Work & Life tips for the young

After completing 4 years of work life, I decided to pen down some learnings from my life that I have had for young professionals-

Health-

1. Have your breakfast. It is the most important meal and keeps you energetic in the first few hours which are the most productive. Your body goes in starvation mode after overnight sleep and your stomach yearns for food. If you dont eat, the stomach starts acting up by going acidic.
   
2. Drink lots of water thoughout day. Water keeps your mind working well as its required for motor-neurons function.
   
3. Limit coffee/tea to 2-3 cups in a day. Tea/coffee acts as de-hydrant for the body.
   
4. Have a nutritious lunch and evening snack. Respect your body as it is a delicate machinery and it has to serve you in old age and coming years. When we are young we feel indestructible, but if we dont take of our health it sooner or later backfires.
   
5. Take care of your back. Use a good ergonomically designed chair or a cushion/back rest. The back gets quite strained from sitting up for long hours. Move about frequently.
   
6. Sit in a proper posture. It helps your back and whole body to be pain free.
7. Blink your eyes often and make sure the computer screen is at least 25 cms away from your face.
   
8. Have regular exercise everyday. Any form of physical activity that makes up for your inactivity during the office timings. The body wastes away because of little physical activity. If you dont use it, you will lose it, the muscles and bones I mean.A sedantary job is a killer. It takes its toll on your body. Due to the sedantary nature you may experience weight gain as input(what you eat) simply exceeds output (what you do). So workout is necessary as it keeps you fit and active.
9. Have your milk. As we get older our bones start thinning. So your need your daily dose of calcium. Similarly try to have fruits too everyday or take a multi vitamin everyday if you cant be so regular. But natural is always better.
10. Have your daily sleep quota everyday or your may be less productive at work the following day. Ever heard of a sleep debt? The body accumulates sleep debt each time you under sleep and it has consequences like low energy and fatigue. So keep your sleep debt to a minimum and repay it at least on weekends.

Office--

1. Be friendly. Dont hesitate to be the first one to say Hi. It makes you more popular :-)
   
2. Respect everyone right from the pantry boy to your CEO.
   
3. Dont bitch about any co-worker as it may spread negativity and sour your relationships.
   
4. Be professional. Be postive in your approach.
   
5. Stick to deadlines and inform if you are having difficulties meeting them asap. Take your boss into confidence.
6. Never argue with your boss. You cant win. Even if you do , he may not like it. Take good care of his ego.
   
7. Read/learn about something new technology by setting 30 mintues aside everyday. If you wait for free time to read up that new exciting framework, you will never read it.
   
8. Participate in cultural activities.
9. Dont make late stays a habit. It has two perils- it may affect your work-life balance and you may also be taken for granted or exploited by other co-workers.
10. Be proactive and dont be afraid to swim in unexplored oceans. Take up intiative to explore new technologies and do new projects. It has 2 plusses - you become more knowledgeable and the new technology looks good on your resume.
11. Dont ever think that you know enough. Continuously upgrade your skills and never take your job for granted.

My new pursuit

Self realization and pursuit of nirvana is an endless journey. I embark on this journey and I hope to achieve some peace. I am increasingly curious about attachment to results and materialistic things.

I firmly believe that without reading books/ writing down such meandering thoughts, we get lost in them. I love books and they are the best companions on the path to knowing the world and ultimately your true self.

Knowing oneself in terms of the weaknesses and strengths and the tendencies is the first step towards enlightenment. Accepting the weaknesses is the first step towards improvement.

Secret to a calmer self

To be able to write is a gift.Its an outlet. Its an expression which I barely use now..except scribbling something onto the office notebook.

When I write down something, it becomes clear in my mind. The sentences reflect fact. I become more aware of it.

Lately I have undergone some realization. To observe oneself is one of the ways to know one's deepest tendencies..May be we all do the things we do without thinking and its mostly our tendencies that unravels in form of actions...

We can question ourselves if we become aware of these tendencies..These tendencies are formed because of our past experiences and the thoughts in our subconscious minds...

We are what we think ...And our thoughts may also follow a pattern..mostly these patters are formed thoughout our past life due to repeated actions and similar experiences..These patterns may become so ingrained in our minds, that we may not realise them..We may stop thinking differently..We may even stop that a separate way can exist...Our thoughts becomes limited, so does our action and scope..

I have often read that to be able to forget is one of the best abilities we have..otherwise we may become crazy..Its true as we need constantly forget about things that worry us or worried us in the past..otherwise we may not forget unpleasant incidents and torture ourselves needlessly..

To be completely aware of the present moment may feel like nirvana..When you care nothing about the moments before and after the present moment and your whole mind is occupied and immersed in the moment you have now, the mind neither fears the future nor it repents the past,,,The mind feels fully awakened to the one truth that exists in the present moment..

To see the beauty of the current moment and to completely devote yourself to do the best possible with this moment, gives you happiness and a sense of achievement..Time goes on and it makes us realize that our unhappiness is nothing but our own thoughts..When the thoughts are cleansed of fear and unpleasantness, you feel peace..

To be positive and see every new second as a new possibility to do something good to make your world better is a wonderful thing. Anything is possible. You are not limited by your tendencies..Try out new things and think new thoughts..Every moment is a completely new dimension..Realize all your wishes..

"Wanted" movie review

Being an Angelina Jolie fan, I could not miss this new flick "Wanted". And I wasn't disappointed. Its a tale about how an ordinary office guy gets transformed into a self assured shooter and gets to know what he is here for. The movie is unusual in its plot and flow. Its an effortless watch and the scenes flow from one to another like poetry. I loved the action scenes and they were quite hair raising ones. After Matrix, this was the action movie that had some truly original action sequences which were intriguing at the same time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the scene particularly where the hero finally speaks up and thrashes his boss and his dishonest colleague. Though in some parts, the movie gets unreal, I am happy as long as the story is interesting. Though the movie belongs to the hero James Mc Avoy, Jolie still makes a mark with her hot shot image and smooth moves.

New Mozilla Firefox Browser 3.0.1

I like the new Mozilla browser...Especially it lets me save the pages when I close down the browser and opens them when I launch the browser again. However, the toolbar icons look disproportionate.The pages can be bookmarked easily by clicking on the small star on the address bar(Google style). There is a toolbar button for most visited sites which is quite convenient. The auto complete in the address bar also looks pretty nice..The History feature is also improved and opens as a separate window too. Overall I like this new version though they can improve on the graphic look and feel.Go for it!

I want my green tea

I have started keeping green tea bags in office now. I got to know that green tea has many benefits. It has more antioxidants than normal tea and also is not heavy on the system.Regular tea with milk is not very healthy as milk neutralizes the antioxidants. Also it is hard on the stomach.It dehydrates the body(a diuretic). Green tea on the other hand doesnt work as diuretic.Green tea also increases metabolic rate.So it makes a light refreshing drink and keeps me awake in office :-)

My latest fad

One of the perils of being a software engineer( or having any sedentary job) is the nasty weight that creeps in slowly over the years before you realize you are way too chubbier and have no option left but to do something about it or curse yourself everyday...So here I am going through this and remembering how svelte I was in college...a nimble deer..I have ended up joining a gym two months ago and its already paying off.Though the first month was a struggle and I ended up gaining weight at the end of it, the second month went well..I barely have lost weight but only shaped up..I think thats because of the muscle mass gained which is actually heavier than fat.
I have become almost obsessed with fitness.I think most people already are..Every day I see some fitness article in the papers and every month I get some magazines which revolve around fitness.There are 2 ways to look at it.Fitness is both about vanity and health.Obviously you look good when you are fit.Interestingly,when I look at old family pictures,people look younger and silmmer. The trend almost invariably goes towards the fatter end as people age.At the same time fitness is also about health and power.Fitter people not only look better they also live longer.Now that's a thing hard to ignore.The reason I had to join gym was this.I could not ignore this truth.As I am getting older I am also more aware of my health and how I should live my life so as to get lesser trouble in old age.After a regular day of work I mostly find it difficult to go to the gym and sweat it out when I can spend the time sleeping to tackle my sleep deprivation.But when I step out of the gym, I feel more powerful, more energetic ,more alert and better in every way.Sometimes I wish I was a gym trainer.. :-)

I found my way..

I had been wondering a lot about whats the purpose of my life...what I am doing here and I find some clue today in a song - "Kholo Kholo" from Taare Zameen Par -

Dil Khush Jahan....Teri to manzil hai wahi........