Realization

A few hours ago I was sitting with my mother-in-law, wife and two daughters. I was like, jeez, I'm surrounded by some damn intelligent females.

My mother-in-law has 5 degrees in subjects as varied as Mandarin and Economics, my wife graduated from Oxford, my eldest daughter is perhaps the youngest person ever to have attained 5 A*s in her IGCSEs (16+ exams), when she was 12, and my youngest daughter is likely the youngest girl ever to have achieved an A* in Maths IGCSE, which she did when she was 8.

I then thought if you add the women in my birth family - my mother, who attained a scholarship to each of the several high schools she attended, and my sister, also an Oxford grad, I have been dealing with intelligent women all my life!

It hit me that none of them are as obsessed as most women I know about how they look, even though one was a part-time model. They like to look nice, but it's a minor aspect of their lives.

We live in a world where the media, and men in general, strongly encourage women to value their physical appearance more than anything else.

But these women value their minds most. That's a good thing, and it has been key to their achievements.

   -Asim Qureshi

Stop Creating False Beliefs in Your Mind

Types of People Who Will NOT Succeed in Life

There's a senior of my school whom I know personally, let his name be Amit.

His father owned a very small shop at the outskirts of my city and his mother was a homemaker, so the whole family relied on his father as he was the only source of income.He came from an extremely middle class family.

But when the CBSE 10th results were out, the whole school was stunned by his performance which was quite expected. He topped the whole district with a whopping 97%.

Everyone expected him to visit Kota as he had the potential to clear IIT(no jee adv was there that time). But due to his financial condition he stayed in our small city and yet again amazed us with his ecstatic performance in class 12 as he scored 95% with 100 in chemistry.

Through BCECE he got himself in Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, for those who don't know, it's a tier-3 govt college of Bihar whose condition is pathetic.

A boy who was capable of clearing IIT ended up in a tier-3 college which was devastating for him, people advised him not to do so but money created the boundaries. Still he decided to pursue his interest and prepare for CAT.

He toiled hard and his hard work paid off, he got a call from IIM Indore and even got a govt job in E.Railway which was no less than a dream for him.

But life has it's own way of pulling out the rug from right under you feet when you least expect it.

His father died in an accident. The world almost stopped for him. Yet again, money created the boundaries between him and his dream Institute as the only earning member of the family is no more. He had no options left but to join as an engineer in Railways to support his family.

He dumped the idea of studying in IIM and went ahead to join as a govt engineer.

Years passed, he got married and was blessed with a baby girl.

Wait, the story is not over yet.

This time, he nailed it again. He cleared the toughest UPSC engineering service examination and this time even money didn't have the power to stop him.

Now, he's working as a class A officer and leads a peaceful life.

Now coming to the question, Which kind of people never succeed in life?

• People who are stuck in their past- This man had a gloomy past but it didn't stop him from holding on to his dream of becoming successful one day.
• People who play blame games- Never in my life have I seen this man blaming money or his luck for his circumstances, instead he sourced all the confidence from it and gave a kick start to his career.
• People who play safe- Had he not taken the risk, he would have been stuck with his old job.
• People who thinks it's too late- When he cleared this examination, he was married and had a 1 year old daughter. Still he remained focused on his aim and even fulfilled his responsibilities as a father.
• People who believes it's the end- If he had thought even once that leaving IIM for a low-paying job is the end, he would never be able to achieve the social status which he has today.He proved that Dead Ends don't exist!!!  
     
  -Akansha Kataria
  
  

Biggest Mistake I’ve Watched Someone Making in Their Personal Life

A friend of mine was defrauded of his savings of 70,000 dollars by a girl he liked.

My friend has never gone to college. But he is very hard working. He did the most the basic work at a factory for ten hours a day and with only two days of vacation per month.

My friend told me that he was in a relationship and that he met the girl at the factory.

Well, I didn’t doubt that girl at first. Yet, I felt that this girl was not taking their relationship seriously when I had dinner with them. I warned my friend and he was just pissed off because of my word.

This girl is from another province and we barely know her. She lied to my friend to marry him. She said that he needs to pay the girl’s parents 70,000 US dollars. Basically, the man needs to pay the women’s parents if a man and a women is getting a married. It is a kind of custom in China.

When I knew about this thing, I felt very unsettled. I advised him to be extremely cautious as his money was hard earned and that it doesn't come easily working at a factory.

He didn’t listen to me. He was even very happy about this “fake” marriage. I can’t believe that he is so stupid.

After he gave the money to the girl, she ran away in the middle of the night. THIS IS SUCH A BITCHY THING TO DO.

When he lost all his saving and the girl too, he felt like he had lost his soul.
He had no desire to work after that and he resigned. As a result, he had no place to live without a paycheck either.

I suggested for him to live in my house for a period of time. But he refused.

So he lived on the street and slept on a stone bench in the park at nights. He would stuff his mobile phone, a bank card ID, and a wallet with no money inside his pants and tighten his belt so that things would not get stolen when he fell asleep.

I helped him to ask police for help. But the girl was missing. And he is just so stubborn, he stopped contacting me gradually. I was so worried about him. Not much I could do for him.

He used to be easily influenced by online comments. He believed that women were only into spending money. He also believed that women only looked at money as a man’s worth.

Naturally, when he met this girl he liked, he kept spending money. Due time, he was finally cheated by her completely from his 70,000 US dollars in savings, his hope, and his life.

I just wanna warn you guys to not get influenced by the cyber languages and not to give up hope for life especially because of a bad relationship/s we ever had.

It is normal to feel like the sky is falling down and be upset at yourself like my friend.

Instead, be smarter and get control over your life.

- Samuel Whyte,Studied Psychology at University of Southampton (Graduated 2012)

Best Advice That I Gave to a 16 Year Old

An illiterate guy I knew desperately asked me to teach mathematics to his 16-year-old son who couldn’t multiply two one-digit numbers and was months away from failing his 16+ exams - he was at a below-average state school and was doing pretty badly there.

I agreed to his father's request, but I didn’t teach the kid any mathematics. Every week I just spent 15 minutes telling him and then reminding him that unless he sorted his life out he’d be cooking burgers for the rest of his life.

I explained in detail what that actually meant. Apart from hating his job he’d be driving home in a 20-year-old Datsun to his tiny house, he wouldn’t be able to give his kids things that he’d want to give them, etc…

And it would, in all probability, be too late to do anything about it, in part because he’d be mentally defeated.

I did tell him there’s nothing wrong living an honest life like that. In fact, it’d be admirable if he could contently do so. But he’s actively making a choice that will, in all probability, lead him there.

Just over five years later he graduated from King's College London, one of the top 25 universities in the world, in Computer Science.

 

-Asim Qureshi,MA in Physics, University of Oxford

Innovation and Creativity

How many of us think of poor people in India? I am sure most of us do.

Vikram Dinubhai Panchal of NID created this masterpiece and priced it at a minuscule cost of Rs. 300. It is called "load carrier for labor".

Load carrier for labor project is the innovation to improve the working condition of laborers and workers at many places globally like the construction sites, factories, ports, railway stations, etc. The objective is to prevent various occupational hazards and demonstrating Product design and ergonomic consideration in the welfare of human life.

Thank you for reading.

Kunal Sakhare, IOCL Officer

M.M.S. from Marketing, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies

Credit @ Shishir Gupta

 

"No Hands, No Feet, No Worries"

"No hands, no feet, no worries."

The person I am going to talk about today may be well known，but I must say again.He is Nick Huzhe.

Nick Huzhe was born on December 4, 1982. He was born without arms and legs, only a small "foot" with two toes below his left hip. He called himself "little drumstick".

His father was so frightened that he couldn't help running outside the hospital delivery room to throw up. His mother couldn't accept this cruel fact, and didn't dare to hug him until Nick Huzhe was 4 months old. His parents felt incomprehensible that this disease happened to him, and for many years he had not been able to get a reasonable medical explanation after consulting doctors everywhere.

"My mother is a nurse herself, and everything is done according to the rules during pregnancy," the British "Daily Mail" reported on July 1, quoting Nick Huzhe. "She has been blaming herself."

1. He was bullied as a teenager and attempted suicide

Although Nick Huzhe was physically disabled, his parents did not give up his education. His father taught him how to type with a little "drumstick", and his mother designed a special plastic device for him so that he could write with a pen.

At the age of 8, he entered elementary school like normal children. But his special body, his classmates could not help but laugh at him and insult him. For a ten-year-old child, it was unbearable to be bullied. He also once disliked his body, had no confidence in his future, and thought of committing suicide. He was extremely disappointed, soaking himself in the bathtub, trying to drown himself, but his body always floated up unconsciously, and he tried three times before and after it was unsuccessful.

2. Inspirational speech, hard work

Although Nick Huzhe has unsound limbs, he has a clever head and a good eloquence. His road to speech began when the American inspired master Ricky Dubbs gave a speech in Australia. Nick Huzhe was deeply moved by Ricky Dubbs. His speech was so exciting that he determined to be a Speakers use the power of language to influence more people. So he practiced painstakingly at home, watched countless inspirational masters’ speech videos, read countless inspirational books, he learned their gestures, their language, and practiced facing the mirror again and again.

When he was 19, he called the school to promote his speech. Finally, after being rejected 52 times, he got a 5-minute speech opportunity and a salary of $50. From then on, he started his speech career.

3. Lecture tours to spread positive energy

In 2003, Nick Huzhe graduated from University with a double bachelor's degree in accounting and financial planning. Since then, he has embarked on the road of speeches. Over the years, his speeches have reached 34 countries including Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, and China, and delivered thousands of speeches.

He shared his unique experience with everyone and gave everyone the strength to persevere. His powerful mental power made up for his physical defects, enabling him to surpass ordinary people and achieve success.

Life fighter Nick Huzhe married Kanae Miyahara on February 12, 2012. Their combination has witnessed the faithfulness of God and the beauty of marriage. Fans from all over the world can’t wait to leave a message on Nick’s Facebook page for A pair of newlyweds sent words of congratulations and gratitude, and the messages were also in Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

At the end of the article, I ended up with Nick Huzhe’s famous quote：

"The saddest thing in life is not the loss of limbs, but the lack of hope and goal for survival! People often complain about being unable to do anything, but if we only remember what we want to have or what we lack, and don't cherish what we have, it will not change at all. The problem! It is not our opportunities but our attitude that really changes our destiny."

 -Berry Rasp

Leaving Good Job for doing Farming?

Because some people mistakenly think farming is easy.

If farming were that easy, millions of farmers won’t be coming out of that profession every year (Over 2,000 fewer farmers every day

, More than 75% farmers want to leave their occupation

) — not just in India, but across the world.

Farming is extremely stressful and farmers commit suicides in large numbers, not just in India,but in richer countries like US and France where the governments provide a lot of support to local farmers.

The quiet suicide epidemic plaguing French farmers

Why are America’s farmers killing themselves?

Farmers' suicides: the rising human cost of the EU's agriculture crisis

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The millenials and Gen-Z have grown up on a glitzy view of the world where people don’t toil hard for work. Media has completely filtered out the struggles of success and focus only on the fruits of it.

When these kids come to corporate world, they often get a rude shock. Corporate world is hard. So is starting a company or succeeding in a sports league, doing research or anything of use in the world.

Being unprepared for the hard rigour they get into a fantasy world of grass is greener on the other side. While a small portion of those who take up other sectors like farming, do succeed, many just give up and get back to reality.

Growing plants as a hobby can be quite liberating. But doing that as a primary means of earning money can be suicidal. Often literally.

 

-Balaji Viswanathan,CEO at Invento (2016–present)

 

{Blogger's Note : If you want to really do farming then be innovative learn from the countries which do farming scietifically eg checking soil, water requirement,use latest but cheap technologies . After all if you are really into it then find your way and Be Excellent }

Either You Work with what you have or you loose

 

Struggling Financially?

The rules of work have changed.

Most likely you’re working for money, meaning you’re selling your time in exchange for money.

This is called earned income.

To better illustrate this, earned income is like a farmer working with his hands.

His production efficiency ratio is 1:1 = ZERO leverage

It’s extremely difficult to achieve financial freedom with earned income.

1. Earned income is the most heavily taxed source of income.
2. Earned income pays taxes BEFORE expenses.
3. Most probably your expenses are not allowing you to invest any money to accumulate wealth.

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To increase your income, you need to use some kind of leverage.

The better the leverage, the more effective your hours of work will be.

Back to the farmer example:

With the use of a tool (leverage) the farmer above can produce 5X times more ‘value’ during the same hours of work.

Now, the farmer is using not only a tool, but also the power of animals (increased leverage) to boost production.

This farmer can now produce 500X times more ‘value’ during the same working hours.

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To answer your question ‘What’s the best advice you can give to someone who is always struggling financially?’

This advice is for employees: Stop chasing money and start chasing value.

Reevaluate your work and daily actions. Think how you could deliver more ‘value’ through your hours of work. This can be achieved by leveraging some skill, knowledge or tools.

When we’re focused on making money, we are focused on ourselves which blinds us to the value we deliver to our customers or our employer.

Remember this:

We all get paid according to the ‘value’ we deliver, NOT according to the number of hours we work. While we can work the same number of hours, the value delivered by a rocket scientist is dramatically different than a taxi driver’s work.

In the labor market, it all comes to scarcity.

Millions of people can drive a car. Few have the knowledge and skills of a rocket scientist. Increased delivered value leads to higher income, which should ease your financial struggles.

  

-Hector Quintanilla

 

 

 “I’m a farmer; I live with my wife and two kids– a 7 year old son and 10 year old daughter. Money has always been tight– I make 5000 Rupees each month, sometimes less, but I ensured that both my children went to school. I had to drop out of school in the 8th grade to support my family, so I want my children to get all the opportunities I never got. 

 
But, the lockdown in our village created a big problem– my daughter’s school started online classes, but I didn’t have a smartphone. She came crying to me saying, ‘Padhai ab kaise karenge phone ke bina Baba?’ I didn’t even have an answer. So she set out to find her own solution.

 
Some people in our village own smartphones, so my daughter started going to their houses everyday and pleaded with them to allow her some time to study. She would spend half the day wandering around the entire village, trying to find someone to borrow a phone from. Soon, people started to get fed up. Day after day, I saw her studies suffer and her sadness grow; she loves to study. 

 
Finally, I decided that I had to arrange for a new phone for her, come what may. I spoke to a few of my friends, explained my situation and they lent me 5000 Rupees! With that, my wife and I surprised our kids with the phone– they couldn’t control their happiness! My daughter took it and immediately started studying; she’s the one who has the phone most of the time. I was so happy that her studies weren’t compromised. 

 
But, after a few weeks, my friends who I’d borrowed the money from started pressuring me to return the loan. I felt helpless, but the thought of selling the phone again and breaking my daughter’s heart was one I couldn’t bear. So I did what I had to– I sold my cow and paid my debts, even though we’re dependent on selling cow milk to survive. But it’s my daughter’s dream to become a doctor and as a father, I’ll do anything to make that happen. Pehnegi… ek din meri beti woh saffed coat pehnegi.”

My Relative Always Ask About My Marks

When I was in High School (Class IX-X), I used to have a Maths teacher (Mr Bist). He was a good teacher, but quite arrogant and ruthless in the class. He used to set very tough paper and do very strict marking.

In class IX, he set the paper so tough in half-yearly exams and his marking was so tough that just 2 students out of 50 passed (I was one of them). When the students would fail, their parents would get panicky and they would rush to him for private tuition. This is how he operated and made good money.

He had a peculiar method to create fear and discipline the class.

When he would find someone talking or not listening, or he was unhappy with some, he would threaten, “Should I call you on blackboard?”

He would typically call the student on the board and gave him a tough math problem to solve. When the student won’t be able to solve the problem, he would humiliate him before the class and punish him by asking him to stand in the class or stand outside the class.

Hence, his threat would send shivers in the spine of the students.

He was not very fond of me in the beginning as I did not join his private tuition and he could not fail me in the class despite tough marking.

Hence, in order to humiliate me, he called me couple of times on the board on the slightest pretext.

However, every-time he called me on board, I would go smiling and solve any problem which he would give from the textbook.

Finally he stopped threatening and calling me on board and gradually became very fond of me.

I am sure that your marks are poor and hence you feel humiliated when your relative ask your marks.

You also have perhaps no other achievements to show.

If your marks would have been great, perhaps you would be proud of telling your marks even when you are not asked by the relative.

Hence, you must take the mischief of your relative as a challenge and teach him a lesson.

You must try to improve your performance in academics by getting good marks in your future classes or achieve success in some other area of life.

One of my close relative got second division (less than 60% marks) in his Xth Board and used to be humiliated by many of his relatives.

Later he got selected into PCS (now an IAS) and today he a DM of an important district in UP.

I have never seen anyone asking his marks thereafter.

He rather proudly declares that he got second division in class X and yet cracked PCS examination many of the toppers of the Board are working under him.

If you wish to develop the right attitude of life, learn to take criticism in the right spirit.

Instead of blaming your critics, you would focus your energies to improve yourself so much that your critics are silenced by your achievements rather than by your words.

Source of picture: Google Images

 

-Awdhesh Singh, Ex-IRS|IITian|Educator|Author Essay & Ethics book for UPSC