Sing Until It Rains

Zomera was the King of a Somina, a small county in the heart of Asia in the 3rd century AD. Somina had not received any rainfall in a decade. No crop grew on their land and citizens were dying of starvation. All citizens came to their wise king Zomera and requested him to do something. Zomera had heard of a tribe, Usani, in central Africa which was famed for bringing rain by just singing to the Sky Gods.

So, Zomera decided to travel to Africa and learn their secret. After a long and difficult journey, King Zomera reached the Usani and asked them for their secret. The Chief of Usani said that their secret was that they "sing until it rains".

"Yes, I know you sing and it rains, but how do you do it?", asked Zomera.

The chief replied, "We keep singing until it rains. We do not give up until it rains and that is why we are famed that when we sing, it rains."

Disappointed, Zomera made his way back to Somina. On his way back, he thought about the secret of the Usani . The persistence of the Usanis' singing impressed him. He realized that if the Usani, a tribal group could persist till they reach their goal, then he too could persist till he brings rain to his land.

On reaching Somani, he proclaimed that he had learnt the Usani secret of bringing rain. He called his best engineers and decided to divert the course of the river that flowed a few hundred miles from Somania. He also encouraged every Somanian to plant trees all over the country. Though demoralised, hungry and thirsty, the Somanians still did as their King had asked. A year later, the first rain drop in a decade quenched the thirst of Somania's land!

Somania never experienced a famine after that.

The Somanians thanked their wise King Zomera and their country soon became famous for its beautiful vegetation. The citizens learnt about the fruits of perseverance.

There is a lesson for all of us in this story. "Life ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." No success in life shall come easy. Ask any great man.  It took Edison 2000 failed experiments to invent the electric bulb. Abraham Lincoln had a nervous breakdown and lost eight elections before he was elected President. It took Messi thousands of hours' practice to become what he is today.


Are you ready to put in your hours? 
Perseverance shall pay you back one day manyfold!

Quotes That Inspire Me

Here is a list of quotations that have been my inspiration. I wish to share these with you.

Only those who are desperate to succeed, succeed.
I always found success when I did not give up on my task midway. This is the reason why I do not start any pursuit without proper inspection: not about the objective/method of the pursuit but my own mental readiness to follow my objective till its attainment.  An obstacle is put in your path only for you to prove how much you long to achieve your goal. Be desperate guys!! Its the best recipe for success.


Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves. - Lord Chesterfield
The soft strokes make your personality, not the bold swipes. I was always told by my parents to take care of the smaller basics of life and larger successes shall follow me wherever I go. If you can keep track of those 5 - 10 minutes you spend idly everyday after your lunch break, or the half an hour spent every night watching videos on Facebook and YouTube, many of your time management problems shall be solved. Whenever you are stuck in big problems, concentrate on doing the basics right; break the problem into small pieces and move ahead.


You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. - Wayne Gretzky
You stand no a chance until you try. The problem with many of us is that we fear rejection far more than we crave success. If you start off with a negative mindset, you shall never come out with a positive result. Give it your best shot. Even if it doesn't work out at least you wont sit and regret it on your deathbed.

Here is what Michael Jordan said about himself:
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've almost lost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to 
take the winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in life. And that is why I succeed.

Hope these words inspire you too.

The Right Approach To Time Management

Sometimes, even more important than the Techniques and Tips I share with you on this blog, is the correct approach to Time Management. The right attitude towards Time Management is half your time managed already.

By the time we are eighteen years old, we hear "No, you cant" 18,500 times and "Yes, you can" around 2,000 times. No doubt, we have the tendency to give up at the sight of the very first obstacle!

Before you start on any Time Management program, whether its a professional course that you are paying for, or as a result of a burning desire from within, the first step is to motivate yourself.
So, how can you do that?

Remind yourself why are you doing it.
If you have decided to improve your time management skills, it is quite obvious that you are presently not quite good at it. Tell yourself of all the benefits you stand to gain by religiously following the routine - you have a lot more free time, you do your tasks better, you earn respect, you win admiration from your colleagues and peers, you get more work done in lesser time,. There might be many other reasons for you wanting to start managing your time better. Remind yourself of those goals, whenever you are finding it difficult to resist temptations that make you want to ignore your schedules.
Even better, write out your goals and stick it up on your work-desk, or make it the wallpaper of your laptop or cell phone, so that unconsciously the visual image of your goal is floating always in your mind.

Take inspiration from others.
There might be others around you who are very efficient at managing time. Be inspired by them, even if you do not particularly like them. Notice these good qualities and try to imbibe them. Look at their success and remind yourself that you too can replicate it and even go one up by being more disciplined. Such people might be folks around you or even celebrities you admire.


Appreciate your progress.
Its no use following a proper schedule for a couple of weeks and then going back to your old habits.
Monitor your progress and let it your motivation. Be your own inspiration. If you spent even one hour less on Facebook this week, take heart from it and try to make it two or even four this week. Every time you look back and see your progress, you will be able to take heart that if having done well so far, you can get even better in the near future.


There is no greater insult to God's creation than a pessimist.
Have the right mind set whenever you embark on a Time Management journey and you would have won half the battle already. :-)

Good Luck.

Is Only Success Enough?

Recently, I came across a pretty interesting article by Chetan Bhagat, a best-selling Indian author and motivational speaker.

He wrote that success alone is not enough. His take is that it’s more important to have a balanced life than a successful life.

By a balanced life, he implies having mental peace and happiness. He stresses that having a successful, yet unbalanced life is of no use to anyone. There is no happiness in getting a promotion if you are going through a nasty divorce. There is no joy in living in the most expensive house in the city, if you do not have a loved one to share it with. You may dine in the best of restaurants, but you can never enjoy it if you have no one willing to accompany you. There is no fun in going for a night-out if you haven't slept for two days.

Success - Happiness = Failure

I believe the case is the same with Time Management. There is no use of being the most efficient person in the world, if you are unable to keep yourself happy. What is the use of saving yourself an hour each day through multi-tasking, if you are unable to sleep at night? The time you save should be used to let you do things that you enjoy doing. 
Use Time Management, not just to be more efficient, but to make your life happier. 

It is important to realize that everything we do, every action we take, should be done with the ultimate intention of attaining happiness. Sometimes, in the humdrum of life's affairs, we forget this goal and become more involved in petty issues like ranking first in class, having more cars than our neighbours or being richer than our peers.

What is a successful life, if it is not balanced? What is a successful life if it fails to give us happiness?

Nothing.

So go on, leave your office early today, just to spend a little more time with your family. It’s alright to be a little late to work once in a while, if you are dropping your child to school. Sometimes these small things are cherished and are more heart-warming than promotions or pay-raises. 

You can read the original article by Bhagat here: http://www.citehr.com/214513-wonderful-thoughts-chetan-bhagat.html

Stick Up Inspirational Quotes Method

One technique that you must have heard of and perhaps even followed is to stick up motivational quotations or targets/goals on your mirror or cupboard. However, I feel its not very effective. 


One way to make it better is by changing the font, color etc frequently. When the same thing is placed at the same place over a period of time, it tends to merge with the surroundings and is not an eye-catcher anymore. Thus changing the handwriting style, color, background and even its location can ensure that you never lose sight of your target. :-)


Here is my list of quotations that you could choose from. 
All the best!