Be A Great Warrior to Win Over Destiny's Blow

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"Whatever happens, happens for good" -- is not a consolation piece of wisdom but there is an invaluable life teaching embedded into it.

It tells us to accept the bitter facts of life gracefully and move ahead, winning over mother of all obstacles that life creates against achieving our objectives.

It teaches us to embrace our failure with a smiling face and motivate us to act like a great warrior for working out every possible strategy to counter the pains and agonies of wounds that life keeps inflicting upon us, while fighting an epic battle against our deadly enemy: Unfavorable Destiny.

Grow beyond Conventional Success to Achieve Greatness

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Everybody wants to grow and growing also. Most of us, willingly, through a combination of hard work, dedication and being in a favorable situation -- and a few perhaps automatically.

But, how many of us are growing as an achiever in terms of holding an inspiring and trust-worthy position in the eye of the others?

By position I don't mean conventional social status accomplished through wealth accumulation, but commanding a huge respect from masses for making a series of invaluable and intangible contributions to the  humanity.

How to Inspire Happiness Come Running After You!

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Why, apparently wise people, who always talk about achieving an ego-less state of mind, are themselves more egoistic than the normal population? This thought came to mind when I noticed someone I know, supposed to be a torch bearer of this enlightened philosophy, himself succumbed to the evils of a demanding ego.

As there can never be a day without a night, there can never be a living entity without duality of thoughts and actions. It's absolutely normal and natural according to the Law of Nature. However, what matters most for living an accomplished life is to keep this difference between what we talk and we practice as minimum as possible.

Being perfectly idealistic may be theoretically possible, but living in a complex and materialistic human society it is practically impossible to attain and practice such a perfect and pure state of mind and soul. So the best thing one can do is to avoid the avoidable duality, and the right approach towards attaining that goal is enhanced by embracing the of 'Zero expectation' concept of life.

Focus on giving as much as you can to people from your area of influence -- but, without expecting anything in return.  No doubt, that's where most of us fail. Numerous times I have done it and watched many doing it: "I did so much for him but he didn't bother to reciprocate," is perhaps the most popular complaint of entire humanity.

I agree that  every relationship is more or less performance based, and failing to live up to the expectation of others normally bring an end to most of the associations. However, my point is, you do your best to fulfill others' expectations out of you but never expect anything in return. Treat whatever you get back as a bonus, not as your rights.

More you reduce your expectation, less would be the need to practice duality, as your mind would be free of those confusion and doubts that force you to talk and act differently.  Because, when you stop bothering about others' reaction, you are left with nothing but improving your own selfless action. And I strongly believe that any selfless action is always transparent like water.

That's why, people who practice the art of unleashing selfless action, gradually move toward achieving an ego-less state of mind -- with a minimum of duality: Neither of thoughts, nor in action! Difficult to practice, but not impossible if you can tame your ego down.

Reduce your own expectation from others as much as you can; you would move a bit closer to living a better duality-free life. And I'm sure, others, watching your act, would follow your path sooner or later, making this world a better place to live in.

The day you learn to live a self-less life with 'zero expectation,' from others, believe me, happiness would declare a never-ending chase for you. Because, when you have nothing to expect, rather nothing to lose, standing on zero, everything that you receive in life is always positive.

Loss of Confidence: The Story of Relationship Fallout!

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Recently I lost a decade old client to my competitors and, at the same time, experienced a relationship fallout with an otherwise good connection on social media. Why that happened is a million dollar question but, I'm sure, it keeps happening with most of us.

One was in professional front and the other in personal life, but the contributing factors could be same in both the cases. Much have been written about relationship fallout and I don't want repeat those points again, but I've done some introspection to find out where did I gone wrong and sharing my observations with you.

One of the most important reasons could be: Loss of confidence.

Most of the successful associations, both professional and personal, are primarily fueled by a continuous flow of mutual trust and confidence. Things go wrong, only when this confidence factor experiences a downfall for some reasons.

Life is very complex like a spider web and full of puzzles that keep revolving around us on daily basis. Despite our best efforts, some of them remained unsolved for a long time and negatively influence our external behavior and quality of action as well.

Affecting our efficiency those unsolved issues bring down our performance in real life, ultimately leading towards erosion of confidence that others have in us. Neither we can clearly explain the reasons behind such deterioration to our associates, nor all of them are bothered about it. Gradually, confidence level reaches the point of no return and concerned associate silently backs out of the relationship.

However, I must say, most of us are invariably blessed with a few connections who demonstrate remarkable maturity in terms of understanding our situation and never hesitate to give us another chance. The wiser people make the best use of this opportunity and change the tide in favor. But a few, fail to read the writing on wall and pay the price.

I think, same must have happened in my case as far as losing the old client is concerned. Somewhere, I might have failed to deliver according to his expectations, shattering his confidence in me, forcing him to retreat and look out for someone who could deliver better. May be he had indicated his displeasure also, but I failed to notice them. However, he never clearly pointed it out to me and suddenly disappeared from my radar. And that really pains!

Well, if you are on the other side of the table and watching someone who had earlier lived up to your confidence but failing to deliver now, don't erase him completely out of your life -- rather talk to him and sort out the issues. If he understands, takes corrective action and makes it up, you have surely done a good deed of saving a relationship which is no less precious than a life.

There are a few more critical factors that equally influence the sustenance and prosperity of human relationship, but I would discuss them some other time.

A Virtual Joker!

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What is the spirit of a virtual relationship, after all?

Nothing, but a shot of marijuana that temporarily elevates your sense of attachment.

But to whom?

To people you hardly know, but still care about!

And, over a period of time, your depth of virtual attachment to them supersedes the limitations of practical understanding.

It keeps flourishing - not forever though - until one fine morning, when you wake up to realize a simple fact: Your real emotion is being perceived as virtual!

Then you realize, everything that you assumed in your virtual world has no practical relevance.

Nothing comes next, but a huge frustration germinated from your inability to differentiate between the Beauty of the real world and the Beast from the virtual.

In the end, you stand a virtual joker!

professional Relationship: How to be Most Wanted in Job Market

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Earlier, I told you about the importance of joining a big player right at the start of your career if you want make it happen in the corporate world.

Well, that's only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more dimensions of the crystal 'Success' and your ultimate achievement depends on understanding the importance of all of them.

One of them is how you manage your Professional Relationship.

Corporates are very vigilant these days and before making an offer to any candidate they would normally go through extensive background checks.

So, even if you are sponsored by an external recruiter, sometime, even before calling you for an interview they would obtain as much information as possible regarding your functional and behavioral performance through every known source from your current and previous organisations.

Several times, during my decade-and-half executive search career, I have noticed that many good candidates who're more than matching the job requirements were sidelined at the last moment just because they failed to pass the referral checks.

It means, some of your current or ex-colleagues, known to the interviewers, must have responded with some negative remarks about you. Those could be valid to some extent, and invalid as well in case you didn't enjoy a good working relationship with them.

Unfortunately, in the corporate circle, lot of people mix-up between professional misunderstanding and personal differences to facilitate their own progress - or abort others' - by hook or by crook.

To be in the safer side, you must maintain a healthy relationship with people from your professional circles and that includes external connections also.

And that's possible, only if you take your job seriously and control your emotional outbursts event at the most provoking situation.

Company Culture: How to be Most Wanted in Job Market!

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With too many candidates looking for a better job and too few enjoying the unique privilege of having multiple offers in hand, how many of you, belonging to former category, are seriously looking into finding out the difference between two sides of the same coin?

Being into the business of "Executive Search and Recruitment" for more than a decade and half, I can safely assume: Very few.

Most of you are going by conventional wisdom and traditional methods of career advancement, without realizing how dramatically the corporate world has changed in last couple of years. One hand we have a high unemployment rate, and on the other hand a huge talent shortage.

Isn't it high time to do little home work and renovate your profile, so that instead of you desperately looking out for a better assignment a host of dream companies come running after you -- either directly, or through their recruitment agencies?

Does it make sense? If so, read further!

The following suggestion is applicable to only those, who're newcomers to the corporate world: From freshers to professionals having a few years of work experience.

Very few brands are built overnight, but through a well planned strategic and tactical initiatives. What you are today in your professional life, one of the important reasons could be the size and reputation of the companies you have worked so far. Size and reputation matter, at least in the corporate world.

So always make it a point to join a big and reputed company in the beginning of your career - or switch over as soon as possible, if you have joined a small company - and apply the same principle to your next couple of changes covering at least a decade of your professional life.

You might get much better opportunities from smaller and less reputed companies with a higher designation and more money, but don't give in to greed; don't run after money during those formative years.

As you know the importance of first few years of your life - in terms of quality of upbringing - to help you grow successful as a human; remember, the same applies to career development as well.

Learning about organizational dynamics - while working in a big and reputed company - could be an invaluable asset, that would always help you later to look at every professional conflicts with a wider and down-to-earth perspective.

After a decade of successful stints with a few big and reputed companies, you can certainly command an astonishing market price - if you truly deserve it - from smaller and less reputed organizations -- may be some good start-ups also.

The person that you're today, is the resultant of the quality of upbringing during first few years of your life; the professional that you're are likely to be tomorrow, would be governed mostly by what you have learned during the first few years of your career.

Personal or professional, success is mostly governed by the quality of upbringing! And in the corporate world, these days, both internal and external recruiters strictly go by this principle.

3 Essential Social Media Rules!

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One of my Facebook friends, commenting against an article I recently posted on my blog highlighting some of my life experiences, thrown in a question: "what made you think that you're a 'Life Management' expert?"

Despite being a personal attack, I didn't feel bad about it. In fact, his statement lighted up my thought process for identifying the dark shades of social media interactions: Online negativity!

Social media communication is a game that we play for various reasons: Entertainment, education, self-expression etc to name a few. And like every game, it too has certain rules and regulation that participants must follow to make it worthwhile for all.

I'm not a social media experts but, being an avid Facebook user, some of the effective rules in my opinion are:

1. Respect others' freedom of expression

Freedom of expression is at its best on social media, where people are encouraged to disclose their views on a variety of topics. Obviously, opinions would vary from north to south pole depending upon individual's belief-system and life-values.

So if someone's view doesn't fall in line with your take on the same issue, you may share own and get into a healthy debate -- but you should never show any disrespect to him, may be through offending remarks.

2. Never launch personal attack

This is by far the most notorious negative shade of social media interaction. Quite often I notice people responding arrogantly to others' posts and comments, sometime even crossing decency limits. And a few, going further, launch personal attacks through stinking comments.

Remember, on social media sites you must control naked emotional outbursts, more so targeted at others, if you wish to get the best out it and let others have the same. This would help you develop  quite a few meaningful associations.

3. Make others Feel happier

People come to social media sites for taking a break from a demanding life. They come here to refresh themselves and recharge. Hence, you must try your best to make them feel better through interesting and inspiring posts and comments.

More you respect others and add values to their social media life, more you will feel happy, as, according to a latest research: Humans feel happier while giving it away, than consuming it themselves. And it, could be both tangible and intangible benefits.

If  you look at every interaction on social media sites with nothing but a strong positive feeling, I'm sure you'd enjoy your time over there and let others too.

Is Life, A Punishment for Committing No Crime?

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Life is a punishment, without committing a crime;

Life is a reward, without any achievement.

Life is a commitment, that rewards you nothing;

Life is nothing, but living for the sake of others.

Life is a never ending flow of tears, that make no sense to others;

Still we live pretend to be happy, and make others happy as well.

Life is all about unconditional giving, wiping out the expectation of a return;

Lfe is a journey that never ends, forgetting everything that you truly deserve.

life is all about giving, but receiving noting in return;

Life is nothing about gains, but loses that you learn to sustain.

Life is larger than a hero, that makes you the most dreaded villain;

Life is the best gift of nature, that you receive but never return.

Life is all about a few drops of tears, that you hide and keep moving;

Silently digesting a punishment, for committing no crime.

Life is after all, a punishment for committing no crime;

With a hope to come back, and prove it all wrong!

Money Management, I'm Still Learning!

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My father, walking the talk, used to highlight the concept of living a simple life where ethical values outweigh monetary quest. For him, financial growth was not the benchmark for counting degree of success in life but setting an example of a strong and spotless character.

Truly embracing his teachings, I grew up, hardly having any interest for monetary success and focusing more on general excellence. However, this disinterest in making money, in my case, went to such an extent that I could never realize the importance of saving a part of my earnings.

Truly amazing, as it appears now: how could I, a married person with two daughters to look after, be so ignorant about basic money management skill? I mean, saving a part of income for rainy days! Earning a lot but spending recklessly, I, not so long ago, realised the importance of a balanced cash flow when recession suddenly and unexpectedly dried up my source of income.

Struggling through mother of all difficulties for more than two years, I realized, how important is -- not just earning money but, more than that, saving a part of it.

Money still doesn't excite me, but the thought of not having enough of it sends chills down my spine. Human values are still much more important to me, mainly because it's impossible to change my upbringing induced belief system, but achieving financial freedom has definitely taken a front seat in the show of life.

Money can't buy us happiness, but lack of a bare minimum can surely makes us extremely unhappy. Who knows it better than me? And that bare minimum, even though varies according to individual lifestyle, should never go skyrocketing!

Earn as much as you can, without sacrificing your social life; spend as less as you can, without sacrificing a decent living; save as much as you can, without sacrificing the pleasures you can afford to provide to your family members -- but never let money take driver's seat in your life!