Hampi !

Ah yes ! The magical land of the Vijayanagara Empire. Where the next Flintstones Movie is likely to be filmed.

Good thing the King invested in so much real estate. 

Self directed effort is the best kind

Self directed effort is the best kind: "

How much are you paying for a drill sergeant?

Perhaps you can burn 500 calories on the treadmill before you give up for the day. With a personal coach, though, you could do 700. The trainer gets you to exert more effort.

You wake up on a Monday morning after a long hard weekend of misbehaving. You have a splitting headache. You can easily call in sick, no one will freak out. But then you remember that there's a $500 bonus at stake if you keep your attendance perfect. You make the effort because someone else is bribing you.

On the playground, it's tempting to rip into a kid who stole the swing from you. You're about to whack him, but then you see your mom watching. With a great deal of effort, you walk away.

Effort's ephemeral, hard to measure and incredibly difficult to deliver on a regular basis. So we hire a trainer or a coach or a boss and give up our freedom and our upside for someone to whip us into shape. Obviously, you give up part of what you create to the trainer/coach/boss in exchange for their oversight.

Has it become a crutch? Are you addicted to a taskmaster, to someone else's to do list, to short term external rewards that sell your long-term plans short? If no one is watching, are you helpless, just a web surfing, time wasting couch potato? Who owns the extra work you do now that you're being directed?

There's an entire system organized around the idea that we're too weak to deliver effort without external rewards and punishment. If you only grow on demand, you're selling yourself short. If you're only as good as your current boss/trainer/sergeant, you've given over the most important thing you have to someone else.

The thing I care the most about: what do you do when no one is looking, what do you make when it's not an immediate part of your job... how many push ups do you do, just because you can?

"

Big Content Farm Still Thriving After Google Algorithm Change

Big Content Farm Still Thriving After Google Algorithm Change: "

It’s been six weeks since Google flipped the switch on its new algorithm that’s supposed to push low-value content down the search-engine food chain in favor of more robust offerings. The move was hyped as a potential boon to established media sites producing original journalism, and a serious hit to content farms.

One of the biggest losers was supposed to be Demand Media, a Santa Monica-based firm that owns sites like eHow and Cracked.com, which themselves use algorithms to produce content with high advertising potential. The strategy’s worked. Since launching in 2006, Demand Media has grown to roughly $2 billion in value by producing a fire hose of self-help/how-to content, articles and videos like How to create a home first-aid kit, and Ideas for your kid’s boxed lunch. In the first two weeks after Google’s algorithm switch, Demand Media, according to comScore, actually saw its traffic increase, from about 26 million weekly unique users to 27 million.

Maybe without Google’s change, that number would have been 30 million instead of 27 million. But in any case, the switch hasn’t exactly broken Demand’s back.

In the meantime, blog reader Rebecca Luzenski sends over this info-graphic care of OnlineMBA.com, demonstrating exactly how content farms like Demand Media make so much cash.

[Source: OnlineMBA.com]

"

How To Be Extraordinarily Happy – In Work and Life

How To Be Extraordinarily Happy – In Work and Life: "

This is a guest post from Jennifer Gresham at Everyday Bright. Jennifer was the winner (if you want to call it that) in my guest post not-contest. This article immediately resonated with me and I hope it resonates with you as well. Thanks Jennifer!

My friend Jim works a job he hates, but he doesn’t see a way out. Here’s a guy who is incredibly smart and talented, but for whatever reason, he’s been unable to negotiate a new career. And he’s miserable.

He recently asked me, “What if I’m just not a happy person? What if I try to change my job to something better and I’m still unhappy?”

This isn’t a dumb question. But if you follow the science of happiness as I do, the answer isn’t exactly clear either.

The science of happiness

Back in the 1970′s, research showed both lottery winners and recent paraplegics reverted to previous happiness levels within a short period of time. This led scientists to believe there was a happiness set point, essentially a happiness cap determined by our genes. Accordingly, your decisions and circumstances in life didn’t have long-lasting impacts on your happiness level.

Then positive psychology came along and said, yes, there is a happiness set point, but it only accounts for about 50% of our happiness. So of the portion that’s within our control, what makes us happy? Sadly for Jim, the positive psychologists say relationships account for 40% of what we control, and only 10% arises from our circumstances, including our jobs.

In a review of the positive psychology literature Penelope Trunk said

The thing that increases our happiness is our relationships. A job cannot make those better. However a job can make you so unhappy that you can’t relish the relationships in your life.

I agree. I had what anyone would call a great job. I was the Assistant Chief Scientist for a lab that examined ways to improve human performance. I guided the work of hundreds of super smart scientists and engineers alongside my boss, who is one of the best leaders and mentors I’ve ever met.

And yet … I got euphoric every time I took a day off. Although I enjoyed the higher purpose that came with leading in a large, government laboratory, the bureaucracy was slowly driving me insane. Before long, I was getting snippy with the very family I loved.

But that’s not the whole story.

Does our work really matter?

Science says we are pretty lousy at predicting what makes us happy. Part of the problem is that most of us don’t spend any time at all figuring out what brings us fulfillment. We don’t take a class on it in college and our parents likely didn’t provide very good role models.

What we do know is that Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don’t have a definition for success, society is more than happy to supply one for you. By and large, that definition calls out money, power, and prestige as the ultimate indicators of a good life.

Let me be clear: there’s nothing wrong with making money. I’m all for it. But I think we’ve got it all backwards. We chase after jobs that pay a lot and hope we like them. I think we should chase after jobs we love and hope they pay a lot.

Because at some point you realize a person who “lives” for the weekend has reduced their enjoyable life span by over 70%.

This is where I have a problem with the “relationship only” model of happiness. If our work didn’t matter, you’d think that ultra rich people would be the happiest people on the planet, since they’d have a lot of time to focus on nurturing great relationships. There should be a big correlation between having so much money you don’t need to work and off-the-charts happiness. But there isn’t.

In fact, the research shows the connection between money and happiness evolves from a sense of status. It’s not the absolute value of your salary that matters, but how much higher it is than those around you (sounds like some pretty healthy relationships).

I’ve been told on more than one occasion that most people don’t “live to work” but “work to live” and I should stop spouting this “follow your passion” BS.

But I can tell you that once I figured out what I really wanted to do with my career (and more importantly, found the courage to go do it), my happiness soared. Something really profound has happened: I love my work so much that Monday is now my favorite day of the week.

When I admitted this fact to my husband, he was worried (needlessly, I might add). In my experience, there are two different well springs of happiness: relationships and a sense of personal achievement. The question is how to design a life that maximizes both.

Overcoming average

Psychological research is tricky. It relies on surveys where not everyone agrees on the definitions. It has a hard time accounting for variation, on both an individual and day-to-day level. And like most science, it searches for a universal truth that may not exist.

We know that when it comes to emotions and stock markets, the “average” response may be of little value. What makes someone else happy may not make you happy, yet we continue to act like there’s only one definition of success (and only one path to happiness).

I told Jim I could be sure of one thing: while he might not naturally be the happiest guy, a job he enjoyed would make him happier than one that didn’t.

The secret ingredient to getting that sense of personal achievement is to find work that encourages flow, which is derived from four qualities:

1. stretches a person without defeating him


2. provides clear goals


3. unambiguous feedback


4. a sense of control

The idea of flow came from researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, but it’s quite similar to the ideas presented by Daniel Pink in his book Drive, who calls for more autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In either case, it is possible to transform work from something of a burden or a chore into something rather exhilarating.

This is what people refer to when they tell you to “follow your passion.” The problem is that most have no idea how to discover their passion and so assume is it mythical at best or a scam at worst.

Don’t take my word for it. Do your own experiments–pull a Gretchen Rubin and tweak your life until the foundations of your happiness become clear. Research may say we’re lousy at predicting our own happiness, but I’ll say there’s also no one better.

In other words, if you want an extraordinary life, why design yours according to the responses of average people?

Jennifer Gresham is a Ph.D. biochemist who left her job to become a writer. She blogs about finding the clarity and courage to design a fulfilling career at Everyday Bright.

"

And we're live !

Welcome back Live Music Scene in Bangalore !

Its never been better than this with a lot of new bands getting some fresh crowd regularly at clubs ,pubs,open air concerts and even the occasional corporate gig.

Operative words here are new bands , fresh crowd and most importantly - regularly

My first experiences with performing in Bangalore were with the Sunday Jams at Indira Gandhi Musical fountain organised by The Live Gig .Those were the days when you would wait hours on the lawn outside the gazebo tracking the shade of the tree next to you , finally to get your 20 minute slot and play to your heart s content . And that was a privilege! . Things have changed now with the guys focussing mainly on promoting live music at establishments in the city. Freedom Jam last year had a fantastic format,where each venue was genre-specific and the schedule was clearly indicated prior to everyone, and knowing bangalore , people here know exactly what they want to hear.

Eventually we formed our by-now veteran Jazz / Funk band Bourbon Street and have succesfully completed myriad City Wide tours throughout Bangalore. It was difficult at first to get gigs and have people sit and listen to us playing our avant garde non-style of music but eventually figured out some tips and tricks.

Word of mouth is an extremely powerful tool in promoting your band

 Just telling people how good we are didnt bring in any extra crowd. So we said theres free beer !.

Ok maybe we lied. But the point here is that word of mouth is effective.

Taking word of mouth to the next level is what Whats the scene is aiming for. The team is hungry for the who ? , what? , when? and where? of any concert/gig/jam/show/band/ in this country. Voracious for info, these are the guys taking the scene by storm online with their newsletter packed with equipment reviews,interviews and profiles.

 Over the course of two years we've met and jammed with many musicians, from diverse backgrounds and its been very enriching personally and musically.People at shows have been very supportive and at times offered us tips on how to delicately introduce Raagas in our Carnatic Set (see below). Meeting up with like minded musicians for some gear talk and obscure band recommendations is the best way to access credible info and learn some chops while at it too !

Krishna nee begane baaro

Bourbon Street | Myspace Video

Recently we were approached for an interview on Radio One, and this is being broadcast on Sunday 13th March. Again we promised people freebie for listening in. Lets see what happens this time :)