Introducing Label - Books

Books - the friend, philosopher and guide. I have never been lonely, 'coz I had books around me. This label is planned to contain all the books I have read, wanted to read or want you all to read or just a random book I liked.

However, the post under the label would not always be 'book review'. I also intend to provide a link from where to buy in India at least. :)

Life Skill #1: Be Aware, Be Aware NOW !!!

Life Skill #1: Be Aware, Be Aware NOW !!! - this is life skill #1. Why it's #1 is out of context. The context is how to 'Be Aware' and use this skill to sustain.

In order to be aware, one needs to connect. where to connect, well connect thyself to yourself, connect to your intuition, connect to your HEART (not the mind), connect thyself to the next...this is how you would be aware, this is how I am aware.

Be Aware, keeps - Alerts On !!! These alerts ensure that opportunities find us, 'Alerts On' makes us available, keeps our radical valencies available for new connections to be made or stale connections to be kicked, yes my dear friend, while you make new connection, remember to Kick Stale Connection !!!!

Be aware to embrace glory, to kick habits, to smile and to appreciate novelty, to participate in revolution and leave mundane rotation. Be aware to speak, to say 'yes' and to know when to stand in denial.

Awareness will keep the flame alive, it will not let you rest, unless you achieve satisfaction, unless you attain peace, unless you reach enlightenment.

Be aware It's not success, It's not destination...It's the journey, It's the path, It's all about Salvation....!!!!

- this life skill was shared by my childhood friend 'Sandeep Gupta' - he is a traveller, he is on road to peace. He loves to smell the roses :)


I do not know why this chant is continuously going in my heart. Till I get the exact reason, I let it be quoted here in this first post on Life Skill to 'Be Aware'


'Then I saw the congo, creeping through the black. Cutting through the jungle with a golden track' - Vachel Lindsay' - The Congo. Movie : Dead Poet's Society.

Introducing Label: Life Skill

What is a Life Skill ? Definitions in wiki or dictionaries would differ, but this is how I define it. 'Life skill, is a trait, it's an attribute, which has the ability to make or break one's life.'

How does a skill qualify to be a life skill ? Let's understand from example. In stone-age, or say when man was hunter, the art of throwing stone or a spear was a life skill, 'coz man's life was dependent on it. Today there is no need, McDonalds and KFCs across the globe would prepare delicious meal for thyself.

As humanity has progressed, different life skills are required at different ages for different purpose to suit human desire for excellence !!!.

I was discussing this subject with couple of my friends, and I discovered that there exists a huge list of life skills today, every body considers or qualifies a very different set of traits he or she has honed over the period of years as life skill. This discovery gave me an idea to introduce the label 'Life Skill' and to write on the specific traits illustrating how these traits differentiate 'Winners' from 'Whiners' plus how to seed and nourish these skills.

So I ran a query within my friend circle to know all they can tell on these Life skill from the varied experiences they had. I received amazing response which is enough to trigger many many thoughts to publish under this label.

Folks, keep watching this blog and specifically the label 'Life Skill' to be illuminated.

One thing at a time

It may sound very simple to do 'one thing at a time', however it's not, at least not in complex work spaces and organizations of our time. Reason: Our mind is a wonderful object, it can focus and it can split focus at the same time.

Over the period of years I have seen, that almost all the time, myself and people around me have benefited by adhering religiously to this simple principle. The advantage of not getting knocked down by noise in the environment by multi-tasking weighs huge in favour.

We can argue about pros & cons and many other things, however the point I want to illustrate is how to actually do and implement this principle. While I was preparing to write, I came across a interesting post of Mark Forster with the same title on his blog 'Get Everything done'. You can read the post here.

In very simple words, he has spilled the secret sauce. The method is to list down everything (slotted already into tasks) in descending order of urgency ( not in order of importance - 'coz if they are not important, why they are on your list ;). [ This is just like AGILE methods, writing down user stories, prioritizing them, adding dog points and then allocating resources to complete the user stories. ]

Once you are done with the list, start putting an end date to each of the task after allocating 100% (or whatever % available) of yourself to the task. Once done, do S.A.V (Screw Around Vigorously - do it 'coz it fixes) and finish. No excuses to CYA (Cover Your Ass)

If you cannot finish on time, revisit the estimates and update all dates. remember not to skip to reduce the count of task at hand. Follow this principle and thy soul be rewarded in both long & short run with peace and comfort.

Stamina - Winner's Pill

Stamina: the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort. This is how, any English dictionary define it.

How do I categorize 'Stamina' ? I classify Stamina = Winner's Pill.

This is one trait, one ability which can turn table in one's favour in any endgame. For those who have any doubt, can watch any movie from 'Rocky' series. The chant of 'No Pain...No Pain' keeps the momentum, keeps the focus, keeps the desire to win intact.

Linking the thoughts generated in the previous post - A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, a mentor should enhance chain's stamina, each link's stamina to hold, to sustain prolonged physical & mental effort.

Stamina to work with the team and alone, stamina to learn and impart learning, stamina to pull and to push, stamina to hold grounds, stamina to move forward, stamina to say 'Yes, I can' along with Stamina to say, 'No, I quit'.

Understand folks, do not confuse stamina with stubbornness which in my opinion is a negative trait and harmful to peaceful workspaces.

Build & nurture stamina within each link of chain, within each team-member of your team, within each leader in your leadership sphere and the result shall 'surprise you'.

Next time, when you fall or you see your links failing, instead of doubting the skill, respire, respire and see through the soul for stamina. It's hidden somewhere, behind fear & near to desire to succeed. So folks build on to it...and then cherish the sweet fragrance of success.