All Entries in the "Miscellaneous" Category

Given the current economic condition in the US, 2010 could become the year that Americans have to look at their lives in a totally new way. If they stay focused upon their finances, like the economy they may spend a good part of the year, if not all of it, receding into a depression and not living their lives fully at all.

Most employees view training as medicine or worse, as punishment. As an outside trainer, I work with hundreds of groups in a wide variety of industries and most people enter the training room as if they are going to the gas chamber.

It’s when events are overwhelmingly beyond your control, that you either find new ways to cope or are pulled down by the undertow. Your usual defenses are inadequate to protect from overwhelming long-term stress. Stress can build gradually beyond tolerance level, or a surprising turn of events like those recently reported in the news can create the kind of vulnerability that demands openness to change.

See if you get tickled by some of the rules that govern movie-making in India’s tinsel town. You can also spend some quality time with your family adding or modifying to this potentially endless list. Enjoy!

Some people seem to have it made, generating miracle after miracle with apparent ease, while the rest of us try time and time again, only to be left frustrated, exhausted and confused. But what makes some people abundant, while others are not? It all boils down to the eight success secrets listed.

Happiness, to me, is when I have an ‘aha!!!’ experience—an insight about my own behaviour or about some well guarded subtle secret of life—even if it reveals a negative side of mine.

The new year is here. What amazes me most is the practice of making resolutions at the start of the year. I really admire those who strictly follow their resolutions, though I am myself extremely poor in these things.

Right now it’s tough to not feel like a victim. So many events seem to be beyond our control, and so many consequences of the decisions of others appear to have cost so many so much. It’s an easy time to choose to blame others and let events just carry us along- the perfect example of a victim.

Sometimes when I try to explain my dream to my family and friends, I get blank stares. My enthusiasm does not find an eager audience. Most of the times, I try and avoid this situation by just keeping quiet about my dreams, but there are times when I can’t contain my excitement. I do understand that everyone operates from their belief system, just as I do. But how come the belief systems are different in the very same family in which we grow up?

We all know that business is becoming more and more competitive. There are numerous others who seem to be offering the same stuff that you do. Whether you are a senior executive, the president of your own company, or a worker at a small organization, you need to stand out from myriad others so that you can be in control of your business or career.

My own experience of life is that we are most of the time playing chess within our lives for no reason. For example when I was 10 or so, some boys wanted to steal mangoes. In the very first try we got caught. I decided then and there that there was no value in this cat-and-mouse game. The next time I wanted a mango, I just went and asked the owner and he gave me one!

All of us want to forge ahead and excel in our respective fields. There are different approaches adopted by various persons for achieving their goals. Goals, of course, keep changing from time to time.

One of the most brilliant displays of paradoxical thinking is by scientist Faraday in the 1830’s. He had observed that a current of electricity passingthrough a wire could have the effect of causing the magnetized needle of a compass to deflect, that is, move in a rotational direction when a compass was located close to the wire. This was the basis of his invention of the electric motor.

This sounds like a pretty wild claim but I never have trouble sticking to my New Year resolutions because I never make them! This sounds like a cop out but just think about it for a moment.

I frequently see folks going to great lengths in their effort to develop and incorporate an “attitude of gratitude” into their lives, lugging around special gratitude crystals, rocks, or stones, keeping special gratitude journals, and/or resorting to all sorts of other “props and crutches” as I like to refer to them, when *all* that’s *really* required is developing the simple habit of saying “thank you”.

Even if you consider yourself of AVERAGE ability, you can be successful, independent, free of worry, and be your own master, from this point forward, if you can commit to do these four things. Of course, it will take diligent and persistent practice for you to make these permanent and long-lasting positive habits. However, the rewards will be manifold!

Let’s take a look at success. For many people, success or being successful is just as scary as the first time they rode a bicycle. Naturally, many people want to be successful. However, there are few that truly have the motivation to put forward the needed effort and action, and make the necessary sacrifices to get what they want.

What on earth are ‚ÄòBusiness Burps‚Äô you may be asking? It was a phrase I thought of whilst … burping. Can you remember as a child when you first let out a burp after gulping a fizzy drink? Wasn‚Äôt it a bit exciting (as well as a little bit rude)? Weren‚Äôt your parents just a tiny bit embarrassed?

My high-school football coach, Coach “Pic” would tell us this every day in his motivational speech as we prepared for the upcoming game. His goal was to get each of us to create a mental picture of what we wanted to do – individually and as a team.

The paradox is at the heart of all things. The opposites necessarily coexist. The back of the hand and the front of the hand are dependent on each other for their existence. You can’t have one without the other.

Myths have a way of perpetuating themselves. There are quite a few related to training and learning too. Everyone seems to believe in them. So much so that they have become sacrosanct and no one even bothers to question them.

Many people think that Charisma is inborn, an innate quality that you naturally possess or you don’t. If you don’t, you lack a competitive edge to influence others as compared to those who do.

Employee Engagement has always been a burning topic amongst HR people. It is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work.

The countdown for the New Year has started. Immature persons are thinking hard to decide on a remarkable New Year resolution which can transform their life in a night and experienced persons like us, who are guilty-ridden about breaking their resolutions every year, are working seriously on the reasons of failure and finding a failure-proof resolution.

In today’s consumerist society, the problem of being overweight has reached epidemic proportions. Not only the affluent, but the middle class and even some of the poor people suffer from the malaise of overweight.

It is that time of the year when I avoid meeting people. Everyone wants to know about your New Year resolutions. This question just forces me to lie through my teeth just so that I remain politically correct and acceptable to my loved ones.

“Tsk-tsk.” The sound sets my teeth on the edge and I feel like giving that person an earful. Often enough we see people who seem to think that words like ‘excuse me’ do not exist. Their favorite form of calling attention is to purse their lips and hiss like a serpent that has caught a cold.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never heard a child who’s asked what he or she would like to be when they grow up, answer “Trainer.” They may say: doctor, lawyer or even astronaut but “trainer”? No, never! One is then tempted to engage in a lengthy discussion if a “trainer” is indeed a professional, as well as what exactly qualifies one to be a trainer.

I do not believe in making new year resolutions because I want to live my life naturally without any harness. And a new year resolution is nothing but a harness. We live once only. I don’t want to spoil it all by allowing new year resolutions to have the better of my life.

Creativity means different things to different people. Here are a few popular definitions of creativity. Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties: Gail Sheehy Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun: Mary Lou Cook Creativity (or “creativeness”) is a mental process involving the generation of new [...]

“There is no such thing as a ‘boss’,” he announced, leaning back with his cup of green tea. The three of us burst out laughing – together. We worked in the same department and had to meet a deadline in three days to keep his bossy highness in good humour.

Here are some of my favourite quotes on new year resoultions.

It is human nature that we never fully value what has been given to us in life. God gives us life, and a particular set of circumstances for myriad reasons that pertain to personal growth and spiritual evolution.

During one of my visits to an isolated beach strip off Chennai, I had a chance interaction with a middle aged fisherman mending his nets. We were the only souls on the beach at that time. Curious, I asked him about the killer tsunami that struck Chennai in December 2004. He vividly described how a [...]

As responsible adults, we are encouraged to create both a Will and a Living Will. Wouldn’t it be great to also create a document that declares how we want to live! It could be called a “Living Willfully Declaration.” This document wouldn’t divide up what we have, or detail how we want to leave with dignity, but instead it would bear witness to the principles and values we want our lives to express. By Living Willfully, I mean living with intention and integrity, purpose and determination, mindfulness and just action. It means consciously choosing how we want to respond to life instead of simply reacting.

As it is, humans are known to be bad listeners. We are so occupied with saying our piece that our ears are perennially switched off. So we have this lovely scenario where everyone is yapping away but there is little or no attempt to ensure that it is all registering at the other end. And this is precisely the point I wish to make.

I was living a beautiful, content life of marital bliss, enjoying motherhood and generally just being there. Life was good, I believed in myself, God was not a word in my lexicon; I passed my leisure reading fiction and watching movies. But, and it is a big ‘but’, at times I felt that there was more in me.

I had always wondered about life. Setting up a toolbox of rules and measures was one of my top priorities until that one (un?)lucky day when I woke up and all the collection of data I was securing was mysteriously gone.

Some time ago, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani broke up and the Reliance group was split between the two of them.

There is a tendency to criticize the two brothers for their inability to work together. The general perception is that they were not being good brothers and they did injustice to their deceased father who had built the industrial conglomerate from scratch.

Words are sound symbols that tend to represent standard concepts and images. In other words they are sounds with meanings. Every time you fail to follow through your words you deprive them of their meaning and reduce them to mere sounds. Unfortunately, this not only takes away power from your words but also from you, as your subconscious keeps getting evidence of their emptiness.

This is in continuation of my earlier post ‘Stay happy’… I continue to think of how the beginning of the day is so important to set the pace and mood for all that follows; till the day ends… But, most of us are in an awful mood in the precious morning hours. Lets break that jinx, here and now.

2009 was an eventful year with its fair share of ups and downs and nothing indicates that 2010 won’t follow suit, if not further test our mettle. As

Understandably, when a new year arrives, we all start to look for new resolutions. But to me, the resolutions need not always be new. And it need not be only a resolution but can also be a reflection. Preferably more of a reflection rather than resolution. Also, it can be a continuation of the previous year’s resolution(s) except that you may want to re-adjust and re-align it to suit your ambitions or plans in the new year

I’m in advertising Рwhich by default is a volatile business. Especially because the pace is hectic and the demands on your time, always on stretch mode. It’s a playing ground where tempers fray, decibel levels go up and you just might say or do something that you’re going to regret.

It’s that time of the year again – after appearing to plod along for a few lazy months, the present year suddenly starts to show more legs than a caterpillar, and starts slipping away rapidly, almost like the last few grains of sand in an hourglass.

Whether stress kills or not, the talk of stress is so dominant in our lives, at home and work… be it a professional, a homemaker, or a school going child, ‘stress’ seems to the most hated, but most spoken word…

Lose yourself in Harvinder Kaur’s poetry. (Collection 2)

A says he is not afraid. B says he is not afraid and he is also not afraid of being afraid. The first statement comes from a mind that is tight and assertive—a mind that clings to fixed viewpoints. The second statement comes from a mind that is nimble and free-flowing—a mind that does not cling to fixed viewpoints.

Happiness does exist. Truly our very being is happy. When I say “I am happy!” it’s a mood, a feeling which I can savor or experience for a span of time, then when I move I am something else.

Do you have secret resolutions to share?