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Welcome to "Visionary Voices," the podcast where we dive into the minds of business owners, founders, executives, and everyone in between.
Each episode brings you face-to-face with the leading lights of industry and innovation.
Join us as we uncover the stories behind the success and the lessons learned along the way.
Whether you're climbing the corporate ladder or just starting your business journey, these are the conversations you need to hear - packed with visionary voices and insights.
Let's begin.
So Singh, can you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you do and your journey
so far and then we can go from there.
Sure, so I'm an emotional intelligence expert through use of mindfulness.
I help make people aware of their own emotions so that they can make better decisions.
It evolved over period of time and it all started to come together when we had a
ransomware attack during COVID.
And we came out of it
without paying ransomware and we were live in less than 30 hours.
So that by itself was a remarkable thing.
But then following that event, I was invited to speak as you can imagine on multiple
podcasts, multiple seminars and conferences.
Although at that time because of COVID, it was not much travel, everything was virtual,
but I did at least nine, maybe 10 or 12 interviews, webinars and
Right around the fourth or fifth one, I started thinking something that came so natural to
me and I was able to manage, right?
Why there is so much fuss about it?
Why so many questions?
I get that it's a very unique thing from an incident itself is a unique thing, but then
I'm not even a certified CSO or Chief Information Security Officer, right?
I'm just a technical person and I was CDO and
Chief Technology Officer and Chief Operating Officer of company at that time.
So when I started thinking why people are asking the same question again and again and
again.
What struck to me is something that comes very natural to me.
Is something that people don't have the skill or have not utilized or developed
themselves.
So that's where towards end of 2020 early 2021 I started reflecting back.
And then I remembered another incident that happened when I was very young.
I was literally 25 years old.
And I just took over the job as a managing partner with one of the largest capital firm.
And I was asked to go and manage operations of a particular manufacturing unit.
It's in a truly blue-collar city.
I was the only color man in the city.
It was so interesting at that time and it was so anyway, I got there on Tuesday after we
took over the company and we started managing it and Friday was the payroll day and right
around 1130 1145 I see people gathering in front of the compound and in next one hour even
the people who working on that shift left the work and went outside.
So when I started digging in what happened come to find out because of some clerical
error.
the bank would not issue the check because the account was a different number on the check
versus the account that we used.
And you can imagine 600 employees and their families getting together that, hey, this
company just took over and the very first week we are having this problem.
given that it was a very small place, the sheriff was informed about this gathering and
the incident, the bank manager was very proactive.
So by the time I was working behind the scenes to try to get the bank to pay the checks
and everything else, the sheriff came, I spoke with him and being very calm without
panicking, I asked the sheriff that I am new in town, but do you know a few restaurants,
restaurant owners that would come and cater right now?
said, right now.
said, yeah, this is lunch hour.
Just get me in for a thousand people.
don't care.
So that event.
riveted into celebration and engagement, everybody got their paychecks immediately after
that.
They had to queue and everything.
took a few hours to get it all cleared up.
But again, when I reflected to that incident, what came to my mind was I have been told by
multiple people that the mindful practice that I have had since my childhood, it has
always played a very different role in my career.
And literally, I
I grew very fast in my career very like it at 24.
I was managing that partner of a large capital firm when I went to another four hundred
company I stayed there for eight years and I keep I kept every year was a new pattern of
growth for me.
So 2021 I started looking at it and being a student of science.
I had to think about something that it is a process that I can then articulate.
So 21, 22, I put everything together.
It came out to be three or four different pieces that I could think about.
And I started sharing on LinkedIn with my friends and colleagues that I knew.
And I started collecting feedback.
And by 22, 23, we were also in a situation where in less than two years, we acquired 30
agencies and integrated in one single company and sold it to one of the capital firms.
That's when the Capital Fund came out and said, can you do the same thing for other
companies?
Right?
And I said, yeah, I have a framework that people are using.
I have not sold it, you know, if you want, but that's where the ascendancy action system
came in.
But it was still missing the actual implementation of it, right?
It is all these different pieces out there.
And ultimately I have to dig into my mindful practice and then create the mindful
leadership compass that people can use immediately.
It's not like going in a zen like state.
It's not like going to Himalayas or going to a retreat and learning it.
Things that you can actually do in the moment that you are.
Yeah, yeah, that's such an interesting story.
You know, the way you managed to incorporate mindfulness within everything that you're
doing and something that came to natural to you.
I mean, you mentioned about your childhood.
I mean, what was your childhood like that allowed you to, I guess, create this mindfulness
habit within within yourself?
What was that like?
So, growing up, I grew up in a very educated family, a very well-off family and early on,
I was a very angry kid, a very snipe-active kid.
So, I was, think, three and a half, four when to control my habit activity, I was
introduced to Indian classical music and I started learning percussion.
By age of 12, I already had masters and post-masters in Indian classical percussion.
But my anger and you know that I would not quit fight, but I would just wait for someone
to trigger and I would have gotten a fight right.
So right around that time 1314 during summer holidays in India, there's almost like a
three three months gap between the sessions.
So I was sent to Tibet and I stayed for three months with a llama and I learned mindful
practice from llama there.
And that changed that changed the whole whole life for me.
That was a moment that was the three months.
Incredible incredible experience.
But then today also I'm using that not only for myself, but I'm creating everything for
individuals who want to get engaged in every moment, right?
I always say how can mindfulness be in every minute that you can track this right?
And that's where I come up with acronyms that stop for example, right?
It's a serenity.
Like you stop, take a deep breath, observe what you just thought, like label it and
proceed.
Just taking that deep breath for one second intentionally knowing that you have stopped
everything and doing it, it emphasizes on being calm and gets you clarity of what's going
to happen next.
Right, yeah, no, that makes so much sense because, you know, lot of, I guess, the
mindfulness that, you know, talks about today, I mean, myself, you know, back a few years
ago, my background was in trading and everything.
That's very much psychology, know, mindfulness, meditation, everything.
But I can never sit still for that long period of time, right, and try and meditate and
everything.
You know, I just really struggled with it.
But I guess what you're saying is it doesn't have to be like that.
It can just be those momentarily, momentary minutes where, you know, you pause, you, you,
become mindful about your situation, what you're currently feeling, all these different
things as well, to bring yourself back to the present.
I guess, how have you seen that help other people and other leaders that you've spoken to?
Have there been situations where they've told you that, actually, I've used this and it
really helped me?
Yeah, so I have coaching practice where I coach a lot of different leaders, individuals,
as well as I do group coaching.
And the main thing that resonates with people is when I do workshop, I create a real
instance, right?
So it's not like I will ask them to come out for a workshop somewhere.
I will ask them, OK, next week, which is your most difficult meeting?
Everybody has meeting every day long.
But what is your most difficult conversation that you're going to have next week?
I want 10 minutes before that meeting.
Right?
we'll just talk about, I will not even talk about the topic that you have to discuss.
Right?
I will just help you for two minutes to calm yourself.
Literally C-A-L-M, right?
Calm yourself.
Center your attention on what you are going to do.
Right?
And allow the emotions to settle down.
Right the moment you do that you start listening.
To the true sense of that particular topic that you're going to talk about.
Right, that's when you move forward mindfully.
So mindfulness is not about.
Topping your brain brain is always full of things that neurons are not going to stop
fighting the new does the the neurons in your brain.
You cannot stop them right mindfulness is about realizing.
the present moment, right?
No matter who it is, right?
This particular moment is the way it was supposed to be.
You cannot change.
It's too late if you want to change this particular moment, right?
But can you be mindful about it so that next thing that you do
Yeah.
Because everything is cyclical in nature.
Everything in this universe is cyclical in nature.
Right?
You can go scientifically, this is more for the nerds here, Nerds that I talked to.
So, when everything is cyclical in nature, what we as human have done in the society is we
have broken that cyclicality in our life.
We stay longer, we stay up longer, we get up late.
Right?
Now, if you...
Extend that conversation every business has some cyclicality to them.
Hmm, yeah.
Right?
So the cycle of evening or lower work for your team is the cycle for reuniting them.
That is for building back the energy that is for building back your systems to be able to
be ready when that sun comes back up in your business.
Right?
So you have to understand what that cycle is.
Now you can take that on a daily basis.
Right?
Your cycle ends before you leave your office.
Just be mindful of two minutes of everything that happened and drop your emotions before
you leave there.
Hmm, interesting.
You know, I agree with everything being cyclical for sure.
And I just really love this concept because it makes it essentially where you have no
excuse not to do something like this, right?
It's a very low commitment activity to do, but the results can be just, you know,
incredible.
I mean, I you mentioned before about, you know, that 30 acquisitions you guys did during
the pandemic itself.
I mean, can you tell us a little bit more about that?
I guess from the, the business point of view, how did you deal with the pandemic going on
and how did that?
maybe change things for you, you throughout that acquisition period.
That's a loaded question.
the Compass, the mindful leadership mastery system and the Compass that I teach, So it has
got four pieces to it, right?
You have presence power, emotional agility, cognitive clarity, and compassionate action.
So people who work directly with me, right?
They are such a high performers.
Right?
And I, this is something I have always done for 25 years in, when I was in corporate life
that give me anyone who can breathe.
I will turn that person into a superpower.
you
Right?
So that mindset of having that presence power, being able to cultivate moment to moment
awareness allows you to identify the different synergies between the companies that you're
acquiring.
Right?
If you have the emotional agility, you are going to be able to navigate through the
emotions because end of the day when you acquire company, it's people that coming with it.
Mmm, yeah.
Right and to be able to expedite the transition to be able to expedite the integration of
the companies.
You have to first understand and create that emotional agility.
Right?
The moment you have mindfulness in every moment that you are working through and you
appreciate the limitations of people, you're not just mindful about yourself, but others,
then you are able to make decision with clarity on what you want.
You are not making a spontaneous decisions that hurts you.
Right?
We had a long conversation around integrating two financial systems, ERP systems, for
example, right?
The problem is not with technology.
The problem was to understand the teams that's coming on two different platforms, which
will be easier to transition the processes and train people on those new processes.
Because you can do the integration of the system, but what about people?
Yeah, yeah, you can do the technicals, but still some people need to run the system
Right.
And that's where the fourth piece of compassionate action comes in.
You have to invest time in any relationship that you have.
If you want a relationship, no matter what relationship you talk about, you have to invest
time as a human.
My question is, why are you not investing that time in yourself first?
Very very true.
Very very true.
Yeah, it's interesting isn't it?
Everyone is so preoccupied with making sure everyone else around them might be happy and
you know relaxed and all these different things but when it comes to ourselves it's easy
to let that slip which is so counterintuitive because if you take care of yourself
naturally by extension your relationships will take care of them as
So so again, I mean those are different dynamics and then you can extrapolate that in your
family.
You can extend that your relationship with your friends colleagues.
You can extend that conversation in your business.
You can so there is a lot of things that you have one thing.
I always believe.
As a human.
There is gathering that we as a human do, but then you get to a point where gathering is
not going to take you anywhere.
Right?
What I mean by that is when your body is growing as a child, you are gathering food, are
gathering knowledge, you are gathering energy, you are gathering everything.
You come to a point in time in life where everything that you have gathered, what slows
you down is the emotions that you have gathered with you.
Right?
And here is the scientific practice of it.
There are two different types of brain in a human body.
The human body is the most sophisticated instrument ever built from a scientific
standpoint.
So now what happens is every cell of our body has a memory.
of the emotion that is attached to something that happened to that particular part of your
body.
Right?
Going back to the cyclical nature of it, now your brain in your skull, like the actual
brain, it does not care about your emotions and reality.
Right?
The reality for your brain is what it can see.
I'm seeing you through my eyes, right?
How I'm seeing it.
The images are being formed in my brain and then I'm getting that cognitive view of you
and the three-dimension everything comes together, right?
When you close your eyes and imagine something, the brain does not differentiate between
that image being created through your retina or your image being created through your
imagination.
Mmm, yeah.
Right?
So what happens in day-to-day life is and I've seen this day in and day out.
I've spoken with thousands of people about this one-on-one.
The emotions that you have to get over could be looked back not by incident.
Somebody came and said, hey, I'm not having good relationship with my husband because of
my mother-in-law, whatever, blah, blah.
I said, hold on.
You are trying to solve a relationship.
You are trying to solve an experience without solving the emotions.
Yep.
Yeah.
Right?
And to that point, the abbreviation of stop that I say stop, take a deep breath, observe.
Observation is, you can do it right now.
Whatever thought you have has an equivalent emotion and that emotion will manifest
somewhere in your body.
in as a tingling as a itchy as a pain as a stress, you have to identify that and just
label it.
become aware, aware of it.
Right.
So the moment you start becoming aware of how the different parts of your body is reacting
to different emotions, your brain starts solving it.
Yeah, it's so interesting.
Yeah, it's such an interesting concept.
Like it's taking me trying to absorb it and really think about it and piece it together.
But it makes so much sense, right?
It makes so much sense.
Right.
And then scientifically what happens is the moment you start even doing one or two minutes
of this practice every other hour before you're going to the meeting, just stop.
Think about the clarity.
just spoke spoke right calm.
Look at what you have to solve what emotions you have drop those emotions move forward
mindfully.
The moment you start practicing it the very first thing that happens in the brain the
skull is the gray matter in your prefrontal cortex increases.
And it is very critical for leaders because that is our decision-making system in the
brain.
It's something that everyone, not just business owners, needs to incorporate.
Because especially in, you know, with a lot of the mental health issues people are facing
and feeling, right, the anxiety of this that and the other, is if everyone can adopt just
this two minute practice, you know, as you said, every other hour or something, it's gonna
make such a huge difference.
And one thing I'm doing based on the feedback I have had, the discussions I have had, and
it has become a regular conversation for me, for anyone, right?
I see the need for this.
So what I have done in last three months is for every emotion that I can think of, I have
created a simple PDF document.
how to actually practice that in two minutes, three minutes time.
And after Thanksgiving, my target is between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm going to
upload a bunch of them on my website and just free download to everyone.
I'm just working on the branding of it.
But free download for every human on Earth who can touch that, feel that.
It is needed.
It is needed.
See,
The biggest thing that we are lacking today is compassion.
The biggest thing that we are lacking today is realizing that compassion starts with
yourself.
Think about the mental health issue in this world right now.
Right?
I mean, it is so serious that when you know the physicians.
People who practice medicine, you hear them suiciding.
Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?
It is crazy.
It is so needed.
I completely agree.
And even, you know, there's a lot of, guess the listeners here are those founders,
entrepreneurs and things like that.
But especially if you're an entrepreneur, this mindfulness is just game changing, right?
Yeah, it is absolutely.
has, like I said, I mean, I have four different companies that I run.
I have a healthcare business.
I have a consulting business.
So the healthcare business, I have my eldest son who is now taking and running with that.
Similarly, the consulting services, my wife is taking and running with that.
I'm trying to get to a point where I can completely devote my time to serve.
Mm.
Right.
That's where the coaching program and everything.
I'm revamping the whole coaching program and everything here between Thanksgiving and
Christmas so that it can be more tangible to people on a daily basis.
I'm giving a bunch of free stuff and I'm like, okay, when I'm going and doing a keynote
speech, when I'm going and doing a workshop, I'm already giving out so many things, right?
Why not just put it out there?
Right.
On an average, I'm getting a 6,000 to 7,000 unique visitors every month on my website.
Wow.
Wow.
So if they actually get that free download, OK, don't take my course going.
Take this down there because my time is also getting restrictive right now with all the
things I have very special programs for workshops and stuff like that.
And again, it's all about.
It's all about coming in working with your business because I have that consulting
background.
I have been the chief technology officer, chief operating officer.
I understand how business works.
I will help you identify the cyclicality of your business and your cyclicality and how
they need to come together.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And essentially that creates a path for them to really just, you know, thrive, right?
As a person and as a business.
Because you're unlocking the door, yeah.
got at least 15, 18 clients right now that I'm working with on a day-to-day basis.
It gives me real satisfaction, not just by transforming that one person, but giving them
the skills that they can teach their people without having to come to me.
Yeah, it's that trickle down effect, right?
If you can go to the leaders, naturally for their team, they're gonna adopt that and then
your impact of it is gonna be just so great.
And I spoke about stop last time, right?
You just cannot forget that stop thing.
No, it's so easy to remember, right?
It's so easy.
Yeah.
Similarly, I have breath.
Breathe.
That's another one I have.
So that is breathe deeply.
Relax your body.
Right.
Engage your senses and accept the moment.
Tune into your thoughts and hold your focus on one thought and then exhale slowly.
One minute exercise.
Think about it.
You're going in a boardroom.
You're going in a boardroom and before you walk in, you are the most relaxed person.
versus you're walking in completely flustered with all the emotions running down your
head.
Right?
I've got a long time friend that I have been working.
He has used my program for about two years now.
In two years, he has become a Chief Medical Officer of a sister health system here in
Florida.
And he has made one-minute mindfulness practice mandatory for every meeting he goes in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And as I said earlier, there's just no, there's no excuse not to do it.
Right.
Because what is one minute everyone can sacrifice that one minute, right.
To get into that mode and relax, get ready for that meeting.
And, and so I really love it.
And off the back of the first conversation we had, you know, before a couple of weeks ago,
you know, I've been thinking about it a lot before I'm going into these meetings,
especially in some of these deals and things like that is thinking of stop because it's
just such an easy thing to think about.
Just.
stop and become mindful in the moment and it's just going to really help the business side
and everything else massively.
Yeah.
See that's another big big big fundamental Act of life is no matter what you do in your
career no matter what work you do right You cannot be to body you cannot be to person in
your life And that's what people try people try to become two different identity You
cannot become two different identities the sooner you realize that you are going to be one
singular cell
Right?
The sooner you will come to accepting and fixing the relations that you always wanted,
will be sooner, you will be making decisions that's combined as one person.
Yeah, it's an interesting thing that you mentioned there because it's something that I've
seen a lot of and even I did this myself and I think I'll probably still do it is, know,
there's Akil, the normal Akil, then there's the business Akil, right?
Which is that different personality.
But it can be that it's difficult to play both those roles, right?
Because both those roles, they're not necessarily me.
It's the combination of these roles is who I am.
And so combining those together as you mentioned is just gonna help you be authentic in
your relationships, in your conversations and the way you do things.
so, so yeah.
Yeah, and a lot of coaches I've heard over the years will say, you have to put up a cape.
No, you have to become that cape.
Hmm.
Yeah, completely agree, yeah.
So there is a difference between if you are just a showman.
An artist.
Right?
If you are a showman and an artist, yes, you're going to be a different person on the
stage because that's what is selling.
Right?
It goes back to my comment of how long are you going to sell?
At some point you have to realize.
Either become that portion complete 100 % become that portion 100 % and live like that.
Right?
Cape can go only so long, but you as a human are going to be alive beyond the period of
that Cape.
Definitely, No, definitely.
guess what are some of, or who are the biggest mentors that you've had, you know, that
really helped you shape your career because you have so much like knowledge and wisdom in
these areas of, you know, mindfulness and also business.
And I know you mentioned about, you know, the, you know, going to that retreat when you're
younger and things like that.
But is there any other business mentors or just any other mentors in general that have
helped you, you know,
come to this realisation of this is how you need to think and this is how need to be in
the moment which will also then help the business side of things.
That's a big one.
So I always believe that, you know, if you're playing sports, you always want a coach.
Then why don't you want coach for your personal life?
Why don't you want coach for your business?
Right.
So I have been fortunate enough to have three mentors, or four actually, that have always
been there for me.
Not that I meet with them every day, not that I deal with them every day, but if I need to
have a conversation,
what next they're always there to right so off the bat my dad was my biggest mentor on all
his life he has published like five books on more management side i learned a lot from him
growing up once i got into the
work side of my life.
The three big mentors I have.
The first one was the young very young CEO of Aflac, Paul Amos.
I got a lot of mentoring from him on a daily basis.
Then I was also blessed with Mike Boyle who was the CIO there for a while.
I still have ongoing conversation for all my business deals with them, getting their
feedback, getting their perspective.
Then another big person
mentor was Tom Giddens, he was from the sales side and he taught me how to work your deal
with people not with business.
interesting.
say till then I was doing all my deal with business, not with people.
And when I started doing that, it kind of connected back to my mindful that I used to do
that.
Yeah, he's right.
I mean, I have missed that for long time.
Now it's incorporated that.
And then Tony Wanderer.
Tony Wanderer and I have worked with him for last four, five years now.
All great mentors, all great mentors.
I also use, I have also had coaching.
opportunity because when I was with different companies, I was provided different coaches.
But again, these are the coaches that they have used in their forms.
So there was always a support system.
You cannot grow yourself.
Period.
If you're growing, there has to be a companion.
that you can trust all the time.
Yeah, I completely agree.
Completely agree.
I think the people you surround yourself with are really going to dictate whether or not
you're going to reach what you want to reach.
And like the biggest way to change your behavior, right, is to change your environment and
mentors.
And if you can find a mentor that you can work with, as you mentioned, it's quite
interesting what you mentioned as well about how one of those mentors help you see instead
of your deals being just business, your deals actually being people.
Because it's something that for myself, I realized beginning of this year really is I was
really doing the same thing where
I was focusing just on the business point of view rather than the people.
And so like this year for myself, doing things like a podcast and doing, you know, more of
those relationship building activities, it's worked amazingly, right?
And approaching deals from that people perspective.
So yeah, I think that's a really good piece of advice for all business owners is to start
thinking about people's first mentality and approach to things.
And naturally, if you are able to build relationships with them, the business will take
care of itself and the deals will take care of itself, but...
Just focus on the people that you can obviously impact and help and all these different
things.
And from there, your growth will come naturally.
And that's exactly how we have built our consulting practice also.
So on an average, we have to turn down 40%, 50 % of clients who come through that,
respectfully, because we don't sign up on a contract.
We don't sign up with a customer or client unless they are willing to work.
Right?
Things don't happen automatically.
If you're just thinking that you will bring in a consulting firm and everything will be
solved.
No.
And again, I start with mindful practice there also.
Do you know what you're wanting to solve?
Yeah.
We give a free 45 minutes discovery session just for that.
Let's talk through what you're trying to solve.
And 90 % of the time, the people that we work with, they have a white elephant in the room
that they try to avoid talking about.
Yeah.
% of the time.
So the problem is not what they're trying to solve.
It goes back to right.
Are you trying to fix relationship or emotion?
Because if you fix your emotion, the relationship does not matter.
you
Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, definitely, definitely.
It's so interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's so interesting.
This, this, this way of thinking with things, right.
And the way to really break things down, right.
You know, what, what is the focus and getting to the root of the problem and root of the,
you know, what is your, your want and what is your need to, to, get to these levels and
stuff.
Like, why do you want to do that?
And actually thinking about that, because I think it's something that a lot of people
don't think about that.
They're very much an autopilot a lot of the time and not being,
not thinking about why they're doing the actions that they're doing.
I think in business as an entrepreneur, it's easy to do that.
It's easy to fall into that autopilot mode without actually sitting down and thinking
about what it is that you're doing.
So that's where two different frameworks in a sentencing action system that I have
architected.
One is progress.
Again, you will see acronyms coming out so that people can remember progress.
Everybody wants to progress, right?
So progress starts with what is the purpose and then reflecting back why you are not able
to get to your purpose.
And I'll tell you a very good story on this one quickly.
So purpose, reflection, then organize.
Organize everything around your life to get to that purpose once you have a clarity and
reflection.
Once you have done that, then is grit, resilience, self-empowerment, efficiency,
encouragement, all those things comes behind.
Now, if you think about five A's of goal setting, right?
Where does it start?
It again starts with, what actually you want to achieve.
Now, the problem in today's world is we deny to look at our purpose.
because if you're purposeful.
Right?
You will have conviction to do things.
People who have succeeded have conviction beyond point of now.
Right?
So I was giving a talk, this is in summer, in a local chamber, called Masseyo.
And one lady, actually I went through the whole progress thing in detail.
And then the second one Pep did, which talks about passion and energy in whatever action
you take, Having empathy and professionalism in the same conversation, making everything
transformational, every conversation transformational and then the engagement brings
delight and joy for whatever you do.
So one lady asked me that, I'm the sole bread owner of this family.
I know I'm not working on my purpose.
I would like to do something else.
Right?
I don't know how to take my time out.
I said okay that's where the purpose reflection.
If you have reflected, if you have clarity and reflection of what you want to do,
Then comes, that's why the third letter there is organizing your life.
My first question was how many hours you spend on social media and Netflix and stuff.
You
How many?
Okay, if you spend an hour there,
Right?
Why wouldn't you listen to an audio book?
Why wouldn't you listen to a class?
Why wouldn't you listen?
There are so many free things available today in the world if you want to really want to
learn.
Right?
That time should not be an excuse.
People, I spend an hour driving.
You spend an hour driving?
That's perfect time for learning.
You can't do anything else.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I completely agree.
Completely agree.
So that's how you're organizing your life.
mindful of the things that is going to participate in your growth.
It comes back to that awareness, Awareness of the actions that you're doing.
And is it taking me towards that goal or is it taking me away from that goal?
And if people do that analysis, they'll find those pockets of time which they can then use
to dedicate towards their growth.
Right and and I tie back to agile methodology people talk about agile methodology today.
I said, yeah MVP minimum viable product Right and and the simplest way of explaining is if
you think about max loss theory the triangle with five levels Geometrically if you try to
every one how much time and resource you need to get there a lot, right?
But if you carve out a thin slice And shoot all the way up
You are getting all those different benefits that you can now fill in other resources over
a period of time.
Again, mindfulness and this happens day in and day out with 75 % of the projects where
they fail is they define the minimum viable project, a minimum viable product without
going all the way.
They will take on the site.
So did you create something?
Yes, you did, but you did not create the whole thing.
You did not read all the way to realizing the benefit of that service.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
it see everything in life ties back to mindfulness.
Were you mindful of what you're trying to drive?
Right?
See, I did not, I'm not taking off for retreat for two weeks, right?
To teach you something.
I'm teaching you in the moment, in that minute.
Yeah.
I challenge anyone who hears this right?
I challenge anyone who hears this right this second pause this.
Whatever thought came in your mind just that one thought by listening to this whatever
thought came in your mind just hold on to that thought 60 seconds.
Close your eyes.
You know what people tell me saying.
I never knew my mind was so loud.
Yeah, yeah, they never stop and listen right?
Yeah, never stop and listen.
if you if you cannot offer that one minute, how are you running your meetings?
How can you be present in your meetings if you can't be present for a minute with
yourself?
How you living your life?
Yeah, I think it's such a good way of thinking.
And I think if people can start adopting this, know, start with, you know, just stop, you
know, one minute is all it takes.
And from there, you can build up and do what you need to do.
I think I think it's going to be a game changer for so many people.
I mean, with yourself, like, sorry, go on.
I was going to say just for people to remember stop stands for top literally stop whatever
you're doing take a deep breath see what observe where you feel sensation in your body
with that thought right and proceed
So stop is for serenity.
Right, which emphasizes on calmness and clarity.
and clarity.
Yeah.
No, no, no, for sure.
No, no, amazing.
So, I mean, one question I always ask to people on this podcast is if you can go back to
your 18 year old self and you can only take three things with you, whether it's
philosophy, whether it's some business knowledge, some technical knowledge, whatever it's
going to be, what would those three things be and why would it be those three things?
Knowing what I know today, if I was 18, if I was made 18 years old, mindfulness is
something I would never leave because I'm in again.
That's where that's my destiny.
The second thing I will never leave is the one of the very early guidance I got from my
dad.
You are responsible for whatever happens with you and around you.
Responsibility does not mean being blamed.
Responsibility being able to respond to a situation.
When we talk about responsibility, who is responsible for this?
People start thinking negative things, right?
you are blaming me.
You are accusing me.
No.
And I give example, if there is a fire in your house, are you responsible for that?
Yes, you are.
What about the fire if it happens to your neighbor?
I don't know.
No, you are responsible.
You are there.
You can respond to it.
You can respond to it.
You can call 911.
You can call fire.
You can call water.
You can go and help.
You can do things, yeah.
You can respond to the situation.
Right?
So you're responsible for everything and that has stuck in my head like nobody's business.
And the third thing is if you cannot help an individual.
don't become a problem for them.
If you can't help an individual, don't become a problem for them.
Yeah, I like that one.
I really like that one.
Because it makes so much sense, again.
Like, it makes so much sense.
Whether it is your family, whether it is your neighbor, whether it is your coworker,
whether it is your staff, whoever it is, if it cannot become a solution for them, don't
become a problem for humans.
The day you stop doing that,
Right?
Did I do any action that is going to disturb this individual?
I'm not, I'm not saying to not hold people accountable.
There's difference there.
Right?
Holding people accountable.
You're paying someone to get a service.
You have to hold people accountable to get the best out of them.
That's not the reason.
Becoming a problem means appreciating where the person is coming from.
If today, Keele is not in the right mood, they invest time to understand why.
Hmm, yeah.
Right?
There can be something personal that Akhil just faced and there's nothing I can do about
it.
So let's not add more problems to it.
Yeah.
Right?
That is being mindful.
Yeah, that is being mindful.
That is being compassionate for people.
Every individual around us.
Think about the world that you live in.
Right?
You have every human on this planet has an opportunity to mingle with a million other
people.
at any given point in time.
It's you have the option to choose.
You just deny it, take action to choose.
Hmm.
Yeah, I completely agree.
agree.
Okay, amazing.
Well, look, this has been a great episode.
It's really made me think about all these different concepts and trying to piece it all
together.
So where can people find you if they want to learn more about, you know, some of the
courses that you do and all those different things?
What's your website that we can guide people towards?
so the website is singpoweruphoach.com and the name was intentional Singh.
That's my last name and I branded myself because it's not just me.
I'm bringing wisdom of my dad and bring wisdom of a lot of people in my family that have
learned right forward.
That's why I kept it saying power up is literally powering you up.
Right?
If you start using the simple things, it will power you up.
Right?
And then coach is because I am in coaching business or practice.
So sync power up coach is where you can find me.
And again, like I said, and again, like I said, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm
going to revamp the whole thing and give a lot of freebies.
People can actually, all this stop, read, calm progress, all these things, I'm going to
put it out there so it can be used by people.
thing going to remove the paywall that today we have.
Amazing.
So if people can head there today, bookmark it and check back in a few weeks and you'll
find all the resources there.
Amazing.
Amazing.
Well, look, thank you for coming on the show today.
I've thoroughly enjoyed it myself.
Happy to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
It's always good talking to you.
Amazing, amazing.
Thank you very much.