Key to Success!

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

In the morning, watching a tennis match between Federer and Djokovich, my wife (who of course is not a big fan of sports, no points for guessing :)) made a rather regular comment – “I’m getting bored with this monotonous game, don’t these players get bored too”. And my mind started to churn…

As I answered her question, I stumbled upon something quite revealing. Having been an entrepreneur, I have been observing some traits that are common to most of our ilk. And most of these traits are very common between sportsmen and entrepreneurs so I can safely make a comparison here.

One of the topmost of these traits which make sportsmen/entrepreneurs successful is “enthusiasm”. Some people also call it passion! And it is almost a prerequisite for anyone to succeed doing something of their own!

Well, most of us might think it is their gift or their intelligence or probably they being in the right place that makes them succeed. Nothing could be farther from the truth… Of course, hard work and dedication for years altogether also count, but the first and I think the most important is Enthusiasm/Passion!!!

If one doesn’t have enough enthusiasm or passion for anything, it is quite natural for them to get bored or tired of doing it. That’s why perhaps people keep changing jobs and places, they just can’t bear doing something they don’t like anymore. And that’s why perhaps marriages also break, the couple unable to keep their passion for each other for too long…

But if one has a passion towards something, they wouldn’t give it up for anything else. They would continue to labour and challenge themselves on a daily basis to become better in it. And that’s what happens to these sportsmen and entrepreneurs. They are so naturally excited and charged up about their game or idea that nothing can deter them from succeeding! And they just go on and on and on!

Now, how does this help us? I am reminded of one of Steve Job’s most profound speeches at the Stanford graduation ceremony (I don’t recollect the exact words but this is what he meant) “When I wake up in the morning and look at the mirror, if I don’t seem enthusiastic and wonder what’s wrong; and this happens for a few days, I know I am not enjoying and discover and change what’s worrying me”.

If we all just follow this great man’s advice and start living our life to fulfil our passions and remain enthusiastic about things which we are doing, we would all definitely be more successful and much more happier!!!

So here’s to more success for all of you, may you become the absolute best in whatever you are doing, following your passion!

Probity in News…

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Surfing through news today, I hit upon a report of Pranoy Roy seeking accountability and transparency from the Indian media and wanting a strong defamation law to handle spurious news and wrong accusations. Kudos to him to rake up this issue at a time when the current news channels create nuisance, unnecessarily at times!

I still remember how I started watching news early on in my life, specially ‘The World This Week’ and the DD National news in the evening. It gave me a strong footing to understand and appreciate world-wide happenings and improve my idea of the world. And all of it was cultured, sedate reporting and talks/debates to put forth the complete view-point, most of it thoroughly researched.

But today’s media in India has sadly been reduced to a caricature of its previous self of high standards and professional, authentic viewpoints. What we are witnessing these days are shenanigans of channels and anchors turning news into soap-operas to garner more eyeballs and prolong their life…

Talking about television media particularly, these intelligentsia claim that they are the true champions of democracy and are responsible for everything that’s right, bringing out everything’s that wrong! However, most of the news items seem biased and planted to favour one or the other party and the ensuing debate is cacophonous at best! And even God cannot help their ‘targets’, who is/are portrayed as a criminal or wrong-doer just by the way they are dealt with… 🙂

I am no judge of who is right or wrong but I do hope that television media becomes as sensitive to the veracity of what they are showing, and more importantly empathy towards their viewers (not repeating the same thing all day, multiple times) and participants (who look like sitting ducks most of the times)!

Otherwise they risk losing out on audience who are as such moving to the internet and other sources of getting their news rather than watching the news channels. And it’s happening not only because of changing tastes, but also because people like me value a fair and free opinion/reporting above everything else.

Hopefully that day comes soon!

Leaving a Legacy!!!

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While on a long travel, I decided to pick up a book which had been long sitting on my shelf (the digital one, thanks to numerous options on the iPad which has become my constant companion, so much that sometimes my wife laments “try something else rather than the iPad today”!), Empire of the Moghuls, written by Alex Rutherford.

As I lost myself into the plot detailing the life and times of Babur, the ruler who established the dynasty, I understood how they became one of the most successful rulers of India. From my childhood, I had viewed the Moghuls as the most successful empire in India and perhaps more so because of the history books than my own research. But never really went to the extent of understanding the reason, until the book revealed the answer to me…

The book is a brilliant account of how Babur built the empire right from his early childhood when he was declared the king owing to his father’s untimely death when he was 13! The story runs through his struggle of capturing and losing Samarkand, the famed city, multiple times; being without the throne for years together, hiding and running from his enemies; constantly suffering from a fear of will he be able to do enough; and finally fulfilling his desire to capture Hindustan.

But most importantly, the one thing which runs through the entire account is his urge and incessant desire to leave a legacy. In his own words “What will I be recalled as, and what will I leave my generations to come, and how I am remembered tomorrow”! In short, about “LEAVING A LEGACY”.

This particular thought is what drives great men, I believe – What is it that they are going to do that is going to leave their mark on humanity and for generations to come together they are remembered for what they did. And I could feel it in my stomach as I read Babur’s life account of how it must have been for him to go through the trials and tribulations of building his empire. This is what I believe drives a lot of us, members of the entrepreneurial clan…

To be an entrepreneur is not easy, it’s bloody difficult. One has to go through the most trying times of their life, lead themselves and those who believe in them through some of the most darkest paths they have ever encountered, face every adversity and still maintain their wits and guts, and most importantly never lose sight of what they want to achieve. And as anybody’s guess, most give up on this treacherous path before it winds down!

But what lies ahead of this so-called path? An absolutely stunning life, which only some are able to conquer, more in their minds than in the physical way. And all that one ever wants in his life, all the satisfaction, all the glory, all the dreams become possible…

As with what Babur did, and what most people who today are successful businessmen have done, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to do something great and create a compelling story out of your life. So go for the glory, just don’t sit back and keep thinking, the path is anyways going to throw surprises galore along the way!

Is it worth it? Absolutely…

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I’m Back!

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After a long time, keeping all the other work aside, here I am – back to one thing I think I have always loved doing… Writing my thoughts down! Its been a long time coming and I have over multiple times tried to unleash the writer within, but somehow it wasn’t to be until today.

What brought about the need – just freedom to write down what I wish to without worrying about anything else – a way to lose myself in the midst of so many thoughts and come out with a refreshed perspective – is what is driving me right now! Hope to do some good to myself and maybe contribute in some ways to the larger world!!!

Different Worlds!!!

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment
 
As a follow-up on the previous post about the Theory of Work, I was thinking about how different are the worlds of an Employee and a Businessman. On deeper evaluation, I realized the entire difference lay in how they approach life…

To illustrate, I can use the proverbial Pyramid and highlight the difference. For an employee, the pyramid looks like this, starting from the bottom–

When an employee starts his work, he is a fresher, right out of college. Maybe he has acquired some higher/niche skills because of which he might start at a pedestal or two higher. But the essence remains that he gets embroiled in a RAT Race where he is aiming to go higher and higher up the corporate ladder, ensuring he doesn’t become redundant. What he forgets is that even if he succeeds in touching the highest pinnacle, which is highly unlikely, he will still be in the RAT race. Moreover, in this entire process, he will lose his life – of which he has just one; and his energy – which will get sapped. Even if he is the chosen one, touching the highest pinnacle, it is the glass ceiling beyond which he cannot even think of breaking through.

If we look at this slightly deeply in correlation with the Theory of Work, what he does is spends his life working for someone else in a sort of a prison. On weekends when he gets a couple of days off he behaves like a free bird trying to do

everything that is possible within his reach to feel good about his life. But he knows he has to go back to the prison again the next week. So, he keeps grinding through his life and most probably dies thinking if he could have done better.

On the other hand are business owners. For them, the pyramid looks like this, starting from the top –

When a business owner starts work, he gets paid ZERO. He puts in his hard work, his blood and sweat, his life’s worth in building up his idea, his business, with passion and hunger for success. It is not necessary that he succeeds in the beginning – he might fail and falter multiple times. But if he remains true to himself, he learns and imbibes good things, steers clear of his mistakes, and slowly starts to build up the business. He puts together a team that shares his vision and is tuned to the organization’s mission and then the multiplier effect slowly sets in and the leverage shows up. He then keeps building the business and gets paid more and more while his work keeps on reducing and reducing.

This happens till the point he reaches Financial Freedom, a stage where he becomes redundant. At this stage, he does not need to work to ensure that money flows into his bank account. He has built the business and now his team carries it forward whilst he relaxes and enjoys his life. For all the hard work that he puts in for those 5-10 years, he now gets back double. And what he leaves behind when he dies is a LEGACY – for generation(s) to come…

Where do you want to be – in the RAT race or building a legacy? Do leave your comments…

The Theory of Work!

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Across the human world, there are lots of people doing varied kinds of professions/businesses etc. However, as per Robert Kiyosaki, a world-renowned author who is a self-made millionaire and writes on Financial Education, anyone earning money through legal/ethical means falls under one of these categories –

Employee: Someone who works for a businessman/company and dedicates 8-10 hours of work from his daily life. This person basically trades his time seeking security and at the end of the month draws a pay-cheque, which in most cases is no where equivalent to the kind of effort put in.

Specialist / Small Businessman: Believes in doing everything with perfection, believes he is the best – Doctors, Lawyers, Professors, Consultants, Small-time shop owners etc. These people also at the end of the day trade their time and draw an income equivalent to their skills and effort (which is definitely more than most employees) but still seek security like employees do.

Big Businessman: As defined by Forbes, a person having an organization of more than 500 people. These people don’t believe in working for others but instead leverage others. All employees working for a business owner contribute to the profits that he makes while being paid a pittance. By leveraging manpower, these people move up the value chain and attain freedom – of time, of money and most other things.

Investor: Again, as defined by Forbes, someone who earns more than USD 200,000 of income from his investments. These people also leverage to earn money – but they leverage money itself. Their money works for them while they holiday with their family. In turn, they generate more income for themselves and are free for life.

As per world statistics, 97% of the world population falls under the E & S quadrants, trading time and yearning for the eluding security. Only 3% around the world actually understands the power of leverage and works towards attaining freedom, being in the B or I quadrants. However, if we look at the world-wide wealth distribution, 96% is controlled by people in the B & I quadrants and only 4% is left for souls in the E & S quadrants.

Given a chance, where would you want to be???

Another interesting facet of this theory I can explain drawing an analogy with the world of athletics…

Now all those 97% of people in the world do one common thing. They blindly run a Marathon of “Go to work, come back home” for all their life – 30 to 40 years! If you belong there, think if you would be able to sustain this schedule in these ever-changing times when security has become a myth and you never know what can happen in the world. But even then, a lot of people continue doing this and teach their kids exactly the same thing – Study hard, get a good job. Their kids might earn slightly more but in the end they are also running the same rat race!

On the other hand, a person in the B or I quadrant works smartly – he runs a Relay! He is alone in the beginning in most of the cases, and starts running. Then slowly he meets people who understand his vision and join him and the team takes shape. This team runs together, generating more output with lesser individual effort. In some time, the first person passes on the baton to the team who run the show with a bigger team. However, even after passing the baton and stopping his run, the person continues being paid because he has built a pipeline – an income stream that will continue paying him irrespective of what he does because he utilized the concept of leverage to build the pipeline…

Wouldn’t all of us want to have a pipeline of your own? Something that can keep paying us and our family for years and generations to come without having to worry about the work part…

Unnecessary Facades

~ Rishi ~ 2 Comments

Some might equate it with jokers but for those who haven’t had the privilege of watching a circus (yes, it’s a dying business), just the word ‘behroopiya’ would be good enough to explain what I want to convey here.

In all walks of life, in all circumstances, you come across people putting up “unnecessary facades” – gestures/acts not at all required but for sounding prim and proper. You would always hear people saying “Yes, that sounds great!” when in fact you might have uttered a crap-load; just smiling, nodding and agreeing with you rather than putting you in the right place; sounding hollow and placating in order to avoid a confrontation; being so-called socially adaptable in your face only to say bad things behind your back.

In fact, people are adept at making others feel comfortable. Oh, you know, it does not sound good to be transparent or blatantly forthcoming to others! Some people mention being ‘straight forward’ as one of their weaknesses – “I think I am rather direct with people and get into uncomfortable situations … I am working on it by thinking before speaking my mind out or reacting blah blah blah…” And of course, it is social impropriety to behave in any adverse manner!

This might be more prevalent in certain parts that are famously out-spoken or fashionably subtle and you would find heaps of stories and chuckles (about how this particular region behaves)… But it is a behavior practiced almost all across the world. From the US of A to the Kangaroos of Australia, it finds prominence in the modern society.

On one end, you see politicians and celebrities almost on the border of perfection in all their appearances. On the other, some of the uneducated/down-to-earth/innocent people, away from the glaring public eye are called the unsophisticated tribe who speak their mind! If someone is forthcoming, we like to rip them apart for transgressing our social norms and being blatant – “how could he do this?”

But the phenomenon is not limited to social behavior. Look at politics – false promises, hollow measures… Look at films and media – always the epitome of such behavior. Look at sports – people being more concerned with how they look and how they speak/behave rather than playing… It’s all over and is fast consuming one and all. Even small-town people and villagers try and be sophisticated and ‘prim and proper’ now-a-days!!!

I was wondering why does this happen? What makes us go into this complicated shell and build unnecessary facades? It occurred that this seems to be a modern phenomenon probably less in vogue in the rugged old word where you were taken on your face value and judged by your actions rather than appearances! And it is only growing in the new-age social-media led world.

Thinking through, I realized that it starts off from our childhood days. We train children to behave in this manner right when we start grooming them. We teach them how to be ‘prim and proper’ so that we are not embarrassed in front of others during social parties or get-togethers. Then, as the child grows up, we advise him to learn the worldly ways and behave with sophistication – “you never know beta/beti, whom you might come across and be in need of in future”. So naturally, by the time the child reaches adolescence, he/she is groomed into the accepted social norms. And off they take to make the world a more subtle place…

But the question remains – why do we need to get into unnecessary facades – can we not be ourselves and truthful? Can we not just say whatever comes to our mind and act according to what we think is correct? Do we actually need to please all people or be content with our actions and take the forth-rightness in our stride?

Just think about it – if all become one, we probably would find the world to be a much better place – with all false promises removed, all diversionary measures dropped and all hollow talk being replaced by fruitful action; all posturing being substituted by concrete talk and results; all lovey-dovey things being consumed by reality. And that would probably be the time when you could talk to me and tell me that I am boring you like hell with such a post and with this blog!

Private is in!

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Sitting in the cafeteria, having breakfast with a friend who had once told me he liked my blogs (however infrequently I might update them) got me thinking about writing again! And just as a coincidence, the topic appeared…

A lady trying to find a place in the crowded environment came to our table and pulled up a chair but then realized that she might be sitting too close for comfort and instantly, as sort of second nature, proceeded to find another, more secluded or should I say a private place – somewhere she wouldn’t be obtrusive or feel so…

On a deeper thought I realized this has almost become second nature to us. We seek privacy at all times and at all places unless it is absolutely necessary to share! We always seek privacy as if we are discreet lovers longing for a hideout…

And this phenomenon is wide spread – people don’t wish to share their possessions – be it their personal belongings, their material possessions (but they would definitely like to show it off), their friendships, their joys, sorrows, worries, anxieties and so on… Oh, it makes you look so uncool!!! We even think that if someone is sharing something with us, there must be an alternative/ulterior motive behind the gesture…

This privacy has made inroads into the society so much that it’s considered improper to view it abjectly. “Why do you care about how I live my life” – is the answer we hear quite often from all corners and from all age groups!

I don’t know whether this is right or wrong, nor I am in a position to pronounce my judgement, having been a victim of this ‘privaria’… But it does take effort to think what can be done differently to make us all human again – social animals who love to share!!! Some food for thought…

Oh and btw, this is being blogged from my iPhone – another symbol of pseudo-socialism, where you are closer to friends through Facebook and Twitter rather than in person… But oh my, I love this device as it at least lets me be in touch with the private society and invade others privacy 🙂

Rajiv’s B’day and the Shameful Act

~ Rishi ~ 3 Comments

It was sad to see the innumerable ads given out on Rajiv Gandhi’s birthday by the various government ministries and departments in the newspapers. As counted, the Times of India, Delhi edition carried a total of 16 advertisements related to Rajiv Gandhi – 11 half-page, 4 full-page and 1 quarter-page. That’s “gyaaraah-char”, or in other terms “atyaachaar” over the Indian common man – precious public money is being wasted on such monickers without any accountability.

The usual political practice of keeping the inauguration of key projects on hold for such special occasions is also deplorable. Politicians play up this card time and again and use this ploy to get attention of the powers. And the common man suffers at the hands of these shenanigans…

It should be incumbent on the government to discourage such spending. Only if we could have had a single 1-page ad in the newspaper from the Government of India, it would have been sufficient to show the government’s respect towards the leader. But alas. Even newspapers like TOI don’t have a check on such wasteful expenditure by the government and discourage it. In fact they would love to profit from so many ads, which although is good from the business sense of it, can be highly questioned from the ethical point of view of the greater society which the newspaper serves.

Most of us indeed respect Rajiv Gandhi and what he did for India as a national leader. However, I deem true respect to him would be paid not by squandering public money in such useless ways but by ensuring that the intended recipients get not the proverbial 15 paise from a rupee but the full value. Then only would we be able to proclaim ourselves as having followed his espoused principles…

The day when I turned 27…

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Everyone tends to look forward to the day called “Birthday”, whatever might be his/her age. Although the day brings you closer to the so-called ‘Budhapa’, still you cherish the significance of being born on this day and associate it with general euphoria. And when you are in the midst of friends and that too a group as hell-bent on making it memorable as it can be, you can’t get more euphoric…

So, here I was in my room at 11:56 PM on 15th March when in came the dear group of friends ready to take me out for a little celebration. Only, it wasn’t in any sense a li’’l one. I was taken by surprise when they didn’t ask me to move to the smoking area to cut the cake but made me sit on the stairs and did a march-past shouting commands like ‘Birthday ki salaami de’ and ‘Birthday song gana shuru kar’.

The fact that I had not seen the invite sent by the organizers, about whom I am going to talk about, made it all the more interesting. Here was a group of friends I had known for only over 3 months, who had already made my day special by probably celebrating my birthday in the most spectacular fashion possible. I was floored. The very fact that it took me 2 days to complete this blog is some proof of the overwhelming feeling 😉

The cake cutting ceremony was as usual filled with all kinds of antics by people to make sure that no part of my face was spared the chocolate, cream and strawberries. Probably 3 times more cake was on my face than in my stomach after the conclusion. But I was as happy as I could possibly ever be. This is perhaps what friendship is all about…

So the people behind this all – Deepak, Areez, Kushagra, Ajay, Swamy, Harish, Tanya, Archana, Prarthana, Kapil, Soham Dada and Avneesh (no typical order, just random). They planned it so well that I didn’t even got a whiff even though I am with either one of them practically all through out the day here. And then the gift, thoughtful again, had me in a total daze. I hadn’t expected such a grand and heart-warming celebration. But this very fact makes it all the more endearing, as well as memorable. Here’s to our friendship, which I am sure would grow stronger in the days and years to come…

The story however, does not end here. I got a beautiful surprise from the one and only… A cake and flowers that not only made me nostalgic but also poignant. A gift that was again meticulously planned and never ever hinted upon. My love to such a thoughtful partner. May we continue to scale new heights in our relationship…

So, a year older and perhaps wiser, looking forward to the wonderful year ahead which promises challenges and changes that might alter the course of my life; here I am ready to take on the world…