Striving towards Excellence

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I'll participate more, release my need to win

I'll share my soul freely, gaze at the moon
I'll stop the jealous glances and comparisons

I'll turn pages, not scroll screens
I'll surrender to life's current, loosen my grip

I'll show up as myself, drop the pretense
I'll give generously, take less

I'll move forward, break free from loops
I'll react less, welcome abundance more

I'll reveal my true self, remove the masks
I'll be present, stop the endless juggling

I'll truly live, not just survive
I'll embrace JOY - this year, I'm here to thrive.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Spend time every day imagining your ideal self. Picture what you would look like, how you'd speak and your tone towards those that can do nothing for you. Think about how you'd act in uncomfortable situations, how you'd push through difficult scenarios or how you'd come up from being underwater. Picture what your wardrobe consists of, the environment you'd live in, and the places you'd explore. Visualize the memories you'd like to create with your closest friends and the success of the business your child you once dreamt of.  Envision how you'd act, think, believe, laugh, smile, move and speak. Visualize your ideal self and now, do everything in your power to become that person. Because if you were able to imagine and feel them- then they exist.

But it is only up to YOU and your power to become it. It is only up to you to match the energy that lays dormant within you and that ALIGNS with the world you envision living in.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Everytime you think about a negative event from your past, your body produces the exact same chemicals in the body as when it happened. That means you relive the experience hundreds/thousands of times simply because you haven't let it go. Move on. It is not worth it.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

There is nothing like spending time with school friends.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Thankful to spend last few days with the coolest people...Thank you Susi family, Baji family for taking time out of your schedule to spend time with us. We are thankful and Blessed! 

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Do not spend time on people who aren't grateful. Those are the ones who take blessings for granted and live a life that lacks empathy. Your time once spent won't be gained back even by spending millions. So make sure you spend it wisely on those who respect your efforts and are grateful for the support they gained. As well, build this quality in your own life. Be grateful. Every interaction matters. Do not waste your energy and time on people who don't deserve it.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

-Karthik Gurumurthy

We just got back from a trip to Chandler, AZ. 

The older I get, the more convinced I am that there is something to positive and negative energy.  When I wake up every morning, before I get out of bed, I remind myself of what I'm grateful for. It starts my day off right  and makes me feel good about what's in front of me. I think about my son and our close family and all the love I have in my life. However hard we try to surround ourselves with people who are good and who care about us, though, there will always be those who, for some reason, have negative energy. They can be hurtful and cause you sadness or pain.

My grandmother  (Chitti Patti) used to say, " Immerse them with kindness".  Another strategy is: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." There is a lot of wisdom in these two old sayings. Instead of trying to get revenge, take the high road. Let it go. Instead of trying to get back at someone because he/  she has hurt you, think of one nice thing about that person and put that out into the universe instead. If you don't let it go, that person's negativity will stay inside you, and that is exactly where you don't want that energy to be. 

So the next time you're hurt by someone, wish that person well in your heart and tell your brain  to move on and think about something else that matters.  You will be amazed at how it releases your negative energy. People can't control you if you won't let them. 

-Karthik Gurumurthy

“In some of our relationships, we might experience a complete emotional dependency on someone. We spend irrational amounts of time thinking of other person’s needs, opinions and feelings. Our own priorities get cornered, as we give complete control of our emotions and decisions to them.

We even start relying on them to feel loved, and this is unhealthy for both of us.

Have you ever felt your mind getting emotionally attached to someone? Does someone constantly live on your mind? And do you get disturbed with the slightest change in that person’s behavior?

Our emotional dependence on people is riskier than we realize, and it can turn into a deep addiction. When the mind becomes attached to someone’s behaviors, we will need them to be our way. We constantly seek their love, presence, opinions and approval. Not getting even one of these makes us insecure.

We are actually emotionally powerful. We need nothing from anyone. Let us be with people for who they are, not because they can offer emotional comfort.

This is true to some extent. I attend to people neglecting my own interests. I don't do it for approval. 

Maybe, being the eldest child I was instructed differently. I was always a big brother. The eldest child of my parents. Probably they made me make others a priority. Always. Though they never actually said it.  Usually, I don't like to disappoint people. So I become the 'go to' person for all duties and responsibilities.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

“People’s vibrations reveal who they truly are. Each person carries their vibrations, and we can feel them by paying a little attention. When we silence our mind and turn away attention from visible parameters, we sense invisible energies, their vibes. It helps us understand the other person’s nature and intentions. The next time you meet someone, feel their vibes. Words or behaviors may be deceptive but vibrations cannot lie. “

-Karthik Gurumurthy

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

To be specific, these small minds are fault-finders, which according to the Webster dictionary, are people who habitually find fault, complain, or object, especially in a petty way.

As a part of human nature we subconsciously search for faults in other people to feel better about ourselves, or just because their faults are annoying to us.

Put simply, fault-finders are people who obsessively find fault in others and criticize. They often complain and harshly judge others based on trivial issues. Fault-finders are constantly telling others what they are doing wrong and or what they should be doing. They rarely, if ever, let a fault slip by, regardless of how insignificant.

Once, A famous painter had thousands of fans who would never get tired of praising his work.
One day, he thought "Do people praise only in front of me & talk about mistakes behind my back?"
The next day, he put up his painting at a busy intersection of the city & wrote a note "If you find a mistake in my painting, please put a mark in that place."

In the evening, when he went to the square, there were hundreds of marks on his painting. Seeing this, he got very disappointed & stopped painting thereafter.

When one of the painter's friends heard this, he said, "Let's put a painting made by you at that intersection again but this time with a different note."

The next day, a new painting was put at the intersection. Now the note read, "If you find a mistake in my painting, please correct it."

In the evening when the painter went to check the painting, it was still the same & there were no corrections made.

His friend said, "Anyone can find mistakes but there are very few who help to correct those mistakes. There is no point in unnecessarily taking opinions of people who only find fault without suggesting improvements."

My guiding thought about fault finding has always been a quote from Marcus Aurelius,
" Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question : What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?"

Let's stop finding faults and make a serious attempt towards becoming an example of one who focuses less on the bad, and more on the good & stay blessed forever.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

The moment you seek to impress someone, you’ve already set yourself up for failure. When we strive to impress others, we unconsciously position ourselves beneath them, seeking their validation and approval just to feel worthy of their attention. But here’s the truth: the person you’re trying to impress could walk out of your life in an instant. Instead of chasing their approval, focus on the bigger picture—your purpose, your growth, and your values.

Ask yourself: Are you staying true to your principles in every interaction? If you can navigate relationships while upholding your values, that’s something to truly take pride in. The goal is to become more aware of your actions and intentions, ensuring they align with who you are and what you stand for. Live authentically, not for the fleeting validation of others.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

“Each of us has grown up with values, and taught to be kind to everyone around us. But we often exhibit a behavior of dependency – we are nice to people only when they are nice to us. If they behave wrongly with us in small or big ways, we feel an impulse to strike back in the name of tit for tat or an eye for an eye. We copy people’s wrong behaviors and give up our inherent goodness.

People behave with us differently on different days, depending on their mood, nature, circumstance, perspective or environment. They may argue, betray, scold or ignore me. There is always a chance of them being rude or disrespectful. We have three options:

1/To reflect their behavior and deplete our virtues,

2/To absorb their behavior and go into pain, and

3/To transform their energy by radiating our inherent goodness. If we keep copying people’s behaviors, we lose our own identity and virtues. It’s their life, their energy, their karma and their destiny. We need not respond the same way as they behave. We have the power to be nice to everyone, including with those who are not right to us.

Understand people and don’t hurt them back. Let them be their way, you be yours. Let your behavior be a reflection of your personality. Don’t copy their behaviors and don’t reflect their personality.”

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Hurt is a universal language. At the physical level it tells the dentist to ease up, and at the emotional level it tells a lover to change his approach. When hurt is expressed, it lets others know that they have gone too far. Telling someone that they have hurt you puts them on check. Letting others know that you are hurt and why are you feeling hurt helps others understand what is important to you.

Hurt is your private message. If it hurts you, it matters to you. Denying hurt is not being brave, but being merely reckless. The purpose of hurt is to limit the extent of the damage done to you. The role of hurt is to tell you that you have been damaged-physically or emotionally. It defines the limits of trespassing. Hurt teaches you to establish limits with others. Your hurt is a feedback to you and communicating it to others becomes a feedback to them. It shows you and others how much you can tolerate. These limits are especially important with people you really care about. People you truly love are the ones with whom you relate with your guards down and hence you are most vulnerable to be hurt by them. In fact, people you love the most have the power to hurt you the most. Conveying hurt helps people involved in a relationship to become more sensitive towards each other.

If you do not express yourself when others hurt you, then they have no way of knowing that you did not like what they did to you and with you. They would believe whatever they did was acceptable to you. So they keep repeating the same behavior and continue the same approach. In due course hurt compounds  and becomes complex. If you don't maintain boundaries, you will find others hurting you all the time, not because they are bad, but because they never knew that they were hurting you. 

You avoid expressing your hurt because you do not want to admit that you can he hurt. You believe if the world knows that you can be hurt then it will take you to be vulnerable. So you keep denying your hurt, because do not want to take any action that might leave you all alone, which is your worst fear. So you prefer to suffer with the person than without the person. Remember, expressing hurt as and when it happens will never take a person away from the relationship. But, if you keep continuously sweeping everything under the rug for too long and then one day you fill find dust accumulation of unmanageable proportions. 

Expressing hurt when it happens is vital for keeping a relationship safe and honest. If you do not say 'No' to hurt within a relationship, then one day you will say "No' to the relationship. It becomes a major challenge to get people to stay away from your speace, when you have been continuously pamepering by letting them to barge into your psychological space. It is dfficult to assert yourself with someone who has accustomed themselves to violating your boundaries. Now, they will even claim that it is their right to do so.

The practice of prolonged usage defines ownership and rights. If you allow people to use a shortcut across a property, without posting a "No Trespassing' sign, after few years that shortcut  becomes a public way and you lose all claim to it. 

If you want to know how some of your most valued relationships went off track, you need to look no further than the way you kept avoiding speaking out when you were hurt. You were betrayed by your own own assumption that others will care enough for your feelings and will not hurt you. The truth is that people consider their feelings first. The truth is that people consider their feelings first.  It is not that people are bad. It is just that people naturally tend to be selfish, They just want what they want. If you don't object, others will simply act in their best interest. If you allow others to exploit you, you will be exploited. If you allow others to take you for granted, you will be taken for granted.  If you allow others to hurt you, you will be hurt. People treat you in life the way you teach them to treat you. 

Your rights are not guaranteeed unless you are willing to defend them. Most problems that you suffer would be solved if you could stand up for yourself at the time of your being hurt. Hurt can be a powerful relationship builder if you do not deny it.

So, the next time someone hurts you, do directly tell the person who caused it and do not make it a matter of gossip. Do not conceal it, deny it or pretend as if it did not matter. Do not punish others or plan a revenge to show you are tough. You were hurt- say so and leave it at that. What the other person will do when you tell him that you were hurt cannot be your concern. Expressing your hurt is your business. One should not let the feat of rejection silence you. Separate the hirt of the present from the hurt of the present. Not worth getting into the negative history you and the other person. Remember that the person to whom you are expressing your feelings is someone you love and you want that person to have an opportunity to recover. Avoid overkill. Don't overdo and overact. Just say it and just let go.

Having expressed your hurt, forgive people who have hurt you. Forgiving is letting go of your hurt. Without forgiving, you cannot grow. You cannot correct or alter what has already been done to you. Forgiving does not mean you have to be in a friendship with people who have hurt you. It only means that you no longer allow your old hurt to be a cause for you to suffer. If you are holding on to your hurt to show others that they have injured you, you are only wasting your life. If you expect others to apologize for hurting you and wait until they od, you will only prolong your suffering. You cannot delay your well-being by waiting for someone to become good. If you search your past looking for bad people, be assured that you will find them, but you will not find peace. It is time to forgive and move on..Move on...You have nothing to prove..

-Karthik Gurumurthy

This year has been an enriching and humbling journey as a trainer.

I had the privilege of facilitating certifications for 180 incredible professionals across:

SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE)
SAFe DevOps
SAFe Scrum Master
SAFe Product Owner
Leading SAFe
SAFe for Teams

I also conducted Agile Mindset, Scrum Framework and Kanban sessions for over 400 professionals, helping them build strong foundations for agility.

Every session was a two-way learning experience. Preparing for and delivering these workshops deepened my knowledge of frameworks, while the perspectives, questions, and experiences shared by participants broadened my understanding of real-world challenges.

What’s most fulfilling is seeing the ripple effects of these sessions in our organization. These certifications and discussions not only helped individuals grow professionally but also inspired them to bring agility to their teams, drive collaboration, and deliver value more effectively.

This journey reminded me that true agility is about people—it’s about learning together, empowering each other, and creating lasting impact. I’m grateful for the trust placed in me and excited for what lies ahead in 2023!

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I am fortunate to work with young adults in helping them in Prep for SAT/ACT / MCAT tests.  I am also work with organizations in their Agile transformation efforts as an Enterprise Agile Coach. Even though the work involved is totally different, I see a parallel in both the roles.

Sometimes when the results are different from what's expected, we pause and find out what is the root cause of the issue?

Why don’t people perform? It is almost always for one of these reasons:

1. They don’t know what to do.

2. They don’t know how to do it.

3. They don’t want to do it.

4. They can’t do it.

Expectation without proper education equals frustration. Good leaders have the ability to assess abilities. An effective leader knows both what a person is capable of and what training and the education they need to succeed.

But training and development aren’t a panacea. If you’ve got the right person in the wrong role they won’t succeed.

Specifically, it is a matter of fit. The person fits the role. It isn’t an exact science, an either/or. However, when someone who is conscientious struggles performing even after they’ve receive the necessary training, it is likely a fit problem.

Are the right students in the right classrooms and even in the right seats? Are you assuming a student is a poor performer when in reality, her or she is just in the wrong classroom?

Willingness and ability aren’t the same thing. Understanding the nuances of people and performance are an important skill for leaders.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Before the game of life is over,  I want to know I have done someting truly great, that I have made a positive impact of people who worked with me. I do not aspire to become as wealthy as Jeff Bezos, as famous as Napoleon and conquer many nations, but I do want above all else, to feel that I have been an addition to this world of ours. I should like the world, or at least my native land, to be proud of me and to sit up and take notice when my name is pronounced and say, "There is a man who had done a great thing." I do not want to have passed through life as just another speck of humanity, just another cog in this amazing world. I want to be something greater, far greater, than that. My desire is not so much for immortality as for distinction while I am alive. When I I leave this world, I want to know that my life has not been in vain, but that I have, in the course of my existence, done something of which I am rightfully proud. Success to me is how many people are better off because I lived (quoting Bill Britt).

Before the game is over, I want to know that during my life I have brought great happiness to others. Friendship is one of the best things to the world, and I want to have many friends. But I could never die fully contented unless I knew that those with whom I had been intimate had gained real happiness from their friendship with me.  We all want much happiness in our lives, and giving it to others is one of the surest ways to achieve it for ourselves.

Before the game is over I want to have visited a large portion of the globe and to have actually lived with several foreign races in their own environment. By traveling in countries other than my own I hope to broaden and improve my outlook on life so that I can get a deeper and more complete satisfaction from living. 

Before the game is over, I would like to live life to the fullest giving my best everyday.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about fermentation. It did an amazing job!!

Author- Poet ChatGPT

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Whenever we meet friends or family, we make it a point to meet one family at a time. We try our best not to meet many families at the same time.Sometimes due to time constraints we might have done it but we try not to do that anymore. We seldom invite anyone for the sake of meeting them but we always wanted to give them undivided attention.

There’s nothing quite like it to unburden yourself. To know that you are being listened to. To feel that you are special. Many a memory is made up of meaningful conversations with significant others.Everyone has a special story to tell and I have learned a lot from the 1:1 conversations as opposed to having many extroverts completely take over the conversation and you never get to hear from the quieter people who wanted to share a useful nugget or a funny situation.

It is at these times that we learn to still ourselves to listen to the other. To give him/ her the gift of our undivided attention. It is when we learn how our lives can make a difference to other lives.

If we pay more attention to others, someday, in the future, someone will tell us how our attention and words made a difference.

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Good win, Ashwin! 

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Good morning, Good night, All the best … Sometimes greetings become mere words, without any feelings created. We can wish people perfectly with an All the best, even though internally we doubt their ability.

Greetings are not mere words but high-energy blessings, where we firmly believe only nice things should happen with the other person.( nowadays people greet with words like morning,night omitting the word good forgetting it is used for a reason).But at times, we say it so casually that it remains a phrase, with no feelings attached.

Greet everyone enthusiastically when you meet them ,it is an opportunity to create and radiate pure energy.
Radiate goodness to everyone, every time. Even if someone does not acknowledge, sustain your beautiful quality.”