Blog

Happy It Happened

By Adnan Karimjee 07/04/2018

Failed relationships. Failed businesses. Sometimes I’ve even failed to see the light of day. In hindsight, I’m happy that it happened.

I’m happy that I got to be with someone whom I loved, even if it didn’t mean forever. I’m happy that I got to be my own boss, even if it meant losing more money then I have been comfortable enough to repay. I’m happy that I lost a dream job, even though it left me with some permanent scars.

I’m not the most attractive person – or in the words of Mike Posner, not the kind of guy a girl craves.

I’m not the smartest guy – I don’t have head hunters or industry leaders knocking on my door.

I’m not always the most likeable guy – making friends and networking has always been hard for me.

But, and this has taken me a while, deep down, I am happy. Yes, I’ve cried, I’ve shouted, I’ve punched a wall, I’ve grieved and I’ve even shouted into the darkness that life is unfair. But ultimately I am happy. I am happy for everything that has happened. As the saying goes “don’t be sad it ended, be happy that it happened”.

Grief is inexplicable part of the process and not to be ignored – but if it doesn’t lead to some sort of positivity or happiness then you’ll just end up losing a bit of your soul.

My take? Be happy it happened.

Blog

Positivity By Choice – Not Chance.

By Adnan Karimjee 17/11/2014

Positivity By Choice – Not Chance

I should have died in 1994

My body fought off a flesh eating bug called streptococcus toxic shock syndrome and it lived up to it’s name. A low pulse; high blood pressure; vomiting and diarrhoea all became unwelcome guests. Despite the doctors having prepared my family for the worst, the best they could hope for was to amputate my leg. Thankfully, neither happened and all it took was for them to flush out the puss.

One anecdote that stands out is that before being wheeled into the operating theatre, my father told me to keep fighting. He swears I nodded in response. Maybe I did. Maybe that acceptance was my body’s reaction being positive that I will make it through. So maybe when you spend your life being as positive as you can, your body helps out when the fight is sucked out of you.

Both these legs have been the source of 7 years of rugby, bit of running and now cross-fit. Of course every near death battle is not complete without a wicked scar. Mine is an unattractive line that runs down the back of my left knee and across the side of my leg.

At the age of 23 I failed in a business and came close to bankruptcy. For the next 8 years I magnetized to every start-up I could relate to and now I try help others see past failure.

Life if great. No? I’m pretty sure that the people you try to emulate look at you and are jealous. We all want something more. We all have something somebody else wishes they had. We are all special. We are all unique.

Life throws a lot of curve-balls. I’ve seen a lot of home-runs being hit from those. Irony being that those home-runs always seems sweeter then the fast-ball that comes begging.

Being positive isn’t easy but being negative just isn’t fun.

Everyday I wake up and count the things I’m grateful for and just figure out that things can be worse but they aren’t. In fact they are pretty good. Even when things get pretty bad I always think back to the lowest point in my life and realised just how blessed I am.

Positivity starts by being positive for others. And as a throwback to a previous post, if all else fails, fake being positive until you have no choice but to be so.

Blog

There Really Is No Secret To Being Happy

By Adnan Karimjee 03/04/2014

There Really Is No Secret To Being Happy

There is no secret to happiness. Like following through on a diet it takes little bit of time, a lot of patience and a equal dose of luck. Full disclosure – I am not a happiness guru but I have had a few rough moments in my life and here are ways that have helped me remain happy.

Be positive.

Every time something happens that puts you down, try as much as you can to be positive. The first few times will be hard but with practice it gets easier.

Be open

Be as open as you can be about what makes you happy. Once you accept what makes you happy, and not others then you can be truly happy. Sometimes that may mean cutting out negative influencers and those that bring you down.

Be Grateful

Take stock of what you have today. Not what you hope for tomorrow or what you’ve lost yesterday.

Want less

Wanting something is possibly a huge source of unhappiness. Most of wants we can’t get it without sacrificing something else and when we don’t get what we want it makes us unhappy.

S-M-I-L-E

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Smiling not only makes those around you smile (it is contagious!) it also makes your soul happier. I know when the chips are down smiling is the last thing on your mind but with a bit of perseverance, it really does work.

If all else fails – fake it.

Yup. Thats right. Fake being happy. Fake it for the people around you or because the circumstances demands it but still go ahead. Act like you are the happiest person alive. I promise you that you won’t even notice when the fake happiness and the true happiness starts.

We all have our bad days but the above tips have helped me push past them and remain happy….

Business

Never stop learning

By Adnan Karimjee 01/09/2013

Never Stop Learning

“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.”

– Eric Hoffer

When I left university I was overjoyed. No more lectures, no more learning, no more deadlines, no more stress! Now to start my career path and start making some money! Well that notion worked for a while until the recession hit and realising that if you are not working you have a lot of time on your hands. Stories floated around about people returning to university or taking on various training courses. In theory it was a great idea. The thinking being that the more knowledge you have the better advantage you have over the next candidate. However, for me personally I saw 2 problems with this:

1. Money: Courses are expensive no matter how you look at it.

2. Geography: In my part of the world, finding educational institutes that offered short/flexible courses was not that easy and with again going to point 1, was quite expensive.

However, one thing I realised was the above was just excuses – especially if you consider the wealth of information available online. From podcasts to online courses, there was quite literarily no stopping you from learning anything you wanted. With so many choices you are in quite a labyrinth of what to learn and what is right for you.

“one of the keys to maximising your life is to keep the brain learning”

It can be quite daunting but from what I have experienced, anything you do come across and take up, even if it may not seem right for you at the moment can still have an impact. My love of photography came from stumbling across a course on light photography.

“I am still learning” – Michelangelo

Talk to your peers and mentors and find out if they have any recommendations or if there is a particular topic you should be looking into. You can also use the following resources as a guide:

Coursea is a fantastic tool to find free online courses.
Khan Academy (With a library of over 3000 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice).
Life Hacker U (more about skills and tech related but still really good)
TedX videos on YouTube (if you have been lucky to have attended a TedX event you will know how insightful this is)
Itunes U

If you are always on the move or drive a lot then don’t overlook the power of podcasts. They can be quite entertaining and a great source to kill time. Plus it is always with you.

This is barely the tip on the iceberg but it just shows how much of an opportunity we have to strengthen our skills and to develop new ones. There are while communities geared to this and who knows who you will meet or what you will learn.

Fitness

Smash Life

By Adnan Karimjee 07/02/2013

Just over a month ago I attended the Smash Life Seminar in Dubai which was hosted by Marcus Smith (founder and owner of Innerfight).

I could not attend the first seminar that was hosted in Dubai but made sure I kept my schedule free for the next one. I have been a fan of the Innerfight brand and of Marcus as well. However as with most seminars that prove to change your life I took it with a pinch of salt – thank god I was proven wrong!

Marcus took us some great steps on how we can “smash life”. The great things was, that his method was based on our personal ability. This in affect allows us to walk away with clear set goals and tools that will and can (something I can attest to) change your life.

I don’t want to give too much away on what is covered but what I can say that attending this will definitely give you a new perspective on life.

Lifehack

Tricking the mind

By Adnan Karimjee 15/09/2012

A little trick I’ve found in helping me remember where I’ve kept something is by challenging my brain that I will forget that I’ve kept it there.

So if I’ve left something in an obscure place I’ll tell myself that “I bet I’ll forget that I’ve left it there”. Funkily enough this works, well for me anyway. It’s like challenging myself and winning that challenge when I finally do find it.

Lifehack

Change is good…

By Adnan Karimjee 27/08/2012

Change is always a good thing. Although the benefits cant be seen in the short term it does bring out the best in us. We adapt we adhere and we learn to embrace whatever shortcomings we discover during a time of change.

Change has always pushed us. To try harder. Find better solutions. Discover sustainable needs and also realising that done of our wants are not really wants but simple indulgences.

My generation has been out thru a stark reality check that if things are too good to be true – it probably is. However it shouldn’t and I don’t think it has, made us cautious. A trait that has had it positives and negatives. If the world we adopted had continued at the pace it had weir hour derailing then the lessons we were taught by our parents would have been harder to teach our own children.

As bad ad things are, we are yet in another climate of change. And though it may take time, this force of change will yet again make us better. So this change we are seeing is a good thing. It may just take some time for us to realise it.