Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 9 - Over express yourself

Everywhere - be it office setting or home or personal setting on phone, there are only those few moments where I am expressing myself well or a lot. Most of the time, I am a passive listener and do not worry about being insecure and need to express myself a lot more. The ideas is to express myself and make sure I am hear and my opinion is taken into account. This is really important from the point that lots of time it is generally the bullshit which is happening which does not grow your knowledge and helps you grow. Hence, it is more than important to start expressing yourself. Take this learning from the way mummy talks about her day and things that she has done. This really helps open things up and not fill space with silence plus it creates a more amicable and fun culture around you.

Better solitary voice - sitting position dilema

Do I have a better opinion and voice when I am alone to be the representative? Here is the situation - day 0, 4 ppl in the room and I kept wondering about my sitting position and hwo I was behaving in that position. I constantly thought over it and iterated. Day 1, I was the only guy towads the advice marketplace and thoughou the interqctiion I didn't even notice that I was stitting in which posture. It was a very new after thought that I didn't even realize the sitting position once I was port of the discussion actively and not passively. Passively brings out the sad over thinking aspect of the person.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 8 - Build strong opinion on certain thing and defend them

Off late I have noticed myself that I have not be taking strong views on things especially related to office and work. I used to have a strong view of how things have been done in the past and how things have to be done be it from a process stand point or from a user standpoint. Somehow, with 2 more team members I have just deferred to their view of things rather than taking a strong person view on things. This is important as slowly I will just go sit in meetings and go along with consensus. Start having strong views about things and what needs to be done and what can not be done. Have points to back up your views and decisions. This will require more thinking effort from you and at the same time a strong sense of understanding as to when to let it go and when not to let it go. Start conversations at home and build viewpoints, build ideas but start creating a mental framework of evaluating thoughts and ideas. Lets see how I fare in this challenge.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 7 - Be fierce in the battlefield

This challenge is something more symbolic and it stuck to me today - Today as usual I was in the meeting contemplating on long term things while the team was discussion on some minute details of some particular aspect of one of the ideas. This is when I realized that this is the battle ground for me and if I do not fight it out here then where else will I fight it out. Also not just fighting for the sake of fighting but also from the point of view that I am building a skill at looking at an opportunity from multiple angles and how to critically analyse it. So this has to be my training ground of asking touch questions and how to get answers around that. Secondly, I should leave a legacy that I fought fiercely in the battle and not like a normal person or not like a silent spectator. I want to be known as somebody who fought well. So here is the challenge, fight fiercely and not be a timid person in the room!

Story of a Syrian girl living the life of a refugee in Turkey

This is the story of a girl I spoke to on Opentalk. She was studying Civil Engineering while residing in Aleppo 4 years back. This is when ISIS entered Aleppo and she was forced to leave her home and her belongings to save her life (part of her family is still living in Syria). It has been 3 years now that she has been in Turkey as a refugee. She speaks only 20% Turkish and only few words of English. Initial few months were really difficult as they had to live off the government aid and could not take of themselves much. However, things got slowly better as she got work as a volunteer for looking after the refugees and immigration department. This is anyhow much far away from what she has studied to become. However, in the last 6 months, things have gone from bad to worse. The Turkish government has cancelled the work permit for the refugees so they are not able to work and earn a living. This is really troublesome as most of them do not speak Turkish or English very well and can not get a job without a work permit. She aspires to do a masters however, that requires money. So She has been looking for work and using applications like Opentalk to improve her fluency in English and become a better speaker.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 6 - Be mentally strong and positive

Here are more details about this challenge. Somehow, over the last few months, I have just submitted to my fate. As an extension, have been cursing myself thinking as if I have been victimized into doing what I am doing and in the state that I am in right now. This is not a comfortable position first because neither am I taking control and changing things nor I am happy about the way things are. What this has led to is that I am no longer happy and nor do I feel in control. This has cause my health to take a backseat and just constantly worry over stuff that I have no control on. Hence, the challenge that I have to be mentally strong and be positive in the situations. Do not look back or regret. Just keep looking in front and be super positive. There will downtimes but ensure that you are always thinking positive and the narrative is always adding more experience and better experience to you rather than the other way around. Hence, the uncomfortable thing that lets move forward and keep improving things as they are. There is no point in going back and sulking about things. So be mentally strong and deal with things.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 4 - Take a stand

Here is the thing about this - I do not take a stand and avoid conflict. Am I Spineless - I don't think so. I do stand up for my people or things I believe in. So the problem with taking a stand - what if you are wrong? what if there are things which you have not thought of yet, what if the decision goes horribly wrong, have you weighed in all the aspects of the problem and solution? I am a lot more of the gut guy who does things from intuition and based on what seems right of course when the data is absent. Hence, I am good when I have to take decisions on my own but not really so when I have to take decisions on multiple aspects and taking every factor into consideration. However, Watching HOC yesterday, I realized that even the president does the same. Of course there is lot more data and view points but finally he makes a gut call and plans for how to handle all types of consequences. So weigh-in on the consequences of your decision - but then take a stand. Not taking a stand would not help and definitely not helping. So for today and going forward, take a stand on atleast 1 thing everyday. Feel strongly about 1 direction and be with it and aggressively start pushing into it. Plan for the consequences which come with it then. So that's the uncomfortable thing for today. Update: This challenge wasn't successful. I could not take any stand professionally. I really need to think what I want and then take stand on things which take me there.

Learning from the Movie: Pele (2016)

Saw the movie Pele this Sunday, loved it for the theatrics and representation. Here is my take on the ideas expressed in the movie: 1. Ginga style - So play according to what you are good in and not what the world sees as right. You have achieved a lot in life doing what you are good in and playing how you have played really well. Idea is to find something where you can play your natural style without being bothered about the whole world. 2 The world will pull you down and try to typecast you in the way they think of the world or they measure success but ensure that you play by your rules and play beautifully. Remember always that you have achieved success in some shape and form and you can do that again only if you do it the way you do it. 3. Pele only had his family to look up to when he became a national hero. He didn't have anybody else around him. Somehow, keep your family close and by your side so that it can become a source of strength for you in many ways. 4. People remember legends (outspoken - if turns out to be correct) - build on being correct a lot of times and build on being outspoken a lot of times. 5. Inspired the nation - can you inspire the nation from what you are or from you can become. I think it is time now that people get inspired by you and see what you can achieve in this world.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 3 - Being strong in mind and not take decision based on heart.

SO here is the thing with this challenge, today I woke up feeling like not going for work or even resigning. But then as a usual routine I got up, got dressed and showed up. But here is the interesting thing, as I showed up, I realized that I had a different level of motivation. Maybe it was the money aspect of the whole thing which seemed exciting. So then I thought more about it and decided to pick this challenge and make decisions using my head. Of course decisions are not just made today or there are many decisions I have to make today but today what I need to think through and practice is to use frameworks where I am thinking hard about things and implementing them using those frameworks rather than just my whims and fancies. So lets stick to it and do it especially see if there is an opportunity to do build your thinking process around it. Update on Day 1 challenge - without one of the most vociferous speakers in the room, I did do a lot of talking and ensure I was heard. Only thing that I have not been able to do is to take a strong stand. I think that is the challenge for next few days.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 2 - Fasting full day without water

So a couple of points around this challenge: 1. It is not that I am a big foodie or a glutton or want to reduce weight drastically. This challenge came because I have this habit of eating things here and there and constantly feeling hungry. This would have been fine if I was in college and playing for 2 hours everyday but I hardly do any physical activity except walking and occasional running and body weights training. Hence, this challenge to see if I can really control by hunger pangs and urges to eat when I do not want to. 2. Notionally, it is more to test - mind over body. Can I configure my mind too strong and control what I really do not desire for the body to do. Hence, on Sunday, I decided to do an all day fast without drinking water from wakeup till about 5 pm. That's when I have an apple and a coffee and then at about 9:30 pm a dinner full of carbs! So here are the results: I did fairly well. Completed the fast and did well in time. Though I did not feel that I have lost some weight. I realized and read the whole system of intermittent fasting and how that can help in reducing weight and muscle leaning. I was way more calm and basically wasted most of the day. Feel mentally strong that I can handle things better and more rigorously.

Google playstore marketing & keyword search iideas!

So here is the summary of my experience of working on few app products both locally and internationally: No straight-up solution: There is no direct way of knowing the search volume of keywords on playstore and appstore as of today, specifically the way keyword search volume data is available for adwords and facebook promotions. Since there are no straight forward solutions, here are some of the workarounds depending on the goals you want to achieve: Google Search Console: Link your android app to your search console and then you get access to similar data as you see for the website on search console. Especially helpful one is the search analytics, where you get to know which keywords are driving your downloads. There have been many instances when I have wondered why google doesn't share this data in the playstore console directly (would make things so much easier.) Search ads for app installs in Adwords (hack): Here is a little hack secret for you - if you create search ads for your app install, google allows you to mention your play store page. As soon as you do that, google analyses the page and suggests you the keywords which are most relevant to that page based on the user reviews and store listing. This is one of the most direct way of knowing how google perceives your app page. However, this hack is only short-lived, since from Oct-15th onwards, you can no longer create any such campaigns. Google will only allow universal app campaigns to run which take away freedom from you. Search ads on playstore: Ofcourse, there is this non-hack version, where you run the traditional keyword driven adwords campaigns for the playstore. However, you can’t directly only target playstore now, hence, it will not give the true playstore picture. Apple app analytics: Apple is similar to Android play store in terms of the information it shares. However, there is some amount of category data which you can see while creating search ads on app store. Haven’t run the campaigns yet but while setting them up, Apple shared only minor additional data. I am hoping that once the campaigns are running there will be much more of those data points available. Tid-bits: There are always things like - autosuggest ideas, suggested, similar and recommended apps which will indicate how good you are doing in certain categories and for certain apps. Third party free services such as - Appannie, appbrain, similarweb - give you a great estimate on Keywords you are ranking for countrywise (appannie) - you can add keywords which you would like to track. Countries you and competition is ranking in. Velocity of downloads for you and the competition.

Doing 1 uncomfortable thing daily: Day 1 - Being the most talkative guy in the room

So here is me trying to improve myself and getting out of my comfort zone journey. Doing 1 uncomfortable thing everyday. I am not much of a speaker and only say thing when I have a genuine point to make. however, off late this doesn't seem to be doing any good. People think I am out of views and do not have ideas around something which is being discussed. That is not really true most of the time. So today I have a few hours of discussions lined up at work today with peers. I will get out of my comfort zone to see that I am the person who talks the most in the discussion. Lets see how that goes. It is definitely not easy to just bullshit especially when you are going there with all good intentions and making an impression is the least of your concerns. Here is the result: 1. I did well to start with. 2. wherever I didn't have a point, paraphrase and bring a new angle to it. Thus contributing. 3. However, at a point of time, could not keep up. - So mostly failed in this effort. 4. however, towards the end, did cover some ground with few strong perspectives. Though the problem at time was that why so much discussion at that point in time, so didn't think that deep during that time. Anyhow, good start but I would say only 40% cleared the challenge.

What does 2nd of october mean?

If there is 1 message that I can take away from 2nd of October - How did he earn respect of so many people? was it his stand against British regime or was it his ideals and staying strong on those. When did he start getting importance in the freedom struggle. How did he get his first follower?

Learning from Hollywood movie: Jackie (2016)

Jackie (2016) is biography of Jackie Kennedy in the days after the assassination of President and husband John F. Kennedy in 1963. The story starts with the assassination and ends with the last burial rites performed and all the turmoil in between. The film is directed by Pablo Larraín and written by Noah Oppenheim. Here are some of the learning from this movie: How to prepare for the death of the partner: 1. Prepare financially for the family - so that they do not have to suffer financially 2. Be in control and hold your nerves 3. You are alone in your grief 4. Best way to commemorate the deceased? - memoir, quotes 5. Compendium of the good moments 6. Important to enjoy the time while alive 7. Self-worth reduces significantly, ensure there are activities to go 8. Have people you can trust and confide in - for support Bold ideals, decisions and actions - to leave a legacy.  Some ideas around what do successful people do differently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkfJ8SDlMO8

Some of the best lifestye hacks and habits to become successful!

Start your day with a win! be it as small or big it is but start winning from the moment you get up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqTxoTG_ZtM Do one thing and do this really well so that you learn the value of perfection and what that means for you and everybody. Check out this great video for looking and finding perfection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIOAU0Tyj0g