Thursday 17 September 2015

The Most Powerful Mantra for Achieving your Goal


One of the definition of Success is achievement of an action within a specified period of time or within a specified parameter. 

Success also means completing an objective or reaching a goal. 

I am often asked  about achieving goals . 

"Ananya, I make several plans , I know my goal, but somewhere down the line , things seem to fizzle out . I lose track of things, the vision of my goal becomes blurred . When this happens, I start getting demotivated . And finally , I give up .... !  What should I do ?? "

All of us have some goal or the other. One person might have a goal of achieving the highest rung in the organization, another person's goal can be to complete his/her Ph.D  and yet another one may have a goal

to become rich.  I can dream of becoming a world famous author one day and my friend can have a goal to lose 10 Kg weight.

Whatever it is, goals are important for the individual. And having a goal is very important. Goals helps us to create a purpose. Goals help us to move forward. It inspires us, it creates a zeal for life. 

But the million dollar question is, How do we achieve our Goals without being waylaid ?

If you search on the net, you will find several tips, advice , articles on this topic. 

But , according to me , the most powerful Mantra for achieving your goal is daily ritual . 

Let me elaborate. 

Suppose , my goal is to compete in a Marathon Race next year.  I will plan for my exercizes, food, workouts etc.  I know that everyday I have to do 1 hour of running , eat a particular no. of calories etc. 

I am very motivated for 2 weeks and follow these verbatim. But slowly, things start fizzling out. Some days I don't feel like getting up in the morning, some days I binge. 

But, if we include these points as a part of my daily ritual - for example, after getting up in the morning, do we think that today I have to brush my teeth ? No! We go to the washroom and brush our teeth instinctively . 

That is exactly what I mean. 

In the above example, if I start keeping my walking shoes and outfit beside my bed, I will not need to THINK about putting them on.  Once I am ready , I will definitely go for my daily morning run.  Because, it has become a daily ritual for me. 

In the same way, if my goal is to complete a novel within a year,  it should be a part of my daily ritual to sit on my writing desk with my laptop and write. Yes, I agree that some days I will write crap, but I am sure that there will be days when I will be brilliant and my novel will be complete. 

Success does not come easily.  

For succeeding, we have to create positive rituals in our daily routine which will amalgamate with our goals.  And yes, we have to persist on these consistently. 

The 3 P's of of success along with daily rituals are : 

Persistence,  Perseverance , Patience ...

Achieve your goal and see what life has in store for you !!



Thursday 10 September 2015

7 ways to deal with Mean People

Yesterday I read a very interesting piece in India Today , a leading magazine in India and I wanted to share it with my blog readers. 

It is titled "Our Strange World of Work".  Coming to think of it, the world is comprised of human beings and all of us are different ! This makes management of our workforce quite difficult as we have to deal differently with different people ! Definitely difficult , but inevitably interesting ! 

This different dealing is for everybody ... Team members, colleagues and  supervisors . 

So, how do we behave? Specially with mean and negative people? The following points are helpful. 


1. Insecure - They think that they know everything . They micromanage 
  • If S/he is your boss, keep her updated. Stick to your deadlines and always keep her posted about ALL the risks and issues

2. Liar - Makes Excuses, manipulator 
  • Never ever trust them. Document each and every move to secure yourself.

3. Excluder - They only look for personal gain. If not, you do not exist for them !
  • Try to keep a straight face without showing any emotion. It is better to keep minimum communication

4. Toxic - Backstabber, game player
  • Do not indulge in any gossip with them. Minimum communication.  Do not follow any advice or suggestion from them

5. Screamer - Insults, attention seeking, yells
  • Keep off as much as possible. Do not scream back. But do not let them trample over you.  Talk about any bad behaviour meted towards you as and when it happens

6. Narcissist - Wants everyone to feed their ego
  • Do not show emotion. And no need to feed their ego

7. Incompetent - Takes the credit of the work done by other people

  • Never pass on information directly to them. The information should be fed through neutral sources. 


I am sure you will be able to identify these people at your workplace. So try these out and let me know the results !

And of course , have fun !