The Triad Of “Contentment”

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Today on the podcast, I want to take a few moments and talk about an important aspect of our lives, which we really don’t talk about a lot. And that is contentment. Something that we know that we all should pursue and that we all know is the end game. But still, somehow, we get caught up with the day-to-day happenings of life and really do not give enough mindshare to this one thing called contentment. And this is coming. today’s podcast is an, In fact, it’s a question. I was at a conference last Sunday. And I was briefly introduced on the stage to 600 people. I speak for a couple of minutes. And I walk out. And as I get into the hallway, a few people follow. And they start asking questions. And this was one of the questions. And the question was about happiness and fulfillment. And this was coming from a listener of this podcast on my radio shows. And I told him, I said, your question is more about contentment, you know, the question, but his point was, I’m not happy no matter what I’m doing. And I said it’s not about happiness. It’s about creating meaning from, everything that you already have not always designed for things that you do not have.

Now, imagine the setup there. This is a wealth conference, people are there, to talk about money how to save money, how to make money, how to grow money, and all that. So the environment itself is all about, you know, material possessions and money and all that. And here is somebody asking me this question, and me giving an answer like this, which was completely opposite. But Case in point, we all go through this. And the question becomes is, and I’ve gotten this also in the past, which is, I’ve done everything I know. But I’m still unhappy. I do everything I meditate. I, I do everything that I was ever told. But I am still unhappy. What can be done? So what can you do? See, there is nobody I know, who doesn’t have an element of unhappiness. I’ve never met anybody who’s perpetually happy. They have some degree of unhappiness about something. If you have life, you have unhappiness. If you have a life, of course, you have to pursue happiness. That’s a different discussion altogether. But what does it take? To really stay fulfilled completely? Is it possible? Yes, it is possible, it’s important that you accommodate some level of unhappiness into your understanding. But that doesn’t mean that you surrender to unhappiness, you should pursue happiness, you should apply yourself, knowing the fact that yes, unhappiness is an event it’s going to happen. But let me work towards becoming happier. So let’s talk about contentment. What does it take to pursue contentment? And when can you say that? Yes, I’m there. I’m contented, I’m good. This is it? How do you get to that state? Well, there are three things that we now know, that contribute towards you becoming much happier inside and also exhibiting that happiness outside the inner happiness. And three things, that inner happiness leads to contentment. So three things, that contribute to that the first and foremost is your pursuit of growth, growth, not in terms of material possessions, growth in terms, not in terms of anything to show anything to talk about. But personal growth, growth, acquisition of knowledge, application of knowledge further to acquire wisdom, and applying that wisdom to create greater change.

So there are stages of that growth. So personal growth is the pursuit, anybody who is in pursuit of personal growth usually, is contented. That’s the point. So that’s step one, so there has to be an element of personal growth. The second one is gratitude. This is if I have to simplify this and I’ve done multiple podcast episodes here about gratitude, in very simple terms. gratitude is an appreciation to whatever you already have. That’s it. And also, in a way, pulling yourself away from discussions where you’re talking about others, other people’s wealth, and what others have, and all that it’s appreciating what you have. And also, in a way, appreciating what others have. I’ve met a lot of people in my life, who tell me, who are very spiritual people, very enlightened people, you know, as a part of life, you meet a variety of people, but I’ve met some people who tell me that, you know, thank God I have whatever I have, I’m thankful to God. And that was, I flip that statement. Now, whatever I am, I have, I’m thankful to God, which is very common, that statement is common. So one day I woke up, and I said, I’m going to flip the statement. And flip the statement by simply saying, whatever I do not have, I’m grateful to God. Now, here is my observation. And I flipped the statement about five, seven years ago. And I haven’t met anybody till now, and I’m making this public on the podcast. But this is something that I’m asking you to pursue, I’m asking you to bring this change in your thinking, I want you to start thinking along these lines, you wake up in the morning and say, I’m thankful for everything that I do not have. And then lead your day and see the miracles happen to you. I promise you ever since I started this with this mindset, I have seen problems differently. I’ve taken every problem as a door opener to possibilities, incredible things have happened beyond my time here on this podcast to talk about this. But I flipped, and I reversed the statement. And I’m every day I wake up and say I’m grateful to God for things that I do not have. Interestingly, all the things I’m grateful for, for not having are gratefully showing up on my path. It’s amazing how you reverse the script, and you start attracting everything into your life.

Okay, so where I’m going with all this is you got to start having a gratitude sequence, I’ve done a podcast on this before, and you got to have a gratitude sequence. That means you wake up in the morning, or in the afternoon, or in the evening, wherever and you start looking for small little things in your life that are happening in front of you and say I’m grateful for this, oh, I’m grateful for that small little things, the lower you take it down to, the happier you become, for example, if I say I’m grateful, this microphone is working, I’m grateful this recording is happening. I’m grateful, oh, I’m breathing, I took a breath. I’m grateful. If you take it down to that level, there is no way you are going to be unhappy. I’m telling you, it’s just amazing how fulfilled you feel within yourself. And the last one, to pursue contentment or fully contented is, is giving this to give. Give your time give your money, give your service, things that you have things that do not have give ideas, give something, and don’t expect anything. It’s amazing. You don’t expect anything in return, magical things happen. So listen, I’m recording this podcast, I have no idea who is listening to this. No idea. I don’t know who I mean, I see some stats here and there. But I don’t check stats anymore. And I really don’t. I’m not intending that. Oh, there are hundreds and 1000s of people listening to this podcast. Now that’s not the case that doesn’t work that way. There are expectations. When you do something without an expectation. It’s amazing. The bliss, I don’t even have words to express the bliss. Every expectation has an element of disappointment within it hidden. You have expectations, get ready to be disappointed. When you don’t have any expectations. Amazing. It’s just life is beautiful, and blissful. And the payoff there is you are contented. You’re happy because you’re no expectations. So growth, gratitude, and giving are three elements. And I was actually thinking in my mind, what else can I add to this? Magically I couldn’t find anything to add to this.

These are the three things that set three G’s for your contentment. Okay, I want to stop here. Hopefully, this is helpful if it is let me know Oh 888-818-0404 You can text me on that number. And let me know if you have a question text me, if you have a comment, text me. If you have any suggestions text me text I get a lot of texts, but love to have a specific text on a specific podcast episode from a listener gives me motivation and keeps me on track. That’s all for now. And in fact, I have some other thoughts as I was recording this. I was having some other thoughts on gratitude. And there is an experiment I did on gratitude. I want to talk about this with you. Experiment I already talked about here already, but there is one more I did. I just recollected, but then I’m going to talk about this tomorrow. So do tune in to tomorrow’s podcast episode. And I’m taking note that I’m going to record and talk about gratitude again tomorrow. Stay tuned. Thank you.

Note Taking: Why It Matters?

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Happy Saturday morning to you welcome or welcome back to success with Srini. Today on the podcast, I want to go back to the event that I was referring to yesterday. So I was at a conference, the past Sunday, and I was briefly put on the stage. And I was introduced there and I to speak a few words in one. And that will vary for just a few minutes. And one of the things, I told the people, I mean, there were about 600 people in the room. And the very first message, I only spoke for a couple of minutes. And the very first message was, I said, take notes. Take notes, not because you want to learn something later. But take notes, because when you go home today, you can enlighten other people in your home or at your house. So so this was an annual wealth conference. And everybody who was attending there was there to learn the latest and the greatest wealth strategies, how to invest how to make money, how to save money, and look for business opportunities and things like that. And the majority of them were attending, not as a couple. So they’re married, but they were in either the wife or the husband was attending the event.

So my message to them was when you go home, make sure that you enlighten your spouse about investments, about wealth about money, don’t make singular decisions, unilateral decisions, and make sure that when it comes to making any money-level discussions or decisions, it’s always collective. Everybody, all the responsible parties are collectively making decisions, in this case, the wife or the husband, or spouse or significant other or partner, all everybody involved as a household, you need to make decisions about where the money is going and how it’s going to be invested or spent and all that. So that was my message. Now, what I want to do today on the podcast is I want to quickly share with you a note-taking mechanism. Because this is something that I have been asked multiple times I’ve done many seminars, and workshops, specifically on how to take notes. Because at the moment, whatever is being shared from the stage may look great. But sometimes when you go home and reflect on what you learned at an event, you will have bigger aha moments as a result of you just simply processing all that one more time. And for you to process one more time, it’s important that you collect the data at the source in a good way. So I have been telling this in all my seminars, every time any attendee, whoever came in to take meticulous notes about everything that they are listening to in the room. So I want to share with you and consider today’s podcast episode as a masterclass in note-taking. I’m not a good note-taker, but I’m going to share with you how I do it. But I see my daughter, I see the new generation I see, you know, I don’t know, it’s amazing how these kids are taking notes and how they color code the notes and, and amazing when they go when they take tests, then they just refer to the notes and they’re good, they don’t need to go back to the books and read and all that. So it’s amazing that these are beautiful times we are in. And as grownups and at least if you are my age and I’ve been around for a long time now hitting a pretty old it’s important that we also acquire the skills that are important doesn’t matter how old you walk, or you have gone through doesn’t matter. The earlier you get the skill, the better you’re off, but there is never a bad time to learn to get the skill into the system.

Now there are so many note-taking systems that are available. And if you have gone through primary, middle school, and high school in the us, I think in any country for that matter. I mean every school system, in general, has its own method on how they teach its students how to take notes. There are three things I do when I’m taking notes. My goal is To capture ideas,, whatever the message is, I want to capture the message, that’s the right word message. To capture the message, whatever that message is. And inside that message, there are a few key points. So I want to capture the key points. Now, I’ve seen people take photos of slides at events. That’s not the key point. The key points are when the speaker is speaking. Now what is there in the slide is more like a queue. So at my events, I don’t use text on the slides anymore, I just use images. So people are like, Okay, I’m gonna take a photo of the image. Now the image is a cue for me to, to drive a point. So whatever I’m saying is the key point, the key point is not on the slide. Now, that is not true with other speakers. But as a listener, as a student, and as somebody taking notes, your job is to capture the message and the key points in the message. And that’s what I do myself. The second thing I do is I, take the key point, not for me to just read, but I take it in a way so that I can reproduce it if need be. once for all, as if I’m like, as I’m writing, I’m taking notes, I’m also cementing what I’m writing into my mind, so I can reproduce. And I don’t need to reproduce exactly what I’m writing. But I want to be in a position to reproduce the learnings of that key point. I hope I’m clear. So not to exactly produce the key point but to produce the learnings of the key point. And not only immediately, but 12 months from now, I should be able to reproduce whatever the lesson or the learning is in that key point. That’s the second goal I have or the second thing. And the third thing is I want I don’t write too many notes. I usually go off of the visuals. So I’m drawing, I’m making circles, lines, squares, arrows, all that dots. You know, sometimes if I have the liberty and the luxury, may use some color codes here and there, but I’m not into it as much. I just have one pen, one notebook, I just go and write down, whatever. So in my seminars and workshops, I tell people that when they’re taking notes, make sure the left page is all that they are listening to from this page. And the right page is all the ideas you’re getting as a result of what you’re listening to from the state. So left page, everything the speaker is sharing, right page, everything that your mind is telling you.

That’s how I structure it in the room. If you go and research note taking one of the most outstanding note-taking methods or mechanisms that exist today is the Cornell note-taking system. Cornell University is where this was this, this was kind of put together. And the Cornell note-taking system is very simple. You take a piece of paper, you draw a line in the middle vertically. On the left side, you take notes while you’re listening. On the right side, you write down all your reflections. Similar to what I just said, about the way I was suggesting my seminar attendees use two pages. Cornell system uses one page. And as a part of a reflection, you’re writing down questions, you’re writing down summaries, you’re writing down any concepts that you are either listening to or you are generating in the mind. And then there are many other methods like outlining method. The other one that I tried in the past, is speaking a large concept, identifying sub-concepts, and structuring all the sub-concepts under the large concept in the hierarchical model, and I’ve done there are many other things that are other things but the key point is this. The point is, you got to follow that which you are comfortable with.

And I’m just sharing with you what I’m comfortable doing and why I do it. It is an understatement. If you’re a smart listener of this podcast and you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you should be knowing by this time 10 minutes into today’s podcast episode that Like today’s podcast episode is again happening from notes. So I wrote down the notes before even recording this. Not because I want to script this or at reading from word to word none. But I was conceptually drawing how today’s podcast should sound, and what are some of the key points I’m going to drive today, as I was thinking that I was writing, writing down on a paper, and I did exactly the same thing, I used visuals, I was drawing lines and squares. And if you listen to any of the podcast episodes here, I say, hey, imagine a triangle, imagine a square, because I know you’re listening to this. And you’re listening to this while you’re walking or driving, or running. And there is no way that there is any visual there. Other than your own mind’s eye, some use your mind’s eye, to drive some images in your mind. So I can convey some concepts. Now, all that through notes, as I’ve taken the notes, and I’m conveying those notes through this recording to you.

So figure out what works for you. But here’s what I know, if you’re reading books, and you’re not taking notes, you’re missing out. There’s something incredible that happens when you write down something that is magical. That is ideas, concepts, you see something and the brain processes that, and then it transfers that through the hand into your fingers into a pen onto a paper, this mechanism, this it actually completes a loop, where you read something from my paper. And imagine reading a book from a paper you’re reading, and then you’re transferring something back to the paper. That loop is a is I don’t know how to even describe this. It’s an incredible loop. There is no substitute for this loop. And this is the best thing ever to happen to humans seriously. But it is the best thing that ever happened to you know, this is how incredible people are created incredible minds are created such a powerful thing. People who don’t take notes, they can’t get ahead and tell you, they can’t get ahead. Okay. I’m going to stop here you go. Enjoy your Saturday. This is helpful. And before you know it, I’ll be with you as early as tomorrow. And we’re going to continue Thank you.

Stuck In a Job You Don’t Like? Do This…

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This past weekend, I was at a conference. And briefly, I was introduced from the stage. So I got up there. I did whatever I did in a few minutes. And then when I walked out, a few people followed me into the hallway. Now, this is a 600-people conference. So a few people came out. And some of them are listeners of the podcast. So they started asking me questions. So today on the podcast, what I want to do is, take one question from a bunch of those questions and highlight that today. And over the next couple of days, I’m going to highlight a few more questions. But this one is an important one. This has to do with career. So if you are in a job, you’re looking to change your job you want to grow in your job, I’m hoping that my answer to this gentleman is going to help you.

Now imagine the scenario, the setting where there are a lot of people, the hallway, a bunch of booths, and a lot of conversations happening. So this gentleman walks up to me and says, Sweeney, I listen to your podcast. And I have a question for you. I’m stuck in a job situation, I do not know what to do. So he describes his entire situation. And I’m listening to him for about three minutes, four minutes. Long story. But then the synopsis or the gist of the question is, I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do. And what would you do? What would you do if you are in my situation? In fact, he didn’t ask that. I said that. I said, Listen, I don’t know what to tell you. Because I don’t know you. But then if I were in your situation, this is what I would do. So I explained a concept. So I won’t explain that concept. Today. To you. I’m hoping that this is going to be of help. If it is then do leave me a comment here, or text me or email me, just let me know. Okay, so let’s get into this. So stuck in a job don’t do not know what to do. That’s the problem statement.

Now, what I want you to do is, I want you to imagine three squares. One about the other. The bottommost square is a job, or environment, or job in an environment. Then the one about that square is your skills and capabilities. And one of the topmost ones is you. Okay, so the topmost one is you below you are jobs and skills. And below that is, I’m sorry, the topmost one is you below that are your skills and capabilities. And the bottom one is the job and the environment. Okay? So you with a bunch of your skills and capabilities, go to a job, and you work in an environment to make a difference, make an impact and make money. Now, when somebody says I’m stuck, the thing that that that goes into my mind is where are they stuck? Are they stuck in the environment, they’re stuck at the skill level, or they’re stuck in their mind? So let’s talk about the job environment for a second. When the feeling of getting stuck, when somebody is expressing that feeling, or somebody is talking about it, that means they have all already tried many things to escape, escape the pain escape the suffering, they want to escape the tried many, but somehow they have given up. That’s when they are like I don’t know what to do, I’m stuck.

So they have come to a conclusion or they made a conclusion consciously or subconsciously, that it is better to stay here and take the pain rather than make an effort and escape. Now, I’m not asking, or I’m not suggesting that you escape or you leave, escape means leave. I’m not suggesting that. You see there is a cost for everything. And there are many reasons why people choose to leave or choose not to leave. And it’s very difficult to understand that psychology, it’s it takes time to really really get into people’s minds and really understand them. So obviously there is not much time there was no time there and there is no time here either. So here is the question that you should ask. Now that I’m in this situation, what can I change? You see, when you move, when you’re unhappy in a job, you leave the job, you go to another job. It’s just a change of place. It’s not necessarily the solution to the core underlying problem which could be something else altogether. So people move people change Jobs people move houses, people move places, but they still become unhappy, because there is something else that is incorrect within them.

Now, is it possible that he can stay in the same job or he could stay in the same job? And he can better the situation by going up one squared, which is looking into capabilities and skills and saying, Okay, if I can get some more skills, some more capabilities into me, maybe this environment is, after all, not that bad. The question that, that you have to ask is, what skills and capabilities do I need to develop within myself so that the environment within which I’m doing this job becomes better for me? So I get the respect, I get the recognition, I get, or build my reputation. Now, skill and capabilities are very tactical, you know, sometimes it’s a hit and miss. Sometimes you can acquire a skill, but then you don’t know how to make it tangible. And sometimes, it could be very tangible, who knows, would not know but there has to be a debate in the mind. That’s, that’s important. Now, let’s say that you change jobs, you move from the place where you are right now to a different location, different company, or maybe a different industry altogether. And then still, you are unhappy, you make a few moves, few changes over the next five 710 years, but you still continue to stay unhappy, then the discussion becomes says, Can I acquire some more skills, more capabilities and completely position myself at a higher level? What is that higher level that you know, you want? See, everybody says I want my boss’s job or my boss’s boss’s job. So I do not know that level, but you get the idea.

So people are always striving for something better and bigger. So you know what that is for you? So is it possible that you acquire some skills, talents, and capabilities, and then, you shoot for that role? Now, let’s say even though you accomplished, but still, you’re unhappy. Has it happened? Yes, happened to me. I’ve seen that happen with multiple people. Now, I also made a comment that I told him, I said, I don’t know this gentleman or some other gentleman, but I said, usually, this guy, this is fatigue. And this fatigue kicks in between the age of between the time of 13 and 23. So 13 years into a career, and between 13 and 23. So typically, the teenage years of your job, so 1314 1516 1718 19, those are the years very hard. And that’s the time when people are like, Okay, I don’t want this job, I don’t want this career, maybe I’m gonna do something else. And we’ll walk away from everything and try completely, you know, maybe a business, maybe something else, but I don’t want to deal with this nonsense. It’s in their mind, it’s nonsense. And in fact, you use the word nonsense, the gentleman anyway, so you get the idea. So then, if let’s say somebody is through this process, they’re in the 19th 20th 23rd year, and they’re struggling to frustrate the stock, no matter what they’re doing, it’s not happening, and they’re not able to break through. Now the third square on the top very top comes in, which is, this is no more about skill, talents, capabilities, jobs, environments, or titles, this is more about that individual’s mindset. And that individual’s mindset has three things to it, their values, their beliefs, and their identity. That set their values, their beliefs, and identity. So here’s the most interesting part in all this every level, at every level, you can make a change today, you can make, you can decide that I want to have a new job, you can create a resume, you can talk to a bunch of people, and you probably can have a job as early as January or February, whatever, next year, easy, easy.

Now, you can say, Okay, I’m going to work the next three months, and acquire some skills and then make a change. So now you’re in the middle square, right? Or you can say, I’m not going to worry about my job, I’m not gonna worry about my skills. All I’m going to do is shift my mindset about them. So I’m going to work on my identity. I’m going to work on my values and beliefs. And I walk into my office every day angry, and irritated, I’m going to walk in I’m going to step in with a mind of gratitude and compassion. I will accommodate everybody. I’ll be nice to everyone. I’m going to really stay honest, all the stuff that I’m going to be doing all day You so you simply shifting the identity and kind of weighing in some good values. Now suddenly, the whole environment is different, you walk in there, you feel good about this place, you walk in there, you feel good about whatever you’re doing throughout the day because your skills seem to be right, somehow the skills are working somehow because everything is falling in place. Everything involves investment, there is a cost for everything, when somebody says I’m stuck, I don’t know what to do, that means they’re giving up, that means they’ve surrendered to the environment, they’ve surrendered to the circumstances, they’re not able to raise themselves above and beyond than what is happening on the ground. So here is my message to you. And this was the message to this gentleman also, which is you need to stop behaving that you are one variable in the environment, you start behaving as if you control the environment, I choose to be in this job. Hence, I’m choosing this and why I’m choosing all that comes with it, I will choose to be in a better job. In a better environment, I choose to deploy a few other skills, I choose to define my identity differently, I choose a set of beliefs, I will choose a set of values, hence I’m different. See, nothing is stopping you. From defining yourself differently today.

Nobody is stopping you from telling the world that hey, starting today, this is who I am, this is what I’ll be doing this is what I’ll be known as this is how I’m going to operate, behave and execute myself. Nothing is stopping you from doing that. But you choose not to because somehow you think that I don’t have the power within me. So my message to this gentleman was go create power. The power comes from your beliefs, your values, and your identity, and you get can you get all these three things intact, your behavior will change the environment, and wherever you are working, people will see the change within you. And that’s what we call transformation. So message on the podcast, as you’re listening to this is to Ask questions, what can I change in this environment? What can I change? What skills can I change? What skills can I acquire? And then what is what change can I make about myself? My values, my beliefs, my identities, my behaviors? What are the changes I can make? I mean, this, this could be a long discussion, drawn out discussion, but you get the idea. Okay, I’m going to, I’m not going to drag this out. Beyond this, you go enjoy your Friday weekend. And before you know it, I’ll be with you as a list model. Or before I wrap this up, before I wrap this up one thing for every 10 jobs that you have to change to find happiness, you only need to change three skills. It’s better to change a quad three skills and stay in the same job and become happier. For every three skills and 10 jobs, you have to 10 jobs, you have to change three skills you have to acquire. All you have to do is change one of your values on the top. And everything below. You don’t need to change. So one value changes and you don’t need to acquire any new skills. You don’t need to change 10 jobs.

That’s how powerful your values and beliefs are. Okay, I’m going to stop here. That’s all that’s all for now. You take care.