What will you be proud of?

What will you be proud of?

If you take a pause and look back, maybe past 12 months or little beyond that there are quite a few things that would have happened for which you are proud.

It might not be a big achievement, but you are still satisfied with your achievements.

You can still recall and feel happy about that.

I am sure that’s not your best, the best is yet to come.

If your Best is not yet arrived and it is yet to come then what is that for which you will be proud of?

If we are talking about your goals then what goals are you setting that, if achieved, will make a positive impact in your life?

What are you doing behind the scene that no-one else knows about it, but you will be glad in the future that you did it?

What is your upgrade plan for yourself to become the best version of yourself?

What are you investing in your kids, your marriage, your family, your finances, your interests, your career and your health that will pay a handsome dividend to you in years to come?

What will you build?

What masterpiece you will create?

How far you will stretch your imagination?

What would you love to develop and nurture to become established in life?

What actions are you taking today that will enable you to look back with great satisfaction, one fine day?

What you need to change to make this happen?

Think over it, plan it, work on it.

Act today, act now!

Hey, who are you going to encourage?

It’s a universal law, whatever you do on the public platform, you receive two types of responses. One is the cynical kind who believes that your act is of your self-interest and the other one is of encouraging kind who wants to cheer all your efforts and wish that you keep doing the same.

One of your most prestigious and impressive presentations, you feel 98% of the audience is fully engaged with you and they are on the same page with you. On the other hand, the remaining 2% of the audience would be with very defensive posture and disagreement in their nods, you will find very hard to please them.

We noticed their dis-agreement and we immediately change our focus from that 98 % to 2% audience. We start thinking about them. We start asking them questions and try to search for answers which convince them. Our approach changes unfortunately, we tend to cater to their needs, neglecting the remaining masses who have actually applauded your efforts and work.

We must understand that there are always cynics who will not easily appreciate and don’t want to get engaged with your work. That is the reality, we must accept.

Any attempts to please them would be a waste of time and effort. It’s more productive and rewarding if we focus on those who acknowledge and appreciate your perspectives and want to get engaged with you.

What do you think a music composer would think about while composing the next music album?  Is he going to think about his critics or his fans?

Who do you think a famous movie maker is thinking about when he launches another great movie on the floor?  Is he worried about his critics or he is excited about his fans?

What do you think a famous painter is thinking about when he is about to begin his next portrait on the canvas? Is he thinking about critics or he is thinking about those who appreciate his art?

Instead of trying to suit your presentation for that 2 % with their arms crossed and lips twisted, why not make an effort to please that 98 % who are eager to hear from you.

It’s a fact that we can’t easily ignore the cynics but it happens that we ignore those who are engaged with us and supporting us.

When in dilemma, always try to choose those who appreciate your efforts.

Make a habit to accept both. The critics will criticize and the fans will cheer.

Think, you’ve done a great job.

Now is a perfect time to learn.

There are three roads you can take to learn new things.
1. The road of excitement
2. The road of necessity
3. The road of Curiosity.

There is no 'correct' path.

You can’t control what will happen to the world around you, but you can make yourself a better person, more equipped for the road ahead.

Investing in learning something deeply is more valuable now than ever.

Now is a perfect time to learn.

Do we dissolve into panic and keep worrying about things happening around, or do we rise up and do something constructive? 

What will you remember my friends..

What will you remember after this corona chapter is over?

Will you remember the anxiety and fear you have experienced?

Will you remember the numbers affected due to corona?

Will you remember the countries that suffered the most?

Will you remember the lockdown restrictions?

Will you remember the extra hours you have put in working from home?

Or will you cherish the memories of the time you could spend with your immediate family members?

Or the Yoga or meditation you have been wanting to do for years which you could do it?

Or the cartoon films your kids wanted you to enjoy along with them which you could do it?

Or you wanted to cook food for your wife and kids on some weekend, which you could do it?

Or you were desperate to listen to some music albums in your free time, which you could do it?

Or the books you have purchased from bookstall, months ago to read in leisure time, which you could do it?

Or will you feel proud that you have followed the appropriate protocols by staying home, as per the directives of Government?

It really difficult and tough times for all of us and in this difficult time we need to show the solidarity that we all are together and nobody is alone.

Let us all pray for our safety and for the good health of our loved ones.

But, let us promise that the lesson we learned from this crisis will take it in a positive way to make our life more beautiful and worth living.

Act as an expert but have the mindset of apprentice.

I have been working in the machine tool industry for over 37 years.

The years have flown by swiftly.

I am fortunate enough to have received multiple opportunities to hone my technical skills and interpersonal skills from time to time.

There’s a lot related to my field that I know.  

But there’s still a lot more to learn, what I know is not enough.

There are a lot of new developments happening every day about which I am not yet updated with.

There are quite a few skills that I need to hone.

There are things, I can become more efficient in.

There came certain moments when I did say “That’s nice to know.”

Yes, it feels like an ongoing apprenticeship.

The day I get a feeling, I know all that I need to learn is the day I will become complacent and my career would get in to reverse gear.

It is true for every profession.

Even the doctors who would not think, what they learned in the university will keep them going in their careers.

I wish my mechanic who used to fix my Maruti car 20 years ago would fix my BMW in the same way.

Whatever you’re doing, whatever profession you are, consider it as an ongoing apprenticeship.

Don’t stop learning.

Be a learner and remain a learner always.

No doubt, you may act as an expert, but have the mindset of an apprentice.

Just think over..!

We take complete human beings and place them into small roles within OUR lives.

And as a result, they cease to be actual people, they cease to exist as a person what they are. Instead, they become just objects to us.

They end up like paper dolls for us to dress up according to our own needs and desires.

In this self-centered mode, we may use other people to inflate our egos, take away our anxiety or fill in some void within us.

In fact, we should think that everyone we encounter in our life is significant.

In the movie of their life — they are the main hero and heroine.

We may only see them as playing a supporting role in our life movie.

We may assess them, based on surface identifiers, our opinion, our temporary judgment, our close-minded projection.

Personal mission statement

We all must have spent hundreds of hours with companies discussing their mission statements and the messages they wish to send across, helping them to get aligned to the fact why they exist.

These mission statements would then be like a compass to guide, to navigate the organization to their path of accomplishments.

So, if that’s the case with organization, wouldn’t it make sense that we also must have a personal mission statement?

For example, what kind of lives we want to live or what drives us or what makes us feel fulfilled or what kind of relationship we want to nurture with people around us? It can be anything.

The majority of us either ignore the importance of personal mission statement or we just brush aside, it's still not time for us to write a personal mission statement.