21 Days!! Are U Ready??

He is handling more than half a dozen businesses right from telecommunications to entertainment from energy to wireless services and yet has Fitness marked Bold in his agenda. Anil Ambani is my MAN of the MOMENT!

And why?? you ask, cause he is the only soul who has enabled me to wipe out that myth saying “I have a job to do and I am way too busy to have fitness as a part of my daily routine”

None of us normal professionals has more on our plates than he does – so wasn’t it reason enough for us to feel motivated to set out time to trim those waist lines pump in some energy and get enthusiastically started out with the ME TIME 1st thing in the morning! There’s more to it than just being able to run a marathon I’m sure.

I’ve felt the energy levels soar, my spirit being uplifted, that sudden spring in my walk and that freshness resonating from my complexion and yet I have allowed my exercise regime to be discontinued owing it to the variations in temperatures and a 17 other things which are truly irrelevant.

Like they said “Where there’s a Will there’s a Way!!” But the will goes missing in 2 weeks and so does the way! I get back to my lethargic self trying to get on with a mechanical way of doing things and blaming it on circumstances that I do not find time – when the truth always is - all my time was spent oversleeping!

So here I pledge –

“I am going to take great pains for the next 21 days starting tomorrow the 29th of Feb to 20th of March to wake up each morning, put on my fitness gear and hit the ground running!”

Why 21?? Well it’s got nothing to do with Ganesha! J It takes 21 days to develop a Good Habit. If you can do it 21 days in a row you can do it for all days beyond that. Persisting for 21 days is a challenge and I have taken it up --- Have You??

Time Savers for the Responsible Homemakers – No Gender BIAS Please :)

Well, I personally hate advices on Managing your Time, Life/Self Improvement.. Prioritizing blah blah… this piece of writing was actually meant only for self reference but as all other good & bad things I couldn’t help but share this one as well ;) :)

I am habituated with self retrospection. And that’s why, very often the need to improvise my habits comes from the aftermath of a disaster! :) So I trust my own bad experiences to teach me well rather than any counseling from my elders [mom included] ;) :)
Sad, but true … I guess was born a rebel :)

This is especially for those “newly weds” or “previously lead a careless life & suddenly bogged down by duties kind of people!! ;) “ or even those who just love to read stuff in their spare time and forget it as quickly as a mediocre Bollywood film (I generally tend to remember the worst & the best :) ) All others may find that they already practice most things but maybe a point or two maybe worth a try..

The list can obviously go on endlessly, but preferred to keep it at an optimum - not necessarily meaning SHORT :)

Time Savers for the Responsible Homemakers – No Gender BIAS Please :)

1: Sticking to a Schedule:
Try to follow a routine of getting up and sleeping at the same time. Maybe between 6-6:30 AM and 11-11:30 PM. Now with 7 hours of sleep and a 17 hour long day determine and divide your home and office time. If you spend 9 hours in office and maybe an hr commuting back and forth, you are still left with 7 hours for personal and home care combined.
How you plan these 7 hours is really the key to staying happy. So just as you have a schedule for the office, have one for the home as well.

2: Having a Personal Calendar:
Set aside time on your calendar for activities with the people who are important to you or for events you want to attend. Once these events or activities have been scheduled you will have to schedule other responsibilities around them. Once your calendar is full, you will have to turn down other requests.

Saying no will make sure you keep your schedule open for the activities that are important to you. It sets boundaries for people who would otherwise take advantage of you and your time. This also ensures that you make “Yourself” a priority in your Life. If you disregard your needs frequently to meet the needs of others, chances are that your aren’t looking after yourself too well and that isn’t going to keep you or others around you too Happy.

3: Keep a Track of Things:
Keep a track of the last time you got yourself a pedicure, you had you teeth polished or got your Eyes inspected. This way you know when is it next that you need to visit the beautician/the dentist/the eye specialist. Mark that date/time on this calendar and make sure you keep those appointments.

4: Organizing your Wardrobe/Closet:
When you know you are to attend a Marriage Reception this Thursday evening or a go on a Trek this Saturday don’t hunt your wardrobe last minute.
Make sure the saree you want to appropriately wear for the occasion isn’t lying in the laundry or the blouse is still fitting you well. You have accessories to match in place. That your favourite perfume or your lip liner is not over. Landing home from office on Thursday evening only to find that you have to wear a different saree and aren’t equipped with appropriate accessories or cosmetics isn’t going to leave you looking too good and neither feeling great!

Also make sure your apparel to wear to office the next day is kept ready the previous night. You don’t have to stare at your wardrobe every morning wondering what to drape to office today and loose out on time. 5 minutes spent deciding and keeping your clothes, accessories, makeup ready the previous night saves you about 10 mins of the time the next day morning.

5: Organizing the Kitchen:
Planning your meals [breakfast, lunch/dinner] a week in advance helps you save a lot of your rush hour time. A weekly meal plan done on a Saturday can ensure that your trip to the vegetable/grosser/fruit stall/super market is profitably utilized.

Also it saves you that time of waking up every morning to dig the refrigerator to decide on the vegetable to cook and pack for lunch or even the breakfast to prepare every morning. It ensures that you cook a variety of meals and take enough time to skim through a new recipe to avoid monotony and keep you dear ones relishing their meal.

6: Filing Important Documents:
I remember sending a mail long ago about a filing system. It has truly ensured that the Document is found instantly when it was needed! It also helps when u have important documents Scanned and stored on your laptop/burnt on a CD [disaster recovery ;) :) :p ].

Having an excel workbook wherein there is 1 worksheet dedicated to each of the following:

Academic Details, Employment History, Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Car/Bike/Home Insurance, Bank/Demat Account Details, Debit/Credit Card Information, Identity Proof Details (PAN, License, Passport, Voters ID etc), Stocks, MF’s/SIP’s, NSC/PPF/EPF details, Details of Other Assets, Your Numerous Website Subscription Details, IMP Contact Numbers you may not want to store on your cell [The Cooking GAS Agent, Your Family Doc, Beautician, Tailor, Grosser, Laundry Guy etc etc] , Your wishlist maybe ;) :) helps to serve as a single point of reference for all the important information!

But of course, the unauthenticated access of this 1 file spells disaster for you for life! So if u think you can’t guard this softcopy well you’re better off not having it :)

7: Marking Birthday’s and Anniversaries on your Calendar:
Year 2005 when my wedding was fixed, I remember being greeted by a lot of sarcasm from my relatives/friends for having forgotten birthdates/anniversaries. Everyone was like “now that you are getting married to a sweetheart and going to be a part of another family you need not remember us..”

While it dint surface verbally, I was deeply hurt…But I also made it a point that nobody ever complained the next year :) Marking important dates or having a separate calendar dedicated to Birthday’s, ensures you aren’t hurt by comments made by your loved ones, which are actually unintentional and acceptable since they are right when they expect such a simple act of kindness from you.

8: Don’t be Lethargic or Turtle Paced:
Complete tasks within realistic time frames, do not endless go on doing the same activity as if all time were yours. It puts off other people and moreover you may be left with absolutely no time to do other more important things. Like 35-45 mins to bathe, hair wash, drape a saree, get your hair in place and get a hint of makeup is just fine when you are going for a party but that 35-45 mins can be cut down to 20-30 mins when you are going to office and the balance 10 mins can be used to skim the newspaper beat the terrible rush hour traffic to reach office on/before time.

9: Eliminating Clutter Periodically:
Broken Crockery, ill fitting clothes, expired medicines, tablets and cosmetics, old newspapers/magazines, unimportant documents, spoilt CD’s/damaged DVD’s, plastic metal or anything that remains unused for long periods should be cleared weekly, every fortnight or monthly to avoid clutter and an unorganized lifestyle. Follow the one in one out policy. For every one new thing that comes into the house one must be donated or disposed if not needed.

By the end of this mail you are probably thinking that my home is full of calendars & planners all over :) !! Nope it isn’t !! :)

But yep Year Ending is a time for me to go Stationery Shopping!!! :) [Shopping after all is in the DNA of a woman !! - remember ?? ;) :) ]
1] A Year200K Business Organizer to note your personal/professional information – tasks, deadlines etc …
2] A Year200K Wall Calendar to be aware of festivals and other important days
3] A Small Year200K Dairy to make a note of daily expenses
4] An A4 sized good looking file – to file any self made single page Planners
5] and A new Parker ;) :p [just for fun :) - suits the man and the woman alike ;) :) u can do with any 5 Rs. pen as well - this is just good looking motivation to write and note down imp stuff ! :)]

This is all it takes to be in control of your daily life ;) :) Sounds stupid!! Nope it isn’t! Try it !

luv as always
- sayli

Change - Adapt & Be Sure to Grow

Nearly two years ago, Orange turned pink. Now, pink is preparing to make way for red and this time, it's not just the colour. The vibrant pink tristars of Hutchsion Essar logo are set to change to a speech bubble of dominant red colour, the rademark brand of Vodafone.
Reliance Communications became the fifth largest firm by market capitalisation on Wednesday as its market cap went over Rs 1,10,000 crore. The telecommunication company is now placed ahead of IT majors TCS and Infosys (The shining stars a year ago on the stock markets took a beating as the rupee strengthened against the dollar and IT Stocks made way for their Telecom counterparts).
We faced 50 % attrition in my team. My Manager recruited 3 of us including myself. Choosing Hutchison Essar over Cognizant was no Herculean task really - little unaware of what was in store for me. My manager resigned and my fellow teammate whose referral I was, soon followed suit. Even tough the management confided in the Fact that this project has the highest visibility and a large capex, it was imperative that it go live and we stay put, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't insecure. Thanks to the acquisition by Vodafone, the project came to a standstill. Rumors are still doing the rounds that IT will soon be a part of IBM. So truly while IBM still continues to be my Dream Company, I doubt if it really has to offer me that Dream Job.
I have assimilated oceans of information in these 2 months than what I did in the past 4 years and most surprisingly I don't demonstrate even a 3rd of the amount of knowledge that my peers possess. That just goes on to show how much more there is to learn when you are associated exclusively with an IT arm of the world's largest Telecom Player courtesy – "DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE". Telecom boasts of a long term growth story from the Stock Market Perspective & is one of the biggest Verticals for a few IT/ITES/BPO Services firms. What surprises you as an Integration Specialist is the humongous amounts of data volumes that need to be exchanged and transacted in real time across close to 15 heterogeneous IT systems to include the variants of Billing, Fraud Management, Revenue Assurance, Mediation and Interconnect - just to name a few.
While the timelines for the phased implementation still remain undecided, I am caught doing the balancing act of scaling up on gaining thorough knowledge of the Telecom Domain and getting hands on WebSphere Business Integration Product Suite – Business Modeler, Integration Developer, Process Server & Business Monitor to be very specific. When I decided to separate from one of India's famously growing IT Services Company, I laid my focus on getting back to my 1st passion [read EAI] coupled with the domain of Financial Services, Telecom being second on my wish list and IT Services Companies strictly excluded. That left me with very little options to even apply, let alone qualify for my favored profile. Fortunately, Hutch thought I was made for the Job Profile they had a requirement for. This was indeed the role, the technology, the domain, the brand, [not to mention the pay package too] that fitted perfectly into my framework of requirements - why then do I still express concern – probably because I joined with an additional perk of being automatically migrated to being a Vodafone employee soon– but now uncertainty prevails – thanks to rumors of IT being outsourced to IBM.
I delivered a presentation along with my teammate yesterday, on the SOA based integration approach for integrating the Operational and Business Support systems of Hutch. The inquisitiveness and the response was truly overwhelming. For the 1st time in these two months I felt as tough we were the centre of attention for all the right reasons. It's an IT arm of 150 people – small by any standards compared to an IT Services Giant – who has dedicated development/support centers that boast of almost the same numbers. But this is also precisely what makes working here a phenomenal experience.
So while the lower / middle management convinces us about the pros of being a part of the world's largest Consulting & IT Services organization, I pull up my socks yet again and put my best foot forward to prove my worth to a new management/team yet again.

As they say Change is the only constant – so be it – the one who adapts to it fastest, emerges the winner [the same philosophy and the very purpose that SOA finds place in today's architectural landscapes]

Wishing you Luc
- Sayli