You are known by the company you keep

As I said in one of the earlier blog posts - humans are social animals. We cannot live alone. We like to have friends and live in a society. We like to spend time with our friends, play with them, work with them, chat with them and in general spend time doing things we love doing.

So when we are such social beings - it is obvious that we are tagged and labeled by the people that we spend time with. As humans we generalize and when others generalize - you get the same label and level of respect that is given to others in your company. One bad person or a person with bad reputation and the whole group gets labeled bad and when the whole group gets labeled bad - guess what - even you get labeled bad. The other weird thing about humans is that - if we show humans a white canvas with a black dot - most people notice the black dot not the white canvas. Moral of the story is - most people notice the bad thing in others before they notice the good thing - so even if most people in the group are good - one bad person gets noticed the most and the whole group gets a bad reputation.

The other strange thing about us humans is that - we do one bad thing and people remember us for that one bad thing and not for the hundred good things you might have done. You do one good thing and most people will tell 2-4 people about it - you do one bad thing and most people will tell 15-20 other people about it.

Keeping a good company has another advantage. Most people in a good group are most likely doing some good things - they are quite likely to be a good student, a good polite person, a hard working smart individual and when you keep company of good people like that - you inherently start realizing that they are doing good things - start following their example, start doing good things and automatically become a good person.

So stay in a good company, a company with good reputation and it will make you a better person and will also result in creating a good impression about you.

Time is Money

Time is money. It's hard to believe how time can be money. But think of it this way - a day has 24 hours that is 24 * 60 * 60 which is 86400 seconds. So everyday at the beginning of the day - the time puts 86400 seconds in your bank and leaves it up to you to figure out how you are going to use those seconds. At the end of the day the bank gets totally empty and another day starts with 86400 seconds in the bank. The time machine maintains one single rule - use it or lose it. It does not care what you do - but if you don't use it wisely - you just waste the seconds, lose the time and empty your bank without getting any benefit.

You might have heard a penny saved is penny earned but it is even more true about time and seconds. A second saved is a second earned. Time can be your biggest ally or your biggest enemy. Use time wisely and time is your biggest ally - waste time and time becomes your biggest enemy.

Just because you have to use time wisely does not mean that you don't relax or don't enjoy. You can and should and must enjoy life but when it it is time to enjoy and when it is time to get things done and work hard - work hard. Doing wrong thing at the wrong time is like using or more like wasting your money on something totally useless and once that second is passed - the second never comes back. The second is lost. So please be careful of time and what you are supposed to do at that time. Give higher priority to the needs than the wants. Do the right thing at the right time, do it the most efficient way, stay focused, get things done and you would have made time your ally. Once the needs are handled you can always find time to relax or enjoy or do the things you do to relax you, refresh you and replenish the brain and the body.

Maintain the focus, figure out the priorities and do the right thing at the right time, do it the most efficient way, don't waste time and you will achieve a lot in your life. Make time your friend and you will be hugely successful in life.