Importance of Taking a Pause, Reflect and Celebrate the Journey

Premise:   The past few weeks of lockdown have had some kind of impact on each and every one of us. Most of the people that I speak to (and believe me, I speak to a lot of people every single day) tell me that they have become busier, more meetings, more work, more calls. I’ve seen something similar happen to me as well.   Are you busier now than pre Covid?   This is surprising on many levels. One would expect that the exact opposite to happen. Most businesses are closed. Not much is being produced or sold or […]

How To Come Out Stronger and Ready to Thrive Post Crisis

Premise: We are already seeing a lot of signals in the economy of the upcoming tectonic shifts and the ripples that they will cause.   We have a record number of publicly listed companies in the US deciding not to give out dividends so that they can conserve cash.   We’ve seen announcements from large firms indicating that the majority of their workforce will now work from home permanently.   We have seen businesses starting to cut salaries {and in some cases not pay any salary at all}.   We have seen massive amounts of people losing their jobs {in […]

The Anatomy and Upside of Boredom

Every now and then I come across in my reading list something that lies at the intersection of being interesting, useful and practical. The below post is one such example. This originally appeared on Aeon, written by Neel Burton and edited by  Nigel Warburton. I have written elsewhere (here, here, here and here) about the importance of boredom and how it has an impact on creativity in the least and overall life satisfaction at the most. So, when I came across this post, it was natural for me to share the entire article in its originality rather than my take […]

The Difficulty of Being in the Present Moment and Strategies to Overcome it

Premise: Earlier today, I came across a blog post on The School of Life blog about the difficulty of being in the present. You can read the entire post here. It so happens that I’ve been having a conversation with my wife and son recently about the same topic (which is a slightly better way of saying that both of them don’t think I am being present in the moment when I am with them). I do accept this as a fact as I am mostly in the midst of either looking at my past or looking forward to my […]

Seizing the day with principles of Improv Comedy | Anil Abraham | TEDxSJMC

One of the things that I talk about in my book Thrive, is about the mindset of “Yes And”. This comes from the world of improvisation comedy. This mindset indicates that the best way forward in any situation in life, as in an improvisational comedy session, is to first agree and accept what has already happened and then build on it.  “Yes” part of the mindset is about acceptance of what has preceded or what has already happened. “And” part of the mindset is about building on top of what has already been accepted. You can’t change what has gone […]