Category: Motivation

Yet another speech from Chetan Bhagat


I’m really carried away by this Chetan Bhagat speech and also it makes sense.

Don’t just have career or academic goals. set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. i use the word balanced before successful. balanced means ensuring your health, relationship, mental peace are all in good order. there is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. there is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tension.

Life is one of those races in nursery school where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. if the marble falls, there is no point coming first. same is with life where health and relationships are the marble. your striving is only worth if it there is harmony in your life. else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being exciting and alive, will start to die.

One thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. life is not meant to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. we are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. if we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. and 50 years just 2500 weekends. do we really need to get so worked up?

It’s ok, bunk a few classes, scoring low in couple of papers, goof up a few interviews, take leave from work, Enjoy with your friends, fall in love, little fights with your loved ones. We are people, not programmed decided.

Don’t be serious, be sincere.

All about Craiglist!!!


One of the many inspiration i’ve in my life is the evolution of craiglist.org the way it evolved form a email distribution list to world’s number one classifieds portal. I wanted to share some insights about the evolution;

  • Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Became a web-based service in 1996.
  • Incorporated as a private for-profit company in 1999.
  • Craigslist expanded into nine more U.S. cities in 2000
  • Four each in 2001 and 2002, and 14 in 2003.
  • The site receives over one million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.
  • The site serves over twenty billion page views per month.
  • With over eighty million new classified advertisements each month, Craigslist is the leading classifieds service in any medium.
  • As of 2009, Craigslist operates with a staff of 28 people.

Its sole source of revenue is paid job ads in select cities – $75 per ad for the San Francisco Bay Area; $25 per ad for New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago, Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon – and paid broker apartment listings in New York City ($10 per ad).

How Challenges Becomes Opportunity


I’ve a decade of experience as an entrepreneur. It was an experience filled with challenges and issues which only helped me to become a man of great character and stature. To be frank I became an entrepreneur as an incident rather than a planned one. Only after stepping in I came to know it is not everyone’s piece of cake and by the time I realized it I was lost in deep jungles.

Since I was trapped in a deep jungle I have no way out and only option when you don’t have a choice is to walk further until you find your way out. There were lots of adventures, accomplishments, experiments. Many a times I worked on more intuitions rather than plan. But with lots of perseverance I was able to overcome all the challenges and also found out a way out of the jungle.

I’d like to share one of my personal experiences where I was able to convert a challenge into an opportunity.

As I always repeat about my academics that I was a poor student I didn’t have the guts to disobey my parents as they always negotiated / blackmailed me about my results. I never had the guts to disobey them and when I told them that I had the desire to become an entrepreneur after the completion of my under graduation (UG). They immediately de-motivated me that I can’t be a successful businessman as I didn’t hail from a business community and also because I was poor in my academics.

They admitted me in a college for Post Graduation even when I was in my UG final year. After completing the final year in UG I failed in Discrete Math’s and I was treated as a failed guy in life. My mother and grandmother were crying day in and out adding a sense of insecurity which only demolished my confidence.

Then to stay away from all these negativity I started a business and started working from my friend’s office. Within a year I got a lot of self confidence and also I cleared my arrear. The very next year my parents forced me to join PG which I refused to do. When they asked me to get out of the house I was prepared as I had developed my self confidence by this time.

Thought it was a tough two months I has to pass after getting the exam results I always think I’m an entrepreneur today just because of the failed result. If I passed at first attempt I’d have joined PG and would have taken a job after it and would have been on the list of guys who never followed their dreams. 

Today I had discussion with one of my Director about the financial crunch we are facing because of Paypal and also because of poor collections. All I told him was we have to learn the lessons and to dig for the opportunity hidden inside the turbulence. At this time what I expect from my team members is to believe in their skills and stay focuses and break the way to success.

All I can tell at this point in Tough Times Doesn’t Last!! But Tough People Do…

ONE PARAGRAPH THAT EXPLAINS LIFE


Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of CANCER. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed:

“Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease”? 

To this Arthur Ashe replied: The world over — 5 crore children start playing tennis,

50 lakh learn to play tennis, 5 lakh learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD “Why me?” And today in pain I should not be asking GOD “Why me?”

Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, sorrow keeps you Human, Failure Keeps u Humble and Success keeps you glowing, but only God Keeps you going.

IF Poem


I love this IF poem by Rudyard Kipling. This poem motivates me a lot and thanks to my friend Kaviraj for letting me know about this poem. 

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Power of Self


Don’t say you’re not important,
It simply isn’t true,
The fact that you were born,
Is proof, God has a plan for you.
The path may seem unclear right now,
But one day you will see,
That all that came before,
Was truly meant to be,
God wrote the book that is Life,
That’s all you need to know.
Each day that you are living,
Was written long ago.
God only writes best sellers,
So be proud of who you are,
Your character is important,
In this book, you are the ‘Star‘…

Law of the Garbage Truck


One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. 

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so….  Love the people who treat you right. Forgive the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a garbage-free day!

Nice management stories


Nice management stories through Gopal Ramanan.

A story from Buddha’s life…

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water, and right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha. Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be…. and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water. Your mind is also like that! When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.” What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.”

Having ‘Peace of Mind’ is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process! When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

Don’t keep distance

A saint asked his disciples, ‘Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, ‘Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.’

‘But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?’ asked the saint. ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, ‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.’

Then the saint asked, ‘What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…’

The saint continued, ‘When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.

Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

 MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.

Sign board posted by Indian Army


india

One of the best Photographs of a life time, especially for Indians…

Feel Proud to be an Indian… Born free… Born equal… Celebrate human rights… Be united….

Happy Independance Day


imagesIt is our 62nd Independence Day and I’m proud to be a citizen of this great country. Which country in the world has 31 States, 1618 Languages, 6400 Casts, 6 Religion and 29 Major Festivals but united as one country INDIA.

Literacy Rate during Independence was 12.2% and now it is 70% and this accomplishment has made the world to turn back and look at India.

I take this opportunity to salute all the Freedom Fighters, Freedom Martyrs, Martyrs of Wars, and Martyrs of Terrorism who struggled without any personal desire and has given us such a peaceful place to live.

Wish you all a happy Independence Day… Jai Hind… Vande Matharam…