Ask these questions to yourself for a better quality of life

When we work for a corporation, we are told to follow a perfect schedule, make reports of our daily productivity and show 100% commitment towards the goals allotted to us by our seniors.

I was turmoiled at the idea that why most people do not apply the same discipline towards improving their personal lives.

After thinking about it for some time, I jotted down a couple of questions in my diary and decided to publish it over here as a blog post.

These are questions that one can ask him/herself as frequently as possible. These questions are designed to give you a clarity whether you are on your way towards your personal happiness or are you wasting your time and energy in doing something with someone for some time at some place that is going to only drain away your health, peace of mind and personal happiness.

Time
Am I utilizing my time in the most valuable way?
The answer to this question clarifies that the way you are spending your time is unproductive and that you better switch to something that will add some value to your life. How about watching a TED talk?

People
Will this interaction make me inspired or happy?
The answer to this question will serve as a navigator to a better social life. Most times, we end up spending lots of time with energy suckers, without realizing that our happiness is tactfully getting squeezed out of us. Whenever, you feel that the person you are with is causing you stress and sorrow instead of happiness and joy, you know that you need to get away from him/her and spend more time with happy and inspired folks. The aura and vibes that emanates from people does affect you,

Food
Will this food contribute to my good health?
This is a no brainer. Although satisfying your taste buds occasionally is cool. But make sure that the that occasion should not come more than 4 to 5 times a month or else you will be disappointed to see the number on the weighing scale, specially after putting in so much of Gymming efforts. 

Product
Is this product going to make my life quality better or will it bring ease to my everyday life?
Stop buying and collecting stuffs that you will never or perhaps rarely use, if there are things in your room that you've hardly used since past 5 to 6 months then it will be smarted move to sell them or donate them. Simplicity and Minimalism makes life easier. If you do not believe me, then you better watch this TED talk. 

Activities
Will this activity add value to my life?
No brainer part two. Life is not so much of what you think but what you do. If what you do leaves you unsatisfied and pushes you to re-think about your priorities, then you better sit down with a pen and paper and jot down a list of things that bring the highest amount of joy in life.

Thoughts
Are these thoughts helping me stay inspired or happy?
I totally agree that controlling our thoughts is a challenge for many. But since a few days that I have been practicing this habit of questioning myself, I noticed that whenever, my mind goes haywire on unproductive thoughts of the past or future, questioning myself on the thoughts that I am entertaining brings them to a halt and gives me a chance to live fully in the present moment. Although, this may also be the case because at times I do engage in meditation. But never the less, I think we just bring our incessant thoughts under the radar of conscious attention they will eventually cease to exist.

What is that ONE thing about Success that you can learn from Google, Microsoft and Apple?

Ever noticed at that one strategy of super successful companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple ?

Let's take a brief look at them one by one.

Going back to 2000-05 Google was nothing more than a search engine. Google became popular in a short span of time because it was capable of giving accurate search results in lesser time. It was quite later that Google started focusing on other products like Gmail, Gtalk, Google Earth and so on.

29th of June 2007 remains a historic date for Apple. It was the day when Apple launched the very first iPhone the success of which became a foundation for iPad in the later part of 2009.

Like the significance of the release date for iPhone, 20th of November 1985 remains an important date in the history of Microsoft. That day marked the launch of the operating system, Windows. After the huge success of Windows OS, later in 1990 Microsoft launched MS Office. Today over a billion people now use Office, to the point where Word and Excel are practically synonymous with word processing and spreadsheets, respectively.

There is one common thread that links all these companies together and I can sum it up in 6 words - "Be specialized in your CORE offering"

Being hungry for immediate profits or quick market share was not the way of Google when it started with a simple search engine. When Google search became a globally used tool for web searching, Google then offered Gmail and Chrome to its users because by that time, it had already won billion of online users on one thing - TRUST. Once customers became used to the Google search tool, they knew that Google is another name for speed and accuracy. These qualities were associated with the name 'Google' which in return made it easy for people to establish their email account with Gmail which offered free space of around 1 GB back in 2004 which increased upto 10 GB of free storage space in 2012. This was quite a rare case as Yahoo use to offer a very restricted storage capacity around a decade back. When people started using Google Search, Google Chrome and Gmail, It became easy for Google to instantly capture market by introducing a variety of products and offering most of them for free. Today Google is capable enough not just to compete with giants like Microsoft and Apple but also to create revolutionary and futuristic products that can change the way you and me experience life.

The story of Microsoft (with its products like Windows and Office Suite) and Apple (with its super successful iPhone) share similarity in terms of the way they approached their products that were capable enough to win people's minds and hearts and associate their company with values that can never be duplicated by any other firm no matter what they do.

So, what is the moral of the story here?

1. From the perspective of a business, you need to focus on one specific need of the consumers and create a product that is capable of satisfying that need. 
2. Once you create such a product, keep on improving and innovating the same. 
3. Once your product succeeds (which depends upon whether customers associate your product with a specific quality like how people subconsciously associate Google with speed and accuracy) 
4. You can then proceed in offering a wide variety of carefully crafted products and services that will continue building their trust on your company and your products.

Get rid of fear of death and all your fears will be gone

Back in 2003, I was a chubby overweight kid who was always made fun of by the society at large, yes the society at large, It began with students in the school and went all the way to the men in the public transport bus. Becoming a centre of joke and a means to have a random laugh, became a norm for me. Eventually leading to the creation of fear of people. I took it till a certain extent but when things use to get beyond my capacity of tolerance, it became a challenge for me to give it back to people. I was never a 'tough guy' types, may be that is the reason why I swallowed all jokes  a.k.a mental harassments with a pinch of salt.
This continued for many many years and finally came the turning point which manifested as a question that I ended up asking myself-

Isn't it better to die than to live a life full of fears that aren't allowing me to be happy?

As I pondered over this question for days and weeks, a subtle evolution began within me. I realized that If I am so deeply frustrated that I am able to welcome death then why not give a shot of putting things back to where they were and starting a fresh new story.

CHANGE came to my rescue. But this wasn't the kind of change that someone else was forcing me to apply. It came from my a deeper personal need. A desperate need to get rid of pain and move towards peace and happiness. I scribbled out on a piece of paper all the causes of my fear and did a 'why' analysis on each and every cause that came to my mind.

I changed the way I ate, slept, walked, talked and even dressed. For some reason, It felt like I am on drugs. It felt empowering. When I went out in the public with this renewed sense of self, things changed too. I was no more a centre of joke, in fact, I ended up radiating strength and confidence.
I worked out and consumed proper diet, cutting down on junk and sugary foods. I lost weight and that in turn boosted my confidence in the social arena.

All I learnt from these experiences was that if you can get rid of the fear of death and understand that every day of yours is numbered, you will have no other option but to get yourself out there and start creating the life that you wanna live. A life of your dreams. A life that will allow you to die with no regrets.

Death is not a bad thing, it is a necessity for us to know how important urgency in life is. Act now. Do not wait for any sort of evolution to take place. No one can live your version of life and so no one is capable of doing those incredible things that you can do. Do not limit your dreams.
Take that step NOW and put an end to all your weaknesses.

Live infinite... 

What is the best way to deal with rude people?

About two years back, I was emotionally weak (like way too much). It was not less than a major challenge to do deal with rude people. Their rudeness use to affect me in terms of the way I felt throughout the day or at times even the entire week, depending on the level of disgust they use to exhibit towards me under the disguise of being rude.

It took a long time to realize a few things that allowed me to deal with rude people in a far better way than before:

1. Do not lose your presence of mind. Once we feel that we are under attack, our fight or flight mechanism controlled by an almond shaped structure in the brain called amygdala takes control and temporarily switches off the cortex functionality of our brain which is responsible for reasoning and logic. I think to develop this presence of mind one needs lots of practice 
2. If they are a people of authority, capable of putting you in major difficulties, like your Boss, then it is better to remain silent for that moment, not to take things personally and create a stronger network with your fellow employees who go through similar experiences regarding him, on a daily basis. The more you know that almost everyone gets the same treatment from him/her the more easy it will be for you to deal with him effectively. You will gain enough strength to 'not give a damn to his words or behavior' and to focus on your work, put your best self forward, rise up to the higher ranks and if things go beyond toleration, just move on to a better company or start your own business and take lessons from this rude boss on "how to be a better Boss and not a jerk".
3. Now, for others who matter less, confront them without being too angry or wasting your energies, because they do not deserve it. Leave subtlety behind and let them know as soon as possible that they are being rude and that the behavior is unacceptable "I wonder if you realize you're coming across as rude. I know you don't meant to, and I'm not taking it that way, but I bet there are people who surprise you with their reactions."