New Year Resolutions – 5 Ways To Really Reach Them

Resolutions on New Year – we make many and break many. Keeping up on a resolution has been pretty hard for us. We are guilty of it too, blame ourselves but don’t try on them again, what’s done is repent only. And we stop making them knowing that those won’t be fulfilled, we are so helpless. Poor us. Well, I will not freshen up your memories of broken resolutions and make you sad; instead I would share my way of looking, making and try on fulfilling resolutions.

Every year we make resolutions something like these – to lose weight, get a better job, drink less, study more, start a blog, etc. End up failing on all. We generally focus on outcomes, or say goals about which we are not even sure. Or say we are sure that we won’t be reaching them. Why make a goal that you yourself know is hard to reach?  And later repenting on failures doesn’t makes point! Failures are failures till you work on them to turn them into success; otherwise it’s just a habit. So I would suggest come out of the vicious circle of unreachable outcomes and focus on Process.

Yes Process, set your sights on process in 2014 and you will automatically reach your goal.

1. Work on Something Artistic – Most people find art as a waste of time, typically they know about it is taking up crayons and start painting, that’s what mostly kids do. But this is not a single form of art; rather I would say a primary form.  Art is story-telling, dance, games, drama, writing and many more acts that you can connect to imagination. Indulge yourself, in say, writing. But yes then the artistic devil creeps in. This devil will tell you hundreds of reasons why you can't write: "People will laugh at you. This is not good writing! What kind of sentence is this? Look at your handwriting!", but conquer it all to find yourself and reach your goal. Roland Barthes once said of Flaubert's novels,"Flaubert did not write a novel. He merely connected one sentence after another. The eros between sentences, that is the essence of Flaubert's novel." That's right -- a novel, basically, is writing one sentence, then, without violating the scope of the first one, writing the next sentence. And you continue to make connections.
2. Walk The Talk – You discuss about how pathetic your new device is, your job, the household problems, the project issues, all discussions on made on your couch, meeting rooms, in short, you sit and discuss. How many times it’s been that these discussions prove fruitful? Less I would say. Moreover, sitting prohibits your activeness, so why not come out of the room and walk the talk? This will let people more actively participate in discussions as two activities make you more attentive. And hey! You will lose weight too!
3. Make Stress Positive for you – In stress you keep thinking on something negative making the situation more stressful. View the world as a bunch of negativity, recalling all the bad moments and disappointments you had till the dat. This leads to work stress against you making you weaker and prone to chaos, indecisiveness and health issues, finally. So start doing positive things when in stress, care about someone, talk to a child, and try see the rarely seen side of stress – the optimism. Think how this stress will help you reach something you desired for.
4. Try Digital Detox – We have our gadgets everywhere we go. Mobile, i-pads, computers, lap-tops, i-phones are now unavoidable new members of our life. We can’t think of leaving them behind even for the tiniest of the activity. To make it short, we are slaves of technology now, which controls our lives more than ourselves. Take a step ahead and move out of the reach of daily gadgets – hop on a digital detox – while on a walk, a drive, or simply sitting in nature. The act would re-energize you, fuel up your thoughts, and bring forward some new ideas, solutions to problems, eventually you come to know your real being. All pollution in your mind fades off, and a new light enters.
5. Keep on Reading – We generally read the current affairs in newspapers and are done with our reading, feeling happy about it. Unaware of the fact that it was just enriching our knowledge base not our minds. Our brains needs food, food for thought and that comes through some motivational reading which could inspire us. So start reading motivational write-ups, I’m not saying grab a novel, that would take a lot of time and I’m sure you have less of it. Read blogs of motivational writer’s, of CEO’s, artists and people who you look upon. Articles on Linkedin in the section Leadership and Innovation would also help you and many more like this are there.

These all are another way of reaching your well-defined goals. Work on these Processes and move on the road to achievement, goals would seem to be near.

The Advent of "Disposable Social Media" – Yay or Nay?

There was a time when we kept records of only official papers and now we can even keep intact what we said on a particular day or time on social media. Social life is not limited to face-to-face conversations it has grown and secured a place of itself. You mind may not be able to recall what you said at a certain point of time, but these Social Platforms remember each and everything. Sometimes this proves to be a nasty thing and the other times a blessing. A smooth life can go upside-down when someone referring to these social records says in anger, "Oh you said this that day"! Same thing later fills you with grief, if some day you again come across it. We still find old posts of ours on Facebook and recall the old memories, what all good or bad happened; even others can also look back in our Profiles further interpreting the updates we make guessing out, "oh this may be happening in his or her life". Social Media has become a behavior interpretation tool. People peep into our minds and try to infer what’s happening in our lives; this is an inherent trait of humans, only they have got a proper tool now.

In this age of total dominance of social record platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, some other novice apps emerged with a totally opposite feature. Apps like Snapchat and Poke are based on the idea of not storing any Chat Conversations. Means you move only towards future leaving behind the shadows of the past; isn't that good for us? I've myself realized that many times I regret something I had posted, i still do have option to delete it but the post had already done its work - people have viewed, formed perceptions, interpretations and circulated in the circle. It’s all done. The thing is like protecting all your past, whether good or bad, coming across it in your present; we are actually not moving on.

I liked the idea of Snapchat, say whatever you want to and it vanishes after a few minutes. Leads to more freedom of speech, a carefree mindset and a liberty from past. It’s always good to live in your present and think about your future than living in your past. No over exposure of our personal lives, no retrieval and reuse, only new creations. Isn't that something awesome for our social health? Moreover, when you know it's going to be there only for a short amount of time, you will pay attention to it. Many a times it happens you are with friends or family taking out pictures and suddenly one would say "Don't Post them on Facebook"! And you are all thumbs down because you wanted to share them with people. People at times don't like to post on Facebook like platforms because they know that it will be there always giving out room to continued forming of perceptions and interpretations, which can be injurious to one’s life at any point of time. But the Disposable Social Media self-destructs whatever is shared, and you are free. This seems to give rise to a sea of new applications.

So what you opine, still Traditional Social Media or Disposable Social Media, is healthy for our lives?

Deeper thought would be, you want to always keep your past intact or be only in present and move on towards future... 

The 17 Life Lessons of 2013

As 2013 winds down, we all look back what we faced, did, experienced or observed, repent on some, be sad on few, and feel joyful for the rest. Here is a list of what I felt and observed 2013. Hope these lessons will help you also, kickstart 2014 afresh with me...

1. Don't believe the old belief that whatever you do on 1st of Jan, you will do the same the whole year,  if  the year has started on a not-so-good-note, that doesn't mean this will continue.
2. Sometimes we are not sure of our decisions but then God surrounds you with situations to make you act upon your decisions.
3. Love is really unconditional, it means to be supportive, to find a medium path to some very tedious situations without being panic or blaming each other, to be calm when the other one is high on nerves, and about really being there, no matter what happens.
4. Parents love you, if they find your decisions right, they will be at your side always.
5. Workplace does not demand only for hard or smart work, it's more about display of your work. Even if  you work more than others but remain on a back-foot then you are at loss.
6. Death comes without a warning, the person you cursed all life can leave you forever any day, then you will  repent, do realize what you did when the person was there. So complaint less, value more and love beyond faults.
7. Don't ignore even the smallest health trouble, ignorance can make it big.
8. Regular health check-ups are necessary, you feel yourself as the fittest being but still you are not superman.
9. Do take a second opinion on health issues; because doctors too are humans, they are also prone to make mistakes.
10. Don't get stuck in a rut of life, take out time for yourself and do what makes you happy, because inner happiness is not subjected to materialism and it's necessary to keep you going.
11. Give everyone some space; don't expect reciprocal actions from others too, as every human is different. A give-and-take relationship seems mechanical only dependent on actions not on emotions.
12. Value your friendships. You will miss them when they are away. So live to the fullest when with friends.
13. Don't try to find love in friendship; you might be at a risk of losing.
14. Don't even think of leaving parents for love, a 20 days love can never be above than 20 years of   upbringing.
15. And if you do that then you are most likely to repent someday.
16. Always try to celebrate occasions - birthdays, farewells, and every occasions that holds importance for the people you love, do even you can't make it on a large-scale, a handmade card or a cake at 12 can make someone genuinely happy and you too.
17. Lastly, make plans for New Year celebrations and assure that it doesn't get ruined anyway.

So how will you Welcome 2014? No plans yet? Then go get going!

Because happiness will not always come on its own, sometimes you have to hold its hand and bring it to your home.

What you learnt in 2013, sharing will be good!

Future Predictions By IBM's Scientists - Are these Something New?

"It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future", but it seems this saying has been proved wrong by IBM Scientists as they predict the life we shall live after 5 years. In their report they foresee a world based on smart sensing and computing. Automatic buses, personalized education system, medical diagnosis in minutes through DNA and computing.

Despite the fantasy and excitement of all these predictions don't you feel we have already heard this all before ? In various studies, and long before that Alvin Toffler in his "Future Shock" already indicated many of the future changes which surprised everyone and his book became one of the bestsellers earning a Documentary too.  Alvin questions "tens of millions of children today are forced by law to spend precious hours of their lives grinding away at material whose future utility is highly questionable. (Nobody even claims it has much present utility.) Should they spend as much time as they do learning French, or Spanish or German? Are the hours spent on English maximally useful? Should all children be required to study algebra? Might they not benefit more from studying probability? Logic? Computer programming? Philosophy? Aesthetics? Mass communications?" He further asserts, "Youngsters are given little choice in determining what they wish to learn" and concludes "Education must shift into the future tense." If we talk of the automatic buses thought of IBM, Mr. Toffler had already made word on that too,"In the technological systems of tomorrow—fast, fluid and self-regulating—machines will deal with the flow of physical materials; men with the flow of information and insight. Machines will increasingly perform the routine tasks; men the intellectual and creative tasks. Machines and men both, instead of being concentrated in gigantic factories and factory cities, will be scattered across the globe, linked together by amazingly sensitive, near-instantaneous communications. Human work will move out of the factory and mass office into the community and the home."

What I opine is, OK we create a buzz in the market about various future technologies, happenings and many such things, but are we really trying it today to make it happen tomorrow? Scientists say it would happen in 5 years, but in practicality do we really find it feasible? How many Online Schools we have right now, rarely you can find any. Of all the predictions made, I think the Education one should really happen fast, because right now we are not educating students, we are just training them to be a good competition to others. Today children who enter school quickly find themselves part of a standard and basically unvarying organizational structure: a teacher-led class. One adult and a certain number of subordinate young people, usually seated in fixed rows facing front, is the standardized basic unit of the industrial-era school. As they move, grade by grade, to the higher levels, they remain in this same fixed organizational frame: They gain no experience with other forms of organization, or with the problems of shifting from one organizational form to another. They get no training for role versatility.

What do you think - about IBM's Predictions, my take and whatever else you feel to express here regarding the issue.

Your thoughts are Welcome.