Q: How to wake up at 5 am every day?
A: If you are thinking that waking up everyday early is a tough task, you are absolutely wrong. Is is very easy and simple. STOP THINKING.
You have to understand basic human nature that it restricting itself within comfort zone and as soon as you think of going out of it, it will bombard you with zillion reasons why you shouldn’t do it. What am I trying to tell you, is your brain is your enemy at such times. So, where am I going with this, again, stop using it at such time.
Now, the technique!
Look, you have already thought it through that you want to wake up at 5am, you know it is a good habit. Now, set an alarm, and order your mind that you are waking up at 5am tomorrow. Once, the alarm goes off, STOP THINKING, don’t let your mind start resisting. Get off the bed and go to the washroom and splash some cold water on your face. Thats it, that’s all you have to do.
Important Note- You will fail to wake up everyday if, you don’t have proper schedule planned for at least next 4-5 hours. Why? Because, it is not about just waking up, it is about staying up too. Once you have a set up plan as what you will do from the time you wake up i.e. 5am till say, 10am, your mind will not allow other thoughts to come and you will see that you are focused on completing those tasks you planned. Doing this will train your mind such that, after some time, waking up will not feel like such a huge effort and you will also realize how beautiful watching sunrise, listening to birds chirping, cool fresh breeze, etc can be.
Q: How to find your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
A: We are lazy, our mind is constantly trying to pull us down right from the start when you want to get off your bed. It is used to doing the same things again and again, everyday and it hates changes. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will help you to control your actions. There is a brilliant way to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are.
List out all those who really know how you are, how you think, how you react. They are mostly either your mom, your closest friends, could be your mentor if you share everything with them, your colleague, your professor, etc. List their names. Ask for their time, and be serious about this. Meet someplace quiet, ask them point blank, that you want to hear everything that they think you have (focus on skills than qualities). And just listen to them and make notes. Once you have a list of your skills from everyone, you will see a pattern, some common skills that everyone thinks you are good at. There you have it, now you just have to figure out how you can monetize those skills.
Believe me, it works. It has worked for me. I have done this and results astonishes me even today. Because I was able to figure out how I can earn money using my skills. I strongly believe that you can find yours too. "Happy hunting!"
Q: What are the most effective ways to manage your time and develop decision making ability?
A: There are two quotes that sums up the answer to this question.
“Planning is nothing, Plan is everything” and
“If you Fail to Plan, you Plan to Fail”.
Re-read it, again, again. Let that fit in your head. People who assume that they will plan when they have all the information, they will wait forever. Another side of this also very crucial that is, managing time is all about making decisions. We know what we should do and when, but do we do it? Why? We are afraid to make decisions, we are afraid that we might miss a better opportunity.
Suppose we planned to start studying in 5min, we think that since we have 5min, we will maybe check our social media, and by the time you realize, 20min have passed. That was your decision of not stopping on time or decision you made to check your cell phone.
Think of it this way then, if you do something productive, it will improve you and your skills and soon you will be so good that your skills will be visible to anyone who speaks with you and eventually opportunity will fall on your lap. If you wait to make a decision, you will not move and make any progress and hence no improvement in you or your skills.
Now, how do you assume that without doing anything, that magic should happen and you should get what you want? You won’t. You get what you deserve, you have to be prepared to get what you wish for.
Next time you think of managing time, think of the most important and necessary things you need to do and just do them and forget about any other things that might have given you temporary joy.
Q: What are the top 5 things you should do to improve your communication skills?
A: This is a very popular question that I am frequently asked. Communication skills in todays world is probably the most important skill one should acquire. To be clear, people believe that they should be born with it but it is not true, if we really go in depth of how the life has progressed of people who are great at communicating, we will start to see a pattern of things those people used to do that has resulted in their exceptional communication skills. So, what are these things that they did and how you can acquire, well, the answer is simple, and it is not easy.
I believe, 5 things you can do to improve your communication skills are:
Try to say the same thing in multiple ways:
This is a straight forward process that will jog your memory and will force you to think. This is a preliminary step because this step will help you to think in different angels which is a very helpful asset when answering someone with different perspective
Read Books, listen to podcasts and watch videos:
By doing this, you will learn about perspectives and good stories and great examples. These perspectives, stories and examples will be very helpful when you are trying to convince your point. Also, reading, listening and watching videos will improve your vocabulary so that you can use perfect word that will match the sentence. Believe me, using a proper word turns out to be more effective while conversing.
Ask a lot of questions:
You have to understand what communication skills means to get this point. People will think you have good communication skills if you are able to put your thoughts in a way that will be on the same level as the person you are speaking with. Asking a lot of question will help you get an idea of how the other person thinks and that will give you a clue on how you can say the same thing in different way that will get your point across.
Try to make a healthy discussion with everyone:
When you discuss with people, both of you are basically trying to say that each of your point is better, not always but often times that is the case. At this point, I suggest you only listen, so that you can learn some good points what other person is saying and when you get a gist of their perspective, your previous steps will help you put your point across more effectively.
Practice and act confident while speaking:
I should write acting confident before practice, both are equally important but please understand the power of acting confident. When you are confident while you speak, it projects a certain energy that is felt by the other person and that energy remains in the environment. It is traditional mentality that people will believe a lie spoken with confidence than a truth spoken with hesitation. This will come with practice, this is the only thing that will get you on the hot spot and people will listen to you.
Q: I am 25 year old who has lot of interest and lack of right direction in life, how does one pick a fulfilling and happy career?
A: If you are driving a car at 100km/hr but have no destination, rather than keeping the same
pace, you would want to slow down or maybe take a pause and think clearly before you start driving again. Not knowing what you should do is natural and benign but not taking an action to figure it out is a choice and disastrous.
No one can or should tell you what you should pick, only you know that. Taking guidance from friends or a consultant can help you a lot.
Your friends can tell you what you are good at and you can think about how to monetize on that. A consultant can access your interest through a test and then will show you choices that you can take based on the result. Of course, a consultant won’t tell you what to do, they will only guide you to pick from careers where you will excel. But in the end, the choice is yours.
Q: Can I do my education/job and business simultaneously? If yes, how?
A: You can definitely do business no matter what you are working or studying. But it comes with a catch, you need to be prepared mentally to accept the efforts, time and of course money that will be required to start your business. You will have to work extra hour and find time from work or school to put for your business. It will not be easy but it will surely be worth it.
How to do it is very simple, create a time schedule, see when you absolutely have to do something related to your school/work and take out few hours EVERYDAY, mind it, you have to work on your business everyday. Get as much information as possible in the initial stage before directly pouring money in, talk to people who are doing what you want to do, and get an idea of how many hours you are required to take off from your daily schedule. Validate your idea, this is very important, ask your potential customers, what they think about your idea, will they buy service/product you are providing. Once you have confidence, it is time to launch your business.
You will not be 100% sure but you will never be 100% sure about such decisions in your life.
Q: Should you pick your career based on its future scope or based on your desire?
A: Well it depends on the type of person you are. If you can pick a career that pays well and not complain about your day or job or life, in short you are happy and content, then yes. However, if you are going to regret your decision everyday to have picked a career that is paying good, then probably you need to rethink your decision before you make it. Because, even though it is not impossible to make a change in your profession in future, it becomes difficult as time passes. Because you will only know the skills that are good for the job that you don’t want to do. On the other hand, if you choose something that you desire, you will enjoy your work.
Q: Your parents’ opinion for you to pick a career is different than yours? What should you do?
A: Other than explaining your parents why you want to pick what you love, there is very little that you can do. I would rather want to have a conversation and advice your parents. I will tell them that basically every career has great career growth if you are good at it and every field has fierce competition if you just average. I will make them understand that if they make you pick a career of their choice, then you will always hate what you are doing and probably fill bitterness for your parents. Against, if they let you pick what you want to pursue, you will try to prove yourself and work really hard to become better which will eventually get you recognition in the market and help you advance in your career.
Q: Does your percentage determine your future growth?
A: Percentages are only a criteria to get admitted in to a school/college. That’s it. It has nothing to do with how successful you will be in your future. One has to realize this fact as early in their life as possible. To study just to top in an exam does not prove that you are smart. It shows you are good at remembering what you read. Remembering something and understanding is a different thing. I can remember or recite a sentence in another language but maybe I don’t understand what it means. Your future growth is determined by how much you know, how much you understand from it and then what you do with what you know.
Q: Why do you need a consultant?
A: Try asking one your friends or relatives about what you should do after 10th / 12th / graduation, or where you should invest your money or which business should you start or how to resolve any issue with your partner. You will always hear their biased opinion or opinion they have created listening to someone they admire or just blabber without having any base. There are very few people around you who genuinely care about your wellbeing and have knowledge or understanding to solve your problem. If you know someone like this, by all means ask them. But if you don’t, you need a consultant who can help you understand the root cause of your problem, so it never happens in future, who will give an unbiased advice with proper explanation to justify their recommendation.
Q: Your parent’s opinion for you to pick a career is different than yours? What should you do?
A: Other than explaining your parents why you want to pick what you love, there is very little that you can do. I would rather want to have a conversation and advice your parents. I will tell them that basically every career has great career growth if you are good at it and every field has fierce competition if you just average. I will make them understand that if they make you pick a career of their choice, then you will always hate what you are doing and probably fill bitterness for your parents. Against, if they let you pick what you want to pursue, you will try to prove yourself and work really hard to become better which will eventually get you recognition in the market and help you advance in your career.
Q: Should you pick your career based on its future scope or based on your desire?
A: Well it depends on the type of person you are. If you can pick a career that pays well and not complain about your day or job or life, in short you are happy and content, then yes. However, if you are going to regret your decision everyday to have picked a career that is paying good, then probably you need to rethink your decision before you make it. Because, even though it is not impossible to make a change in your profession in future, it becomes difficult as time passes. Because you will only know the skills that are good for the job that you don’t want to do. On the other hand, if you choose something that you desire, you will enjoy your work.
Q: How can you be more productive and accomplish more?
A: Let’s say you have a paper 10 days later, and you have to prepare 5 chapters, you know you will strategize your plan accordingly, But what if you realize that the paper is 5 days later, now your plan will change and you will study accordingly. My point is very simple here, if we work with a deadline/timeline in mind, we can always find more time to do other things. But most important part of this process is to be honest with yourself while setting a deadline. Because if suppose you find out that you can finish the task before deadline but choose to slow yourself just because you have time, means you are procrastinating and will lead to being less productive.
Q: Does your percentage determine your future growth?
A: Percentages are only a criteria to get admitted in to a school/college. That’s it. It has nothing to do with how successful you will be in your future. One has to realise this fact as early in their life as possible. To study just to top in an exam does not prove that you are smart. It shows you are good at remembering what you read. Remembering something and understanding is a different thing. I can remember or recite a sentence in another language but maybe I don’t understand what it means. Your future growth is determined by how much you know, how much you understand from it and then what you do with what you know.
Q: What to do when you are confused?
A: Most people are confused most of the time. Being confused is not a problem as there are so many choices one has to make from buying a toothpaste to buying a house. What worries me is people tend to get frustrated if their confusion is not resolved and that frustration in some cases turns into anger which is usually taken out on people who care for us. To avoid this, I advice couple of things one can do to help get out of confusion. Go for a walk near quiet place, think of all possible options, when you come back, divert your attention to other things like music, reading, movie or anything that you like to do. Then just sleep with the question in your mind. Your mind will process all the information you have and give you an answer when you wake up. Try it, it works like magic.
Q: How do you keep balance between study and social network?
A: I agree that everyone has their speed of learning. One can read a page in 3 minutes but has to read again to understand, whereas another can read in 4 minutes and understand at the same time. This happens when one is focused on just finishing reading the page. If you focus on understanding, you will not have to re-read the page. We will also need to analyze how you spend your day and see how we can at least take out 1-2hrs which can be dedicated for activities other than studying, such as outdoor games, hanging out with friends, etc. You have to realize that it is all about priority, if it is not a priority, you will not find time for it and you will blame it on the workload. For example, if you are being told to wake up early to study, you will have tons of reason why not, but what if you were going on a trip or a movie, why is it that you wake up before time with all you energy. It is all about priority. If you really want it, you will find time to do it.
Q: What is the one thing that helped you become better every day?
A: Persistence. Adopting habits that improves you and doing them every day with no excuses. I would recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book explains the concept of improving just by 1% in everything we do, every day and shows you how a substantially great result can be obtained. 1% sound very small for one day or two maybe, but doing it for 365 days will make you 3778% better. How small is 1% now?…
Think about the thing you want to improve in yourself, write them down, prioritize them and pick only one at a time, because trying to do all at once can demoralize you if you fail to keep up. Once you are confident, then you can try two at a time and so on.
Q: You are rich and successful but still you are not happy?
A: Happiness is not something you chase, it is a by product of the actions you take. Being rich and successful might have given you a temporary high and a feel of happiness but once you are there, it will be the same thing everyday. How long will you be happy buying material things or partying.
You have to ask yourself and understand your priorities, what matters to you. Even if you are rich and successful, maybe they are not something that you value most. Think about what does and do that.
Q: I am in my late 20s and I feel I have wasted a lot of time.is it too late for me to achieve something worthwhile?
A: It’s never too late. You begin your new journey the moment you have realization about something transformational. Being in late twenties does not mean you cannot do anything anymore, but it surely suggests that you will have to put more time and effort than others. To think positively, your age also determines a certain level of wisdom you might have achieved that can be put in use to make smarter decisions to create a plan that will help you achieve something worthwhile.
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