Book Summary: Just Ask the right questions to get what you want : Ian Cooper

ISBN-10: 0273712780
- ISBN-13: 978-0273712787

This is a short book but is going to be a difficult book to summarize as it as numerous short chapters with valuable content. The index itself itself runs four pages, so I am going to just give you enough info to prompt you to pick the book.

Why asking the right questions is important?

One who asks the questions, owns the conversation. We are inherently tuned to answer any question posed in front of us. So by asking the right questions, we can direct our and the other persons thing in the direction we want.

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The ONE thing you should do every morning

Grab any magazine, read lifestyle sections of newspapers, go through productivity blogs or read productivity books. Everyone tells you the importance of morning routines, a regular sequence of actions you do every morning to build up to peak performance. Without the rhythm of a morning routine, you may mindlessly fumble through the day.

Most morning routines (including my previous one), fall under two categories: getting physical so that your body grows energetic (jogging, workout, yoga) and getting mindful so that your mind can focus better (meditation, journaling, worship).

However, Benjamin Hardy and Bedros Keuilian hit the nail on the head by suggesting that the first thing you should do every morning is an activity which takes you a step closer to your life’s most important goals. This activity most likely changes every week or month and is the #1 activity for that period of time. Continue reading The ONE thing you should do every morning

How to Focus Better? : Tools and Techniques

Focus is a skill and needs practice too. While it is not possible for to focus throughout our work duration, we can all start small, build on the progress and gain the skill of deep focus.

Do the heavy lifting before you start:

This is something our mothers have always known. The vegetables are cut, the mix has already been marinated, the dough has been rested, masala is ground and handy. Everything is laid out in front of them , ready to use. They exactly know the cooking time required and do supplementary activities.

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Book summary: Ready, fire, aim by Michael Masterson

Book title: Ready, fire, aim
Author: Michael Masterson (aka Mark Ford)
ISBN-10: 0470182024
ISBN-13: 978-0470182024
Buy here

What this book is about

Ready, fire, aim is not a typo. It is a deliberate word play on the common phrase Ready, aim, fire. Written by Michael Masterson, this book describes the process of building a company right from the startup phase to an enterprise that earns millions of dollars. The title suggests that we should always start before we are fully ready to launch something and that we should never obsess to the point of perfection. By launching before the product is perfect, we are letting the market decide how to improve it rather than falling into the trap of hubris, where we falsely believe that we fully know the market.

In the book, Michael breaks down the lifetime of a company into five stages. The sections of the book focus on what to do and where you should focus during those five stages. Continue reading Book summary: Ready, fire, aim by Michael Masterson

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Four steps to Focus better and Win your day

For a maker, the ability to Focus is one of the most important assets even over their technical skills. Cal Newport in his book ‘Deep Work‘ predicts that Focus will be a competitive advantage for the makers. In this post let us examine some Do’s and Don’ts to achieve better focus and thereby better success.

Sandra Bond Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for Brain Health at the University of Texas, suggests things that we can do in our every day life to focus better.

Stop Multitasking

When we multi task, what we are actually doing is switching tasks. As in a production run, even in our head, there is a cost to switching from one task to another. There are certain tasks that are conducive to multitasking, and some that are not.

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Travelling for a year: not as radical as it sounds

Priya (my wife) and I are on a one year trip around India. We are calling the trip India 360, in which we are trying to cover as much of the country as we can in a year. The trip is from April 2017 to May 2018. While we have been enjoying ourselves and carrying on with the trip as if it were our regular day-to-day life, the reaction that we get from people who learn about our trip varies from mild concern to absolute shock. Trust me, most people are happy with what we are doing, but then….! Continue reading Travelling for a year: not as radical as it sounds

Book Summary: Automatic Wealth – Michael Masterson

Buy the book here: Automatic Wealth: The six steps to Financial Independence

A book of the title ‘Automatic Wealth‘ is sure to get interest from many, however the this is no get rich quick with no work book. Some specific advice in the book, revolves around USA, however the basic premises of the book is applicable across countries and markets.

The book breaks down the process of wealth building into six steps:

Six Steps to Automatic Wealth:

Continue reading Book Summary: Automatic Wealth – Michael Masterson

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Live rich, feel rich, today, right now!

In his book Automatic Wealth, author Michael Masterson (aka Mark Ford) keeps re-iterating the difference between having a lot of money in your bank account and living rich. I was skeptical when I first read the title of the topic. How can someone live rich without having piles of money in his/her bank account? As I read the topic further and further, it became more and more convincing. After reading the last few words from this compelling section of this must-read book, I had a big smile on my face and an invigorating thought, “YES. I can live rich TODAY and RIGHT NOW.” Continue reading Live rich, feel rich, today, right now!

Everything you need to know about life insurance (incl if you need it at all )

Life Insurance in India

India has one of the lowest penetration of life insurance of under 3.5 %. But many of us have a number of policies for which we dutifully, pay premiums every year but don’t know for sure if we it is useful or not. Even as a finance professional, I have made a number of those rookie mistakes, so I can totally understand how gullible one can be to those pitches.

So let us examine, some basic questions to help us guide through these decisions.

What is insurance?

Insurance contract ensures the policy holder is compensated for his loss when a certain event happens. So extending this definition, we can say a life insurance is a monetary compensation for loss of earning potential due to death or disability.

This simple definition provides us all the necessary understanding required to evaluate a policy. So let me try and break this done into a checklist.

Continue reading Everything you need to know about life insurance (incl if you need it at all )

How to win an argument (even with your wife)?

A conflict may strengthen or weaken a relationship all based on our conversation style. When handled well a conflict may help us understand the other person better and create deeper bonds. When handled poorly, it may result in deterioration to ultimate death of the relationship. While examples here primarily relate to marital conflicts as the psychologist who researched it specialized on the same , the learning may be extended across a team, parent-child, siblings, boss – subordinate etc. Whoever starts the conflict, you have the power to redirect it for the better, do not give it up.

Four Horsemen

Dr. Gottman, a renowned Psychologist categorizes the argumentative communication into four styles, nick named ‘Four Horsemen‘, a biblical reference to end of the world : Criticism, Contempt, defensiveness and Stonewalling.

Continue reading How to win an argument (even with your wife)?