Ravositti

I bet you will be lucky!

2009-03-24T08:45:00.004+05:30

This is no Magical Luck school article to change your luck forever but this is what works for me.

“We all dream a lot - some are lucky, some are not. But if you think it, want it, dream it, then it's real. You are what you feel.” - Tim Rice

It is not the way our fortunes are but it is the way we build our fortunes that makes us lucky or unlucky. If you want to be lucky follow the below list and your bad luck will leave you forever( Hope for the best always).

Create short-term goals.
How can you aim without having a target? Setting a goal makes your target visible. It helps you focus. Short term goals act as building blocks. It can be as simple as learning a new recipe this weekend or whatever you feel you should accomplish today, tomorrow or at most this week. Your short-term goals are stepping stones to achieve your long-term goals. So every smaller goal achieved will bring you a step closer to your long-term goal.

Create long-term goals.
Long term goals are very important. You may not fix a proper date to it but you can have an approx timeline to measure your progress. Long term goals must have a timeline of a month, a year at max. Long goal tasks should be like “Moving into a management position”, “Learning a foreign language”, “Buying a car or a house” etc.

Refine your goals.

Are your goals crystal-clear?
Each of your goals should define in detail what you will achieve. You cannot have vague goals.

Are they realistic?
You can have a goal to be the first man to land on Mars but that may not be a realistic goal for you. You must have goals which make you work hard but they should be realistic.

Are they quantifiable?
Your goal should be measureable. Can somebody else assess whether you have achieved your goal? If no, then add a measureable unit to it.

What about the timeline?
Goal with no timeline do not motivate you & thus you will not work towards achieving it. Also, don’t have too rigid or too loose timelines, both won’t workout.

Are they meaningful?
You can have endless list of goals but not all are worthwhile. A goal worth committing is one which makes you feel good when accomplished or adds some value or makes you proud or/& happy.

Don’t Procrastinate.
Delaying deadlines and later trying hard to meet the ends leads to unnecessary hassles. We mostly procrastinate because we fear that we may do it wrong or we may not do it all. But you fail to realize that you have come to such conclusion without even giving the task a try. So don’t procrastinate and take action. Get away for anything that distracts you or anything that can hold you from completing a particular task & get it done.

"Do it now, because one day you'll either be saying I wish I had or I'm glad I did!" - Unknown

Work Hard.
As Thomas Edison said “There is no substitute for hard work”. It doesn’t happen that you will be great from day one in field of your choice or interest. It takes a lot of hard work to get up there; researchers have even coined a term called Ten Year rule. It even suggests that for many of the world class achievers it has taken 20-30 years of hard work before hitting their zenith.

Be a Learner.
Learning is a never ending process. You should be always open to new opportunities in your way & be ready to learn. It increases your knowledge & keeps you in sync with the current happenings.

Reward yourself.
Whenever you accomplish a goal (no matter how small or gigantic), you should celebrate the achievement. This motivates you & increases your hunger to achieve more. Leo on Zenhabits advises that while setting a goal we can list an appropriate award for the same. It will make you feel good of your accomplishment.

Our luck is in our hands and the steps we take in our life decide the outcome of our various actions. It is all about our outlook and how we see things around us.

"The more positive we are, the luckier we will be." - RP

Work Smart not Hard!

2009-03-12T08:18:00.006+05:30

Plan
You should have a plan to execute before diving straight into the job & wandering aimlessly with lot of wasted time. Asses the work at hand & then calculate the variables like ‘Effort required”, “Complexity”, “Priority” and the expected deadline. With proper plan you can tackle the work effectively with optimal resources.

Right tools + Nice tricks = “Smart worker”
You need to be armed & equipped with latest information, tools or technology to be best at your job. You can’t cut a wet log with a jagged saw; knowing the right tool for the work at hand is very important. Learning various handy shortcuts will save a great deal of pain. So try to spend sometime and pickup the various tricks of trade in your field. These may or may not make you the king but will surely save you from becoming a slave.
Imagine if there was no Ctrl+Z (Undo command)?

Organize
Get things arranged properly at your workplace. It maybe files, folders at the table or in your desktop. Similar things can be grouped together; assign distinct place for each group. Follow this approach & you can pick everything even with eyes closed.

Develop smart practices
Learn from your experience & reuse the best tricks you have developed. If there are few steps you need perform for every activity then devise a way to automate it so that a lot of manual work is saved. Talk to your peers they may help you or advise a better way to do it.

Learn to say NO
Know your limits. You must not do everything which comes your way. Do not get trapped in accepting a task which is not in your scope or with an unreasonable expectation. Communicate clearly to your peers or superiors about your discomfort with valid reasons. Make sure you are not saying “NO” to regular services you offer; it can be bad for your career health.

Finish with a BANG
Doing things quickly & then reworking on the same due to numerous of errors is not “Smart Working”. A job well done which exceeds the expectation will be a great reward for you. Make sure that before you deliver the task, it meets (if not exceeds) the expectation of requester. Check every detail & measure accuracy so that the requester never comes back with any issues. It is like putting your seal of trust & branding yourself.

I bet there are plenty of smart workers out here so lets hear some advice from you.

9 practical reasons for you to start running.

2009-02-27T21:11:00.006+05:30

Most of the people start running as a path to loose weight easily. However I started running to increase fitness & gain stamina. I getup around 5:45 & get in my tracks for run. It feels so relaxing under the morning sky & the smell of fresh air is soothing. People generally stay away from running because they think it is tiring & painful whereas running is a wonderful exercise with endless benefits.

I would try to list 9 benefits which will help you to get motivated.

Improved core stability.
According to Wikipedia “Core stability relates to the bodily region bounded by the abdominal wall, the pelvis, the lower back and the diaphragm and its ability to stabilize the body during movement.”. When you run your abdomen muscles kick-in & your back supports your movement. This makes your core stronger & enhances the stability.

Burn those calories.
Running is one of the best activities to burn a lot of calories in an easy way. The actual amount of calories burned depends on lot of factors like weight, miles run. It will help you to loose those extra pounds quickly and maintain a healthy body fat level.

Build a stronger lower body.
Do you that while running your calf lifts the heel about 15000 times per mile? This simple activity (i.e. running) works on every part of the body & helps building strong hamstrings, shins, tendons, thighs & hips. It increases the flexibility of the muscles which decreases muscle cramp & muscle tear.
Better Endurance.
Regular running improves endurance. It helps you maintain the quality of muscle force for a longer period. Running increases your strength, speed & stamina.

Improved metabolism.
You will have an improved digestion. Researches have shown that the body of a runner burns calories at higher rate for a longer period compared to a non-runner. It increases the resting metabolism rate.

Improved cardiovascular health.
Cardiovascular Disease is #1 killer & consumes several lives every day. Running forces heart to pump more blood which makes arteries expand-contract 3 times more than normal rate. This increases the elasticity of arteries. It helps in maintaining lower blood pressure levels & a healthy heart which will help you live longer to see your grandchildren.

Quick recovery from injuries.
The amount of training your body goes through while you run makes you less susceptible to injuries & also recover a lot faster if injured.

Reduce risk of Muscle atrophy.
Muscle atrophy is loss of muscle due to lack of use or disease. This increases with aging. Running helps you gain more muscle & maintain the muscle & bone density. A runner is at far less risk of losing muscles compared to a non-active person with a sedentary lifestyle.

Run for Fun.
Remember how we use to run when we were little kids. We use to turn the whole house upside down, that comes natural to us as kids. But as we grow we get into meaningless activities to make lemonade out of life’s limes & forget what fun is. Running is known to improve mood & make you feel happier. You would have already read about famous “Runner’s high” but that happens only in extreme running scenarios. But still personally running makes me high :) & it is great to run with a partner.

I hope you like this article. Feel free to share your stories & advice regarding running.

Things to do when bored!!!

2009-02-23T21:09:00.011+05:30

Too bored to open eyes!

Are you bored? I'll not bore you more with a long list of 300 things to do when bored. Here is a simple list in top down approach to cheer you up & make you feel happy.

Search your phone.

Dial any unknown number. Talk to the person who answers the phone & try to engage him as long as you can. Keep a stopwatch and set a record for yourself to beat.
Think about someone whom you have not called for quite sometime. Dial them and catch up on the happenings.
Call a loved one and know about their well being.

Act crazy.

Dress as silly as you can and then look at the mirror and laugh at yourself. For even better results, go out in the public park for a walk. Maybe you would be the next trend setter.
Take photos of yourself making various funny faces. Take printouts of those photos & prepare a collage or use it as your desktop wallpaper.
Dress-up with all the clothes in your closet & try doing lunges (remember Joe in Friends)

Time to rock.

Put on some of your favorite funky tunes in your preferred media player & try singing along. Dancing with the tunes will be even better.
Rent some great comedy movies. Animated ones will be better. (I love animations.)

Reading is good.

Select a book that interests you. Make a habit to read few pages everyday & reward yourself when you complete a book. Try to read one book every month.
The World Wide Web is full of information and knowledgeable articles, so just go to your favorite website\blog or search your topic and read.

Hobby.

Hobby acts as an outlet of emotions for some, and a way to gain knowledge for others. It is an excellent tool to unearth your hidden talents. So pursue your hobby & you will be doing some productive task while killing boredom.

Take a nap:

Shut everything down and get to a comfy littler corner & cuddle up under your favorite blanket. It is like pressing a reset button of your machine. A quick nap packs invigorates you, so you are more active & fresh.

A Boring solution:

Ok you tried all of the above things. Take this boring challenge.

List 10 things which make you feel happy.
Pick any one activity out of this list and do it. I bet, you will be out of this slump.

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. ~Mark Twain

Image by Hotdirt

Why should people execise?

2009-02-18T21:59:00.004+05:30

Simply put the more you exercise regularly the more healthy and fit you will be. You may have enough excuses to not to exercise but let me tell you, the benefits of exercising regularly are endless. Here I have tried to compile top 5 reasons to motivate you.

Healthy Heart & Stronger body:

Exercise involves movement of all parts of the body and it makes you breath heavily & forces your heart to pump more blood and this results in stronger heart & lungs. It saves you from heart risks by reducing the LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) or simply said bad cholesterol & also lowers the chances of Type-2 Diabetes. Improved blood circulation keeps arteries healthy & free from blockage. Exercise strengthens your bones, ligaments & muscles fibers which will help you sail easily through aging.

Better Immune system:

Exercise improves oxygen intake of the body which is very importantly linked with immune system. Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg found that the deficiency of oxygen can develop cancer in cells & also lead to tumors. Researchers have consistently shown that slow movements (as in Yoga, Taichi) with focused deep breathing makes the immune system more active & strong.

Kill stress & feel good:

During workout & exercise routine body releases endomorphins, biochemical compunds produced by pituitary gland, which are natural pain-killers and are known as feel good chemicals. These feel good chemicals relax your brain and make you happy & livelier throughout the day.

Burn Fat - Stay fit:

Obesity is consuming lives of million people & is a staggering problem in health space. Sedentary lifestyle & junk food binging has compounded it. Regular exercise will keep your body fat in check and will help you live longer. It will make you look more attractive and also raise your confidence levels.

Exercise is fun:

Is following a regular exercise routine boring? Let’s make it FUN!!!
Choose exercises\activities which you enjoy.
Plug your IPod & listen to your favorite music while exercising.
Choose different exercises\activities each day. (Eg: vary exercise routines, go swimming or bike riding alternate days).
Get a exercise buddy to motivate you.

There are endless ways to exercise while having fun so no more excuse!

It is not necessary to do a strenuous workout; a brisk walk or a mild jog with your dog is also a great exercise. Small steps to health are important because always small initiation make big difference.

So I think we have enough reasons to start exercising and stay healthy. Let me know what reasons do you have to exercise?

Top 5 reaons to look for new job?

2009-02-17T08:01:00.011+05:30

Caught in dilemma, here are 5 reasons for you to look for while deciding a job change:-

Outdated Skill set:

What if your company kicks you out today?
Will you be able to find a better job or just an equivalent job?
If no, then is there any scope that you can improve your skills in current job?
Can you attend trainings in your organization to improve your skillset?

If answer to any of the above questions is no then you should quickly build a plan & look for new job.
Remember to stay alive in this cut throat competition you should atleast meet the minimum requirements of the industry.

Salary too low to survive:

Salary is not the most important factor people consider while changing jobs but however it is one of the important factor. Moreover it hurts more when you know that some of your less experienced colleagues or less qualified workers earn more than double of your salary. Varying salaries are always part and parcel of industry but pay discrimination should not be allowed.

Do you know what you are worth in the market?
Are you paid what you are worth?
Did you consult your supervisor about it?

If even after doing all this nothing has been resolved then its better to update your resume and look for that exciting new job which pays your worth.

Lack of support:

Many people change job because of they don’t have support at the workplace. This is one of reason people always love to join an organization in which their friends/relatives are already working.

If you have a Ogre boss who always looks for an opportunity to hunt you down for every silly thing than its better to look for a new job in another organization..

Blurry Future:

Can you picture yourself 2-3 years ahead? Do you have such opportunities with your employer that can take you anywhere near to that? If no then why are you stuck here? It is good to love your job but not your company if you cannot grow with it.

Low job satisfaction:

People develop when they have challenges to face and only then their true potential is unearthed.
Do have enough challenging responsibilities which you can take care of?
Is your work all exciting and allow creativity?
Or do you even get enough work to do?
Just because your job is boring & mundane, you should not think of switching. You can try to create challenges & set goals for yourself to achieve. It will generate your interest in your work. But remember you are working 8 Hours x 5 Days x 12 Months x 35 years(approx) and that is a major part of your lifetime so its better to do something which you really love.

Let me know your what reasons compel you for a job change?

4 Easy ways to Manage Job Stress

2009-02-12T22:09:00.014+05:30

As of now you would have surely identified the levels of stress you are experiencing at workplace, so now lets discuss few effective ways to tackle it.

You should learn to manage and reduce Job stress. There are numerous of ways and techniques which are advised to reduce the stress & handle it in a effective manner.

Here are four easy ways which you should follow.

Be responsible for your health.

Start positively:
Try to getup early and have a nice little walk in the presence of morning breeze. Perspiring has been said to play a major role in relieving stress so it will be great to get into an Aerobic session or even a mild jog.

Eat healthy:
What you eat has a lot of affect on how your day will be. Low level of blood sugar makes you feel easily irritable and too much of it makes you feel logy so eating right is the key here. Eat lot of varieties of foods. Eat in small portions on a regular interval to keep your sugar level balanced. Finally, drink lots of water.

Sleep well:
Good night sleep is very important to recharge your body. It refills energy in your body & relaxes your mind. Make sure you sleep at the right hours so that you have a fresh start for the next day.

Stay away from Alcohol and drugs:
A stressed person can easily fall prey to these and will lead his way to alcohol abuse. Smoking or alcohol reduces anxiety temporarily but nicotine levels in these things compound the stress & will also harm physical health.

Time Management.

Leave early for work:
This will save you from rushing to your place frantically and also from getting stressed early morning. Even if you get to office 10-15 minutes early it will help you ease into the day.

Take it lightly:
Take things one at a time. Multi-tasking is good but excessive of anything is harmful. Do not over-commit yourself. Avoid doing too many back-to-back tasks & remember there are other members in your team who are also willing to work.

Regular Breaks:
Sitting continuously in front of your computer screen will not get you a solution to your problem. Learn to take small breaks after every hour or a half. It will ease your mind and will make you more productive.

Prioritize, organize & reorganize.

Set task priority:
List all your tasks, assign a priority to each and handle the most important one first followed by less priority ones. This will always keep you mentally ready for the pending tasks and will help you to manage better.

Delegate & fragment:
If you are trying to control every step & oversee every activity you are putting unnecessary pressure onto you. Let go of this as there are other members in your team who may like to help you or do a piece of work from that huge chunk. So, always fragment the tasks and delegate small parts to other team members which may ease the load.

Avoid conflicts.
Workplace consists of fuming egos and interpersonal conflicts among employees which is harmful for your mental and physical health. It is better to avoid such situations and try to steer clear of personal opinions about someone.

Ok, so finally we have something at our hand to fix the stressful life and be happy & lively ever.

And the most important point, remember any amount of money could not pay for the stress that you will experience. So always do a thorough check & make your mind before getting into a stressful job.

It will be great to know how you handle stress effectively, so kindly share your thoughts here.

Image by didbygraham

Are you suffering from Job Stress?

2009-02-08T10:31:00.012+05:30

Take this questionnaire below and know

A) Work Pressure

I have to work very hard.
Yes/No.
I don't get enough time to complete my work.
Yes/No.
I am always asked to do too much work.
Yes/No.

B) Command

I can be creative in my work.
Yes/No.
Most of my work is repetitive in nature.
Yes/No.
I can learn new things at my job.
Yes/No.
I have a lot of say about what happens at work.
Yes/No.
I am free to decide how I need to complete my work.
Yes/No.

C) Support

I work with people who take a personal interest
in me.
Yes/No.
My peers are always helpful to me.
Yes/No.
My supervisor is helpful to me.
Yes/No.

How to Calculate Score

Calculate separately for each of the above three factors and give yourself a 1 for every Yes.

Work Pressure (0-Low,1-2 High)
Command (0-1 Low,2-Moderate, 3-4 High, 5-Very High)
Support (0-Low, 1 moderate, 2-3 High)

Does your score shows that you work pressure is high and you have low command over your work with low support at your workplace?

If so, beware your are suffering from Job Stress. Various research studies have shown that high demands with low support & low control at workplace leads to Job stress.

What Job stress can do to you?

It contributes to low productivity & drops motivation levels drastically. Job stress easily gets into your personal life which leads to compound stress ( or even chronic stress).

Where Job stress leads too?

A stressed employee is more likely to concentrate less on work & a mistake of life can even cost you a job.
Employee is less likely to take part in organizational processes/practices & will contribute less (or even nothing)
Workplace will become more unfriendly with low( or No) social support.
It will lead to groupism ( or team fragments) that will be unhealthy for organization.
It will lead to occupational illness, absenteeism and high health care costs.

Where does Job stress stems from?

Physical Factors: Employees are affected by the physical entities present around them at the workplace. These can be cleanliness, ventilation, lights, quality of desktops( laptops), noise, temperature, ergonomic factors, health & safety risks, to name a few.
Mismanagement: This is the most important factor. When managers don't manage well- they are disorganized, too authoritarian, or even pit workers against one another then the end result is stressed employees. It includes unclear/ conflicting job demands/roles, multiple supervisors
Economic factors: Employee fear of possible job loss, loss/reduction in benefits, downsizing.
Organizational factors: The includes the growth of employee(career ladder), pace & variety in the tasks available, trainings available, policies, benfeits/pay etc.
Discrimination: If an employee feels that all not treated equally than it can contribute to stress levels.
Interpersonal relationships: This includes distant/ uncommunicative supervisors, office politics, competition, conflicts among employees, bullying, harassment, problems caused by excessive time away from the family.

How to deal with job stress?
I have taken this topic in detail here.

Hope you liked reading my views. Kindly provide your thoughts/views & I assure that I will contact you ASAP.

Welcome to Ravositti

2006-10-24T14:51:00.001+05:30

Hello :)

Know your host?
I am your author RP. I am tech guy working in an IT company in Bangalore(India).

Why blog?
This blog is to share my knowledge & experience which i have gained in my life to provide meaningful & concise solutions to my fellow humans.

I will try to provide you information about everything from Technology, trends, Foods, health to solutions of your problems in Workplace, relationships.

You want to reach me?
I would love to hear from you. Please leave comments and i will contact you asap.

Have a great time ahead.

Thanks,
RP