Happy Weekend

Hello you all, I hope you are happy in your current space. don't forget to get some sunshine this weekend and if possible make plans to travel. 

This pic is from my travels last year. Have a wonderful weekend!

(Pic courtesy: Soma Bhattacharya)

Staying Positive When going Through Change (Personal or Professional)

Change is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable because of the unknown factors of moving to a new job, site or life makeover.

In this video, I try to talk about it and provide tips on how you can ease into the process and turn it into a positive event.

If you like what you see, feel free to like and subscribe to my channel.

if you like to read more about positive change, click here.

Staying Positive: Blogs I Read Every Week (Pt 2)

My reading list has evolved over the years, right now for 2018 I have had big goals and one of them was to turn around my attitude towards life. Be definitely more positive and see the potential of things I can achieve. My reading list obviously is very important because of I want my subconscious mind to keep on thinking positive thoughts. 

So, here are some of my favs:

• Techmeme - Every single morning this is the first thing I read except weekends (because on Saturday and Sunday I don’t open my laptop first thing in the morning). This one obviously is everything tech and how the industry is doing. Apart form the fact that I work in IT, I sort of like following the industry, its my way of getting the news to me. 

• The Financial Diet - So, I was introduced to the channel via YouTube, however the website has a very different vibe. It publishes tons of posts by real people living real lives and I love the variety it brings. I definitely love the stories it brings about individuals and since the style of writing is very personal, I really enjoy these writings. This is mostly my lunch read.

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• Natalie Bacon- She wrote an article for Financial Diet and I checked her website and was hooked forever. Apart from the fact that she writes about her career and how she is a blogger making 6 figures, she also interviews people who are dong the same. And that for me is so positive to meet these people virtually who are creating their own dream life and to know thats so possible.

• Penelope Trunk - I have been reading her blog for years now, she apart from being a celebrity blogger is the only person who can come up with topics that no one can even think about  and she knows her links. The amount of research that goes into her blogs is amazing from someone like me who also writes. Talking about something that seems very casual and then building it up with tons of research from such credible sources is absolute bliss to read with a cup of tea. 

• Tim Ferris - This one I am sure every reads or knows about. I almost forgot about the website for a while and then came back to it again and love hearing interviews of these amazing people. And all of them are so good that you should literally binge on this, heres what I heard this weekend and its life changing for me  If you have ever thought if aggression should be part of your repertoire, specially if you are a women, you should listen to this one. You can thank me later. 

• Chalkboard- I adore how going through his website makes me feel, its more like a relaxed vibe and the feel along with the amazing photography erases away the dark thoughts easily. If you also are remotely interested in well beings, self care and health trends, you will absolutely like this. 

• James Clear- Its a recent find and if you like reading articles for value and understand more about yourself and habits and changing the current status to a better version of yourself, this is what you should bookmark. 

This is what consists of my list, if I remember something else, I will update it at some point. 

My reading list if you have figures out by now doesn’t include project management and agile and the reason being is I consciously keep the work reading list and casual reading list separate. This is more of a personal reading list. 

For someone like me who really enjoys reading and have always done it since I was in school, I prefer it over watching television or going to movies. My idea of a perfect day would be to be me in the couch with uninterrupted reading time with a cup of tea. And if you need research to nudge you to read more and how it changes the brain, heres something for you 

I am always for looking for some great read, so if you have something in your list thats been life changing - leave me a tweet at @Soma_b 

Read part 1 here.

(Pic courtesy: Pinterest)

Happy Weekend: Giveaway (10% Off Coupon)

Hello there, I hope you can take some time off today and relax.

If you are looking for updating your certifications for learning, adding to your resume or looking for a new job, try the 10% off coupon. 

You can use the coupon for both the trainings via SprintZeal. 

1. PMI- ACP (6755 students currently enrolled)

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Offer available till Sept 30, 2018.

(Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links)

The Art of Scheduling: What it can mean for you

Schedules have always been part of our life, since the day we started school. 

And over the years things have only become more serious. If school wasn’t enough, we took up dance lessons and basketball practice sessions over weekends and felt occupied and busy and we were all okay with it because thats how everyone’s schedule look liked. Full….gasping for air. 

In college we just kept on adding more- more hours dedicated to studies, projects, internships and then job…. and now you are just rushing from one meeting to another, meeting friends over weekend, trying to slip in a yoga class and spend evenings at the gym and things never stop. Your phone is constantly beeping with notifications.

So, schedules or rather management of schedules have always been an integral part of our life. 

Schedules primarily do 3 things:

1. Ensures we remember to do things- define objectives
2. Help us move things around based on the prioritization- scheduling software of some form
3. We end up actually doing it- if its on calendar it must be important.

If the only calendar you manage is yours, you can use your phone calendar for reminders, google calendar for your online scheduling, sticky notes and a whiteboard for tracking your own projects. Depending on what works for you, scheduling shouldn’t be complicated. 

So, there are benefits ofcourse around scheduling  even if you are simply doing it for yourself:

1. Cal Newport, MIT grad and professor at Georgetown University is one of the leading supporters of something called the  “fixed schedule discipline”. Cal showcases how he manages to only work from 9-5 (plus a little on Sunday morning) to manage all (don't underestimate what all means here, till you have read the article) of the things he has on his plate. If you are want to read more, click here . So, obviously you can do insane amount of work without showing off your busy-ness with a well managed schedule. 

2. Scheduling teaches you to prioritise. So to make the most out of the mornings of  ultra-successful people , most of them automate as much and cut out as many non-essential decisions as possible. That way, their mental muscles and willpower are reserved for making wise choices that matter.“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits,” he said. “I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”   – Obama  Read more about link of decision making and handling your schedules here . 

3. Redefining your habits will happen automatically. When you work on a schedule or are working around the schedule of many, you might have to relook at your own habits. Because Cal (from point 1) didn’t work after 5pm he had to make sure he was productive during the time he worked. He couldn’t have spent his time on social media and still end his work day at 5pm. In an attempt to redefine your habits; you are defining yourself and your purpose. Once you know your purpose , its easy to work around it or pick your priorities. 

4. Discipline/structure always helps, well at least in most cases. The power of habit is powerful enough to change your life in a good way. When you have created the structure around your work, you will be disciplined enough to know when to say No or when you take a up a project, speaking assignment or new client. 

A schedule only works when you have  a pre defined timeline (like Monday to Friday 10am-6pm) and you structure or schedule your day accordingly. Any software can help you work with schedules at any scale, however, the work can be only be done by you. 

(Pics Courtesy: Burst)