Hey there, I just wanted to let you know that I am going on a blog break. For past two weeks I have been trying to write but am hitting on some kind of block. Article topics and ideas are there in my head but when I sit down to write, it feels as if the magic is missing. It feels as if my heart is not in writing for now. And I don’t want to write to you anything half-heartedly.

I don’t know what am I going to do with the time that I usually spent blogging (promise to update you on that once I come back). I plan to go with the flow and let my heart decide what it wants to do and where it wants to go.

I know I will get back to writing eventually. Probably with new experiences and ideas to share. Till then, ciao and take care.

May life treat you well and may you treat life well.

Love & Happiness,
Avani
p.s.: I might have gone on a blog break, but I am still there. If you want to contact me, feel free to email me at avani [at] avani-mehta [dot] com.

photo : linh.ngan

Following My Heart is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

First quarter of 2009 is already over. 50% of new year resolutions are given up by this time. Are you keeping up with your new year resolutions? Here’s how things are going at my end (updates and learnings combined) -

New Year Resolution – Learnings & Updates

• Read One Book A Week

  I had fun time doing this. While I haven’t been able to read one book every week, the average turns out to be just right (i.e. one a week). Luckily, 12 out of 14 were really good.

  Books I enjoyed -

  • Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
  • America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money by Steve & Annette Economides
  • 52 Ways to Live Success…From the Inside Out! by Jeanne Sharbuno
  • Rich Dad’s Rich Kid, Smart Kid: Giving Your Children a Financial Headstart by Robert Kiyosaki
  • Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World’s Greatest Investor by Janet Lowe
  • Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl
  • The Key to Rebecca by Ken Follet
  • A Matter of Honour by Jeffery Archer
  • The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks(all four)
    • First King of Shannara (Shannara Trilogy, Prequel)
    • The Wishsong of Shannara (The Sword of Shannara)
    • The Elfstones of Shannara (The Sword of Shannara)
    • The Sword of Shannara
  • (I also read a couple of forgettable romances)

  Note: Reading one book a week becomes difficult if the size of book is huge and too easy if book size is small. A better goal would be to read 4 books a month or read x number of hours a week or x days every week.

• Lose 30 Pounds & Get Passionate About Exercise

  I am 7 pounds down. Yes, that feels great (light actually ).

  What worked (all these changes were made together) -

  • A cup of Ginger Tea in morning.
  • Replacing dinner with Khakhra (Crisp Indian Bread) & Chai.
  • Having dinner by sunset. To have fruit/a cup of milk if hungry later on.
  • Drinking 2 litre of water everyday (am almost there with every day).
  • Fast Walking – 30 mins
  • Good sleep

  What didn’t work -

  • Sunday fast. I got extremely hungry by the time it was evening. I now have milk & fruits for first half day. And have dinner a bit early.

  Next In Line -

  • Yoga In Morning
  • One Serving of Salad Everyday

  Note: I am a vegetarian & I rarely have sweets, soda, fried food and outside food.

• One Adventure – To Face Fear

  No adventures so far. But have started facing some small & silly fears like getting hair cut short, travelling alone etc.

  What I learned from facing fear -

  • The quicker you act, the better it is for you. The more time you give to fear, the more it evolves. Nipping fear in bud is the best strategy.
  • The experience of facing fear isn’t as bad as we think it would be. Sometimes, it isn’t that good either.
  • Facing fear once is not enough to remove fear completely. You will have to repetitively face fear to get over it.
  • Success in facing fear in one area, gives you courage to face fear in other areas as well.

• Master 2 Cuisines

  I absolutely love experimenting different dishes on my hubby . Lucky he, my cooking has been in his favour – no bad recipes so far.

  My learnings -

  • Master the basic gravy making process. You learn one gravy and you can easily learn 10 dishes in which use the same gravy.
  • Learn and apply over and over to gain confidence and get comfortable.

• Save & Invest

  It’s amazing what small changes can do for your finances. We slashed our monthly food & household bills to half.

  What worked -

  • Rather than buying in bulk for two weeks, we now buy food for three days only. Less food goes waste in our refrigerator this way. Less waste = more money.
  • We have reduced eating outside.
  • Reduced number of days/times we rent car (We don’t own a car. So we simply rent one usually on weekends).

  Note: We got lot of Indian snacks and household items like soap, toothpaste, toothbrush etc from India. This is a huge money saver.

• A Habit To Stay In Touch

  A trip to India was icing on cake. I got to meet and socialize a lot. However, because of this, there wasn’t a need to focus on working on the habit of staying in touch. Now that I am back in US, I have started working on this with some pretty basic stuff – connecting with atleast one friend/relative a week.

How are things going your end? Even if you have broken your resolution, you can re-commit to your goals and start working on them. After all, ‘a new year resolution’ is just an excuse to start making goals and work towards what you want in life. You can do this anytime you want.

photo : arazas

New Year Resolution – Learnings & Updates is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

Time flies when with loved ones and stalls while waiting for them said Einstein in his Theory of
Relativity. Nothing could be truer it seems. My one week of waiting to leave for hometown – Mumbai, India had seemed like an eternity. Time went painfully slow, making me aware of every hour and day. Last one month with family has gone away in a blink. I can’t believe it’s already 30+ days that I am with people I love (And I still haven’t met up with half the people I want to!).

By sheer luck, I arrived in Mumbai night before my family was leaving for a holiday to Kodaikanal (Hill Station in TamilNadu, India). And wonder of wonders, my travel ticket could be arranged. What followed was two weeks of bliss – in Kodai with family. Breathtaking views from mountain top and long walks, boating and trekking … idle evenings and a lot of gupshup (casual talks).

My heart soaked in all the love that was pouring, it savoured and cherished all moments – hugs, smiles, talks, walks … Time flew even faster as we chatted non stop catching up with each other on updates lost so far. Them interested in each and every detail of my life in US – what do I do, how do I spend time, what’s life like with hubby, how are neighbours, whom do I interact with, who are my friends, are there temples around, are there any Gujaratis/Indians, what food do we get there, what places did I visit, how’s market considering recession, how’s weather, what do I like over there, what I don’t, am I happy, is US better or India …. questions are endless and so are my answers. Of course, I too left no stone unturned. I had with me ready a whole new barrage of questions about everyone in town.

The second half of vacation began when I came back to Mumbai to spend time with my second family (hubby’s family). As news travelled within circles that I am in Mumbai, invitations to lunch and dinner started pouring. In India, people show their love through food a lot (I guess this must be true globally). Not only you get invited for varied meals, you are treated with a variety of food options and almost forced to gluttony. To make you eat more and more is the mantra. Whether meal is an excuse to catch up and spend time with each other or catching up with each other is an excuse to invite for meals … I am no longer sure. Both always go hand in hand.

After a couple of meals this routine gets kind of tiring but invitations don’t stop. Lip smacking sweets, yummy snacks, specially cooked vegetables laden with paneer, butter or ghee …. every delicacy makes stomach grumble and say no more … all it wants is a simple home cooked meal. And nothing is more appetising than mom made food.

A straight no to the invitation can be taken offensively. Hence we keep finding convincing reasons of why we can’t accept the invitation and friends/relatives find solutions to all our imaginary reasons so that we have to accept the invitation. Sometimes they win, sometimes we … either ways it is always fun.

It’s now 30+ days and I still haven’t found time to be with myself and relax at home. Social life is on a new high … everyone wants to know more about me and life in US and of course vica versa. I believe this is how it is going to remain till end of trip (Mid March). But who’s complaining I am enjoying every minute of it. It will be another year and half before I get to meet any of my people again. Cheers to a cup of chai and all night talks.

While I was gone, some of my blogging friends have come up with interesting projects and retreats –

Mary Jaksch @GoodLifeZen has started Virtual Zen Retreats to relax and nourish exhausted souls. Read more about it in her guest @ZenHabits, ‘How to Find Islands of Ease in the Chaos of Life’

Stacey @CreateABalance has started a Online Retreat Programme for those who desire to live the authentic life they are supposed to lead. Find more about the same in her article – Hungry For Balance Online Retreat

Ari Koinuma @OurBestVersion has taken up a 60 Day Challenge to come up with a new business vision which will be profitable earlier than his original business plan – and that too while balancing his family’s needs and business needs simultaeneously. He will be sharing his lessons and discoveries @Netpreneur’s Journal

p.s. : As you must have guessed by now, I will resume posting new articles. Hope you had a great Jan’09
photo courtesy of NID chick

Back From Vacation is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

There Is No Place Like Home

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year.

2009 has started awesome for me. I am going home (Mumbai, India) to spend some time with my family after a year apart. And I get to stay for 2-3 months with them before returning to US. I am leaving tomorrow and can’t wait to be with family. Am rushing, packing, shopping and yes jumping with joy right now.

I won’t be posting for the month of Jan – am on a vacation. Would resume posting articles in Feb’09.

Hope 2009 showers you with gifts and pleasant surprises as well.

Love & Happiness to you.

Going Home – On A Vacation is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

You Are The Author Of Your Biography – Robin Sharma

I don’t like new year resolutions. They have never worked for me. However, I like the idea of reviewing life annually and setting goals for the next year. In a way, subtly we are giving life direction, we are taking time to pause, reflect and figure out what we really want from life, what’s important. Of course, this doesn’t have to be at the end of the year always. We can have new year resolutions anytime of the year – as long as we follow up annually (i.e. on a yearly basis).

Why New Year Resolutions Don’t Work

I finally figured out why new year resolutions don’t work (at least for me).

• Failure To Plan, Commit Or Take Action.

  • Plan
    Working in a haphazard manner, without taking time to formulate a plan on how to achieve each goal, will rarely work. Sooner or later, we need to see facts for what they are and make some kind of plan – even if it is as small as ‘I will ____ for 30 mins everyday’. If we leave doing the required activities to chance, as our work and commitments increase, plans are forgotten or take a back seat.
  • Commit
    Making some kind of lasting change requires a phenomenal commitment from our side. A commitment to stay on path even when the going gets tough. A commitment to keep working on the plan, improvising it with feedback which our actions give us. A commitment to never give up in all kind of scenarios – even when we want to give up.
  • Take Action
    I know I don’t need to write much about taking action. Without action, the first two become meaningless. Planning and commitment make no sense if they are not followed by action. Action is the biggest divide between people who achieve their goals and who don’t.

• Differentiating One Time Goals With Life Time Goals.

  How we define our goals often play a huge role in how they turn out in the end. For instance, I have tried a lot of times to lose weight. And succeeded a lot of times as well. The frustration is, that what I achieve after one year of healthy diet and exercise soon goes away and I again fall in the range of pleasantly chubby to fat.

  This is not agreeable with me. After the amount of work, motivation, exercise, diet, controlling cravings etc goes into this one goal, it better stay for long term (preferably lifetime). The reason why this does not happen is that I define my goals incorrectly. And my life turns out in the manner I define my goals.

  The way I define goal is – I want to fit into an old pair of jeans or lose xxx weight. This is a one time goal. I fit into that pair of jeans, mission accomplished. Doesn’t matter what happens later on.

  What I want is – I want to weigh xxx and stay at that weight (or weight range) for lifetime. I want to “always” fit into that pair of old jeans. This is a lifetime goal.

  As is obvious, the requirements drastically change when I define my goals as one time or lifetime. And with changing requirements, so do the required plans, commitments and actions.

2009 Goals

Keeping in mind this new found knowledge, I plan my goals for next year a little differently. I am segregating my goals in two areas – one time goals and lifetime goals.

• One Time Goals

  • Read One Book A Week

    Read a minimum of 52 books this year. At least one book every week. My reading interests fall into personal development, management, spiritual, (auto) biography and fiction category. I want to read at least 2 of each kind. For the rest, either will do; based on what interests me.

    Reading is not difficult for me. I read at a good speed. And reading is one of my favorite hobbies. The reason to list this specifically is because with increasing work load, I find myself reading infrequently. This will ensure I take out time every week (probably every day) to read a little.

  • Lose 30 Pounds

    New year resolution would be incomplete without a mention of losing weight. I want to lose these 30 pounds without any kind of crazy dieting (this has been my criteria every time I try to lose weight. No crazy diets, no starving self). And yes, I still have a couple of old jeans and kurtis I want to fit into.

  • Learn A New Dance Style With Partner

    As I looked into the relationship area, I couldn’t pick up one thing I wanted to improve. Spending time, communication, having fun, talking about finance, doing household stuff together … everything got a tick mark and each activity scored 100%. I couldn’t pick up anything to improve.

    So I simply picked up a fun activity to do together. Learning a new dance should be a lot of fun – something to create memories.

  • One Adventure – To Face Fear

    I want to do one crazy activity this year – could be going for a roller coaster ride (I fear roller coasters) or sky dive or perhaps something else – something new, adventurous which I usually wouldn’t do or haven’t done till now.

  • Master 2 Cuisines

    Being as fond of food that I am, I would love to learn 2 cuisines this year. Last year, my learning curve on learning new recipes was steep. But with time, it reached a plateau. Attempting to master 2 cuisines will bring focus back to cooking, make it challenging and enjoyable. I would be learning Punjabi (North Indian) and Indian Chinese.

• Life Time Goals

  Lifetime goals are goals which I would like to stay with forever – make goals my habits basically – a permanent part of me and my life.

  • Get Passionate About Exercise

    One reason why I gain back all the weight is that I stop exercising after reaching the goal. I figured that if I get passionate about exercising in any form, then I will stick to it for lifelong. If I enjoy exercising, the probability that I will stick to it becomes high – everything turns in my favour. So this year, my goal is to experiment different types of exercises for a couple of months and find ways to make each of them enjoyable. Doing different forms of exercises will keep the newness alive, I will not get bored and by end of year, I will have learned n ways of exercising. I can then form my own ideal exercise strategy for life.

  • Save & Invest
    I love money and everything to do with it – be it saving money, earning money or investing money. I live a simple life, don’t spend lot of money on ‘things’ and always think twice before spending a dime. Year before last, I also had a great time learning about investing in equity, mutual funds, gold, government schemes etc.

    This years plan is to find creative ways to save money without creating a substantial impact on my life and start investing again (2008 was a no-investing year because of the way financial markets were. We focussed on paying off debts instead.).

  • Meditate

    Meditation is quite beneficial in a lot of ways. I meditate only when I need one of the benefits of meditation – increased focus, peace, connect within, as a stress-buster etc. I would like to start meditating everyday for at least 15 minutes.

  • A Habit To Stay In Touch

    As easy as this one sounds, it is a high priority item on my list. I haven’t ever needed to consciously stay in touch with those important because they are always around – there is no need to specifically attempt to stay in touch – it naturally happens.

    However, now that my friends are all over the world, and I have moved quite far off from my family and friends in India (me in US), this has become a requisite.

Create A Foundation

Along with these one time and lifetime goals, I have charted out my plans for this blog as well. In addition to these, there are two more blogs which are work-in-progress right now. I would be launching one in the first quarter and the second one in second quarter of 2009.

I usually don’t pick up so many life changing activities in a year. 2009 will be interesting because I will be doing so.

It would be crazy on my part if I don’t plan out and just start with everything. The biggest challenge would be to increase productivity, manage time well and stay motivated. Getting things in an automated mode would benefit me largely.

Keeping that in mind, my focus for the month of November and December would be on finding ways to motivate myself, get productive and get automated. November and December will turn out to be hack-full months for you as well since I would be writing about the hacks over here to keep you updated.

Plan For November & December – 2 Hack-Full Months


• Every Monday Motivation Hacks
• Every Wednesday Productivity Hacks
• Every Friday Life Hacks (Hacks for different life areas)

2009 Personal Goals is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

]]> http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/10/30/2009-personal-goals/feed/ 9 http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/10/27/2008-blog-review-and-2009-plans/ http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/10/27/2008-blog-review-and-2009-plans/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:36:02 +0000 Avani Mehta http://www.avani-mehta.com/?p=105 2008 Blog Review and 2009 Plans is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.
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Photo Courtesy of Jamoker


If you don’t know where you are going, how can you expect to get there? – Basil S. Walsh


About Early 2008 Blog Review and 2009 Plans

I know this is still October and way too soon for a year end review. But I like to start off this early. This gives me an ample time to think about what would I like my goals for the next year to be. Moreover, it helps me to start forming habits which will support me to fulfill my goals for the next year. To simply put, November and December will be used to create a platform based on which I can fulfill my goals for the next year – for instance doing basic research, gaining knowledge, taking advice from mentors, forming strategies, making space in life for the new goals etc. In the month of January, I don’t want to scratch my head wondering how to go about with my goals. I rather want to start working on my strategy and get closer each day towards my goals.

2008 Review

Avani-Mehta.com is four and a half month old now. And the journey so far has been amazing.
In the past months:

• My Interview

  I was interviewed by Tarun Patel @ Gujarati Bloggers. Gujarati Bloggers is a network for bloggers who are Gujarati. Gujarati is a language from Gujarat, India. People who’s mother tongue is this language are also known as Gujarati. Tarun conducted his first interview in August 2008 and within a span of three months, he is down to 49 interviews.

• NBOTW

  I became a NBOTW (New Blogger Of The Week) at Blogging Without A Blog. Barbara handpicks blogs less than four months old who provide consistent quality posts. The experience of becoming a NBOTW is truly amazing. People have written such wonderful comments for this blog. It made my days.

• AllTop

  I am on Alltop under LifeHacks section. Alltop is an online magazine rack of popular topics. It links to popular sites for each of their category and displays links to five latest posts. Check out my Alltop badge – Confirmation That I Kick Ass

• Plugin Id

  Glen Allsop of Plugin Id has created a personal development (PD) page. It lists PD blogs which rank well in Google PR, Alexa and Technorati. Avani-Mehta.com has made it to the list.

• Link Love

  I have been showered with a lot of link-love from following fellow bloggers (in no particular order).

  • Ari Koinuma at Our Best Version : #1, #2
  • Dustin at LifeHacks
  • Alex at Alex Shalman
  • Marelisa at Abundance Blog
  • Evelyn at Attraction Mind Map
  • Maya at Think Maya
  • Barbara at Blogging Without A Blog : #1 , #2, #3
  • Mark at Mark Salinas
  • Sara at #1, #2
  • Urban Panther at Urban Panther
  • Emily at Remodeling This Life
  • Cath at Cath Lawson
    
  • Martin at 1-2-solved
  • Amanda at Look Far -Searching For Self Awareness
  • Jann at Jann Freed
  • Cuppa Jo at Room To Bloom
  • Angela at Words Unspoken
  • Scott at Scloho1
  • Devin at Prosper Student Care

• Provided Value

  I created this blog to provide value and make a difference in lives of people.
  After 62 posts and two guest posts (on Effortless Abundance and Life Optimizer), I can happily say that I have been able to provide value to readers. For some posts, I have received feedback in comments and for some through direct mails. This is the greatest achievement of all for me.

2009 Goals – Draft

Following is just a draft version. I will update this based on your feedback and one more brainstorming session.

• My Goals

  Following is what I aim to get done in the year 2009 -

  • Start with a newsletter service
  • Write an e-book
  • Write minimum three articles per week

• Your Role In It

  This is where you come into picture. Before I finalize my goals for 2009, I would like to know from you following things -

  • What kind of topics would you like me to cover?
  • What article style did you like – long & detailed, short & to the point, thought provoking, solution centric, funny & meaningful stories?
  • Of the articles that you have read, which articles did you like the most? And which did you not?
  • On what topic would you be interested in reading an e-book from me?
  • If you have any more feedback, do provide the same.

  You can leave your feedback in comments below or mail me at avani [at] avani-mehta [dot] com.

I am almost done with finalizing my goals in other areas of my life. Will write about them by end of this week.

2008 Blog Review and 2009 Plans is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

]]> http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/10/27/2008-blog-review-and-2009-plans/feed/ 18 http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/09/16/new-blog-of-the-week/ http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/09/16/new-blog-of-the-week/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:54:21 +0000 Avani Mehta http://www.avani-mehta.com/?p=91 New Blog Of The Week (NBOTW). Thank you Barbara. To those who haven't visited Barbara's blog, do visit it. Through her blog she shares the lessons she has learned whilst blogging - to make fellow bloggers blogging journey easier. As much amazing is her blog, that much amazing is the community she has built by conversating with friends and readers through comments. I have found some great blogs and some great friends through her blog.

New Blog Of The Week is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

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Photo Courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik

Barbara @ Blogging Without A Blog has chosen this blog as the New Blog Of The Week (NBOTW). Thank you Barbara.

To those who haven’t visited Barbara’s blog, do visit it. Through her blog she shares the lessons she has learned whilst blogging – to make fellow bloggers blogging journey easier. As much amazing is her blog, that much amazing is the community she has built by conversating with friends and readers through comments. I have found some great blogs and some great friends through her blog.

And for those who have come here through Barbara’s blog, A big welcome to all of you.

To start your day with some stories and smiles, begin with these -


• A Conversation Between Two Tibetan Monks
• Unlock Your Mind – A Story From Houdini’s Life
• How Fart Can Make You Grow Spiritually

For some thought provoking articles -


• Limited By Definitions
• Decoding Anger – Anger Management Series Part I
• Salt Of A Happy Marriage – When Too Much Of A Good Thing Makes A Marriage Go Bad
• Beginner’s Guide To Being Decisive
• Better Sorry Than Safe
• 11 Refreshing Ways To Find Your Own Sanctuary
  
• How To Become An Early Sleeper
  
• The Dream Manager By Matthew Kelly

I would love to have your subscription. If you would like to read more, consider Subscribing By RSS or Subscribing by E-mail

New Blog Of The Week is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

]]> http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/09/16/new-blog-of-the-week/feed/ 15 http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/07/26/blog-to-show-showcase/ http://www.avani-mehta.com/2008/07/26/blog-to-show-showcase/#comments Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:05:46 +0000 Avani Mehta http://www.avani-mehta.com/?p=75 Blog-To Show event July 26-27 2008. Thank you Liz, you are wonderful. For new visitors, a big welcome to all of you. I have put together a list of "Best of Avani-Mehta blog" just for you. Enjoy :)

Blog-To Show is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

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Photo Courtesy of sparkys

This weekend Liz Strauss has organized a Blog-To Show event July 26-27 2008. Thank you Liz, you are wonderful.

For new visitors, a big welcome to all of you. I have put together a list of “Best of Avani-Mehta blog” just for you. Enjoy

• Beginner’s Guide To Being Decisive
• How to Become An Early Sleeper
• Relaxation & Rejuvenation Series Part I : Find your own sanctuary
• Break Free of Anxiety Habits – Creative Ways to Deal With Stress And Overcome Anxiety Part I
• 6 Ways To Get Mind To Focus When It Does Not Seem Your Own
• 20 Learnings From Do One Thing Different

I also have a small collection of very short stories / pieces of conversations which are very interesting and thought provoking.

• A Conversation Between A Cherokee Elder And His Grandson
• Is Your Cup Empty? – A Zen Koan
• Unlock Your Mind – A Story From Houdini’s Life

Blog-To Show is a post from: Avani-Mehta.com Download & Share: The Fabulous Motivators E-Book.

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