Category: Happiness

On Children’s Day, keeping a promise I made months ago.. ❤️

A few months back I found this book which I loved.. something I would have totally enjoyed as a kid! So I posted on LinkedIn – if you have kids (8+ years), or just wanna explore that childhood innocence, curiosity and mindfulness again (you know how kids just live in the moment), this book is for you, and I’ll ship them as a gift

Got busy with moving houses, travel and craziness of life.. but finally today, the box of books is ready! Will ship them next week to everyone who shared their address.

Why this book? Because creativity needs to be nurtured from childhood, before education and programming slowly supresses it, the best ideas of tomorrow will happen out of innocence.. curiosity and the pursuit of possibilities..

If you weren’t on the list – highly recommend getting this book. If you’re waiting – they’re finally heading your way!

Happy Children’s Day! From the kid in me to the kid in you

Your creative team member is ignoring guidelines. How do you steer without stifling?

Creative people thrive on freedom & fun. Rules can limit how far their ideas flow. But here’s the thing: certain structures & best practices provide a foundation to build upon, rather than starting from scratch every time

For someone breaking the rules, going in different directions, I’d say: Encourage it, as experimentation.

Only through experiments do we find unexpected hacks. Give complete freedom to explore all directions during the ideation phase.

Then, when putting the project together, we pick and choose the best ideas while still following the guidelines. A creative person needs both freedom & a little structure. When we balance these, it’s a win-win-win for the project.

Remember, the goal is to enhance creativity, not stifle it

Drowning in multiple deadlines? How to drive your career growth in spite of it?

In my experience, if you’re skilled at what you do, if you love learning and getting better at your craft, you can figure out how to schedule and prioritise – that’s the easy part.

But in all of this, you must carve out time for yourself each day to focus on what you love in the whole process – the part where you forget time, which you truly enjoy, that one aspect of the whole game.

If you don’t do this, you’ll stay in the rat race of handling multiple projects as a skilled vendor/service provider, whether in a job or being independent, but you won’t grow in your career.

Remember, career growth must be like building/investing in an elevator to take you higher, not like climbing stairs.

So, while juggling priorities:
1. Figure out realistic time requirements for each project.
2. Aim for excellence, not perfection. Produce what’s required.
3. Most importantly, set aside one hour a day for self-improvement, playing with your craft, following your heart, learning and experimenting. Give your best to get better.

This daily practice, over months and years, will give you an exceptional flow in your craft. And that, my friend, will produce magic.

Prioritize effectively, but never at the cost of your growth. This will help you tackle multiple projects while still moving forward in your career.

How can you reignite your creative spark?

Prioritize fun! Great creative output is always an outcome of fun, freedom, and happiness – not the other way around. The more you’re having fun, the more your mind flows freely. Ideas happen when dots connect naturally.

You can’t force it. Just go for a walk, play a game, chat with a friend. What’s that one activity that gives you joy? Do that for 30-60 minutes and come back fresh.

Creative roles aren’t like traditional jobs. Your success depends on the quality of ideas you produce. And that’s always an outcome of fun, freedom, and happiness.

I remember working on a video once.. which went on to become the one with highest engagement in Asia a few years back… Before we finalised it, we just took a break for a few hours.. filming slow-motion shots of toy cars falling off the table For an hour we made Hollywood style footage with our phones.. After that, we got back to work.

About deadlines, break projects into manageable chunks with mini-deadlines, one brick at a time. Don’t get overwhelmed about building the entire wall. You need progress, not perfection. Celebrate the tiny wins. The more it seems like an adventure, the less overwhelmed you’ll feel.

In my experience, the best ideas come when you’re not trying so hard. So loosen up, have fun, and let creativity flow!

How can you ignite creativity within your team?

Your team is accustomed to strict protocols and feels boxed in with office structures and processes.
Here’s how you can ignite creativity within your team and what worked to produce killer content in the last ten years…

1. Fun

Great ideas are always an outcome of fun. The more fun we had, the better our output. We played TT, charades, watched shows, jammed to music together… Always Prioritize Fun.

2. Break the rhythm

Disrupting routine sparks fresh thinking. Once, I had the team stand on chairs for a meeting. It looked ridiculous but broke the monotony, jolting minds to the new… Another time we drove to the airport together just to return… got stuck in a jam… we had our brainstorm in the car :) Shake up the routine.

3. Free flowing jam sessions

We held unstructured brainstorming where ideas flowed freely. These ‘jams’ allowed for wild, unconventional thinking, often leading to breakthroughs. No idea, no contribution is wrong, and everyone must feel safe to share freely without judgment. Magical dots connect when everyone is in the flow… jamming.

What’s your craziest example of shaking off routine to ignite ideas? Do share… :)