Cordially Yours

If it is said that life is a roller-coaster ride, it may resonate with almost everyone including you. In fact, for some of you, this ride may be quite wild. Of course, how people cope with the tribulations of the ride depends mainly on how they are able to stay calm during such periods. Unfortunately, if you do not learn to stay calm when you suddenly face difficult challenges, your entire life can get torpedoed.  Now the big question is: How can you stay calm during such situations? The characteristic traits of every individual are unique and so, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all formula for this. Nonetheless, there is a prescription that can help every one of us surmount those situations without causing much damage to our life journey . You can learn this particular step by having a peek into the life of Joannie Rochette, a bronze medalist in skating at the Winter Olympics held in Vancouver in 2010. Two days before the finals, Joannie lost her mother. Her mother had been ...

Impressing others -- This idea has always been in the minds of most people. The idea has even been pondered and attempted by those folks who proclaim from rooftops that they view the matters of life and such mundane ideas through a philosophical and saintly prism.  In fact, almost every one of us grew up hearing the phrase "impressing others" frequently. But unfortunately, the idea and the results of your action are highly subjective. This means that if you think that you have impressed a person, his or her view of you may be completely different or perhaps, quite contradictory to what you think. That is why it is often said that there are no definite ways to impress others. Let us try to dig a little deep into this.  The foremost thing you should bear in mind is that you need not have qualms or reservations about wanting to impress others with your knowledge, skills , and accomplishments. You are not committing any sin by attempting this. But alas, you may fai...

Experts emphatically advise, and rightly so, that there is no limit to learning . In fact, learning pervades every stage of our lives. As a child, we learned to crawl, stand, walk, and all such motor skills. As a kid, we learned to identify objects, read, and write. As adolescents, we learned how to make friends and connect with people. This learning process continues till the end of our life. But unfortunately, we get caught in the milieu of life and so, we forget the fact that we should be open-minded to learn life's lessons. In fact, if you are open-minded and willing to learn, you will get unimaginably valuable lessons from everywhere including unexpected sources.  Regardless of the field in which you operate, you should be ready to embrace ideas from completely unrelated fields as well. You can cross-pollinate such ideas and blend them appropriately with the concepts of your field. This strategy is popularly known as "cross-fertilization of ideas" and this will great...

What is high performance?  Though the meaning of the term " high performance " differs from person to person, Brendon's definition that "succeeding beyond standard norms consistently over the long-term" seems to nail the right meaning of the term. Experts categorically opine that if you want to achieve stupendous success, you have to be a consistently high performer, regardless of which profession you pursue and which field in which you operate. But whether it is possible to be a high performer on a consistent basis is the question. The answer is an emphatic "yes." But you have to develop a few habits and follow them meticulously in order to become a consistent high performer. We will now look into one of the most important habits. Make use of your "golden hours" judiciously. "Golden hours" are that segment of a day when a person's mind is fresh and she or he feels energetic, enthusiastic, and rejuvenated. If you use these hour...

Every one of us has spent years and years learning how to communicate but alas! we have learned only to speak or write. Does effective communication consist only of speaking and writing? The fact is that there is another very important element in communication and that is LISTENING. Have we learned how to listen effectively? Truly speaking, effective listening is one of the most essential habits that can help us succeed in all our endeavors. This 5-star habit can catapult you to the success stratosphere. Why and how? What is the purpose of effective listening? The simplest reply to this question is we can understand others or the things they speak about. We all know that there is a world of difference between hearing and listening. When we just hear, we do not imbibe or 'take in' the content in what we hear. On the other hand, when we listen intently , the content gets registered in our minds. This means we understand. The reality that can be uncomfortable to most of us is tha...

That every individual is unique is backed by loads of research findings. This being the case, a question arises as to whether you can emulate or reverse engineer the winning ways of successful performers. Before answering this question, experts make it very much clear that they are not making any dogmatic suggestions that you should embrace all the ways of these high performers.  On the contrary, you should use your cerebral faculties to choose only those habits or ways you think are suitable for you. In fact, these experts hasten to add that it is enough if you incorporate only the following three common habits into your life. Let us dig a little deeper into these. 1. Succumbing to the gravitational power of your bed even after the alarm of your bedside clock rings is dreadful and bubonic. Further, as soon as the alarm rings, your body begins secreting Cortisol, the wakefulness hormone. Waging a war against this hormone and trying to continue your sleep will make y...

"Nobody has a perfect life. Everybody has their own problems" is one of the oft-repeated quotes. But some people seem to know how to solve their problems more easily. You may wonder how they possess this ability while you keep on struggling to come out of the tough situations you are mired in. Experts on personal development suggest that you should ask a few basic questions to change your approach to handling such situations.   1.  What is the situation?   2.  I do not like the situation. I am ill at ease and feeling suffocated. So, what is the preferred situation that can lift me to a "tensionless state," as Victor Frankl puts it in his "Man's Search for Meaning." ?   3.  How can I create the preferred situation?   4.  How can I know that I have succeeded in creating the preferred situation? Unfortunately, there is a caveat. The answers to questions 3 and 4 are very difficult to get, though it is comparatively easier to get th...