iPENthisBLOG

Get Defeated!!!

2012-01-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

There is a saying - "A person who never loses, can never truly succeed"

You can decide to be successful always and never take risk by not trying anything new. By doing this, statistically, you have a track record of succeeding always but only you know you have not challenged yourself.

The fear of failing is the moment you really fail and the failure itself is not your failure.

When they say - "Failures are the stepping stones to success"; Try to get it literally. You don't fail - then you don't succeed. Only failures pave way and they are indeed the way to success.

Say you are a sportsman and you win all the events. When will you refine your flaws and better yourself? Never.

Shall we make a conscious decisions to make mistakes by trying something which we know we are not good at. By trying something new which you haven't done before. We shall be ready to fail.

Shunning failure is avoiding victory. Let's be bold from today. Let's keep the curiosity alive.

Smiling when defeated and picking yourself up for the next bigger challenge are the qualities and ingredients needed in making of a successful person.

Let's take the road less travelled. Let's get defeated!!

More the beating a rock takes, more perfect becomes the statue within. Let's rock!!!

Being bold

2012-01-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

New Year is here and I don't want to bore myself by sounding a whiner!!

Even then.. here it goes...

I have a lot of dreams. On the other hand, I have even more reasons to fail. I know each one of them to be true and that frightens me to death. Yet ironically, sometimes accepting them and say 'I can't' makes me feel safe. It comforts my nerves.

In those moments of weaknesses, I look back and commend myself for what I have done and achieved( mostly by mere luck and sometimes by hard work). It ain't that bad. hmm.. It looks good. Not bad.

I am not at peace and only I could feel that. Some commend for what I am, today. Some dream with me about my future and some think small of me. I appreciate the applauds and cares and love. Rest, simply I don't care.

Some have hopes on me and some are judging me. And all I ask for is peace. Not money. Not fame. Not status. Not social acceptance. Wait. It could be social acceptance.

I am a bit after success and that is social recognition, right? But, I for sure, know that too would not give me peace. Because, I had been successful many a times in the past and those moments have flown as fast as they had come.

I am not down. But there is something I want to do and I know, I can do them. But I am not doing it and that aches.

Rather than accepting the so called 'FACTS'. I am going to be bold and run out of reasons to not be successful. Ha. See again. I am for sure after success.

I am going to be bold and not accept defeat even though I am flawed. Even though I don't deserve it. Even though I am not a genius.

Why not give it a shot. I could turn out to be 'The David' who slayed the Goliath. Okay if I fail or even if I my work is not recognized socially.

Atleast, I will find my peace.

Wish you all a very happy new year. Hoping and praying - You too have hope!!

Change is around the corner

2011-06-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Change is what is gonna hit iPENthisBLOG. iPENthisBLOG is gonna become more personal. Simply put, you are gonna see more of me.

It had been tough to post only professional sounding blog without baring my heart. I would like to venture into topics I like to talk about and hence there gonna be a change in articles that gonna hit iPENthisBLOG.

If you wonder, what it would be and how iPtB is gonna evolve? - This could give a hint.

Some of the existing articles would be removed from iPtB and some new articles would be added. There could be some design changes as well. The typhoon of changes are expected to last for next 2 months, post which all should be as calm as Indian Ocean.

Wide flavors of articles would be presented and I am confident and hopeful, it suits your palate. You would see my design works and my upcoming ventures too.

Hope you stick around until then to appreciate the changes. Hope you like the new avatar of iPtB.

Thanks,
Ganesh

P.S: This change I had promised a year back and it is happening only now. Seems, only now, the stars are at their right positions.

Prashant - You win Buddy. It's difficult to not sound personal in a blog and yet write in it. Hope you remember the discussion we had on this way backkkk :)

Belief - One trait we could hold on to.

2011-01-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

One simple wonderment. Kids are often happy and seldom sad. Why? Really, what keeps them happy?

Innocence? Might be. Wait, then I can't be happy anytime. Innocence is ignorance in adult life. I can't be innocent if I need to be ready and well prepared for the surprises the world throws at me.

Innocence would be liked by many and would be exploited by even more people. So being an adult and being innocent is rather a bane than a boon.

Lack of responsibility? That too isn't easy for an adult. I would be responsible in bringing the food to the table in my home. I can't be irresponsible and affect the lives of people who depend on me. In a way, responsibility keeps me grounded and makes me more human. I like this trait. I would not like to think responsibility is what makes me unhappy.

In a way responsibility makes me even more content and focussed.

What else is there then for kids to be joyous and go about their lives like butterflies.

Can adults be as care free as the kids, unbound by any streaks of fear or sadness? Though there is the responsibility which keeps us grounded and human. Though there is this knowledge, which makes us see the beauty and the ugliness of the world alike, there is one thing which could make us feel content and soar like the kites in the sky.

That is BELIEF. Children believe in everything. They keep their possibilities open. They think everything and anything is possible. Ask a kid what he would like to become when he grows up? He would say a doctor and a commando. An actor and a policeman. An astronaut. A rock star. Endless list of funny parallel professions too :)

This can be called ignorance. But they are happy because they see the possibility. They don't see the impossibles.

When I say belief, I mean mainly the belief in oneself. They see their true selves. They keep the option open that there is something unknown to them about themselves. We think we know us better. We act as if we know who we are.

That belief in oneself. That thinking that one can do much more than what one thinks of himself. The acceptance that the best of oneself is not yet realized would make us happy.

Simple question. Do you believe in yourself? If you are able to say YES without thinking about the past successes, past failures; Then you are bound to succeed and be happy in life.

People who believe they are destined to become successful and happy, lead a fulfilling happy life.

Never estimate yourself against your abilities. Just believe that you are capable of doing better.

Believe in yourself and see the world through different eyes. See the magic unravel in front of you.

A right way to live consciously

2010-03-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

We have heard a lot about ‘Power of Now’. Everyone seems to be self-contemplative and living a conscious life. Living Consciously is more important than mere living.

If everyone of us is leading a conscious life and we know the power of now, then why do we sense despair sometimes around us. Why do we feel drained of our energies after thinking of our way of life, our living pattern.

Why do we don’t feel rejuvenated(sometimes) when we put our thoughts on how our present condition is and what are we going to do about it. We should be joyous and enjoying it when we think what we are and where are we right now and where we intend to go, right?

If you think about it, it would seem as if the answer had been lying right in front of you, all along. Before getting down to why we aren’t at our best of our potential and energy, answer this. Do you like what you are now? Do you accept the present condition without bitterness or self-doubt or self-pity.

Not accepting the present and thinking to move out of it somehow or the other is not conscious living. Conscious living is always and keep in mind is ALWAYS about decisions. You worrying about the present, looking for something better out there is not conscious living. If you want to reach destination ‘B’, you need to accept that you are at ‘A’ and then you need to map the route to B from A. Not accepting that you are at ‘A’ and planning to go to ‘B’ is absurd, right?

Feeling (sorry/ ashamed/down/ sad/ not satisfied/ not fulfilling/not enough…) about the present condition would relieve you from emotional stress but that is not conscious living asks you to do. It wants to make you the best and it asks you for more. Living consciously means you make yourself a better human being who is successful and content and that comes when you cross the emotional aspects of your present condition and make the DECISION. Only decision is conscious living, not thinking about your present and fanaticizing the future.

Making your dream into a reality lies in your hands and believe me it is hardwork. Respect yourself, by doing what you have decideded. Until you don’t decide to do something about the present and act on it (right now), you could not call yourself to be leading a conscious life. Because, many think of how to change themselves but hardly any do anything about it.

In a nutshell, 2 things makes self-improvement or conscious-living, a mere waste when,
1. When you don’t really accept the present as it is.

2. When you don’t decide and act on it.

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This blog is a collection of self-improvement articles written keeping myself in mind. So that now and then I could drop by and make a change in myself. I am able to see the readership is increasing steadily though my articles aren’t published regularly.
TO ACT being the motive of this blog than it is for mere reading, I like to make a dedication, this article being appropriate, to all my Happy, prosperous, joyous and contented readers who are thriving to extract all that life could give. To you all. God bless. Happy living. :)

Free Twitter background - 6 degrees

2010-03-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the subway maps and especially by Sam Loman's Underskin design, I created this 6degree twitter background.

If you are inquisitive on why the title 6 degrees and if you do not know what it means - you might find this interesting.

Find below a screenshot of the design applied to a twitter account.

I will be providing more such twitter backgrounds for free download. If you have some ideas or tips, let me know. If it inspires me, I will sure take that up and design a background for free.

Let me know what you think of this.

If you wish for a customized twitter background, please contact me and we could discuss further.

Opening up my blog and myself

2010-03-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

I had been blogging for a long time and I had been experimenting this and that for a while.

Even one post which goes simply for the sake of posting would not do any good to you as a blogger nor would it do any good to your readers - This I realized off experience. Also I wanted to work on my passions which are designing and blogging. I wanted to blog on what I am passionate of.

Just Recently, I had dropped the veil and I have stepped out in front of my readers. I like to address my readers and write in my blog in a more personal level.

I am not going to sound professional. If something catches my fancy, I would be sharing that in my blog. I will put forth my thoughts and opinions on varied experiences and ideas that I get.

I believe this would add some life and personality to my blog and make it a true reflection of what I am.

How opening up has helped me?

Firstly, opening up has removed a big burden of doubt from my mind - What would happen if my readers don't like this?

Now, I could easily understand if my readers don't like my post for they could choose not to read that post or my readers could leave me a note saying what they feel of the post. How else could I learn?

Secondly, it gives me lot of freedom to experiment and try out new things and widen my horizon. Anything or any decision which increases the scope of working and makes the working a happy experience is good. This decision is really good.

Lastly, I get a feeling of being honest with my readers. I believe 'hiding my personality' in a way made me a dishonest blogger.

Post Lastly, I could follow where my heart is currently aligned to. I am not in a hurry to write 3 posts per week. I am spending time on my passions and that in a way helps me write better blogs.

I could see some professionals and designers crib citing it would shun away your clients, if you don't carry a professional voice in your blog. I like to believe clients like to approach a more friendly person.

So. It is official. I am dropping the official tone in my blog. Let me know of what you feel about it or what tone do you carry in your blog.

[Photo Credit : Vali]

Free Wallpaper and Calendar for March

2010-03-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry guys to post about this, this late. I am extremely happy for my wallpaper is published in Smashing magazine and placed beside many other beautiful wallpapers created by some of the best designers out there.

You could even find an iphone version of the wallpaper and calendar this time :).

Please hop to Smashing magazine. There, 'Standing Tall' is what I have created. There are a lot of other great wallpapers and calendars there. Choose which would keep you inspired.

Hope you like what I have created.I would be very glad to hear from you. Please let me know what you think about it.

Buzz button in iPENthisBLOG

2010-02-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the TechCrunch Buzz Button, iPENthisBLOG too now sports buzz button.

iPENthisBLOG posts now carry an added buzz button at the bottom. Now it is easier for you to share my posts through buzz.

Technically speaking, what I have done is, I have used Google Reader API for Sharing with note.

Now, as Google Reader could be linked to Buzz and whatever public notes you leave in Google Reader gets buzzed in Google Buzz, this button in a way acts like sharing in Buzz.

This is an easy way to share with your followers in Buzz, until Google releases separate APIs to share in Buzz directly.

So....Buzz away..

In an off topic note (to help those who are overwhelmed and feel dizzy because of this buzz):

Buzz seems to be too much for many Gmail users. It seems complicated but it is not.

What Google had tried doing here is to give personality to all its products like Gmail, Google Reader, Google Profile, Google Buzz.

Now whatever Google products you had been using until now, invariably, Google profile is at the top of the hierarchy. The user of Google Products now have an (public) identity, that is if they choose to use Buzz.

Whatever public sites or blogs you use, can be linked to your Profile page, which also carries the Buzz element.

Buzz is a place where you can share with your friends(aka followers), what you are feeling like or what you are doing now(in lines to twitter or facebook status messages).

Apart from manually sharing in buzz, by connecting other sites like twitter, friendfeed to buzz, you could share your activities in those sites too with your buzz followers.

For ease of use, this buzz page is also integrated in Gmail. Hope this throws some light on what buzz is.

Wallpaper and Calendar for February 2010

2010-02-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

Hoping you all are doing great this New Year.

Happy to present you a cool, geeky(old :)) February Wallpaper. As always, I have provided wallpapers for varied resolutions, including wide screen resolutions.

I have included both without calendar and with calendar versions. The file names tell you what the resolutions are and also whether they are with calendars or without calendars.

Hope you like them. Please let me know whether you like them. I look forward to your comments.

Do you like to see some elements in coming up wallpapers or if you have some ideas for the next wallpaper feel free to tweet me or mail me or leave a message. I would really appreciate if I get some inspiration.

Wishing you all a fabulous February. bye.

TechTalk - Speed matters to a blogger

2009-12-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

In this TechTalk, we try to help you to speed up your browsing by providing you 2 solutions.

One is a comparison of browsers available, helping you to decide on a browser and the other is to change the DNS settings in your system. Hope they help you find noticeable increase in speed.

Waiting for a page to load, is a sure let down for any blogger. The basic tool which we use is a browser.

In the recent browser war that is happening, speed and confirmation to web standards seem to be the points which place one browser ahead of the other.

Here is a comparison of the recent browsers in the market, comparing the javascript performance of the engines of the browsers.

I have compared Safari(4.0.4), Firefox(3.6 Beta 5), Chrome(4.0 Beta) and Opera(10.5 Pre-Alpha)

It is very arrogant and technically wrong to say that Opera 10.5(pre-alpha) failed pathetically, since its new javascript engine Carakan is proved to perform better than the rest. If you look at Opera's individual tests, some did perform exceedingly well.

Not sure why the results at Dromeo is reflecting like this.

So, leaving Opera out of this for some time until a stable version of 10.5 is released, Chrome 4.0 beta came out as the best of all the browsers.

You could get the complete results of all the browsers here.

The minimalistic look with the fastest javascript engine, Chrome 4.0 BETA is THE fastest browser currently available.

Even the stable version of Chrome 3.0 and Safari 4.0.4 were together leading the pack of browsers in javascript performance speed.

If speed is all you need, you could consider these results. But some bloggers do take in to consideration the add-ons that browsers provide, extra features available and even themes :)....

I carried out the test at dromaeo.com. To know further about this dromaeo project from mozilla - see here

Also using Google Public DNS compared to your ISP's DNS improves your browsing speed. Give this a try too.

Complete guide to setup Google DNS in Windows (XP/VISTA/WINDOWS 7).

Blogging inspite of having a day job

2009-12-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

I have a day job. I have been blogging and I need to happily accept that I learn a lot from blogging as much I learn from my job.

If you have a day job too, there is nothing that you need to sacrifice to enjoy blogging. All you need is a bit of discipline.

You could get to experiment with your ideas and also you could use your talents which were dormant for so many years and put them to use in your blog.

You could be passionate about many things. Choose one which you are really passionate and start blogging on it. There is nothing happier than sharing what you think would help others and when it really does help someone.

Nowadays, starting a blog has become easier. A way to unwind after long hours at office could be through blogging. This lets you to take a break by being creative, blogging.

Choose free blogging platforms like blogger, to start with.

You would experience many good changes in you. I would try to tell a few which you can derive from blogging and which would also help you in your work life.

Sense of ownership

Having a day job, would not let you experience the entrepreneurial indulgence. A blog is your own property. You could get the feeling of ownership. you get to decide, what your blog is and where to take your blog in future.

This first hand experience, helps you be in sync with what your company thinks and how your management decide things.

In a way, this experience gives you a confidence of running a team and manage things better. Because, after all you were able to build a successful blog from nothing.

Being Proactive

As you spend time blogging, you would experience, to make your blog successful you need to reach out to people. There is nothing you could do alone. You need readers, advertisers, peers who believe in you.

You get to meet interesting people and you would get opportunities to tread new fields.

In your work, this helps you be proactive and reach out to people. You would be able to grab new opportunities without thinking twice and always would be heading for constant growth.

Customer Focus

In your job, even if you are not the point of contact for the customers of your company, if you work keeping your customer (end user) in mind, every work of yours would be a masterpiece.

In blog, all you write and do would be to help your readers and to listen to their need and bring out more helpful contents for them.

This constant process of blogging to help your readers and cater their need is a needed trait for any employee.

Self Motivated Player

Making a blog successful or not hugely lies with you. You need to believe in yourself and work constantly to make it successful.

This dedication and self motivation are also the factors that make you stand apart from your colleagues in work. A job to be done breaking shortfalls and barriers, needs a person to work diligently with focus and blogging teaches you that.

Not just these few good things but you get a lot. Just experience it first hand and feel the difference. Happy blogging.

Weekend Brunch for December

2009-12-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

This is the first edition of the column 'Weekend Brunch'. I would be sharing interesting blog posts and design inspirations that I come across every month. This column would also carry any news from iPENthisBLOG.

This won't be an exhaustive list but just a few interesting links for you to click and enjoy the ride.

This is a monthly column and would make for a good read hopefully pleasing the blogger and designer within you.

This column would help you to stumble upon some of the greatest blogs out there.

Interesting twitter accounts will also be showcased here, for you to choose to follow them.

So....Sit back and enjoy the weekend brunch and satisfy your desire for more...

Blogging Inspirations

1. 101 handy ideas, every blogger need to know to post interesting blogs regularly.

2. 31 Great Free e-books, for bloggers. These entire collection could help a blogger gain the basic knowledge in becoming a pro.

3. A blogger need to know his language well. To hone the art of writing, DailyWritingTips is a must read for all bloggers, who want to improve their writing skill.

Design Inspirations

1. More than 60 resources, where designers could get almost everything they want.

2. An interesting interview with Ryan Putnam. Getting to know what other designers do and think is a sure treat.

3. 44 Web Layout Tutorials(Photoshop). These designs hold a lot of inspirations and could help you in tweaking your blog's design.

4. You are searching for textures for your blog's background or for the new design you are doing? Don't go further. One stop solution for all textures.

Interesting Twitter Accounts

1. @smashingmag - A dedicated team tweeting useful stuffs for designers. All the right things needed for a designer to follow.

2. @danielscocco - Informative blog tips tweeted regularly by Daniel Scocco of DailyBlogTips.

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Hope you liked this month's Weekend Brunch.

I am also sharing some interesting links that I come across via Delicious. You could subscribe in delicious too and get the complete exhaustive list of interesting links.

Let me know of what you think of this month's column

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Free Wallpaper and Calendar for December

2009-12-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Inspired by the basic shapes, we have created a simple, inspiring wallpaper for this December.

You can download them from here.

As always, there is a 'without calendar' version too. Also, there are wallpapers for all resolutions, including wide screens.

Hope you like them good enough to have them as your wallpapers :)

Spread the word by clicking the icons at the bottom of the post via your favourite social media, if you like them even more. :):)

The Void-Word

2009-11-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

Of all the words there are to enchant me, there is one word that always is exotic and dearest to me. It is the loudest, clearest in meaning and the most gratifying word.

A ‘Thank You’, a ‘Sorry’, an ‘I love you’ - all are wonderful bundle of words and they have their special occasions. They are powerful, enchanting words.

My favorite word is more powerful, more enchanting, more endearing, more fulfilling with meanings aplenty. Used in the right place to the right extent, it could replace almost every word and yet convey the truth beautifully.

That golden word is ‘the word that is unsaid’. The word that you chose not to utter; the word that failed to be heard, because you were crying in joy; the word that could have made you feel small, if you had uttered; the word, if you had said, that could have gone wasted; the word that could have potentially killed your relationship.

It is the void – the empty space that fills those words that didn’t make it, that I adore the most.

Thought is a bland stone and intention – the chisel. When you want to make your words count and be appreciated and beautiful, you need to work hard on your thoughts.

More the words that are chiseled out – more beautiful and perfect your final impact is, just like a detailed sculpture has a lot of rock chiseled out.

Easy way to handle any situation is not to react too quickly. Take in the situation and take your time and make a conscious effort to present it as beautiful as the situation calls for. I even consider ‘Anger’ to be beautiful. So, even if you are angry and want to vent out your fury, choose the right words and make the right impact. You shouldn’t hurt yourself with the words you choose.

Words are a mighty tool, use them wisely.

Falling in love with this ‘Void-word’, you would become better in many facets, like…you would get better in experiencing life and its beauty by replacing a vague, superficial ‘love you too’ with a hug and a kiss.

People, who choose their words while talking become better listeners. You would tend to cut off the crap words that you often use, often keep repeating, and forgetting the people and their emotions.

When you fall in love with the void-word you would invariably learn to control your emotions.

Speak less, communicate effectively and live in peace.

Gossip

2009-11-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

The easiest way to fall from the path of growth and forget your purpose, is to gossip. Talk, talk and talk to drown yourself in the thought of others and until you forget yourself.

Why is it very easy to talk about others and not about yourself with your friends? Have you laughed out loud, enacting the silly way you walk, or have you ridiculed yourself for that protruding belly of yours or the patch of hair that is missing baring your cranium or the way you stutter when you face an audience of even ten people.

If you could not laugh at yourself for the smallest of flaws you have, you can’t expect someone to take your comments on them lightly, in the ‘right spirit’.

You gossip for 2 reasons, you are either jealous of that person or you don’t respect yourself.

If you don’t try to live a life of purpose, it is easy to whine away your time, talking about others. It is the lack of confidence in ourselves and the fear and inability to think about our own future that makes us to get diversion by looking at others.

It is the easy way out, right? Somehow, the society likes people to be mediocres and not achievers. It somehow can’t handle a lot of great achievers. Newspapers, T.V. and all media feed people what people like the most – an antidote to forget their lives and see others live life.

A cutback in T.V. watching and reading gossip columns in paper could help us save some time to spend on our own lives.

When was the last time, you thought about learning something new. When was the last time, you thought of pleasing someone you love. When was the last time, you thought you need to take care of your health and really did something about it. When was the last time, you wanted to work on your flaws.

If your answer was not somewhere in the last few weeks or months, you know – you are ignoring the most important person in this earth from your gossip talks.

What Shahrukh had for dinner or Tendulkar ate for lunch is not that important when compared to what you are eating now. Is it healthy? These are the questions that are more important.

This is not heavy duty stuff. If asking you to forget about others and look at yourself is heavy duty?… Then, you know you are living a happy, complete life, in dreams when reality beckons you to start working on it.

Stop the banter and achieve the true joy. It is hard work but worth it.

Humans=Hypocrites?

2009-11-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

Hypocrisy - heard this word?

It is defined by Princeton WordNetWeb as - "insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have ". Such a person is said to be a hypocrite.

It has become synonymous with the word "human", now a days.

What makes us (at least most of us) pretend what we are not. What is the fun in lying, acting all day, all long throughout our lives.

We are not in some damn movie, where we are supposed to be THE perfect person, never missing the script of a good person. Every one of us have flaws and when we try to cover them up and project ourselves as THE perfect person, we fail pathetically.

We could succeed in hypnotizing everyone except one and that one person losing her/his respect on you is what you could not afford. She/he is you.

In the battle to be liked, be adored by all, you start hating yourself for being a phony. No one likes to be a phony, including those who put on a face and try to charm all, yet baring their true selves without knowing it all through.

What is wrong in having a few blotches in yourself. Inability to read, inability to talk fluently, inability to carry 20kg in one go, inability to comprehend something quickly, inability to socialize... Nothing matters and nothing looks ugly until you try to patch them up and cover them up.

Accepting yourself to be what you are is not that difficult when you keep all the Joes and Joannas out of the perception of your true self. You need to appreciate your goods and accept your drawbacks.

The funny thing is - Hypocrites, in the first instance when they pretend, turn out to be believers and fall for their own pretence. Uff!! a vicious cycle, a beautiful trap with all the right ingredients needed to lose your identity for ever.

A simple question - Did you or did you not do something/didn't do something, not because you decided so, but just because it is what others would have wanted you to do. That my friend, is losing your identity.

What makes a person interesting is not his/her perfections but their imperfections. A personality is both the good and the bad of the person. Appreciate the good and accept the flaws. This simple attitude shift, could alleviate a lot of unnecessary pain you undergo while putting up that 'ultimate, perfect person' show.

A knowledge that there is a lot of space for you to grow and you have not hit the ceiling is a relieving, unwinding sensation. And this sensation comes when you remove all the clutter of false pretences and hypocrisy and start seeing yourself clearly. Then, you get an opportunity to take actions on your flaws.

It helps you keep your feet on the ground and yet keep the skies clear to soar, because you know where you really stand and what lies ahead.

See Like a Child

2009-11-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

Story time....

I would like to tell you a small incident which took place a few thousand hundred years ago in India. It was a time when disciples stay with their masters and serve them to learn from them.

A master and sage, who had his abode in an exquisite, picturesque spot along the banks of Ganges with abundance of greenery and wildlife, whose name got lost but not his deeds nor this story, was a man of great respect and wisdom.

People from all lands wanted their children to serve this sage to become a scholar.

He had his unique ways of imparting knowledge. Students are put through a lot of ordeals every day. They always, no exceptions, learn it the hard way.

Yet another intriguing thing about this sage is, he never delivers the crux of the wisdom. He asks a question and let the students mince on it to find the answer and relish the wisdom they found.

He had a student who was proficient in almost everything he lay his hands on. He was a confident, intelligent, handsome young boy. He was the ideal child any parent could have wished for.

The master had a habit of taking in one student at a time for as long as he thinks the student is fit enough to go back to the society as a righteous citizen with enough wisdom to make the society a better place.

This student, who was presently with the master, had been there with him for three years and nine months now. He had been serving his master with dedication. The master had proclaimed him to have acquired all knowledge from him an year back and yet he had not declared him good enough to leave him and join his family.

The student was not dare enough to ask his master for the reason that he was all aware of the temperament of his master.

One fine early morning, the master woke his student and said to the student,

'Son, could you tell me something?'

The student scrubbed his eyes, stood up and with all respect and sincerity, replied - 'Yes master. As you say, what do you want?'

'I have taught you all that I could and yet I feel that you are not yet ready to leave. What could be the reason son?'

Student replied, 'Master. I too know that you taught me all and that too well. I am the best of me now. I think, we are bonded by affection and that could be the reason.'.

Master, with an affectionate smile replied 'Yes, yes my son, it could be that. Yeah, you are right. You are at your best. Would you be the same good student when I come to see you some years later?'

Student with tears flowing, replied - 'Yes master, of course. I am your student.'

Master, gave a tight hug to his student and said - 'Ok... then. You are good to go, son. But son, don't you think it would make me sad, if you are the same, several years later, what you are now?

And after a pause, holding his student's shoulders he added - You are at your best now? Did my teachings make you realize your potential? well, well, I would have been happier, if it had failed. Any ways, you are good to go, son'

The student added, sobbing, said - 'Master, please for sure, visit me after some years.'

The master kissed his student in the forehead and bid him good bye and wished him good life and said – “See the world like a child. See the ‘why nots’ and not the ‘whys’. Leave room for growth always, because you are never at your best because you don’t know what you are more capable of”

TRUE BLISS

2009-11-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

If you need one answer for true bliss - I think, I have it.

My definition of bliss goes something like this:

"Happy, content, peaceful and motivating"

Sometimes...answers to BIG questions could be simple. And the simple answer to achieve bliss is LIVING IN THE PRESENT.

You could have heard this a lot many times. If yes - Don't get intimidated by this word :) and if not - good.

Just give it a thought. What could be more easier than 'living' when that is the only known purpose, we all are completely aware of. Yet, we try to look beyond living.

Living in itself is complete. It contains all the rewards you need. All the success you want. All the joy you always craved. It contains more surprises than you could imagine. Then, why to think that 'mere' living is not what you are born for. It is the sole purpose of being born - to live.

If you could not appreciate the intensity of purpose - 'living' carries, then dreams, aspirations, success, growth, recognition, achievement, are just words to you and you have no plans to experience them.

Because, right now, right here, what you have for sure is your opportunity to live and all the dreams, aspirations, growth, recognition should be the part of now and not somewhere out there.

If you keep on looking at them, destinations doesn't come closer. The road that would take you through all that you want is 'LIVING IN THE PRESENT'. Because each day you live - lays the road to where you want to go.

Let us look at the definition of bliss again - 'Happy, content, peaceful and motivating'

When one is content with what he has and what he has achieved, he is peaceful and happy. So, the main ingredient to achieve 3 parts of the 4 that make up BLISS, is to be content. Not wanting more.

If Bliss contains this three parts alone, then this is when people tend to call LIVING as 'mere being alive'

The fourth ingredient is very essential to have the true bliss - 'be motivating'.

As said, you should not just want more than what you have or what you have achieved but you should want something in particular. You should be after that one thing.

You should not be dreaming more, aspiring more, achieving more. You should be dreaming that, aspiring that and achieving that. If you could not zero in on that one thing, you could not 'LIVE IN THE MOMENT' because you could not decide as to how to steer your life.

This zeroing in on what you want to do, whatever it be, motivates everyone around you and this forms the missing ingredient of true bliss and gives a purpose.

Now, LIVING in itself has become adventurous, interesting and entertaining and blissful.

Can a blogger change his viewpoints?

2009-11-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

We bloggers have something to say. We blog our hearts out. After a few months. Sadly, sometimes after few days and even more bizarre, even after a few hours, our ideas change. :)

We feel bad about what we blurted out a few hours back. Could be a viewpoint on a new product, just released, an opinion on a person, an advice you yourself thought to be true for so long, only to realise not.

It is better not to project an image as to what ever you say is always true and this is easy to achieve with the right voice in your blog.

You could state whatever you feel like saying but in the right tone in your blog. A wrong word, a wrong tone, could make your readers think what you are stating is a fact when indeed it could be your opinion.

When you start blogging in the right voice, even if you want to change your ideas in future,it would not be that difficult for your readers and as well as to you.

And if you are unsure of something, it is better to leave out your opinions when writing about that topic and it is even more better to leave the topic alone, until you clear your thoughts on it.

A few things that could help you achieve the best voice needed for a particular post while blogging and help you save you from getting embarrassed:
1. Extensive reading on the topic before blogging.

2. Not blogging in a hurry but having ample time while blogging.

3. Good knowledge in the language you are blogging. Because, the right words could save you from embarrassment.

4. Importantly, baring the truth of how much you know and not faking it.

5. And when you are to state something contradictory to what you had believed or said, tell your readers what led to the change in your outlook. Yes, you ought to tell.

Free Wallpapers and Calendars for October

2009-10-03T06:32:00.000-07:00

We are happy to present the cute fish wallpaper for this month of october. Download them.

As always, the wallpapers are provided in various dimensions. Wide screen resolutions are also provided. You could also find wallpapers without the calendar.

The files' names say the above details. Choose the one which is best for your computer.

If you like this set of wallpapers, please share/digg using the links below.
Wish you all luck and success for this month of October. Hope this calendar-wallpaper helps you stay focussed and finish your projects in time.

Have a fulfilling month ahead :)

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PRETENDING TO BE A PROBLOGGER

2009-09-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

A magic, a surprise...When you wake up today, you are a problogger, with a six figure income. Kafoosh..

Nothing has changed, you are the same, your place is the same, only change is that your blog has become a golden egg laying duck.

Now, today, let us pretend or believe that you had indeed become a problogger, with the money churning blog. Then?

What would you do, then? Lay in the bed, enjoy the visitor count? Or would you be checking the analytics every second? Now, start thinking like a Problogger.

You could not waste your time by looking at statistics or just ignore your blog and work on it at your own whims.

You could find new avenues, new partners, new advertisers, new products for your blog to grow, with the time you have in hand.

Where would you invest your money and time, now? I ask you to think like a problogger who had made it there by hard work and not like one who had blindly hit the jackpot one fine morning :)

There are a few things I believe (not yet being a six figure income blogger), a Problogger's day would be filled with:

READING A LOT

Could be not believable for some but true. More you become a Pro, you become more aware that you have a lot to learn. More you get indulged, farther the horizons.

Being a pro, you get the complete knowledge of your lack of knowledge. When you read a lot, you come to know what more you could know.

The major chunk (say 30% to 40%) of your time would go for reading. Not just other hundreds of blogs but you have to read books and articles and you need to do research. You need to go through your own blogs and think over some articles.

You need to make the right decision of which blogs to read, which tweets to follow. You should be bold enough to unsubscribe and unfollow hundreds (if not thousands), to remove the clutter.

Reading wisely, reading a lot, reading from varied sources - An important trait. BE OPEN TO KNOWLEDGE.

SHARING A LOT(importantly interesting things)

As important as reading, is how willing you are to share. You need to share interesting things with your readers, followers.

There are lot of forums/social networks/blog networks where you could share interesting ideas, interesting finds with others.

Twitter, digg and what not. You need to leave comments in other blogs to keep your foot on ground.

Even though you are a problogger with six figure income, you can't try to earn from all the things you do. You need to have a business mindset but should not stoop low in trying to earn with whatever you do.

You need to share a few goodies, a few free e-books, a few interesting give-aways. They in a way attract visitors to your blog but it mainly enhances your blog's brand and your brand. It helps you see yourself with awe. BE HAPPY TO GIVE.

PLANNING INTELLIGENTLY

You need to plan ahead and as well as your plan needs to be flexible and intelligent. You are a problogger. Do you have posts lined up for the coming month? Say atleast a few posts for the next couple of days?

You have very little time? 'Reading a lot' and 'creating e-books' swallowed your time? Then you need to plan intelligently. You can't give out reasons, if your blog visitor count dropped from 10,000 to 1000. Could you? To whom would you give the reasons?

Start inviting guest posts, schedule your posts well in advance, don't be hyper active, just post at a comfortable pace.

You should not only plan for when to publish your posts but also when not to. Include your vacations and outings too in your schedule. Plan accordingly. Take in all contingencies. Let the plan be flexible(I repeat). BE READY FOR ANYTHING.

NETWORKING

Do you actively(proactively) send mails to other bloggers, for partnership? Inviting them to guest blog, asking for interviews, calling them to review your e-book? You remember, today you are a problogger. So, you need not wait further, start networking.

Be bold enough to reach out. You could start by writing guest posts and sending it to other good blogs. Then you could start inviting some of the bloggers to guest post in your blog.

When you see a good product in any blog, you could ask them to advertise in your blog, quoting your stats. It is not always advertisers who find the publishers. If the product seems to be relevant to your blog, you could take the first step in the partnership. BE PROACTIVE.

Start thinking like a problogger to become a problogger. Once you become a problogger, you won't get a new sets of high end 'mindset'. Start working on your attitude, now and see the difference, that it brings slowly.

If you too wish you could share what the difference was, share with us in the comments section. Let us know your thoughts and ideas.

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1000 supercalifragilisticexpialidocious ways of having a sucking post title that might help yuoo

2009-09-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

The elevator pitch for any blog post, is its title. If that is the worst in the face of the earth, your blog could not be saved.

A strong, witty, catchy title is very very essential. If you could convince yourself to click on the link after seeing your title, then that is THE title, your readers would surely read.

Getting attention is the difficult thing to do. Once that is achieved, if your blog post is good enough, that would do the magic on the readers.

In this post let us just see the DON'Ts of writing a post title.

Long titles

Frighteningly Big number in your title

small list of useful links

Difficult to understand words

Expressing indecision in your title - not being confident

Not being honest to your title

Having spelling mistakes

These are some of the things that need to flash in your mind in those couple of seconds when choosing the blog title.

I have tried to come up with the most stinking title, I could think of. So that you could relate to what I am saying :). Hope it helped.

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What are the things that annoyed you on seeing some bad post titles. What are the mistakes you had done before while choosing titles?

Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Picture Credit : mwparenteau

Best Attitudes for a Guest Blogger

2009-09-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

It's a simple mental setup that makes your guest posts stand out and make the right impact on your new readers.

Listed here are, just 5 of the essential outlook needed for a guest blogger.

Being genuine in what you are saying

If the topic you are handling is not of your interest - leave the topic alone and don't smother the readers.

Move on to something interesting which you and as well as the readers like to read excitedly.

Share what you know and don't pretend.

Ready to accept criticisms

Sometimes, interests and ideas conflict. Your style of writing, sometimes might not go well with the readers of the blog in which you are guest blogging.

If your guest post didn't take off as expected, you should be ready to face the music.

Not looking at it as (only) a marketing indulgence

Guest blogging brings a very good exposure. However, publicity and marketing benefits are always just a bi-product of guest blogging.

Conceive something wonderful to share, put it in words and place it in someone else's blog and rejoice your creation.

Loving the readers of the guest blog as much as your own

Don't create an orphan post. You created it. Be with it.

Answer the queries, converse with the readers by being with the post. Being always there could be difficult but once in a while, turn to the guest posts of yours and answer any queries that the readers have raised.

Seeing Guest Blog as your own Blog

Keeping the standard of your guest posts at par with those in your own blog. You should not go for quantity of guest posts, you write but by the quality of them.

This is a crucial element. Because the goodness of guest blogging is enormous like new readers, recognition, respect, more visitors etc.,

And these goodness's could make you lose focus on quality of the posts you write and make you write more guest posts. Even if you write a lot of guest posts, quality should be THE priority.

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If you are new to the idea of guest blogging, you could hold a master's degree in it, after going through the links in this post in blogherald - a great resource.

If you would like to guest post in iPENthisBLOG or If you like me to guest post in your blog, use this contact form.

If you have something to say, please do share in the comments section.
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Secret for posting regularly in your blog

2009-09-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Before moving to the secret...let us sit back and sort out, in how many blogs are we planning to make it big? Some could manage even five blogs.

It's your call. Don't quit this part. Make it. How many blogs do you plan to make it really BIG in?

After we are done, we are ready to move ahead. Because, even if you have all the blogging prowess, if you distribute your efforts to more blogs than you could manage, all blogs of yours would turn out only mediocre.

A blog needs constant catering. Dedicated effort. Even if blogging is a hobby, it needs more interest and dedication than painting.

How could you be true to this art of blogging, by not being intermittent and how to post regular updates in your blog?

Some tips, here.

A FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE

Schedule is 'freezing/fixing of time' for doing something. An irony here. The Schedule needs to be flexible.

Don't make a rule that you would be posting every Monday and Thursday at 9:00 AM. It doesn't work that way and draws all the energy you have.

'Two posts a week, 2 hour per post, anytime in the mornings' - Kind of schedule makes blogging interesting and attractive to indulge in.

A COMFORTABLE BLOGGING STYLE

If your blog posts need a lot of research, or if you are a design blogger, you need a lot of time to do the actual work before blogging. So, don't mix up blogging and the work before that.

Follow a separate flexible schedule to hone the skills of yours in these fields and work on them. Be atleast two projects ahead, before you start blogging on the first.

Don't hurry and push yourself and take the joy out of both blogging and the thing you blog about.

Follow a comfortable blogging style. DON'T HURRY to tell the world what you did.

USE HIGH PRODUCTIVE TOOLS

There are many tools helping bloggers - to blog, to read, to bookmark, to share, to write, to listen ...

Use your discretion, use only a select number of tools that you feel are useful to you. Stick with them.

Experiment with new tools only after a certain period (atleast after 2 to 3 months). Drop all the services, you feel are redundant.

For blogging, don't use two tools catering the same need. Say using both live writer and w.bloggar to publish your posts is useless.

If all of your blog posts are of the same pattern - say 'a picture and a content' or 'only content without picture', it would be good.

Because changing the post's style everytime could make you go in search of new tools and that in turn could take the fun out of blogging. Follow a pattern.

A SUITABLE TIME FRAME BETWEEN POSTS

If you could post one post everyday, if everything goes well, then cut back to 1 post every 2 days.

Make provisions for the unexpected. Always post at a slower pace than what you could at your normal potential.

This way, you could future post and satisfy your readers by posting regularly. This could cover you, if you fall ill or if you take a vacation.

Also this gives you time to increase your knowledge, reach to your readers at a more personal level by replying to comments, networking with them in social networks etc.,

DON'T BE HYPERACTIVE IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social networks are good for networking and marketing your blog. The bare truth is there is no better networking than going out and talking with your school buddies.

If you can't do that, social networks are just a way to not be social. You get to know new people, you could reach out to your readers but that shouldn't cost you YOUR PERSONAL TIME.

If your blog is good, people would come to know of it and they would appreciate your work. You need not be howling, tweeting, scraping your throats out in the social networks.

Reduce your activities in social networks to less than an hour a week. Too much to ask? :) Try it out and see how your blogging quality increases.

DO IT WITH DEDICATION

Blogging is like any other art, dedication is paramount. If you are not interested, you could not do it well and you could not do it regularly.

Respect your passion for blogging. Blog with dedication, you would automatically find time to do it and that too you would find time to do it extremely well.

Keep a higher calling in your mind when you blog like improving your knowledge/skill, sharing good things, helping your readers, making a difference and don't get trapped in the quick money syndrome :)

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Share your thoughts on how you manage to post regularly in comments section.
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