little steps

Learning and development comes only with exposure and experience
And it does take concrete effort to acquire these
What steps are you taking towards it?

My “better late than never” resolution: Read more books, speak to people (but how and where?)

I am starting with “The new age of innovation” by CK Prahlad.
Target Completion date: Feb End.
Next on list: “Imagining India” – by Nandan Nilekani

Also, TED videos.

~“Laze not, regret not”

its not ‘by chance’ always

Is it a coincidence that behind every hope lies a fear and behind every fear lies a hope?

Is it a coincidence that I can get myself to take the first step of any ambitious action plan only after I am convinced about the goodness of the backup plan?

Is it a coincidence that the more I try to learn about the requirement and benefits of something, the more evidence is revealed that it is not the only way to go about?

Is it a coincidence that the best of me is brought out in bouts of words and actions, when I am expecting it and banking on it the least?

Is it a coincidence that the more I do, the more I expect from myself?

Is it a coincidence that what looks like a destination is really a path to something else, in the end?

hope

Destination unknown or unseen
The path I think is right
But for every step hereon I take
Two I give up behind

Doubts and despair looming large
Invisible and unknown the path
A fight within in the myriad mind
Yet the ray of hope survives

May it pull the chariot of life
Though the changes all around
May there always be a road
To travel with joy and feel light.

Worthiness I dare say
Though is all in the mind
Looking back to see my gains
May happiness all through I find.

new year

An awesome quote:

The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own.

No apologies or excuses.

No one to lean on, rely on, or blame.

The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins

~Bob Moawad

–

Whats life without some humour: http://neoindian.org : The funniest blog I have come across in a long long time..

–

Happy New Year.

looking back

Things I wish I knew/internalized when I was a lot younger:

1. Don’t take career and people at work as casually. They can create a lot of opportunities for you.
2. Do a lot of stuff as a part of a regular schedule. Though it feels hard to fit in a lot of things to everyday life, the consistency will pay off big time in medium to long term.
3. Build people relations, show genuine interest and appreciate people. Though it sounds really simple and trivial, its quite rare.
4. Be clear on what you are and what you want.  If you don’t know the answers, start thinking about them now. Right now. Without a sight of goals and progress, you will be hopelessly lost in life and will not get anywhere most probably.
5. Talking to people is the most underrated activity of the century, almost. People are always ready to share. Find out more and more – experiences, learning, thoughts, how they dealt with stuff, what to explore on, and what they think is right. Be ready for revelations that you couldn’t imagine, and perspectives totally new.
6. Reward is not proportional to effort, it is proportional to output or results. Optimize on whether you are getting to the right results, and then focus on how best it can be done. Focus on the goals first, not the procedure. Guide for the journey should be the destination, ideally, I guess, not the path.
7. Presentation is as important as the true stuff underneath. Communication is the key to understand and appreciate good content and quality
8. The world is not ideal. People’s decisions and actions are not always what you’d call rational. Multiple things fail because of people issues, not technical.
9. Fitting in is not expected, standing out is. How can you?
10. It is harder to change perception, than to build it. Use the initial advantage. Being prepared is the key.
11. You and only you are responsible for shaping your journey. Take charge, chalk out plans, and know where you are headed. Others are too busy with their own stuff.
12. Think of what all you want to be, in about 10 adjectives. And start pretending that you are all that. Keep these at the top of you mind and desk. Each time you are taking a call, think of whether that person would have done the same. I’d suggest you start with: Rational, Confident, Open (communicative), dynamic, bold.
13. Have people notice you. And listen to you. Only then can they give importance to you. Never stay silent when you have a chance to speak. Grab opportunities to talk to people. Communities build and help each other only if contact is established, and people around are that community. You need them and they need you.
14. If you don’t know what to do or say, just pretend you do, and do whatever best you can think of. There is not much difference, generally. Instinct works wonderfully. Don’t shy away from who you are.
15. Never postpone things due to your assessment of preparation. The time is now. Sooner the better, delay is dangerous, now or never. For almost anything you want to do. For trying out new stuff, for doing more, for doing differently, for initiating change.
16. Spending minutes ‘role playing’ – guessing about the perspectives and thoughts from the other end – can push your preparation by leaps and bounds.
17. Clarity of thought in terms of personal strengths, weaknesses, plan for improvement in certain areas, and a goal and plan of action for life ahead is something that has to be worked on from now.
18. Ideal way to work is to have long term milestones given interest and attention, then the short term and then the immediate. Don’t be lost in micro managing the small things – and working in the opposite order of importance.
19. First push yourself, sell yourself, show case your skills. People are too busy to care if you don’t feel proud and happy about your accomplishments. Modesty should only be at the receiving praise stage. Go there first.
20. Street smart is more valued than book smart, in my opinion. Being a bit of both is absolutely essential.
21. You can pull off anything you do in life, if you are smart enough to portray it well. Confidence is the key here, maybe.
22. Have a mentor. Or a bouncing board for thoughts, ideas, decisions, planning. Helps in focus, commitment, continuity.
23. Teach. Mentor. Guide. You will be surprised about how much you learn in the process.
24. Have a hobby. Try to learn something new often.
25. Being updated on news and technology – not just helps in long term knowledge building, but also provides coffee machine talk topics.
26. Keep a chunk of time for yourself – to do just nothing other than reflecting on life. And what you want it to be.
27. Passion, enthusiasm, Keen interest – these differentiate the best from the rest. Find your area and be the best in it.
28. Quality, Consistency, Perseverance, and effort – never go out of style.
29. Multiple things come and go. The learning derived and the how they shaped you are the things that matter more, than what all you did.
30. If you aren’t changing or learning constantly, you are stagnating. You have to change something big.
31. Build a network, but don’t thrive on it alone, think about whether they should be the epicenter of your life. Don’t take it so serious that you alter your life plans to accommodate them.
32. TV pulls you down. Reading pushes you up, if you read non fiction. Sleep and Exercise do neither, but are very much required.
33. Community service/ social service involvement – a must have exposure to understand life and look at it from different sides.

This is the TIME of your life, enjoy.



the essence of being

For a major part of my life, I was somewhat introverted.
I was under the assumption that its insecurity and lack of self confidence is what made people extroverted and flaunty.
Or probably that it was a desperate attempt to compensate for the lack of depth in thought and action.

I didn’t care about what the world thought of me.
I was quite proud of myself and didn’t want any stamp of approval from anybody.
I was too deep and layered to let people peek into my inner real self.
I was too precious and special to spread myself thin.

I was so immature. And Wrong.

My old friends are the ones who lingered around long enough for us to discover each others inner selfs, inspite of the showcasing and people skills.
Or ones who search deep to find the real traits of the personality.
Or ones who intrigued by the attitude, dug deeper.

Over time, I have learnt that the world is too fast and time too precious for this to be feasible. Practical limitations are the natural causes for the ‘presentation important’ world that we live in.

So its time to dress up and put things out there.
Peeling off the outer layers, coming out from the shell.
To speak out loud. To showcase myself.
To be open, forthright, honest and humble.
To share my learning, thoughts and opinions.
Its the start of a life changing experience.

–

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
– Oscar Wilde

flow with the wind?

Where is life taking me? I have no idea.
Is anything at all pre determined? I have no answer
How hard should I be on myself? I don’t know
What is the change that I really need? I am not clear
Life is quite unsettled. Things are in a flux.

I am not sure if I will be happy with just any one thing, and I don’t know the practicability of getting everything I want.

cant believe life!

Can’t believe there are some people who really know precisely what they want at all points in their lives.
Can’t believe how some people would have led their lives in such a way that there is nothing at all which could be changed even if they could, looking back.
Can’t believe there are some people who are have such perfect lives, at least from an outsider’s perspective.
Can’t believe that today’s action will change tomorrow forever, and will take me in a non retractable path.
Can’t believe how some small incident, opportunity, action, event, person could possibly impact something or everything of some later day.
Can’t believe how we fall into the same traps, in spite of realizing they are traps.
Can’t believe how there are some socially created norms and people accepted practices that just go on for years, unquestioned.
Can’t believe how fast mindsets and interests and perspectives can change.
Can’t believe how something that looks totally unjustified and non considerable someday will look perfectly acceptable just a few days later.
Can’t believe I am so jittery and unstable in some matters whereas I am extremely opinionated, have a high conviction and strong belief in some others.
Can’t believe I have very high expectations from life and myself, knowing that it is probably just hope.
Can’t believe how sometimes everything does happen for the good. Well, maybe.

100th post

Wow, i didnt know i have written 100 posts, but I will trust the wordpress’s counter for this.  I would have guessed Im at 40 posts maybe, utmost.

Anyway, its a coincidence that I wanted to write about the journey so far, let me post the same sentence that I had ready:

Interacting with people three years younger, who have just joined my company gave me chance to see how far I have come in the last three years.

Realizations, learnings and changes are plenty, but many things are the same even today. I now understand what they mean when they speak of “Life as a journey”.

And when they say “The only constant thing is change”. It comes in unexpected and sometimes unwanted ways, but in the long run, it has always been for the good.

Hopes, dreams and aspirations unlimited,  there is still a long way to go.

Join me in raising a toast,  may everybody be happy with everything

Cheers

 

exhausted

tired of the run, and somewhat scared about the enormity of the run coming up.

Deadlines are the only things i can see everywhere around!

pushing myself to put one last step before giving up on anything, and am in this mode since sometime.

the reasons are many – high expectations from myself, pushing myself in multiple dimensions at the same time, nothing to lean on for keeping my enthusiasm levels up, small health issues etc.

I want hope.  And I want SUCCESS.

At any cost? what cost? Will it be worth it all?