Before i die, i want to....

If you read my previous blog post, i had a very tough time adjusting my posture while working. But i am making some progress, unfortunately i do not have any pictures as proof. Its been a while since i rambled on something.

You may hear a lot of people saying or writing, Before i die i want to (BIDIW2); the end is either one thing or a list of things. Some people are even very diligent about writing it on their blog, wall, office desk, etc. Usually if you care enough to write it down then you care enough to do it. I am a big believer of the "BIDIW2" framework (funny that i term it as a framework, being in the software development world has made every little thing "framework"). The only problem that i have with it is the limits it puts on you to do something and is also one of the reason i don't write it down.

Writing a task and finishing it gives you a sense of achievement but it also makes you complacent which may stop you to explore new things. I started very small, driving my Honda Civic at 90 MPH (i am not proud of myself, but i just wanted to do it once). I became more adventurous and finished a road trip from the East coast to the West coast, then hiking the highest peak in Northeast America (Mount Washington), start a blog, etc.

You get the idea by now, what i am trying to say. OK, let me spell it out for you. You don't have to put limits on yourself and you don't need a magic pill to be LimitLess. If you have something on your mind, don't hesitate, just go for it.

What do you have on your list ?

How Open are WE ??

I consider myself to be an "OPEN" person. Last week i started thinking what does "OPEN" mean in the context of life. Being OPEN to a new cuisine ? Being OPEN to learning ? Being OPEN to make new friends. Well it all added to being "OPEN to CHANGE". Sounds Simple but yet so Difficult.

A couple of weeks back i took an ergonomic class and the instructor showed us the right posture whilst at work. I quickly realized that in 6 years of my professional life, i did everything possibly wrong ergonomically. I decided to change the height of my chair, get rid of the arm rests, align the monitor with my eye, etc. Half an hour after the transformation process, i switched everything over to the way it was. I never cared about it before but a conscious effort to change things made me uncomfortable.

I could not help thinking that this is not the right posture and in the long term is going to lead to a chronic disease so I decided to take "BABY STEPS" (Remember Govinda in Deewana Mastana) and started with just adjusting the height of the seat. Its not the best way to sit while at work and while i tried convincing myself that CHANGE is good, all the chairs in my pod were changed overnight.

I start all over again next week, but learnt that i am not as "OPEN to CHANGE" as i thought.

Circle Of Influence !!!

How many have you heard of the "Circle Of Influence" ?

If you are not familiar, go on and read, else read it anyways. I got familiar with this topic through one of my professors in graduate school and he did not mention it as one of things "Highly Effective" people do. He was professing us on "stuff" (people, work, acts, deeds, etc) that make us happy.

That was year 2008 and i decided to implement the concept in my life. I took a different approach and decided that i am not going to worry about things that are not in my influence. 2008 was a difficult year in the US economy when the news of layoffs, unemployment, housing bubble were the headlines. I needed a job and my zillion applications had yielded only one interview which i did not clear.

This was the first time in my life i felt "stressed". There were tense and anxious moments before but always had that feeling, that "All will be Well", but this was more than an engineering exam, a final presentation. It made me thinking and in that moment, my professor (A Sri Lankan) invited the class to his home for dinner. I decided to go and am grateful i did.

That night, after coming back, i sat with a pen and paper. I listed all my worries, concerns and drew the Circle of Concern. I quickly realized that about 60% of my concerns were the ones which i had no control/influence, so i forced myself to stop worrying on them. For e.g. I was really concerned about my resume not being selected by any company and was also worried about the content on my resume. I quickly realized that i had influence over what went on my resume, but had no control over what employers were seeking.

I never thought, such a simple action would simplify my life, cleanse my thoughts and make me so happy. You can use this approach to many things, as "highly effective" do in their lives. If you have used the Circle of Influence and want to share your experience, please leave a comment....

Live Happy !!!!

Wants vs Needs....

As most of you know i put a lot of thought in my blog, there are days and days of research, hours of thinking and writing and it took me two weeks to come up with this post.

Last week, i stumbled upon an archived article here on a personal finance blog that i read regularly (It gives me an idea how other people manage their personal finances) . If you do manage reading the whole of article, you will realize that wealthy people do very basic things that we all know to build wealth.

I made me think that to build wealth, its very important to differentiate between your WANTS and NEEDS. Personally i define a "WANT" as anything i wish i would/could have and a "NEED" as a necessity for my daily routine. I decided to add that as Lesson 0. After you differentiate that, you can definitely budget (Lesson 2 in the article) more for your needs and some for your wants (We are humans, its tough to resist the urge), which in turn makes you happy (Lesson 9). What it will also give you is a view of your spending (where your money goes ?? Lesson 3).

I am not going to go over all the lessons, as most of you will relate some of the lessons to your life. Finally, I encourage you to share your opinions and experiences as I would love to hear your thoughts on how much time you spend on your finances or how do you resist the impulse buy?

Live Simple and Think High !!!!!

P.S :- If you believed the first sentence of this blog, that was a BAZINGAAA !!! I got lazy and went for a small trip on Memorial Day weekend.

How do i thank you MOM ?

How do i thank you MOM ??? 

I thought of sending a flower bouquet on Mothers day to my mom, but soon realized that its not enough. I kept thinking and concluded that there is no gesture which would match her love and sacrifices. I also realized that i don't need a Mothers Day to express my love, all she needs a hug or some words of appreciation. 

I remember the days when she used to scold me for not eating home-cooked food and now i miss that same "mom-cooked" food. I still don't know how she comes to know that i have a cough or cold (i try my best to deceive her) on the phone just after i say Hello. She still advises me to take haldi waala milk, oil my hair, eat fruits, relentless mention about praying to GOD, i tell her "MOM, i know. I am old enough to take care of myself". She replies, "No Matter how old you get, I am your mom and you are still a kid to me".

What did you gift your mother today?? 

All i could manage is this blog post and a phone call.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY !!!!

What you learn from whom we admire ?

As a follow up to my previous blog....

A lot of times we wish we were like somebody else, for e.g i wish i would be like Sachin Tendulkar. (For those who don't know who he is, read this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar ). I would like to clarify that i do not want to play Cricket like him (Well, i do secretly want that), but when i take a moment and rethink, i don't want that. What i want to learn from him is his "WORK ETHIC" and his "ZEAL TO LEARN" of his work (Cricket).

We admire a lot of people in our life, but we don't realize that we actually admire certain qualities of them. I think if we start learning from these qualities and apply them in our jobs, we would be much better at doing it. Doing good at our jobs makes us successful (Not rich) and happy and makes us not dread that Monday Morning.  

Do what you LOVE or WORK towards it

Have you ever heard or felt the Sunday Evening Depression (Just google "Sunday evening de.." ? It's also known as "Sunday Night blues" for school going kids who are anxious for the week ahead in school. For adults, its the work week. The 5 days of work bring a lot of anxiety, but should you feel the anxiety ? Didn't we take the job at will? Nobody forced us to take the job as kids are forced to go to school.

It may sound like a repeated advice, "Find your dream job" or "Chase your dreams". Practically speaking, its not possible for most of us to pursue our dreams, either due to responsibilities or student loan/credit card debt. Spending 5 days a week, 260 days a year or approximately 72 % of your work life doing something we don't like can lead to a lots of frustration and stress.

Why do i care to tell you about this? I am going to share my experience about meeting somebody who made me realize that sometimes you take steps that bring unhappiness to yourself but help us achieve what we want. When i was talking to him, i did not realize that he was divorced and had a son. He loved to spend a lot of time with his son (Who wouldn't ??) and his current job did not give him enough time to hang out with his son. He said, i do this job so that he would have to never say no to his son to go for a football game. He plans to quit and chase his dream when his son is off to college.

What did i learn from him ?? Do what you LOVE or WORK towards it