Ajit Panicker's Blog

Embarking on the quest to conquer the English language can be as exhilarating as a Shahrukh Khan movie marathon – minus the dramatic plot twists, of course. So, grab your popcorn, put on your imaginary sunglasses, and let’s dive into the blockbuster of language learning with a touch of SRK magic. Let’s learn to upskill not to DUNKI.

1. Chak De Tech Apps:

Leverage the power of language learning apps like Duolingo, Babbel, or Rosetta Stone. Think of them as your personal language coaches, guiding you through the ups and downs of conjugations and vocabulary. After all, in the language arena, it’s not about winning or losing; it’s about Chak De proficiency!

2. Jab Talk Met Fluency:

Immerse yourself in the world of English media, just like SRK immerses himself in romantic scenes. From movies and TV shows to podcasts and news, surround yourself with English content faster than Shahrukh can do a romantic pose.

3. Kal Ho Na Reading Skills:

Reading is your secret weapon – start with materials matching your skill level and gradually level up. Books, articles, or blogs – reading widens your vocabulary faster than Shahrukh can express his love for Kajol.

4. Don Speak, Don’t Be Afraid:

Practice speaking regularly; join language exchange programs and clubs. Don’t worry if you stumble – even the King of Bollywood had his share of awkward dance moves in the beginning. Speaking is your ticket to pronunciation excellence.

5. Dil Se Goals:

Set realistic language goals – whether it’s learning a certain number of words weekly or holding a conversation without hesitation. Remember, even in the world of language learning, Dil Se goals are the ones that keep you motivated.

6. My Name is Online Courses:

Enroll in online courses on platforms like Coursera, edX, or Khan Academy. It’s like a cinematic journey from the basics to advanced levels, with quizzes that won’t give you any plot twists but might challenge your language skills.

7. Kabhi Writing Kabhi Debates:

Apply your language skills in practical scenarios. Write essays, and participate in debates – practical learning is your script to success. And hey, every masterpiece needs a rough draft!

8. Cultural Kuch Kuch Hota Hai:

Immerse yourself in English-speaking cultures through music, literature, and traditions. Learning a language is not just about words; it’s about understanding the cultural kuch kuch that adds that extra zing to your language skills.

9. Feedbackwale DDLJ:

Don’t shy away from seeking feedback. Just like in a romantic Bollywood flick, constructive criticism is your love interest in this language-learning drama. It helps you refine your skills and reach that perfect language climax.

Kuch Kuch Language Karlo, Hum Bole Toh, English Sikho Toh Uparwala Bhi Thoda SRK Ban Jaye!

Remember, the key is to learn to upskill, not to dunki!

Read the last post My Top 10 Lessons of 2023

Some Lessons from DUNKI, the latest Shahrukh Khan blockbuster

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As I reflect on the passing year, it’s an opportune moment to bring forth the valuable insights that I gained from my experiences; MY TOP 10 LESSONS OF 2023. The following are the top lessons learned, serving as a compass for my personal and professional growth. From the importance of resilient decision-making to the nuances of managing relationships and the ever-evolving dynamics of entrepreneurship, these lessons will form a mosaic of wisdom gleaned from the tapestry of the past year.

Join me in revisiting and embracing these guiding lessons as I venture into the opportunities and challenges of the year ahead.

Always make a well-thought-out decision, one that is based on extensive research, planning, and analysis. If in case, the decision is not going the way you thought it to be, stick to it and execute your long-term plan. Survive to thrive, so that you can excel as you thrive. This is the first lesson out of my top 10 lessons of 2023.If the group in which you are spending maximum time is bringing toxicity to your life, don’t hesitate to abandon the group. Continue to cherish and maintain relationships with only those from that group who add positivity to your life. You can fight, ridicule, and abuse your family, but you can never stop loving your family members. Any confusion, miscommunication, or ego clashes with your family members should be given time to let them cool off. Always remember, it is always the family that will stay in the end.If you make any major decision it will also jolt the lives of your family members. If you expect them to help you walk on your decision, you too should help them cope. It is because that jolt may be equally damaging for them, maybe more.Keep your ultimate GOAL in mind all the time but don’t force others to see them as well. Remember people around you cannot see what you can visualize because it is YOUR ultimate GOAL. They can only see what is visible at present. Don’t unnecessarily overwhelm them by making them see your future which may not be believable at present.Let your work or business strategies be SECRET. It is always better to surprise people through your significant success than beat a trumpet at every small win you achieve. Yes, do celebrate each of your small wins with your team and family. But no need to broadcast every small victory. These small victories should act as motivation capsules to help you keep going. Usually, people around you become insecure and feel uncomfortable with your everyday success.I am in my second year of running a small training company. I have understood how my business model’s annual cycle operates. You may plan your business model, but you have to be on your toes always. Keep learning what your business is throwing at you because the market is dynamic. This helps you re-strategize your moves in the market. It helps overcome the challenges that might be thrown at you in the future months.Humility, Forgiveness, and Gratitude should be your three mantras for maintaining your mental balance. In business, unlike as a salaried employee, you can’t keep grudges against people. You have to learn to manage people you might hate personally. You may not like their personalities and the value systems they operate with.Learn to repeat every day what you are best at. For me, it is Self-Learning, Training and coaching professionals, and Writing. Without fail repeating what we are passionate about brings unmatched results. Maybe not in the first year, second or third year but it definitely brings the desired outcome in some time. You just need five years to achieve everything you have ever desired. For some these 5 years come early in life and for some, it arrives a little late.Shortcuts help you bring early gratification but the RISK of losing everything is huge. It just needs about 10 minutes to lose everything. It is better to work on building goodwill, even if it means walking a long journey. Your credibility will help you scale up exponentially, maybe later but it definitely will. So focus on building credibility rather than amassing money through get-rich-quick methods. This is my 10th lesson of my top 10 lessons of 2023.

With these lessons from 2023, I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!!

My Top 10 Lessons of 2022

My Top 10 Lessons of 2021

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-some-life-lessons-you-learned-2023-nsa-narayanan-wjv8f/

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Why after 40 you are in a zone of danger in your career; what I did between 27 and 42 to cushion my career?

Laying off is not as cool as it appears.

It is extremely difficult for any business -big or small to let go of its best talents. The very same talents, who they nurtured by investing time, energy and money on.

We have either been part of this massacre- layoff, either as a victim or one who takes such tough decisions.

Just in case you have been a victim, what did you do so that no one ever repeats this to you.

I was part of one such layoff.

I vividly remember that day, when we reached our office, and could here only one thing, a list. A list of 7000 people across India.

People in that list were asked to report to Zonal Office and meet the Head HR- North.

The act was extremely professional and one who was asking us to sign our resignations was a master in getting that done; it appeared. The Zonal HR Head.

It was not a resignation but a termination. Something on which we willingly signed citing personal reasons, the willingness that was forced upon us.

Three months of Salary and all other outstanding they paid in 15 days and it was all over.

I felt very bad that in spite of being one of top performers in the Zone, I was asked to leave. It was because I was just about 6 months old into the system.

LIFO, Last In First Out.

But then that famous quote by Dr. APJ ABDUL KALAM brought a smile back on my face.

“Never LOVE your company, always LOVE your job”

The next step was ofcourse to look out for another job. But before I continue with my story, just think about it aloud.

Why do so many of us come in that zone of danger, of that unexpected layoff?

A few reasons are,

If the company isn’t growing, and there are employees much more than what is required at the middle level management and the movement into the top management is tough, because someone up there will have to give his place, you are in danger.Even if the company is growing but the company is diversifying into businesses where you don’t have enough to prove through your outdated skills, you are in danger.My Story

Reasons are plenty more, but what if you too, get into this zone of danger.

After the layoff, one big question constantly made me think,

“What if I am laid off, again?”

How to create a career cushion?

After exploring all that I could, I realized, one thing which will always keep me in JOB would be MASTERING a skill which is not easily replaceable by even a skilled person in that very same job.

I knew I was good with understanding people’s emotions, understanding behaviours, helping people without putting any T&C in place, mentoring people out of the very love for making a difference in other people’s life.

I had understood what I would love doing all my life. It was coaching people, helping them to transform.

Then I invested16 long years only on MASTERING this ART

The ART of PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & COACHING.

I worked for 9 hours in a day job, didn’t take up any assignments which mandated me to travel for more than 60 minutes to & fro to my workplace. Reached home early and after spending some good time with family, invested the rest of it in mastering the craft.

Gave up on many lucrative offers that came my way where I had to change my city. And continued with my day job, reading, writing books, creating, designing, networking, making an organic online presence on social media and slowly kept building it.

In the process I turned into a Life Skills Facilitator, Motivational Speaker, Author and a Coach, without realizing that it all started because I wanted to cushion my living; cushion my career.

At times we don’t realise that finding the purpose of our life does not come through by making a conscious attempt in finding it.
It is actually living the course of life – living, learning, failing, succeeding, introspecting, and getting into something which some force up there wanted you to, but the way it has; not exactly the way you wanted.

After 7 jobs and 1 business venture later, what I am referring is not that I have again begun my journey as a business enthusiast. This time in the field of Professional Training & Coaching Services. Nor trying to say that I am super successful in my first year.

What we are not

Because this either happens in fairy tales or when you startup as a STARTUP. Projecting phenomenal growth in revenue and creating an unbelievable VALUATION is 100X easier than creating a BUSINESS with stable revenues and profits.

We the skillkrafters at THE SKILLKRAFTER ACADEMY are in an ageless business of coaching. This has been in existence since time immemorial. And so it is not a unique idea.

How my roots brought me back?

One which gives me the biggest satisfaction is that I have gradually moved into a profession, which our forefathers were in. We are into this ever since the GURU-SHISHYA concept has been there.

I come from the Kshatriya (Nairs) Community in Kerala. We were coaches of martial art – kalaripayatt, life coaching, business coaching and warfare since.

How we will help you in career-cushioning?

So one amongst our many reasons of being in this business, is to create a career cushion for all such insecure, scared, and less politically creative, 30+ year old professionals, who would want to become Intrapreneurs.

Here at THE SKILLKRAFTER ACADEMY, we invite and encourage talented professionals with proven record to come and lead our training projects like an Entrepreneur.

We don’t want paid employees, who we want are – those who know how to bring in business, strategically plan and effectively execute a project like a CEO of that project.

You can build your team, manage and coach them to create greater value to the brand THE SKILLKRAFTER ACADEMY.

The day you decide to part ways and leave us to start your own business, your own identity, your own brand – you can, without any hassle.

You must be thinking, what will we gain out of this?

What is our gain?

One more person who has cushioned his life and in the process is building something for this Nation.

Why after 40 you are in a zone of danger in your career?

The post Why after 40 you are in a Zone of danger in your career and what I did from 27 to 42 to create a career cushion? appeared first on Ajit Panicker.

I have to admit that this year was extremely special and important for me. It was because one of My Top 10 Lessons of 2022 was a lesson in waiting for decades.

Every year, every month, every week, every day, rather every moment teaches us something or the other. Each of these moments is an experience and experiences teach big time. But 2022 was a year in waiting because I planned and waited for 10 long years to finally execute it.

But before I disclose that, let me share with you the top 10 lessons of this year 2022.

Believe in Yourself – Even when no one is believing in you, your dreams, or your plans, continue to believe in them. Every dream turns into a reality because the dreamer believes it to be a reality sooner or later. Once you start believing and start acting on your plans, few around you start feeling and believing in you. Then a few more, and then many more. A day comes when the entire world starts believing in you and your once-upon-a-time, unbelievable and impractical dreams.Don’t resort to shortcuts – Even if your goal is difficult and you have to walk a road not traveled before by anyone, do not resort to shortcuts to reach your destination. Although shortcuts will help you reach and achieve your goal in no time, but you will lose all the fun of walking on that topsy-turvy path to success. The fun of reaching the goal is in experiencing the journey, that path to success, not the destination.Plan your PLAN – Do not get into anything new just because of the thrill of doing it with no preparation or plan behind it. Make sure you plan your PLAN really well. Even if it requires a decade to prepare, drill, grill, practice, become competent, and amass resources, do it. Don’t decide in haste or out of frustration.Start small with BIG DREAMS intact – Don’t think of making it big in one day or a few months or maybe a few years. Always have a vision and vision are never short-spell. Work around your VISION with your long-term goals broken down into annual goals, and annual goals into monthly goals. If you want to achieve fast, climb a rocket and feel it. Visions take time to become a reality. Have that patience.Stay Consistent – No one ever has achieved anything significant without being consistent. If you hit a mountain with a domestic hammer, consistently, repeatedly every day ever for thirty minutes daily, a day will come when even that mountain will be reduced to dust. I am not forcing you to believe; a man from Bihar, Manjhi has already done this.Network with people who talk about ideas and not people – Make sure you network big time. But ensure, not with every Ram, Shyam and Radhe. Choose who to network with. Those who gossip about people are people with no purpose, they are just living away a life given by the Almighty. They are not making a life that the almighty wanted them to lead. They will bring you down from your mental capacity to theirs and turn you into them. Optimal Resource Utilization – Make the best use of whatever resources you have in hand instead of taking the resources on lease. In the race to make it big fast often people make this mistake. With whatever least resources we have if we make maximum utilization, at times additional resources are not required for a very long time.Build personal relationships with no benefits – Every relationship is not to draw benefits out of. Those which you want to cherish to be around to feel, discuss, and share, your personal moments, achievements, and failures, don’t try to look for benefits in them. Just maintain them forever.Speak out and take a stand – It’s not only about taking a stand for others. Don’t miss taking a stand for yourself. Many times we don’t do it and give way to some people who are habitual of taking you for granted. If required challenge them, and tell them, don’t try this every time.Don’t forget to be grateful – It’s not that you have to be grateful to someone only when something concrete, something significant has been done for you by them. You can pay your gratitude and thank them even for their smallest of helpful gestures.

Now coming to that decision for which I have waited for the last 10 years. I started my second business after 11 years. It is a company that is into Professional Training & Coaching Services, The Skillkrafter Academy.

I hope my top 10 lessons of 2022 help you as well.

A LOT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN 2023. Wish me good luck!

Wishing you an extremely happy, prosperous, and successful year ahead. Happy New Year 2023!

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Have you ever thought about why are siblings important?

We were sitting with our friends. This incident happened a few years back.

From nowhere, like it usually happens, when we sit with our close friends and buddies, this cropped up.

How many children should one have?

I am from India, and this reference is to the social lifestyle and culture we belong to. But as you know, with time, things change and we tend to adopt things from various cultures.

We had been married for about three years then, and we were yet to be blessed with kids. There was a couple, our close friends, who we were chatting with, who already had their first child.

We, my wife and me were of the opinion that we should have more than one child. At least two. But they were like, why, one is just enough. We can and should give the best of life to that one child. What’s the point in having more than one and not being able to provide the best to any one of them?

So, basically, the problem here was the resources required to give a good life to the children, more than having a single child or more.

Although we had some great discussions over drinks, that didn’t lead anywhere. They kept up to their beliefs and we kept to ours.

A few years later, a discussion of a similar kind happened with another set of friends. They too were of an opinion that a single child these days is enough. There is so much trouble, going through that entire grind of five-six years of bringing them up. The initial few years.

We still didn’t have our kids but were of the strong opinion that we should have more kids so that they have their siblings. For us the reason was simple. Kids should have their siblings.

Finally, after seven years of a long wait, we had our first child, and seventeen minutes later, the second child. They were twins. A boy and a girl.

We couldn’t have asked for more. Thanks to the Lord who showered us with his choicest blessings.

Our kids had their siblings from day one. Even much before they arrived in this world physically. In their mother’s womb.

My wife told me some time back when the second phase of COVID was taking away lives all around, one of her knowns also lost her husband and father-in-law.

While they, my wife and her friend, were sitting sometime later, after the unfortunate, she confessed, how stupid were we, that despite not having our siblings, we didn’t give a sibling to our only son. Today after corona has taken away everything from my life, I don’t know how to overcome this. My wife said, “Adopt a second child”. This is just one story.

There are many like these.

So the question was why are siblings important?

1. Parents cannot and will not be able to give you the moral, financial, emotional, or physical support, once they are extremely old and of course not once they are gone. Who can support you in difficult times? Your siblings.

2. While you are growing up, after a certain age, you need a friend in your home. That can only be your elder or younger sibling. A friend at home with whom you can share your pains, problems, secrets, and plans.

3. Who could have imagined the havoc Corona created? But it did. And many out of those could come out of it. But only those who had siblings or someone who could take them to the hospital. Not even first cousins were willing to risk their lives.

4. It’s not only when you are in some trouble, even for moments in your life that you want to celebrate, you want those who you can call your own. Siblings make it, a lot more happening. Many a time they plan and execute it for you. Surprise you, and who doesn’t like surprises?

My School “My Father“ – Click the link and read my first book on parenting and how siblings make parenting relatively easy.

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Were you looking out to become one?

If yes, you have come to the right place.

Today I am going to tell you, how to become one.

How to become a Life Skills Trainer?

But before I do that, let me briefly tell you Who exactly is a Life Skills Trainer?

To do that let me ask you do you know What are life skills?

Life skills are the skills that help us become better. They help us communicate better, think creatively and critically, make better decisions, manage emotions better, and do effective problem-solving. There are many sub-skills under these that you can master.

Were these taught to you in school or college or maybe in your university?

Ideally, they should have been. But I know, at least in India, only a handful of institutions do. The rest of them do not give even deserving importance, forget about skilling students at different levels.

But Why are life skills so important?

The world is competitive. Businesses want skilled manpower, not just educated students.

According to famous research, about 60% of total graduate students who are passing out every year from various colleges are just educated, not skilled to take on the role even after three months of the organizational onboarding process. Isn’t that simply a waste of money?

What are these institutions for?

Are they only to provide factual, conceptual, and knowledge-based frameworks?

Aren’t they supposed to train them with at least basic life skills?

And so the Role of a Life Skills Trainer comes into play and becomes extremely important.

What does a Life Skills Trainer do?

He trains you to become better in the above-mentioned skills through his sessions and one-on-one coaching. But he does more training than coaching.

To know what can a Life Skills Coach, do keep a tab on this blog. Subscribe to this blog by filling your contact form in the contact section.

Now if you want to know How to become a life skills trainer, you have to know What are the qualities required to be a life skills trainer?

Qualities to become a Life Skills Trainer

You have to be an empath.You have to be a good speaker.You need to know how to present before an audience.You need to be well groomed.You have to have hands on that specific life skill you are going to train people on.

How will you become a Life Skills Trainer?

An important question that may come up in your mind is that Is it necessary to get certified as a life skills trainer.

As a Life Skills Trainer and Coach for more than a decade and a half, I would recommend everyone taking up this role to get certified before taking up even their first assignment. You would learn the techniques of training people, which is equally important as having command on the subject matter.

Most of the companies these days prefer Certified and Credentialed Life Skills trainers.

You can attend a TRAIN THE TRAINER program at one of the decently good and recognized institutes.

Once you have all or most of the desired qualities and certifications to be a Life Skills Trainer, you should know how to get rolling as one.

For that,

You can apply in Corporate companies to become a full-time employee as a Life Skills Trainer. Many companies these days require life skills trainers, especially those that are in consumer-facing industries.

You can apply as a Life Skills Trainer for Sales, Customer Service, Communication, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Empathy, and Emotions Management.

You can alternately, also independently work as a freelance life skills trainer and provide any of the above-listed life skills training on a retainer ship basis or contract basis. You can slowly set up your own training institute and in the long run, take up bigger pan-country projects for various companies.

I hope I have made your read a useful one. If yes, don’t forget to comment, share and subscribe to my blog.

I know it is tough.

I have faced it and so I know it. I know many like you and me have or are facing office politics.

It is extremely frustrating, especially for those who become victims of it.

I threw an open question some time back on social media, what is your biggest fear?

And many responded, we fear office politics and want to know “How to manage office politics?”

So today I am going to share my experiences and the ways in which I faced and managed office politics during my career.

But before we move ahead, let me ask you if you know what all fall under office politics?

This is what I garnered over the years.

Scheming against your own colleagues.Backstabbing your own team members.Spreading false rumours about performers.Sweetly making your manager believe negative against your most trusted accomplice.Plotting to get your people involved in wrong doings and then acting as a whistleblower.Tarnishing image of honest and sincere workers to keep yourself as the most promising team member.Becoming a spy agent for your manager against your own team members.To stay in the front for the promotion every year creating roadblocks for your team members so that they are not able to achieve their targets.Following all good, bad and ugly practices to achieve your targets, and then ensuring others are humiliated by your manager for poor performance.Making sure the old client you were taking care of doesn’t perform good under a new team member, so that the said client is given back to you.Tipping your top management how ineffective your counter-part is in handling his team, by highlighting the lacunas in his leadership.

These are the few out of many situations you might face in your organization.

If you want to know HOW TO MANAGE OFFICE POLITICS in all the above-listed situations, there are a few important things you need to do.

Most importantly, you need to keep yourself positive in all situations, come what may.Try not to involve yourself in deep conversations with people who are most of the time negative and talking ill about life, office, company, people in general. They are energy suckers.Identify all such ‘Politics Players’ in your team, verticals in your organization, so that you are aware of keeping a vigil when dealing with them or when they are around you.Keep transactional relationship only, with people who you suspect are as ‘Politics Players’. You cannot totally avoid them, working in an organization.Build great camraderie with people across verticals and not just your team or department. People should have great opinion and feedback about you.Keep you manager abreast with all the latest that is happening in your territory or the key areas of responsibilties. Your plan, resource management, challenges, execution, and updated status of every project you are running. Your manager should have full confidence on you.Those who you feel are ‘Politics Players’ , try not to mess with them but do not be afraid. Stay straightforward and polite, as you are with all others.Build strong rapport and relationship with your key stakeholders especially your immediate reportees,partners, vendors, channels, and your supervisors and managers. Your 360 degree feedback matters a lot.Make sure you know all the organizational policies, code of conduct and ethics of operating self and your job role. So that no one around can lead you into anything soupy.Identifying those spy agents in your team who leak out team secrets and discussions to your managers and represent them in a way that is advatageous to them. Let every one be aware of who those people are in your team.Take a rightful stand for yourself, whenever you are being wrongly interpreted or someone has tried to tarnish your image by misrepresenting you. Confidently calrify in person or if required in a group, if it pertains to the group.Whenever a third-party partner/channel/account is tagged to you, make sure you take complete handholding from the previous person handling it. Then build a fresh and strong relationship with that account by understanding their business style and then assuring of your best support. Don’t lose track and keep a constant follow-up to understand their ongoing problems. Prove yourself by giving befitting solutions.As you now you would be appraised for your performance at the end of each year, make sure you keep your manager updated through verbal or written records of all your small and big achievements. So that he knows what you have been doing all through the year.Any type of disconnect with your team which you are leading will happen only when you don’t communicate much. If you keep the communication open, yourself approachable and available most of the times, no outsider can bring down your team’s cohesion and spirits.Be bold, assertive, open, tactful, aware, empathetic, positive, and available for your team and all other verticals in your organization.

I am suggesting all the above ways because I practiced them and made my life easier in all the companies I worked for. I learned it the hard way all on my own and found my own solutions for them. But for you, I have it ready on a platter.

Go ahead and practice them.

If I am making a difference in your life through my blog posts, keep showering your love through your comments.

Also if you feel it suitable and know someone who is struggling to overcome office politics and perform at his best, don’t forget to share this post with them. It takes just a few seconds. You might turn his world around for the greater good.

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Ratika’s Story 

I went to the market the other day to buy some good western wear and I realised that not many shops had enough options for me. Do you know why? It is because I am twenty kilograms overweight and my sizes are around 4XL. Most of the brand’s do not have sizes above 2XL.

Whenever I ask the shopkeepers as to whether they have XL sizes, their answer is always in affirmative in the beginning of the conversation but then few minutes later, once I tell them that my size is 4XL, always the answer has been sorry madam, we only have upto 2XL. Why such a disgrace to a woman who is scientifically overweight but medically fitter than most of the thinnest women around.

It has always been a pain.  What will an obese women do? How will she manage this discrimination?

Whenever I go to the malls, whenever I go to a branded store to find stuff for myself there are no clothes available in my sizes.

Actually whatever types of designs I like, I am not able to fit myself into it because the branded fashion designers are really not available to make that kind of dresses for obese women.

And then there is your husband who is saying that you should accept yourself as you are. He may be right we should accept our selves the way we are but what about the people who are around you, the market around you, the places around you.

Do they really let you to accept as you are, being a fat, obese and not fitting in into the normal of the society. Whenever you go places you will always find people looking at you in a very strange way, like when you walk into a store and when they don’t have your size, even the salesman doesn’t want to come near you because he knows he will not have stuffs to show you.

It is humiliating at times.  When everyone, like even when you are looking for some clothes for your sister or may be somebody else, you know you will find it there. But there is nobody available to actually help you.

You may be a very helpful, loving kind of a woman, liked and appreciated for your selflessness but still your husband’s family or your own brother’s and sisters will unconsciously make you feel bad. It is not even their fault.

The sad reality, that’s how the society has been conditioned. You feel bad about yourself that inspite of exercises, walking, dieting you are not able to lose weight. Life is not just about looking thin. You have so many things to look forward to, responsibilities because of which you are not able to follow in a very religious manner. It is because of the routine. You feel weak at times because of the judgemental society around you. We try to fit into the perspectives of others in society. Other people want to see you as they want to which is to look thin, irrespective of your vitals being normal. You are happy with your body, you know you are just overweight but then many other people are suffering from lots of diseases despite being thin. They will overlook those problems and keep on advising you because you are overweight. You will have problems with your knees, you will have problems with the ankles, you will have this problem, you have that problem, you should do different things, you should lose weight. It’s not that you don’t want to accept yourself but frankly speaking nobody is letting you accept yourself in the way you are.

Ajit’s Story

“Why are you after your life? Why do you think it is important to become thin? What I feel is more important is to stay healthy but yes even I cannot overcome the norms of society. The normal of society is that a fit man, a man who looks healthy, should have a very beautiful, curvaceous and smart woman and if you don’t get her, it means that you were not capable of wooing a beautiful and sexy girl while you were in your younger days or maybe while when you were getting married. But trust you me it’s not the body, normal of the society should not be to look thin, it should be to being healthy. What is more important, is the compatibility of the two people who are getting into a married relationship or maybe in a love relationship. So if I have to talk about my story then this is what it is.

So whenever I am with my set of people I try and meet all of my friends whenever possible but I don’t meet people who I am not comfortable with. With just one meeting I can decide whether to meet him the next time or not. I don’t easily allow people to enter my family’s zone. And if I realize that a person who I just met doesn’t deserve to even know about my family, I ensure not to allow him to get into my zone.

Now a female who looks overweight or obese, may not be unhealthy. Let me talk about myself and my wife. I get my health profile check done every 6 months. I have high cholesterol. My wife also gets her health checkup done every six months she doesn’t have any problem. She is obese, she is overweight but she is probably more energetic than me.

So where does this come from- this comes from the society which has been built over some misconceptions and the misconceptions are that men should have a beautiful and curvaceous lady as a girlfriend and then as a wife and if you are not able to manage that, then you are incapable as a man or incapable as a woman.

Motivational Speaker – Author – Life Coach

Ajit Kumar Panicker

I was and would always be a writer by heart. But the day I got published, I became an author.

Yours truly

That’s what is primarily the starkest difference between a writer and an author. So an author will always be a writer but a writer becomes an author only when he gets published.

Although in the common parlance, they are interchangeably used.

So let’s understand who is a writer?

A writer is someone who writes for the very reason of writing. He may write for himself or for others who want him to write. He uses his writing and linguistic skills to put up a piece together. He may be a blogger, journalist, magazine writer, or writer of books. Most of the writers write to earn their livelihood from their art of writing. They may or may not want to get published.

An author is someone who writes for his love for writing and gets published. You find his books, fiction or non-fiction in the stores. He may or may not begin with the goal of making money out of it. But slowly he does make money. Although not many make even a decent amount of money. Very few are able to earn their livelihood out of it.

Another, difference which I feel is that writers don’t write out their creative or original ideas, whereas authors basically do that only. Authors create a premise, a structure, a flow, plots, imagine scenes, and put them in black and white.

One thing is clear, writer or author, both of them are masters at weaving words together.

If you want to become an author or learn the art of writing, keep a tab of this blog. A lot is coming up.

Hey,

I don’t know how you landed up here on this blog. I don’t know which part of the world you come from. But I know one thing that you were eagerly looking to find out a Life Coach. Probably the question in your mind was, who is a life coach? What does he do?

Maybe you have heard someone talking about this role or maybe you must have heard, seen, or read about someone being one.

Can you see Life Coach written prominently somewhere on this post?

Yes, you got it right. It is below my name at the top of this page.

I am a Life Coach.

Let me tell you Who is a Life Coach?

But before I do that let me tell you that a Life Coach is not a therapist or healer.

He is your friend. A friend who chats you out of your unresolved life problems and struggles. A friend who you can look forward to sharing the bottlenecks, challenges, your stories with an expectation that he would help you find out a solution.

He is a professional who will help you reach where you want to from where you are by collaboratively working with you on the path you have to tread.

He is not a solution provider.

He is not simply going to provide you with a solution.

He will help you think, question yourself, find out answers, reflect on your findings and then together chart a path you have to travel to reach your decided objective, goal, or destination.

He is going to make you do everything. He is a coach who will not simply find out mistakes, gaps, or loopholes in your current actions. He will make you reflect on them and make you find the gaps.

Do you know why do Life Coaches follow this technique?

It is because when an individual finds out the problems on his own, the reasons- external and internal, he is able to craft a more realistic solution or the path to the solution. An actionable path that is completely relevant and inherent to the individual. Something he would have complete accountability to adhere to.

What are the areas he can help you out with?

The matter of fact is that there are more than fifty niches where a Life Coach can help you. Just check this out.

For your clarity, I have listed about sixty-five types of Life Coaches. I know it is exhaustive.

Career CoachHealth CoachWellness CoachParenting CoachExecutive CoachLeadership CoachBusiness CoachRelationship CoachMarital CoachLife Skills CoachFinance CoachTeam CoachPerformance CoachSales CoachMindfulness CoachSpiritual Life CoachNLP CoachPersonal Development CoachRecovery CoachSports CoachPersonal Empowerment CoachConfidence CoachTransistional CoachStrategic CoachAccountability CoachConflict CoachCreativity CoachDating CoachMarketing CoachNutrition CoachProductivity CoachTransformation CoachLegacy CoachMid-Life Crisis CoachWork-Life Balance CoachCross Cultural CoachReiki CoachMental Health CoachHypnotherapy CoachSuccess CoachTalent CoachLifestyle CoachTime-Management CoachWomen Empowerment CoachPublic Relations CoachImage CoachMotivationa CoachChange Management CoachYoga CoachWeight Loss CoachWriting CoachPublic Speaking CoachPersonal Branding CoachCustomer Service CoachEntrepreneur CoachReal Estate CoachMerger and Acquisitions CoachLanguage CoachStory Telling CoachCommunication Skills CoachNegotiation CoachSocial Skills CoachBlogging CoachDigital Marketing CoachInterview Coach

The above list is a result of my search over Google. You can find it too. I didn’t make it.

Are Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, Vivek Bindra, or Sandeep Maheshwari Life Coaches?

The answer is a YES and a NO.

They are life and business coaches but self-proclaimed ones, not professionally certified or accredited.

So you must have started thinking is there any institute or organization that provides any such accreditation.

The answer is a big YES.

But don’t get carried away.

There is only one organization that provides International accreditation or credential in coaching. All others are unrecognized ones if they are providing any certification.

It is the INTERNATIONAL COACHING FEDERATION (Click the link and read for more info) or ICF as it is popularly called. It is a 25-year-old organization that has evolved into a coaching ecosystem.

ICF offers three credentials: Associate (ACC), Professional (PCC), and Master Certified Coach (MCC). To earn one of these credentials, here are the basic steps:

Complete coach-specific training that meets ICF’s standards.Achieve a designated number of coaching experience and training hours – this number varies depending on which credential you choose to pursue.Partner with a Mentor Coach.Demonstrate appropriate understanding and mastery of ICF’s definition of coaching, Code of Ethics and Core Competencies. (Source: ICF Website)

Why is being a credentialed coach important?

Being an ICF Credential-holder increases your credibility in the industry and helps build your professional network. You’ll join a global network of approximately 71,000 professional coaches – all with the same passion to change lives and make a difference. (Source: ICF Website)

I hope this will clarify your doubts about a LIFE COACH. I hope I made your read a useful one. Please leave a comment if I did.