5 Secrets of Longevity

How do you live a long life? Take a two-mile walk every morning before breakfast.     

Harry S. Truman

The most important thing in life is how you live your life. When you live well you will also extend your life span. Here are the top 5 secrets of living well and living longer:

 1. One thing to treasure - Health Only those people who are lucky enough to recover from critical illnesses will appreciate and cherish good heath. How do you find out that you are in good health? It is very simple. You are fine when you don’t feel anything about your bodily functions. On the other hand, when you feel aches and pains here and there, these are warning signs that your health is not in order. Your health deteriorates over time due to the following: 

 • Eating irregularly

 • Eating the wrong kinds of food

 • Insufficient sleep or sleep late 

• Lack of exercise 

• Living in a polluted environment 

• Negative emotions such as frustration, anxiety, hopelessness, a lack of confidence, and depression 

 2. Two things to be - Forgive and forget To have a positive mental attitude is to forgive and forget what others have done to you. Holding a grudge and thoughts of vengeance will only hurt you more. You are not at ease. Your heart beats faster and your mind is under pressure when you fill your mind with anger and hatred. When you forgive and forget you are at peace, you let go and your mind is calm and cool. It is good for your soul and your spirit.

 3. Three things to forget - Age, grievances, worries There is nothing to be concerned about age. It has nothing to do with your state of health. As you grow older you are wiser and you are in better shape because you know more about healthy living. You are more mature and mellow. In short, life is more meaningful as you grow older. Don’t complain and protest. For the things that you can change do change them. For those things, you can’t change just live with it. I remember a beautiful poem about two days in your life you don’t have to worry about. One is yesterday and the other is tomorrow (enjoy the poem at the end of the post). When you live in the moment and do your best mindfully, yesterday will be a sweet memory and tomorrow will be as real as can be. Don’t worry, just be happy and enjoy this very moment. 

 4. Four things to have - A house of your own, something to do, a partner and friends Life is wonderful when you have these four things. A roof over your head and you don’t have to sleep in the street. There is always something interesting to do to fill the time. There is someone to share your sorrow and happiness and your ups and downs in life. There are friends to be with so you are not isolated. 

 5. Five things to be happy with - What you have, a happy family, able to indulge in personal interests, helping others, and traveling Happiness is to enjoy what you have and not thinking of acquiring what you don’t have in order to be happy. Happiness will not come because you will not be satisfied with what you have. There are so many broken homes around and thanks to God that you are the husband and father of a few lively kids living happily together under one roof. Happiness is also doing things you enjoy or exploring new things in life. Doing random acts of kindness is a beneficial way to boost your happiness. What better way to enjoy life than to travel to strange places to know first hand the way of life of other people and marvel the sight and sound of foreign countries 

 Longevity is about looking after your health, self-love, a kind heart, healthy relationships and be satisfied and happy in life. Wish you a happy and long life. 

Your Role in Life

What's Your Role in Life

Remember! You are special. No one can play your role better than you.

Pradeep Kumar

The world is a stage and each and every one of us must play a role. What role do you want to play? It is all determined by your interest, passion, and what you do best in life.

Take an example, US President Obama is a man who knows what he wants out of life and he knows what role he can play on the world stage and he goes all the way to get it.

As for me, I can only play a small role. My interest and passion are about self-improvement and my strength is in writing. My blog is my platform to deliver my messages and communicate with the rest of the world. This is what I can do and what I want to do in life and it is stated in my personal mission statement:

To encourage and motivate readers to improve the seven areas of their life, namely, health, work, personal money, relationships, happiness, home life, and parenting. The objective is to live life happily, fully, and meaningfully at the moment.

You never know you have great potential in life because you have yet to discover your mission in life. Find out your personal interest and passion. Find out what you can do better than others and you can do it easily. Do something that benefits others. Let me put it in another way to jolt you into thinking hard: What do you want people to say about you when they attend your funeral?

Are you one of the main actors on stage or are you one of the supporting casts? Only you can decide. When you imagine, create and visualize the role you want to play you will take action to realize your role in life.

My philosophy of Life - Truthfulness and Asking

The way of peace is the way of truth. Truthfulness is even more important than peacefulness.

Mahatma Gandhi

There are a few things that I believe in life – truthfulness in relation to spirituality and asking for things in life when you need to.


Spirituality and truthfully

I come from a family of Buddhist background, I may be a free thinker but I believe in religious teachings. One of the things that my father taught me was to be sincere and truthful. I firmly believe in it because honesty is the best policy in whatever you do. When you are truthful, there is no guilt feeling or need to remember that you have told a lie.

Spirituality has a lot to do with what we do in our life. You want to have peace of mind, you want to sleep soundly at night and you don’t want to struggle with your inner self, just be honest with yourself and with others. You don’t have to ask God to forgive you for the things that you have done wrong morally,

The other thing I believe is that spiritual well-being can be achieved by being in good health. I practice Tai Chi every morning. It is a form of meditation in motion. When you do it mindfully you are in communion with nature. Your mind is calm and you feel peaceful internally.

Life is about getting along with people around you. Be truthful and be sincere to them. You are happy and they are happy too because they understand you.


Just ask for it

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." -Matthew 7:7-8


In life, I always remember one thing, when you need something just ask for it. If you don’t; how do people know you want something? You may not get it, but you do not lose anything at all. On the other hand, you may get more than what you bargained for. As an example when you like that girl and you want to get a date, just ask for it. Be happy if she agrees, don’t be sad if she refuses because you have never dated her before and there is nothing to lose. Likewise, when you want a raise you also have to ask for it. By asking you may not get an increment and if you don’t get it, you don’t lose anything. Your salary remains the same. Just remember to ask at the right time with facts and figures to back you up. In life, keep asking, keep finding, and keep knocking. Don’t give up.

How to determine your career goals

The future depends on what you do today.

 

Mahatma Gandhi

It is vitally important to decide as early as possible for your future career goals. The sooner you know where you want to go the earlier it is for you to prepare for your journey. Here are the seven steps to help you chart your future course


1. Three crucial questions to decide your career goals: They are about your interest, passion, and doing things that you are good at. The three questions are:

• What do you like to do?
• What are the things that you are able to do better than others and you can do it easily?
• What are the things in life that mean a lot to you?

These questions will direct your energy in one direction to spur you to success in life,

2. Vision: Imagine and create a picture of the future. A scenario that you would like to see. It is a manifestation of your interest, passion, and strengths. It is also the answer to the three questions.

3. A written plan: Put your goals in writing. Identify the tools, the methods, the steps, and the time frame to reach your goals.

4. Smart goals: As it is always been said that your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

5. Reward yourself: As you go along your journey in life according to your career path, be sure to reward and motivate yourself along the way for each small success

6. Make changes: You can plan for the future but it is unpredictable with too many unknown factors. It is a wise thing to make changes to suit the prevailing situation.

7. Continue to create new goals: Success is a journey and not a destination. With each accomplishment, set new goals that are in alignment with your personal core values. These values are beneficial to you and to others.


The future is where we are all going, but there is no certainty in life. By having goals you direct your energy one directionally to make your future as real as you have envisaged.




Related post:
Answer These Three Questions to Determine Your Future Direction

10 Tips to Work Smart and Achieve More

Work Smart & Achieve More

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

Mark Twain

Working smart is not working hard. It is doing less and achieved more. It is getting a few important tasks done in the shortest possible time but accomplished even more. 

 1. 80/20 rule: It means doing 20 % of the work and getting 80% of the output. Check your daily to-do list and focus on the few important tasks that yield the greatest benefits and delegate the rest

 2. Take breaks: When you are tired, take a break to clear the clutter in your mind. You will be able to solve the problem easily that you have encountered earlier. 

 3. Be thorough in your work: Check carefully to make sure that nothing is left out and it is completed as required. Use your checklist to avoid missing items. Do it once correctly and no more. 

 4. Don’t plunge into your work: When you are given a new assignment, find out the most effective and most efficient ways to do the job. Spending a little bit of time to explore the nature of the work will make your work very much easier. 

 5. Be a specialist: People are more impressed when you are an expert in a particular field. You will be the person people look upon in your area of expertise. You have the right answers and the right ways to do something and people are glad to take your advice. 

 6. Under promise and over deliver: Instead of over promise and under deliver, do the opposite; deliver more than what you have promised. People will be surprised and delighted when you outperform. 

 7. Do things you are interested: You always do your best because you enjoy doing it and the more you do the better it gets. Your mind will be focused and you always put on your thinking cap to imagine and create better methods or systems to get things done. 

 8. Plan ahead: Advance planning means getting things done smoothly and efficiently. There is no rush and there is no panic situation.

 9. Take advantage of technology: Employ software or the right tools to get your work done in less time but more efficiently. Be sure to let your PC do most of your job more accurately and faster.

 10. Health: Are you physically fit and mentally alert? You perform better when you are calm, full of energy and mental focus. 

When you get things done with your full concentration, you make fewer mistakes and save valuable time to redo something. Isn’t it a smart way to work? Getting organized and using the right tools to do the right things at the right time are the most effective ways to achieve more by doing less.

How to Build a Trusted Brand on the Net

Trusted Brand

“Your personal brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability”

— JASON HARTMAN, AUTHOR OF “BECOME THE BRAND OF CHOICE

Every year Reader’s Digest surveys and publishes the trusted brands as voted by consumers in many businesses from tire to petrol station, from hospital to bank, and from cooking oil to beer.

Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands are based on the following 6 attributes:


1. Trustworthiness & credibility: The brand is believable, safe to use, and consistently delivers on the promises it makes

2. Quality: The products offered by the brand are well-made/well-designed

3. Value: The brand offers good value for the money

4. Understanding of Customer needs: The brand regularly demonstrates that it responds to and satisfies your changing needs as a customer

5. Innovative: The brand regularly introduces new products, features, or services.

6. Social responsibility: The brand supports the community, the environment, and its employees and practices good corporate ethics.


Similarly, we can adopt the six attributes as our six key factors to build a trusted brand on the Net:


1. Authority: Build the trust of the readers by consistently posting creditable articles of your niche. Posting is done on a regular basis as expected by the readers

2. Quality: Articles posted are from your own ideas. They are unique and appealing to the readers.

3. Value: Each and every article offers value that worth the while of the readers to spend valuable time reading your articles.

4. Satisfy the needs of the readers: Know what the readers are looking for and deliver articles accordingly to meet their requirements.

5. Creative: Able to attract and hold the attention and interest of the readers by adding audio, videos, and images in addition to informative and interesting articles. Provide a platform for two-way traffic to allow interaction with the readers. Respond to readers’ comments and give more to the readers such as distributing free e-books and building a community to allow readers of similar interest to share, exchange ideas, and mingle among themselves.

6. Social responsibility: Your blog articles promote goodness such as wellness, acts of kindness, self-improvement, healthy lifestyle, and prudent spending. These things are often highlighted and promoted to the general public. In a way, you are playing a role by being a responsible Net citizen.


It is a challenge and I will do my best to follow as closely as possible. A trusted brand has to be nurtured to grow, attract, and retain readers.

10 Easy Tips to Avoid Stress

Avoiding stress means a calm state of mind, an organized daily life and to live in the moment: Here are the easy ways to do away with stress:


1. Do less: Don’t try to do too much in a day. Accomplish more just by doing a few important tasks of the day. Forget about the rest or do it only when you have the time.

2. Sweat it out: Daily exercise to sweat it out is an excellent way to promote a feeling of well-being. A wonderful feeling is inside you and you feel good about yourself.

3. Organize your daily life: Always plan ahead and manage your daily life so that things get done smoothly. Life is less stressful when you don’t have to rush about to get things done.

4. Live in the moment: Don’t dwell in the past and don’t worry about the future, just focus and concentrate on the job at hand while you are at work. When you have fun, enjoy it fully as well. Live the moment.

5. A balanced lifestyle: Don’t stress yourself out by working long hours. There is a time to work and there is a time to play. Work and play are equally important in life.

6. LOL: It means laugh out loud. Crack a joke to share with your friends and laugh out loud from time to time. Always wear a smile. All these happiness feelings will make you relaxed, feel at ease, and boost your immune system.

7. Do your best: Whatever you do just do your best. Don’t try to be perfect and end up in a stressful situation.

8. Be in a calm state of mind: You can achieve this by doing Tai Chi or yoga in the morning. This daily ritual will fill your mind with a sense of serenity and a feeling of peace. Remind yourself to stay calm and relaxed throughout the whole day.

9. Slow down and live: Don’t be in a hurry and don’t rush, Life is stressful when you try to get the thing done quickly. Your heart beats go faster and you are excited and then you feel stressed. When you have organized your daily life in advance there is no need to beat the time.

10. Hopefulness: Do you get such a feeling? When there is always something to look forward to in life, your outlook is cheerful and optimistic. One the other hand when there is nothing to hope for in life a feeling of anxiety fills your mind. You feel stressful too. Think of wonderful things in life that you can look forward to every day.


A stress-free life is our ultimate aim of daily living.

Related posts:

Slow Down to Live and Enjoy Life – 10 Joyful Tips

Stress – 3 Effective Ways to Manage It

21 Ways to Relax

15 Tips to Manage Stress

10 Tips to be a Top Executive

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”  - 

Steve Jobs, Co-Founder of Apple

Success is about what you can contribute to the company and what you can do for your fellow workers. Here are the top 10 things that you must do in order for you to move up and stay at the top: 

 1. Getting a job done: Each and every assignment is to de completed on time, completely, and in the way as required by your boss. Effectiveness and efficiency are important factors to get things done. 

 2. Your commitment: Are you committed to the job? When you are interested in doing what you are doing, a job is no longer a job; it’s a fun thing to do. When it is your passion you will do your job wholeheartedly. Commitment means concentration and focuses on the job. 

 3. Self-improvement: Do you stop learning after you have left school or are you updating yourself in the field of your expertise? The thirst for knowledge is an essential quality in the competitive world. Never stop learning.

 4. A team member or a lone ranger: In every organization, one department is linked to another and they form a cohesive unit. The cooperation of every department head is vital to allow the day-to-day operation to run smoothly. There is no place for a hero or a lone ranger. Be a team player and be sensitive to the requirements of other department heads as well as your own. 

 5. Time management: How do you manage your time? Actually, time management is life management. The most important thing is the fill your time with the most important tasks and get them done. You can ignore the rest and do it only when you have the time. This is an effective use of time. 

 6. Punctuality: To be on time is to respect others who are also time-sensitive. As a top executive, it is a virtue and a very good habit. It is a sign that you are able to organize yourself very well and you can be on time the first time and every time. 

 7. Positive mental attitude: In essence, you will find solutions to every problem encountered. An attitude of never-say-die will augurs well for your career. Self-confidence will inspire others to look upon you. 

 8. Support your immediate superior: The only way to work in any place is to give your fullest support to your boss. Just remember he is the one who hires you and he thinks you will make a good assistant. It is two-way traffic. You support your boss and your boss will support you to move up the ladder. 

 9. Loyal to the company: If you speak ill of your company why are you still working there? You are one of the spokespeople of the company even though you are not in the PR department. When you look upon the company highly it reflects well on you. Always remember to keep confidential issues to yourself. 

 10. Supportive of co-workers: You need to get things done through others. Naturally, your care and concern of your co-workers will ensure that things get done in a timely fashion. It shows that you are an effective leader. Don’t ever complain to your boss that your subordinates let you down by not doing their part. Blame yourself for it. 

 The more you do for the company and the more support that you give to your co-workers, the more you are valued and appreciated by your boss and your co-workers, and the easier it is for you to move up.

Benefits of Exercise – Physically, Mentally and Emotionally

Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states.     

Carol Welch

Regular exercise offers tremendous benefits not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well. 

  3 S’s of physical benefits (suppleness, strength, and stamina) An all-round exercise programme including stretching, weight training and aerobic at least three times a week will give you overall health and fitness. You will be more flexible in your body movements, be stronger and able to work harder longer 

  3 C’s of mental benefits (cool, calm, and collected) Each time after an exercise your mental alertness is at its peak. You are able to concentrate on the task at hand and not being disturbed easily. You stay cool, calm, and collected. 

  3 S’s of emotional benefits (self-respect, self-confidence, and self-worth) According to Heather Hausenblas of the University of Florida, a UF exercise psychologist, ”People who don’t achieve workout milestones such as losing fat, gaining strength or boosting cardiovascular fitness feel just as good about their bodies as their more athletic counterparts.” She reviewed 57 interventions studies on the topic of exercise and how it makes people feel, and she concludes that “the simple act of exercise and not fitness itself convince you that you look better.” In short, you carry a healthy self-image of yourself and you feel good and satisfied about yourself just by exercising 

Now Is the Right Time

Right Time

The time is always right to do what is right.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is a saying, “Success will not come while you wait for it.”

Are you waiting for an opportunity to start a new project? Are you prepared to do it only when you have enough time or are you waiting for a time when you have the fullest confidence to do it? Can it be that you will do it only when you have enough money?

There is no right time to do anything, the longer you wait, the more difficult it is for you to make the first move. You will face more obstacles.

You have a good plan and you have marvelous ideas. But if you don’t take the first step to do it, it is just a dream. You may be thinking that the future is full of uncertainties, but uncertainty is the beautiful part of the future. If you were to know exactly what would be happening in the future, life would be very boring. It is because of the uncertainty we can dream, create, visualize, and plan for the future. The most important thing is to take the first step now and then the next and the next. As we go along we adjust, revise, or amend our plan in accordance with the prevailing situation.

Do you have a good idea? Do you have a wonderful plan? Now is the right time to do it. Just take the first step into the future.

Don't wait. The time will never be just right.

Napoleon Hill

Vision, Action and Detachment

Vision It’s all in the mind. Just think ahead and look into the future in one year or two years’ time. What do you see? Just imagine a scene that you would like to see in the not so distant future. Is it the happenings that you want to see? Now that you have an idea of what you want to see in the foreseeable future, what shall you do now? 

 Action 

 We all know that our mind cannot tell the difference between real and imaginary events. When you have created vivid and specific scenarios of the future, you will think of all the ways that you can do now and work on it to realize your goals. Take action and do it daily and over time you will be nearer to the vision that you have created.

 Detachment 

 It is necessary at this point to bring out the subject of detachment. It means you do your best but you do not attach yourself to the outcome or results. Here is a case in point. My daughter has visualized that she will obtain 7 A’s in her standard six examinations. She has worked hard in order to achieve the results that she has envisaged. I told her it is her duty to do her best, but do not pay too much attention or too much attachment to the outcome or the results. The reason is very simple. You will not be deeply disappointed when you don’t get the results you want. You are still happy. You move on and create another vision for the foreseeable future and start working on it again. Dwelling too much on the results will rob you of your energy in the wrong direction Life goes on with or without your expected outcome. 

 The take-home message 

 You plan for the future, you do your best and work your way towards your dreams, but you do not pay too much attention to the outcome. The past is history and the future is just a dream but the present is the only time that you can take control. Doing your best today will assure a future outcome as real as can be. Detachment brings you happiness. You do not pretend you own it. When you don’t get it there is no regret.

“Even when I detach, I care. You can be seperate from a thing and still care about it.” 

David Levithan

My Bucket List

By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be.

– Mark Victore Hansen

What is a bucket list? Actually, it is a movie by the name of “The Bucket List” directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The main plot follows two terminally ill men on their road trip with a wish list of things to do before they “kick the bucket”.

A bucket list allows you to focus on the things that you wish to do. It has nothing to do with your daily to-do list which is tied to your job and your daily routine. You just write down all the things that you wanted to do and you have not had the time or the opportunity to do it. Let us say that you have just one year to live before you kick the bucket, what would you do? In a way, the list highlights your existence to live life fully and meaningfully at the moment.

Here is my bucket list:

1. Go round the world in 30 days
2. See the seven wonders of the world
3. Skydiving
4. Listen more to classical music and oldies
5. Live in a foreign country for six months.
6. Hit the jackpot, strike it rich (God willing)
7. Keep a dog and a cat
8. Experience the four seasons
9. Earn money by blogging full time to support my lifestyle
10. Take a spin in a Lamborghini
11. Read all the motivational books
12. Watch all my favorite movies that I have missed
13. Have a massage every day
14. Learn to play the piano.
15. Get my blog into Traffic Rank within 100,000 and Page Rank of 3 and above
16. Live to see my children having families of their own

How to go about it:

1. Spend around fifteen minutes to come up with your initial bucket list. Don’t worry that you may not make it. The fact is that when you have put it down in writing it will allow you to concentrate and realize your dreams one day. Bear in mind that experiences in life is more important and bring you more happiness than possession of material things.
2. As time goes by delete or add more into the list.
3. Cross out the ones that you have achieved.
4. Keep the list always in view.
5. Share your list here.

I hope by making your bucket list, your life will be more focused and more meaningful and you will be happier over time.

More about Personal Mission Statements

“A mission statement is not something you write overnight, but fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.” 

Stephen Covey

Personal Mission statements are about your purposes in life. It revolves around your core values and your goals. Your mission statement changes as you move along in life from a young boy to an adult and from the role of a husband to that of a father. As you move to the last stage of life, your mission statement also sees dramatic changes. Let me give you an example of personal mission statements in different stages of a person’s life:

As a young boy:

I want to be one of the top ten students in the class. I will listen attentively to the teachers in class and I will take down necessary notes. I will do my homework and revise the lessons every day. I will exercise daily to keep fit and I will eat a balanced diet. I will go to bed early and wake up early.

As a young graduate:

As an accountant, I will discharge my duties and responsibilities to the best of my abilities. I will submit my monthly report on time and I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth. I will work closely with my co-workers and I will groom my subordinates,

As a husband and father

To take care of my family just the way I take care of my career. My family life is devoted to my family and nothing else. I will shower my children with love and I will set good examples for them to follow. I want them to be good citizens when they grow up.

As a senior citizen

My life is carefree and I am financially independent. I just want to be happy to spend time with my partner and my friends. I will share my life experience with others as and when requested.

Craft your own personal mission statements to suit your needs in different stages of your life. Let your mission statements propel you to greater height in life.

Related post:

7 Steps to create a Personal Mission Statement