Journey of Life

Life is a journey… not the end result!

So you might say… then why are goals given so much importance? Aren’t they the end result of something?

Like I want to graduate from college, I want to land a good job, I want a big house near the city, or I want to become a billionaire!

Yeah, goals do end up seeming like end results at first glance. But if you look deeper, you realize that goals are actually a state of living. For example, graduating from college is a life changing experience. The experience itself and everything that comes in life because of it is what the goal is all about.

The big house near the city – is something you live in. Coming first in a race, or finishing a 10 mile marathon are some other examples. The goal seems like an end result but it is the journey of finishing the race/marathon and then living with the sense of achievement is in actuality what the goal stands for.

Success can be truly achieved and truly enjoyed only when you treat life as a journey. Have fun with what you do, enjoy every moment of the effort and the luck that get you where you want to be.

Life is a journey… not the end result!

Right Things to Focus on…

So what should you actually focus on to be successful?

1)      Your idea of success. As I always say… define what success is to you and then focus on that.

2)      Contributing something. Either to the society at large or to a specific group of people.

3)      Ethics. Make sure whatever you do is ethically right.

4)      Quality. Give your customers what they expect, and then some more.

5)      Punctuality. Stick to the promised timeframe.

6)      Integrity. People should be able to trust you. Why would they do business with you if they didn’t?

7)      Enjoyment. If you enjoy working, it shows! You end up infecting others with it too

Make sure you focus on these 7 simple ‘right things’ and watch yourself become more and more successful by the day.

And yes, success does bring in more money… that’s inevitable! Just as long as you don’t make it the focus J



If You Focus on Making Money…

Cha-Ching!

When you do something with your focus on making money, you’ll never actually make it. Let me tell you why.

1)      Money making becomes your main goal

2)      When you need to make an important decision, it’ll be based on whether your profit will increase and not on whether it is beneficial to the task at hand

3)      You will automatically try to take shortcuts to make more money – faster

4)      The ethical boundaries you set for yourself will start to fade

5)      All the time, you will be thinking of how much money you made instead of trying to better the quality of your offering

6)      You will miss out on wonderful opportunities for growth that don’t promise too much profit but can actually take you places

7)      The worst of all – Your orientation shifts from what can I give… to what will I get… and the customer can sense this

The result of all this is that whatever your offering – It’ll become less appealing to your customers and thus you end up not making much money after all!!!

Keep your focus on the right things, and the money will follow. What are the ‘right things’? You’ll see in the next post…

Till then, take your focus off making money!



Stress Buster

I took a day off… Just like that! It was a sudden plan. My mom decided to go and I tagged along. We went to a relative’s place – someone I hadn’t met in ages.

Of course I was apprehensive… but what the heck… Once in a while you should just go with the flow.

Boy, was I in for a surprise! I had a wonderful day!  The best part? They have a dog – Miffy. A 2.5 year old Labrador. One of the most enjoyable experiences is the time you spend with a dog. The unconditional love and friendship offered by her was exactly what I needed to drive my stress away!

She had never seen me before but the moment I entered the house, I felt like she had been waiting for me for ages… that my visiting her was the best thing that happened in her little doggy life!

Just sitting there, petting Miffy, chitchatting with people, especially on a weekday – It was a welcome break.

Try it out… next time you are stressed up, take a break, visit someone, make a canine friend…

Little by Little

                               

Just like little drops of water make an ocean, a little effort put in constantly can make an ocean of change!

All you need to do is regularly put in some time and effort towards your cause. You can do a number of things to bring about a positive change in your life as well as the lives of those around you. If your goal is to spread awareness, spending ½ hour a day doing just that on the internet can take you quite far in a couple of years…

If you goal is to make friends, an hour a day on social networking sites and within no time, you’ll be surrounded by friends. If your goal is to make a little extra cash, an hour a day doing odd jobs and you have what you need.

If your goal is to start a new business and you are hard pressed for time, an hour a day of effort and within a few months, your go to plan is ready. If you want to help the needy, an hour a day of fund raising and they can get all the help they need.

Putting in a little time everyday for a specific goal keeps you enthusiastic, motivated and takes you one step closer to success – everyday!

Standards

I agree India is a land of tolerance… We tolerate everything – the crowd, the traffic, the untidiness, the lack of discipline etc.

As customers, we even tolerate shoddy work and low quality results.

But, the line has to be drawn somewhere, and this is where it starts. When it comes to work, the tolerance levels for quality and integrity have been decreasing and rightly so! In a global atmosphere as we are in today, high standards are expected.

And in countries like India, standards and quality are differentiators. They are what make you better than your competitors. Among the scores of products/ services available, the ones that deliver on time and with expected quality are the ones that will survive in the long run.

It’s not enough to just finish the job anymore. For true success, meticulously planned and high quality work is what will work and get you noticed.

Crazy Ideas

If anyone told you that you can make clothes out of milk… would you believe it? Would you take it seriously? Or would you say they were crazy and shrug it off? What If I gave you proof that this is possible… would you still shrug it off?

Yeah it’s a crazy idea, quite a startling one too. But all great inventions begin as crazy impossible ideas. The light bulb, the telephone, the telescope… all were crazy ideas in their time. Heck there was even a time when people thought that earth being round was a crazy idea.

The human mind has 70,000 thoughts per day! Even if 1% of those thoughts are new ideas, then an average human produces around 700 ideas a day!!! Multiply that with the number of humans on earth, and I can’t even try to count that number! Let’s just say ideas are in abundance J

Now, how many of these are crazy ideas – I’m sure a majority of it are LOL. And we shrug off most of them thinking they are impossible or that they are embarrassing. Somewhere hidden in that plethora of crazy ideas are the seeds to some amazing discoveries/inventions and in turn some amazing successes!

Next time you get a crazy idea, don’t just shrug it off; see if you can become the next BIG thing…

BTW, here’s the proof I mentioned – clothes from milk

Tests: Not the True Predictors

I came across an article that has Narayan Murthy talk on how the quality of students in IITs has deteriorated over the years. Do you know that the entrance tests to these institutions are extremely difficult? They are so difficult that some students would rather go to a different technology institute and gain an education than slogging nights to mug up what the coaching classes teach. Then why is it that people who pass this difficult test are being called of low quality? Why is it that when they graduate from these esteemed institutions, they cannot survive and succeed in the work world?



 

Tests are not the true predictors of success! You can mug up something and get very high marks… but do you get an education? Do you actually learn the subject and along with that necessary skills to handle yourself later on in life?

‘Success’ on a test is only artificial success and is no guarantee for actual success! So, when studying, always keep in mind – study and work hard for gaining knowledge and skills. That’s all that matters in the long run! And the bonus of doing this? Well if you have the knowledge that is being tested, then you have success in the test as well as in the future!

 

Balance

Yay! You found your path to success… Now you are also putting in effort, Tons of it! You have a list of the different areas you want to be successful in life… Great, now no one can stop you from becoming a success… not even you!

But you gotta remember one thing; you need to balance it all out. Some amount of imbalance is ok – like during those tough exams or when you need to crack this big deal! But always, make sure you are in balance. Put in all the effort you can, but also get your 8 hours of sleep. Practice for the math test all night, but go catch a movie after your exams. Work on a project forgetting the difference between weekday and weekend, but plan and go for a relaxing vacation soon afterwards.

On normal days, relax and unwind after a long day at work. Read a book, listen to music, do something really enjoyable that will also de-stress you.

To be able to work at your chosen path and put in all the effort possible, you need a strong and alert mind. A stressed mind is of no help to you. So, relaxing and balance is a very important part of success!

Forgetting Stuff?

How many long pending tasks do you have that are not too important but are also nagging you at all the wrong times?

All of us have these… Like recently, I took on the responsibility of changing my dad’s mobile plan. It’s not too important, not work related and definitely didn’t top my priority list because dad wasn’t in a hurry either. When I was at my computer or near my phone, I wouldn’t remember to do it. And times like while eating, just before sleeping, while watching TV etc. this thought would nag me…

The solution? I wrote it down on my white board! “Blackberry Plan”

The best way to make sure something like this is done is to write it where you can see it. Whenever you remember something small that’s interrupting your normal thought process, write it down. You can use a white/black board like I did. You can also just use a simple post it. Write down the phrase and stick it to your computer screen / desk / wall next to the bed / wherever convenient!

Taking care of the small seemingly unimportant details ensures a smooth journey on your path to success. Never let “I’m too busy” become your excuse for forgetting!

Obstacles

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times. Many times we get to do the things we like to do and many times we are forced to do the very things we were dreading!

Similarly the road to success is filled with fun things; all the beautiful flowers of paradise but you also get thorns and road blocks. Many times, even though you are doing what you love, you will encounter difficulties. This is the way of life…

When you embark on your journey, brace yourself for the difficulties in advance. Prepare yourself well enough to face all the challenges that are thrown your way. If you start your journey expecting it to be easy, you will be in for a big shock and quite a lot of delay. Once you come across a road block and then try to get over it, it gets all the more difficult.  It’s like a 200 meter dash. If the runner is just running a normal race and suddenly a hurdle is thrown in, she stops, and jumps over it. Then, she has to start running and picking up speed. However if the runner was running a hurdle race, she would be prepared for the hurdle. She would then just jump over the hurdle without having to stop or change speed too much.

When you prepare yourself mentally for hurdles and fill yourself with the confidence of overcoming them, you are like the second runner. When the obstacle comes, you will be able to jump over it with greater ease!

Success - Various Forms

It is very important to be successful in life for just about everybody. I’m sure you have an idea of what success means to you… Have you given a thought to what areas in life you want to be successful in? Is it work? Or family? Or Spiritual?

True success is when you can achieve all forms of success. And the true way to success is to work toward all these goals!

Below are all the various forms of success. If any more come to your mind, do add them in your comments

·         Career success

·         Success in relationships

·         Success as a good human being

·         Successful family

·         Spiritual success

·         Success in the roles you play: Sister/Brother/Parent/Child etc.

·         Success in friendship

·         Success in sports

·         Success in leisure

·         A vacation that is successful

·         Success in keeping your mind engaged

·         Successful pet owner

·         Housekeeping success

·         Financial success

·         Success in charity

·         Social service activities related success

·         Success in the stock market

·         Second income success

·         Successful at being happy always

The list can go on…

Make sure you are focusing on all the important aspects of your life!

Computer Class Endeavor

Einstein is famed to have said “Genius is 1% brilliance and 99% hard work”

To achieve success in any field, you have to make the effort! Having big ideas and ambitions is all great, but the true test comes when you actually have to work towards that idea.

Many times successes seem like fluke. The stupidest of ideas go out there and become successful… what is not so apparent is the amount of work the ‘idea bearer’ might have put in to make even that stupid an idea work! It’s all about how much you are willing to do. How much are you willing to stretch yourself to ensure your idea succeeds?

Let me give you a simple example. I moved to US from India in 11^th grade. I wanted to take a computer class that 11^th graders normally take. It was a 1 semester course – nothing big. The teacher asked me how familiar I was with a computer. I had been using a computer for 3 – 4 years then and knew the basic MS Dos that they taught me in school and Microsoft programs like doc and PowerPoint. I probably knew more PowerPoint than every student in the school because playing with ‘ppt’ was my favorite pastime. Then he asked me if I was taught how to type. In school, they never taught anyone to type. We just picked it up as we went. I said so… and he refused to let me take his class.  All the other students learnt to type and were very fast. I used only one finger tap each key and that took forever – I would slow down the others. He asked me to take the lower class and then take his class the next semester. It took all my negotiation skills and promises to learn and prove in order to be allowed in.

Back home, I did all my assignments on the computer to practice typing. Googled out ‘typing’ for tips to type faster; even offered to help my dad type out his stuff in order to practice. All in all, I made through the class with flying colors.

My little computer class endeavor was a success. And it was a success due to the effort I put in!

Automatic Success

Ever wish that you sleep with a magic stone under your pillow and wake up in the morning to be a successful person? Ever wish there was just one thing that you could do to become successful instantly? Well I have a solution that comes as close as it can get! A four word phrase that when followed can put your ‘success path’ on auto pilot. As long as you follow this mantra success is automatic – “Do What You Love”.

When you love your job, you never get bored. You won’t be looking at the clock willing it to move faster.  You will enjoy most aspects of your job, and will deal with the trying aspects with patience. Your stress levels will go down dramatically because doing what you love generates happiness. Even the effort you put in for your work won’t seem like much. (Do you ever consider the strain on your eyes while watching a movie or playing the PS3?).

When you love what you do, you give it all your attention and effort. You try to do the best you can and you enjoy it wholeheartedly. Then how can success stay far behind?

When you do what you love, you propel yourself forward in autopilot mode on your path to success!