Be a Winner in Life...

Be a Winner in Life... is going to be a series of writings to motivate everyone of us, we all need motivation to fulfil our wishes/dreams/goals in life. I have been putting my best efforts in searching for the right job, hoping to find something soon.

Here is the first post of the series, doesn't matter who you are, how old you are, what profession you are into - you are a living human and you are the master of your own life, so you can derive motivation from this piece. 

Exactly 10 years from today, how do you want to see yourself ??

Happiness, health - physical, emotional, relationships, great career, sufficient financial stability, a big house, a fancy car, a fantastic holiday, etc whatever it is that you wish for, nobody else but you are the only person who can make it happen.

Always aim high in life, revisit your goals and raise the bar. You gotta believe that you have something of value, that you can make it possible and all your dreams gonna come true someday. 

We all have the ability and inner strength hidden inside us which can be awakened with self realisation. We can achieve everything we want but it takes the struggle, hard work, dedication, determination and the will to never give up till you succeed. How bad you want success determines how quickly you reach your goal, if you want to develop that hunger in you, then feed your mind about what you really want, keep telling and reminding yourself how you wanna see your life in future.

Motivation is everywhere around us - read books that can inspire you, watch motivational videos, talk to people who are high achievers and learn from their experiences on how they fought over obstacles to taste success, plan and prepare yourself what needs to change, what needs to improve or what needs to be done to be a winner in the path you choose for yourself.

There are many inspiring videos on the internet, be it training, dialogues from movies, songs, etc from which we can draw loads of motivational spirit. I'll be sharing one video in every post of this Be a Winner in Life... series. Today's video is training footage from Sylvester Stallone's Rocky films.

This video is not exclusively for those wanna take up boxing, join the gym, build muscle, etc but it is for us to understand the efforts, pain, hard work, determination, commitment, seriousness towards the goal, etc which the on-screen character shows. The video conveys - no pain no gain, nothing comes easy in life. You can skip the first 1 minute and start watching from 1:02.

Have a nice day, take care :) 

The Roar of a Lion...

Here is my secret technique to overcome stage fright - yeah, the roar of a lion :) 

As a toddler I was afraid of the stage and public speaking and I remember my father used to say, "You are a lion's cub, be bold little boy, never fear anything". My father was a strict man, I always felt that he would suit perfect in the military - discipline, strict, ethics, values, punctuality, etc. So, in one way me and my sister got a military disciplined upbringing. His presence could be felt the moment he walks inside a room and his charming personality, the way he speaks, commands respect.

Well, getting back to our topic, at school I used to have this fear of stage - be it public speaking, singing, dancing, etc. Me and my sister always went to the summer training camps to learn various arts, dance, etc. After finishing my 5th class, I was sent to learn break dance at YMCA(Young Men's Christian Association), Hyderabad. I was quick at learning dance moves but when it came to performance on stage, I had a shiver down my spine and butterflies in stomach. Dad kept saying, "You are a lion, lions are not shy", but stage fright never left me until I left school.

Once out of school, life gave more challenges, it was mandatory to give seminars and presentations at our Engineering college, there was no escape. That was when I came up with this technique, it might sound funny to you but its true and it worked for me:

One fine day when I had to give a seminar and I was called onto the stage - the whole class of around 70 people, all staring at me and the lecturer is standing at one corner, I have a piece of chalk in one hand and the black board duster in another.

I remembered what granny used to tell me, that when a lion roars, the roaring sound could be heard miles far, such powerful would be its roar that the jungle would turn silent. I thought, "Dad must be right, I am a lion, yes, I am really the lion here and all other beings - birds, animals, etc have all assembled here right in front of me, now am gonna address them like a king, they are here to listen to me and I need not fear them as my roar would be so fierce, they would fear and not me".

I started my seminar with that approach in mind. My voice was loud, commanding, authoritative - my legs were firm and still when I stood, no sign of shiver or shake, I was bold and very confident - I looked straight into the eyes of the audience. I roared like a lion and put the point of my seminar very clear.

Would you believe - the seminar was a success, my classmates and friends said they were surprised to see me so confident on the stage and my lecturer said I maintained the eye contact well :) 

So, there you go, that was my technique which helped me overcome the deadliest problem I faced in childhood - stage fright.

And I roar like a lion even today - very bold, authoritative and commanding - owning the stage as if it were my own :) Give me a chance on the stage and I will rule it ;)

Were you shy on stage as a child? How did you overcome it? Please do share your experiences, am interested to know.

Have a great weekend, take care :)

Poem: Address of an Open Heart...

Lately I've been writing only on love, job search and motivation, here's something different! Done some introspection today evening and came up with this poem - a glimpse of inner self, the heart! 

Glow of warmth,

Sparkle of purity,

Infinite care for every species,

Empathy for every healing soul,

Colour of rainbow in every smile,

Reflection of kindness in every move...

Even the deepest secret so transparent,

Pumps blood to every direction in a body,

We all treasure it safe inside our chest,

But few truly believe in its existence,

This is an address of an open heart,

You can unlock it without any key...

Charan xx

Stay Hungry, Stay Focussed...

A visionary once quoted, "Stay hungry, Stay foolish". He meant that we need to try new things, be ready to step out of our comfort zone. You only live once, so make it count and achieve what you dream no matter how hard it gets.

It was Apple visionary Steve Jobs and the title of this post is derived from his famous commencement speech at Stanford University in June 2005.

We all have goals in life - short term, long term, professional, personal, etc. We can write them down, paste on the wall, fix time intervals, targets, etc. There is another effective way which is to read out your goals and record in your own voice as an audio file and save it on your mp3 player, keep listening to it now and then to remind yourself what you gonna achieve.

When you decide to achieve something, whatever it may be, you gotta look at what drives you on your journey, what motivates and inspires you.

Below is a page from my diary which I often read to keep myself motivated and focussed. I've jotted down these points when I read motivational books, don't remember which one is from which book, so unable to quote authors names. But if you are working towards a goal and seriously wanna achieve it, then you might find these points useful:

• To get recognised is hard, real hard, incredibly hard - there are millions out there who are better than you, but if you fear that you will not be able to do anything - well, no matter how many winners are out there, there will always be space for more, so if you wanna be a winner, then work hard and find a spot for yourself. 
• There is start for everything, if you set out to build the biggest wall ever built, you shiver with fear of how huge the task is and you can't get anywhere - so you should start with an aim to lay one brick each day and lay that brick as perfectly as possible. You do that every single day and soon you will have a wall. Over years, you will have the biggest wall. 
• There is nothing impossible in this world - everything can be achieved with hard work and dedication.
• "He who says he can and he who says he can't are both usually right". So, always say, "Yes, I can, yes am gonna do it, yes, I'll win it, yes I can make a difference".
• You have a choice about how you feel and act in any situation, you don't always have to go with the crowd.
• If you want to succeed in life, you've got to create your own dream, with you in the starring role. The first step before anybody else in the world believes it, you have to believe it and expect good things to happen. 
• To achieve a level of success in any field, it takes such a 'desperate' focus with all your heart. Practice every single day with concentration and passion.
• The qualities of an achiever are - passion, dedication, hard work and believing in what you dream.
• You know who you are, you know what you believe in and from there you gotta do what you need to do to reach your goal.
• You fail more often than you win, its up to you to puff up your chest and get back on your feet and prove yourself what you set out for, once you decide that you wanna get there, no matter what happens, you should never give up.
• Go with what seems to be workable for you, don't overload yourself with strategies and goals - take one step at a time - but make sure its done properly.
• Be willing to take criticism on your way - but commit yourself to be positive.

Keep up the spirit, keep working hard, step by step you will reach there someday - you will be a Winner.

Have a nice day, take care :)