Need Improvement

We all have areas in our lives that need improvement–whether it’s our careers, relationships, fitness or just overall mental and emotional state. Although making changes in any of these categories sounds like a huge undertaking, it all starts with making goals and taking that first step. Sometimes even that sounds daunting and we need a little bit of inspiration before we can take any steps. That’s when it’s time to take some advice from people who are already on the self-improvement journey.

anil pandey

anil pandey

At masooree

Are Your Passions Preventing You From Reaching Your Big Goals?

Do you have a thing you love to do – something you are passionate about? Time seems to fly when you spend time on these activities (for example a hobby) and you feel happy and content with yourself.

However, sometimes a certain passion (or a goal related to the passion) can prevent you from achieving even bigger goals; the ones that could change your life forever.

You may be thinking, “Well … shouldn’t I be doing what I’m passionate about?” and my answer is “yes”. But, at the same time you have to stop for a minute and take a good look at your passion – is it helping you to get closer or farther from your bigger goals?

Sometimes you just have to give up – or at least slow down

Although I hate giving up, and I don’t want you to give up either, sometimes you just have to know when to stop doing something. This is especially true in these situations:

1. You are overwhelmed and can’t have it all at once

Sometimes there is just so much that you want to achieve. Yet, you can’t have it all – at least all at once.

The biggest issue is time – you may have great difficulties doing everything you want. Even if you try, you quickly realize that you are not able to focus on anything properly.

Rather than hustling with 10 different hobbies/projects/activities at once, you have to give up on certain ones so that you are not totally overwhelmed.

This also solves time problems and sets priorities straight; you have more time to focus on those projects that have the biggest impact in your life.

2. Your own well-being may be at risk

This point is closely related to previous point. When you have too much going on at the same time, not only are you struggling with your time, but your own well-being also.

No matter how fun and interesting things may be right now, doing too much at once is more likely to stress you out than make you happy and alive.

It’s time to prioritize your goals

If you are not making good progress on reaching that big goal of yours, ask yourself, “Am I focusing 100% on my goal?” or, “Am I doing everything I can to reach my goal?” or, “How am I spending my day, so that I have more time to focus on my goal?”

Take your time and answer these questions. The answers may open up your eyes to understand that maybe you have to do something radical to reach that goal. For example, this could be decreasing the time you spend doing your favorite hobby.

Also, it is important to understand that reaching your big goal might have long-term, life-changing effects while your other activities may not.

For instance, if you love knitting but you would like to turn it into a successful business, you have to focus on the business side of things in place of your knitting time.

Although knitting may bring you joy and excitement when you do it, creating your own thriving knitting business has a much bigger, long-term effect on your life and it could bring you even more enjoyment and fun.

Develop proper mindsets before giving up

Here is the deal: when you give up one of your passions (or decide to spend less time with it), you are opening new doors to greater possibilities. In our previous example, you are creating something big in your life (in the form of a business) by giving up on something else (your knitting time).

Also, giving up something doesn’t have to be permanent. You just slow down certain activities temporarily until you have reached that bigger goal of yours.

Finally, times change and your interests change too.

It’s your turn now:

Did you have a situation when you had to give up one of your passions or goals for something bigger? Please share your experiences on the comments area.

Mera Neta Chor Hai

The government agrees to most of Anna’s conditions, and agrees to modify the lokpal bill accordingly. Yes, the people of India did it. Scared at the rising popular support, the government gave in. This will have far reaching implications for India, not only because of  a strong Lokpal, but also that people in India have tasted their power. From now on, the aam aadmi will not think of himself as powerless.

Since the government has agreed to the bill, the ‘Mera Neta Chor Hai’ campaign also ends. I can’t thank you guys enough for your support. Together, we will make a better India, one step at a time.

Regards,

Anil Pandey

Why do we make New Year resolutions?

To grow, to make progress and to move forward in life; change is required and this change itself sometimes requires some kind of stimuli, a turning point, a change of weather, a fresh start.. and this is exactly what every New Year offers us a chance to start afresh and live our lives exactly the way we dream't and hence we resolve to do things differently. Whether we pass or fail in our endeavors I think it's important to make a start because sometimes change can only happen slowly.

2011 was the year of lessons and 2012 shall be the year of Grand Plans.

The two most important things I learnt which shall be the guiding principles for my 2012 resolutions are:

• Only if you love life truly, will life truly love you back. If you are scared and hold back; life will hold back from you too.
• There is only one question to ask,"What would you do if you were not afraid?" Asking this to myself always helps me take some of the more difficult decisions in my personal and professional life.

Now moving onto the fun part of actually making my resolutions, first I'll mention some of the basic principles on which my resolutions are based.

• I want to improve my health. Exercise more, eat healthier and cut back on the toxins.
• Educate myself further. I already have a college degree but I don't want to just study for a degree. There is so much to know out there and I want to dedicate some amount of time increasing my knowledge.
• To say "yes" to all the stuff close to my heart including causes ( my favorite animal shelter) and hobbies (painting, cooking).
• To nurture all my relationships far and close with trust, honesty, respect and love. To keep making deposits in the emotional wealth banks of my relations. A phone call, email, chat, facebook, a lunch date, a drink with the boys... the options are endless. And of course most importantly to love myself and spend time doing things I love, to enrich my mind, body and soul.
• And last but not the least to live life queen size. Travel, be spontaneous, do random crazy things, laugh till my stomach hurts, to talk without thinking, to explore, have fun and soak it all in.

My actual resolutions should come in a more fun format and I have to think carefully as I am one year away from hitting quarter life crisis and maybe the world will end so 2012 will have to be lived properly and thoroughly.

Cheers!

While blogging has only reached prominence in the last few years, it was actually invented by the ancient Romans who built a majestic blog in 200 BC from marble, granite and links they stole from the Greeks.

"Blog" itself is short for "weblog," which is short for "we blog because we weren't very popular in high school and we're trying to gain respect and admiration without actually having to be around people."

Creating your own blog is about as easy as creating your own urine, and you're about as likely to find someone else interested in it. One popular technique for building readership is to send e-mail to more well-trafficked blogs offering to exchange links with them. One popular response from those blogs is to laugh derisively and hit the Delete button.

Another approach for advertising your blog is to mention it as much as possible in conversation; you'd be surprised how many people are fascinated to hear you have a blog and want to know more, especially if you were expecting the number to be greater than zero.

However, there are many popular blogs already in existence, and if you want people to think you're cool, you're probably better off claiming you were a "guest blogger" for one of them. Your average blog has so many guest bloggers and such a crappy search feature that nobody will ever be able to prove you wrong.

As a handy guide for crafting your horrible lies, here's a list of some of the already popular blogs out there। (I'm omitting the blogs at Wired, because, hey, I have to work with these people.) Along with each blog's name, I've provided what would be the ultimate perfect blog entry for that particular blog. I'm tired of the word "blog" now.