Friday 20 October 2017

Everything Happens for a Reason – A Short Story





“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” — Dalai Lama

Most people think that they alone have challenges in their lives. However, the fact is that everyone has their own share of challenges and hidden stories. Some people unveil while some keep within themselves. In this post, we will discuss that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and everything happens for a reason.


Everything Happens for a Reason — A Short Story

“We all have within us the ability to move from struggle to grace.” ― Arianna Huffington

When I was in Chennai (India), things got worse financially in 2006. I did not know what to do because things went out of my control. I tried to resolve them smoothly, but the challenges came in battalions. Finally, I was forced to leave Chennai in 2007 and relocate to another place in India along with my wife and two sons. I did not know what to do then but I took risk by moving permanently from Chennai. I was very confident of surviving in a new place despite financial difficulties as I was qualified with an MBA degree and being hailed from military background. Little did I realize that the MBA would be useful in my life during my tough times. Within a span of a month of my relocation, I joined as a faculty member to teach management subjects and soft skills for engineering students. I got positive vibrations from students and I thanked almighty for showing the right path when I did not know what to do. I was getting regular income and got my two sons admitted in schools to continue their regular education. From this, I came to know that everything happens for a reason. My services were not required in Chennai. Hence, problems came up and I was forced to relocate to a different place to pursue a noble career of teaching. I also discovered for my passion for teaching, training, research and consultancy. Whenever you encounter challenges in life, pray to God to provide you strength to overcome them. Never pray for an easy and calm life because leaders don’t rise when the sea is smooth.

When you are pushed to the corner, you must think creatively to raise resources and utilize your hidden talents and strengths. You must build new connections to overcome challenges and think creatively to work with what you have rather than blaming others. It is a fact that nobody leads an easy life. Everyone has a hidden story. In fact, there are four kinds of life ― private life, professional life, public life and secret life. 


Conclusion

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.  Because it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou

We cannot control everything in our life, but we can change our attitude toward life. Remember, tough times don’t last but tough people do last.  Life is great when it has peaks and valleys. God throws challenges to humans to make them stronger and winners. Don’t lose hope when your are forced to the corner. Fight to the finish to come out with flying colors.


“There is no need to run outside for better seeing…Rather abide at the center of your being; for the more you leave it the less you learn. Search your heart and see…The way to do is to be.” ― Lao-Tzu





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Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.


Wednesday 18 October 2017

Make Your Decision Wisely while Buying Your Dream Home/Apartment



“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt


We make several decisions in life. Unfortunately, some of them fail while some succeed. Despite rich experience, intelligence and availability of information, people fail due to external distractions and disturbances. At times it raises doubts in people whether something is wrong with their decision-making. In this post, I will share my experiences while buying my dream home.

I stay in a single bedroom flat since I hail from a lower middle-class family. Most people think that I belong to an aristocratic or affluent background by looking at my profile on social media. In fact, I was born in a poor family and rose from humble origins without regular education. Fortunately, a piece of land I bought more than a decade ago appreciated and I utilized some of the money for my younger son’s overseas education. I decided to own a flat with the balance little money. However, I encountered several challenges such as wrong agents who pressurized me to buy the property. Some agents showed only two or three properties and pressurized me to buy. They did not show me more properties when I requested. When I clearly told my budget and location, they showed properties with legal litigations to trap me. Since I have the habit of gathering information from multiple sources before making decisions, I found them to be with irregularities and litigations. Some brokers pressurized me to buy property through their connections and by influencing my connections. But I did not succumb to such pressure tactics. In some cases, when I decided to buy property it was grabbed by other buyers. In some cases, brokers presented me wrong picture about the prices. When I enquired sellers through direct negotiations, I came to know that they did not fall within my budget. Likewise, I encountered several challenges to buy my dream flat.


Dos and Don’ts When You Buy Your Dream Home

“Find out where the people are going and buy the land before they get there.” —William Penn Adair

It is the dream of most people to own a flat or apartment in their lifetime. There are many precautions the buyers must take before buying property from sellers. There are lots of formalities and techniques involved in buying your dream home. Making a wise decision is key to own your flat. And making decision is not an easy one as your mind wanders from time to time depending on the available opportunities and the fluctuating prices. There are many channels involved in buying your apartment. Usually there is an agent or broker between the seller and the buyer. If you get a genuine agent who can serve as a bridge between the seller and buyer to clinch the deal with a win-win, you can accomplish your lifetime dream to buy your flat or home.  Here are some dos and don’ts to observe while buying your dream home:
  • Do research about the prospective areas for appreciation and good neighborhood.
  • Ensure that you have a good neighborhood to lead a pleasant and peaceful life.  
  • Check for quality of construction. Ensure that the builder complied with the rules and regulations and there is no deviation from the given plan to avoid paying any penalties to the authorities.
  • Look for communication and transportation facilities.
  • Look for legal aspects.


Make Your Decision Wisely

“You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you.” — Marissa Mayer

When you want to buy your dream home there are certain factors that prevent you from moving forward such as fear of unknown, new location, finance, your emotional connection to the present house and concerns about the new neighborhood to name a few. If you accept the fact that change is the only thing constant in this world, you will take things in your stride to move forward aggressively to your new home with happiness and joy.

Make your decision based on your head, heart and gut. Don’t be sentimental and emotional. Wait for some time if thing don’t fall into place. Remember that everything happens for a reason. Buying your dream home requires patience and perseverance. Take a little longer time to buy your dream home as it is a lifetime investment. There are several costs involved while shifting your home. Hence, take all precautions and steps before buying your dream home and shifting into it.  Good luck!


“If you don’t own a home, buy one. If you own a home, buy another one. If you own two homes, buy a third.” — John Paulson, Hedge Fund Manager and billionaire




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Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Tuesday 17 October 2017

How to Buy Your Dream Home/Flat?






“There is something permanent, and something extremely profound, in owning a home.” — Kenny Guinn


Everyone wants to own their dream flat or independent house. They must be clear in their mind how to proceed to accomplish their dream. Here is a series of steps to consider while buying your dream flat or home. 
·         Find out your budget, consider your age, employment and risk appetite.  
·         Identify the location that is promising and likely to appreciate outsmarting inflation.
·         Search for flats in that area within your budget.
·         Ensure that the flat is Vaastu compliant, if you believe in Vaastu.
·         Find out the prevailing prices in that area. Identify the hidden costs involved.
·         Ensure that the title of the property is clear.
·         Be clear about the terms and conditions including who pays commission to the broker or agent.
·         Find out the resale value.
·         Negotiate with the seller. Be flexible in your negotiations. If you like the flat, don’t hesitate to pay a little more. Check whether you can get loan for it.
·         Verify legal aspects. 
·         Register your property and get it furnished to suit your requirements and taste.
·         Come out of your comfort zone to move to your dream flat.


Make Your Decision Wisely

“You can’t have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you.” — Marissa Mayer

Find out advertisements on properties and prepare a list of prospective sellers in your preferred location. Visit and verify them physically. Don’t get influenced by agents and brokers. Check everything from all quarters before making your decision. Be careful with fly by night operators in real estate business.  

Don’t lose your heart if you encounter frequent failures to own your dream flat. At times, things come very close to the deal but fail. It seems something better is awaiting you. Remember, everything happens for a reason. Dalai Lama rightly remarked, “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

Make your decision based on your head, not heart because buying your flat involves logic and reasoning, not emotions. However, you must consider your emotions when you leave a house in which you stayed for many years.


Conclusion

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” — Maya Angelou

Buying a dream home/flat can be tiring especially if you are a first-time buyer. Don’t lose your hope and don’t get influenced by brokers and agents. Buy it where you find positive vibrations. If you find any negative signals, avoid purchasing it.  To summarize, buying your dream flat or home is easier said than done. You must make decisions based on the prevailing scenario. Don’t regret if there are any gaps between your expectations and realities because what was right yesterday is not right today and what is right today may not be right tomorrow.

Good luck!


“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain









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Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Sunday 8 October 2017

Free Chapter ― Professor M.S.Rao’s Book “Soft Skills: Toward a Sanctimonious Discipline”




Dear friends,

 

I am excited to share with you that I authored a book on soft skills that can be used for both academic and reference purposes. It is titled, “Soft Skills: Toward a Sanctimonious Discipline.” Here are the details about the book with a free chapter. I would appreciate if you could share your thoughts about this book on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

 

About The Book

 

“Novice teachers often share what they know. More seasoned teachers focus on what the participants need to learn and take away to improve their work. More mature teachers know their audience and why those participants are at the session.” —Dave Ulrich

 

This book strives to achieve sanctimonious status to the soft skills discipline. It explores soft skills in global organizations and educational institutions. It emphasizes the significance of soft skills and explains the methods to acquire soft skills.  It differentiates between soft and hard skills. It enlightens that a judicious blend of hard and soft skills is essential to achieve professional and leadership success. It crafts a course curriculum for soft skills. It unveils the list of soft skills essential for leaders. It explores tools and techniques to measure soft skills. It coins an innovative evaluation tool―Meka’s Five-Level Model to measure soft skills training. It implores to build hard skills but mind soft skills. It calls for appreciating others to make a difference.  It is a universal book to improve your attitude, personality, and behavior to achieve all-round success.

 

This book can be used for academic and reference purposes. It is a short course on soft skills to achieve your career and leadership success. You can easily toss the book into a briefcase or purse and read here and there as time allows. It is a quick reference guide for educators, executives, leaners, and leaders to achieve personal and professional success.  

 

Build Your Confidence

 

"With the realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world." —Dalai Lama  

 

Most people talk about building confidence but they are not aware of the right tools and techniques to build confidence. Confidence is the first step to achieve peace, happiness, and success. Confidence is essential in every aspect of life throughout the day and every moment. Hence, we will discuss confidence; differentiate between confidence and overconfidence; and explore tools and techniques to build confidence.

 

 

Confidence versus Overconfidence

 

Confidence should not be confused with overconfidence. Confidence means when you think that you can execute the tasks effectively whereas overconfidence means when you think that you can alone execute the tasks effectively. Confident people are aware of their limitations while overconfident people ignore them. In my personal life, I made many decisions hastily resulting in lots of failures. I was overconfident and felt that things would fall into place automatically and would achieve the desired outcomes. But I failed miserably in many instances. The only solace is that I learned lessons from each failure and evolved as an educator and executive coach. My failures served as inspiring stories during my leadership training programs and coaching sessions. Things will fall into place automatically reflects overconfidence. On the other hand, if people take risk factors into account and act with firmness and calmness, it reflects confidence. Currently, I started making decisions slowly and cautiously because of my previous failures and the success rate is relatively higher now. Therefore, people must analyze, understand themselves and learn from their failures to excel as a confident person.

 

 

Tips to Build Your Confidence

 

It is easy to excel as a confident person if you understand the tools and techniques. Here are some tools and techniques to build your confidence.

  • Believe in yourself. Unless you believe in yourself the world doesn’t believe in you.
  • Journal your feelings, emotions, egos, and observations regularly. Analyze them.
  • Overcome your apprehensions and superstitions.
  • Silence your inner critic.
  • Maintain a positive attitude.
  • Surround with positive people.
  • Praise others graciously and liberally.
  • Dress well in comfortable clothes and shoes.
  • Exercise regularly to energize your body.
  • Maintain positive body language.
  • Remain calm under uncertainty and stress.
  • Love yourself. Unless you love yourself, you cannot love others.
  • Set your goals in such a way that you feel uncomfortable to share with your friends and relatives.
  • Don’t compare with others. You are a unique gift to the world. Nobody can be like you.
  • Don’t focus too much on your weaknesses. Instead, focus on your strengths but guard against your weaknesses.
  • Stretch yourself by coming out of your comfort zone.
  • Execute tasks with thorough preparation without any fear. 
  • Anticipate distractions and failures. 
  • Don’t worry excessively about your mistakes. Mistakes are the learning lessons. Remember, everyone makes mistakes and nobody can grow without making mistakes.
  • Develop an attitude to understand the circumstances which are beyond your control.
  • Take feedback to identify your successes and especially failures.
  • Emphasize excellence, not perfection because perfection wastes a lot of your precious time, money, and energy.

 

Visualize that you are successful. Entertain positive thoughts and downplay your negative thoughts. Remember that nobody is perfect in this world. Identify your inborn talents to leverage them. Build skills around them. Shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Learn from failures. Consult experts and seek their guidance. Don’t hesitate to learn from others irrespective of rank and position. Everyone is good at something. Identify, develop, and leverage them. Acquire and share your knowledge with others. Be creative to stand out from others. Be altruistic to make a difference in the lives of others.

 

 

Conclusion

 

We are born with certain gifts to change this world. Hence, nurture your nature. Identify what kind of seed in you, explore and exploit it completely.

 

Life is full of challenges. It throws both opportunities and threats. Don’t be overjoyed by opportunities and get upset by threats. Take challenges in your stride to build your confidence.

 

There is a thin line separating confidence and overconfidence. Understand the difference and raise your bar constantly by emphasizing excellence. Remember that overconfidence kills your opportunities. Hence, believe in yourself and be confident to achieve amazing success in all aspects of your life.

 

Note: Here is the link to purchase my bestselling book ‘Soft Skills: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Overcome Workplace Challenges to Excel as a Leader URL: https://www.amazon.com/Soft-Skills-Overcome-Workplace-Challenges/dp/1628653035 

 

Life is great!

 

Professor M.S. Rao

Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM

Vision 2030: https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professormsrao

Twitter: http://twitter.com/professormsrao

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfessorMSRao

See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.

 

 

Copyright©2017 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

 

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Sunday 13 August 2017

Professor M.S. Rao’s Profile—International Management Guru, Keynote Speaker, C-Suite Advisor & Author of Over 50 Leadership Books








Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D. is an international leadership guru and an internationally acclaimed executive coach, educator, author, speaker, and consultant. He is a C-Suite advisor and a sought-after keynote speaker globally.  He earned a Ph.D. in Soft Skills.  He has forty years of experience in leadership development and conducts training programs for various corporates and educational institutions. He brings a strategic eye and long-range vision given his multifaceted professional experience including military, teaching, training, research, consultancy, and philosophy. His areas of interest include leadership, executive coaching, and executive education. He advocates gender equality globally (#HeForShe)

He is passionate about serving and making a difference in the lives of others. He trains a new generation of leaders through leadership education and publications. His vision is to build one million students as global leaders by 2030 URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html that is the winner of Leadership 500 Excellence Awards 2015. He has the vision to share his knowledge freely with one billion people globally. Here is a list of international eminent personalities and management thinkers who provided their forewords for some of his books: M. Venkaiah Naidu (Honourable Vice-President of India), His Holiness Dalai Lama, Philip Kotler (Father of Modern Marketing), Marshall Goldsmith, Dave Ulrich, Chip R. Bell, Ken Shelton, Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner, Mark C. Thompson, Hermann Simon, Dr. Nido R. Qubein, David Clutterbuck, Mark Goulston M.D, James Strock, John H. Zenger, Fons Trompenaars, Norm Smallwood, Dr. Tony Alessandra, Jim Cathcart, Chris Widener, Chester Elton, John Baldoni, Dennis Carey, Subir Chowdhury, Soumitra Dutta, Debra Benton, Gerard Seijts, Bill Treasurer, Chiranjeevi (India's Megastar) and Kiran Bedi.

He is the father of ‘Soft Leadership’ and founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India. He has made the biggest impact on the world with his Soft Leadership which can be applied for companies and countries to achieve excellence. He is the author of over fifty books including award-winning See the Light in You https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132 He has published more than 250 papers and articles in international publications including Leader to Leader, Entrepreneur Magazine, Chief Learning Officer, and Emerald. 

His award-winning book, "21 Success Sutras for Leaders" URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI was ranked as one of ten finalists for the Department of Leadership Studies Outstanding Leadership Book Award―2013 at the University of San Diego. He received an Outstanding Reviewer for Human Resource Management International Digest in the Emerald Literati Network 2015 Awards for Excellence.  He coined an innovative teaching toolMeka’s Method; leadership training tool―11E Leadership Grid; and leadership learning tool―Soft Leadership Grid, based on his new leadership style, ‘Soft Leadership.’ He was ranked #1 Thought Leader and Influencer in Business Strategy Globally by Thinkers360. He serves on the editorial boards of various prestigious international journals including Development and Learning in Organizations, of Emerald, U.K. His Amazon book link is http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM. He invests his time in authoring books and blogging on executive education, learning, and leadership. Most of his work is available free of charge on his four blogs including http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com. He is a prolific author and a dynamic, energetic, and inspirational leadership speaker. You can e-mail him at msrlctrg@gmail.com and follow on Twitter at @professormsrao. 


References




Professor M. S. Rao’s Humble Origins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLs-BA01Rro&feature=youtu.be