Tata Hexa - Drive the Hextraordinary

How does one launch a superstar? Make him work on his skills, physique, looks, dialogue delivery, dance moves, style and get launched with a bang. Well, that is what you would be thinking when you look at Tata Hexa. 

Built to handle anything that Indian roads can give you, from rocky terrain to waterlogged scary drive that keeps you guessing where the next pothole would be, Tata Hexa can handle anything, well almost. Did you see how many vehicles are getting launched from the Tata stable? This new stallion will up the ante for the much-needed relief within an affordable price range. Hexa experience as they called it was a complete one.

I was invited to check out Tata Hexa in Bangalore and the moment I entered this was an experience like no other. The place had a party atmosphere and had something or the other for everyone in the family. Tatas are known for their endeavors to impact everyone and this was truly a family experience. While the ladies were busy checking out jewelry shopping, teens were engaged in games section trying out board games, there were few canine friends up for adoption and those eyes couldn't let you pass. Too many Oohs and Aahs around the kennel and the food courts kept you going, but I must tell you about the centerpiece, the superstar of the evening - Tata Hexa. With a very dominant presence, it looks like it meant business.

 

  

With 19 inch alloy wheels with superb suspension, LED DRLs, curved real lamps, stand out no-nonsense grill, curves at the right places, clean looking leather finished dashboard, air vents on all rows, comfy seats which give you enough leg room to relax, touch screen control for a music system, navigation, 12 V charging points at all rows, additional light in the glove box, cooled compartment for beverages, reading lamps... I can go on and it looks like a comfy private spa while you cruise along the jagged terrain.

While the Varicor 400 diesel engine powers you enough to climb up steep angles with seven people in the car, the 6-speed transmission can let you chase dreams. Built to take your family and friends out, the higher end version can pack in a camper set and loads of luggage on the top making it ideal for getting out of the grind. Ah! I love the smell of a new car.

While you have many options from the market now that offer some of these features like Bolero, Xuv, Fortunner, this new stallion can make your heart skip a beat without hurting your pockets. I love the simple linear design with curves where you need them. I felt very comfortable to drive it around and take 180-degree turns with ease despite its size. The only regret is that they did not let me drive on that high ramp :( 

Loved the use of chrome in many places giving it the glitter when you clean it or drive in the rain. With the ex-showroom price to be around 18 lakhs for the higher end model, Tata Hexa is worth every penny. I would recommend getting all accessories done at the showroom itself for an additional 1.5 lakhs as they blend with the Hexa Experience. Well thought out, simple yet not imposing designs make your stallion sizzle when you take out for a drive. Move over Innova, Fortunner, the new superstar is here.

#Hexaexperience #TalktoTiger

Amazon Prime Photos has all new features! Plus an opportunity to win a $500 gift card provided by Amazon.com

I love shooting photos on my DSLR, my phone, iPad and however and wherever possible. There is practically a huge dump of pics of us, places, children and all family moments I don't want to loose any of them as they don't just bring memories back to me but help me remember the joy we had as a family together. Nothing can be more valuable than that. 

Now I have an external hard disk that holds all my photos and important documents and you can see my horror when it stopped responding and I had to run around to get the data retrieved. This is a shocking revelation to me when he mentioned that the life of the external hard disk is only 1-2 years at maximum! Now that I had to go and run behind every tech guy to get my pictures back (hoping I would get all of them), I was checking for some kind of family vault for photo storage, family photo sharing and free up space on your phone and laptop. I was actually super excited when this amazing offer from Amazon came across. I am sure it would bowl you over.

Amazon has launched an all-new Prime Photos experience with Family Vault. Now, Prime members can share their benefit of unlimited photo storage with up to five family members or friends at no additional cost. Prime Photos is free for Prime members and makes it easy for family members to safely store and share all their favorite photos.

You can not just get access to your photos anytime you want but also have a Quickly find and rediscover your favorite photos by people or place. Prime members can now invite up to five people to join their Family Vault and access the benefits of unlimited photo storage, at no additional cost and guess what! Prime Photos is free for Prime members. Now that is a boon as I was actually contemplating how do I keep my photos safe as competition is really pricey and undependable. It also frees up space on your phone.

One of the most comfortable features on Amazon prime is family sharing and you can order photo prints, cards, photo books, and calendars directly from your Prime Photos account. The next interesting feature is easily searchable option that help me sift by topic, place, occasion and people! Additional new features include - Image Search, People view, and Places view. And Prime members can now order photo prints, cards, photo books, and calendars directly from their Prime Photos account. Now, what are you waiting for? Check Amazone Prime photos out. Download the new Prime Photos app here: www.tinyurl.com/PrimePhotos

Thanks to Amazon for sponsoring this post and providing prizes for the giveaway!

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Garmin Vivosmart HR - In-depth review

I am one of those few people who needs a little nudge to get up and take a walk or go to gym or take a dip in the pool. While it is not difficult to track and remember to work out or play every day, it becomes a boring task unless there is a goal. In such situations, it is essential to have a good partner who works out with you or a dog who can make sure to get you moving. However the most practical way is to push yourself to do things and with the modern lifestyle is to have technology help you. I tend to ignore my health. I am sure you do too. I got my hands on the Garmin Vivosmart HR a couple of months back and I am totally in love with it. While I love watches and have quite a collection of them, I couldn’t get myself to move on to fitness trackers as they would just take the look away from my wrist and it is tedious to have a decent watch and a tracker. Garmin Vivosmart HR will change that opinion.

What is in the box?

Garmin takes up the policy of no nonsense packing and gives you a small box which holds the device, charger cable, a small guide and that’s it.

The cable is simple to use and click perfectly even after multiple usages on to the strap of the watch and works with an USB port. The average charging time is about an hour and it works with full utility for about 2-3 days. I had to turn off unnecessary notifications from my phone like WhatsApp, Facebook as they were over distracting and it worked for almost a week. That is pretty decent battery time for a watch cum tracker. The best part here is that the charger points aren't hindered even though the device is deeply waterproofed.

The device is very simple to look at, weighs about 31 grams and has a non-allergic band that fits to your arm so naturally that you won’t even realise it is there. The two sensors under the hood that seek your pulse on your wrist are lit up with green lights and are close to be accurate. The strap comes in various sizes and has enough margin to adjust to your wrist. There is a button on the device that helps you pull up menus on the screen and also to turn on/off.

You need to download the Vivosmart HR app on your phone from the app store and it is good to go.

Screen options:

First things first let us talk about the look and feel. The watch is designed to be subtle and has a backlit display screen that is very decent for its size and performs well under the ultimate pressure situations I put it through. It is very readable in daylight yet calmer in darkness. The screen comes  alive with twist of your wrist and is very useful as it turns on when you twist to see the time and goes blank when you flick your wrist again.

Daily Activity and sleep monitoring:

At the basic level Vivosmart HR tracks your steps, sleep, stairs climbed, calories burnt, distance traveled and your heartbeat. As in other devices that track your heart rate from your wrist, the more away from the wrist bone, the better is the reading. Vivosmart HR comes with a special Garmin algorithm that ensures it doesn't read non-walking exercises like driving, playing a video game, popping as your steps. It is not 100% accurate but much better than all the contemporary devices available in this price range.

The number of steps you have taken today is the second screen to the default one (which gives you time, date...) and another useful thing here on the steps page is that it also gives you the average steps taken in the last one week! This is pretty good when you compare to setting a standard 6000/8000 steps and calling it a goal as it pushes you to do a bit more than yesterday. Though this dynamic counter updates almost every day, skipping the target once in a whole doesn't bring it down very much. You can override it and set your own goal but you would want to keep it this way to see where you are going. You get rewarded by small fireworks display on your screen when you reach the target.

The next screen gives you the distance traveled and the calories (which uses the optical HR Sensor). But it also includes basic bodily functions in this calculations.

You will also be able to see moderate exercise minutes during the week and work towards them. Which means you should at least get 150-180 minutes (30 mins/day) of moderate exercise per week and Vivosmart HR helps you monitor that. You can also modify this to set your own goal.

Next important feature is that you get to see the number of floors climbed. Here the altimeter is in play as it tracks how many floors you went up and how many you went down. Though the ones you go up are displayed on your watch screen, full information is updated on your phone when you sync it. This is accurate most of the time unless you are waving your arms on a slow elevator or taking a flyover or a flight. I pretty much liked it that way.

Let us talk about sleep monitoring.

This is one of the coolest features the watch offers you as it gives you not just the sleep times but also the metrics like when you fell asleep, partially awake, awake, when you woke up. Accuracy here is pretty good but I was upset with my deep sleep time as I realised I am not sleeping well or tossing on the bed many times. It did show a 4 hour deep sleep for one day when I was really exhausted and slept like a log. I cannot guarantee the accuracy here for deep sleep timing but let us say it is at 80% of the time based on how satisfied I woke up.

Running or walking:

Did I mention that Vivosmart HR has a special screen only to track your moderate exercise activity? There is an icon of a running man that you need to touch and start your activity and then it tracks your workout. Though it looks simple, you can actually check and set up tracking of heart rate, distance, calories, time among others. While it rewards you with almost accurate timings and distance you need to set your stride length in the app to measure your workout better.

It enables you to have autolap for every mile or kilometre and it will notify you by vibration. This becomes very helpful when you are running or swimming. The only drawback here is that it doesn't come with a GPS nor is it enabled to track using the mobile device.

Optical HR Sensor:

Garmin uses their own sensor called 'Elevate' which is quite positive though I have had some issues when the watch moves towards the wrist bone. It serves multiple purposes: monitoring heart rate all through the day, more accurately during workout, it can also connect to ANT+ or other devices. This is the best monitoring among all the devices as it track more information than any other devices. It also gives you the average heart beat too to tell you how your day has been, i.e., current HR vs Average resting HR.

Accuracy level: 80% which is pretty good for a device measuring from your wrist.

Smart phone connectivity:

Though there is an option for giving you all the updates from your phone, I personally found it distracting and didn't use it for more than a day. Here are the functionalities: You can see the calls, text messages, WhatsApp, Facebook updates which show you the first line or up to 50 characters on the screen and you have an option to scroll to read the full message. If your mobile is too far away and you want to read it, then using it is fine.

One of the best features is the music control. There is an option for play, pause, previous, next track and the response is quite well at even 20 feet. Now I tried connecting the phone to the Bluetooth speaker and control from Vivosmart HR and it was as smooth as butter :) Very useful when you have a Bluetooth headset and running or riding or swimming. You can freak some people out when the songs change without touching.

The only drawback is that there is no storage capacity for the music on the phone. But it’s okay as you constantly play music from your phone seamlessly.

You can also read data like temperature, weather from your phone and decide where you are running - outdoor or the treadmill.

The Garmin mobile app is pretty cool as they have too many things in detail as you can see in some of the screens below and the sync is quite fast and you have a whole dump of data on your phone.

To summarize, if you are looking for a high quality fitness tracker that has multiple functionalities and are looking at someone to push you, nudge you and track your steps and help in running, this is the best one available at that cost. You can buy one from amazon for around INR 12000. It can be really good for the features it is providing and can be helpful if you have just started being serious about getting fit and running. It also ranks pretty high when it comes to heart rate sensor devices and looks pretty cool on your wrist. Though it is not a head turner to be frank, it is not distracting as well. I would have loved to have a bigger display and more stats to play around on the screen while keeping the sleek design. They could improve on the battery too and make it last longer than what it is now. It is very decent in its deliverables as long as you work out regularly and love tracking your stats and taking life seriously. You deserve a Garmin Vivosmart HR to take a good look at your health.

Pick it up here now!

Monday Blues: Get moving

Did you realize which month this is? I was signing on some documents yesterday and realized that we are already in the tenth month! October is here already. With 75% of the year gone behind I was just thinking what did I achieve this year and how do I summarize what is my contribution to work, family and myself! How much more did I achieve to do and with little time left can I achieve it.

Have you been procrastinating about what you want to do and how you want to do it? Time to get up, stop thinking and start getting things done. For laziness is one allergy we all can do away with. At work I create, develop and execute strategies that help the brand move forward and ahead of its competition and if there is on down day, slack day or an off day, it can hurt the whole brand. I have to keep my radars up and going to ensure that each and every interaction is up to the mark and we deliver happiness. It is a war out there and you need to keep pushing and advancing to stay in the game.

Don't waste another day. We all have limited time on the earth and it is a count down clock which is not waiting on you. Let us make the best out of that. It is not too late yet. Get out there beat your blues and make a plan for the remaining 88 days and get things done! Go on. Have a plan. Get moving.

Have a great day!

Shine with Bosch

How many of you love your bike and car more than your girlfriend? How much time do you spend cleaning your car or bike every day? For many of us washing your car or bike is not just for cleaning it but a therapeutic. Some of us enjoy cleaning the bike everyday like a ritual. You might forget shaving but the bike cleaning and car washing doesn't stop at any cost. Even on a rainy day. Never mind the back ache after the procedure. If you are one of these cleanliness fanatics like me, this article is gold for you.

This Saturday something special happened in Bengaluru. Apart from the rain gods showing their fury on illogical expansion and a bandh for water, it was heaven for bikers and driving enthusiasts to take out their  machines for a ride. We all huddled on the drizzling yet warm morning at Royal Orchids to try out the new solution for car and bike washing from Bosch Power Tools India! Now I was in a surprise as we were greeted by a muddy, dirty SUV, hatchback and a bike that begged to be washed. 

Time to get these machines dirty. We got these professionals throw slushy mud around :)

While the controlled smiles of the Bosch team were intriguing enough we were invited to pour more dirt, mud and slush on the vehicles. You should have seen the enthusiasm with which some of us threw wet muddy slush around. Just to remind you they were already dirty and the mud had dried up and this was a fresh coat of mud we were giving them! After being merciless and making them muddy to an extent that would make the car servicing guys open their mouth wide open with greed and the owners cringe, the first Bosch machine was unveiled. 

Now this is a very light weight machinery, you could easily lift it up with your hand. This actually weight less than half a bucket of water! Once the taps were plugged in came out the water guns. I was skeptical as the machine was too small and looked like it would be just like another pump but I was in for a surprise. Once it was turned on the machine started spewing jets of water with such force that would hurt your hand of placed at the nozzle. But to my delightful surprise and a lot of relieved sighs from the crowd, the water was enough to wipe off the dirt including the dried up layer! 

There were an assortment of brushes and nozzles that would come with the pack and you can easily twist and attach them to the water gun and viola, it cleansed the car clean in no time. You could wash a hatch back from that kind of dirt to a new car in mint condition look in just few minutes. The best part is that it is easy to connect and not at all tiring to use the machines. The smaller size makes it very easy for you to keep them in a corner in your boot and connect wherever you want to! This works wonders especially because it can run from your car battery! Call it German engineering for the Indian conditions. There are many more models in the arsenal to suit your requirements from the number of vehicles you can wash to the pressure you need. All that and more with the assured quality high pressure washer brought to you by Bosch.

Another amazing thing about these Bosch wonders is that they come in handy when you got to clean your deck, flooring, water gardens, glass facades and many such spaces which need high pressure cleaning regularly. Guess what, the pricing is simple superb and would cost you about a dozen good car washes. Apart from making them pocket friendly, Bosch ensured that they are power saving, water saving and hassle free to use. The HPW AQT 35-12 and AQT 37-13 from Bosch Power Tools are engineered to remove stubborn dirt and can perform in the most rugged of environments. This makes it a tool useful for home and garden purposes.

When I tried my hand at washing the hatchback the usual pain areas were so simple to clean. Let me explain. I am talking about the wipers, grill and mag wheels which are the pain points as they end up gathering the maximum dust. By attaching the detergent pot or the 90 degree nozzle to the high pressure washer, I could easily reach these areas and it was kind of fun to get them clean. Why did anyone not think of this before? Bosch High Pressure Washer under the AQT series would be the best way to have fun without getting your hands dirty. Check out the product brochures or walk in to a store to try them out. I would love to have one for the drives in my boot all the time. It is your time to shine with Bosch.

Get all the information you need about the Bosch High Pressure Washers here. #ShinewithBosch

Monday Blues: The Animal in you

Keep the animal in you alive. Never lest it slack and rest. Keep it sharp, alert, agile, active, aggressive and ready. Feed it the blues and make it beat everything and go on. Be on fire, be fast, over perform, over deliver.

Keep searching for the excellence and perfection. Because if you don't, it will be suicide. 

Zip the excuse

Why do we tend to move closer to excuses and find them at every corner and nook? If you need to improve yourself, which all of us need to do, we need to stop finding excuses and do more. Act more, learn more. How can I you may ask. Where can I do? Well this article is about you. 

In the olden days, and in some cases almost a decade ago, education and training was limited to the select few who could afford classes, material and time to go through the process. It was very expensive, time consuming and stressful. Not anymore. Now you have an ocean of knowledge just available on your smart phone and you would be an idiot if you ignore the potential. Don't use your phone to just play games and read jokes on whatsapp. Read good books, search online and train yourself to be better at what you like and what you do. Don't give yourself the reason that you don't have time too. If you can spend 1 hour on facebook, whatsapp, you can definitely spend fifteen minutes a day to learn something new. Do that.

When knowledge is freely available, it is a great equalizer. You need to unleash that potential and use it to your advantage to surge ahead. If you have been given a full paid ticket to learn at Harvard or any other best university in the world, would you just sleep rather spend time reading jokes and unnecessary forwards? The technology has enabled us to do that. Let us push ourselves and learn something new every month. 

When the race needs you to move faster and upgrade, instead of stressing more upgrade your skills. This is a race of death and defeat. So either upgrade or get obsolete. You have no option.

#PositivePsychologist
#atozchallenge
#Ziptheexcuse

Yearn for success

Want success like nothing else. Yearn for it and learn to earn it! The most important thing is wanting success is whether you want it for yourself or for others. If you want to win something for others you might lose interest in between but if you want to win for yourself then there is nothing that can stop you. 

The secret here is to keep yourself going regardless of what the situations are and what people around you tell you. There may be chances of failure but if you keep pushing yourself to do better. When naysayers and situations tell you to stop and be bogged down, tell them to stop irritating you and take a hike. Tell your excuses to take a hike. Tell your problems, issues, fears, distractions to take a hike. Then you take a hike and perform. Because if you don't yearn enough, you will never give enough.

#AtoZChallenge
#ConsumerPsyche
#Yearnenough
 

Don't be a Xerox copy

The brand name has become a common phenomenon to use the name Xerox for a copier and today I want to talk to you about being a rubber stamp. Don't be one. What makes you different from others is your individuality and your touch to the work. If you are just recreating from your previous work today, then it is of no use. You are just repeating everything and it is not going to add anything to you.

At work everyday, try and make small advances to your work and change your work style to match to something new today. Learn something new today and use that to reflect in your work. A new word, a new line, a new idea or anything that you can. 

It is frightening to start something new and think of being acceptable but do give a try. Think of what you can change in your routine, like food, coffee, spices, drink, music, loo, something... change and see how it can make your day different. Life is too short to stick to boring choices. Make a different one today! Make your own choice.

People would recognize you for what you do differently and that would be a part of your character. If you lose that then there is nothing for anyone to remember you about. As parents we should encourage children to have their own individuality and as leaders we must encourage our team to have their own flair and get to the goal. Have that flair for yourself, show me your character.

#PositivePsychologist

#ConsumerPsyche
#BeDifferent
#AtoZChallenge

Winning is a habit

Make winning a habit, whether it is big or small a win is a win and it matters a lot to boost your confidence and the zeal to push forward. Actually winning is a strategic step you need to take. Have a goal, plan the steps to reach the goal, work towards them eagerly and don't give up. Constantly evaluate the steps and see if you need to improve on them. Be mindful of the competition and see how you can beat them. As long as you are performing better than the last time you tried is a win in itself. 

When you are looking to win and are doing it regularly it is a good sign. What if there is no competition? Well you can have one - yourself. Take walking for example, plan and walk a bit more and in better time when you can and if you exceed from yesterday, it is a win.

When you are obsessively passionate about your work and are changing the world on bit at a time everyday, then you are a winner. Find a work that does exactly this and be fanatic about it. Unless you are deeply passionate about going to work today, then you need to keep looking and find what do you like to do. Like Steve Jobs said, winning is a good habit and you need to keep it all the time. Trust me once you win, you will cherish that feeling so much that you want it again. Having a passion to come out on top would motivate you to the ends of this world and beyond. 

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#WinningisaHabit
#AtoZChallenge

Up you go

When things don't go your way and you are pushed to the lowest point in life, be happy and celebrate for anything that can happen from now on can only mean one thing - it is going to be better!

Last couple of weeks I have been blogging about positive psychology and today this topic would definitely cheer you up. I believe God does not give you more temptations that you can handle and when you are being tested, believe that you are made tough to handle that and hence the test. You don't test a car at a certain speed unless you know it can handle. Similarly God doesn't test you against situations where you can come out a victor. There is a solution to this madness and God wants to you to handle.

Remember the analogy of the rubber ball. What happens when you hit the ball hard on a wall? It bounces back with the same speed that you hit it with. What happens when you leave the ball on the floor? It stays there depending on the gravity pull. The harder you hit, the harder you bounce back and that is the secret to success in life. When you face a failure, take a detour and walk as if nothing happened, with the same gait, bounce and joy in your step. If any, you have become wiser.

Learning to pick yourself up when pushed down is the ultimate key to survival. And don't we all love a winner? So when you are down look up and push yourself up.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#Pickyourselfup
#AtoZChallenge#WorkBlues

Team Maker

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a captain who has seen many victories in his life as a cricketer. His captaincy style is lauded and he is one of the best captains Indian cricket has ever seen. Nadal and Federer are probably two of the best tennis players the world has ever seen and have won numerous matches and titles. Saina Newal is one of the best badminton players in the world. All these people have something in common regardless of the sport. Though they come out as winners and are seen on the podium, they cannot reach there without a massive team effort behind them. Teams of people who take care of them right from training to food to studying the competition to helping them to move on and surge from defeat to victory. The best of the best are because of their teams and it is always a joy to work in teams.

Today's tip would be to work with an awesome team both in life and work. At home make a team with your partner, kids, parents, family and ensure they all know what their roles are and make sure each of them fulfill that to the best of their abilities. The roles can be insignificant to your goal but still they may have to function a particular way to let you win. A team that works together wins together. No role is anything less than what it should be and none of the contributions can be ignored.

Same applies to work where your office boy who gives you water and coffee needs to function efficiently to ensure all the staff goes on their work in an efficient manner. Same applies to your driver, lift operator and many others who help the day go on. Most of these jobs get minimal appreciation and thankless comments are galore. We need to understand that unless these people are at their best, the damage is immense and hence it is important to have them work efficiently every day.

Build a team of people who enjoy their work around you. Be thankful, respectful and appreciate their contribution to the main cause. I have seen worst of the people come out with grace with a little appreciation where money and force couldn't. Train if required and make each one of your team understand their purpose of work. Be a team maker and when your team is shining, you will too.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#TeamMaker
#AtoZChallenge

#WorkBlues

Simplicity

Simplicity is a virtue not many possess and not many can handle. The quicker you get to learn to handle that you would be a winner. Simplicity in what you may ask, so here I go! In everything we do in our lives from things we need, buy, use, how we celebrate, communicate, appreciate, criticize and assume. Look at some of the best world leaders in thought and culture, they have been at their best when they were simple.

Let us start with what we expect from our family. When you get served food, love and affection, learn to appreciate the time taken by the other person in getting things done despite having their own problems and the effort put into bringing things together. Don't fuss about presentation, taste, color, warmth of the food and so on but appreciate that it is there. A small compliment would go a long way in boosting the confidence and appreciation is like wild fire, catches things that are dormant for ages and lights them up. If you really need a presentation try working in the kitchen for a day catering to the family or find a high class restaurant. 

At work, do not be fussy about the way things go about. Being simplistic in your choices. The simpler your choices are the easier it would be to handle the situation. Let me give you another example. Steve Jobs is well known all over for his creativity, innovation in design and business acumen. He could do things that no one else could do in terms of creating trends that world would wake up to. In his personal life he chose a principle of simplicity, which many often ascribe to his visit to India and the principles of Buddhism, Jainism and ancient Hindu Sattvic life values, he kept his choices simple. He always wore a black turtle-neck tee shirt and jeans as he thought these mundane things like dressing up every day would be of no use when you need to focus on more important things about life, work and so on. This principle in life is also seen in the design of the iphone and ipad which had only one button on the top. In the world of mobiles having multiple buttons, this was a revolutionary innovation but it makes your life simple and clean. The same dressing style is taken up by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who shows up with a ash round neck tee and jeans unless he is in a suit.

Have simple choices and in life. People around you would fuss for a while, then give up and then ignore and then choose to respect your choices. About ten years ago I started wearing a black tee shirt and jeans to work and kept at it. I get a lot of time to think, use my time in a much better way. Try it out and I am sure you would like it. Have a simply awesome life.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#KeepitSimple
#AtoZChallenge

#WorkBlues

Run Run Run

Yes run run and run. You got to keep running. Imagine life is a race and the winner gets a lot of things but the loser in the race is dead and forgotten. Dead I am okay but forgotten I am not and I don't want to be one of those people who came here, lived here and went on his way with no memories, laurels and positivism left behind. Today we are talking about positive psychology and self help tips and the basis of survival.

Whenever I want to get charged up and learn something about survival, I turn to mother nature to show us examples. In a herd of deer when being chased by the tiger, the deer have to outrun others but also keep running till it is safe. That is for today and tomorrow the tiger might return and the game is always like that. Keep surviving, be the fastest in the group and do it again tomorrow. 

How do we do that? Keep your energy levels so high that you can keep running, learning, winning and not giving up or slacking? Look at these small creatures who keep themselves busy all the time. Ants! Ants have an amazing sense of purpose. Take whatever they want to do, they will be persistent and keep doing it even if it means losing their life over it. Have you ever seen an ant sleeping, lazying or relaxing? Never. If it is not moving, it means it is dead. Isn't life like that? For every opportunity, we let go, for every chance we stop taking up, there will be hundred people willing to take that up and surge ahead. Learn to keep yourself motivated, learn the art of continuity. Realise the importance of being on the run. Got to keep running.

When you have continuity in whatever you are doing, you will be alive. You can have a dream, goal, target you want to achieve and that would drive you till you reach there. Similarly when you have the zeal in your to perform, to stay ahead, you always win. Regardless of what position in the race you are, if you are ahead of where you want to be, then you are winning. Have no one to beat but you. Bring the best out of yourself today. Come back tomorrow and do it again. Run, win, run, win, repeat.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#Keeprunning
#AtoZChallenge

#WorkBlues

Quest on

The pundits would have giggled when they formed the word Question. As we are talking about self help tips and positive psychology to succeed at workplace this month, let us talk about learning through questioning.

As kids we all are open to ask question. Remember your school days? But as we grow up we shy away. Each day when you go about your work question yourself how do we do this better? Is this the best way to go about this work problem or can I find a more interesting way, more easier way or more fun way to do this. Then try and do it some other way and see how it works out. If there is an easier way you should find out, find it out!

When you come across any word you cant decipher, check it out. Find out the meaning right then and there. You need some tools on your phone, ipad or on computer to set that thing on. Learn how to write better, speak better. Keep learning.

One thing I am addicted to is reading. Reading can open up your mind and change your perspectives, help generate new ideas, give solutions to problems, create new ones :) Basically help you in changing the stautus quo. Pick books that matter to you and talk about things you are interested in. Read life histories, read leadership, management books (time, life, people, love and so on). Pick up fiction, poetry, music whatever motivates you and keeps you going. Pick anything you want but keep the quest on.

At work learn new things you can do, learn what your colleagues do, superiors do, what you can do to go to the next level and perform better. Question the status quo and see that you understand, change, lead and motivate yourself and others to perform better.

At home ask questions to your wife about her day. She would have have an exciting day too. Check that out. Lend a genuine ear and empathise with her work and life and celebrate her success more than you celebrate yours. If she wins, you have already won. Question your kids about their day at school/college/work and encourage their victories, make it a big deal, lend an ear to their troubles, problems and see how they can work it out. Question your parents about their day, issues and what not. Seek the kid in you to be alive with the curiosity quotient at the peak and keep learning for the day you stop learning and questioning is the day you cease to live and just exist. Don't be a zombie, be alive - Question.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#Question
#AtoZChallenge
#MondayBlues

Passion is the key

What is life without a passion? What is the use of owing the best car without the fuel? Passion is vital to any success. When you see Usain Bolt breeze through the 100 metre track like a lightening, what we see is that Usain makes it look easy. What we don't see is the pain and the struggle that goes behind the training and thousands of hours to make that happen.

Every moment when you are building up to something, creating something you are forced to think to quit, to give it up and move on to easier tasks and find out the less painful way to success. Unless you have the passion to follow it up. Unless you have the passion to push you further, to unleash the demons in you, to fuel you, to let you run the longest with the last drop of energy in your body. Passion is the key for success. Passion drives you, drains you, encourages you, kills you but passion makes you win and makes you a hero.

Have a passion in your life, find what you love and make it your life's purpose to be the best in what you love. Learn what you need to, acquire the skillset required to do that, train like hell, train like there is no tomorrow. Learn, learn, learn and then learn again. You cannot should not must not and will not give up. Because giving up is not an option. Giving up is for duffers. Giving up is for losers. For when you give up, you already lose. You let yourself down. Don't push yourself back. Push ahead. Push harder. Push yourself. You need to do this and move ahead. Surge ahead. Win this. Close this. Seal this with a victory and your name written on it. That is possible with passion. Guess what, if you are passionate enough you can win this and make it look easy when you do that.

Check out this video of Usain Bolt training. How many times he throws up, tires down and looks to quit but he doesn't. He pushes on to be faster. His passion drives him.

Never give up! Cheers to passion.

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#PassionistheKey
#AtoZChallenge
#MondayBlues