Master the art of time.

Here today and gone tomorrow. Our time on this universe is limited. We are sent here for a purpose and we're going to leave as soon as we get a miss call. We have little control over how long we get to stay on this earth plane, but we can definitely control what we do with the time we have today.

Next week might not be promised to us, but today, right now, this very moment we can be making decisions that will eventually effect our whole life. To progress or to retreat, to move or to stop, to sail or to sink? just some of the hoops that we have to jump through to get us to the place we greatly admire.

I read recently that Michael Angelo and Mahatma Gandhi had the same time in a day as us and if you ponder over that for a moment you'll probably come to the conclusion that yes, that is true. 

They just made the best use of the time they had and left a legend behind. What's stopping us? In todays age, it is all too simple to have a small attention span and jump from hobby to hobby, but have you thought about how beautiful life would be if we could just focus on a few things at a time and really put our all into it. Slow down time and build something that will last long after we've vanished from this earth plane. 

What are your thoughts on time? Comment below and let me know. 

On to the next one

Old thought, old habits, old memories are just things that simply hold us back. When I use the word 'Old' I don't mean age, no, its referring to mental conditioning that we have. Thought, memories and habits that we stack up as we go along and soon  enough overwhelm ourself with too much of everything.

So then comes a time when we have to decide to let go of the things that no longer serve us and help us grow. I was more than happy pondering over my good old days and the time I had a lovely environment and so on. But those things as good as they were are not me today, my past does not serve me today and the purpose I came here for.

The destination for me is irrelevant as such, I am much more interested in living the present moment and living the journey as an adventure.

If past and future are just in our thoughts, I no longer wish to support the thinking that keeps in any of those two. For past is all but over and future is yet uncertain.

Lets shed off the access baggage from our minds and look forward to this moment, this day and cherish what we have right now. The future will always be slightly away from our grasp and the past is like the stain in a cup after you finish drinking.

Share your thought on this philosophy by commenting below.

Slacking it out

We all start the race quite hungry. Be that race of life, race to reach a goal, to lose weight, get fit etc. We're usually pumped, exited and wholly energetic.

Then we start the race and all goes well for a distance when suddenly the drive, the hunger, the motivation dies out. We hit a so called Plato/ a glass wall and seem to be held down by it.

It is at that part that we become comfortable and slack out, we find external things to take responsibility for our actions and get side tracked by averagites! (Yeah I invented that word)

This could happen in your job situation, your personal hobby and even your relationships.

There are two solutions I've found so far:

- Use CNEI (Constant and Never Ending Improvement) in whatever it is you do, even when things are going well for you. Just because things are going well, don't mean they'll keep getting better. We must take personal responsibility to ensure we're being part of the change.

- Improve everyday and in every area by just 1% everyday. This way the changes may seem insignificant but eventually they'll amount to a lot. Just keep making small progression along the way.

Slack out if it makes you happy, otherwise get off your butt and make a difference.

Are you already active enough? Or do you need someone constantly pushing you for you to achieve anything in life?

Comment below and let me know!

Always go back to the basic.

There are plenty of times in your life when you'll get stuck in your tracks, when you feel like you've hit a dead end and there is no way you can get out of this situation. You look around and blame anyone and anything you can find, always thinking that something outside of you is the problem.

Next time you find yourself in this situation, pause for a second and take a step back. 
Sometimes we are lost mainly because we are too focused on the details and can't seem to back away from the problem far enough to see the whole picture. 


We have the world at our finger tips and there always seems to be more options available then ever before, the information overload makes us question our choices at every opportunity. Should I be doing this instead of that? Let me google this one? To name just a few. 

According to Arnold S. he chose to use Dumbells over machines just because it gave him the best custom workout possible. He chose to focus on the basics when all around him would've easily opted for the more complex options. He chose simpke easy going equipment which allowed him full control on his workout. 

To be honest, through design and innovation aren't we just trying to recreate and simulate the real thing, point is we don't have to be seduced by our environment and pushed to follow the herd. Recently I noticed that though top singers like Beyonce and others are scrutinised for their celebrity status (Illuminati for example). But despite the rumours you can't argue that all these singers have an amazing voice. The most simple and basic thing (their voice) becomes their defence mechanism and something to fall back upon. 

The foundation you lay becomes your shield in war, cushion in blow and shoulder in need. 

Do you agree? Comment below and let me know. 

Turn on your internal radio

You don't have to look further than the people closest to you to realise that we are far too busy worrying about what other are doing, what their achievements are and anticipating what they are going to do next. I'm not free from that either.

There is nothing wrong with choosing role models and aspiring to be someone else, motivation wise I'm all about that. The problem occurs when we spend far more time on the activity of others and less and less time on ourselves. Believe it or not if you're just reading a newspaper or watching the news, it can easily eat up into you time and at the end of the day you gain little from it.

News is what I hear everywhere I go, and while it is amazing to keep up to date. It is very easy to let it overwhelm us and consume our time.

What if you know what you want to do, or found a way to make a difference in the world? Would you not need as much time as possible working on your skills and developing them to attain the level of success you desire?

Let's work on this area to bring about a balance in our life where we can switch focus between loving/ fantasise about others and focusing on our own goals and achievements.

It quite recently that I learned this and now I'm sharing it with you. The best way to inspire others and to leave a legacy is to do what you do with love and do it to the best of your ability.

Are you already focused on your own goals? Do you think it selfish to look after your own goals and dreams? What's your view on the internal radio? Comment below and let me know!

Finding your own voice.

In this seemingly complicated world, we're bombarded with what seems like a load of everything. The word 'simple' when searched in Google returns .... results.

We are dying for simplicity and looking for everybody and everything to have a tag on them. A singer must be defined by the society as a singer, what if he or she wants to be an author too? Oh no, we don't want to hear about that. Just one label per person please otherwise we get options, and that results in us making decisions and we'd much rather have the decisions already made for us and being served on a platter. Yes, I think as a product of the Internet age, we have gotten used to a lot of things being served on a platter for us.

We are a slowly becoming a generation that are faster than ever to accept/ dismiss what is presented in front of us.

But what if you haven't had a chance to find your own voice? What if you want to try different things out before you pick one? What if you don't want to pick one and much rather have a few professions?

Well in that case, you're going to be a Zen master in order to juggle the responsibilities that come with a certain field/ profession.

Do you agree that it is difficult?
Comment below!

Are you willing

In order to let our dreams guide us to our purpose, we have to be willing. What does that mean? Well, our dreams demand a certain step/ action before we get the final result. 

Whatever it is that you dream of has a price to pay, if you do nothing, you get nothing and you become nothing. That's obvious. 

Being willing allows us to seek out opportunities that compliment our dreams and follow them through. 

My 2015 resolution is to make 99 Vlog videos, being busy with the business and other commitments mean that the only time I do get is when I'm away from my house and on the move. However, I'm scared of recording in public or drawing in public. As a result I have to squeeze the little time I have left at night time to draw and upload. Which ends up affecting my health. 

The technology I have on my pocket is sufficient to allow me to do work on the go but the fear I have in my heart is sufficient to stop that from happening. 

At one point then we have to decide between our fears and our dreams. If we're willing to pursue our dreams we'll have to eventually step over our fears and become the person we want to be. 

Do you have a fear you're trying to tame? Have you had any success yet? Comment below and let me know! 

Grudge Loyalty

Its almost midnight here in UK, I've just missed my main YouTube video by about three days and my blog by 1 day. The title is 'Grudge Loyalty' but what does that even mean?

It is very easy to get bored of a thing or even a person after a while, i'm not sure if bored is the right word, but you know what I mean. Its like when you get a new toy and you polish it, keep the box it came in and look at it everyday. Then suddenly after a few days, the affection you had with the toy wears out and you just throw it to one side.

If you have a dream or a side project that you always wanted to help take-off, you'd soon come at a cross junction where your excitement has level out on you and you can no longer get the same amount of joy that you could, that initial excitement takes on a different shape in your life.

The question is what do you do when that happens? When the loyalty wears off and you can no longer find the inspiration to keep you going? Do you look at the 'Why' you started and keep pushing? or do you just throw in the towel and say I've had enough!

E.T. the hip-hop preacher said that if you were going to quit, you should've done that last year or before you got started. Why quit now? You might be so close to your goal! Are you going to remember the first day when you got started and stay true to that?

Whats the alternative if you do decide to quit, to throw in the towel on what it is you're fighting for? If you have an alternative, then why haven't you dropped the project to work on the other one.

Can you relate to this blog in any way? or am I just talking to a machine which can most of the time not answer back?

What you gon do with all that hunch!

Many a time we are looking for answers and feel like we're unable to get out of a certain situation. Whether it is being creative on a tight deadline or providing a service under pressure. It's mostly times like these when we are desperately seeking within us for a solutions, just a little something to help us catch our breath. 

When we're tensed we block off the frontal section of the brain (don't quote me on this one), which is responsible for our creative thinking. When that happens, no matter how hard we focus or force our energy, ain't nothin gonna come out. Failure to force ideas out usually then means that we have to let go of the idea eventually and walk away from whatever it is we were doing. 

In the relax state then, whether it be away from work that evening or just driving home after a long conversation and suddenly, it hits us. The hunch that is. 

A hunch is an idea, an inclination, a feeling that has been cooking inside your head. Your gut instinct that is telling you what to do, but due to Indecision, fear and doubt you won't let it out, you hear it but you shut it off. 

Wayne Dyer said 'if prayer is us talking to god, instinct is god talking to us'. 

So next time you have a hunch, a moment of inspiration or an urge to do something. Follow it through. You never know where a hunch may lead you but if you do nothing, I promise you'll be in the same position you were before you had that thought. 

You don't have to know all the steps, just the first part and you'll open new doors for yourself. 

When was the last time you experienced a hunch? Comment below and let me know? 

Hitting the bullseye

Hitting the bullseye! 

I mean knowing where you're going really helps. It really is simple if you think about it, in fact its probably so simple that you're about to judge me for being stupid enough to write this article in the first place. What's fascinating is how easy it is to not follow such a simple rule in life. 

Lets take the first example of a navigator: You leave your house for a family trip or with your friends and you're driving to France. Lets do two things: 

1) Remove the driver and place the car on autopilot mode, or if your car is not a robot out of a sci-fi movie, just pull the hand brakes off and let it roll

2) Give the car no direction, just let it guess the route

How long do you actually think it'll take for the car to reach its destination? More importantly how long will you wait in the car before yell out, Something is not right! 

Yet, most of live our lives this way, just following a blind path and letting life roll down the hill into a cozy, comfort field. 

If it's that easy, why doesn't everyone do it? 

One reason is that we let the obstacles get in the way. The petty little things that take our focus away from what it is we want. 

We can't always decide the minute detail. When a kid says that he/she wants to be an actress, they are not concerned about the exact Genre of the industry, or the kind of director they want to work for or anything that specific. All that kid wants to do is be an actor/ actress. 

If the driver of the car decides to drive to France and that is a definite decision, come rain, puncture or a little diversion 9 times out of 10, the driver will reach its chosen location. The driver will have to leave some room for course correction. 

If we are to follow our chosen dreams and goals, we will have to leave some room for course correction. Knowing where we're going is enough to keep our eye on the destination. Who cares if we have to help poor old Doris cross the road at a stop sign, it makes the trip all the more exciting. 

Do you know where you are going? Are you afraid to share your destination in case someone reaches there before you and captures your flag? Or are you willing to share your destination spot and are happy to have other people on-board with you? 

Comment below and let me know?

Feather moves on

Can you imagine Usain Bolt running with a tank bolted to his back? 

How about Mo Farah with a four bin bags? Or Jessica Ennis with enough clothing for a whole street? 

Too many of us are carrying baggage on our back that is too heavy for us to handle. Past experiences, past defeats, past challenges, past difficulties and past relationships, these are just some of the things that we allow to accumulate in our life and it affects how we live. 

As we go through life you may have the tendency to accumulate MORE! That need to accumulate something we don't already have. Be it a physical possession or a status symbol. But is there a price we have to pay for all that? 

If someone hurts you and changes your state to one of disarray, it is very easy to add that to your bag of bad experience and use that as a trigger to pull up that old memory and relive that moment. 

But why am I even talking about this whole thing? Well, it is because past baggage is something that affected me personally. I let things that happened in the past get the best out of me today and re-living the moments only made this present moment worse for me. Which is just cray! 

Detachment was the one of the things I tried and it seemed to have done the trick, as far as my life is concerned anyway. 

I was inspired to try detachment when I was listening to Wayne Dyer and he talked about walking away from his house, just leaving the whole thing for his manager to give away. He said 'find out the one thing you dearly love, and then just give it away'. 

For me that was my brand new laptop. It was dearer than anything I had and so I decided to give my laptop away to my sister. Hell did I know how painful that would be for a few weeks. I wasn't in denial but it definitely was a hard thing to get over. I soon discovered the benefit of not being too attached to things, and I went through my drawers and donated dozens of good pieces of clothing that I was never going to wear. Not only did it make me feel good about helping a charity but I also felt lighter. A lot lighter in fact. Soon enough my family caught on to the trend and we cleared up a quarter of our house just getting rid of things we no longer needed. Matter of fact, we're in the middle of a big clean up right now as I type this blog. 

Do you have things in your life that you gave away? Do you feel lighter afterwards? Is it just me? 

Comment below and let me know. 

Escape the labels

People being people, will always judge every area of your life and stamp labels on you. Based on a quick decision they'll label you with a title, sometimes permanently. 

 

The classic question 'What do you do for living?' Is just one way people try to base all their judgements on who you are. How does my occupation define me as a person? Can a plumber not be the cleanest soul and a prisoner not be a monk? 

In the market I occasionally get mums asking me about my background, and they usually start with- 

You should have finished your studies! Well, I did! 

You should have gone to college then. I did that too. 

What about university? I got that too!

How comes you're in the market then? 

Because this is what I'm passionate about. It helps me do X Y and Z. 

They always have a look on their face as if they just found the dumbest person on earth. But that is just one way people judge the status quo of someone. This is one of the main contributing factors of parents nudging their kids to go into a profession which sounds good (Doctors, lawyers etc). 

I remember a particular speech I gave at Toastmaster, I tried something new and different. After the speech one of my buddy who I greatly admire came to me and said 'what happened!' you can do so much better'. I thought about that for a moment and then I said to myself, it's fine if he doesn't understand why I did that speech. To me it's not always about raising my standard. Sometimes we all need to step outside our comfort zone and try new things. 

The main thing is that we should try and focus our attention of the purpose we're willing to serve, whether you're studying art or have a passion no one knows about, eventually you'll bring it out in the open and people will start placing stickers on you. That will always happen. What is more important though is that you stick to the path you laid out, focus and continue down the road in which you started. If you let the labels get to you, you'll always leave your strings in someone else's hands.  

Label are good for packaging and things that are man made, but we are a gift of the creator that came with no instruction.

Can you relate to this one? Have you let your fears stop you from reaching a particular goal? or are you someone who doesn't care about what others think? Let me know in the comments below. 

Peace!

Gagan

Learning can be dangerous bro!

If education alone could churn out millionaires or successful entrepreneurs, all Oxford/ Harvard graduates would run this world.

Education is great, learning something new expands our field of vision, opens new doors blah, blah, blah!

But education also breeds fear. When you learn about a 1000 ways to do something, you also start getting in your own way. Getting into all the knitty gritty of the situation and missing the big picture. This is why people like Alan Sugar, Richard Branson and thousand others win the big coins, they don't fear the process, they know their outcome and follow it through to the end come what may.

This is not an excuse for you to get off the learning path. Heck, why reinvent the wheel when Dunlop is doing a great job already. The application of what you know is far more important then the information you have.

Their was a particular day when I decided to spend some time in the library. When I looked around, I saw literally a dozen of senior folks feeding their brain with the word juice pouring through the papers and I got thinking how will they ever use this information?

Who knows, maybe we'll see the next KFC come out of this library.

Yeah, back to the topic, find a way to make whatever you have in your head useful for what you do. Make it pay the time you spent on learning it in the first place.

Kill it yo!
Gagan