Make your photos pay for you - A day at a time!

The Awesomeness of Change!!!

Bringing change is great. Now, what if I told you that the change not only could make you feel better but also generate some income for you too! Yes, you read that right you can generate a supplementary income!! And this is simply by sharing with the world whatever it is that you like doing.

Today I shall share with you one such opportunity. It is something that most of us are involved in  most of the time generally for personal use and some professionally too.

Who doesn't like to see a wonderful pictures/photos? I for one don't believe I know of anyone who doesn't. You all know where I am headed with this... It's of course taking photos with your camera/phone and selling it online!

I was initially quite skeptical if it was actually possible to generate any wealth simply by taking photos. I thought that only the Pros can do it for their 'Bread and Butter', but for the common public it is a different story altogether. And boy I am glad I was I wrong!

I got to know about this surprising opportunity from a newsletter by Mark Ford on http://www.commonsenseliving.co.in/ . He mentions quite a few other interesting ideas for would be entrepreneurs and is worthwhile to check it out. His thought process is amazing and once you relate to it, it just gets you going.

Now I must confess I have been smitten by the photographic bug, but my skills and equipment both are in need of an upgrade :) I have been fortunate to have found a mentor in a good friend 'Bobby' who has exceptional skills with the camera and has got quite a few awards and cash prizes for his photos. He is not a full time professional photographer either, he does it as a hobby and is now great at it.



You can check out his work at the following site https://kap10bob.wordpress.com

There are a numerous amount of sites out there that accepts photos of various specifications. Now even if you don't have expensive gear you can try you hand at it with you camera phone! Yes, even photos from your phones are accepted in some of these sites such as https://www.stockimo.com/. But for the majority of the sites there are a minimum pre-requisites with regards to clarity and post processing that need to be checked prior submissions of your photos.

I hope you found this of some help to start a supplementary income for you by doing what you like.

Comments and Suggestions as always are welcome.

Changing for Hapiness - A day at a time!

Yesterday, I came across this incredible statement - 'changing the outside is far easier than changing the inside'!

There was so much power in this statement that it got me thinking. I started reflecting within myself and found the statement to be so-so true.

The saying by Greek philosopher, Heraclitus ‘Change is the only constant’ holds true, but still when we try and bring about change ourselves we end up with quite a challenging task! Why is this?

Well all this reluctance to move is inherently built within our systems and we need to take positive  actions to ensure we change them. The whole idea to bring about change in ourselves is with a purpose, the purpose to seek happiness, and every actions we take is a step towards seeking that purpose.

Go through your day in your mind and figure out the actions you have taken and try to put them in perspective of  'change for happiness'. Try and figure out what brings you happiness and what fouls your mood. Is there anything you would want to do differently about your day? And if there is, why haven't you done so already? Identifying these bottlenecks is as important as trying to bring about a change.

The ease of bringing about change depends on BMW - not the car but:

• Belief 
• Motivation & 
• Willingness to carry out the change 

There are some things that you can control and some you can't! Concentrate on and change the things that you can control, in order to bring you happiness. And for the ones you can't, well move away from it, there's simply no point of attaching yourself to something that doesn't bring you any happiness anyways.

Different things bring different people happiness. For me I get happiness when I learn something new, that hunger for knowledge should be fed, for others it could be creating Art or Exercising outdoors and for some others Generating Wealth! Whatever it may be, what you need to learn is to direct your actions towards attaining that Happiness. 

You may presently be in a Job that you are doing because you just ended up there - behind the desk, but what if your happiness comes from creating Art? Well, I would suggest you follow your road to happiness and learn the ways of generating some money from it so that it pays yours bills and keeps you happy as well!

Over the course of this Blog I shall share with you some of the options available in today's world in order for you to generate wealth simply by following what brings you Happiness. 

By concentrating on your strengths and ensuring you have a powerful BMW, you can eventually start your journey on the road to Happiness and Complete Fulfillment..

"Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience"- Paulo Coelho 

Unclutter your life - A day at a time!

Today I would like to share with you an amazing 4- Simple Steps Approach which you can use now, to unclutter your life and free up your mind!

There have been many times when I have felt as if the whole worlds weight was on my shoulders and that was simply because of my own doing! You see when you start procrastinating you automatically start feeling the weight of your own in-actions as the time for completing a task starts to reduce.

Take this simple example for instance and you will notice exactly what I mean. The next time when you take a break and go for some tea/coffee try this. Instead of taking a sip from your freshly brewed mug and enjoying it's flavorful taste, hold it at arms length. You will initially find it easy to hold, but as the time will pass the weight of the mug would start bearing up on your hands and you will notice an incremental rise in difficulty of trying to hold it up straight! 

Now only if you had taken the sip when the brew was ready, you would have sat comfortably on your couch and enjoyed it to the very last drop! What are you waiting for? There's is no point of preparing your fresh brew and not drinking it! Correct? This true for all the thoughts that go through your mind.  It could be anything ranging from - a job you are required to get done but are not attending to for no particular reason, or when you are planning for a party but it stays in the planning stage till the very end and then you start getting paranoid about it all!  

Snap-Out of it! You need to and you have to, so that you can start taking back control of your life. 

Simple problems develop in to unsolvable mysteries which you should have given some thought to - solved it or let it flow. If certain things are out of your control accept it (or seek help) and work on the things that you can control. The longer you sit on an issue (even the easy ones) it only gets more difficult to bear with time and eventually pulls you down, the stress of a cluttered mind also affects your ability to focus and process information. Once you have resolved an issue, clear it from your mind - avoid keeping distractions. You control what stays in and what goes out.

The 4- Simple Steps Approach

1. Identify & Write Down all your tasks - so that you know exactly what you have to do and not rely completely on memory to remember them. It's just easier to follow and also relaxes your mind by not having to constantly worry about them. You can write it down on a Paper/ Diary/ Computer, No matter where you write you should be able to refer to it easily - that's important.

2. Prioritize - not by the ease of doing things but by its importance to you. You definitely don't want something  that's important to you to just lay around for later.

3. Disconnect to Reconnect - Spend 15 to 20 minutes with yourself doing something that's only for you, (not your spouse/ kids/ family). By spending some time on yourself, you calm you inner-self and avoid getting overwhelmed by circumstances. You disconnect with the outer world to reconnect with your inner world, purging yourself of the mental chatter going through you.

4. Get enough Sleep! - I can't stress on this enough, in today's world with cut-throat competition and never-ending deadlines we end up neglecting ourselves. You need to give your body and mind enough time to rest & reset. This is also the time your mind uses to re-process all the information it has received during the day.

Live your life by enjoying the journey, filling it up with the wonderful experience it has to offer. If something doesn't feel right, move away from it, leave it behind. Because life is too short, especially when you look back at the time that has passed you by.

It feels like it was only yesterday that I was a little boy and how the life has gone by can only be measured in the experiences and memories I have gained in this time.

Don't you think it's about time we give ourselves a break and clear our mind of the clutter we have stored in it?

It's hard to do, but most gratifying - when you learn to unclutter your life a day at a time!

P.S - Please do comment on the methods you adopt to unclutter your life. I would love to hear from you.

Breathe Easy - A day at a time.

Has it ever happened to you - that you get so caught up in your work and sometimes you start getting stressed out without even realizing it!!!

Just the other day, I was passing by the desk one of my colleague when I saw her getting stressed out and she was all hassled not knowing what to do. I told  her about a simple trick that has helped me and that was to just breathe! Yes, you read that right 'Breathe'. Close your eyes, take a deep breath - inhale through your nose for 3 counts and exhale through your mouth for 3 counts, do this 3 times. Letting go of stress is as simple as that. She took my advise and was surprised that she felt much better after just breathing-in.

Now don't be mistaken, this breathing routine will not take the source of your stress away. But what it will do is definitely calm your nerves down so that you can take clear and correct decisions in order to progress further with your work at hand.

A little bit of stress in life is not such a bad thing, but letting it go unchecked is. It is important to realize when you are getting stressed out and take effective actions to reduce it.

You need to have a holistic approach when tackling stress. The stress triggers are different for every person, but the solution is same.

What you need to start taking care of is your-SELF.

S - Serenity - for stress reduction, peace & calm.
E - Exercise - for the spirit, mind & body.
L - Love - for the physiological & emotional rewards.
F - Food - to feed the senses.

Once you start taking care of your-SELF, you will definitely start noticing a positive change coming around in your life.

There are certain actions that can be taken by to live a Stress-Free Life. 

• Identify your sources of stress (stress-triggers). It's important to be aware in order to eliminate them.
• Take care of your finances early, make a plan - they can really drain your energy if out of control.
• Have realistic expectations from yourself. Changing habits does not happen over-night.
• Include some regular exercise in your routine - A healthy body has a host of benefits.
• Do something everyday that makes you happy and relaxes you.
• Learn to say 'NO', you can't say yes to everything - practice asserting yourself in a positive way.

Don't worry, be Happy. Learn to have fun - everybody needs a bit of it.

Finally don't forget to take the time to Breathe Easy - A day at a time!

Achieving Goals - A day at a time!

So the other day I was sitting by the window looking out at this large expanse of water before me with the evening sun ready to dip down - it was simply beautiful with just the right colors in the sky that would normally please the eyes. But there I was still sulking and thinking how do I get out of this feeling of helplessness and frustration of not being able to accomplish my goals?

I had set out myself a plan - and until that time I thought it was a good one, till it all came crashing down on me!!!

Now I am a little wiser and shall share with you all what has helped me move away from a position of helplessness & frustration to one where I feel more confident, less stressed and happy with myself. Specifically with regards to accomplishing my goals - I had read up and implemented the advise regarding Goals Setting and how they should be SMART!

SMART? What do you mean SMART? How can goals be SMART? Well the truth it they can be :)

SMART is an Acronym used for Goal Setting:

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Achievable
R - Relevant
T - Time Bound

In simple words it works like this : you break down your major goals into smaller specific goals which can be then be measured up and achieved within a certain time frame so that they stay relevant to you and help you in finally reaching your Major Goal.

As you break up your Major Goals into smaller, easily manageable & achievable goals, you will start noticing the positive impact it has on your overall self.

Because now you are :-

• Achieving your goals.
• Visually seeing your progress as it happens.
• Free from the Fear of Failure, as you now start achieving your smaller goals moving one step closer to the major goal.
• Stress Free - by having a plan that is relevant and not having over the top expectations with yourself - Self-Induced Stress gets reduced.

The lesser the stress the happy you are, the happy you are the more you can achieve, the more you can achieve the more progress you make, the more progress you make the lesser stress you feel! And then the cycle continues.

Identify your Goals - align them to the SMART System and see the difference it creates for you - A day at a time!

P.S. If you have any comments or want to share your experiences please do comment below. I would love to hear from you.

A day by the Sea

I thought I should start this Blog with the above photo "A day by the Sea".

Life at sea is challenging but moments like these bring tranquility and perspective to life. It makes you take a step back breath-in and want to ponder "What defines my life on this planet?"

With this blog I wish to share life as we know it and how to make the most of it "A day at a time."