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Words. Wisdom. Winners.
It’s an absolute pleasure to work with you
Whenever I have made this statement, I realize the irony of it.
I haven’t worked with these individuals. Because they have worked on their own. Every single time.
No instructions were ever needed.
No prescriptions were ever shared.
No reviews were ever conducted.
No follow up was ever needed.
I technically didn’t work with them.
I simply observed.
And was left amazed.
They placed judgement and initiative at a higher order than obedience
The people you enjoy working with the most are those who create art on their own. Art that moves.
I am cheating on my wife
The world has a very convenient definition of cheating, based on a highly misplaced sense of morality.
If you are physically or emotionally involved with a person outside of your current relationship – that’s cheating.
Strangely enough, the necessary condition is not the physical or emotional attachment, rather the existence of another person in the equation.
What if it isn’t a person?
I have told this to Ruchi several times. I am cheating on her with my work.
I am in love with my work.
I dream of work.
Every waking second, I think of it.
Every second I can gather my basic instinct is to go back to my work.
Work that doesn’t just comprise managing and shaping nearbuy’s present and future. It also includes meeting people, reading about them, introspecting on my own inadequacy and more.
And all of this is no different to me from cheating on her.
But here is something I have realized.
If I am away from work, I will not be happy. And anything else I will do, will have me participate as a reluctant participant.
I am equally certain that someday I will be cheating on my work. And that too will make me happy.
Don’t compromise on the things that make you happy
Don’t let it affect you if what makes you happy is work
IQ
Vidur loves to build stuff. Elements for his own world. Rockets, aliens, monsters, zoo, farms.
And when he does, he forgets everything else. He immerses himself. It doesn’t matter what’s happening around him at that moment.
Unfortunately, as he grows up, this will change.
Noise will seek attention.
Social media
TV
VR
People
The next ping. The next notification.
And he will submit to the noise.
Just as we all do too.
How he deals with it will determine who he becomes.
——
Back in the days of our parents, being smart was a differentiator.
Your IQ could leapfrog you to the top of the order.
And it did.
The smartest people were almost always the most successful.
Today, smartness I would argue, isn’t a wide range.
There is information available to everyone.
Opportunities too.
The thing that matters today is focus.
The ability to immerse yourself. And not care about what’s happening around.
The act of discarding noise.
Focus, more than IQ, will determine your success today
Focus in the new IQ
Your reality
I fear failure
It took me a long while to realize how wrong this statement is. It makes it sound as if failure is a thing. Something that exists. Something that can be felt or experienced.
We don’t fear failure.
We fear the reaction of people if we fail.
We fear the reactions resulting from failure. Not failure itself.
And that’s when reality struck.
Someone’s opinion of you does not have to become your reality.
It’s not the view that’s broken
While at the gym last week I dropped my phone
And the screen cracked.
Over the next few days the crack spread its wings. And now represents an aggressively growing tree branch.
Basically my top left section of the phone is all glass cracks!
It’s been a week. I have gotten used to it.
Yesterday, I took a screenshot and sent myself an email with the screenshot.
When I opened the image on my laptop, I was expecting, out of habit, to see the top left section of the image to be all glass cracks.
It wasn’t
And that was a harsh realization.
The actual image wasn’t broken.
The situation wasn’t broken.
It was my lens that was broken.
It was my perception that was broken.
Problem?
One of my favorite questions of all times, and a hard one at that to comprehend, is
What drives you more – the problem or the solution?
Its hard to comprehend, because no one can claim not to be driven by the solution. That’s the outcome. The purpose. The aim.
And not surprisingly, most of the times, the driving factor has been answered as the solution instead of the problem.
That was before I found a better question
What do you fall in love with – The problem or The solution?
If you find yourself falling in love with the solution, end the relationship.
Dont work on your weaknesses, or your strengths
The worst piece of advice – “Work on your weakenesses”
Equally bad advice – “Double down on your strengths”
Instead
“You have no choice but to become awesome at what is critical to your success”
If you are a leader and suck at communication, you know what you have to do! No choice
If you are a parent and suck at patience, you know what you have to do! No choice
If you are a digital marketeer and suck at numbers, you know what you have to do! No choice
If you want to become a coder and suck at logic, you know what you have to do! No choice
If you want to be an awesome manager and suck at having difficult conversation, you know what you have to do! No choice
If you want to become an entrepreneur and suck at managing chaos or uncertainty, you know what you have to do! No choice
You success is not determined by YOUR strengths and weaknesses
It is determined by how well you are prepared for what you have to do
What they see
Think about every single individual that you admire and look up to
And then think of how they got there
Thousands of line of code
Hours of writing, singing, dancing
Months of practice early morning
Weeks of waking, running, lifting
Years of looking in the mirror and questioning
Years of looking in the mirror and crying
Years of looking in the mirror and saying don’t you fucking give up
Don’t you fucking get comfortable
Don’t you fucking think it was meant to be easy
Away from the crowd
Away from the praise
Away from the applause
What you do when no one can see you, defines what they see when they do.
Fired!
Option 1:
Your performance has been below par. Despite repeated feedback it hasn’t improved. Its not working out.
“You are fired!”
Option 2:
Have you hit your targets in the last 6 months?
Why do you think you haven’t?
Is there anything I could have done to help you hit those targets?
Do you think I had the same constraints for others too? And at an organizational level as well?
How do you think leaders deliver when faced with such constraints?
How long do you think you will need to become that leader?
Do you think as an organization we have that much time?
Do you realize that because of all these conditions, every month you are here I will have to act like an asshole to you?
What would you do if you were me?
“I would fire me”
They have just lost their job. They don’t need to lose their self respect too.
Nor do you need to.
Them!
As an entrepreneur
You will be misunderstood because of your irrational optimism. Be optimistic anyway.
Other’s success will generate massive self doubt every morning you get up. Get up anyway.
Family will suffer because you have less and less time to love. Love anyway.
You will be hated for the times you take harsh decisions. Take decisions anyway.
The world might not value the experiences you share. Share anyway.
You will struggle to smile and show up. Show up anyway.
You will struggle to show up and smile. Smile anyway.
Your teams may seem naive, inexperienced and not ready to be trusted. Trust anyway.
Your ego will tell you that you don’t need help. Seek help anyway.
You will wonder why don’t they understand. Don’t give up anyway.
In the end the battle is between you and the man in the mirror
It was never between you and them anyway
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