Sunday, August 18, 2013

Goals: The Secret to Making Your Dreams Come True

In 1963, some behavioural scientists performed an experiment with the graduating class of Harward Business School. They asked the students if they had written down goals for themselves. Their goals for life. For the future. On paper.

A mere 3 per cent of the class had actually written down goals. Yes. Just 3 per cent.

Well, twenty-five years later, the scientists again got in touch with the class of '63. To find out how they had done in their careers. And in their lives.

And guess what?

They found that the net worth of the 3 per cent of the class that had written goals was MORE than the net worth of the rest of the batch. Not just that; the 3 per cent written-down-goalwallahs seemed to be happier, doing what they wanted and leading far more fulfilling lives. 

Incredible. But, I believe, it's true. And it could be true for all of us.

What are your goals? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to be, have, do? In life. At work. In relationships. Whatever it be, write it down. Now. Just write it down. Not later, not tomorrow- now!

And commit yourself to action. Commit yourself to doing what it takes to achieve your goals. Take action. Make sure that everything you do is taking you closer to your goals. 

And finally, take a step today. However small it may be, but take the first step today. If you want to lose weight, walk the 45-minute walk- today! If you want to be the best salesperson, make that extra sales call- today!

You'll see the difference. as the Nike guys would say, just do it.

It takes just three steps.

Step one: Write down your goals.

Step two: Make a commitment to action, to doing what it takes.

Step three: Take the first step. Today!

Come on, make a beginning. You owe it to yourself. And you have nothing to lose.


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Reproduced without permission, from the book 'The Habit of Winning' by Prakash Iyer, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. I purchased this book sometime back from a book-shop on a bus stand. I would seriously recommend you to buy a copy of this book, it's just awesome, and it can be purchased from the link here.

-Gaurav.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

What to do if ATM transaction fails?

In October 2009, Phadke withdrew Rs 1,000 from an ATM. After the transaction failed, he withdrew the money again. This time, it was successful. However, his account showed two debit transactions. Though he lodged two complaints with the bank by January 2010, he didn't receive any response.

Phadke chanced upon a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular that said that in case of a failed ATM transaction, the bank should refund the money by 12 days or pay a penalty of Rs 100 a day from the day of receiving the complaint. This penalty should be paid directly to the customer's account, without the customer asking for it, the circular said. When Phadke showed this circular to the branch manager, he immediately got Rs 1,000 against the failed transaction. Subsequently, he filed an RTI application with the details of the RBI circular, following which the bank paid him Rs 6,500, the penalty for the delayed payment for the failed transaction.

Using RTI, Phadke secured similar information from three banks that hadn't paid compensation to customers. He says the amount runs into crores of rupees.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pf/resolve-your-problems-with-the-right-rti-application-113080500050_1.html

Friday, August 2, 2013

This post I have taken from Facebook. It is very good to know the info given in it.

-Gaurav.


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We had been to several restaurants recently. I observed that "service
tax" was being misused in the way it was being charged to customers.

Let me give an example.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Food and Beverage = Rs. 1000.00

Service Charges @ 10% = Rs. 100.00

Service Tax @ 4.94% = Rs. 54.34 (on F&B + Service Charges)

VAT @14.5% = Rs. 145.00

Total = Rs. 1299.34


As per the definition - "Service Tax can be charged ONLY for the

services provided to the customer".


Now, see what is happening here in the above example.


Service Tax should be charged only on the Service Charge amount i.e
Rs.100 ONLY, and NOT on the entire amount (1000+100).

In this example, the customer should be charged only Rs 4.94, whereas
he has been charged Rs. 49.00 extra.

I now have 3 to 4 restaurant bills, but for which I have paid only the
service tax on the service charge and NOT on the total amount.

Solitude, and Inner Voice