POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Positive attitude, positive thinking and optimism have proved to result in many benefits. With a positive attitude towards life, you'll be healthier, happier and live longer. In addition, you're more likely to be successful.

Attitude is a mental position relative to a way of thinking or being; a leaning towards that which you believe. A positive attitude is, therefore, the inclination to be in an optimistic, hopeful state of mind.

It has been proved that, Optimism has demonstrable benefits and pessimism has drawbacks. Optimism has been linked to positive mood and good morale; to perseverance and effective problem solving; to academic, athletic, military, occupational and political success; to popularity; to good health; and even to long life and freedom from trauma.

Optimists believe they are accountable for good things and that good things will generally come their way. If something bad comes instead, optimists tend to write it off as an isolated incident, an anomaly or something out of their control; optimists believe things will be better in the future.

The question is how to be optimistic. The simplest answer is to come of out of negative attitude / thinking. Here are some keys to shed negative attitude and cultivate a positive mental frame work.

1. Keep a daily gratitude journal. Record the names of a few, who made the day for you today.
2. Keep a daily victory journal. Write out one or more things that went well for you each day.
3. Meditation. Learn a meditation technique and practice.
4. Visualization of positive outcomes.
5. Take time to play.
6. Eat healthy food, exercise regularly and get enough rest. It's hard to be positive when you're feeling exhausted and run down.
7. Use positive affirmations and receive positive messages daily.
8. Beware of television, radio and newspapers: what kind of messages are they bombarding you with daily? Try to keep your exposure to negativity at a minimum.
9. Adjust your posture: sit up straight, smile, walk proudly and breathe deeply. Do this for 60 seconds and you'll start to feel the difference (Honestly! Give it a try right now!)
10. Monitor your emotions: negative emotions indicate that your thoughts are negative. You'll know it's time to shift mental gears.
11. Hang around positive people.

Pick as many of these things as you're comfortable with and commit to doing them daily for the next 30 days. Usually it takes about 30 days to really start reprogramming your subconscious mind and to begin developing a positive attitude. Stick to it and before you know it, you'll be an optimist without having to think about it!

Just by getting started, you're already well on your way to developing a positive attitude. Keep up the good work.

How to improve Work Performance

All of us want to become better in terms of career growth, earning etc. The single most factor, which can take you to the next level is improved performance in whatever role / job you have been doing. Here are some tips which can help you to improve your work performance.

Make the change
If you want to improve the quality of your work, change how you've been doing things. See things in a different angle. Look for better or faster alternatives to get the same work done. The other thing to do is change yourself.

Think of the end result
This is one of the ways to overcome procrastination and push you to take action. Project the image of your achievement of the desired goal. Visualize what it looks and feels like when you finished your task. Think of the compliments, acknowledgements, satisfaction and financial rewards.

Be punctual
One of the ways to improve work productivity is to come on time. A timely start would surely result in better results.

Plan your work and set your priorities
Plan your work before your start your day. Set your priorities so that you can manage your working time effectively, finish your given task on time and reduce work stress.

Identify your strength and weakness
Lack of knowledge, interest or skills are some of the reasons for not getting your job done or producing unsatisfactory work. Identify your weakness so that you find a solution and make the appropriate decisions in improving work performance. Find your strengths and focus on them and use them to your advantage.

Pay attention to details
Pay attention to the details in whatever you do. Strive for excellence instead of mediocrity. If you do make errors, learn from them, make corrections and don't repeat them.

Get organized
Mess shows that you are disorganized. A clean desk and proper filing allow you to have a clear head and can improve your productivity in the workplace.

Improve your skills
Learn how to improve your interpersonal relationship, leadership and communication skills. These skills will assist you in improving your work performance, gaining cooperation and getting your message across to your colleagues, superiors or subordinates.

Become resourceful
Study your job and find ways in improving work performance. You don't have to stick to the same old way of getting your tasks done. Take the initiative to do something more or different.

Ask
Ask when you don't know or don't understand. It doesn't make you look stupid. Instead it shows that you are interested and willing to learn.

Love what you are doing
If you don't like your job, you will not feel motivated to work. You will waste your working hours on unproductive things like surfing the internet, checking emails, socializing and gossiping. Don't blame the situation; instead, find out why you are reacting in such a way. When you get the answers, change yourself.

How to Be the Best You Can Be

How well or how badly we perform at any given moment depends mostly on the state of mind we were in. Understanding that premise could be one of the most powerful lesson that we'll ever learn in our lifetime.

Have you ever said anything or come up with an idea that was simply brilliant? A time when you were so proud of yourself? And can you remember times when you said something that was silly beyond beliefs? What made the difference between these two incidents? The difference was due to the state of mind that you were while those occurrences were taking place. In the first case, you were in a great and empowering state of mind. In the second case, you were simply in a silly state of mind.

The state of mind is the regulator of our performances. That is what makes the difference between acting brilliantly and being just plain dumb.

That fact is seen every day in professional sports. Two teams of almost equal talent and ability will compete and the team that will win will be the one who's player had the best attitude or the best state of mind. It is true in sport, it is also true in everyday life.

The state of mind is the determining factor in the quality of every performance. A great state of mind will produce fantastic results while a so-so state of mind will produce questionable results.

How can we increase the quality of the state of mind that we are currently in? How can we change a low key state of mind into a dynamic, energetic and most empowering one? The state of mind is most influenced by three factors.
1. What we focus on.
2. What things mean for us
3. Our body posture

If we focus on something that is positive, exciting and uplifting, those neurons in our brain will get all fired up and our mood will follow suit. Our state of mind will also be positive, excited and uplifted. On the other hand, if we focus on the bad and the ugly, so will our state of mind.

Shakespeare said, "Nothing is either good or bad but our thinking makes it so." We get to decide what things or events mean for us and if we chose to color positively any situation, the quality of our state of mind will automatically be uplifted.

One of the most effective ways of empowering our state of mind is, through body posture. At any given moment, small receptors throughout our body are sending signals to the brain signaling information about our posture. If we are standing straight and erect with an air of confidence, that's the message that the brain will receive. On the other hand, if we stand and have the posture of someone who is down and defeated, that's also the message that the brain will receive.

By altering our body posture, we can directly affect our state of mind. Great posture, great state of mind. Great posture accompanied by well chosen focus and a positive outlook on whatever is affecting us in the present will create a fantastic state of mind. That state of mind will then determine the quality of our performances.

It's not always how intelligent, how smart or how educated we are that matters most in how we perform. All these factors will be under the influence of our state of mind. So, if we want to perform to the highest level that we are capable of, the first thing that needs attention is our state of mind. The quality of the performance always depends on it.

Overcoming Negative thinking

When we are angry, worried or afraid, our blood pressure and heart beat increase dramatically. Our activities are more likely to clump together and clog up the blood vessels.

More we concentrate on our fear and worry, the more harm we do to our body. Maintaining a negative mental attitude has always been known to produce negative physical conditions. People who maintain a positive mental attitude rarely get sick.

Negative thinking causes problems, positive thinking causes solution. Negative thinking involves worry, insecurity, fear, suspicion, hatred, antagonisms, anger, mourning, self-doubt, etc. Positive thinking spreads love, appreciation, optimism, security, courage, cooperation, compassion, generosity, friendliness, patience, helpfulness and ambition.

Negative thinking becomes habitual and the stress it causes becomes chronic. Chronic stress is a killer. When we hold negative attitudes for prolonged periods, chemical changes take place in our body. A stress chemical is released into the blood which inhibits the work of the immune system and weakening the system. In these circumstances, health problems start to build up.

Positive feeling about ourselves and the work we are doing leads us to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, contributing thereby to our health. This is better for our health and ultimately, our survival. Do right and our health thrives. Do wrong and our health suffers.

When we start to have negative thoughts, it’s hard to stop them. It’s much easier said than done to shift the focus to positive thoughts. But, it’s the only way to avoid going down a path that is painful and unnecessary.

Here are 10 things to help you to overcome your negative thoughts
1. Meditate or do yoga. Yoga helps to stay present.
2. Smile. It helps to change our mood and relieve stress.
3. Surround yourself with positive people.
4. Change the tone of your thoughts from negative to positive.
5. Don’t play the victim. You create your life; take responsibility.
6. Help someone.
7. Remember that no one is perfect and let yourself move forward.
8. Sing. Singing is amazing stress reliever.
9. List five things that you are grateful for right now. Being grateful helps appreciate what you already have.
10. Read positive quotes.

Life is not always under our control but our minds are or should be under our control.

The 5 Daily Devotions

Discover Your Destiny is the latest title from Robin Sharma, the famous author of “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”. In this book, he had tried to prescribe few good things to follow so that we can develop holistically in our life’s journey. The 5 prescriptions are:

1. Devote yourself to rising at 5 AM every day. Those who get up early are those who get the best from life.

2. Devote yourself to setting aside the first sixty minutes of your day your “Holy Hour”. This is your sacred time to do the inner work required to help you become your best. Use this period to read from the wisdom literature, to meditate or pray, to reflect on the state of your life and the progress of your dreams or think deeply about what must unfold over the coming hours of the day in order for you to feel it was a successful one. Performing this ritual daily will help you to shine brightly in the world and live at your highest.

3. Devote yourself to displaying a standard of care, compassion and character well beyond what anyone could imagine from you. In doing so, you will be doing your part to aid in the building of a new world.

4. Devote yourself to displaying a standard of excellence at work far higher than anyone would ever expect from you. Abundance and fulfillment would flow back to you.

5. Devote yourself to being the most loving person you know and thinking, feeling and acting as though you are one of the greatest people currently on the planet. Your life will never be the same and you will bless many lives.

The difficulty is getting up at 5 AM. If this is done, all other things would surely fall in line. Please try to follow. We are sure you would see the difference in you very soon.

Laughter - II

Laughing with others is more powerful
Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping relationships fresh and exciting. All emotional sharing builds strong and lasting relationships. Sharing laughter adds joy, vitality and resilience. Humor is a powerful and effective way to heal resentments, disagreements and hurts. Laughter unites people during difficult times.

Laughter and Relationships
Mutual laughter plays an essential component of strong, healthy relationships. By making a conscious effort to incorporate more humor into your daily interactions, you can improve the quality of your relationships as well as your connections with co-workers, family members and friends.

Bringing more humor and laughter into your life
Anyone can join the laughter movement. All it takes is a willingness to risk some loss of control. A sense of humor is not required. All we have to do is believe, let go, clap our hands and laughter will live again. Laughter is feeling deeply which allows us to live fully. Laughter is our birthright, a natural part of life that is innate and inborn. Infants begin smiling during the first weeks of life and laugh out loud within months of being born.

Begin by setting aside special times to seek out humor and laughter, as you might with working out, and build from there. Eventually, you’ll want to incorporate humor and laughter into the fabric of your life, finding it naturally in everything you do.

Here are some ways to start:
Smile. Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, it’s contagious. Pioneers in “laugh therapy,” find it’s possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling.

Count your blessings. Literally make a list. The simple act of considering the good things in your life will distance you from negative thoughts that are a barrier to humor and laughter.

When you hear laughter, move towards it. Sometimes humor and laughter are private, a shared joke among a small group but usually not. More often, people are very happy to share something funny because it gives them an opportunity to laugh again and feed off the humor you find in it. When you hear laughter, seek it out and ask, “What’s funny?”

Spend time with fun, playful people. These are people who laugh easily both at themselves and at life’s absurdities and who routinely find the humor in everyday events. Their playful point of view and laughter are contagious.

Laugh at yourself. Share your embarrassing moments. The best way to take ourselves less seriously is talk about times when we took ourselves too seriously.

Laugh at situations. Look for the humor in a bad situation, the irony and absurdity of life. This will help improve your mood and the mood of those around you.

As laughter, humor and play become an integrated part of your life, your creativity will flourish. Humor takes you to a higher place where you can view the world from a more relaxed, positive, creative, joyful and balanced perspective.

Government Department

We lived in Hyderabad between 1994 and 2005. Hyderabad of today was vastly different from that of 1994. In 1994, it was a dark city with frequent power cuts, water scarcity, damaged roads and no good park to mention. The city got a real break through during Chandra Babu’s tenor. Even his detractor would admit that he made the first real change.

First thing he did was expanding the then old Begumpet Airport into an International Airport, repairing the roads, creating parks, improving the water and power supply. When he overthrew NTR in 1995, many thought he has usurped the power by wrong means. But he has compensated the ill feelings through good performance and governance. He brought the IT industry to Hyderabad and for all the hypes, Hyderabad poses today, the real credit goes to Babu garu only.

This has happened sometime in 2003, when we were living in Hyderabad. During the last 7-8 years, my wife has picked up very good telugu. Very good means very good. She can even talk in telugu for hours. She infact started doing training programs on soft skills to corporates and government departments. AP Police and transport departments are few regular customers for her training programs.

One day, she was to give a talk to AP Transport employees at their training centre. The centre is about 30 kilometers from our residence. They were supposed to arrange to pick her and drop her back. At the anointed time, she received a call from transport office informing that they have sent a vehicle to pick her and the vehicle has already reached our place.

We were living in the second floor of an apartment. As with any other lady, she went through the routine make-up process and then went down to catch the vehicle. She went around the building, but could not find any vehicle of imaginable category. Those days, she didn’t have a mobile and hence she came back to our flat to call the transport office. Again, they reconfirmed that the vehicle is already at our place and even gave the vehicle number to identify.

She went down to search for the vehicle. To her surprise, a full big bus was standing there with the same registration number given by the department. When checked with the driver, he confirmed that that was the vehicle to take her to the training centre.

The question is why they sent a 60 seater bus to bring just one person. We thought that some one might have mis-communicated. Instead of sending a cab, they might have sent the bus. But when checked, it was found that they had sent the bus knowing fully well only. It was understood that to hire a cab, they need to take many people’s approval and a note has to move through various hierarchy. Instead, using an existing resource is simple and a lower level person can decide on this. That is a junior officer can decide on sending a bus to pick-up just one person, but to hire a cab, the approval of senior authorities is required.

This is the way, departments works across the states. Hope things might have changed now.

Team Work

Teamwork can be defined as an activity or a set of inter-related activities done by more than one person in order to achieve a common objective. Teamwork is not new; it is one of the oldest things known to man. Mankind has been working in teams and groups since the primitive days of civilization. Hunting and wandering together in groups is an apt example of teamwork.

The extended form of the word TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More, itself conveys the importance of teamwork.
Importance of Teamwork

Fast Learning
We tend to learn things at a faster rate, if we are working with a team. The experiences and the knowledge of the older team members help you to grasp new concepts quickly. At the same time it proves to be an additional bonus for you as you avoid mistakes at work.

Workload Distribution
Working in a team has an advantage of the workload getting distributed amongst all the team members. With work properly distributed, you can concentrate on a single activity till the time you gain expertise in it and you do not feel stressed out due to work.

Building Bonds
Continuous interaction with the team members, working with them for the whole day, having your meals with them, sharing joys and sorrows helps in building a bond of friendship and unity between each other. Some of them turn to be friends for a life time.

Healthy Competition
Just think of a situation where people are competing with each other and trying to excel better than the other. At the same time they are helping and assisting each other in work related as well as personal difficulties and problems. Wouldn't that be a great sight! Well this is possible when you work as a team, as everyone is emotionally bonded to each other.

Exploring Creativity
While working in a team you will never be alone, you will always have some or the other person to suggest you good things. Suggestions and advice can help you in generating new ideas and bring out the creativity in you.

Job Satisfaction

Teamwork is one of the important reasons for job satisfaction. This is because working in a team improves individual performance. This is also conducive to employee motivation.

Speed of Work
With many people handling a single project and doing the assigned work properly, the overall work speed increases and your team can complete the project well within the given time frame.

Effective teamwork in the workplace benefits the organization by increasing the individual productivity which is important in order to achieve the targets and fulfill commitments.

“Coming together is a beginning; Keeping together is progress; and Working together is success”.

Let us Team up to deliver more

Laughter

Laughter is an audible expression or appearance of happiness or a feeling of joy. It may result from a joke, tickling and other stimuli. Humor is the tendency of particular experience to provoke laughter and provide amusement.

Humor is infectious. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. When laughter is shared, it binds people together, increases happiness and intimacy. Laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, reduce pain and protect you from the damaging effects of stress.

Laughter is a powerful antidote to stress and pain. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hopes, connects you to others and keeps you grounded, focused and alert.

With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships and supporting both physical and emotional health.

Laughter makes you feel good. And the good feeling that you get when you laugh remains with you even after the laughter subsides. Humor helps you keep a positive, optimistic outlook through difficult situations, disappointments and loss.

More than just a respite from sadness and pain, laughter gives you the courage and strength to find new sources of meaning and hope. Even in the most difficult of times, a laugh or even simply a smile can go a long way toward making you feel better.

Laughter relaxes the whole body. A good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension and stress, leaving your muscles relaxed for up to 45 minutes after.
Laughter boosts the immune system. Laughter decreases stress hormones and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies, thus improving your resistance to disease.
Laughter triggers the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Laughter protects the heart. Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems.
Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry or sad when you’re laughing.
Laughter helps you relax and recharge. It reduces stress and increases energy, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more.
Humor shifts perspective, allowing you to see situations in a more realistic, less threatening light.
Be more spontaneous. Humor gets you out of your head and away from your troubles.
Let go of defensiveness. Laughter helps you forget criticisms and doubts.
Release inhibitions. Your fear of holding back and holding on are set aside.
Express your true feelings. Deeply felt emotions are allowed to rise to the surface.

Sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools we have to support good health. Best of all, this priceless medicine is free and easy to use.

Let us learn to laugh, not on others but for us.

Work Life Balance

Life today is fast moving. We often hear people saying "I'm running all the time." Unplanned running makes things worse affecting our health. Time management is important to maintain health and grow in life, profession and business. Not everyone has a genuine control on the effective use of time. Here are some suggestions:

Don't overbook.
This may seem unusual to people who try to work as much as possible. The problem is that things rarely go according to our agenda. We may be on time for an appointment but we have no control over the other party. There is a loss of time in waiting. It is not advisable to plan doing too many things. Assume that only 50% of the things we plan will actually get done. If we don't do this, we will waste valuable time trying to find out why things didn't happen.

Prioritize.
The secret for effective use of time is to know what's important and what can wait. Learn to ask questions that help to determine the level of urgency. Negotiate longer lead times whenever you can and don't give into the instant-and-immediate answer syndrome. Treating everything as top priority is draining and depleting.

Learn to say no.
One of the biggest tools to effective time management is recognizing that you don't have to agree to everything and with everyone. Use your priority criteria to identify things which aren't worth your time. Please note that saying no to one thing opens the door to saying yes to something else.

Organize.
Bringing your time into line isn't just a matter of scheduling. The mechanics of how we operate is more important. Work process should be system driven and not person driven. Individuals should never become indispensable.

Use technology.
Technology is a great weapon to manage time effectively. We have the best tools to organize a wide array of customer and product particulars, allowing quick and easy access. We should live by our database. That way, nothing is ever forgotten.

Don't overdo.
Emails and cell phones have become major time killers. Part of effective time management is to know when to shut these things down. Turning off a cell phone or other wireless means of communication establishes boundaries. In short, it helps you balance your personal and professional time.

Know it won't always be perfect.
Time management isn't science. Let us not stress out and waste time in the process by obsessing over every second of time. Do what you can and enjoy whatever time you spend more pleasantly or productively. Be grateful for what goes right and learn from the mistakes.
Let us balance the life and work.

Self Esteem

Self esteem is the way we view and feel about ourselves. This will have a very profound effect on how our life will proceed each day.

The opinions and experiences that we have gathered since child hood from parents, school, friends and society plays a part in developing self-esteem, but how we take it and view those opinions determines our self esteem.

We seek encouragement, approval and appreciation from others. There is a constant barrage of opinions from others that we should be slim, dress fashionable, be financially successful etc. If we are having problems in any of these then it will have an impact on our lives and leads to low self esteem. The opposite is also true. If we have managed to live up to this expectation, it can lead to pride in ourselves but friends and society can view this as being arrogant. This can also have an effect on our self confidence

Our self-esteem will fluctuate daily and is highly affected by the events of the day. But end of the day, we should have total control of our self confidence and self esteem. We should not allow these affect our self esteem and control our life.
Rejection, failure and loss are the factors for low self esteem. Success and achievement can greatly boost our confidence and self-esteem.

How we feel about ourselves is also determined by our relationships with others. Every one wants to be wanted and wants to contribute and be a valued member of the society.

The best way to increase self esteem is to start believing in ourselves. It is not simple but a concerted effort will surely give success. One has to understand the self and look for changing himself for good. Change means stepping outside the comfort zone.

Goal setting is an important process to develop self esteem. Let us start with a small goal, set a time frame and achieve it. This process will gradually build our confidence levels and self esteem. The goal can be anything – a goal to go for walk every day for 30 minutes in the next 30 days. After 30 days, this will become a habit and later it will be difficult to stop the habit. A beginning for a good health. Good health infuses self esteem.

Nothing worth comes easy. If something comes easily, we won’t value its value. We must be determined to improve our self esteem. That will lead to achieve greater things. Remember the way you feel about yourself also determines how others will interact with you and vice versa.

One of the best things to achieve self esteem is to convince ourselves that if we are going to have the life we wanted, we don't have the time to worry about what others think of us.

If we allow others to determine our actions that means others are controlling our life. We should be the only one to control our life and nobody else.