The Ingredients of Success

What are the basic ingredients that are required, for a person to be successful?

Now, aside from limiting social factors, and financial difficulties, if an individual wanted to set his mind to succeed, no matter in what aspect he/she wants to succeed be it financially, academically, or even socially, what kind of a mindset should he/she have?Let's first get the definition of Success correct. In contemporary parlance, Success means Financial security in a massive scale, fame and other glitz and glam associated with a famous person.

But that doesn't necessarily be the only definition of Success.

If you try to mend a broken relationship, or even set yourself a goal and want to attain it, then if you end up accomplishing it, it can also be translated as Success. It's all dependent on your mindset. Remember, Business principles need not always apply to business ventures. They can also be applied with resounding outcomes to everyday events in daily life. And the same goes for everyday experience being applied to succeed in business.

That said, its time to begin analyzing What is Required of you to begin succeeding in whatever you do.

Goals and a Burning Passion

Now before you set a goal for yourself, you should first have a faint vision of what you want to achieve. Be it delivering a simple speech before your colleagues, or a new project at work, only if you have a clear picture of what your end result should be, you can work towards it.

Why has the word "Goal" become associated with setting objectives?

In Soccer, the ball has to be kicked inside the goal post after having been tacitly passed around the enemy's defenses, and the goalkeeper, for the kick to count as a goal.

Picture the defensive players as the obstacles in what you're setting out to achieve, and the goalkeeper as Yourself, the one person you should have complete control over, in order to succeed.

Now why should you have control over yourself? Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Aren't we sane, steady thinking human beings? Yes, we indeed are. But, the Human mind is a complex organism unto itself.

Temptation is anybody's prima donna enemy. Temptation can be in the form of alluring casual activities, those that provide instant gratification, or temptation can be in the form of Slumber itself, giving way to procrastination, another great foe in working towards your goals.

So only if you have control over yourself, you can allay temptation, and therefore master procrastination and instant gratification compulsions.

How can you have control over yourself?

This question can have a lot of different answers for different people.

Its not easy for people to control themselves after they cross a particular threshold in their lives. It may be easier in the case of youngsters, but for those people who have seen a lot of emotional stress and other travails today's world has to offer, it is indeed a mammoth task.

So how can self control be inculcated when it cannot be done by self?

You can resort to a lot of mind-soothing activities. Meditation. Yoga. Breath Exercises. But, there's a catch.

The only person who can cure yourself is you, and yourself alone.

Medication doesn't help. Counseling doesn't help. They do, but what they ultimately do is activate your conscience and ultimately open your reasoning eyes.

So why go to the extent of so many long hours of counseling and medication that might run into thousands of dollars when you, after a few days of self pondering can counsel yourself and set things right?

You can argue with me that self counseling sounds good on paper but is not practically possible. But what if you had the willingness to actually change yourself, have you not heard of the proverb : Where there is a will there is a way?

All these will help in granting you a firmer determined self with which you can set achievable goals and work towards achieving them.

Passion

How can you define passion?

I'll try to explain it in a easy way. Have you seen the look on the faces of Olympic Athletes when they win a Gold medal? That's real satisfaction. How were they able to achieve real gratification?

They achieved something that was an extraordinary thing to do. They set in tremendous mind boggling hours into what they wanted to accomplish. They were determined, didn't swagger from their path towards their goal.

And when they finally outlast tons of competitors from all the other countries in the world and stand on the podium and have the medals hung over their necks, the look on their faces betrays whatever turmoils they underwent, to achieve their objective.

Instant Gratification is not satisfaction. It is a hurdle actually. By gratifying your ego for an instant everyday, you actually diminish your desire and your passion for working towards your goal. Your resolve gets weakened. Your Passion for life also gets weakened. Scoff at me, but this is the truth. By delaying instant gratification for prolonged periods of time, far greater gratification can be obtained.

Gratification is permanent satisfaction, and gives contentedness of the soul.

I have just given a glimpse into what Passion really means. It is just the tip of the iceberg.

So, Having seen how Goals and a Burning passion make a few of the ingredients of success, its time for everyone of us to sit down and ponder whether we're giving fuel for long term satisfaction or instant gratification.

How to be Different

Great things were done not by following the norms and rules that exist in society, but by actually creating a new pathway to do a particular thing. Tons of examples can be done to reiterate this fact. Your success may lie with your genius as much as your willingness to experiment,
And your willingness to experiment will only arise when you're willing to be different.


Being Different


Being different is nothing special. Its not some inherent quality. Its not a quality that's present only in intelligent people.

It is possible for every normal person to reach out to the world and be different in what he does.

And, Society, even though it firmly directs you to abide by its rules, ALWAYS APPRECIATES PEOPLE WHO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY.

You might've read the expression: Winners do things differently. How to set about doing things differently?

The first thing you should do is, whatever the thing that you're doing, you should get to know all there's to do about it. Learn it. Read about it. See how the thing is done by others.

One of the basic stepping stones to success is, your familiarity with what you're setting out to do.

Only if the Teacher is well versed in his subject, he can teach effectively right?

So, You , like the teacher, only after getting to know something very well, can do it effectively right?

The first step, therefore lies in knowledge. By knowledge, I don't mean textual, factual knowledge. Its just the basic Know how of doing a thing.

After you make yourself extremely familiar with what you're doing, you'll find yourself that you naturally develop a flair for it. Once you develop a flair for doing stuff, automatically, you'll get involved with doing it.

Once Involvement arises in an activity, then all the rooms are laid bare for Innovation.

With Innovation, there comes doing things differently.

You'll find yourself Asking the question:

"Hm, What if, This was done the other way around?"

There, you try to innovate. When you try to innovate, you improvise, and when you improvise, you perfect yourself, and by perfecting yourself step by step, at the end, you end up being different than others.

Its a cycle, its like:

Familiarity ->
Flair ->
Consistency->
Satisfaction->
Thirst for more-->
Innovation
Improvisation
Perfection
Difference

This IS NOT A BUSINESS PRINCIPLE.

This does sound like one, but this is actually what happens when people try to be different.

BEING DIFFERENT IS NOT A SKILL OR TALENT.

Being different is just a NEED, a PERSONAL DESIRE. It only arises after a person gets INVOLVED with what they're upto.

Without Involvement, there cannot be satisfaction. Without satisfaction, there cannot be perfection, and without perfection, there won't be any difference, it will only fall short.

You can also see how Thinking Differently helps you out, and also about Positive Thinking.

Thinking Positively

The world has lots of success stories. Some made it from, literally, Nothing. Rags to riches tales, heard of them? There are stories of Orphans making it to the highest Government offices. Not in novels, but in real life. What made these people achieve what they set out to do?
Was it just Opportunity, right decisions at the right time, or mere luck?

Not withstanding all the external influences and advantages they might've encountered, there is one very important attribute one has to consider. They thought. They kept thinking they could do it.

They kept telling themselves they HAVE to do it, they WANT to do it. They wanted it, they craved for it, they thought about it every second in each day, they made it their obsession to achieve their dreams.

This is what made them successful, to an extent.

Think of You and your aspirations in this situation.

You have lots of ideas, lots of thoughts, lots of concepts, lots of new brainwaves every day. But, do you actually see them through? Do you work on them, and do you translate them into reality?

Why aren't you doing it?

There can be a lot of factors.

a)You might be occupied with something else.

b)You might have other responsibilities. (Family, Girlfriend, Work etc.)

c)You might be lazy. (Sounds funny, but isn't it true?)

Okay, there are hurdles towards you achieving your goal. But, imagine if No one had any hurdle in their lives, NO PROBLEMO with nothing, then, will not the world be a peaceful happy place where everyone achieved what they wanted?

Yes, the world isn't a perfect place. So, its replete with obstacles. Success isn't a one day story.

Failure is just the first step, Success is the final step.

In order for you to succeed in any venture, be it a multi million dollar investment, or a simple negotiation for more play hours from your mother, you have to firmly believe in one thing: Tell Yourself you can do it, you will do it.

What are you doing here?

You're simply thinking positively.

By merely thinking positively, you automatically open yourself to positive ways to achieve your goal.

Picture this. You think that a venture of yours will fail. Now, even if it isn't supposed to fail, it will fail, because you KEPT THINKING it would. You unknowingly do things that will make you fail.

Having seen what a negative attitude does to you, should you not henceforth think positive and stay positive, to actually materialise your desire and ambition into reality?

It is possible. Every one, notwithstanding their social status, economic limitations, age, gender, can become anyone, amass any amount of wealth, be famous.

What counts is: THEIR DESIRE TO ACHIEVE WHAT THEY DESIRE. Their thinking that they will do it.

Start Thinking, Start transforming your dreams into reality. The world might be a hard place, but nothing is impossible, yet.

Think Differently

How much of a real questioner of beliefs are you? Are you the one in a million person, who dared to think differently, and managed to make a difference? OrAre you just another raindrop from the sky, finding its place among so many other raindrops in the rain?

A Nobody or Somebody?

Who Are you?

You might want to answer this question in so many different ways. You will begin to reason that you were, still are, a different and unique person than everyone else. Or you will simply own up and accept that you're like anyone else, didn't dare to think differently, and just went along with the ebb and flow of life and came to where you are today.

Ever wondered if something in your life had happened in a different way, and your life took a massive turn? Wonder what would've happened if you had dared to come up with something controversial to the normal unfurling of events in your life. Maybe there would've been a sea of difference. Maybe there might not.

But the bottom line is, after you've spent all your life's energy, you might find yourself sitting at some reclining arm chair and wondering, "What was my life all about?"

Now, if you were a successful businessman or an entrepreneur, you might have the satisfaction of answering that question all by yourself, "Yes, I was a hard working innovator!"

If you were just an employer for someone else, the someone being a reputed organization or any individual for that sake, you might find yourself having a not so satisfactory answer for the question you asked yourself.

What's the deciding factor, that demarcates a 'normal' life, and an 'extra ordinary' one?

Its the willingness to question things.


Throughout our lives, we've been trained to accept things for what they are. Always trained to do stuff how its meant to be done. Right through schooling, right down to working at some company. We never are allowed the chance to THINK, in the sense, to actively question WHY something happens and why it should happen.

Rarely one in a bunch of ten people questions why life has become so mechanical in contemporary times. Why? Because society has grown so vast that the room for a single human being to stand out as somebody apart from the normal mold, is getting smaller and smaller!

Successful people got where they are today not simply by hard work or luck. They did Hard AND smart work. Work hard, work differently. By differently, I mean a whole lot of things.

The basic foundation for all this uniqueness comes with the ability to ask questions.

If Newton had sat there, took the apple and just ate it, we never would have known about what made the apple fall, any day.

What did he do, that set him apart? He Questioned WHY.

Remember, nobody is more intelligent than anybody else. Intelligence, as far as humans are considered is mere APPLICATION of whatever you KNOW.

Intelligent people, simply apply what they know and tend to find a solution for

problems much faster than so called un-intelligent people.

Intelligence is merely a gauging factor for one's level of understanding of how human society operates at the scientific and theoretical level.

Take for example, something happens in your everyday life, that is totally abnormal from your daily routine. Do you stop to question WHY it traversed, instead of just simply getting on with it?

By merely asking the question WHY, you accomplish a whole lot of things.

It begins with you searching for an answer to your question. While searching for that answer, be it an emotional answer, a practical answer, whatever it might be, you encounter a whole lot of new situations to grapple with.

Now each and every unique experience in your life is a chance for you to LEARN something NEW.

If you keep learning new things each day for all of the remaining years in your life from this moment, will you not gain something, Something that might of be any use to you sometime in your life? Isn't it better than just being yet another victim of life, going along with the flow and drowning when your share gets filled?

So, Question. Seek the answer to whatever question that arises to your mind. Let your thoughts go on a free trail. Think about the things that happened in your life, question why they happened, and from the answers, derive the experience to equip yourselves to face your future with a better version of You. Question the stuff around you, you'll begin to notice so much difference from the banalities of every day life, and why you've been wasting the chance you've been offered all along to make a difference in this world, however be the magnitude of it.

Seven Magic Words for Success

If I told you there were just Seven words which stood between success and you, would you believe it? Probably not. You'll just dispel the concept as yet another myth. But, Truth is, these six magic words do make an impact on everyday lives to a resounding extent.Most of us begin a day, not by thinking what we are going to do in the day that is to come, but by spending it on thinking about what happened the previous day.

Well, It IS good remembering the past, but living in the past isn't good at all, not even a tiny bit. What it stands to bring you is more grief and disappointment, and that is not going to help you or any loved one any bit at all.

The past just serves as experience for you, experience from which you ought to have learnt that whatever went wrong, shouldn't be repeated at all.

There's a saying,

Whenever you fall down, Pick up something, and stand up and start running again.

Its a rat race that goes on in today's world. You have to keep running fast, just in order to stay at the same place where you are. And in order to improve yourself, you need to run EVEN faster.

This might remind you of the Evolutionary theory by Darwin. Believe me, it applies to human lives too. Except that, humans evolve emotionally and intellectually each day.

Its therefore important that you channel your thoughts towards Improving yourself by analyzing your past for lessons learnt from mistakes and unpleasant events, and make sure that such mishaps never repeat themselves again.

Having read through this post, you might have noticed that I still haven't thrown light on those Seven Magic Words for Success.

What you think is who you're

They're those magic words. Its only you who can change who you are, if you want to improvise yourself. You'll be amazed at the results that arise from thinking differently, even an empaneled Shrink won't give you the results that you give yourself via positive thinking.

Need a Good Vocabulary? Here's What People Say

Following my previous blog entry on the need for a good vocabulary, Do you need a Good Vocabulary? I proceeded to begin a discussion on the popular Blogger's hangout Blogcatalog The discussion elicited a lot of responses, and it was Very informative, So I took it to task that all the opinions offered there should be clubbed together to present a consensus on the question. Here's what people have to say about the need for a good vocabulary:

Meds, who blogs at Gears of Rock says:

As long as you can write clearly, then I feel there is no need for an extensive elitist Shakespearean vocabulary.

He also says by using excessively difficult words, one shouldn't end up sounding incoherent.

You shouldn't be a jerk about knowing special words. It only impresses the weak so stop taking advantage of them.

Jenn thorson, who blogs at Thriftshopromantic says a good vocabulary is Absolutely needed, and it helps in impressing the readers and makes them come back for more.

As bloggers, having a good vocabulary is one terrific way of making our posts compelling-- of giving each sentence variety, flow and saying just the thing that we want to say.

It allows our work to have a flow that SOUNDS right, that crackles with interest (and otomotapoeia!) and makes people want to come back.

Zentastic, the advocate of Geek Confidence went forward to write an in depth comment on the real need for vocabulary and its advantages as well as shortcomings.

I think of vocabulary as a toolset - the right word for the right time. Obviously, the more tools you have, the better, but using the wrong tool in a situation just makes things worse.

I value people who can get the point succinctly. If I were working in a fast-paced environment, the last thing I'd want is to have to read an essay any time someone sends me a memo.

People who have a limited command of vocabulary often resort to throwing around as many big words as they can in order to impress. The problem is, people who actually know how to use vocabulary elegantly can see right through that.

Me-me King from MadMadMargo Unequivocally supports the need for a Good Vocabulary.


Shiley Gnu, from Proof Positivity has lots of personal experiences with her husband when it comes to excessive use of difficult words. She says sometimes she ends up intimidating her husband and makes him think She's actually swearing at him whereas shes really cuddling him with soft yet rarely used words.

My husband thinks I'm cursing at him half of the time because of my vocabulary.

I keep doing the free rice thing that does the vocabulary (I'm addicted). My husband doesn't want me messing with it. I say "It's for a good cause." He huffs off and says "It figures!" He won't admit it he's just as bad I fall asleep reading text books and he loves them. I must love slaughtering language.

Touche?!

Arnous and Steve both concur that :

Good Vocab is when you can use words to say less and mean more.

Arnous blogs at The Arnous Blog and Steve is from Zobop Republic

Karin, a ski expert from Sweden who blogs as the Silly Swedish Skier is of the view that a Good Vocabulary is needed, but only in a moderate amount, more like a casual necessity.



Hatingtherain from the Rain Hate blog also accepts the view that vocabulary is only a tool of necessity.


Jeremy Long from Good Internet Marketing dismisses the need for a good vocabulary. He says the ability to express thoughts clearly will do.

not necessary...
Just be able to express your thoughts, feelings, etc , clearly.

Maddie from Irrelevant Twaddle says a good vocabulary contributes to the overall personality of an individual.

I think having a good vocabulary is vital as it enriches your understanding of information in general and creates a good impression to those that see your good use of vocabulary, beneifical in emplyoment, education, et al.

Sofia from Filosofia, a philosophical blog, says that a good vocabulary is an Indicator of the overall monetary success of a person.

The Conviction is that people with larger vocabularies tended in general to have larger incomes.

Bottomline

Various people of different ages, different walks of life all concur that a good vocabulary is indeed a valuable tool. But, they also imply the fact that it is not a mandatory necessity. The lack of a good vocabulary doesn't limit an individual, it is just an enhancing attribute in any language.

A Good Vocabulary is in the end, a valuable tool, that should be used wisely as to the benefit of effective, simple communication.

How to plan ahead

Each and every one of us would have invariably been caught in a precarious predicament at one point in our lives. And therein, we ask ourselves a very difficult question.



What lies ahead?

Life is replete with surprises. Surprises are exciting. In two ways : Good and Bad.
The Good way a surprise excites someone is when it turns out to be a pleasant one. Something that heralds better oppurtunity, better financial security, or even something that grants one a passionate love life.

The Bad way a surprise hits on someone is when they're faced with a daunting problem, a major financial crisis, joblessness, emotional turmoil, coping with stress, relationship issues, and various other crises that gloom normal, happy life.

Did you notice one thing?

The list of things that are "counted" as bad are endless. They keep stretching, and they're intertwined. They form a vicious circle.

On the other hand, the list of things that count as "good" are few. Why, pray? Cause Good things are generally never realized that they harbor goodness with them.

You, being the self analyzing, confident, intelligent person that you are, sometimes fail to realize the real crux of the situation that you're in.

Say, lets ponder on a small story below.

Two men are rowing kayaks. The river suddenly turns turbulent. One says to the other, "Hey man, the river seems to be in a bad mood, make sure you maintain your balance on the kayak!"

The other person, a -things-the-way-they-come person, retorts, "Why don't you shush and concentrate on the rowing?"

What happened?

The river was headed into a waterfall. The person who sensed it and prepared himself for the oncoming descent, managed to have a safe fall through the waterfall and down to the calmer water below.

The other person, who failed to realize the impending catastrophe, was swept along with the river in full force and crashed headlong into a rock precipice, hurting himself.

What does this tell us?

To plan ahead, to always keep an eye open for what might traverse us in our lives. No matter how secure/ insecure we feel about it.

How to plan ahead?


The primary step in planning ahead, is to set yourself a target.

Without a target, how can someone accomplish anything?

It's like a car on a friction less road. It keeps traveling, forever. Hypothetically proven.


Set a Goal.

Set yourself an objective. A Goal, a target, something you might feel like working towards to.

Let it be realistic, but by keeping it realistic, you need not restrict the limits to which you set yourself to.

The Goal should be something you will have to put in a lot of work to do it, it should be more or less a challenge.

Remember, if Edison hadn't taken it as a challenge to keep experimenting with the filament for a thousand times, we would never have seen the electric bulb in action!

Prioritize.

Classify your everyday activites into two types. Useful/ Useless.

Useful activities should be those that help you move one step closer to your goal. Useless activities are those that do not relate in any way to your goal, but they might be a casual activity in your daily life. It might be important, but that doesn't matter.
Just fill in the list according to the usefulness of the activity you indulge in.

The importance of this step is to self analyze yourself and to inform You of what you're really upto in each passing day of your life.




Be Confident.

The single most important foundation to achieving whatever your objective is to be sure of yourself that you're capable of doing whatever you set yourself to. This article might help you allay any fears you may have about your potential.

Don't waste the Present.

Remember, the past is finished. It's over, done, that's it. The future is uncertain. Its only the present that you hold in your hands. No matter what befell you in the past, if you make use of your current time usefully, the future will be good right?


Planning Ahead


Take up the list you made containing the activities you indulge in daily. Look at those that pertain towards the completion of your goal. Draw a mental picture of what you have to do in order to further your objective. Think. Think what you'll do to improve upon what you were already doing. Think of the pitfalls you might encounter, but also think how you will equip yourself to face them and succeed.

If at any point, you feel that something might not turn out favourably, convince yourself that it will, indeed turn out for the overall improvement of your current predicament, and whatever turmoil that heralds only serves as experience, a powerful tool with which you can bravely face the future!

Remember, it's not the bad things that pull us down, it's us thinking that things will end up bad that pull us down!

Please feel free to drop a comment on whether you liked the article, or if you have any similar experiences or suggestions. I'll be very glad to read it, Drop a comment below!

How to lose fear of failure

One of the basic reasons people don't attemp new things is because they're afraid. Afraid of its outcome. This may be taken as an indicator that they're having foresight, but that might not be the true case.

They're just letting an imaginary fear take over their thoughts and prevent them from actually doing something.

They end up as lambs to the slaughter, like countless other humans who spend all their lives doing what everyone else does, nothing different, and die a unnoticed death, unremembered and uncared for, an unknown entity that walked the Earth.

Compare this with "successful" and "famous" persons, and you instantly realize what they had and what got them to where they are.

It's entirely psychological

Where does this fear have it roots?

From the person's past experiences. 

Why does this fear arise?

This fear arises because you strive subconsciously for a good outcome, and you also have suffered an experience which was unsatisfactory in your past, while attempting a new challenge.

How to overcome this fear?

Approach things with an open mind. Don't let any misconceptions drag you down.

Think of it, how will you fail, if you don't even attempt to actually DO something?

There were two athletes. It was the olympics. They were discussing their tactics, and their target for the ongoing competition.

Both weren't well known athletes, they hadn't set records earlier, but they were considered promising and capable.

One said to the another, "Hey, I'm aiming to set a new world record today."

The other mocked him. "How will you? You haven't even come close to doing that anytime in your history. Stop thinking like a frog in the well. Be like me, I'll just cross the minimum mark for qualifying."

The competition got over. You might have guessed what would've happened.

The person aiming for setting a new record, though he came close to it, WON the competition, atleast. He set a new benchmark for him, for his sporting career, one that he could work upon.

The other person, the one who just wanted to qualify, was unable to attain the minimum requirements to qualify itself. Why? Because he set himself an abysmal objective.

The successful person on the other hand, though having set a far flung objective, atleast managed in coming close to it.

What does this tell us?

Set Your Goals to the maximum limit possible.

You might have come across the expression, "Aim for the skies!"

The true meaning of this expression is that, if one aims for the skies, one might atleast move satisfactorily on the ground.

What would happen, if you aim for the stars?

Simple. You'll be soaring in the skies!

So, think expansively, aim high. Remember, there are no limits, the limits are only meant to be broken!

How to avoid the Writer's Block

With the Blog Explosion giving Writing a whole new dimension and surge of life, people all over the world have begun giving life and shape to their ideas via their writing. Except that they now call it Blogging. But the process behind it is just the same. You Type out your views, you attach links to it, you draw upon reference sources, you add tags then you publish it. It is similar to writing, right?

Some have it easy. They have a continuos flow, their articles are short, simple and sweet. Some on the other hand take ages to type out their thoughts, then work on it meticulously to make it look better.

Whereas some, even though they are overflowing with ideas, find it difficult to begin.

This is called The Writer's Block.

Is it good to have a Writer's Block?

Absolutely. It implies that your intuitions are working correctly, that you are conscious of what you're going to write. Its a self imposed quality test. It means that you attach a certain self respect to yourself and your opinions which are going to be read by diverse people all over the world.

This is an indicator of whatever you're going to write is going to be really, really good.

How to get around it?

Two people were climbing a hill. One was a withered, Old man. The other man was in his early twenties.

The young man, who was athletically built, asked the old man, "Hey, How are you going to climb this hill? It's too long a distance to cover for an old man like you!"

The old man replied with a benign smile,"I'll meet you at the other side of the Hill."

The young man scowled at the Elder and proceeded to begin climbing the hill.

The old man started climbing the hill step by step. He didn't let the fact that the hill was a steep one to daunt him. He just proceeded step by single step. Each step was small, and so the old man gradually made progress.

That night, the old man saw the Young man stooped under a rock. The young man whined,"I'm turning off, it's impossible to ascend and descend this hill. Its too long!"

The young man returned home, failing in his task.

The Elder on the other hand, stuck to facing the Hill as one rocky step after the next one, and though it took him quite a bit of time, eventually got to the other side of the hill.

So, how can you write an entire article on a topic, then continue writing articles on topic upon topics, if you let the beginning lines of your initial article make you think so much?

The First Tip is to just write whatever comes to your mind, no matter how simple or unimpressive it is. Huge downpours are made up  of countless raindrops which are so minuscle. Its only the small trivial things that add up to become great momentous achievements.

During the course of writing down whatever that strikes you, You will tend to hit upon the very concept you were searching for earlier. Incidents from your very own life will come up in your memory, and you will automatically find a way to apply those experiences to lucidly express the contents of your article with them.

Whenever you begin composing an article on any topic, there are three Very important things you should do:

1.Research

2.More Research 

3.And Research again.

You need to keep gathering data, garner reports, access videos of the topic if there are any, read previous articles on the subject, understand what it really is at its core, what you're dealing with, how it can be related to everyday life, where you can draw examples from. The bottomline is :

Its imperative that you have a clear-cut understanding of the topic you are going to write on.

Once you have an in-depth understanding of the topic at hand, Opinions will freely originate from you. They will surprise yourself to such an extent that you'll wonder,"My god, am I the one who's coming up with all of this?"

Yes. You have it in yourself to become an impeccable writer. Anyone can become an expert on any subject, become a best selling author, an impressive writer.

The basic criteria which lead to these achievements is the complete understanding of what their objective is.

Writing an article isn't about writing lines upon lines of text that simply imply no real meaning. The opinions that are provided should be universally applicable. Everyone should be able to benefit from those opinions. The opinions, thoughts and ideas expressed should be time-less in their substance. They should have the potential to be applied at any point in time in a person's life.

Stop Doubting your ability!

The single most important thing that causes a severe Writer's block is : Fear of failure.

People tend to unnecessarily begin thinking that they're not cut to the job. 

That's a gross misconception! It's just a manifestation of Fear of failure.

Now why does this fear arise? Because there isn't enough Confidence. Why isn't there enough Confidence? Because the necessary tasks for the job haven't been done.

What are the necessary tasks that are to be done before writing?

A fresh, open, free thinking mind. Being creative helps a lot. There shouldn't be any other things clogging at you behind your mind, telling you you have this to do, that do to. You should be focused upon what you're doing : You're in the process of writing a good article!

While writing it, you shouldn't write it to please the readers, write it to please yourself.

Yes, self satisfaction brings out the best out of anyone. For, who is a better analyst , who knows more about you, than you yourself?

Sometimes some writers do bizarre things before beginning to write. Some go on a spiritual trip. Some begin voracious reading. Some get drunk beyond their senses. Some go on a soul searching trip. Some actually do what they're going to write.

There are different ways to open up all those ebbing thoughts inside your mind. The first step is to have a clarity of thought. Focus on what is to be done, and just do it. Don't let thoughts about your work's outcome clog your brain.

How could have Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel for so many years, if he had let the Pope's snide remarks on his work affect him while he was working single handedly in solitude?

Michelangelo had self belief. He believed in himself. He believed he could pull it off, and he pulled it off amazingly.

That's what you need to have, to write without any obstructions in your flow of thought. You need to have self belief, belief in your ability to deliver as a writer, belief in your ability to captivate the attention of writers.

Stop thinking how the end result would appear like. Errors are permissible during the initial draft. What's important is that you are letting the ideas flow. You can always review the draft and perfect it. Its better reviewing what you have written, instead of contemplating on what to write isn't it?

Remember, writing anything is an art. Even writing a blog post. If you do it just for the sake of writing a meaningless array of words, you can, but how can you achieve any sort of satisfaction from it, if you yourself know that it is not written for its real worth?

Get into what you're writing about!

Another important thing to do, is to actually place yourself in the thick of things about which you're writing. You need to strike the chord of relevance between everyday events and the contents of the article. How will this help the normal person? How can a student benefit from this? You need to think empathetically.

Place yourself in the shoes of the readers themselves.

 

Once you become a neutral reader of what you've written, then the ways to improvise, the weak points, the points that have to be given more importance, ideas that have been left in the dark, and ideas on what follow up articles you have to write will automatically present themselves to you. It's just, by simply thinking that it's difficult to begin writing, you've placed all your ideas in a steel vault. It's upto you, and it IS you, who is going to unlock that treasure trove, and let it flood the minds of the readers. 

Set aside self doubt, sow the seeds of self belief in your heart, and research extensively on the topic you're going to write on. You'll be amazed at the results!

If you have, at any point, suffered from Writer's block, or if you have any different approaches to combat writer's block, then you're Very welcome to share it in the comments below! Or if you liked the article, or if you had a difference of opinion on the article's contents, you have every right to state it in the comments below!

Mankind's obliteration of the last vestiges of Racism

With the election of Barack Husein Obama to the office of the President of the United States of America, a collective melting pot of humanity has voiced, though subliminally, Racism's end.
As evidenced sporadically in the mass media now, Racism has been reduced to a joke, literally. Its only a subject where humorists try to squeeze whatever they can out of it.
Skin colour, a thing which decided the fate of millions of humans even a half century ago, has finally been accepted by the masses as nothing but a mere veneer for yet another human soul to traverse the corridors of life.
Well, if theres a rule, or theres a rule thats in its formative stages, in this case The End of Racism, there are always exceptions.
And these exceptions readily apparate(Harry Potter lingo!) themselves in the guise of the wars waged in a few third world countries and Terrorism. Delving into these subjects will consume the winter season in all its entirety for myself.
All said, there can be no denying that Brown, Black, Yellow or White, a human is gauged only by his actions and societal standing a la occupation, education, financial status, and not by his melanin content.

Spore : What went wrong.

Well, this game, in its conception, drew an enormous amount of hype.

Partly because it was being conceptualized and given life by Will Wright, renowned games developer.

Partly because it dealt with one of the most controversial theories in Human History, Evolution.

Partly because it was supposed to be a game that incorporated biological sciences and er... fun.

I was waiting for this game to release. And so did lots of other people for an entire period of two years.

Then, the hype surrounding it gradually faded, cause the game achieved a quasi-gold status even before its launch.

A huge demo with almost three fourths of the game concept was released, to wide ado and appreciation from gaming enthusiasts.

Then the real thing happened. The game hit stores, and i bought it duly. 

I was in for a gradual realization, that something was missing from the game. First time I played it, the entire concept was astounding, it made me feel like I was a part of some unique experience.

The game takes the user in stages of evolution. From a cell, to a organism, to a tribe, to a nation, to a civilization and then lets you enter the space age to conquer the entire universe and lets you become god in the end!

Such an amazing concept, but something went seriously lacking in its implementation. The game lacks replayability value, once you finish playing it for one full round, there isn't anything new for you to encounter.

Other than countless redesigns or entire new creations of each stage of your Spore journey. It may be fun for a few people, but for the majority audience , it doesn't hold it quite well.

People tend to get bored of such inane concepts. And very quickly, especially with the wide array of highly sophisticated action games hitting the markets in the recent times. Crysis warhead and Farcy 2 among them.

So due to wrong timing, poor implementation- possibly due to brainstorming conflicts within the developing team- a game that was supposed to be a landmark in gaming history went sour.

Do you, as a valued reader of this blog, have any opinions as to what happened to make Spore turn out the way it did? the praz blog values your opinion, so be our guest and leave a comment stating your thoughts!