14. Paycheck Vs Purpose

Paycheck Vs Purpose

Gursharan Singh

In order to live better & perform better, kindly pay very close attention to the following 3 very important interrelated points:

  1. We must remember that:
  • Human beings are the best form of life
  • Essence of every human action is to improve the Quality of Life
  1. We must understand that:
  • Human being are gifted with truly unlimited capabilities
  • With their own capabilities , human beings can improve the Quality of their own life & the life of others
  1. For a good learning we must observe closely how two kind of persons really live their life :
  • One those who live from paycheck to paycheck
  • Others those who are living on purpose & committed to greatly improve the quality of human life

Now while every person can truly live a most fulfilling & great quality of life , however a very few people live such a life , let us find the reason for the same.

Those who live from Paycheck to Paycheck, subconsciously they work only to get Salary. They do not fully use their own great potential & they only make minimum contribution for improving the quality of life. Such person often has lot of complaints about their work, environment, their seniors & their salary. Such people generally are paid lesser than their capability since they make lesser contribution. They work only because they have to work for the “ Paycheck “ & they do not love their work.  Overall quality of their life is not great.

Those who live on Purpose,  they consciously choose to make greatest contribution for the betterment of human life. They use great deal of their own potential. They make a great contribution for the betterment of society. They rarely have any complaint or excuse.   They are always enthusiastic about what they do. They are happier & fulfilled. 

To make greater progress in your life, this week make a very conscious review of your life.

  • Is your purpose clear to you / becoming clear or still not clear?
  • Are you most of the time thinking about your salary/ paycheck or you are constantly working on your greatest purpose?
  • What would you do to be more purposeful in your life?

Wishing you a Wonderful & Purposeful Week!!!

17. Who is killing your time

Who is killing your time

Gursharan Singh

Please keep in mind that my & your life is a precious package of the following three most important components:

  • Time
  • Energy
  • Creative Consciousness

If anyone is stealing any or all of these three, it amounts to, wasting the precious human life. Utilization of these three is also linked to each other.

Every one exactly gets the same amount of time each day. However everyone is not utilizing their time in the same manner.

Even the animals also get same amount of time each day. They also are gifted with energy & external consciousness. Since they are not gifted with the rare capability of “creative consciousness “ that we have as a human being, more or less that live the each day in a set pattern until human being disrupt their pattern in case of pets. Animals have set pattern of using their time & energy.

Few human beings use their time, energy & creative consciousness than the majority of human beings & they are more productive & they are more creative.  We cover this aspect in our powerful program “Tools for enhancing Personal Productivity & Creativity”.

In this article we will cover one very important aspect of Time Management.

There are 4 major killers of time:

  • Lack of Purpose
  • Lack of Energy
  • Lack of Focus
  • Lack of Discipline

 Let us discuss these four time killers, one by one.

  1. Lack of purpose

In my last 15 years of study about human potential & human performance, I have come understand that those who have clarity about purpose of their life, they get more done than each day. They use their time, energy & creative consciousness, in a very effective manner. In short it all boils down to “whom would you like to serve in your life”. In absence of this clarity & dedication I come across so many good people not utilizing their potential in the name of so called “satisfied”. You may even come across people saying “ Jindagi kat rahi hai ( I am passing my life)”.

Life without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder & major reason for killing life in nonproductive & non creative activities. A person without purpose is either lazy & busy with unimportant activities.

  1. Lack of Energy 

Lack of energy is the second biggest killer of time. We all know that at times we do not feel like doing or feel tired or there is a kind of brain fog. These are all symptoms of low energy. Not paying attention & taking care of own energy, is a key reasons for burnout & lower productivity. Energy is directly linked to life style. In a state of low energy you are bound to loose productivity & time . Particularly if you are doing a physically demanding or important mental work

  1. Lack of Focus

 Lack of Focus is the third biggest killer of time.

If you are not focused, you may be doing a lot of things, sounding very busy , yet not making a great progress. In the absence of focus , you may be putting your time & energy on the unimportant tasks. Or you may be starting one activity & switching to another activity , without fixing the first activity . Unfocussed working is like trying cut something with blunt knife. Unfocussed working means wasting your time & energy. You will be busy, overwhelmed, frustrated yet accomplishing only a little.

  1. Lack of Discipline

Lack of discipline is the fourth biggest killer of time. Lack of discipline kills time & energy. If you are watching a late night movie or attending a late night part , when something important needs to be done tomorrow , is a typical example of lack of discipline. Lack of discipline in one area of life, will create lack of discipline in many other areas of life. Major areas of discipline is going to bed in time, getting up in time, finishing work in time, doing important work rather than procrastinating.

To the contrary a person having a purpose, taking care of his energy, focusing on important works one at a time and living a disciplined life; can achieve a lot on a regular basis.

Food for thought :

Based on discussion in this article , what one step you can take , to enhance better use of your time & energy?

I wish you a highly productive  week!!!

16. Three things which can Transform Your Life

Three Things which can Transform Your Life

Gursharan Singh

Transformation means creating a new reality in life. Transformation is creating something which does not exist today.

So to start with, ask yourself three key questions:

  • What part of your life you want to transform?
  • Why you want to transform?
  • How can I transform?

Once you specifically answer to the first two questions, by simply focusing on the following three things, you can lead yourself to the transformation , in the desired parts of your life.

Transformation means creating a new reality in life. Transformation is creating something which does not exist today.

So to start with, ask yourself three key questions:

  • What part of your life you want to transform?
  • Why you want to transform?
  • How can I transform?

Once you specifically answer to the first two questions, by simply focusing on the following three things, you can lead yourself to the transformation , in the desired parts of your life.

15. Progress by Choice

Progress by Choice

Gursharan Singh

Making Progress is one of the most important attribute of a successful life. The fact is that every person wants to make a good progress in life. However the challenge is that not many pay any conscious attention this important Process. I will love that during this week you pay special attention to this aspect of your life.

This number one thing you must become aware of is that making a progress is a CHOICE. As a human being you are blessed with the power of choice.

For understanding this life impacting issue let us briefly  discuss this further.

Consider this very carefully. There are few things in life about which we do not have any CONTROL. For example the day & night temperature, distance between the two places etc. However we can exercise our choice about what to wear according to the weather & what kind of traveling options we should choose according to the distance & kind of connectivity between the two places.

Highly progressive individuals have made tremendous contribution to the humanity by understanding what is not in our control & then making a choice to improve the prevalent conditions which may be not very favorable. Say for examples inventing warm clothes for winter, heating system for the home, making express highways & faster means of transportation & so on.

For making a greater progress in your own life, in each & every circumstance think consciously what is the best choice which I can exercise? What can I do to improve the things around & make greater progress? Doing so quite often will strengthen our muscles of choice & it will facilitate better decision making & better life.

Making Progress in life is one of the most important choices you can exercise consciously. Progress means ensuring that the things & conditions are improved as you will like them to become.

Take time during this week do a simple exercise.

  • Which are things/ conditions in your life which you will like to improve?
  • What few better choices you can exercise to improve things & conditions around you?

Wishing you a Wonderful Week during which you will consciously make better choices !!!

13. Keep your Purpose higher than your Pain

Keep your Purpose higher than your Pain

Gursharan Singh

Only way to live a meaningful & fulfilling life is to live a life for a Purpose higher than self.

As many of you know that the purpose of my life is to “Enable Individuals, Families & Organizations to Become Better”

Greatest challenge of the life is to find your heart centered Purpose and then to dedicate your life to that purpose. Only way you can move towards your purpose is to become better & perform better by willingly undergoing the pain of change.

It is true that to gain something you have to give something. No Pain – No Gain.

To succeed in life you need to dedicate your life to your purpose & you have to pay a price for the same. Personal Pain is the price you have to pay, in order to make progress towards achievement of your purpose.

I would love you to consciously think for a while about this issue of Pain & Purpose.

 Equation of Pain & Gain is something like:

 Short term Pain = Long Term Gain

Short term Gain = Long Term Pain

 Invariably you have to go through either Short Term Pain or Long-term Pain. You just cannot escape payment of price for better living in a shape of short term pain. This is a price you have to pay in advance for living better in this world.

If you choose to live in your comfort zone, for the present you can avoid the Pain associated with the Change for the betterment. But doing so you would not make a greater progress & you will lose in the end causing a great pain.

 It is always better to pay a small Price of change by going through little pain in the Present. You never ever can achieve higher or better without a change. Change will always cause short term pain/ discomfort.

However if you consciously choose to adopt the change so as to make a progress towards your heart felt long term purpose, in the long run you will be a true gainer.

Let us consider few examples so as to become clear about this very important issue, for the overall success in life.

In order to achieve great success in life, it is utmost important for you to take care of your health. Say for example if at present you are not doing exercise 6 days a week for at least for 40 minutes. May be you do not have any health issue at present. May be you are not able to muster courage & commitment to start exercising on regular basis since you have to change you routine & you have to find time for exercise. If you continue to live in present comfort & you do not exercise,  in a few year time you will encounter health issues because of your comfortable life style & you will pay long term price of pain because of bad health.

Let us consider another example. Technology & economic changes are rapidly impacting you professional life. May be for the time being you have a job which is taking care of most of your needs. There is no immediate threat to your job & to your organization. If you are not consciously preparing yourself to adapt to changes in technology & industry, you have to pay a heavy price in the future. May be you are comfortable now, but soon you will becoming less important to the organization & industry & you may even have to go through the avoidable pain of losing your job.

For the last example, let us consider a great scenario. Let us suppose that you are working in a Quality Assurance department. You have personally realized that it is the Quality of Products & services which ultimately improve the Quality of life of the human beings. You have decided to dedicate your life to become the top most authority in the Area of Quality Assurance. You will love to become so competent that you can guide large number of organizations to adopt policy, processes & technologies to deliver best quality products & services at the lowest possible cost. You will love  to become someone like Deming or Juran. Starting now, you will further enhance your knowledge , understand how the emerging technologies & data analytics will help you achieve your purpose. You are personally commit to excel in this area & you will keep upgrading your skills till you achieve your worthwhile goal. Your Great Purpose will make the pain of change irrelevant to you which otherwise is a great challenge for those sitting in the comfort zone.

Exercise for this week :

  • In which area of your life you are sitting in a comfort zone & you have not adopted a discipline which keeps you making better?
  • Have you identified a area in which you will make greatest contribution for making this world a little better?
  • What a very small change you will make this week dedicated to the betterment in some area of your life say related to Health, Relations or Contribution.

Wishing you a Wonderful Week dedicated to long term gain!!!

10. Fuel your Progress with Inspiration & Perspiration

Fuel your Progress with Inspiration & Perspiration

Gursharan Singh

All round Progress is the most important outcome of life.

Two things will really help you to make greater progress in life:

  • Inspiration
  • Perspiration

Inspiration: Inspiration is that internal spark which pushes you to get out of your comfort zone.

Inspiration is an Internal Process. It creates a willingness to do. It is a beginning of a Progress. Inspiration creates a mind set for doing some good work.

You get inspired by reading great books or listening to great achievers. You may also get inspired by a cause on which someone is working. Good poems & good stories are a great source of inspiration. A great role model is also a great source of inspiration.

Inspiration is not a onetime affair. One time inspiration is not enough. It is a kind of ongoing charge which you need on a continuous basis, if you want to go for bigger goals.

Sometimes you get inspired by shear chance of meeting with someone. However more often than not, you have to consciously choose to find resources for getting inspired.

Exercise:

  • Please write down what inspires you the most?
  • What specific efforts you will make this week to get some real good inspiration?

Perspiration: For progress it must that you get out of your comfort zone. Once you are inspired it becomes easy to move out of the comfort zone. 

Perspiration is more of an External Process. Perspiration is taking steps towards your predefined goals. You have to sweat out to move forward. You must be willing to perspire whether it is related to doing something for your better health or learning a new skill for better on the job performance etc.

Exercise:

  • Please write down what is one area in which you need to perspire more for achieving a specific goal?
  • What specific efforts you will make this week in that area?

I wish you a week full of inspiration & progressive perspiration!!!

12. How to Integrate the Two Worlds – for Greater Success in Life

How to Integrate the Two Worlds
-for Greater Success in Life

Gursharan Singh

We live in two distinctive & interrelated worlds which together constitute the entire eco system.  

One world exits within us which directly belongs to us & which will determine the degrees of progress that we will achieve in our life.

The second world exits outside us, in which we live.

The way we are trained since our childhood, we tend to live outside – in. We are taught since childhood to look outside & learn. We predominately live by our five physical senses.  The challenge in living outside – in is this that, since majority are not achieving high goals & generally have limited & negative outlook; we also get conditioned accordingly. In this way we tend to achieve for lesser.  We tend to develop a “Reactive Attitude” & we frequently feel influenced & disturbed by outside influences.

If we consciously develop the simple but rare ability to live inside – out we will join the small percentage of high achievers who “Respond” rather than “React”. All high achievers, great performers, entrepreneurs, thought leaders live inside out. Legendary Dr. Stephen covey use to call this approach as “Inner victory leads to External Victory. The famous philosophy of Guru Nanak “ Man Jeetey Jag Jeet “ also  gives directions to live from inside out, so as to serve the humanity .

The super achievers set their own goals, they carry out the activities aligned to their goals irrespective of external circumstances.

The million dollar question is how to live Inside – Out so as to live a great life. The simple 6 step recipe for living inside – Out is suggested hereunder:

  • Consciously understand that you have a great GOD given Potential
  • Consciously decide to serve the society using your own potential
  • Look for the problems being faced by the society & decide which one of these problems you will solve in your life time.
  • Dedicate your life to solve this problem
  • Daily deliberately choose to work on the goals those will solve the problem.
  • Collaborate with others who can help you in overcoming this problem.

Exercise for this week: Please write down in brief what is that you have understood from this brief lesson?

  • What small step would you take based on this learning?
  • Wish you a great new week & Great Life!!!

11. Golden Rules for Golden Health

Golden Rules for Golden Health

Gursharan Singh

This article must be read carefully & the action steps suggested must be implemented. I promise that it will help you to improve your long term health and happiness.

 Good Health & Energy is, one of the most important attribute of a great life.

“ Pratham Sukh Nirogi Kaya”.

From my personal experience I can say that, a lot of professionals ignore this important aspect of life. I personally did not focus on living a healthy life style during age 20-30 & in the process I developed some serious health issues, despite being a vegetarian, nondrinker & nonsmoker. There after I really had to pay very high attention to take care of my health.

Based on my personal study about health, spanning last 20 years, I would love to share hereunder a few golden rules for ensuring the golden health.

Golden Rule No. 1

Follow the natural cycle of living:

Visible sign of good health is to have a lot of energy throughout the day. On the invisible level, it is the health your cells.

Basically the body is made of trillion of small cells.

Bunch of cells is called Tissues

Bunch of tissues make an organ.

Bunch of Organs makes Systems

Collection of systems creates the full human Organism.

The basic unit of the health is cell. Within cell there are Mitochondria, which are considered as the “Power House”, in other words, is the energy provider.

Mitochondria function in a healthy way, only when the body follows the Natural Cycle of Day & Night (Light & Darkness). This is called as Circadian Rhythm.

So if you are sleeping & getting up according to rising & sunset, it helps the mitochondria to have good health & you will have a good level of energy. Otherwise it will make you tired, moody & prone to stress & disease.

Circadian Rhythm is also directly related to Brain Function. Improper brain function means anxiety, stress & fatigue.

So the Golden Rule is to adjust your life style in such manner that you go to sleep early & get up early. You should have about 7-8 hours of sound sleep

Action Step:

Slowly change your sleeping pattern. Sleep early & rise early, else you will have health challenges during the 40-70 years of age.

Golden Rule No. 2

 Improve the Quality of sleep:

As discussed in golden rule 1, your sleeping pattern is directly linked to your brain function & functioning of your cell (Particularly Mitochondria)

Beside going to sleep early & getting up early, it is very important to have Quality Sleep.

Quality sleep helps in proper functioning of Brain. Good sleep will ensure that Neurotransmitters from the brain are working properly. Neurotransmitters are kind of signals, which directly affect your mood, joy & overall wellbeing.

If there is even a very dim light in the room where you are sleeping your sleep will get disturbed. Blue light (during the day blue sky sends blue light) is taken as a signal for “Waking up” , by the brain. Electromagnetic waves also disturb the sleep. 

Action Steps:

 To ensure Quality sleep, you will need to ensure following:

– Where you sleep it should be absolutely dark

-All electronic, digital, electromagnetic devices MUST BE TURNED OFF. Your cell should be off & at least 6 feet away from your body.

-At least 30 minutes before going to sleep, you should not have been using digital devices in visual mode. (Do not fall sleep watching TV or Whakapapa etc.)

Golden Rule No. 3

Put yourself in to Positive Stress called as Hormesis (Very essential process for your health )

In order to enhance the energy at the cellular level, choose to put yourself under some positive pressure; otherwise the condition & circumstances around you will put you under negative pressure. You are designed to use your body & brain. You must go through some physical & mental work.

Following are found to improve the functioning of cells & brain:

-Physical exercises like walking, running, swimming, playing etc.

-Breathing exercises.

-Meditation

-Laughing & smiling

-Walking in the woods & garden

Action Steps: 

You must adopt the following five powerful practices in the daily routine:

– Get up & go to sleep with thoughts of absolute thankfulness & gratefulness

– Do some kind of physical exercise (20-30 minutes)

– Do some kind of breathing exercise (5-10 minutes)

– Do some kind of meditation (10-15 minutes)

– Read/Listen to something positive & inspiring (20-30 minutes). Audiotorium

 Golden Rule No. 4

Choose to Eat in a Healthy Way:

What you eat & when you eat has direct impact on the health of your cells & brain. It is utmost important that you must discipline yourself to eat in a healthy manners.

Following helps in repair & maintenance of your cells & also help in proper functioning of body:

-Keep your body hydrated. Regularly drink water.

–Cycle time between first & last meal should be within in 10-12 hours (Late evening food is not good for body & mind, since it defies the Circadian Rhythm. 

-Eat lot of vegetables, nuts, fruits, full grains and pulses which gives you healthy Glucose, amino acids & fatty acid (these are required by mitochondria to give you energy & fight toxins & stressors )

 Avoid /remove the following from your diet:

-Processed food

-Refined sugar & excess of caffeine

Action Steps:

Decide today itself:

– Time for your last meal

– What processed food you would avoid

– What would you eat in the morning, which is healthy?

Golden Rule No. 5

Choose a meaningful purpose:

This is the last and very significant golden rule for ensuring golden health. Consciously decide to give your very best to this world through your work & services. This will keep you positive state of mind & cause you to put positive stress on self.

Regularly tell yourself:

-The creator has put me on the earth to create better thing around me & for every one

-Everyday & everyway I must become better so that I can serve better

-I must communicate to create better understanding & better relations

-I must make a difference in the world through walk (actions) & talk

-Challenges will help me grow since they are opportunity to make learn, as I solve them.

Action Steps:

For the next 7 days, read the above written statements, before starting your work

I wish that during this wonderful week, you should have great energy, peace of mind & great performance.

9. Excitement Vs Fear

Excitement Vs Fear

– Gursharan Singh

Making Progress is a very important dimension of life. Bigger the goal, it will result in a greater progress.

But you know that any significant goal would require us to :

  • Overcome some challenges
  • Make some changes in self.
  • Move in to area unknown to us
  • Get out of our comfort zone

When we want to achieve a big goal & if we are really interested to achieve that goal, it will cause two opposing emotions in us:

  • Excitement related to the achievement of new & desired goal
  • Fear of venturing in to unknown & new.

So these two contradicting  emotions;  Excitement & Fear , have a direct bearing on whether or not we will venture in to something new & challenging or not.

If we consciously do not deal with these two opposing emotions, there is every chance that we will procrastinate on the new & big goals & we will delay or abandon the desired progress.

 Since the progress is so important for improving the quality of life , let us pay conscious attention to the following three interrelated important points:

  1. Any time we try to do anything new, generally there is an element of doubt in some corner of our mind which will generate fear, particularly when we are doing it alone.
  2. When we are really interested & excited, we take anything new as an adventure & we will try the new things for fun, particularly when we are doing so along with others.
  3. If the level of excitement is higher than the level of fear , we will get out of our comfort zone & we will do the new & different things related to a new goal.

 Based on the understanding from this small article , during this week , it will be good idea to be clear about:

  1. Which is the one of your biggest goal that you want to achieve in next 6 months to one year? Write it down in your dairy.
  2. Write down all you fears & hurdles which stand in the way to achieve this goal.
  3. Write all the great benefits which you will get from the achievement of this goal.
  4. Write all the pains/ losses which you will have if you do not achieve this goal.
  5. Develop a plan to achieve your big goal.
  6. Think about who can help you/ guide you/support you in achievement of this goal & seek help/guidance/support from such person/persons
  7. Take very small step in the direction of your big goal & keep moving forward.

Wish you a great new week full of excitement for your big goal & wish you a Happy Deepawali !!!

7. Consumption Vs Contribution

Consumption Vs Contribution

– Gursharan Singh

Story of Life is predominately linked to two opposing but interrelated patterns of Contribution Vs Consumption. Throughout our life, on daily basis we go through both these patterns.

Most of the people go through their life without paying any conscious attention these two important patterns & thus miss the great opportunity of further improving the quality of their life.

Let us dedicate this week to become more conscious of our own Consumption & Contribution pattern, so as to positively further improve quality of our own life.

As you know, when we examine the things, we become more conscious about the things that we examine.

 Right Questions help us to examine.

During this week, keep the following question in the mind so as examine the important of consumption & contribution:

What do we consume?

What do we contribute?

Why do we consume?

Why do we contribute?

What we are consuming is it desirable or not?

What we are contributing is it desirable or not?

 Please take a little time to write your answers to the above indicated questions for understanding your own patterns of Consumption & Contribution.

Just for illustration, indicative answers to the  first two questions are given hereunder:

What do we consume?

We inhale oxygen

We drink water

We eat food

We use roads

We use shoes/cloths/cosmetics

We use computer/internet/vehicle

We use time & energy

We use help of others

Above is just a tentative list. Actual list of consumption will go beyond this. We indeed consume lot of things.

What do we contribute?

We provide service at home/office/society

We give our opinion/ideas/feedback/suggestions

We make payments for availing services of others

We plant tress & flowers

We write poems, articles, reports & emails

We give Quality times to near & dear ones

Above is just a tentative list. Actual list of contribution will go beyond this list depending on our Purpose/ Roles /Responsibilities and our interest

Please complete the exercise of writing answer to all the questions. Once you have written all the answers, please further proceed as under :

  • Try to find are your Consumptions pattern linked to Contributions?
  • Are there any consumptions which are undesired ( All addictions & wastages fall in this category ) ?
  • What gives you long term happiness – is it appear in Consumption list or Contribution list?

In the ultimate analysis, it will emerge that it is our contributions which is recognized & appreciated by others & lead us to long term happiness. We love to buy an Air Conditioner which consumes lesser electricity & gives more cooling. We like to buy a car which gives more millage in one liter of petrol.

Dedicate this week to think about how can you make more contribution & thus lead yourself to a better life.

Wish you a great new week. Wish you a week full of Great Contributions.