“Thin is always beautiful” – Are you sure?

First of all, let’s see the definition of the word “thin”. Now a days, it simply means that you should – the word MUST is more appropriate here – look slim in whatever dress you wear. It does not matter if you are not eating or if you are following unhealthy practices to get fit in to that small dress. Thin also means that whenever you go out for shopping, you should always get the size of your favorite outfits, no matter how small they are. If you fail to fulfill any of the above two conditions then you are FAT.

Unfortunately, this is the story everywhere. Most of the girls just want to be thin but not healthy. They are more concerned about losing weight as quickly as possible by following all the practices such as unhealthy dieting; however, they do not consider the fact that all these practices are actually making them unhealthy and weak from inside. It does not matter what they feel about themselves – thin or fat – but for others, they must look thin. The irony is that most of us live the life which is good in other people’s perspective. We don’t live it in the way we want to be. We feel that if we are not thin, we are not beautiful.

Everybody wants to be thin because they feel that only slim people are the good looking ones. Sometimes, I believe that these people don t understand the difference between thin and fit because these terms are identical to them. Being thin is everything so that they can fit in to any dress. Also, everybody believes in quick results; hence, they prefer all kinds of unhealthy dieting styles rather than losing weight in a healthier way.

The fact is that being thin does not mean you are fit. I have seen so many people who are slim but don t have any strength. When people follow dieting methods – such as eating once in a day, skipping meals, skipping nutrition – they become weak and lose their strength as well. It is not at all difficult to lose weight by following different styles of unhealthy dieting which I mentioned above; however, it becomes a challenge when you eat normally – healthy diet with proper nutrition – and lose weight by exercising. For obvious reasons, it will take more time for you to lose in the latter case because the weight will start coming down after 2 – 3 months. Yes, it takes time; however, better late than losing weight in an unhealthy way.

It is good to stay fit rather than being thin. Weight machine is not always the right measure; we also need to check our BMI. When we lose weight through exercise, muscles take place of fat, and as a result, our body gets toned. In this case, you become fit and gain strength; however, you gain weight as well because muscles take more place than fat in the body but gaining weight is healthy in this case. We must exercise in such a manner that our fat is replaced by muscles in the body.
If you really want to diet, maintain a healthy lifestyle, leave junk food, soft drinks and adopt a healthy mechanism where you take all the nutritious elements. It is always good to have five small and nutritious meals in a day rather than having two big and unhealthy meals.

The only healthier way to lose weight is to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I understand that exercise is a challenge for lot of people as it is very difficult for them to spare some time from their busy schedules. Well, I never believe in the phrase “I don t have time” because we all have time, and we just need to set our priorities. When people say that they don t have time to exercise, it simply means that it is not their priority right now. It becomes their priority only when their health reports show bad results. Why do we have to wait for such instances? Rather, we should pay lot of importance to our body and health because if these things are fine, we can do all the other things and enjoy our life. If you really want to be fit and healthy, take out some time for exercise and go for it.

My personal experience: I go to gym five times a week and have lost 1.5 kgs in the last six months. The number looks small; however, it mattered a lot to me because I gained muscles instead of fat, and as I already mentioned, muscles are heavier than fat in the body.

Always remember that everybody is beautiful in their own way. Live your life in a healthy way as this is the only one you got…………..

Do communication skills matter?

Given a situation of hiring someone for a technical position, how much importance will you give to his communication skills? Or to put it in another way, even if your job requires majority of your time in developing technical applications, will you give importance to your communications skills, or will you work hard to hone them? According to you, how much important are these skills now a days?

So, did you get an answer? You must be wondering that the answer depends on the situation. If a person is a technical expert and does not require client interaction then he may not require these skills, and on the contrary, if a person interacts with the client frequently then he must hone his communication skills. Well, I have a pure technical job, but still I work constantly to improve my communication skills, and people ask me that why do I give so much importance to these skills?

In my opinion, communication skills play a significant role. I am a part of very big organization, and over here I realized that these skills are pivotal for a bright career. No matter how technical a job is and how less you meet with your clients, you always get to interact with your team, colleagues, peers, manager etc. in the organization. So you do not have to consider the fact of client interaction to hone your communication skills because they will always add value to your professional career.

People say that first impression matters a lot, and when you are going for an interview, your good communication skills will always make things easy, and even though the person is not aware of your technical background, half of the battle is won with the way you speak. This exactly happened with me. When I went for the exam at the examination center, everybody thought that I was the HR person from the company to take the exams and interviews because everybody was impressed by the way I spoke. A very wise main told me once that whenever we look for a candidate for a technical position, we very much look for the communication skills too, as easily he can improve his technical skills by working in the team and by working on big projects, but communication skills are something in which very few people are good at. These skills help in establishing a wonderful impression, and it also helps in networking and building strong professional relationships. The way you speak and present yourself will always let people remember you whenever you meet them next time, which again is the result of making an impression.

But, this does not mean that technical skills are not important. They are very essential for your survival at the job and for the success, but you have to communicate and present them. I have seen some people who are very strong at technical skills, but they are unable to communicate and present them, because of which people do not realize their worth. I have also seen people who are very good at communication skills and not so good on technical aspect, but because of the way they speak, they make an impact. Of course, these people can never be successful in the long run as only communication skills will not take you anywhere, and you have to have technical skills too.

If I have to opine, a person must have both of these skills, but most of the people work only on their technical aspect and not on their communication skills. It is not that difficult to be a technically strong person as you can always study and research to hone these skills; but communication skills on the other hand, are difficult to achieve as you have to practice and really work hard. Based on my experiences, I want to convey this to everyone that you must continuously work to hone your communication skills because they can drastically change your career.

This is one of the major lessons of my life, and I will keep on sharing my experiences for my readers.