Categories
Philosophy Self Development

Hurdles

This morning I woke up with an epiphany. For quite some time I had been thinking about what makes the difference between doing what you love to do and doing something that you have to do. For some reason some things happen with such ease and with other things there always seem to be obstacles. The question as to why this happens had been bugging me for years, until today. It's my belief that any goal you have in life, whether it be as little as reaching on time for a date or for a meeting(I know this one usually makes it to the top of my list) or something big like making a million dollars in a year(note that no goal in truth is too big or too small, it's really dependent on how you perceive it and your decision makes it so, but that is a topic of discussion for another day), there are always hurdles of some form.

It's my belief that it's Life's way of testing whether what you are striving for is something that you really want. Today when I reflected at certain things that I achieved in my life, I realized that those things that I  really wanted were quite easy to get not because there were no hurdles. There always were hurdles but what made the difference was the intensity at which the desire to achieve that goal was burning inside of me. When you either really want something or you really enjoy doing something or are passionate about something, obstacles somehow simply weaken in intensity when coming face to face with this burning desire to achieve your goal.

 

Imagine running on a track and the finish line is your end goal. There are hurdles that you need to jump over. If you are not really compelled to achieving your goal then the hurdles can seem like mountains, but if you really want to achieve your goal these same hurdles seem like puny little puddles that you can simply jump over or even if they are like mountains you become this Super Mario with star power that simply blasts through those mountains(geeky gamer reference..haha.. come who doesn't love Super Mario?).

When we really want something, we jump over walls, go under, go around or just blast our way through them. So the next time you notice hurdles and they seem to tire you, ask yourself the question. Is the thing you're after something that you really want?

Categories
Business Philosophy

The 80/20 Rule

Today, I revisited the 80/20 rule. The first time I came across the concept of 80/20 was around 2 to 3 years ago. I was exiting a library when I noticed amongst a pile of other books, a blue book with 80/20 written on its cover with big white fonts. For some very odd reason it really caught my attention. I had not heard about the concept before. I could not take the book because it was still in the process of getting checked in, so I took a picture of it on my phone. Some days later I went and got the book. I skimmed through and it I was amazed at the simplicity of this rule. I don't know why it's there but it's there and I like simple things that work, even if it is an approximation.

At the time when I was first introduced to this principle I did notice things in my own business and in my life in general and I thought, "Oh this is pretty cool". I even remember talking about it with a few friends and business associates. After some time I forgot about it.

Today I downloaded The Philosopher's Notes Volume 1, which by the way is amazing I think. It is basically Cliff Notes or Coles Notes for the top 100 personal growth books. This in itself is 80/20 at it's best. I skimmed through a few books and all the big ideas are condensed into 6 pages, which is amazing! The first book or note I read was on The 80/20 principle.

The principle states, quite simply, that 20% of efforts lead to 80% of results. This is everywhere. Let me give you a few examples. According to the 80/20 principle, 80% of your income in business comes from 20% of your clients, 80% of your time gets spent on 20% of your tasks or the 20% of the people that you know. 20% of your products or services yields 80% of the profit. At the same time 80% of your cost also come from 20% of the total number of expenses, 80% of your time spent on debugging is spent on 20% of bugs, 80% of crimes are committed by 20% of the criminals, 20% of roads get 80% of the traffic and I could basically go on and on about this.

So what does this all imply? Assuming the 80/20 principle holds, to make more profit, be more effective and efficient and to be generally more happy in life, you should focus your energy on the top 20% of everything that yields 80% of the good stuff. Focus on the top 20% of your products, 20% of your clients, do the top 20% of the things that make you happy, spend more time with the top 20% of the people that give you more joy and happiness. Also you may want to fire the 20% of your clients that give you the 80% of the headaches, reduce or stop production on the 20% of the products and services that results in 80% of the waste, and etc…

Of course I'm not suggesting a mechanical trimming of the 20% of things and people that give you 80% of the trouble and solely focusing on the 20% that gives you the good stuff. I wish life was really that simple. You do need to study and make decisions on a case by case basis, but this 80/20 is a fast way to have a short cut analysis of business and life in general.

Take out your notebook(I mean the one with a screen and keyboard) and jot down 80/20s in your personal, business or work life.

Categories
Philosophy Self Development Uncategorized

I’m Never Retiring!

Today after dinner and watching a movie, I sat there on my sofa thinking what I should do. I was thinking what I should be doing. There are a couple of things I needed to get done, but didn't quite want to do it. I had this very uncomfortable feeling and I could not make out what it was until it suddenly hit me. I was BORED!

For the first time in a very long time, I was actually feeling bored, and I hated the feeling. Not being in a state where I was not doing something for a very long time had made me completely forget about what it was to be not doing something. Today I have decided that I will never be retiring. I never want to retire. Why should anyone want to retire?

I'll tell you why. Because there is so much in life that one can do. If anything, I think there isn't enough time to do everything that one really is capable of doing. Recently, everyday I see new possibilities of living life. There is simply so much to do. I think people grow into adults and they learn to limit their imagination. Kids are amazing; they are always doing something – playing with their toys, running around, well crying too, and eating, and maybe just sitting there, but even while sitting most of the time their playing imaginary and creative games.

I for one always want to be a kid and imagine the possibilities that life can bring. There is simply so much to do and words like boring, bored or boredom should just simply be removed from the dictionary.

Categories
Business Entertainment Marketting

Number One Way To Celebrate OSCAR NIGHT!

Number one way to celebrate Oscar Night is to Blog about it! Everyone has favourites. Will there be surprises this year? Will there be upsets? You never know!!

The best way to celebrate Oscar Night is to BLOG ABOUT IT!!!

Okinara Consulting Services is giving you a chance to blog about your favourite moments. They have a special on Oscar Themed blogs and just blogs in general.



Categories
Holiday Celebrations

Happy Family Day

I would like to wish everyone a Very Happy Family Day!

You don't choose your family, just like you don't choose(most of the time) the gifts that you get. I fight, I quarrel and I argue with my family a lot, but I know when I need them the most they will always be there, because they have always been there for me.

This year Family Day will be celebrated in three Canadian Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario on Monday February 20, 2012. Banks, schools, and provincial government offices are closed. To know more about what's open and what's not, here is a link for you http://gocanada.about.com/od/canadiancities1/a/what_is_open_family_day.htm.

 

Okinara Consulting Service is giving a 10% discount on all website related projects, including blogs, e-commerce, standard websites, drupal, joomla, zencart, ubercart, opencart, and more…

Additional if you LIKE their Facebook page, you might get a chance to win a full year of web hosting absolutely free!


Categories
Uncategorized

Which Super Hero Are You?

I thought, I'd do something fun, so I took this super hero quiz, and this was the result… Aparently, I'm Green Lantern

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

























Green Lantern
85%
Iron Man
80%
Superman
75%
Hulk
65%
The Flash
65%
Supergirl
63%
Wonder Woman
63%
Spider-Man
60%
Robin
60%
Batman
25%
Catwoman
10%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.


Click here to take the “Which Superhero are you?” quiz…

Categories
Self Development

So what is it that you’re doing with this wild and precious life of yours?

This video is amazing, brilliantly told and what an inspiration. I won't say more,… You must watch this video!!

 

Categories
Business Internet Marketting Software Web

Ever Tried Googling Yourself?

Have you ever tried Googling yourself? Were you surprised? Was it a good surprise? Was it the worst thing you did all day when you first googled yourself? Or are you one of those who google themself all the time? Or is your name not even on google?

For me, showing up on google is 80% of my marketing whether it is for business reasons or personal. Today when I googled myself, I found that there were other Kapil Busaras who were sharing the first page on Google. I am the face of my company. Most of the time my business depends on my name. My clients have found their way to me to GIVE me business from googling me.

Why have I put so much emphasis on my name up until now? Because the world we live in is very dynamic and is ever changing. I started off as a software developer, then as  Performance Test Engineering, later I became a free lance  web develper, and when that was going well, I founded Okinara Consulting Services. Although when the company was formed it's core business was focused on web development, the name that was chosen did not indicate that it was strictly a web development company. I knew I wanted to expand into other areas. Today Okinara does so much more than web development, we design Logos, flyers, brochures, create strategic solutions to social media marketing, and we will soon be launching a new product.

Tomorrow I may wish to start another business or get into a different industry. If it is a brand new company, people may not know about it, however people who know me as Kapil Bulsara, will know me even if it is a new company, and building on my previous successes I can relatively easily transition into a new field of work or business.

Some of you may not have the luxury of owning a domain name that is your personal name because it might already be taken, and even if you do have that domain name, you may be plagued by having to share the Google spotlight with other people who have the same name as you, which I am currently facing.

For that reason it is important to expose yourself more with the use of social media sites. Everyone has a Facebook account, and If you don't, stop everything at once, including reading this article and create an account NOW!. Once you have a Facebook account, what you should do is create a facebook username which gives you a public facebook page, but don't worry your personal stuff like your wall and photos because it will not be visible to the public, unless you chose to. For e.g. this is mine: http://www.facebook.com/kapil.bulsara. It is not very professional you might think. It does not have to be. Everyone knows you have a life outside of work.

Another think you need to do is get a linkedin account. If you don't already know, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Here is my page http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/kapil-bulsara/31/4a8/821.

You also need to get a twitter account. Here is my twitter page http://twitter.com/kapilbulsara. The common thing I hear about twitter is that they don't like that it is all open to public. Well you don't need to post personal details on twitter. I use twitter to share some semi-personal stuff and also tweet about my business or just general information that will be useful for the average citizen of the Internet.

All this creates exposure and awareness of who you are. If you haven't noticed this is not new, this is the norm now. You absolutely MUST have an online presence. Traditional networking still exists and can't really be replaced, but you cannot neglect social networking. A lot of your success depends on who you know!

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Just a little Kindness…that’s all :-)

There are some things that you don't have words. Check this video out. It's one of those things that you don't even need any words for. This video put a smile on my face. Be Kind :-).

Categories
Software Technology

Ubuntu 11.10 makes Ubuntu a serious competitor in the mainstream desktop market

The mainstream desktop operating system market has been long dominated by Microsofts’ Windows. Second to Windows is Apple’s Mac OSX. Although Linux has been around much longer than most people would know, its inability to capture even the slight market share in the desktop market had been known for a long time.

For those who don’t know what Linux is, Linux is a free open source operating system. There are two parts to it(yes I am grossly simplifying this). The first part is the Linux core operating system called the kernel, and then there are different flavors or distribution of linux. Individuals and companies can take the core operating system, modify it or add more on top of the existing core. There are literally over a hundred different flavours of linux!

 

Linux desktop was always for hardcore computer geeks and programers and it was NOT pretty.

Enters Ubuntu!

The main Linux desktop players according me were Ubuntu, Fedora and Suse. What Ubuntu has done to Linux desktop is amazing giving it the wow factor! We’re not just talking about which free open source operating system is better, we’re talking about competing with proprietary  software like Windows and MacOS.

 

Let’s start of with this stunning Login in screen! Nay, not a login screen, … a welcome screen!

 

Office Suite

Ubuntu comes preinstalled with LibreOffice which has all that you need and perhaps a little more too – its FREE! I have used MS Office, then moved to OpenOffice, which is also a great office suite and one which you can installed on Ubuntu too, and now I use LibreOffice. Libre office opens every possible document type you can think of even MS office 2007 and 2010 files. You can even save in .docx which is what MS Word 2007 uses.  And you can export it into PDF format!

The Ubuntu Dash

Here is a side by side Simple and Advanced view for you. Things are really easy to find with their smart categorizing and if you cant find what you’re looking for, just type it in the search bar! If you want to play some games,…type games,. if you’re looking for Office apps, well type that! Looking for music…you know the rest.

It even shows you what is installed and what you can install from Ubuntu Software Center! That is amazing!

When has my MacOS spotlight search showed be available games when I type “games”? :(..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ubuntu Software Centre

Ubuntu Software Centre is your one stop shop experience. This is just like App store on your Iphone and is a response to the App store on  a mac. Does Windows have something like this? Not that I know of, but then I haven’t used Windows in the past 2 years or so.

In Ubuntu Software Centre, you can browse by different categories, you can check your history of what program was installed/remove at what date, and you can see a quick snapshot of all the programs installed on your Ubuntu.

Social Networking

Your Ubuntu system comes pre-configured to get you started with Facebook, Google Talk, twitter etc..And you can manage all of your networks from one place. Take that Windows,… take that Mac Os and take that Google Chro…umm… never mind…

Amazing Search

Ubuntu search is brilliant. You search by name, and then you can narrow your search down by size of the file, type of file; whether it is an image, document, audio, video or presentation and by when it was last modified. It is also very quick to give you your search results!

Mac’s Expose clone

So ya, sure they have copied macs expose feature. For those who don’t know what this is, when you click twice on an application icon on the dash you see all your application windows. See below. This is an awesome feature for folks like me who have multiple windows running in the background.

Multiple Desktops

Ubuntu has had this since its inception, and no need to explain. See below.

Ubuntu One

This is Ubuntu’s cloud service. You can store and sync your files and music on multiple computers so that you’re always up to date and its FREE!(you get 5GB of storage; upgrade is available). Ubuntu One Music Streaming offers music-streaming apps for iPhone and Android phones. The “Music Streaming” package costs $3.99 a month or $39.99 per year. It just keeps getting better!