Author: Mush

7 Tips for an Organized Desk

Mush Productivity , ,

0909 cluttered desk

Do you have a desk full of papers you are working on, and papers you are not working on, and a few books and magazines? And dozens of pens and cups and post-its and cables? Do you think it’s a sign of creativity or imagination? The truth is, you are either too lazy to clean it up or you don’t know how. A clean desk saves you time looking for stuff; it helps you prioritize, and focus better on the tasks at hand. Here are few tips for a clean desk:

  1. Don’t collect. Don’t take those cheap gift items like pens, note pads, post-its, magazines just because they are free. Or anything else that will likely end up as trash on your desk. Throw away or give away all those pens and pencils that you don’t use. Couple of family photos or frames are OK, but more than that are a distraction. You can put them in Flickr and watch a slideshow whenever you like.
  2. Learn to deal with paper. Don’t print or copy unless necessary. For me, there are only three places for papers: trash it (or shred it or recycle it), file it away or keep in one of your ‘work-in-progress’ folders. Have a bin, shredder and recycle tray handy so you’ll never be guilty of throwing what can be recycled or afraid to trash confidential stuff.
  3. Organize in clear folders. Create clear folders with labels for all the ongoing projects. These are your ‘work-in-progress’ folders. You could also have another clear folder called ‘action’ or ‘process’ or ‘today’. This has all those 2-minute papers that you can read and trash, or forms to fill, or things to sign and pass on. Deal with this folder only once a day.
  4. The 4 D’s of time management also apply to papers. Drop it (trash it), Delay it (work-in-progress folder or the action folder), Delegate it (pass it on) or Do it (do it now, or file it away). Continue reading →

For Fast-Acting Relief, Try Slowing Down…

Mush Happiness, Life ,

Thanks to all those who read and forwarded and commented on the post on Stress. You can view all the comments here – some very interesting perspectives and useful tips on managing stress. Seeing the level of interest, I have put together some nice quotes on stress:

  • The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.  ~Attributed to both Jim Goodwin and Sydney J. Harris
  • Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.  ~Richard Carlson
  • For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.  ~Lily Tomlin
  • The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it.  ~Author Unknown
  • One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.  ~Bertrand Russell
  • Stress is an ignorant state.  It believes that everything is an emergency.  ~Natalie Goldberg, Wild Mind
  • Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.  ~Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne
  • There is more to life than increasing its speed.  ~Mohandas K. Gandhi
  • A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.  ~Aesop, Fables
  • Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.  ~John De Paola
  • How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.  ~Spanish Proverb
  • Stress is poison.  ~Agavé Powers
  • It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.  ~Jerome K. Jerome, The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
  • Sometimes a headache is all in your head.  Relax.  ~Hartman Jule
  • Tension is who you think you should be.  Relaxation is who you are.  ~Chinese Proverb
  • Stress is an admission of weakness, a cry of defeat to the world.  ~Carrie Latet

Please share your favorite quotes through comments.

[Photo taken at Hua Hin beach, Thailand]

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Readers’ Tips on Stress Management

Mush Happiness ,

The last post, 17 Things You Should Know About Stress, attracted a lot of views and some interesting comments. Here’s some advise from readers on how they manage stress:

“I usually manage stress by writing. I write down all the possible reasons which I think are causing stress. First in points and then I write detail paragraphs for each point. Then I read each point again and again very carefully. Finally I start crossing out the points. Most of the time I am able to cross out all the points and find no reason left to remain stressed.”

“I either listen to soft music or read a good motivating book and mostly what i do at difficult situations is , i go to a silent place and CRY. Once i’m done trust me i feel relaxed, find a solution and just move on. Trust me stress will never come back once u r able to let your feelings out.”

“Hey you forgot to mention laughter as a means to reduce stress, a good joke and friends with good sense of humar always releases my stress.”

I look forward to more tips from the readers.

 

17 Things You Should Know About Stress!

Mush Health, Motivation, Relationships ,

We are all affected by stress at some level or another, though we don’t like to admit it. Stress can be positive when it helps you achieve your goals, or implement a change in your lifestyle. But it’s obviously negative when it results in anxiety, depression and illness. This article can help you identify, prevent and deal with stress.

CAUSES OF STRESS
Most common causes of stress are:

  1. Work-related: This includes deadlines, overload of work, conflicts with the boss or co-workers, job insecurity, lack of recognition etc.
  2. Money-related: Financial crisis, credit card debt, mortgage, loss of job or just lack of money to do the things you really want
  3. Relationship-related: Lack of communication, understanding and trust with your partner, parents, kids or close friends
  4. General lack of fulfillment: Unfulfilled dreams and ambitions; failure in job or relationships
  5. Attitudes that cause stress: Certain traits and ways of seeing the world can cause stress. E.g. Pessimism, perfectionism, addictions, poor communication, anger, obsessing and other such negative behavior.

SYMPTOMS OF STRESS
One or more of the following symptoms could mean that you are going through stress:

  1. Headaches: Certain types of headaches can be related to stress.
  2. More frequent colds or flu: There’s an inverse relationship between stress and immunity, so if you’re under too much stress, you may be getting sick more often.
  3. Sleep problems: There are many ways that stress affects sleep. Too much stress can rob you of sleep and make the sleep you get less restorative.
  4. General anxiety: Anxiety does serve an important function for survival, but if you’re feeling anxious much of the time, it could be because you have too many stressors in your life.
  5. Fuzzy thinking: Your body’s stress response pumps your body with hormones that make it possible for you to fight or flee quickly. But when triggered in excess, this stress response can actually cause you to think less quickly. Continue reading →

6 Leadership Lessons from Orchestra Conductors

Mush Productivity, Relationships ,

An orchestra conductor faces the ultimate leadership challenge: creating perfect harmony without saying a word. In this charming talk, Itay Talgam demonstrates the unique styles of six great 20th-century conductors, illustrating crucial lessons for all leaders.

4 Tips for Instant Happiness!

Mush Happiness, Life, Motivation , ,

The happy cobbler“If you want to be happy, be.” Leo Tolstoy

Feeling sad, depressed or unhappy? Does life look gloomy, and the world seems dreary? Try one of the following tested and proven tips to achieve an instant shift in your emotions and feelings:

1. Be grateful for the things you usually take for granted…

  • Being alive and healthy
  • For the basic stuff: food, water, clothes, shelter, electricity…
  • Your skills: reading, writing, thinking, driving, writing, and other
  • People in your life: family, friends, people you love, people who love you, those who had a positive influence in your life

2. Make someone happy…

  • Compliment people: for their appearance, intelligence, skills…
  • Appreciate others: for what they do for you, for their helpfulness… your family, co-workers and others; say ‘thank you’
  • Listen without interrupting, without offering advice, without judging Continue reading →

10 Reasons to Control Your Anger!

Mush Happiness, Life, Relationships ,

0911 angry

A man is about as big as the things that make him angry. Winston Churchill

Speak when you are angry – and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret. Dr. Lawrence Peter

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Buddha

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one. Benjamin Franklin

Whatever is begun in anger, ends in shame. Benjamin Franklin

Anyone who angers you, conquers you. Unknown

When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger. Epictetus

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it. Marcus Aurelius

If a small thing has the power to make you angry, does that not indicate something about your size? Sydney J. Harris

If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot. Korean Proverb

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The Tears of the Desert – Paulo Coelho

Mush Happiness, Life, Motivation ,

0911 desert

A beautiful piece from ‘Like a Flowing River’ by Paulo Coelho:

A friend of mind returns from Morocco with a beautiful story about a missionary who, as soon as he arrived in Marrakesh, decided that he would go for a walk every morning in the desert that lay just outside the city. The first time he did this, he noticed a man lying down, with his ear pressed to the ground and stoking the sand with one hand.

‘He’s obviously mad,’ the missionary said to himself. But the scene was repeated every day, and after a month, intrigued by this strange behavior, he decided to speak to the stranger. With great difficulty, since he was not yet fluent in Arabic, he knelt down by his side.

‘What are you doing?’

‘I am keeping the desert company and offering it consolation for its loneliness and its tears.’

‘I didn’t know the desert was capable of tears.’

‘It weeps every day because it dreams of being useful to people, and of being transformed into a vast garden where they could grow cereal crops and flowers and graze sheep.’ Continue reading →

Smaller the Better!

Mush Life, Productivity ,

0911 kittens

From  Minimalist.com, one of my favorite blogs:

Less can come in many forms. You can have fewer things, you can do fewer things, you can use fewer things, you can focus on fewer things. But less isn’t just fewer: it can also be smaller.

Small is often downplayed in this world of “bigger means better”. But small is beautiful, and often better.

  • Smaller banks aren’t “too big to fail”, requiring bailouts when they’re mismanaged, and yet they make very important community loans.
  • Smaller teams are more nimble, can adapt to changing environments faster, don’t require as much management or communication overhead, can work cheaply and from anywhere.
  • Smaller cars use less gas, are more maneuverable, cause fewer deaths, use fewer resources.
  • Smaller homes require less heating, less cleaning, less maintenance, force you to simplify, are cozier.
  • Smaller programs use fewer computer resources, take up less computer power and thus help the environment, work faster, get the job done with a minimum of fuss.
  • Smaller suitcases (such as a small backpack) are easier to carry around, fit easier in overhead compartments, don’t require you to check luggage and worry about luggage not getting to the right destination, are easier to pack and unpack.
  • Smaller websites (in terms of file sizes) are easier to load, faster, more responsive.
  • Smaller companies are also more responsive, less expensive, hungrier, more focused.
  • Haikus pack a lot of punch into three tiny lines.
  • Smaller posts don’t take as much time to write or read, which is good for a lazy blogger. And a busy reader.

Small is beautiful. Aim for smaller when it makes sense, and enjoy the wonder that ensues.

[Photo of Mashu’s kittens]

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Do You Trust Strangers?

Mush Life, Work, Business , ,

0911 book coverI just re-read one my favorite books, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. It’s full of his real life stories and experiences that are fun to read and full of wisdom. Here’s one about trusting strangers:

“How about some good news for a change? Something to consider when you are in a people-are-no-damn-good mood? Here’s a phrase we hear a lot: “You can’t trust anybody anymore.” Doctors and politicians and salesmen. They are all out to rip you off, right? It ain’t necessarily so.

Man name Steven Brill test the theory. In New York City, with taxicab drivers. Bill posed as a well-do-do foreigner with little knowledge of English. He got into several dozen taxis around New York City to see how many drivers would cheat him. His friends predicted in advance that most would take advantage of him in some way.

One driver out of thirty-seven cheated him. The rest took him directly to his destination and charged him correctly. Several refused to take him when his destination was only a block or two away, even getting out of their cabs to show him how close he already was. There greatest irony of all was that several drivers warned him that New York City was full of crooks and to be careful. Continue reading →

An Inspiring Video by Times of India

Mush Motivation , ,

This is the second video of the Lead India campaign by Times of India. Very inspiring!

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Choose to Live!

Mush Life

Last night I got an email from an old friend. She wrote:

“Someone I loved for 12 years broke up with me to marry someone else. I am shattered. How can I be normal? In fact, I don’t want to be normal. My positivity is not working. All self-motivation formula are failing. I just want to commit suicide. You said, choose to live, no matter how miserable life is… accept the things you cannot change. But I have lost all hopes… what can I do? My mom has a lot of dreams for me, but I have no hope…”

I am sure she must have already heard all forms of consolation and advice from family and friends e.g.

  • He wasn’t meant for you. He was not good enough for you…
  • Things could be worse: People break up even after marriage…
  • There’s someone for you; you will find him if you allow yourself…
  • It’s OK to be depressed, but for how long, is your choice…
  • Forget positivity; just acknowledge the good things you do have…
  • Don’t worry about motivation; just try to focus on other motives in life, besides having a partner you love…
  • Suicide is the surest way to end all misery and grief, but it also ends all hopes and possibilities…
  • There are people who love you, who believe in you, who look up to you for inspiration, who have hopes and dreams for you… don’t let them down.
  • Right now you have made a choice: to be depressed, to think and feel in a certain way, to not let any positive thoughts enter your mind… tomorrow you can choose to think differently and feel differently.

So I am not going to tell her any of that. Instead, I said a little prayer for her. What would you say to her?

Fast Food or Slow Food?

Mush Happiness, Health , , ,

0910 anti-fast foodI just read this very interesting and useful article on Zen Habits, one of my favorite blogs:

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about the Slow Food movement, but I really believe it’s the answer to many of our problems: health and obesity, the hectic and stressful pace of modern life, and the lack of happiness in a complex and often burdensome world.

This is the Anti-Fast Food Diet — a way to not only lose weight and get healthier, but to change your life to one of simplicity, moderation, and joy.

Abandon fast food, and all the values it brings: mass consumption, mass production, the exploitation of workers, the destruction of the environment, the destruction of small local businesses, the corporatization of our culture.

Instead, embrace Slow Food. Here’s how. Continue reading →

How Much Sugar Are You Consuming?

Mush Health , ,

0910 sugarWe all know that most sugar is bad for us. Here are some of the harmful affects of sugar on our body:

  • Sugar can suppress the immune system.
  • Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness.
  • Sugar contributes to a weakened defense against bacterial infection.
  • Sugar can cause kidney damage.
  • Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.
  • Sugar can promote tooth decay.
  • Sugar can produce an acidic stomach.
  • Sugar can increase total cholesterol.
  • Sugar can contribute to weight gain and obesity.
  • Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.
  • Sugar can cause hypertension.
  • Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

Avoiding sugar is not easy because it is processed in so many foods we eat. These foods are not just sweets; sugar in large quantities can be found in “non-sweets” products. Here’s the approximate sugar content of popular foods Continue reading →

Dan Gilbert asks: Why Are We Happy?

Mush Happiness, Life , ,

Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong — a premise he supports with intriguing research, and explains in his accessible and unexpectedly funny book, Stumbling on Happiness.

It is wonderful that a modern philosopher can come to the same conclusions as the Buddha 2,500 years ago. He said that when we learn to accept things as they are we find happiness. When we cease to strive for happiness in the future we find it in this moment. Getting what we want doesn’t make us happy, being happy with what we have does. Craving causes misery, acceptance and peace makes us happy.

Life – Destiny or Choice?

Mush Happiness, Life, Motivation

0910 PuneLast week I did a road trip from Mumbai to Pune and back. The journey was almost five hours each time, so I got to know the drivers very well:

One of them was a 30-year old who had been driving different vehicles for different companies ever since he got his driving license at the age of 18. He just made enough money to support his old parents and younger brother’s education. He had no ambitions, and believed he was destined to be a low-paid driver. When I asked him whether he had considered saving up to buy his own car or taxi, he gave me many reasons why not. He was unclean, drove recklessly and kept complaining about the government, roads, other reckless drivers and life in general. He bumped his car into another near Pune but didn’t accept his mistake.

The other was a 35-year old who had a similar background – poor parents, no education – but a completely different life. Continue reading →

5 More Reasons to be Grateful!

Mush Happiness, Life, Motivation ,

0910 Buddha

Did you know?

  • 923 million people in the world are hungry!
  • 16,000 children die every day due to hunger – that’s one every five seconds!
  • 880 million people live without adequate supply of water!
  • 1.4 billion people live below the poverty line (USD1 per day)!
  • 200 million people are unemployed. And at least 20 million more were estimated to become unemployed in 2009!

If we are not one of the above, we have at least five more reasons to be grateful. We can choose to take all the good things for granted; we can continue to complain about the imperfections in our lives and other people; we can focus on all the things that we don’t have. And we are sure to be unhappy, miserable and stressed. Or… we can choose to be happy; we can start acknowledging and being grateful for all the goodness in life, and everything that we do have.

What are you grateful for, today, right now?

[Photo of Big Buddha in Hong Kong]

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Lewis Pugh’s record-breaking swim across the North Pole!

Mush Motivation , ,

0910 lewis pughYou must watch this video in which Lewis Pugh talks about his record-breaking swim across the North Pole. He braved the icy waters (in a Speedo) to highlight the melting icecap. Watch for the astonishing footage and his commentary about the childhood dream, purpose of this swim, and the physical and mental preparation:

Watch the video here.

Makes you wonder about the power of the human will. Question is, what are we going to do with that power?

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Inspiring Quotes by Paulo Coelho

Mush Life, Motivation ,

0910 pagodaNo one can avoid defeat. That is why it is better to lose a few battles in the fight for your dreams than to be defeated without even knowing why you are fighting. (By the River Piedra…)

We are allowed to make a lot of mistakes in our lives, except the mistake that destroys us. (Veronika Decided to Die)

If we pay close attention we will come to realize that no day is the same as another. Every morning brings with it a hidden blessing. (Unpublished)

Absolute freedom does not exist; what does exist is the freedom to choose anything you like and then commit yourself to the decision. (The Zahir)

Start to do something. That way, time will be an ally, not an enemy. (The Fifth Mountain)

[Photo of the pagoda in Tung Chung, Hong Kong]

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