Life Strategies - For those with one hand tied behind their back: 2014

Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Or Do Something - Happy New You!

We go through life making assumptions.

One of the assumptions we make is that it’s too early or too late to do something.

Most times, this is not true.

Is it ever too early or too late to make a new resolution?

Is it ever too early or too late to start a new chapter?

Is it ever too early or too late to look at things with fresh eyes, or adopt a new stance?

If we sit and think, it is never too early or too late for most things.

And what better time to take the plunge and do those things than at the beginning of a brand New Year!

2015 is almost here.

Make it a year to forget all years.

Focus on....

A new love

A new career

A new level of fitness

A new chapter in a relationship, or friendship, or arrangement, or collaboration

A new attitude

A new plan

A new groove

Happy New You!

The New You is whatever you decide you want to be.

Calmer...

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Or Do Something - Part 3

We go through life making assumptions.

One of the assumptions we make is that it’s too early or too late to do something.

Most times, this is not true.

Is it ever too early or too late to show we care?

Is it ever too early or too late to get involved?

Is it ever too early or too late to get past breakdowns in communication?

If we sit and think, it is never too early or too late for most things.

For example, it’s never too early or too late to use tools to become healthier, or to improve our job prospects.

It's never too early or too late to use tools to become better investors; or to overcome limiting behaviors, fears and anxieties.

In my post The Element of Choosing the Right Tools for Your Path and Its Hope for Helping You Put One Foot in Front of the Other (which was inspired by a conversation with my friend Majella), I shared some examples of tools we can use to tackle these different areas.

I told you about a memory tool which I used to remember an alphanumeric number, and another memory tool I used to remember Buckminster Fuller’s name.

I told you about career tools such as Richard Bolles’s Flower Tool and Resume Tips from Fortune 500 companies and the Dare To Share tool.

If you are at a career crossroads, I am excited about what you will gain by using these tools.

I especially recommend Richard Bolles’s Flower Tool from his book What Color is Your Parachute?

In The Element of Choosing the Right Tools for Your Path and Its Hope for Helping You Put One Foot in Front of the Other, I also pointed you in the direction of tools to improve your state of mind.

You will agree with me, it is never too early or too late to improve our state of mind.

To become calmer and more rational and more mature.

The more mature we become, the better the choices we will make.

Becoming a calmer, more rational and more mature person, requires us to learn from experience, and from the choices we have made, and the results of those choices.

It is never too early or too late to do that.

Experience is a valuable teacher, and it is never too early or too late for its lessons.

I have learned many different lessons from experience, and I do not regret a single one of them.

My post 4 Lessons Learned from Spinning in the Rain tells you about the lessons I learned from my car accident in 2010.

My post If Life is So Good, Why Do I Feel So Sad tells you about the lessons I learned from my clinical depression.

And my post How I Lost a Thousand Grand on Donuts tells you about the lessons I learned from trying to be a bottom-fisher in the stock market.

“What is bottom-fishing, Minoo?” you may ask.

Bottom fishing is buying a stock when it drops in price.

I learned about bottom fishing from The Essential Buffett, a book about Warren Buffett, who is recognized as the world’s most successful investor.

Bottom-fishing sounds deceptively easy.

Buy a stock when its price drops.

After reading about bottom fishing in The Essential Buffett, I thought to myself, “Hmmmm…..as soon as some well-known stock drops in price, I will buy it.”

My chance came with Krispy Kreme.

One day when I booted up my computer and pulled up Yahoo Finance, Krispy Kreme was in the news because of a bad quarter. It’s price dropped 50% that day.

I myself hadn’t tried a Krispy Kreme donut yet, but their donuts were the talk in homes and offices everywhere.

“Great, here’s my opportunity to bottom-fish,” I thought.

I jumped onto a trading site and quickly made a purchase of Krispy Kreme stock.

Was I in for a lesson and a shock?

Krispy Kreme continued to struggle with anemic growth and profits, and its stock declined by another 50%.

I lost half the money I invested in Krispy Kreme before a year was out.

But now that I've told you what I lost, let's look at what I gained.

I immediately matured as an investor.

Aristotle said,“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet”

Yes, my Krispy Kreme investment was a bitter experience, but when I got past that, I understood I was in a better place.

Are you prepared to mature as a result of an experience?

It’s never too early or too late to do that.

If we don’t mature, we will have the same bad experiences again and again.

If I had been hell-bent on pursuing bottom-fishing as a strategy, I might have suffered additional humiliating losses, and I might have given up on the stock market altogether.

That would have been regretful, because the stock market has served me well overall.

What is maturity?

Maturity is not to be confused with cynicism and hopelessness.

Maturity is becoming wise to the lessons of experience and to sound advice, no matter the source - without losing hope for the future.

Maturity is learning that the long-term is all that matters.

Over the long term, we can correct our errors, and make the right decisions.

It is never too early or too late to start doing that.

To become mature, one of the things we need to learn is patience.

Another thing we need to learn is moderation.

We don’t need to have everything right now - and in the largest quantities and the biggest size possible.

It is easy to fall into the habit of wanting the latest and the biggest and the smartest and the most exhilarating thing - and wanting it right now.

If we have an ATV, and a cooler ATV comes out, we want it right here and right now.

If we have a kitchen with this or that amenity or finish, and something better comes out, we want that as soon as possible.

We want a bigger house, we want a better address.

We want to be more successful, and smarter, we want a perfect body.

If we have a medical problem, we want to be cured of it - right now.

There was a time in my life when I wanted to have a pencil thin figure like one of my friends.

So I counted calories, and worked out 7 days a week, because I thought she looked fantastic, and I wanted my body to look like hers.

Guess what – even before I had gotten down to her weight and size, my face became thin and gaunt, and I started to look sickly.

I ran into someone who hadn’t seen me in a while, and you would think I would hear, “Wow, Minoo – you look terrific – what’s your secret?”.

Instead, what I heard was “My goodness, Minoo! Whatever happened to you? Have you been sick recently?”

When sanity returned, I started focusing on eating right (with a little help from my friends) and getting enough exercise, sleep and rest. And I knew I was on the right path.

Yes, it’s never too early or too late to learn patience and to learn moderation.

Thanks to learning patience and moderation, I was able to resist the temptation to jump on the real estate bandwagon with everyone else in the years 2003 – 2007.

And when the economy crashed in 2007 and 2008, I was able to hang tight and stay the course.

My post Yoga for Investors tells you about the approach I adopted, after I put my Krispy Kreme debacle behind me.

Speaking of approaches, there is no single approach that will work for everybody.

If you read my post, Secrets of the Super Models, you will see that different models follow different diet and exercise regimens.

Because there is no one size fits all approach, we should be open to alternate approaches.

If nothing has worked so far, it is never too early or too late to consider alternate approaches and options.

My post The Element of Multiple Paths and Its Hope for Understanding There are Solutions and Answers Out There highlights several examples of situations where a desired outcome was achieved by taking a different path.

Are you afraid to take a different path?

To do something in a different way from what you are used to?

Well then, I say to you, it’s never too early or too late to give up your inhibitions.

You may discover it is the only thing standing between you and a great new chapter in your life.

Read my post The Element of Release from Inhibitions and Its Hope for The Flowering of Undiscovered Talents for inspiration.

Before I end this post, I have one more nteotl (never too early or too late) to touch upon....and that is..........drumroll, please.........

It is never too early or too late to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays……Minoo

As always, thanks for reading, and have a great day and week…..M….a Pearl-Seeker like you. Thanks to Ajay and Audrey for their comments on my last post, and thanks to the rest of you for your votes and pins. Merry Christmas and see you next week.

P.S. If you want to read Christmas wishes of years past, you can do so here, here and here.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Something Or Do Something - Part 2

We go through life making assumptions.

One of the assumptions we make is that it’s too early or too late to do something.

Most times, this is not true.

Is it ever too early or too late to make amends?

Is it ever too early or too late to say hello to someone we have not been in touch with?

Is it ever too early or too late to start afresh?

If we sit and think, it is never too early or too late to do most things.

It is never too early or too late to share our thoughts with somebody.

My post The Element of The Element of Sharing Our Thoughts and Its Hope for Benefiting From Each Other’s Knowledge, Ideas, Experience and Wisdom illustrates some of the ways in which we can help each other by sharing our thoughts.

It’s never too early or too late to explore our creative side.

My posts Lightning Bolts, Letter Dropping, Elections 2012 - Yes on Bath Crayons, Panning for Gold and The Carpinteria Times might help you invoke the creativity that lies inside you.

It’s never too early or too late to start being less stressed. Being less stressed is a combination of taking good care of yourself, becoming a low maintenance person and finding your calm center. I have written posts dedicated to all 3 aspects and you can read them here, here and here.

It’s never too early or too late to simplify your life. Simplifying your life may involve different things. My posts The Simple Life and You Have Heard About Wesabi. How About Wabi Sabi? may help you come up with some ideas.

Sometimes, simplifying your life may be as simple as changing your approach. When I changed from my Tiger Mom and Helicopter Mom approach to a more relaxed parenting approach, life with my teen became simpler and more enjoyable. I put frustration behind me. You can read all about it in my post It’s Called Motherhood 2.

It’s never too early or too late to acknowledge a debt. In several posts, including My United States of Friendship series of posts, and posts such as Steve Jobs - a Personal Tribute, I have tried to acknowledge the people I am indebted to and am grateful to. If you want to check out a few of these posts, you can do so here, here and here.

It’s never too early or too late to celebrate the unique shared experiences that come from being part of a unique family and culture. I have tried to do this in several posts, including Family Songs and My Cake Boss Family, The Porki and Bonkers Tradition, and The Mangalorean and the Big Words.

It’s never too early or too late to celebrate a milestone. When I reached my 100th post, I went all out and wrote a five part series of posts to celebrate that milestone. What milestones are coming up in your life? Do you need inspiration? Check out what I did to celebrate my 100th post here, here and here.

It’s never too early or too late to tell your story. Each one of us has a unique story (or stories) shaped by our unique background and our unique experiences and our unique personality and our unique interests. It is fun to read other people’s stories, like this story about Ajay’s Short Stint in Advertising, or this story about Cindy going on her first flight with her Papa, or this story about Anita's pets, or this story about Jacinta's Facebook face-off with her son, or this story about John's Day at the Beach, or this story about one of my youthful escapades.

Speaking of escapades, it’s never too early or too late to learn to laugh at life. The more you are able to laugh at life, and especially at your own failures, foibles and mistakes, the more psychological health you will enjoy. I used to feel more low than high when I was younger. In fact, I even suffered a clinical depression, as I shared in my post If Life Is So Good, Why Do I Feel So Sad? But I learned to laugh at life more and more as I got older, and I learned to laugh even more after I learned to meditate. Nowadays, I find everything and anything funny. Which explains the following posts:

How to Cause Atmost Confusion at the Scripps Spelling Bee

How to Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in 3 Minutes or Less And Even Have A Sex Change

OMG, You've Been Acked!

Dear Dick Costolo

If your tastes in humor are a bit more elevated than reading about a bird protest Twitter's use of the verb“tweet” for what humans do on Twitter, hopefully you will enjoy my 5 part series How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life.

One way or another, I want to make you laugh, because laughter is the best medicine. It's the best medicine I take anyway.

What does having or not having a sense of humor say about us?

Do personality traits matter?

You know, it’s never too early or too late to learn about human psychology.

If we do, we will learn what to say and what not to say to people, and what to do to make people change, even change ourselves.

Often change is just a puzzle to be solved.

In my post The Element of Seeing All Problems as Puzzles and Its Hope for becoming Master Solvers, I told you about how 2 experienced NLP practitioners solved the puzzle of getting someone to understand he was not Jesus Christ.

Yes, human psychology is a puzzle to be solved.

I have dabbled in human psychology in many posts, including What Your Starbucks Drink Says About You and Which Household Object Best Symbolizes You?

It’s never too early or too late to start seeing all problems as puzzles and become a master solver.

For that, you have to be a lifelong learner.

You must be willing to learn to do new things and to learn about new things.

I became a Commissions Analyst by learning everything from scratch, starting with Excel.

To keep up with being an Analyst, I have had to learn Centive and Xactly and Varicent.

Yes, whatever the field, we have to be lifelong learners.

P.S. If you want to know what a Commissions Analyst does, my post My Day Job Xactly More Or Less, will tell you.

Learning something you never thought you could learn is very satisfying.

Before I came to America, I did not know how to drive and I did not know how to cook.

Learning those 2 things was extremely satisfying to me.

In fact, they changed my life.

Thanks to being able to drive, I can achieve much more in a day than I would have, had I not been able to drive.

And being able to cook, enables me not just to understand what I am eating, but cooking is also an outlet for my creativity.

I have regular ‘cooking epiphanies’, such as my avocado pani puri epiphany, which I told you about in my post The Element of Constraints and Its Hope for Focused Creativity.

More recently, I learned how to do my taxes myself.

Until I learned to do my taxes, everything related to the IRS was Greek to me – filing status, W2s, W4s, allowances, withholdings, 1040As, standard vs itemized deductions - it was all Greek to me.

After I learned to do my taxes, which I talked about in 4 Decisions Which I Wish I Had Made Earlier, it now all makes sense, which is why I say to every person I meet - it is never too early or too late to understand how your taxes work.

It is never too early or too late to learn something new about the world in which we live.

The value of learning something new doesn’t have to be measured by its impact on the quality of our physical lives.

Our intellectual horizons expand when we learn something new.

And that is just as important.

The fact is we are intellectual beings, as much as we are physical beings, or emotional beings, or spiritual beings.

I enjoy learning something new about the world in which I live.

Soon after I started this blog, I started getting a regular visitor to my blog from Estonia.

I had never heard of Estonia (shame on you Minoo), but when I saw this reader from Estonia visit my blog week after week, I became curious about Estonia.

So I googled Estonia, and discovered a whole lot of fascinating facts about the country.

One of the facts I discovered about Estonia was about the Singing Revolution. One day I will write a post about The Singing Revolution of Estonia and publish it on my blog, because it is just as fascinating as Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence movement.

Since we are counting down to 2015, before I end this post, I would like to add that it’s never too early or too late to use the lessons we learned in 2014 to make at least one positive change in 2015.

I hope my post The Path to Change leads you to that one positive change. Yeah!

As always thanks for reading and have a great day and week. M…….a Pearl Seeker like you. Thanks to Ajay for his comments, and thanks to the rest of you for your pins and votes. Much appreciated! P.S. Liked this post? Do come back for Part 3 next week.

Life Strategies - For those with one hand tied behind their back

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Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Or Do Something - Happy New You!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Or Do Something - Part 3

Sunday, December 14, 2014

The Element of Understanding It’s Never Too Early or Too Late To Begin Something Or Do Something - Part 2

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