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	<title>Exploring uncharted waters &#187; Personal Development</title>
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		<title>How to build a career</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:19:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1556</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, they say, &#8220;To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work&#8221; and i am sure all of us will agree on it. Almost all successful men and women loved what they did and were extremely passionate about it. But is pure passion and love alone sufficient to build a successful career? From my personal experience though, there are a few more ingredients required to make a career flavoursome! First on the list, be objective. Yes, knowing what you want to achieve is equally important as passion and love. Without knowing the destination, there is little or no hope that the journey will even take us there. Initially, when a career starts, it is difficult to form objectives, but it tends to come over time. The key thing though is to keep actively looking for an objective right from the start, even though it is unclear. The second magic ingredient is to be proactive. A typical career is littered with opportunities, regardless of the type of job. There is always a scope to improve things in any job and it definitely pays to be proactive to spot these opportunities. Proactiveness is a by product of vision. Only people who have a vision about the future would proactively be able to look for opportunities. And believe it or not, opportunities make or break a career. Third in my list is capability. No matter how many opportunities present themselves before us and nor does how much passion we possess, if we lack the capability to progress, then the career might be heading towards a dead end. By capability, i mean education, skill set and knowledge. And these are equally important to be successful as anything else. Fourth and the least referred by many is contacts. In this ever changing world, where people are hired and fired all the time, it is extremely important to know people who can provide help and sometimes an opportunity to progress in the career ladder. Finally, luck. It might be surprising to see luck listed here, but it always is an essential ingredient to success. Many times in my own career i have realised its importance. No matter how capable we are and how proactive we can be, if things around us don&#8217;t work as they should, there is simply no way ahead apart from waiting for it to get better. It is only for the chosen few that life automatically gifts these five points. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to do it the hard way to succeed. Good Luck and have a happy new year! Related posts:A secret recipe to successGetting on the management trainSpotting high performers


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/01/getting-on-the-management-train/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Getting on the management train'>Getting on the management train</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Spotting high performers'>Spotting high performers</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Spotting high performers</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/10/spotting-high-performers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:57:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1558</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is always a challenge to successfully manage people, though the perception amongst the working population is mostly contrary. The challenge gets even better when a team of high performers have to be managed. And this is exactly where almost all managers fail. High performers come in a variety of forms &#8211; from the most arrogant of types to the most humble and this variety makes it even more difficult to generalise their existence. But this doesn&#8217;t mean they lack any common traits. Almost all high performers have very well defined traits that put them under the spotlight. And it is this commonality that helps spot them in the first place. So, the first rule to successfully manage a high performer is to spot one! Trait 1: Learning The most interesting character of a high performer is the ability to learn things very quickly. This is needed because knowledge is the only edge that sets people apart. In this ever changing world, it is not easy to learn new things. And to deliver better results than the &#8216;normals&#8217; means learning things quicker than them &#8211; and this is no easy feat. So, it doesn&#8217;t matter what the task is, high performers are always quicker than the average &#8211; to learn the task and start executing it. Trait 2: Sharp and efficient It goes without saying that people who perform well are extremely sharp and understand even the smallest of changes that happen around them. Not only they are sharp enough to understand the situation and environment, they seem to have an optimisation algorithm pre-programmed by nature that keeps their actions and solutions extremely efficient. Though it is counter-intuitive, sharpness and efficiency are interlinked. If we are not sharp enough obviously we cannot make the most efficient decisions. And high performers excel here. Trait 3: Passion Well, it is a well known theory that only true passion brings out the highest possible performance in us. The problem is most of us don&#8217;t succeed in finding our passion even until we die. High performers on the other hand are the ones that have found what their passion is and have put in enough effort to bring their passion to fruition. Passion has very high shelf-life and lives on for a very long time. And high performers use it to their benefit. Trait 4: Lack of interest to impress Sometimes, lack of interest to impress others, mostly superiors, tends to appear as arrogance. But unfortunately, it is an inbuilt trait of high performers.  They are more focused on getting the job done and seem to enjoy the satisfaction that stems out of it rather than spending time to bend and bow towards pointless bureaucracy. This is a wonderful distinction between the normals and the real performers. Trait 5: Confidence High performers in general openly admit ignorance because they know their true potential. With the power of confidence by their side, they are generally not afraid to ask stupid questions and at the same time spill out a gem of an idea. We tend to brand people who ask simple questions as naive and incapable, but from my experience this attribute should never be seen in isolation. Trait 6: Praise Every one loves to be praised &#8211; but high performers absolutely adore them. They somehow seem to allow this weak point to unconsciously grow. Praise, magically brings in more performance out of high performers which is exactly opposite to the normals! So to spot a true performer, throw in a bit of praise for something they have done &#8211; and you know what the result should be. Good luck spotting!! Related posts:A secret recipe to success10 tips to impress an interviewerHow to build a career


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 tips to impress an interviewer'>10 tips to impress an interviewer</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-career/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How to build a career'>How to build a career</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What only failure can teach us</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/what-only-failure-can-teach-us/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/what-only-failure-can-teach-us/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:21:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1510</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There isn&#8217;t a single person in this world who doesn&#8217;t hate failure. Failure is so painful that only mental strength and time can heal it. But as with all painful things, there is quite a bit of goodness associated with failure too. It is unfortunate that most of us don&#8217;t look into this goodness that failure provides. It isn&#8217;t easy to accept, but failure is the best teacher we can have. Though there are many other ways of learning, failure consistently tops the list. And here are the top five things that failure helps us with. 1. Know what you don&#8217;t know Often, knowing what we don&#8217;t know is the key to success. Many of us fail because we either don&#8217;t know how to do something or because we don&#8217;t know something that we should know to succeed. Failure exposes this and shows us what we should know to succeed. 2. Understand your limits The next big thing to succeed is to know what we are capable of and what we are not. Failure, again, clearly shows what our true potential is. It is this lack of self-knowledge that often makes us underestimate or overestimate our own abilities and failure helps us clear it up. 3. Learn what you are not supposed to do If you are a person like me, who follows the heart more than the head, then failure is a way of telling you that is not for you. I always do things to the best of abilities and if i fail even after trying a few times,I just believe that it is not for me. Perseverance is good, but it needs to be rational. And, I use failure to help rationalise perseverance. 4. Know the path Sometimes, we may know what we need to do to succeed but may not know the approach to succeed. Failure, though brutal sometimes, shows clearly how not to do things. It is in our hands to learn from that failure and understand how to do things instead. 5. Know where you really belong Sometimes in life, we do everything to our level best. We know what to achieve and how to achieve it. But we may still fail. That failure may not be because of us but could be because of some other person involved in the same activity. Being social beings we can&#8217;t always win by doing things alone and we need people to work together to succeed. Failure, in these cases helps in understanding the group you are associated with is not worth being associated anymore. Good Luck failing!! Related posts:Dealing with failureSuccess is not just luck!Four phases of success


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/dealing-with-failure/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Dealing with failure'>Dealing with failure</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/05/success-is-not-just-luck/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Success is not just luck!'>Success is not just luck!</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/four-phases-of-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Four phases of success'>Four phases of success</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Four phases of success</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/four-phases-of-success/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/four-phases-of-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:39:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1402</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Success sounds interesting and tastes wonderful. Everyone of us genuinely want to succeed in whatever we do. But the reality is we always don&#8217;t. Not many think further than the fact that they failed. Fortunately, I always thought why i have failed in something that i took up and what can be learnt from that failure. It is this learning that makes us more aware of the fact that success in not just luck. Though luck helps some to succeed, the truth is luck has a bad quality of being inconsistent. Rather it is perseverance that is key to success. I see success as a carefully laid out plot &#8211; sort of intricate design with an inherent logic of its own. The moment we understand these intricacies, there is only one way forward. The Interest phase: The key to succeeding in anything you want to do is to like it, or to be precise, love it. People generally succeed in doing what they love to do, because love breeds perseverance. And it is this perseverance that forms the basis of success. Many years ago, my friend introduced me to the stock market. Like every new venture, at first, it looked very easy. And i got into trading stocks within a few days. I term this phase the Interest phase. This is the phase with maximum interest, minimum but rapidly growing knowledge and extraordinary efficiency. Every time i am venturing into something new, i try and utilise this phase to the maximum. I know this phase is not going to last forever and i want to just make the most of it. The learning phase: Then comes the learning phase, where you actually realise that the task you have ventured into is not that easy. It is precisely at this phase, where winners and losers are made. The learning phase is very unattractive and mundane. You have to put in hard work with virtually no returns and sometimes no scope of seeing returns in the near future. It is extremely compelling to give up what you started in this phase and you convincingly feel you are not going to win because interest is at its lowest, knowledge is growing very slowly and efficiency is constantly decreasing. The climbing phase: It is already a triumph for people who have gone past the learning phase. The climbing phase is where our understanding of the venture is almost complete and we are ready to climb. By the time you reach this phase, most mistakes have been committed and basic learning is complete. From now on, it is easier to learn new things related to the venture and there is a grip on the entire situation. People who have the perseverance and belief that they can go all the way to succeed, manage to get through and incorporate all their learning, especially from their mistakes. The climbing phase is very rewarding. In this phase we have a much more steadily growing interest due to improved success rate, matured understanding of the venture that makes learning new things easier and growing efficiency. The success phase: The final part of the journey, where no matter what you do is just going to be success. People will love what you say and do. Millions are following your steps everyday and the success seems unstoppable. The success phase has a hidden treasure that people often don&#8217;t notice. Once you succeed in a venture, then you don&#8217;t have to go through the four phases once again to reach the top on related ventures. People often do not max out on other related ventures because they are busy basking in their new found glory. But those who indeed do, are the ones the world remembers forever. Related posts:Success is not just luck!What only failure can teach usA secret recipe to success


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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Emotional Intelligence &#8211; the real edge</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/the-edge-of-emotional-intelligence/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/the-edge-of-emotional-intelligence/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:52:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership qualities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1339</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Emotional intelligence is a wonderful gift for people who naturally possess it. To be fair, all of us have some emotional intelligence(EI), only that most of us don&#8217;t really use it. The power of Emotional Intelligence is so very diverse and it always comes with a set of other related qualities. So, EI is not just about controlling your own and understanding others&#8217; emotions. Its advantages go beyond what one can list. For example, in day to day life, a person with high EI will be able understand if a person walking towards him could be a serious threat or not, just by looking at their body language. It is the by-product of EI rather than IQ that helps us to compute such decisions. EI is every where! At work, EI helps understand what sort of a personality your boss is, even before people tell it out to you. Its not just the boss, EI helps understand the attributes of your colleagues and the work environment very easily and helps you to channelise and project yourself to suit the work environment. Its not just work, EI helps when it comes to maintaining relationships with friends and family. EI basically helps to understand people regardless of how they try and portray themselves. Yet another unique aspect of possessing high emotional intelligence is that you never make enemies unless you want to. Emotional Intelligence helps understand what the person you are talking to needs and if you want to avoid any difference of opinion, then you can just play on their side, saying yes and avoiding any conflicts. I personally felt hairdressers / barbers have one of the highest EI in our society. Most of them can talk about a variety of topics to their clients and they do so without causing any rift in their clients&#8217; ideologies. Use it to better yourself! But it is not just about understanding others. It is a very handy tool to look into yourself and succeed. With Emotional Intelligence, you can dissect a situation that has happened in the past and can analyse it from various points of view. For example, let us say, you were asked to negotiate a contract with your customer and you failed. The first emotion after a failure is anger and frustration on yourself. You might immediately think, You did horribly bad in the negotiation meeting. You had no answers to the customers questions and had no convincing points to successfully negotiate. And it is exactly at this point, emotional intelligence can be used to understand what went wrong and what can be improved. EI can help you reason out by swapping positions. So you then think, Fair enough, i agree i didn&#8217;t do very well. But i had no prior information on this subject. I had just a day to discuss this topic with the relevant person. On top of this, this is not my normal job. I just filled in someone else&#8217;s position. By doing so, you have made yourself get rid of the guilt that everything was your fault. On top of it, you have a few learning for the next time. You will need to prepare a bit better, may be talk to relevant people more the next time. It is always better to make life easier by understanding what went wrong and keep moving ahead. To sum it up&#8230; One of the best ways to start developing Emotional Intelligence is to become more aware and conscious of the surrounding environment. With this newly acquired sensitiveness, Emotional Intelligence will start growing on its own. It is unfortunate that EI is heavily under estimated by our society. But the truth is, people who have been successful in their life will for sure possess high levels of emotional intelligence. Because, without it, going up is not just difficult, but close to impossible! Related posts:Why many leaders dont succeedWhat employers look for in a candidate10 things that never work at a workplace


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/why-many-leaders-dont-succeed/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Why many leaders dont succeed'>Why many leaders dont succeed</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/what-employers-look-for/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What employers look for in a candidate'>What employers look for in a candidate</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/10-things-that-never-work-at-a-workplace/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 things that never work at a workplace'>10 things that never work at a workplace</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>10 things that never work at a workplace</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/10-things-that-never-work-at-a-workplace/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/10-things-that-never-work-at-a-workplace/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership qualities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1275</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A while ago, i wrote about the top ten things that none of us should do at work. Today, i have a list of 10 things that are generally considered good for the society, but never work in practice. I have been a victim of these things in the past. These are definitely tried and tested points that everyone of us need to avoid to be successful, especially at work. Disclaimer: These topics should be taken with a pinch of salt &#8211; meaning they are not hard and fast. Whilst most of the time these rules help, sometimes they can go against us. It really depends on the environment and type of people we deal with everyday. 1. Too much empathy Empathy is understanding others&#8217; situation and circumstances. It is good and very much required in order to have a successful team, but too much empathy does not favor us. With lots of empathy, we tend to adjust very well to other&#8217;s mistakes while they might start taking advantage of our good heart. 2. Criticism even when asked for Time after time, people ask for criticism. They say they are very much looking forward to hearing negative comments about themselves. Companies organise 360 degree feedback on managers to understand their pitfalls. But humans (especially a professional in a higher job grade) cannot take criticism just like that. Even though they ask for it, most of the time they are expecting some good words and not really bad ones. 3. Being fair with all A good deed in theory, a bad way of life in practise. Ideally we want to be fair to all and help them with their troubles. But people often take advantage of this good thought. The best way to deal with people, especially at work, is to mirror them. Just give back what they give you. In my theory, this is not unfair at all. By behaving the way they behave to us, we at least can avoid any possible humiliation. 4. Playing by the rules of humanity Most good people believe that every human should be respected irrespective of his / her personal attributes like colour, position, money, etc. But unknown to mankind we all still live in groups and associate and disassociate ourselves with people based on values and ideals we possess. This being true, there is no point in trying to follow all the rules of humanity in a workplace. After all, this world is a competitive place today and there are many ready to punch the moment we duck. Beware! 5. Challenging your boss Almost all organisations encourage their employees to challenge each other on ideas and views. Though they like to advocate this fact, very few really take it seriously. Even if the company takes it seriously, employees may not. Especially whoever is above the job grade will find it extremely difficult if he /she is challenged. Instead of finding yourself in a puddle of hatred, try and avoid direct challenges with seniors. 6. Being level headed When i was young, my parents insisted i stayed low headed despite what i had achieved and i believe this quality has stayed on with me. But with such a gem of a quality, i found it to be very difficult to grow up in career. Most people who were appraising me were not capable of understanding my potential by my actions. Instead they expected me to talk about myself. I found it very hard to fight this habit and talk about what i can do, but after i started doing it, i have grown steadily. Ironical, but true! 7. Accepting weakness People who are really capable of achieving wonderful things are always ready to accept their weaknesses. They do this because they know what they are capable of doing and also because they want to go further in their career. But such people are few and far in this society. We are dominated by people who grade and brand others based on what they are told. So never accept weakness. Instead talk to your friend or someone in your family to identify your weakness and work on it without disclosing it. If you don&#8217;t tell it, many will never know it. 8. Demanding equality The human society thrives on inequality. Never in the history of mankind, there has been equality and there will never be. We all have to get used to this fact and live with it. So there is no point in expecting equality in the workplace either. There will always be favorites and not-so-favorites. If you one of the not-so-favorites, don&#8217;t be disheartened by it. Push for equality if situation favours or else simply accept it! 9. Being truthful at all times Common sense says that lying is not something that should be encouraged within the society. But being truthful at all times can works out against us. Where truth has to be withheld, it has to be done, especially if truth would cause more problems and issues. 10. Views, views and views People ask for views but never care about what is told. Being genuine, we would like the person to pay heed and accept what is told, but again that is the way life is. If asked for a view, try and be impartial and disassociate yourself as much as possible from the view. That way it is easy to handle it if it gets criticised or rejected due to other political reasons. Related posts:How to positively utilise criticismsCrazy ideas &#8211; successful productsTeam Work &#8211; Works!


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/how-to-positively-utilise-criticisms/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How to positively utilise criticisms'>How to positively utilise criticisms</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/01/crazy-ideas-successful-products/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Crazy ideas &#8211; successful products'>Crazy ideas &#8211; successful products</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/team-work-works/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Team Work &#8211; Works!'>Team Work &#8211; Works!</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Success is not just luck!</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/05/success-is-not-just-luck/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/05/success-is-not-just-luck/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 20:58:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[team work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Success is definitely not luck. Be it on a personal level on how to lead a successful married life or on the financial aspect of it or even at work as a leader there are a number of things to learn and consider in order to be successful. Sometimes luck helps to achieve unseen level of success, but is not the only way to be successful. I have personally written a number of articles on how to be successful over the last year or so and i felt i should put together these articles into a concise list of 10 most important attributes that would help us all to be successful. 1.Know to Sell your product Do you have a wonderful product? It could be a special talent or an idea. But if you have one, then you already have a head start. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/things-to-remember-while-marketing-yourself/ 2. Be assertive Are you really assertive enough to lead a team or to get your ideas through? Assertiveness is one of the most important qualities that can make you a great success or a great failure. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/learning-to-be-assertive/ 3. Stay ahead of the competition Having a good product and tasting success with it is one thing. But maintaining success and building on it is another. To make sure you succeed every time, you have to know where your competition are and need to stay ahead of them. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/staying-ahead-of-the-game/ 4. Concentrate on one thing at a time Jugglery is an art but is seldom a good trick when it comes to business. It is a well proven fact that people who concentrate on one thing are highly likely to succeed than people who try and do too many things. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/one-thing-at-a-time/ 5. Perseverance and Self-belief The only things that can guarantee success are perseverance and self belief. There are many successful people in this world  who have failed more than anybody else and it is only their perseverance and self belief that helped sail the uncharted waters and to reach shores safely. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/02/fable-eagle-or-crow/ 6. Ready to take criticism Perseverance is no good if we do not learn from our past mistakes and criticisms. Every successful man would have been criticised at some point for his abilities or work and the best take it sportively and learn to utilise for their own benefit. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/how-to-positively-utilise-criticisms/ 7. Be ready to quit Following on the lines of perseverance, it is extremely important to know where to stop trying as well. There is no point in foolishly trying the same thing again and again when the idea by itself is bad. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/ 8. Be level headed and respect others Taking success normally and learning to live with it without making a big deal about it is an art. Very few people stay level headed and continue to respect others. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/why-many-leaders-dont-succeed/ 9. United we win All of us know the importance of unity. To be successful, you need the right contacts and more importantly the right kind of people to work for you. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/team-work-works/ 10. Finally, success is how you define Success to one could mean failure to the other. It all is dependent on the persons mindset. The real winners are definitely the ones who really make a difference in this world. http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/02/the-real-winners/ Related posts:Four phases of successStaying ahead of the gameA secret recipe to success


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/07/four-phases-of-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Four phases of success'>Four phases of success</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/staying-ahead-of-the-game/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Staying ahead of the game'>Staying ahead of the game</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/12/a-secret-recipe-to-success/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: A secret recipe to success'>A secret recipe to success</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>10 tips to impress an interviewer</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:23:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[useful tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1130</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Career is a very important aspect of our life. In today&#8217;s world, we spend more time at work and with our colleagues when compared to the time we spend at home with our families. Because work is so important, most of us want to succeed in our career in order to believe that we have succeeded in our life. Sometimes, a single job opportunity can differentiate success from failure and it is all about never letting this opportunity pass you by. So here are some tips to make sure you not only use the opportunity but you emerge successful out of it &#8211; simple 10 ways to impress an interviewer. 1. Sync Even much before you attend an interview, you need to first get your mind set on the job. The best way is to dream about the job and make your subconscious mind want it. Identify any deterrents to your subconscious mind about getting this job and eliminate them. This way you can let your subconscious mind roam freely and it starts wanting it without your conscious mind really knowing it. This is very much important because we are all dominated by the power of the subconscious when compared to the conscious. 2. Rehearse The Internet is full of materials that are very handy to prepare for an interview and try and go through them as much as possible. Try and imagine that you are in a meeting room and attending an interview and think of possible questions that can be thrown at you and how you would be able to answer these. This helps in the actual interview by easing pressure. 3. Dress Smartly The most important thing after preparation is being presentable. Research what is the dress code before attending an interview and dress accordingly. It is better to dress for at least 2 levels higher than the post being interviewed for. As with most cases, first impression is the best possible impression &#8211; and this is definitely true in an interview. 4. Don&#8217;t Panic Once you know you have worked on the preparation part both mentally and on presentation, the other thing to try and remember is to maintain your cool. There is a famous saying that one of my bosses used to say, &#8221; You either get things done or get tensed&#8221;. I believe that summarises all. If something can be achieved by getting tensed, then that has got to be failure. 5. Portray Confidence At the interview, try and concentrate on the questions that are asked and be confident while replying to them. Confidence, in particular, self-confidence is a key to having a successful interview. If you do not believe in yourselves then it is very difficult to make the interviewer believe in you. On the other hand, it is perfectly OK to say &#8220;I don&#8217;t know&#8221; to certain questions instead of trying to guess the answers. This gives credibility and shows you are straight forward. 6. Be crisp and to the point Though an interview is all about selling your skills, try and be crisp and to the point. This doesn&#8217;t mean you shouldn&#8217;t explain what you know or are capable of doing but this means not really explaining every tiniest bit of detail. 7. Analyse the personality Right from the start of an interview, try and analyse the personality who is interviewing you and understand what kind of characteristics he is looking for in a candidate. Some characteristics are not publicised in the job specification but interviewers look for those during the interview. These generally are soft skills like a team player, a flexible personality etc. The quicker you analyse and understand the interviewers personality the easier it is to suit your response to his needs. 8. It&#8217;s a two way traffic Interview is about making sure you and your potential employer get the best possible working relationship and eventually the best possible business output. It always helps to remember that the company needs you as much as you need the company. So ask as many questions as you may have and get them clarified before you join a job. 9. Learn from mistakes As they say, &#8220;Failure is the first step to success&#8221; &#8211; not if you don&#8217;t learn from the failures. Only people who learn from their mistakes can be very conscious of their pitfalls and be able to perform better the next time. So when you lose, don&#8217;t give up. Just try and understand what went wrong and how that can be rectified. 10. It&#8217;s not the end of life An interview is definitely an opportunity for a better future. But it is not the end of the world. If you lose in an interview it doesn&#8217;t mean you have lost in your life. Always target to give your best shot and take it easy if things don&#8217;t work out that particular time. They eventually will! Related posts:Learning to be AssertiveWhat only failure can teach usDealing with failure


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/learning-to-be-assertive/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Learning to be Assertive'>Learning to be Assertive</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/08/what-only-failure-can-teach-us/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What only failure can teach us'>What only failure can teach us</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/10/dealing-with-failure/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Dealing with failure'>Dealing with failure</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<title>How to positively utilise criticisms</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/how-to-positively-utilise-criticisms/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/03/how-to-positively-utilise-criticisms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:36:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[team work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[useful tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=1117</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Criticism, traditionally has been seen as a very bad thing that can happen to a person or to an organisation. Criticism exposes how bad things are and shows a sign of dissatisfaction. It does tarnish the reputation and credibility and many times forces people to lose confidence and guides them to fail even further. Many of us hate criticism and would try really hard to avoid it. We tend to use a variety of techniques such as being offensive (as many say, &#8220;offence is the best form of defence&#8221;) to trying to be friendly (so that people do not criticise straight into the face). Unfortunately not many of us think about facing criticisms and using them to our favour. I see criticism as a tool to better myself. If i didn&#8217;t know the mistakes i do, then how will i be able to rectify them? For me, criticism is a wonderful tool for betterment. Over the years, i have asked for feedback right from my managers to my colleagues and sometimes to friends and families. I think only if we step away from the fear of being criticised, true development will start. Of course, i wasn&#8217;t praised all the time. I have had some real bad comments. But if they are true, there is just one way to handle it. Changing ourselves. How to utilise criticism within a group: Individually, it is relatively easy to handle criticism, because it just requires a mindset change of a single person. But it is extremely difficult to cultivate this habit within a group. A generic group is a mix of all sorts of personalities and it is a mammoth task to educate the group to handle criticism constructively. But it is not impossible if we follow a structured approach. Eliminate EGO: Criticism cannot be tolerated by people because of the ego we all possess. Though it is impossible to eliminate ego completely, we can keep in under constant check. When ego is under control, there is very less chance that we will misinterpret criticisms. The best way to control ego levels is to organise a team building event where people get together, make mistakes and also learn to work with each other as a team taking feedback. Organise peer reviews: Peer reviews are a great way to inject feedback about a person or his work. Peer reviews also help in making people within the group realise that everyone makes mistakes. Whenever i have designed something major, I call for a peer review with my colleagues and openly challenge them saying &#8220;Spot three mistakes and i shall get you a cake!&#8221;. Such an attitude towards peer review doesn&#8217;t create any friction between people within the group and the feedback they provide works well towards realising the end goal. Mediate ideas: Almost in all cases, there should be a mediator who monitors the group dynamics constantly and is ready to step in when criticism gets out of control. Typically, this works out well if the person is the manager or someone with a responsible position within the group. The mediator should be matured enough to understand comments and should strive to get through the correct interpretation of the feedback given. The most important point while mediating is that they should not favour any party. Because, people understand &#8220;taking sides&#8221; very quickly and naturally. Can&#8217;t get personal: The mediator can come up with &#8220;group rules&#8221; that say the manner people within the group should criticise each other. Such rules would include clauses like &#8220;Do not get personal with each other while reviewing their work!&#8221;. While criticising someone or their work, people should remember that the approach needs to be professional and should never become personal. Whatever the person does in his personal life is irrelevant at work unless it directly affects it. Criticise &#8211; not oppose: Criticism should not be aimed to prove that we are better than others and should not in anyway showcase opposition. A genuine person would offer to help his colleagues even though he criticised his or her work. And, this quality makes the person stand out as a team player. Demand explanation when criticised: There has never been a need to take criticism directly. Always ask politely, the reason behind the comments and feedback. This enables us to generalise feedback and helps us apply the same feedback to a variety of similar problems. If the criticism is genuine, then the person who said that would also be happy to explain his thought process. Asking for explanation helps in understanding the real intention of the person who said that. Explain but don&#8217;t defend: When criticised, do try and put forward your alternate views on the feedback. This does not mean we should try and oppose them or defend ourselves. Instead, we should state our thoughts and understanding and demand for more explanation and clarification. Sometimes, the person providing feedback may not know what you know and not putting forward your thoughts does not lead to a good final solution. Develop trust: As a final point, in order for criticisms to work within a group, all members should have a sense of trust with each other. This sense of trust takes a long time to develop, but once it is in place, people will be more ready to accept others views and at the same time explain what they think. At this point, the whole discussion spans out to be constructive and outcomes are always positive and successful. Related posts:Success is not just luck!10 things that never work at a workplace10 tips to impress an interviewer


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/05/success-is-not-just-luck/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Success is not just luck!'>Success is not just luck!</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/10-things-that-never-work-at-a-workplace/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 things that never work at a workplace'>10 things that never work at a workplace</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/04/10-tips-to-impress-an-interviewer/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 tips to impress an interviewer'>10 tips to impress an interviewer</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Crazy ideas &#8211; successful products</title>
		<link>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/01/crazy-ideas-successful-products/</link>
		<comments>http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/01/crazy-ideas-successful-products/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:53:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Self Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[successful life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.karthikrajg.com/?p=786</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Imagine you are at a party with colleagues and friends having conversation about the world and the economy. All of a sudden, your mate says something that makes everyone present, think &#8220;Is he out of his mind?&#8221;. On a different occasion, may be everyone thought you were a bit crazy when you said something that was against the rules of the world. Well, embrace yourself. You are not alone. There are millions of us with millions of crazy ideas and out of the world thoughts. The issue is that we are too conscious to tell those thoughts as we are afraid of causing a social commotion and being branded by this world. Many years back, i was invited to attend a talk on Intellectual properties. The speaker, an educated and knowledgeable man, told us a story of how a workplace was transformed because of a crazy person with a crazy idea&#8230; A company lost a major contract with a client and the employees were morally down. The only way the company can make progress was to let employees gather themselves and push ahead hunting for new clients. But the employees were disheartened and weren&#8217;t giving the best, they really can. So the general manager called for a company-wide meeting and asked the employees what would be the best idea to boost the morale of the team to which a guy blurted &#8220;Let us arrange for a belly dance night&#8221;. The General Manager, being a very sensible man, wanted to get to the root of this idea. After a few &#8220;why&#8217;s&#8221; he was able to understand that a group activity involving all the team members might do the job and arranged for a week out of the office and into the forest for some team building. And, as you guessed, it did the trick! If you look at this story, there are a few learning here. The freedom of speech that had been given to the employees by the management is commendable. Most organisations say that the employees are encouraged to share their views, but generally turns out to be lip service. To encourage employees to say what they wanted to, requires tremendous amount of effort and a lot of sacrifice in ego by the senior management. The second learning was to respect all. If the general manager hadn&#8217;t respected the employee who came up with this idea, he would have just dismissed the idea as he heard it. Most times, the first two points go hand in hand. Ego blinds us all and tricks us to believe that those who work for us are not as smart as we are! The final point here is &#8220;always get to the root of the problem&#8221;. Looking at the idea of belly dancing, it doesn&#8217;t even sound remotely feasible. But when we look where this idea originated, we can then understand, it is from the thought the employees need some sort of a break from their mundane workplace. The bottom line however is, never dismiss an idea just because it sounds unrealistic or crazy. Always try and map the thinking of the person who came up with the idea and that could lead us to a box of gold, no one has got their hands on to! Related posts:Team Work &#8211; Works!10 things that never work at a workplaceHow to lead a successful married life?


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/team-work-works/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Team Work &#8211; Works!'>Team Work &#8211; Works!</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2010/06/10-things-that-never-work-at-a-workplace/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 10 things that never work at a workplace'>10 things that never work at a workplace</a></li><li><a href='http://www.karthikrajg.com/2009/09/how-to-lead-a-successful-married-life/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: How to lead a successful married life?'>How to lead a successful married life?</a></li></ol>]]></description>
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