Sekar Sundaram - Top and Best Daily Motivational Blog Posts: September 2017

Scores Not a Matter...

He Scored only an average mark of 750 in his 12th Board Exam. But he was awarded as a ‘Young Scientist’ by NASA! (These Headings in the News paper attracts me towards the best read today)

World’s lightest and smallest Satellite.

Mohammed Rifath Sharukh, a 17 year old young scientist made the World’s Lightest and Smallest Satellite!
Pallapatti born, Karur district; Tamilnadu.
NASA organised a competition. Over 8000 students from 57 countries participated. He was the only Indian who was selected among the 80 final selections.

About his Satellite:

He named the Satellite ‘ KALAM SAT’ in memory of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul kalam.
It weighs only 64 grams.(0.1 kg and 3.8 cm in size)
“Space Kidz India” supported him.
It was a complete Indian made Satellite.
Uses:
It will be used to detect the radiation in Space, and the changes in the atmosphere.
It will stay only 240 minutes in space, then it will automatically fall in to the specified ocean. Finally, it will be taken out for research.
Launch:
On June 22nd, 2017 it will be launched through the SRK Rocket.
If they launch successfully, then it will be used for Agriculture and Weather Monitoring.
I wondered when I saw Mohammed Sharukh’s 12th Board Exam Mark Details:
In Mathematics: 92/200.
In Physics: 89/200(Practical Mark: 50)

(For the rest, he wrote only for 39 marks in theory! (Less than my marks!))

He is one of the inspirations to the Students, who scored average marks in their Board Exams.
For Parents: Marks don’t determine your Children, who they are. Every Child is born with talents.

This will be the first time Indian student’s experiment will be flown by NASA. (Really appreciable!)

Source: www.quora.com

Best Motivation Line Ever...

“When you are wasting your time, someone is working hard at the same time, and the day you compete with that person, you will lose.”

Here is what average people do: They wake up at 10am, read some news, eat, watch Game of Thrones for 2 hours, eat more junk food, lay on the sofa and stare at their phones for three hours, and then probably watch more TV and sleep. Of course, there will be variations based on one’s social status and geographical locations - I’m largely generalizing, but this is what most average people do on weekends.

They don’t achieve much. They don’t have goals or plans, and they live everyday without much thought.

This is what I lived like for eighteen years.

Before college, all I wanted to do was get the guy I liked to notice me, or hang with all my friends and go downtown everyday. I wanted to get in a good university but I wasn’t actually willing to put in any effort. I didn’t actually work hard for anything.

You see the trend? I was comfortable.

And that’s where I got it wrong. I indulged in pleasure, not happiness. I let myself do whatever I wanted in the moment, without actually putting myself under pressure for a better future.

In high school, I binge watched Last Man on Earth instead of studying for my bio exam. In college, I ate chocolate and scrolled my Instagram for forty minutes instead of getting a head start on my business project.

Mother of God, what was I doing?

If you want to be above average, you need to get used to being uncomfortable.You need to get used to pain, to discomfort, to prolonged hours of just sitting there and forcing yourself to get through one more page of that fucking essay, one more lesson on code academy.

And in the age of distractions, it’s even harder. Messages, notifications, the allure of multiple social media accounts you gotta keep up to, piled with schoolwork and activities you gotta attend - it’s horror.

But those aren’t real excuses. Everyone goes through them. At the end of the day when you evaluate yourself, whether that’s when you graduate or when you die, you’ll see that nothing is excusable.

For me, my excuse for not working hard in high school was that “my mom forced me too much.” My mom’s excuse was that her mom "turned the TV on too loud so [she] couldn’t focus.”

Bull fucking shit.

You can lie to others but stop lying to yourself. The rest of this break, I want to get ahead on building traction for my blog as much as possible, and figure out what I want to do in the tech industry in the future.

If I say I “didn’t have enough time”, or “I was too tired”, then I’m lying to myself. I’m in Beijing for two and a half weeks and I have nothing to do.

So there. Fuck it. Fuck all the lies you keep telling yourself. If you want to be above average, then you have to be willing to drip blood and sweat for whatever you want to achieve - otherwise, you’ll just be left behind. A mere speck waiting to be extinguished by the trailing dust of the above-average.

Cherry Chen is a blogger at the blunt artist, a self-development and identity blog drizzled with poetry. Check out her website or send her a Quora mail if you’d like to connect.

Source: www.quora.com

What can I do to better myself in one month

Detoxify your speech. I mean reduce the usage of cuss words.
Read everyday. Doesn’t matter what. Choose whatever interests you.
Observe people. Imbibe their good habits.
Take a pledge to never talk rudely to your parents. They never deserve it.
No ego. No ego. No ego. Just learn, learn and learn.
Don’t be afraid to clarify doubts. “He who asks a question remains fool for 5 minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever”.
“I cried as I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet”. Don’t complain. Work harder.
Practice drinking 3 liters of water everyday.
Stay low key.
Wake up early.
Plan your day. Make a to do list in the morning.
Eat home cooked meals for one month.
Follow traffic rules. Do not break them unnecessarily. Do not break the queue. Offer your seat to somebody who needs more than you. I mean, try to be a good citizen.
Talk to yourself. Meditate.
Stay away from people who give you negative vibes.
Stop comparing yourself with others. Start competing with yourself.
Always remember, “The biggest failure in life is the failure to try”.
Eat raw vegetable salad atleast once a day.
Your body is your temple. Don’t litter it with junk.
Count your blessings and not the likes on your facebook post. There is a difference.
Take care of your health. “He who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything”

That’s all for now. I will add more later.

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One month is a good amount of time. You can do a lot!

Let’s do this, the Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, and Usain Bolt way.

Improvement semantic tree:

Idea: First come up with an idea with the Elon Musk way. I just made a semantic tree for you! You can make yours if you like.

You would do three things at the root. Then you would write more branches, and write down things you like to improve. Then you would create two more branches which will tell you your plan, and your personal tracking.

Start:

Nothing comes closer than this.
Starting will give you largest gain.
Hardest to do, but go do this!

Pick up again:

You need to apply this where you aren’t already.
This will revive memory, and bring you back in action.
These could be things like exercising, books that you are familiar with, but you keep dropping them.

Improve:

This will help you improve on things you are already doing.
You have to be very systematic about what exactly your plan will be.

I have covered various disciplines you can choose, you can choose more if you like:

Arts
Self discipline
Public speaking
Music
Personal relations
Fitness
Technology business

Your plan: You should implement like Warren Buffet!

You would write on a paper who your role models are in those chosen disciplines. Say it could be some mentor, it could be some celebrity, it could be anyone, but write down exactly what you would have to do to to become like them.
You would select those branches that would either maximize your biggest strengths, or minimize your biggest weaknesses.
Maximizing your biggest strength will give you larger edge over competition.
Minimizing your biggest weaknesses will eliminate your fears for your future, and will also minimize your competitive disadvantage.

Execute: Do this like Usain Bolt!

Alright, now you have the best ideas, all you have to do is to track them as well as possible.

Make a daily schedule.
Track numbers.
Improve numbers on a daily basis
Refine plan better if you can.

No pain, no gain, and the entire amount of improvement will be because of how well you execute.

Last words of wisdom, that I pretty much tell anyone and everyone: Your motivation will be limited and you will run out of it every now and then, but your discipline should help you make a comeback. Every. Single. Time.

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Here's the plan.

Consider, you pick a month of 30 days and focus only on improving yourself.

Now,

30 days=720 hours.

You will need minimum 6 hours of sleep every day.

So,

6 x 30= 180 hours.

720-180=540 hours.

Let's assume, your meals collectively take 1 hour, bathroom and washroom routine take about half an hour, social networking(whatsapp,fb,quora,LinkedIn,hike,etc) will take around an hour, and let's throw in an extra half an hour for other activities.

All this takes about 3 hours per day.

So,

3 x 30= 90 hours.

Now,

540-90= 450 hours.

Finally,

450÷30= 15 hours/ day.

You have 15 hours each day to learn something new and improve yourself. Can you imagine the number of possibilities here! You can decide upon anything, depending on your needs. But if you ask me, I'll suggest the following things.

1.Learn Tutting

Thinking how it will make you better? Don't worry. Here’s my explanation. First and foremost, it's one of the most interesting kinds of dance. Dancing releases Endorphins. Those make you happy. Happy people are naturally better people. Secondly, it's a cool hobby to add to your resume. It catches the attention of the interviewer and makes you look like a unique person. Added advantage, anyone, of any age, can learn Tutting easily. Give it a try.

2. Learn proper Weight Training.

People often put their health and physique at a lesser priority in life and when they start looking like a potato, two things happen. First, they become extremely self conscious and unhappy. Second, they mostly envy people who are in good shape. To save yourself from all this mess, start weight training. People (often women) neglect weight training, not knowing how beneficial it is! Don't run after Cardio. Lift weights. Regularly. Do it for a month, and you will see magical results!

3. Watch one ted talk a day.

If you want to improve yourself, listen to people who have been there, done that. Take notes. Observe how their body language is. Look into their profile. Study their work ethic. This is the best way to add an extra edge to your career.

4. Read atleast 3 different books

Pick one fiction, one non fiction and one light-hearted book and set a goal to finish all 3 of them within this 1 month. Distribute your time according to your mood. But make sure you read them everyday. At the end of the month, you will have a whole different perspective of things.

5. Watch 1 meaningful documentary every other day.

Documentaries are a great way to learn about important things in depth. The opinions and facts they provide are eye opening. Knowing and understanding them, makes you realise how important it is to be aware.

6. Go spend time with the people you love.

You never know the importance of a moment until it's gone. If you have people who love you unconditionally, spend time with them as much as you can. Coz time can snatch them away from you any second. So treasure each moment. Remember, Love is the ultimate thing that makes you a better person.

7. Change one habit that is bad for you.

If you are a chain smoker, work on quitting smoking. If you are a raging alcoholic, try to give up alcohol. If you are an impulsive shopper, learn to stop wasting money. I know it's easier said than done. That's why get help. Paid One, if necessary. You only have this one month to change that one thing about yourself that is stopping you from being a better person. Give it your best shot.

Source: Quora.com

What are the best habits that can change your life?

Cultivate your focus. Here’s how:

Work on a task single-mindedly. Multitasking isn’t a virtue. Your mind isn’t designed to multitask. When I multitask, I usually get little things done. When I singletask, things get completed pretty effectively.
Your mind will sneakily look for distractions. That’s normal. Acknowledge your wandering mind and refocus on your task.
Focus on things which are reasonably beyond your comfort zone. So that you can grow. Solve challenging questions. Study helpful topics. Challenge your pre-existing beliefs.
When you master the ability to focus, you get into flow state much more easily. Your learning curve will increase exponentially. You’ll be an effective learner and productive hustler.
I hope you see that the opportunity to practice focus is everywhere. Focus is an invaluable asset. Cultivate it.

Read. Here’s how:

Most people don’t read. Some read for pleasure. Few read to improve their behavior. To improve your life, read with the grand objective to improve your behavior.
It’s easy to intellectualize the things you’ve read, and that’s required. But most people are trapped there, almost forever. You have to go beyond that. You want to have both the theory and practice. You want to internalize those wisdom. Don’t simply stop at understanding something intellectually - make it a part of who you are.
Assess yourself and identify your current bottleneck. If you procrastinate recently, read books about procrastination. Understand the mechanism of procrastination deeply. If you want to be more financially-literate, read books like Rich Dad Poor Dad, Cash Flow Quadrant and The Millionaire Next Door. I’ve read those books again and again. Good results do happen.
Highlight important text. Make your own notes. Challenge the author’s point of view if necessary. You don’t have to agree with everything the author says. Cultivate your own thinking ability.
Most importantly, revisit your books from time to time. New wisdom will be explored. That’s what I consistently experience.

Reflect. Here’s how:

It’s impractical to aim to be a perfect human being. It’s more practical to be the best we can be, and reflect from our mistakes.
You have to accept that mistakes are unavoidable. In fact, mistakes are our silent mentors. Just make sure you don’t make the reckless and foolhardy ones. That’s a different story.
Identify behaviors which weigh you down and consciously decide to behave better next time. For example, if you waste too much time on the bed, make a conscious decision to literally jump out of the bed once you wake up.
I was stupid. I used to make my reflection sessions into self-sabotaging sessions. Don’t do that. You can’t change your past. Accept it and look forward.
Imagine you applying reflection on your career, relationship and the skills you want to build. Man, you’ll be able to go much further.

Feel good. Here’s how:

You don’t want to feel bad, do you? Well, understand that it’s you who fundamentally determines how you feel. In other words, inner work is required.
Practice gratitude. No matter how good or bad your life is, there must be something to be grateful about. This morning, I am consciously grateful that I am alive, the sun is bright and my car engine starts smoothly. You get the point.
The ability to feel good is a skill. Build that skill, so you don’t have to depend on low-conscious things like alcohol, party and junk food to feel good temporarily.
I’m not suggesting you to abstinate from alcohol, party and junk food all together. You can enjoy those things, as long as you don’t make them as your only source of good feelings. Put this crucial understanding into perspective.
You can feel good at anytime. Anytime. The question is, are you actually willing to make it happen?

Exercise. Here’s how:

Pick up some physical activities you like and do it for at least three times per week and 30 mins per session. Better yet, exercise daily.
Have fun while exercising. Be present in the moment. Put all other things aside.
Health is wealth. To verify, you may ask those wealthy people laying on the hospital beds. I’ve asked them. Yes, they said health is wealth.
Don’t mix up exercising with competition. If you jog, there’s no need to be the fastest runner in your town. Just jog, sweat and enjoy. Your goal is to be healthy, not to win medals.
Make friends through exercising. It will be fun. Also, a number of them may become your best buddies or confidants someday.

I practice these habits consistently, and my life’s improving
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Take my advice, this habits will not only improve your life but will also make you healthy and rich.

Read books. Just one book a year is enough to get your mind working better. Belive me and start reading how to win friends and influence people.
Adding Amazon link for buying book : Buy How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Online at Low Prices in India

Wake up and start Running. Even 10 mins of warm up/running is good enough for long term health benefits. You don’t need a treadmill, you don’t need to go to joggers park, do it at your home just by your bed by running at same place.

Have a goal in life. Are you waking up without a goal ? what are you doing in your life ? where do you want to reach ? office ? have a long term goal in your life. It can be anything like a better career or something you want to achieve. Make a plan and do it.

Make new friends. Life is full of people, having more friends means more opportunities in life.

NEVER lend money to anyone, it will destroy your friendship and make you very poor very fast.

Forget all "get rich quick" ideas. Get rich slowly - it works

Start investing. Dont just save money, start investing in mutual funds and properties. You will understand only when you start doing it.

Never "play the stock market" ... it is no better than playing a casino.

Backup plans. Always keep a backup plan, don't get conformable with your job.
Automation is eating jobs. More machines means less human work.

Stop using credit cards. Avoid using credit card for small things. You are actually taking loan and paying interest. Just think about it. Pay for it immediately

Make your parent happy. Don't just buy stuff online for only you, you should be buying for parents also. Think about last time you made your parent happy with something. Its your job.

Always listen. Everyone has a story to tell and not everyone is a good listener. Be a good listener and people will love you for that.

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These are 5 things that had instant effects on improving my life which I still stick to.

Waking up at 4 am

I have written this in another post and received quite a lot of comments asking how I do it and how I manage my sleep. So here is how I do it.

Firstly, waking up this early can be the most difficult thing in the world. I mean early morning is when we are in our deepest sleep. The world is quiet, the air is fresher, the atmosphere is cold. If its too cold, your body temperature under the blanket must have produced the coziest temperature for you to sleep.

Before I started waking up at 4 am, I tried 7 am, then 6 am, then 5 am, and then 4 am. Waking up at 7 am and 6 am is no different. The sun is already up (in my country) by 6 am. I didn’t feel I was up early. Then I tried 5 am. I noticed that for me to have the highest motivation, energy and drive, I had to be at my computer by 5 am. I then tried 4 am. Was the most difficult thing on the first day but by the third day, waking up at 4 am was the thing I was looking forward the most when I slept the day before. Ok ok so this is how I do it.

Firstly, I go to sleep the night before, wanting to wake up the next day at 4 am. I also started deleting the word ‘alarm’ from my dictionary and replaced with the word ‘opportunity’. This trick works by the way. When my opportunity clock goes off at 4 am, I decide the longest I can be on bed is 5 seconds. I count to five and get up on my feet. Yes you have to stand on your feet. I then drink some water, go to the bathroom and brush my teeth. There is something magical about the toothpaste that makes me wake up. I then go out to my terrace and meditate there for 10 to 20 minutes. This is my favorite part of the morning. The world is quiet, the air is fresh, in a tropical hot country, the outside temperature at this time is just comfortable. You can do this on your balcony or even in your apartment. I would advise you to step out of your house or building and breath some fresh air at this time. Just 5 minutes will do. I then do the ‘Seven Minute Workout’ (the scientific one). For 7 minutes this is quite effective. Then hit the bathroom and watch a TED Talk while I’m on throne. I take a shower, grab a coffee and start my work at 5 am or before.

When you are up this early you know you are up for a reason and it motivates the hell out of you. You know you are up before any one else because your tasks are so important. It drives you to focus and work the most productive hours of the day.

2. The 5 x 5 x 5 rule

I read this on internet and somewhere on Quora too. This is an emotional skill that will make you take good decisions. It works like this. When something happens, ask your self these three questions. Will it matter in 5 minutes? Will it matter in 5 days? Will it matter in 5 years? You see, a lot of our decisions are based on the five minutes. We tend to forget that there is something called time and future. Lets say that some drunk vomits on you in the train. Firstly, understand that s/he is not in the right mindset. Then ask the questions. Will it matter in 5 minutes? Hell yeah!! You will stink. Will it matter in 5 days? Probably if you missed a dentist’s appointment and you cant get your teeth cleaned for another week. Will it matter in 5 years? You will probably be laughing at the incident with your friends in 5 years. Making wise decisions is one of the best perks of being emotionally intelligent.

3. The 5 minute rule

Lets say something happens or you do a mistake and there is nothing you can do about it. Well there is always something you can do if it is a mistake by you. You can always avoid repeating it. Anyways how this works is, you understand and believe that there is no need stressing on things that won’t change what has happened. Stress can be the essence of all diseases. What you do is you decide that you will think of the matter only for the next five minutes. Set your stop watch and think whatever you want to think within the 5 minutes and repeat in your mind that you have to move on when the 5 minutes are over. When the time is over you put the matter away and move on. I've tried this countess times. It works like a charm. Remember, the point is to minimize stress which is the cause of many diseases.

4. The 10 minute call

We all have people who love us dearly in our lives. Love which we take for granted. I try to dedicate 10 minutes of my life every day to connect with these people. In general a person won’t even understand how happy s/he will make her parents (especially mom) happy by giving a call every day and checking on them. Our parents have gone through and continue to go through a great deal of effort to make sure we get the best. They don’t ask us anything in return. This is in general by the way - I know a lot us have a difficult time with the parents too. In my case, my wife and my parents are the best things in the world. When I quit my job and dedicated my full time to developing what I am doing, I lost my connection with a lot of people. My visiting intervals to my parents started getting longer. Call intervals got longer too, until one day I realized that I might not get the opportunity to call them tomorrow. The thought of regrets I would have if I ever feel I didn’t give them the love they deserve was overwhelming. I've been calling them every day ever since, and it does make my life better in a very special way. I dedicate this time not only to call them but just to say hi to some friends I've lost keeping in touch too. It feels good to talk to these people.

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Never multitask. Concentrate on one task at a time. If you do more things at once, all of them will be subpar quality.
Never argue with unintelligent people. You will not accomplish anything and will waste your time, plus you will get very frustrated.
Never get involved in gossiping. There are people who love talking behind other people’s back and talk about what other people do, how they live, how much they make, etc. It is all wasted energy and time.
Never make impulsive decisions. Go to sleep and make your decision the next day when you are calm and you are able to calculate your risks with an objective mind.
Never go to bed angry. Try to make peace with the loved one or friend you had an argument with. According to reasearch, “during sleep, the brain reorganises the way negative memories are stored, making these associations harder to suppress in the future.”

Source: Quora.com

DENGU

Unforgettable Days in my life

September 9th - He gotta Fever (Afternoon)

September 13th - He admitted in the hospital (Night)

September 14th - He admitted in the ICU (Oxygen, Lever Enzymes, platelets) - Injected 2 hands and right leg, Urinary bag.

September 17th - Moved to ward at 6 in the evening...

Learnings From Being Unemployed For 9 Months :

1. Never Leave A Job Without A Job In Your Hand. 2. No amount of dedication and passion will work until you have a great reference to back you up. 3. Changing industry is not easy as companies are not willing to take risks. 4. You end up being stressed and feeling worthless as no one is interested in picking you up. 5. You can not afford to have a break from your career, no matter how much you want it,as it is negative for your resume. I have been through this and know many others who are going through the same just because WE thought of taking out sometime for ourselves or WE stood for something we felt so strong about and now end up being - PROFESSIONALS WITH A GAP - who are judged to be misfits because they left the train! Thanks!!

Source: Linkedin.