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.