Some good resources related to money:
4 Spending Habits We All Need to Break
7 Money Habits Every Millennial Should Develop
The Psychology of Money – How Saving and Spending Habits are Programmed in Your Brain
Category: career
Being thankful for…
I’m thankful for my family, friends, and colleagues.
I’m thankful for the challenges, hardships, and struggles.
I’m thankful for the small and big victories, achievements, and feats.
I’m thankful for the people who push me to be better in any way.
I’m thankful for this beautiful life we all have.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
A college degree
What’s a college degree worth today?
Is the college experience more valuable than ever because learning will be continuous and the degree itself is not the only real achievement?
What’s the value proposition of going to college these days?
If you don’t go to college, how marketable will you be in the job market?
Is college for everyone?
A coach
A really good manager is a good coach. The coach can guide, provide perspective and tools for their team members to succeed. I believe 80% of the team’s success (productivity, efficiency, effectiveness etc) depends on the manager. The rest on the team members’.
If the manager is a good coach, then not only the team members will grow in their professional careers but also the company will grow. The subtle difference between a manager and a coach is their approach to managing people.
Data privacy laws
“Data is the new oil.” “Data is not the new oil.”
Whichever statement you agree with related to data, most of us can definitely agree that data is important. Data is the engine that AI runs on. As more data gets generated through smart devices like never before, companies are working aggressively to profit from this “Big Data”, and cities/governments need to proactively monitor, facilitate, and come up with policies and laws for proper data usage.
For example: The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is a new data privacy law that applies to certain businesses which collect personal information from California residents. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2020. This is an important step taken by the state of California and it won’t be surprising that other states follow suit.
Desire to grow
Employees are the company’s true asset. They are what makes the company grow. As the company grows so will the employees. If the employees are not growing (personally and professionally) as the company grows, then eventually the employees will look elsewhere.
The desire to grow is within all of us.
What gets employees going?
An intern joined a startup. The intern completed her paid internship. She graduated college and started working at the same company full-time. She was motivated, dedicated and hungry since day 1. Fast forward 7 years, she still has the same zeal for the work.
What got the intern, then employee, then manager and then a director going? Was it the opportunity, pay, growth of the company, managers, all of the above or something else? What got the employee going for all these years?
How interesting is your book?
Each person’s life is a book. It’s a journey. You write the chapters.
When you write the different chapters of your book, how do you feel? How are you going to write the next chapters of that book? Will it be more of the same from before or are things going to be different going forward?
Many of us are fortunate to write an interesting story-something we could be proud of in the long run. We are writing a page of our book each day. If you were to look back on your autobiography in 20 to 30 to 40 years, are you going to be proud of the journey or wish otherwise?
First impressions
First impressions are very powerful. We always remember those first times when we experience something. For a new employee joining an organization, their first experiences with the people they meet, tasks that are given, the tone they are communicated with, everything matters.
Focus on the employees’ first impressions when they do get hired for the job.
Information overload
With the advent of the internet, information is now at the tip of our fingers. There is (almost) no lack of information on any subject from any part of the world. With so much information on the web, it is becoming harder, challenging, and almost unmanageable to get to the right information from a credible source.
Questions arise on this information overload:
Would it be better to have a centralized single country specific or global specific credible authority on a subject?
Is the web benefiting more the people/companies with resources (fast processing computers, larger capital etc) because they can afford to generate more attention, engagement, and reach than others with less resources? Additionally, when a person/company builds strong SEO, algorithms, and other tools to attract users to a site, are the web/search engines chasing the noise than anything else?
As more data gets generated with more access to smartphones and processing power, would we as humans become better decision makers with more data or become more confused/numb?
We’ll have to go back to how the web started in the first place. What was the purpose of the internet? With changing times, has the purpose of the internet changed as well? Where is the web headed to?
Being present
Every now and then, there comes a moment that changes everything.
We all have those moments. They don’t come too often and once they do, we need to really be aware and take full advantage of it. Just showing up is a step forward. Most people don’t show up-they get lazy, complacent, or not aware of the opportunity in front of them. Being present and in attendance can open doors, unlock opportunities, and literally change your life for the better.
Positive vibes
Positive vibes will attract positive energy which will lead to positive results.
That seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull was not your regular seagull. If Jonathan was a regular seagull, I probably won’t talking about him neither would you. Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly, loved it so much that he went against its own flock to reach for the sky. An outcast to its own flock, he chased his dream to fly until one day it was soaring high in the sky like no other seagull had done it before. Then gradually the flock started to embrace Jonathan’s courage, perseverance, and come to understand his dreams.
Yes, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach is a fictional story. The above scenario is all too common in our societies. We talk about change, highlight it/glorify it but at the end of the day very few of us go out of our way to chase something bigger. We stick to what the “flock” is doing, what they would say/think/feel, and our dreams/goals never get any legs.
What if we resisted limiting others’ dreams/goals by criticizing it or doing unnecessary harm? What if we found “that seagull” among us who is daring to fly high in the sky and gave them all the runway that we possibly can? What if we helped create more seagulls like that?
Value of time
Time is an abstract concept. We can say that our watches and phones say the same time. Our interpretation of time is more important and built around our habits, culture, environment, and so forth.
In the Nepali culture, we are becoming “accustomed” to a Nepali time. Nepali time is like taking a certain time as a reference and using it to plan the arrival. For example, if you are invited to an event at 11am, you will be okay to show up around 11:15am or so. You arrive late because of your habit, the organizers start the program late because a lot of other people are also late, and the cycle just keeps repeating event after event. Who’s keeping track of how many hours we are all losing? How much productive would we have been if things started on time and finished on time? Are we realizing the value of time?
What if we all feel the value of time? When we are invited to an event and need to be there at 11am, let’s just show up before 11am as an attendee. As an organizer, let’s start the event at 11am no matter who is running late. This way the cycle will improve a little bit, one event at a time. We all win when the event starts and ends on time. The collective gain is far bigger than waiting on a few “key” individuals’.
Nirmal “Nims” Purja, world record holder
In just 6 months and 6 days, Nirmal “Nims” Purja MBE has completed his challenge to summit Earth’s 14 tallest mountains, smashing the previous record of almost eight years and taking his place in mountaineering history. – Bremont Project Possible website.
The L!BRARY Initiative
Having attended a New York City public school, I can still vividly remember our school library. It consisted of a few hundred books but was hardly a place where most of us went to. Coming across this video on The L!BRARY Initiative, I was energized and inspired.
Democratize AI with Fusemachines
teaching is art
To teach is to learn twice – Joseph Joubert
I had a wonderful opportunity to listen to an experienced teacher share his experience on teaching. It was inspiring to hear his perspective on teaching. He talked about the importance of stories to get students interested in the subject matter, how to get started in the beginning of class, and engaging the students.
I also learned that it’s very important for teachers to be very prepared for each class. It’s important to make sure the teachers are not just dumping information to the students but helping them understand the concepts/ideas along the way.
The discomfort zone
Overtime, we build a comfort zone to a lot of things-from the books we read, to the people we hang out with to the sports teams we support etc. That’s the easy way to do things. We don’t have to battle within ourselves and choices are pretty simple. Yet, I believe the “real” growth, learning, challenge, excitement, and most things in general is best to be in the discomfort zone (most of the time). The discomfort zone is where you challenge yourself to be the best and to be the best, you have to push your own boundaries. Instead of “I can’t do this” to “I’m looking forward to doing this.” You become a lifelong learner and constantly seek knowledge/wisdom. The world becomes that more beautiful around you.
The show goes on…
Once you climb up a hill, there is a moment to soak it all in. Take a deep breath and appreciate the journey to get here.
Then it’s time to climb up another hill on the horizon.