Do You Think Your Luck Is Bad?

I believe in luck and I completely agree with all of you that luck plays an important role in our life. When our luck is good we get success more often and when our luck is bad we face failures more often. So, bad luck actually means, bad times.

But do bad times come only to us or it comes to everyone ?

I am sure, you will agree with me that bad time comes in everyone's life. Be it Amitabh Bachhan or Sachin Tendulkar, every legend had their share of rejection during their bad times.

So I would like to rename Luck as Life. Every life on earth will have its ups and downs, it will never be the same throughout.

I understood from the life of legends that Luck is not bigger than your Vision.

Let us understand this through a situation. You and your friend, Ajay wanted to watch India vs Australia cricket T20 sitting in the stadium. It was a last moment decision, so getting tickets were very difficult. Ajay backed out and opted to watch the match on TV. But you persisted and managed to get a ticket.

You watched the match sitting in the stadium cheering the Indian team along with thousands of spectators. But unfortunately India lost the match, you and Ajay both became sad. Ajay was sad sitting at home and you became sad sitting in the stadium.

But, at the end of the day who enjoyed more? Who was able to join the thousands of fan cheering India…India? Who was able to take the players autograph? Who was able to click photos of the live match?

It was you…

So, inspite of India losing the match you will remember it as a memorable day of your life. But for Ajay it is just another match India lost.

Friends, now consider watching the cricket match in the stadium as your vision and India losing as luck. Luck was same for you and Ajay - India Lost. But you were able to derive higher value out of the same luck only because of your larger vision.

The same thing happens in our life. Two friends, Raju and Chandu won a lottery of 1lakh each. Raju immediately puts the money in Bank Fixed Deposit and started to earn an interest of 7000 per annum. Chandu had a larger vision - he starts a small factory with that money and soon becomes owner of 5 factories.

Then, Bad luck strikes in the form of recession - Both Raju and Chandu got affected.

Raju's bank decreased the Fixed deposit rate, his earning fell by 500/- and he started to earn 6500/- per month. But Chandu had to sell off his 3 factories. But even after selling off factories, Chandu's net worth was still higher than Raju's net worth

After a few years good time was back.

Raju's earning went up to 7000/- from Bank interest. But Chandu re-established all his 5 factories and became a billionaire.

Friends, Luck is Life, it will go up and down, you cannot stop it. Walt Disney faced bankruptcy, Steve Jobs was thrown out of his own company….but they bounced back because of their vision.

Your vision will determine the stage area on which you are going to play out your life. So, think about your vision and not your luck.

Self Motivation Simplified

Self  Motivation is the only form of motivation that can help us to bounce back after a major setback. Everyone of us is at some level of self motivation. This video will help you understand the elements of self motivation and how they influence our performance.

The Poverty Mindset

Recently I got the opportunity to visit a village surrounded by hundreds of factories. This is only 60 kilometers away from Gurgaon. Water is available within 20 feet below the ground. The land is extremely fertile where three crops can be grown in a year. But still the villagers are below the poverty line. I was surprised and out of my curiosity I interacted with few villagers to understand the reason for their poverty. What I gathered gave me some new insight into poverty mindset.

A young man explained that he is a graduate but unemployed, the factories don’t provide job to villagers and there aren’t many opportunities around. A farmer said that it is difficult to get proper rate for their crop. A woman with five children explained how difficult it is to make ends meet. But despite of all the difficulties, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life. When I asked the villagers, do they know of any successful person from the village, they said that there are no successful people in the village. Some villagers explained that they are poor but still they are rich in their hearts, they feel that poverty is necessary to stay happy and together.

I found a school in the village, I met the principal and he shared that villagers are not ready to send their children to school and most of them are reluctant to spend money on child’s education. There are around 20% dropouts from the school every year. He also mentioned that some people have done exceedingly well despite of the demotivating environment – One villager have become a MBBS doctor, another person became an IAS officer.

During the one hour drive back to Gurgaon, I kept thinking about all the conversations I had with the villagers. Lots of questions kept popping in mind:

Why the villagers did not mention the success stories of their village?

Why the factories do not employ villagers?

Why some villagers are proud to be poor?

Why do they talk only about poverty?

Why do they feel that there are no opportunities around?

The questions which came to my mind were also the lead to my answers. I realized that it is not about availability of resources, but the mindset. Somehow, it is hardwired into their mind that the world is a difficult place and nothing can be done about it. Finding pride in penury further strengthens their belief about poverty. As a result, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life.

This is an extreme case, but when I introspected, I realized that most people have shades of the villager’s mentality which can be corrected.

What is H-O.P.E. ?

Many of us know motivation in the form of  reward, recognition, appreciation etc. All these are are external factors that motivate you. But is this kind of motivation sustainable?

External motivational factors inflates us like a balloon, but what happens when you leave the air filled balloon untouched for a week or a month? It returns back to its original shape and size. The same thing happens with  motivation - after the peak it goes on a decline and eventually we lose all the motivation and start to look for new motivation. That is why self motivation plays an important role.

I developed H-OPE as a self motivation model which encompasses all the aspects that will help you motivate yourself. H-OPE is not just a word but a mnemonic where H stands for Have a Goal, O stands for Open Mind, P stands for Power of Belief and E stands for Energy to Persevere.

The three elements - Open Mind, Power of Belief and Energy to Persevere will help you achieve your Goal, that is the reason why "HOPE" is written as "H-OPE". Each of the elements of H-OPE are discussed below:

H - Have a Goal

A goal-less life is like an abandoned boat on the sea. Its not the boat but the waves that determines the direction in which the boat is going to go and the shore its going to reach. People change their goals frequently once external factors start to influence their thinking and finally land up doing things they don't like, this leads to frustration and repentance for not pursuing the goals that were right for them. Finally, people succumb to an average life chosen by someone else. So, having a goal is very important. The goal chosen by you is the key driver that will keep you motivated.

O - Open Mind

Having an open mind is very very important. There are two aspects to it - freeing the mind and then empowering the mind. Free the mind of all prejudices, anxiety and despair to expose your mind to a rainbow of possibilities. Then empower the mind with creativity to develop new perspectives. An open mind reads and learns like all other minds does but it has the ability to engineer multiple application of the things learnt, far greater than a closed mind can think of. Creativity is a huge motivator -  once you realise that you have creativity inside you, you will become more optimistic about yourself and start to think positively.

P - Power of Belief

Belief firms up your mind with the rigidness of purpose. Once you start believing in your goals and your capabilities, you will start living up to your true potential. Belief is like the battery charger which provides the fuel to all the other three elements of H-OPE.

E - Energy to Persevere

Finally, you need the energy to lift yourself every time you feel defeated. Here's where setback management comes into play. Whenever you feel like a loser just ask yourself the question - "Have I failed enough?" I believe that every human has got a quota of failure in their life. Some people exhaust their quota of failure and emerge victorious while others just give up half way through their failures. Remember, that failing is important for learning and it is a continuous process just like burning out of candle is important for lighting up the darkness around it.

So, friends. Follow H-OPE to continue with the hope in your life.

Use imagination to Quit Smoking

I used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day and I did it perpetually for 12 years but now I have left smoking completely. When I thought of quitting smoking, I started to seek advice from doctors and friends on how to quit smoking. Most of them advised me to leave it gradually by reducing the number of cigarettes consumed every day. I also tried some of the sprays and anti smoking chewing gums but without result. Surprisingly I left smoking suddenly one fine day.

Photo Credit : Nicoletta Ciunci

I used imagination to quit smoking instantly. I tried to find out and understand how my brain functions during pre and post smoking scenarios. The urge to smoke was more or less time specific and it lasted till I had a cigarette. Suddenly increasing or reducing the number of cigarettes caused discomfort, when I analyzed the reason for it I found that it was basically because my brain was sending an instruction to my body but the body was not complying with it. I tried to identify the same discomfort with some other activities I do. I read for about half an hour before sleeping, when I stopped reading, it caused discomfort and it took me more time to fall asleep. I shifted my time to have breakfast by an hour, I felt discomfort in the beginning but after a few days my body adjusted to the new timing. these analogies helped me in understanding the pattern my brain follows.

For sleeping and breakfast the body had an alternate time to adjust with but for smoking the body has to live without it. So, I concluded that I have to tame my mind or rather fool my brain. I collected pictures of people smoking and pasted it in my room and washroom. I looked at details of the pictures and imagined how happy and satisfied the person in the picture would be feeling while smoking. I did it several times in the day so that the picture pops up in my mind without even without looking at it. It is also necessary to remember the feelings we associate with smoking.

Whenever I felt like smoking I closed my eyes and remembered the pictures and the feelings. My brain could immediately identify the feelings and my urge to smoke was gone in five minutes. I kept doing it repeatedly to keep away from smoking. I left smoking three years back but my brain still believes that I smoke.