Weekly lessons from Rishi – TYNS

Here we are, the first of my weekly lessons. I guess, as Mr Tony Robbins says, if life is worth living, it’s worth recording. So, I will share some secrets with you, but you must keep these to yourself 😊 only kidding, share away, wisdom needs to be shared, like having EVERTHING written on your shopping list and not relying on your memory. Each night, I will be writing down a lesson or 2 of the day, and then share it with you humans at the end of the week.

Monday 15^th July – it’s pretty simple this, connect with loved ones. No specifics here in why I wrote this, but we all get “busy” in life and tend to just crack on with things. This is not bad, don’t feel guilty, but once in a while, connect with loved ones. Everyone has their battles. Everyone get’s busy but also, most people don’t pick the phone up when they want to message a loved one to say “how are you” or as simple as “I’m here if you need me”. Don’t be that person, just do it. From experience, I can tell you pretty bluntly, once the loved one is no longer living, their physical form is no longer, all you will have is a memory and maybe only prayer to help you connect. But let’s face it, as much as we should not think our body is who we are, we do have that human need for connection. So, pick up the phone, message 5 people that you haven’t heard from in a while and keep it simple, just let them know you are there.

Tuesday 16^th July – Have you ever been so hungry, you get excited to eat? Well, this was me this evening. I was too excited and ate way too much. That was not good, i couldn’t get up. No, it’s not funny. Do you know how this feels….to feel like a log, unable to move? Have a word with yourself!! So, eat wisely. I don’t usually pig out like I did today

Wednesday 17^th July – Right, so, recently I started Pilates in the hope of becoming a gymnast; you don’t believe me, do you? Well I’m glad you don’t. Ok, so not wanting to be a gymnast, it was purely to loosen up, become a little more flexible and a little injury prevention. Anyway, so, Wednesdays are the day. I was however really tired from 3 days away in Leicester for business and all I wanted to do was sleep. I fought the urge, I’m no quitter ok! I got to the studio, which is only 5 minutes from my house but the journey itself takes 15 minutes, I know, so long! Anyway, it’s 19:42, 3 minutes before the class starts; I’m the ONLY one there. Last week, there was a que outside the studio waiting for the previous class to finish. I thought, what the f***. Have I got my days wrong? Is it the right time? Am I even in the right place? Well, of course I was in the right place but I was tired so don’t judge me being dramatic. I checked my emails and there it was…your Pilates class has been cancelled because your instructor doesn’t give a f***. Only kidding, it didn’t say that last bit, she had to be elsewhere. So, the lesson for this is – CHECK your emails – PRIOR to going to a class. I know for sure I will. Has this ever happened to you?

Thursday 18^th July – I’m not one to bite back when someone has a pop. I cannot go into the situation in detail as this is a personal blog and my day job pays the bills. I will however discuss the lesson. When someone has a pop at you, your firm, your product etc, you have a few options. 1. Listen in to the incoming. Fire some back their way, have a pop and defend your stance. 2. Listen in, accept their view and feelings, acknowledging what they say and then return with some questions, asking them why they feel that way and may even ask them to provide some form of justification in what they are saying. There are obviously more things you can do but these were my options at that time (a throat punch wouldn’t have gone down well). 9/10 times I would’ve taken option 2. On this occasion, I took option 1 without even thinking. It didn’t get me anywhere other than a verbal tennis battle. It was pointless! What I should’ve done is taken option 2, asking him to justify his reasoning as to why a product was not fit for purpose. Obviously, he had no substance to this argument but I should’ve asked him questions for him to come to this conclusion himself, instead of me firing back at him (I’m a company man: I’ll defend till death hahaha). So, next time this happens to me, I will do one thing, take a deep breath and wait 5-10 seconds before I respond, along the lines of option 2.

One more lesson for Thursday – DO NOT leave your thumb in a cable hook at the gym – it WILL rip your skin off, and a huge bit of it. Oh wait, one more thing – do not give up on your pursuit for your dreams. I have been battling with Apple for over a week in getting my podcast approved – they kept sending me automated emails back which made no sense whatsoever. So, on Tuesday, I emailed them asking for clarification on what I need to do. They emailed me back almost instantly, but it was a person – WOOP! Anyway, after 2-3 exchanges with a human, my podcast was approved. Yeahhhhh I know, BIG MOVE!!  Check it out if you like https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/take-your-next-step/id1471405811

OHHHH one more thing – yes, I promise, nothing major, my sister gave birth to ger THIRD child this morning!!! I thought I’d leave the best till last – no lesson other than CHERISH your loved ones!

Friday 19^th July – Do you go into every situation, knowing exactly what is going to happen? Nah, me neither. But do you go into a situation, predicting what is going to happen and what is going to be said? Yes, I do that too. This can lead to 4 things: 1 – you predict a positive situation and is negative. 2 – you predict a negative and its ends up being a positive. 3 – You predict a Positive and it is Positive. 4 – you predict a negative and it is negative. 50/50 chances on this. I did #2 for a meeting this week. Yes, it ended up being very positive but all that wasted energy in the week spent on trying to predict how ONE meeting was going to go? Doesn’t really make sense does it. It should’ve been about the present moment; not me trying to predict something which I had no control over. Yes, the situation could’ve been worse but I was prepared and should’ve had more confidence in me. So, 2 lessons here – DON’T predict the future! You have no clue what it’s going to be. AND have some faith in you, you got this, my fellow human!

Saturday 20^th July – A little strange one here. Someone who I do have contact with but not on a regular, made contact with me telling me they will always be there for me and they apologise for not being there for me when I needed it. Now, I won’t tell you who this person is but I was slightly shocked. What this did tell me was everyone has their own battles. I could’ve said the same thing to him in return “sorry for not being there for you”. I will in person, sure, unless they’re reading this 😊 Hey man, I should’ve been there too! What I’m trying to get at is, everyone has their battles, and everyone needs a shoulder sometimes. I have however never even thought that person wasn’t there for me. I have maybe 10 people that I know I don’t need to talk to them for a while (this one individual is included in that), but when push comes to shove, I know I could pick up the phone and they would be there. It’s that simple. If you feel like how this one person felt, just do what he did, and make contact with that loved one – just like Mondays lesson.

LAST lesson of the week – when you go shopping and have a shopping list, put EVERYTHING on there. I went shopping today and the main thing to buy was my nasal spray for hayfever. As it was the main thing, I thought no need to add it to the list of groceries. I got home after spending around £40 – NO F***ING nasal spray. Don’t be a hero, add EVERYTHING to the list. Your memory is not that great

Thanks as ever,

Rishi – ps, my thumb is now back to normal and my nose has it’s defence