Month: July 2024

1. Get the deliverables right. If the other person exceeds what they were supposed to get, you let them know it in written word + charge for that. You do your philanthropy outside of your business. Not in it.
2. Unfortunately, goodness is like rose. People like walking over it. Always remind people (you work with) of your goodness. It isn’t self praise. It is about knowing that business world is about it.
3. Be the nicest person you know. But when someone is taking it for granted, put it out professionally.
4. Take your work seriously. Not yourself as much.
5. What people do to you is nothing about you. It is all about them. Beautiful and the not-so-beautiful.
6. Sometimes you will be forced to taking some projects out of “being called the best person”. Remember: If it is a no in your intuition, it is a no. We will figure out the why later.
7. Look at work partnership like partnership between two people. State each one’s deliverables. Even if the person you are working with, their deliverables are to give you feedback, let it out for them.
8. If pressure is on you despite doing good work but out of ignorance of the person you are working with, communicate it out again, respectfully. There are no bounty points for becoming the sacrifice queen from the daily soaps.
9. Do not, and I mean do not ever trust anyone who says “you are like my friend” or “you are like my younger sibling”. If you are an emotional fool like me, you would trust them. When they would not show up, it would ruin the professional trust as well.
10. It requires effort to make anything work. Please put in that effort. And also, meditate for things to become easy. Your meditation will reduce effort, and things will become smooth and easy.
11. Draw your boundaries loud and clear. And respect them before you expect anyone else to respect them.

A study table

A chair for the study table

Any other chair (unless we don’t plan to use it).

A mattress

Few things are worth investing your time to go to the market and getting them. You spend your max time using those. Just like you won’t buy a house or even rent one just by looking it up online, the things you spend most of your time in, in that house, should also perhaps be looked up offline.

“My document was all red,” a colleague once told me.

They had gotten their first report reviewed from our team lead.
And were visibly not happy with how it had turned out to be.

As the colleague shared his misery, it got me thinking:

I would always make a note of all such comments when I started. Never complained. And each time I would submit a report, I’d make sure I would never repeat one of the previous errors. Along with making sure the work was getting better.

It turns out, you can choose to deal with every big or insignificant situation with a tinge of practicality and lesson for the future.

It makes you think less about what went wrong and more about what you can fix going forward.

I haven’t found a better way to deal with work. And life.

That’s the most unreasonable question you could ask someone.

Here is why:

If they don’t smoke and are not comfortable with being a passive smoker, now they are the culprit, not the person who is smoking.

It almost puts the person being asked the question as if they aren’t violating someone’s privacy.

A good thing to rather do is (even though I have never smoked and am against the concept of damaging your lungs):

Would you want to join me for a smoke?

If they are okay, they will join.
If they are not okay (like me), they will quietly distance themselves.

It gives you the clear answer of other person’s consent, which I think is an important thing in matters that have varied extreme sharp opinions.

Bonus advice: You never regret not smoking 🙂

It is one of those days.

I have gotten into the loop of telling myself:

If only my parents were more present when I was a kid.

If only my parents were more present now.

If only my parents (…) everything we want of them.

If only…

However, then I came across a reel of an influencer who shared the same qualms about her parents.

For some reason, something within me feels validated.

And it reduces my mental what-if’s from my parents.

Over time, this is what I have reflected from my journey of sometimes blaming my childhood:

– Yes, your childhood wasn’t perfect.

– Yes, it leaves you somewhat behind in the rat-race.

– Yes it makes you question yourself for a very very long time.

But guess what?

The truth is you have all the resource to reparent and reprogram yourself.

As a matter of fact, you are already doing it all of the time.

So, I decided to do what that influencer did:

1. Look at what all didn’t work.

2. Accept it. Embrace it.

3. Look at what all is working. And there is plenty!

Sometimes, when you know what is going wrong, it is the best to leave it right there.

If you only go and keep poking a finger at it, you are poking 3 fingers at yourself! Because now, as an adult, you didn’t take responsibility for yourself.

So, my friend, if you have even a little bit of complains about your parents, see if this helps:

1. Write all of them on a piece of paper.

2. Accept it as if you had chosen it. (That’s hard, but I read it somewhere and it all makes sense now.)

3. Write down what you need to do to go back to your childhood and tell yourself you are worthy.

The last step is tricky.

It requires patience as much as it requires strategy.

However, we all are practising strategy all of the time.

It is time we practised it on ourselves, before we went out into the world and became full-time strategists!

If life is a game you gotta strategise it wisely and win.

Or sit around and let your past let you lose.

You choose. 🤗

I once had a colleague who would work every weekend.
Not only weekends, they often stayed late in the office on working days.

Performance? Average.
Good enough to stay afloat. Neither excellent to be applauded. Nor bad enough to be expelled.

On the other hand, I have had team leaders who would lead multiple teams for years, and still leave office sharp on time.

Delivering results no one of their predecessors ever did. Their team loved them.

Working more than you are supposed to isn’t a badge of pride.
It is often a sign you need to pause and evaluate where your time is leaking away.

After all, your work is just a part of your life. A very important, significant part. Nevertheless, it is still a part.

If your work becomes your identity, you often end up losing your identity.
If your work stays a part of your identity, you end up leveraging your identity to do even better, in every other part of your life.

I’d rather be a strong voice in a bookstore filled with authenticity instead of a templatised voice on a social media platform.

I’d rather go for a walk in the nature instead of a visit to the mall.

I’d rather pick up Kindle instead of play on the iPad.

I’d rather listen to you than judge you.

I’d rather sit in my balcony and watch the green treat to my eyes than never open up the gate of my balcony.

World’s simplest pleasures are the most beautiful blessings.

You have yourself, and that is more than enough.

What you need more of, is sleep, walk, and self-belief.

People might help you understand you.

For you to understand yourself, you just need the right amount of sleep.

Sleep is (often) the answer.

The clouds will clear.

You will be happier.

The joy will be near.

Keep up the good work. You are closer to the joy than you think.

You may get envious seeing an actor carrying a limited edition Louis Vuitton bag on Instagram.

Or to see any other “star” in your niche doing very well and blooming on social media.

It is easy to question your life after that, given the bombardment social media gives you over and over again.

However, what I have found is insanely helpful:

1. Their goals and your goals might be different. Celebrate them from afar. Focus on your goal now.
2. Even if their goals and your goals are similar, what can you learn from them? Learn and execute > lean and envy.
3. Use your wisdom to guide you towards what you want, not your envy to guide you to a mountain you don’t want to climb in the first place.

Everyone is living a successful life.

Get inspired.

But live your own.

You are not here to live anyone else’s life, my friend.

Listen to the other person as well, especially if they are mentioning the feud with them.

Human beings have a habit of living in their own stories.

If we listen to just one side, we deny everyone of humility and grace, to live by the truest story we should.