Tag: Success

Happiness

Dealing with mental health issues

With the mental health issues going to peak ten days back, I deliberately started taking extra care of myself.

Here’s what I realised:

  • At the core of every mental health issue, is the need for happiness.
  • When I didn’t get it, I felt a chaos in my mind.
  • I almost (read: always) believed that if I am good to everyone, they should also be good to me. Unmindful of the fact, that everyone is going through the chaos in their minds as well (including our families)
  • Taking care of yourself is something you will have to do. Otherwise we will always be dependent on the mood swings of others – and that is never a balanced place to settle on.
  • Being happy is NOT a sin. Okay? Read it again if it was not clear to you.

Here’s what I have started doing now:

  • Given up the need to impress everyone and make them happy. I have realised that even if I am happy and doing things to make them happy, if someone makes a conscious or unconscious choice to be upset, they will. Don’t take anyone personally.
  • Love yourself like that is your job#1. For most people, this job even doesn’t make it to the list of their jobs.
  • Stop justifying your actions all the time. I do not give a damn to what anyone else says yet don’t know how during this lockdown I started craving for the validation of my family. If you feel truthful and real in your work, you have done your job well. Anything and anyone that takes you away from peace is the one worth going away from.
  • Imagine the best outcome. We all are the creators of our experiences. What we are today, is what we had imagined yesterday.
  • This one is important. Treat people well even if you don’t listen to them or you know they are toxic. They are being them, and for whatever little time they get to hang around you, make sure to be kind to them. They are fighting a tough battle. Just like I needed people with my mental health issues, I realised they will also need kind people so that mental health issues don’t sink into them.

The journey is hard. Only if I label it so. Remember – creators of our experiences? Now I have unabashedly started living for my own happiness – without hurting others, however, not allowing anyone to enter that bubble and burst it.

Work & Business

A Mastery in saying no

The vibe never lies.
Your soul shouldn’t be exchanged even in lieu of diamonds.

In the past two weeks, I said no to two writing gigs that could have made me six figures.

And since the money involved is too big, first response is to ignore everything and jump on it.

However, in both those cases, I realized I wouldn’t be happy or be myself – I would be just putting a price tag on my soul. And that is the last thing I signed up for.

Thus, I said no. Without surprise, felt light and easy beyond measure.

The best Content Writer is also a contented writer – who is feeling contented with every business relationship they have.

That doesn’t mean not having more gigs. However, that does mean feeling happy while doing the work – and trusting yourself, that when you say no when the vibe doesn’t match, much better ones with better vibes come to you.

Standing for yourself is priceless.

Life

Happy this Dushehra?

As a kid, we used to go to my Naani’s home to witness Ravan being slayed.

Over a period of time as we grew up, Nana passed away and Naani got older, the tradition stopped.

This time, when there is no Dushehra mela, it reminds of something deeper: that some day there will be nothing more.

And it won’t be sad. It would rather be a reminder of how much inner evils we need to uproot. Because if we have uprooted all of them, we’d be happy by default.

Life

Question?

Either you do something good or bad, there will be people questioning you.

Just make sure you don’t question yourself.

That doesn’t mean not making the mistakes, it rather means not owning your life.

Own your life.

Don’t question yourself at the end of it that why you gave up.

Thoughts

Power that no one talks about

Be so capable that your presence serves the world.

  • Save your thoughts
  • Save your time
  • Save your words

The lesser you use the the more your thoughts, time and words will have power.

People

New people

Met incredible people. Or met people that drained your energy.

Though both of these are good, what is great is how much time you spent with yourself alone.

If not, then whatever we do is going to be a replica of the world, not an originality.

Action

That thing about work

What is it that you love in your work?
How are you optimising on doing it?
What is the inner faith that leads you to go ahead?

And the last question: What if you do that every hour?

Life, Thoughts

That little tinge of kindness

August 2017.
It was a usual day at work.
I went to the Operations Head, asking to share the records and documents needed for my work.

Back then, I used to work as an Internal Auditor, and the core job was visiting branches and conducting audits, with the help of branch operations team.

This fine day, as I was going back to my desk after talking with the Operations Head, when she called my name and said, “You always look stunning!”

And it took a moment for my mask of “follow me I am the auditor” to more of a humble, kinder human.

That of course, didn’t affect my work, however, it did tell me that it’s super important to appreciate people for their little things.

As my bosses used to say: “Neither of you are against each other, you both are working for the bank.”

PS: If you do not want AI to replace you, learn from this girl who showed the human side of her.

PPS: No, it didn’t affect my report however it did affect how I reflect on life.

And that’s super important 🙂

Knowing Yourself

Note to me on my journey

Don’t be too desperate.

Don’t be submissive either.

Walk your path, and walk assertively.

Bend, if need be. The one who bends is the one who has a flexible spine that could do anything.

Real gold is soft.

Yet, it is an alloy if there is any mixture.

And, rich is the human who doesn’t waste the resources of time, thoughts and powers.

You can, because there isn’t a time when you haven’t been able to.

Clients

The secret about good client relationships

Five ways to have better client relationships:

1. Always give more than you are paid for.
2. Listen to them even though you think you are right.
3. Trust they know their business better – and that trust leads to better work together.
4. If you are not able to deliver work on time, let them know.
5. Work on their work as if it were your own work. What you will see is magic!

Hard work. Work. Execution. Power. Results.
Rinse and repeat.

Emotions

This is a happy post

Yesterday I wrote a post where I was really sad.

Today I came across a tweet that said if you be friends with your colleagues, you are most likely not going to get the work done.

That just hit hard!

Lesson of life:

Be friendly, however, never be friends with a colleague.

Be there for them, however, don’t share your vulnerabilities with them.

Be you, yet don’t be the deepest you.

Lesson learnt, move on baby! Cya tomorrow 🙂

Knowing Yourself

Wanna quit?

“I just hate this job.
I’m gonna quit!”

Have you ever felt this way about a job / client / internship?

If you have, we all are a part of the same boat.

However, here’s a few question:
– Do we want to quit because of envy?
– Is this the same way with every job?
– What kind of life do you want?

I came across this startling realisation while reading “Your Next Five Moves” by Patrick Bet-David, and the enormous clarity he offered in an instance in the book.

And when you do, here’s another piece of advice from Mark Manson: “The person you marry is the person you fight with. The house you buy is the house you repair. The dream job you take is the job you stress over. Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice — whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably make us feel bad. What we gain is also what we lose. What creates our positive experiences will define our negative experiences. This is a difficult pill to swallow. This is why our problems are recursive and unavoidable.”

Finding answers to these questions isn’t easy, however, that isn’t what you signed up for in the first place, right?

So, what kind of life do you want?

Knowing Yourself, Life

One art that makes all the difference

If there is one skill to learn forever, it is the skill to say “no”.

No to the colleague who makes fun of our values.
No to the activities that you don’t want to sign up for.
No to the client that anyway doesn’t respect your material.

However, the people that say the most “no’s” are the people that say a lot of “yes” to the right things. And if we have not mastered the art of saying no to others, we are ultimately saying “no” to ourselves. Is that the life you want to live?

Life

Are you suffering?

While you are suffering in your life, someone’s parent is struggling hard to breathe.

While you are suffering in your life, someone in a worse position than you is owning their life.

What’s your excuse?

Emotions, Success

Selfie while crying?

Everyone on the internet is doing fine.

And looking wonderful in their stories.

Which, of course, is a great thing.

However, bring me a successful person and I will show you the number of times they failed. Success is a numbers game. Zero exceptions. You can, of course, inherit wealth however what you do after that – become Mukesh Ambani or Anil Ambani is up to you.

So when you think it is only you who is scared while everyone else is already writing their autobiographies, remember that scene from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. where Ross is broken and shattered seeing Rachel going, and he says in a hoarse queer voice, “I’m fine!” That’s exactly the voice of the internet is. Trust your process, look up to people for inspiration, however, never ever mistrust or doubt your hard work. Because, no one ever clicks a selfie while feeling sad sitting in their balcony. Everyone will put a happy selfie, that perhaps a fake one just to join the bandwagon of impressing the social media that they are also like them.

Emotions

The truest love story

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me!”
“Who me?”
“Your love…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“You.”
“Who ‘you’?”
“I am You…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond again.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”

This time, no response comes from the other side.
That’s when, the one behind the gate opens it up.

I usually equate this story to the love for work.

Back in the day when I used to be unhappy in my corporate job, the most fulfilling moments were the ones when I got beyond “I hate my job” and did the work because it brought moments of joy.

Right now as I am a freelance writer, the discipline is still required despite I love this work the most. And the days I just work and let it flow, are the days that I enjoy the most, instead of pondering about “I have to be disciplined to write.”

“Work is God made real,” said Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet.

Whenever we have gone beyond the realms of “someone else” and “me” and allowed the joy to emerge, is when we have felt most fulfilled.

Fulfillment isn’t a miracle that shows up. It’s something that shows up when we don’t allow our lower faculties to play the game.

Knowing Yourself

What to do when you feel empty?

When we feel empty, most of us navigate to social media.

Except that it doesn’t help.

Instead, what really helps is appreciation.

Whenever we are appreciated by someone, we feel a sense of validation.

Except, that it won’t come always.

So why not appreciate ourselves every time?

Why not be grateful for what is working?

Why not, be our own cheerleader?

Of course we can, when we can do it all the time for others.

Success

What’s the cost of your dreams?

What is the cost of living life on your own terms?

You will be criticised by people who aren’t living their life on their own terms.

Don’t blame them, have sympathy for them.

Don’t wait for them to say sorry, you forgive them.

More than anything else, don’t stop when they want to live life according to you. They aren’t happy, you please don’t give up on yours because of their lack of it. The best way to make someone happy is to be happy yourself

Emotions

Why do we hide our emotions?

What if a recruiter found a profile of gold and expressed the candidate clearly how good they were?

What if an influencer thanked a fan from the bottom of their heart when they did a nice gesture for them?

What if a boss voluntarily thanked an employee for the contribution they brought on the table?

We don’t express our truest emotions in our work because when we were on the receiving side of things, this is how the world worked.

The world we live in, is the world we have so meticulously created. So does the power to change vest onto us. How will we use it?

Knowing Yourself

How to save years of misery?

1. Never type an e-mail in an impulse.

2. Attend lesser (read: no) parties.

3. Don’t assume, simply ask.

4. If at all you assume about people, assume the most positive outcome. Assuming about work isn’t even allowed until made clear.

5. Read Naval Ravikant daily.