Charge your BRAIN

Have you ever felt exasperated when you bumped into someone at the store but absolutely couldn’t remember their name? Sure, it happens to all of us.

Despite being the strongest computer on the planet, our brains do lapse. It’s hard to blame them really. As humans, we spend much of or existence stuffing our brains withstuff. Some stuff is worthless, some of it’s meaningful, some of it, well, it’s just stuff and there is an endless amount of it.

No matter how powerful our brains are, they need recuperation time, to be kept in shape, and even an occasional charge. Think of it as a tune up for your brain. Skipping brain maintenance is as silly as the person wandering the parking garage because they forgot where they parked. Is that you? Are you that person? Sure. We all are at some point. No worries, there is hope.

Now I am not a brain surgeon and I am not going to suggest you do anything surgical or dangerous. I am however an astute student of human behavior, so I always look for simple ways tosuper charge my brain.

Here are some things you can begin doing as soon as today to begin the great brain tune up.

1. Eat Almonds
Almond is believed to improve memory. If a combination of almond oil and milk is taken together before going to bed or after getting up at morning, it strengthens our memory power. Almond milk is prepared by crushing the almonds without the outer cover and adding water and sugar to it.

2. Drink Apple Juice
Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increasedmemory power.

3. Sleep well
Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.

4. Enjoy simple Pleasures
Stress drains our brainpower. A stress-ridden mind consumes much of our memory resources to leave us with a feeble mind. Make a habit to engage yourself in few simple pleasures everyday to dissolve stress from your mind. Some of these simple pleasures are good for your mind, body and soul.

• Enjoy music you love
• Play with your children
• Hug a stranger
• Appreciate others
• Run few miles a day, bike or swim
• Start a blog
• Take a yoga class or Total wellness routine

5. Fast for a day
Fasting cleans and detoxifies our body. It is known fact that heavy food not only causes stress on our digestive system but also drains our brainpower. Fasting relieves toxic emotions such as anger, grief, worry, and fears – before they accumulate and cause disease. By cleansing toxic emotions, fasting strengthens metal clarity with increases memory, concentration, creativity and insight.

6. Exercise your mind
Just as physical exercise is essential for a strong body, mental exercise is equally essential for a sharp and agile mind. Have you noticed that children have far superior brainpower than an adult does? Children have playful minds. A playful mind exhibits superiormemory power. Engage in some of the activities that require your mind to remain active and playful.

• Play scrabble or crossword puzzle
• Volunteer
• Interact with others
• Start a new hobby such as blogging, reading, painting, bird watching
• Learn new skill or a language

7. Practice Yoga or Meditation
Yoga or Meditation relives stress. Stress is a known memory buster. With less stress, lower blood pressure, slower respiration, slower metabolism, and released muscle tension follows. All of these factors contribute significantly towards increases in our brainpower.

8. Reduce Sugar intake
Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.

9. Eat whole wheat
The whole wheat germs contain lecithin. Lecithin helps ease the problem of the hardening of the arteries, which often impairs brain functioning.

10. Eat a light meal in the night
A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.

11. Develop imagination
Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses – touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

12. Sex
Our sexual imagination often empowers our ability to daydream, which strengthens our brainpower with greater imagination, visualization and association.

13. Control your temper
Bleached food, excess of starch or excess of white bread can lead to nerve grating effect. This results in a violent and some time depressive behavior. Eat fresh vegetables. Drink lots of water and meditate or practice yoga to relieve these toxic emotions of temper and violent mood swings.

14. Take Vitamin B-complex
Vitamin B-complex strengthens memory power. Eat food and vegetables high in Vitamin B-complex. Stay away from the starch food or white bread, which depletes the Vitamin B-complex necessary for a healthy mind.

Ideas from my past experience

Ideas
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Technical

- Create reusable kind of components, scripts, functions
- Create group wise ids (like php@sitename.com if used then it will send an email to all the php team and its related members and similarly if everyone@ is selected then it should send email to all the employees)
- have coding standards
- have framework
- Have backup plans (at least weekly)
- suggest the latest version of softwares
- Create components and register them in software download sites like softpedia, download.com etc with a fixed price in it. For this purpose we have to make the application installable and fully customizable in terms of design. We can also provide templates for the same with a fixed nominal price so that user is encouraged to purchase it instead of doing design on own.

- Keep strict discipline, manner, less arguments
- Always be ready to help / solve queries
- Spend at least fruitfull half an hour on knowledge upgradation in beneficial manner to the organization
- Spend an hour at home for the knowledge upgradation in beneficial manner to the organization
- Provide at least minimum 9 hours in the office


- Once any project is started give at least half an hour a day with the team

- Keep an excel file with project name, assigned team member name with their responsiblity in it and in the last add feedback for each

- Once in a week share your ideas and knowledge with team by email

- Do your job first not others

- Reach early in the office

- Spend 15 minutes in the office and visualize your self in action and initiatives

- Never ever show a way to any team member on how you are doing the things and do not teach them.

- Also do not show any one a vision to reach to your level

- Down the line after each 2 months, seek for new responsibilities and for the same, represent your ideas in a good PRESENTABLE manner because your presentation is a must and creates value for confirmation

- Suggest to not to have any un-watned software in any of system. If they agreed then follow it strictly. It will help all the team members to run their system much much faster

- Based on experience (it is strange but needed), make sure that peoples are not becoming independent without you. If they are becoming independent then make them dependent on you. Like software which you use if they have mastered then remove it from their system by saying that it has a vulnerability or licence issue

- Passion, commitment and a positive attitude always gets noticed at the workplace.

- On each alternate weekend day, spare half an hour or an hour with team members to lighten up the moments / memories which they will remember for a long

- In meeting, always sit in a posotion where you can see all the possible places/faces of other members

- When talking to your seniors, always keep your voice lower (enough to understand and listen) and humble.

- always keep a record of mistaked done by other team members\

- Do not be GOOD / NICE guy. Think smart and act accordingly. If someone is doing a mistake then inform him (at each second time) and do not do any verbal settlement with him

- Be practical and open. Do not suffer injustice and come in fault just to save other. In such situation, raise your voice politely.

- If you are a leader/head then make sure that everything goes well and you are receiving its acknowledgement. ex., if directors are getting in contact with them or inquiries are sent to them then request other person to send you first and then you will do needful

- If you are a sensitive person by nature, try not to show it in front of colleagues. Emotions do have a place in the work space but you have to learn where which emotion should be used, Showing your vulnerability in a personal relationship might bring you closer to your partner> But as far as the workplace is concerned, it might backfire on you,

- Write down your thoughts. It will help you deal with behavioural issues better.

- Set weekly goals and try to reach them. This is help to give your life a sense of purpose.

- Don't make your career the be all and end all of your existence. Growing in other spheres of your life can also boost confidence levels. Don't abandon your hobbies either.

- Your body language while talking to people is also important. There's nothing to get nervous about. "Look into the eyes of the person you are speaking to," says Shetty.

- You should learn to see the humour in a situation as well as be able to laugh at yourself.

- REMEMBER: If company is going to earn then only it will pay / raise your pay. So do all the best which you can do for the growth. Never compromize anything. If you need to scold any one (in private or public) do that but never ever comporomise with the progress of company

- Never bee to gentle that people get benefit of you (instead of company get benefit of you)

- Never let go any mistake more than 3 times, when it is done 3rd time, raise it to the attention of superior

- Be polite, but no need to be humble.
- Be & act confident.
- Be genuine, and not smart.
- Watch reactions. Get feedback .

- Always make an impression that you are only working

- Be such a solid concrete that no one can clith you

- Give more and more time in analysis. Give full list of suggestion, understanding and its limitations

- Share written appreciation for the efforts of team

- Do paper work before you start on a project. Discuss the scope with all the team members how are included in it. Get their ideas and clear understanding. Make sure that no one gets override you in presence of your senior

- In case of your absense, do not make any one person to handle the entire situation. Instead divide it among all the team members so that no one will feel that he is same as you.

- Regardless of what you want to be successful at, it's virtually
certain that you will need to be able to get up and speak in front
of others AND have excellent presentation skills. I've never known
a super-successful person who was not an excellent presenter. After
all, in order to be super-successful at anything its going to
require effective communication of your ideas to other people.

- The project manager is the one on the hook for both deadlines and for the quality of deliverables, It is a failure of the project management process to allow any situation to get to a point where incomplete or poorly completed work is delivered simply to meet a deadline. There is no excuse for things getting to that point.

- Keep your team informed about the project plan, its detail and feedback

- Take a frequent review of hours spent on project.

- Push teams everyday on the overall progress and status like how much is done and how much is pending?

- Get a detailed status at the end of every weekend day and share it with client

- Keep each team member all the reposibilities as per their designation like junior should ask for their query to senior and then to TL or PM. No direct contact. Hence it will create an understanding and atmosphere for senior and junior about their responsibilities.

- When any projects comes to end and client conveys same then share positive thoughts with entire team and ask for same moral support from them

- While uploading anything on the server, please make sure to remove each and ever occurance of personal or company's identity. If needed to do temporary setup then do it on the server by renaming existing folder

- Keep watch on those who disturbs you

- Prepare test papers as per inquiries

- If client is taking too long on daily basis then take action and correct it. Similar way if team is taking unexpected of my time then take action and correct it.

- Utilize resource in best way. Keep track of their given assignment and their achievements as well as their failure too.

Take charge of your career destiny - Azim Premji

The funny thing about life is that you realise the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realise the enthusiasm and excitement of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way. As you embark on your careers, I would like to share them with you. I am hoping that you will find them as useful as I have.

The world you are entering is in many ways very different now from what it was when I began my career. It was the late sixties and India [ depended on other countries for something as basic as food. We aroused sympathy, not admiration whenever we went overseas. Recently, someone told me, that when visitors came to India then, they came to see what they could do for India. Now, they come to see what India can do for them. As a hopeful Indian, I look at our country as one which is rich in ethnic and cultural diversity and one that has an effective, secular democracy which will help us build an enduring society.

Lesson 1: Take charge
This was the first thought that came to me, when over four decades ago, I stepped into Wipro factory at Amalner. I was 21 and had spent the last few years in Stanford University Engineering School at California. Many people advised me to take up a nice, cushy job rather than face the challenges of running a hydrogenated oil business. Looking back, I am glad I decided to take charge instead. Essentially, leadership begins from within. It is a small voice that tells you where to go when you feel lost. If you believe in that voice, you believe in yourself. When it comes to choosing your careers, you have to take charge of your own destiny.

Lesson 2: Earn your happiness
The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy, go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.

Lesson 3: Nothing succeeds like failure
The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson.

Lesson 4: Nothing fails like success
The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. There is a thin line of difference between confidence and arrogance. Confident people are always open to learn. A recent survey of executives in Europe showed that the single most important quality needed for leadership success was the willingness to learn from any situation. Arrogance on the other hand stops learning. It comes with a feeling that one knows all that needs to be known and has done all that needs to be done.

Lesson 5: There has to be a better way
Partly as a corollary to what I have just said, we must remember that no matter how well we do something there has to be a better way! Excellence is not a destination but a journey. Creativity and innovation sometimes need inspiration from other disciplines. It is probably not a chance that Einstein's interest in music was as much as his interest in Physics. Bertrand Russell was as much a mathematician as a philosopher. Excellence and creativity go hand in hand.

Lesson 6: Respond, not react
There is a world of difference between the two and in terms of success and failure. The difference is that the mind comes in between responding and reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do.

Lesson 7: Remain physically active
It is easy to take health for granted when you are young. I have found that exercise not only improves the quality of time but also reduces the time you need for sleep. The truth is that stress will only increase in a global world. You must have your own mechanism to deal with it.

Lesson 8: Never compromise on your core values
Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. One must define what you stand for. This is not difficult. But values lie, not in the words used to describe them, as much as in the simple acts. And that is the hard part. Like someone said, "I could not hear what you said because what you did was coming out far too loud".

Lesson 9: Play to win
Playing to win brings out the best in us and in our teams. It brings out the desire to stretch, to achieve that which seems beyond our grasp. However, it is not about winning at any cost. It is not about winning every time. It is not about winning at the expense of others. It is about innovating all the time. It is a continuous endeavour to do better than last time.

Lesson 10: Give back to society
All of us have a collective social responsibility towards doing our bit to address them. Of all the challenges, the key to me is education. We have a paradoxical situation, where on the one hand we have jobs chasing scarce talent and on the other, rampant unemployment and poverty. The only way to bridge these two ends of the pole is by providing quality education that is accessible by all.

Can't Say "No" to People?

What are you afraid of if you say "No" to people? Here are some of the things my clients have told me regarding their fear of saying no:

"I'm afraid of hurting their feelings. Then they will get angry at me and I will feel like a bad person."

"I'm afraid of ending up with no friends. People will reject me if I say no."

"I'm afraid that my partner will get angry and withdraw his love."

However, when you are afraid to stand up for yourself and say "no" when saying "no" is what is in your highest good, then you might put walls around yourself to avoid having to say "No."

For example, Janice keeps herself 50 pounds overweight because it makes her feel safe from men approaching her for sex. A beautiful woman who was abused as a child, she never learned that it is her responsibility to take care of her own feelings and safety, rather than take responsibility for others' feelings. She is so afraid of hurting a man's feelings by saying "no," that she would rather attempt to protect herself by being overweight than have to face saying "no."

Ron is terrified of being taken advantage of. He believes that if he is open hearted, he will be vulnerable to being used and taken advantage of by others. Because he doesn't want to face his fears of rejection should he say "no" to his family, his friends, his co-workers, or even to a persistent salesperson, he keeps himself safe by being closed, hard, and aloof. He believes that by being unapproachable, he is safe from being taken advantage of. However, he then ends up experiencing the very rejection he is afraid of, because people are put off by his aloofness. Not only that, but keeping himself closed and hard cuts him off from connection and fun with others. All this can change for Ron if he learns to take responsibility for himself by saying "no" when this is what is in his highest good.

Gayle finds herself going along with want others want her to do, and saying the things that she thinks others want to hear, because she is so afraid of others' anger at her. But giving herself up feels awful to her, so after a while, she gets angry and shuts down as a way to protect herself from losing herself. She spends all this energy giving herself up, and then getting angry and shutting down, to avoid having to say "no."

As a child, did you experience the heartbreak of rejection or even of abuse if you said "no" to a parent, a sibling, a friend or relative? Did you learn that either going along with what someone wanted, having a temper tantrum, or shutting down and numbing out were ways to avoid the feeling of heartbreak at not being able to say no?

It is very painful for all of us when someone just wants what they want and doesn't care about what we want or what we feel is right for us. It is painful when others want to use us or take advantage of us. So you might be protecting yourself against the heartache of knowing that another doesn't care about you by giving in, getting angry, or shutting down.

But the irony of this is that when you try to avoid the heartache of feeling another's uncaring behavior, you are not caring about yourself. You are abandoning yourself when you give yourself up or close your heart to avoid feeling rejected. By avoiding others' rejection, you are rejecting yourself, which causes much anxiety and depression.

Moving into personal power and emotional freedom means being willing to take the risk of others' uncaring or rejecting behavior and learning to manage the heartache of this, rather than continue to abandon yourself.