The routine is the enemy of time

Do you have a daily routine?

Do you get up at the same time every day? Do you eat the same breakfast and maybe walk to work in the same direction, taking the same streets and stopping off to get the same coffee order from the same coffee shop on the way? Likewise, when is the last time you broke that routine? If you stepped out of it, how did it feel? Scary? A bit exciting, or maybe just a bit fresher than the norm?

Remember when we were kids. We were curious about everything around us. I have a 2 years old nephew he keeps on running around, bite things, pulling things, breaking them. He repeats everything he listens. This world is completely new for him to explore. When we don't know things we carefully examine all tiny details. Our brain start making new connections. When we find something new we start learning everything about it. But once we learn, our brain stops thinking, things start happening automatically.  

“Once your brain establishes a routine it stops, the alertness goes away the fascination with how the world works..”  ― Jedidiah Jenkins

The routine becomes the monster in your life. The monster is what fears you from stepping out of your routine to try something different, to see a new place, to learn and be happy to learn about something new. The routine makes the days go by faster. One day it is a Monday, you wake up, get ready, do your everyday activities, only to go back to sleep at night. Then another day when you wake up it is already Friday and you think to yourself that the week has gone by so fast, feeling so short. You feel as if you have not tried anything new, because the routine has not let you. It keeps you in the bubble of being satisfied with what you already know and not wanting to learn new ideas and go on new adventures. Create a routine of new and different adventures.

Step out of the bubble. Run away from the monster. Break the routine. Allow yourself to be free and explore the world. If that means escaping your job or your family/friends for a while, do it. There are so many opportunities out there in the world that involve you getting a future to sustain yourself but you are limited to the time you have. Every day passes by in an instant and you can not get back that day.

“Be spontaneous! Never be afraid to try new things or find new ways!

Don't let routine ruin your life!” ― Mouloud Benzadi

Also read: Improve your life with these healthy habits

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How boredom can unlock your creativity

I read it a while ago "it's a week mind that gets bored." But when you look closely, boredom has nothing to do with strength or weakness of mind. Rather we are so busy nowadays that there is no enough time to get bored. We have so much to accomplish that we think sleep is also our enemy. We stuck in this vicious cycle of filling in time with stuff. We don't even recognise that, we are always busy doing something and that something is not even important. Try this experiment stop doing whatever you are doing right now. Just do nothing for next 5 minutes. You might think what a waste of time. Most us will fail sitting idle just for 5 minutes including me. It's easy to do something than nothing, even though that something can be fishing out your phone from pocket and looking for new notifications.

Now you know it's easy to fill up your whole day with stuff. But when we sit idle our mind starts wandering. We start thinking about various topics. Our mind start using this time for generating ideas. Think about this, when is the last time you had a really deep discussion with someone. Just for once try having dinner without watching television or breakfast without news. Sometimes we are extremely busy with multitasking that we don't even remember what we had in breakfast. Studies shows that the average person spends over four hours a day on their device. That's right: most modern people spend a full quarter of their waking hours on their mobile device. According to one of the studies, about half the time (approx 2 Hours) is spent on the top five social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube.And we call ourself busy. We can use this time talking to our loved ones. Or spend this time more productive or creative way.

“HUMAN BEINGS MAKE LIFE SO INTERESTING. DO YOU KNOW, THAT IN A UNIVERSE SO FULL OF WONDERS, THEY HAVE MANAGED TO INVENT BOREDOM.” 
― Terry Pratchett

Let me tell you about one of my experience, I have a big list of tasks and habits that I want in my life. Every time I start with so many things at once I gets bored. Human mind have so much inertia that when we try adding any new habit to our life it resists. Rather doing a lot of new things at once try doing one at a time. Few years back I used to buy lot of books, most of them are unfinished reading, Still sitting in my cupboard waiting for reader. If your plate is already filled there is no point in adding more. So don't get bored doing so many things at a time slow down focus one thing at a time you will realise that you are putting your creativity to the task.

We’re trying to swipe and scroll the boredom away, but in doing that, we’re actually making ourselves more prone to boredom, because every time we get our phone out we’re not allowing our mind to wander and to solve our own boredom problems. Adding that people can become addiction to the constant dopamine hit of new and novel content that phones provide. Our tolerance for boredom just changes completely, and we need more and more to stop being bored.

Next time you find yourself in line at the grocery store, in a tedious meeting or killing time in a waiting room, resist the urge to scroll. You’re bound to get bored — and your brain, mood and work performance just might improve.

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Beyond romantic love

"Love. It's an experience. It's an experience that is mental, emotional, physical, sensual, sensory. It's all-encompassing. That's part of why it's so grand, because it doesn't leave any part of us untouched." 

--Esther Perel

Such a beautiful quote by Esther. Last week I was listening to the TED talk The secret to desire in a long-term relationship by Esther Perel and decided to write this post. 

Just think of an experience, a moment in your life where you felt a deep sense of security. A moment when you felt safe, content, satisfied, more than successful. Maybe a moment where you’re crying on someone else’s shoulder, and you know you can really let go because they’re there to sustain you. 

Or a moment when you’re saying goodbye to a dying member of your family, and you know that you’re holding each other all the way to the last breath.
Or moment when you complete your unfinished painting, when you fulfill your passion.

Or a moment when you’re holding a newborn in your arm, a place when you just felt, “I’m enough. There’s nothing more needed in this moment.” It’s safe, it’s trusting, it’s reliable, it’s dependable.

And when you have that moment, what was it like for you? And how did you experience it in your body? 

What does it feel like, physically, when we embody security, trust, safety, familiarity, continuity, belonging? 

It's Love.

Me: Mummy!!! 

Mummy: what happened? 

Me: Nothing 

Mummy: 😒

Sometimes you want to call your mother, just like that no need of any reason. You feels like listening to her voice or just look at her face, you feel better.

A mother’s instinct to protect her offspring begins from the moment she knows she is pregnant. Over the following nine months, although she is yet to see her child, he or she becomes the most precious thing in the world. Babies have a certain survival instinct. They are born with a handful of strategies or “tricks” that encourage the adults around them to protect and care for them. But the relationship between mother and child is different. It goes beyond the baby’s survival instinct.

A healthy relationship, based on unconditional love, affection and respect, makes for happy children.

It is said that best friends are the siblings god forgot to give us. Friendship gives you a soft-corner for your friend. You think of your friend favourably and enjoy being in his/her company. You feel relaxed and not lonely in because of your friends.

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. 

"Pooh!" he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. 
"I just wanted to be sure of you.”

“Love” is the essence of sweetness to any kind of relationship, be it a friendship or family or anything else, or just a passion. When you love, you feel responsible and attached to something. You feel a sense of devotion for your loved one.

The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart. Love gives you a reason and a motive of life. It is actually the feeling of love that gives you a satisfaction in your relationship. 
So what do you think love for you? Do let me know in comments below.

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5 Ways to Think More Clearly

We are bombarded with the tons of information every day. This information is not all stored. Our brain cannot decide which information is important and which is not. The information which is regularly watched, read, listened is stored for long-term; this information helps us in the process of thinking and taking decisions. Following are some of the tricks which will help you process information and think clearly.

1. Sleep!

Deprive your brain of sleep long enough and you’ll simply go crazy. Your brain needs sleep to organize what’s happened during the day. Memories are processed and learning is cataloged during sleep. Don’t get enough sleep, and you’ll simply not think clearly.

2. Meditate.

Very different from sleeping, meditation is focused concentration on right now. It gets your brain functioning in different wave patterns by clearing your thoughts and keeping your mind in the present—not worried about the future, not haunted by the past, but simply focused on right now. Your brain finds peace in mindful meditation, and that produces rejuvenation.

3. Experience beauty.

 For some, this is the same as creativity, but not all of us are creative types. Soak in what you find to be beautiful. Some find beauty in the purr of an engine, others find it in a baby’s laugh. This is what generations have referred to when they advise us to “stop and smell the roses.” Whether you find beauty in flowers, in a fast pitch at a baseball game, or in the grandeur of nature, “beauty appreciation” is the brain’s opportunity to stop and function in a different mode.

4. Experience the spiritual.

This isn’t your mother nagging you to go to church or temple. It’s an invitation to open your mind to awareness, of something beyond the physical and visible. For some this comes through study of quantum theory while others may experience it in religious worship. The 12-steps refer to it as appreciation or awareness of a “higher power,” or something bigger or different than all of this and us.

5) Veg!

In addition to sleeping and meditating, your brain needs time to let go and roam where it may. You might “veg” by perusing Facebook or a magazine. Some people might just exist for a period of time in front of TV news or a rerun of a mindless sitcom. In men, “vegging” actually releases a hormone that produces a sense of calmness and can be useful to let go of the day’s stress.

While none of these five suggestions are helpful when practiced in excess, they each add to brain health. So to prevent your brain from pinging or backfiring, give it a tune-up with these five maintenance activities, and your thinking will be clear and smooth.

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How to work smart for more productivity

Following is a list of hacks you can use to be more efficient and productive, working in a smarter and healthier way:

Find your biological prime time.

This is the time when your mind is naturally most focused. Find it out and schedule some uninterrupted work time accordingly.

Schedule 1-2 hours just for yourself.

Having a scheduled block of uninterrupted work time, will allow you to fully focus on your tasks

Stop multitasking.

Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance, draining your energy faster.

Divide big tasks into small tasks.

This will not only make the task more concrete and actionable, but it also makes it seem smaller and easier to start.

Tackle the worst task first.

This will give you a sense of relief and energise you for the rest of your tasks.

Do everything that takes less than 2 minutes, right away.

Pretty straightforward. Just do it.

Use the Pomodoro Technique.

Time management techniques allows you to prevents burnouts and you will increases efficiency. Work on just one task for 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break and repeat. Make a bigger break after 3 sessions.

Eat “brain” food.

Blueberries, nuts and seeds, leafy green vegetables, avocados, fish and dark chocolate are great to boost your brainpower.

Use room scents.

Certain scents positively influence your mood and mindset. Citrus stimulate alertness and revitalise the senses. Rosemary is perfect for fighting physical exhaustion in the morning; cinnamon improves focus and concentration; peppermint boosts energy and clear thinking.

Drink coffee strategically.

Drink coffee between 09:30-11:30 AM and 1:30-5:00 PM when your natural cortisol level drops.

Watch your working hours.

Working more than 50 hours per week, will produce no greater results than people who work less.

Set a deadline for each task.

Having a deadline and limiting the time-frame for each task will allow you to focus and get things done faster.

Delegate.

If 70% of something can be done by someone else, delegate it.

Use waiting time for small tasks.

Gaps are great for answering quick emails, reaching out to somebody or read the news.

Track your time.

Knowing where your time goes will help you to act on it and save more time in the future. 

Do similar tasks together.

It helps you to optimise your time instead of wasting it by switching between those tasks throughout your day.

Do email response batching.

Schedule exact times when you are going to check and answer to emails. In-between just delete spam and check if something is urgent.

Improve your typing speed.

Having great typing skills will help you to be more efficient when writing.

Learn speed reading.

This way you can read more and faster, saving time.

Set the office thermostat to 70-72°F (21–22ºC).

Any temperature above 73ºF (23°C) or below 68°F (20°C) decreases your productivity by 10%.

Use a standing desk.

Don’t sit the whole day. Standing transmits a sense of urgency and allows you to be focused on the completion of your task.

Have a plant on your desk.

Having plants nearby increases productivity and indoor air quality.

Clean your desk when you’re leaving the office.

Chaos and clutter distract you and limit your ability to focus and to process information.

Take a power nap.

Naps boost cognition, memory, performance, reaction times and alertness.
10-20 minutes naps are best to boost focus and productivity.

Procrastinate or Surf the web for 10 minutes.

This will make you feel refreshed and ultimately boost your productivity.

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Your biggest career mistakes

More than half of the time we spend at workplace. Our actions decide our success. There are some of the mistakes we make which leads us to big loss in our carrier. We can eliminate them if we identify them. To accelerate your growth you can avoid following things.

Lack of focus.

We are surrounded by an endless number of attractive options. However, by spreading our energy all over the place we lose direction and reduce our task-specific output. Lack of planning, focus, mismanagement and unprecedented events can lead to mental and physical exhaustion. The adrenaline rush is helpful before deadlines since we get things done quickly. However, in the long run stress impedes growth of brain cells and reduces overall productivity, job satisfaction and happiness.

Professional and personal life.

Either you’re doing well in both or bad in either case. These two are not mutually exclusive. And there are no exceptions to this rule. Build up a well connected circle of friends, a partner who complements your personality and a few exciting hobbies. This is where your energy comes from! And stability. And focus. And balance. These elements are indispensable to foster a creative brain.

Be part of a social community.

True happiness comes from people, not from your work! Integrate yourself into a self-chosen community, e.g. a political party, sports club, student body or band. Besides the fun and output you produce you will also build up soft / team skills, which are crucial the higher you climb up the ladder in your career. It also gives you a different perspective and adds freshness to life.

Stable support system.

You will come across a series of ups and downs in life. The ups are only going to be half as awesome and the downs twice as disconcerting if you don't have friends on your side. Make good friends. People whom you can have a serious conversation with. They will understand your problems well since they are in a similar situation. Relationships with college seniors, family, managers, teachers and professors are just different due to the inevitable generation gap. These differences will never completely go away, but they can be mitigated to a certain extent with conscious effort.

Strength training.

All of us live in a busy world. We give priority to work over physical fitness. However, working out is not only meant for top performers but for an average human being too. You will realize its importance later in life when you start having knee problems, leg pain and backache. Weight training not only strengthens bone structure and density but also increases your resting metabolism. As opposed to pure cardio exercises (e.g. cycling, badminton, dancing) the rate at which you burn calories is much much higher. Ideally, you should alternate between cardio and strength training. Monotonous cardio makes your body weak. Lifting weights regenerates your muscle tissues and makes them stronger. Hit the gym twice a week for 40-50 min to maintain a toned and healthy physique. It will also make you more disciplined in all other areas of life.

Presentation matters.

Professional knowledge and domain skills are important and will give you a good head start. However, how far and at and which pace you move forward will be highly defined by the way you present yourself. If you don't present your skills convincingly to the outer world no one is going to take you seriously. People will judge you by what they see on social media and your demeanor. And take a call on whether they want to work with you. Presentation matters. Both in your professional and your personal life. You are not going to impress that smart pretty girl in class with a suit and flowery compliments; a well-rounded balanced package is what matters!

Don't be a boss, be a friend.

The system (school, university, company, culture, family) imposes a series of restrictions upon us. Each of us is gifted with certain characteristics and features. Thus, all of us cannot be measured upon the same criteria. Bend the rules. Make the system flexible by asking for people's opinions. Identify their strengths and use them to your advantage rather than enforcing your rules and arguments upon them. Move forward together - as a team! A sense of belonging and team spirit matters! The output you produce will primarily be defined by the synergy and connection between the team members and far less by individual contributions.

System.exit(0).

 Java is an object-oriented programming language which allows to experiment with new ideas, but at the same time also ensures stability using exception handling. There are 3 different types of exceptions. Some can be handled - others are unknown and therefore result in unexpected behavior of the program. In such cases Java provides the command "System.exit(0)" i.e. "terminate the application immediately no matter what code comes next". If you find yourself in a situation where no one can help you -> leave. Eventually people will figure things out and create a germane exception to deal this issue. Wait until you have enough evidence to take a decision with full confidence. Don't experiment!

Favor long-term benefits to short-term output.

Pick a work environment you are comfortable working in rather than one which looks appealing at first sight / from the outside. You might not understand everything from Day 1, but the more often you shadow your mentor, communicate with your peers and colleagues the faster you will learn and make progress. It will take longer to produce the expected results but you will have a smoother and more memorable journey altogether. Be patient. Iterate. Stretch your brain. Iterate once again! #agileDevelopmentMethodology #stateOfConvergence

Consult someone with higher clout.

You cannot have all the required experiences in life by yourself. Borrow some of them from others. Observe other people' behavior for particular situation and use the same strategies for facing them if you encountered. Keep moving forward in the hierarchy by identifying the next best player, who is _free_ and is standing at a more favorable angle. Keep going until you obtain ~ 80% of the desired outcome. Don’t aim for perfection - it doesn’t exist.

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easy tricks to set goals

Say Goodbye to Some of the People You Love

Progress is sometimes met with resistance. If you begin to grow the people you love might, unintentionally, try and impede your progress. Distance yourself from some of the people you are closest to so you can have time to grow without distractions.

Get Out of Town

I recommend moving in a lot of my answers, it can be the catalyst to a metamorphosis. You can pick new friends that will inspire you. You will also be able to cultivate new habits easier since you’re in a new city and will have completely different habit triggers.

Throw Out the TV, Install Porn Blocker, Use Internet Controls

Get rid of your TV, set a porn blocker on your computer and give your friend the password, and set internet controls, like the app Self Control, every morning. No one has died wishing they watched more TV and Porn.

Practice more

Pick a skill you want to cultivate and put all your effort into mastering it. By this you will be one step closer to your goal

Welcome the Loneliness

Reinventing yourself is a lonely process. Getting better is a lonely pursuit, that’s why the internet calls it “Monk Mode.”

Sweat Every Day

Your physiology controls your emotion and your emotions control your thoughts. When you sweat you feel more alive, which puts you in a better mood, which give you more positive thoughts and better ideas, which will have you making better decisions. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people just make better decisions more often.

Appreciate How Lucky You Are

Stop complaining for a second and take a moment to appreciate the fact that you exist. That you have access to a computer, that you can read, that you can eat for fun, that you have access to clean water. Just take a moment to be thankful for the fact that you can breathe, remember that there will be a day where even breathing won’t be an option.

Commit and Don’t Look Back

Look at your goal, realize what sacrifices you will have to make, mitigate damages where you can, but once you commit, don’t waste time looking back - look forward and strategize.

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How to cope up with bad times

Sometimes we face a bad phase. It seems like everything is going wrong. Don't worry it just a bad time. Here are four important things to keep in mind when you want to turn things around in your life.

1) Embrace setbacks as learning opportunities.
Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Edison had a growth, as opposed to a fixed, mindset. He did not see failure as the end of a process but rather the beginning of a new one. Likewise, we need to view so-called defeats through a lens of opportunity. 

What happened that we can do better next time? What did we learn that will help us in the future? Anyone who has ever been successful has gone through rough patches when they experienced failure, some of them multiple times. But the things that separate successful people from those who bump along the bottom is the attitude, the belief that a setback will lead to an opportunity for success. If we can convince ourselves of this and believe it, things will turn around.


2) Shift your perspective. 

One phrase that I use when things aren't going well for me and I am close to feeling sorry for myself is "Compared to what?" I'm having a terrible day....compared to what? Everything in my life is going wrong....compared to what? The Such and such task is really hard....compared to what? Compared to not knowing where your next meal is coming from? Compared to being in combat fighting a war? We often get so wrapped up in our own insular worlds that we forget to step back and put things in perspective.  And that "compared to what" helps me do that. Maybe things aren't going well at work....compared to not having a job that isn't so bad. 

3) Identify things that energize you and pursue them. 

When you have the feeling that things are going wrong or you are experiencing setbacks it is important to find activities/tasks/people that provide you uplifting energy.  Maybe it is a phone conversation with a close friend (I mostly do that), maybe it is getting a good workout in, perhaps it is reading a book for an hour....whatever it is, do it. The feeling you get from that energy-giving activity will sustain you when other things around you aren't perfect and give you the motivation to keep going. 

4) Start finding small successes.

If things are going wrong one way you can start making them go right is by finding small successes in your life every day. And you have control over this! You alone set the things you want to achieve and you alone have control over being successful at those things. For instance....maybe you just want to start your day feeling better. OK. Make a list of three things you are going to do every morning that will have you feeling good as your start your day - make the bed, have coffee, read the newspaper for 30 minutes. Those are 3 little things you can do every day then that will get you feeling good right off the bat. As you master those small tasks, move to larger items and keep building. 

Finally, I would like to add a quote by Nancy Greene, "I think what it takes to succeed remains the same. You have to have a real love of your sport to carry you through all the bad times, you still want to go ski even when things aren't working. You must have a commitment to work hard and to never give up."

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How to boost your willpower

While reading I came across this interesting article on quora; Worth reading.

Give yourself a giant boost of willpower to get you going!

How can you do that?

By asking yourself one small yet powerful question first thing in the morning:

What is the one thing I am committed to completing today?

Why is this question important?

• It simplifies your life so that you don’t overwhelm yourself with too many choices you need to make on any given day.
• It encourages you to think strategically about your life one day at a time.
• It keeps you focused on your goals instead of getting distracted by other things.
• It forces you to prioritize what it relevant to you.
• It serves as a personal promise to yourself to do something you've identified as critical to your personal progress.

How can you incorporate it into your daily life?

• Write it down: take a large sheet of paper and write the question in big bold letters.
• Hang it on your bedroom or bathroom wall so it's easy to see.
• Make it part of a unique background for your computer or cell phone.
• Use it as the main heading at the top of your journal entry for each day.
• Ask the question aloud as you are brushing your teeth or getting ready.
• Give an answer on the spot out loud, or write it down in your journal.

How will it improve the quality of your life?

• You ensure that you use your willpower only for what is most important to you, and you don’t waste it on things that are trivial, irrelevant, or distracting in any way.
• When you are focused on your personal commitments, it gives you a sense of purpose: it gives your life meaning, helps you understand you have something of value to contribute, and improves the quality of your day to day life.
• Knowing in advance the work you need to accomplish saves you time so that you don't waste hours evaluating multiple priorities throughout the day.
• Committing to just ONE thing helps your brain perform more optimally, freeing it from cluttered thoughts and giving it space to concentrate on what you consider the most important goal of the day.

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Guide to accelerate your personal growth.

Accelerating your career means moving farther and faster than other people in your same career track. You will only achieve this through:

1. Taking risks that your peers do not
2. Working with people who are among the best in your field
3. Working for a company that is growing so fast that you gain access to opportunities that would otherwise never be available

If you look at all the most successful people you know or have read about, you will find a few striking patterns.

First you'll notice that you MUST take risks to get ahead. The road less traveled is by definition the only road that will allow you to get ahead because getting ahead means doing things differently. Go for big successes or big failures. Anything in between doesn't stand out. The worst thing you can be in your career is invisible.

Second, you'll notice that the people who accomplish a lot ALWAYS surrounded themselves with exceptional people smarter than themselves. From Steve Jobs to Gandhi, they were able to recognize, attract, and retain great people.

Lastly, the type of product, company, and industry you are working in will heavily influence your future opportunities. Tech is a great place to be no matter what your skill set is. 

To borrow a quote from Eric Schmidt to Sheryl Sandberg, "Get on a rocket ship. When companies are growing quickly and they are having a lot of impact, careers take care of themselves. And when companies aren’t growing quickly or their missions don’t matter as much, that’s when stagnation and politics come in. If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on."

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