Sunday, February 9, 2014

Thought of the day # 2



         "Human ambitions are like Japanese carp; they grow proportional to the size of their environment.Our achievements grow according to the size of our dreams and the degree to which we are in touch with our mission."

Source: Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi & Tahl Raz

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Thought of the day # 1


Very meaningful words from Seth Godin in today's world of information overload and cluttered minds

"What level of exposure counts as actually knowing?   
For me, doing is at the core of it. If you've done something with what you've learned, then maybe you know it."


Original post Here

Thursday, January 16, 2014


Responding to a question by KBC contestant about his active presence on social media despite of his age Mr. Amitabh Bachhan  said ‘ Once I start something, I finish it. What’s the point of staring if you don’t have will to finish it?’ Despite of his tiring schedule, he blogs everyday, sometimes after midnight but you can find a blog post everyday, they are numbered and he has been bogging for more than 2000 days without break. This quality of him is a silent factor in his success (and probably in most successful people's career) that often goes unnoticed in his massively talented personality. 




“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” - Samuel Johnson

I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.” - John D. Rockefelle


So, the important word of the day is PERSEVERANCE.

I agree….but million dollar question is how do I develop perseverance.

Little introspection and little reading filled me up with many ideas. So I am going to pick some that are most useful/ relevant to me and will customize them to suit me better.

Here are some not-so-creative ideas…

  • AVOID DOUBTS AND TEMPTATION TO GIVE-UP:   Stay away from any self-doubts or people who add fuel to your fire of self-doubt. There sure are going to be weak moments and you want to give-up working any more but stop, think about end result and learn to conquer those weak moments.

  • KEEP A VICTORY JOURNAL:   Log your achievements in this journal, no matter how trivial the victory seems. Write down what obstacle you faced along the road to success and how you overcame them. Reviewing this journal will work as energizer and confidence builder, reminding you of your capability to carry-on.
    I got this brilliant idea from this post

  • EVEN BABY STEPS ARE BETTER THAN STANDING STILL:   Fixing your 5 year or 10 year goal is no doubt important but working daily on it is even more important. Take some time out from your daily routine and decide what one activity you are going to do tomorrow that will be a step forward towards your goal also review the day that has past to verify if you actually did any such productive task.

  • BE CREATIVE TO KEEP BOREDOM AT BAY:   Novelty interests adults and children alike, it keeps life fresh. Depending on your goal, road to achieve it is going to be long and after initial excitement, boredom will start to peek in. Boredom might prompt you to pursue seemingly more exciting idea but be focused and create new ways to keep interest in current project. Monotonousness is an interest killer, so try to find ways to keep your excitement intact.

  • HAVE FAITH:   Develop a vision of what you want to achieve or what you want to be destination (can be anything… weight loss, career achievement or any personal goal). Have strong faith in whatever you are planning to undertake. Have faith that you are going to reach there. Visualize yourself at your destination, which will give you strength to carry on.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Indian Politics Embracing Digital Media


Indian politics has found its new love, love for social media. Parties are going gung-ho about adding digital component to their 2014 election campaigning and overall strategy. While some are making initial strides, some have already crafted their digital marketing strategy.

Reaching out to potential voters through digital medium is not a completely new phenomena, in USA parties are using it for more than 10 years now but this medium really came into limelight for political branding use after much quoted and successful Obama presidential campaign. After Obama won 2nd term in white house there has been lot of discussion around and about his digital marketing team.

Although in India, most politicians are still getting introduced to this new trend, there definitely are some notable early adopters of technology. From congress’s Shashi Tharoor and Milind Deora to BJP’s Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitely and recently Arvind Kejriwal of AAP.

Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of BJP, is arguably the first political person to realize power and role of social media in political branding and leveraged this wisdom to project himself as the face of developing India.  He is also leading his party in the same way. BJP has crafted digital strategy and has employed some brilliant people in digital marketing industry to campaign for upcoming 2014 elections.

Congress, although a slow adopter, also don’t want to left behind and is conducting crash courses in social media for its leaders and volunteers to catch up with its rival. Aam Adami Party chief, Arvind kejriwal has more than 1 million followers on Twitter.

All parties are setting aside a portion of their election budgets and time to connect to potential voters via websites, Facebook pages, twitter, Google hanouts and various mobile Apps.

I think this piece is like just scratching surface of a much deeper layer, there is a lot more going on and all that, of course has it’s own pres and cons. All that remains to be noticed.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

How to add Goggle Analytics to Blogger: Step-by-step instructions

Stage 1:     Create Google Analytics Tracking Id


1. Go to Google Analytics homepage: http://www.google.com/analytics/
  1. Sign-in using your Google User Id and Password.
  2. After that Sign Up page (Image below) will be displayed.
  1. Click on Sign Up and a New Account information page will pop-up next. By default we will be on Website page (A mobile App tracking option is also available in the next page)
  2. Next step is setting up account and letting GA know what to track.
  • To do this, add account name you want to track in account name field.
  • In the website name field enter Blog’s name and enter your blog’s URL in website URL fields.
  • Set-up Time zone according to your preference.
    6. Now go down to the end of page and click the blue tab named ‘Get Tracking Id '.
    7. Read and accept Terms and Conditions.
    8. This will give you tracking id and code. Without fail copy-paste this tracking Id and save it in a document to use it later.


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Stage 2.      Next step is to add Tracking Id to your blog

  1. log-in to your blog and go to dashboard
  2. Go to post list and select settings from drop-down. Settings (Basic)
  3. In Basic setting page add tracking id in the field Tracking web property id.
  4. Save changes.
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Stage 3.        Next step is adding Google analytics code into your blog’ HTML.

  1. Follow this path: Select Template from  the same drop-down menu , this will bring up template page of your blog. On template page click on Edit HTML
  2. This will take you to Blogspot HTML code page. On this HTML page look for and add below code right before tag starts (Only if it's not already there)
    Note: Newer version of blogspot already have analytics code in HTML, so there are high chances that code is already there. Check so that you don't duplicate it.
  1. Save Template
  2. Look for confirmation saying analytics is installed.
  3. Google Analytics will start collecting data after around 24 hours from installation

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Bye-Bye 2013, Welcome 2014...

Here ends my most awaited and loved Holidays. Holidays are like dessert for me, no matter how many I have, I still crave for them ;)

So I, obviously, am sad that holidays came to an end but I am also glad that I utilized this time to fullest. These days were spent vacationing with my family and friends, an exiting trip to spectacular Catalina Island followed by a get-together and potluck with friends in a big regional park. What a great fun it all was!

I can't believe one more year has come to an end. Although it has been a year full of events, it seems like it went by too fast. This calendar transition period is always filled with lots of retrospection about good and not-so-good events of last year, lessons learned, new memories made, hopes and resolutions and plans for upcoming year. Also, there is an irresistible desire to peek into future and see what coming year holds for me, my family, everyone around and associated with me. I think I am not alone in this wish to know future; it's just human nature, I guess.

As always, I have kick-started New Year with some resolutions, some career related and some personal. I don't want to put them here yet as they are still very vague, I need to properly out-line them in order to be clear what I want from this year. (Also, I am scared that it will be embarrassing if can't abide by any of them). One of them is reviving this blog, let's see if that happens.

So, with all these feelings and thoughts, let me bid goodbye to the year that has gone-by and greet New Year with a wish for the best!

Happy New Beginning!