Reinvent You

Have you woken up to boredom? To wake up, eat, work, eat, sleep, repeat.

Sometimes, you need to detox and look within yourself what you want. Our goal changes with life. 

My reinvention has been about doing something new, finding ways to have some time for me and being happy. In order to do that, I have added things in my regular schedules and things have been working.

I made some major changes too, like I wanted to stop travelling between the two cities every week. I had to make that call.  And I am happy I took it.

Reinvention is always not about revamping the wardrobe or going for a haircut, sometimes it goes way deeper. It is an effort to rethink and align your goals and life to the new thought.

I am not sure if reinvention makes you happier, but it does work sometimes. May be it’s I have wanted to do for a long time. I will share my morning routine with you soon, perhaps it might strike a chord with you or inspire to create one for you.

I think with the blog, while I keep at the original theme, I also want to bring in something new. I would like to connect with you more as a person than just a project manager or a consultant. So, may be once a week we talk about the lifestyle that we have as consultants or the changes you have to go through to sustain the pace. Go back to doing one vlog a month and see how we can reinvent the feel to the blog. It’s not changing the design, but smaller changes that will add up hopefully.

By the way, there are couple of project managers on Pinterest and its fun following them there in the visual board. I am more a visual person than an audio person and I have found it amazing to see the interest of the project managers. I am there too, but I really don’t do anything project management wise there.  

However, what I have recently started as an experiment is Instagram as a way to look at my life- work and a little bit of personal mixed in. So, if you want to look into my work life once in a while, you can connect me at http://instagram.com/steppingintopm/

Let me know what you are doing to reinvent yourself.

(Pic courtesy: google images)

Mixed Bag

My mix bag of links that I have been browsing and reading and found it quite interesting.

The bags has from life style to agile to career paths to blogging tools are all linked here.

Career:

• http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2012/10/30/there-are-three-career-paths-and-one-will-fit-you/
• http://www.lifehack.org/319814/8-ceos-reveal-which-daily-habits-drive-success
• https://medium.com/@mrandrewandrade/growing-and-scaling-high-performance-teams-d17ee1e22462

Agile

• http://www.stickyminds.com/article/5-ways-testers-can-mitigate-practical-risks-agile-team
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/01/26/why-do-managers-hate-agile/

Lifestyle

• https://www.canva.com (Great way to add pictures to your blog and its free)
• http://www.lifehack.org/320137/7-simple-tools-make-your-blog-posts-even-better
• https://t.co/c3ujUydbxQ benefits of meditation, found via https://twitter.com/kellymcgonigal . PDF file, downloads directly.
• http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/ - talks about choosing your work wardrobe (for women) 

Top Hacks when on the move, Pt 2

This post is more about the products I use/carry with me that serve more than one purpose. I have figured the best way to keep your sanity when you are travelling way too often is to keep things around you that you are familiar with. Since I also want to travel light, I emphasize on the things I absolutely need and use on a regular basis to carry with me.

• Sunglass- Apart from the obvious because I am anyways carrying it, it’s a great way to sleep in flights specially when taking morning flights. 
• YouTube offline- I download videos I want to watch in offline mode using the app, and use the time in airports watching what I want. I do carry a power bank with me most of the times.
• Utility box- it’s an old sun-glass box, which is packed with my travel essentials like a pen, pen drive, phone cleaner, a lip balm, band aid and ear phones. It’s compact and easy to travel with.
• Aloe Vera- I carry it for its multipurpose use. You can use it on your sensitive skin, as well as for sun burns and mild cuts.
• Ziplocs- instead of carrying small pouches, stuff it in Ziploc’s, lesser space and easy to see. Discard when done whether to carry snacks, makeup or
• Powder- This works as a great dry shampoo and I carry my son’s regular Johnson and Johnson travel size powder with me.
• Personal touch- carry your own shampoo and moisturizer in travel size bottles. Clips and safety pins. To ensure I don’t lose them, I put them in empty tic tac containers, keep them in socks or use a hair band to keep them together.

Whats your travel secret? 

Pic courtesy: google images 

Monday Readings

I hope this kick starts your week.

Here's a mixed bag of links that am sure will get you thinking and innovating:

• 
  
• http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/leading_answers/2015/08/agile-innovation.html
• http://zenhabits.net/single/
• http://brodzinski.com/2015/06/hierarchy-bad-for-motivation.html
• http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2015/09/01/women-should-not-bother-negotiating-salary/
• https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/
• http://theeverygirl.com/small-space-home-office-solutions
• http://www.productmanagerclub.com/
• https://submissions.agilealliance.org/system/attachments/attachments/000/000/966/original/Leadership_at_Spotify_Agile_2014.pdf
• http://www.infoq.com/articles/visualize-big-picture-agile 

 (Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Top 15 Efficiency Hacks When on Move- Pt 1

If you have been reading the blog you know that I have been travelling every week for the last 5 months. I split my time between 2 cities and I am constantly on the move. Juggling travelling with my life honestly hasn't been easy. Here's couple of things I have been using/trying out to keep me going:

1. Travel light- Over the months I have learned to pack light and keep pieces that multitask and stick to basics and not overload with items I will barely use.

2. Laptop free- I sometimes travel without laptop. I just copy the essential folders in the pen drive or upload in Google Drive and access it from my home laptop. Meanwhile I use my time in the airport to take some time off and read instead of mindless browsing.

3. Happiness- I am my happiest when my life is organized and there;s meaning to what I do.  So, I carry my red diary which I just write happy thoughts in. I will write in it after work when I return to my apartment in Mumbai. I sometimes will just read through it while sipping my cup of peach tea.

4. Clutter free- I recently got a purse organizer, which allows me to pack things that can be easily found. it saves me time and irritation. 

5. Health- I installed the Pacer app in my phone, while its just a pedometer; I enjoy seeing the steps I cover on a regular basis. Highest number of steps I take is mostly Monday's and Wednesdays. I also recently got a hand blender that is easy to carry so I can whip up smoothies or juices.

6. Music- I have 3 different apps that I use in my phone for music, my latest installed one is Saavn. At night when I am on my own, I will just put it on and continue working or reading. 

7. Communication- I keep 2 cell phones to ensure I am always connected  and mostly do all transactions via apps. I also use Skype, whatsapp and viber on a regular basis.

8. Cabs- I use Ola on a regular basis and it has mostly been a positive experience. 

9. Relax- when I am not browsing through blogs listed in my blog, I go through lifestyle blogs. current fav is Chalkboard

10. Mindful- I try to keep a schedule when away from Home that allows me to feel much more sane. I have always had problem disconnecting from work; these days I will do one thing that triggers the mindlessness. 

11. Make myself @Home- It isn't easy to live month after month out of suitcase, so I always have books, magazines and sometimes even candles with me. My current ones are from Ikea.

12. Tea time- I carry my own tea and coffee in office as well as while travelling. My current favorites- Peach tea, Green tea and Earl Breakfast Tea. Coffee is always Nescafe instant.

13. Grocery- From Diapers to grocery to household items; I use apps to keep things going and get them delivered at home at my convenient time whereever I or my family needs them. Current favorites:

• amazon
• flipkart
• bigbasket
• ola store
• peppertap

14. Trick of the trade- I carry a sample size perfume dispenser, which I can always refill and carry even on flights. 

15. To write- I started using Zenpen. Simple and less of distraction. 

What do you do when travelling for work or pleasure?