Tag: Success

Manager

Making of a Manager 7.0

Recently I happened to conduct the hiring process for a team member, starting from creating the form to making them run through several steps of hiring, and here are some life lessons I learnt:

1. People will reveal themselves if you just sit and listen.

2. Be real. I had fun while talking with them, did not ask weird interview questions, and more than anything else, made the conversation interesting for them by researching about them before the interview.

3. While you may come across many sad stories that you may want to give them the job even though they are not eligible, it’s best to not give them the job. Because it will set them up for failure anyway. Not the best thing to happen to them.

Manager

Making of a Manager 6.0

Recent life lessons from being a manager:

  1. When you do something that might come as offensive to the other person but in reality happens as a result of their neglect, sometimes mentioning the reason why you did it is important.
  2. People who are assets won’t give away their work (under pressure) even if you ask them to. The good way is to ask the one who is filling in for them, to take work from them. Always works!
  3. You may try your best to help a non-performing team member – by asking questions, suggesting them, presenting your PoVs. If they still don’t move, start taking actions and FYI-ing them. Not because you want to dominate them. NO! You’ve already tried your best. Rather because you do not want the work to suffer anymore, if the person responsible for it anyway can’t take ownership.
Happiness

3 things that bring absolute joy

1. Staring out of the balcony

2. Writing without editing (this blog is the only place where I write without editing)

3. Blessing those who hurt you

People

The cool kids we hate

There is certainly ONE cool kid around you.
The one wearing a high attitude.
The one whose WhatsApp messages everyone responds to.

Here’s the truth about those cool kids:

  • They are suffering a lot inside
  • So they use that coolness to mask it
  • And not treat others well
  • And get to feel good about themselves
  • And the cycle continues

Here’s what you should bear in mind, whenever you come across these cool kids in whose company you don’t feel welcome:

  • Respect your own journey
  • Move on
  • Bless them

The ones who make others suffer, are the ones who are suffering hugely inside.

Life

Why is change so hard?

I returned to Delhi yesterday.
Was waiting for this for long.
Still, I miss Mom. And Papa. And kids. And the drama 🙂

Change is hard. However, change is what we must.
Maybe I will go back. Maybe I won’t.

Not pronouncing any decision as of now.
But really trying to spend time with myself.

And telling myself, “It’s okay. You will get through this.”

Life

To all those in their 20’s

A 20 year old kid asked me what life lessons I would want to download to her?

Here’s just 3 of them:

– Say yes to opportunities more often
– Say NO to people more often
– Never miss out on workouts, meditation and 20 mins of reading

Have a rocking decade (and life)!

Books

How our environment impacts us

I usually read e-books on the Kindle device, instead of the app.

Few days back, I happened to open the Kindle app on my phone to show it to my Mom.

Since then, I haven’t closed the app, and I happen to read 2 pages daily.

We don’t need a new life. We simply need new hooks to the existing life.

Life

This is our biggest problem

Our biggest problem is believing someone else is responsible for our problems.

If we realise this is our biggest problem, all of a sudden, we gain power over our problems.

Isn’t that magical?

Knowing Yourself

Today I almost cried during therapy

Today I was talking to my therapist, and I don’t know how I spoke about two different sides of me:

The one is the kiddish side of me who wants to come out, and the other is the side that is expected to be mature.

And she said a line: “If people around us are not giving us that space, you better go take it.”

She also went on to tell a story, saying if you are sitting on a bench in a park, enjoying your view, and someone comes and sits next to you, what would you do?

“I’ll get up and leave!”

“Most people would shift a bit, then again shift a bit if they come closer, and over time, they would just fall of the bench. In the process, they also ruin their view. What if you just claim that view to be yours, that no one can take away?”

“I agree, I just get up and leave from such views, and keep wandering…”

OMG, she makes me speak such truths about myself that are so buried inside!

Now she has given me a task to be more spontaneous and less calculative during the week. Fingers crossed :))

TIL

TIL 1.0

A new TIL series (will post it each time when I have some TILs):

  • Firm + assertive
  • Silence is golden. And it is diamond when it comes from within.
  • Don’t take anything seriously. But take it seriously.

Meditation

Meditation with or without commentary?

The best meditators tell you that you do not need commentary to meditate.
I agree.

Except, when I don’t.

It is quite understandable that when your brain is performing at its best, it does not need commentary.
However, if it is surrounded by loads of noise (real and virtual) from outside, it is never wrong to pick up commentary.

As you gain mastery, the need for commentary reduces.

The goal of meditation is to calm your self, not to repeat the uncalm version during the time you had set apart for meditation.

Knowing Yourself

What I have been learning about being good…

If you take your goodness constructively, it will do miracles for you.

Because goodness, in my definition, is responsibility.

If you are good, it is your responsibility to treat the wrong person right.
If you are good, it is your responsibility to receive the wrong given to you in the right manner.

Most people (at work, outside of work) realise that only a few people can be this responsible. Thus, it is the responsible people that get most learnings. For those who do not care to be responsible to perceive things right, they are just doing the job.

Responsible ones, take the responsibility. They don’t like it the most, but they would never want it the other way. And that’s the most beautiful thing about being good.

Clients

I was shivering, tbh

Last week, I wrote an email to a year-old client, asking for revision in prices.

However, I was shivering 🙂

I’m a content writer, I happen to write the most effective emails, and I am on very good terms with the client.
However, I was still shivering because subconsciously we have been taught that money is evil, and asking for what you truly deserve is filthy.

I finally googled 2-3 formats of price raise, and sent him the email.

“Noted with thanks” was the response.

That’s it!
That’s it?

That’s the beauty of working with clients who care – that they really care for you as well 🙂

It turns out, the only person standing in our way is us.

Life

Uncommon life truths

  1. Bad things on the outside make you more productive.
  2. Being alone is such a superpower.
  3. Walking heals. Every single time.
Success

Three things that unexpectedly decide your mood

  1. The vibes with which your food is cooked (Always radiating purity and power to food for 30 secs works like a charm).
  2. The people you follow on social media (Unfollow without notifying people is the best thing that could have happened.)
  3. The WA groups you are in (I delete WA group chats without even seeing them!)
Happiness

Few things that heal

The right music

The right books

Getting away from the wrong people

Spending time in nature, working looking at nature

Workouts

Meditation

Saying NO

Success

What I’ve been loving about life

If I go back to Nishtha of 5 years back, I would be ambitious. having a list of goals, wanting to go to TED, 30 Under 30, and certainly a Maybach.

Right now, I’m enjoying the process.

I’m working super hard.

I love my work.

I take my breaks.

All of this is so fulfilling, that the need for validation just goes away. It just does.

And what is left with, is the feeling of letting go of the need of success.

The success that you feel, when you let go of the need of success, is true success!

Uncategorized

What do the Big People think about?

Someone recently told me, that they were once in a room with one of the Top CEOs of the biggest companies in India. They were the huge shots, running literally a 3-5% of our cumulative GDP.

The conversations in the room?
The random useless conversations that most people have.

It got me thinking.
That we get rich because of our surroundings, our mindset, our hard work, and some luck.

But choosing to not pick up waste conversations, is the intense inner hard work.
Something that no one can do for you.
Something that no rich people would even advice you for.
Something that is achieved on the outside only by going inside.

That is the real becoming Big.

If you surround yourself with someone who does that, you’re lucky.
If you become someone who does that, you’re gold.

Documenting the Day

Monday is the easiest day

For a few weeks now, I’m pronouncing that Monday is the busiest day of my week.

Resultantly, it does become one.

So next Monday onwards, let’s call it the easiest day.

There must be some way to handle all this in a more productive fashion.

The idea, is to sit still and figure that out!

Knowing Yourself

Water water everywhere!

We hardly thank water for its role in construction, however, without it, the building would just collapse.
Be like water, my friend.

We hardly put water in the list of ingredients of any dish, however, I’m yet to see a dish that doesn’t involve water.
Be like water, my friend.

We set big menus to serve to our guests in parties, however, they would complain for centuries if they were not served adequate water.
Be like water, my friend.

Water brings everything together, yet makes itself feel redundant.
Because it knows its value, it does not crave for others to know it.

Be like water, my friend.