The good news is that the game is still on. There is still that chance, the last lap to victory still holds good. Why not brush the dust off those aspirations that you had, those ideas you wanted to put into action, the kilos you wanted to shed off, the hobby you wanted to take up, the strength you wanted to regain physically and emotionally, and more? Why not end this year with the resonating echoes of the word “done!”? That would be the best goodbye to the year that you had welcomed with the vision of a new world for yourself.

Here’s a plan to change things around

Go ahead and use the next six weeks to re-align your life to keep distractions at bay. Set a DND on your Whatsapp and other meaningless messengers and get cracking on the goals you had charted out for yourself. Attention creates realities. Distraction only leads to confusion. It’s not too late yet. Ask any sales team and they’ll tell you that the maximum deals are closed in the last two days of the month. Do you recall the difference the last minute study made to your grades? It’s the last minute pressure that sets off the “magic button” to performance.

Ask any sales team and they’ll tell you that the maximum deals are closed in the last two days of the month

This is the time to believe in the philosophy of “Ask and you shall receive”. Don’t hold back, go all out and ask: ask for business, ask for help, ask for ideas. Share your purpose and also share your urgency. People like to help, but don’t impose and disturb. Ask with grace, and with gratitude, whether that help is granted or not. Some people will join hands with you and support you, while others’ hands would be tied for reasons beyond their control. Be graceful and be grateful to both. What have you got to lose, when you have not won the race yet?

Make some time for yourself

The one thing most people postulate at the beginning of the year is to make time for themselves. In the busy world, the growing numbers and the towering expectations from others, whether at work or at home, we tend to forget ourselves and become a work machine. Make time for yourself, starting now. Considering the pressures are high at the last lap of your race, if you can make some time now, you will be able to sustain it out of habit in the year to come. If you can’t do it now, you certainly will fail at it the next year too. Things are not going to get easier. You have to adjust things according to your desires. Invest some of your time in yourself; read a book, take up yoga, join the gym, take daily walks, or just be.

Use the festive time to create and forge connections

It would be a great way to end the year with warmth and support. If there was one thing you can build on now, which will give you guaranteed rewards in the future, it would be good relations with people. Invest in relationships. Work is an opportunity to make a new friend, to build a mutually beneficial relationship. Even if the opportunity for business eludes you at the moment, build that relationship for a future possibility. If relationship building is the foundation of business success in today’s changing economy, build that now. You both stand to gain.

If there was one thing you can build on now, which will give you guaranteed rewards in the future, it would be good relations with people

2017 will be about synergies, gear up for it. Create your think tank, your professional and personal pool of intelligence. Use the festive season to make connections and collaborations. When the cheer is in the air, it’s easier to get people’s support. Invite and involve people in your purpose and your goals. When you share your dreams and aspirations with people, you inspire them to take charge of their own too. When people are inspired, and if they find you at the source of that inspiration, they will maintain the connect and continue the support.

2016 will end and 2017 will arrive, that’s a certainty. Whether you will have accomplished what you had set out to achieve is the doubt you want to dissuade from becoming your destiny.

Hope for a better future is always there. It is there now, as it will present itself on the 1^st of January yet again. What you can do tomorrow, you can certainly do today. Instead of putting all your stakes in hope, invest some time in action now and make it come true.

The goals and resolutions you made in the beginning of the year were your goals, your resolutions. No one asked you to make them; your heart urged you in that direction. Success and achievement is therefore not an option, it’s a must—for your sake! They call it the last lap to victory for a reason, because there is victory at the end of the race; finish it, get there and may 2016 be the year of fulfilment and glory, just as you had envisioned it.

A version of this was first published in the November 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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“What will happen to work when I am gone? How will it go on?” We tend to build these questions towards disastrous consequences and convince ourselves that we are indispensable. We find contentment in remaining ‘switched on’ 24×7 but see catastrophe in even daring to think about switching off for a few days. Over the years, I have learnt that no one is indispensable, and guess what? If that weren’t the truth, then one would be as afraid of taking a vacation as one would be of dying. Given a fair chance, one will find equal talent and dedication in the next co-worker.

I didn’t realise the importance of taking a vacation and time off work until a few years ago, when I found myself forced into a trip with my friends. This was in order to attend a close friend’s wedding in Belgium. Right from the start, there were speculations about my arrival. I have a reputation for last minute drop-outs and by now my family and friends have made peace with my absence. I had cold feet from the time I booked my tickets for the 10-day long vacation. Knowing the wedding scene forward, I anticipated that I would be reprimanded for even using my phone. But I can now admit that those 10 days away from work was the best thing that I had done for myself in years and I vowed to take two weeks out every year to spend time with my family and friends. I realised that the toughest part was in getting there; once there, a new world of adventure opened up.

Here are some useful tips to my fellow workaholics who would rather be at work than anywhere else.

I have found that when people show care and commitment for their job, they get it back bountiful

Involve others in your fear of letting go of work

I could not help but keep rambling about how nervous I was about attending the wedding, knowing there would be reprimand on escaping from late night parties to check my mails and not to mention the time difference. I realised that the more I expressed my discontent about taking the vacation, the more supportive my colleagues became about me taking it. Reverse psychology never seems to get outdated. “Don’t worry, we will handle everything.” When I explained the challenges about not being accessible, they assured me that they would cover for me and contact me only if there was an emergency. I got support in winding up my work and in assigning duties in my absence. I have found that when people show care and commitment for their job, they get it back bountiful.

The first day is tough

I never lifted my head from the time I boarded the plane to the time I reached my hotel, covering as much work as I could. Keeping my phones and laptop out of reach was the toughest thing to do, since I already had warnings about carrying my work into the wedding. I remember taking long bathroom breaks to quickly read my mails and check on work. But the compulsion eased on the second day and continued to decrease in intensity in the days that followed. My need to be on the job all the time diminished and the fact that I had the option to sleep in and not wake up by clockwork was my first delight. I was pleasantly surprised to see that work was actually going on without me and a lot of people got their due importance in my absence.

Because I was occupied from the time I woke up to the time that I went to sleep, work stayed off my mind

Different time zones or low connectivity helps switch off

The one thing that really worked for me was the time difference between India and Europe. It helped ease my nerves about work and made me feel less guilty for having fun at work hours. When I would wake up, the team was already ahead of me and I just needed the half hour of my morning tea-time to see that all was in order and continue the rest of the day in peace. My phone calls turned into instant messages and then my messages turned into one or two emails a day. And by day four, I was officially off work. I have kept this as a tip when I plan my vacations, the further the distance and the greater the time difference, the better it is for me to really get off work and unwind. And when taking a vacation in India, I choose places with low connectivity, such as mountains, wildlife sanctuaries and cruises, so the reach between my work and me is limited.

Pack adventure into your vacation

Because I was occupied from the time I woke up to the time that I went to sleep, work stayed off my mind. We had sightseeing trips, lunches, dinners, parties and shopping sprees all planned and timed. As a person who works non-stop, I have so much energy and if I don’t plan how to expend it at my vacation, I will naturally get back to work. Now when I schedule time-off, I make sure to plan the adventure first. So even though I’m not working, I’m onto something equally exciting and that keeps my ever-ticking mind and creativity going. I have noticed that every vacation that I return from, I find a whole new perspective at work, a perspective that adds greater value, for I had the distance to see that which the proximity didn’t allow.

A vacation is something that is a reminder that there is a life beyond work

Great ideation opportunity

Take advantage. Every vacation has given me immense takeaways that my otherwise busy life disallowed. I could ideate without the pressure of having to do so. I could understand better, being away from the tension and appreciate even the slips and falls that I had been through as a learning curve. Once away from the scene, learning became much easier.

Discovering true happiness

Over the years, being happy had become a challenge. I needed a reason to be happy. So achievement became a necessity towards that end. But when on a vacation, I found happiness without reason, and that is true happiness. The sunrise made me happy, the silence brought joy; the extra sleep brought comfort; and walking in the wilderness brought an elation that no professional accomplishment could even match. This is what I work for—the time and luxury to be free and happy over nothing at all. And I carried that happiness back to work. My colleagues now comment on how I come back calmer and happier after each vacation. My drive was always at a fast pace but my attitude had shifted towards the better.

Value-add to friends and family with your presence

Over the years I had forgotten that I had a responsibility beyond work and that was to add value to the people around me. In spending time with my family it dawned on me how much they valued me and how appreciative they were to spend time with me. They were so eager to learn from my work and me and I could see a mutual exchange of respect in getting to know them better. Over the years the primary reason of going to work [family] had become the secondary reason. I had never known that so many people looked up to me and longed to spend time with me. If my own near and dear ones never get my time, then what good is my work that never served them?

A vacation is not something that comes in the way of work. A vacation is something that is a reminder that there is a life beyond work, a life that we have long forgotten under the daily pressures and professional expectations. If someone told you that you would never get time off when you started out with your job, I can bet my life you would never take it. As much as work is important, so is your life. The ability to ‘switch off’ is as important as the necessity to remain ‘switched on’. Even a machine needs its down time, and you being the one that literally makes your world go round, need that vacation. Take it as a part of your job profile. For, if you don’t discover the ability to switch off, you won’t remain ‘on’ for long.

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While it is true that older employees bring in experience and security, one can’t ignore the big glaring gap and disconnect in terms of technology, communication and changing business norms initiated by the young generation of professionals. The trouble starts when the older employee finds himself reporting to a boss who probably entered kindergarten when he graduated college. I see a lot of young bosses intimidated by the age of their juniors, who are actually elder to them. This disconnect is evident in the inhibited communication and consequential lowered results in performance in a team where the elders are led by younger bosses.

How does one then span the chasm that bares open the cultural protocol of ‘obey your elders’ and ‘experience is important for success? How does the boss establish his/her position of earned power without offending the seniority of those who have been around longer than him/her? How does one handle errors on part of those with experience without humiliating them for being reprimanded by a boss who is far younger? How does one empower and encourage those to whom one actually looks up to by sheer virtue of age?

For the young daring professional who steps up to stand above the toughened and experienced subordinate, leading him and the organisation where the futures of both are safe—consider these tips.

Review skills and knowledge regularly to address the gap

There has been a general acceptance that experience adds value in decision-making. However, with the current economy being so unpredictable, new and unforeseen developments occur almost everyday. Knowledge then gets priority over experience. Hence, the emphasis should be on constant upgradation of knowledge.

Encourage the elder subordinates to adorn their experience by keeping themselves abreast with technological developments and global viewpoints on business and social trends.

Sensitise the elders towards technology by educating them on how it would help them save time, minimise errors and connect them virtually making work easier. I see an inherent keenness on the part of the elder employees to learn new things so that they feel assimilated and get a sense of belonging. When your interest in filling them in with ‘what’s new’ is expressed, they speedily catch on.

Maintain courtesy in all interactions with the employee

Our culture lays a lot of emphasis on respect for the elders. Whether junior or senior, social protocol states, elders must be dealt with respect and courtesy. No matter what the flavour of the day, maintain a good demeanour towards the elders who work for you. Respect should be reciprocal. As much as they deserve to be respected you can only earn your respect by giving it to them first. Sometimes young bosses fear that respect shown may be misconstrued as being submissive. Giving respect does not mean giving in. Giving respect is also a part of being professional.

Elders take well to junior bosses when they are dealt with respect, because it gives them a hope of a promising future for their children. They feel that if you have made it so far and so big, so could their children.

Have an agreement on working style

An error on part of a very senior employee can create unwanted mis-emotion if handled by the young boss tactlessly. The elder subordinate feels a greater sense of shame for being reprimanded by someone younger than him, than for his actual folly.

The pressures in every industry are immense and so it becomes pressingly important to have mutually agreed upon working styles with your whole team, especially the elder subordinates. It is important to practice your poise and calm as well as be a tad stern whether times are rosy or distressed. Its all good when the going is great, but it is when the pressure mounts and the stakes are high that a tight ship needs to be run and at that time courtesy may need to edge towards being demanding.

Recognise and acknowledge that there will be discords and errors and at that moment you will have to rise to the occasion and step up acting out of your position as a senior. Establish clearly that even if the employees may be skeptical of your judgments, what you say and do, the decisions you make will be with regard to the highest interest to the organisation and careers of everyone involved. It must be made known that you have earned your stripes and that your words and vision be taken objectively with due respect to your seniority.

Do mention that you do not aim at being the sole visionary and hence encourage them to share their vision and ideas but, you will do what you think is in the best interest for all.

Do emphasise that even when you do disagree, it bears no indication towards the respect that you have for them.

It is important to establish the seniority and the demands your position carries before you, which might compel you to exercise superiority. So when a situation of being ‘bad cop’ does arrive, it does not put an older subordinate in a rife of confusion.

Handle ego and insecurities sensitively

The younger generation is arbitrarily believed as impulsive, on the contrary, older generation is perceived to bring the promise of stability and calm. It might be significant to establish superiority however ensure that the elders are appreciated and encouraged as much as the youngsters. It is a wrong notion that encouragement and appreciation should flow from the elders to the youngsters. In fact, it is most notable that encouragement should be equivalent. At work, don’t ignore the elders or deprive them of the pat on the back, a kind word to uplift them or plain empower them when needed.

In making an extra effort to compliment your seasoned subordinates, you would add more security and productivity towards their jobs. The high churn rate of youngsters and the speedy advances in technology causes a lot of insecurity in the minds of the older employees. They begin to doubt their ability to cope and that inhibition does not allow them to open up to learn.

When you begin to appreciate and acknowledge them where deserved, they become more receptive to learning. As a young boss when you begin to take interest in bridging the generation gap at work, your relationship with your own parents stands a chance to take a positive turn. I see parents of young bosses effortlessly keep up with the world and also have a bright and positive outlook towards life and work.

Establish seniority

An older employee who might be much junior in position might be easily tempted to dismiss a younger boss because our cultural upbringing has engrained the concept of ‘obey the elders’ in us to the point that might surmount our rationale. Establish in the start itself, with due respect, that you will consider all advise but will take a decision based on your view of the organisation. Make sure you convey that you have more access to a broader vision and wider frame of information. You will make decisions after evaluating everything from a holistic angle.

When explained logically and when an agreement is established, the taboo of the disobedient ‘youngster’—the young boss, is broken.

Older people at work need to be handled with care. They come with their own set of issues and insecurities. A steep career climb might be a huge challenge for a younger boss to maintain. However, the changing face of leadership has prolific advantages as well. The era of the elders being in power has ended. Boundaries of distance, space and age have been dissolved. Some barriers still exist in terms of non-optimum communication and misunderstood professional concepts. When these are handled with tact, the young boss becomes a beneficiary of both the worlds—the stability and assurance of the old, and the funk and adventure of the new.

The post When employees are older than the boss appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

We too have an inherent mechanism that warns us of our life going off balance. We need to be able to recognise the signs so that we can keep a tab on them and heed to them when they show up. Here are a few of those signs and the formulae on setting things right.

The health signal

Your health is the strongest barometer of balance. If you feel exhausted all the time, it means that your health needs attention. Therefore, tending to your body becomes urgent and holds priority over your work, your family or anything else that falls in your schedule.

Imagine if your car shows low fuel. No matter where you are headed, and how hard you try, you won’t reach there if your fuel supply is inadequate. It’s the same with your body. Pushing yourself over the limit abuses your body, making the balance tip against you.

It’s better to take a power nap when tired, keep yourself replenished with minerals and vitamins, keep a few energy bars handy and make sure that you get six to eight hours of undisturbed sleep every night. Make no compromises on your health or your body will make you the slave to its idiosyncrasies. Ignoring the needs of your body is the first step to disturbing your life balance.

The attitude signal

Your attitude shapes your world and determines your success. When you find yourself negatively inclined, when you find yourself frequently irritated, when your temper flies out of control often and your foul mood becomes public knowledge, it means your life has gone off balance. Even distributing your time between work and family doesn’t help if there’s something wrong with the attitude. Rather, the people around you become victims of your misplaced attitude.

This is the time to stop and spend some time with yourself in reflection. Go for a walk instead of rushing home to put the blame on someone else. Go for a drive alone, read a book in a coffee shop, stroll in a park with music in your ears, make a new friend or just go pump some weights at the gym.

Get your mind and body away from the environment that is challenging your attitude. Sometimes just getting away allows you to see what’s wrong internally. Sometimes all that we need to bring back the cheer and enthusiasm we first started out with is a little break.

The creativity loss signal

The ability to create is a direct measurement of your mental and physical wellbeing. Creation is the highest state of existence where magic unfolds for all involved. When life gets mundane and boring, and no ideas visit your mind, it’s the time to bring whatever you are doing to a screeching halt. Without your creative edge you are nothing, you can create nothing and you will achieve nothing. You may still do some robotic work that needs no thinking or resolving, but that’s not how one works or lives.

We all work and live to create, to create alternate realities that are in sync with our purpose. When creativity is lost, there is little hope for progress. Take an immediate break and rest. A tired mind is a dead mind. Worse, it is a destructive mind. Rest. And when you are done resting, help someone. Helping someone with solutions is the fastest way of getting back on your creative feet. A creative mind creates a fascinating balance for it helps create possibilities and harmony in every area of your life.

The confused and lost signal

If you ever caught yourself questioning the purpose of your work or your life or have ever been confused about the direction your life is taking, you have reached a critical dip in the balance of your life. This is a red alert that you need to urgently spend time with your loved ones. One of the primary purposes of your work and your contribution is the wellbeing of your family. When that purpose gets side lined, confusion sets in. With the first hint of listlessness or confusion, book yourself for a family dinner, or an outing, or a movie.

Plan something exciting. Let me warn you though, if you suddenly go home early and expect everyone to spend quality time with you because you have muddled up your priorities, it’s only going to set you up for a rude shock, for your family may not have time for you. Plan something with them, even if it is not for the same day. Sometimes just putting a plan into the weekend brings some peace back in the sudden hollow of confusion. Clarity and direction are renewed by spending some fun time with your family, for their needs and dreams make up the crucial contents of your purpose in the first place.

Balance is a tricky thing because its character is so simple and its signs are so subtle that one misses them totally. The consequences of a disturbed balance, however, are so severe that it misleads people into believing that they will need to take some drastic measures to set it right. The reverse is true. Work-life balance is possible, in fact that is the surest way to lasting success—success that will serve you and all others involved.

This was first published in the June 2012 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Then in a few moments, after finishing another phone call, he frantically started searching his bag for something and let out a string of curses. Between the string of profanity the words I could catch were, “I left my laptop at the screening!” Then, there was a racket as the man wanted the bus to turn around so he could get back his laptop. He left when we alighted and I was looking out for him until the doors to the aircraft closed. The man did not return.

This is a perfect example of the side effects of multitasking—errors, forgetfulness, foul moods, unpredictable breakdowns and stress [not to mention, inconvenience to others].

Myth: multitasking helps us achieve more

Multitasking is supposed to be a solution to help us meet the ever-increasing demands on our time. But there’s no greater fallacy than that. If you are the kind of person that I just described whose attention is scattered over multiple tasks, then you are headed for disaster as there’s another side to multitasking—one that quietly nibbles away your sanity, your health and your peace.

Our vision is divided into focal vision and peripheral vision. When we focus our sight on something, it gets primary attention. The objects in the background go into the peripheral vision and get secondary attention. But if we take the primary focus away as we do our work, then all tasks fall in the peripheral vision and get secondary attention. Any task that is done with secondary attention lacks passion or excellence. It is work done; not necessarily, work well done. This alone beats the purpose of multitasking.

I came across this interesting piece of research, which said that just picking up your phone for a few seconds to check an SMS while doing a task causes you to lose your original trail of attention. And it takes 11 minutes for you to regain focus. So can you imagine the kind of mediocre output a distracted mind produces?

When your attention is scattered, work is executed with so much stress that there is no sense of achievement when you finish, because the moment one task gets over, you start worrying about the next one [which is usually undone].

Dividing your attention among multiple tasks is an invitation to mistakes that could have repercussions on other people’s careers too. Trying to do multiple things at a time also affects your memory because it’s difficult to remember which task you did not pay full attention to. Forgetfulness and delays become common. You are no better than a headless chicken. This not only takes a toll on your job, but it also erodes your reputation and relationships—people can no longer trust that you will remember to do the task. Reminders replace conversations and a great relationship divide ensues. Multitasking is the perfect recipe for job dissatisfaction and emotional confusion.

Those who take pride in multitasking are usually foul in temperament. This is because their attention is still hung up on work—their minds are constantly trying to figure what is done and what is not. This prevents them from being happy and makes them impatient and aggressive.

To do any task well, you need to give it full attention. If you don’t give undivided attention to your work, you will be thrown off the track of success. The attitude of ‘doing something and doing it until it is completely done’ will take you a long way. If other tasks crop up in your way, delegate them. If you can’t delegate, schedule them for later. Doing more work won’t bring you success; excelling in what you do will. Be reasonable in your timelines. It is better to be clear about your work and the time it will take to execute than to commit to unreal demands. Your primary purpose at work and at anything else you do is to progress and to be happy. Multitasking is the enemy of both. It may get your job done, but it won’t give you satisfaction.

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Forgo your money

Personal money is that part of your expense that your office will not reimburse. Sometimes, to get your job done well will cost you money—your own money. But when it comes down to personal expense for potential success, a lot of people hesitate or back out completely.

Once I was to do a workshop in Chennai. To save on hotel cost, the client booked me for an early morning flight. But by compromising the previous night’s sleep, I wouldn’t have been able to do a smashing job at the full day event. So I flew down the night before at my expense.

The logic is simple: If you do an average job and save some money, you will earn an average income. If you do an extraordinary job by spending some of your money, you can earn an extraordinary income.

Give up pleasure

The one thing all successful personalities have in common is temporary ‘sacrifice of personal pleasure’. They don’t go clubbing but use the extra time to practise and study. They let go of the ‘hanging out with the boys’ to rehearse and prepare.

Successful individuals let go of ‘immediate pleasure’ for long-lasting success. And once they hit the jackpot, life becomes a party. So many young professionals waste themselves in night clubs and other hangouts ganging up to ‘de-stress’ or ‘bitch about their life at work’.

If you haven’t reached where you are headed, then dig your head in practice and study till you get there. Instead of spending time and money at the hangouts use the time to further your career.

Sacrifice family time

Sometimes you will need to burn the midnight oil and grind your way up. It will need sacrifice of valuable time with your family.

It is smart to make the sacrifice early in life so you can settle down later. It will surprise you but most successful business gurus are ‘family’ people. Having made it big in life, now they just call the shots and get work done on their own terms.

The sacrifice is not life-long. It is to take you to a stage in your career where you can become the boss of your own time, income and effort.

When people work aimlessly without a proper sacrifice plan to reach to the top they also sacrifice unknowingly—they sacrifice their health with the late-night partying, excessive caffeine, smoking; they sacrifice their family time unknowingly by bringing incomplete work and work-related stress at home.

However, such ‘sacrifice’ doesn’t bring them the success they desire. So, it’s best to prepare for compromise knowingly and willingly than to sacrifice your life unknowingly towards a success that will constantly elude you.

The post Success comes at a price appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Harness your spiritual growth

The beauty about using our spiritual drive as a motivating force is that it is simple and easy to apply. Here is how you can go about harnessing your spiritual power to fuel your growth:

Follow your heart

This has been one of the most profound spiritual lessons since time immemorial. If the quest is yours, you are naturally inclined to find the courage and motivation to see the light. Our stressed out populace is evidence of the ‘lost generation’ who have stopped listening to their calling and have blindly joined the rat race.

It’s time you stop and ask yourself questions like, “Is this what I really want to do?” “Is my work making people’s lives easier?” “Is my work making me a better person?”. This helps set the course of your work in perspective. There’s no point in arriving at a destination, then realising that this is not where you wanted to be. When your direction is aligned with your purpose, the motivation and drive is unbelievable.

Set yourself up for success

If success is the drive, then you can actually set it up for yourself. Success could be material abundance for many, but if that is not balanced by spiritual fulfilment, the void will eventually nullify the material gains. Have a clear vision of what kind of person you would like to become to help balance between the two. Often people are so focused on what they want to achieve that they neglect their character and health and become spiritually drained. What you have materially will eventually depreciate, but who you become as a result of your efforts will take you higher than you can imagine. Ask yourself, “what kind of person do I want to become?” and not “what do I want to achieve?” If you can align and pursue both answers, you will have real success.

Read good books

The competition, negativity and stress sooner or later engulfs us in its venomous trap. Hence, it becomes important to insulate ourselves from the constant bombarding of negativity. Indulging in good reading keeps our mind focussed in positive research and helps build an attitude of learning. Positive learning serves in building wisdom and keeping our minds rich with ideas and motivation. When knowledge is positive and empowering, it serves as an internal motivation.

Be a student of goodness

Seek goodness wherever you go and from whomever you meet. Goodness has the power to motivate beyond words. There is enough good to seek even in the world’s greatest calamity and a person.

Anyone who has the ability to see the brighter side of any situation is not only spiritually balanced, but is also firmly grounded to survive the pressure and stress of any situation. No matter how severe a circumstance may be, if you ask yourself the question, “What’s good about this?” the answer will always uplift you.

Create fulfilment through contribution

It is true that the human race thrives on contribution. Unlike any other species, we experience greatest fulfilment when we contribute positively towards other people’s lives. No matter who you are and where you are, if you look around you will find avenues to help and enrich other people’s lives with your presence, your time and your talent. This is what Mahatma Gandhi meant when he said, “To know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived is true success.”

Finally

If you learn to bring a measure of spirituality to your living, you will be automatically motivated to do actions that are for your highest good.

And if you still need further motivation to find your spiritual balance, keep this greatest motivator in mind: Being born a human itself is the biggest motivation you need to feel driven. Because only human life allows one the opportunity for improvement and growth. So be thankful for this wonderful opportunity and motivate yourself to be all that you can be.

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