What are the best three life hacks? By Dan Holliday

Not so much “life-hacks” but things that have made me successful(ish):
Exercise really is the solution to so many of life’s issues (moods, health, etc.).  It’s not just hype.  My entire life has been changed in monumental ways because of exercise.  If you’re not getting enough exercise (or unless you are one of the rare like 1% of people who genuinely can be healthy without it) then you are suffering in some way.  It doesn’t have to be CrossFit or running marathons, but you should be exercising.
Make a list of your priorities (including people).  Update it as necessary, but refer to it frequently.  It will help you make decisions on what is important in life.  It’s cold.  It’s calculating.  But so are you, we all are; we all have priorities (and we hate to admit that we rank people and things, but you do, we all do — I’m just honest about it and write it down; if you’re in my life, you’re on the list).  The difference between those who cannot prioritize and those that do is about two heartbeats in making decisions that most people agonize over.
It’s better to do things than to have things.  I’m not rich, but I can do one or the other.  I can afford nice things. I could have all sorts of great shit that people would look at and desire.  I can travel and do things and have great experiences with my husband.  But I can’t do both.  Doing things together builds your relationships; having things seems to distract away from what’s important.

Okay, and one more:
If you have plans, have re-evaluation periods and benchmarks.  It’s hard.  It ain’t fun.  But if you don’t have goals and dates that those goals need to meet, then you are unlikely to succeed in a lot of things you try to do.  Your goals should be flexible (mine change all the time), but the ones I have, have evaluation periods that I look back and think, “Why am I doing this?”  If I’m not on track to meet the goals, if I feel like I’m missing the mark (or that it’s no longer worth it), I evaluate and change course.

Strategy for Rbi Phase 2

While a lot of strategy is available for Phase 1 of Rbi Grade B exam online, the same cannot be said for Phase 2. Strategy for Phase 2.
1. English: 4 days ( Good understanding of ESI and FM will help you to write Essay and Letter/Report)
2. Economic and Social Issues: 10 days ( Datta Sundaram, Uma Kapila, Ram Ahuja )
3. Finance and Management: 12 days ( Principles of Management by Koontz)
Step 1: Take print out of syllabus ( Use simplified syllabus which I have posted on group)
Step 2: Take printout of last three years papers of all subjects.
Step 3: Identify your strong and weak areas and first try to focus on strong areas. 
Step 4: Write atleast one paper of each subject. Use relevant diagrams and flowcharts wherever necessary. Good handwriting is added advantage. But don’t worry atleast it should be legible. 
Step 5: Simple way is search study material on internet topic wise rather than searching hard copy of study material.
Step 6: Economic Survey, Budget, NCERT Books, RBI Website, Planning Commission reports, Websites of Ministries cover all syllabus.
Step 7: Take short notes for revision. Note down 20-25 important facts and figures ( As per your judgement).
Step 8: My formula of answer writing, it can be used in Essay, ESI, FM. SPELT i.e. try to cover S-Social, P-Political, E-Economical and Environmental, L-Legal and Constitutional, T-Technological aspects in your answer.

In Phase-II Written Examination (Descriptive type), following five things (at least) can make a candidate successful:

(1) Answer writing skill i.e. organized or well structured answers, it means answer should be in a flow.
(2) Concepts/Theory 
(3) Relevant practical examples
(4) Diagram wherever applicable
(5) Facts

Whole game of the descriptive type exam runs around these skills. First skill i.e. organized answer is the most important and it can be learnt by answer writing practice. Second skill i.e. Concepts/Theory can be learnt from standard books or coaching notes. Third skill i.e. relevant practical examples can be collected from books, notes, newspapers, magazines. Fourth skill i.e. Diagram can be collected from books, notes, internet. And last skill i.e. Facts are collected from books, magazines, newspapers and internet.
Now I describe them one by one

(1) Organized answers :

Writing an answer in an organized manner is most important. A person having more knowledge or facts can not get more marks if he/she does not write an “organized answer”. What is the “organized answer”? How can you write it? Organized means, writing an answer in such manner in which answer is written in systematical form and in sequence. E.g. If question is “Write a short note on CAR?” then you have to make an answer format. Initially make it on a page and do practice so that you can make it in your mind itself in future. Format for above question can be-
1. write definition or meaning of CAR (Introduction paragraph)
2. Recently, why was it in news ? (Introduction paragraph)
3. Importance or significance of CAR in National and world economy (Paragraph(s) of main body)
4. Effect of CAR on Indian economy- positive and negative (Paragraph(s) of main body)
5. Suggestions (Paragraph(s) of main body)
6. Conclusion ( Last paragraph)

This is very simple format. You should try to make similar formats for every type questions (easy or tough ) . This can be learnt after doing writing practice and asking to check these answers to your friends. Even you can check yourself these answers after 8 days. Now, I elaborate few points of formats.

(i) In case of introduction, first sentence should start with a basic concept and should be impressive.
e.g. Consider this question- Is inflation beneficial to the economy ? 
First sentence for this can be – Inflation is related to the purchasing value of the money.
And second sentence can start from the definition of the important word, here it is inflation.
2nd sentence can be any one of these – (a) It means a sustained increase in the aggregate or general price level in an economy. or
(b) It is the percentage change in the value of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on a year-on year basis.
I think (b) should be written as 2nd sentence because it shows that candidate has done some hard work to learn concepts. And (a) shows general and a layperson who without doing enough study can write this much. Although, both are correct, but (b) is more impressive than (a). You may/should think better sentences than me.
I pick-up next example from “Sustainable Development and Environmental issues(Paper-II)”, If question is on related to “Global Warming”, first sentence for this can be- Global warming is a global phenomena. And,…… You can choose such impressive sentences from the books, magazines for every topic of syllabus. Thereafter, you should try to make first sentence from your own.
After first sentence and definition, third part of introduction should be related to the exact demand of the question.
(ii) In the body part i.e. the next paragraphs after introduction paragraph. You should maintain connectivity with every paragraph. Connectivity is important to create a flow in the answer. For beginners, who do not know how to connect paragraphs they can start next paragraph with any one of the following words . I suggest please find more words.
– Further,
– Again,
– In addition to this,
– Additionally,
– Besides,
– In this way,
– In this manner etc
Once, you get excellency in connectivity, there will be very less/no need of these words.Further, Even every sentence should be connected with the next sentence.

II. If you want to write “effects of something” i.e. effects of CAR on Indian economy. First, write positive effects and thereafter negative effects. Every time, this should be sequence. Even, in a question only negative effects are asked then you should write 20% positive effects and thereafter 80% negative effects in paragraphs. If positive effects are asked then proportion will be changed, Now, 80% for positive and 20% for negative. Try to write both aspects if question demands so. Actually, it is the part of an organized and structured answer. It will show your analytical skill and a balanced answer.

III. When question demands “suggestions”, then break suggestions in some fields and then elaborate. These fields are Social, Economical, Political, Science and Technology, International etc. What comes under these fields? You can find answer of this question from the chapters of the basic book of the concerned field. E.g. In a social issue book, the chapters will be on population explosion, communalism, religion, caste, child abuse, violence against women, education, health, crime etc. So, first ,you should give suggestions related to these chapters wherever they are applicable. And at later part of answer, give remaining suggestions.
IV. Conclusion should be futuristic and should show your positive personality.

V. Do not repeat main word in the paragraph; instead use synonyms of that word when you are using it time and again.

VI. Avoid to write “headings” in the answer, because, in an answer with headings, examiner can not judge your organization skill. Consequently, he/she may allot you relatively less marks. However, when there is only 5 to 10 minutes more to finish an examination and you have to write 2 or 3 answers, please write in heading forms so that whole examination paper could be completed. 
You should do more practice on writing introduction and conclusion of any question because generally examiner remembers introduction and conclusion while allotting marks. And, body part is almost same of everyone. In fact , presentation and conceptual clarity can make a difference. 

(2) Concepts/Theory :

This is the second most important part although without this, ‘organized answers’ can not be written. Therefore, make self-notes on each topic. Now, I write one of the best way of making “notes”.
(a) First, allot an A-4 size page for every topic and write topic name on the top of that page. Strictly there should be one page for one topic. It is possible only when you will be writing on them in very small size. This will also give you psychological advantage during revision because you will be able to revise whole syllabus within 3 to 4 hrs duration. 
(b) Read a topic many times so that the main conceptual points with some explanations can be adjusted in one page.
(c) On the back side of the page, make diagrams and write examples which you have collected recently.
(d) In such manner, you will complete notes for phase – II exams in few pages.

(3) Examples :

You should collect at least one example per sub-topic( i.e. main headings of the topic) so that you can easily insert an relevant example in the answer. But, sometimes you may not find any relevant example in your hand-notes, don’t worry, this deficit can be filled by diagrams or numerical facts in the examination.

(4) Diagrams : 
(a) Collect at least one diagram or figure for each sub-topic. Make them on the back side of your notes.
(b) Start to make diagrams, flow-chart etc with the use of your creative mind. Such diagrams will always be relevant to answer because these are made by you, not copied from anywhere.

(5) Facts : 
These are numerical facts, name of welfare programs, schemes, years etc. Try to remember those numerical facts which can be used in many answers, because, memorization of several facts for longer time is difficult.

There is no short cut for this stage and with the exception of Paper I (English), it requires some effort and focused preparation. Candidates who do not regularly appear for such subjective examinations or have undergone degrees that do not require them to write essay type answers in examination are advised to devote some time to honing their written composition skills as part of their preparation. Ultimately, coherence in presentation and lucidity of the language of the answer matters a lot, when there is not much to distinguish between answers of candidates.

Good luck- God bless you.

Other web refrences-

Investopedia.com
Livemint.com
Eximguru.com
commodityonline.com
Indianotes.com
Business.gov.in
Moneycontrol.com
Economicshelp.org
Economicstimes.com
Allbankingsolutions.com
Bannknetindia.com

You Have to Be Fast to Be Seen as a Great Leader HBR.org by Jack Zenger

What makes a leader both fast and good? We analyzed our 360-degree feedback data from more than 700,000 colleagues to see what set fast-and-effective leaders apart from those who don’t move fast enough, or who race quickly and stumble.  Here are the top five factors, listed in descending order.

People who work with them trust their ability to use good judgment and make effective decisions. Without trust, colleagues resist moving fast (or at all). And there’s no mystery in how that trust is built: Experienced leaders earn trust through a track record of success built through strong positive relationships and demonstrated expertise. If you are new to a role and your colleagues don’t know you well enough to trust your judgment, you need to build that trust by explaining the analysis you did to make your decision. It’s also wise to share your decision with a person who is trusted by the rest and enlist his or her support.
They make their vision and strategy absolutely clear to their colleagues.  When people can see the context for action, they can more quickly understand and carry out their part in an enterprise.  It’s not hard to move fast when everyone is clear about where you’re going and, equally important, where you’re not going. Conversely, when people can’t see the way ahead, simply put, they don’t rush ahead. That’s why the comfortable speed with which an organization can move is defined by the clarity of the vision.
They demonstrate personal courage. Acting with speed often feels risky. The person looking to avoid added personal exposure will be inclined to move slowly. In general, people are more comfortable working at a steady pace. It takes a great deal of courage to move faster and ask others to move fast with you.
They assemble world-class expertise and knowledge. When leaders lack expertise they have to stop and do their homework. Lacking knowledge leaves you in uncharted waters where your inclination is to be slow and careful. Conversely, having or accessing world-class expertise allows you to work faster and make better decisions. In our experience, we’ve noticed, though, that personal pride sometimes hinders people from seeking the expertise that will speed up a process, and in a misguided application of self-reliance, they chose to solve the problem themselves.
They set stretch goals.  Easy goals allow people time to reach them in a leisurely way.  Stretch goals reinforce the need for speed. They encourage people to get on with their work rather than ponder.
It’s interesting how often our pace affects our attitude. Let’s face it —  slow is often boring. Think about people you have worked with who keep things going at a fast clip versus those who move ponderously as they ensure that everything is completed.  Certainly, speed is no substitute for judgment. And, yes, too much speed can leave people feeling rushed and frazzled. But if your company’s energy is lagging, maybe it’s time to consider upping the pace.

To Stay Focused, Manage Your Emotion by HBR.orgby Ed Batista

A leader’s most precious resource is not their time. It’s their focused attention. Time merely passes, while focused attention makes things happen. When we’re able to gather and direct our attention toward a particular task or interaction, we can have a significant impact in a minimal amount of time. But when we’re unable to bring our attention to bear on the work at hand, all the time in the world is insufficient. So what are the implications of this for leaders?

Leaders must recognize that it’s essential to work at enhancing their ability to direct their attention and minimize unhelpful distractions, and one of the most important steps in this process is managing emotions. Psychologist Victor Johnston describes emotions as “discriminant hedonic amplifiers,” meaning that they boost various signals in our mental landscape, drawing our attention toward certain issues and events and away from others. In other words, emotions are attention magnets.

Consequently, awareness and regulation of our emotions are central to the productive use of our attention. Here are some practical steps leaders can take.

Build Capacity. We can expand our attentive capacity through a commitment to practices such as meditation, journaling, time in nature, regular physical activity, and good sleep hygiene. All of these activities support our ability to direct our focus, filter out distractions, and manage our emotions, and we can often realize their benefits with a modest investment of time. Recent research indicates that meditating for just a few minutes a day, spending just one hour a week in nature, or jotting down a few reflective notes in the evening has a noticeable impact on well-being. My experience as a coach suggests that these benefits extend to leaders’ effectiveness. The key is a consistent commitment to each daily or weekly practice.

While these activities are often enjoyable in themselves, they aren’t indulgences–they’re investments in our ability to operate at peak effectiveness. High-performing professionals often enjoy success early in their careers by virtue of their ability to forego activities like this–they cut back on sleep or go without exercise for extended periods of time. But while those sacrifices temporarily expand our capacity for throughput, they actually diminish our capacity for focused attention. And while more senior leaders like my clients continue to work hard, what allows them to add value isn’t the extra hours spent working, but rather the quality of their focused attention while they’re at work.

Plug Leaks. Attention is finite, and our ability to focus in the moment is severely limited. Because distractions can fatally undermine effective leadership, it’s critical to avoid “attention leaks.” As I wrote a few months ago, “The functions on our phones and other devices that beep, blink and thrust red numbers in our faces are designed to capture our attention and create a sense of urgency… But how often are any of these interruptions truly urgent? Almost never. Turn them off.”

Another attention-destroying practice is what we’ve come to call “multi-tasking,” an utterly misnamed concept. While insignificant tasks requiring minimal cognitive effort can be performed in parallel, the truly meaningful work through which most leaders add value–one-on-one conversations, facilitation or decision-making in meetings, and creative thought and ideation–require a much more intense level of focus. Multi-tasking in those environments inevitably results in significant inefficiencies as we switch contexts and lose focus before returning to a deeper level of thought.

Create Space. Leaders typically face intense demands on their time (in part because everyone wants their attention), and if they’re not careful they can find themselves booked nonstop for days on end. It’s important to maintain some open space in the calendar, on a weekly or even daily basis, which allows for more creative thinking and helps replenish our stores of attention.

This inevitably involves disappointing people, all of whom believe their issue is worthy of the leader’s time, but productive leaders realize that they can’t meet all of these requests and must ignore many of them. Here leaders require help from their senior team, family, and friends, and–perhaps most importantly–their executive assistants. People in these roles are uniquely positioned to help leaders protect open space on their calendars, and they’re uniquely positioned to undermine that process if they don’t understand this responsibility.

One final thought: If you’re a leader sitting in a meeting that’s not worth your focused attention, then you’re serving a theatrical function. Sometimes this makes sense. There’s a place for organizational theater. But more often the whole organization is suffering because your most precious resource is being wasted. Let the people who organized the meeting know that you’ll attend in the future when you’re needed, excuse yourself, and get on with your day. And if it’s your meeting, then you may well be wasting everyone’s time and attention–they may all be there in a theatrical function because they’re deferring to your authority. Have a candid conversation with a trusted ally, and get some feedback on the utility of your meetings.

Thanks to Chris Oestereich for a timely reminder on the importance of open space.

5 Ways to Become More Self-Aware :HBR.org / by Anthony K. Tjan

You can’t be a good leader without self-awareness.

It lies at the root of strong character, giving us the ability to lead with a sense of purpose, authenticity, openness, and trust. It explains our successes and our failures. And by giving us a better understanding of who we are, self-awareness lets us better understand what we need most from other people, to complement our own deficiencies in leadership.

The question, then, is how can we cultivate and develop it further. There are many ways to do so. Below are five that I have found to work best:

Meditate. Yes, meditate. As most people know by now, meditation is the practice of improving your moment-by-moment awareness. Most forms of meditation begin with focusing on, and appreciating the simplicity of, inhaling and exhaling. But these don’t need to be formal or ritualistic — greater clarity can also come from regular moments of pause and reflection. Speaking personally, I try to gain greater awareness by simply finding a few seconds to focus on my breathing, often before sleep, and sometimes with one of the many apps available to help. During these meditations, I also ask myself a set of questions, among them:

What am I trying to achieve?
What am I doing that is working?
What am I doing that is slowing me down?
What can I do to change?
But the most frequent form of “meditation” I practice derives from carrying out seemingly mundane tasks that inspire a degree of therapeutic serenity, including washing dishes, working in my garden, and spending early Saturday mornings writing in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts as I wait for my son to be dismissed from his drawing class.

Write down your key plans and priorities. One of the best ways to increase self-awareness is to write down what you want to do and track your progress. Warren Buffet, for one, is known for carefully articulating the reasons he’s making an investment at the time he makes it. His journal entries serve as a historical record that helps him assess whether or not future outcomes can be attributable to sound judgment or just plain luck.

Li Lu, a co-leader of the Tiananmen Square student demonstration and today a highly respected investor, told me once about a practice he followed for years, inspired by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin kept a “balance sheet” of both the assets and liabilities of his personal traits. By diarizing any new strength he believed he could learn from someone else, and marking down any self-perceived weaknesses, he could better assess whether the “net worth” of his character was growing over time.

Take psychometric tests. In Heart, Smarts, Guts and Luck, my co-authors and I developed a simple “entrepreneurial aptitude test” in order to understand which traits readers were most likely to be biased in business-building and in life. Among the best known of these tests are Myers-Briggs and Predictive Index, but all are aimed as serving as a data point towards greater self-awareness. A common design point with all of them is that there are no particular right or wrong answers. Instead, they are designed to compel respondents to consider a set of traits or characteristics that most accurately describe them relative to other people. In our own version, (which can be taken at http://www.hsgl.com, and is free) we ask people to consider forced choices in paired question sets – e.g. Is your success best described by analytics or instincts? Are you more driven by passion or by action? Reflecting on forced trade-off questions such as these help test-takers better understand their own true characters.

Ask trusted friends. None of us is altogether aware of how we come across to others. We have to rely on the feedback of our peers, friends, and mentors. To have your friends play the role of honest mirror, let them know when you are seeking candid, critical, objective perspectives. Make your friend or colleague feel safe to give you an informal, but direct and honest view. This can mean saying something like, “Look, I am actually asking you as a friend, please just be straight with me on this matter. Okay?“

Another strategy is to ask friends to call you out when you are doing a behavior you already know you want to change. For instance, “Look, I know I am a ‘story-topper’ who needs to one-up every conversation, but do me a favor and each time I do that, let me know – preferably discreetly – so I can learn to stop.”

Get regular feedback at work. In addition to informally and periodically asking friends and family, use the formal processes and mechanisms at your workplace. If none are in place, see if you can implement more formal feedback loops. Provided it is done well, constructive, formalized feedback allows us to better see our own strengths and weaknesses. At my own venture capital firm, Cue Ball, we have begun encouraging entrepreneurial founders to institute a formal, annual 360-feedback process that provides feedback across multiple areas of competencies and work styles.

The keys to effective formal feedback is to a) have a process, and b) have an effective manager of it. The latter either requires really good internal HR people, or bringing in outside facilitators and consultants. We’ve found the approach with external folks to be more effective at both small and large companies, because they come without the baggage of pre-conceived biases or reporting lines. Once the feedback process is completed, it is important all involved to reflect on it by writing down their top takeaways. Note both any surprising strengths and any weaknesses or blind spots.

In the end, we all want self-awareness. Without it, one can never fully lead effectively. It’s only with self-awareness that one can journey closer to a state of “self-congruence” — in which what we say, think, and feel are consistent. Building self-awareness is a life-long effort. You’re never “done.” But these five pragmatic practices will help you move faster and further along the way.

MCA notifies Ind AS Rules, 2015

MCA has notified Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 which shall come into effect from 1 April 2015. The said rules require adoption for Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) :-

1. From FY 15-16 : Any company can voluntary adopt Indian Accounting Standards from Financial year 15-16 with comparatives to be given for the period ending on 31 March 2015 or thereafter.

2. From FY 16-17 : Following companies to mandatorily adopt Ind AS from FY 16-17 onwards with comparatives for period ending 31 March 2016 or thereafter:-

Companies with net worth of Rs 500 crores or more and whose equity or debt securities are either listed or in the process of listing in any Indian stock exchange.Companies other than above and whose net worth is Rs 500 crores or more.Holding, subsidiary, joint venture and associate of above companies.

3. From FY 17-18 : Following companies to mandatorily adopt Ind AS from FY 17-18 onwards with comparatives for period ending 31 March 2017 or thereafter:-

Companies with net worth less than Rs 500 crores and whose equity or debt securities are either listed or in the process of listing in any Indian stock exchange.Companies other than above and whose net worth is Rs 250 crores or more but less than Rs 500 crores.Holding, subsidiary, joint venture and associate of above companies.Provided that nothing stated above, except companies adopting Ind AS voluntarily, shall apply to companies whose securities are listed or are in the process of being listed on SME exchange as referred to in Chapter XB or on the Institutional Trading Platform without initial public offering in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XC of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009.

Note 1 :- ‘Net worth’ shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (57) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013. The net worth shall be calculated in accordance with the stand-alone financial statements of the company as on 31st March, 2014 or the first audited financial statements for accounting period which ends after that date.

For companies which are not in existence on 31st March, 2014 or an existing company falling under any of thresholds specified above for the first time after 31st March, 2014, the net worth shall be calculated on the basis of the first audited financial statements ending after that date in respect of which it meets the thresholds specified above. Such companies should adopt Ind AS for immediately next year. For e.g. The companies meeting threshold for the first time as on 31st March, 2018 shall apply Ind AS for the financial year 2018-19 onwards and so on.

Note 2 :- MCA has notified 39 Ind AS. The Ind AS should be adopted for standalone financial statements as well as consolidated financial statements.

Note 3 :- Overseas subsidiary, associate, joint venture and other similar entities of an Indian company may prepare its standalone financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the specific jurisdiction. Provided that such Indian company shall prepare its consolidated financial statements in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) either voluntarily or mandatorily if it meets the criteria as specified above.

Note 4 :- Indian company which is a subsidiary, associate, joint venture and other similar entities of a foreign company shall prepare its financial statements in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) either voluntarily or mandatorily if it meets the criteria as specified above.

Note 5 :- Once the option for applying Ind AS is applied then company should keep on applying Ind AS consistently.

Note 6 :- The insurance companies, banking companies and non-banking finance companies shall not be required to apply Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) for preparation of their financial statements either voluntarily or mandatorily.

Note 7 :- For the companies on which Ind AS is not applicable as per the rules mentioned above, such companies can continue to apply Accounting Standards as notified by Companies (Accounting Standards) Rules, 2006.

Are You Proud of How You’re Spending Your Time? HBR.org / by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Time Management and the recurring stress that comes with Time Mismanagement is something that all of us grapple with. This article gives us some tips on Prioritising Time.Read on :

You feel like you’re just one e-mail away from failure at work, it can seem ludicrous to take your eyes off of what you believe absolutely needs to get done to consider what you might regret in the future. The amount of demands coming at you feels so crushing and so unavoidable that you justify a missed soccer game here, a canceled dinner with a friend there, and a never-used gym membership over there, with the thought, I was just doing what it takes to get everything done.

Sometimes that thought is accurate when you have a truly urgent situation or a special event like preparing for an annual conference. However, in my experience as a time coach and trainer, I’ve found that reasoning is often a pretty façade for not knowing how to work smarter — so you end up working harder and sacrificing what’s important to you in the process. But when you neglect to consider common time regrets, you not only put a lien on your future happiness, but you can also decrease your effectiveness in and enjoyment of the present.

In my forthcoming ebook, How to Invest Your Time Like Money, I discuss how optimizing in the micro day-to-day activities is not the same as optimizing in the macro as a measure of success. For example, when you stop trying to get all tasks done from answering every e-mail to taking every meeting and start thinking about which activities matter most, you can get more of what’s important done now and live regret-free later.

If you want to stop making time investment choices subconsciously, based on what’s most urgent or most demanding, and start intentionally investing in what’s most important, start by understanding — and combating – these seven common time regrets, so that 20 years from now, you can look at your time investment with pride instead of remorse.

Not paying attention: If you have no idea how you invest your time, you’re probably not investing it in your highest priorities. This can leave you with an enormous sense of loss when you realize that you’ve let years of your life pass by that you can never get back and you have little to show for them. Start keeping a record of what you do by making note of key activities on your calendar or using a time tracking application, so you can begin to understand where you’re spending your time and where you might need to adjust.

Letting others steal your time: Legions of marketers work day and night thinking up ways to capture — and keep — your attention. They will gladly take as much of your time as they can get. So can the people around you. There’s never a lack of people requesting your time, from taking on a new project to volunteering for a committee to meeting for lunch. Depending on your professional situation, there may also be a strong pull for you to work longer hours and travel more. Engaging in media, spending time with others, and working can be wonderful things. But if you allow external forces to always dictate your time investment then you’re allowing others to steal your time. Practice saying “no” to what’s not most important to you so that you can invest in what is.

Deprioritizing family and friends: In the middle of deadlines and the many demands coming at you from all different directions, it can seem like less of a priority to make it home for family dinner, show up at a concert, go on a date with your spouse, call your parents, or connect with friends. Although in many ways these activities are less urgent, they are many times more important. A family dissolving doesn’t often happen in a single large event. Instead it erodes with each choice to not make the people who love you a priority. Engaging with friends and family can make life more fun and fulfilling, and provide an incredible amount of support during life’s ups and downs. Get these activities on the calendar so that you have clarity on your firm commitments. Each time you choose to spend time with someone else, you strengthen the relationship.

Skipping vacations: Taking time away from the normal day-to-day not only gives you the opportunity to have new experiences and bond with friends and family, but also it helps you reduce stress and gain perspective. Studies show that skipping vacations could put you at a significantly higher risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack; a nine-year study of 12,000 men at high risk for coronary heart disease found that they were 32% more likely to die of a heart attack if they didn’t take an annual vacation (and were at a 21% higher risk of death from all causes). Relaxing is serious business. Be proactive in your vacation planning. Request time off at the beginning of the year instead of waiting to make a plan later. Otherwise, when “later” comes, you’ll again find yourself never leaving the office because you always feel like there is too much to get done. In 20 years, you’ll end up with a lot of “I always wanted to…” sentiments, instead of a treasure trove of “I’m so glad I did…” stories.

Neglecting your health: Getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, and exercising regularly dramatically increases your happiness on a daily basis. And in 20 years you’ll feel a whole lot happier and be in a lot better shape. Avoiding trips to the hospital, medicine, surgery, and chronic pain helps you to savor life instead of simply trudging through it. Make the decision to builds habits now for exercise and a healthy lifestyle. A little time now can pay off huge dividends later in life.

Wasting time to save money: Saving money has its place, but many times spending a bit of extra money can save you hours in your day — and in many cases that time can be invested in activities that are most important to you. This could mean driving or taking a cab instead of booking a train because train travel would take three times as long. Or hiring a cleaning service to put your house in order or having groceries delivered, instead of spending the time and saving the expense to do it yourself. Or even choosing to live closer to work even though it’s more expensive because it saves you hours of time and frustration during your commute. In 20 years, you won’t miss the few extra dollars here and there, but you will miss the opportunity to live the life you wanted to live.

Never knowing yourself: In my experience, it’s so easy to lose track of who you are, what you enjoy, where you are in life, and where you’re going unless you purposely and intentionally take time to reflect. That could look like taking walks, journaling, praying, meditating, or simply staring at the ceiling for a while with no particular intention other than to be with yourself. In the end, if you never know who you are, it’s hard to feel really good about yourself.

These are just a few of the regrets I’ve seen that you can avoid by intentionally investing your time now. Not only will you end up with a more abundant and accomplished life in the future, but you’ll also really enjoy the present and feel good about what you do — and don’t — get done.

Changed Definition of Small Company in Companies Act,2013

Now Small Company = Paid Up Capital Up To 50 Lacs +AND Turnover upto Rs. 2 crores (Earlier OR)
Removal of Difficulties Dated 13-02-2015

Ministry has come up with Order of Removal of Difficulties relating to Chapter I (Preliminary), Section 2(85) (Definition of “Small Company”) and Chapter XII (Meeting of Board and its Powers), Section 186(11)(b)(i)(Loan and Investment by Company), of Companies Act, 2013.
Removal of Difficulties w.r.t Section 2 (85) “Small Company”:

Now a Company needs to satisfy both the conditions i.e. paid up capital upto Rs. 50 lakhs AND Turnover upto Rs. 2 crores, to be classified as Small Company.
ordinary course of its business.

RBI Update for Companies

With a view to promoting the ease of reporting of transactions under foreign direct investment, the Reserve Bank of India, under the aegis of the e-Biz project of the Government of India has vide circular dated 12th February, 2015 enabled the filing of the following returns with the Reserve Bank of India:

Advance Remittance Form (ARF) – used by the companies to report the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to RBI; and

FCGPR Form – which a company submits to RBI for reporting the issue of eligible instruments to the overseas investor against the above mentioned FDI inflow.

An Excel Sheet for All Statutory Registers Under The Companies Act, 2013

Under The Companies Act 2013 , Companies are required to maintain below provided statutory registers:

Register of Members
Register of Debenture Holders/ other securities holder
Register of Share Application & Allotment
Register of Share Transfers and many more.
Thecompaniesact2013.com is providing to its users ONE EXCEL SHEET  containing all the required statutory registers.

To Download: https://thecompaniesact2013.com/ibank.php?title=Formats&id=5