Hurdles...

Simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve. As can also be infered by my writings as well ;) hence for a change I directed my thoughts to what others have to say. Was doing a search of quotes on "hurdles", was looking for some real kicka** stuff and found two which really shook me off the slumber-

I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games.
On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot... and
missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is
why... I succeed - Michael Jordan

my nobrainer: It takes courage to conquer your fears and go beyond. Everyone of us fails. And fails a lot. What really differentiates a winner from the rest is not strength and power but the grit and the determination to stand up after falling down. So time to remember the classic moral science adage- failure is the stepping stone to success.

See everything. Overlook a great deal. Improve a little —Pope John
XXIII

my nobrainer: See everything- be observant, awareness is what makes life "live". Overlook a great deal- we drain so much of our energy on thinks that are just not worth the time and the effort. Fretting and fuming over petty issues will take us nowhere. Improve a little- Even if we do a single worthwhile thing a day, it will make a huge impact on the quality and way of (our) life.

no regrets...

"The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity." - Helen Rowland

Reminded of the tagline- Just do it

And its popular spoof t-shirt tagline - Just did it

PS: Do ask...

Local train reflections...

Often the local train commute leaves me feeling cramped and exhausted. Today morning was a similar experience. Tried to think myself away from it. Tried all kind of thoughts, from humorous to cynical, even thinking about a previous post that I had written about this was of no help.

Read previous post here -> My daily commute in Mumbai local train

Getting philosophical in the mornings and feeling dead as a log on the way back home. And standing for an hour both ways doesn't help improving the mood either. Its really frustrating to see a train arrive fully packed at 10 pm. At times all this drives you insane, and things start to seem beyond comprehension. Then again, I realise that this the price that I have to pay for choosing to live and work in a metro.





Waiting for the day when this becomes a reality (atleast for me) -> Home Advantage











Photos taken from Bleu 551x Mobile camera (1.3 Mega pixel)

Rural BPO : re-visited...

Its so good to see a positive trend that you have been tracking for sometime, to be on the rise.

Back in 2006, saw some changes happening in the BPO space in India. And for the first time saw the coming up of Rural BPO's - http://mynobrainers.blogspot.com/2006/12/rural-bpos.html

In a recent article Outlook Business has shortlisted this amongst 25 ideas that will change our lives.

Read full article here -> Rural BPOs have the potential to transform the employment landscape of Indian village

Sunday brunch...

mehnat ka fal kabhi-kabhar namkeen bhi hota hai... saath mein crispy aaur tasty bhi :)

nothing can beat the taste of an aloo paratha... its a perfect sunday delight...

thanks Maneesha for the tag line ...

Chance Vs choice...

A fatalist will always leave things to chance. There is a comfort in living a life devoid of choices, or rather making someone else do that for you, be it your elder siblings, friends, parents, girlfriend, boyfriend, the higher power, angels, daemons, god. Letting someone else decide for you is a safety cushion. You don't have to evaluate options, calculate the risk/return and make a decision.

With so much of uncertainty around, at the best one can arrive at a mere informed guess through which at attempt is made to mitigate the unsystematic risk .

Finance teaches you to diversify unsystematic risk through diversification, whereas in real life situations its specification that works. The more you tends towards a situation with certainty (in your determination) the better equipped you are to handle/ face it and be in control.

So when the choices that we are making aren't really choices in absolute terms and the option of non-choice seems the easiest way out, then what to do (again a matter of choice).

Every living entity (except humans) have been programmed to follow a pattern in life- birth, growth, survival, breeding, feeding and dying. Its only we who have been left to (fatalist viewpoint) / given the opportunity to (individualistic viewpoint) evolve on our own, into whatever we can make of ourselves and opportunity that we have been given.

How to Present Like Steve Jobs

Its worth the time and effort to read and ruminate over the legendry presentation skills of Steve Jobs (Co-founder, CEO- Apple Inc.). Also, have a look at the video clip of the iPhone launch.

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13068_23-194984.html

Passion and charisma may not be an acquired skill, but you might be plain lucky even if a fraction of it brushes off on you.

Payday

I remember all four times when I received my first salary in the respective organisations. Each time it was special, and interestingly each time it meant a different thing, the spectrum spanning from excitement to relief to amusement to satisfaction.


30th June 2003 (Mumbai)
28th Feb 2005 (Noida)
31st May 2005 (Gurgaon)
30th April 2008 (Mumbai)


This time around its 701% over what I got the first time. And 109% over what I had got in my last organisation (pre PGDBA). Seems going to b-school wasn't that bad an option. The numbers seem to have taken into account the opportunity cost and have made it a risk adjusted return (after all shifting industries wasnt something I had conceived to be as easy).


Also, one more interesting trend is that each time the figure has approximately doubled. Wont really mind if the trend keeps going in the years to come, coz the CAGR happens to be 51.61 %


;)
:D
:)

Off course

 

So often we are told to look at the big picture. Live and understand life at the macro level. Looking at the broader trends certainly helps to see the general direction in which we are heading, but can it help take us there?

 

There is an analogy that strikes me -

 

A ships navigation system has two components- rudder and propeller.

 

Rudder which is a pad like structure gives direction, the ships moves in the direction opposite to which the rudder is pointed. Its so true with us as well, we always attempt to steer life the way we want it to go and then feel utterly frustrated when it moves in the converse direction. Our frustration is often because we looking from too short an angle to understand which path will this lead us to. As I often keep quoting "life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans".

 

That is where probably the element of destiny comes into play. Destiny is often defined as a predetermined course of events. Destiny as I see it, is not something that is hard-wired into our lives. Instead its the outcome of the all the input (thoughts and efforts) that we have put. Is it like a tool that has been provided to us for our understanding and betterment? A self-aware person who knows what he wants from life is more likely to get it, as, very early in his voyage of life he has set the rudder in the right direction.

 

Propeller is what pushes the ship forward. Its the thrust that is required to move in a set direction. Very often we know where we want to go, how we want out life to be, but lack the discipline and the willingness to head there. And this is where the smaller picture plays an important role. Our day to day life is a reflection of where we are heading in general, how much is the distance we have already covered and what direction we have chosen for ourselves.

 

The course that we steer, is our choice. We cant change the flow of the oceans nor can we control the weather and the winds. Want we do have control over is the rudder and propeller of our live.

 

And finally iExist

Somewhere on the face of earth, my temp co-ordinates 19.229514,72.84163

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