Review: Luella Miller

Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmmm... Story about a haunted house and the person who lived in it.


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Review: Attitude Is Everything: Change Your Attitude... and You Change Your Life!

Attitude Is Everything: Change Your Attitude... and You Change Your Life! by Jeff Keller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book disects attitude. And I'm talks how one can develop a positive attitude towards life.
How do I respond to the world - is my attitude. How do i respond to adversity - is my attitude.
My response to any event or action in my life can be considered positive or negative.

Attitude can be inherent but it once you identify a negative attitude, it is possible to change into a position attitude. The author says that it starts with working on your mind . Fill it with positive thoughts. we become what we think about. Fill your thougts with love for everyone you will start seeing the changes within a few days. you will be more peaceful within. This is also age old wisdom of Sanatana dharma and Budhism.

Next the author talks about is what you speak. Whatever you speak about someone or something repeatedly it gets ingrained into your thoughts as well . So be careful about what you speak.

The last is "Act", be fearless, do something and don't worry about failures. Get out of your comfort zone and try something that you always wanted to do.

Once you follow the above process you might be able to achieve in life what you always wanted.

There is no better book on attitude than this. I rate this 5/5.

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Review : On Failure: How to succeed at defeat

On Failure: How to succeed at defeat by The School of Life
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When you are messed up , when you have disappointed others , when you have let yourself down, when you have ruined your own life. What do you do when all your hopes have been dashed and when we are too ashamed of ourselves to reach out for help. What do you do ?

The closer you look at a true, lived tragedy; the harder it is for words to have any useful impact. What can be said to a person who has just lost their livelihood, who has witnessed a loved one die, Who has ruined his professional career, Who will never be able to set foot in his home town again ? The challenge is so large. The psych is so ruined that they might simply prefer silence.

I think this book can change a life and give courage to move on with dignity.

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Review: Shabda Pakheroo

Shabda Pakheroo by Nasera Sharma
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

what will you do once one of your family member is bedridden and you are tired of taking help from your relatives and friends to run your house ? "रोगी से ज्यादा रोगी के देखभाल करने वाला वाला चुक जाता है।"- from the book 
, you need clarity of thoughts that is what you get after reading this book.

Suryakant whose wife is bedridden, and has two college going daughters, learns this lesson when his request for not to transfer him to other city so that he could take care of his ailing wife is rejected and his boss gives him an advice : "भावनाओं से जीवन युद्ध नहीं जीता जा सकता" , which changes a lot of things for him, his daughtes and his ailing wife.

After he leaves for other city for his job, his daughters take care of their mother and start seeing some improvement.- "दुःख एक ऐसा धागा होता है जो अपनों को एक साथ पिरो देता है " .

and finally - "जीवन नीरसता को तोडना, अतीत के कुऍं में दुखों को फेंक कर आगे बढ़ने का नाम ही संघर्ष है। " - 

I liked this book the fraud part could have been better.




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Review: नीली: Neeli

नीली: Neeli by Nandini Kumar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hmmm. Kafi samay ke bad ek achchi story padhi. Orr aisa laga ki kisi ne mera dil nichod ke rakkh diya ho.

"कभी कभी इंसान एक चीज़ से इसलिए भी बंध जाता है क्यूँकि उसके पास बदलने के लिए दूसरा विकल्प होता ही नहीं।"

"लेकिन कितना अजीब है कि हम लोगों से ख़ुशियों के बजाय दुःख में ज़्यादा पास आते हैं। मुस्कुरहटों से ज़्यादा आँसू हमें अपने दिल का हाल बोलने पर मजबूर करते हैं। और अपने सारे रिश्तों को छोड़ कर, अपने सारे सच भी हम उन अजनबियों के सामने खोल देतें हैं, जिनसे हमारा कोई वास्ता नहीं होता। शायद इंसान सिर्फ़ दिखते ही अलग हैं, अंदर से सब एक जैसे होते हैं। "

I am wondering why Neeli was so stupid and lived in some dreams but thats how emotions make you look sometime. But the good end made me feel good about the story.

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Review: Self-Help for the Helpless: A Beginner’s Guide to Personal Development, Understanding Self-care, and Becoming Your Authentic Self

Self-Help for the Helpless: A Beginner’s Guide to Personal Development, Understanding Self-care, and Becoming Your Authentic Self by Shelley Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Self help is a continuous effort where you are clear and determined on what exactly you want in life and make efforts towards achieving them. I think the self help world is for the people who are determined to make the changes happen, for one who can implement the expert’s suggestions. If a person is already going through a tough time he is already learning from life, He probably doesn’t need any help from the self help world unless he is lost and confused about his life and purpose.

In this book the author talks about , first identifying what is important to you and your life, and second what are your core values and how to build your life around that to make it worthy.

She lays out a 31 day self help toolkit to discover your authentic self and make your moves accordingly in your life.

I liked this book. In this book the author is aware of why self help doesn't work for many people and her toolkit just makes sures that you do not fall into that category.

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Review: Mann Aangan । मन आँगन

Mann Aangan । मन आँगन by garima verma
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[YouTube- Mann Aangan । मन आँगन by garima verma ]

आँगन, घर का वो सजीव हिस्सा जो हमेशा लोगों से खिलखिलाता रहता हैं. इस किताब मे जो स्टोरीज हैं वो एक दूसरे पे डिपेंडेंट नहीं है लेकिन कनेक्टेड जरूर हैं , काफी कैरक्टर्स वही रहते है, मुझे लगा की ऑथर ने एक घर की कहानी को इस किताब के माध्यम से बताया है. कहानिया अच्छी हैं. होली, पूजा, सेलेब्रेशन्स, शादी - ब्याह की रस्मे , जनम - मृत्यु के संस्कार सभी एक आंगन में ही होते हैं और सभी कहानिया उन्ही से रिलेटेड हैं और मैं इन कहानियों से कनेक्ट कर पाया.

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Review: Give Thanks: You Can Reach Out and Spread Joy! 50 Gratitude Activities Games

Give Thanks: You Can Reach Out and Spread Joy! 50 Gratitude Activities Games by Naomi Shulman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being thankful and gratitude for something is always a nice thing and this book gives 50 such opportunities for all of us including kids and adults to be thankful for the things in life. The good thing is that kids do not fall prey to mental illnesses like depression so easily but the adults do and in time like those it's important to show gratitude for the things that we have in life and not crib about the things that we do not have.

Over all I liked this book but I am still wondering if there are any downsides of being too thankful for the things in life ? Can't the kids take few things for granted like the love of the elders in the family ? 

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Review: Tales of Man Singh

Tales of Man Singh by Kenneth Anderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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कहानी कम्युनिस्टों की by संदीप देव | A book review

इस किताब "कहानी कम्युनिस्टों की" में राइटर संदीप देव कम्युनितस्टों  की आइडियोलॉजी , उनके भारतीय आज़ादी में नेगेटिव रोल , भारत व् चीन वॉर में किस तरह कम्युनिस्टों के धड़े ने चीन का पक्ष ओपनली लिया   एवं आज़ादी के बाद किस तरह उन्होंने देश की महत्व पूर्ण संस्थाओं अपना कब्ज़ा करके इतिहास , इकॉनमी एवं फॉरेन पालिसी को अपनी पार्टी के स्वार्थ के लिए इस्तेमाल किया पर बात करते है।   

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work | A Book Review

John Gottman's "Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work" provides in detail a person could have a healthy marriage. The same principles can also be applied to romantic relationships in general and perhaps even just friendships.

Overcoming Procrastination By Michelle Tullier

This book talks about 10 strategies to overcome Procrastination -

1.) Get Fired Up : Think through the potential negative consequences from procrastination.

2.) Get Organized : Clear the clutter and chaos in your life.

3.) Prioritize : Organize a schedule for getting routine tasks done then do the other interesting things.

4.) Find Freedom in Routine : Having a routine for recurring tasks will keep you from worrying about it rest of the time. Feel free to vary your routine.

5.) Get Comfortable : IF you are not able to make any progress in your current task, then, move to some comfortable place and try again.

6.) Use Positive Self-Talk : Avoid isolation. Reach out to people and to sources of information and get moving.

7.) Use Positive Self-Talk : The messages that play in your head have a great deal of power over your behavior.

8.) Focus on Do Dates, not Due Dates: Set mini-deadlines that come before the final deadline.

9.) Use the Chip-Away Technique : Chip away the big Projects with little bits of action here and there.

10.) Play Trick or Treat : Sneak up Procrastination with tricks and treats that Motivate you to take action.

बोलना ही है by रवीश कुमार | A book Review

"बोलना ही है" इस किताब में रवीश कुमार अपने पाठकों हर issue पर बोलने के लिए प्रेरित करते हैं। स्वस्थ लोकतंत्र के लिए जरूरी हैं की सही जानकारी लोगो तक पहुंचती रहे। फेक न्यूज़ , propagnda , और झूठे इतिहास से हमेशा एक ऐसी भीड़ बनती हैं जिससे देश और सोसाइटी का नुकसान होता है इस सभी चीज़ों का ज़िक्र रविश कुमार अपने लेखों में कर रहे हैं।

Build Wealth With common Stocks By David J Waldron | A book Review

This book by the author David J Waldron is about building wealth by investing in the stock market. The author says that An Informed individual investor has a far better chance of getting rich slowly than getting rich fast, and getting rich slowly  is better than not at all.

The author lists 10 principles which exhort the user to be disciple, do not get carried away by the market sentiments , apply common sense and be prepared for the risk that any stock market can have. 

 

While talking about strategies the author talks about defining value proposition, quantifying shareholder yields and a few more.

 

The author has provided a template for a model portfolio which can be used to build a portfolio with a purpose. 

Overall this is a nice book and I want to explore the model portfolio more for fixing my current portfolio. Please do read if you are into the stock market. principles, strategies discussed in this book are applicable globally.

Review: रुकतापुर [Ruktapur]

रुकतापुर [Ruktapur] by Pushyamitra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Resilience at Work by Deborah M Khoshaba, Salvatore R Maddi

Resilience

------------

What are the stress/strain related performance & Health Symptoms that Employees may have ?

 -- worry more 

 -- Feel hopelessness

 -- experience aches and pains

 -- Let problems preoccupy them

 -- Act like a victim 

 -- Feel angry and bitter about the world

 -- Sleep poorly 

 -- Finish tasks inadequately or not on schedule

 -- endup having diseases like - arteriosclerosis, cancer, or obesity

 

What Reilient Employees do ?

 -- Turn disruptive changes and conflicts from potential disaster into growth opportunity

 -- Resolve conflicts. turn disruptive changes into new directions.

 -- Learn for the process and become more successful and satisfied in the process.

 -- Don't let their boss's stress related outbursts undermine their work. they help their boss more to ease his work pressure

 

 How to remain resilience under stress 

 -------------------------------------

 Culitvate a group of attitude and skills, collectively called - Hardiness

 

 -- The attitudes are the 3Cs of - commitment, control, and challenge. 

 -- As times get tough -

     -- You to stay involved with the people and events around you (commitment) rather than to pull out,

     -- Keep trying to influence the outcomes in which you are involved (control) rather than to give up, 

-- Try to discover how you and others can grow through the stress (challenge) rather than to bemoan your fate. 

-- These 3Cs amount to the courage and motivation to do the hard but important work of using stressful circumstances to your advantage.

-- It is the combination of hardy attitudes and skills that helps people survive and thrive under stress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

A Nation Of Idiots By Daksh Tyagi

A nation of idiots by Daksh Tyagi, In this book the author talks about how group of idiot impact the day to day life of a common Indian. He defines these idiots as a Group that forces on us their logic, their reasons and their way of life. It confuses us, and expects of us to follow blindly.

Unbreaking India : Decisions on Article 370 and the CAA By Sanjay Dixit

This book, Unbreaking India By Sanjay Dixit, talks about the politics done by Muslim leaders in the first half of the 20th century and the latest issues like removal of article 370 and introduction of CAA. This book talks about Kashmir in details. The map of India that you see on the cover is a map proposed by a leader of Muslim League, Rahmat Ali plan, in 1940 to divide India, Which finally didn't materialize as is. Green showed the proposed Muslim countries and the saffron shows the India or other proposed non Muslim countries.

Six Key Management Skills for new Managers

The Six key skills for any new manager are - Time Management, Delegation, Coaching, Feedback & difficult conversation, Working cross Functionality and Accountability. The Primary role of a manager is to ensure that your team achieves common goals and develops into the best version of themselves.

1.) Time Management -  Managing your time well will help you to Achieve more in a shorter period of time . You will be able to Focus on medium & long term development of your team and Feel more in control. Always Keep your head clear about the priority of your work. Create a priority list  and keep your focus on the current and the next action item in your priority list.

2.) Delegation - Do the things that only you can do and delegate the rest effectively. If you decide to delegate then be specific about the result. You should be  flexible about how it should be done. Give freedom as much as possible and Do not interfere unnecessarily.

3.) Coaching - Provide opportunity for your team to learn rather than telling them how to do. you should have regular informal check-ins, ask rather than tell and help them find a solution.

4.) Feedback & difficult conversation - You should Conduct difficult conversations without emotion, defensiveness or passive aggressiveness. Explain to the team that Feedback is not criticism. Drop Gossip and emotion from the conversation. Be honest and transparent.

5.) Working cross Functionality - Proactively reach the internal customers in your organization and ensure you are delivering what they need to deliver to the external customer.  Meet regularly to review the progress.

6.) Accountability - Deliver on your commitments and take responsibility as a team when you fail. You should hold your team accountable for their commitments and provide appropriate praise and reward when they deliver. Make ambitious but realistic , achievable commitments. Evaluate the performance after each success or failure.

Pygmalion Effect - High expectations lead to improved performance

The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.The effect is named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson, in their book, applied the idea to teachers' expectations of their students. And, they saw that it  affected the students' performance. This view has been undermined partially by subsequent research.

 

Rosenthal and Jacobson held that high expectations lead to better performance and low expectations lead to worse.  Both effects lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where the expectation comes true simply because the person believed in it. According to the Pygmalion effect, the targets of the expectations internalize their positive labels, and those with positive labels succeed accordingly; a similar process works in the opposite direction in the case of low expectations.

 

 The idea behind the Pygmalion effect is that increasing the leader's expectation of the follower's performance will result in better performance of the follower.

Review: Invaders and Infidels : From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions

Invaders and Infidels : From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions by Sandeep Balakrishna
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

[Video Review Link : Youtube]

Prophet Mohamed started preaching islam in 610 CE and his first wife Khadija was the first Muslim convert of Islam. Before 610 CE, People in Arab followed polytheism and led a life of nomad.

After Prophet Mohamed died in year 632, Muslims selected their new leaders and called them caliph. Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali these are the first four caliphs in Islam after that the post of Caliphs became dynasty based. During this time India was ruled by Harsh Vardhan and Pulkeshin.

Between 610 CE and 650 , Islam had concurred a big chunk of land in middle east. Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Persia, Byukhara , Samarkand both are in current Uzbekistan and a part of Inner Mangolia which currently in china. it was strange that these all areas were concurred by Islam in merely 40-50 years. the more stragge thing was that they were rapidly islamised and their culture and language was Arabicised. In one brutal attack all these ancient regions lost their pre-islamic culture and civilization.


Now, The Arab Armies were looking towards capturing India. Arab geographers were sent to map Sindh. in year 637 onwards, second Caliph Umar sent islamic navy army to Thane (Maharastra), Bharuch ( Gujrat ) and Debal ( a port near Karachi ) where they were brutally defeated. The Arab forces also tried to attack Sindh through land rout but many of their expeditions failed and the Jasts of Kikaan, in Bluchistan, Didn't let them enter in the sindh for alomost 200 years. Arabs sent 6 such land expeditions and the last one in 680 CE succeeded in wining Makran, a small state which was part of Sindh and which was ruled by Raja Dahir. Even after this win the Islamic forces didn't dare to enter in the Sindh for next 30 years because of the heavy damages that these expeditions were causing to Islamic army.

Next attack on sindh was in 712. During the same time Islamic Armies had captured spain and Portugal in Europe and were wating for to concur France. This time Mohamed bin quasim was being sent to attack Sindh. The planning was meticulous this time. Quasim first reached Makran which they had captured in 680 CE and from there he started through sea route and wanted to attack Debal.its the same Debal where the Islami Army was brutally defeated once in the past. but this time Quasim was prepared and had five big catapults and these catapults were so big that each one was operated by 500 trained soldiers.

Quasim first concurred Debal , Kiiled the priests of the temple and built a moaque and moved on to his next tatget Nerun and won it without much resistance. Nerun is Today's Pakistani Hyderabad.

After this Qasim moved deep into Sindh and challenged Dahir at the fort of Raor. Raja Dahir Was at the brink of victory but he got killed and his troops brokeup and dispersed. and, his sone JayaSimha retreated to Brahamanabad and it was left for the queen Ranibai of to defend the fort of Raor. The Queen did Jauhar to save her owner . Qasim slaved 30 thousand people after this win.

Now, He pursued Jaysimha who was defending Brahamanbad and capital city of Alor. He fought for six months but he had to further retreat and fleed. due to this Qasim was enaraged and killed 26000 common people in brahmanabad. He also won capital city Alor soon. At both the places he built mosques and moved forward.

Finally Qasim Killed Jayasimha and captured Mulastana. Mulastana was pilgrimage center like Kashi , Mathura, Prayagraj, Kachipuram. Qasim plundered the famous Aditya temple. He was further planning to attack Kannouj but was killed by the new Caliph of that time.

In all these operations Qasim killed almost 50,000 people.

The book talks about the Delhi sultenat at lenght. overall this is a good book and I liked it.

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Review: Vajpayee: The Years That Changed India

Vajpayee: The Years That Changed India by Shakti Sinha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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मैं पाकिस्तान में भारत का जासूस था – मोहनलाल भास्कर

मैं पाकिस्तान में भारत का जासूस था – मोहनलाल भास्कर , जासूसी को लेकर विश्व की विभिन्न भाषाओँ में अनेक सत्यकथाए लिखी गई हैं, जिनमे मोहनलाल भास्कर नामक भारतीय जासूस द्वारा लिखित अपनी इस आपबीती का एक अलग स्थान है |इसमें 1965 के भारत-पाक युध्ह के दौरान उसके पाकिस्तान-प्रवेश, मित्रघात के कारण उसकी गिरफ़्तारी और लम्बी जेल-यातना का यथातथ्य चित्रण हुआ है|

Review: Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing

Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing by Olga Mecking
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can doing nothing be enormously beneficial specially for the busy people ? yes and it is called Niksen in Dutch. Niksen comes from a word Niks which means nothing and Niksen means doing nothing.

Is it really hard to sit around somewhere and do nothing ? it can be quite challenging for people who are in the habit of working for long hours and do think that they shouldn’t waste time by sitting idle. The author says that one of the reasons Niksen is so hard is because we feel ashamed when we engage in activities that are apparently less productive.

What is niksening or Niksen ?
The author says that Niksening is downtime, quiet time, finding a moment to unwind and relax, and may reflect a little.

But it is not Niksening if you are doing any work passively, if your job requires a lot of thinking it doesn’t mean that you are not working. It also doesn’t mean sitting at one place and starting worrying about something. It’s neither mindfulness nor watching tv or phone.

I think that it’s mostly a problem in big cities where people do not have enough time to sit alone and do nothing. People in smaller cities, towns, villages have enough time to sit idle.

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Review: Love-Based Leadership: The Model for Leading with Strength, Grace, and Authenticity

Love-Based Leadership: The Model for Leading with Strength, Grace, and Authenticity by Dr. Maria Church
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Love brings to mind several varied interpretations, definitions, and constructs for different people. Definitions range from a kindness and fondness of others to sexual connotations. Plato carried love from the physical aspect to an immaterial beauty such as justice, wisdom and knowledge. In the context of this book love is simply defined as knowledge, wisdom and acceptance of one’s authentic self and others.

So what does the author mean by Love- Based Leadership in this book ?

Being human beings, we are meaning-seeking animals. The author compares the two theories - one is Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy and the second is Maslow’s Needs theory. From Logotherapy we can conclude that we want to do meaningful things in life and Maslow’s needs theory concludes that an employee seeks belongingness, respect, meaning and purpose in the work that he does at the workplace. The author says that the common theme of these two theories are meaning and love. It’s not possible to have one without the other. Love is the conduit to meaning, purpose and abundant living. Both theories are rooted in love : love for self and love for others.

Love based leadership is based on three fundamental pillars - Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of others. These three pillars are the major building blocks for the construction of meaning, philosophy of life and love based leadership. The author lists seven factors for each of these pillars.

Let’s talk about these three pillars one by one.

Love of Self - In order to be an effective leader of others, we must first go inward and love, understand , and respect ourselves. We need to be effective leaders of ourselves, in our own lives, before we can successfully lead others. The author says that when you love yourself you do not ignore your intuition, you believe in Truth-Telling and Truth-Receiving, you have the Power of choice to love self, source, and others, You should have the ability to change your perception and be present fully in your interaction with others.

Love of Others - Love of others requires leaders, colleagues and employees to share knowledge and skills , mentoring to and nurturing with care those in the workplace. Here the author talks about Collaboration, meaning , shared ownership etc.

Love of Source - In this section the author talks about the spiritual part of leadership. It talks about Inspiration, creativity, happiness, faith, perseverance, peace and authenticity.
This book is full of wisdom and it seems that the author has poured her whole life experience into it. It changed my perception about leadership.

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Love-Based Leadership: The Model for Leading with Strength, Grace, and A...

Love based leadership is based on three fundamental pillars - Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of others. These three pillars are the major building blocks for the construction of meaning, philosophy of life and love based leadership.  The author lists seven factors for each of these pillars

Review: HBR's 10 Must Reads on Creativity

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Creativity by Harvard Business Review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Creativity is any act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one. What counts is whether the novelty he or she produces is accepted for inclusion in the domain or not. Creative people are unusually bright. They express unusual thoughts which are interesting and stimulating. Creative people experience the world in a novel and original way. These individuals have fresh perceptions, insightful judgements and may make important discoveries that only they know about.

What are the characteristics of creative people ?
-- Creative people have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
-- Creative people have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
-- Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other.
-- Creative individuals are also remarkably humble and proud at the same time.
-- Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
So, Can Everyone be Creative ? Yes, whether they realize it or not. A lot of people tend to think creativity is a binary - Either you have it, or you don't. But in reality, we do all have it. It's just a matter of how we interpret it. Creativity is something you practice, not just a talent you are born with.

As per one of the articles in this book by Tom & David Kelley - Most people are born creative. As children, we revel in imaginary play, ask outlandish questions, draw blobs and call them dinosaurs. But over time because of socialization and formal education, a lot of us start to stifle those impulses. We learn to be warier of judgement, more cautious , more analytical. The world seems to divide into “Creatives” and “non creatives” and too many people consciously or unconsciously resign themselves to the latter category.

People have the fear of being judged, fear of losing control, fear of taking that first step, and fear of the unknown mess that it might create. This article talks about strategies to overcome all these fears. The strategies are all about breaking down the problem into smaller pieces. For example if you fear snakes - then you can start with watching snakes from far and once you are comfortable with that you can go closer and start watching it and if you follow the same process then time will come when you will be able to hold it in your hand ! The key is to start with a small act and keep on expanding it as and whenever you are ready.

The book has one article by Terasa M. Amabile on how creativity gets killed in big or small organizations. Creativity is undermined everyday unintentionally in work environments that were established to maximize business imperatives such as coordination, productivity, and control. This article talks about how both the things - Creativity and Business imperatives can flourish together. The managers need to pay attention to employees’ expertise, creative thinking skills, and motivation. Out of these three, intrinsic motivation or passion for a certain kind of challenge is the most potent lever the managers can use to boost creativity.
Give Creative people control over every stage of idea development. and A creative idea must also be useful, appropriate and actionable. It should influence the business in a positive way.

In another article Ed Catmull, the co-founder of animation movie maker company Pixar , dissects the success of Pixar and says that Managers should know that everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone in the organization to solve the problems without having to go through the “proper” channel. It should be clear to them that the. Managers need to learn that they don’t always have to be the first to know about something going in their realm, and it’s OK to walk into a meeting and be surprised.

The author makes a very good observation about post mortems that were done at Pixar inc. He says that although people love post mortems they don’t like to do them. People in general would rather talk about what went right than what went wrong. They just want to move on to the next project. There are some simple techniques to overcome these problems. You can ask each group to list the top five things they would do again and the top five things they wouldn’t do. The balance between positive and negative helps make it a safer environment. It also provides a lot of data which can stimulate discussions and challenge assumptions arising from personal impressions.

The book has one interesting article on innovation by Dorothy Leonard and Susaan Straus where they say that If you want an innovative organization, you need to hire, work with, and promote people who make you uncomfortable. And, this was an eye opener, where they say don’t treat the people the way you want to be treated. tailor communications to the receiver instead of the sender. In a cognitively diverse environment, a message sent is not necessarily a message received. Some people respond well to facts, figures, and statistics. Others prefer anecdotes. Still others digest graphic presentations most easily. Information must be delivered in the preferred “language” of the recipient if it is to be received at all.

The book has many more articles which talk about innovation, strategies for encouraging curiosity, Practices that can help bring breakthrough ideas to fruition, How to work with creative people, how creativity can work under tight deadlines, then there is an article on how Creative Thinking can help create game changing strategies in businesses and the last one is how to build a culture of originality.

Finally, The articles contained in this book are good enough to get started and experiment with ideas provided in it. I liked this book.

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Review: The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life

The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life by Anna McGovern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[ Link : The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life ]
Pottering A cure for modern life by Anna McGovern. This is a small book and talks about what pottering is and what are the fundamentals of it.

The definition of pottering is to occupy oneself in a pleasant way but without a definite plan or purpose. The author says that pottering can be done while doing any small household work like cleaning and making tea or going to a nearby shop to buy something. One of the characteristics of pottering is honesty. We do not have to put too much effort in it and travel too far or do it with others. But after doing it you should feel relaxed and content.


What are the fundamentals of pottering ? there are 5 principles of pottering and as per the author meeting all of them would be great but not necessary.

Principle #1 Make do with what you have got. Things like tea, milk, colors, mug, teaspoons which are easily available in any household can be used in pottering. You do not have to strive for perfection and It will really keep the pressure off. The important thing is that you should like the activity that you chose to do when you potter.

Principle #2 Don’t try too hard. There are many ways you can do any activity. The author gives the example of tea where she says that there are millions of ways to make tea. You have the freedom to make tea any way you want. You be you.

Principle #3 Movement. Pottering implies moving from one activity to another, it is not still. However, you do not have to move far or fast. There is no destination. There are no triathlons involved here. Strain, breathlessness, and sweating are unnecessary. Nevertheless don’t stop moving all together or you will lose momentum. After finishing one activity if you do not get any idea about the next activity you should then just sit and think.

Principle #4 Keep it local. Do the activity at home. You do not have to leave your home. Though You can enjoy wandering down to the local small shops. Probably, you can go driving without a destination in mind but don’t overdo it.

Principle #5 Keep it digital free. Watching tv or playing games on mobile is not pottering. In pottering, you do one thing at a time mostly so you can’t be on social media. Plus, pottering activities are so inconsequential that you are unlikely to tell your social networks about them.

Finally, Pottering, the tiny inconsequential activities that we do can make our lives better. After doing these activities we get a sense of owning time and control on our life. Reading this book gave me a lot of pottering ideas that I could do. This is a nice book and I liked it.


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Review: The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life

The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life by Anna McGovern
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[ Youtube Link : The Art of Doing Nothing and Something: Pottering as a Cure for Modern Life ]
Pottering A cure for modern life by Anna McGovern. This is a small book and talks about what pottering is and what are the fundamentals of it.

The definition of pottering is to occupy oneself in a pleasant way but without a definite plan or purpose. The author says that pottering can be done while doing any small household work like cleaning and making tea or going to a nearby shop to buy something. One of the characteristics of pottering is honesty. We do not have to put too much effort in it and travel too far or do it with others. But after doing it you should feel relaxed and content.


What are the fundamentals of pottering ? there are 5 principles of pottering and as per the author meeting all of them would be great but not necessary.

Principle #1 Make do with what you have got. Things like tea, milk, colors, mug, teaspoons which are easily available in any household can be used in pottering. You do not have to strive for perfection and It will really keep the pressure off. The important thing is that you should like the activity that you chose to do when you potter.

Principle #2 Don’t try too hard. There are many ways you can do any activity. The author gives the example of tea where she says that there are millions of ways to make tea. You have the freedom to make tea any way you want. You be you.

Principle #3 Movement. Pottering implies moving from one activity to another, it is not still. However, you do not have to move far or fast. There is no destination. There are no triathlons involved here. Strain, breathlessness, and sweating are unnecessary. Nevertheless don’t stop moving all together or you will lose momentum. After finishing one activity if you do not get any idea about the next activity you should then just sit and think.

Principle #4 Keep it local. Do the activity at home. You do not have to leave your home. Though You can enjoy wandering down to the local small shops. Probably, you can go driving without a destination in mind but don’t overdo it.

Principle #5 Keep it digital free. Watching tv or playing games on mobile is not pottering. In pottering, you do one thing at a time mostly so you can’t be on social media. Plus, pottering activities are so inconsequential that you are unlikely to tell your social networks about them.

Finally, Pottering, the tiny inconsequential activities that we do can make our lives better. After doing these activities we get a sense of owning time and control on our life. Reading this book gave me a lot of pottering ideas that I could do. This is a nice book and I liked it.

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Friday Forward: Inspiration & Motivation to End Your Week Even Stronger Than You Started It By Robert Glazer

Friday Forward: Inspiration & Motivation to End Your Week Even Stronger Than You Started It by Robert Glazer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

[ Links : Review at Youtube ]

This book Friday Forward by Robert Glazer talks about stories and real - life examples of productivity improvement and gives insight into how a person can improve personal capacity and do things better in all aspects of life. The author’s previous book Elevate talked about what capacity building is for a person and how to embrace it in life. And, in this book he gives real life examples of people who excelled and explains the reasons for it.

The Author, Robert Glazer says that Most of us are living below our full potential, and we have so much more capacity to achieve the life we want. Capacity building is a set of methods that we use to develop the skills of high level.

So, what are the various capacities that we should build so that we can achieve the life we want ? Lets go one by one -

#1 Spiritual Capacity : Spiritual capacity requires us to evaluate who we are and what we want most from life and then align our daily lives to those principles. The author says that building spiritual capacity requires us to deeply evaluate what is most important to us. Building the spiritual capacity requires determining our non-negotiable core beliefs and values through deep introspection and self-assessment. The better you know your core values the better will be your resolve to safeguard them. This helps tremendously when you are either having a difficult time or you have to make a difficult decision. So know your core values very well.

#2 Intellectual Capacity : Intellectual capacity is how we improve our ability to think, learn, plan, and execute with discipline. Setting and achieving goals, developing good routines and habits, and learning continuously are some of the ways to increase your intellectual capacity. By This way, over time you will have amassed a lot of good habits, knowledge and enough practice of setting and achieving goals. This will continuously prepare you for difficult and highly intellectual work.

#3 Physical Capacity : Physical capacity is our ability to improve our health, well being and physical performance. While our brains help guide us through life , it’s our bodies that are asked to do the heavy lifting day in and day out. That’s why it’s important that we maintain our health and wellness in all aspects.

#4 Emotional Capacity : Emotional capacity is about increasing your ability to have good quality relationships. It’s also about how you react to challenging situations and people. People who have high capacity can handle challenges and setbacks better. With continuous practice and self evaluation a person should be able to manage his feelings and react to difficult situations better. The better the emotional capacity you have the better you will be able to handle the difficult situations and understand others.

This Author has shared many stories and has tried to convey the message through them. Let's talk about some of the stories that the book contains.

There is one story in the book about a sociological study that happened in one of the European town that compared the two groups of neighbors : non-Jews who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the holocaust and non-Jews who did nothing. The study revealed that what ultimately differentiated the rescuers from the non rescuers was how their parents disciplined good behaviour and praised good behaviour. The rescuers were explained by their parents the reason behind the discipline that they imposed on them. This also encouraged critical thinking and reasoning among their kids. The parents of the rescuers group instilled the importance of values in the very early life of their kids. These kids would comply with any rules only if that aligned with their important values and questioned those that didn’t comply.

Then there is one story about how being excellent can be the best way to market yourself. The story talks about a service provided by a big company against a local plumber. After repeated calls the contracted big company responded to the service required by a customer after five days and even then they couldn’t fix the problem. Then, that customer contacted a local plumber who not only fixed the problem but he also showed excellence in everything he did from keeping and maintaining his clean car to cleaning up the whole mess after the work was finished at the customer site. There can be no better marketing than demonstrating excellence day in and day out. The story says that When we choose excellence the others do notice it.

The book has many such stories which talk about the 4 capacities that a person can work to increase his productivity. The stories in the book are motivating and to-the point. I also liked the quotes in the book. Overall , I think this is a nice book which gives enough material to think about increasing your productivity in all walks of life. 

 

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Review: The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World

The Grit Factor: Courage, Resilience, and Leadership in the Most Male-Dominated Organization in the World by Shannon Huffman Polson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Link: YouTube Review

"Those who are first in their fields, or one of few in their fields, are leaders by virtue of circumstances, and the challenges ahead of them require grit. Their success shows others what is possible. Those who lead and are committed to making a difference either by choice or circumstances need grit, Full stop."-Shannon Huffman Polson, The Grit factor>

The Author of this book Shannon Huffman Polson is from a Military background. And, in this book she has shared stories and experiences from the women who served in the US military. Many of these military women were the first women to join their respective higher positions in the military in their time and faced many hardships.The author says that this book is for women who lead or aspire to lead and men who are in position to integrate women at senior positions in their organization. This book can help you develop your own sense of grit through the stories and the exercises that each chapter has.

All the stories and insights that the author talks about in the book are grouped into three categories : Commit, Learn, and Launch. Each chapter in each category represents a different aspect of Grit hence the book is named as - The Grit Factor.

Grit is a skill that can be developed through dedicated and consistent effort. According to Karen Fine Brasch, one of the military women whose story is discussed in this book by the author says that - “Grit isn’t something that you learn, it’s something that you do. It starts out by something feeling impossible or overwhelming , requires all of your focus and fortitude while you are going through it, and it feels you are going to fail right up to the very point you succeed. And you do it alone.”

The basic requirement to have grit in any person is having the confidence that the task in hand can be done. From where does that kind of confidence come ? This book suggests steps to develop this confidence. Let's take a look at the steps one by one.

Step #1 Craft Your Story
The book suggests that if you reflect back on the events since your childhood and put them on the spectrum of your memory then there will be many instances where you find yourself reacting effectively. This part of the exercise will help one to identify the strengths and weaknesses in self. Once you are aware of your strengths you can utilize them or rely on them if needed. And you can always work on your weakness and get rid of it or minimize the negative impact of it.

Step #2 Unearth your core purpose
Purpose is the bedrock of Grit. If you are out there to do a difficult task with a rock solid purpose then a continuous reminder of that purpose to yourself can keep you on track to complete that task. The author says that the purpose will give you the passion and commitment that you need to successfully navigate those upcoming moments of hardship and funnel your efforts towards achieving your goal.

Step #3 Draw your circle
A leader should have a circle of mentors, a loyal team, colleagues, friends, and acquaintances who support his cause. A leader should be able to draw strength from every person from this circle. Developing a circle prepares you for the circumstances that require grit. Strong and trustworthy relationships can make a person resilient which is an important aspect of Grit. A leader should know two things - one no leader can achieve his goals alone. A leader has to have a team and two you can’t be friends with everyone.

Step #4 Listen like a leader
Listening well helps gather vital information and establish a trusting relationship with both coworkers and superiors. The author talks about three steps to listen like a leader : Ask. Listen. Pause. The author talks in detail about these steps in the book.

Step #5 Build your resilience
The author talks about the Master Resilience Training which is used by the US army to train resilience to it’s soldiers . This program talks about six core competencies of resilience -
- self awareness,
- understanding your and other’s strength,
- connection
- Optimism
- Mental Agility
- self- regulation
The book talks in detail about these competencies. While narrating the story of Major Rhonda Cornum, there is a quote from her which rightly puts the power of mindset, it says that - “One of the most important things you can learn is that what you think and how you perceive events is totally up to you. ... Your enemies can not determine what you think. It is your choice. “. Major Cornum was severely injured and despite that she was able to get the help from her captors because of her positive mindset to keep herself and her fellow prisoners alive in Iraq after her helicopter was shot and she was captured by the Iraqi soldiers.

Step #6 Face the Fear head on
The author says that soldiers know that the way you train for push-ups is by doing push-ups. Gradually increasing the number of push-ups until you reach your goal. The lesson applies to most anything. You train for grit by doing things requiring grit. You train for courage by doing things that require courage. And you do that by taking smaller risks at first. As you do, you build up your tolerance for uncertainty and your confidence. Over time it’s how you conquer fear. The willingness to take risk is important throughout your life and career. Taking risk and seizing opportunity is a powerful way to give yourself and your career more lift.

Step #7 and #8 Authenticity and Adaptability
The author says that both go hand in hand. Being yourself is an important component of grit. And, The courage to stay true to yourself requires many things, including speaking out against something you don’t believe in.

The Greeks have a word describing a broader ethos : arete, a striving for excellence in every area. This concept of arete eschews mediocrity, expecting the best in each area of life and performance. Arete must be part of the leader’s ethos today, too. To have the best chance of success in your field, your performance must be stellar - arete must be your goal. This is not perfection, but it is true excellence.

The heart of this book is the stories of various military women which the author has nicely narrated and intertwined it with various aspects of grit, resilience and leadership that these women have displayed during the course of their job. A hats off to all these women !!! I hope that this book reaches every woman who doubts her ability to do difficult things in life and every man who thinks that women can not handle difficult things.

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The Grit Factor By Shannon Huffman Polson

The Author of this book Shannon Huffman Polson is from a Military background. And, in this book she has shared stories and experiences from the women who served in the US military. Many of these military women  were the first women  to join their respective higher positions in the military in their time and faced many hardships.

Time Smart By Ashley Whillans

Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life by Ashley Whillans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book Time Smart by Ashley Whillans, starts with identifying the time traps and the reasons for time poverty. It suggests some steps, habits and strategies to become time affluent. The book also talks about how to fund the time to get rid of the activities that we do not like.

The author also lays out strategies that can keep us time affluent in the long run and how the government and private companies can help to increase the time affluence of common people and their workers respectively.


Let's start by asking this question, Which is more important between time and money ?

The author says, both are valuable, scarce and measurable. It’s also difficult to gain as much of both as we want. We are often choosing between them and making trade-offs. Vacation or no vacation ? eat at home or go out ? are some of the situations where we have to make a choice. And most of the time we end up taking decisions which favor money.

Since childhood we are told or we see that Money is very important. if one is poor then the only thing he wants is money. Many of us learn that time is money and nobody sees anything wrong if you spend every second of your available time to earn more money. Though, even after earning a significant amount of money you do not stop there, you continue to want to earn more and more and
spend countless hours at work ignoring your loved ones assuming that you will make time for them someday and that someday never comes. We do not realize that sitting at home idle or talking to loved ones or spending time with kids is as important as going out and working in an office.

As per the book, We also don't understand that time is finite and is our most valuable resource. Money is valuable to a point, the author says, but it’s an infinite errand which never stops.

This focus on money can cause stress, unhappiness, and loneliness. The cost of getting out of these problems is huge and sometimes you never overcome it.


The book talks about six traps that make us time poor. These traps are -

Trap #1 Constant connection to technology - Cell Phones, Laptops, emails, messages and other technologies constantly interrupt us. This happens both at home and office. It stops us from doing any deep work at the office or complete relaxation at home.

Trap #2 Obsession with work and making money - People wrongly believe that if they work and make money now they will have more time to relax in future. But in reality, making money only leads to an increased interest in making more money.

Trap #3 Limited value placed on time - People often give up large amounts of time to save a very little money. People don’t correctly value their time.

Trap #4 Busyness as a Status Symbol - In many cultures people use their busyness at work as status symbol and are considered of higher status and rich wealthy people.

Trap #5 Aversion to Idleness - People don’t want to sit idle. They simply don’t see any value in being mindful and doing nothing.

Trap #6 Over commitment - people often over commit and then spend extra hours to meet those commitments. They often make over-commitment a habit and they end up working extra hours every day. At the end of the day it doesn’t add any value to their life.

This book has a diagnostic tool which can help you measure how time poor you are and it makes you aware of the traps that are causing your time poverty.


After you have identified your time poverty this book suggests Five ways to alleviate your time poverty and improve your time affluence -

Step 1 - Know your default setting - After doing the exercises suggested by the author you would know where you stand when it comes to giving importance to money and time. if you value money more than time and you are not struggling to meet ends then start moving towards respecting your time more.

Step 2 - Document your time - Be mindful about the activities that you do whether it is productive or unproductive, Pleasurable or purposeful, does it add meaning to your life or not. Identify the Unproductive activities that make you stressed. Once the activities are grouped, reflect on them. Now you should ask yourself if it’s possible to spend less time on the activities that make you unhappy and stressed ? If not, is it possible to make them pleasurable. Think about it.

Step 3 - Find Time - Sometimes we get stuck in activities that we do not like and can’t control. Such activities are the biggest causes of time poverty.The solution for this is that Deliberately spend more time on the tasks that bring you joy and less time on activities that bring misery. The author suggests following activities to find more time or steal more time from your daily routine -
Transform Bad Time - Identify the time that you don’t like and look for ways to improve it.
Augment good time - Knit multiple positive activities together.
Hack Work time - if possible, work from home more often, Take all your paid leaves and vacations and utilize them.
Practice Active Leisure time - the author says that free time spent on active-leisure activities like volunteering, socializing, and exercising promotes happiness far more than free time spent on passive leisure activities like watching TV, napping or online surfing.
Meet New people and help Others

Step 4 - Fund Time
Instead of doing everything yourself you can outsource the activities which can save you time . For example you can order home delivery of groceries, take Uber for office and use that time to read or listen to your favorite music. If you find these expenses are high then you can try to outsource the tasks which you dislike the most and that outsourcing will not cause any big hole in your pocket. If you think you will always find ways to save time.


Step 5 - Re-frame Time
If we change how we feel about our time that can also make us time affluent. The author has given some examples here - if we treat an upcoming weekend as a holiday it can change the mindset of a person how he spends the weekend. One more example is that in physically demanding jobs if one considers them as “Exercise” then he can start liking the job more and feel more physically fit.

Accounting for time and writing down how long you are spending on tasks shows your respect for time.

In this book, the author says that the people who value time are happier, healthier and more productive than those who value money over time. The author suggests to account your time. Spend your time more proactively rather than just let it pass. Daily Reflection on how the day was spent by you can give you ample ideas about what you can tweak in daily routine to make yourself time affluent.

Overall this book is a good book. The book comes with strategies and tool kits to help you build good habits and break away from bad habits to manage the time better. I had been following some of the techniques suggested in this book unknowingly which my family always made fun of and called me lazy. Now I can tell them that I am not lazy. Awesome !


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Win Fast By Siimon Reynolds

Win Fast By Siimon Reynolds reveals some cutting-edge techniques

that one  can apply quickly to be more productive, disciplined and

healthy.  Once the suggested methods are applied regularly and

become a habit then one can achieve high levels of success both in

personal and professional life.

The Art of being indispensable at work by Bruce Tulgan

This book talks about how to collaborate and become  a go-to person at the
workplace without affecting your mental peace and health.

Review: The Art of Being Indispensable at Work: Win Influence, Beat Overcommitment, and Get the Right Things Done

The Art of Being Indispensable at Work: Win Influence, Beat Overcommitment, and Get the Right Things Done by Bruce Tulgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These days doing your job has become a lot harder, it requires a lot more that it ever did. You collaborate with a lot more people than ever before. you have to collaborate not only with your boss and your peers, but all over the organization chart - up, down, sideways and diagonal. In addition to your direct boss, immediate teammates, you probably serve a seemingly unlimited number of people in these internal teams in your organization. And your colleagues are also in the same boat with you.

You and most of your colleagues make commitments and promises to deliver for each other. Most everybody wants to be that indispensable go-to person and depend and deliver for each other.

But if you are not careful about your commitments then you may end up doing over commitments which can muddle your priorities and your important tasks are left undone or done ineffectively. If you are not able to finish your own work, how would you become indispensable for others ?

As collaboration is the latest revolution sweeping across the workplace because of the globalization, We need to look at it more closely. Collaboration manifests in different ways with different names in any organization. It can be called matrix management, dotted-line reporting, cross functional coordination, self managed project teams, lateral cooperation, interdependency etcetera.

The main goal of collaboration is speed up and improve -
-- information exchange,
-- decision making,
-- planning,
-- resource sharing,
-- execution.

In a collaborative working environment you should be ready to work with everyone and anyone. Think about corporate departments that provide common services to all other departments, like the IT department or the Payroll department. If Anyone in the organization has a problem either with their computer or paycheck they come to these two departments. In a collaborative environment you are required to manage more working relationships and produce richer, more flexible products and services faster.


What is the main problem with collaboration ? Getting what you need from your lateral colleague is difficult because there is no way to hold them accountable without clear authority. The author here talks about something called over commitment syndrome. Which is defined as -

Inundation of requests + No Accountability + EIMJ (Everything is my Job ) = Over commitment Syndrome

This syndrome emerges when everything in your list is told to you as urgent and important by the persons who made the request. New priorities are added to the list everyday. There is competition for resources. You keep saying yes to each other but at the end of it you let down each other.

And, if this continues and you remain over committed then the time will come that you would start feeling to resist any new work coming towards you and you will also become more aggressive while making requests to others for some work. It ends up with spoiled working relationships. and , it becomes detrimental to your goal of becoming that GO-TO person in the organization that you always dreamt to become. Author calls this - Siege mentality which is more like you are fighting your rescuer when you are in over your head.

Most people bounce back from the siege mentality sooner or later but they start saying “Yes, Yes, yes” again and it leads them back to the overcommitment syndrome which again leads them back to the “siege” mentality and which again leads right back to saying “No, No, No”.

So, How to get out of this no-win cycle ?

It is a fact that in any organization everybody needs something from others all the time. And above all the lines of authority are usually unclear and there is always a room for confusion. In this situation the author suggests to use real influence where people work for you because they want to. But he wants us to adhere to two things.

What is the first thing ?

The First thing is, Regardless of how much influence you have, never ignore authority. Somewhere someone is making decisions. You should ensure that you are aligned with your boss and the leadership.

What is the second thing ?

The Second thing is, do not put pressure of any kind on people to get them to comply. That will make people root against you, and wish for your failure.

Now the author says that, The real influence a go-to person achieves by serving others. Stop focusing on what other people can do for you and focus instead on what you can do for them. Make yourself super valuable to others. The more value you add, the more truly invested others become in your success. The author says that - that’s how you become indispensable. That’s how you use real influence and become a real go-to person.

As per the book following are the characteristics of a go-to person with real influence -
#1 incredibly valuable to others.
#2 Are very good at their job.
#3 have positive attitude and double on hard work
#4 Take personal responsibility and get things done.
#5 Are creative and tenacious but do the things by the book and follow orders.
#6 Do all the things consistently, almost every time.

Now, if we talk about the structure of the book, There are 8 chapters in this book .

The first chapter “Fight over commitment syndrome” talks about the over commitment and it’s affects..

The second chapter “The peculiar mathematics of real influence” is on how to create real influence.

The third one “Up and down chain of command” talks about alignment on ground rules, priorities etcetera with your boss and leadership.

The Chapter 4, talks about when to say no and how to maximize your gains while saying yes.

In the chapter 5 “Work Smart”, the author talks about mastering the best practices, repeatable solutions and job aids.

In chapter 6 “finish what you start”, the author talks about how to finish one work at one time and how to have and manage a long to-do list.

In chapter 7 “Keep Getting better and better at working together”, the author talks about building long lasting work relationships.

In chapter 8, Go-to-ism is the art of being indispensable at work, the author talks about finding and building new go-to-people wherever and whenever you need them.

Finally the verdict, This book is highly practical in the suggestions that it makes and the approach that it suggests. I liked this book and now I think that I have some idea about how a person can become indispensable in any organization.


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Infinite Gamification by Toby Beresford

Review: Infinite Gamification: Motivate your team until the end of time

Infinite Gamification: Motivate your team until the end of time by Toby Beresford
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is about Gamification and its application to improve the motivation of your team. It talks about the 3 phases that are required to complete any Gamification program. These phases are - Analysis, Design and Evolution.

I have never read a book on Gamification and after reading the title of this book, the first question that came to my mind was - What is Gamification ? Is Gamification good or bad ?

With a little bit of research I found that Gamification may be a new term but the idea of using game-thinking and game - mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences isn’t exactly new. The Military has been using games and simulations for hundreds of years. These days It can be used to increase engagement in any area like online marketing of a product or a service or to increase learner’s engagement in education.

Gamification is also being used heavily in the health sector to change behavior, to aid in cognitive and physical development of children.

Humans like playing games. And, Gamification works by encouraging people to engage in desired behaviors by taking advantage of this tendency of humans.

A typical finite Gamification program has a beginning, middle, and end. The end reflects in an epic win, a top level, a complete collection of badges.. But, an infinite Gamification program works well in situations where you desire a continuous improvement and the program is designed to continue forever. The book talks about both of these two concepts but it’s main focus is on Infinite Gamification.

As I said earlier the Most of the programs fit into the finite gamification model and the programs end when the learner passes the final hurdle and achieves supposed mastery.

But, in real life, mastery doesn’t happen just because you have completed the education process - there is still the need to adopt the skills into your day to day life and then perform them well.

It is in these two latter stages - adoption and performance - that infinite gamification becomes more important.

The Book says - A sustainable program that motivates teams and individuals to continuous improvements is the goal of infinite gamification. Examples of infinite gamifications are -

• The Oscars - where status is awarded every year
• Time Magazine’s person of the year - where status is accorded based on the media coverage
• English Premier League - where status is based on the results of games played.
• Transparency Index - where countries compete not to be shamed at the bottom of the index.

In Fact in most businesses you can find infinite gamification such as -

• Employees of the month
• Scores in loyalty programs and so on.

The next question comes to mind, why does a manager, a marketer or a leader need to Gamify ? the author answers this by saying that - Leadership usually involves an infinite gamification program to influence colleagues or direct subordinates and infinite gamification equips them with a new powerful influence tool. At some level leaders signpost the behaviour they want to see in others. It might be as simple as ‘doing or not doing’ with a graded level of achievement. One example of this could be whether a salesperson contacts 10 prospects or not per day. In return we calibrate our behaviour to the score given to us as we all are sensitive to scores from childhood. And this is where Gamification becomes a powerful effective tool for leaders.

Most Infinite gamification programs are based on scores, be it the Oscars or the English Premier League, Because consciously or not we all keep track of the score that matters to us. With the rise of the digital world, we are now presented with more scores than ever. How many followers do I have, likes for the post etc. the book says that a well- designed score enables you to succeed. A badly designed score drives negative behaviors - like apathy, cheating, or other wrong behaviors.

Sometimes, the badly designed scores can wreak havoc. For example - People taking selfies from roof tops risking death in the quest for more social media likes.

So a badly designed infinite gamification program can kill you. It’s worth taking the time to design the score well.

The book says that any new Gamification program comes into fruition in three main phases -

• Analysis
• Design and
• Evolution

What is done in the Analysis phase ? In the analysis phase the requirements are clarified. Target players are located. And, Existing infinite gamification programs, score cards, leagues are identified for the target players. In this phase you will hear the terms like - Prime Directive, Data Sourcing, Score Context, Stake Holder Analysis, Player Motivation, Players Opt-in Spectrum etc.

The Next phase is Design. In this phase you would come with a design for a Scorecard and a League. A Scorecard will be based on some score algorithm evaluating many metrics. Using Score card players will get feedback on their progress. And using League, Players can compare their progress with others. Please note that, A player can be an individual person or a team who is participating in the league. In this phase you will talk about - Vanity and Clarity Metrics, Lag and Lead Metrics, Score Methods, Ranking methods, Later Arrival Handling, Leader board Layout, Scoreboard Layout, Badge Design etc.

The third phase is - Evolution. The infinite gamification program iterates and changes over the time. The best programs have processes in place to manage change. Without Evolution, Program can break and result in unwanted side effects and disengagement. In this phase you will hear about the maturity model, Metric Maturity, player Maturity and committee which will affect Evolution.

Finally the verdict on this book. This book is nice and it can give you ample information to start an infinite gaming program to change the behaviour of your team or their responses in certain situations. The book nicely explains the basics of Gamification.

You may want to explore another book on the same subject -

Gamification by Design : By Gabe Zichermann.


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Review: Eat, Sleep, Innovate: How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization

Eat, Sleep, Innovate: How to Make Creativity an Everyday Habit Inside Your Organization by Scott D. Anthony
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Innovation is something different that creates value but it is an unnatural act in most of the organizations. This book is about innovation and how to make it a day-to-day habit in any organization. This book can be used as a practical guide for building a culture of innovation in any organization. The book suggests to ingrain certain habits by using behaviour enablers, artifacts, and nudges.

The book is divided into two parts - the first part sets the foundation and The second part provides practical tools and tips and inspiring stories to help drive cultural change.

The approach that the book suggests is the convergence of four streams of research -
-- Organizational culture
-- Habit change
-- Innovation enabling behaviors
-- Innovation enhancing structures and systems

Let’s talk about how organizational culture impedes or enables the innovations to fail or succeed.
Organizational Culture
Now the first thing, How do you bring cultural change in any organization that enables innovations to succeed ? The enemy of innovation inside most organizations is institutionalized inertia that is reinforced in systems and norms.

Cultural change is not a paint-by-number exercise. The solution for your organization needs to be tailored to your unique goals, current context, and history.

How to create a culture of innovation ? the authors say - don’t bring foosball tables at the workplace. Don’t run useless campaigns exhorting people to give their new ideas on a particular day called “Free thinking friday” . Don’t do all these things. The authors suggest use of BEANs to hack habits. Beans are inspired by habit-change literature. A bean is - behaviour enabler, artifact and nudge.

The organization will have to work at the ground level with the employees where they will have to define specific behaviours that succeed in enabling innovation. those behaviours are like -
Innovators are curious,
Innovators are customer obsessed
Innovators collaborate,
Innovators can work efficiently even if there is ambiguity in the system or work space.
Innovators feel empowered.
Innovators think about future requirements while addressing the current needs.

Now how to ingrain these behaviors into any organization ? The book says that success requires focussing on changing people’s daily habits through a series of interventions, and then ensuring that the new habits stick and scale.

How Do you change a habit ?
Habit change requires engaging people’s rational, logical side and their emotional and intuitive side.
Habit change requires a multi front battle which uses a combination of mantras, nudges, and social interaction to change people’s behavior pattern.
To Reinforce the desired behavior - goal setting and achievement and social comparison and encouragement can be used.

Here the authors suggest use of BEANs to change the impeding behaviour and engrain new habits which enable innovation to succeed.

What are the behaviour enablers - these are the direct way to change behaviour -
-- Developing a daily ritual
-- Building a wider community
-- Having access to a coach and counsellor
-- Create simple checklists or user guides.

Artifacts are physical and digital reinforcers that connect the first two ideas. Artifacts include -
-- Prizes and trophies
-- Physical Avatars that reinforce the desired changes
-- Picture and visuals that serve as background reminders
-- Physical objects that sit on desks or in conference rooms.

What are nudges that can be used to change behaviour ? nudges are an indirect way to change the behavior.
Making the desired behavior default.
-- Having reminders.
-- Creating and sharing stories
-- Using physical office design to facilitate specific behaviour.
-- Providing some form of comparison

The book also talks about a case study where it provides a step by step guidance on how to conduct a six week sprint to develop practical interventions and catalyze a group of change agents for innovation to succeed.


PART II

Part II contains practical tips and tools and inspiring stories to help you drive culture changes that sticks and scales. Short sections are organized into chapters tied to the phases. A phase is what a would be innovator should follow :-

Phase 1 - Discover Opportunity by Being curious and customer obsessed. In this phase you discover the problem that you want to solve.


Phase 2 - Blueprint compelling ideas by being collaborative and customer obsessed. In this phase you come up with tangible idea that solves the problem that was identified in phase 1

Phase 3 - Assess and test ideas By being adept in ambiguity and by being empowered. This phase involves picking up an idea, looking at it from multiple angles, separating facts from assumptions, testing rigorously and adapting quickly.

Phase 4 - Move ideas forward by being empowered and collaborative

For each phase the book talks about 4 things -
beans that include behaviour enables, artifacts and nudges. The book lists around 101 BEANS used by various companies and book talks about around 40 of them in detail in this book.

, There are also bean boosters that help maximize the impact of selected beans.

Each section has one or two inspirational case studies.

Each chapter has a tool to help. For example in phase 1 - Being curious is a must for being innovative. The book suggests a tool called - curiosity quotient which can give you an idea of how curious you or your team are ?

Finally, the verdict. The book is good. It has a lot of examples in the form of beans, case studies. This book gives a fair idea of how to inculcate the habit of innovation in your team at granular level by using various tools. It can be started with a small team and then scaled to the whole organization. I liked this book and certainly learnt that building an innovation oriented team may not be that difficult.


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