Just Imagine...

I cannot thank Siya enough for just being my inspiration. Every child has so much to learn from and this is what I have lately learnt from her. 

Imagine a life where all your time is spent on the things you want to do. Siya does not get fluttered by average marks, not winning, analyzing why she lost, nothing negative. She does what she wants to do at that moment. However, I do yell at her a couple of time but thinking back why, I realize because I would want her to spend time on things I like. I long for a life like hers where I simply do things that I want to do. Imagine if I could write a letter to my boss which reads "Dear boss, I would not need your service any longer as I have decided to do things my own way. Thanks for everything". 

Imagine that today is your final day of working for anyone other than yourself. What if—very soon, not in some distant, undefined future—you prepare for work by firing up a laptop in your home office, walking into a storefront you’ve opened, phoning a client who trusts you for helpful advice, or otherwise doing what you want instead of what someone tells you to do?

What I have noticed outside India more and in many different ways, thousands of people are doing exactly that. They are rewriting the rules of work, becoming their own bosses, and creating a new future. All you need is two things - freedom and value. Freedom is what we’re all looking for, and value is the way to achieve it. When you value freedom above other things, you’ll make different choices. Your priorities will shift. You’ll have more time for your family and more time for the hobbies you enjoy. When you focus on helping others, connecting your work to their needs, that’s when value is created. This is what it came down to for all of these people, and that’s how it can work for you too. No special skills, not a lot of money, but the willingness to imagine.

Think Different

While success is a relative term, I surely do believe that all the people who have been successful in their own way had the ability to think differently and challenge mainstream ideas. This has actually been the key to everything good in my life too. This isn’t a post to brag about all of that — it’s to share what I believe is a real key to life: the willingness to think differently than most people. It means you have to be willing to question what most people do and tell you. It means you have to have the courage to try something different. It means you have to be brave enough to stand out from the crowd and not take the safe route. Most people take the safe route, because they’re afraid of being different and failing. If you do nothing amazing but you go with the crowd, then you don’t look stupid. But then you miss out on the amazing. If you never stand out from the crowd, you will always be average. And that’s fine, but the people who stand out are the ones who make a mark, who innovate and discover, who learn the freedom of exploration and invention. If you stand out when you apply for a job, you’ll be more likely to be noticed. If you don’t, and you play it safe, then they’ll likely ignore you. If you stand out when you start a business, people will be curious and check you out. If you’re just one of many businesses doing the same thing, why should others care about you? Why should they choose you?


Learning to Think Differently

When you hear an idea that’s different than what you’re used to, pause. Instead of rejecting it outright, consider it — is there some merit? What are the arguments, the evidence? Let go of the emotions that come up, the defensiveness. When you are told that this is the way to do things, take a second look. Is this really the best way? Are there other possibilities? If no one has thought of them, can you?
Just because an idea is different, don’t just accept it. Look at the bulk of the evidence, and learn to spot flaws in reasoning.
Test out different ideas. Just because most people don’t do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. They might all be wrong, and this might be better. No better way to find out than to test it. If it’s not a good idea, drop it and move on.
Learn to be proud of your ability to test things that people traditionally believe in, and not to worry so much if you stand out. In fact, learn to see standing out as good — not just to stand out, but to forge new ground, to challenge ideas, to express your individual voice rather than blending in.

What was my last week's biggest waste of time?

Unfortunately, it simply boils down to a decision of “Yes” or “No”. I lost my productivity and efficiency and ultimately happiness because of just these two words “Yes” or “No”. And actually, come to think of it, its not only me but all of us – for that matter even my daughter Siya now. Often people say “Yes” when they mean “No” or “No” when they should say “Yes”. “Yes” and “No” are a negotiation of another person’s request. Each word has to be used wisely, judiciously, and with grace, with your inner-harmony in mind as it has a direct impact on your well-being. I really don’t remember the book I read but it was about a two-headed animal with a single body. Most of us can often visualize ourselves this way where we are heading towards opposite direction at the same time. It is important to avoid such a situation because this state of unnecessary indecision lowers your energy rate and it drains away your personal power rather than strengthening it. To make a decision quickly and not vacillate or second guess oneself is a critical life-skill. It is especially important with the acceleration of the world around us today, fast decisions are asked of us minute-by-minute. People who can make decision faster without vacillating don’t hide from life but live their life.

The power behind “Yes” and “No” is when you state them truthfully. When that is the case, you tend to strengthen the relationship with yourself and moreover with others too. When me and Siya talk, I many a time tend to give Siya an illusion of a “Complicated Life” that I lead. To which she simply asks me – tell me the truth, what will make you happy. And this question completely clears the clutter for me. Being truthful to yourself and to others is actually an art of simplification which makes you more pure, more real and always approachable and lovable. Then what makes me think so much! If I say “No” people will get mad at me, if I say “Yes”, what will he think about me and so on and on. Soon I realized - When you take care of yourself, your relationships work. What I mean by this, is that if you don’t honour what is in your well-being, and come from a place of trying to please people or to try to make them like or love you more, by giving them what they want, it always backfires. Take up any incidence of your life where you followed the “please people” way and not “please me” way. I am sure you would have realized that you suffered, your relationship suffered and ultimately the other person too. Only because your heart closes the energetic reach to the person. You can always say “No” with grace because when you do that, you gain respect and you are still viewed as generous and kind.

So use your power of choice to say “Yes” or “No” when you mean it.

You will get to your BIG THING, your most important thing, but later !

It’s amazing how many people I talk to who tell me they want to create a new blog, write a book, start a new business, change careers, make something new. But simply keep putting it off. Does it sound like your story? You want to do something different but you don't have the time (or energy) to do one right now? "My sweetheart, I love you, I miss you but I just don't have the time to meet you. A million of things in your to-do list, your schedule fully packed, meetings coming". You will get to your BIG THING, your most important thing, but later. In fact it is even my story till I learnt the art of creating time. 

I realized that I will never get to that time I want to do my BIG THING, till I learn to create one. Seize the bull by the horns, grasp it tenaciously, never let it go. Time has a habit of trampling over us, so softly we don’t even notice but so powerfully we become crushed over the course of weeks and years. And someone who have learnt to master this  art is all working women. It is beautiful to see how they manage home, office, kids, in-laws and still manage to create time for what they like (walk, dance, spa-sessions, gyms, whatever). They generally have no time to do it and yet the create one. I had no time, so I created it. Time is often said to be our most limited resource, but it’s not true. We can create time. It takes the sheer force of will to do it, but it can be created. Time doesn’t fall into your lap. It isn’t handed to you by a kindly old gentleman. You must create it, taking from the world the raw materials you need and shaping it with your bare dirty blistered hands, pushing the clay into form from its shapeless muddy glob. I created the time, taking some from television watching, some from meetings, some from saying no to the endless requests on my time by co-workers and well meaning friends, some from other important projects that I put off. I put off important things to create time for The Most Important Thing. Say no to everything else. Put off what can be held at bay for the time being. And create time for what is necessary. Make something. Bring new creative life into the world, change the lives of others, and in doing so, change yours.

Let's attempt it - its not so difficult. And as someone rightly said, if you conquer your will power, even Mount Everest will seem like a rock!

Cheers!

Are good managers good leaders always?

It is obvious in professional life to have disagreements and different view points. You land up to arguments and arguments land up to wars at times ;-). I have gone through similar ones a lot in past and when I introspect as to why, one realizes that once you are a leader (someone whom people look up to) you own responsibilities of a lot of people within the organization and outside, you influence them but hey you might not be able to manage them well.

Management is all about numbers exercise - topline, bottom line, targets, achievements, profits, etc and you are accessed against meeting those numbers. Leadership is all about "inspiring people" and for all you know you can inspire people with your management skills. Leadership is all about who you are and management is all about how you do things. Management is more of a skill just like teaching, cooking, etc while leadership is what is within and attributes that can be "followed by". Being courageous, trust worthy, visionary are all qualities that a good leader should possess and has to be felt by others. While management is merely a skill that can be worked upon on daily basis till you get better at it. Being a good leader is more like working on yourself - self-improvement, thinking, defining and visioning. Being a a good manager is all about planning, achieving, setting company's goals.

However, what is common between a manager and a leader is good listening skills, thirst for knowledge and highly dependable and accountable. Both realize the importance of their contribution to the business and make sure to be committed to it.

So, lets play a game today, on the scale of 10 (where 10 is the best), rate yourself and me on Leadership and Management. (Leave a comment)

Learnings from my first business plan presentation

The classy part about internet is that one can share their learning and make sure that the mistake done by one are not repeated by others. So last week I had my first business plan presentation to an investor. Went pretty decent but I am sure I could have done far better by just keeping in mind few things which I already knew but did not implement.

1) Back to MBA days where we were taught this 10/20/30 rule - 10 slides, 20 minutes and 30 font size. My presentation went to about 45 min and I realized that after 25min, the presentation was not required. Most of these guys are always in a hurry and guess tight on time and attention.

2) My presentation included brief introduction of the company, team, description about me, Comprehensive project description: what I plan doing, what is my product/service, what are your major competitive advantages, my customer profile, how much investment and what is the proposed funding structure like own capital, direct investments, etc and other topics like all business plan have. What I conveniently missed is is the payback period. That was a real disaster on my part. I knew it but forgot to include in my presentation.

3) Apart from the negatives stated above, I think I was very good at the visual element of the presentation. Good creativity and the graphics communicated the same ideas and values as the bullet points. A pat on the back for that :-).

4) It took to a while to tell the marketing personality in me to shut up! This was consciously decided because I really did not want to sound to boastful. One of the slides had the word "game-changing". Not that the investor complained but when I just saw it right now, I did smile at myself. How funny I could have been to include this!

5) I could have done far better in my "Call to Action" section slides. A lot of things came up in the discussion which I realized they were there but not organized well. So make sure you put in 80% of the time for this final section. This is only what your investors are interested to know.

All the best guys and hope you guys learn from this too :-) !

Oh God, I am just so busy!

When I look back today, I almost feel like laughing on myself on how busy I use to be. I think I was just serious about my ability to be a superwoman :-). I could work for 16 hours per day in office, raise Siya, cook, dance, choreograph shows, exercise, travel, clean, network, facebook, blog and on and on. I could do it all and then some. I would always think that everyone is doing it all and so can I. But if I look back, I didn't want to really do it all. Doing it all made me exhausted, it cost me friendships, it cost me my health. My busyness wasn't even a bit silly. To get less busy was not an accident but a decision I made on purpose. This surely does not mean you compromise on your career or on your family or anything of that sort. I realized that by even being less busy, I was moving ahead, reaching closer to my goal. I made the decision that a busy life wasn’t a life for me. Being a good person, loving wife, mother, an inspiration for my sub-ordinates and friend…that was the life I wanted.More than that, I wanted freedom to do things that made made my heart sing instead of things that weighed me down. And most of the times it is because you are overwhelmed that you can't figure out how to change. Do you also have one these symptoms that I suffered from:

- People would ask me "how are you?" and my answer would be "very busy", "lots of work", etc
- I can only talk to family or friends in car because I have no time otherwise
- I forget that I am hungry and its lunch time
- I would check emails, facebook, linkedin several times a day.
- Prepare lists after lists so that you dont forget anything
- Would volunteer for almost everything just to make sure I am in good books of everyone
and so on and on.

All it needed me to do is (which I learned from my boss sometime back but implemented now):
- Be unproductive for 1 day in a week.
- check mails only x times a day
- delete all unwanted mails, do not feel that if you get lots of emails (which are really unwanted), you have lots of work.
- turn off your computer when you not working
- turn everything off in the car (except the car :-) )
- help someone
- do less, be more
- Delegate and give ownership at work place to your team and peers - Don't believe that you you are the only one who can do this best, be a mentor and a guide to help them achieve their best.

And I soon realized that I could still be as productive as before without being overwhelmed about my task list.

Chaos!

As my close friends tell about me, I do generally a lot of planning. Planning the year, planning the expenses, planning the career, planning Siya's career, plan cooking, plan, plan and plan. After I have left my current job, I took a conscious decision of not planning anything for roughly 6 months especially for myself. Of course, everyday was a big chaos. But I soon realized Chaos is creativity, and creativity is chaos. They are the same thing. Creative work doesn’t happen by plan and control. I do know a good number of people who are detail freaks and who are genuises too, but I am sure they did not have a plan to come up with a creative genius idea. It came to them because they were open to random thoughts, explored paths no one else had thought to look down, took an idea they saw from someone else and twisted it in a new way. Creativity comes from a place of chaos, and it’s only when you open yourself to this lack of control that you can come up with your best creativity.

Prepare our kids for a unpredictable world!

I somehow feel that kids in today's school system are not being prepared for tomorrow. The school system is still the same as it was at my time when things around have moved ahead. I have myself been in the corporate world and then the ever changing online world and realize how the world of yesterday is just so irrelevant. But hey, to make them children of tomorrow, we will need to predict the future. And here’s the thing: we still don’t. We have never been good at predicting the future, and so raising and educating our kids as if we have any idea what the future will hold is not the smartest notion. So the question still arises - how do we prepare our kids (for that matter even ourselves) for the world that is unpredictable, unknown? This requires an entirely different approach to child-rearing and education. It means leaving our old ideas at the door, and reinventing everything.
I have written about few of these skills in the past on what I do with Siya but re-insist them here with respect to this context.
Encourage your child to ask questions -  My boss in netCore once said "The best thing that you can give Siya is learning how to learn". What we want most for our kids, as learners, is to be able to learn on their own. To teach themselves anything. Because if they can, then we don’t need to teach them everything - whatever they need to learn in the future, they can do on their own. Luckily, kids ask questions naturally - all we need to do is simply encourage it. A great way to do this is by modeling it. When you and your child encounter something new, ask questions, and explore the possible answers with your child. When he does ask questions, reward the child instead of punishing him (you might be surprised how many adults discourage questioning).What I have also figured out over a period of time is that anything new be it new environment, new people, new office, new industry - all of it is nothing but solving new problems. Make sure you teach your child how to solve problems. I have seen mothers, when a child encounters a problem, they run themselves to solve it even without allowing their child to even try solving it. Don’t immediately solve all your child’s problems — let her fiddle with them and try various possible solutions, and reward such efforts. Eventually, your child will develop confidence in her problem-solving abilities. I would re-insist everyone to read the blog post Ignite your Passion - How? and Effortless Parenting where I talk a lot about being passionate about something. When I’m so excited that I can’t stop thinking about something, I will inevitably dive into it fully committed, and most times I’ll complete the project and love doing it. Help your kid find things she’s passionate about - it’s a matter of trying a bunch of things, finding ones that excite her the most, helping her really enjoy them. Don’t discourage any interest - encourage them. Don’t suck the fun out of them either - make them rewarding.One thing that has made me the way I am and thanks to my parents for it is Independence. Kids should be taught to increasingly stand on their own. A little at a time, of course. Slowly encourage them to do things on their own. Teach them how to do it, model it, help them do it, help less, then let them make their own mistakes. Give them confidence in themselves by letting them have a bunch of successes, and letting them solve the failures. Once they learn to be independent, they learn that they don’t need a teacher, a parent, or a boss to tell them what to do. They can manage themselves, and be free, and figure out the direction they need to take on their own.Siya also is a kid who is happy by herself. And this is without TV or video games or any other gadgets. She can spend time just reading or writing letters (recently started this new thing) to mom and dad or setting up her room or arranging her cupboard or simply just imagining. This is a valuable skill because it takes a while to have children being happy without parents. And because she finds happiness in making others happy, she has also become very compassionate. Show them empathy by asking how they think others might feel, and thinking aloud about how you think others might feel. Demonstrate at every opportunity how to ease the suffering of others when you’re able, how to make others happier with small kindnesses, how that can make you happier in return. And then finally, teach them how to deal with the change. I believe this will be one of the most essential skills as our kids grow up, as the world is always changing and being able to accept the change, to deal with the change, to navigate the flow of change, will be a competitive advantage. This is a skill I’m still learning myself, but I find that it helps me tremendously, especially compared to those who resist and fear change. Life is a adventure and things will go wrong, turn out differently than you expected and also break all the plans that you had made - but so be it. Life did not come to me with a instruction set - that's all a part of excitement.

We can’t give our children a set of data to learn, a career to prepare for, when we don’t know what the future will bring. But we can prepare them to adapt to anything, to learn anything, to solve anything, and in about 20 years, to thank us for it :-).

Effortless Parenting

Just yesterday in office, I was having a conversation with my bosses about "Many a times parent enforce their dreams on their child which is the worst thing ever to do and how things for kids now a days always seems to be in a rush". They were indirectly letting me know that I was rushing up with Siya which is stressing me as well as Siya out :-).

So thought I should write about "Effortless Parenting" today. I am often asked - how can you do so much with Siya inspite of having a more than demanding job and of course husband and household to take care off. To which most of the time I say - I am awesome :-). But the truth is I am able to manage all of it only because of my husband. We have some rules been defined for us and the first rule is that we do not really break the following rules:

1) Teach kids to be self-sufficient - All kids first learn how to pick up things, then how to brush, how to have bath, how to feed themselves so on and so on. At the beginning of every new skill she learns, it requires requires a little patient teaching. But once the teaching is done, our job are a parent is a lot easier. I do focus a lot on teaching every new skill she learns.

2) Teach older kids how to take care of younger ones - This rule works beautifully for people having more than one kid (unfortunately this rule is ruled out from my rule book).

3) Teach them how to solve problems - We should focus a lot on teaching our children how to solve a problem and not make them learn facts or skills. We always describe everything as a problem and then have her find solutions. e.g. I want to run faster than the fastest runner I see on Marine Drive on Sunday, her solution was I will skate every Sunday. Addition of two digit numbers with carry forwards - teach me this skill is just on entertained. But the problem identified was - we have 10 fingers only and 10 fingers of legs, if I need to add more than this then?

4) Show them how to be passionate - Besides teaching them how to solve their own problem, we also need to teach them how to be passionate about something. If they know this, they will do work they're passionate about just like adults. How do you teach them this? By modeling it yourself. By doing projects with them where you’re passionate about something. Kids learn an amazing amount by watching and mimicking.

5) Play with them outside and be active - Spending time with your kids is best way to show them that you love them. I keep my evening completely free for Siya. If there is some office work to be followed up is either after she is off to bed or early next morning. Playing with them and playing outdoor games with them shows them how to be active and have fun being active.

6) Give them free time - We need to give our kids a good bit of unstructured, unscheduled time. They need to figure out what they have to do with that time. This is a very important skill to learn.

7) Don't dote - I’ve seen lots of parents that dote on everything their kids do, who are worried about every little thing their kid might touch or that might cause a fall. Back off, and give them some space. They need attention, but they also need some time alone to explore, to fall and get back up, to scrape their knees, to figure stuff out on their own. Go do something on your own, and leave your kids alone sometimes.

8) Dance - We dance a lot together as a family. We just play loud music and go crazy. Life for us is too dull without dance.

9) Read - The first thing I wake and do in the morning is turn on my laptop and read about topics of my interest. For Vipul, he picks up the newspaper and starts around at the same time. Soon we observed that Siya would pick up her book and sit with us. Reading is one of the best loves you can instill in kids.

10) Be inquisitive - Ask questions about everything and encourage your kids to do so. Don't give them answers as far as possible, encourage them to find out using their sense organs. Kids are naturally inquisitive, because everything is new for them, see the world through their eyes and you will enjoy.

Hopefully, this will make a useful read....

Business is all about professionalism - what is this word meaning (Siya and her questions)

Inspite of working now for 10 years, yesterday when Siya asked me "what do you mean by professional", I was really put to thought on what does it really mean? I was always taught on how to work in office but never taught what does it take to be a professional. So thought should write about it today "My definition of professionalism" which Siya can surely refer tomorrow.

Whether you are running your own business or you are working for someone, there is always an expectation that you will be professional in the course of business. I broadly treat the following as attributes of professional :

1) Respect for others - Being courteous and having good manners, being fair in all dealings, being on time for meetings and respecting others time, being prepared for meetings, keeping personal opinion of people private, doing what needs to be done, not leaving it for others, acceptance of constructive criticism, dealing with sensitive issues privately, being faitr and gentle when giving feedback, keeping confidential details and confidential, listen(and not hear) to others, accept your mistake and apologize and finally communicate (and not speak) to others.

2) Responsibility and Integrity - We must present ourselves always in a way that you earn (not demand) respect for yourself. All professionals need to take responsibility of themselves and their work. Honesty is crucial – avoid even the smallest of lies at all costs. Commitment is a commitment -If you commit to something, then follow through with it. If there is a delay, let the person know that there is a delay - timely information is better than no information at all. be respectful about competing businesses or people - try pointing out your benefits rather than their faults. Be impartial - keep personal bias and intolerances out of the business world.Be reliable and dependable. Demonstrate self-control and avoid public arguments and disagreements.

Is this good enough Siya? :-)

Find Calmness and Peace in middle of a chaotic day! How?

How can you bring calm and peace to the middle of a stress-ful,chaotic day? I am currently going through one in office and have gone through many such days in past too. When I sit back and think how do I manage it (or atleast try to manage it), it actually lands up to a very simple answer, though not always so easy to practise : learn to be present.

No matter how out-of-control your day is, no matter how stressful your job or life becomes, the act of being present can become an oasis. It can change your life, and it’s incredibly simple.

When you look at all the problems that you have, you will notice that actually all the problems are in your mind. Sure, there are external forces at work: an uncontrollable job, the stress of kids and chores and interruptions and digital distractions. But it’s how our mind handles those external forces that is the problem. If you are completely present, the external forces are no longer a problem, because there is only you and that external force, in this moment, and not a million other things you need to worry about. If your job demands that you focus on an urgent task, you can stress out because you have a million other things to do and not enough time to do them. Or you can be present, and focus completely on that task, and now there is only that one task and you. When you’re done, you can move on to the next task. Being present becomes, then, a way to handle any problem, any distraction, any stressor. It allows everything else to fade away, leaving only you and whatever you’re dealing with right now.

But to be present is a practise. Most people cannot be present because they do not practise to be present.This is how I do it: whatever you’re doing, right now, learn to focus completely on doing that one thing. Pay attention: to every aspect of what you’re doing, to your body, to the sensations, to your thoughts. (Like currently I am writing this blog and I am doing this in a middle of a very stressful day in office). You will notice your thoughts, if you’re paying attention, jump to other things. That’s OK - you are not trying to force all other thoughts from your mind. But by becoming aware of that jumping around in your thoughts, you have found the tool for gently bringing yourself back to your present task. Just notice the jumping thoughts, and lovingly come back. Do this once, then do it again. Don’t worry about how many times you must do it. Just do it now.

It can become tiring at first, if you’re not used to it. Don’t worry about that. Let yourself rest if you grow tired. Come back and practice again in a little while. It’s not meant to be exhausting - instead you should notice how your worries melt away and you enjoy your present task much more.

Be joyful in whatever you’re doing, grateful that you’re able to do that task, and fully appreciate every little movement and tactile sensation of the task. You’ll learn that anything can be an amazing experience, anything can be a miracle.

Meditation is a fantastic way to practice, only because it removes much of the complexity of the world and allows you to just learn to be aware of your mind, and to bring yourself back to the present moment. It’s not complicated: meditation can be done anywhere, anytime. A meditation teacher is useful if you can find one.

Ignite your passion - How?

A lot of my friends always keep on asking me "what keeps you going on", "you are a power house", "how do you manage everything", etc etc etc. Trust me I am very much a normal human being, even I do get tired, frustrated, have a long list of things that I have not done and would be more than happy to do, however, I do put in special efforts to make sure things currently in hand are done full justice and I enjoy doing it. Just like the way a daily exercise leads to a more fit and healthy body, there are habits which can lead to "fire in the belly" everyday.

I make it a point to talk to a few people everyday. This was not a conscious decision at all. But when I tried to analyze why, I figured out that I like to talk to passionate people. By just talking to them, it merely transmits the passion. Most people don’t believe you can do work you love because they’re constantly around people who hate their jobs and don’t know what excites them. This has to change. Those around you have everything to do with your success and your belief of what’s possible. You’ll either rise up or sink down depending on who’s next to you.Passion is contagious. You must have an environment that embodies it. You need a support crew who believes what you believe. People who dream as big as you or bigger. Not only will they give you ideas but they’ll condition the belief that doing what you love is the norm. They fuel our passion and make the unthinkable possible, even normal. You’ll begin to expect the same of yourself.

I also give every idea a room to groom. Basically, create space. If you don’t give big ideas room, they’ll never show up. Purpose and passion are no different. Lack of space creates pressure – the ultimate killer of creativity. And nothing requires more creative juices than passion. Start small with five minutes each morning. Schedule downtime. Start walking to work instead of taking the bus. Give yourself permission to dream. Passion thrives in emptiness.

Help someone in a way only you can. We all have natural strengths and talents that can dramatically help those around us. What comes easy for you is no doubt challenging for others. We tend to take these for granted, often hardly noticing our own gifts, and rarely share them with others. Passion comes from using those on a routine basis. Ask yourself, What do people thank you for? What do people routinely ask for your help with? Most people’s passions help others in one way or another. Perhaps for you it’s knitting, teaching children math, cooking a good meal or leading a dance class. Devote time each day to sharing your talents.

Challenge the norm. Ask questions. Don’t take things as gospel just because that’s how they’ve always been done. Don’t aimlessly listen to those around you. Question everything you’ve been doing and are about to do, especially if you don’t enjoy it. Is it really what you want? Is it in line with who you are? Perhaps there’s a better way. There often is.

Scare yourself – Live outside your comfort zone. Passionate people thrive off uncertainty. If you aren’t doing things that give you a few goose bumps you’re either not learning, dying or bored out of your mind. None of which are good. Do something at least mildly uncomfortable daily. This could be as small as making a phone call or sharing your art with someone. Learn something new. Become obsessed with learning everything you can find – new skills, approaches, ideas, you name it. If it interests you then it’s important enough to get in your brain. We have to fuel what excites us. Grab a magazine or book that interests you and read a few pages on the way to work or before bed. Passionate people almost always have a book within reach. Ideas can be found anywhere. Start looking. Be a sponge.

Your life’s an experiment
Everything you do, everything you try, everything that does or doesn’t work out, whether you like it or not, it’s all an experiment. It’s up to you to decide to learn from it. That’s the ultimate daily practice. Test how you can help people. Test what excites you. Test what you like. Test what scares you. Realize that if you do what you’ve always done, your results are never going to change.Living a life of purpose and passion is just that, a way of life. Those who wake up excited aren’t just the lucky ones, they condition themselves to experience and deserve it.

Really simple ways of getting work done

While I was in office, my boss calls up on my extension at 12:00 and I tell him "Hey, I am going home, my work for the day is done!".

Imagine getting a full day’s work done by noon. Sounds impossible, right? But it really shouldn’t be. If you eliminated all the time you spend procrastinating, distracted or stalled, getting a full day of work done by noon could be realized. I have done it, so can you!

But being this productive everyday, day by day is not so simple. Lets try and make this simple. I recall going back to my old school day - THE SPORT DAY! I would always ask my mom "Why do I start running far faster when I see the finish line?". To that, mom would reply - "You can see the milestone far closer to you and achievable". Along the race, I would be all tired and almost ready to faint but when I see the finish line, I wonder where I would get the energy from to cross and win! Hope you are understanding the analogy I am giving here!

Procrastination isn’t mostly about knowing when to start. It’s about knowing when to stop. Most of us, start with a infinitely long TO DO list. This is the underlying stress that comes from feeling that there is too much work ahead, and so any effort won’t make much of a dent in the short term. You can short-circuit this stress by having a clearly defined end-point for your work. With a finish line in sight, it is much easier to summon up the energy to sprint ahead and cross it.

What is measured is improved upon. If I measure my work in hours rather than tasks accomplished, I will improve upon nothing. This was the main reason why the concept of flexi timings was introduced. Why have timings at all in the organization as long as you accomplish your tasks! Isn't that itself a big motivation factor already! What better if I can start my day saying "I will complete 10 tasks today within 2 hrs and then can wind up early and see Siya skating in the evening."

One lecture that I had heard sometime back, completely changed the way I worked. It was on "Channelizing your energy correctly". Many people learn about Time Management to make them more productive. The basic concept is that your energy, not time, is what matters when getting work done. With a lot of focus and enthusiasm you can often get done triple the work in the same period of time. Whereas, working a 16-hour day instead of an 8-hour one is just a recipe for burnout. So manage your work in bursts - extremely productive and high energy followed by energy recover. This is cyclical.

Now how does it work - on every Sunday, prepare a weekly to-do list, every night before sleeping, prepare a daily to-do list, and now simply follow the daily to-do list. Pretend your other work doesn’t exist. When you’ve finished the daily list, you’re done for the day and you’re not allowed to add more work. The fact that you can see the finish line daily, you will be able to put it far more energy and focus. The fact that you will now measure your day by tasks accomplished rather than hours, you will be far more motivated and procrastinate far lesser!

Try it and let me know how it goes!

Long Emails for Communication

I had read it somewhere "If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea". I read this almost 15 years back. But somehow, none of the corporate houses have still got it right! I’m a fairly busy, but who isn’t busy? I try to be responsive but when I get an incredibly long email there is no way I’ll answer quickly. If an email is short, I’ll shoot out a reply as soon as I read it.

So why send long emails?
Here’s a rule: a long email is never necessary. Never.
Is it a rant against people who’ve emailed me? No, it’s a general problem that I’ve seen with email, and I hope this will help people write more effectively.

I really don't need to say why long emails are just not the way to go!

So, here are quick tips on how to write short emails:
1) In my MBA I was taught the 6*6*6 rule! That is 6 slides, 6 sentences, 6 words per sentence! And I was able to achieve that always most of the times for any presentation. Then why not in emails?
2) Figure out the crux of the matter you want to convey and talk about only that!
3) Do not ask too many questions at one go! Ask one thing!
4) Try using links for references.

Don't Prioritize Features

Nice Article by Tyner Blain

Don't Prioritize Features

Increase Innovation, Productivity and Agility in organizations - Part 2

If you see in enterprises today, system of records are set in place but the data and the information remain largely fragmented. While Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications surface critical data, and intranets and collaboration applications enable sharing, the context and engagement that tie both data and collaboration together to support discrete business activities is missing. Businesses that have built their collaborative and transactional infrastructure on these technologies have finally reached a point where "findability" of information is a big issue.

With emergence of mobile, facebook and WEB2.0 concepts, consumers are always in the center of their data streams. Let me give you a example of gmail. Gmail gives me today a unified access of email, instant messaging, video, voice and social networking putting user in center of information consumption and engagement. But enterprises currently put data access and systems in the center. As the result of which employees, partners and suppliers have access to multiple systems that don't share context to communicate and collaborate and to effectively close business loops.

Continued tomorrow....

Increase Innovation, Productivity and Agility in organizations - Part 1

The way we work is changing rapidly, offering an enormous competitive advantage to those who embrace the new tools that enable contextual, agile and simplified information exchange and collaboration to distributed workforces and networks of partners and customers.

We need technologies and business practices that liberate the workforce from the constraints of legacy communication and productivity tools like email. It provides business managers with access to the right information at the right time through a cloud of inter-connected applications, services and devices. Application that makes accessible the collective intelligence of many, translating to a huge competitive advantage in the form of increased innovation, productivity and agility.

Continued tomorrow....

Momentum

If you ask my boss, "What does Purwa bring to the table", his answer among the few other words that he would generally say is "Momentum". As per wikipedia, Mōmentum was not merely the motion, which was mōtus, but was the power residing in a moving object, captured by today's mathematical definitions.

It can carry you like the way a strong current carries a fallen leaf. It can move you like wind moves a cloud across the summer sky. It can ignite your spirit and make you feel like you can do anything. It is momentum – that invisible, universal force that can saturate your every choice, your every step, your every breath, your every moment of resolve with vibrant, joyful energy. Momentum can surge you forward and it can pull you under. It goes with your flow, follows your lead and enhances your trajectory.

It can be harnessed, gathered and used as an incredibly transformational tool.

Meeting Customers!

It is 9 years that I am working now. While in NSE.iT and Saba, never got this opportunity. When in Netcore, started meeting people and interacting with them but did not really meet Netcore Customers in the B2B segment. And recently when I started meeting them, I realized that I have been doing stuff without really listening to them. And then we complain, in-spite of having the best technological product, why the hell sales are not happening!

As a product manager, there can be three strategies to product management:
1) Technology driven product management - Most of the start-up start in this manner where the think of building this awesome product that has a technological edge over others.
2) Sales driven product management - After the first launch of the product (especially in the B2B segment), the company moves to sales driven. The product would be highly customized for almost every sell.
3) Market driven product management - This is I guess the most difficult where you don't develop products because of the above reasons but you develop one to fulfill market NEEDS.

If I need to develop products that fulfill specific needs, I will need to meet the existing customers as well as people around. Why did I not do this earlier?