15 GREAT THOUGHTS BY CHANAKYA

1) "Learn from the mistakes of others... you can't live long enough to make them all yourselves!!"

2)"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first."

3)"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous."

4)"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."

5)" Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

6)"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it."

7)"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman."

8)"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest."

9)"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction."

10)"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple."

11) "A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

12) "Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness."

13) "Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends."

14) "Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person."

15) "Education is the Best Friend. An Educated Person is Respected Everywhere. Education beats the Beauty and the Youth."

 

Public Speaking Exercise: How to Appear Confident by Adjusting Your Body Language

Purpose

Many people find public speaking daunting. They get butterflies in stomach, feel nervous and sometimes simply refuse to give a public presentation when they can get away with it. It doesn’t have to be this way and a great way to overcome the lack of confidence is to adopt the behaviour artificially.
Research shows that when you adopt a particular facial expression, such as smiling, you start to feel happy. In other words, the physical imitation of a smile can make you feel happy. Using a similar approach, this exercise aims to boost the delegate’s confidence so they can present confidently to public.

Objective

Adopt a series of confidence boosting gestures, body language and behaviours to prepare yourself for public speaking.

What You Need

• An empty area where people can freely walk around.

Setup

• This exercise is carried out over several days prior to presenting to public. As a result, you will need to explain the exercise to delegates, get them to practice parts of it in the class to get the hang of it and then instruct them on the rest of the activities which they would need to carry out after the course in an ideal time.
• Explain the theory to delegates that by imitating a particular gesture (such as smiling) we can feel the emotion associated with it (happy).
• Ask everyone to stand in the empty area. Line them up so that they can walk in parallel without hitting each other.
• Explain that the following exercise is useful to put them into a positive frame of mind. They can use it when they are about to meet an important person or face the public when giving a presentation, talk or an interview.
• Tell them the following instructions:
  • Relax your body and distribute your weight equally on both your feet.
  • Think of the following and repeat them to yourself in your mind for the duration of the exercise:
    • “I am cool”
    • “I am calm”
    • “I am sexy”
    • “I am the best”
  • Shrug your shoulders back and walk confidently.
  • Once you reached the other side of the room, turn back and walk several times back and forwards in the area while walking firmly with your head held high, shoulders held back, arms relaxed on your side and not in front of you and constantly repeating the above statements to yourself.
  • To get everyone used to it, you can get them to state this aloud first which would make the experience more memorable (expect laughs) and then ask them to state it in their mind.
• After a few minutes stop everyone and explain the next part which they need to carry out after the course. Find a busy part of town and walk on the sidewalk with the same pose as you practiced now while stating the above statements in your mind. There is only rule you need to follow; do not get out of the way ofanyone or any group. Walk confidently right in the middle of the sidewalk and do not give way.
• To do this, it helps to think in your head that:
  • “I own the world. This is my sidewalk, so get the hell out of my way.”
  • “Clear out. You don’t want to mess with me.”
• Repeat this walk of confidence exercise for a few days. You will need to be able to walk through a group rather than round a group of people, and do it confidently and with pleasure. You can say “excuse me”, but you cannot say “sorry”. Let’s repeat that again; saying “sorry” is not allowed. There is nothing there to be sorry about. By the end of the third day of repeating this exercise, you will start to see that something is different in the way you feel about yourself. Nothing has changed in the world and certainly no harm is done by walking down a sidewalk. However, you have managed to reprogram your mind to think differently about yourself. With this new positive, confident, world-owning mindset you can now face a demanding audience and deliver a brilliant and confident speech.

Tips for investing in fixed deposits

It may be a good time to open a fixed deposit and lock in at high levels before the interest rate cycle turns. Listed are the key things you need to know before investing in these fixed income options. 
1. FDs are not entirely safe 

Don't think your money is completely safe when you invest in a fixed deposit. While corporate deposits are unsecured loans that do not guarantee anything to the investor, in case of banks, the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) insures deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh per customer across all branches of a bank. 

So, if you have Rs 3 lakh to invest, split it into 3-4 investments across different banks. While this will safeguard your money, an added advantage is that if you need the amount in case of an emergency, you won't have to break the entire deposit. This means that you will have to pay the premature withdrawal penalty only for the sum that you need, even as the rest of the money keeps growing. 


2. Ladder your investments 

Spreading your investments across different banks controls the default risk, but what about the risk of locking in your money for long periods at low rates? Fixed deposits are prone to uncertainty because interest rates tend to move in multi-year cycles. To avoid this, build a ladder of fixed deposits which have different tenures. 

If you have Rs4 lakh to invest, split the amount in four deposits of Rs1 lakh each for one, two, three and four years. When the 1-year deposit matures, reinvest the maturity proceeds in the 4-year FD. By doing so, the highs and lows in interest rates will balance out over a period of time. This will also ensure liquidity because you will have one deposit maturing every year. 

3. Premature withdrawals invite a penalty 

Make sure you get the tenure right while investing in a fixed deposit. Locking up money for the long term and then making a premature withdrawal means lower returns. If your bank is offering a 9% interest on a one-year deposit, and 9.5% for a 5-year term, don't be tempted to go for the longer term if there is a possibility that you may need the money earlier. 

If you opt for the 5-year fixed deposit and then break it after one year, you will get the rate applicable to the one-year deposit. Worse, you may be slapped with a premature withdrawal penalty that will lower the rate by 1 percentage point. So, instead of gaining half a percentage point, you may end up losing 1 percentage point. To avoid this, go for the ladder system mentioned earlier. 

4. TDS is only an interim tax 

The interest earned on your FD is fully taxable. If the interest amount exceeds Rs 10,000 in a year, the bank or corporate house will deduct 10.3% tax at source before you get the amount. Your tax liability doesn't end here. If you are in the higher income bracket (annual income of over Rs 5 lakh), you will have to pay more tax on this income. 


Even if the TDS has not been deducted, you should mention the income from fixed deposits and bonds in your tax return. Remember that the tax on the interest is levied on an accrual basis. You may have invested in a cumulative deposit, but tax will be paid every year. 

On the other hand, if your income does not exceed the basic tax exemption, you can get this TDS back by filing your tax return. To avoid the TDS, submit a declaration under Form 15G that your income is below the taxable limit. Senior citizens should submit the Form 15H. 

5. FD income will be clubbed with yours 

Don't think you can avoid tax if you invest in the name of your spouse or children. While you won't have to pay tax on the money given to a spouse or a child, if it is invested, the resulting income is added to the income of the giver and taxed accordingly. So, if a husband invests in fixed deposits in the name of his wife, the interest earned will be treated as his income. 

The rules are slightly different in case of investments in the name of minor children (below 18 years). The earning is treated as the income of the parent who earns more. However, there is an exemption of Rs 1,500 a year per child for a maximum of two children.

ET Wealth