My Kid Is Teaching Me and I am happy to learn

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Spending time with the little one is therapeutic, gives me the opportunity to be me. We talk, laugh, scream, we share and we both learn. Did you know that rain rubber shoes (gumboots) are called “galoshes”? No, even I didn’t. My kid is teaching me and I am happy to learn.

Learning from kids

Ask Questions
“Why is the pig pink?”
“Why are babies only in the mommy’s tummy?”
One of the most awkward aspects of growing up is that we stop questioning. We either accept what’s there or believe it would be silly to ask a question and hence limit our learning. So let’s drop the hesitation and the smart-ass “I know it all attitude, let’s ask, let’s learn”

Think out of the box
“No I don’t want to colour the tree green”
“I want to colour the dog blue”
Why not? Let their imagination run wild. If i keep telling her the rules of life so early, it may limit her thinking and become boring. So let’s set the thinking free. Imagine the crazy – remember if it isn’t crazy every one would be doing it.

Be Happy
“It’s ok papa, we can read this book tonight”
If I can’t find her favourite book, she sometimes is happy with the one available on hand. As we grow up & life becomes complicated, we forget the simple joys of life. Let’s try and cherish those.

Give up. Move on.
Can I please watch TV? No.
Can I watch TV? NO
Switch on the TV. NO!!!
Fine, move on, pick up some toys and get busy. As much as we all need to be determined, there should be point when we realise this is the WALL. So stop and get going in some other direction.

Explore
“I think I should try using this (chopsticks)”
Routine is boring. We settle in and love the smooth going. One stops growing if we stop looking or doing beyond the obvious. So, go try something new today.

Are you learning something from your kid? Add to this list, please do share your thoughts in the comments.

Keynotes from TheRodinHood Mumbai Open House

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Last Saturday afternoon I attended my first Rodinhood Open House. I have come back inspired and loved the positiveness in the room full of entrepreneurs and business owners. Here are my key takeaways from the sessions.

rodinhood mumbai

Ask Questions.
Alok (@rodinhood) was so right when he said – Don’t Be Naive. Ask questions, dig deeper. Don’t think its too silly. Most often you will create an impression when you ask the right questions, rather than take everything at face value.

Beg.
When I started off as an account executive with an ad agency, I had to beg my creative team to do my work or help me meet the deadlines. Not much has changed when I started my business. I yet beg if I need to be part of a big show/exhibition. I beg if I want the material delivered earlier. Sometimes you beg and sometimes you form relationships which do the magic.

Be Crazy.
Some of us are shy, we fear the idea is silly or sometimes just too crazy. Senior creative people I worked with always encouraged crazy ideas at Brainstorming Sessions. You never know what’s it going to spark. So being crazy is good, helps the brain cells work at the maximum limits and gives you access to ideas nobody has ever thought of doing before.

Fear No Failure.
One of the strongest quality of being an entrepreneur is to have the ability to work endlessly on something which you have no idea is going to work and help pay the bills. So if the fear of failure keeps you awake at night, this isn’t the right thing for you to do. Put your heart & soul into your dream. Accept the failure, but don’t fear it. Don’t let it break you.

Ship it.
This is a lesson which reminded me of Seth Godin. If you keep working on making it perfect you ain’t doing anything. So Ship It. Get Feedback. Improvise and Ship it AGAIN. Don’t spend half your life trying to perfect your idea only to realise it wasn’t the right one to start with.

Measure. Analyse.
The CEO of Mirraw.com gave an interesting pointer. When you are bootstrapped, you can’t get yourself to spend money on anything which cannot be measured or have the results analysed. So that large of hoarding on Chowpatty for BRANDING – doesn’t get an entrepreneur’s Thumbs Up!

Funding is not everything.
Company X gets $200M. Company Y gets $45M. If these headlines are making you wonder if your business is successful or not, then you are thinking wrong. Getting your business funded just because its cool and trendy isn’t the right way. Instead focus on your business, grow your actual numbers, make the business a success and then seek funding when you need it for expansion.

This has been a wonderful experience and I really do hope to attend the next sessions. And one more thing I hope to do is re-start reading my unfinished Autobiography of a Yogi.

The collection of tweets from the afternoon session.

5 Stories to Read This Weekend – 15 Jan 2016

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Two weeks into 2016 and I am trying to be selective of how I spend my time reading, both – offline & online. Here are a few interesting picks from the last 2 weeks.

How to Say No to Things You Want to Do
We all know the mantra to better productivity. Less time in front of the TV, get offline and more. Here is a very different take on how to improve productivity is when we learn how to say no to the good things.
http://flip.it/UG3sc

Why freight moves so slowly on Indian roads
The frequently cited reasons for transport challenges in the country are poor highway infrastructure & administrative inefficiencies. However on a recent road trip Akshat Kaushal finds out how the poorly paid truck drivers slow down speeds to make a few extra bucks.
http://bit.ly/1OIuBhM

3 Conversations On Money That Every Parent Must Have With Their Child
As a parent I wonder about when and how to have this discussion. These 3 simple conversations should be useful.
http://huff.to/1VLDOoY

The 12.5 things I learnt in 2015
Looking for some inspiration to kick-start the year on the right note. Read some of the lessons, which Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal shares from 2015. Simple and to the point.
http://bit.ly/1mEz20Z

Why I Stopped Helping People and You Should Too
We all grew up being taught how helping others was the true purpose of life. Its not entirely wrong. Random acts of kindness can change a person’s life in many instances. Cammi Pham shows how there is a flip side to this coin too.
http://bit.ly/22MqfdN

Want to share an article to this list? Please do leave a comment with the link.

5 books you should read this year

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One week into the new year and we probably are looking at our list of things we want to do this year. If reading more is one of the things on your agenda or you are looking for book recommendations, here is my list.
books reading list 1. Linchpin by Seth Godin
A powerful book which helped me make a big career move. Acted more like a guide who pushed me off the cliff so that I could learn to fly.

2. Discover your Destiny by Robin Sharma
This book was like God sent. Happened to pick it up at a time when life was going through a rough patch. Inspired and put me back on the right course.

3. Rashmi Bansal Book Series 
Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Connect The Dots, Take Me Home – 3 of her books influenced my decision to quit a regular pay job and take up the challenge of running a business with my wife.

4. Dave Trott Books – Creative Mischief, Predatory Thinking & One Plus One Equals Three
These 3 books by Dave Trott are a wonderful read. Don’t get mistaken that it’s only for those in advertising or marketing. Anybody can read this book and start making decisions which are more about common sense.

5. Autobiography of a Yogi 
A book much recommended by @rodinhood (Alok Kejriwal) This has been a very tough read for me. I have left this incomplete and I do hope to go back and finish it soon or maybe even re-start. There is something about the book which draws you in and puts you in a very different zone.

What are you planning to read this year? Do share your recommendations with me in the comments.

Sticker activity to keep the kid busy

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Holidays are fun times for the kids. Holidays also mean the parents have to work hard to keep the kids busy. I have joined the Early Learning for Toddlers and Preschoolers(India) group on Facebook which has been a good source of inspiration to make up activities for my little one. Last week I tried one, which she enjoyed and spent good time completing the sheets.

sticker activity kids child

What to do?
Buy bright colour different shaped neon stickers. These are available easily in local stationery shops. Take a couple of blank sheets and draw patterns, shapes which the child needs to decorate with the stickers.

I made 2 sheets. One of them had shapes, where I asked her to put stickers on the borders. Great for hand-eye coordination and good skill development to get those stickers in a line. On the second sheet I wrote the numbers in blocks and asked her to put the stickers accordingly.

This is one of the few activities where I was happy to get her full attention and kept her busy for about 1 hour.

Let me know if you’ve got some fun activity ideas, would love to hear them.

 

Film Review: Bajirao Mastani

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Two big releases on the weekend – Dilwale & Bajirao Mastani. With limited work load, I was determined to catch at least one of them before it was too late. Good sense prevailed and the love story of a warrior was picked.

Bajirao Mastani Film Review

As a staple diet, Sanjay Leela Bhansali offers you his magnum opus creation. Beautiful grand sets, lavish costumes, exquisite jewellery and a star cast hand-picked for the roles. He once again manages to get some superb performance from his choice of actors – Ranveer, Milind Soman and Mahesh Manjrekar. The ladies – Priyanka & Deepika play their roles with utmost royal elegance.

The dialogue writers have done a fabulous job to ensure that a personality like Bajirao is not only good with his sword but also has the ability to slice people with his words. I do hope there is a video collection of his dialogues.

All said & done, Bajirao Mastani is Ranveer’s best performance. I would be very surprised if he doesn’t steal the thunder at all the film awards in 2016. He has put in immense work to play the character. The maratha dialect, the body language and the energy which portrays a fearless warrior smitten by love.

I have come back entertained and strongly recommend that you catch this only on the big screen to enjoy the movie in its full glory.