Personality Themes

Photo by  Bharathi Kannan  on  Unsplash If you have ever felt that this world treats unequally by favoring others while disfavoring you for some reason, it is the time to give it an honest rethought. Life has blessed you with equal resources  (knowledge, talent, money, health, contacts, time, information, etc.)  as anybody else, but your resources could be different, because you are unique and special. It only requires you to explore yourself to identify what life has bestowed on you uniquely. Some person is gifted with a sweet voice and flair for music, some person is gifted with scientific acumen and logical thinking, someone is bestowed with the ability to work with numbers, someone is blessed with the best communication ability, and so on and so forth. Ultimately everyone is equally blessed with resources (in one or the other form) to flourish and prosper in life. But then the question arises: why do we find so much of disparity among people a...

Photo by  Mihai Lazăr  on  Unsplash As life is a constant journey towards betterment, you wish to be in a better position in the course of time. A goal speaks about where you want to be as the time goes by. Hence you need to set a goal for every area of improvement you have felt. A well-stated goal gives you motivation to work towards its realization. While all of us have goals, many times they remain as vague idea at the back of mind. You think about what you want to achieve, but not in concrete terms. Rather, a clearly stated goal alone can boost your energy and drive you along the course of action. Smart people have clear cut goals at the top of their mind and are energized by them, because they have put each goal in black and white in SMART way. SMART is an acronym that should remind you of how your goal statement should be: S-Smart, M-measurable, A-attainable, R-Relevant, and T-Time bound. Let us analyze these characteristics of an ideal ...

SWOT Analysis You have clear goals to achieve. What next? Before deciding your route-map to reach the goals, you need to understand where you stand now. In other words, you need to have a fair idea how well you are positioned to achieve those goals. For example, if you have a goal of increasing your wealth by two times in the next five years, you need to plan actions towards achieving it. Planning actions requires knowledge of whether you have sufficient resources to reach the goal (strengths), what limitations you have (weaknesses), what hurdles you might face in reaching goals (threats), and what outside support you are going to leverage upon (opportunities). You have the tool of SWOT analysis to help you in knowing them. The SWOT matrix has four quadrants as shown in the below template. Strengths and weaknesses lie in you whereas the opportunities and strengths lie outside you. You need to list strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in respective quadrants. Th...

Photo by  Chris Benson  on  Unsplash If you wish people show interest in listening to you, do not forget to keep your speaking as simple as possible. The greatest myth is that sophistication in speech attracts people. Rather, as affirmed by Leonardo da Vinci, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. There is nothing like a simple language that makes people wanting to listen. At the same time a simple language need not exclude the content of a great thought or idea. The power of simple language lies in its ability to convey grand ideas in unsophisticated manner to express humility. Even complex thoughts should be presented in the simplest words in a manner easily comprehensible by everyone. Nonetheless, it is not as simple as it is said. Simplicity in language is a rare art that needs great practice to achieve mastery; the practice of having the genuine interest of reaching the listener through every word you utter. Knowingly or unknowingly, you may ten...

Photo by  Matthew T Rader  on  Unsplash In today's world of mechanical life, as a way to vent out their emotions or to 'forget their problems', people resolve to things that give them immediate relief, without thinking about their harmful effects in the long run. Usually they are attracted to tobacco, alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling, and the like. Very soon, they realize how such pleasurable things can damage their physical and mental health severely; but by that time, they would have already been in the tight clutches of their addiction. Even if they want, they cannot stop using such substances or behaviors; the addiction has enslaved them. Nevertheless, overcoming any addiction should not be difficult for a determined mind. Where there is a will, there is a way. Understanding the science of addiction can help us to address the problem at the root level and overcome it easily. Today, there are many tested and proven scientific ways of overcoming addic...

Photo by  Lauren McConachie  on  Unsplash Being too agreeable can tax your mental health. If you are habituated to be overly nice to others because you want people to like you and know that you are a good person, it would ultimately put you in the soup. If you usually try to please everyone and put others first by suppressing your views, concerns, and rights, then you are likely to end up suffering stress, resentment and depression. It only spoils the relationships sooner or later. Hence, the key to building meaningful relationships with others is to value your own views, concerns, and rights as much as you do with theirs. The problems with being too agreeable: In reality, the world is filled with all sorts of people. If you are too open, some people take advantage of it and try to manipulate you without respecting your wish and will. They project themselves to be better than you and try to gain the upper hand, thereby diminishing your identity. You may u...

Even though we are well organized and have a commitment to follow our work schedule, sometimes we may delay our work by spending significant amount of time on trivial things such as watching TV or browsing web or exploring social media. If this becomes a habit and causes regular delays in our work, it is procrastination. Whether it is putting off our work-related responsibilities or household responsibilities, procrastination can affect our job or our life. How procrastination affects Gradually procrastination becomes a part of our lifestyle. We not only delay simple tasks like household chores, organizing the office table, or servicing vehicle, we also start delaying most important things like critical health checkups, filing income tax returns, or major work assignments. Habitually we postpone important things until they become very urgent, and then try doing it in hurry, which leads to stress. Such a stress can affect the quality of work on hand as well as our mental he...

Photo by  Fares Hamouche  on  Unsplash Controlling the mind is like catching air with your hand. When we like to be rational, the mind plays the game of emotions. When we want to tread the path of righteousness, it makes us impulsively commit the wrong. When you want to rise up to the higher standards, it is attached to the inferior modes. In spite of all these, you can control your mind and be calm, composed, and happy. The way to achieve this is to make friends with your mind. Take time to know your mind better. Learn to communicate with your mind. Slowly convince your mind on what is good to you in the long term. Persuade the mind on how remaining steadfast on the path of principles could make your life worthwhile. Your mind is the key that locks you up in problems when it turns towards negativity. The same key, your mind, can free you from problems when it turns towards positivity. Hence your own mind can be your worst enemy if it lowers you. The same...

Photo by  Agung Raharja  on  Unsplash Want a lot of energy? Look into your mind; your mind is a powerhouse. Modern quantum physics finds the thoughts emanating from your mind to be vibrations of energy. Surprisingly, many of the ancient civilizations have asserted this some thousands of years back. Every moment multiple thoughts originate in your mind, but you do not realize their power because those thoughts are scattered and only get dissipated. If you really want to harness those great energy forms, you need to learn to focus them on a single object such as a work or a problem or an aim. You know, light loses energy when the rays are scattered, but becomes strong when focused like in the case of a laser beam. Focused light is a common analogy to understand focused mind. The power of mind comes from the pointedness of attention without distraction. An alternative word to focusing is ‘concentration of mind’. Photo by  Alireza Sahebi  on  Unspla...

Photo by  Jana Sabeth Schultz  on  Unsplash Do you recall a time when you had an argument or debate with someone and you ended up in frustration because of the wide difference of opinion you felt? Such an experience is bound to happen in everyone's life. Read the parable below which throws some light on the phenomenon. Two horses were grazing on a field. Suddenly the first horse picked up an argument with the second horse about a blade of grass that stood between them. The first horse said that the grass was brown in color. The second horse did not agree to this and contested that it was rather yellow in color. The situation slowly turned into debate and then into a fight. Photo by  Claire Nolan  on  Unsplash You will laugh on knowing the reality. The first horse only had to take a step forward and look at the other side of the grass to know it was actually yellow. The grass was brown on one side and yellow on the other. Hence the two h...

Photo by  Sian Cooper  on  Unsplash Once, an ant compared itself with an elephant to find itself too small and got into worry. His friend pointed out the real strengths in the ant, "You may be small in one aspect, but you are incomparably big in many: you are purpose-driven, excellent team-player, service-minded, and hard worker. You are one and only of your kind in God's creation!" Thus, the ant became happy again and sang, "I am not small; I am different...I am unique... I am special." Many times we get into the habit of comparing ourselves with others in terms of material possessions, lifestyle, or success. It only leads to unhappiness and affect our confidence upon finding ourselves lacking. Sometimes we may even feel depressed, discontented, jealous, or hateful. The actual problem lies in our way of thinking. If we revisit out thoughts, we can easily solve the problem. Here are a few ways of overcoming the habit of comparing and the associ...

Photo by  Tachina Lee  on  Unsplash In order to take up a challenging task and complete it, we should be completely aware of our potential, believe in ourselves, and should not lose confidence in our abilities till we complete the task. If we ever aim low or got a hang-up about attaining the goal, a strong reason could be our self-doubt or lack of confidence in our abilities. The power of self-confidence makes anything possible, while the negative power of self-doubt makes even a possible thing impossible. A bumble bee can fly even though its body is not aerodynamically structured, though its wings are too small and weak to lift its bulky body, because it doesn't doubt its potential. Hence it focuses only on effort without being anxious about the result. Nature has a lesson for us from this small creature- 'Do not doubt your abilities' . Photo by  Agustin Fernandez  on  Unsplash Sometimes, self-doubt may creep into our mind from our sur...

Photo by  Olav Ahrens Røtne  on  Unsplash There are two types of people. One, who fear problems; the other, whom the problems fear. Though God has gifted each of us with only one brain, only a few among us prove to be genius and brainy. How are they able to stand out as people who can solve difficult problems and are valued much in their field of work? Einstein, a scientist known to be gifted with weirdest genius has himself revealed the secret behind his success. In his own words, "It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer." What a straight forward answer to our question! If we can cultivate this one habit of focusing our attention on the problem for extended hours, we can undoubtedly bring out the real genius in us. Hence, genius is not a born trait, it is a habit of putting continuous effort. While we wonder about how they are able to make such a difference in a situation, we usually fail to notice the kind of hard work they do ...