Fix it

Is it broken?

or is it ready to be fixed?
You choose!

Swagger

Seth's post today is very apt. Show me the money!

One way that marketers (of any stripe) make an impact is by displaying confidence. Consumers figure that if a marketer is confident in their offering, they ought to be confident in the marketer as return. We often assume that confidence means that something big is on offer.

The problem with swagger is that if you're the swaggering marketer, you might run into a competitor with even more swagger than you. When that happens, it's time to show your cards, the justification for your confidence. And if you don't deliver, you've done nothing but disappoint the person who believed in you.

Substance without swagger slows you down. But swagger without substance can be fatal. Right now, we're seeing more swagger than ever—but it's rarely accompanied by an increase in substance...

The rule is simple: it's essential to act the part. And it's even more important for it to be real.

Fight Envy!

Envy can ruin reputations, split churches, and cause murders. 

Envy can shrink our circle of friends, ruin our business, and dwarf our souls. 

I have seen hundreds cursed by it! 

 (Billy Graham)

Aducation or education

Saw this on a school bus in btm, Bangalore.

Interesting to see so many spelling mistakes and yet being reused this year.

Brilliance can be selfless

MJ shared this link and I couldn't just resist sharing it with you.  Unilever has come with some brilliant ads in the past but this is beautiful and simply made.

Some takeaways from this ad:

1. I am definitely washing my hands more frequently
2. Ads that say I don't need to buy anything attract more shares
3. You needn't be a buyer now, you needn't be a beneficiary now to like this
4. Look at advertisement as an investment

In the name of discipline!

What is discipline anyway? Is it related to what you ask me to abide by or is it something that is good to do? Now how do you determine what is good to do? Is it because the majority is doing it? I am seriously looking for an answer.

 If discipline is what the majority has chosen or made to do then there is no need for everyone to follow it. You are defeating the principle of the creativity. Thinking out of the box is encouraged in all the modern day workplaces where you are supposed to be one step ahead of everyone else and be resourceful where in you are needed to fill in to other departments when required. If you do not teach the kids to be proactive, creative and responsive where is the chance for them to learn about being creative?

If you are wounding up children to a strict stupid rule, like wearing an uniform like it is the military, then where is the notion of creativity. How does one decide what a child should grow up to when you could decide your next meal without a consent/consultation from several members of your social fabric?\

Today's Bangalore Mirror cover page spoke of a child being sent home for not wearing the school-issued-footwear. Though the article was about the way the child was sent home during working hours and was dropped outside her gated community and the issues related to safety which I completely agree, the issue is about adherence of some stupid rules which clearly points out to what kind of education would be taught in a school headed by a headstrong principal who felt it was wise to penalize the child  for a mismatch of the school uniform.

While I agree that enforcing uniform to a certain extent encourages discipline, it shouldn't be the primary focus. Schools should focus on mentoring talent, encourage kids to think beyond the cover to cover syllabus and learn more by exploration, research.

Would you send your child to conform to the rhetoric, a mundane, military like system run by a dull methodical system thereby killing/curbing the child's creativity? Or would you like your child to think out of the box, be creative, spontaneous and lively where you would have a living human being and not a zombie?

Doubt?

This is my dear friend Pooja's facebook status today. I can't agree more.

" If it is true faith, let it shake. Truth will never go, and if the faith is with the truth, let it shake. It will never get lost. In fact, you should doubt as much as possible. You can say, 'Don’t doubt', only when a thing is not a genuine thing. If it is genuine gold, I tell you, go on scratching as much as possible. But if it is just rolled in gold, or gold polished, and then you say, 'Don’t scratch too much because it will disappear.' With true gold, any amount of scratching will not make it go away. Doubt is simply lack of energy. When you are high in energy, where is the doubt? Doubt comes when the energy is low. True faith is that which you shake a hundred times and it still stays on. That is true faith, and it will remain. "

Work for free?

(Click on the image to enlarge)

From Seth's blog:

Some of the factors to consider:

• Do they pay other people who do this work? Do their competitors?
• Am I learning enough from this interaction to call this part of my education?
• Is this public work with my name on it, or am I just saving them cash to do a job they should pay for?
• If I get paid, is it more likely the organization will pay closer attention, promote it better and treat it more seriously?
• Do I care about their mission? Can they afford to do this professionally?
• Will I get noticed by the right people, people who will help me spread the word to the point where I can get hired to do this professionally?
• What's the risk to me, my internal monologue and my reputation if I do this work?

The invisible truth

Just because you didn't see doesn't mean it's not there.

Monday Blues: Ways to be creative

Found this online... beat monday blues with some creativity :)

Monday Blues: Stay inspired

Art by Gapingvoid

Monday blues: Keys to Synergy

Synergy does not just happen between people. There are certain things that they need to do which help it to manifest.

Some keys to achieving synergy are

1. "LISTEN ACTIVELY". If anyone in your group (or your relationship) is an 'expert' then you are unlikely to achieve synergy. If you want to achieve synergy, then the ego has to be put to one side. The 'expert' is the kiss of death to synergy. 
2. "TRUST YOUR INTUITION - SPEAK UP". The second kiss of death for synergy is not as obvious as the expert. This is the person who knows the answers but KEEPS IT TO THEMSELVES. These people need to speak up and be heard. 
3. "AGREE TO AGREE". The third key to synergy is to "agree to agree". This means to agree to reach a resolution. Compromise is not an option. What does compromise mean? A settlement of a disagreement where each side makes concessions. The end result is usually unsatisfactory to both. What does Resolution mean? Both sides are happy. In order for this to happen, what do you usually need? A third option. If you are going to achieve synergy, you are going to start being creative thinking up 'third options'. 
4. 'BE FLEXIBLE. The fourth key to achieving synergy is to "Be flexible". The first solution proposed is not necessarily the best one. Groups that fail to acknowledge and consider multiple courses of action run the risk of accepting a suboptimal solution. 
5. "BE COMPASSIONATE". The fifth key to achieving synergy is to be compassionate. We tend to put other people's ideas down. When we do this, we stop people from thinking and contributing. Thinking is the hardest work there is, so we need to encourage people to do it. To get synergy we need to support others efforts to do well. When we differ from others we need to do it in a manner which is constructive rather than defensive.

Taken from here.

Lesson from nothing

Keep smiling & have a nice day!

Be a farmer

One of the oldest and simplest professions of all time. Farming! Here is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time!

Do something that your child would like to follow and be proud of!

How to listen?

Seth nails it...

Live interaction still matters. Teachers, meetings, presentations, one on one brainstorms--they can lead to real change. The listener has nearly as big a responsibility as the speaker does, though. And yet, Google reports four times as many matches for "how to speak" as "how to listen." It's not a passive act, not if you want to do it right.

If listening better leads to better speaking, then it becomes a competitive advantage.

Ask an entrepreneur leaving the office of a great VC like Fred Wilson. She'll tell you that she gave the best pitch of her career--largely because of the audience. The hardest step in better listening is the first one: do it on purpose. Make the effort to actually be good at it.

Don't worry so much about taking notes. Notes can be summarized in a memo (or a book) later.
Pay the person who's speaking back with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm shown by the expression on your face, in your posture, in your questions.

Play back what you hear but in your own words, using your own situation. Don't ask questions as much as make statements, building on what you just heard but making it your own. Take what you heard and make it the foundation for what you are trying on as your next idea.

If you disagree, wait a few beats, let the thought finish, and then explain why. Don't challenge the speaker, challenge the idea.

The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. The other way to honor them is to go do something with what you learned.

Good listeners get what they deserve--better speakers.

Touch souls!

To succeed

To succeed...

1. Find a good driver
2. Grow stimulation
3. Embrace courage

Indians?

Stay young

You are as old as you feel you are.
Stay young, stay charged :)

Consumer Psyche

Seth's Blog : Owning vs. renting

You don't own attention or trust or shelf space. You don't even own tomorrow's plans.
It's all for rent, with a cancellation clause that can kick in at any time.
The moment you start treating the rental like a right, it disappears.

Secret to success

Whatever excites you, go do it.
Whatever drains you, stop doing it.

School of life!

Sometimes life teaches us better things than all the bookish education can do. 

Life teaches us to be simple, to be real, to be down to earth and to be ever optimistic.

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography. 

Indiblogger meet: HP - Stay Original!

I was at the The Original IndiBlogger Meet by HP #OriginalCopy yesterday and it was fun to meet up with all the bloggers. Over the years, Indiblogger has grown to a substantial community with a lot of users turning up to the meets. Met most of my friends and it is great to meet someone you know online and actually speak to them. We had quite a bunch of new bloggers at the meet who were introduced to the fun of blogging and the importance of being original.

Originality is what makes you stand out, get readers, appreciation and recognition. HP was also pointing out that it is important to use original cartridges in your printer, it will not just spoil your printer but also have an huge fail percentage. The figures shown were mindblowing with almost 50% failure rates to start up just out of the box and about 70% failure rates(stopping in between, uneven print and so on). You can also order them online/phone and get the cartridges delivered at home in 6-8 hrs. It seems prices have come down too to 449/- per cartridge and they don't charge you for shipping(Rs. 25 if the order is under 500) if it is more than 500 bucks. I didn't know that it was so cheap to own a printer!

Harper Collins was supporting the event and was talking about how original content would be a hit and not the plagarized, lifted versions. I agree with this too. The fact that my blog is popular is because I have tried keeping it as clean and original as possible.

Stay original. Stay popular and keep your head high. Amen!

Monday Blues: Live. Learn. Love

Gapingvoid makes it clear!

One step...

Copied from Prem's blog.

It’s a daunting journey!
One that probably has no destination.
How the heck do you march ahead then?
One step at a time!

Consumer Psyche

Here is a simple solution to understand human behavior.
Spend time with people! You will be surprised.

Give us this day our daily bread!

Simple things matter a lot when done with love. What can be a small piece of bread with a cup of tea to a hungry one is more than what a hearty meal to a satiated person. This is a pic of my breakfast today. 

 Do simple things to show you care, you love and you remember and people will fall in love with you. Make 2013 a chance to build relationships, make new friends, mend bridges and win!

This works in business too!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography. 

Five steps of meditation

My dear friend Pooja Venugopal posted this on her facebook page and it reflects what I was about to post here. Read on...

The Five Steps of Meditation

1. In the beginning, meditation is just a relaxation
2. In the second step, meditation is something that gives you energy; you feel more energetic
3. In the third step, meditation brings creativity
4. In the fourth step, mediation brings enthusiasm and joy
5. The fifth step of meditation is indescribable, you simply can't describe it. It is that oneness with the whole universe. This is the fifth step of meditation, and don’t stop before that.

Img is from here.

Go off grid and rethink

You need to focus what you want to do and stay focused. Prioritize and then plan ahead. Spend sometime every time to plan and them go for the kill.

Going off grid, reading a book, thinking what you have done this year and what you want to do the next and planning ahead gives you an advantage you never knew!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

2013: Year of Diving Favor!

Promise in our church this year! 

Keep running!

Right place at the right time is lucky. Nothing worked because of you. You need to be constantly adding, chasing, running, improving, creating and contributing. Unless you add value, you aren't worthy. 

Found this pic online and it makes perfect sense. 

• What are you contributing to your work, your family and to your self? 
• What are your goals for this year?

2013

What an year 2012 was!

I moved to a completely new sector from what I was doing and and started working at Samskruti Builders. By the grace of God, a good team and wonderful product excelled at many things this year. God has been good to me as he always is and he blessed me more than what I could ever ask for! Thank you Lord.

I have started running again and lost a lot of weight I had gained over the last two years! That's about 17 kgs in 60 days(42 to 34 on the jeans size scale).

2013 is here and here is wishing you a happy new year, new challenges and a lot of plans, dreams, commitments and promises.

Happy new year 2013!

Thank you Lord!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

What to do when confused?

I have a very effective technique to stay focused and keep going. Tune in to something you love and sleep :) 

Here is a quote from the Holy Bible... 

 

Deuteronomy 5:27

Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says


All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Merry Christmas!

Luke 1: 35

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God.

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Monday blues: Stay thirsty!

Stay thirsty!





Matthew 5.6.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Communication!

What did the Mayans miss or what did we miss?

I have one take away from here. Keep the communication simple and don't read too much into the lines :)

Consumer Psyche

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Gangnam Style explained

I fell in love with the infographic model to communicate quite sometime back.

Here is what I found online today. Viki, the global TV site powered by fans, today released an infographic that reveals how K-pop star Psy’s juggernaut music video ‘Gangnam Style’ took over the world. The infographic ranks the top 20 countries where the video has been most viewed and includes a month-by-month look at how viewership spread globally. The video has been translated into 24 languages helping it transcend geographic and language barriers.

Monday Blues: Bad Hair is good attitude!

Gray hair is God's graffiti.
 Bill Cosby

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

What are you throwing away?

Found this beautiful infographic online that would explain what we throw away!

Fishing!

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers. 

Herbert Hoover

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Birds!

Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind - listen to the birds. And don't hate nobody. 

 Eubie Blake

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Dog!

“The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants.” ― Johnny Depp

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Consumer prices rising!

All prices of the end consumers are rising in India. This includes basic things like sugar, gas, water, milk, fuel, vegetables and pulses have gone up!

Unni Krishnan & Tushar Dhara write in...

The consumer-price index climbed 9.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 9.75 percent advance reported earlier for October, the Statistics Office said in a statement in New Delhi today.

India’s consumer inflation is the fastest among 17 economies in the Asia-Pacific region tracked by Bloomberg. Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao held interest rates in October, and said last week that while price gains remain high, he expects they will ease in the January-March quarter.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government last week won parliamentary endorsement for its decision to allow foreign direct investment in supermarkets, a move it says can help lower food costs. The central bank meets next week to determine policy.

Vegetable prices climbed 14.74 percent last month from a year earlier, today’s statement showed, while sugar rose 17 percent and pulses gained 14.19 percent.

Pic is from here.