a small example from my college days when I put forward an idea of a competition in our department which was an event held first time in my college and which drove nearly 500 participants to compete. From that time that event is held each year in my college and still pulls out many folks to compete. The most important thing about creativity is that we must not be afraid of thinking and acting out of the box even if it appears senseless in the beginning The Respectful Mind One thing about respect is that unless we dont give others respect we wont get it back. Its about trying to understand others and acting in a manner that is beneficial to all. Meeting different people with different fields of work, races, attitude is important. Knowing more people, getting to know about different cultures, lifestyles, values etc helps us to understand others and work with them in a more efficient way. Living respectfully means treating others in such a way in which we want to be treated by others. To inculcate this I made efforts to work with as many people as possible. Working for the orphan children made me understand about them, understand their feelings. Working as a volunteer in my colleges Training and Placement cell gave me the opportunity to interact with various professionals from different industries. Thus I believe that I possess a respectful mind.

One of the reasons I chose USA for my higher studies was the global exposure I was going to get here. I know this will give me enough opportunities to understand different groups of people and help me in further augmentation of the respectful mind.

The Ethical Mind Having an ethical mind is like having the understanding of ones responsibilities as a individual for his work and others in a most trustworthy way. It teaches us to work unselfishly and live altruistically for the benefit of all. The best way to grow this kind of behavior is to start early. The early you start working with ethical behavior the easier it gets to continue in such a way. Personally I feel, to be ethical is one of the difficult things to do and has to be inculcated from childhood. Children do what their parents do or what they see their parents doing. We see many examples everyday that how easily even big people set ethics apart for personal gains and profits. But in a broader sense true satisfaction can be derived from being ethical. Though I already mentioned its easier to nurture this kind of behavior if started early still we find many people stepping away from it due to pressure and complexities in work. But when this happens it leads to distrust and confidence amongst people is lost. I strongly believe that mastering all 5 minds very soon is not an easy task but is definitely possible as we start to develop each of them. Its rightly said that