Saturday, February 28, 2009

Celebrating the Recession

Hi,

Came across an interesting article of surviving the recession and feeling great about it. I could not resist sharing it and hope we can learn to live a better life rather than cursing our past mistakes.

EMPLOYEES IN RECESSION

1. Go back to school – build multi-skill portfolio, revive contacts with batchmates.

So the saying, 'Jack of all trade and master of none' fails in these testing times. People are out there ready to do multitasking and at a compromised rate.

2. Be flexible on assignments, and be prepared to work harder.

Gone are the days when people used to take their jobs for granted and had laid back attitude.

3. If you are a top performer, no need to worry; if not, become one.

If you are a top performer you don't have to worry but you have to be consistent in your performance and at the same time set your goals high.

4. Focus on performance rather than on 'survivor's guilt'.

Performers will rule and survivor's will perish. Choose what you want to be.

CONSUMERS IN RECESSION

1. Leave credit cards at home when shopping.

The times of using OPM (Other People's Money) have gone, atleast for some time. So if you have cash, demand if not make do with window shopping.

2. Reduce eating out, by one day a week.

By eating out daily you are making the owner of the Restaurant or the Hotel rich. Eating at home and having home cooked food is back in fashion.

3. Delay big ticket purchase, else reduce expectations (a 2-BHK instead of 3 or 4-BHK, a sedan instead of an SUV...)

If you have cash go ahead and fulfull your dream, if not hold the urge to take a fat loan from the Banks. They will come back asking faster than you can imagine, and not one, every employee will be calling you if you have taken a PL and delay your payments. Beware: Employees half your age will talk to you in a manner as if they own the bank from which you have borrowed.

4. Defer vacations till things stabilize.

Because when you are on vacations you are paying from your pocket and at the same time loosing on your daily income for every day you are out of office not working.

INVESTORS IN RECESSION

1. Increase 'emergency fund' from 3-6 months to 8-12 months expenses.

And use it drop by drop. This 'emergency fund' will sail you through rough weather of the recession.

2. Pay off high-cost debts like credit cards and personal loans -NOW!!

The sooner you don't owe anybody anything the happier your life will be. It will also make your mobile not sound like a danger alarm every time it rings.

3. If surplus remains, continue with equity investments through systematic plans of mutual funds.

Saving Little by little will make you rich and the richness will be with you for your lifetime and even after that.

So ladies and gentlemen, instead of crying over it let us all enjoy the recession and make merry so when it is ready to go we can bid it farewell with great fanfare.

Till next time,

Bye

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Making MISTAKES and then LEARNING from it

Hi,
The Oxford dictionary describes mistake as follows:
Mistake n. incorrect idea or opinion, thing incorrectly done or thought.
Today I learned a great deal about mistakes when I came through what the great personalities had to say about mistakes.
Do we dare to take the responsibility for our mistakes without worrying about the consequences? If not then following lines will help us change our point of view:

I’m not a God, I make mistakes.
Boris Becker, tennis player

Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes.
Antisthenes, philosopher

Making mistakes is lot better than not doing anything.
Billie Armstrong, musician

There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they’re necessary to reach the places we’ve chosen to go.
Richard Bach, novelist

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scot Adams, cartoonist

A mad, keen photographer needs to get out into the world and work and make mistakes.
Sam Abell, photographer

Finally, dear friends, it is better to admit to one’s mistake in the initial stages instead of letting it multiply and incur huge losses later.
Bye for now and start committing mistakes and then learn from them.