Nirupama P.R.V.'s Blog: Catty Opinions of a Book Loving Couch Potato, page 32
September 15, 2017
Darling, You Can’t Do Both… -Book Review
This week’s post is my review of the amazing book: ‘Darling, You Can’t Do Both..’ TO be honest, it is more a list (what else!) of all the wonderful nuggets I gleaned, the points that made me ponder long and hard and the wonderful resources I learned.
This book was on my Books by Women on Leadership List. I mean to reorder my list after I finish all those 25 books, based on how useful and impactful I found them. As of now, I am sure that this book will surely lead the pack then.Without further ado, here goes:
Books:
One of the best parts about this book was in how it added to my reading list. I am intrigued about the following books after learning about them in this book. The list of books is:
Pick Me
Games mother never taught you
Through the Labyrinth
Business networking and sex [Definitely not what it sounds like!]
Sites:
This book is practically a treasure trove of information and resources. The following are sites that everyone should look at and book mark:
Ihaveanidea.org [team now on hiatus, archives available]
Insights/ Ideas:
Better done than perfect – Act now. Complete the task. Then perfect it. Like agile fans say, get it out of the door, perfect it in the next iteration.
Pick your pond and splash vigorously
LIFE’S A JUGGLING ACT AND SOMETIMES YOU DROP A BALL. I have to add these in capitals because most women, including me, are guilty of wanting to have it all, at the same time, without a break or help. WRONG!! read the related chapter. It’s poignant and practical.
“Mentoring is a way of using someone’s hindsight as your foresight.” I loved this quote- such an eye opener. This is why everyone needs a mentor.
From Guardian’s Allyson Zimmermann: “Mentors are career developers and sponsors are career accelerators”. The book devotes an entire chapter to explaining the difference and importance for mentors and sponsors, how to get more than one, and why you need both.
Selfish Mentoring– this book also touches upon how to become a mentor and why it is so immensely significant for careers. The term ‘selfish mentoring’ is testament to how the act of mentoring is beneficial to mentor and mentee.
Minute mentoring – another fascinating concept that I regard as highly apt in today’s complicated, distracted world with its frantic pace.
Create a Personal Advisory Board. Support groups, cheerleaders, call it what you may. We all need people who inspire and support and with a whole chapter devoted to how one can create a board of life/ career advisors is a treat indeed.
Don’t ask, don’t get . Like my Mom says, ‘Never lack for something because of the lack of asking’. Difficult to practice, but extremely effective.
Men’s tactics : start high and come down if necessary. This corollary to the above tip should be taught to every female on the planet. This also happens to be similar to another of my mom’s oft-repeated quotes: ‘Shoot for the Stars. Even if you reach the sky, you Soared! Not Bad!’
Tell a better story. I loved how the book guides readers to learn a variety of ways to make their case. Data, presentations, rational thoughts, logical arrangement of perspectives, social proof, backing of others- basically, using techniques to convince but adapted to the situation and audience. Extra work, I know. But it completely sets aside any shades of ’emotions’ or ‘intuition’ or ‘drama’ that often creep into perceptions of women’s stance or opinions.
Ask how to make a No a Yes. Another ‘Wow’ idea for me. In a coincidental turn of events, I even found a quote by Former President of India, also, a space scientist, that goes: ‘NO means Next Opportunity‘. It totally shifts the focus away from rejections, which is what a ‘NO’ usually signifies for me to an action I can take. [How about you?]
Don’t commit Yes-icide. Definitely something I need to start pronto. [Mom, if you’re reading this, you too!]
Risk reframe. I found the concept of altering the perspective of risk extremely interesting and helpful.
Networking is important. We all know this. But this book will completely drill the fact into your head.
Go where the bigwigs are and Learn to accept No. Coupled with the idea of BE SOMEONE BIG PEOPLE WON’T BLOW OFF, this is another reason why every girl should read this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. No, I was wowed by this book. Relevant and inspiring, this is a must read for every girl and I sure can’t wait for the day I gift it to my little angel. [Too bad she can’t read fully yet! 
September 11, 2017
Monday Motivation
On the Tiled Square of Lake Geneva: Inspiration in unlikely places…. Learning from the little one… Keep your eyes and minds open
Filed under: Photos Tagged: Inspiration, learning, Life
September 9, 2017
Milwaukee Trip
Last weekend, we got together with close friends who stay in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It follows then yours truly will commemorate the occasion with a phot post.
Let me begin with the view that greeted us from our friend’s apartment: 
We headed like every tourist to Lake Geneva. But our first stop was not that gorgeous body of fresh water! It was a store named Kilwins!
And while this picture might make it seem like a zoo, it’s not. The inmates might act like a bear Rudely awakened out of hibernation if you jump queues though. You would be wise to expect as much in a dessert store. 
After our culinary satisfaction, we headed for the sights: 
Since, we friends had spent the good part of the day talking up a storm, we could not go for boating or any lake adventures. Hence, we chose a healthy walk along Mansion Trail. The fabulous homes on one side might inspire awe or jealousy, so I’m sticking to the natural beauty here:
It was mesmerizing to view the lake glisten and shine based on cloud and tree cover.
We walked over this cute bridge where I tried to snap a pic of our little group. Withnot much success as you only see six feet here. There were supposed to be twelve.
Thanks to little T and this blog, I try to soak up as many sights and scenes as I can to reproduce in this space. Imagine my delight when I captured this majestic play of gold:
Everything has to come to an end. When we turned back, we landed at the Riviera: a bustling point with a splendid fountain. Below is a picture where I tried to eliminate as many people and faces as possible. The little cherub on the side was too cute, far sweeter than the angel sculpture atop the fountain. So, my iPhone just could not keep it out of the frame. (Despite shooting in Square Mode). Sorry Random People who stayed in the frame.
Our stay was not all about visiting places. We all raced along our friends’ apartment complex lawns. Thanksfully, the geese were by the lake. No animals were injured.
I also captured a shot of my shoes. For the human element. Following my kiddo’s admonishing , I was careful not to shoot dog poop in my quest for grass, dew and feet.
As can be imagined, we also stuffed our faces silly. With a sumptuous authentic Konkani (region in Western Indian coast) spread, it was hard to keep the hands and one little nose from ruining my perfect shot of this picture. Confession: my friend (the toes in pic) acted as ace photographer while I shooed determined hands away.
Ours was a jolly, fun filled, trip over the long weekend. The best kind of weekend for families, naps and meals on time, play and good company, enjoyable sight seeing, great conversations and a few treats! How did you spend the weekend?
Let me know your thoughts and comments! Stay happy, stay warm!
Filed under: Life Tagged: Dessert, Family, Friends, Fun, Indian Food, Milwaukee, nature, photos, Travel
September 4, 2017
August 30, 2017
Stats & Insights
In todays’ post, I thought it would be fun to compare what my blog stats for 2017 and the month of August. I love seeing the metrics (thank you readers for all the love, likes and comments) on my dashboard and the insights I can glean [or make up! :P].
My all time Views:
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An important point that I noted right away is that my blog garners a lot more interest in three important occasions:
Start of the Year:
My Resolutions, posts about Winter Adventures, Christmas time and New Year activities seem to bump up my views.
Summer Vacation:
What with summer holidays and me going into creative overdrive to make up for lack of school (aka entertainment), I get a lot of blog fodder ; shooting my stats high! I also suspect that my professor mom has holidays that overlap which does a lot to improve my statistics!
Thanksgiving:
Holidays, activities, celebrations: a wonderful recipe for bolstering those page views and stats.
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My visitors were from these countries for August. But for this year, my visitors arrived from:
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I see how my parents and grandparents are practically dominating my statistics! Thank you for being such lovely dears!
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It is interesting how most of the popular posts for 2017 are all about my travel adventures. Definitely, the photos and perspective of family outings helped. Thank you my dear iPhone!
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Surprisingly, my top posts for the month of August were related to Books. That means my tagline is working! Of course, the real reason is probably that I love books, and hence, my enthusiasm carried forth in my posts as well. But, good to see that the book reviews segment is doing well too!
On that note, I suppose I should link my reading lists. It will be interesting to watch what conversations that might spark!
Do you check your metrics? What insights or fun facts do they reveal? How do use them?
Share your thoughts and experiences!
As ever, take care and have a great week ahead! For those folks in the weather affected areas, stay safe!
Filed under: Life Tagged: Activities, Blogging, Books, Celebration, Creativity, Family, Resolutions, Stats, Travel, Wordpress
August 28, 2017
Monday Motivation
When you surprise yourself…
Filed under: Photos Tagged: Books, Challenges, Monday Motivation, Reading
August 25, 2017
Books by Women
Driven by my love of books and inspired by the completion of my Goodreads challenge, I took upon myself to review the kind of reading I am currently doing and what insights I could glean.
All the books I read this year except one were non-fiction! [16/17]
The only fiction book I read was a new take on the Hindu Mythological character Bhima from Mahabharata. It was an interesting perspective, even if not completely in keeping with the original text.
Less than half of those books were by women [8 of 17]
Surprisingly, only one book was on parenting. For some reason, I had expected more.
August 21, 2017
Monday Motivation
My current read: “Darling, You Can’t Do Both and other Noise to Ignore on your Way Up!” by Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk
Filed under: Photos Tagged: Books, Inspiration, Monday Motivation, Reading
August 18, 2017
Book Review : Motherhood Is A …
I finished reading ‘Motherhood Is a Beach B#tch’ by Lyss Stern last week. Amusing, empowering, sarcastic yet helpful; this is a great book for all Mommies, harried or otherwise.
And before the ‘B#tch’ word turns you off: it’s an ACRONYM!!!! The entire premise of the book, is that the B-word should stand for ‘Being In Total Control of Herself!” And the author proceeds to show you just that.
The steps to achieve this state are also outlined in the same acronym:
Be the Woman you want
Initiate
Time-out : for yourself
Care : self-care included
Help- Ask for it
With chapters devoted to all sorts of departments of life and motherhood, this book has ideas to make life easier, stories to inspire, and a narrative to tickle that funny bone, Case in point:
One of the early chapters is about how to deal with disappointments.
It has techniques to get organized.
There are strategies to eating well with recipes including smoothies. No time to eat? This common side effect of motherhood is countered by a list of ‘no-cook, long shelf-life, easy-to-grab snacks!
She lists exercises that only need a few minutes and zero to furniture-turned-gym equipment. If you need proof, Google the author’s images!
The book also devotes a significant portion to communication techniques, including training your kids, saying no and (the best, according to your truly!) tactful answers to annoying questions and sticky situations. [yup, has answers to mothers and MILs too! :P]
I also got inspired by the quick tips for maintenance and sprucing up: home tidiness and hair and makeup.
What I loved most about the book was the pace and narrative: so amusing while still being real and concise!
Filed under: Book Review Tagged: Books, Cleaning, clothes, Communication, health, Humor, Inspiration, Kids, motherhood, Reading, Reviews
