Maximise Potential

Happy Holidays to everyone. As the year ends I wanted to share some of the books I enjoyed reading this year. I would say this year has been one of the best in terms of terrific books. I love reading and it is one of my favorite hobbies. Please check out my favorite books of 2017 below. Most of them are business books which is my preferred genre and I have also reviewed some of them so if you are interested you can check it out by clicking the related links. Principles by Ray Dalio –  Ray Dalio is called the “Steve Jobs of investing.” I skipped part 1 of the book as it was about this journey. The second part is where the meat of the book is. It is about the principles of life. I found it to be useful. Basically, life doesn’t care what you like. It is up to you to do the things needed to get what you want. Set goals, diagnose the problem, put plans and act. You cannot do everything but you can choose the ones you want most. You can savor life or you can make an impact or you ca...

Happy thanksgiving to everyone. We are in the biggest holiday season of the year. For most of us this is a time of reflection to see how our year has been, what we can do better and how we can make next year even better. A lot of us also go on vacations which is great but sometimes we need a vacation after the vacation. So, my aim with this article is to give simple suggestions to stay relaxed and enjoy the holidays. At the same time, I also share strategies which can reduce our stress levels and enjoy life more. Stress is one of the leading causes of depression and considering the pace of our modern lives we should pause and reevaluate our lives on a constant basis. As Mahatma Gandhi said  "There is more to life than increasing its speed." Here are some simple strategies to be relaxed, stay happy and enjoy life in general. Create white space -  What I mean by this is there is no need to cram every single activity in a 10 hour period. Allow some space as you cannot get...

I have realized that life is truly a numbers game. It is wonderful to look at all the numbers of your life and see where you stand versus where you want to be. As they say the numbers tell the whole truth. Here are the areas where I like to review the numbers in my life. See if this applies to you Sleep - This is so important that I want to put it at the top of the heap. Measure the number of hours you sleep. 7 hours at a minimum is a must so if you are not getting enough sleep see which activities you must stop to get the extra sleep. You may have to forego some activities to get this sleep in. However, this is an absolute must if you want to get the most out of yourself. Exercise – Barring any health conditions you need to see how much exercise you are getting on a weekly basis. Again, if this means sleeping a little earlier so that you can exercise first thing in the morning then you can do that. Or if this means taking 30 min during lunch to get that exercise routine ...

Jim Rohn said work harder on yourself than on your job. He also said formal education will make you a living while self-education will make you a fortune. So, personal development can serve as a spring board to your greater success. Here is my A - Z of personal development. A for Acceptance : Personal development doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with who we are. So, the first step is to unconditionally accept ourselves just the way we are. Accept everything about you and that will serve as the spring board to further success. B for Blueprinting: It is like the carpenter’s motto “Measure twice cut once.” The basic point is visualizing in minute detail the person you want to become and take daily steps to be the person you visualized. The first image is the mental creation and then follow it up with action. C for Continuous learning : There are two types of learning maintenance learning and shock learning. Shock learning is when something happens in your industry that disrupt...

As Earl Nightingale said "Happiness is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal." In other words, you feel happy when you are progressing towards something important to you. This is very important because happiness is a journey not a destination. If you will be happy only when you achieve something it is going to be tough most of the time. Most of our life is invested in the process and if we wait for the result to be happy we will be striving for the elusive pot all the time. Happiness is a state of mind and you can be happy just to be alive. While setting lofty standards for our work and life is always a good sign, it is not good if we are never happy with what we achieve. Therefore, happiness requires a balance between striving for more and enjoying the current success. I believe the recipe of happiness can be baked with the following ingredients. Here is my A - Z of Happiness. A for Attitude : Your attitude is the true barometer of your happiness. If you ha...

Enthusiasm is one of the keys to a happy charged life. When you are enthusiastic the whole day seems to brighten up. Ralph Waldo Emerson said every great achievement is due to the triumph of enthusiasm. So, having a vision is great but you need to have the enthusiasm burning to achieve it. Here I have expanded on each letter of the word to bring the enthusiasm to you. Energy: When you have high energy you are naturally more enthusiastic. By sleeping well, eating well, reducing your stress levels and exercising you will have higher energy. You can bring passion to your days with more energy which leads to greater enthusiasm. Never give up:  In order to maintain your enthusiasm going with high energy you need to make the decision to never give up. No matter what happens make the decision to bounce back. If we think back to the tough situations in our lives, we have always handled it. It is the fear or anticipation of the negative event that is more paralyzing. So, make the dec...