Comfort Zone - A Dream Killer!

Just imagine yourself deciding against  

- upskilling yourself as you get older

- looking for new opportunities when you feel dissatisfied at work

- moving out of a relationship, which doesn't seem to be working out, inspite of your best efforts

- pursuing your hobbies or interests, when there is clearly a need for you to relax and de-stress

Maybe you overlooked the long-term impact the above could have on you. The "present" may seem to matter more for you because it's not putting demands on you to do anything new or different. 

But can you afford to remain oblivious to the need to grow and progress during these dynamic times?

MAYBE NOT !!!   

Because it's anybody's guess about what all we stand to lose if we decide to remain static and inflexible. 

REMEMBER - "You can't learn to swim in still water...You can't move ahead by confining yourself to status quo...You can't progress by staying stationary...You can't grow unless you nurture yourself"

And when living your BEST LIFE is at stake, you can't take chances by being average or mediocre.

The home you may have confined yourself to may seem comfortable for a while and in some cases, a while longer, but the charm soon wanes off. The familiar territory starts to appear so alien and the feelings of ease and comfort gets replaced with fear and uncertainty. 

A comfort zone can feel like home, just like resting on the seaside after an exhilarating swim. If it is only about resting for a while, its absolutely fine BUT when you get too comfortable being comfortable that’s when the real problem begins.

When you become like a ship docked in harbour for too long, you stop exploring the waters.

When in comfort zone, be mindful about not staying there for too long else complacency will creep in and steal away your progress & potential.

So, GEAR UP to

- try something new,
- try some challenging stuff,
- push your limits &
- give the unthinkable a chance!

Stretch yourself a little more…Step beyond your comfort zone BECAUSE that is where the MAGIC is 😊!!!

Make a START!

SUCCESS...ACHIEVEMENT...PROGRESS...GROWTH...EXCELLENCE

All these may only remain a far-fetched dream if you fail to take that first step of STARTING on our GOALS. You can't always expect yourself to know the road ahead but unless you start, you won't discover what lies ahead. 

The wrong turns, the speed breakers, the roadblocks - you get to know of them once you START on your JOURNEY. There's always scope for COURSE CORRECTION as and when the situation may demand it.

All those times when you have lagged behind or failed to accomplish, there's a good chance that it may have been to do with your inability to START.

Once you START, life moves from bad to good, good to better, better to best and there's nothing that you can't accomplish once you make the right START.

Here's a peek into the MAGIC that occurs once you MAKE A START.

- Once you start to LISTEN, you start to COMMUNICATE BETTER

- Once you start to CONNECT, you start to COLLABORATE

- Once you start to DO, you start to ACHIEVE

- Once you start to FOCUS, you start to EXCEL

- Once you start to BELIEVE IN SELF, you start to PERFORM AT YOUR BEST

- Once you start to ACCEPT YOUR MISTAKES, you start to LEARN MORE 

- Once you start SELF-CARE, you start to FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF

Remember - IT ALL FALLS IN PLACE ONCE YOU START! 

The ABC of Success

When you find yourself struggling to succeed, what do you most dwell on?

Competency?

Goals?

Circumstances?

Effort?

You may find yourself thinking or addressing any or many of the above, but still, you may find success elusive. The reason success may still be out of your reach could be because of the way you may be approaching success. You may not have prepared yourself for success and this is exactly when you need to pay attention to the basic building blocks of success.

If there's not much clarity about the process, then it will always be a struggle to reach your destination. At times, you need to go back to the basics and work towards getting them right. Success is built by focusing on the fundamentals of preparing well and being ready to be successful. 

Getting your ABC right will set you on the path to achieving sustained success. 

Here's how the ABC of Success looks like     

A for ATTITUDE - This is at the core of the effort you put in for being successful. The right mindset is what differentiates success from failure. When you approach things and situations with positive intent and with a focus on giving your best, results will always be favorable for you. If your attitude determines your altitude, then carry the one (attitude) that's progressive and empowering.

B for BELIEFS - So many times, success is withheld because of our disempowering beliefs, which render us confused and immobile. The perceptions and views we hold about things and situations may make or break our quest for success. Challenge the beliefs that are a hindrance to your success and this will open up many new avenues and opportunities to realize your dreams and accomplish your goals. Be open to accept new perspectives on things and this will help you move out of your comfort zone, and lead you to accomplish more.         

C for CHOICES - Your everyday choices keep defining the course of your life and career. Let the choices you make be defined by your need to keep progressing towards your goals. Not every choice may turn out to be the right one every time but the learnings therein could help us do the necessary course correction. Your choices should act as enablers, helping you stay focused on the destination in spite of all the detours.

If you want to get the ABC of SUCCESS right, then pay attention to 

• the ATTITUDE you Carry
• the BELIEFS you Hold, and 
• the CHOICES you Make

What's your raison d'etre?

Let's start with few simple questions

Are you excited about what you do?

Do you know why you do what you do?

If your answer is NO to any or both of the above, then it's time for self-introspection!

So, what should you do when you realize that your heart is not in the work you are doing and you seem to be just going through the motions?

The easiest thing to do is to start playing the blame game and look for the easy scapegoats, but the question to ask here is - for how long can you keep doing so and where would this lead to, in the long run? Is it going to lead to something better in your life or only lead to more confusion?

The feeling of emptiness that stares at you at the end of every workday and the frustration and irritation you experience in your work is an indication of "motivation" missing from your life and that's exactly what you should be addressing.

This is when you should start to engage in self-probe and discover the "WHY" of your work, the missing "PURPOSE" of your work/ life. What is it that keeps you going? What is it that gets you excited about life? What is it that makes you look forward to the day? 

It's not difficult to sense whether you are living with a purpose. When your head and heart are in sync while doing what you do, then it's an indication that you are living your purpose. When, at the end of the day, you feel you have made a difference with your action/ activities, you can be rest assured that you are living with a purpose.

PURPOSE and PASSION go hand-in-hand. Start by getting your purpose in place and the passion will follow suit. And, when you hit the sweet spot at the intersection of the two, you will be on course to discover your IKIGAI too!

Focus on the value you want to generate and the impact you want to create and you would start on your journey to discovering your purpose. get to understand the difference you want to bring through what you do and therein will lie your purpose.

There's always an impact you are creating with your vocation and all you need to do to realize that is to link your efforts to the big picture!

Summing up concisely, here's what you need to be aware of

Why do you need Purpose in life? As simply as to make your life worthwhile and live with an agenda.

How do you know you are living with Purpose? When you start to feel that you have accomplished something and have made a difference with your work/ vocation.

How do you go about identifying your Purpose? Observing whether what you are doing(actions) is generating the impact that you have identified for your life.

It's time to start living "purposefully"!

From Achiever to Super Achiever in 7 Steps !

Think about the times when you have found yourself in awe of someone highly successful and been left to wonder 

- how do these super achievers manage to accomplish much more than most of us? 

- what does it take to become a super-achiever? 

So, what exactly differentiates Super Achiever from an Achiever? Well, "potential" may make you an achiever but when you add the power of "discipline", you make a shift to be a super achiever. So, the secret to be a Super Achiever lies not just in our "potential" but in our ability to harness the potential we possess. 

A Super Achiever thrives on the discipline of achieving consistently and makes it possible by building a structure to the process of achievement. Here are 7 steps, which when followed sincerely, could make super achievement a possibility. Let's begin the process

• Become aware of your dreams - Unless you have a vision for life, you will struggle to find meaning in anything around or inside. Spend time to figure out your purpose and/ or passion and you will always find yourself  "getting excited" about life and living. Knowing the destination always helps in identifying which direction to take. So, work on knowing yourself better by being your best ally and digging deep inside. The moment you discover what you are meant to be is when you will see yourself "raring to go".  Never be scared of dreaming big because that's what you are meant to be. Remember, dreamers become achievers by building clarity of purpose. 

• Establish your goals - Dreams remain wishes if you don't build bridges for them. Set milestones in the form of goals that will keep you moving in the right direction. So, before dreams leave you intimated or overwhelmed, tame them by establishing short-term (long-term) achievable goals/ mini-goals, as these then will cumulatively add up towards materialising the big picture you have in sight. Chunking helps in making things achievable and therefore spend some time mapping your dream(s) to a set of tangible items. 

• Find your inspiration/ motivation - A trigger is needed not only to get you started but also to keep you moving. Firstly, find out what inspires you towards pursuing your dreams and ambitions. Once you take that first step in the right direction, find out what will keep pushing you towards your goals, which are leading to your dreams and ambition. There's no dearth of inspiration and motivation around and all that you need to do is to move out of your comfort zone and open yourself up to suitable possibilities and opportunities!

• Set the intention - The accomplishment of anything important is made easier by aligning our energy and focus on the task to be done. Whenever you set out to work towards your dreams or goals, ensure you are internally prepared for it. Bring your whole self in alignment with what you plan to work on. This alignment will ultimately ensure that your efforts are focused on the important goals in your life and you are prepared to give your best to the task at hand. One of the easy ways to set an intention is to create a few positive affirmations which you can continuously use/ repeat to yourself. 

• Take action - All your planning may turn out to be a total waste if not put to application in the real world.  You may be a great planner of things but you need to make things happen too. Remember, what matters most is taking the right action in the right direction. Irrespective of the size of your dream or goal, keep executing your plans. Even a tiny action at your end, on a consistent basis, will take you closer to your goals. So, never let any day go by without moving closer to your goal, even though its by an inch. 

• Make correction - Where there's action, there's bound to be friction. So, when you are taking action, always anticipate some resistance. Most of the time you may not be able to remove the friction completely but you can always prepare yourself to address it as much as possible for you. Don't get put off at the sight or occurrence of a problem because you cannot control all the factors in your environment. There will always be opposing forces, some natural and some non-natural, so move ahead with this acceptance in your mind. The best approach would be to treat every obstacle as an opportunity to get better and moving closer to realising your true potential. Make necessary and relevant alterations/ modifications in your approach, wherever needed, to keep the forward movement intact in pursuit of your goals and dreams.

• Ensure completion - The actualisation of a goal/ dream is not always about the end result but also about the realisation gained. At times, you may find yourself pursuing the wrong goals, the ones which do not align with your values, passion, or purpose, and when that happens, accept it and be okay with it. Trying too hard to make things happen or leaving it totally unattended will not help your cause. To do justice to your energy and effort, put a proper closure to the things, even when you realise that the pursuance was wrong. Focus on preserving your effort, energy, and time. Whatever the means of closure, whether withdrawal, release, or realignment, just do it and get back on track.  

The above steps may not be the most comprehensive list but the intent behind putting these steps is to get you started on the path of super achievement. Do not expect to become a super-achiever overnight even when after applying the above steps a few times. Success would come when you make the above steps a ritual in your life, something that you do over and over again.

Let your journey to be a super-achiever begin from whichever step you find yourself at! 

Investments That Never Fail Us In LIfe !

Undoubtedly Money is the most prioritised resource for most of us and special care is taken while investing it. It does not require much thinking to decide where to invest money. The most obvious strategy being to invest where it gives the maximum returns. We try our best to invest our money in the right place and at the right so as to get the best returns on it.

Now, let me shift the context to the most crucial aspect of our existence i.e. our LIFE. How many times have we given a thought to the investments that will maximise the returns on our life and enable us to live a more fulfilling life ? I am sure most of us have not even thought about it ever. We just seem to be crawling along and satisfied with whatever comes our way.

In the wake of the decreasing human attention span (which is about 8 seconds), "minimum attention, maximum retention" seems to be the only mantra that most of us swear by and live by in today's time. We live with the principle of extracting the maximum output from the input but this principle aids our growth and development only when we have a clarity about the "inputs". Apart from money, what are those other "essential resources" that impact our life considerably in terms of success and growth ?  It's not easy to identify the other "resources" from the plethora that we confront every day but here, in this post, i cover 4 such resources that abide by the basic principle of "minimising-maximising" of the times. These 4 resources could prove to be a good investment if handled with care and caution (wisely). Let's discuss these four crucial investments that can turn around our lives for good.

• EMOTIONS : Emotions are the bedrock of a complete/ whole personality. Whether it's about ensuring a holistic personality, creating balance in life, excelling at work or building strong relationships, emotions play a crucial role. Investing emotions wisely can help us prevent spiralling downwards in life during crucial events and situations. Imagine getting into a regrettable relationship and wasting crucial years/ period of your life without any gain/ growth/ stability whatsover. Emotions work on the concept of "attachment or bond(ing)". The more attached we feel towards something (person, product, situation, etc.), the more emotions we invest into the thing. An emotionally disturbed person can never take rational decisions and also becomes very tentative in approach towards life. This leads to drop in confidence and esteem which directly impacts the personality of the individual. So, be wary of where you invest your emotions. 

• ENERGY : If momentum is what maintains consistency towards success in our life, then energy is what builds up that momentum. Most of the times, its that surge, that burst of energy that spurs us for unabated action when faced with the likelihood of giving up in life. If we can manage to direct/ redirect our energy at the right moment towards the right task, then we can be assured of accomplishing our goals in a timely manner. So, when it comes to investing your energy, be careful about expending it on the right areas/ tasks/ activity and at the appropriate moment so that it yields the best results. Never let go of any opportunity for the lack of desired energy that may be needed to complete the task. While running the sprint, its the final burst of energy that decides the winner between/ among the sprinters running neck to neck. There have been so many instances in the sprint world when the winner was decided on the basis of fraction of second. The runner who put in that required energy in time came out triumph. So, be like the sprinter and be ready for the "burst" when the need arises. 

• FOCUS : One of the big paradox that we are living today is that of FOCUS. The more we lose it, the more we demand it. Surrounded and bombarded with umpteen distraction, we just can't seem to pay sufficient attention to the things that demand it. With constant dwindling of human attention span, the resource of "Focus" had become more crucial in our lives and gradually moving towards becoming a "rare commodity". The market boasts of many tools and practices (based on the concept of Mindfulness is one such example) aimed at improving focus and attention span. Few examples of the same are Mindfulness, Pomodoro  and TimeBoxing The best strategy to derive the maximum return from FOCUS lies in "monotasking" instead of multi-tasking and paying our full attention to the task till its completion.

• TIME : Everything in our life, whether work, relationship or self-growth consumes a part of our time. But being a perishable resource, we can only give a portion of our time to each of the item and if we get the time allocation wrong, it takes us many steps backward in life and leave us with many unfulfilled tasks and things. The "limited (in quantity)" nature of Time makes it imperative that we make the optimum use of time available to us and the best way to do so is to imbibe the practice of Prioritisation in our approach to work and life. We will always have plenty of things seeking our attention but the moment we gain clarity about the sequence to invest our time is when we extract the best from our investment in time. Few techniques that can help us in this regard are Pareto Principle, Eisenhower Matrix    

Remember, success and happiness in our life will always accrue from making the right investments  !

7 Mantras For An Awesome 2020 !

Another year has gone by leaving us with plenty of experiences and memories. Like every year, 2019 also had its share of good and not-so-good moments for us, some cherishable and some forgettable ones. The times we faltered and failed were also opportunities to learn from our mistakes and get wiser. Now, it's time to consolidate on the learnings from 2019 and apply them to make 2020 a better year. 

Here are Seven Simple Mantras to make 2020 an awesome year 

   

CREATE A VISION for your Life - We are strongly driven by the desire of accomplishment and

the more we achieve, the more motivated we get to go after big/ bigger dreams of our life. But the trick to accomplishing and achieving our goals lies in knowing and establishing the big picture first i.e. gaining clarity on what we want to achieve and how our current actions/ tasks will contribute to achieving what we want to. A clarity-induced action is more effective than a random one. For our actions and efforts to make an impact, we need to clear about what they are aimed towards. So, before you set any expectations from the new year, set clear expectation from your life first. Understand and know how you see yourself years ahead from now (maybe 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and so on) ? how would you like to contribute to the society/ world ? how would you like to be perceived/ remembered ? Using vivid imagery (including all the senses to describe) could help us create a vision compelling enough to inspire us and motivate us to keep going strong for the entire year and beyond. Always remember that a well crafted Vision is the foundation of establishing appropriate goals.  Here's an excellent video to help create vision - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkrW3OgB9K0


ADOPT A POSITIVE OUTLOOK - There will always be times in our life when certain events or episodes would not work in our favour and we will feel as if life is slipping away. The moment we let these "unfavourable results" seize control over us is when we actually lose grip on our life. Life is always a mixed bag and the sooner we accept this reality the better prepared we will be to deal with the troubles and tribulations of life. Why should we fret about things that lie outside our scope of control ? Worrying about such things (events, situations) only distract us and render us unproductive as we tend to skip taking any action at all. Can we, instead, inculcate an outlook of possibility and optimism, so that we remain focused on doing what's in our control - taken progressive action even the chips are down !


ADAPT TO THE UNCERTAINITIES -  How many times does it happen with us that we find ourselves unable to cope with the fast turn of events ? Definitely, that happens quite a lot  because it's not easy to survive and thrive in a world that's dynamic by nature and where we are expected to do things "on the fly", most of the times. To be prepared for every eventuality is just not possible in this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, because most of the factors responsible for triggering any event, are outside our scope of control. However hard we may try to control the outcome, there will always be some additional factor(s) that will further impact/ alter the outcome. So, in a world characterised by the unpredictable nature of things, the best way to prepare ourselves to meet the challenges is to be flexible in our approach and always be prepared to accept the things as they turn out to be, without judging them. The moment we start anticipating and expecting too much is when rigidity creeps in our approach and we tend to mess things up and land up in precarious situation. So, let's always be ready by being flexible !


AFFIRM YOURSELF EVERY MORNING/ DAY - Positivity is a habit and we inculcate it through consistent practice. Every morning, when we set out to start our day, stating our positive intentions emphatically ensures that we make the best of the day. Affirming ourselves regularly and on daily basis helps us do away with doubt and fear in our thoughts and actions, and instills in us the confidence and courage to go ahead and execute our intentions. So, let's be emphatic enough to invite the right energy from the Universe, in our life, to support us in bringing goodness in ourselves and in everything around. So, let's state every positive thought/ resolution as emphatically and consistently as we can to make it become a reality.

CELEBRATE EVERY SMALL WIN - Haven't we all heard/ read the following quotes :

• "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"
• "Success is a series of small wins"
• "A little progress each day adds up to big results"

Each of the above quotes holds validity in context of the times we live in, where we always aim high

and big, but tend to ignore or skip taking those small steps that lead us closer to our goals. In the absence of acknowledging the power of these small steps, each and every goal of ours become so overwhelming and a huge task to accomplish. We need to realise that "success cannot be hurried up" and is a process which takes its own sweet time to materialise. Even if we just take small, tiny but progressive and positive steps regularly, we would manage to accomplish all our goals and dreams. The best that these small wins do to us is that they help us build/ maintain the desired momentum to keep moving forward in life and instill in us the key virtues of Patience and Focus, that are so much desired to thrive in this information-overloaded world. Lets perceive "big picture" of our life in terms of small manageable goals, and lose any moment in celebrating and cherishing small successes.     

TAKE RISKS (TO MOVE OUT OF COMFORT ZONE) - Comfort and Convenience is never an indication of growth but that of stagnancy. The more comfortable we get with what we have and where we are, the more we prepare ourselves for a slow but sure death (not literally). To derive the maximum out of our life, we need to keep inventing and re-inventing ourselves and that happens when we keep growing and evolving regularly and continuously. Growth comes from venturing into the unknown and attempting new things. So, letting go of the "fear of unknown" is the starting point for moving out of our comfort zone and when that happens, we live a more fulfilling life because there's so much to experiment, explore and accomplish.  A constant self-reminder that  "a comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing ever grows there" always keeps us on our toes to keep trying new and different things and make our life adventurous.   

SEEK INNER GUIDANCE/ WISDOM (CONNECT WITHIN) - There are times and moments in life when all our attempts to seek answers from outside fail because for certain problems, the answers lie within only. This is why being our biggest ally helps because this support system is the most reliable one, is always available to us and will never fail us. Falling back on others may not be a feasible option always, so it's better to be our own cheerleader. There's an Inner Guide within each one of us that has all the wisdom that may ever be needed to live an enriching life. At times, when we need hope, courage or clarity, the inner compass ensures that we stay on track. So, the more deep is our inner connection, the more clarity and confidence will be visible in all our actions. Let's put trust in our inner guru and it will never let us down because it knows what we want and what is best for us !

So, look no further than these simple 7 principles and set yourself on course to a rewarding journey in 2020  !  

5 Habits of Success

Fact: 

Each one of us has immense potential lying dormant within us.

Why "realising our potential" is important ? - Because only then we can accomplish our dreams and achieve more

How can we "realise our potential" that lies dormant in us (most of the time) ?  - By building discipline and consistency in our actions. In other words, by building right kind of "Habits".

So, it's the right kind of habits that differentiates "mediocre" from "exceptional". Here, in this post, i mention about 5 habits that can help us create our BEST and catapult us to new levels of success and happiness. So, here i go sharing about those 5 key habits

Habit Number 1: Wake up Early 

This is perhaps the most talked about habit of recent times. There are plenty of books and articles available on the subject of getting up early to utilise the "golden hours" and these books and articles  explain in detail/depth about the numerous benefits of getting up early. I would reiterate the need by mentioning the following two quotes

"Wake up early every day so that while others are still dreaming, you can make your dreams come true" - Hal Elrod

"Lose an hour in the morning and you will be all day hunting for it" - Richard Whately

Talking about people who are productive and successful, they tend to always accomplish more than the rest. Ever wondered, how they are able to do that when each one of us have the same 24 hours at our disposal. The answer is simple - they realise the importance of the "golden hours" that exists in the morning, when the distractions are none/few, energy is at its peak, focus is high and then go about utilising those precious hours on doing something productive that can make a huge positive difference to our lives. So, imbibing the habit of waking up early gives us extra hour(s) that can turnaround our lives for better and help us accomplish more. 

Important Benefit From This Habit : A positive, progressive and optimistic start to the day   

Tips to get started :

• Initially, we should avoid being overambitious in setting the "wake-up" time. Set reasonable and realistic goals, which could be like getting up half-an-hour earlier than the current time and then gradually increase it.
• Don't hesitate to use a tool/ gadget / strategy to help you build this habit. It could be an alarm clock coupled with the 5-second rule (Read Related Article : Productivity in a matter of (5) seconds )
• Build in a positive motivation to feel excited about getting up early
• Work out an agenda for how you would utilise the "early hours". A simple strategy for this could be to utilise the early hours to work on the most important area(s) of your life. You may use the Wheel of Life for the purpose (Read Related Article:  Wheel of Life )      

Habit Number 2: Plan, Prepare and build Priority 

We may let go of the advantage of "golden hours" if we don't build a structure for our day/ life. When we work, there are two types of  FLOW we may engage in - one is where we could just spend our hours, days, months, years and ultimately our life in just going along with the "flow" of things around us, which, in the end, still leave us with feelings on incomplete and unaccomplished whereas the second type of FLOW is when we immerse ourselves in the task at hand because of the passion we have for the work/ task. This type of flow is all about harmony then and this creates balance in our life. Our quest in life is always about the second type of FLOW, where we get completely immersed in the task. So, once we have the right goal(s) identified for ourself, then it's only about the right structure/ framework to ensure that we are in right kind of "flow". This structure comprises of 3 Ps which are Plan, Prepare and Priority and these help us to identify (More and in-depth about the 3 Ps to be covered in a different post)

• what needs to be worked on i.e. the tasks/ activities/ goals aligned with purpose of life (Plan)
• resources required for the identified tasks and these resources could be skills, knowledge, expertise, and related (Prepare). A SWOT Analysis could be very helpful in this. (Read Related Article : SWOT Matrix - Know Yourself First )
• sequence to approach the tasks which refer to identifying the ones which are most important and will have the maximum impact on our life in that period of time 

Few quotes that highlight the importance of 3 Ps  are mentioned below:

"Failing to plan is planning to Fail" - Alan Lakein

"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters" - Paul "Bear" Bryant

"Good things happen when you set your priorities straight" - Scott Caan

Important Benefit From This Habit : Better productivity by focusing on the "right" tasks 

Tips to get started

• Identify the list of all tasks to be worked upon. You may use the Brain Dump rule (Read Related Article: Brain Dump - Declogging a Cluttered Mind)
• Put the list in a visual form (written on paper or digital note pad)
• Capture the status quo to understand the current capabilities or identify the available resources (Read Related Article: SWOT Matrix - Know Yourself First )
• Identify tasks that need to be focused on earlier than the rest

    

Habit Number 3: Read/ Read More  

Again, there are plenty of books and articles on the benefits of reading (you may also refer to my post Why Read Books ? ). So, all that i would highlight here is the fact that reading opens up our mental faculties and renders us more creative and comprehensive in our approach towards life. There's a wholeness aspect that reading brings to our personality by way of building up connected knowledge and multiple perspectives about things, people, circumstances and situations. All this helps us deal with the uncertainties and unpredictability of life in a more wiser and rational way, which otherwise, we may never be able to learn experientially in real life, and if we somehow manage to learn, might take many years of our life. So, Reading is the way to go if we want flexibility, freedom and comprehensiveness to become integral to our way (attitude) of approaching life.
on the benefits of reading -

"To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life" - W. Somerset Maugham

"Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader" - Margaret Fuller

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read" - Mark Twain

Important Benefit From This Habit : A well-read person has a well-rounded personality and better equipped to deal with difficult situations.    

Tip to get started: 

• Start with anything short and easy-to-read types from your favorite genre
• After an easy start, move on to reading deeper books from the favourite genre
• Explore different genres
• Engage in reading multiple books (from different genre) simultaneously to build connected knowledge 

Habit Number 4 : Connect (More) 

We live in an interconnected or rather a hyperconnected world where individual success is an outcome of mutual success. Just like the internet, considered to be an information superhighway, where utilising the power of hyperlinking, we hop from one piece of information/ knowledge to another and ultimately manage to fulfill our quest, likewise is the case with us in real life too. The social media and the virtual world has indeed bridged the gap among people and anyone could connect with anybody else in just a matter of few clicks. A testimony to this is the reducing "degrees of separation (a measure of social distance between people)", which is now even far below the normal six degree needed for any person to establish connection with anyone else in the world (irrespective of the geographical boundaries). We really need to ask ourselves, whether we are harnessing the power of connections. Remember, the more we connect, the more we open opportunities and avenues to collaborate. In this world of super-specialisation, multiple brains are needed to accomplish things. Here, "quality rules quantity", which means more connections may not always result in more success. It's always about the "quality of connections". So, take time out not just to connect but also to communicate with whom you already are connected. It's time to take that leap from Connection to Collaboration. Here's a wonderful quote highlighting the importance of Connection   

"In a world of algorithms, hashtags and followers, know the true importance of human connection" - Unknown

Important Benefit From This Habit: Develops a "likeability" factor and a "doer" attitude because of the rapport with others    

Tips to get started:

• Identify and establish your need for "Connecting" and "Collaborating" 
• Be present and visible on relevant social media platforms
• Start conversation with relevant "connections" to build synergy
• Every now and then filter your list of connections (Remember - "Quality" matters over "Quantity")

Habit Number 5: Listen 

In a world that's hungry for attention, whether online or offline (real-life), falling prey to "always be visible" trap is very common and easy. There's a rat race on social media about the "likes" and "views" and this has given birth to the "Talk More, Listen Less" syndrome. Somehow, the virtual world/ social media has misled us in believing that the more we talk, the more we will gain and this has only made the matters worse because now everyone seems to be in a hurry to only talk and share on social media. This attitude has permeated in our real world too and resulted in us losing grip on communicating effectively. We need to remember that listening is the most effective form of communication because it helps in achieving the "win-win" situation far better than any other means. Today, Listening is the most desired skill because we live in a world that's getting devoid of emotions/ empathy. The more we are connecting (virtually), the less connected (real world) we are becoming. The power of Listening could be gauged from the fact that it helps us across a range of areas where "communication" holds the key success. Few examples are establishing better relationships whether in personal or professional life, conflict resolution among team members, business partners or between spouses, conducting agenda-driven and result-seeking meetings, building trust among people, displaying empathy when it matters most, facilitating a counselling, therapy or coaching session, or simply when you happen to be a panelist or a speaker during a forum. So, living in a world where communication and collaboration have by-passed boundaries (physical, cultural, generational, etc.) and made working together quite challenging, listening could lay the right foundation for us to build trust and intimacy, and make relationships flourish. A couple of wonderful quotes on listening are mentioned below:

"You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen - not just money, but respect" - Harvey Mackay

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear" - Anonymous

Important Benefit From This Habit: Develops ability to be a "people person" and easily earn trust of others. Helps become a better influencer and get things done fast.  

Tips to get started :

• Treat every conversation as an opportunity to learn and an addition to your knowledge
• Never operate from an "ego zone" during conversation as this will never let us listen to anyone
• Listening is a good antidote to anxiety and stress. So, be patient and wait for your turn to speak
• When listening, try and listen to the underlying emotions of the person in front of you (talking to you) and this will build deeper and stronger bond/ relationships.      

So, imbibe these 5 habits and keep climbing the ladder of success !

N.B. : The images used in this post are sourced from 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 !