Ageing - the absolute truth !

Ageing and the body’s final demise is inevitable! It is nature’s very beautiful way of recycling and regeneration! Ageing cannot be reversed. It cannot be wished away. When you are young and bubbling with aspirations and boundless energy, the world is your oyster and ageing seems to be as improbable a possibility as your neighbourhood puppy growing a pair of delicate wings. It initially dawns on you in your early 40s with the first signs of a receding hairline and unrelenting puffiness under your eyes. It brightens up in the horizon in your mid-40s with an incorrigibly expanding waistline, with your facial vegetation showing its first signs of unmistakable greying. It stares tenaciously into your eyes as you start pushing your 50s, with you suddenly waking up, wide-eyed, to the idea of the inevitability, making spirituality a very real alternative to exuberance and flamboyance. As you painstakingly wade towards your 60s, you finally reconcile to the fact that you indeed have aged and that it was always a one-way street!

So what do you do with it – about something that is inevitable and that no human ever had any influence over, whatsoever? Well, the answer is simple – learn to enjoy the process! You are not the first one. Trust me, you will certainly not be the last one! So, why fret over whatever is left in you and what’s gone? So, go out and enjoy your moments under the sun. Make hay while it shines. Take care of your body, mind and soul. Start ageing gracefully!
I have tried to adopt a simple 7-pronged approach during this cycle of ageing and ultimate regeneration. Let me share the same with all of you, though I am convinced that everyone is incredibly unique and will have to design their own very personalised approach.
1. Exercise at least 3-4 days a week – walk, jog, run, swim, practice yoga, hit the gym, pump iron, enroll in marshal art classes, learn the latest dance form – pick up any activity of your choice.

2. Make right choices of food. Eat in moderation. Cheat occasionally. Share your food.
3. Inculcate a hobby – reading, writing, painting, music, gardening, traveling – any hobby.
4. Form new friendships. Go beyond the surface and connect with people and nature at a deeper level. Spread love.
5. Start contributing back to the society in whichever way you can. Help! Help! Help!
6. Pamper yourself – take an occasional facial treatment or a relaxing massage. Reward yourself for even the most inconspicuous achievements. Try not to be too harsh on yourself for all your goof-ups. Loosen up a bit.
7. LAUGH more often! It takes nothing, yet it’s incredibly rewarding for you and everyone around you. Initially it may need a bit of an effort, with time it will become an inseparable and lingering part of your persona.
Be kind, forgiving, respectful, graceful and of course, grateful. Protect nature. Let go your regrets. Live your life as it is offered to you, to its fullest!

Live | Love | Share !! ... ... Happy Ageing !!

8 Easy Ways To Become A Very Bad Leader

What happens, when as a leader you think you are the smartest of 'em all?

Well, you simply have managed to discover the brightest recipe for becoming a genuinely bad leader! Congratulations!

Let's unravel 8 well-guarded secrets of becoming an truly bad leader. Follow them and you would secure your place in posterity. 

1.      Criticise, criticise, criticise some more …

Use criticism as a tool of leadership, always doubt the abilities of the very team that you once handpicked – ensure that you lead a pack of demotivated, uninspired individuals, going through the paces, in an unproductive environment. If anything, it would certainly pump your ego, at the expense of making others feel small. Isn’t it a great incentive to start with?   

2.      Attention! At ease. Attention! At ease. Attention! At ease. Attention …  

To become a bad leader, you must assume that every single member of the unit will react in an identical way to your leadership style. It’s a cardinal mistake for individuals to believe that you’d recognize and adapt to the variety in strengths and expectations. They are all clones; flip-flop switches; you know them all so very well. They don’t need an awesome story to stay collectively committed towards a great vision. They are so wrong and you are so right!

     

3.      Spank them all to glory – their rear belongs to you …

You are a magician, trust me! Don’t believe in those naysayers who celebrate great leaders that swear by talent, competency and empowerment. You rightfully believe flogging can turn the floppiest of donkeys into powerful stallions! You are such a bad leader already and you can become worse by having them convinced over a period of time that they indeed are lucky to have their rear diligently assaulted as a price for their unquestioned faith and servitude. You are relentless in your pursuit of turning the mundane into the precious. You could soon become the first alchemist, that humanity would ever produce.

4.      Mistakes are criminal! Kill them with impunity …

A good leader encourages his team to commit mistakes and learn from them – that’s so utterly imprudent! To be a bad leader of substance, you must always ensure that no one ever dares to commit any mistake at all. None whatsoever. You may permit them to be flattered by allowing them fleeting moments of empowerment but decisively deceive them by meticulously shooting down every plan they make and every decision they take, using your rightful power of veto. You are the highness, only you are allowed to fail. For others it must be strictly forbidden.

5.      Everyone must believe there’s a plan, no one should question …

If you have to reach the echelons of bad leadership just demolish every alternative idea, annihilate every seeker of truth, decimate every query that you don’t have an answer to. No one should ever dare to question your grand vision. No one is quarter as good as you are, neither should they aspire to be so. You are the holy cow! Are they out of their mind to question the prudence of your prophetic vision? No one should ever dare to call your bluff, even if they know that you are spinning a web of lies, to satisfy your short-term goals. Every brain around you must believe in your infallibility.

6.      Never ever get rid of bad people …

Good leaders try and keep the plate clean – how reckless and foolhardy of them. Bias, bias and more bias. That’s how it should be. You need a coterie. You need a team that warms up to your weirdest of bull-crap. A bad leader must have enormous charisma – you must never have to deal with a ‘no’ from anyone around you. Good people will question you more often than not, seek recognition for competency, try to make decisions and base their actions on what they believe is good for the team in the long run. They are bad influence. Chuck them, good riddance! You must invest in bad people.

7.      Divide and rule … must make it your gospel truth!

Never ever allow a unit, to its truest philosophy or spirit! The more divided they are, more secure is your leadership. Trust me when I say that you can get away with murder, when you are an inspirational leader of a bunch of shady crabs! If they ever get to see merit in operating as a unit, a genuine team, your heist would come to an end. You must never allow that. Unity is disastrous for you. You have to become an iconic bad leader, the worse of ‘em all, you see. Of course, the secret is to be able to create a closed coterie of drooling suckers who would start salivating at the slightest scent of your irresistibly corrupt ideas. The rest should be taken to the cleaners!  

8.      Care to become an iconic bad leader? Be a bloody good student of bad leadership first …

Leadership streaks show way before you reach the helm. Never ever think your team achieving their individual goals will add up to your grand vision. Kill every personal dream. Shoot down every aspiration that raises its ugly head. Inspiring others is such a waste of time, just ask people to follow your infallible vision, assuming that you ever had one, other than making some quick personal gains. Never try to become better, you were already so damn good, what’s the point in wasting time? Never try to help people achieve greater competence, better relationships or even liberty of choices. Never give people their due credit, never – you don’t want anyone in your team to get too cocky for your comfort! Belittle their modesty as their weakness, trample their confidence, enslave them till their souls are completely robbed of any trace life or dream! You have then truly achieved what you set out to at the very start –a very bad leader!