Exciting News| Relaunching- Connect

Today, I want to share some exciting news with you all.

This goes long back, few years after I started the blog. I felt it was wonderful meeting amazing project management professionals from all over the world and learning from them and being mentored. 

I also knew that this is something that might be difficult for a lot of people to do, because you might not know whom to reach out to, or lot of times people are busy and perhaps don’t reply back to a mail of a newbie. I knew I felt very strongly about sharing the luck I had and how much I learnt just by talking to amazing people. And if I had the chance, so should so many others.  This is specially true for introverts, who might not be as comfortable meeting up people over coffee or cold calling them for a chance to be mentored or learning about the profession. 

Hence the “Connect” was born. It was free and the idea was to create an interactive design so you felt like you were at your work desk and had the freedom to be connected to newbies or experts from around the globe. 

The best part was you didn’t have to find them and figure out how to communicate with them, we did all that work for you. When the PMOT community signed up and amongst them lots of senior folks who were happy to mentor newbies. You could choose virtual mentorship or in your city mentorship, where you select from your domain of choice (media, IT, construction etc) and the city/country incase you want to have face to face conversations and not limit yourself to emails/skype calls. 

The site was launched because me and my two friends sat down and were super proud to get this done. It did well, lots of people signed up and it was still free. 

For me it was important that the purpose of creation stayed, for anyone to help themselves move forward in their career. You didn’t have to shell out on subscriptions or payments to get the opportunity.  

Paid completely with my own money, and encouraged and supported by many thats how it stayed, small tiny and humble. There was no marketing done except by word of mouth by people who used it or who wrote about it in there blogs. You could mentor here and probably claim PDU or SEU, saving you more money (if anyone had done it, can you please email us your story)

The site went down few months ago and honestly I didn’t even notice it initially and when I did, I had to take the time to decide if I wanted to bring the site back or let it go. There were people who had signed up (existing users),  communications happening and I just thought its really a good website, and even if it helps one student every month, one newbie every day to figure out their career I should bring it back. 

So, here it is- the site back and working. Yay!! The site stays as it is for now with new features coming soon. 

If you have ever used the site or benefitted from it, please don’t hesitate to tell your friends. If you or someone you know would like to collaborate or may be sponsor for the day or put ads in the site that would be wonderful because then we can bring in more amazing features to the site and keep on paying it forward. 

We are re-launching and yes it is still free. Thank you for your support. 

(Pic courtesy:https://burst.shopify.com) 

Interview the Co-Founder & COO of Wolf Flow

This is an interview with Jen, the Co-Founder & COO of Wolf Flow;  a Wisconsin based company. If you are like me and like productivity apps or hacks, this might be for you. To understand about the unique concept and why this software might be helpful, read the interview.

1. The concept looks wonderful, please tell us what was the inspiration behind creating the software

I’m so glad you see value in the idea! 

I previously worked as an Account Manager for an advertising-technology startup in Los Angeles. In my position, I managed 12 clients who I spoke to daily either through email, performance calls, or meetings. One afternoon in 2016, I was working on a global marketing campaign that I needed a handful of resources to complete (multiple browser tabs, and excel doc, and the client’s website).

Just when I had my desktop setup just how I needed, I got a call from another client with an issue I had to address immediately.  I began pulling open new windows on top of my perfectly organized desktop to put out the fire. When I was done fixing the issue, I realized my desktop was now full of chaos and I no longer had the resources open that I needed for my project. In this moment, I thought to myself, “Man.. If only I had something that allowed me to save groups of windows for each of my clients, I could easily save where I left off for each letting me jump between them easily.” That evening, I started to research what tools were out there to help me with this paint point, but came up empty handed. From there, I shared this frustration with Alex Coffin my co-founder, and he realized he experienced this same frustration as a technical sales engineer. 

Seeing as we both felt this frustration in our roles daily, we decided to do something about it! We are both so passionate about trying to make daily routines for professionals who work on their computers more effortless and help them to work smarter. A lot of people (including myself) have gotten into a mind state that we have to accept how things are sometimes, I just finally reached my tipping point.

2. The fact that you are saving time by using Wolf Flow seems amazing, did you always have time management in mind when developing the software?

Time management is a bit of an additional benefit to using Wolf Flow.

For us, the main problem we were trying to tackle with Wolf Flow was alleviating the digital and cognitive chaos professionals experience when trying to juggle so many different tasks, clients or projects. 

Companies continue to pile work on employees, a lot of times more than we really can handle. Unfortunately, I don’t think this will be changing. We wanted to create a solution that decreases the mundane busy-work of having to minimize and shuffle through windows and tabs when trying to switch between priorities, helping professionals have the resources they need for any project, client or task at their fingertips with the click of a button.  With these smoother and quicker transitions is when we begin seeing time being saved.

This time then can be used to either tackle another project, learn a new skill, or even get home on time to have dinner with one’s family. Wolf Flow also helps workers to be more productive by being able to focus on one task at a time, instead of accidentally clicking on the wrong tab and having their attention pulled away from what they were trying to do in the first place.  Wolf Flow’s Sessions ensures that you only have the resources (windows and tabs) open for that task you are trying to focus on, minimizing distractions.

3. Tell us the top 3 advantages of using Wolf Flow?

1.    Minimizes the chaos

o Going back to my story - the biggest benefit to using Wolf Flow for professionals is not having to deal with the chaos of having lots of tabs and windows open at once (all for different tasks).  Wolf Flow helps to organize resources to minimize the chaos.

2.    Task-Switch Efficiently

o With all of our shifting priorities and different hats we need to wear at work these days, Wolf Flow helps people transition between these shifting priorities efficiently. People no longer need to search for that window they are look for, but instead can find what they need, when they need it.

3.    Recover More Quickly

o Interruptions are inevitable in the workplace (externally and internally).  By being able to save the state you were in for a client, project or task to a Session, ensures that you can easily pick back up right where you left off. That way if a client calls and you have to switch gears quickly, you can easily save the resources you were working on into a Session and click into that client’s Session (who just called) to tackle the new issue.  Resources are always saved even if you close out a session, allowing you to jump back into your project or task days, weeks or months later right where you left off.

4. Can users who the Opt the free version, always have it free? or is it limited time offer?

Our free tier will remain free!

Our mission is to help the average professional, and with that we don’t want to have cost get in the way. Our free version allows you to use the software indefinitely (with free updates), just with limited features. The biggest limitation for the Free tier is being limited to 2 Active (open) Sessions at a time. 

 However, people can still create and save an unlimited amount of Sessions.

From there we have our Power Tier $4.99/month that adds in hotkeys for more control and Silent Mode to help your focus.

And our top Pro Tier at $14.99/month has Automated Time Tracking and Analytics. We are super excited about this feature as its the first of its kind. You don’t have to start or stop anything like you do with other time tracking tools. All you have to do is work within your Sessions and we automatically track for you. 

You can also pull reports for customized time frames by day, week or month that show you how much time you spent in each Session.

I will also mention that our Power and Pro tiers have a 30-day trial and we also offer enterprise discounts.

If you would like to know more details about the software, I suggest you give this link a read 

Side Note: If you liked the interview, you might like these too 

If you would like to be interviewed or showcase a product, please write to steppingintopm (at) gmail.com with the subject line- Product/Software/Book review request. 

(Pic courtesy: https://wolfflow.io/ website)

Product Round Up for June

This month I thought I would share my love of reading and few of my all time 7 fav books with you. Let me know if you like the list and share  some of yours. 

The mentioned books are all from my personal collection (hardcopy and kindle versions) and not sponsored or gifted by the Author or the Publishing House. However, some of the links used here are affiliate links which means if you buy anything using the links, I make a little bit of money at no extra cost to you. this helps me run the blog and bring amazing content to you.

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office -  read a review here 

You are a Bad Ass  - First Impression of the book can be found here

Tools of the Titans  - Tim Ferris is another of my favourites and I try to read all of his books, to read a brief review click here . 

The Checklist - I am a big fan of Atul Gawande and have read a lot of his books, this one is the first of his that I read and loved it. The review is right here.

Code of the Extraordinary Mind  - to know more about the book, click here.

The Sleep Revolution- An impulsive airport buy on my way to Goa, this book taught me a lot about sleeping and a lot that comes with it. If you are way busy with your life and think sleep is the thing I can manipulate and few cups of extra coffee will work, think again and read this 

When Life becomes Breath- the book left me sleepless for a week, if you need. reason to be grateful for your own life and stop complaining read this . This is not fiction, its real life.  

Holocracy  - If you are into Agile and new findings and case studies, this one will get you for sure. The book is about creating an organisation without managers. Zappos is one of the few companies that adopted this model and there have been numerous writings about it on the web. Read the blogpost about it here. 

Thank you for reading and supporting the site.

(Pic: Soma Bhattacharya)

Happy Weekend

(Pic courtesy: Google Images)

June| Article Round Up

So, its Monday and you are looking for some inspiration to start your week right, here are some round ups of great reads to lift up your mood and set you up for new challenges.  

1. If you are interested in technology, this is a very interesting read on how “Microsoft kicked off the second phase of its experimental underwater data center project Wednesday, submerging a shipping-container sized data center with 864 servers near the Orkney Islands in Scotland.” 
2. If you work in an Agile environment, this is what you should know and why millennials are your dream audience .  Here's another one in the same line 
3.  If you are looking for some great reads for this summer, this list might interest you. 
4. Technology and love for food comes together for this start up that’s been inspired by moms cooking, all about Buttermilk for you and how Indian food doesn’t need hours of stirring anymore. 
5. So you manage a team and often are overwhelmed by the work and managing conflicts, this read is about making decisions in a company withno managers.  
6. Want to be that genius, read here how to uncover your true potential 
7.  Anthony Bourdain’s news broke my heart, I fell in love with cooking after watching his episodes years ago. This articles is a wonderful read for those us is who love food and will not hesitate to try a new restaurant for the love of a new cuisine.
8. If you are bad with long term goals or keeping new ears resolutions, breaking it down into small bites might be your thing, read this one if you like to read about personal journeys plus how to manage your financial goals.

The article round up for May can be found here. 

 (Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Happy Weekend

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Top 7 Project Management Myths Debunked

This is a Guest Post by Fred Wilson, who is an Agile & Software Consultant at Ntask. He work with teams to streamline workflows and enhance team collaboration. He is also  an avid reader and often write about productivity, project management and collaboration. 

Project management defines an altogether different experience for every professional. Different projects have different requirements when it comes to an approach or framework, the resources, budgeting and even documentation.

However, despite the evolution of project management strategies and frameworks, projects often get overshadowed by practices and methodologies that may not contribute as efficiently as assumed.

Due to some uncertainties - or shall we say project management myths - teams often miss out on implementing best practices and approaching their projects in a truly effective manner.

I tried finding out some of the common myths that exist when it comes to project management. These are the 7 most common myths I found:

1. Project Managers can fix everything

No, project managers cannot have a fix for every single issue.

Moira Alexander is the author of LEAD or LAG: Linking Strategic Project Management & Thought Leadership and the founder of Lead-Her-Ship Group with more than 20 years of experience in business and project management.

According to Alexander, although project managers may be experts and keep the workflow in progress and teams and stakeholder sin sync, they are not magicians. This is why it is important for project managers, stakeholders and sponsors to be flexible enough to identify when a task or a project cannot go further and put an end to it instead of spending more resources trying to fix it.

2. Agile is the best

Agile has proven to be very effective than other frameworks for most teams. However, it is not the ultimate solution to each project. Bola Adesope is a seasoned management and transformation consultant. According to Bola, both methodologies, Agile and traditional Waterfall have their own strengths and weaknesses. There is no good or bad approach. Instead, each project requires a tailored approach depending on various factors, such as client requirements and feasibility.

3. You can use a template to manage all projects

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all in project management. There is no one fixed method for all projects. According to Moira Alexander, every project is unique and can be affected by many internal or external factors, including timeline, work pattern, available resources and culture.

Even slight alterations can result in significant repercussions at later stages in a project development cycle. For this reason, every project needs to be planned and executed differently. Applying the exact same approach, techniques, tools and work style does not guarantee success.

4. Risk management guarantees 100% risk-free projects

Risks are a part of every project; big or small. Effective project management comprises of efficient risk management. This may include identifying potential risks, their corresponding impact and likelihood as well as how to mitigate these risks.

According to Bola Adesope, usually the risks identified and addressed earlier in the project cycle can be resolved more efficiently with lesser chances of resurfacing. However, risks continue to occur throughout the project cycle and need to be consistently monitored and regulated.

Even following the exact methods recommended in the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK, 2013) cannot guarantee a successful project. It can, however, improve the team assessment and focus throughout the project development cycle.

5. Project Management is easy

Lauren Ebsary is an experienced project consultant. Ebsary came across people who believe project management can be accomplished by just about anyone. However, there is a lot more required in handling projects other than professional skills. Each situation calls for a different set of expertise and approach to handle a project. For this reason, to be an effective project manager, a professional project management certification is required whether it involves project members or project management career-oriented people.

6. Planning is unproductive

Planning is an important part of any project.

For some people, it seems more efficient to just get on with it. According to Paula Martin, CEO, International Matrix Management Institute, this myth has infected most of the organizations due to a belief that "real work is implementing or building something and planning is just that upfront stuff we don't have time to bother with.” She adds that in reality, planning is a significant part and it ensures everyone is heading in the right direction. It promotes accountability and in essence, implementing with a plan is wiser.

7. There is no room for change

From the inception of a project to its delivery, requirements can change at any stage. This calls for effective change management strategies. Hear it from Change Management Consultant, educator and author, Paul Roberts. According to Roberts, a lot of time and effort goes into identifying a project, establishing the funding and time for delivery.

This makes us reluctant to accept any change. However, this can backfire as when we fail to identify the need for change or to accommodate it, it can result in ill-timed and lower quality deliverables. He adds that although projects should be carefully navigated from the beginning, it is also imperative that there is room for managing change if need be. 

Agile| Technical Conference| India-Bangalore

If you are a learning and likes attending conferences, here's one coming up in Bangalore (India). to know more about the organizing committee, click here.
Here’s what the Technical Agility Conference is all about: 

In today’s environment, everyone is seeking for the luxury of stability but very few of the organizations succeed to achieve it. 

Today’s market is completely volatile and unpredictable where you never know what’s gonna happen next and the common question across all the mind is “How do I do this?” The Technical Agility Conference gives a platform to meet, share & discuss with the experts around the globe under one roof where you’ll learn the meaning of Technical Agility, what it means to your organization, and what does it take to lead your organization towards true 

Technical Agility, which is fundamental to achieving true Business Agility. The Three Pillars of the conference: Culture & Collaboration - Enterprise Agility Product Stability & Reliability - Built-in Quality Fast Delivery - Time to Market Conference details: 

Conference Date : August 10-11, 2018 
Website: http://tac2018.com/ 

(Pic Courtesy: google images)

Happy Weekend

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Goal Setting Framework

This is a Guest Post by Madhavi Ledalla.

Many of us have goals, and I’m sure we would like to work towards them and achieve them.  Sometimes the goals that are set are lost somewhere or are mostly subjectively set without any objective stats to support their perusal.

Here are some steps that could guide the goal setting journey-

Start with the why, the purpose of doing something. What is my goal? What do I want to achieve and How. Simon Sinek’s framework could help here as a starting point.   

Write your goals on “Goal Definition” canvas.

Depending on number of goals you set for yourself, you may have those many goal definition canvases. Once the “Goal Definition Canvas” is filled, next step is to come up with a the priority of which goal is  most important to you. This leads to “Goal Prioritization” exercise. The below “Prioritization” Canvas can be  used.

Depending on the NS, you pick one goal that you want to work on. Once the goal is selected, the next steps are planning to achieve the goal. For this we can use the “Goal Planning Canvas”.

List down the activities that are required for you to meet the goal.

Arrange them in this way based on the impact and learning of working on the goal. Put them on the canvas and 1,2, 3 is the order of working.

One the order has been obtained from the “Planning” canvas, lay down these activities on a “Goal-Visualization-Board” and move the activities through each stage to visualize the progress.

The opinion and content expressed here is of the author and not SIPM.

Happy Weekend

(Pic courtesy: google images)

May- Product Round Up

I have often talked about my recent interest in wellness in Instagram and in this new journey there are routines I follow, new things I read and learn and sometimes things I buy to keep me going in that journey.

As the last post for this month, here are some of my favorite products I bought:

1. Little Black Book - I have heard of this so many times via you-tubers and while looking for next book to buy, I thought of this one. I bought via Kindle and it’s a simple read that’s more of a reminder of things you need to do. If you are trying a new career or planning to hustle this book just might be for you.
2. I re-purposed my study desk, it was anyways becoming a pile of unwanted things, so I moved it to another room and now I don’t have a desk. I write wherever I want to- dining table, couch, on the floor, bed. In my attempt to keep me positive as much as I can, I try diffusers. This one is a humidifier plus diffuser. I love the smell of freshness and use diffuser's mostly during morning's. So, this mini one got my attention and I use it when I write, it moved around with me wherever I am. I use lavender oil and the fact it also doubles up as humidifier is amazing. So far I have used it at my makeshift desks and have enjoyed it very much. 
3. Okay, just in case you need to know more details of my routines-I used to go for pedicures every month but mostly for the foot message. And I haven’t had much time to indulge in one for the last couple of years and guess what I found one that I can have at home. Its been a week and I use it everyday, especially on the days when I am on my foot for hours like training's and workshops. Its wonderfully packaged (looks nice) and yes does wonders for your feet and stress. 
4. This one is again influenced by social media where I have read so much that I really want to try Epsom salt. Anyone  here who uses it on regular basis? 
5. Has to be another book, right? Thinking Fast and Slow is my second trial at reading it. If you are looking for a serious read that doesn’t quite cut as vacation read, then look no further. More detailed review will be up soon as I get the entire book done.

If you like this style of blogging, done forget to let me know via comments or at twitter.

Disclaimer: links used here are affiliate links.

Articles to Read this Month

Here are list of some of the article I read this month and enjoyed it, so thought I would  share.

1. How a genius thinks and works is a rather interesting read with a cup of your favorite tea.
2. If like everybody else, you are looking forward to happiness, this one is for you
3. The journey from east coast to Kilimanjaro, one woman's tale to do the impossible. 
4. If you are the creative who is always looking fr the next big idea, clearly creative abrasion works and hers how 
5. Like everyone else, if you are caught by the wellness bug if  and looking for some great reads, here’s an entire list just for you.
6. Want to turn yourself to a focused individual, see the ways you can get ahead in the race.
7. How your rival can make you better hear it from none other than Federer himself. 

(Pic courtesy: google images)

Why is creativity important in agile?

Majority of teams and organizations believe, agile is about ceremonies and productivity and leveraging the flexibility by forcefully changing requirements and showcasing books and authors on how it has been done.

 In ‘Building the Agile Business’, author and digital strategist Neil Perkin describes an agile business as being ‘velocity x focus x flexibility’. In other words, a business that is focusing its efforts on moving in a clear direction, but that also has an in-built ability to adapt and change course if and when necessary…..Taking an agile approach enables brands to test new ideas early on and to adapt easily to changes to ensure maximum success. 

In most scenarios this over used buzzword has also created myths around it that very few can differentiate with reality. Like doing stands up doesn’t make you an agile team. An organization isn’t Agile if only teams are forced to change without telling them why the change is happening. It only leads to bitterness.

There are the supporters and the naysayers who argue over whose agile (implementation) is better. They quote authors and books and bring out snippets of blogposts and argue their case. In all this chaos, I have barely seen teams question what they do and why they do? Why the change?

Creativity often ignored isn’t considered as mainstream thought process in resolving real time problems. The flexibility or adaptability in Agile is sometimes taken as a license to leverage it without thinking.

While certain outlines needs to be adhered, creativity or free thinking can always help resolve problems even when it revolves around process. The most creative individuals are those who can see the things that everyone else misses. 

Looking at data trends in an agile team can tell you where lies the core problem, to put an end to mechanical retrospectives and really finding ways to get the team talking needs creativity and to eventually see what’s working and what’s not and to better the team is about thinking differently.

So, should we incorporate in Agile training's about the need of looking at a set of problems  and thinking how to resolve by adhering to your team culture, by encouraging team members to come up with a new set of solution, bring the team together in discussing collaboratively and telling that it’s not about the tools, it’s about you. Bring you to the table, bring your ideas, disagree when required and respect the difference of thoughts. 

(Pic courtesy: Google Images)

This is what you should be doing

What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

List down 3 items and find a way to get it done.

What would you need to get it done? More time, money, taking risks?

The biggest reason we don’t succeed is because we stand in our own way. So, here are some methods that are ruling the web.

Miracle Mornings is something I recently came across, you can listen to the audio book in YouTube. There’s clearly a buzz about it online and saw numerous people talking about it and how it has changed their lives. The goal is simple, get up early every morning and ensure you set your mood and pace by using visual boards and exercise to get things done.

The Secret-Law of Attraction has lots of followers including celebrities. It focuses a lot on visualization and here’s Oprah’s recount of how it worked for her 

Mental practice as they say can get you closer to where you want to be in life, and it can prepare you for success! “For instance, Natan Sharansky, a computer specialist who spent 9 years in prison in the USSR after being accused of spying for US has a lot of experience with mental practices. While in solitary confinement, he played himself in mental chess, saying: “I might as well use the opportunity to become the world champion!” Remarkably, in 1996, Sharansky beat world champion chess player Garry Kasparov!” Source

There could be multiple ways to work on your life goals without having to dedicate yourself full time. You don't need to quit your job, if you are not ready.

Most of the techniques is about you working on your willpower by visualizing you being successful or fulfilling your dream and then you create your way by working out early before you can give excuses.

So wake up, get up and get going!


(Pic courtesy: Google Images)

Decision Making: Why its so difficult?

“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 


The term Decision Making itself sounds complex: you have to choose one over another. This seems to be about people who are rational and not impulsive, who gather data and analyses them without being impulsive and who have taken calculated risks and have eventually won.

But get ready for a surprise, decisions are supposedly taken more emotionally than rationally

So, how do you really decide?

Here's what Ruth Chang thinks......

A study suggests that it relies on two separate networks to do so: one that determines the overall value — the risk versus reward — of individual choices and another that guides how you ultimately behave. Perhaps that’s why we mostly choose the one that’s safe.

Some decisions are easier than others, like I decided to move countries much more easily with of course some amount of fear than the fact that I have been postponing driving in Hyderabad, India.
So, what allows me to make some decisions easily but others not… I am not sure. May be it’s the analysis of the reward and the threat. Moving countries seemed rewarding to me- new culture, better career, travelling and trying out cuisines which I all enjoy.

While driving for me mostly means fighting thoughts of crazy traffic, lack of strict rules or being stuck in traffic for hours and the eventual loss of freedom because  I can’t read or listen to anything while I drive.

So, I evaluate and decide, driving doesn’t seem like a very good idea even though rationally I should be driving to save me loads of money and flexibility of time.

Have you ever made a decision than turned into a bad one?

Creativity- How to bring it back in your life?

Who do you consider to be a creative?

Are they people who have the freedom to pursue their art, are they people who value their freedom- freelancers and artists? What about you? 

All of us are creative as a child, as we get trained more and more in our schools we all fall for the mundane, we forget who we are and become what we are expected to be.

Creativity as it seems comes with a price, in her article Nancy C. Andreasen, who is the Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and the former editor in chief of The American Journal of Psychiatry talks about creative people having it either passed on via generations or have higher rates of mental illness “The creative subjects and their relatives have a higher rate of mental illness….The most-common diagnoses include bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety or panic disorder, and alcoholism. 

There could be extreme cases of eccentricities involved for a lot of creatives, however in regular life to extract more satisfaction from life creativity is of utter importance. It could be an author who breaks into the publishing scene and takes the world by storm like J. K. Rowling., it can be content creators who look at life differently and are able to replicate that in their content and gain huge followers through the social media platform, it can be poets like Rupi Kaur whose poetry has been in controversies but has rightly brought in the young generation in touch with themselves through words and not selfies.

So, where is creativity for you and me while we are part of regular jobs?

Well, creativity still needs sustenance and that could mean the fact you have a job is a good thing.  You are free to spend here and there for things you love to engage in like a local pottery class or take a class or travel. Creativity isn’t limited to a certain profession any longer. And as it turns out “depending on the stage of the creative process, and what you’re actually attempting to create, different brain regions are recruited to handlethe task.”  

So creativity is not only a breath of fresh air it’s actually good for the brain health. Multiple ways we can still encourage ourselves to be creative:

• Find out what interests you, mind mapping is a great technique to find out what you like
• Learn/practice something new – It’s said that creatives are better self-learners than learning from others by being spoon fed. If you are looking for great deals, find out the offerings/giveaways of bloggers as well. You might get a month free or sometimes courses half off. 
• Find the time for yourself (self-care), sabbaticals might not be for everyone however why not try remote working once a month and use the time for commutes to try out something new..
• It doesn’t have to be perfect to start with, its okay to fail. I struggle with this a lot because I feel I have to be at par with the best. Over the years I am okay to try out something new even when I know its not at its best. 
• Stop thinking about what others think while you plan a solo vacation. Do things what interests you. Here are 12 habits of successful creatives.   

(Pic courtesy: Google Images)

Whats going on: updates, blog, life and more

Blog-I hav been blogging for a while now and over the time I realised my interests have grown with me and there are more things that i do or are interested in than when I started the blog years ago.

I also now know that to bring our best version to work, the inner state of mind is way more important than how many certifications we have for the job. There's more research and publication now readily available to understand that and that's where I have been investing my time in terms of reading.

I also wasn't quiet sure, how I would like to the blog to shape up and grow with me.......while I enjoy what I do, i would also like to bring more of the inner game here, so you grow with me via the blog.

I think what it would really be, is to have a theme or category in the publications and undertake various things in it. Basically, more of a lifestyle blog for the professionals.

Life- I started this year with returning from a lovely vacation and have taken the time to sort my head. There were days, I wanted to know what more can I offer to my work life, there are days i went to bed at 7.30pm (for almost  a month) because I felt tired and fidgety because i wasn't sorted. So i slept.... in the process of trying to know myself through readings, listening to some great stuff over the web and ideating and scribbling and doing nothing- i now know what I really want to do.

SIPM- the platform where mentors and mentees can meet has been down for a while now. I really wanted to give back to the community that has done so much for me and thats why I had created that platform with the help of my friends. I also thought it would be  a great setup to have a platform where anyone could have a mentor from anywhere in the world and you don' have to write hundreds of emails to do that. Thats why mentors signed up, professionals  who were also interested in giving back  and signed up saying I would love to mentor. I didn't make a dime out of it perhaps because I never considered it to be a business model and I know a lot of you have used it over the years and I couldn't be more thankful. I created for you, what I wish I had for me when I was starting out.

It also means that I have to keep on investing on it and with a lot going on now I am not sure if I really have the time to dedicate my time towards it. At one point i was ready to announce for anyone else to take it over and do  better marketing about the wonderful site than I have done.  For now its on hold, I havent fixed the website and I am rethinking. Would you like it to come back?

Others- there are other smaller interests that are cropping up and I am not sure if I can manage the time to invest myself in all of it it, I will give it a bit more of time and then probably take the final call. However, what I do know is that I would love to be more involved with my audience, people like you who have been reading the blog for a while now. It could be actually getting serious with my youtube channel, or creating a series of coaching sessions, a book and launching products that inspires all of us to look inward and find our inner game.

Has this New Year been different for you?

(Pic courtesy: Soma Bhattacharya, Paris 2017)

4 things I will be doing this year

Happy New Year to you. And while I am back in town and done with my 3 weeks of travel, there's always the resolutions to plan for.

Create Better Content- The plans are lofty and this means I have to keep the consistency going and plans effective. That's work in itself. I want to be more creative with my content which means learning new skills to ensure I can present my idea better.

So,if I have to ensure that I don't wall off the wagon and fail the resolution, here’s way to train and rewire your subconscious mind to the goal 

Be Mindful of my Health- Last year i have been consistent about exercising and eating right the most I have ever been and have seen the benefits first hand.This year, I hope to continue the journey and read and learn more. The only way that works for me to keep me motivated is to watch people talking about their health and lifestyle.

Get Better at Finance- This is a new terrain for me, I have done this on and off and I am not good at this at all. I dont read up much on managing personal finance and I always assumed it will take care of itself. The only content I watch is the TFD  and while I do enjoy the content, I want to get a little bit serious about it and give it a shot.

De-clutter and Decor-This last one is personal, I have been thinking about redoing the the apartment and this is the year for it to get the face lift. I also realised recently how much of clutter I have carried around and accumulated over the years. So, major decluttering will happen sooner than later.

How are you handling your New Year so far?

(Pic courtesy: Soma Bhattacharya)

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas 🎄

Thank you for reading my blog and continuing to inspire me.