facebook Personal Effectiveness Archives - Focus U

Introduction

For every FocusU family member, checklists are an irreplaceable part of life. So, when I came across a book titled “The Checklist Manifesto,” I knew I had to read it. The book was a pleasant surprise in every possible way. Written by a renowned surgeon Atul Gwande, this book deals with the idea of solving complex problems across a broad spectrum of issues ranging from both personal and professional issues.
The writer starts by narrating a story about a deadly infection that was killing the patients in a hospital and how a simple checklist saved the lives of thousands of people. On any given day in the United States alone, there are thousands of people admitted to intensive care. Each ICU has a host of things like anesthesia, breathing tubes, tubes for fluids, antibiotics, and medicines. And more often than that, variables are usually hard to manage and cause some serious infection. How to avoid this infection? Why is this infection happening? Are we doing something wrong? Finally, a checklist was created and was put to a test.

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If you are anything like us, you are constantly fielding requests at work. From formal requests to informal asks, there is always something ‘urgent’ that requires your immediate attention. However, it is impossible to attend to every single one of them. But, in a close knit society like a work team, saying No can be a tricky art to master. How do you decide which request to say no to? Which ones to prioritise? And how do you communicate the same without adversely impacting nter-personal relationships?

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I always had a dream of becoming an author and touching the lives of people through my writing. But I never gathered the courage to write because of the massive effort I had to put in. It was like taking a major chunk of my time and keeping it aside for this purpose. I procrastinated for so long, but during my post grad, I learned that “If you have a story it has to come out,” so I began thinking seriously about the idea of writing.

Continue reading “5 Life Lessons Learned Writing My First Book”

Reflecting back on the early nineties, when I began my career as a medical sales rep, I was a shy youngster, who wouldn’t like to stand-out. However once, very early in my career, I stood up to the interviewing board of Sun Pharma, when they were selecting for an 8-member team (across India) to discuss clinical studies with doctors.

Continue reading “4 Ways To Improve Your Assertiveness”

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

Source: books.google
Deepak Chopra’s book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” is a fantastic read full of great wisdom. These 7 Spiritual Laws can be applied in any and every phase of our lives. Deepak mentions, “Life is a force flowing through us. Where we direct our attention, this force flows. And every moment is an opportunity to direct our attention to ideas that inspire us.”

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