Jitesh Kapadia's Journal

Today, while looking back, we saw a time when we were in the locked down situation, when more than half of the world was at home, when we had been working from home and actually started missing going to the office, when for the first time we were able to breathe fresher air because of the less pollution, when we missed silly coffee talks at cafes with silly friends, when we had missed daily grind, when we had actually missed people whom we wouldn’t stand at all.

It was also the time when we had realized how important small things are that brings happiness in our lives, when we had came to know that humans still aren’t Gods, when everything we took for granted had all of a sudden looked like the luxury.

That was a time of Covid-19 and now that it’s all over, we all know what brings us the joy, how much we enjoy going to the office, how much we love the silly talks, how much we love to travel, how much we love the long drives and this time we are grateful for all these.

Every question has its own answer. When you ponder upon the question, and instead of looking outside, if you look within you will get the answer from the question itself. What you need to do is to observe the question.

Sounds tough? not really. If you practice it, you will see it actually gets much better answers then looking for the answers outside.

Likewise, when you expand this possibility, answer to every question for every organization, every community, every nation lies within that organization, community and the nation. 

In the current scenario, whatever your income plan is, remove one-fourth out of it and only consider three-fourth would be achieved. For example, if your planned income is $100, consider you will make only $75.

Likewise, add one-third to your budgeted expense. This will make sure you have room for an emergency as it can strike anytime. And the smartest thing to do is to be prepared. For example, if your budgeted expense is $50, consider it is going to be $67. This way you will have a cushion against any unseen circumstances. 

Instead of going hands to mouth, curtail your expense and increase your income. When you will do this, you will turn to be a hero for your peer groups or a role model among your friends and family. It’s the time when we will see new heroes and new role models. Let’s be the one.

We all know, the truth has many faces, there always is my truth, your truth, their truth, and the truth. Question is, how do we see the truth? Only when we become an “observer” in any given situation, instead of seeing it from the personal point of view, we can see the truth.

And, you don’t have to see the truth, it’s only if you want to.

Now that we are settling into the new normal, and the main challenge of Work From Home is sorted out, it’s time to focus on what needs to be done next. First of all, don’t overthink, or don’t overhaul your strategy completely. See what tweaks are enough, that too if needed. 

Just think basics, what would you be doing in the normal times? do that. Focus on your strength and show-case your work where your strength is. Focus on cutting down additional noise and expenses, so that you can strengthen your profit and loss account plus your cash flow.

Don’t drain your energy on news and gossips.

Stay focused. As only focus and constant aspiration will lead you to greater success in any circumstances.

The question is, how to define what is a good action and what is not?

A lockdown, when done in an epidemic, might not be good for the economy, but the action is taken by the government because it would save people’s lives.

A lockdown done to stop people from giving their opinion is different. The same action of lockdown, but we see the same action is good and not good.

So, what exactly defines an action? The context behind the action. Only and only your context decide the validity of your action. If the context is for good of everyone, the action is right and vice-versa.

When you take any action, see what is your context behind it.

When in a meeting or while discussing with someone, at the end of the conversation, always repeat what you just listen to. If you are given an instruction to do something, even if you have taken the notes, clarify what you have understood instead of just nodding that yes you got it. And when you have any given an instruction ask to the other person what he has understood.

This way you will make sure that both the parties are on the same page and if there is any misunderstanding in delivering or receiving the message it would get cleared there and then. 

We seek opportunities everywhere to grow our businesses. How if we instead focus on finding the opportunities to serve, to connect, to give, to respect, to think of others first. With ongoing challenges, everyone is in need of people who would serve first.

And there is a ton of opportunities to serve right now. If nothing, let’s listen to those who aren’t positive, we don’t even need to make them positive, just serve by listening. Grab this opportunity to be more human.

Work on your idea, create basic structure, collaborate with the people, launch the idea. Then collaboratively own the idea, revise the structure as needed, listen to the people, based on that launch iterations.

What we are today is because of our actions in the past and good news is, we can decide how we want tomorrow by taking the needed actions today.

Sit and think whatever’s you are today and what past actions are the reason for it. Then think again, what future you want and what actions do you need to take today for that future.

It’s our responsibility and no one else can do anything about it. Today is from yesterday and tomorrow is decided on today’s actions.

In the future, people would define the year 2020 as historically important. The year that had changed a lot. The year that created a paradigm shift. The year which created economy and power shifts from one hand to another and one country to another.

2020 is the year like no other and it would be great to be on the positive side of the fortune.

As a leader, this is the year when you have to be vigilant, sharp, focused, brutal yet flexible, empathetic yet mindful. This is the year when you have to be quick and slow at the same time.

When you look back to this year, you would see how did you fare as a leader. Make most of today, do what you need to let this pass while doing so build your ammunition, and most of all remember you can win only if you are alive. Finally, remember the history, every major challenge has brought the new winner to the world. 

When Arjuna was feeling despair and dropped his weapons, Shri Krishna raised to the occasion and pulled Arjuna out of despair by answering to Arjuna’s doubts. The war was of Arjuna’s and Pandavas for their property, the people involved were the relatives of Shri Krishna too. He could have felt the same, what Arjuna’s felt. What the difference between the two is the context. Shri Krishna was very clear he is doing is to re-establish the “Dharma” and when your context is clear, you cannot be gloomy.

Arjuna can have a gloomy day, Shri Krishna can’t. True leader is, one who stands and lead when situation is against you.

What kind of leader are you? It’s time to be the one, like Shri Krishna.

Build a system, set up processes and put faith in your people. And as a final step, set up monitoring and reporting system.

Everything works better when you have a strong monitoring system and that helps you let the team work with peace of their and your mind.

If you want your people to work without you interrupting them a lot, set up a monitoring system to support them.

What is told is not what we hear every time. When someone tells us something, our mind digs into the memory and presents us with the prejudice we have gathered from the past experience and we hear from that prejudice.

If, we really want to hear, then while hearing we have to be an observer to what is being told, instead of listening from the memory, then only we will hear what the real matter is.

• to be positive
• to be supportive
• to do what is mindful
• to stay put home
• to accept so that you can think in the right direction
• to lighten up surrounding
• work on your pending tasks
• read more
• workout more
• smile more
• acknowledge others more
• not trying to be a hero
• not to send forwards
• not to panic
• last but not the least, meditate more

Think about what you can control and drop what you can’t.

When everyone around is charged up and everyone is tempted to do what everyone else is doing, it’s okay to be different and break the path.

Do what your heart says and enjoys. There is no rule to follow everyone else if you don’t want to do it.

When everyone else is taking a quick short trip, it’s okay if you take slow full vacation.

It’s not too often we face the phase in our lifetime where the events initiate, enforces, and invokes the change in our thinking, believing, and working.

We, the human race, are seeing the contagious pathogen in motion; I want to ask what’s that we ignored that the universe had to take such harsh measures to get our attention?

The contagious pathogen is out there to engulf us all; not really, it’s craving for our attention as we seem to be ignoring something so important. Hence the ripple effect has spread all over the world. The universe is asking us to keep a check on how we are utilizing the limited resources we have to our exposure. All of the natural disasters, global warming, diseases, animal diseases, bush fires, etc. are we doing enough to save the better part of living, or we yet on an “ignoring” mode?

The recent outbreak makes me ponder what are we missing? What are we not listening? That nature is trying so hard to bring us to awareness. It’s time to re-evaluate our role as humans to work for vs. against as let’s be clear we can’t win if we would ever opt to go war with the universe.

Spread good, save energy, water, natural resources, forests, decrease pollution, uplift surroundings, be positive, be kind, save humans, animals, live, love, and laugh.

It’s one life, it’s precious, and so does the universe ~ treasure it.

When productivity is a challenge check following:

1. Along with pushing and motivating the team, figure out if each department is productive. See why some departments are productive and some aren’t. What right the department that is productive is doing.

2. Focus on the departments that have grown better in short and medium term and see which departments are stagnant or are going down. Analyze both the cases and see which one has the future, add more resources to that department and if needed, reduce resources in the department that isn’t doing good or shut that department if it’s not aligned with your long term goals.

3. Analyze which resources are giving optimal output and have minimum non-billable activity. Again, check what they are doing good and how you can train others to be more productive.

4. Take needed action to boost productivity.

As a leader, our focus should be on the long term good for the people and the company, and all your actions should be in the same direction. 

Because you have long term goals and you are feeling you aren’t going anywhere, first of all, accept that you need to be a rethink on how you are working. As if you are passionate about your work and working really hard but still feel stuck its time to see if what you are doing is productive and towards your long term goals.

Being productive means the tasks you are performing are towards your long term goals, then only you will get satisfaction from your work. And unless you won’t be satisfied you won’t be productive.

To get satisfaction, keep a check on how you are spending your time at work and at home. Are you actually being present at what you are doing or just going with the flow? To become present, take hourly breaks. It could be just five minutes break and during this break, get away from your desk, walk around and do one minute of breathing with closed eyes. Ask yourself a question, what task would boost your productivity and then get back to the work with a clear agenda.

This is a small but effective exercise, try it.

Play your A-game when times are tough. Instead of wasting your time watching the news, scrolling infinite messages on social media, or just doing the gossiping, focus on what you have to do. Be responsible and don’t forward any messages unless you have verified them yourselves.

You can’t change anything by wasting time, but you surely would do something creative if you are focused on what you should actually be doing.

No, I am not saying don’t be empathetic or don’t worry about the people in the world or the people around you. In fact, I am saying that instead of worrying, support them in whatever you can, if not, pray for their well-being, as that’s what we should do being the humans. And also do your work because that’s what you should be doing to uplift the morale of the people around and to really add positivity in the world.

If you are doing sales, do the sales, if you are writing the code, write the code, if you are an HR, do the job. Let’s support humanity by being productive.

I know we have all been told our whole life to focus on important things and to avoid creating urgency. But until you don’t create urgency for the important things, you really never consider taking important things on-hand.

Show urgency if you really want to move ahead with your important tasks.

Gone are the days that you end up seeing your close-knit people rounding up for you when in need. But my recent experiences has got the essence to the center stage and has helped me get present to it. And how can I let it go without sharing here on the blog; after all, this space is my medium to share my authentic thoughts, learnings, and beliefs.

Having a mission to move others’ life for better and to create value in their life is a noble cause. Please don’t mistake it as prying or meddling, though. When one’s context is to be helpful and to support others when they are in need or facing challenges and offering a hand to strengthen them without any expectation is a moving cause. With all the respect, that space is only created when you have the right to be interested in other’s life; business or personal.

Let me introduce you to my coach and friend, Mr.Chetan Patel, from www.chetanpatel.world. For him, coaching is the business, and he is very sure that he is not doing coaching for charity, but at the same time he is widely aware of his passion and calling to nurture whoever he comes into the contact with.

I have seen him going above and beyond to cause magic in other’s life. He has enormous clarity that it’s his business to change other’s life for better. If asked, what’s my learning connected to him, then I would say he has helped me get present on my calling and ingrained the clarity that moves me and has inspired me to achieve whatever I wish.

This magic could only be done when with permission someone is showing interest and making efforts connecting with you and at every opportunity works towards generating value in your life, and sometimes with no ROI of time.

In the wake of coronavirus epidemics, it’s difficult to stay sane in middle of all the news and the fake news.

While you can’t control things that are external but you can always choose not to send forwards without verifying, you can always choose to be positive and spreading the positivity. You can always choose to be the one who brings some sanity even if no one knows about it. You can choose not to get dragged into rumors and you can choose to be the one where fake news gets stopped.

Be responsible.

It’s time to raise the bar, to show empathy, to support those in the need, to be friendly, to create value, to spread positivity, to spread happiness, to let it goes, to achieve it now, to give your best, to work for excellence, to form good habits, to speak soft, to be determined, to be flexible, to volunteer, to do work-out, to eat healthily and there can’t be a better time, TO BE THE LEADER.

Set up the high standards, and a higher bar for yourself and for others. Because the time is now and this time it’s YOUR TIME.

If it really doesn’t matter, don’t stress about it. If it is not aligned with your long term goal, vision and mission, feel free to drop it. Get intentional, stay focused. Opportunities and tasks will keep popping up. Get present to the situation and see which one you should pick and drop everything else. 

Also, check around, are people aligned with your long term vision? If not, get who is. When you will become this intentional, your performance will skyrocket in a meaningful direction.

Performers also have all the reasons like others, they have emotions, feel fatigued, unmotivated, tired, stressed, bored, unaligned, uncommitted, everything that everyone else feels is felt by the performers. The only different thing performers do is, “THEY SHOW UP”, no matter what.

Festivals remind us of the importance of joy in our lives. They remind us why take a breather from the rat race (or whatever race you call it). They remind us of the importance of friends and family. 

No matter if you are introvert or extrovert, we all love to celebrate festivals in our own unique way. Festivals rejuvenate us, gives us strength and hope. They bond us strong with our surroundings. 

Even if you are dead tired and just want to relax at the festival, you still feel the happiness the day brings. It’s how festivals create magic. You can feel it in the air. 

Your feeling is you are giving your best, you are managing everything, you are doing whatever you can. You are managing your work life, your family life, your social life, and everyone else too is feeling you are doing great. But you know somewhere deep down that you are just going with the flow, that the life is managing you and that you are barely making it. You aren’t giving your best, though on the surface it looks like. 

We all reach that plateau, but the real performers break the plateau and play their game their way, instead of game playing them.

Have you hit the plateau? What’s your plan to break it?

We all know, having skills is just one-third of the story. Another one third is courage and the last third is action. Unless you have the courage to put your skills into action, your skills won’t get a life. And when your skills get a life, you become a performer.

And to become high-performer you have to add one more quality, consistency. Consistently repeat the act of acquiring skills, having the courage and taking actions. That’s how you become a high-performance leader. 

There are three type of people in any organisation.

• Those who see themselves and the company different. They think, ‘this is me and that is the company.’
  
• The second type are aligned with the company. They think, ‘this is me and that is my company.’
  
• Last and final type doesn’t have any different identity about themselves and the company. They think, ‘I and the company are the one.’

Everyone has the potential to be type three if nurtured well.

As a leader, identify and put a system in place to know, nurture and move forward people from type one to two to three. Have leaders and mentors assigned to support people move to different steps. While doing so, make sure only those who are type two can support type one to move to type two and likewise for the next step.

And, the same system work in personal life. Everyone has type one, two and three people around. Know who is who.

We all have vision and missions for our companies. But how often are we present to that goal 24×7? That can be one of the reasons why very few companies can actually deliver their vision and missions.

The companies that achieve what they want are because they start living it today and 24×7 that is “Live it to believe it.”

• If your short term goal is to be CMM level, then act like one today; don’t wait until you achieve that status but instead, take the learning from the phrase “Fake it till you make it.”

• If IPO is your goal, start thinking and working like one; that is making decisions, functioning, and dealing like one “action speaks Volumes.”

• If one of the goals is to be CEO of Fortune 500 companies, by now, you know the theme of what’s your best next step? Start believing and living that NOW.

Work towards creating the present to map the future and do the required groundwork that supports and helps to build towards the goal and can stand the test of time, everything works together in harmony to create the future that you desire. that is, “We reap what we sow.”

You can’t balance between how much time you give to the personal and to the professional life. But you can always have harmony between two.

You don’t need to give eight hours to the family everyday but when you give time to the family, stay focused. Don’t attend business calls or check emails when you are with the family. That is what matters to them. Family don’t need your eight hours, they would be happy with two hours of focused time.

Not the balance, but harmony matters.

You are just an average but the average of the five people around you. If you want to be above average, spend time with people who are above average.

Check who your connections are, whom you are spending the most time with, what their goals are in life, where do they stand today, how much positive they are, how much maturity they have. Shift yourself in the zone where you see above-average people. 

When you will raise your bar, you will raise the bar for everyone around. When they will see the results, they will understand, you don’t have to explain. Be smart, select your average.

The current affairs of your business should never take over the longer-term goals. Have a system in place that takes care of your day to day business while you can work on the Vision of your company.

The growth period may test and challenge your beliefs, processes, system, and people, but that’s when you, as a leader, have to stay firm on your commitment vs. surrendering to the situation and to be present to the GOAL. Yet to know as well when to be flexible and be in the know of NOW.

As a leader, it is very important that you lead with example by following the rules. Only when you will follow others too will follow. And when you break the rules, instead of giving the reasons, own it because along with you, everyone knows that your reasons are mere reasons. Be brave enough to follow the rules, breaking the rules is easy.

Set the example and do what you preach.

When a leader has to take any crucial decision, he has to get present to the fact that – Is he operating out of fear? Fear of loosing the project, employee or reputation; but these all may be mere assumptions. 

Right way is to do SWOT analysis of the situation, and act swiftly. This approach leads a leader to the freedom. Freedom from anxiety, feeling of scarcity, and unnecessary worries. 

When freedom becomes the core of the leader it guides to operate likewise, the effect would be prominent as that will allow your organization to move on the growth path fearlessly. Because when a leader is free from fear, he has more clarity on WHAT’S NEXT ?

You are exhausted working on that project since long, you are drained planning the marketing, you are leading the sales, you are solving challenges everyday with your top business-line and now you need a break.

Take the break, and come back rejuvenated, recharged and rested. Because this game is always on and you have to play it for long.

We all know, “What is seen is sold.” But Leadership is about understanding the things shown, and going beyond that and see what’s not.

Things that don’t surface or get highlighted are not necessarily deliberately kept hidden on purpose, but those are the gem of the details to help you as a leader to reach to the root of the subject. That is how a leader should lead the organization, by seeing what is unseen.

When you aren’t authentic, you will not feel good, your body will react by catching up cold or fever, you will stop being authentic and the downward spiral of this whole matter will begin.

Moreover, only you will think that no one else can see the reason but it’s clear to almost everyone.

Be authentic, all you loose is a lie.

Trust people, give them responsibility, empower them, train them when needed, accept their mistakes and learn from those mistakes. As a leader that is what your role is. Keeping faith and seeing new leaders emerging. Everyone is ready to take responsibility, when you give them. As a leader create opportunities, people are waiting to grab them.

LEAD, don’t DEAL.

When you wake up at 5 am and give yourself three additional hours for your well being, you are already living a much better life. Wake up at 5 am, and make time for yourself..

When you will wake up early, you will find time for Fitness, Finance, Family and Friends. After all, these are the things that matter.

My daily schedule including weekends:
– 4 am: wake up and meditate
– 5 am: walk for 20 minutes
– 5:20 am: read Bhagwad Gita
– 5:40 am: get on the call with Early Birds 5 am Club
– 6:00 am: eat breakfast
– 6:30 am: read book

Benefits I have received:

• Two hours for self. This helps me have clarity of thoughts as it’s the time when most of the people are sleeping and that means less distraction.
• Able to read regularly and every day, helping towards achieving my target to read 39 books in 2020.
• Connecting with like-minded people in the Early Birds 5 AM Club.
• More time during the day and the weekend, which helped me to start Surat Bookworms Club with my coach and industry peers. I was planning for this club for a few years but finally this year, I got a chance to connect with others and get it started.
• Regular meditation time, which is fueling my spirituality.
• It allowed me time to write this blog daily, which again was in my to-do list since 2014.
• We also started the podcast, again one of my dreams, by producing a podcast of the value we generate daily in Early Bird 5 AM Club.
• Another idea of starting a Sports Club for IT companies CEOs is on the table.
• All this while assisting Leadership Integrity Program run by my business coach.
• Not to forget, I am producing better results at the office working as CEO.

You might take idea or two from the above. I have learnt from Robin Sharma’s Book: 5 am Club

And because your time is now, perform.

Don’t start thinking if this is the right time, if this is the right thing to do, how will I do this, should I do this. All the time is a good time and when it’s a good time, go ahead and perform.

Old World: Avoid seeing your competitors, spy on them, try to grab his business, mess with him, never co-operate with them, waste your time and energy while doing all these things.

New World: Embrace competition and competitors, share knowledge, empower them, support their business, co-operate with them and while doing so enjoy the benefits of co-operating with your competitors.

Meet your competitors, mentor future generations together, play sports, read books, life is bigger then what you see and the game of business is like space, always expanding. Wealth and business have always grown in human history. It’s up to you how much you can create. Stars never compete for space, there is a place for everyone.

Competitors or Co-opetitors? Think.

They have done wrong, so we will do the same. That’s an industrial era thought.

They have done wrong, let’s not do the same. This is information era belief.

When someone do something wrong with you, don’t react but respond. Think what you want to leave as your legacy. And when you respond, don’t do it expecting things will turn good, they might and they might not. But do it because you want to leave a better world for the generations to come.

When good times don’t last forever, challenging times don’t either.

Whatever situation is, see what learning is there in it for you. No one has grown when they are in a comfortable situation. When you are facing challenges, always remember two faith statements:
– You are going to be much stronger and knowledgeable once this is over.
– This shall also pass.

Have faith.

There always is someone and something trying to grab your attention. There is an industry event your friend is attending and insisting you should too. But you has already planned the day filled up with an important task that is the highlight of your month’s target. You are confused as you don’t want to say no to your friend and run the risk of upsetting him nor you don’t want to feel left out either.

This is the dilemma we face every day. What should you do? First, figure out if the event really has something for you. Many times it happens that the event is of your industry but has nothing in it for you. If the event is for you, see if it is important than your highlight of the week task. If so, see if you can get the updates from your friend or from the event’s website after the event and catch up on the event leanings.

If you don’t want to attend it, talk to your friend and tell him why you don’t want to. There are always such distractions that can move you away from your focus. You have to learn how to stay focused.

Your partner, your colleagues, your parents, your coach, your mentor, your true friends, your consultants and your legal advisors, as a businessman these people are your tribe. They are invested in you and you are invested in them. When in dilemma, reach out to them, take their advice, consult them, listen to them and they will help you reach to the conclusion that is deep inside you. They help you touch your core.

When in dilemma, consult your tribe. Talk to your tribe and listen to your heart, decision is not all that difficult.

If you are looking to build a scalable business, start with a focus on building the system. You can only grow a business to a certain level without a system. We, humans, are programmed to live in a system since the time of hunter-gatherers. You will find every successful civilization in human history had a strong financial, judicial and social system. The same logic applies to any business, non-profit, or even to a religious organization.

When we have a defined system in place, we can deliver the same experience every time. Many times difference between a mediocre and a high growth company is not the knowledge, resources or capabilities, but the difference between the system or lack of it.

Imagine the successful companies and the names that will pop-up are McDonald’s, Microsoft, Toyota, FedEx, and the likes. Do they make the best burgers, software, cars or provide the best courier services, respectively? Certainly not, but what makes them successful is their process. Look around and see what companies are successful in your industry and in your region, and you will see a strong system that has helped them to be successful.

Many companies start with success but get stuck because they get blindsided with the initial success and don’t look into building the system for the growth. When you see you are stuck, start looking where your system lacks and fine-tune it to move to the next level.

Remember, every phase needs a refined system.

Just as commitment is bigger than intention, on-time completion is bigger than the commitment.

We have just finite time to do anything, including being on the earth. If someone is committed to some goal or task but doesn’t complete it on time, commitment might be of no use as the time for that thing matter has expired.

When you commit, have time commitment too.

Intention is good but commitment is bigger. Intention when powered with commitment generates great results.

Next time when someone says, my intentions are good, also see how much committed the person is as only when his intention has commitment he would do what he intended.

Humans love to receive gifts. When someone comes to meet us and if they get us a gift, we always remember the person. No matter what the gift is as it’s not the gift but the gesture that we remember.

Growing up when relatives would visit us and if they would get some gift for us, they used to be our favorite relatives. Birthdays were to be looked forward to because you would receive the gifts. To be happy when you receive a gift is a human nature.

From a business network perspective, when you are meeting someone, buy them a gift, and it could be something really small, like a pen or a book, otherwise, the person can consider it as a bribe. If you know the person’s likes and dislikes, buy the gift accordingly. The gift is to strengthen networking and to leave a positive image while building a long term relationship.

Gifts are of two types, tangible and intangible. Tangible gifts are physical and intangible gifts are non-physical like time. If you gift someone both, the person would always remember.

Happiness is a human’s natural state. Anything we ever seek is happiness. We work, build wealth, buy things, run, and meditate to be happy. But instead of feeling happy within, we look for happiness outside.

We hold on to desires, grudges, and dreams and let these things impact our happiness. This problem is for the grownups, if we observe the kids, they would drop any anger in a fraction of a second and will get to their default state of being happy, while the grownups don’t lose these feelings. Only if we learn how to be childlike, we will be more satisfied and more joyful.

When someone is angry there always is some fear behind it. Next time when you feel anger, instead of anger taking over your emotions, stay present and see what is the fear behind your anger.

When you will know what fear you have, work on the fear, get the solution to your fear. Because when you get angry, the situation starts controlling you, instead of you controlling the situation.

It is rightly said, fearless people are happier people. It is because, in the absence of fear, anger doesn’t arise.

As a leader, you have a bigger vision, higher goals and tons of responsibility. You are always pressured for time and attention from employees, clients, vendors, and social commitments, and while doing so you have forgotten the most important commitment of your life, which is yourself.

If you want to achieve your goals, contribute to the society, take care of your family, the first and foremost thing you should commit to is yourself. As a leader, you are the most important asset and no asset is good when it is stressed.

Carve out time from your busy schedule and run a little, read a little, laugh a little, take a little time for your hobby. A fit mind and fit body will support you in achieving whatever dreams you are behind. These activities aren’t time-consuming, these are the activities that clear your head from distractions and get you focused on your most important tasks.

So, hop a little, jump a little..

It is important to define start time but even after defining start time for everything we still almost every time are running late because we don’t define the end time. Even when we define the end time, we don’t stick to it. People who are strict about start time, aren’t equally strict about the end time. If you want to get time to be able to do things that you want then define the end time of your meetings.

Define the time to leave the office. Define the time to hit the bed. Define end time to everything you do and that will complete the time integrity.

When you define the end time, you will be more productive as you would be focused on completing the task.

Along with being a reader, the Leader should also be a writer. When you read something, you are borrowing knowledge from someone’s insight on the subject, and it is a good thing. But a good leader writes too because when he writes he is sharing insight of his own knowledge.

Leaders are influencers too, so when they write, their ideas can spread easily, and it builds personal brand too. As it is easy to spread ideas, a leader should always be careful about what he is writing.

Write from your heart, write about your day to day observations, about your subject matter expertise, about how you see the industry today and tomorrow. Start writing about whatever you are passionate about. 

In Indian Spirituality, it has been said ‘the spoken words stays in the universe forever.’

The vedas and upanishads are into existence before the method of writings were invented. They were derived from the universe by the learned sages and passed on to others. It is said even Bhagwad Gita which was generated by Lord Krishna is still in the universe. In short, every word we speak stays forever. Words never dies.

It is very important what you speak, what words you use or even the words you think, as they stays forever. When seen from the business perspective a leader should always check his words as what he speaks will always stays in the company, long after the leader is gone. The words spoken by the leader will shape the company and its culture. Be wise when you speak.

Out of the Fear Of Missing Out we oblige to every invitation, every function, every event, and every meet-up, we don’t even let go birthday the party’s of friend’s friend because we worry that if we won’t go we will miss out. Among other reasons, the one that is very common is it’s important to socialize and network, but we have to know where to socialize and where to network.

Ask yourself, is this for me? If not, don’t have the Fear Of Missing Out. If it is not for you, choose not to show up.

you are facing challenges in your business, you made a terrible mistake in your personal life, your car broke when you were to go for an important meeting, your flight is delayed and you are stranded at the airport, you fumbled the class, your presentation was a dud, the meet-up you organized was a flop, all the hard work you had put into the project didn’t get approval, and the list goes on. You are facing all these challenges, SO WHAT?

MOVE ON, and do what is needed instead of getting stuck in what happened. Think, WHAT NEXT? 

We are always busy doing the routine work and completing our never ending to do lists, at the cost of important work, most of the time.

In today’s business world, it is not possible to ignore urgent tasks but we know that important tasks are called important for a reason and that those tasks gives us satisfaction.

Do you keep pushing away your important tasks? We all understand how to juggle between these two tasks is always challenging. What could be done is simple but not easy to follow. Block time for your important work, let everyone know not to disturb you during your blocked hours and then leave rest of your time for urgent tasks. This way you can meet the daily rigorous demand of urgent work and also have satisfaction of doing your important tasks.

the person who wants the job, don’t hire the one who needs it.

With the needy one, you can have sympathy, but working together, neither you will go anywhere, nor will he reach anywhere. It will be a long struggle of hopes and emotions on both sides.

When you hire someone, understand if the person needs the job or if he wants the job. Hire as soon as you identify that he wants it.

by controlling your input.

• If you want to be productive, control where your time is being used.
• If you want to complete impossible looking tasks, control your so-called urgent to-do list
• If you want to be sane, control your emotions
• If you want to achieve financial freedom, control your expenses
• If you want to generate results, control on not finding the reasons.

We all have the same time on a given day, how we use it, makes all the difference. If your output is not giving you the satisfaction, see where the input needs to be fixed.

There are three types of human attitudes and all these qualities are found in the leaders too.

• Fearful: This type performs from the fear. They have a fear of failure, fear of losing employees, fear of taking actions. As you can imagine, they live in anxiety and are less satisfied.
• Courageous: This type are generally courageous. They take risks, build self-defined processes and structure, and perform from the belief in taking actions. They are more satisfied compared to the fearful one.
• The best: They are the real achievers. They believe in self-discipline, believe in quality, accept only the highest standards, and their personal life also reflects the same. They are the most satisfying ones too.

No matter what kind of leader you are, you can always work towards being the best. Remind yourself all the time and be present to the belief that you are the best, have the best conversation when you talk to anyone, give the best to your clients and the team, give the best to everything you do.

When you practice being the best, you become the best.

What type of leader are you and what would you like to become?

PS: Credit, my coach Mr.Chetan Patel. Learning shared by him in “Early Bird 5 AM Club“

What you cannot do individually, you can achieve together. In the modern times, business strategy is to cooperate.

Cooperation with your competitors, your employees, your clients and customers, society at large and the government is not an exception today, it’s a rule.

Just like most of the countries are cooperating with each other, same is with the corporates. We aren’t seeing any possibilities of the third world war, as countries are cooperating, and knows that the peace brings more wealth unlike a century ago when the war was more profitable, same rule is to be applied to the corporates.

Cautious cooperation between the competitors, is the new game.

At the end of the day, as I was driving to the home, my car stopped at the traffic signal and a motor-bike came and tried to squeeze past between the two cars. Doing so, the guy scratched my car and halted right next to me as the signal was still red.

This pissed me off and rolling down the window, I said, “are you blind? can’t you see? can’t you wait until the signal turns green?”

I was really furious, and then I noticed, his 4-5 years old son was starring at me without blinking his eyes, and his wife felt embarrassed. The very next moment, I realized the negative impact of what I just said on everyone of us, including myself, the guy, his wife and the kid.

Immediately, I rolled down the window and said sorry to the guy. My exact words were, “sorry, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I could see it has a negative impact on all of us. It seems you guys are going to some celebration and I just spoiled your evening.” His reply, “it’s okay.” and he and his wife smiled at me.

Though I did out integrity, I got present and tried to restore by taking responsibility for my action. And I am sure that lessened the negative impact of the incident on all of us.

Why I choose to write about it? Because I felt I should. We should remember, things aren’t important but humans are.

There always is a race. Even when you say, you aren’t in any race, you are racing with yourself.

There are two kinds of races, one: towards the top, and two: towards the bottom.

The easier race is the race towards the bottom. The competition is fierce, you reduce your rate and your competitor reduces it further and you respond to it with a further rate cut. This race will end with neither of you winning or the worst getting out of business.

The difficult one, but the one you want to run, is the race towards the top. Give value to the client, be so awesome that only a few can do what you are doing, strive for excellence, move upward where there are few players and competition dries up.

Pick any industry and there are only a few top players dictating the market on their own terms. The rest are just surviving.

Select your race.

When you are generating enough value for your customers, your price is always right. When you are running out of creativity, your price is always high.

Ignore what your clients want, and you will pay the price. Generate value and clients will pay you your price.

is a myth. What is not going up, is going down. What is not moving forward, is moving backward. If you are living in the myth that your business, career or health is stable, it’s time to rethink.

So much has been written, told and taught about importance of taking decisions that we have stopped understanding that not taking any decision is also a decision, and that it’s also equally important.

Sometimes be decisive about not taking any decision.

Are you a leader who fears getting copied if you will share your success mantra? If yes, think again because a leader becomes powerful when they share. When the sharing is done with the pure context of giving, and not getting, there will be no fear.

Fear is for the people who lack self-confidence. Share what you know and abundance will come back to you. Remember when you started, someone fearlessly encouraged you, in person or not. Pass it on.

We are living in a connected world. Our devices are connected with each others, IoT is connecting our home appliances, we as a humans are connected via social media and networking.

But is your business connected to your belief? Are you asking yourself, if what I am doing is out of my belief? If not, what would you do to connect your business to your belief?

Yesterday, a fourteen-year-old daughter of a friend of mine, who is currently reading Shri Bhagwad Gita as part of her School assignment asked me, why Lord Krishna would insist his followers to devote and to surrender him?

The question was very stimulating, and the answer I gave was, “because of Lord Krishna knows where he wants to take us as he knows that path. The follower might not know where he wants to go but the Lord would know where he wants his follower to go. And the only way is by devoting and surrendering to someone (Lord Krishna here) who knows what he is doing and where he can take his follower.”

I can relate this situation to a Coach’s. Only when his students are enrolled in the coach and his ideas, a coach can generate magical results and generate success. That said, keep challenging the coach, just as the kid challenged, why to do something? The following doesn’t have to be blindfold. 

Science and Spirituality are two complementary distinctions. What we understand walking on the path of Spirituality, eventually Science endorses it with its theory and experiments. There can never be a competition between these two as Spirituality itself is a Science and Science itself is Spiritual, and Scientist is no lessor to Yogis. 

It takes the same amount of focus to achieve the breakthroughs in Science and equally it is for Spirituality. Both are methodical, and at peak achievement, one feels the bliss. 

When talking in the terms of Programming language, Spirituality has Self (ego) and Spirit (supreme power) and programming has Local and Global variables. Whatever examples one may take, the same would be found in these examples. 

When in doubt while doing something that is scientific, look to spirituality for an answer and vice-versa.

When you bring your A team to a project, you are doing it to make sure your project is a success.

It’s an important project and you have picked the best project manager, the best technical lead, the best coders, the best resources, the best specifications laid out, so on and so forth, making sure your project is a success to start with. But if none of them is taking accountability of the project they can bomb the project.

To make project a success, at least someone if not all, has to stand up and say if something is not working, the meetings has to be where the team members has to make sure the project is moving in the desired direction and if not, raising the concern, and asking for the change and moving forward only when it looks good.

When accountability is taken, mediocrity ends. Bringing the best is not enough.

To be successful in today’s ever changing and ever evolving world, where nothing is stable and permanent, what makes a difference is how you manage your emotions.

Today, to be successful it is very important for anyone to be able to understand people, to have empathy and, be able to express and control own’s emotions.

An Emotional Leader is able to access and manage emotions of others and influence them to drive them to a common goal. This quality of a leader will be the major difference to lead an organisation successfully in the coming years. When used properly, emotional intelligence can become a driving force to create wonderful opportunities.

What you possess? Only IQ or EI too?

Bhagwad Gita says, “He who with proper regularity eats, relaxes, works, sleeps, and remains awake will find yoga the destroyer of suffering.”

Here, the Bhagwad Gita emphasizes the importance of consistency for a Yogi. The consistency is of good eating to maintain health, regular entertainment to avoid fatigue, regularity in meditation to support his spiritual goals, to have enough sleep for recovering and remaining awake. Then only a Yogi will be able to meditate effectively and achieve the results he desires, which is of destroying his sufferings.  

Looking from the business management perspective, this could be put as being consistent and regular in actions. Just like a Yogi, when a Leader maintains his health, avoids fatigue, be regular at work, sleeps enough and remains awake, he will be able to focus enough to achieve the outcomes and goals set for the company. Just like for a Yogi, it takes lifelong practice for a leader to reach his destiny. 

While it sounds simple, everyone normally complicates it. When consistency is kept simple and is practiced, a leader can generate miraculous results. 

More than often, we keep thinking about missed opportunities. We keep telling ourselves, only if….

As Sir Richard Branson has famously quoted, “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” But if you don’t have the eye to see the opportunities and understanding which bus is for you, either you will miss the bus or will get on to the wrong bus.

To see opportunities that are right for you, first be the observant, start seeing things around, start sensing what’s going on, start thinking how you can convert any situation and every conversation into an opportunity. Once you will create habit of being an observant, you will start seeing the opportunities everywhere.

And once you see the opportunities that’s right for you, then it’s easy job. Be the observant of opportunities around.

Every day, we should ask and remind ourselves, WHY am I doing, what I am doing.

The WHY is our purpose in doing the business, and the purpose could be anything, but making money is definitely not one of them. Money is the outcome of the business, while the purpose is always bigger. You might want to generate opportunities, bring change, challenge the status quo, whatever it might be, find it and live that WHY. 

When we work from this WHY, people having the same WHY will join us and help us in the momentum, mostly because your WHY is their WHY as well.  

What is freedom?

Freedom is not to be free. Freedom is to be able to create something, to be able to speak up, to change the world for better.

Never confuse freedom with being free from doing things, freedom is to be free to build something. This something is different for everyone and is the purpose of individual’s life.

Have freedom but never be free.

Respect is what you talk about a person when he is not around.

Respect is never to be received, it’s always to be given.

Respect is what you do when no one is watching.

When you represent your country, your action generate respect for your country and countrymen, likewise for your family and your company when you represent them.

Forgiveness, generosity, and contribution are types of selfless action.

For a company selfless action is to build a socially responsible and conscious business. The company should be giving back to the society, adding to the personal and professional growth of its people and customers.

A company doesn’t have to be big to contribute. The companies of all the sizes should build the culture of giving back. The community and the world around should be benefited from the success of a company.

S.A.V.E.R.S.: My learning from the book “Miracle Morning”.

What does the S.A.V.E.R.S. mean:

S = Silence (Meditation, Prayer, Breathing to calm your mind)
A = Affirmations (Encouraging words for the self, that maps towards your goals)
V = Visualization (Step by step imagination of things you would do to achieve your goals)
E = Exercise (Any form of exercise to get blood and oxygen flowing to the brain )
R = Reading (To fill your brain with positive thoughts and ideas)
S = Scribing (Writing daily journal to process your thoughts)

I am already doing “S.A.V.E.R.” and would be adding the last piece of the puzzle to complete my “S.A.V.E.R.S” from today. Great learning from the Early Bird 5 am club today.

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