Don’t settle for small, make it Large

You are given what you ask for. When it comes to rewards for yourself, do not ask for mediocre or average stuff. Do not settle for just good enough. Ask as big as possible from your boss.

And from your subordinates, set as big expectations as possible. Do not say “oh it’s ok if you just do this much”. Try to extract as much as possible. Employees also enjoy to work for a challenging employer or manager, rather than a mediocre one. Always keep your subordinates on their toes.

Do selfless service(outside of office)

I did not understand this principle earlier. Why should one do selfless service? This is what I think how it works. When we do selfless service or do something without pay for the service of others, it broadens our inner arena. It fills us with enthusiasm. If we can do this much without any rewards, imagine what we can do with rewards. We become more enthusiastic at work, we progress more and reap more rewards. Actually the selfless service is “Selfish” service, because we gain more this way than what we are giving to other people as service. Little bit tricky though, but when you get hold of it, rewards are unlimited

Another way it adds to our professional success is that it makes us sound from inside. We do not get shaken by small ups and downs at office. We do not feel let down by anybody’s criticism. We become better leaders.

So service to others without any reward is win-win for all, for the people being helped and for yourself.

Standby yourself

It is difficult to standby oneself. We tend to trust others more than ourselves, at least it is true for me. Standing by your-self is just like standing by anybody else. Stay with yourself in good as well as bad situations. Easier said than done, as we tend to expand our ego when we do something good, and shrink our inner self when some mistake happens by ourselves. I am very critical about my-self, I scold myself a great deal even for a small mistake I have done, I tell to myself what the hell were you thinking, why you did not do it the right way, what is wrong with you.

I have learnt to reduce this tendency and be less critical about myself. Instead, I will standby myself, talk to myself, take the lessons learnt and improve on it the next time.

Whatever you say, your own self is your best friend. He is the one you are going to live with in this life. Do not let him down.

Action, Action, Action, you can do anything

Key to success is continuous action. Just do it, worst come to worst you will fail, so what, in the process you will learn a lot of things, and next time you will be better. Don’t just keep thinking and saying to yourself that if that event happens, then I will do that. Whatever you want to do, just do it now.

Handling Criticism, Giving and Receiving Criticism:

It’s amazing how it works. If you are OK to give somebody criticism, you develop the ability to take it as well. The more you are straight with others in Criticizing, i.e can say about their negative things in straight words, the more you will be able to handle it for yourself. Because this way you know that it is OK to say these things for the improvement of the other person. So, if somebody is criticizing you , it is for your own betterment. Listen to them without getting emotional. Take whatever you think is accurate and reasonable. Simply drop the rest. Try to improve on the received criticism.

The trick to handle Criticism is to give Criticism straight to the people.

Practice scolding, clear the block of your chest

This is something which helped me personally. I had difficulty saying NO and giving Negative feedback to people. This exercise really helps. All you have to do is, when you are alone, practice scolding in loud voice. Practice in a loud firm voice how you are going to say NO. if possible record it and listen to it. Does it sound like a good scolding, a good “Saying NO” . If not improve it till you are satisfied. Every day 10 minutes practice is good enough to clear the blockage of the chest and makes you confident in difficult situations.