Do's and Dont's While You Are Visiting GOA

Some of the Do’s and Dont’s when you visit or travel to Goa…

• Be prepared to spend atleast one day to just walk on the beach and soak in all the natural and human beauty

• A massage means a massage, it doesn’t mean anything more. Forget all those massage videos that you have seen on the Internet, reality is different.
• If you want something more than a massage then be prepared to shell out money. More than that you will need skills to hunt the girls down. Mostly outside or inside the happening clubs. But beware of the Russians like Cristine in the bollywood movie Dil Chahta hai.

• When shopping follow the guy with best negotitating skills in your group. Tip: Artificial Jewellery can be bought at almost half of the price quoted by the seller.
• When you rent a car or a jeep or a bike be sure to click pictures or even better shoot a video of the vehicle at the time of renting. This is to ensure that when you return the vehicle there is no argument about any damage done to the vehicle. Be prepared to raise your voice if required. Tip: Don’t fill a lot of Diesel or Petrol, you may actually end up not using it.
• Travel light. Do not carry too many clothes but do carry the swim wear and beach sandals. If you are planning to visit casinos or pubs then you may want to carry formals.

• Before you book the hotel ensure to read the ratings, if possible take feedback from someone who has stayed at the place in the past and can share real experience.
• Do not forget to carry your driving license and one additional government id proof. Note that at many places the traffic cops will stop you and check your driving license.
• If you are planning to booze nonstop then ensure that you have friends who will carry you back to the hotel. For those who do not drink beware that your drunk friends do not land you into trouble.
• When traveling to and from railway station or airport ensure that you keep some buffer time in hand. For example, Mudgaon station is 40 KMs far from North Goa and it easily takes 1.5 hours to commute by Taxi. If there is a traffic jam you may risk missing your flight or train.
• Do not smoke on the boat. Follow the guidance given by the lifeguards.
• There are specific areas on the beach marked for watersports and for taking a dip in the water. Do not walk around dip into the area marked for watersports because the Jetski or the boat may hit you inadvertently.
• Do carry some cash with you. The beach shacks do not accept card payment.
• Last but not the least, in the middle of all the madness do not miss to capture the beautiful sunset.

Picture credits: Friends from SJC, Khandwa

12 Bestseller Book Recommendations For The Year 2018

Here is a summary of my experience of reading all these books in the year 2017. I highly recommend you to start your new year 2018 with these bestsellers...

12 Bestseller Book Recommendations For The Year 2018

The Concise 48 Laws Of Power (The Robert Greene Collection)

The concise version is a very good read if you are traveling on a flight or a train/ bus. The 48 laws of power is very helpful to understand various scenarios in which one can become comfortable with Power. Specifically the Judgement, Image and Authority mentioned in each chapter is very accurate.

Ziglar on Selling

This is a very practical guide for those who want to make a career in sales. To me, it was very helpful because even in the IT industry I have to perform some pre-sales activity and then eventually some sales activity as well. Zig Ziglar’s book provides lot of valuable information on how to master the art of selling in the fast paced selling world.

The Google Story

I didn’t knew that the real power of Google is not just its search engine but it is the power of sophisticated computers and patented custom designed programs that run on thousands of machines inside the Googleplex, the company’s space-age Silicon Valley Campus. This is one story that everyone needs to know. Highly recommended.

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

Brain Tracy makes it very simple. Get the biggest hurdle out of your way first. Twenty one great ways for us to get more things done in less time. A very good and fast read indeed.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

I always run short of adjectives when it comes to praising this book. This is mother of all books on communication and interpersonal skills. With over 32 million copies sold worldwide, the clear and concise actionable advice provided in this book is definitely worth millions of dollars.

13 Steps to Bloody Good Marks

If you have children in school then this is what you need to read. It provides practical advice on how to approach learning, how to deal with exams and how to get good marks. It is a very fast read too.

13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth

One more smart book from Ashwin Sanghi and Sunil Dalal. You can use it as a supplement to Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich dad Poor Dad for some practical advice on how to create and manage wealth.

13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck

My personal favorite from the 13 Steps series by Ashwin Sanghi. For those who believe in making their own luck, this book provides step by step guidance on how to create favorable circumstances and how to attract and catch more opportunities.

The Art of Public Speaking

Authoring a book on speaking is not easy. This books explains in detail about how and what a speaker should do to improve in public speaking. The language of this book is not that simple and you may find it tough if you are a beginner in English language or reading books in English. Note, the advice given in this book is useful only if you are ready to implement in real life, just reading it without any action will not be helpful at all.

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful!

Highly recommended for those who want to improve their behavior continuously. Practical examples of how certain habits stop us from getting better; what we can do to identify those habits and how to implement improvements in our day to day routine.

The Secret

Different people have different opinions on this book. I personally found the message very clear and very effective. To me it occurred that the structure of the book could have been better, it somehow didn’t quite end up being a seamless reading experience. Nonetheless, the law of attraction is something which has stayed in my mind ever since, of course I am of the opinion that a thought without action is not going to give any results.

The Intelligent Investor

Honestly I haven’t finished reading it completely yet because it is very thorough and detailed. It has over 600 pages. Also one needs to have basic understanding of financial concepts before one starts to read this book. I searched for some videos on YouTube to understand the summary of this book which made my reading easier. It is said that Warren Buffet followed the advice given by Benjamin Graham in this book. Warren considers Benjamin Graham as his mentor. So yes, this is the definitive book on value investing.

Attitude Of Lucky People - I Would Rather Regret Things That I Have Done Than The Things That I Have Not Done

Satya Narayan Nadella was named CEO of Microsoft in 2014. In a letter to all Microsoft employees, he said, 'Many who know me say that I am deifned by my curiosity and thirst for learning. I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things.' This is how successful people make their luck. This is the fundamental attitude of lucky people. Their focus to learn new things increases the number of opportunities that come in their journey of life.

Taking inspiration from the above, I am sharing some of the things that I tried in last few years. These are examples of small things where I have tried to develop the attitude to 'do more'.

1. I had a good job, but still few years ago I asked myself what more can I do? Looked at the options and started with trainings. Within few years I got good hold over Oracle trainings and earned a good name as a corporate trainer within the company.

2. After few years, I asked myself the same question, what more can I do? Looked at the options and started my own blog The Tomorrow Beckons, published one article after another and today I have 148 article published on my blog with over 275982 pageviews. My movie review blog YourWeekendMovie also got a comment from the Kahaani 2 director Sujoy Ghosh.

3. The clock ticked, I moved on and yes in few years I asked the same question again, what more can I do? This time the opportunity came in the form of Toastmasters Club. I joined the club as a member and within a year got elected as President of the club.

4. While all of this was happening I started to contribure on Quora and till date I have some 808 Answers, 38 questions, 29 questions resulting in…

Now, I know that by no stretch of imagination these things can be considered on a yardstick for success but the point I am trying to make is how the attitude to do more has taken me into territories I never imagined I could venture into. I strongly believe if you think you are successful and have achieved a lot and that you don’t want to do anything more then it may just be the beginning of your downfall.

Lot of talented people don’t succeed either because they are laid back or because they are a victim of self doubt and fear. Developing an attitude to do more or newer things may help you achieve a lot more than you could have ever imagined. 

I will leave you with these two quotes…

and…

Hope this helps you get out of your comfort zone.