Anuradha Sridharan

Image Source: https://www.postplanner.com/inspiring-dale-carnegie-quotes/   I thought of writing about this topic a while ago but I held back as I felt it would expose matters of personal impact to the outside world. But then I felt my experience would be relevant to people who face difficult circumstances, find it tough to come out of it and end up with feelings of self-pity. My objective is to help such people by sharing my experience and how I managed to come out of this situation. Even if this post helps one person, my objective of writing it is achieved. Before I write further, let me first define this not-so-innocent sounding term - "self-pity" . It is a sad, depressing feeling that one gets when things don't go as expected, when people let you down, when you feel a victim of circumstances that are beyond your control when you face certain issues while the rest of the world doesn't have to deal with the same. Social media is a major source f...

With my new Amazon Kindle and a Kindle Unlimited plan, I have finally started to explore books for their interesting title and synopsis. So far, I've only been reading bestsellers and books recommended by friends/social media/bloggers etc. " The cozy life - Rediscover the joy of the simple things through the Danish Concept of Hygge" by Pia Edberg belongs to the former category. I found the concept intriguing and it aligns with my belief of leading a simple, happy life without materialistic pursuits. As the author defines in the very first page, Hygge is the Danish concept of coziness. "the art of creating warmth, comfort and well being through connection, treasuring the moment and surrounding yourself with things you love." It was a pleasure to read this book and it gave me the similar feelings of coziness and warmth that the author wants us to embrace. It starts off with the origin of Hygge at Denmark, one of the happiest countries in the world. The...

Off late, I've been hearing this phrase (or similar sounding ones) quite often in various forums/blogposts - " women who seek work-life balance are less ambitious ".  I fall into that category of women for whom work-life balance is very important and so it made me think about this basic question - What exactly is ambition? Why do we equate it to climbing up the corporate ladder, grabbing fancy job titles, jumping across various organization hierarchies, increasing your pay 10X, having a team of 50+ (or 500+) people to manage, buying a fancy house, driving an expensive car etc? In the initial few years of my career, I was like anyone else - promotions mattered, job titles were important and so does the company names where I worked for. But after my daughter was born, my priorities shifted and I started to rethink about what I need from my career and life in general. None of the above listed criteria mattered anymore. I decided not to be a part of the rat race. My amb...

  When I came across this title, I presumed it would be on the lines of "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt or "Ready to lead" by Alan Price. Career-related challenges covered through the life of a working professional, followed by actionable insights and framework for the reader as the protagonist solves these challenges - I prefer such story-telling narrative to talk about serious issues pertaining to career management. But this book addresses these issues in a simple, straight-forward manner. Faster, Smarter, Higher is very relevant for people in their early-to-mid stage careers. The author has covered all important facets of managing one's career - yourself and other stakeholders who play a vital role (your manager, your peers, your team, your manager's boss, your manager's peers etc). For each stakeholder, he has clearly explained their role and importance and concrete steps to manage the different scenarios that get played out as you climb up the...