Why starting your day with notifications is bad

I woke up late today. I was irritated that the medicine I took makes me drowsy. There I put the blame of my over sleep on medicine.

One negative thought leads to another negative thought. I switched on data on my mobile to get some spice in my life. That was the next worst thing I did.

What do you think are the chances of it making my day brighter? 50-50?

No. It is not 50-50. It depends on what messages you expect from whom. If you text all good people in the night before sleep, you get good messages. Otherwise, it will not be. Let’s keep the math for another day.

Now coming back to notifications, irrespective of whether they are good or bad in tone, they are bad for you.

Why bad notifications are bad?

Have you noticed that when you learn a new word, you will starting seeing that word everywhere?

Similarly when you start your day with negativity, you will be seeing more of negative happenings throughout the day. Not that your day becomes negative, but your focus shifts to negative activity

Why good notifications are bad?

Good notifications produce dopamine. Dopamine is the hormone which asks for more. It sets your day to ‘bring it on more’ mode. When you don’t get them more, you will start feeling frustrated and depressed. Since your mind is craving for it subconsciously, you can’t focus fully on any task.

Now that we have come to an agreement that notifications are bad for our health, how can we avoid them first thing in the morning?

I have previously tried these and they gave me wonderful results.

1. Close all the conversations in the night: If you are waiting for a text from the previous night, you are more likely to check the notification on phone.
2. Notifications from social media: What others are up to in their lives is none of your business because it does not come in your priority list of the day. How much others love you on social media also does not determine what you have to do today. So it does not make any sense at all to check these notifications.

What to do instead?

1. Dump your thoughts: Brain gets good rest in deep sleep. You might get solutions for your problems during that rest time. Even if not for that, you can dump your early morning anxieties. When I start writing the first thing in the morning, I write about the dreams which I got in sleep. Dreams usually tell a little about our concerns in life.
2. Read a book: Previously I used to read Quora or Medium. Now I read a book so that I get the same happiness that prior ones gave. One idea in the morning will bring a lot more ideas during the day.

I am waiting to hear what makes you connect to the internet first thing in the morning. Do let me know in the comments section!

Happy getting rid of your bad habit!

30 Lessons in 30 days

What is the one thing which makes you happy?

I know the one thing which made me happy since my childhood. I felt happy when I learnt something new. I used to go to the library and spend hours in collecting information. I filled books after books with the nuggets I found. I found true joy in that.

One way for me to stay happy everyday is not by going in search of learning new things but by acknowledging that I have learnt something new. With the information explosion, I will definitely be learning something new daily. But how often do I look at it with my eyes? Very rare, I say!

That was the reason why I started a tracker where I make a note of what I learned that day. And this tracker definitely opened my eyes wide and I see the reality clearly and as it is now.

What have I learnt?

The spectrum of lessons I learnt with this exercise ranges from personal lessons to professional lessons.

Sep 5

Trust matters a lot. You can buy blessings with 5rs.

Sep 4
Don't take bullshit without verifying

Be so good that people will write good things about you without you having to tell what you have done

Sep 3
Tailor your classes to the needs of the weakest students.

Sept 2
When you really want answers for your questions, they come to you.

Be careful about what you talk where.

Sept 1
Don't sleep out of boredom.


Aug 31
It is very important to be yourself by letting away the inhibitions.


29 Aug
When you truly work for something, success does not really give happiness.

28 Aug
Work on what you promise.
Live upto expectations.
It is not that tough to look into mirror and smile.

27 Aug
Thank people.
Make a personal relation.
Relaxing has great benefits.
A good hot water bath can be super relaxing at times.

26 August
Sometimes all you need to do is dare.

It is not the reality which causes the pain it is the fear of reality.

25 Aug
There is lot of fun in decoration.

24 Aug
A few things work wonderfully. You just need to start using them.

21 Aug
It is important to make your presence felt in a meeting.

You should not reveal others secrets and make them feel embarrassed.

23 Aug
People don't understand what you speak unless they have experienced it

20 Aug
However strong you are mentally, you will need someone when you are sick

17 Aug
Bad experiences can haunt you long after you have forgotten them too

16 Aug
Before you play a game, set rules for it

15 Aug
Don't be short tempered when you talk for the first time to someone.First impressions matter the most

Don't derive your self worth from your assets

19 Aug
With every fame, there will be someone to defame you

14 Aug
Always look at the bigger picture

13 Aug
Talking in RJ voice has its own advantages.

12 Aug
Don't let others change your mood in an instant

10 Aug
Whatever your age is, act responsible

9 Aug
If you hurt someone, it's your responsibility to make them feel good too

7 Aug
If you are really interested, ideas will start coming by themselves.

8 Aug
Don't reject anything blindly. Don't accept anything blindly.

4 Aug
Keep learning. You never know from where creativity can stem.

6 Aug
Don't blame others for your mistakes

5 Aug
If you want to grow in your business, care for the people whom you provide the service.

Futile practice will take you nowhere. Only understanding why you are not able to improve will take you to places.

Take responsibility for your family.

Aim high. Do whatever it takes for you to reach there.

3 Aug
Everything is related. Excel in one area and apply knowledge to other areas.

2 Aug
Keep reviewing and practicing, one day you will get it.

1 Aug

Visualization techniques are so powerful .

When you want something, they keep coming to you.

31 July
Find small things in the other person and appreciate them

Show excitement in your voice when you meet someone you know

Discover what makes you happy and keep doing it daily.

If it is lessons tracker, write down the lessons you learnt.

Happy learning!

Why I don't believe quotes blindly

One of my favourite poems in my mother tongue says

“Listen to what everyone says. Analyse those words. Separate the truth from the lies and then follow the advice.”

Even though I memorised hundreds of poems in school, this is one of the few poems which stuck with me. By god’s grace, I still follow it.

Following which brought me a lot of good things in life and also a lot of suffering too. I suffered because I doubted the advice which professionals gave. So I had to go through entire loop of failure and success.

Keeping that aside, here is what my experience says:

Practice makes man perfect:

I don’t deny this. But it comes with exceptions. If you practise English alphabet everyday, you are definitely going to get good at it. You can tell the alphabet even if I wake you up from your deep sleep in the middle of the night. But can you speak a sentence in English just by knowing the alphabet? You become perfect only in the narrow fixed area. And it becomes a rote memory. Where is the logic? Where is becoming better in that?

I once saw a friend preparing for a test. She took an A4 sheet. Wrote the same symbol all over the paper till no space was left. Mind you, she was a 10 pointer. If getting a 10 pointer involves doing that, I never wanted one. I was happier figuring out how to think analytically. Ultimately do what makes you happy. Or what matters more for you. The end result or the means.

On a different note, I practise the same exercise everyday. The pain and strain which I feel on the first day, I no longer feel it on the 30th day. My body just got used to it. Yeah, you are right. Practise made me perfect. But once it got used to it, it does not give me any new results. The fat stops melting. For what fun does it have to melt?

But yeah practise makes man perfect. But just think if it is what you want.

Expect different results by doing the same thing:

Don’t you think it is the opposite of ‘Practise makes man perfect’? All through your childhood, you listened to the people telling you practise more, practise more. Now people tell you that you can’t expect the same results by doing the same thing.

To your surprise, I disagree with this quote too.

In ‘Think and grow Rich’, the author wrote about a gold miner who abandoned the mine when he was three feet away from the gold. What if you are that close away before changing your methodology?

You must be thinking “ How do I ever know when to stick and when to give up then?”

Well, don’t worry. It is quite simple. Just take a decision and stick with it.

If you succeed you are lucky. If you fail, you are luckier. You have learned a valuable lesson and your instincts have just become smarter. Fail at the earliest. Fail more now. Fail when you still don’t have a lot to lose. Fail at all small things.

So that once when something big comes your instincts are smart enough to tell you when to quit and when to stay.

Happy analysing!

The first thing to do after a massive failure

I failed a lot of times in my life.

Even though for a lot of people it does not look like failure, it was failure for me.

I failed to achieve realistic and achievable goals I set for myself.

Have you failed any time in life?

If you have never failed in life, you either did not set goals up to your level or you were strategies just happened to work in the right way.

If you are not setting goals up to your standards, you need to do it right now. Aim for something beyond your comfort level. Go ask your crush on a date. Demand a hike from your boss. Aim to be an all rounder at work.

If your strategies are just working right, you have learnt very little in life. The day they stop working for you, you are dead on the spot. Because you have never seen what reality is like. You have been taking minimal risks and happily getting along.

But if you have failed in life, failed really hard that life slapped you on your face and you thought there was no way you can stand on your legs again. I congratulate you. I am proud of you that you are alive and started your life from scratch again. I admire you because you have the potential to start any time from the bottom. Because what you have seen was just a trailer. Life is going to show you the movie soon. And I know you are ready for it.

Here is what I did after I failed multiple times in life:

Get some physical exercise:

This is my most favourite thing. I go on long walks and I keep walking until I am tired. I walk till I feel so exhausted that I just want to crash on bed.

Shut yourself from the world:

The last thing you need is sympathy. Your life did not end. You need neither self-pity nor sympathy. You are perfectly alright. If you feel a loss, make use of a diary.

Spend time with a loved one:

No, not for sympathy. Not for telling that you are awesome. Meet that friend who takes you to the best dessert place or the latest movie as if nothing happened at all. The world did not end. You need to distract your mind from what happened to you.  

Create the next opportunity:

You might not get another opportunity. But you can always create one. You can become better than before which makes you more valuable.

What should you not do?

Analysing what went wrong:

This is a step which should definitely be done. But not immediately after a failure. The more time you spend on this, the more you are beating yourself up. It is okay to fail. You need not brainstorm on it. You have given your best. There was nothing you could have done better. But if there are a few things think about them after you become normal.

Are you ready to set your next goal?

Happy embracing failure!