May 2018 – My Blog

The street where the whole world lives.

How do you feel about people who are living far away from you, in a another country, another continent. And if you have not been outside your own country, how do you know about them? Oh come on! we are living in the internet era. Media wheather it is electronic or printing is one of the main medium to know about the people, who are far away from you.

But what media shows us most of the time is, people are kind of strange in other parts of the world. Their lifestyle is different, they are no way similar to us. And unfortunately we believe them also. That is when you isolate yourself from rest of the world.

I have mentioned several times in my posts that “We are One”. I am always a firm believer of the fact that, people around the world are not different, they have the same needs, same kind of feelings just like you. Just because some crap media creates a wrong perception in our mind about people in other parts of world doesn’t mean they are different.

So, today I have proof to show everyone of you that what I am saying is absolutely true. There is a website named ‘Dollar street” and it is just amazing. What does a website has to do with all this ? valid question.

Imagine you are living in a street with people all over the world beside you. Isn’t it amazing to think. Dollar street has made it possible, although through photos. If you are thinking you are very different from people of U.S.A, South Africa, Germany, India, Russia, Netherland, China or any other country you can think of then you are very wrong. Here is the proof.

The basic idea of ‘Dollar Street‘ is to arrange families from different parts of the world according to their income not by locations (from left to right income increases, people in the same column have similar lives). These are just some of the pics I have taken from their website. There are more than 30000 photos of more than 200 familes from more than 50 different countries (Woooow!).

Not only this you can literally see what kind of toothbrushes, toys, toilets, beds etc. people use all over the world. Watch out-

So what does ‘Dollar Street’ teaches us-

When it comes to your daily life, your location matters less than your income. People with similar incomes have similar lives irrespective of wherever thay live. They are not different. Needs of people are same everywhere, everyone wants a solid roof over head, a soft bed, good food, nice clothes etc. Everywhere around the world pet lovers are there. The more you explore this website, more you get to know about our world and how similar people are.

Therefore I would urge you to visit and explore this website. You will fall in love with this. Finally I must tell you about that amazing person, who has bring the whole world so close to us. The concept of Dollar Street was invented by Anna Rosling Rönnlund (sweden). It has been funded mainly by a grant the Swedish Postcode Foundation. Her focus is as always the big picture – knowing that: what you see is what you understand.

According to Anna “ The news show us images from other countries. We see wars, disasters, pandemics, refugees, corruption, animals, paradise beaches and exotic ethnic groups. All these things are extraordinary! In the rest of the world there seem to be no ordinary people and no everyday life. Nobody wants to be described as a strange characters in a fairytale. But to get our attention, that’s how the media portray people in other countries. People from different continents, with the same income, are neighbours on Dollar Street. The way people live on the same income levels is often surprisingly similar.” Here is her famous ‘Ted talk”

So, go and check out ‘Dollar Street‘ and realise that ‘We are really one”. And if you not convinced even now that we are not different, then what can I say you. Just imagine a day when aliens from other galaxy would attack us ( though I never want this to happen) we have to unite then irrespective of caste, culture, country, continent (So why not now).

Make the world your home. Have a great week. Be in joy. Until next time. -Joy♥

Why your Time management’ plan is not working?

How often you have tried to make a routine of your daily life. Well, I have done it a lot at various stages of my life starting from when I was in high school till now. Making a daily routine itself has a great pleasure, you will certainly feel as if your life is going to change from tomorrow as your routine is going to change. I enjoyed a lot making those routines in a sheet of paper.

But alas! those so called daily routines or ‘time management’ plans ( more popularly known now-a-days) never went according to the plan, at best it was ok for few days but not more than that. I think it’s not only in my case but happens with lot of people. Of course we always blame ourselves for this. I am such a lazy guy, I am a procrastinator, I can’t manage my time properly are common things I used to say myself. Those were really annoying moments for me when I saw those sheet of paper where time management plan was written flying in a corner of my room.

Later I got to know from a lot my friends that same is the case for them also. The so called ‘Time management’ plan was not working even for them and I guess same is the case for a lot of people. So where is the problem, is the fault lies only in us?

For many years I used to think the fault lies really in us. If we are determined enough ‘time management’ plans will work. But recently, I noticed a important point regarding ‘time management’ which was missing in those time management plans. It’s less about ‘time management’ but more about ‘energy management’. Yeah it does make sense.

One common free advice people always give is ‘focus on your work’. But what nobody tells you is that, your ability to focus is limited in a particular day. Now think about one of your friends who always finish his/her work in time, in other words who is very productive. Of course he/she has great focus in his job but what you need to know is he/she preserve his/her mental energy for doing that job. That’s the precise reason he/she is productive.

Now because you ability to focus or your mental energy is limited (check out this paper) to be productive you must not waste your limited energy on unnecessary things and things which requires most focus should be done first.

Management of your time is not possible without considering your energy (wheather mental or physical). It doesn’t matter how much time you have to complete a task if you don’t have the energy and focus to get it done. Everyone wants to be productive but very few are ready to manage their energy, is it not strange!

So, save your energy, don’t let it drain out. And how do you make sure that your energy level is up to date always, you know it right-

Don’t underestimate the power of sleep (have proper sleep). Remember not having proper sleep is like slow poison.
Don’t think exercise is only for your physical energy. It’s equally good for your mental energy.
Stop taking junk foods. Eat cleaner diets. Just think if you bought your dream car would you use any kind of junk oil for that, No right. It’s your own body which is more valueable than your dream car.
Avoid consuming too much information in a day. Specially the unnecessary one. Checking e-mails or notifications frequently is like allowing your energy to drain out. Choose carefully what you are reading.
And don’t think too much about the list of pending works. Instead write them down, it will bring clarty to your mind.

Most people underestimate the importance of energy and overestimate the importance of time. Time management will automatically happen when you focus on having the energy levels required for effective use of time.

And in case you are thinking why I even need to plan my time. Then remember Benjamin Franklin once said-

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”

Have a productive week. Until next time. –Joy