life’s little secrets

Twitter: @THATlittleJOKE Vishal Badani - http://vishalbadani.wordpress.com 1

Twitter: @THATlittleJOKE

Life’s Little Secretslearning all the way

some are copied - some are inspired over 95% have been written personally

my learnings, some practiced, and several yet to be adopted principally

Vishal Badani - http://vishalbadani.wordpress.com 2


There’s nothing like family. Invest your time in them. They will always be the first to stand by you whenever required


Make as many friends as possible during school and college.

They will be the happiest to see you even if you haven’t met them since

over a decade


Family comes first. Then it’s your friends, respect them as much. Then it’s the material

world

(there are exceptions; they are countable)


Learning does not have any age. Elders will share experiences. Younger ones will teach you


Respect your parents the most

They are usually the only ones who will never envy you if you do better than them

and will care for you without prejudice


Each of your parent will need someone to speak to and you can be their best, and the luckiest listener


If you’re selfish, tell your friends about it honestly. They’ll never mind it


It is better to give your money to your family than to your lawyers


Rigidity grows with age. If at your age you didn’t change according to what your parents advised, at double your age

don’t try to change them


Never play dirty tricks in your family. It will disturb the entire hierarchy, from the oldest to youngest including you


Your time to your family, partner, work and friends must be available simultaneously. It’s difficult but that is what life is

about


Neglect your work and your work will neglect you


Hard work and smart work have no substitutes

You must work hard towards working smart and continue to work hard


Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. It’s not their fault


People who chisel at everything you say must be explained with (live) examples only. They lack all abilities to understand

you otherwise


Help a person in need, irrespective of the social status. He / she will never forget you


Willingly, without expectations, support and help the ones who you find lower than your social status, especially a poor in

need. They will not mind becoming your slave


HypotheticalYou will always know all five out of five facts someone’s telling you personally, especially when an elder speaks.

The sixth piece of information is bound to come up and that’s where you will learn something new and discover

something significant. Never cut their talks off


Start with a sorry if you believe you are asking a wrong question. But never hesitate asking


Learn to listen. It’s the easiest way to learn


Never interrupt when you know it or are completely aware of something when one’s talking, even if you know the answer. He /

she may never continue to speak or advice you in the future


Buy some loner time for you, to just do nothing at all. This is the time where you will get to know where you stand and

what you are


Wasting some time is not bad. Live up to it and learn the art


Decision-making: Be quick; don’t hurry. Gather timely information; don’t be impulsive. Work with a set date and

deliver

(for indecisive thinkers)


The quintessence of developmental success is ‘clarity in your speech’


People will break your trust once in a while. If you didn’t trust them, they wouldn’t have. Give them a couple of reasonable

chances, without conditions


Don’t procrastinate decision-making and difficult work. Procrastination is probably the smartest way to calculate your

descent in life


Don’t be cynical; cynicism is never accurate


Being judgmental based on assumptions will ruin your personal life and peace of mind


Change is essential. Change with the generation. Make necessary changes with experiences


Avoid the company of pessimists. They will do everything in their ability sub-consciously to demoralize you. Simply, leave

them. They haven’t a cure


Marriage will be beautiful only if you’re partner becomes your companion. Never leave opportunities to work towards making

it happen. Companionship is everything


Spend time loving your child. Each time you think about it in the future, you will only cheer yourself up


Each time you sing when people are around, they’d smirk or laugh at you. Could you have helped them any better during

the day? Never mind


You must love your Country


Remain as much to the point in your explanations; otherwise you will bore others. And next time round, they’d be afraid of

listening you out


If you’ve taken somebody’s obligation, you will have to repay it sooner or later


To the next generation, until you succeed, your attempts to question will be an argument and your non-questioning will be

carelessness or guilt. Never mind. Still ask


If you help the poor, he’d respect you and will be obliged. If you helped the richer as much, he would find it as his right and

‘may’ respect you


If you borrow money to renovate your house, the market must, and will stop lending you, sooner rather than later


Everyone wants to be No. 1 in whatever they do. Read that number again (No. 1). It will tell you that its literal meaning is:

“there can only be 1″


Never say no to any kind of work, be it at the lowest level. You may never do it again, but you will learn how to think


How you think will always remain more important than what you think


If you messed up, accept it. Everyone makes mistakes and people appreciate hearing about them in person


You must know how much money you will need ten years down the line for yourself and especially for others around

you


The first mistake is a mistake. The same, second time, can be acceptable. The same, third time, is a crime


Make mistakes early on. When time to make the most important decisions arrive, you’ll be at an advantage


If you are successful, everyone will be around you


Learn to say no. You will end up saving a life time lying


A fixed investment offer that provides you exponentially high interest rates on your money as compared to the general

market rate, will never return your principal amount


Responsibility is never given. It has to be taken. Don’t lose an opportunity to take up responsibility


Two things can break any relationship. Money and Tongue. Maintain your transactions timely and in-full. Using the latter

wisely is in your control and mind


Compromise to the extent that you do not lose your identity


Sacrifice, but for your satisfaction and for others’ benefits. Not for making someone feel bad or to teach a lesson


Accepting failures is important. Next time you will aim at accomplishing rather than aiming at diminishing your threats

to the chances of success


In a relationship, talk and work towards solutions. Digging the ground and the past won’t help any bit


Try to please all and lose it all. It’s not worth it. You can’t be everywhere


Respect your competitors and request them to teach you. They will love it and usually will not deny. Their accuracy will be

indisputable


Take risks if you must grow. Risk-taking has an age. Most people will not be able to take their first risk after they’ve

grown


Benchmarking is significant in whatever you do. Select your samples wisely


Your instincts must be believed upon, and your intuitive decisions are correct more often than

not

Considering these two foremost, only then weigh your options


Work towards only as much as you can handle. Else you will spoil all in hand


People who disagree with you, with an explanation of their own are some of your best teachers


Don’t pounce upon people who failed especially if they didn’t take or buy your opinion.

The syndromes: ‘I told you’, ‘I warned you’, ‘I knew it’ will break that individual


Choose subsequent joy and happiness over ego. Ego will never allow thoughts to channelize and translate


Tension or tense moments for all, ‘of’ any age, at the highest level are of the same magnitude

Consider a kid’s examination in the next few hours or a mature individual’s important business risk.

Comparing your tensions with others is the worst you can ever do


Invest money early on. You are bound to make some mistake with your decisions at some point in life


There is no replacement to a smart education. Doing what you are passionate about and selecting the right career is the key


Never mind changing your career. Society only watches, hardly contributes


Success reaches your head quicker than to the people around. Maintain your individuality but use your success wisely


Never go to sleep angry and upset, resolve the problem before going to bed then the next day will truly be a new beginning


If you have choices, be happy. It’s remarkable an opportunity to have the chance to make a choice. Many don’t have options.

Taking timely decisions is the key when you have choices


If you don’t believe in what you are doing, don’t do it. The risk now is the minimum


While taking crucial decisions never think or assume about what society will think


Credit system is probably the worst legitimate system that has successfully evolved. Avoid credit as much as you can


Never fight against power unless you are equally or more powerful


To finish your accounting, you must understand it once, and learn when required. Then, buy an accountant. You don’t need

to study everything. This example works in all walks of life


Years of hard work have passed in someone’s success that you see today. Don’t believe even yourself if you think you will become rich or successful as soon as you start your work.

The belief that hard and smart work with commitment will get you ‘there’ holds most

importance. Perseverance pays


I love those who believed I would not be able to do anything. An important chunk of my success is thanks to them


Smile when someone’s angry at you and / or is shouting. You can’t demoralize that person any better


Work round the clock, and your efficiency and thinking ability will get to its worse sooner. Take a break


If you think you can’t do something, spend little money on it. You will at least try. And then you will learn how to put more

money


Invest your time and money in books and reading. It will never replace any knowledge. Comfortably, take a look at the last

800 years


When your job means that you are out of your comfort zone, you’re learning


Follow work timings. That’s the simplest way to finish your job timely and improve your efficiency


Punctuality in anything you do will lead to results, irrespective of the nature of the outcome

In addition, it’ll facilitate necessary correction timely


It’s ‘the scale’ of anything you do that must keep improving. Revise it every three years, if not earlier


Your brilliance will never be promoted by others. You will have to do it yourself


Back off if you’re unsure of making only one selection on a crucial decision requested by someone. Ensure that you don’t

confuse them further. It’ll backfire


Talking about morals will help, but life’s more factual. Performance counts unfortunately


Never pretend to gain sympathy. You’ll get used to it


When it comes to educating yourself, the best time to do it is ‘now’. Always


Don’t be too affected by other people’s judgments, most successful people were written off by many


If you don’t listen to the music you enjoy, you’ve wasted half your life


God made mother. And all mothers collectively are handling the world

A mother loves her child the most


Don’t shrink anyone’s enthusiasm by protruding or interfering; it’s like squelching the life out of someone


Don’t wait endlessly to define

‘the purpose of your life’

or how you want to live. You don’t have to do this when you’re 50 years old. Live early


Polite confrontation is always the best solution to resolving a problem. Escaping from it makes it worse


The time you spend predicting bad circumstances can easily be replaced by forecasting good circumstances. Spend your time

wisely


The only (and the best) way to look good is to know how best you can carry yourself


Your job as a leader will not be to do your subordinate’s work but remove obstacles which inhibit and affect their efficiency


Addiction to perfection is senseless. You will always be afraid and lack a mistake-evaluation system


Not everyone is useful. But never hesitate helping


When at work, relationships are secondary


Invest in medical insurance. It will have to be used someday


Being mentally healthy is equally or only more important than being physically healthy

Being healthy overall is the best achievement


If you’re distracted often and can’t finish your work, you will not be able to envisage the larger picture. Ever


You neither need to provide opinions, recommendations and suggestions to

everything you hear or overhear, nor do you require vomiting when you recollect

something similar / better that happened to you or your friend in the past. If you do it always, you’re wasted

Change that habit


Penny wise pound foolish idiom applies. Take it seriously. Accept the suggestions of those who point out these mistakes

in you


Never take a loan for your marriage


Avoid partnerships at work. Someday you will quarrel with your partner

Working on a percentage-sharing or offering a stake, are the best

alternate solutions


Crying is good sometimes. It helps you start afresh


Thank the person who helped you. It will encourage him to continue to help others


Feel sorry for yourself if you’ve got to be apologetic for the same mistake time and again


Never forget the one who has ever helped you


Be high on self-esteem albeit with a selfless attitude. If you don’t believe in yourself, others probably would never


Being charming is always better than better-looking. Improve your worth


Laugh like a paranoid when someone’s shouting at you. There’s no better way to exploit their anxiety


Replace your charming taunts and sarcasms with timely talks. You’ll work towards improving a relationship than purposely

destroying it


Generations change. Learn from your next generation. They’re the quickest in your current times


You should spend money, but reasonably. That’s how you’d love other things more than money and satisfy your passions


If money can buy everything and anything, buy it. For everything else that you want, work hard


Freedom is more about being able to choose whom to depend on, than being independent


There’s enormous learning in travel. Invest your money in visiting the world


Money is money. There is no replacement. Don’t stop earning even if you’ve reached the top and you may have to only donate

it. If you don’t need it for yourself, use it for good work


Delegation to the right person is ‘the quintessential’ to your growth and success. Don’t fear taking the authority back after

due explanations


In business, if your offer is not profitable to the next in line, you will only sooner start losing


Raising kids is not a joke. Never challenge your wife

(for men)


Society will never completely change

The systems still pronounce ‘Man and Wife’ in marriage, and not ‘Man and Woman’ or ‘Husband and Woman’


Working towards solutions is more important than working towards problems. Someone’s done enough to make the

problems appear


Digging the past can ruin your relationship


Luck is necessary. Working and not just thinking about something will get you closer to luck


Do anything and everything that makes you happy, within legitimate limits. Never stop your partner too


A time will come when you must chalk out which relations to keep and which to let go off. Do it periodically and maintain

the important ones

Never leave the ones who’ve helped you


Proving yourself right is not winning. You will simply lose out on most that’s yet to come


Grandparents are the only ones who will love your kids the most


Disregard the achievements of others and your stage will come to face a similar situation


Don’t point a finger at someone who failed, but at least tried. You will completely break them down. Ask yourself if you had

the balls to do it


Hurting someone will always haunt your conscience


Those who can’t respect your family are not worth being around with


Your life partner will always stay with you irrespective of your age. Work towards building the relationship


Sad, but everyone will remember who didn’t attend their marriage. You must


Practice at least one sport. It relieves you of all your pressures in life


If you don’t get time, you’re perhaps organizing it all incorrectly. Everyone lives for the same number of hours in a

day as you do


Teaching the stubborn man will frustrate you and aggravate him. Yet, you should give it a couple of tries. Then, leave it


Smile as often. It heals, it’s free, it’s the best thing that your loved ones would want to see

you doing


Become very good or possibly the best at something at least. That’s how the people will ask your advice on at least one

matter


Take all necessary legitimate steps to ensure your work is beneficial to all stakeholders


Pay your bills timely. Penalties on things you’ve used in the past is a criminal waste of money


Be careful with your innocence. Everyone around is here to exploit it


In life, you will get at least one penalty shoot-out. Hope for that opportunity to arrive. You must score a goal


Starting from scratch is great. Nevertheless, if you have resources, use them and stop struggling


Repay your loans as early as possible. Never think you will get it all and repay all at once. It will never happen


Give it all or give in and don’t comment


(Gujarati Sayings) Stay away for from four Vs as much as possible: Vaid, Vakil, Vaishya,

Vyaaj (meaning in order: Doctor, Lawyer, Prostitute, Interest). Your money and peace will only have a one-way traffic


Opinions are at a free flow when your time is incorrect


Share your knowledge. It may change someone’s life


Your savings are vital. You never know when you will need them. Begin saving early


If you have never written anything about yourself in the last five years (except for on social networking sites), do it now


Never hesitate to ask for your pay check timely. That’s as long as you believe you’ve earned it


Focus on completing one important work at a time. Multi-tasking while working on something significant will increase

the complexity and result in unfinished work


Impulsive decision-making is not quick decision-making


Make writing in any language, a habit if possible. While writing you will not want to make mistakes unlike your fidgety mind


Care for others like they want to be cared; not the way that satisfies you

(if at all you only wanted to care)


Ultimately, everything that you do boils down to attaining ‘satisfaction’. Start calling it your primary agenda in doing anything that you do.

Then do it


Being cared exponentially increases others’ morale. Show it


You must appreciate others’ when they have achieved ‘their desired’. Never delay. Your timely appreciation encourages

them to do better


Reward yourself in any which way. Everyone needs encouragement and so do you


Don’t be an escapist. Take initiatives and make decisions.

Be responsible for your decisions even if they must go wrong


Iterate your attempts of making failure a success if you believe what you’ve thought is correct


All educated are not learned. Life and experiences teach you extensively. Embrace those learnings. Decentralize them. Then

device them to effectively work towards your long-term passion


I hate to believe this one but I am made to (perhaps rightly):

Don’t believe anyone completely the minute you go out of your house

(I hate this and I make this mistake purposely sometimes)


Three things are most important: ‘eating your meals’ — “happily”, ‘sleeping’ — “on a bed which is comfortable”, having a ‘good bathroom’ — “to yourself”. Now that’s where and how you will spend more than half your life. Naturally


Avoid being driven by circumstances. Make choice a priority


Murphy’s laws will work the most for all and unfortunately they are unofficial in law books. Ironically, in my opinion, all life’s secrets that you are made to

understand and learn throughout your life, seem to be indirect consequences of these (Murphy’s Laws)


Calling a fool, “a fool” will not make you any smarter. Learn from his foolishness and avoid making those mistakes that he’s

mastered


Subject knowledge mastery (strong fundamentals) and continuous research, quality, self efficiency’s constant improvement — are the three keys to become successful in any work you

do.

Then, it’s only the ‘scale of work’ that’s required to grow successfully – a promise


Discipline is the stepladder that can transit you from where you are to where you want to go.

Do not confuse discipline with willpower. You must also practice when and how to take a break from your disciplinary settings


Empowerment will not lead to automatic results. It should be followed by a regular check if more responsibilities have been

taken by sub-ordinates successfully


The way to peace has to become a habit. It has to be practiced and selfishly perfected to suit your needs. You must


Most people you meet will prolong their talk in the area of knowledge they are (very) good at. You must know how to

subtly alert them of their efforts of wasting your time


Nearly all you meet will have knowledge on most subjects. You can’t keep talking to all


If you consider life as a battle, so be it. If you don’t, you’ll still be working to your strengths, and watching the world around

you happily


Conform if you can’t change situations around you because of lack of control


You must be able to make or own at least one property besides your own house


Participate in all festivals as far as possible. It’s a rare sight to find everyone around you happy


Talent without discipline and improving principles will more often than not, get wasted


Time and again, if you find yourself against the majority, accept the fact that some aspect in your viewpoint is lacking.

Make inclusions and fortify it timely


Don’t waste a lifetime on proving that your point was correct


No I don’t believe that working without targets make any sense. Working for the sake that all work and you must too, is a wasted thought. You must know

where you’re heading even if you fall short or may never achieve your set targets


Prolonging decisions will ruin your life and of the ones around you


Don’t make permanent solutions to temporary reactions. All involved will pay for only one person’s mistake


As you grow with time, your friends will gradually start reducing


You must realize that your ideals can be wrong. Reassess them every year


Going up with concrete solutions (on paper) is a better way of approaching your boss when you are going to present

problems


Keep your points ready on a sheet before discussing with anyone, especially with your boss


Pay rise will only come with additional responsibilities. And definitely not because of inflation


Create more responsibilities at your work so that you can grow. You can’t wait for the market or your boss to do that


Be it the smallest, write your achievements at work. It will either make you happy or tell you where you are lagging


Competitors must be considered sweethearts. Your industry will grow only with your combined efforts


Live your student’s life to the fullest. You will never get these years back


Gift your parents and loved ones whenever and whatever possible. The brightest smile may appear with the smallest

move


Anytime at whatever scale if you’re stuck or indecisive, pull out your pen and paper and start writing your options. You’ll soon

start weighing them and will be able to decide


During your academic career you must stage-wise benchmark colleagues who are better than you. Create levels. Then make

your way forward


The top class can influence the politicians with power and glamour; the lower class, by virtue of voting rights timely. It’s the middle-class that must burn and

wait for what happens, not that they can control or change anything


Liquor isn’t bad. It’s obscure to get drunk and worst to get noticed


It does not matter what you are at School. It matters what you are at a School re-union


If you haven’t tried bad (but safe) things, you wouldn’t understand how good things make a good life


You must at least have one circle, outside of your work arena, to talk intellectual ‘stuff’


If you can’t quickly fix your mistake, hiding it is worse. Seeks opinions immediately


I consider those men wise who: make mistakes, work towards improvements, share their knowledge, live to the fullest


If you really wanted to make a difference in a real sense, smile at someone else


Don’t stop your next generation in using newer things even if it means you must practice appropriate levels of parental control

later


Never speculate with a loaned amount or borrowed money


The (net) profits you must make in a business annually should be greater than the sum of: maximum interest available in the market on the money invested

for one rotation, the value of the rent of your total business premises, the amount of time you spend on your business


Any person who starts a working career will take at least 4 years to settle. The time could only get longer


You must pay higher for high quality products and services


It’s the foolish who thinks he’s bargained well. It’s really the seller who’s the winner


Arrogance, ego and ignorance are interrelated, interdependent and your surest way to ruin you.

Choose none


As much as possible, speak without disclaimers to avoid confusions


It takes a set of several illogical(s) to unite and make some logic. Never leave that opportunity


I haven’t met a single individual till date who has never justified his / her thought. It’s their lame excuses and erratic levels of

justifications when they falter that concern me the most


The one who awaits an apology is hurt the most. Learning how or not to accept, and subsequently react to an apology

requires brilliance


You must not buy new things only out of necessity. Do buy them because you'd love to

have them


You're a loser if you credit yourself on someone else's achievement. Sooner, you'll be identified

as a nuisance


The simplest and the best:

Respect everyone who comes your way without any hidden agendas. Simply, don’t expect anything. Help as much as possible. It’s the best way to live and remain content


Thanks for your patience

patience

life’s little secrets

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