What motivates us!

Some videos are worth a watch. This video as of today has more than 7 million hits and I think it deserves many more.

This lively RSAnimate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. The three truths are

1.Autonomy
2.Mastery
3.Purpose

Handling negative comments on Social Media

Organizations are moving from traditional media to social media as they are realising the value in focusing on building and maturing relationships with their customer and community members. What is interesting is that the Facebook Communities that companies set up are sometimes bombarded with complaints and negative feedback. I came across this interesting article that talks about how such negative comments can be handled. Read it here

If you have dropped the ball, and probably even if you haven’t, here is the structure of an answer to any form of criticism on social media:

Thank and apologise
Don’t whine and don’t make excuses. Just apologise, and thank them for their feedback if specific details have been cited.

Outline what you are going to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again
Your customers would like to know that this won’t happen again when they use your product or service.

Outline what you are going to do right now to rectify the situation
It’s always best to do something to show that you are sorry. Be careful about openly offering any kind of compensation though, as you may be flooded with bogus complaints if you do that. Provide an email address or work phone number where you can be contacted to rectify things, or make some kind of offer.

Isn't this a useful article?. Based on my experience, I suggest that the solution to the problem shouldn't be posted. Also, please do not provide explanations on why that happened? (You have already acknowledged it). If the problem has been solved (and make sure that it has been), post a response that it has been fixed. Promise that you will make best attempt not to repeat this again. All the best.

Reflections

“Happy Birthday to you” As everyone sang along to wish my friend on her birthday, little Cindy, a three year old girl couldn’t stop her excitement. She too joined in the cake cutting celebration. She sang with everyone, danced to the music, loved the attention and her joy knew no bounds. I have observed Cindy at a few more birthday parties. She is extremely excited about such events. She lives and loves the moment – in fact, when it was my birthday; I wanted her too to join the cake cutting. This little child inspires me and often makes me wonder - When was the last time we were happy like the little kid!

A few days ago, my mom called up and mentioned that dad had almost forgotten her birthday. While she was expecting flowers and gifts, he gave her a gift card – nothing personal about it. My mom complained about how boring her life had become and how she missed the initial days of her wedding when everything looked great. She wondered why her marriage had come to a standstill after so many years of wedding. I did not have answers to her questions. As I reflect, I think as humans we are so busy and occupied with our life that we have forgotten how to love life. I can see myself spending hours on Facebook chatting with people and writing on their wall, but I have no idea what my neighbors are up to. I can play games on my ipad for hours, but wouldn’t have time to run for a few minutes on that treadmill. I have smart phone but hardly have time to call my dear ones. We teach our kids to eat the right balanced diet but do not hesitate for a moment to open that soda bottle or order any unhealthy food. Instead of reflecting for a few hours to understand ourselves better, we party hard so that we can get along with the crowd. I often wonder if Cindy, the little kid too would grow up just like us. Will the craze for the materialistic world blindfold her and like a lot of us will she forget to live, to love and to see happiness in small moments?

Often, I ask myself - what would you do if I had a few hours to live? When was the last time we listened to our favorite music or had a heart to heart talk with our loved one! We choose to live our life in a certain way and then blame destiny for all the negative happenings. We all have responsibilities and have problems at some point in life. Perhaps, that has buried the child inside us. It is time to wake up that child within us. It is time for us to accept what we have and appreciate life and small things that make it beautiful. Imagine how would we feel if we lost our loved one today? Wouldn’t you want to share how you felt about them? If we change the way we look at others and thank them for all the good and bad they have done to us, we shall feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Perhaps my dad can take a few moments out and reinforce how much he loves my mom. It is never late to start a new life. It is never too late to give a hug to your loved one and thank them for all that they have done for us. We still can take care of our health and appreciate beauty in small things. It is never late to live, laugh and love! You are never too old to bring out the child inside you. It is never too late for all of us to become Cindy and celebrate every moment!

New Year Resolution Recipe

It’s New Year time again. We partied hard with family and friends, exchanged gifts and said goodbye to 2011. Now, what next? How about some Resolution Recipes? Oh! Are we talking to ourselves and feeling guilty for not being able to follow last year’s resolutions? Should we even make a few resolutions this time? Of course, the answer is “Yes”. Let’s make some achievable resolutions and let this be a year to remember. Let’s prepare the resolution recipe for this year so that we could take our daily dose.

Ingredients:

10% reflection, 30% determination, 50% discipline, 5% self pampering, 5% quality time with a loved one.

Preparation:

1.     Reflect – Let’s sit down in a quiet environment and think for a few moments what our last year resolutions were. We shouldn’t hesitate to applaud ourselves for what we have accomplished and analyze why we could not achieve the ones we set last year.

2.     Prepare – Let us now think about what our new year’s resolutions will be. While crafting them, we should focus on why they are important to us (Example – career, family). We should try not to have too many resolutions. If we track them regularly, we feel proud of our accomplishments at the end of the year. 

3.     Publish – We can make a note of our resolutions in a journal, blog. If we are ambitious, we can announce it to your loved ones so that they can support us. We could even publish them on blog, Facebook or put a note in our room so that it acts as a reminder.

  

Cooking:

1.     As we wake up in the morning, let’s look at the mirror and smile at ourselves. We need to remind ourselves of our resolution. We should thank God for another new day and a new beginning for us to achieve our resolution.

2.     Let’s freshen up and plan for the day ahead. There might be tougher moments when we would want to give up on our resolution, but, we need to keep ourselves motivated. We should try to remain calm and composed in spite of all tough situations. We should think positive and stay away from any kind of negative influence.

3.     If we believe we are tracking well against our resolution, we can reward ourselves every 2-3 months for achieving our goals. Perhaps, we could visit a spa and pamper ourselves for the discipline.

4.     If the going gets tough, we can follow our hobbies to refresh our mind. If the resolution was related to our hobby, nothing betters that it. Remember, how we loved our hobby when we were a kid. Let’s reignite the passion and revitalize our souls with that hobby to achieve our New Year resolutions.

5.     Let’s keep ourselves balanced by spending time with a loved one. If find it tough, we can talk to the person. We’ll notice the magic that it has on following our goal. 

Serving:

Let’s thank God again for the lovely day and thank our loved ones for their support. This is a simple resolution recipe and if we discipline ourselves to take a daily dose of it, we definitely will remain happy and contended in life! So let’s make this a year to remember. Let’s take a daily dose of our well cooked New Year recipe