Do you remember Monica from the popular sitcom FRIENDS?  That freakishly organized lady. We all have at least one such person in our circles who is just like her. They can tell the difference even if you have moved just a cup an inch away from its usual spot. Their precision and that uncontrollable urge to have everything at its right place drives you insane.

                 But what I personally admire about such people is how they exactly know what thing is at what place, they know when exactly they are supposed to do what, unlike us, they do not have to waste time figuring out all the what, where and how. They are sorted and scheduled always.

                And no matter how much these organizing freaks annoy you, you have to admit whenever something is lost or whenever something has to be sorted; these people come to your rescue. Somewhere you know their habit of organizing everything is not that bad after all, if anything it is a saver. So, why don’t you adopt it yourself? Why not become organized?And I don’t mean annoyingly organized, just the right amount of organized.

              I know what you are thinking, I am not an organized person, I don’t want to be organized, I am just fine with the way I am, So what, if I don’t know where I have kept what, So what, if I keep on losing stuff or I don’t have any fixed schedule, it is fun, it is cool.  But that is not true.

            You know how important it is to be organized, especially in today’s fast paced life when everything seems to be so rushed. And it is not like you have to learn some rocket science; all you have to do is to follow some simple rules.

            The first MANTRA “First things first and First time right”. Don’t do things haphazardly, do what is required exactly when it is required.  Set your priorities, do things according to their urgency and importance starting with the most urgent and most important work.  Imagine your boss has given you two presentations to make and both have to be submitted till the evening. One is to be presented to a very important client and other is required for a regular employee meet. You start working on the employee meet presentation first. You work really hard and create a very beautiful and impactful presentation but it was very timeconsumingand you only have an hour left to complete the client presentation. You give your best despite the shortage of time and create a nice presentation but the previous one is far better than this one. As a result, the clients were not much impressed by the presentation and your company lost the deal and your boss actually scolded you for creating a better presentation for the employee meet. What went wrong?

               Although both the things were equally urgent, you overlooked the importance part. Client presentation was more important than the employee meet presentation and was supposed to be done first and more carefully. Doing the wrong thing first made everything wrong and all your efforts were wasted. Had you done the first thing first, you would not have done any mistake.

              The second MANTRA “A place for everything, everything at its place”. There is always a right place for everything and everything needs to be at its right place. How weird would it be if there was a shower in the middle of your living room or your office desk in the rest room? Why do you think these things would be weird? Because that is not their right place. The shower has to be in the washroom and the office desk needs to be in the main working area in the office. Similarly everything else in our life has to be kept at its right place so that we do not lose it. It must have happened with you numerous times that you had to spend hours looking for a thing that was sitting just next to you. Why does this happen?  We just keep our things anywhere and everywhere and that is why when we need them we have no idea where we had kept them and start looking for them here and there. It wastes so much of our time and energy and also creates a lot of panic and anxiety.What would happen if you are not able to find your original documents that you have to submit for seeking an admission in a very prestigious college and today is the last date of submission? Panic, chaos, anxiety and a tsunami like situation in your entire house. Don’t you want to avoid such situations? If yes, then let’s make it a point today that we would not place any of our belongings randomly. We would create a place for everything and keep everything at its right place so that we could easily fetch anything from its place whenever it is needed.

             The third MANTRA is “A time for everything and everything at its time”. Nature has created day and night to make us understand that there is a time for everything, the day has been created to work and the night has been created to rest. Whenever we go against this rule, our health is adversely affected. Similarly for everything else also, a proper routine has to be followed. Everything has to be allotted a particular time and it is to be done at that time only. Whether it is your meals, your exercise, your office work, your family time, your phone, your social media, waking up or your sleep, everything has to be done at its proper time to avoid any kind of chaos and confusion.

             Set your priorities, do first things first and first time right, have a proper place and time for everything and do each and everything at its proper place and time and you will be properly organized. Being organized is not difficult; all you need is some effort. Just a small effort from your side is going to save you an enormous amount of time and energy.

You were supposed to meet your friend an hour ago but you are still stuck in traffic. He is waiting for you in scorching heat at a road crossing where there is no shade. You know he is going to be very mad at you and no amount of apologies is going to pacify him. What would you do when you reach there?

You instinctively would start the conversation with a big sorry and a long, boring, even yawning explanation of why you reached late.

Instead, the moment you see him, say “Thank you so much for being so patient. I am really grateful to you for waiting for me for so long in such a hot weather.And see how his expressions change and his anger disappear.  He would say, “It’s ok yaar, hota hai, I know how bad our city’s traffic is. It’s not like you kept me waiting on purpose, etc.”

Using a Thank you instead of Sorry saved you both from a bad face off and created a pleasant atmosphere. This is the power of a Thank You.

As Alfred Painter has rightly put it, “Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.”Saying a thank you is not just about being courteous, it is about your whole attitude towards life.  It is about bringing positivity in your life.

Saying thank you is about appreciating the worth of life, it is about being grateful for all things around you. Thank you is about taking pleasure in every little thing and seeking learning from even the worst of situations.

So how come we say Sorry for almost everything and thank you for hardly anything? Don’t we have anything to be thankful for?

We do have a lot to be thankful for but we take all of it for granted. In fact we should be thankful for the very life that has been given to us, we should be thankful for all the successes and the setbacks we have faced in our lives.

Take a minute from your life and think:

Have you ever thanked God for giving you this life? Have you ever thanked “HIM” for the beautiful world he has created for you?

Have you ever thanked your parents for raising you into the wonderful human beings you are today? Have you ever thanked them for dedicating their entire life for you?

Have you ever thanked your that best friend who is always there for you?

Have you ever thanked your siblings for holding your back?

NO!!!  In fact we are in such a sorry state that we are not able to appreciate even the good things happening to us, let alone the bad things.

Let’s take a pledge today that we will be thankful for each and everything that comes our way, no matter how trivial it seems. Even when the going gets tough, we will be thankful because that situation is going to make us better and stronger.  We will appreciate even the smallest pleasures of life and will be grateful for the worst pains that come our way. We will say thank you to everyone who has helped us even in the smallest possible way and also to those who have affected us in the worst possible way. We will replace out Sorry with Thank you. We will replace each of our complaints with a Thank you.  Because when you are thankful for what little you have, you end up having a lot more.

So, thank you so much for reading this!!!!!!

WISHING YOU PEACE AND ABUNDANCE….

Ashay Shah

Have you ever wondered what differentiates a legend from a common man? What is that they have and we don’t have? What makes them a hero?

If you ever go through the biographies of people like Dhirubhai Ambani, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs or study the life of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, A.P.J Abdul Kalam or Mother Teresa, you will find one thing in common; they believed in something and dedicated their entire life to that belief.

You can call that “something” a principle, a vision, an ideal, a philosophy or simply a “funda.”

What transformed Agnes, an Albanian origin catholic geography teacher into Mother Teresa (now Saint Teresa) or what made Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, an Indian origin Barrister in South Africa, the father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi?

The answer is a “eureka moment”, the moment where they realized what are they born for and their principles they valued the most, their “life ka fundas” and decided to dedicate their whole life to these fundas.

The realization that she wanted to help those who had none to help them and the firm decision to give up everything to make this funda her sole purpose of life, no matter how challenging it would be, transforming a school teacher Agnes into world renowned Saint Mother Teresa.

One fine day Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown of the train on the platform in South Africa. He got up realizing what would be is purpose. Rest is a story we all know. He only lived on two fundas 1.non- violence 2.non- cooperation. He gave his life and energy to it making India free of British rule.

No physical strength, intellectual power, educational qualification or material wealth is needed to become a legend or a hero. The ability to know and work with your strengths and your dedication towards it makes all the difference.

Remember,your “life ka funda” is what defines you. It is what the world relates in you as. It’s just like a brand name for you. It is who you are, it decides the purpose of your life. Discover your life ka funda and when you do, just go for it, no matter what people say. Overcome all the hurdles stopping you from being successful.

Always remember ‘Passion without Priority is Powerless’

This life is your only opportunity to make it humungous in any aspect of life, discover the true potential in you and create a revolution. Legends are those who are intellectual in knowing what they want from life and emotionally involved in getting what they want from life…

Create a blue print of your goal intellectually and be in the process of achieving it emotionally. The emotional attachment to the bigger picture will help you overcome the hurdles, problems and trifles easily. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj a history maker of the Maratha kingdom is a true example of this. He always had the Funda clear in his heart and mind ‘it does not matter what and how much I have, what really matters is what I do with what I have…

As you travel on your timeline let this present look like someone else’s past a few years from now. Rediscover yourself ones again, find what is that you are made of and made for…