The Game of Change

Geeta Ramakrishnan

Geeta

Times of India : How I Start my Day

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My article from The Times of India, 16th Feb 2020

How I Start my Day

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/de-stress/how-i-start-my-day/articleshow/74130661.cmsIf you are a night owl, and that works for you, it’s great. There’s no reason to change. But for me, switching from being a night owl to an early riser has been godsend. It has helped me in so many ways that I’d never go back. I like to get up early in the morning and beat the sun and the birds to it. I ban all electronics, social media, email and phone calls for a set amount of time. Instead, I read a book or magazine, go for a walk, or simply stare out and daydream. Being an OCD planner, I spend 15 minutes every morning to prioritise and plan my day with breathing time in-between. I am mindful of the surprises that crop up. Being curious, introspecting and learning from mistakes helps me navigate the changes through the day with a positive attitude, and sometimes, these changes work better than what I had planned. Here are 4 habits for a fulfilling day:

* Start your day with a big smile, count your blessings.

* Once in a while, pause from your busy life and focus on your breathing.

* Charge your mobile phone in the room next to your bedroom.

Geeta Ramakrishnan

Ontological coach and author

 

 

Couplepreneurs Share Their Business, Love & Success Mantra

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An article from Entrepreneur.com

https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/346603

#5 Couplepreneurs Share Their Business, Love & Success Mantra

Couple-preneur might have become a popular term recently referring to a couple running a company today, but you better not mistake it for a new trend. Dig into history and you will realise how this has been a practice for ages now.

But when partners can have their differences, imagine when life-partners combine hands. Can business and pleasure work together? While many might find it tricky, Entrepreneur India spoke to five couple entrepreneurs to get an idea. These wonderful business minds, wake up together, work together, eat together and build a company together.

Geeta and Ramesh Ramakrishnan (Transworld Group)

Life Partners Turn Business Partners:

Love, at first sight, is a real deal, at least in the case of Geeta and Ramesh Ramakrishnan. They were young and madly in love and wanted to grow old and build a life together.

“It was but natural that I took interest in his business and chose an area where I could flourish. He is a creative thinker and I am the ODC planner. It is a good combination. We balance each other,” said Geeta.

Pros and Cons of Working Together:

Thousands people have a thousand opinions, many told the couple that working together in the same business causes cracks in the marriage. However, they feel it contributes to a stronger marriage, especially if you know and maintain your boundaries.

“We have learnt to respectively agree to disagree and still go ahead. It helps us have healthy discussions, debates and objectively analyze problems and come up with creative solutions. It took us years to perfect this act. We fight to glory at times. But somewhere it is an unwritten rule to vomit all the issues and clear it out of our system, however tough and difficult it may seem at that time,” she said.

Advice to Couples:

Spend time in discussing and deciding how you will split your time commitments between your relationship and professional commitments. Prioritizing and splitting the home chores helps in smoothing the edges.

“Transcend ego from self-importance into self-esteem. A relationship is a game of give and take. Give from your heart, not from weakness. Define your boundaries and know when a firm ‘NO’ is your friend. Mutual respect is an important core value to have. Believe that your spouse is as intelligent as you,” she said.

Common Mistakes:

Bringing your work disagreement in the boardroom or bedroom, do not allow your inflated ego to lead the conversation.

“Ego narrows your focus into what you think is right. When in the office, be mindful of your language and tone and use tact over your temper or in your bedroom, it robs you of a good night routine,” she shares.

Blog 8/52 : The Power of Breathing

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The Power of BREATHING

Christina Zelano, a neurologist conducted experiments in breathing which confirmed that breathing stimulates areas in our brain connected to smell, memory, learning, emotion and behavior. For example, when we are stressed, our breath is shallow and we breath fast. This process actually helps us block our emotion, and helps us react instantaneously to the stress, without a thought. This is a protective mechanism of our brain. But we have made being in stress a way of life, a habit that seems normal and acceptable. We react more than act, often without analyzing the situation, leading to rash reactions which we often regret after. Here we are in a shallow breathing’ mode.

Conscious deep slow breathing mode on the other hand, makes us alert, helps strengthen our memory and learning ability , opening us to an accepting and learning brain. It helps us connect emotionally to people, and this ability to connect to others is where growth mindset takes place.

Deep slow breathing also makes our body more alkaline whereas stress makes our body more acidic. An alkaline body helps reversal of anti- inflammatory life-style diseases like Diabetes, Cardiac Disease, Alzheimer’s and Obesity, to state a few.

#selfhealing #breathing #powerofbreathing #selfhelp #breakingfree

Blog 7/52 : Language is Generative.

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Blog 7/52 : Language is Generative.

Language is generative. It generates a reaction in the other person based on their understanding of the words we use, the tone with which we deliver the words, along with the body language while using them. This context makes it all the more important to choose our words wisely.

For example I can say with a nasty tone and making that scrunched up face, ‘Why did I wear this tie today’? Or I can say with a smile, ‘You know what, this tie goes well with my pink shirt’… Which do you think is more acceptable way of communication, making the other person more open to your suggestion? If you want to connect with people, building trust is an important aspect.

You can have a different perspective and still agree to disagree, debate instead of argue and still make the other person feel heard. Listening is another important skill that helps. What does active listening mean? Giving your full attention, waiting for the other person to complete their sentence and not jumping to judge. The process of cleverly choosing the words along with and good listening skills becomes important tools to connect, to build trust, to by open, to be flexible and together creative new possibilities.

‘Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything’. George Bernard Shaw

 

BLOG 6/52 : GROWTH MINDSET

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Dr Carol Dweck is a psychologist and studies people’s mindset. She

believes people have Fixed and Growth Mindset. People with Fixed Mindset feel that a person is born with an innate talent. This ’belief’ put a limitation to their growth potential and they tend to play the victim and can get resigned to their version of a fact.

Whereas a Growth Mindset is when you believe you can be as good as anyone in a skill and need the right input, focus, help and practice to achieve it. Once we adapt a Growth Mindset, the opportunities are limitless. It is also researched that learning by mistakes and from experiences stay stronger in our brains, rather than simply being told and following instructions blindly. Have you tried and allowed your children to experiment with and experience failure and learn from it? It helps them appreciate and aspire success in the long run. fear is our biggest stopper. What if they don’t learn? What if I try this and don’t succeed? Let me be safe and cautious and not speak, lest people will make fun of me. In-fact the ability to think out of the box, give your feedback or clear your thought-process with your boss, help you be a better achiever.

Blog 5/52 : How to change a Habit.

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Blog 5/52 : How to change a Habit.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change regardless of our age. We learn to walk when we are young by repeating over and over again the action of walking. In the beginning when we learn, we fall a hundred times. But we don’t give up till we are able to walk and run. Our brains reads each and every action of ours by forming a synaptic connection between the brain and the leg, as in this example. Over time and with practice, these connections become so strong that we need not voluntarily remember how to walk. It becomes an auto mode, a habit.
The synaptic connecting ability of the brain is a continuous process and keeps either strengthening by repetition, or can weaken and get deleted if not regularly practiced. If we stop walking for some reason, the connection between the brain and the leg weakens and can lead to the weakening of the leg muscles and it is possible that we can lose our confidence to walk. It implies that we can train our brain to forget any old habits that are not useful to us anymore, and replace it with new habits and learn new skills, no matter how old we are. Our brain is a muscle and like all muscles, the more we exercise the more fit it becomes. Regular training of this malleable brain muscle makes it stronger. It is for us to decide how we train our brain, reinforcing some old habits that work and practicing new things and useful ways of being till it become a habit to stay.
#thegameofchange #success