BRAToSPHERE

Tag: new

  • New Year Plans

    New Year resolutions are made to be broken, or so goes the adage. True to its word, I am nowhere there on any of my New Year resolutions. I think having a date of start to any activity, be it dieting or working out, just does not work. Setting a date in the future for something that you believe is for your good, is a way to procrastinate the thing. Isn’t helping anyone.

    If you are actually kicked about starting a good habit (the so called resolution) there is no better than time to start doing it, than right NOW! You are at your peak motivation level right now and getting to do the good thing right now will hold you in good stead to inculcate the habit.

    New Year resolutions,

    “Will start doing this from next month onwards”,

    “Will do this once this phase of my life is over”

    These are all reasons we give to ourselves to justify our procrastination.

    To top it all, more often than not, a majority of us then justify to ourselves why we should not be doing a particular thing after the date of start has gone by.

    “Oh! I had to quit smoking from Jan 1st 2017. It is already 10 days past that date and I am nowhere there. Chuck it! Will quit from Feb 1st”. Or worse, “Will quit in 2018! 2017 is too hectic and important a year to be going through all this heartache and mood swings”. Classic ways of procrastination.

    Sounds very familiar right?

    Procrastination – One big reason why we don’t achieve most of the things we set out for ourselves and attain a mediocrity level in most of what we do!

    So this year, unlike all my previous years, I have decided not to have any New Year resolutions.

    I would rather have plans. Plans for the year. This has been working at a very sub conscious level over the years.

    Plan for the month and sub plans for the week. Targets for the period and clearly defined milestones and goals to be tracking against them. Yes, there is an element of time again, but this time with a timeline. With targets and tracking achievements. This should help overcome the inherent procrastination.

    I am now completely corporatized!

    Happy New Year folks. Do let me know of your plans for the year.

  • Happy New Year 2016

    One more year done, and the other is here. Thinking about it, 17 days, or about 5 percent, of 2016 is already complete!

    Every year brings with it a hope. A hope of it being new (no wonder it is called a new year). A promise of brining in new experiences and some wonderful moments. No wonder again, New Year resolutions are so prominent across the world. Probably, New Year resolutions is the only ritual present across the world, amongst all the different countries, cultures and religions.

    If New Year is so sacred, I have always wondered why people drown themselves in liquor to bring the year. Are the party revelers so scared of the New Year, that they prefer ringing it in an intoxicated frame of mind?

    I am not judging here (in fact, I was one of those many drowning bottle over bottle, just a couple of years back), and neither am I passing any moral diktats of what is right and what is wrong? I am just perplexed at this behavior and trying to imagine the reason for this behavior.

    Is it the work of some marketing genius from some alcohol company? Maybe yes. In promoting this culture, but this ritual has been ages old. If I am not mistaken, there are stories of ancient land, where celebrations (including ringing in New Year’s Eve) is froth with a lot of liquid. Sparkling green liquid of intoxication.

    I am probably just over intellectualizing it. This probably is just one more day (rather holiday) for the party revelers to party. Just another occasion to throat down a peg too many. And, as long it is harmless, a drink or two never harmed anyone. Did it? (Notwithstanding the fact, that the UK authorities have recently declared that even a single drink a day is harmful and could be eventually carcinogenic). Again, should be left to the individual to decide, in legal standings.

    A small google search throws many more strange ways of celebrating the New Year’s Eve. Like in Estonia, People eat seven times on the New Year’s Day to ensure abundance in the next year. This is besides the fact, that there are many people I know of who do this on everyday basis. Probably to ensure abundance on a daily basis!

    For more such acts of strangeness, please be directed here.

    A very very Happy New year 2016. May this year be filled with joy, health and Abundance!

    Smirk!

  • It’s New Year Resolution Time

    One more year draws to a close, and this one I feel just went by too fast. I guess you get that feeling as the years pass by and there is so much you want to do, and just do not find time for it.

    New year’s eve has varied traditions across various cultures – for some it is wearing polka dots and eating round fruits, while for someone else it is wolfing down handfuls of grapes as the clock strikes 12!

    Whatever be the tradition, all cultures have one thing in common – the new year Resolutions. Every year, many of us try setting up quite a few resolutions, only to break them before dawn breaks on the 1st of January. (yeah yeah! Some of you keep it on for more than that!)

    Here, I am not dwelling into the same old what should be your new year resolution? You should resolve to live a healthier, better more spiritual life, type of gyaan! Neither am I getting into specifics – build six packs, run the half marathon, write a book, etc..

    I am rather wondering why do most of us fail to keep up with those resolutions?

    What are the special ingredients to make and keep up the New Year resolution for the whole year?

    I think it is more to do with the resolution setting process rather than the resolution keeping process. We set ourselves aims that seem good in writing and thinking, but are so distant from our present realities that more often than not, they just end up remaining on the pieces of paper we scribble them on.

    So, what are the rules to make those resolutions?

    Stay True to yourself!

    If you have never been a morning person, deciding to wake up every morning at 6 to go for a run will never work.

    One change of a date from 31st to 1st January is not going to change an inherent habit! Rather, attempt going for a run every night. Try waking up in the morning, but to do something that you like – like writing, reading, listening to Music. Once the morning waking up habit kicks in, start Running in the morning.

    Take it slowly

    Don’t resolve to run 21KM right from day 1. It requires practice even by seasoned marathoners, once they are out of practice. Warm up the first month, get going in the second month and by the third month you are ready kicking in.

    Plan! Don’t just jump in

    You want to quit smoking? Great! But well, easier said than done. There is a complete lifestyle that you have around this habit, and all of it needs to change gradually. If you are always amidst smokers, that will have to change atleast in the beginning to help you keep away from drifting. If you are a “Chai + Sutta” kind of person, you would have to think of working around a vice along with tea. The association needs to dissolve gradually and then life changes to a new normal.

    Choose, Decide and Prioritize

    I have known people, and I myself am accused of the same mistake – too many resolutions, all of which require substantial time investments. It is just not possible. Choose your resolves and prioritize. I know you would want to hit the gym, start running, pick up a sport, learn to play the guitar and also write that elusive book. Well, you also have a job to keep. All of it ain’t happening in one go. Choose, decide and prioritize.

    Rewards

    Make your cravings work for you. Are you a stickler for chocolate? Well, promise yourself a bit every time you complete a milestone in your miles covered. This way, both the resolves are kept in check. Charles Duhigg, in his bestseller – The Power of Habit, details the simple process of habit formation : Cue – Action – Reward, in a circular loop. This is probably the most important thing to be planned to help you keep going.

    Hoping that the above pointers would help you sharpen you resolutions. Do mention in the comments column about your resolutions and your plan to keep them.

    Happy Holidays!

  • Happy New year 2014

    At the outset, I wish you all a very happy new year. I know am a little late in posting this, but well it is better than not doing so at all.

    I know I have again faltered in my promise of posting regularly. Three months of absence from the blogosphere (or is it BratoSphere?) is complete inexplicable. I agree. The rapidness with which things have been happenings and the ups and downs of everyday life has led to the delay.

    The last three months have been a crazy, emotional period which I would sure remember for a long time to come. I was home for a good one and a half month on a holiday (probably my longest visit home after I have started working). Overall, 2013 has been one crazy year which for sure has changed my perspective on life forever.

    Every New Year brings with it a new hope for a new fresh beginning, and this year promises to bring in a lot of positive change. There are a couple of initiatives planned for this year, which I hope see the light of the day as planned.

    In addition to the social and professional promises, personal life also promises to be fulfilling. So, 2014 sure has a lot to look forward to.

    I am totally geared up to lap up all the opportunities. Are you?

    With this, signing off, wishing you all once again a very Happy new year 2014. See you soon.

  • 2012 – A new Year, a new beginning?

    Been long and I have no words or explanations for that. I know, I have used most of the excuses, and even the excuse no. 69. (Been caught up) does not explain this long hiatus.

    There was a time, when I took out time to blog. I still remember those days in the Computer lab during engineering, where I used to frequent the internet center during recess time to write. And now? I literally need to be pushed, and reminded umpteen times, that I should be writing something.

    What was it? I didn’t have anything to write? NO! Loads to write, Loads I want to tell you. Just the time!

    The last couple of months have been completely hectic if anything. And little pleasures like reading, writing, watching movies have all been on the backseat. Yes, thankfully being in marketing, I still get to travel!

    Talking about travel, have been traveling all across north India in the last couple of months, and it has been wonderful to say the least. Will soon come up with a separate tab on Traveling on this blog. Very much required, for the new found interest. (Now you know the reason for those lonely planet magazines piled up on my bedside)

    In another update, have started reviewing books on this blog, and about 5 books have been sent to me and are waiting to be reviewed here (They still need to be read.) it should soon be up. Promise.

    In the other world, there have been developments everywhere. Mom and Dad were here in Mumbai last month, and we had a fun time. We also went to Nashik/ Shirdi for two days. The New Year has been a good beginning and hope it continues the same way, and becomes a landmark year in many ways. (you know what I am referring to! )

    Writing this on a Sunday evening, after completing the daily (or weekly chores) since morning, and somehow keeping myself awake. It is a long weekend after long (tomorrow is Shiv ratri and hence a holiday!) and am completely enjoying it. So wanted this break from long, and it would be long before I get the next one.

    So, on to get my next coffee (you get the drift right!), till then Cheers!