Author: words by ken

People who are used to reading my content would know that I usually write about self-help topics from various books and stories of successful individuals. But this time, I want to write about a very important part of self-development that most people tend to forget: our health. If you are in your 20s like I am or maybe even younger, focusing on your health is one of the best things you can do to your life. And this post is to help you all to live a healthy life during the summer.

I come from a place called Chennai, which is located in the southern part of India. There are a lot of wonderful things that Chennai is known for, for example, It is home to the second longest beach in the world and the longest in the country: the Marina beach, which is one of the busiest places you’ll ever visit.

The city is also known for being one of the hottest cities in the country, with temperatures averaging around 35 degrees celsius during this time of the year. Living in the scorching summer heat is never easy, and we have to find different ways to keep ourselves hydrated all the time. So what are some of the things that we have to keep in mind to tackle this heat? Let’s discuss.

1. Drinking water for hydration is a myth

Yes. You heard that right. One of the most commonly heard advice is to drink a lot of water and to keep ourselves hydrated all the time. But it is one of those things where we hear something so many times that it is etched in our brains forever and we refuse to believe that it is not true. Doctors say that drinking two to three liters of water a day is more than enough for most people. If you are someone who works out a lot, or if you have to work under the sun a lot, then you can have 3 liters a day, otherwise, it is advisable to have 2 liters a day.

Here are some of the key points to remember:

• Our body is 70% water and we don’t need to hydrate ourselves by drinking excessive amounts of it. Instead, we must focus on the intake of electrolytes like potassium, sodium, calcium, etc. Excessive loss of these electrolytes is the reason we get dehydrated.
• When you drink too much water, the sodium in your body gets diluted, and it leads to a disease called hyponatremia, which can even lead to a coma.
• There are a lot of fruits and vegetables that can keep our bodies hydrated. For example, we can have fruits like tender coconut, watermelon, mango, etc. And we can have vegetables like Spinach, cucumbers, celery, etc.

2. Do not completely avoid the sunlight

Do you know that Vitamin D deficiency can cause auto-immune disorders in the body? Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriasis, and autoimmune thyroid problems are some of the disorders. About 97% of the required vitamin D is received from the sunrays and only 3% from the food we intake.

Even though we prefer to spend most of our time in air-conditioned rooms and places that are not so hot, it is advised that we should get exposed to the sun rays for at least 20 minutes a day.

Why is sunlight so important?

• Our body has something called T cells and B cells which help in fighting diseases. And in these cells, there is something called regulatory cells which regulate cell production. If you have more than what is required, then it may act against your body. Vitamin D helps to regulate these levels.
• It also helps for the efficient functioning of your inflammatory genes.

Wishing you all a healthy and hydrated summer!

Hope this post was useful. Thanks for reading.

We all know that there are usually two schools of thought for every aspect of life. There can always be different ways to achieve the same outcome and it is just a matter of choice for every one of us. Similarly, there are two ways through which we can choose to achieve our life goals. We can either choose to be a process-driven person or a result-driven person. So what do these terms mean? Let me explain it to you.

1. Process-driven people

Process-driven people are the people who are truly in love with what they do and are driven by that love to work hard every single day. I have heard so many successful people talk about the importance of loving what we do, and I feel that this is one of the most successful mantras in the world.

The logic behind this is very simple. If you are truly in love with your day-to-day job, it will be much easier for you to put in the hard work that is needed for you to succeed. Sometimes I look at athletes or businessmen who dominate their fields for a long period and wonder about the things that keep them motivated and hungry. They’ve accomplished everything that there is to accomplish, they’ve earned enough money for their next few generations, they’ve got the fame, they’ve got people who work for them; they’ve got everything! Despite having all of this, the love that they have for their craft is what keeps them going.

“If you dread going to work in the morning, please do something else. It is an extremely hard decision to make, but when you do that, it is such a liberating experience”

– Kobe Bryant

When you love what you do, you are motivated by who you become in the process, and you are more in love with the process than the end result. That is why there are people who quit high-paying jobs to follow their passion. They are not worried if their passion will pay them enough or not, they just love the process and they are willing to dedicate their lives to it.

2. Result-driven people

“Find a job that you love to do” might be an easy thing to say to people, but in reality, it is extremely difficult to do. To find one’s purpose in life is never easy. There are people on their deathbeds crying about an unfulfilled life. If that isn’t hard enough, making a living out of your passion is equally hard. So what can we do if we are in a position where we haven’t found our passion yet? We can’t be sitting idle, and we can’t be mediocre at what we do as well. That is where the result-driven mentality comes into play.

These people are driven by the good feeling of the end result and they don’t really worry about loving their jobs. Even if they hate what they do, they push themselves to do their best because they love being a winner, they love the end result more than the process. If you are stuck in a similar situation, you have to look at the end result and let that motivate you to be better at your craft every day. You cannot let your struggles affect your efforts because they will always be part of your life.

When we focus on the champions that we are about to become, life will start making more sense to us.

Reading is widely preached as one of the best practices to have in our day-to-day lives. We’ve been taught from a very young age that the habit of reading is the best way to improve our vocabulary, be grammatically sound, be a better writer, etc. That’s the reason why schools have sessions where children are asked to spend time in the library and enrich their knowledge. I’m pretty sure we all know what the benefits of reading are and I hope that most people who read this have experienced them as well. With that being said, I would like to share with you two unique benefits that I have personally experienced in my life.

1. It reduces screen time

In an age where we are surrounded by digital screens more often than actual humans, reading is one of the best ways for us to disconnect from screens and give some rest for our eyes. It is scientifically proven that excess screen time can do a lot of damage to our bodies, especially our eyes. Eye fatigue, dry and irritated eyes, loss of focus flexibility, nearsightedness, and retinal damage are some of the possible consequences that we might face because of this addictive habit. I’ve spent countless days worrying about my excessive screen time every day, and fortunately, I’ve been able to replace it with reading and a few other activities. I feel that this benefit of reading is extremely underrated and not talked about enough. People have to start paying more attention to it because this world is going to evolve into a more screen-filled zone in the future and there’s probably nothing we can do to avoid it.

2. It improves confidence

Confidence is one of the most admirable characteristics of a person. It is not only attractive, but it also makes a person more trustworthy when they do their jobs.

One of the best ways to improve your confidence is by being a reader. A man who has the habit of reading will view every situation in his life from multiple perspectives. We have to understand that reading is not just a habit, but it is a way of widening our mental boundaries. Though we have different types of learning platforms in the world, the knowledge we gain from reading is unparalleled. Every book we read is a new life that we live, and every lesson that we learn from a book is a key to handling our struggles in real life. I heard Will Smith say one time, “you’re not going to face a problem which has never been solved before. Read about it, ask questions, and try to learn about it as much as you can, and you will find the answer”. The more answers you discover, the more knowledge you gain, and the more knowledge you gain, the more confident you will become.

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it.

I’m sure you’ve heard the term ‘Talent’ a lot of times in your life. “He’s such a talented dude, man. He’s amazing”. “The talent in this man is just unbelievable!”. Sounds familiar right ? We use this term to define a person who has a special gift in a particular aspect of life. We define the ability of a person in a field of work. When we’re astonished by the perfection with which a man can do a job, we say “wow, he’s is so talented”. It seems to be a commonly used word. But how often have you heard or used the word ‘skillful‘ or ‘skilled‘ to describe a person ? From what I’ve noticed in people, most of us don’t use the term at all, we always tend to replace it with ‘Talent’. You may be wondering why I said replaced. I’ll tell you why.

Have you ever wondered about the difference between skill and talent ? If not, let me explain it to you. Thanks to my habit of watching countless motivational videos and interviews of highly successful people, I’ve been able to learn a bit about it. Here are some of the things you need to know :

• Talents are freely given. Skills are not

To put it in simple words, a talent is something that is god given. When your naturally good at something, you call it a talent. When you do something for the very first time, or you’ve been doing it only for a small amount of time and you’re already pretty good at it, that means you have a natural ability. Talent is a natural ability, a skill is not.

Notice how I use the word ‘good’ in the when I talk about talent ? Why did I not use the word ‘great’ instead ? Because greatness cannot be achieved with the help of talent alone. The transition from good to great moves you to a completely different phase of your life, a phase where you move from being just talented to being skillful. When talent is nurtured well and disciplined over time, it becomes a skill.

Talent ? I don’t believe in talent. it’s good to have talent, but as long as you have determination and will power, that’s all you need. You have to have the will to win — Mike Tyson

To make it more understandable, when Talent is mixed with hard-work and consistency, it becomes a skill. This is the reason why many of the greats say that they believe in their skill rather than their talent. They understand the fact that being skillful at their craft is a different ball game.

• Skill equals longevity. Talent does not

When we look at the lives of legendary people, we see that they manage to dominate their crafts for long periods of time. It takes a lot of work for a man to reach the top tier of his craft, but it is much harder to stay on that level for long. A skillful man is a master of his craft, he has reached top levels in all aspects of his work and there aren’t many things that would be able to stop him. When Lebron James arrived to the NBA in 2003, he was considered as the next big thing. People looked at how good he was in his high school days and named him as the ‘chosen one’. He was an unbelievable player from the start, and he’s been the same till now, 19 years later. He’s probably the most talented guy to ever step foot in the league, but the reason he is on top till now is because of his incredible work ethic and dedication. That’s what skill is all about. It takes a lot to be skillful.

Hope you liked this post. Thanks for reading

You don’t have to be a sage to know that failure is the stepping stone to success, we’ve heard that line a million times before. It’s always easy to say that failures are important in life and that they are the best teachers we can get. But only when the tough times come knocking on the door, do we realize how hard it really is to face them with positive intent.

So how do we actually approach our failures? I’m not great enough to be advising people on it, but I’m gonna share a few quotes with you today, quotes by some amazing people. The reason I want to share these sayings is because of the impact it has had on my personal life. Ever since I heard these quotes, I’ve started approaching my failures in a completely different way, and it has helped me skyrocket my confidence. Here are the quotes :

1. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm“- Winston Churchill

I still remember the first time I heard this quote. I immediately opened the notes app on my phone and noted it down. It was such a ‘wow’ moment for me. I’ve seen the fear of failure destroying people more often than failure itself. A man whose life is filled with victories will always have an equal, if not more amount of failures in it. Let me ask you a question. Who do you think is the greatest basketball player of all time? Not all of us will have the same answer to it, but there will be one name that most of us might think about: Michael Jordan. MJ is considered one of the greatest winners in the history of the world, thanks to his incredible run with the Chicago Bulls team, winning 6 championships with them. But do you know that he didn’t win a championship until his 7th year in the league? Do you know that he has missed over 9,000 shots in his career? He failed to even reach the finals for the first 7 years of his professional career. But did that failure stop him? Hell No. His enthusiasm and his desire to win were never affected by his failures. And guess what, people don’t focus on focus on his failures when they look at his career, because his success will always burn brighter.

Enthusiasm is a key factor in facing our failures. If you look at the lives of great people around us, you will notice that they never fear failure, they cherish it. Cherishing your failures and enjoying the journey is the real success ! So the first lesson is to face it with enthusiasm.

2. “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship” – Denzel Washington

Most of us treat failures as stumbling blocks in our path to success. But in reality, it is more of a diversion than a block. It just shows you another way. The hardships that come our way are not a threat to our success but they are the oil to the flame. I talked about the fear of failure in the above paragraph. I think that the reason why people fear failure so much is that they think of it as a threat to their growth while it is actually not. You need these hardships to lead a successful life; they are a necessity for improvement. If you think that you’ve had no failures and you’ve had a fairly smooth life till now, you’re probably doing something wrong. You’ve probably never left your comfort zone in life. It may seem like a good journey while it lasts but it will eventually lead to mediocrity. That is why Denzel said that ease is a big threat to progress. We have to stop relying on the things that make us feel comfortable. The second lesson is to stop looking at failure as a threat.

3. “Those who dare to fail miserably achieve greatly” – John F Kennedy

One of the things that I notice in highly successful people is that they are daring enough to try things that won’t even make sense to other people. Dreaming big is one thing, but finding the courage to pursue the dream with every ounce of strength and energy is the real deal. It is much easier said than done because it requires us to be fearless in the pursuit. Imagine the backlash that the Wright brothers would have received when they first started working on an aircraft. Their dream was to build something that had never been seen before and thus had a much higher risk of failure than any other form of idea could have had. There were two possible outcomes to this attempt, it was either going to be a revolutionary idea that was going to change the world forever or one of the dumbest mistakes in the history of mankind. The brothers were brave enough to believe in the former, but also, they were brave enough to fail miserably.

They say success is not for the light-hearted, because it requires a lot of courage to face failure. The next lesson is to have the courage to fail miserably.

4. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford

Failure is often viewed as a learning curve. But more often than not, people drift away from the lessons and focus more on the aftermath. I talked about having the courage to fail in the previous point; the people who are courageous enough would move on from a failure very easily. Once they’ve learned their lesson, it doesn’t bug them anymore. I believe that it all depends on the perspective of an individual.

 “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

The way that we view our failures would make all the difference. Kobe Bryant had an interesting thought about this. He said that there is no such thing as failure in his world. “Failure is when you don’t learn from your mistakes. I always learn from my shortcomings and try to be a better person. If I have a bad day on Monday, I’ll be better on Tuesday. I’ll never settle for less”, he says. The lesson here is to learn from your failures.

Hope you liked this post. Thanks for reading!

 Kobe Bryant is widely known as one of the greatest players in the history of basketball. Everything about his life in the NBA is an inspirational story for all of us. The way he handled the criticisms and failures during the early part of his career, the way he fought at the highest level despite playing with multiple injuries, and the stories that we hear about his incredible work ethic never fail to motivate us. At a very young age of 18 years old, Kobe emerged into the NBA straight from high school. As many people dubbed him as the next ‘Michael Jordan’, Kobe had the weight of the world on his shoulders right from the get-go. Those expectations from the fans and media are the kind of pressure that can crack many, as we have seen a lot of times before. But with Kobe, that was not the case. What I love the most about him is that from a very young age he had the drive and ambition to be one of the best basketball players in the world, and he always had the work ethic to back it up. From being just a teenager who wanted to showcase his talents to the world, he soon became a master craftsman, a genius of his sport. Though he may not be with us in physical form, his legacy will live forever, and by following his footsteps to greatness, his legacy is carried on by all of us.

Here are a few of my favorite life lessons from Kobe Bryant :

1. ‘Mamba Mentality’ – The art of getting better every single day

‘The black Mamba’ is one of Kobe’s aliases. The Mamba mentality is his philosophy of life. He believes that his biggest strength in life was the ability to get better at his craft every single day. Marginal improvements consistently have proven to be the best mantra for success by many successful people. It doesn’t matter what you are doing in life, you’ve got wake up every single day and try to be better than who you were yesterday. Getting better every day needs a tremendous amount of focus and concentration, and Kobe had that from a very young age. I remember him sharing an incident from his life in an interview once, and he was talking about how bad he was at basketball at the age of 11. He said that he had played a whole summer of basketball without scoring a single point! And he explained how he got out of that trauma by focusing on every small detail of his game, and improving that area every day, it is quite fascinating how a guy can have such a mentality at that age. Then he went on to set a goal, the goal to work on the basics and improve the fundamentals, and he had set a long-term vision for himself, and the vision drove him forward. As he started focusing more and working more often, he found a tremendous amount of improvement in his life, and he never stopped. From not scoring a single point in a whole summer at 11 years old, he went on to be an NBA superstar at 18. The lesson here is to work on your craft and be better at it every single day.

2. It is extremely important for us to love what we do

One of the key factors that pushed Kobe to work so hard was his never-ending love for the game. He loved the sport of basketball more than anything else in his life. He believes that the reason he had a crystal clear vision at a very early stage of his life is purely because of his love for the game. Even when so many people describe his work ethic as ‘sickening’ or ‘relentless’ or ‘unbelievable’, he just puts it in simple terms, “I loved what I did for a living, and I did it as often as I can and as perfectly as I can”. It’s just that simple. It is the love of the game. When you have such an attraction towards your craft, you will find yourself doing things that not many others will do. I’ve heard Kobe talk about the importance of having curiosity in our lives., and how the love of the game made him more curious about his craft and that in return made him better. Because of his passion to learn, he spent hours reading and analyzing the game, watching great players in action, and learning from them. He spent most of his time studying and practicing what he loved.

My goal was to become one of the best basketball players to ever live, and I didn’t have time for anything outside of that lane

– Kobe Bryant

3. The word ‘Failure’ doesn’t exist

No matter how good a person is, he/she cannot hide from failure for long. We all have to face failure at some point in our lives. And the way we handle them will either make us or break us. Kobe shared great insight on failure and how he handles them. He explains that the word ‘Failure’ doesn’t exist in his world. He believes that a situation becomes a failure only when you don’t learn anything from the hardship that life is putting you through at that time.

What the hell does failure even mean? For me, it doesn’t even exist. Only if you fail to learn the lesson from your mistake does it become a failure. If I fail on Monday, I’m gonna do better on Tuesday, and if I fail again, I’m gonna try better on Wednesday.

– Kobe Bryant

Kobe’s philosophy was very simple. He was never gonna let his failures define him. After he dropped those 5 air-balls early on in his career, he immediately figured out that he didn’t have the physical strength to compete in the NBA. After learning the lesson, he started to work on his body and kept getting better every year. Soon enough, he became one the best clutch shot makers in the league, and by the end of his career, he was considered one the greatest of all time. Those air balls don’t define him anymore because chose to look beyond them.

He was truly an inspiration for all of us and will surely live in our hearts forever. Rest In Peace, legend.

Trying to read a book for the first time was one of the toughest situations I’ve had in my life. Back in 2021, I made a resolution to start the habit of reading. As a result of that, I bought the first book that came to my mind; a famous novel from the 1800’s, Oliver Twist. I mean this with no disrespect to the writer, but I had a hard time reading that book and I was forcing myself to open it everyday just for the sake of my resolution. I’ve never picked up a book in my life before that, and I didn’t want to quit the habit easily. That was the only thing that kept me going. The first problem I had with the book was the style of English used in it(my English is pretty good as well but the early 1800s style was too much for me). The second thing I figured out is that fiction was not my thing. It took me months to understand the importance of choosing the right book to read.

After failing at the first attempt of this new habit, I thought that reading was never going to be a part of my life. It was a frustrating moment for me because after hearing a number of successful people talk about the impact of reading, I desperately wanted to be a reader as well. At that moment I didn’t realize where I was going wrong. It took me a few months to understand the importance of reading what you want and what you like.

A few months later I decided to restart my reading habit and I started with the book ‘Relentless’ by Tim Grover. This time around, I loved picking up the book everyday. I’ve read some of the chapters over and over again and I spent hours on that book. Crazy how my love for books changed within a few months time, right? But here’s the thing, the only difference between the first book and this one was the fact that I chose this based on what I liked at the moment. I didn’t choose a random book and decide to read it, I didn’t choose the most popular book in the market; and I didn’t choose a book that my friend was reading. I was able to find a big difference in my reading routine when I made this small change. That is why I wanted to write this post today. I want to share my thoughts on treating reading as a habit and as an experience.

1. Reading as a habit wont take a lot of time, but when you consider it as an experience it will :

During the early days of starting my reading habit, I used to spend only a handful of minutes everyday and I used to struggle to finish every single chapter. I wanted to pick that book up everyday just for the sake of my new year’s resolution. I was trying to create a habit rather than focusing on the experience. When you treat it as an experience, you will look forward to gain something from the book every time you open it, it might be learning, stress relief, the adrenaline rush of a mystery thriller etc. These are the elements that make you fall in love with the book and make you come back to it every time. But when you treat it as a habit, you will treat reading as something you do for passing your time.

“The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can’t.”

Mark Twain 

2. If you treat it as a habit, reading will be a part of you life. But if you look at it as an experience, it will change your life :

You might have heard this line from many others, but I will tell this to you again, and trust me, I’m not exaggerating this, reading has the power to change your life completely. Reading is a way through which you can view the world through another person’s eyes. The more books we read, the more perspectives we get and the more perspectives we get, the more knowledge we gain. And the best part of this experience is we will be able to view the ins and outs of the topic from the perspective of an expert. How cool is that !

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.”

– George R.R. Martin

3. Reading as an experience is possible only when you read what you need/like at the moment :

If you are new to the world of reading, and if you want reading to be a part of your identity, you should start by reading books on topics that you like or need to learn about at the moment. When you start with a book that solves a particular problem in your life it will be much easier for you to get involved with the book. If you don’t like the book you just bought or if you are not able to connect with the author’s thoughts, it is time for you to say goodbye to the book. You don’t have to feel the need to complete a book. Not every book can be a suitable for you, every author has a different style of writing, and you cannot love all of them. It is very important for you to have an attraction towards the book. In my case, the love of sports was the attraction. As I mentioned earlier in the post, the first book I loved reading was ‘Relentless‘, a book which gives us great insights from the lives of basketball legends like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade etc. I loved reading about the lives of these great people. I was so focused on learning from some of the most successful minds in the world, and thus I had an instant connection with the book. From the very first chapter, I was able to feel the difference between reading a fiction book and reading a non-fiction book. That’s the kind of feeling you should be looking for when you pick up a book.

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

-Walt Disney

Hope this post was helpful to you. Thanks for reading !

Want to kick start your reading routine but don’t know where to start ? You’ve come to the right place. In this post I’m gonna talk about a book that changed my whole perspective of life. I’m sure that it will do the same for you.

To start off, you have to understand that you don’t have to search for the most popular books in the world and read one of them every time. Trust me on this, I made such a mistake recently and I totally regret spending money on that book just because it is popular. Rather than popularity, it’s better to focus on what you need at the moment(remember, I’m talking about non-fiction/self help books).

The reason I mentioned the above point is because the book that I’m goin to suggest is extremely popular itself, but that’s not why I’m asking you to read it. This book has helped me to analyze my life and achieve my goals in a much more efficient way than before. I’ve been able to see improvements with my productivity and I’ve also been able to organize my day a lot better. The book I want to suggest to you is ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear.

Why Atomic Habits ? Here’s why :

• Detailed explanation of all the points

The attention to detail in this book is just unbelievable. The author has backed up every single point with real life instances and has did his research very well. Throughout the book, he tells us about instances where his principles have been found to be successful, which will inspire you to implement these in your life and understand the topics better.

• Easy to understand

Though there are a lot of topics covered, this book is extremely easy to understand. The English isn’t too complicated, and the topics are well explained; thus making it perfect for a beginner.

• Easy to implement in real life

One of the best aspects of this book is that the author has given us easy ways to implement the principles in our lives. Starting a new habit might not be the easiest thing to do. The author has understood that very well and thus has given us the tricks to make them lighter. With every single chapter, he has focused on making the lessons easier to learn and follow.

Before you dive into the magical world of Atomic Habits, let me give you a summary of the book so that you can have an idea of what you can expect.

There are four laws that stand as the fundamentals of this book. These are four simple steps that help us build better habits. Here they are :

1. Make It Obvious

• Throughout this book, the author talks about cues and triggers that help initiate our habits. The idea behind the first law is to make these cues as obvious as possible. When we place place the cues in front of our eyes by some way or form(making them obvious), it increases the odds that we actually start the habit.
• One of the key aspects of habit change is awareness. We have to be aware of our habits before we change them. To be more aware of our habits, the author teaches us a method called Habit Scorecard. Take a piece of paper and write down the things that you do throughout the day. Once you’ve made that list, analyze each behavior and ask yourself if that is a good habit or a bad habit or a neutral habit.
• If it’s a good habit, put a + sign near it, and if its a bad or a neutral habit, use – and = signs respectively. It is always better to analyze these habits base on their long term effect.
• Now that you know what your good and bad habits are, here’s a way to trigger a change. Hearing your habits spoken aloud makes the consequences seem more real. For example, sayin ‘Tomorrow, I need to got to the post office after lunch”, increases the odds that you’ll actually do it. You are getting yourself acknowledge the need for action- and that can make all the difference.
• Another great technique you can use is Habit Stacking. The key is to tie your desired behavior with something you already do each day. For example, Exercise. “After I take off my work clothes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.”
• Habit stacking allows you to create a set of simple rules that guide your future behavior. It’s like having a game plan for which action you should do next.
• The author also talks about the importance of designing our environment according to the habit we’re trying to implement. He believes that in the long run, we become a product of the environment that we live in. It is almost impossible for us to stick to positive habits in a negative environment.
• For example, if you’re wasting too much time watching TV, move it out of the bedroom.

2. Make it Attractive

• We need to make our habits attractive because it is the expectation of a rewarding experience that motivates us to act in the first place. The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming
• The key is to link an action you want to do with an action you need to do. For example, if you want to check facebook, “After I pull out my phone, I will do 10 burpees(need). After I do ten burpees, I will check facebook(want).”
• Join a culture where your desired behavior is normal and appreciated. When changing your habit means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive. Be around people who share the same vibe as you do.

3. Make It Easy

• One of the key aspects of starting a new habit is making it easy. When you can make you good habits more convenient, you’ll be more likely to follow through on them. Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life.
• The actions that matter the most must be the actions that are easiest to do.
• When we are forming a new habit, repetition is more important than perfection. It is better to do 10 pushups everyday than to do 100 push ups twice a week.
• The key for us is to find the starting point of the new habit journey. Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.

4. Make It Satisfying

• We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
• Positive emotions cultivate positive habits. You learn what to do in the future based on what you were rewarded for doing in the past.
• With good habits, the immediate outcome might be unenjoyable, it might be hard, but the ultimate outcome feels good.
• Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete a habit.

Overall, I would definitely rate this book a 5/5 ! Make sure you read it too. I only talked about a small portion of the book here. There is a lot more for you to learn ☻

Hope you liked this review. Thanks for reading ! ☻

Financial education is one of the most overlooked aspects of general knowledge in our world at the moment. I don’t want to be judgmental about it, but our educational systems don’t focus enough on teaching us the importance of financial freedom and the impact it has on our lives. As hard-working individuals, it is our responsibility to have a clear understanding on how to spend the money we earn. One of the best ways to educate ourselves is by reading different books and putting time and effort into understanding the fundamentals of finance. If you’re looking to go down the same path and educate yourself, I have the perfect book to suggest, ‘The Richest Man In Babylon’.

This book talks about ways to save, invest and make your money grow, and can be the perfect guide for you to kick start your way into financial independence. This book will take you through a seven step process, which is beautifully termed as ‘seven cures for a lean purse‘, and I will be talking about three of those cures in this post. So let’s get started.

The first cure – Start thy purse to fattening

The author tells us that the first cure for a lean purse is to never leave it empty. As simple as it may sound, the first step to build a fortune for yourself is to have the habit of saving a small portion of what you earn every month. This is one of the most commonly advised strategies in the world of financial education, and yet so many people still struggle to keep up with the habit. According to the author, a man is supposed to save at least 1/10^th of his monthly/daily income, and has to follow this habit on a consistent basis. He states that money comes easily to the person who has a fat purse and it avoids the man who has an empty one. This, as he believes is a fundamental algorithm that is followed by the universe itself. Have you heard people say that the rich will keep getting richer and the poor will keep getting poorer ? You know why they say that ? It’s because the rich focuses more on growing the money that he has rather than spending it. He understands the importance of saving his money and cares deeply about having a fat purse. That’s the kind of mentality that we are supposed to have. There are many reasons to why we end up spending all of the money we earn. One of the reasons is that we focus on the instant gratification that we get from our daily needs and expenditures rather than focusing on things that will increase in value over the period of time. The key idea here is to save up the money we spend on unnecessary things, and use that money to buy assets that will make your money grow.

The Second Cure- Control Thy Expenditures

One of the questions that may arrive in your mind is ‘How can I save one tenth of my income if my income is not sufficient for all my expenses?’ To learn how to save money despite having a modest income, we’ve got to understand the difference between our expenses and desires. It is very important for us to figure out all the basic necessities that we have in our day to day lives and find a way to live with the help of nine tenths of our income. One of the best practices to follow is to track all of our expenditures for a month, list them down and try to understand where all our money is going, and once we’ve done that, we can understand what are the things that are absolutely necessary for our survival and try to cut the rest of the expenses out of our lives. By doing so, we’ll realize how much money we are wasting on things that can be avoidable. I know it’s definitely not easy to cut out all our desires, because all of us have our desires and dreams, but in order to build a wealthy future, we have to live a modest present. Trust me, the money that you save today will give you the confidence and security you need for tomorrow. You may not realize it now, but when life throws a can of garbage at you, you know at least your purse will be of help!

The Third Cure- Make Thy Gold Multiply

Okay, so now you’ve started saving money every month, and you’re wondering what to do with that money next. You’ve also removed all unnecessary expenses from your life, and you’re probably wondering, ‘If I’m not supposed to spend that money for myself, then what the hell am I supposed to do with it?’ Here’s the answer. A wise man will not only save some money for himself, but he will also make his money work for him. He will find different ways to make his money multiply and grow his purse larger over time. The author tells us that a man’s wealth is not in the money he carries in his purse; its the income he builds, the money stream that continually flows in to his purse and keeps it always bulging. The goal here is to create an income source that will continue to fill up your purse whether you work or not. We all know that we cannot be working hard all our life. There is a certain age in which we will have the press the stop button and relax. When that time comes around, the money that you put to work now will serve you. So how do we create that income source ? That’s where the different investment ideas start to come in. There are a ton of options for us in this day and age to invest our money, and it requires a lot of time and effort for us to figure out which suits us best. As we all know, the things that involve growing our money comes with a lot of risks most of the time, so although it is necessary for us to implement these strategies, we have to do it with a lot of precaution. It’s highly advisable that we do our research before jumping into this. Anyways, I hope you understood the importance of investing.

To summarize the topics, here are the three cures for an empty purse :

1. Start Thy Purse To Fattening –> (Save Money)
2. Control Thy Expenditures –> (Spend Wisely)
3. Make Thy Gold Multiply –> (Invest)

Hope you liked this post and found it useful. Thanks for reading !

Atomic Habits is easily one of the most talked about and one of the most admired books in the past few years. As it sounds from the name of the book, it talks about the importance of small habit-changes in our day to day lives. The author has created a set of wonderfully orchestrated laws that help us to build good habits and break all the bad ones. Today I would like to talk about two of those laws and how easy and profound they are.

• The first law is to ‘Make it obvious’

We are all used to taking big resolutions during the start of a new year or a new month. More often than not, these resolutions don’t last very long. We spend a lot of time thinking about what habits are to be added and what are to be stopped, but we rarely think about how we are gonna implement them. Before we try to change our day to day habits, we have some basic details to figure out. Through the law of making it obvious, the author tries to convey the fact that when we assign a specific time period and location to our new habit, it makes it easier for us to do it. The formula to implement this law is:

‘when situation X arises, I will perform response Y’.

For example, ‘I will meditate for one minute at 7 a.m. in my kitchen’ (or) ‘I will study Spanish for twenty minutes at 6 p.m. in my bedroom ‘

When we plan our tasks by setting a particular time and location, we are prone to complete them more often than not.

In 2001, researchers in Great Britain began working with 248 people to build better exercise habits over the course of two weeks. The first group of people were simply asked to track how often they exercised. The second group were not only asked to track their workouts but also to read some materials on the benefits of exercise(for the purpose of motivation) . The third group were also given the same rules as the second, but in addition, they ere also asked to formulate a plan for when and where they would exercise over the following week. In the first and second groups, 35 to 38 percent of people exercised at least once per week. But 91 percent of the third group exercised at least once per week. More than double the normal rate ! From the above research, it is clearly evident that specifying a time and a place can add great value to our habits.

Another interesting way to approach this technique is by using the habit stacking method. Have you ever noticed that we often decide what to do next based on the what you have just finished doing? For example, going to the bathroom leads to washing and drying your hands , which reminds you that you need to put dirty towels in the laundry, so you add detergent to the shopping list and so on. Each action becomes a cue that triggers the next behavior. One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking. The purpose of habit stacking is to give us a game plan on what to do next.

We can have our goals as follows :

After I pour my morning cup of coffee, I will meditate for sixty seconds. After I meditate, I will write my to do list for the day. After writing my to do list I will immediately begin my first task.

• The next law is to Make is easy

One of the biggest problems we face while creating a new habit is focusing on too many things at once. The author tells us that it is very important for us to focus on the starting point of the habit rather than the whole outcome. The hardest part in building a new habit is to find the start button. That is why, the author asks us to make our habits as easy as possible to start. When we find ways to make the starting point look easier, we will be able to bring regularity into our habits.

Before we get into the ways we can make it look easy, let me tell you the importance of the ‘first step’ that we take. Let’s assume that you want to start hitting the gym everyday from now. You wakeup everyday, you put your gym clothes on, you head out, call a taxi and you head straight to the gym. What is the most important thing to focus on now? What do you think would be the starting point? Is it the different kinds of workouts that you are going to do? No. The starting point or the trigger point is getting into your gym clothes and getting into the taxi.

Whenever we start a new habit we always tend to have struggle with following the habit regularly. We always to find ways to procrastinate our schedule and make excuses. The author says that there are certain decisive moments that we have to win over in order to continue our habit. The decisive moment in this case is not the first workout, but its actually waking up and getting ready for the gym. Just when you are about to call the taxi, your mind will start putting in doubts and give you different reasons to cancel for the day. You might feel the laziness kicking in, you might feel mentally drained to go or your mind will crave to watch a new Netflix show. These are the kind of mental battles that you have to win. The decisions you make in these decisive moments will decide the overall outcome of the habit. That is why winning in these decisive moments (or) taking the first step is very important.

The two minute rule to make our habits look easy :

The idea is, when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. This is intended to make our habits as easy as possible to start. Instead of trying to do too many things at once, we can start by trying out the habit for a small time period first.

Read before bed each night becomes read one page,

Study for class becomes open my notes

Fold the laundry becomes fold one pair of socks

A new habit should not feel like a challenge. When the starting process is as easy as 2 minutes, it makes it easier to actually show up to the process. Once we’ve gotten the start, it is easy for us to then spend more time on the habit, and even on the days when we feel like taking a break, doing it for just two minutes will not make it seem like a tussle. Doing ‘something’ is far better than doing absolutely nothing. Doing 5 pushups is better than doing no push ups at all, writing for five minutes is far better than not writing at all.

The whole point of the two minute rule is to create a gateway habit that naturally leads us to a more productive path. It focuses on the art of showing up and establishing the habit. A habit must always be established before it can be improved. Remember, you can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist !

Hope you liked reading this !