The world lies on my shoulder !

One day, after I got to work, I realised that I was just not able to move an inch forward in terms of progress at work and I was just lying down as though my brain was hijacked!

Reason: I was feeling overwhelmed.

There were more than one task (five actually) on hand, which needed my immediate attention. And, I had lost complete control of my executional skills. It was as though, my brain had stopped working. I felt like the whole world was resting on my shoulders and I could not even move!

It was a very unusual situation for me and as a professional coach, I quickly realised that it was the effect of being overwhelmed. So, instead of fighting with the situation, I just picked up one of the five tasks and started working on it, even though I was not in the best of my moods (50%). I managed to complete the task successfully, although, it took a little more time than normal.

But that gave me the confidence and motivation to proceed for the second task… And by the end of the day, I could complete all my tasks and I went to bed peacefully 🙂

Now, the next day when I woke up, I realised that I had just cracked the toughest challenge to achieve optimal productivity. It was not focus, it was not procrastination. It was Overwhelm!! Yes, being overwhelmed is the biggest hurdle for optimal productivity!

We procrastinate, because we feel overwhelmed. We are unable to focus, because we feel overwhelmed. So overwhelm is the fundamental cause for lack of productivity at work.

So, what are the effects of being overwhelmed?

We feel burdened, as though the whole world is resting on our shoulder!

Due to which our movements and action become slow.

We become vulnerable.

We are too grumpy and selfish. Our thoughts are only about ourself and narrow.

We lack perspective and feel like we are at the end of a tunnel. Well, most of us would have experienced this, at some time or the other, isn’t it. 

So, what is the way out? Is there a way to overcome being overwhelmed?

Yes, indeed. I have found a way to overcome, being overwhelmed.

In fact, there are two ways,

1. Just take up any one task from your list and start working on it without worrying about the outcome. The confidence and motivation that we get after completing the first task will help us to complete the second task and so on.. 

The world will go on even if we are no longer alive… We need to keep this in mind. Overwhelm is just an illusion, like a mirage. It does not really exist! The people who achieve the highest level of productivity (includes me:)) are always the ones, who take up one task at a time, which automatically helps them to focus on it. The more on your plate, the more are the chances of distraction.

2. Work on yourself, spend time with yourself, either by writing in a journal regularly or by going for a walk alone. Reflect on yourself and understand your strengths and weaknesses. It’s about who you are? What is that we want from this short life? Are we living the life we want to live? What is stopping us from realising our dream? Of course, if we have one. It’s not a sin, not to have a dream at all! But, it is definitely a sin, if we are not joyful!! 

To be joyful and cheerful in life is the fundamental purpose of life! And then out of that joy, if we can work for the welfare of others, we become successful!

I hope this article is of help to the working executives, who struggle to cope up with the day to day work pressure and competitiveness.

As a productivity coach and a Udemy teacher, I will be coming out with a full fledged course on, how to overcome, being overwhelmed soon? Visit www.aguidetoinnerjoy.teachable.com and sign up for the latest updates.

The writer of this article Rajesh C R is the creator of a 15 hour soft skill master course on personal productivity, titled ‘The Focused Executive’ Click on the link to know more.

When we think we know, we actually don’t know and when we think we don’t know, we actually know!

I would like to share this beautiful zen story !

There was a young student who went to meet a master in search of wisdom! After meeting the master, the student stared talking to him continuously and never stopped talking!! Soon, the master realised what was going on. He took the tea pot in his hand and started pouring the it into a cup. The student was still talking. Soon the cup was full, but the master continued to pour tea into the cup and the cup was overflowing. The student was perplexed. Yet, the master continued to pour the tea into the cup and now, the tea was all over the place. The student lost his patience and yelled, “master, master, what are you doing? The cup is already full”, to which the master smiled at him and replied, “yes, the cup is full” and stopped pouring the tea into it, and then said “similarly, when your mind is full, full of thoughts, you can never learn anything new”, The student realised his mistake, thanked his master, and came back to him like an ’empty’ cup!

Similarly, in life, let us remain ‘open’ to learn new things and explore this beautiful world and not avoid listening, by saying ‘I know’ which acts like a ‘lid’ on a container and stops everything from getting into it !

#zenstory #openmind #creative #learn #joy #rajeshcr #aguidetoinnerjoy

The writer of this blog Rajesh C.R. is a Life coach, Corporate trainer and a Keynote speaker. To know more about him you can visit his web site http://www.aguidetoinnerjoy.com

I was listening to a friend speak live on Facebook, and what he shared that day was invaluable!

Imagine you are wearing a nice expensive suit and waiting outside a place, next to which lies a fence of thorns.

And as you pull out your pen, by mistake it slips out of your hand and falls beyond the fence.

Now, if you have to fetch it, you will have to risk your self and the suit you are wearing.

What will you do, my friend was smart, he let go the pen, as it’s price was nothing, compared to the price of his suit!

Now, imagine instead of the pen, had he dropped his diamond ring! What would he, have done?

He would have obviously chosen to risk his suit, to fetch the expensive ring!

So, the moral is that, make sure your effort is always worth it! Especially during work!!

This simple understanding can help us utilise our precious time effectively and efficiently.

Gautam Siddharth Buddha was a prince, he had everything but no satisfaction. He had to find a new way to keep him going !

Thank God, we are not successful yet! Then we would not be in the game anymore !

To be in the game is the beauty of living. Just like the river, which has a purpose to meet the ocean. And once it reaches there, it lives no more! It becomes the ocean.

Unless, you are an enlightened soul, thank God, you are in the game. Because to be in the game is the beauty of life, which brings forth the energy and enthusiasm into us. It not only enriches us, but also the people around us, just as the river nourishes and brings abundance alongside its journey!

Hence, celebrate failure, because you are still in the game 🙂

You can be doing nothing, but, still, working towards everything !

A Guide to Inner Joy

A master who met his favourite student after a long time asked him ‘ What are you doing?’

The student replied ‘Nothing’ but I work for almost 16hrs a day!

The master knew what he had meant, but for the benefit of other students present, he still went on to ask, ‘How is that you are doing nothing, but still work for 16hrs a day’ ?

For which the student enthusiastically replied, I paint for a living, I am an artist. But I am painting for my Lord, as I have offered the spirit of my actions to him, and there is nothing in it, for me, even though, I earn a living out of it, and my work brings happiness to people !

The master said ‘you are one of the best student, I have come across and you have applied the teachings correctly’.

He further went on to say ‘this is what I mean, when I say, you have to work for a higher cause, while doing your routine, obligatory duty. The attitude of offering your actions to the higher, this process is nothing, but ‘Karma yoga’

#spirituality
#spiritualstories

Because when we draw inspiration, we get motivated to pursue our dream, and do well in whatever we have been doing or what we would like to do.

Whereas when we copy from the person who inspired us, we lose that creativity within us ! It will then be like the Alibaba and the 40 thieves story, where his neighbour Kasim follows Alibaba and gets killed at the hands of the thieves ! You can check online to know more about the story incase you haven’t heard about it!

Original is always one! The second one is called as a duplicate!

Stay creative, Stay original.

In a rat race, even if you come first, you still remain a rat!

Swami Sukhabodhananda

After a tight schedule of coaching and mentoring of three months for the board exams, the coach and the student were finally relieved.

An elderly man who met the coach the next day spoke to him thus “What is she going to become? Did you ask her?” The coach smiled and replied, “We are yet to recover from the exam fever, and there is still enough time to discuss”. The Elderly man would not give up, he said “But you should have a plan as there is a lot of competition in the world”. The coach replied, “Yes, we have a plan, during the vacation we will be taking the aptitude test to find out the areas of interest of the student, and then proceed further, moreover the competition exists only to those who pick up a career of no interest and only because everyone else is doing it, or, because of money. And for those who choose a path of interest, or, the work they always loved to do, for them, there is no competition! And I can assure you that the student will excel, in whatever path, chosen out of love.”

The above conversation is a clear cut example of the mindset of most people due to which they are forced to live a stressful life! Even the great athlete Usain Bolt competes in a race, only for the championship, whereas, the race, for most of us, is never ending !

#ratrace #lovewhatyoudo #freedomfromstress #natural #stressfree #wellness #individualperformance #joy #rajeshcr #aguidetoinnerjoy

The writer of this blog Rajesh C.R. is a Life coach, Corporate trainer and a Keynote speaker. To know more about him you can visit his web site http://www.aguidetoinnerjoy.com

A good fight should be like a play, but played seriously!

Bruce Lee

The true meaning of success is to be in a state of joy or happiness! And that happiness is available to us in the simplest of the simple things, like talking to our friends, family, sipping a nice cup of coffee or tea. Listening to the birds sing, appreciating the beauty of a flower in the garden, enjoying a nice meal prepared at home or simply watching a movie with family!

This ensures that we are in a good state of mental health.

If we can find happiness here, then we are successful and also ‘eligible’ to go out into the world and make a difference in the lives of others!

Before building any structure, it is the foundation which needs maximum attention, so that it can withstand the load of the superstructure.

As the great martial artist, Bruce Lee said, “a good fight should be like a play, but played seriously!”

We can reach this stage by regular practice of mind control under the guidance of an expert supervision.

To know more about the writer of this blog, log on to http://www.aguidetoinnerjoy.com

Keep flowing like a river, and never remain stagnant, like a lake!

So often in life we find ourselves getting stuck to the past just like a ship anchored to the harbour!

I would like to quote this wonderful incident from the life of Nelson Mandela.

As we know, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa and then later when he became the President of his country, he invited the prosecutor who was pushing for his death penalty, and the jail warden for the inauguration ceremony. When he was asked why he did that, he replied saying that “If I didn’t forgive them, I would still be in prison”. What a statement from someone who spent that long in the prison!

Most of us would have lost it there, but the great man seemed to have got it there. The wings of freedom! Freedom from the past!!

I know it is easier said than done for us to apply this in our lives. But in order to get things moving, in order to have a better future, we must and we must, let go of the past. And the best way to do it is, to forgive and move on and make sure that it does not repeat again!

#individualperformance #forgive #moveon #gettingstuck #brightfuture #past #rajeshcr #aguidetoinnerjoy

The writer of this blog Rajesh C.R. is a Life coach, Corporate trainer and a Keynote speaker. To know more about him you can visit his web site http://www.aguidetoinnerjoy.com