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Showing posts from July, 2018

Failure teaches us resilence

I have a friend who realized 1 year into a software engineering job that he was not cut out for a corporate job.He was creative, thought out of the box and did not like the rigid confines of 9-5.He had his own ideas about starting a business of his own and of running it in his own way. He found 2 more partners and they started a business after he left his corporate job holding equal stakes in the company. The company was an interface between travel agents and local hotels for a particular geography and revenue was earned charging commissions from both parties.The margins were low but they managed to build enough scale in 3 years to be close to breakeven.However, the business failed going forward with the advent of Airbnb and the likes. My friend and his team was shattered.Their hopes were crushed.They mourned the loss for a few weeks but bounced back soon enough.They had learnt resilience and ability to return to normal state after a downturn during the course of the busin

Perfectionism couches the vermin

Take a typical scenario of a day in early January.You have written your new year goals.You have declared them to everyone around you.You have been pumped about starting that jog with your fitbit and penning down your first NYT bestseller on spiritual awakening.Not to mention eating 40 grams of greens daily.So many goals and bubbling enthusiasm!! Now fast forward to 26 th January .Its time to sit and start writing that paperback.There were ideas brimming in your mind through the Christmas party and its time to translate them into a book now.You pull out your laptop.You then tell yourself you will start after a cup of coffee and go to the kitchen.Your mind shifts from the target as you heat water for coffee.The voices in your head start becoming louder.They start telling you that you’re not a writer,how will you even manage to write.You’re not good enough, nobody will read you.No publishers will bother with you.What if mom and aunt Jane don’t like the book and criticize for it?Wh

How to successfully negotiate a raise at a new job when you're underpaid

There are loads of people who are underpaid on their current job.The reasons for this can be numerous-a small organization, financial downsturn,the company having a bad year, downsizing of teams and so on.People think changing jobs is the way to beat this-that I’ll get a raise on my next job, but typically the raise is not enough to get you upto market rate.Despite multiple job changes, you are still underpaid .You feel worthless and your self -esteem takes a hit.You don’t even want to try for a new job anymore. How does one fix this: 1. Know your worth -Know what a person of your experience,qualification is being paid in your geography.Use market salary surveys and websites like glassdoor and payscale.Establish a range of salaries for your said role.Also, don’t let them use your current salary as a basis to pay you less than market rate. 2. Never state a number -On a job interview, when asked how much you would want to be paid, always state a range based upon your researc

Smashing procrastination and laziness

We often observe that we make grand plans for our work,health and fitness, financial growth,career growth etc and set lofty goals but are not able to reach them even halfway.We feel lazy, procrastinate and leave things we start midway.Sometimes we don’t even reach 25% of our predetermined goal.This pattern repeats itself each time.We are unable to break free.We desire to succeed and achieve but are not able to break the rut. What then is the way out? The main reason we procrastinate and do not push ourselves to finish the set task is that there is no sense of urgency .We know there will always be a tomorrow.And the next one.We do not realize that in the process of this shift to tomorrows, we have wasted years.For some of us more than half of our life is already over and our achievement quotient is not even 5% of what we would like for it to be.If our roof broke in the rains we would fix it immediately.Similarly if we fractured our hand we would attend to it immediately bec

Take control of your life

We are born at our parents will.We have no control of the time at which we are born.The initial few years of our life till we leave home are primarily influenced by our family.Our parents thoughts , ideas and limitations become ours.If our parents believe in destiny /doomed human existence and are negative, we also start having such mindsets.Most people believe by the time they are 18 that the course of life is already charted out for them and sleep walk through life thereafter.They do not put in efforts into any new endeavors or new experiences . We must realize that life is something that was given to us as gift and that the course it takes is upto us.The direction we give it will determine how it rolls.The direction can enable us to achieve greater things and not just let life take its course. We can take control in the following ways: 1. Learn to take ownership of own actions :It is very easy to blame the events in our life on destiny and not take ownership of these t

Why passion towards goal fades away

“What we don’t have is that which we have not sufficiently desired yet” What is Passion? Passion is that burning desire to achieve a goal .It can be any kind of goal-your own house, a successful business or simply traveling around the globe with your own funds.It is quite often that initially one is all fired up about such a goal but the fire is extinguished within no time.The fire is also hard to re-kindle/gets re-kindled for some other goal but meets the same fate. Why the passion fades away The passion was not our own -We saw someone running a successful business or partying in yachts and thought that that was what we wanted and was a means to escape corporate life. We want the fruits but not willing to till the farmland -We were fascinated by the rewards of the success we saw but have shied away from putting in the hard work Our supposed passion was to fit in -We realized a lot of our cool millineal friends were either starting up or turning coaches and wanted

Flat Dreams-Checklist

It is every middle-class indian's dream to have their own flat.They usually end up investing their life savings in it or take debt for it.Before investing in a house and putting your life savings into it, do refer the following check-list which will help make an informed decision about what kind of builders to choose/avoid and indemnify against risk of being duped. Reputation of builder Past court cases against builders Is the builder RERA certified Past projects and track record of completion Whether OC was provided to previous buyers Whether flats are being sold in the project or there is piling unsold inventory over years Whether any other projects are ongoing in same vicinity by the builder.If yes, there is likelihood of your money being used for this project as against the one you booked your flat in and completion might get delayed. What is the stage of the project-Makes sense to book those close to completion because it is less risky for customer and builde

Entry level employees guide to saving and wealth

As an entry level employee, there is student debt, rent, transport and other expenses to take care of.The paycheque gets exhausted settling bills and barely anything is left thereafter.But as we know there must be monthly savings and investments to have wealth eventually . Here are a few ways to cut down on expenses/increase income and save a part of the paycheque: Start cooking your own meals instead of eating every single meal outside Use the public/office/building gym instead of a gym membership Take local transport instead of a cab each time Move to a not so grand neighborhood  if it is not too far from work Take up a part time/freelance job on weekends Have a side hustle-your own business that helps you earn extra money Teach skills you know for extra money to students Curb the urge to buy every new shiny phone or gadget Invest money in safe return giving instruments Find free and low cost events to attend in city Limit air travel

Eating for health

We have all heard that “We are what we eat”.There is nothing more true than this maxim. In today's times our life is extremely hectic and stressful.It is very easy to reach out for that bag of chips or those muffins and end up eating more than 500 calories beyond what is needed.This leads to piling on pounds and can also cause bloating,acidity and bad skin. There are ways to eat for good health.If we eat that way we end up reducing our stress, get our daily doses of antioxidants and getting the nutrients necessary for being healthy. There are few simple laws of eating , here is how: Eat a balanced breakfast :Breakfast provides fuel to your body.If you skip it, you will crave food all day and in much larger quantities than you actually need.A balanced breakfast consistsing of good carbs, lean /vegan protein and few veggies will help kickstart your metabolism and keep you full all day. Eat according to your activity levels: Calories are fuel for your body.If you