Author: Pratibha

Credits: Google Images

I had been struggling hard to work on this post since very long. But I couldn’t do it on time. You know why?

Because I was under the spell of procrastination this time. Procrastination, which is the thief of time. I had all the best excuses and reasons to my rescue and I gave all of them to myself on day to day basis. Sometimes they were true and sometimes false. I just wanted to delay my work and avoided doing what matters most to me.

I know we all procrastinate and give one reason or the other to ourselves. We get overwhelmed when we look at the amount and magnitude of the tasks that we have to accomplish in a day. As a result, we feel dissatisfied, frustrated, stressed out and overworked on a day to day basis.

So, it is important that despite the pile of work that we have to complete in a day, we take out time to think, prioritize, create our task list, do one thing at a time, beat distraction, enjoy our work and then move bird by bird and inch by inch until we finish our task and feel accomplished.

Here are 5 ways that we can use to achieve our daily goals and beat procrastination.

1. PRIORITIZE THE TASK AND CREATE THE TASK LIST. While we all are good at dealing and managing our urgent tasks, our important tasks keep on shifting at the back seat and we procrastinate them often.

As we know according to 80/20 rule, the 20% of the tasks that we do, give us 80% of the results. But it is that 20% of the important work that we avoid and procrastinate.

It is true that sometimes procrastination is a good thing to practice but we must also ensure that it does not become our habit.  Important things in life like getting a degree, working on your dream project, starting your venture, taking out time to strengthen your relationships, learning a new skill or many such important tasks are always neglected.

So, it is important that we set our priorities and create our task list around these set of priorities wherein we have enough time slot for the important tasks on day to day basis and enough buffer time to meet the urgent demands popping up on daily basis.

2. TAKE THE SMALLEST AND THE EASIEST OF STEP FIRST.  It is the magnitude and size of the task that looks daunting to us. But how can we forget that the journey of a thousand mile begins from a single step and that single and the smallest of step is important for us to take.

That smallest of step could be exercising for 5 minutes, drinking a glass of water every two hours, writing for 15 minutes, talking to your client, or to have a meaningful conversation with your family member. Whatever it may be, it is important to start it today because tomorrow never comes.

3. DO ONE THING AT A TIME. In the environment these days, multitasking is something that we all aim at. But, if we want to achieve better and faster results, it is important for us to understand the power of a single task and doing one thing at a time. The lines by Gary Keller, “Until my One Thing Is Done-everything else is a distraction,” is an important reminder to all of us.

The book, The One Thing , is a must read for those who want to master the art of achieving more.

4. STOP BEING A PERFECTIONIST. I have personally faced this challenge the most. While we must aspire for excellence, it is also important to be mindful when we do our tasks.

Perfectionism could be fatal when we do not allow our ideas and thoughts and imagination to take flight under its pressure. There are so many people who never accomplish their goals or fulfil their dreams because they wait for their creation to be perfect.

We try to be perfectionist because we are afraid of certain things. We fear of what others might think about our work.  We fear that our work may not be the best. We fear of our own failure. We fear of shame and embarrassment that we may have to face. Perfectionism, in such cases, thus, acts as a barrier and we must avoid it, so as not to create any unnecessary stress, anxiety and pressure on us.

Instead, in order to achieve excellence, we should seek help, discuss issues and challenges, delegate tasks and then should strive for what we want to accomplish.

5. KNOW WHY TO DO OR NOT TO DO THE TASK. There is always a purpose and a reason behind what we do and the way we do. Sometimes we don’t know them and sometime we do not acknowledge them. It is important that when we procrastinate for a longer duration, we know why we are doing that and if we do not accomplish the task, what will be at stake in ultimate terms. The reason and probing will allow us to delve deeper to find out our own reasons and we would gain courage to decide and do the task that we might have been procrastinating since very long.

Important is to take the first step, then the next, and the next. These steps will give us momentum and we will gain confidence to move in the direction of our goals and dreams beating procrastination on daily basis.

Credits: Google Images

Hi All,

I am back. Thanks for pushing me to complete this post. Without your blessings and support, I wouldn’t have been able to complete it. Thus, my ineffable thanks go to you all.

So what this post is all about? Thanks. No. Not this time. It’s about problems and challenges in life.

They are inevitable and unavoidable. If I say, they are a must in life; it would not be a false statement. They come to us no matter where we are and what we do. We just cannot escape them. They can be financial, personal, professional or spiritual, health related or related with family matters. They appear either one at a time or may appear in combination of two or more than two.

They love chasing us and we love running from them. They make us play peek-a-boo with them. Though, with a playful attitude, we can win the game faster, but you know, to bring that attitude in oneself is the toughest task. Ask me, I have been learning it very hard.

Interestingly, when life through these challenges and problems takes us on a roller coaster ride, believe me, we do not enjoy the ride at all, we are fearful all the way, as I did, on and off every day. The ride looks too tough, too long and too exhausting. I too have been on such a ride and thus the post got delayed.

So here are some of the things that we could do to remain positive in tough situations in life. I have been trying to follow some of these, some work for me and some doesn’t. So, know what works for you. Take note of them today. Who knows tomorrow we may be sailing in the same boat solving the life’s riddle together.

1. Try to take hold of the situation. I know it is one of the toughest things to do. We react more and respond less. Instead of understanding the root cause of the problem, we all start blaming and over reacting in such situations. However, we must ensure that instead of making mountain out of a mole hill and getting carried away by the effects of the situation, we must try to find out the root cause of the problems.

It may take a little time in fixing up the challenge and therefore having ‘patience’ and ‘mind like water’ will come as the greatest of keys to unlock the case and rescue us from such situations. Being reactive and impulsive will not sort out the issue, instead it may aggravate the case. Unfortunately our training in being patient is little too less. Hence, we should train ourselves to be proactive problem solver. And see how we can solve the challenges in the best possible way, making it a win-win for all.

2. Sharing problems lesson half the burden. One of the first things that we could do is to share our problems and challenges with our friends, parents or spouses depending on the case and situation. We need to share it with the person(s) who could give us the best advise and if the situation is more serious and grim then professionals must be consulted without any further delay. A good listening will make us feel more comfortable and confident about the entire situation and we will be in a better position to handle the challenge.

When we share our problems and challenges with the concerned people, most of the times, they too have their own stories and experiences to share which give us strength and wisdom to deal with the challenge in better and positive way.

In fact sharing problems and spending time with friends and going out with them can make us feel better and stay positive amidst difficult situations.

3. Asking right set of questions. This is important. Life takes its own turns. No matter how prepared we are and how much planning we do, when life takes us on bumpy roads, we just have to move on it. Slowing down the pace will allow us to ask better and important questions such as: what can we learn from this situation? How could we find solutions to the problem? What are our strengths and weaknesses? How could we resolve the issue? Whom can we approach for help and guidance? What meaning does this situation has for us?

These questions will help us to find their answers rather than worrying and fretting and fuming and going into stressful situation.

4. Setting positive attitude. When we are in a negative situation, we are all set to be intimidated by negative feelings, emotions, fears and false belief. We keep on thinking about the worst case scenario and find ourselves stuck in the mire of negativity. The more we try to come out, the deeper dug into negativity we feel. So, it is important that we set out positive attitude meter and try to find out the positive in the every dire situation. We can always choose our attitude. After all, Attitude is Everything. 

5. Writing down the negative thoughts and express gratitude. Since the negative thoughts blanket us quite quickly, we need to uncover ourselves either by sharing them with the right people or writing down all the things and problems that cause us to worry. This will give us some peace of mind and we will be able to trace all the negative emotions into quick succession and see how we link up the things and find the root cause of the problems. 

Also, once we unbottle our negative emotions and feelings, we can start writing and counting our blessings. No matter how tough and hard the situation may be, we always have something or someone to be grateful for. We must start thanking them and expressing our gratitude to all of them.

6. Try to get a perspective of the situation. Many a times we look at the problem with magnifying glass which makes the problem look too big for us. We just worry and unnecessarily exaggerate the issue and as a result miss the tasks which need our more attention and action. So, it is better to have a perspective on the problem. Just like when we see the things from far off, the problems look too small and too insignificant. It is just that we make them look to big by repeatedly talking and discussing about them. If possible, after finding out the root-cause, we should focus our attention and concentration on asking if the problem will matter after five years from now onwards? If no, then why to discuss it for such a longer duration. 

7. Engage in meaningful work. When we are in a negative situation, we all talk and think and dream the same things again and again. It is important at such times to engage meaningfully in the work which gives us fulfilment and makes us feel happy. It could be cooking, gardening, reading, writing, painting, dancing, teaching or any other meaningful task. Taking out time to dress impressively can uplift the mood in a significant way. So try to find ways to creatively express yourself.

8. Try to do good things for others. It may sound hard in the tough times but we can always do little good things for others. Help someone else, or your own family members, neighbours, kids, friends or relatives and least you could do is ask about their well being. You will get their blessings at least. 

9. Mediate and try being mindful. Meditation and exercising have positive impact on our mind and body. We must take out time to connect with our inner selves and do it on regular basis. Practised even for a minute, it can have positive impact on your entire well being. Amidst tough times, it can work as real battery charger.

Moreover, being mindful allows us to focus on the present moment rather than thinking about the past and future. This we must practice. Being present in the moment and enjoying it to its fullest extent is just like being in eternity.

10. Practice happiness. Yes, it may sound strange but interestingly we too can practice happiness like any other skill.

11. Read a good book or biography. Reading books of such people who have surmounted many obstacles gives us inspiration and motivation to keep going despite hardships and challenges. And when we look at their challenges, our problem looks nothing in their front.

13. Go for a walk. Spending some time in the nearby park, looking at blooming flowers and green tress, butter flies and honey bees can have magical impact upon our mind, body and soul. Along with this, we could try playing with kids. Giggling and laughing with them. This will help us to change our focus to their wonderful outer world. 

14. Listen to favorite music. Listening to our favorite music or tapping our feet to the dance both have power to uplift our mood and rejuvenate our soul . Important is to divert our attention from negative to something engaging and meaningful. Music has that power to create such magic.

15. Let go and try to be non-judgemental. It is difficult to follow and practice, but one of the best skills to master. Forget and forgive and feel the magic. Most of the times we put label on people and judge them, but at times it is perfectly alright to be non-judgemental and do not judge people and situations and accept them the way they are and the way they come. Words of Mother Teresa can guide us here “If we judge people, we will have no time to love them.”

16. Keep faith in God. It would not be incorrect to say that the real test of our faith is at the time when we are in deep waters and life looks hard. Moving a days looks difficult and finding a way out looks impossible. But it during these times our faith is tested. Remember what Rabindranath Tagore said, “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.” So keep moving with faith and miracle will take place.

These were some of the ways which I tried out and still trying out, I am sure you too must have been in such a situation and have overcome it through some ways. What were they? Share. It always feels great to hear from you!

Credits:Google Images

My friend admonished me to watch this movie called Wit. Not because it was too good a movie for me to watch, but because the movie showed death of an English Professor due to metastatic ovarian cancer and my father too was suffering from stage IV Esophageal Cancer at that time. In medical terms, he had Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

As expected, despite her feedback, I did watch that movie because inquisitiveness and curiosity of my own situation had taken over its toll. Alone I watched that movie and cried to see the suffering of the protagonist of the story. The first thing I did after watching that movie was prayer. I prayed that my father must not suffer as highlighted in the movie. My prayers were answered.

Papa passed away peacefully on November 2nd, 2013.  And this movie gave me these anchoring lines to remember by the famous Metaphysical English Poet, John Donne:

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

Definitely my father taught me the most important lessons of life, but his death even taught me more. When I look at the life of my father, I feel that he always lived his life with a deep purpose. And sometimes I even wonder, did he have some written mission statement and some guiding principles which guided him throughout his life? Because according to me he lived a very wealthy and successful life despite the multitude of hardships and challenges that he faced and surmounted in his life.

While his death forced me to think of fugitiveness of human existence, his life forced me to think of immortality of human soul. It dawned on me that we all have limited time and existence. How much time do we all have? That we do not know, what we know is that it differs from one person to another.

But in this limited time period between birth and death, called life, I am sure that you too like me, and many others, would want to live a wealthy, happy and content life, a life with a purpose, and a purpose that will make a significant difference to your life and life of your near and dear ones. A purpose which may even give you a new birth, even after your physical absence from the world.

So, if you fret and fume and complain that you face time crunch on everyday basis then know that you are not the only one. If you use a lots of ifs and buts and say that life is too short for you to fulfil your dreams then know, it is not that we have less time in life, but the truth is we waste a lot of time, as says Seneca in his essay “On the Shortness of Life”  which I recommend you read by following the link on the essay.

So, whether you are famous or not, whether you are rich or not, whether you believe it or not, you can always have a wealthy, fulfilling and meaningful life, if you live with a purpose in your life. And to live such a purposeful life, you need to have a master plan.

If you already have such master plan, then it sounds great but if you do not have one such, then I am going to share with you two important resources in today’s post.

First is an audio tape by Tony Robbins, my favorite author, whose voice will inject a new energy and enthusiasm inside you. Listen to it and extract juice out of it.

Got Purpose 

Second is an e-book by Michael Hyatt which will provide you a step by step method to work on your life’s master plan.

Creating Your Personal Life Plan

Now what you have to do is this.

Take out some time from your busy schedule for your own self. Use any one of the three resources that I have linked in today’s post. After using one resource, move on to the next one. After exploring and analyzing all of them, take out time to design and create your own master plan for your life in days to come.

Remember that things will go wrong and many challenges will come in your life every now and then, but if you have your purpose in life clear, you will be able to navigate successfully through the toughest of times with your master plan written well in advance.

And yes.

If you have time in coming weekend, you could also enjoy watching this movie, Wit, by following the link given below:

Wit 

Have happy learning hours!

Credits: Unsplash.com

Hi,

Welcome to day 7 of the Self Challenge Week and I am with you. I am thrilled and excited to share with you the lessons learnt in the last seven days.

With the bridge of knowledge constructed from the last 6 blog posts, I could say, I crossed the sea of the self challenge week, with all your support. Thanks for visiting, reading, suggesting and commenting on my blog. I express my deep gratitude to you all.

It is needless to say that it is all because of your encouragement and support that I could set my writing sail and could reach to my destination point well on time. I sincerely hope and wish that I would continue to share the best of the works produced by the great writers that I come across and would continue to share the lessons from experiences of my life which make me what I am today with you all.

Baltasar Gracian, a philosopher says that “Self-reflection is the school of wisdom” and I am happy to say that after leaving my full time job as Assistant Professor, I joined this school of wisdom. Little did I know about its powerful lessons at that time since I could hardly get time to reflect, to contemplate, to think and to meditate on the day to day activities, people, incidents and happenings which were occurring in my busy life. But my self reflection classes of this school began when I would retire after my domestic work and would think and reflect on my past days, years and everyday incidents after leaving the full time job. It was during those moments of reflection I got to know about my own self and about lessons that life had taught me so far. In those moments of silence I listened to the internal voices becoming louder and clearer inside me. I also understood people around me without judging them for what they were and what they did. I felt happy and better after attending each class.

I would not hesitate to share with you that it was during those moments of reflection, self inspection and interrogation, I got to know about the riches of my life, of what I had gained in the past 10 years and what I could build on, in the days and times to come. I could not be more thankful to this process of self reflection, because it introduced me to my natural gifts and talents and passions on which I would continue to work upon.

Since this is the last day of the Self Challenge Week and these 7 days have again given me a lot of powerful insights about my own self, about my habits, about my belief system and my working pattern, I am happy that I took the courage to announce this Self Challenge Week and then completed this challenge in the stipulated time frame.

This journey, though small, has proved to be meaningful and purposeful and has prepared me to take on bigger challenges in life, so that I could confidently move on further. By consistently working on each post, I could say that I have created a new vision for this blog and I know where I would want to take you all along with me. I feel a great sense of belongingness and connectivity with you all and I am sure that in days to come our mutual understanding and appreciation for each others work would increase multifold.

Therefore, it would be unfair, If I do not share with you the analysis of the work done in these 7 days, in which, I wrote six posts each day with varied word count and given below is the detailing of the same.

• Day 1: Out of Chaos Comes Order (word count: 1301)
• Day 2: What Makes Your Story Good (word count: 616 )
• Day 3: Discover the Superpower Within Like Hanuman (word count: 757)
• Day 4: A Gift that Will Make Your Life Magical Forever ( word count : 616)
• Day 5: Today is the Only Day To Achieve Any Great and Worthy Purpose (word count: 734)
• Day 6: Be the Source, Be the Fountainhead (word count : 969)
• Day 7: Reflections on the Last Six Days Passed (word count: 1558)

In total I wrote 6,551  words in these 7 posts.

Moreover, the time taken in writing these posts varied from 3 hours to 4 hours and thus I spent approximately 21 to 28 hours in writing these posts. In editing, revisions and answering, I could add additional 15 hours of my week.

For me, the entire writing process was divided into the following steps:

1. Brainstorming. This part of the writing process was random and I was dependent on my mind. Since I took this challenge, a part of my brain was always thinking about the posts and topics on which I had to write. The subconscious mind was at work, I felt.

I could say that the best ideas came to my mind when I worked in the kitchen or I was dusting the rooms. During these days I was highly alert of the ideas coming to my mind and wherever they came, I greeted them well without thinking whether they looked good or bad.

2. Writing . Earlier I used to write on word and then would copy the entire post and would paste it on the WordPress site. But this time I started writing straight away on the WordPress drafts section.

I also have this tendency of checking how the post would read and look so I often check the post by previewing the post which gives me a lot of confidence and makes me feel better about my writing. I used this technique for writing faster this time.

I always have a theme, a message, a story or a purpose in my mind which I want to share through my posts. When I start the actual writing process, in between, I start connecting the unconnected thoughts. Interestingly, in the process of writing, some posts take the shape and feel of their own and I feel no control over my writing. The thoughts lead to other thoughts and words lead to other words fast. What all I do is obey the orders and keep my writing momentum.  In the actual writing process there are many thoughts that come and join dancing the former set of thoughts. There is some rhythm and continuity that I feel in writing process which looks effortless often, but many a times the process looks too strenuous and I think why did I start writing after all?

Writing involves some research part as well which is related to finding of the appropriate quotes and images for each blog post. The hours of research varied this time from one post to another, depending upon my own knowledge of the subject, and end message that I wanted to convey through each post.

3. Editing. Editing is one of the most time consuming and frustrating tasks. While I am working on the writing skills, I know that my editing skills would also increase with the passage of time.

To cut my own crafted sentences and to delete the noisy words and adjectives are challenging tasks indeed, but I am learning to be my own critic gradually. In some of the posts I had to do 30 to 40 revisions because of multiple typographical errors, which I found, even after publication.

4. Revision. After pressing the publish button, my revision process starts and I keep revising until I publish the next post. Number of revisions done, I cannot say.

By taking this challenge, I made a major shifts in my writing time and gave a self deadline to myself which worked best for me. Most of the posts were published between 11 AM to 2 PM and after doing revisions of the posts I updated them on facebook between 5 PM to 7 PM everyday for reading and dissemination for larger audience.

There are few patterns and techniques that I have observed about my writing, but there are many writing secrets which will be revealed to me over a period of time, as I continue to travel in this realm of writing.

Challenge two.

There are 78 pages left in completing The Picture of the Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I will complete reading these pages before 12:00 PM today.

Now what kept me on track all these 7 days?

This quote by Napoleon Hill that “Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

And the words which guided me through all these days were: PATIENCE, FOCUS, COMMITMENT, BELIEF, PURPOSE, GOAL AND GRATITUDE. 

I wouldn’t have completed this challenging assignment without relentless support of my husband, son and my mother who provided me enough time to work on my one week’s mission.

I hope that the bridge of knowledge that I have build over a period of one week would help you to cross the sea of your Own Self Challenge Week.

I feel encouraged to take up many such exercises in times to come along with you and I hope that you would enjoy reading this little longer post of 1558 words with little patience and perseverance, with a cup of coffee or tea in your room.

And don’t forget to share the lessons which you learnt during these 7 day because I will wait for your response.

Stay connected and keep reading until we meet next, after time of 15 days.

Credits: Google Images

Hi,

Welcome to day 5 of the self challenge week and I am with you.

After coming from summer vacations, we went to one of my friends places to pick up our car which was parked at her home. When we arrived at her place, she warmly welcomed us by serving a welcome drink.

The moment I took my first sip, I asked her, “what is this?” and “how did you make this?” Because the drink was not only refreshing in its taste but was also refreshing in its looks. I found her summer drink simply superb.

I coaxed my friend to share its recipe with me and soon I was amazed to find out that the drink was too simple to make and I too could prepare it at my home within few minutes. What all she did was this: she mixed the sugary watermelon ice cubes in serving glasses of lemonade.

Wasn’t that too simple? Of course it was.

In fact, I would highly recommend you to try this drink before the summer bids us adieu.

Now when I reflect on that drink, the flavour of which I still relish, I would say that we too, could make each day of our life refreshing and beautiful like that summer drink if we just use a little bit of creativity and imagination and mix them well with little bit of efforts on our day to day basis. Because as Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt advises, “make use of your imagination to make your day ideal and fantastic. You have to really use your imagination to refresh your daily life.”

So let us be ready and proactive to use our imagination and creativity to make our days ideal and fantastic.

What we all can do is this. Sit down today and ask these questions and then write their answers down so that we know what makes our day an ideal day.

• What makes our day look ideal to us?
• How would we love to start our ideal day?
• How would we want our ideal day to end?
• What are all the things that we would want to finish in a day?
• How much time would we like to devote with our own self?
• How much time would we like to take rest and sleep?
• How much time would we like to spent on recreational activities?
• How much time would we work on the things of great importance?
• How much time would we like to spend with our members of family?
• What are all the things that we would like to delegate to others so that we could create more free space for ourselves and  for our members of family?
• How much time would we like to spend on learning a new skills?
• What would be all the biggest distractions in our day?
• What would stop us from achieving all our goals in a day? Would they be external or internal? How would we deal with those barriers and noise elements?

After thinking about an ideal day, we could imagine about the ideal week and ideal month and an ideal year and then strive to do and accomplish the things that we want to do on a day to day basis.

We must make sure that we write down our answers because writing brings more clarity. It brings more focus to the tasks that we want to achieve.

So before we become champions of our lives we must master our days. The above questions are same but their answers would differ for all of us. We must understand that because we all are similarly different, we all are differently similar as well.

And since, “The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life,” as says William Morris, therefore, we must start changing the things at micro level (each day) so that we become peak performers at macro level in our life. By planning and starting our day in this way we will have maximum time for doing the thing that are most important to us and are not simply urgent.

Remember the words of Swami Chinmayananda that “Today is the only day to attempt any great and worthy purpose.” So we must ask every day , “are we all ready to make our each day full of great and worthy purposes?” Because we all know that “tomorrow never comes.”