Category Archives: Monday Morning Wake Up Call

5 parallels between your teacher and Lord Ganesha that you can imbibe

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“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.” – Galileo #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

“Guru” means the one who “dispels ignorance, all kinds of ignorance”, ranging from spiritual to skills such as dancing, music, sports and others.

Ganesh Chaturthi coinciding with Teacher’s Day today is an apt reminder of why Guru has been revered as God right from the earliest stories of mythology across most religions if not all. And who better than Lord Ganesha, the Hindu God of Intellect and Wisdom, to remind us of this philosophy.

Each of Lord Ganesha’s body parts describe Ganesha’s character and the qualities humans should adopt through life. Not so coincidently I suspect, the 5 parts of his elephant face uncannily represent the qualities that students should imbibe from their teachers/gurus.

GaneshChaturthi-TeachersDay

#HappyGaneshChaturthi #HappyTeachersDay

5 scientifically proven ways to achieve your long term goals and 5 ways that don’t work

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Expunge the moles and holes in your goals #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Richard Wiseman, a Professor of Public Understanding of Psychology, has been instrumental in debunking various misleading myths of self-help, by offering scientifically proven advice instead, through extensive behavioural research.

In a column in the magazine Scientific American, he has been described as “…the most interesting and innovative experimental psychologist in the world today”

Sharing a wise man’s, Richard Wiseman’s way of achieving your goals (and 5 techniques that are myths) in case you’re looking to score any.

5 techniques that work

  1. Break down a large goal into sub-goals by making a step-by-step plan (even better if the sub-goals are concrete, measurable and time-based)
  2. Tell other people about your goals
  3. Think about the good things that will happen if you achieve your goals and think about the obstacles that can come in the way with the solutions to overcome them
  4. Reward yourself for making progress towards your goals, celebrate small wins
  5. Record your progress

The greater the number of these techniques you use, the greater the likelihood of victory.

5 techniques that are but myths

  1. Motivate yourself by focusing on someone you admire for achieving so much (e.g. a celebrity role model or great leader)
  2. Think about the bad things that will happen if you don’t achieve your goals
  3. Try to suppress unhelpful thoughts (e.g. not thinking about eating unhealthy food or smoking)
  4. Rely on your willpower
  5. Fantasize about how great your life will be when you achieve your goal

Let’s score some goals that would amaze Messi and astonish Ronaldo

PV Sindhu’s birthday present to Lord Krishna

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“You have the right to work only but never to its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive” – Lord Krishna #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Monday_Morning_Wake_Up_Call

Give it your best…and leave it to the universe to do the rest

PV Sindhu lost the gold medal but won 1.3 billion hearts (and I suspect many many more world over). Not so much because she won a rare silver medal for India. That yes. But more so because of the way she fought tooth and nail right through the match. She fought relentlessly, every point, every shot.

You could feel her dogged determination. She just wouldn’t give up. She gave it her best. Nay, she gave it her all. As if her life depended on it.

Yet it seemed she did it in the most non-attached manner possible. It was as if she came to do a job. The job was simply to give it her absolute best and not bother about the fruits of the labour, which was not get blinded by the sight of gold and be happy irrespective of the outcome as long as she knew that she truly did give it her best. This was amply evident from her post match reaction and further validated from an interview excerpt I read on her post-match thoughts –

“No words to express my happiness. My aim was gold when I went in, but never mind. One person had to lose and I lost. It was her day. I played my best and I am satisfied.”

Lord Krishna would be happy that there’s at least someone listening to the timeless advice he imparted to Arjuna many many moons ago “You have the right to work only but never to its fruits.
Let not the fruits of action be your motive.” (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter #2, Verse #47)

#HappyJanmashtami

What’s your IQ (Independence Quotient)?

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Free your mind #MondayMorningWakeUpCall #HappyIndependenceDay

Free_Your_Mind

Free your mind… from the demons that are so unkind                                        Image adapted from PharLap Cartoonist

Are you free…

  1. From anger?
  2. From desire?
  3. From greed?
  4. From hate?
  5. From jealousy?
  6. From lust?
  7. From luv?
  8. From pride?
  9. From society?
  10. From your addictions?
  11. From your fears?
  12. From your hopes?
  13. From your passions?
  14. From your possessions?
  15. From your prejudices?

You ain’t free if you’re still a slave to your ego and your emotions, which in essence, is a slave to your mind.

Hint: Free your mind!

#HappyIndependenceDay

Do you have a ‘Jai’ in your life?

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Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Friendship_Day_Sholay

“Veeru.. tuune apne dosti ki kahaani zaroor sunana”

There are Facebook friends and then there are friends like Jai-Veeru

Do you have one friend who –

  1. You can be yourself with or better still, just be?
  2. Call at up 4am. Just.
  3. Is brutally honest with you (for your good, not with the objective of hurting you)?
  4. Who you can be brutally honest with (for your good, not with the objective of hurting your friend)?
  5. Who will sacrifice love, money, life for you?
  6. Who you will sacrifice love, money, life for?

I guess it’s worth trading all the friends on Facebook for one Jai

Hint: Only moments of truth bring out true colours and are tests of genuine friendship. Till then, thank you Facebook J

#HappyFriendshipYear

The secret to productivity

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Be present #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Productivity

 

Which in Zen language is referred to as ‘mindfulness’, in corporate language as ‘single-tasking’ instead of multi-tasking and in English language as ‘undivided attention’.

And productivity will ensue.

Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start measuring them by degree of presence.

Well that was easy…till you practice it!

Rise

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Rise #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Sometimes just one word is enough to move a person or even a nation. Other times and most others, need long verses in the form of a song a 100 miles long sung by a pop star, to help them rise and win their much sought after prize.

In this case it’s Katy Perry singing for the 2016 Olympics (and I suspect for you and me)

“Rise” by Katy Perry

I won’t just survive
Oh, you will see me thrive
Can’t write my story
I’m beyond the archetype

I won’t just conform
No matter how you shake my core
‘Cause my roots they run deep, oh

Oh, ye of so little faith
Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Victory is in my veins
I know it, I know it
And I will not negotiate
I’ll fight it, I’ll fight it
I will transform

When, when the fire’s at my feet again
And the vultures all start circling
They’re whispering, “You’re out of time”
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident
When you think the final nail is in
Think again
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

I must stay conscious
Through the madness and chaos
So I call on my angels
They say

Oh, ye of so little faith
Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Victory is in your veins
You know it, you know it
And you will not negotiate
Just fight it, just fight it
And be transformed

‘Cause when, when the fire’s at my feet again
And the vultures all start circling
They’re whispering, “You’re out of time”
But still I rise

This is no mistake, no accident
When you think the final nail is in
Think again
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Oh, oh, oh, oh
You know it, you know it
Still rise
Just fight it, just fight it
Don’t be surprised
I will still rise

I WILL WHAT I WANT

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“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it” – Old Chinese Proverb #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Zip It or Get With It

A ‘gentle’ reminder to all the naysayers.

And a pump up session, for those who are getting affected by them, courtesy Under Armour, a sportswear brand that shot into limelight with their #IWILL campaign to be spiced up with a bit of Da Da Ding from Nike by “not taking NO for an answer and doing your thing”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY0cdXr_1MA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UvPZ8fD4B8

Can’t but help notice the parallels in striving for something great, whether it be for individual excellence or entrepreneurship and team excellence in a startup shooting for the moon.

20 rain songs to make your traffu#@ed drive happily long

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Sing in the rain to drown the traffic pain in the flood and the submerged car lane #MondayMorningWakeUpCall #MonsoonMorningWakeUpCall

Holds true metaphorically for life as well methinks.

Rain_Songs

Sing away the rain and pain

10 songs for those who love the rain despite the pain

  1. Singing In The Rain by Simple Plan

2. Kiss The Rain by Billie Myers

3. Rain by Madonna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IKMXfI5hzE

4. Have You Ever Seen The Rain by Clearance Clearwater Revival

5. Purple Rain by Prince

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drouiMg1_LQ

6. No Rain by Blind Melon

7. If It Rains by Meatloaf

8. Let It Rain – Tynchy Snyder (feat. Melanie Fiona)

9. Hail Rain Or Sunshine by The Script

10. Singin’ In The Rain – Gene Kelly

And here’s 10 for those who would rather ‘Blame It On The Rain’

  1. Blame It On The Rain by Milli Vanilli

2. Why Does It Always Rain On Me by Travis

3. Rain by Mika

4. Set Fire To The Rain by Adele

5. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head by B.J. Thomas

6. Who’ll Stop The Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival

7. Black Rain By Ozzy Ozborne

8. It’s In The Rain by Enya

9. Rain by Status Quo

10. It’s Raining by Shakin Stevens

Have a good drive!

 

The only 2 reasons to work with a company

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Two is company #MondayMorningWakeUpCall

Two_Is_Company

2 is company

There are only 2 reasons to work with a company.

  1. You love your role – if you love selling then it doesn’t matter whether you’re selling Apple products or toilet fresheners or if you love coding and then it doesn’t matter whether you’re coding in PHP or Erlang, you’re not gonna want the day to end.
  1. You love the product or service you are a part – then it doesn’t matter whether you’re a clapper boy or a director in a movie production, you’ll not want to leave the sets because movies are what rocks your world.

If you’ve got 2 out of 2 then lucky you. Hang in there unless your boss is a man-eating bear.

If you’ve got one then at least well done, you’re half way there to spending most of your working hours having some fun.

If you strike out on both counts, then don’t wait, run! Run fast and far, before you come undone.

Everything else is moot. Your learning. Your pay check. Your boss. The company culture. They will all cease to matter if you’ve got the fundamental reasons right. Then you don’t need any of the external factors like learning, pay check, boss or company culture to motivate you.

Then you end up motivating others. Inadvertently.

Hint: Ask yourself, “If I had all the money in the world, how would I be spending my time?”