25 pieces of work advice..

Thanks to a ‘very young’ uncle Rajesh.. :)

1. Always take time out to talk to juniors and guide them – remember someone spent time with you to guide you too
2. Answer all calls or return the calls if you were busy and make sure you take time out to reply to all mails as soon as possible
3. Build long lasting relationships right from your doorman all the way to the top and even contacts outside – keep in touch with them as and when you can
4. Make sure you have fun doing your job (self motivate yourself) and treat everyday as fun so others watch you and your energy and they too start having fun doing their work
5. Surround yourself with good people with a positive attitude
6. Observe everything – most of all pay ATTENTION and LISTEN when others speak
7. Take timeout at the end of every day to assess yourself and also to see whether you have achieved your goals you had set out to for that day
8. Plan ahead – make sure you have in sight what and where would you want to be in 5 years and so on
9. Keep some time out EVERYDAY day for your personal work and passions too.
10. Dont hesitate in making mistakes – only then will you learn and not repeat them
11. Stand up and ask if you dont know or didnt understand something
12. Be honest and let people remember you for your honesty, integrity and the straightforwardness in the way you approach and deal with everything and also TELL THE TRUTH even if it hurts.
13. Always think before you talk
14. Constantly update your self with matters happening in your field of work and also with matters happening around the world – its a boon to know a little about everything atleast, for a good conversation – read on diverse topics whenever you can
15. Never burn your bridges
16. Always dress smart and according to the occassion – be classy in choosing your wardrobe (dont cringe on it), the best perfumes and everday deos and the right footwear
17. Manage different sets of friends and acquaintances circle – you need to have different sets of friends and acquaintances which will help you to a balanced personal life and also give you different perspectives to thinking and life
18. Honour your commitments and if you have given your word stick to it – come what may
19. Never Bullshit
20. Maintain a steady mix of official and personal pleasures
21. AND also keep an eye out for the winning horse in the system – maybe you can piggy ride on him / her later
22. Help others, be it anyone, even within your support staff (talk to them once in a while make an effort to understand them and their lives, remember they are the soldiers) and upwards – only when it is required and you are completely sure its the right time and they need help
23. Keep your mobile in silent mode when at a meeting and return all the calls post that
24. Refuse to let your mind grow old
25. Laugh a lot and make others laugh too if you can!!

Form is temporary, class is permanent..

To Paul Scholes – who notched his 100th premier league goal yesterday. How many mid-fielders are capable of such a feat?

I’ve been amazed as to how old legends like Ryan Giggs, Sachin Tendulkar, Paul Scholes are able to constantly re-invent themselves..

The answer is that while they may go through patches of bad form, their basics are so strong that it doesn’t really matter in the long run.. :)

Let’s see how Michael Schumacher does on his return..

Thanks Joshua..

This one is a thanks to Joshua – our tennis coach. We(a group of 5-6) played tennis on Saturdays pretty regularly last semester. And when I thought I could play a few rallies together, decided to call Bharath – a friend on the varsity team and get some pointers. And one of his suggestions was to learn tennis from his teammate Joshua..

Racket sports are very technique based and while we can get by playing football without too much coaching, the same cannot be said of tennis and table tennis(for example)…

Anyway, we had 5 classes with Josh working on our forehands. During this while, we had completely stopped playing our usual doubles games(which used to be LOTS of fun) and we got back to playing 3 sets today and boy.. it was amazing! We used to barely be able to play a 3 or 4 shot rally. Today, the rallies flowed beautifully, our services were in place and everything seemed so easy..

I am so energized that feel like I can give Federer a shot now.. haha :P

Jokes aside, thanks to our coach Joshua. If anyone wants to learn tennis, you know where to go! :)

And thanks to Bharath for suggesting him and following up as well!

When we learn something, it’s good to learn something right!

The ‘Seek to understand’ story..

Suppose you’ve been having trouble with your eyes and you decide to go to an optometrist for help.

After briefly listening to your complaint, he takes off his glasses and hands them to you.

“Put these on,” he says.
“I’ve worn this pair of glasses for 10 years now and they’ve really helped me. I have an extra pair at home; you can wear these.”

So you put them on, but it only makes the problem worse
“This is terrible!” you exclaim. “I can’t see a thing!”

“Well, what’s wrong?” he asks.
“They work great for me. Try harder.”

“I am trying,” you insist. “Everything is a blur.”

“Well, what’s the matter with you? Think positively.”

“Okay. I positively can’t see a thing.”

“Boy, you are ungrateful!” he chides. “And after all I’ve done to help you!”

What are the chances you’d go back to that optometrist the next time you need help? Not very good, I would imagine.

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I guess we have all been guilty of this at some time! Loved the story..

To think, re-think and act..

How many times have we been caught doing something futile?

It’s a bit like this – Imagine a person who owned a car running on petrol/gas. Let’s also imagine he’s used to taking car of his car very well and cleans the exhaust pipe every single day so his car lets off no exhausts.

One day, he replaces his petroleum driven car with a diesel one.

Obviously, his exhaust pipe cleaning exercise will have no real impact, will it?

Often times though, he would possibly just continue with it because of the comfort it provides. Mentally, it re-assures him that his car is being taken care of (when it actually isn’t). It’s just that he’s too old now to change his ways..

We associate this people who age, but I feel it is when we are young that we are probably more guilty of doing this – guilty of choosing convenience over reality..

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The reason for this post is that I’ve been following a daily routine for a long while but I see today that, over the past 3 days, it has become redundant due to some changes and I’m still laboring under the old system without sensing purpose. The reason is that changing it would mean mental effort..

And that’s when I realized that most of what we do could just be absolutely redundant if we don’t ‘Think, re-think and act’

After all, what is a day without purpose?