We all remember the moments we had missed a bus/train/flight by a whisker, missed the top college by quarter of a mark in cut off, the stock that we failed to buy/sell in time, the girl you did not ask out but were interested in and that is how the mind works. I am not sure if it is quest for improvement, or just plain negativity, there is always a lot of focus on things that were missed. The dominant feeling in this case is pain and it’s deep.
We all have chores that we hate to do, even in jobs that we love. Sales people who hate to file reports, Finance guys who hate to speak to people, Runners who hate to wake up early in the morning, Kids who hate to eat are more of rules than exceptions. What can we do that can bring joy or atleast make these tasks bearable enough to get them done. Answer lies in ‘Gamification‘.
Gamification is a great way to have fun while doing a mundane task or motivate others to do such mundane tasks. A good game is one that contains as many as 3 or 4 of the below features:
It is said ‘We are what we Eat’. So with the intention of correcting some deep rooted food habits and to examine the possibility of eating healthy on a consistent basis with less or no junk food, I recently went on a ‘No Junk Food’ Challenge for 21 days.
The definition of ‘Junk Food’ in this case included :
1)No Carbonated Drinks
2)No Ice cream
3)No Chocolates
4)No Deep fried foods
5)No processed cheese
6)No desserts with refined sugar/processed flour
Free time, drool! That wonderful chunk of time when we can do ANYTHING we want. Importantly, it as also the time when we DO NOT have to do what someone else expects us to do. But wait! We may not be doing what others require us to do. But are we really spending it on ourselves? Well, sadly we are giving up our free time not by working for someone else, but by following someone else’s story too deeply instead of our own, even if their story isn’t inspiring or important to our own progress. Continue reading How to invest 30 days in yourself
Here is an observation. I regularly convert whatever I love into my lifestyle, rather than just a hobby or a passion. If it is not part of my lifestyle, then I most probably don’t like it enough and will eventually give up on it. Continue reading Is it your hobby, passion or lifestyle?
I have been a voracious reader of books from when I was young. I grew up with the Famous Five and Hardy Boys, matured with Nancy Drew and Perry Mason, spent court rooms with John Grisham, flirted with Sidney Sheldon and explored unknown worlds with Michael Crichton. Now I read mostly non fiction.
Through Books, I have learnt from coaches like Anthony Robbins, Zig ziglar, Business Tycoons like Sir Richard Branson, Akio Morito thought leaders like Dr.Atul Gawande, Tim Ferris, Journalists like Malcom Gladwell, Charles Duhigg and many more.
One idea that kept haunting me through many of these self development literature is that “Leaders are Readers.”I always thought ‘wow, that’s a nice thought’ and nothing more about it. Continue reading How Elon Musk learnt Rocket Science ?
.”Will this relationship workout?”
“Will I ever get rid of this excess weight?”
“Will my daughter ever get married?”
“Will my son crack IITJEE atleast this year?”
“Will she say ‘yes’ to me?”
“Will this start up idea workout?
“Will Sensex hit 30,000 in 5 years?”
“Will he/she win the Elections?”
It was just after the Diwali of 2015 that I quit my regular job and started software freelancing. Since then, my life has taken a different turn. While at work, I have been coding, taking calls, documenting, improving, improvising and deploying projects. When not working, I am travelling, trekking, cooking, reading, watching documentaries, running, bicycling and learning a lot of new skills. It has been a wonderful year, one of the best in my life. In this post, I am listing out what I learnt while sailing through the year. Continue reading A year of freelancing: What I learnt
I grew up in Chennai watching Tamil movies, where most Heroes compare themselves to Lion. Some of the absurd scenes include, Vijayakanth’s introduction where he suddenly turns into a lion and then back to him again, RajiniKanth’s factually incorrect statement about lion’s hunting behavior and Suriya’s extremely emotional dialogue again about comparing himself to a lion on hunt.
For the uninitiated, Lion is one of the laziest creatures and spends most of its day sleeping. The hunting is done by the pride, which is a group of Lioness that is attached to the Lion. When caught in a difficult situation during the hunt, each one is left to fend for themselves. The prey is eaten by the lion, cubs and the lioness in that order. If you are unwilling to check out Nat Geo on this, may be you can check with Kamal Haasan in PKS 🙂
So ofcourse I don’t want to be either a Lion or a Lioness!!
When I was in the third standard in school, we had a story about a wise man who tells his king that everything happens for the best. Then one day, the king accidentally cuts off a finger and much to his rage, hears the wisdom from the wise man yet again. The king has the wise man thrown into the dungeons. However, while out hunting, the king comes in close encounter with a lion, rolls over and plays dead. The lion smells the wound on the finger and thinks that the king is dead and moves on. The king is relieved to see his life spared, ponders over what the wise man said and sets him free.
This is just one of the several stories heard since our childhood, teaching us that we should always look for the positive side in any negative situation, take the necessary learnings and move on, thankful that we are living another day in this wonderful life. Continue reading The silver lining behind every dark cloud
