Make life simpler – switch off notifications

Distractions, Human Brain, Notification, Time

I get distracted extremely quickly. A song playing in the distance or a specific sound or smell….just about anything can get me distracted. Once I get distracted then my brain goes for a wild ride, mostly into the past.

Getting distracted was one of the primary reasons that I specifically took a room in a corner in the office, so that at least the chance of me seeing something and getting distracted was minimized.

Another thing which distracts me terribly are the notifications on the phone. The challenge is that each time you load a new “app” it starts sending you notifications. Now some of these are helpful especially the ones from say your bank, but most of the time I here one ding after another from a pizza chain, then from a food delivery app, 5gen a grocery app and so on.

I don’t know about you but I like to concentrate and finish the job that I am doing. In that state I finish most of my jobs in no time.

But each time I hear a “ding” my mind wanders and to get it back to the same level of concentration takes another 10-15 minutes. So today I made it a point to sit with my son so that I figure out a simple way to block the notifications while I keep the apps. He showed me how I can do it and within a matter of 3 minutes I had switched off all notifications. For the last 25 minutes I have not had a single “ding” disturb me.

With no one consistently disturbing me, I don’t have unnecessary pressure for time, because now I am not looking at my phone from and getting distracted.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Life balances out

Character, Gratitude, possibility thinking

When we are going through challenging times , we tend to get into self pity mode and wonder why bad things happen to us. At this time we feel others are having a whale of a time. Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

On the other hand when things are going well for us we don’t even bother to note that others could be facing challenging times.

Like the seasons, spring follows winter, winter follows autumn and autumn follows summer, in life also times keep changing for everyone. Gautum Buddh , was born as a prince, but when he saw so much suffering he renounced his kingdom in search of a deeper meaning to life. He actually tried to find one household where there had never been death, never been any misery but couldn’t find any.

This happened about 3000 years ago. Its true even today. But in general humanity has evolved so much over the centuries, because inspite of all the suffering there are people who through grit and determination fight through odds to move forward. Even these people have their fair share of challenges, but its the way they handle the challenges that makes the difference. Man kind has moved forward so much in those 3000 years because of these kind of people.

Some people face challenges at some phase of their lives, some at others. There was a period of about 12 years when there was nothing which was going right for me. Butt when I look back, that period also made me more appreciative of what I have. It made me appreciative of the fact that God has been kind to me because I have seen people with even more challenges during those times. My brother, his family and my extended family supported me so much during those days that I was able to come out of the situations. It changed and evolved my character.

Today when I talk to my younger team members, when they face challenges, I tell them the same things. I try to give them that same support because at the end of the day life happens “FOR” us not “To” us and it happens to “All of Us”. Time passes, challenges pass. You need to be stedfast in identifying possibilities and moving forward. Life is precious, live it.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Things happen for us – Not to us

Human Brain, life, Worry

Tony Robbins has a saying to the above effect, signifying that instead of feeling like a victim, learn and take something out of it. I have another belief on similar lines, which is God does everything for our own good. Whether you believe in God or not is a separate issue, but things do work out eventually.

Today’s is a prime example. Since I got up today , early morning I was informed of an unscheduled visit for a meeting with some government officials. The original meeting as per my understanding was for the next day.

What was agitating was the fact that I had two meetings scheduled in the afternoon with some other customers. My team had got these meetings after a lot of effort and as a matter of principle, I don’t like the idea of cancelling a meeting with a customer. I was worried and irritated.

Since the meeting with the government officials was critical for our customer, I had to relent. I then started dialling out my colleagues to stand-in on my behalf for the first meeting. Luckily for me the first meeting, which was at 3 PM, the customer himself sent out a request for change of date, since he had to take an unscheduled leave today. I was confident that I will be able to attend the second meeting which was scheduled at 5:15PM

So I told the officials whim I was visiting that I would be out of the meeting by max 4PM since it takes about an hour’s drive. But the discussions continued and I was finally able to leave by 4:25. Now I was again in a quandary. I again dialled out my colleagues to engage the customer till I reached.

Now comes the interesting part. I was able to luckily reach home and join the meeting at exactly 5:15PM and the customer’s team had not arrived. So instead of me apologising for the mess up, I was on the high ground waiting for them.

Moral of the story – sometimes you should let things happen as they are happening without getting to anxious about it. There must be something good for you with you cannot see at the moment. In today’s situation I was able to satisfy one of my largest customer’s inspite of the fact that it was an unscheduled meeting, I could keep my principle of not cancelling meetings unless unavoidable and now tomorrow I have the full day which I can use to finish some other work.

Till next time ….keep the faith – life is happening for us not to us.

Carpe Diem!!!

Soorma and life’s lessons

Financial Independence, Uncategorized

Today I saw this movie Soorma which is based on the real life story of the Indian hockey player Sandeep Singh.

I had not known the actual story of what had happened with Sandeep Singh in real life and the the life threatening situation he went through.

What this film also brought out was the fact that if you have a skill which determines your income, your possibilities in life & your status in life and if something hurts that skill your whole life can get shattered

Life comes with its own ups and downs and everyone has to go through them…. What matters is the people who come out of these ups and downs with grace and dignity.

I was telling my son the same thing today after watching the film. I have also had a situation where I was clinically dead and no one in my family knew about it because I was in Bangalore at that time.

It was the people around me & the crew in the aircraft of Indian Airlines (now Air India) who showed the presence of mind and immediately took me out of the aircraft in Bangalore and took me to the Columbia Asia hospital where I was revived.

It was the colleagues in my office in Gurgaon who sprang into action on that 18th July 2008 evening and organised everything once they came to know about my situation

At the end of the day when there is no family or friend around and still the world helps you, without any compensation, it just shows that you have been blessed with so much.

So it is imperative that we ensure we do our good deeds at all times without bothering about the return because at the end of the day the universe pays you back multiple times with all the goodness

This blog post has nothing to do with finance but it’s an even bigger thing about earning blessings through whatever good we can do, because irrespective of how much money you have , it’s the blessings that you have earned on your way that help when no one knows you and the amount of money you have, but still help you.

Do good & May the force be with you!!