Make Self-Care A Priority

Have we felt as strongly for Self-Care as we feel now ?

Maybe NO, because the present times are drastically different from any other and the crisis of this magnitude is a "first" for many of us. Till now, we could afford to ignore the need for self-care, even with a lame excuse and get away with it. But now is the time to give due importance to self-care and put it on priority else coping with the situation will become impossible for us. Ignoring self-care will only leave us more vulnerable and lead to anxiety, depression, and various other debilitating emotions/ feelings.

The turn of events during these unpredictable times may leave us overwhelmed and lead to losing focus on "self" but a quick reminder to ourselves that self-care is the only way to beat the blues could set us up to put self-care back on our radar and get going.

It's very important to understand that self-care is a comprehensive and holistic approach to wellness and includes physical, mental and emotional aspects of our personality.

The trick to effective self-care lies in making it an integral part of our lifestyle and mentioned below are few tips that could help us achieve the same.

Keep Things Simple

At times like these (crisis), the intention should be to avoid complicating the things so that they don't overwhelm us. The more manageable things are for us, the more we are in control of ourselves. We can always keep things simple by

• living in the present because that's where it's all happening. moving beyond the present, into the times which hasn't arrived brings undue stress. all the action happens in the present and that's why it's important to stay there, in the present.

• taking things as they unfold - pre-empting things doesn't work out in these situations where uncertainty and unpredictability rule the roost. being patient is the key, so wait and watch how things shape up and then prepare ourselves accordingly. acting in haste is a complete waste in this scenario.

• focusing on what we can control, even if it's a tiny thing/ task/ action - it's good to have an opinion but being obsessed with it (opinion) if we can't change the facts is waste of energy. there are always going to be things falling outside our scope of control so it makes more sense to expend our energy and effort on things under our control and it could be the crucial task of managing our reaction to a bad/ unfavourable event. 

• attempting one thing at a time - multitasking is a myth but at times like these when we feel overwhelmed, we attempt to do too many things at the same time. this results in us losing focus and patience and we end up with multiple incomplete tasks. the best approach to avoid undue stress and pressure at this time is to prioritise things and do them one at a time. 

Go Easy On Self

It's natural human reaction to try our best to address the challenges effectively and at the earliest to avoid any major damage to self. But in our attempt to do so, we, knowingly or unknowingly, put ourselves under extreme pressure to do the right things and to do it in time. These self-imposed deadlines/ timelines could result in a biased mindset and we may end up being irrational in our decision-making. Remember, self-care is about being kind to our self, so let's try and be our best ally. Few ways that could help us go easy on ourself are

• stopping judging ourself - with plenty of negative influences around us, we may get into the habit of labeling ourselves. playing neutral ensures we stay sane and in control of things

• avoiding overthinking - The 2 most harmful thinking errors that we may get prone to during crisis are 1) playing victim, where we may start assuming to have been singled out to suffer, and 2) catastrophizing, where we tend to magnify the situation and get obsessed with the worst possibility.

• limiting media exposure - during times of crisis, media is bound to be filled with more news and stories about loss, despair and sadness. It's wise to avoid too much exposure to media of any form (electronic news media or social media). limiting our media exposure to gaining update on the situation and on watching news/  stories about hope and courage will be helpful. consuming only that content which keeps your spirits up is the best use of our time spent on media.

• dropping all expectations - when times are unsure, there's no point in building expectations of any sort from anyone, neither from self nor from others. the only expectation that may come true is the dawn of a new order and we can never be prepared in advance to build anticipation for this unknown and unseen entity. there's merit in having zero expectations and living more realistically. 

Seek Progress

It's very important that when we encounter any calamity in life, we try to maintain the forward momentum. Life is all about moving ahead, even if that happens by way of small, tiny steps. It may happen that life may come to a complete standstill and may not offer us any hope for future but if we proceed with an intent to keep moving ahead in some way, we will keep progressing. Here are few ways we can seek progress even during tough times

• looking for possibilities - among the plethora of problems that may come our way during crisis, keeping an eye for the silver lining or the bright spot is the only way to stay positive. "what is it that is still a possibility" could become the new mantra for us.

• identifying opportunities - the paradigm shift that occurs may close many previous doors but surely opens up many new ones. all that we need to do is to move out of our comfort zone and look around with fresh perspective.

• watching our self talk - words have great power and during times of difficulty, we rely a lot on our inner voice. ensure that what we tell ourselves uplifts us and gives us strength and hope. be watchful about the conversation with self as the self-talk has a direct impact on our self-esteem.

• doing what gives us strength - Vulnerability is at its peak during this time of uncertainty and the best we can do for ourselves is to pick up an activity/ hobby/ passion that makes us calm and provide us with strength to deal with the difficult times with ease.

Self-Care isn't just about being good to ourselves but also about being a contributor of optimism and hope for others too, especially when everyone needs them (optimism and hope) in abundance !

When "MORE" Makes Life Better !

 

Doesn't it sound ironical to talk about "more" as a means of bettering our lives especially when so many of us seem obsessed with incorporating "less" in our lives for the purpose. Whether it's implementing the concept/ philosophy of de-cluttering, minimalism or essentialism, the quest to "live with less" never seems to end. Many of us are always on a spree to do away with our possessions in a bid to "live better and more meaningfully" through surviving with bare, minimum life essentials.

To many of us, talking about "more" as a means of achieving a better life (in many ways) may sound contrary to the above and we may start to wonder about the possibility of it ! The catch here is the context we put for "MORE" - as long as we perceive "more" in terms of "extra" or "add-on", we may always be in astonishment, but the moment we change the frame of reference to "incorporating the essential" in our life, "More" starts to make better sense and things become much clear. Here, in this post i share about five such ways when "more" brings fulfillment and success and makes our lives much better vis-a-vis "less". Let's look at them 

Living more REAL and Less Digital 

The amount of life we live in the virtual world is so much more than in actual. The social media, social networks has permeated our lives so much that it has blurred the distinction between real and fake. We always seem to be living our "alter ego" in the digital world and have almost forgotten what it is to live our "real" self. The time calls for being more real than digital to remain the "homo sapiens", the species that we, humans, belong to. The biggest danger of living "digital" is the eroding away of basic elements like emotions, feelings and rationality that sets us apart from the rest of the species. Living more REAL will not only help rekindle the lost spirit of brotherhood, but also prevent the pretense of superiority or parity which is not required and help us be more respectful of others' identity and needs. The moment we drift away from the "real" is when we start to see a dip in our esteem, efficacy and confidence. So, let's not compromise on living a fulfilling life and start live Real.     

  

Living more in PRESENT than in Future

We live in a fast paced competitive world and majority of the time we are focused on securing our future. We go all out to accumulate as much as we can, thinking that this will make our lives better in future (a myth, though !). We do not give sufficient importance to the existing moments and let go of all the beauty and pleasures contained in the current moments by allowing the life go by us. All this happens, primarily, because we tend to view life in limited dimensions (like wealth and professional growth) and so keep working towards improving these specific dimensions of our life at the cost of the rest of the dimensions like self, family, health, etc. This ultimately leads to a state of imbalance and our hopes of a better life in future get quashed in no time. When we start giving importance to the present, we, not only, start noticing and feeling the little pleasures of life but also start living life lot better. So, let's live in the Present and bring balance in our life.   

Saying more NO and less Yes

However positive and affirming "Yes" may sound but making it a philosophy of life leads to lot of dissatisfaction in life. We need to realise that every "Yes" eats into our resources of time, effort, attention, money, etc. For reasons obvious and not-so obvious, we may say yes to things, people and situations but that doesn't guarantee success always and later we may regret saying yes to so much. If we can remember that everything is not worth our time, attention and effort then we can start saying NO more comfortably. The best thing about saying NO is that we take a positive and progressive step towards a better life by avoiding taking too much, which most of the times is beyond our capacity and interest. So, let's get judicious in our choices/ decisions and say NO when doing so make our lives clutter-free and better.     

Doing more MONO and less Multi

When "Survival of the Fittest" becomes the sole mantra to live by and busyness takes preference over productivity; when being competitive is not good enough and one starts to outdo others by way of becoming better, smarter and/ or faster than multi-tasking seems to become the norm. Engaging ourselves in plenty, much more than we can handle, gives the feeling of doing more. We try to ape the supercomputer which has in-built capability for parallel processing, but forget that as humans, we possess only single processing capability. For us to focus on multiple tasks together is impossible and how much we may say we are multi-tasking, it's actually mono-tasking that we still do. The reason being, that at any point, humans can just focus on a single thing. The biggest advantage of mono-tasking is that we can focus well and pay undivided attention to the task at hand. On the other hand, in multi-tasking, not only we become more unproductive as a result of many unfinished tasks, but we also tend to spend more time shifting among the multiple tasks and taking longer to restart on the previous tasks (proven by research). So, let's make our lives better by doing things one at a time.  

(Related Article: BUSYNESS - The Utopian Paradox )

Connecting more INTERNALLY and less Externally

With all the attractions and distractions contained in the world around us, it's easy to get swayed by what strike our senses and fall prey to the "pull factor" syndrome, where we just get led by things. This results in ending up operate our lives with an "outside-in" approach, where the control of our life gets passed onto things external and we lose grip on our life. This tendency of going along with the flow of  VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment is not conducive to our growth and development and can be addressed by altering the orientation of our approach to life by making it an "inside-out" approach. During these times, when we are struggling to be authentic and credible, connecting more within gives us access to that inner wisdom that equips us with powers of creativity and intuition, that helps us stand tall during times of adversity. So, if we keep visiting our inner guide, we will end up discovering our best ally.  

(Related Article : Playing Buddha At Work)

Here's ending with a wonderful quote that nicely sums up the entire post 

"Aspire not to have more, but to be more" 

                                                - Oscar Romero

Note : the images in the above post have been sourced from the internet

Stop Chasing the Wrong Rainbow !

Life is a good teaser and most of us are always running to catch up with its' (life) pace. Amidst all the "chasing after life" that we get engaged in,  little do we realize that, we are, in fact, chasing a rainbow. However promising and colorful this rainbow may appear, and however sincerely we may go after it, we may still not be able to catch up the rainbow. Mindless chasing just make the matter worse. This is when a little pause for doing course correction could make the things better for us. We may ask ourselves whether we are chasing the wrong rainbow ? Maybe chasing an illusion of perfection and "being preferred" that may have got manifested out of our unrealistic expectations. 

Chasing a rainbow that exists in the context of a world that is governed by a cut-throat competition and where competitiveness guides for all our pursuits, aspirations outdo ability and we are constantly striving to outdo others (in every conceivable way), makes it imperative for us to ensure that we chase the right rainbow if we want to live a fulfilling life. The repercussions of chasing a wrong rainbow are fraught with implications that would leave us exhausted, clueless and disappointed. 

Before choosing which rainbow to chase, it is good to realize that life will always play a "catch me if you can" game with us and whether we fall trap to it or not is going to define the outcomes in our life. Chase the wrong rainbow and we would always be running and seeking without any end; choose the right rainbow and we would make the best of whatever life brings our way.  

Let's understand what a wrong rainbow comprises. Always remember that even a wrong rainbow could appear quite appealing and enticing and may fool us into a make-believe. So, the best way to get started is to ask ourselves -  What are we seeking in life ?What exactly, are we, running after in life ?

So, when it's about chasing the wrong rainbow, we tend to end up chasing things that are BIGGER, BETTER, FASTER, SMARTER and MORE. Our frame of reference is "others" and our intention, always, is to outdo others. Blame it on clouded thinking and inflated ego, we just live a life of constant comparison, always keen to prove a point to others. The control of our life is handed over to others and all our energy and effort goes in being a notch above others. The "tangibles" seem to be defining our success here, in this scenario. For example, to be termed/ perceived more successful than others, i need to be the BEST IN EVERYTHING, whether its about owning a home (bigger than others), driving a car (faster than others), having a job or business (smarter than others), bank balance (more money than others). Chasing a rainbow comprising of the above 5 components will always be a never-ending struggle because there will always be someone better than us in some way. So, this eternal quest of perfection will always stand in our way of living a satisfying and successful life.

Now, let's look at what a right kind of rainbow looks like. Progression instead of Perfection defines this rainbow and there never really is any chase involved in it. It's all about a very calm and patient seeking of peace and order. The SMALL, LESS and NOW characterizes the nature of things being sought. The control of life remains with "oneself" and intention is to become the BEST VERSION OF ONESELF, without any need to enter into competition with others. The seeker is happy and satisfied with whatever there is and "tangibles" do not hold much relevance in this context. Chasing/ Seeking this rainbow is a guarantee of eternal satisfaction and success in life. A small house, small car, enjoying every task to the hilt is all very satisfying and satiating.

So, reflect whether you need to stop chasing the wrong rainbow and if need be create your own rainbow, that aligns well with the fundamental principles of living life well.

Remember, it's never too late to Stop Chasing Life and instead Start Living It !

Reinvent Life And Give It A Fresh Start !

Life is never a smooth ride and imagining it to be so is a big error in judgment that is bound to leave us more disgruntled. Thing may not always favour us and there may come a time when we may find ourselves at crossroads and when that happens we are lost for the way forward !

Among the top thoughts that confront us, when we lose our way in life, are - Shall I give up ? Shall I continue as long as I can with whatever I have ? or Shall I reinvent and then move ahead with a new plan ?

Deciding on any one of the above mentioned three courses of action becomes lot easier when we base our decision on the biggest realisation that inspite of all the hiccups and holds, we still need to maintain a forward momentum in life if we want to progress in life.There are bound to be times and situations in our lives when we may find ourselves stuck and frozen, stagnancy may stare at us in our face and we may find ourselves unable to move ahead. Life may appear to come to a standstill and we may be as confused and lost as we could be - the mind may always be operating in a state of commotion, with thoughts all jumbled up and actions all botched up !

So, when "progressing in life" is the mantra for us, "reinventing" seems to be the best course of action that can enable us to build/ develop new outlook and fresh perspective to things, and give life a fresh start.

Reinventing becomes easier when we constantly strive to learn and improve. There are 4 steps that can help us make the entire process of "Reinventing" a worthwhile approach/ strategy for times when  we find ourself stuck and immobilised for action. Let's find out what these 4 steps are 

• REFLECT - The future path becomes clearer when we derive learning from past. Unless we know what needs to be changed, we just can't change anything and make things happen. The moment we start to "Reflect" is the stage where we analyse things in terms of what and where things went wrong and what could have made things right. The "Reflect" step gives us a clarity about the road ahead by enabling us to identify whether the problem lies with our goal or actions or resources or some other relevant element of our life. So, whenever we find ourselves at crossroads, let's look back with an intent to learn from things gone wrong so that we can  take corrective actions going forward. "Reflect" is the step that lays the foundation for providing a fresh start to life.     

• REFOCUS - This is where the channelising of energy happens. "Clarity" about goals or destination is a key outcome of the previous step i.e. Reflect, and this outcome helps establish a better focus for future actions. Once a new goal or destination is in place, it paves way for expending our energy and effort in the right direction.  

• RECHARGE - It is quite natural to feel drained when things don't go right for us. Our energy, enthusiasm, positivity, effort and everything related hits rock bottom. Therefore, in such a scenario, giving our best to anything new requires us to refresh ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally. "Recharge" is the step where we are all pumped up and charged up again for the new goals/ challenges. Attempting things with renewed vigor defines the "Recharge" step appropriately. Once the mind-body alignment has been achieved, attempting any challenge or  task becomes lot easier.    

• RESTART - Now, the final step without which all the planning/ preparation/ alignment done in the previous steps go waste. This is the "Restart" step, which is all about execution/ implementation/ action. Once we have set ourself up mentally and emotionally, it's important that we follow it up with appropriate action and take the relevant steps with confidence and trust.    

Remember - When life hits you hard, give it a fresh start !

Seek the "Bright Spot" in Life !

Image Source: www.larryraymonds.com

Do you remember the biggest turnaround of your life ? - That instance when you came out triumph even though the odds were stacked against you and everything was going amiss around you.

Ever wondered how you managed to turn it around in your favour ? What triggered the turnaround, that too at a time when you had lost all hope ?

You may reflect and come out with plenty of reasons but the most crucial would be how it all started - that mind shift which occurred that propelled you to look at the situation with a more positive intent and perspective. Amidst all the turbulence and tribulations, the moment you started seeking the "bright spot" is when the change started to happen for you. And this change is what resulted in turning your life around for better.

Whether the going is smooth or rough, there are 2 key things about life that we always need to remember -

1. Life is unpredictable and will always keep springing surprises and
2. The basic nature of life is "forward".

Given the above understanding about life, the only way to deal with the vagaries of life and keep momentum intact in life is to always look for the "bright spot", even in the worst of the scenarios. Whether you call it "being optimistic" or something else, all that matters is not to get bogged down by unfavourable situations and go into a "freeze" mode, but to figure out something positive and worthwhile in every adversity and keep growing in life.

The phrase "Every cloud has a silver lining" is just so apt to explain seeking the "bright spot". There's always something good you can find in any situation, something that cheers you up and tells you that

• Life is not about any one event or incident but rather about entirety; the realisation that life is a composition of all the events and incidents that have occurred in your life till now 
• Life is not about the experience per se but about the learning it provides to help you become much wiser for future
• Life is not about failure but about the feedback that every failure provides so that the mistakes are not repeated

Seeking the "bright spot" becomes a challenge if you start observing things in the shorter context of what is happening. The best way to overcome this challenge is to start observing things in the larger context of how less worse (if things are dismally bad) or better you could make it because the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts". So, start finding that "bright spot" that could turn it around for you - maybe there's a learning you could derive, maybe there's a bigger damage you could prevent, maybe there's a change of course you can identify, maybe there's some other realisation that could dawn on you.

Once you have sought the "bright spot" then you can be rest assured that life will only be as bad as you would allow it to be because you would have then seized the control of your life also. So, never get impacted by the bad things that may occur in your life at times (and may get even worse) because you still hold the control for turning the tide in your favour.

Live life to the fullest and next time you find yourself in a tight spot, just seek the "bright spot" and bring about the desired turnaround in your life. You can always create your best possible life if you don't sweat about the small stuff and just focus on the beauty of making your life much more worthwhile !    

The "Success Equation"

When we think of Success, the most common questions that crop up in our mind are

What does Success look like ?

Does Success come easy ?

How do we achieve and sustain success ?

The answers to the above questions lie nowhere else but in our approach - whether we pursue success as "madness" or  put a "method" to this "madness". The  moment we have a system/ method, success becomes a habit.  

Engaged in the mindless pursuit of "more", we always tend to live life in the fastlane, with no idea

about whether we are headed in the right direction or not. We completely lose sight of the real determinants of success and meander through life, thereby widening the gap between achievement and accomplishment. Ignoring the basic tenets we take shortcuts to succeed and sooner or later find ourselves at crossroads, all beaten, confused, tired and exhausted. This is exactly when we wish there was a system to success. A deep self-reflection and we can arrive at a "Success Equation", an equation which boasts of some very basic elements which if implemented sincerely could put us on course to success in all our endeavours.

The system/ method to life-long success is captured well by the following equation

To be able to make this equation a part of our daily routine, let's understand each element of the equation

• Aspiration: This element is all about understanding our desires - what we want and where we want to see ourself in life. The ideal or the desired state is what describes this element. Our aspirations get manifested in the form of our dreams which leads to set goals for our life. This builds in us the intent to aim for something in life. If the aspirations align with our purpose and passion, then success will never ditch us.

• Inspiration: This element is about identifying the trigger in our life - the ideal(s) which we want to emulate and be like. It's like the ignition that sets the fire within us. Inspiration is what we need to make a start on our journey to success. This is what gets our adrenalin to rush and gives us the first push towards our dreams and desires.

• Motivation: This element is the perceived reward that keeps our interest alive in pursuance of our aspirations and goals. If inspiration is what gets us started then motivation is what keeps us moving. The motivation gets manifested in the form of mini targets or small success that we envisage or experience along the way. The motivation is what gives us traction and keeps pushing us continuously in the direction of our aspirations. 

• Action: Perhaps the most important element without which the other three elements seem irrelevant. This element corresponds to the effort we put in to bring to fruition our intent. If the other three elements are all about Planning then this is all about Execution. This element builds in the requisite discipline to enable us to turn dreams into reality. 

So, let's look no further for the recipe of success because the Success Equation has all the relevant ingredients to make it happen for us !

   

What's on Your Canvas for 2018?

Another year (2017) going by and another one(2018) knocking at our doors. The deja vu is all so familiar and again it's time for another set of resolutions.The same ritual of setting goals and then striving to actualize it will continue unless something done differently. The onset of new year also brings about a resurgence of ambitions and expectations that matter to us and our lives.

In the midst of all this, the million dollar questions that crosses our mind so many times are

• Can we make this year any better?
• Can we make this year count more in our life? 
• Can we manage more luck, success, happiness and prosperity in the new year?

Standing still between the past (2017) and future (2018) and aiming to make our lives more worthwhile, our quest to make our impending "present" the best begins. Our search for answers and  solutions continues. A quick reflect back on our Canvas for last year could help give us an insight into the missing pieces. Those missed out or incomplete caricatures, landscapes, sketches and the missing colors speak a lot about what we need to do better this time around. A simple solution by way of mending the missing elements in the canvas will not only render the canvas complete but also  add great meaning to our life in 2018 and beyond.

Make the Canvas (of our life) ready for 2018 is just about

• Identifying the pieces that are missing in our life in terms of our mission, vision, goals, or action items. Incorporating these pieces will not only complete the picture but make it holistic too.

• Bringing to conclusion all those incomplete tasks that stand on the verge of losing relevance and importance if not catered to Now. Those goals and resolutions which just need an action plan and that first step to make it happen.

• Adding more zing to those half-hearted tasks which are as good as any incomplete because of the lack of proper pursuance. Adding passion and purpose in our efforts will liven us and make our life an experience to cherish.     

Let's paint our best life on the canvas and splash it with all the beautiful colors of positivity and optimism to welcome more success, happiness and abundance forever in our lives. 

So, get going and create you masterpiece Now !

RAS - The Genie Inside Us !

Is there a way to turn all our dreams into reality?

Possibly yes, but only when we

• get hold of a magic wand and "ABRACADABRA" our way to success

                                             OR

• call to our service Aladdin's Genie

The possibility of us finding a magic wand or Alladin’s lamp is next to impossible but lo, there exist a genie inside each one of us which when invoked has the power to transform all our dreams into reality and put us on path to goal accomplishment.        

This genie is very much an integral part of our physical self, our identity and is known as RAS (Reticular Activating System). Remember the coincidences that appear in our life and leave us in wonderment when what we seek appears all around us (whether it’s a new car we have been longing for or  a new holiday destination we have been exploring or anything else that is being sought by us). For a moment, it appears as if some supernatural power is at play but in real all that’s happening around us is a manifestation of the genie called RAS. Rather than rubbing of the lamp, this genie (RAS) just needs to be fed with our goals, things we intend to achieve in life.

RAS (Reticular Activating System) is a network of neurons located in the brain stem. It connects with other parts of the brain and to the spinal cord. In addition to being responsible for sleep, wakefulness and breathing, RAS is also responsible for many other functions like eating, elimination of boy waste and bringing things to our attention. Every moment, our brain is  bombarded with million of bits of information but only few thousand gets processed by it and what should get processed is determined by RAS.   

RAS  acts as a point of confluence where all our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, value and external influences meet. Based on what is fed by us in our conscious mind (in the form of goals), RAS filters the incoming sensory inputs (except smell which goes directly into brain’s emotional area) and sends to the subconscious mind only the information that aligns with our goals and focus. This is how coincidences occur with us as our subconscious start seeking in the environment what we have established as intent in our conscious mind.

So, to invoke the genie inside us so that it fulfills all our dreams, all we need to do is to establish goals effectively by writing them down. It’s only when the genie(RAS) sees the real intent in our goals that it starts weaving it’s magic in our life ! 

The 4 Cardinal "Cs" of Life !

A successful life is built upon layers of goals achieved by us. If we aim to accomplish all our goals in life then we need to ensure forward momentum in life. Every step we take should be progressive, thereby ensuring our growth. Challenges and Opportunities would never cease to crop up in our journey to success so we need to be well prepared to confront these challenges, address them appropriately and take advantage of these opportunities. One of the simple, easy and effective way to sustain our forward momentum in and progress in life is to harness the power of 4 Cs. The 4 Cs are simple elements which when adopted and mastered would not only put us in better control of our life but also propel us towards achieving greater heights in life. All that stands between us and success is a better understanding of these 4 Cs and their application in our lives. 

Let's explore these 4 essential building blocks of better life

The 4 Cs are - Choice, Change, Consequences and Correction. They are well connected and act as feeder to each other. Their convergence point is a point of guaranteed unlimited success. Let's understand what each of the 4 C stand for: 

• Choice - When opportunity strikes, it's time to decide and choose. The power of choice is always within our control and our choice decides whether we move closer to our goal or away from it. What we choose is what we become.

• Change - The process of change is always uncomfortable initially but the mere resolve to be ready for change/ transformation is the deciding factor. Our willingness or unwillingness to change (after weighing all pros and cons) determines whether stay put in our comfort zone and be a mediocre achiever or we move into our creative zone and live our best possible life

• Consequences - Every choice that we make in our life has a flip side to it. Being wary of the unfavorable conditions and having a plan to deal with them put us in better control of those situations and our life.

• Correction - Every step/ action towards our goal may highlight certain gaps that need to be plugged in to continue our forward movement. Our ability to gain insight into what holds us back and then doing the needful to mend it is what ensures our steady progress towards success.  

In a nutshell, the 4Cs mantra is 

"Choose to Change, anticipate the Consequences, be prepared to do the necessary Correction and then Carry on Creating an awesome life"

START ensures SUCCESS#AtoZChallenge

S is for START

We are always seeking success in our endeavours and one of the tangible ways to measure success is the number of goals we achieve in our life.  Most of the time success eludes us because of the wide gap that exists between our aspirations and achievements. We set many goals but lot of them remain unachieved and one of the key reason for the same is our inability to take the first step towards the goal i.e. make a START. The importance of START could well be understood from the following 2 age-old quotes –

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Lao Tzu” and “Beginning is half done” 

We may plan as much but must complement it by taking first step towards it. Goal-Setting is useless in the absence of Goal-Getting

Why START is important ?

·         The beginning is always critical as it shows our passion and intent towards our goal

·         Moves us out of inertia mode and puts us in motion which is so important to push us out of our “comfort zone” and keep us moving towards our goals

·         Builds momentum in our thoughts and actions and keeps traction intact

·         Keeps us stress free and relaxed

·         Helps us avoid getting overwhelmed with the number of tasks to execute/ goals to achieve

·         Builds self-confidence as every little success counts and encourages us for the next

How to ensure an effective START ?

·         Identify goals that we relate to and feel passionate about achieving

·         Start small, one step at a time. It’s all about being in motion

·         Equip our self with the resources required to START and then take action

·         While setting goals, we should ensure that we create a POA (Plan of Action) detailing steps needed to achieve the goals

·         “Think Macro, Act Micro”  should be our motto which will ensure that even when we make a START, say with a small, little step we are still clear about the big picture that we are working towards  

·         Not worry much about getting the perfect START. It’s about the first step and along the way we will get opportunities to do correction.

Always remember that START is the first step towards FINISH and the best time to START is right NOW !

ACTION determines Accomplishment #AtoZChallenge

A is for ACTION

Life is a continuous and consistent series of events/ situations and our success or failure in life is determined by one of the following 2 states we deal with it, either active or passive. Let’s briefly explore each of the 2 mentioned states – Passive and Active

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      Passive state is a state of inertia where we just let the events happen to us and impact us. It is a stationary state which doesn’t yield much related to our growth in life whereas Active state is a state of motion where we seize control of the event/ situation and enable us to make things happen as we want them to. 

Each one of us seek success in life and want to achieve the most in our lives. To a large extent, our success in life is determined by our accomplishments which are characterised by our goals and dreams. Considering the fact that each one of us have immense potential lying dormant and waiting to be harnessed, what possibly could lead us to achieve our goals and dreams and do justice to our potential ? One of key ingredients that possibly would enable us to be more successful in life is “ACTION”. To achieve anything in life, both Planning and Doing are important but planning alone may not suffice unless appropriate ACTION supplements it and completes the success cycle. 

WHY taking ACTION is important ?

• ACTION is foundational key to all success
• ACTION always yields something  more and better
• ACTION turns Vision into Reality
• ACTION shows the way to get started
• ACTION puts you on path to greatness
• ACTION helps build skills like decision-making, self-esteem, confidence, focus, result oriented
• ACTION helps us step out of our comfort zone and move towards a better life

HOW to start taking ACTION ?

• Adopt Kaizen style - Begin small and take one step at a time
• Focus on one thing at a time as this will help being specific and let us concentrate all our energies on that specific task/ thing.
• Always have a GOAL to act towards as it will provide the direction to work towards. Additionally, pick up an attainable GOAL, something that can be reached/ achieved
• Always imbibe a positive and progressive intent towards what we want to achieve as this will always trigger the right kind of motivation in us.
• Making commitment to achieve our goals will help us own the task completely and also make us accountable for the same.   
• Visualise being successful as the law of attraction would ensure that even our ACTIONS start  aligning with our thoughts and beliefs

So, let’s start taking ACTION and assume control of our lives.