Prey multiplies faster than predators- law of nature. Any lessons learnt?

-Sucheta Gour

Life always will take you on a different journey, different challenges, different people and environment.
What doesn’t change are the goals, perseverance and focus towards your goals.
Efforts unlimited defines you.
Keep the momentum on……..

-Sucheta Gour

On numerous occasions, I have been asked, how do you manage work-life balance? Well, I wondered was it that difficult? I just had to think that I’m managing nothing which was the truth.

All I had to do was detach myself from work when I’m with my family and friends, not carry the ego of my designation or make the work a burden, glorify it or crib about it when I’m with family. Not read any face or mind. And when I was at work, I was required to be analytical about things beyond my visibility too.But, I did not miss the fun of being with friends or feel I’m in too much stress. Rather, I felt involved and contented at work.

In personal life, I was reluctant to grow. I didn’t have much topics or people to discuss on personal front in any of the social forum. I felt everyone around was wiser than me. So I went monkeying around, laughing, singing, dancing, giggling. I enjoyed everything my eyes saw without being judgemental about anyone or anything.
When I was at work, I was supposed to think beyond visiblility, analyse every action of people, be a paranoid most of the times, execute my duties with authority and mindfulness.

On personal front, I hardly allowed anyone in the innermost core of my mind.
On work front, I was in the innermost core of myself and everyone else too.

I was once told by my grandfather that whatever you are doing eating, studying, sleeping, playing; do it as if you are born to do it while you do it.

To put it in one line, I just switched off my mind when I wasn’t at work. I only had to decide how much time I had to give for both the lives, not allow them to interfere with each other. Prioritise work but also belong where I physically was. Everything else got managed on its own.

-Sucheta Gour

Keep sharpening your knives. Your brains are your knives.
• Planning meticulously,
• Assessing risks,
• Forward thinking with statistics and effects, Permutations and combinations for every activities and outcome,
• Expecting negatives but preparing for positive results,
• Revisiting the experience and learnings from every moment of life,
• Seeing beyond the horizon.

These are key attributes for self improvement.
Else you will land up just being an ignorant person with attitude. Such a combination is harmful.

-Sucheta Gour

The journey from a girl to woman is painful and lonely. You have your family, your spouse with you. You feel their love will lead you through everything. But still there are thousand of things which you do not know and no one is there to guide you. You are alone through too many aspects of your daily life. There are petty things which turn around in the most ugly way sooner or later. You are exhausted with directionless thinking, repetitive activities, tedious work due to lack of knowledge of smart work. Cooking, cleaning, self care, caring for family, contributing to family finances with your earnings, your career, work life balance seems like a herculian task. And the fact that you are going to be the person responsible to set the culture, practices, approach, habits and ideologies for good health, financial hygiene and well being of the family makes you more stressed.

All the above will be basis your learning and analysis. At times, you will eventually repent if right learning is not acquired on right time. Or blame everyone around or self for your failures. Not justifying the role as a wife, mother, daughter, sister in law is disheartening. There is a need for a guide or a book to give thousand commandments for a married girl. Intend to create one soon. Share your or your daughters problems too.

-Sucheta Gour

There is a notion in the corporate world that the highest paid are the best skilled.
In today’s world, it needs to be revisited.
How do people get paid the highest?

In today’s world,  employees hop jobs every year, taking advantage of all the numerous genuine and ungenuine reasons available in the market. Project closure, no growth, company relocated, project shut down, fixed term contract, third party engagement, promises not kept by the employers, Working on Holidays, work stress, company shifted, down-sizing due to lack of projects, no increment etc..,  so on and so forth are few of them.
Few questions to ponder over
Does every company verify all the reasons to the core? No. Every HR is happy that his positions will be filled.
In such a scenario, Do genuine candidates constantly shift?
Such employees are not super active on job portals; they are busy with their jobs working towards vertical career growth in their company.

Does any company give an existing employee more than a 20% increment in the appraisal?
No. The standard market operates on an 8 to 10% increment.
What is the only way to achieve more salaries in junior and mid-level careers?
Hop jobs.
Do candidates learn anything in-depth when they hop jobs?
Widely No, they learn the skill and tactfulness to give interviews and impress the interviewers.
When do the employees learn in-depth business knowledge or obtain technical skills in any job?
Only when they stick on to jobs for longer durations, commit with heart and soul to learning a skill thoroughly,  run through multiple business cycles, explore and analyze different phases of the project,  develop multi-dimensional view and approach, have hands-on,minds-in the assignment, employees empower themselves with skill,  technical knowledge, people management knowledge, and tact.
Is all this possible to learn by hopping jobs and getting hikes on each job?
I have come across the most skilled people with the least salaries in the junior and mid-level of their careers who eventually take the highest leap when grabbing the senior positions, and most of the seniors who can relate to this journey where they started and struggled through their junior and mid-level careers facing financial challenges, dejection from seniors, working in demanding conditions to gain good experience, exposure, knowledge, visibility, and trust of their Managers and Management.
Is it an easy task to find such employees?

Do you still feel all the lower-salary candidates are the least skilled?

-Sucheta Gour

Be your best friend. Speak to yourself once a day.
Converse with your mind, heart, and soul.
It gives a feel-good factor. It makes you feel you have a friend in yourself. All that you hold back from speaking to others- talk to yourself. You aren’t going to be judgmental about yourself. Without assumptions, you can let out all your momentary thoughts about people, situations, and yourself. You can let out such thoughts without feeling heavier. Because deep inside, you know what you are. Fleeting thoughts aren’t you, and they won’t guide you either. Get different permutations and combinations to deal with the self and others too. Feel lighter and rejuvenated before you go to bed.

-Sucheta Gour

As you grow older, you realize you have always lived in two worlds and still have a clear distinction between the spiritual and material worlds—one that feeds your soul and the other that feeds your existence in this world. Balancing is a skill that you start mastering only after the 40s. But, if your upbringing and fundamentals have been strong, you are living such a life by default from childhood. No deliberations are required – our generation.
However, purpose and in-depth awareness of all the above haven’t been instilled formally or haven’t been stressed. So, I think it’s time for all the wise minds to bridge this gap and publish how younger generations can adapt. I see so much about Karma on their social media handle, tattoos of Trishul,  Shiv, Krishna’s flute, etc.; Millenials and Gen Z are version 2.0. So, the thought can sink into them well if appropriately explained.

-Sucheta Gour

Break the chain.
We treat others like we are treated—good, Bad, Rude, Friendly, sympathetic, insensitive. We feel we have the right to ill-treat others because we have been treated so.
For example, we justify that my client treated me so. I will treat my vendor the same way. My manager was abusive; I’m going to behave the same.
Break the chain. Retaliation doesn’t lead anywhere. Doesn’t make you a better personality. Just because you couldn’t retaliate to that person, do not compensate by ill-treating others. The ideal thing would be to avoid the person who ill-treated you and not pass the behavior to another person who isn’t related to anything from your experience.

-Sucheta Gour

Hypocrisy at its best
You are right when you are fighting with others.
You are wrong when you are fighting with me.

Even if I am wrong, I will criticize and blame you when you are against me.
I will support you and empathize and sympathize with you even if you are wrong when you are against others.
This is how our world operates.
Should we correct ourselves?

-Sucheta Gour