onlymotivators

  Reuse to use and throw A shift in the habit, a dent to the planet In the past, plastic use was lower, and plastic smiles were rare. I was born in the 1970s, when reuse was a way of life—not because we were intellectually stimulated by environmental protection, but due to the crisis in our parents' wallets. I remember a small piece of chalk that became the polish for our white canvas shoes. Our ink pens were refilled, so we didn’t litter the planet with "refills"—which were called refills but couldn't actually be refilled. Our blades were real men’s blades, lasting many shaves, and we didn’t throw plastic razors into landfills. We used to carry our own bottles to buy oil, flasks to buy coffee, and our own boxes to buy hotel food—and we never paid parcel charges. Although we lived through what felt like a crisis, the planet was abundant, with minimal pollution. Our torn socks were used to polish our shoes—socks that never grew small, but were outgrown by our o...

  The Cab Driver's Nozzle: Why Great Ideas Don't Care About Degrees In 2009, during a work trip through Tamil Nadu, a national diesel shortage made every journey a gamble. With a long route ahead and client meetings to attend, my colleague and I decided to carry a 10-litre jerry can as a backup. We made a point to fill it at every petrol bunk we passed, treating each litre like liquid gold. After a long day’s drive, we reached Pondicherry—a planned stop for both business and a bit of pleasure. Since diesel was cheaper in the Union Territory, we hoped to refuel before exploring. But luck wasn’t on our side: the local petrol bunks were dry. We still had our jerry can, though, so we decided to transfer the diesel into the car’s tank. What seemed simple quickly became a clumsy struggle. The can was heavy, awkward to tilt, and we were spilling precious drops with every pour. That’s when a local cab driver noticed our struggle and walked over. “Wait,” he said calmly, “don’t w...

  Culture of Care: It Starts from the Heart, Not a Handbook Imagine a Monday morning. A customer service executive answers a call, and a routine service request quickly escalates. Voices rise, patience snaps, and the executive ends up yelling at a frustrated customer. Result? A lost customer, a stressed employee, and a stain on the company's reputation. We've all seen it—companies that promise exceptional service but deliver robotic scripts and plastic smiles. In my work as a sales consultant, entrepreneurs often ask me how to improve their team's customer care. We run workshops on empathy, active listening, and customer-centricity. But over time, I've discovered a more profound truth:  You cannot script genuine care. It must be cultivated from within. The most transformative organisations don't just train for customer service; they build a  Culture of Care —and it starts not with the customer, but with each other. I once met an entrepreneur who insisted his...

   Lessons in Staying Cool: What an A/C Mechanic Taught Me About Life I was thinking back to a recent conversation I had with an experienced A/C mechanic, and it reminded me so much of life and the things we often take for granted. It’s funny how wisdom can come from the most unexpected places. Here in Chennai, we have this rhythm to the year. From November to mid-February, the ceiling fan is enough. But as March approaches, the first thing we do when we walk through the door is reach for the A/C remote. It’s a switch from comfort to necessity. The mechanic shared some vital tips that day—about machines, but also, I realised later, about us. His first piece of advice was proactive:  Even when you don’t  need  the A/C, switch it on for a few minutes each day. This keeps the parts moving, prevents corrosion, and ensures the system doesn’t seize due to inactivity. If you leave it unused for months and then crank it on a suddenly warm night, it’s not just in...

  The Red Banana: A Lesson on Purpose and Letting Go Lately, I have been eating red bananas, which my doctor recommended for certain gut-related health benefits. I take one nightly, about an hour after finishing my dinner. I usually eat the fruit in my bedroom and place the peel in the corner, disposing of it the next morning.   Recently, while disposing of a peel, I noticed something different. The red skin was no longer red; it had turned almost black. I wondered why this happens and discovered a lengthy scientific process behind it. In short, it’s caused by oxidation and a shift in pigment production, triggered by trauma (like removing the fruit from the plant) and exposure to ethylene gas. This reading during my regular walk not only educated me about the blackening of banana skin but also triggered an analogy about life. Before explaining the analogy, let’s understand a little more about the banana itself. When you buy a red banana, the skin stays red for a few da...

  Less than a minute, Lesson-3026 The Search-Part-6-Ignorance The search for ignorance ends once we accept the fact that what we know is limited and what we don’t know is unlimited. Once we are aware that our knowledge is limited, that awareness is a sign of overcoming ignorance. M.L. Narendra Kumar Director Instivate Learning Solutions PVT LTD