Why Curiosity Never Killed The Human

It may have killed the cat, but curiosity – a state in which you want to learn about something – has never killed a human yet.

For it is the curious who make up the inventors, the discoverers, the explorers, the thinkers, the entrepreneurs, the risk takers, the leaders and those who are not satisfied to stay where they are, but who believe in a better world for them, their peers and for the generations to come.

However, even though curiosity will never kill the curious, here are in fact five things that curiosity will kill within the life of the curious.

1. Curiosity Kills Mediocrity

Excellence is the hallmark of the curious. They are never satisfied with second best. They aspire for first class and despise anything that smacks of mediocrity. They are always looking for a better way.

2. Curiosity Kills Ruts

The curious are always wanting to look over the edge of a rut. They’re never satisfied being stuck. They are restless. They want to move. They pull down the inhibiting and limiting walls that keep people who are not curious – contained, chained and restrained.

3. Curiosity Kills Failure

The curious approach failure with the mind of a student. They see failure as their teacher and are armed and at the ready to take notes. They are curious enough to want to learn, and will never stop learning until the day that breath leaves their body.

4. Curiosity Kills Fear

Fear paralyzes people. However, a curious person can never stand still long enough to be mortified. They are full of faith and it is that energy that will override any enemy – such as fear – that would seek to suck the life out of them and their dreams.

5. Curiosity Kills Hopelessness

A curious person is filled to the brim with hope. They expect the best, they live for the best and they hope for the best. It is the anchor that secures them when all around them seems lost. They are curious enough to find the glimmer of hope that always shines, even in their darkest hour.

So long live the curious. May curiosity be your companion – and  may you approach each day as a child so that you will live long and live well.

I Dare You

As children we would often dare each other to do something that required a degree of courage or foolhardiness.

It was more of a game than anything else which always produced interesting results. And if for some reason one of us failed to participate in the dare we’d be labeled a ‘chicken’.

The principle of the game though has been one that I have carried on and over into my adult life. I don’t need anyone to dare me. I actually make it a practice to dare myself. In fact, I often place myself in situations where i may just fail, but at the same time position myself to win. But in reality even if I lose I still learn.

Well I’m not going to be as cruel as some of my young playmates from my childhood. But I am going to dare you…

1. I dare you to do something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t yet done.
2. I dare you to book that holiday.
3. I dare you to read that book.
4. I dare you to dream that dream.
5. I dare you to try something new.
6. I dare you to book a meeting with that mentor.
7. I dare you to speak only positive things in an at times negative world.
8. I dare you to write down your goals.
9. I dare you to start that business and to take control of your life.
10. I dare you to THINK BIG.

So there’s ten. Can you add to that list?

But I’ve just realized that I can’t stop. So here’s number 11 coming your way…

11.  I dare you to dare yourself to do something daring, be something daring, live something daring, try something daring. To dare to be different. To dare to be outrageous. To dare to fail. To dare to win. To dare to try. To dare to be a champion. To dare to inspire others. To dare to just simply have a go. To dare to go against the flow.

Go on. I DARE YOU!

The Necessity Of High Aim Setting

‘The greatest danger for most of you lies not in setting your aim too high and falling short; but in setting your aim too low, and achieving your mark.’ Michelangelo

So often in life we underestimate our hidden potential, and belittle our ability to achieve great things. Mediocrity dogs us. Small thinking denies us. Peers contain us.

And yet let me encourage you to break free from the limitations of your mind and your circumstances, and go possess what God has created you to possess. For there is a personal greatness found within each and every one of us. It is a seed that is simply waiting to burst forth into evidential life above the surface of life’s resistance.

Think outrageous thoughts. Dream stupendous dreams. Dare to fail. For only those who attempt great things will ever know the joy gained from the lessons learnt during those precious times – whatever the outcome.

Refuse to be locked in to average. Burst forth and live a life that is aimed higher than high itself, and receive the rewards of living such a rich and adventurous life.

9 Easy Tips to Form New Habits

As you must know, that good habits are essential to live a fulfilling life. But many of us face challenges with forming new habits. We know we should wake up early, do exercise or meditation, eat healthy, drink lots of water, be consistent, etc & etc. But still we don't do these. Excuse? "I tried to wake up at 5am for a few days, but it was really tough, so I gave up" or something like that.

Even if forming new habits is tough, why should we go for it? Because Price of Discipline is less than pain of regret. You'll say it's very difficult to get into the habit of waking up early, exercising, healthy eating. But isn't it better than to stay sick and unfit for most of your life?

Why many people fail to form new habits?

1. Don't have the urge: However tough it may seems at the beginning, if you have the urge,you will get it done anyway. Most people fail because they don't have the urge or desire to form the new habit. So they aren't ready to face little discomfort.


2. Gives up too soon: Another reason for which people fail to form a new habit is that they give up too soon. For example, when people decide to make a habit of waking up at 5am, and when after trying for whole one week, and breaking five to six alarm clocks, they couldn't wake up earlier than seven, people tend to think it's not their piece of cake, so they give up.


3. Don't find enough encouragement: Unfortunately when we decide to change to some good habits, very few of us are lucky enough to have friends and family who would encourage us for the change. I can still remember the day when I first decided to wake up at 5am than 9am and declared it to my parents, they said "Stop fooling around, we know you can't".


4. Resistance to Change: It's part of human biology or psychology to resist change in any form. Forming a new habit is also a change which we naturally resist.

Enough for why people fail, let's move our focus to how we can form new habits successfully. Here goes some tips which worked for me and many others, let's see if it helps you too.


1. Find the WHY behind the habit: To do anything in our life you should know WHY we want to do that thing. Forming a new habit isn't exception. If you decide to form a new habit, first ask yourself why you want to form that habit. Like, I want to wake up early because I want to feel the serenity of early morning and want to start my day well organised. And this WHY shouldn't be mechanical, this should touch the chord of your heart.


2. Write it Down: You know, there is something magical in writing down things. You must have heard about writing down your goals gives you better sense of direction, similarly write down the habits you want to form and your why behind it. Now comes the killer tips: write it everywhere. Write it in your diary/notebook, write it on your wall (if your Dad may want to kill you for writing on wall, you can use sticky notes), write it on your Desktop,Mobile Wallpaper so that you can see it every time you switch on your PC/Laptop/Mobile. The key is to keep your habits infront of your eyes 24 hours.


3. Declare: This may be a little uncomfortable, but it worked for me like magic. Declare to the world that you are going to install such and such habit in your daily routine. Declare it to your parent/children/spouse, friends, classmates, Social Networking Buddies, everyone. In that way, we will have better sense of responsibility and commitment regarding those habits. It would be easier to form those habits than to face the world being a failure.


4. Think about the outcome: Just think about how your life would be if you successfully form the new habit, and what penalty you would have to pay if you don't. For example, if I do daily exercise and eat healthy,one day I may look like this

And if I don't, I may land up being something like this

5. Think you can: You can't do anything in your life, if you think you can't. So from the core of your heart, first believe that you can form this new habit. If others could have done this, why can't you? And when it's so important for your life, you will do it anyway.


6. Magic of 21 Days: I've read in some books of Robin Sharma, that if we stick to a habit for atleast 21 days, it becomes part of our biological or psychological clock. After that we don't have to give much effort to keep that habit, it becomes kind of automatic.


7. Avoid perfection mania: Don't be frustrated too easily. If you are accustomed with waking up at 9am for last twenty years, and after deciding to make a habit of waking up early, you couldn't woke up earlier than 7am for some week, don't get disheartened. It takes time.


8. Beware of the easy temptations: Be careful about the easy temptations which will try to restrain you from forming a new habit. You can't crave more for bed if you are trying to wake up at 5am, you can't crave more for fast food if you are trying to eat healthy. It's very easy to give up to these temptations, but remind yourself about point 4 at these situations.


9. Celebrate little victories: Whenever you will achieve a step towards your habit, celebrate these little victories, it will keep you motivated.


So apply these tips today, and tell whether these are working for you too. And if you have more effective tips on this subject(which I know you have), feel free to share in the comment section.

Email me on ksufiyan@gmail.com

7 Things Highly Productive People Do

You probably don’t want to admit it but you love distractions. In fact, just like monkeys, you get a shot of dopamine every time something pulls you in another direction. Why do you think you check your email so much?

Want to be more productive and get your focus back? There are no secret tricks here… do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking—it’s just another form of distraction.

Easier said than done, I know.

Recently I sat down with Tony Wong, a project management blackbelt whose client list includes Toyota, Honda, and Disney, to name a few. He’s an expert in keeping people on task, so I thought he’d be a good person to ask.

Here are his tips for staying productive:

Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks. Writing “launch company website” at the top of your to-do list is a sure way to make sure you never get it done. Break down the work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less: Sketch a wireframe, outline an introduction for the homepage video, etc. That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.

Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).

Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.

Schedule your email. Pick two or three times during the day when you’re going to use your email. Checking your email constantly throughout the day creates a ton of noise and kills your productivity.
Use the phone. Email isn’t meant for conversations. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead.

Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.

Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals. Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours.