I reduced my working hours by half from 2015 to 2016, more than doubled my revenue, started golf and launched a new business which is higher up the value chain. How did I do it - I just stopped being busy being busy, figured what my top 20% is which is giving me 80% returns and focussed my time & energy there, spent more time deepening mastery of my craft (which is coaching) and making a much bigger difference to my customers (my coachees) than in marketing. If I can, so can you. Go for it, 2017 is your year. Love, Jyoti.
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Why do 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years of their existence? Its something even more fundamental than missing out to apply the basic fundamentals of entrepreneurship in the excitement of either chasing external funding or product / service development without customer discovery. That fundamental component is Leadership Depth. Jim Collins calls them Level 5 Leaders, we call them Gear 5 Leaders. Based on his extensive empirical research, Collins established that all organisations that cut-over to greatness had a CEO who was a Level 5 Leader. Other organisations died the death of mediocrity over a period of time. Entrepreneurship Programs / Start-up Accelerators would contribute to greater start-up success if they focussed equally on building Level 5 Leadership in the founders that they are coaching. Love, Jyoti.
This keeps showing up in various researches that are done to figure out how to set up your child for success. Take up a job, Mom, or create one for yourself. The fact that a mother is working has a deep positive impact on the confidence and earning ability of your daughter; and supports your son to have a fulfilling relationship with his spouse. It's not about working 20 hours a day, it is about challenging yourself intellectually to create a 3 to 6 hours job for yourself. If the industry is not giving it you, create one for yourself and others by becoming an entrepreneur. The creation process, struggle and failures that you go through as you learn to deal with all of that with peace in your heart is the greatest education you can give your child. Going to drop your child to school, managing the maids & home is just not sufficient parenting. Btw, neither is working 12 hours a day and being exhausted, stressed n guilty. There is a middle ground. You can have it all, you have to let go of your intellectual laziness for that and go into the scary path of re-learning all that you know. Love, Jyoti. PS: May this post and article wake and shake you up - http://www.businessinsider.com/how-parents-set-their-kids-u…
Sustainable wealth creation is a single-minded focus on making a difference. That is at the heart of Business Model Innovation. It is about 1. finding a problem in the world to solve, 2. identifying the community that has the problem & has the urgency to solve it by its willingness to pay for the solution, and 3. going beyond all your barriers (inside or outside) to provide a solution that delights the community you are serving. That in brief is the shortest path to success for an entrepreneur. Follow this path and experience the joyful effortless creation that entrepreneurship really is, with deeply fulfilling outcomes. The magic is that when you take powerful effective action to make a difference, you truly connect with your highest self and find your state of grace. Bring in the spirit of an entrepreneur in whatever you do :-) Love, Jyoti.
All the professional success in the world won't take away the emptiness in your heart if your most foundational relationship - that with your spouse - is not fun joyful friendship and deep fulfilling understanding, full of lightness of being. If you haven't yet experienced that emptiness, it is because you have shut yourself up emotionally no longer willing to be hurt at not having been loved with tenderness and reverence. That emptiness in the heart is nature's way of ensuring evolution of our species to the next level of what it means to be a human being. If your response to that emptiness is an emotional shutdown for the sake of your kids, separation or divorce, you have taken away a beautiful opportunity of deeply fulfilling personal transformation. Your relationship with your spouse is really a mirror of who you really are. Had you married another one or choose to marry another one, your experience will follow you like a shadow because what you get in your relationship has got nothing to do with what the other person is doing, thinking, believing, saying. It has all got to do with who you are. Take this approach and you open yourself to the real purpose of being alive by becoming deeply aware of this magical cycle of life where you are really the creator of your life and the creator of all of humanity. But, this power to create has to be earned. You have to gym daily (emotionally, mentally, physically, intellectually, spiritually), moment by moment, with full awareness. And, ofcourse, it hurts like mad in the beginning only to give way to the joy of deep inner centering, when you have gone beyond yourself. You always have the choice not to gym, to take the easy path of watching what is happening instead of taking responsibility of creating what you want in your world. The more the catapult is pulled inside, longer the distance the stone will fly out. More success you want, deeper you have to go inside. When you are playing the game of reaching out to your highest self, instead of looking around and observing that others are not living their highest selves; you access the power to have, do and be all that you want and much more. Food for thought this Sunday morning :-) Love, Jyoti.
So, it was the dinner time again. Here's the list of my problems that I was in search of a solution:
1. Long hours at meal-times by the kids was driving me up the wall at the time wasted in which we could all be doing so much more. 2. How to transform my rising irritation during meal-times to loving tenderness? 3. A book that I had read nearly 20 years ago - The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz - is the pre-read to the upcoming leadership session for the members of Mums At Work™ Centre for Entrepreneurial Excellence. How do I create indelible transformation for the members from the book without re-reading it, which would be at the cost of reading another book? 4. How do I support my 10 year and 7 year olds' intellectual growth on a daily basis? 5. How do I make available the world's vast exciting knowledge to my children now, rather than hope they will access it when they grow up? I stepped back from the situation and had 1 solution to the 5 problems. I told the kids that as soon as Mama is done with her meal, she is going to get a book of her choice and read from there till they finished their meals :-) After the initial incredulous resistance, they settled down to listen to the 5 pages from The Magic of Thinking Big. Sambar with tons of vegetables also got over. This was my most exciting meal-time ever. During the bed-time power hug, I asked my older one what was her feeling after listening to the 5 pages. She said initially bored but soon after she got interested. In response to what is the new thing she learnt, she said that success means achievement; and that she will have more belief in herself. My younger one said, he felt powerful and that he now will finish his maths faster because he believes he can. Mighty wins for this mum at work :-) Love, Jyoti. In all my coaching experience, the only thing that I have ever seen cause transformation in the environment, in other people is reaching out to the love within for oneself, relating to oneself as extra-ordinary to start with, choosing to be a creator of one's life instead of a victim of other people & circumstances, with huge belief in oneself, creating financial independence through a profession that is an expression of one's creativity, passion and purpose. No number of SC judgements will ever transform the world. No amount of FB likes will ever make any difference. What would transform what it means to be a woman is to learn, grow, evolve into one's highest self. There's enough scientific proof that the world is only a reflection of who we are. My environment transforms, people around me transform when I walk that rocky path of personal transformation. There's deep joy, fulfilment, freedom in that journey. May that journey be yours. Love, Jyoti.
What's love got to do with it, Tina Turner said. I say everything :-) Starting your own business is like having another baby, with all the toddler tantrums, teen trauma, mid-life crisis and finally finding wisdom & serenity when your business becomes an entity independent of you, giving you passive income. Just as growing older is no guarantee of wisdom & serenity, age of your business is no guarantee that time and financial freedom will be found. You find that by following fundamental principles, as always. If you are an entrepreneur or aspiring to be one, make it your most important job to learn & understand those fundamental principles of entrepreneurship and apply them. Just as you would learn, understand and apply the fundamental principles of life to do any justice to your job as a parent. Love, Jyoti.
I time my twice-a-year 7-day fruit fast with Navratri because then, no-one questions me on this experiment on myself. I am not religious though I am definitely spiritual. A religion is a sum total of symbols, rituals and spirituality. In my definition, spirituality is being in communion with my highest self and walking the path towards that. I started this 7-day ritual 2 years back. I am surprised that I feel more energetic and fit during these seven days. The last time, couple of years ago, my home-support staff left me stranded and I had to learn cooking finally; to avoid a pizza diet for the kids. I went and joined an ayurvedic cooking course. Amazing learning. One of the things I learnt was that fasting during the Navratri time has health benefits because this period is the cusp between two seasons, during which the immunity is lower than usual and detoxification through fasting supports the immune system. I am not sure they recommended 7-day only fruit diet. I took that on more for experiential learning. That's how I coach best, from direct experience. So, I do a lot of experiments on myself before adding that to our business & leadership coaching curriculum. I find this approach as the most effective way to support people to realize their greatest dreams. Today is the 7th day and I am waiting very eagerly for tomorrow's breakfast of puri, aloo and channa. Halwa with jaggery, by the way. I moved out sugar from my diet altogether last November in another experiment. I am still having a great time, inspite of having a major sweet tooth and gorging on chocolates, deserts and ice-creams; all my life prior to the experiment. Yes, tomorrow's breakfast is going to be the tastiest ever. I shall take a real long time eating it, chewing ever so slowly enjoying every moment of it. Have a Super Week-end ahead :-) Love, Jyoti. PS: This blog is not a recommendation on any specific diet. Please make any changes in your diet only in consultation with your health advisor.
Do you hug your child for atleast 20 seconds, when your mind is totally still and all you can hear is your child's heartbeat next to yours and feel her gentle breath. I call them power hugs. A hug is therapeutic only if it is given for atleast 20 seconds. Its heartbreaking to see an old man cry in a healing session because his mother didn't hug him enough when he was growing up. That's what cellular healing is - letting go of all our hurt, resentment, anger, loneliness, sadness piling up in our cells since the day we are born and maybe even before. Many a times, I have supported business breakthroughs just by taking the person I am serving through an emotional healing process, walking through the winding path of childhood along with her. Only 3 power hugs a day - as soon as your child wakes up, when you first see her after school and before going to sleep; having her experience your unconditional love and acceptance so totally and absolutely. Just this small act done in conscious awareness can heal the world. Love, Jyoti.
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Jyoti GulatiCEO & Founder Archives
April 2017
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