How to Learn just about Anything? – Part I – Acquiring Knowledge

Schools, the hub of education has taught us what to learn. But has surprisingly never taught us ‘how to learn’. So often kids with different learning requirements are labelled ‘slow’ than find compatible teaching methods. No wonder Einstein, Edison, Graham Bell were all labelled ‘learning challenged’.

Process of Learning - JK Quote — Process of Learning

So how do we go about learning. I’d like to broadly divide into acquiring knowledge i.e on subjects of chemistry, philosophy, investing etc and acquiring a skill. In Part 1. let us focus on acquiring knowledge. Continue reading How to Learn just about Anything? – Part I – Acquiring Knowledge

How to get Lucky?

Lucky People

We have all known people for whom things always fall into place at the right time and right place. These lucky people meet their future spouses by accident, they get a brilliant business idea from a random conversation, strangers seem to help them everywhere they go and they get introductions and guidance from the most unexpected places and people. We have all heard stories like the FEDEX founder who gambled with the last $5000 in the business and won enough to save the business and thrive. Life is full of fortunate coincidences for these lucky people.

The Everyone Else: Unlucky

They are also the other kind of people for whom bad luck and misfortune follow everywhere. After a long wait and much trying they scheduled an appointment with a big prospect who had to cancel due to an emergency, the stocks that they invest in fall, the parking fills up just before they come, the traffic lights turn red on seeing them, they loose their valuables routinely, they don’t get the big breaks they think deserve despite their talent and hard work. The many like the talented Vinod Kambli who despite his superior batting talent had a short career unlike his friend who went on to become the little maser.

So does luck exist?

Continue reading How to get Lucky?

What to do when choices overwhelm you… everyday!

You know the feeling when you stand at popular ice-cream outlets such as Gelato, Baskin Robbins or Natural’s. There are more than a hundred choices. If you’ve had a difficult day at work, you are tempted to walk out as your brain feels the fatigue of taking one more decision from a staggering number of choices. “Let’s just go eat the falooda from the road side vendor”, you say as you walk out. What should you do when you are overwhelmed with choices? Continue reading What to do when choices overwhelm you… everyday!

How to keep your Brain Young?

Brain is the most important and vital organ in our body. Unfortunately, numerous modern age practices have taken a toll on our brain. But it is not only possible to reduce the aging of your brain, it is even possible to reverse the aging effect i.e get younger. The good thing is none of them are terribly difficult to do. Let us look at the the 10 things we need to practice to keep our brain young.

1. A Good Brain Diet

Brain needs numerous nutrients esp Omega 3 to keep it healthy and running. These nutrients are found in plenty in foods like Walnut, Avocoda, Brocolli, Bluberries etc. Eggs and Salmon Fish as well for those who eat them can be extremely good supplements for the necessary nutrients.

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Reference: Brain Super Foods

Continue reading How to keep your Brain Young?

Book summary: Work clean by Dan Charnas

Book title: Work clean – The life changing power of mise-en-place
Author: Dan Charnas
ISBN-10: 1623365929
ISBN-13: 978-1623365929
Buy on Amazon.in | Amazon.com

Introduction

Mise-en-place is a French term that means that there is a place for everything and everything must be in its place. The use of French is because the term originated in culinary circles in France where chefs emphasise the importance of a clean and organised kitchen counter to do things efficiently and ensure high food quality. As a result, just like everything culinary, saute and hors d’ouvre, words from the romantic language stuck around in English too.

Having worked with leading chefs in the United States, the author Dan Charnas talks about how to plan, organise and clean up so that you get the best out of your activities. Throughout the book he illustrates stories and scenes from the America’s top restaurants that exhibit thorough planning, organisation, cleanliness, minimalism and maximum utilisation. Charnas extends the knowledge gained from cooking into his personal and professional lives. In this book, he teaches us how to do so. Continue reading Book summary: Work clean by Dan Charnas

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How to change a habit?

Getting Ready for New Year Resolutions?

New year is less than three months away. We will soon be drawing up our list of goals, aspirations, resolutions and hope this year would be different. But like Einstein said,

“Its Insanity to expect a different result when you do the the same thing over and over”

Changing an habit is hard. 21 days of will power is not going to magically get you over the hump. So what will?

Continue reading How to change a habit?

When your glass is half filled

You are making a delicious recipe which calls for chilly powder. You reach for the magic red stuff, when you realise to your horror that the jar is … empty!!! How could you have missed it? Damn it! You have to do without chilly. Or you have to stop cooking and go shopping. If you are like what I was a couple of months ago, you have been caught in this position several times. Delaying replenishing your supplies until you run out of them and then either making do without them or making a dash for it to get fresh supplies.

While some of you may be good at re-stocking the kitchen, you probably run out of talk time in the middle of a call with your spouse, who is half-way around the globe on a project. Only when your laptop pings about the hard disk being full after copying 7.7 GB out of an 8 GB Blue Ray HD movie do you realise that you should have paid attention to the free space.

Continue reading When your glass is half filled

How to leverage your partner for your success?

When I talk about leveraging your partner for your success, I don’t mean marrying into money like ‘Who wants to marry a multi millionaire‘ or the ‘Millionaire Match maker‘. With the disclaimer set aside, lets see what I am talking about.

How can you guarantee Failure?

Once we can remove things that guarantee failure, success will eventually happen if you try hard enough. Following through and sticking to a process does not guarantee success. But not doing so can guarantee failure. We have already discussed about the importance of the process here, here and here. When I look at things and events in my life where I have guaranteed failure vs risked success, one thing stands out: An Accountability partner.

Continue reading How to leverage your partner for your success?

Let’s fall in love with routine

In the post In Praise of Effort, Priya talks about the effectiveness of being consistent with your efforts as a habit. She shows how an overnight success is often glorified and untrue, when in truth those success stories ran several days, months or years in the making. In fact, more than your talent, it is your ability to show up and put in the work everyday that defines your success or failure. Martial arts expert and actor Bruce Lee summed it up as, “I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but the one who has practised one kick 10,000 times.” Continue reading Let’s fall in love with routine

Is debt bad?

We have seen finance experts like Dave Ramsay tell us to cut up our credit cards. We have seen how delinquent home loans not only caused people to lose their homes but also a systemic crisis that spread across several financial institution and countries during 2008. Repossessed cars and two wheeler are common in many low income households. To add to this trouble student loan defaults have become high all over the world as the income opportunities often don’t match up with the cost of some of these courses.

So is debt a bad thing? Should we indeed cut up credit cards? Save for 15+ years to buy a home. Never take a loan in our life?

From Shylock of ‘Merchant of Venice’ to today’s bank that offer Personal loans and credit cards with dubious terms the bankers have been portrayed as Vultures. It is often joked ‘Banks will only lend money to those that don’t need them.’. Are these Financial institutions just vultures that serve no real need?

Continue reading Is debt bad?