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How often do you find that while navigating a certain road in life, at a certain juncture, you are looking at a dead end, a tunnel of total darkness, without even a speckle of hope to light up your path? Now if your answer is NEVER, you are possibly a superhuman or maybe an incarnation of God, but lesser mortals face such situations quite often. In fact, quite routinely.  How direly we all wish for a godsend to drive away the darkness to make our journey easier!  The reality is that we all hold so much power, lying dormant within us, which needs to be actualized. The only thing we need is a little nudge, a hint of direction, some support and a little coaching to make the greatest things happen right before our eyes.

Life, with its multiple pressures and obligations, often makes us overwhelmed and anxious. The continuing pressures often mount, burdening our shoulders so much that we are unable to carry another extra ounce. Yet, we reconcile to move on non-stop, hoping for a better tomorrow.  In the process, we have to face all the googlies thrown at us by life. We often fail, the quality of our life suffers and we again return to embrace the comfort of the status quo.

Exploring the uncharted possibilities, while we’re so accustomed to being in a “safe” zone and unwilling to venture out of it, is difficult. That’s when a life coach enters the scenario to hold our hand, show us the path and help us walk the first step on it.

Life coach

A life coach works in partnership with an individual to help them achieve their potential in all facets of life. We all have heard of sports coaches who, by dint of their mentorship and hard work, make champions out of ordinary sportspersons over time. Just like a professional sports player needs a coach to work on the technical and psychological aspects of their performance, we also need someone to help us evolve a structured and disciplined approach to personal development.

Regardless of the sport, no athlete would be where they are today without their all-important coaches. In fact, we in India have the venerable ancient tradition of the guru–shishya (master-pupil) relationship in almost all domains. Remember Eklavya, who coveted archery training under Guru Dronacharya but was denied the chance since he came from a “lowly” background?  And then Eklavya erected a statue of the revered guru and began practicing at its feet.

Whatever be the field of activity, profession, business or even life, we always need and seek guidance from an experienced mentor. Guru bin gyan nahin (There’s no learning without a master) is a popular saying in this context. A mentor helps us focus on our goals, learn the craft, clarify doubts, and holds our hand in tumultuous times to let us focus on our dreams.

Similarly, a life coach guides us through the most challenging times in life by helping us see things differently, refine our approach and achieve our dreams. Owing to our inherent personal biases and tendencies, we often have a blinkered viewpoint and unless a neutral third-party shows us, we fail to notice the things that hold us back from achieving our fullest potential – personally and professionally.

People need support to thrive in life. A life coach can encourage you, without passing judgment and help you perform to your fullest potential professionally, personally, and financially by helping you with your relationships, career, health goals, communication skills, debt, and spirituality. A life coach can help us improve our business, health or inter-personal relationships, depending on our specific needs. Very frequently, a life coach may have to address multiple facets of our life as they are all connected to our overall well-being.

Though being happy is a different proposition for everyone, one thing is for sure. If you are clear about your purpose, can eliminate negativity and can build meaningful relationships, happiness and fulfillment are very much within your reach. All that you need to reach there is a framework for determining your direction in life and an ally to help you get there. That ally is your life coach, who is essentially non-judgmental and asks questions to help you find solutions to the challenges you confront.

 For whom?

Life coaching isn’t meant for only under-achievers, problem-ridden and in-crisis people. It can be equally useful for those running successful businesses, enjoying good health and good relationships. Life coaches understand well that there is always a room for more and better in their clients’ lives and thus, work with all types of clients to bring about improvement in their personal, social and professional lives.

In nutshell, anyone who wants a better tomorrow needs a life coach and can benefit from life coaching. That’s why life coaching clients are ambitious people looking to enhance output and growth quickly. Thus, we find business leaders, creative types, artists, entrepreneurs, managers, homemakers, professionals, and others benefiting from the services of a life coach.

 Benefits of Life Coaching

A life coach can help you develop an actionable plan to achieve life goals by inspiring you. They do so by helping you identify your unique personal strengths and weaknesses and also by encouraging you to harness your strengths so that you can address your concerns to enjoy a healthier, fuller, more meaningful and empowering life.

A New Year isn’t the only time to think of resolutions, goals, and intentions for a better life. If you are not aware of where to start while setting and achieving goals -professional, personal, or financial – or don’t have a good record achieving them, you may consider hiring a life coach to support you in – plotting your future, overcoming personal challenges, and keeping you on track.

The following are some of the benefits of Life Coaching:

1. Getting a new, helpful perspective on things.
2. Becoming self-aware and aware of your impact on others and recognizing personal flaws, strengths, and unique attributes
3. Strong, meaningful relationships -marriage to friendships and beyond
4. Ability to define life goals and create a concrete, doable plan to achieve them.
5. A sense of purpose and direction in life. Clarity of purpose is vital to achieve your dreams.
6. Ensuring accountability so that you pursue your goals and complete your projects.
7. Discovering your best version. A life coach can help you understand your areas of greatest opportunity.
8. Unlocking latent potential hidden by prejudice or closed-mindedness. Life coaches can expose you to alternative ways of thinking and create clarity of direction in life.
9. Improved communication skills. Good life coaches are accredited NLP practitioners i.e. are armed with the most advanced communication skills.
10. Better time management by setting priorities and getting more done.
11. Eliminate/ reduce negative thoughts that hold you back. Overcome fears that limit your ability to achieve your dreams.
12. Unlocking the creativity lying dormant in you
13. Becoming open-minded, self-aware, positive with a well-rounded outlook.
14. Getting rid of bad habits
15. Handling setbacks and roadblocks to find inspiration that you never knew existed.
16. Better decision-making
17. Learning to accept criticism
18. Showing appreciation and gratitude to make people feel good.
19. Learning ways of stress control
20. Dealing with depression and anxiety
21. Improved self-confidence
22. Identifying goals and developing a vision of success
23. Evolving plans for professional and personal growth
24. Identifying beliefs that prevent you from achieving your full potential
25. Working towards achieving financial independence
26. Achieving work-life balance
27. Developing more powerful professional and personal connections
28. Professional growth/ promotion
29. Weight management / fitness
30. Setting up a new business / taking forward an existing one
31. Tackling important life/business transitions

Life Coaching and You

Life coaching is significant because you and your dreams are important. Chasing dreams or laying the foundations of a new venture or growing it or overcoming personal insecurities — all of them being   seminal tasks with their unique challenges. Life coaching can help us cushion every hit and fall, elevate us and motivate us to keep going forward.

Life coaching can change “I want” to “I have” and “I should” to “I am”.

When?

You can explore the idea of seeking the services of a life coach if

1. You don’t have a clarity of vision

Quite frequently, we may feel that we are living our life according to others’ wishes. Our goals aren’t our choice, which leads to a hazy vision. This hazy vision prevents us from gaining a clear life vision.

In such a situation, a life coach can be greatly helpful as they can help you get clarity about what you desire. The practice of vowing things from a hackneyed perspective for long can make your thinking quite predictable. But a life coach can help you look at the things from a fresh perspective and gain an entirely new understanding.

2. You are clueless about where and how to start

Each of us faces times when we find ourselves clueless as to where to begin. Undoubtedly, we would love to achieve a goal but we may be too helpless to begin somewhere. Big goals have the potential to overwhelm and deter us from taking any concrete action.  Gaining a clarity of vision in the middle of such helplessness can be daunting. It is precisely in such cases that the person concerned requires a life coach to assess the situation and help us take action towards the realization of our dreams.

3. Your limiting self-beliefs hold you back

Our limiting self-beliefs can often become roadblocks as they prevent us from pursuing things in life by holding us back. A life coach can identify such restraining beliefs and help us go forward.

To consider a common example, if you’ve heard throughout life that slimming down isn’t your thing, which you have begun believing in as true, how can you ever hope to do so? So much so that this belief has the potential to override your ability to actually do it. In such situations, a life coach can work with you to single out and overcome such limiting beliefs.

4. You feel gone and out

If you are feeling completely lost or hopeless, you need a life coach to help you. You certainly need someone to rescue you out of it, who can help you get back the lost confidence and push you towards your dreams.

5. You believe the spark is gone

It’s quite possible that life may have delivered you a big blow in personal or professional life, which could take away all your passion for life. In such cases, with all the passion gone, you certainly need someone to elevate you and help move on. You need help with identifying the current issues and the past events that have caused it. Unless it is done, regaining the old passion can be a difficult proposition.

6. You have trouble with goals

Let’s admit – achieving goals is often difficult for most of us. Not just that setting goals is difficult, pursuing them is even more difficult. In such cases, a life coach can help you define your goals and look for powerful reasons for you to achieve them.

In addition, a life coach can offer a brand new perspective on the reasons behind your inability to achieve big goals in the past. They can reorganize your life so as to empower you and make you accountable by being with you so that you see things through.

7. You’re too anxious and stressed

Admittedly, we all learn a lot from our failures. But having them as a frequent theme in life is no joke. Given our responsibilities in terms of work, family and social life, we often become too stressed. Certainly not a good feeling! In such situations, a life coach can offer the right perspective and help us get over such negative emotions.

8. Your life is in a total mess

A troubled marriage, bad health, a shattered career or finances – all have the potential to make it hard for us to navigate tough times. Whether it’s finances, health, relationships, career or business, we often have a hard time seeing through the dense fog of complexities. So, if you have a feeling that your life is a complete mess, you may need a life coach to help you through such difficult times. A life coach can help you cross such rivers of sorrow to help you reach the shores of hope.

9. You are defeated by time-wasters

Getting sidetracked in life is easy as we all have bad habits. These bad habits are hard to quit, making it difficult to manage time to make progress. These time-wasters can debilitate us totally from within and prevent us from achieving anything in life.

A life coach can help you improve your life at so many levels includes your habits. Considering the fact that that habits guide most of our behavior, good habits can create a path to discipline and achievement.

10. You lack support for your dreams

Without the support of those surrounding you, it can be difficult to focus on our goals. With your social support system i.e. friends and family not by your side, losing sight of the bigger picture can be easy. It’s very much expected as dealing with negativity from all around us stops our forward movement.

In such situations, a life coach can be your support system and their experience and knowledge can be invaluable in helping you achieve your goals.

Limitations

Despite there being many benefits of life coaching in terms of substantial, positive results, it does have its own limitations. We must have an understanding of what a life coach can’t do. Here are some situations in which life coaching may not be helpful:

1. Instant results

If you desire instant life transformation, sorry, you are barking up the wrong tree. Just like building a business, it needs time and commitment to produce results.

2. Mental health

Life coaches are not therapists or psychologists. No doubt, they are duly trained to ask you questions and help you examine your mindset and tide over obstacles, but they can’t treat problems like depression or anxiety, which may be the cause of / a precipitating factor behind your problems. In all such cases, it’s much better to seek out a psychotherapist/psychologist.

On the zig-zag paths of life, we often find ourselves surrounded by total darkness, with there being no lamp post to guide our path. If only we had a flicker of light to illuminate our path, our journey would become much easier.  In fact, each of us holds so much dormant power within that needs to be let out. All that we need is just a little nudge, a bit of direction, some support, a little coaching, and we can expect the greatest things to happen right before us.

With multiple pressures and obligations, we often feel overwhelmed and anxious. The pressures mount, putting more burden on shoulders that can’t bear another ounce. Yet, we soldier on unrelentingly in the hope of a better tomorrow.  We move on and face all the curveballs that life throws at us. Consequently, our life suffers, its quality declines, we fail and again embrace the comfort of the status quo.

That’s why we all need a good life coach at some point in time. It’s difficult to explore the unexplored possibilities when we’re so used to working in a “safe” zone and aren’t ready to venture out of it.

Who’s a life coach?

We all know about sports coaches who mould sportspeople into champions. Our favourite athletes wouldn’t be where they are today without their exceptional sports coaches. In fact, India has had a rather highly revered ancient guru–shishya (master-pupil) relationship in many domains. Remember Eklavya, who coveted archery training under Guru Dronacharya? But it’s not only sports, in our profession or business or even life, but we also seek guidance from some experienced mentors. Such mentors help us navigate tumultuous times to let us focus on our goals and dreams. But not everyone is lucky enough to have access to such a mentor. That’s where a life coach enters the picture.

A life coach guides you through life’s most difficult times to help you – see things differently, refine your approach and achieve your dreams. Often, we suffer from a blinkered vision and unless an objective third-party points them to us, we fail to notice the things that hold us back, personally and professionally.

Depending on your needs, you may seek a life coach to help improve your business, health or relationships. Frequently, such a coach may work on multiple facets of your life as they are all connected to your well-being.

In order to become a Certified Professional Life Coach, one needs to undergo extensive training in asking the right questions, communicating effectively and getting to the heart of your needs and desires.

For whom?

Life coaching isn’t restricted to under-achievers or crisis-ridden people. It can equally well help those running a successful business, who are healthy and have good relationships. Life coaches know there is always room for more in their clients’ lives and thus, they work with all types of clients.

Anyone who wants more tomorrow than they have today Needs a Life Coach and should consider life coaching. Typically, life coaching clients are ambitious people wanting to improve output and growth and to do them quickly. Therefore, we have business leaders, creative types, actors, entrepreneurs, executives, homemakers, managers, professionals, small business owners and others using the services of a life coach.

What do Life Coaches do?

Life coaches help you create an actionable plan to attain life goals by inspiring and guiding you. They help you identify your personal strengths and weaknesses and also encourage you to leverage your strengths to address your concerns, thereby helping you enjoy a fuller, meaningful and empowering life.

Life coaches’ work domain includes:

1. Identifying goals and creating a successful vision
2. Formulating plans for professional and personal growth
3. Identifying beliefs that hold you back
4. Working towards financial independence
5. Achieving work-life balance
6. Effective communication
7. Forging a more powerful professional and personal connection
8. Improving relationships
9. Professional advancement/ promotion
10. Weight loss / fitness
11. Setting up a new business /  or growing an old one
12. Handling  important life/business transition

The coach-client relationship is more of a creative partnership than being a one-way street. After your first meeting with a life coach, you will be able to:

1. Create a vision for what you want
2. Use your coach’s expertise to modify goals as per needs
3. Facilitate your self-discovery and growth
4. Nurture strategies as per your goals, personality and vision
5. Foster accountability for higher productivity

 A life coach has the essential ability to be non-judgmental and can ask questions to help you find solutions to the challenges you face. A Certified Professional Life Coach is duly trained to enable this process.

Click here to read:: Life-Changing Benefits of Life Coaching!

Life Coaching and You

Life coaching is important because you and your dreams are important. Chasing your dreams, building the foundations of a new venture growing it or motivating yourself to overcome insecurities — each one is a monumental task with its own challenges. Life coaching helps us cushion every fall, elevate us and motivate us to keep going on.

Life coaching changes “I want” to “I have” and “I should” to “I am”.

When?

You need to have a life coach if you’re serious about success but

1. You don’t know where and how to start

There are times when we are clueless as to where to begin. Of course, we would like to achieve something, but we are too helpless to start. Big goals can often overwhelm us.  Getting clarity about things amidst this helplessness is difficult. In such cases, the person concerned needs a life coach to assess the personal situation and help take action towards dream fulfilment.

2. You lack a clear vision

Often, we feel we are living our lives according to others’ wishes. We do have goals, but they’re not our choice, which leads to a lack of clarity in vision. Being confused, we are unable to have a clear vision of life.

A life coach can be of great help in such a situation. He/she can help you become clear about what you want. Looking at things from a worn-out perspective for years makes your thinking quite predictable, making you think on the same old lines. But a life coach can help you develop a fresh, new perspective of looking at things.

3. You feel hopeless and gone

If you feel totally lost or hopeless, you may seek out a life coach. In such a case, it becomes a necessity to have someone to elevate you. The life coach can help you regain the lost confidence and push you closer to your dreams.

4. Limiting self-beliefs hold you back

Our limiting self-beliefs often prevent us from following through with things in life because such beliefs hold us back. A life coach can be instrumental in identifying such limiting beliefs, thereby helping you go forward.

For instance, if you’ve been told all your life that you can’t have a chiselled body, and you also believe it to be true, how can you ever develop such a body in reality? This belief will override your ability to actually do it. In such situations, a life coach can help you identify and overcome such limiting beliefs.

5. The passion is gone

God forbid, you may have seen a big setback in your personal or professional life, which took away all your passion for life. With all the passion and spark gone, you certainly need someone to help move you along. That someone can help identify the issues you face today and the past events that have led to it. Unless it is done, getting the passion back can be difficult.

6. You have trouble achieving goals

Achieving goals is hard for most of us. Not only is goal setting difficult, but following through with them is even more difficult. A life coach can help you define your goals and find powerful reasons for you to achieve them.

Besides, a life coach can give you a fresh perspective on the reasons behind your failure to achieve big goals in the past. He/she can reorganize your life to empower you and make you accountable by being with you to ensure you see things through.

7. You’re overwhelmed with anxiety and stress

Though we all learn a lot from failures, having them as a frequent theme in life is no picnic. Given our responsibilities related to work, family and social life, we often become stressed. Not a good feeling! A life coach can offer the perspective and help to help you get over such disheartening emotions.

8. Everything in life is in a mess

God forbid, if you have a troubled marriage, bad health, a shattered career or finances, it’s hard to make it through tough times. So whether it’s finances, health, relationships, career or business, we often find it hard to see through the fog of complexities.

9. You are sidetracked by time-wasters

Getting sidetracked in life is as easy as we all have bad habits. These bad habits are hard to quit, making it difficult to manage time to make progress. These time-wasters can debilitate us totally from within and prevent us from achieving anything in life.

A life coach can help you improve your life at so many levels including your habits {click here to read our latest blog on “Get All Your Problems Solved with the Best Life Coach“}. Considering the fact that habits guide most of our behaviour, good habits can create a path to discipline and achievement.

10. Lack of support for your dreams

Without the support of those around you, it’s difficult to focus on our goals. With your friends and family not supporting you, losing sight of the bigger picture is common. It’s quite natural as dealing with negativity from all around us stops our progress and forward movement.

Enter a life coach and he/she can be your support system, no matter what. A life coach’s experience and knowledge is invaluable instrument to help you achieve your goals.

Limitations

Though life coaching can get you substantial results, it isn’t for everyone. We must understand what a life coach doesn’t do. Here are a few scenarios in which life coaching may not work:

1. Instantaneous results

If you’re looking for an instant transformation, you are barking the wrong tree. Like building a business and making your masterpiece life, this one needs time and commitment to give results.

2. Mental health

It’s important to remember that life coaches are not therapists or psychologists. They are trained to ask questions and help you examine your mindset and overcome obstacles, but they can’t treat problems like depression or anxiety, which may be the cause/ precipitating factor behind some of your problems. In such cases, it’s better to see a psychotherapist/psychologist.

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” —   Winston S. Churchill

करुणा समस्त मानवीय गुणों में ऐसा गुण है, जो मनुष्यों को अन्य जीवित प्राणियों से अलग करता है. लेकिन इसका यह अर्थ कदापि नहीं है कि मनुष्यों के अलावा अन्य जीवित प्राणियों में करुणा का अभाव होता है. वास्तविकता यह है कि अन्य जीवित प्राणियों में पाई जाने वाली मित्रता और भाईचारे की भावनाओं से ही अंतत: मनुष्यों में करुणा की भावना का विकास हुआ है। किसी अन्य प्राणी मात्र की पीड़ा को महसूस कर उसकी सहायता की इच्छा होने की भावना ही करुणा है। करूणा स्नेहपूर्वक किया गया वह उपकार है, जिसे करने वाले को इसके बदले में कोई अपेक्षा नहीं होती है। जितने भावों को आप अपने अंदर पोषित कर सकते हैं, उनमें से करुणा सबसे कम बंधनकारी और उलझाव पैदा करने वाली है। सच कहें तो यह सर्वाधिक मुक्तिदायक और प्रफुल्लित करने वाली भावना है।

करुणा समावेशी होती है

ध्यान से देखें तो अकसर किसी के प्रति आपके प्रेम का ईंधन जुनून होता है। और करुणा का अर्थ है इस जुनून का विस्तार। जब तक यह प्रेम किसी एक पर केंद्रित है, यह प्रेम जुनून रहता है, जब यह सबको अपने आप में शामिल कर लेता है तो यह करुणा बन जाता है।

करुणा आपको सीमाओं में कभी नहीं बांधती है, बल्कि यह तो अच्छे-बुरे के बीच फ़र्क़ भी नहीं करती है। इसीलिए करुणा निश्चित तौर पर प्रेम की तुलना में मुक्तिदायक है। तुलनात्मक तौर पर प्रेम सुंदर तो है परंतु सीमित होता है। हम इसी प्रेम को करुणा में बदल कर मुक्ति की ओर बढ़ सकते हैं।

This kindness may assume myriad shapes – physical, mental, social, financial and otherwise. Throughout the history of mankind, we have consistently seen great men and women advocate, exalt and worship the idea of helping the common good of society. If history has been witness to numerous tyrants and dictators, who made life a hell for their subjects and others, there has also been no dearth of kind-hearted souls, who went all the way to bring succor, relief and love to those in dire need. So, for every Hitler or Mussolini or Changhez Khan, we have a Florence Nightingale, a Mother Teresa and an Adbus Sattar Eidhi.

Kindness can take many forms – giving money, eatables, clothes, one’s time, attention or just being there for someone who is in need. In fact, the idea of kindness needs to be properly understood in its right perspective. By giving something to someone in need, we are not doing a favour to him/ her; rather, we are doing ourselves a favour by paying back to the society a part of what we had received from it. Therefore, calling it kindness or donation or giving would be a misnomer; sharing is a more appropriate expression here.

Sharing is not all about money. Rather, it is more about kindness, helpfulness, unselfishness, sacrifice, giving, service, love, etc. A few words of sympathy can make a tremendous difference to a troubled soul.  The idea of sharing implies that we are just making someone a part of what we have, which belongs to us all. Underlying this idea of sharing is the belief that one is trying to pay back at least part of what the society had given him.

For example, an industrialist, in the course of his business, uses all possible kinds of societal resources in the immediate and distant vicinity- people,  water, power, materials, crops etc, depending on the kind of business she/ she is in. As a responsible corporate, his organization has a bounden moral duty to replenish the stock of resources consumed by his organization. Consequently, if the organization undertakes programmes for environmental improvement, vocational training and women empowerment, it is a fit case of discharging one’s corporate responsibility by sharing its resources with its community.  Keeping the statutory requirement for such work aside, it is more vital to sensitize the productive sectors of our economy towards doing their fair share of societal responsibilities by developing a spirit of sharing.  Even the sacred Shri Guru Granth Sahib enjoins upon us to 

ਕਿਰਤ ਕਰੋ ਵੰਡ ਛਕੋ

(Work hard and share its fruits with others)

The joy of sharing is beyond words as it takes courage to give something from your life to others. But if we have the heart to do something for others without expecting anything in return, it makes us expand our life to a great extent.

Sharing happens only when a person is filled with gratitude for all that he has received in life. And for this to happen, humility is the basic starting point, in the absence of which, no gratitude or sharing can happen. People full of complaints and criticism will find it difficult to feel gratitude in life.

In fact, the more we give others, the more we get from the universe. Our relative happiness can come from materialistic things, but a genuine sense happiness comes from sharing it them with others.

Examples

Mahatma Gandhi once said “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”  Thus, true joy consists in giving without expecting anything in return.

The gifts of caring, attention, affection, appreciation, and love are some of the most precious gifts we can give, and they don’t cost anything. Leo Buscaglia, an American motivational speaker said:  “Too often we underestimate the power of a soft touch, a gentle smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or a small act of caring, which can turn a life around.”

Those Who Gave It All

Bill Gates

Human history has seen plenty of great, kind souls who gave away whatever the earned in life, towards the greater good of society. Of all the modern day philanthropists, Bill Gates is referred to most often. The Microsoft founder, worth over $130 billion, has given away over $50 billion (Around 40 lakh crore rupees) through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation over the past few years to various nonprofit organizations he is passionate about.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 2000, aims to “improve the quality of life for individuals globally.” With billions of dollars to use, the foundation has done a broad range of charity work in providing educational resources, medical research and healthcare. One of its biggest donations has been to the GAVI Alliance to help increase access to vaccinations and to research on malaria elimination and AIDS vaccine. As two of the world’s biggest philanthropists, Bill and Melinda have found a way to make the world a better place through their common goal of giving back.

Warren Buffett

Known as the Oracle of Omaha, thanks to his legendary investing wisdom, which made him the richest man for a long time, Warren Buffett has given more than $46 billion to charity, making him one of the world’s biggest philanthropists. Buffet, who has had a dream professional run as the world’s most iconic stock investor, began a Giving Pledge in 2010, in association with the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation to motivate the world’s richest to donate majority of their wealth to charity.

Not only has the philanthropist given away a substantial chunk of his wealth, but he has also helped motivate other ultra-rich people to follow suit. In 2010, Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates launched The Giving Pledge, urging billionaires to publicly dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Along with this amazingly incredible generosity, Buffett is also known for humility and commitment to modest living, showing his strong values.

Azim Premji  

Premji, a businessman known for austerity, grew Wipro from $2 million in sales (1966) to a $11 billion giant selling software and consumer products. With a donation of 9,713 crore, Premji again tops the EdelGive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2021. India’s most generous citizen is not an accidental philanthropist. The idea in 2001 of setting up a charitable foundation, which is now backed by an endowment of $21 billion making it among the five largest endowments globally, took six months of discussions.

Between 2001 and 2019, Premji donated Wipro shares worth nearly $12 billion in a staggered manner to this endowment. Earlier this year, he made the country’s single-largest donation by transferring 34% of his Wipro shares worth $7.5 billion to Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives and Azim Premji Trust.

Though he took some time to announce his intent, but the desire to give back to society had always been there. It was partly fired by his mother Gulbanoo M.H. Hasham Premji’s spirit, a trained doctor who dedicated her life to setting up a children’s orthopedic hospital in Bombay, while serving as chairperson of Wipro after the death of her husband. Besides, Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship of wealth greatly inspired him

Primary education was finally chosen as the Foundation’s focus as it was a critical factor that significantly impacted other issues. Today, his Premji Foundation trains thousands of teachers across 50 districts in six states to improve learning outcomes in government schools, with its impact on pedagogy and education policy.

Premji’s vision is driven by the idea that for philanthropy to be meaningful, it has to bring about large-scale changes or at least initiate them. For this reason, he refuses to “give cheques” just to appease his conscience and has chosen to focus the foundation’s work on what he is most passionate about.

research on malaria elimination and AIDS vaccine. As two of the world’s biggest philanthropists, Bill and Melinda have found a way to make the world a better place through their common goal of giving back.

The title may startle you into asking Grow? YES! Grow. Read on to find out!

The COVID-19 pandemic has possibly been the most significant variable for the global economy in a very long time, with its widespread impact on all economic sectors and businesses. Considering the uncertainty and the never-before challenges it has brought, businesses need to change the way they work to serve their customers. A strategic shift can help pandemic-era businesses take better care of employees, satisfy customer needs, and enhance their own financial health. 

Black Swan

Mostly, we make our plans and budgets on the basis of our knowledge of the past. But right now, this knowledge can’t be as helpful as you think because we are witness to a so-called “Black Swan” event, as Nasim Taleb puts it in his eponymous classic. The current pandemic is a black swan event i.e. an unpredictable event beyond what we normally expect in a situation, which has potentially severe consequences. It has brought about huge unpredictability in our current and future lives.

You don’t need a business coach to tell you – thanks to this unpredictable event with widespread ramifications, the rules of business have changed. For example: the fact that you grew consistently @ 10-15% in the past few years CANNOT predict your business growth this year, or the next year. At a juncture when many companies are in the remote working mode, are operating at limited capacities or are shut down completely, there may seem to be very few opportunities for business growth. But not all is lost!

Here are some business strategies that can not only keep your business afloat, but also help it move ahead:

Relevance of Product/Service

As any business coach would tell you, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has changed consumer needs and preferences in a big way. Therefore, while building customer relationships and sales channels, you need to ensure that your product/ service remains relevant. A relevant product that delivers customer value is going to generate demand and contribute to business growth. Make efforts to understand customer expectations and aspirations to tweak your offering so that they can survive these tough times and look to a future.

A good business coach can ask you to look at your brand from the vantage point of the consumer- Are you different? Affordable, Convenient? Do you deliver value? Does the market really need you? There is always an opportunity for unique and compelling products regardless of the state of the economy, but during these exceptional times, you need to have a carefully-crafted approach.

 Understanding Customers

My corporate counselling experience suggests that most organizations aren’t good at understanding their customers, while it should be the first important step while formulating any marketing strategy. An in-depth understanding of your customers will help you boost your sales and business. However, this lean period caused by factors like the global pandemic can also be occasioned by changing consumer behaviour. Therefore, it is important to have a clear picture of the type of customer who buys your products and what prompts their buy decisions. You cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all shotgun approach that “everyone is a customer” – to know which kind of customer you deal with most often, and which type earns you the most revenue and focus on that customer type and the demographic. Collecting this kind of background information can help you identify ways of delivering customer value.

The pandemic has made it even more essential for businesses to acquire and maintain core customers. Your customers are spending more time online, working remotely, taking virtual classes and even hosting family events over Google Meets and Zoom. Against this background, the companies obviously need to be savvier with respect to social media and email marketing. If you ever had any doubts about your company’s online searchability, the navigability of your website or your social media presence, this is the time to act. Let your customers know you are there and that you value them, and offer them incentives to spread the word about how much they love your offerings.

Revisit Marketing Plans

A restricted access to brick and mortar businesses, the pandemic in public places, and increased prices of products and services and supply chain disruptions have reduced your ability to reach potential customers. COVID-19 has affected household incomes and consumer spending across the board in all the countries globally. The proportion of the households affected so is staggering in India, which has led to lower FMCG sales and reduced profits for most businesses except those working in pharma, healthcare and nutraceutical sectors. Therefore, the pandemic crisis and the period thereafter warrants that you revisit your marketing plans and efforts periodically.

The social media has emerged as a great force to reckon with in practically all spheres of activity. With geography becoming history now, you may want to leverage social media to drive customer engagement, sell your products, build brand awareness and deliver services. You can consider offering greater customer convenience by ensuring delivery of products to your customers.

Besides, during economic downturns, every rupee matters. Therefore, all marketing decisions need to be precisely targeted and data-driven to ensure you get the best bang for your buck. Use marketing technology and platforms that integrate with all your channels to track which posts are performing and how your customers are responding to and acting on the information. You may also consider hiring domain consultants with marketing expertise in your industry to boost your profile and drive customer interaction across social media platforms.

KYC (Know Your Competitors)

Being forewarned is being forearmed!

I often suggest all those, who seek corporate counseling, to conduct a KYC (Know Your Competitors) operation in terms of their competition. As Any business that aspires for growth needs to identify standards against which it measures its progress. Before fighting your enemy, it’s essential to know him, his arsenal, his strategies etc. before you can think of a gamelan to counter him. Thus, it’s imperative to know your competitors in terms of their business growth and use this information to find how well you are performing. It can also let you learn the strategies other businesses are using to achieve growth.

Team Matters

No business or for that matter, no organization can ever hope to run without talented manpower. As more people are doing remote work now, having experienced professionals who can work with minimal supervision can benefit you in many ways. Besides, you could get business advice from experts to get the edge you need over your competitors.

Invest your resources in your team as it is your greatest asset, which deserves to be protected during downturns. Well, doing so means reducing the salaries or bonuses of the CEO or the board to reduce/ minimize the need for layoffs. And it may also mean providing the employees the resources to do their work successfully from a remote location e.g. project management tools and flexible work schedules for better work-life balance.

Your team needs leadership in a time of crisis. You can use this time to build a stronger sense of community among your team. It can give your employees a better sense of their worth to the company and make them motivated and productive, which ultimately leads to business growth.

Money Matters

Finance is the blood of a business and any obstruction to its flow can cause the heart to collapse. Thus, the finances require proper management during the pandemic to realize business growth. Of course, you may have to slash certain expenditures and invest more in growth areas to earn more profits. Analyze your balance sheet, profit and loss account and cash flow statements to ensure that the expenses are under control.

Digital Transformation in Business

Technology can empower you to compete successfully with the more established brands. Advanced technologies can facilitate communication with employees working remotely and give you new ways to engage with your customers. As a businesses, you need to understand the importance of digital transformation and automation. Adoption of technology will contribute to more efficiency besides saving valuable time and money.

Go Virtual

The chances of your growing your business during the pandemic are contingent on your business type, competitive positioning, strategy and the ability to use digital technologies and marketing automation.

Here’s a digital marketing strategy to grow your business and ensure that your business is on a safe, secure path to exit the pandemic successfully:

1. Functional website

First and foremost, a functional website, providing a customer journey that delivers growth in visits and generates leads, is a must.  You should be active on at least 2-3 social media and must implement a revised content strategy for the pandemic to deliver growth. 

Add more functionality/content to your website to increase its growth and leads. Make your website more valuable with downloadable offers for users, improve your its usability and better articulate your value proposition.

2. Email marketing

Try to monetize your subscriber base by a list-building campaign to connect with new subscribers. Email marketing delivers one of the best ROI’s on each marketing rupee you spend. Once the economy begins to recover and the demand begins to normalize, this subscriber base can help you capture those dormant sales rapidly.

3. Social Media

Add a new platform that you had overlooked in the past. Social media is now a constant in our lives, more so in the current pandemic. It’s a great time to add another relevant platform to your media mix.

Use the Google Pay Per Click method and online advertising on social platforms to find new leads and sales. During such downturns, you can find more affordable ads, lower ad click costs and more impressions than during better economic times.

Your prospects are unlikely to remember you unless you actively work to ensure recall. And the more you can do to help them get through the pandemic, the more “reciprocity” you will find when they are ready to make a purchase. If they save your recent tip or coupon on their mobile phone, they can easily reach you at the right time.

4. Affiliates

Think of using affiliate marketing to tap new markets for your products and services.

5. Regular,  SEO- optimized content in the form of blogs needs to be added to your website monthly.
6. A revised search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for the pandemic needs to be put in place.
7. Virtual sales calls aren’t considered any less professional these days; they are as good as in-person meetings. The staff just needs to ensure that they are dressed professionally with an optimized background and the audio and video are clear to ensure seamless communication.
8. During such virtual sales, the seller needs to be proactive by offering relevant tools and guides to the prospects. It will ensure that you enjoy a top of the mind recall for your target customers, even if you aren’t able to close the deal right away. There is always an opportunity for unique and compelling products but in these exceptional times, you need a carefully executed approach while engaging with your customers.
9. Hosting relevant virtual events for customers is a great way to provide value but you’ll have to find ways to make your webinars stand out. Try to have an interactive experience and close the event with a clear call to action that leaves the audience feeling connected with your brand and willing to continue the relationship later.
10. The pandemic has put a stop to in-person events, networking functions and conferences, but virtual events can draw and accommodate larger, more diverse audiences. Besides the product content can be recalibrated for social media and websites to engage additional customers.

Webinars on topics relevant to your business can draw interest, especially if they are addressed by high-profile speakers in an interactive way. Think of adding giveaways and other incentives to draw interest and promote it across social media channels.

Try New Things

It’s time to broaden your digital marketing channels. Let’s say your marketing efforts includes regular emailing to your subscribers, and marketing via Facebook and Instagram. But maintaining them wouldn’t be enough as the business environment has got tougher. New leads can be harder to find and may take longer to close. During such a downturn, adding more marketing activities to build a sales pipeline has to be a priority in the face of current limitations in marketing.

Live on a budget or Invest?

Do you pare down and carefully manage the marketing budget or invest to achieve sales growth? For some businesses, this is clearly the time to invest – if you are in a highly competitive industry, or you have been slow to join the digital transformation bandwagon, it can be your defining moment in business. Here are some basics for a decent online presence in this pandemic:

Authentic, transparent communication

Try talking to a business coach and they will tell you that the COVID-19 pandemic has made transparent communication even more important. As customers want to engage with brands online, this is the time to send clear, direct messaging to reassure them that the business is open and provides easy ways to interact and purchase.

You can make friendly appeals on social media about the pandemic directly and the ways you are adjusting and moving forward. More importantly, remind your customers how much you value them, provide incentives for their continued commitment and tell them that you will get through these difficult times together.

And do not forget your team. Remember to listen to your staff by asking about their circumstances and checking in on them frequently to shows you value them. This, too, shall pass, but a little bit of empathy goes a long way.

With almost all countries going ahead with vaccination at a feverish pitch and the introduction of COVID drugs, the road to a post-pandemic world is hopefully being carved out, and this is the time to make the changes to survive the rest of the storm.

Brace for recovery

Hopefully, the pandemic would be brought under complete control, though nobody know when. Most experts echo that the latest virus variant i.e. Omicron seems to be signaling the end of COVID-19, but we are clueless about how long it will take. Therefore, growth-oriented businesses have to focus on the future and be ready for a recovery by staying ahead – purchasing materials, receiving new shipments, improving work environment and forging a strong business culture. Business leaders need to adopt effective leadership practices to encourage employees to realize the desired business growth.

Though there are plenty of growth strategies to ensure the survival and growth of your business during the pandemic and thereafter, but you will have to look for measures relevant to your specific needs.

Undoubtedly, modern technological marvels like the Internet, cell phones and social media have simplified our lives by keeping us connected with a constant flow of information at our fingertips. Social media has sparked movements, highlighted issues and turned many of us into millionaires. But you’ve the ugly side, too – the feelings of shame from comparing ourselves to others, cyber bullies of kids and teens and the effects of spending long hours in front of a screen. Let’s admit: In a tech-driven world, we can’t completely shield our kids from screens. Of course, we can try to use these tools effectively and safely so that our children profit from them without compromising on safety. 

Very often, there is conflicting advice on raising confident and successful kids. Add to it the new challenges thrown by the Digital Age and you have an even more complicated parenting, more so during the ongoing pandemic. Nonetheless, it’s important to focus on balancing priorities and responsibilities between the needs of your children, other family members and yourself. The ubiquitous Internet may seemingly make the job easier, but it’s hard to know what to trust. 

Parenting styles matter when raising children so much so that experts can predict the kind of personality that emerges from a particular parenting style. To raise a confident child with high self-esteem, having an authoritative (rather than authoritarian) parenting style is more desirable. As an authoritative parent, you would like your child to listen, respect and trust you rather than fear you. You would like to be supportive, and not be a stalking, helicopter parent. Right? 

Managing  Screen Time

You may dream of raising a screen-free child, but let’s admit it – screens are here to stay. Instead of adopting a binary Yes-No about screen usage, the practical challenge lies in balancing the ideal and the real to find the sweet spot. The ongoing pandemic has upended the social and family fabric, with all social activities from visits to grandma to teenage social networks to tuitions happening on screens. You may like to cultivate some aspects of these positive experiences in your children’s lives like reading books on an e-reader and Zoom calls with distant relatives. Technology is so pervasive now that it covers everything from sleep to study to social life.

Amid all these technological onslaughts is the question of protecting family time. Experts agree that agreeing on certain household rules to govern the usage of such devices and age-appropriate policies is the best thing to deal with the challenge.

Some such policies are appropriate for all, including parents:

1. No mobiles at the dining table
2. No screen use for an hour before bedtime

The golden mantra: practice what you preach to make it a success. And if you need to re-set these rules as children return to the classesroom, you need to talk about it with kids and explain why it matters to use devices with some limits.

Make sure that besides taking time for family meals and conversations, you sit down with kids and keep a discreet watch over their online life. Do not let them feel you are snooping on them; rather, do it tactfully.  Leaving them alone with their devices as babysitters is a recipe for sure shot disaster. 

Implications of Excessive Screen Time

Many studies have uncovered the detrimental effects of excessive screen time for kids. Latest data show that children and young adults spend an average of 3+ hours daily on social media. Some parents want kids to have smartphones as a safety measure while others shield their kids completely from screens by removing TVs and other devices. No matter where you fall on the spectrum, it’s clear that parents are concerned about kids’ screen time.

1. Physical Development

A 2019 study says that toddlers exposed to a screen time of 1 hour + daily reach their development milestones late. At this time, babies are exploring the world around them and picking up basic skills it by learning words, using hands, getting up on feet and absorbing an unbelievable amount of information.

Excessive screen time can lead to a stagnant lifestyle, obesity and poor health. Children can also encounter adult content or fall victim to cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying.

But there’s some good news. Limited screen time with apps and shows can have positive effects. Smartphones and tablets can contribute to hand-eye coordination, language skills and familiarity with technology, which comes in handy later.

2. Cognitive Development

Engaging a child with physical books, conversation or physical games has a greater impact than using a smart device to divert attention. Excessive screen time can stunt these processes and interfere with normal development. It affects the ability to focus, give attention, communicate and develop a good vocabulary. Reading with your child is much better for their development than sitting them in front of a device. With a tablet, the device does the thinking for the child; who doesn’t need to visualize or anticipate what comes next.

3. Social Development

Our frontal lobe helps us understand social situations, sense communication cues and empathize with others. Unless kids balance screen time with plenty of in-person communication, they face the risk of developing a blunted sense of empathy and sensitivity to social cues.

It teaches kids to expect instant gratification. When a child touches a smartphone or tablet, it responds immediately. Games and shows are highly stimulating, with a flood of colors, sounds and shapes. Kids get addicted to devices because of this instant response. So it’s important to temper screen time with lots of real-world interaction. 

Finding the right balance

Finding screen time balance is the best way to approach the digital experience. Extensive research cautions us to have moderate screen time for positive benefits. The challenge lies in limiting it to a light diet of digital consumption and keeping it from becoming a heavy feast.

Parenting tech-savvy kids

Kids notice adults tinkering with smartphones, watching online shows and browsing the internet. Ever curious as they are, kids are eager to handle smartphones to figure out how they work.

Parent counseling services suggest that WHO guidelines, instead of asking you to keep kids away from it, prescribe that parents teach kids to use them properly and regulate their use until they are old enough to make wise decisions.

Age-specific guidelines

1. 0-2 years

From 0-2, parents need to carefully monitor and limit the kids’ screen time without allowing any sedentary screen time, as per WHO guidelines. It’s best for babies to avoid screens until they’re 6+ months old.

2. 2 years

Read physical books to your child, who stands to gain so much from it. Books enhance their imagination power and vocabulary and communication skills, besides fostering your bond.

“A child who reads becomes an adult who thinks”

Even if the baby doesn’t show much interest, keep trying by giving different options. Make a routine of reading and teach it new words. To spark a love of reading, try getting them their personalized children’s book. They’ll be thrilled to see themselves as the hero in their favorite story!

3. 3-4 years

This is the time for parents to introduce short stints of screen time. At this time, toddlers are busy learning critical life skills and developing their character. Towards this end, reading has to be a strong component of their routine, but introducing limited, age-appropriate screen shows or games – a maximum of 1 hour daily- can also benefit the child.

But alongside, parents need to resist the strong urge to use this screen time as a bargaining chip or a babysitter. Instead, you need to deploy screen time sparingly to entertain and educate them. Get out daily for a trip to the park, games and bonding as a family. 

4. 5-12 years

The screen time guidelines now become similar to those for adults. The “right” amount of exposure varies in line with the child’s hobbies, schoolwork and other pursuits. The amount of time spent with screens may still be a concern, but you need to educate kids about adult content and cyber bullying. 

5. 12+ years

It’s important for you to stay up-to-date to help your child navigate the digital world. But while doing so, you may have to grapple with some tough questions:

Does my child need a smartphone?

Should I monitor their messages?

Should I set limits on how and when they use their devices?

My child watches hours of video games and TV everyday – how much is too much?

Unfortunately, there is no right or wrong answer to any of them as every family is unique. One child may be responsible and transparent while using technology while another may be at risk of being exploited online. Thus, it’s important to remain up-to-date with technological trends, understand possible pitfalls and provide kids with guidance and support.

You can also watch our video on – Things not to do in Parenting 

 Online Safety

You can protect your child from the pitfalls of the digital world by using simple precautionary measures.

Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying, which begins rearing its head among kids and teens, includes:

1. Sending threatening/ mean messages through text or online
2. Accessing others’ online accounts to send unwanted posts/messages
3. Circulating noxious images through text or phone
4. Sending sexually explicit/ suggestive messages about others online or through text

Cyber bullying thrives on anonymity and makes it tough for victims to speak up as they may believe none will trust them. Any child can fall victim to cyber bullying, not just the shy, quiet kid who is targeted by bullies in movies. 

Look out for the following. Your kid may be a victim of cyber bullying if he/she:

1. Acts secretively/defensively about their online activities
2. Seems agitated, upset or angry while messaging or using social media
3. Feels reluctant about going to school/interacting with others
4. Has started doing poorly in classes
5. Has problems with eating/sleeping

If yes,

1. Encourage them to open up without shame or fear and offer plenty of love and support.
2. Work with digital service providers, school and law enforcement agencies to check cyber bullying incidents in future.
3. Education and empathy are the best tools to combat cyber bullying.
4. Teach your children to recognize cyber bullying and take a stand for self and others

To tackle the menace, parent counseling services typically recommend the following

Action Points

1. Report inappropriate/humiliating social media content and try to get it removed
2. Report cyber bullying incidents to parents/ teachers
3. Support the victims with love and friendship
4. Don’t forward explicit, rude or humiliating messages
5. Teach your kid to have empathy

Explicit Content 

Many kids get exposed to explicit content online before they even know about physical intimacy. Protect your young kids by:

1. Setting filters on the internet and social media to prevent access to such stuff
2. Encouraging open, age-specific conversations about physical intimacy
3. Showing love and support if they confide in you about what they’ve seen online

Scams

We all know about the promises of untold wealth/ lottery from a far away prince or a surprise introduction from a “rich relative” that you never knew about. Many adults get sucked into such scams. So it’s much easier for predators to victimize kids to seek out information about their parents, like credit card data or other sensitive data.

Once again, education is the best antidote to teach your kids to never share sensitive information like name, address or age with anyone online whom they don’t know. Tell them about sensitive vs. shareable information and encourage them to approach you if someone asks for sensitive data.

 Pandemic Effects

During the pandemic, many children had to struggle learning in ways that were harder than regular school. With the imminent return to classrooms, children need time to catch up and feel comfortable asking for extra help. They need to receive the message that what matters is the learning and understanding and some rigid schedule they may have fallen behind.

Parents need to step in when kids face academic challenges. Some others missed a step along the way, had a tough time during the pandemic, studied improperly or grappled with a learning difference. Parents should be in touch with their kids’ teachers about how things are going as determining the problem leads to the most helpful solution. 

Parents as Digital Role Models

Those, for whom parenting styles matter when raising children, it’s important to know that children mostly learn what they see, not what they are preached. If a parent wants to make a social media post about something the child did that may embarrass him/her, it’s worth considering: Are you posting it to draw attention to yourself?

As a parent, you need to respect the child’s privacy much the same way you respect your friends’, family members’ and colleagues’. For instance, it may look cute to post a picture of a naked toddler but that may not be what your child would like to portray 15 years later. You may need to consider a “no butts” policy for social media.

In fact, we need to teach kids about consent- to being hugged by an uncle or being filmed crying over a lost toy.  Children create digital footprints as they grow and you can start by respecting their privacy and using the same standards throughout their lives. 

The Right Age for a Phone

A practical answer is: when they need one i.e. outside your direct supervision e.g. a child travelling between two houses or having a sleep-over at a friend’s place. Think of giving graded access to technology like beginning with a feature phone and then moving forward. Always remind them that privileges and responsibilities go hand in hand and increased access to technology should depend on its appropriate use.

Striking Digital Balance

These are incredible times to living in. We’re hyper-connected and technology unrelentingly continues to revolutionize our lives. And as parents, we need to encourage kids to harness technology positively and find balance in their lives. Parent counseling services often advise parents to strike a sweet balance by supplementing screen time with the following:

1. Get outside often

Fresh air rejuvenates the body and the spirit. Take out kids regularly to teach them early about appreciating the beauty of nature and to be curious about the world. 

2. Active lifestyle

Physical activity can do wonders for kids’ development – Run, hike, play, swim and walk and encourage your kids to follow.

3. We time

Make dinner, breakfast and dinner your regular bonding times. Eating together not only binds the family together, but also leads to better overall health, happiness and less stress. 

4. Love of learning

The finest thing you can do right from the beginning is- read with your child. Get books that fuel their imagination, stir excitement and teach them new things. Reading inculcates better vocabulary, improves IQ and can get them into the wonderful world of books. Better still. get them a personalized children’s book and they would love seeing themselves as a hero in their favorite story!