Ravi Pratap Singh

Visual Goal Setting

I am a visual person. Which basically means that I am most comfortable when concepts, ideas, knowledge, information and data are presented to me (or, by me) visually.

To give you an example, when I get an idea for a new blog post, the first thing I do is to actually select/purchase a suitable image for the post. And ONLY THEN do I write my first word!

Not surprising, therefore, that even the goals I've been setting for myself over the years have always been put together in some kind of a visual format (charts, diagrams, scrapbooks, vision boards, powerpoint presentations, etc).

I will write another post some day on the virtues of "Visual Goal Setting". Today I'd like to introduce you to a Visual Goal Management Software that I accidentally chanced upon last night - Goalscape.

I downloaded a trial version of the tool to play around with, and must confess, that I am completely hooked. The features are cool; the benefits are immense; and the price is attractive. What more could one ask for?

So all you people out there who would like to set and chase down your goals "visually"... do give Goalscape a try. You could be as impressed as I am.

Keep A "Beginner's Mind"

The "Beginner's Mind" or "Shoshin" is a concept in Zen Buddhism that refers to "having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would."

Let me explain this in simple words. When you are a beginner in any activity, you focus all your energy and enthusiasm into accomplishing that activity. Your mind is devoid of unnecessary clutter and your concentration is solely on achieving the task at hand.

Remember the time when you were learning to ride a bicycle as a kid? While seated on the bike, were you not single-mindedly consumed with the process of conquering your dream vehicle... manouvering the handlebar, pushing the pedal, applying the brakes, et al? Your mind didn't wander even for a fraction of a second to think about what happened at school that morning or what mom was cooking for dinner. You were singularly aware and absorbed in the process of what you were doing at that particular moment. You were in your highest state of consciousness. You were operating at your peak performance levels!

In his bestseller "The Practicing Mind", Thomas M. Sterner calls this the "process-oriented, present minded state". He writes, "Video games offer a natural environment for pulling us into a state of focused present-moment awareness. If you watch people playing a computer game, you will observe how totally focused they are on what they are doing in that moment. Even though the best score possible is the ultimate goal, the participants are only superficially aware of it. The process of playing the game requires all their attention. If you talk to people playing a computer game, they may not even answer you because they are absorbed in the process of the game."

This is exactly how one needs to approach every task. One needs to be in the present moment and focus all attention exclusively on the process... while keeping the mind uncluttered and free of all pressures pertaining to the end result.

To achieve optimum results consistently, one needs to keep a "Beginner's Mind".

No Player Is Bigger Than The Team!

The third and final test match between England and South Africa is currently underway at Lord's. Having lost the first test of the series and drawn the second one, England have to win this game to avoid abdicating their number one test ranking to the South Africans.

Given this background, it would be normal for any team to come out with all guns blazing and ensure that they select their best players for this must-win game. But the eleven England players that walked onto the park at the beginning of the match yesterday did not include the charismatic Kevin Pietersen, their premier batsman by a long margin!

The reason?

Well, he was DROPPED!!!

And that too, after he had scored a breathtaking century less than a fortnight ago in the second test of the current series!

During that game, Kevin Pietersen had allegedly sent some derogatory text messages about his captain and team members to players from the opposing camp. Since this was not the first time that Kevin had got into disciplinary issues, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided to axe him irrespective of the fact that dropping him at this stage of the series could cost England their numero uno throne!

Hats off to the England selectors and captain for their brave decision. For no matter how big a player is, he can never ever be bigger than the team!

 

Let's Be The Change We Want To See

To MY INDIAN FRIENDS: 

On this our 66th Independence Day,
Let’s all pledge, promise and pray…

To keep our roads and cities clean,
And our environment and forests green…

To obey rules and follow guidelines,
And curb our instinct to beat the lines…

To respect historic and archaeological treasures,
And not deface them for juvenile pleasures…

To honour our servicemen and sportsmen,
And not sell our souls to wily godmen…

To refuse to accept or offer bribe,
And make the corrupt an extinct tribe…

To not discriminate on caste and creed,
And elect those without personal greed…

To set our country truly free… 
Let's be the change we want to see!

 

Leave An Imprint!

Let success or failure not affect you,
Just give your best to everything you do.

Chase every dream with passion and fire,
Your journey will be great and never will you tire.

Approach every task as your last masterpiece,
And leave an imprint that won't erase with ease.

 

Lasting Words From "The Last Lecture"

Some books leave an indelible imprint on our hearts and minds. "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch is one such masterpiece.

In its review of the book, Amazon.com says, "A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment. It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living."

The book is sprinkled with some sparkling nuggets of wisdom. Here are my favourites:

- "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

- "Just because you're in the driver's seat, doesn't mean you have to run people over."

- "When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you."

- "Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

- "Sometimes, all you have to do is ask."

- "If I could only give three words of advice, it would be "tell the truth." If I got three more words, I'd add: "All the time.""

- "Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think."

Randy lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008. But his last lecture will last forever.

Here's the video that inspired the book:

Thanks so much, Randy!

Ideation Without Execution Is Delusion

Most of us have grand ideas about the things we need to do to improve our personal, professional, social, financial and spiritual status. Some of us also manage to go one step further and maintain a laundry list of these ideas with a time-bound plan of action for their implementation. But only a miniscule percentage of us actually get down to executing the ideas, and thereby, have a shot at success.

Unfortunately, execution alone does not guarantee success... FLAWLESS EXECUTION is more likely to help us achieve it.

Any wonder then, that success seems so elusive?

The secret to success, therefore, is not great ideas... but great ideas WITH great execution!

As Robin Sharma says, "Ideation without execution is mere delusion".

Don't Keep A Dog & Bark Yourself

Successful managers have one common trait... and that is, effective delegation skills!

Many a time one sees outstanding team players fail miserably as team leaders primarily because they are unable to delegate tasks appropriately.

There could be two major reasons behind a manager's "fear of delegation":

Quality Would Suffer: Firstly, the manager feels that he is best qualified to do the task. Therefore, if he delegates the same to a team member, the quality of work is bound to suffer and finally the task would have to be redone by him... so he prefers to do the job himself.

Pressed For Time: Secondly, the manager feels that the time taken to train others on a particular task would eat into the already challenging delivery timeline of the project... so it makes more sense for him to do the work himself and not risk missing the deadline.

In both the above cases, the manager feels that he is actually being "responsible" by taking the onus upon himself to save the organisation from any blushes. Though the intentions of the manager cannot be doubted, he doesn't understand that by not delegating tasks to his team members, he is actually doing more harm than good to the organisation.

An effective manager:

- Recruits the right team.

- Trains team members with the relevant job skills.

- Delegates work to the team members, and then... ALLOWS THEM TO FAIL a few times before they can work with minimal or no supervision!

By providing opportunities to sub-ordinates to develop new skills and take up more responsibilities, the manager helps build a strong and motivated team. This, in turn, paves the way for all stakeholders (team members, manager and the organisation) to grow and flourish.

Stubborn on Vision, Flexible on Details

Just read an incredible interview of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com.

Jeff's interaction with Steven Levy allows us a peek into the mind of one of the greatest innovators of our times. There are several nuggets of wisdom strewn through the interview. But if i were to pick a single thought as my take-away from the article, then it has to be Amazon's mantra of being "stubborn on vision and flexible on details".

A powerful philosophy, simply told.

No wonder Jeff Bezos owns the web in more ways than you think.

Freedom To Fail !!!

It is that time of the year when corporates queue up at colleges to recruit (or rather, shortlist and book!) students for their organisations. And placement activities at campuses are at their zenith.

As is the norm, the smart students are spoilt for choice as far as job offers are concerned. In a not-so-cruel twist of fate, it is the students who are finally left with the arduous task of deciding which organisation they should join. The fact that these offers are from some of the biggest Indian and multi-national companies only adds more layers of confusion to the already perplexed young minds.

Last week i had the opportunity to address students of two of the premiere colleges in the city. My mission too was to attract the VERY BEST brains to join my organisation, C2 Workshop. On the face of it, C2 didn't stand a chance against the giants we had to compete against. But we offered something to the students that most organisations did not... or maybe, were even scared to offer... the FREEDOM TO FAIL!!!

C2 has consciously built a culture where team members are encouraged to think, experiment, ideate, and innovate. And risk-taking forms the very essence of these activities. As we all know, fear is one emotion an explorer does not pack in his bags when he starts on his journey to unchartered territory. So how can we ever discover anything new if our minds are hounded by demons of failure?

Going by the response we received from the two colleges, i am delighted to see that the students too believe in our philosophy... that the FREEDOM TO FAIL is infact, the greatest freedom a creative mind can ever ask for. After all, failure is the mother of invention!

On seeing Thomas Edison fail repeatedly in his quest for inventing the first long-lasting electric light bulb, one of his colleagues asked Edison if he felt like a failure. "Not at all. Now i definitely know more than a thousand ways how NOT to make a light bulb.", Edison replied. A few days later, Thomas Edison brought light into our lives... forever!