Month: December 2009

Thanks Vik and Sudu..

Today was a good day, no, not just a good day but a GREAT day. A lot of things fell into place. It’s very important we celebrate wins.. I remember writing a blog post when I had a really bad day with 8 rejections coming in the same day from different firms..

1) Sparkz is beginning to work out. I won’t go into details but a big break through happened and things should get finalized tomorrow..
2) Another positive move forward – Sparkz related.. meant a big deal in calming anxiety..
3) The above 2 were timely as I was beginning to get pretty frustrated yesterday and felt very alone as most of my team are on vacation, those here were either stressed or uncontactable so basically it was all me. But, as they say, we should never quit as it is those times we are on the brink of unprecedented success..
4) My FYP Prof today didn’t ask for a 40 page report which I was dreading.. small joys of life..
5) I had a nice chat with a respected Prof who I’ve shared a great relationship with and have a possible opportunity of giving back to the university and he also had lots of advice for me in choosing my career..
6) Re-discovering a relationship with a close friend..
7) Got an unexpected call from a friend in India who I’d tried to be there for when she was going through a tough patch..
8) Big one this – A big breakthrough could be on its way.. again, not possible to discuss here.. :(
9) I’m going home in 3 days and things seem to be wrapping up! :D

Now, 8 months ago, I would have been on a crazy high and gone around feeling big and mighty but I think the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to be aware of myself when good things happen to me.. I go on a high and all of a sudden when there is a setback, I press the panic button..

I press the panic button way too easily. I used to rush through everything and I get rushed through the panic process as well…

I’ve slowly seen myself reacting this way and am consciously trying to slow down and be more balanced and learn to take things calmly and with a pinch of salt. I also tend to talk way too much when things are going too much and go inverse when things are not.. learning to experience ‘triumph and disaster and treat both those imposters the same'(From ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. :))..

It’s a nice process.. learning to take things more calmly. Not easy.. especially when the natural reaction is something else…

‘listen very carefully’..
Ha ha ha! :D

to do it all by yourself..

That preparation will be key!

:)

Goodbye’s are hard. Vinod, 1 year my senior at NUS, is off home and then into working life at Barcap.

Vinod was my 1st association with NUS. As a member of the society of Indian scholars, he had been down at the airport the day I arrived and all associations with NUS started with him. Still remember him trying to fool around with me saying he was a male nurse scholar among others, greeted us with a ‘sup machan’.. We always wanted to catch up, never did.. he was busy, so was i.. we fell into this busy wheel called university life and never really found time to even sit down and say hello until today..

Thanks Vinod, for everything! All the best, and we will stay in touch! :)

those who predict have little knowledge. :)

This is my 990th post. When I started penning my learnings into this blog in May 2008, it was a distant dream that I would be able to keep it up for so long..

Looking forward to the 1000th.. I think it will be dedicated to the people that made this happen… haha

Space:

Places with more space between people(a.k.a less population density) have a culture of giving people space. This is apparent if you have spent a week in India and the US

Spice

Hotter places => More spicy food..

Happiness

Happiness is measured differently in warmer climates which are more agriculture based. Here, values are things life family and moving out of such a place is unthinkable(just like a farmer would never leave his land)..

Warmth

Proportional to the climate of a place.
Also, the colder the place, the more time spent with friends dancing and partying(its cold, need to sweat it out!:))

Building Houses

Build houses slowly.. A friend of mine was mentioning today that while he was constructing his apartment, phase 1 was just to get it set. The next phase to improve it and it would be a few versions before it got better. Of course, this applies to anything we do – presentations, project reports etc..

But, on thinking deep, I realized thats what my Granddad did when he built our house. It was completed fully with 2 floors only in about 10 years..

Nice learning.. :)

The Team:
Top Row
From Left

Bruno: From whom I learnt to lead.. define the boundaries, give the team direction and let go..
Nishanth: From whom I learnt to laugh at myself.. :)
Jasvind: From whom I learnt that improvement begins by focusing on the things we CAN do..
Rohan: From whom I learnt to be an idiot, but a lovable one(hopefully..haha)
Alvin: From whom I learnt that wonderful manners never lose their significance..
Dong Hao: From whom I learnt that emotional endears..

Bottom Row
Eugenia: From whom I learnt that there is such a thing as a lovable, reliable and caring boss.. :)
Ankur: From whom I learnt that being a student is the most important aspect of being a teacher..
Peter: From whom I learnt that humor breaks barriers..
Daan: From whom I learnt that it takes a lot of effort to make people happy..
Alan: From whom I learnt ‘Bonjournoooo’ – :D
Yinning: From whom I learnt that the most important thing, at times, is to give yourself a complete rest.. :)

And to Bruno for the moment of the camp, ‘Peter.. Carmen is online! :)’ ha ha ha ha ha

1) Important to trust and let go when leading a team. Can’t be controlling everything..

2) Delegation is KEY if you ever aim to grow..

3) Solve problems with systems rather than by talking. Let a system be hard on a person rather than wasting energy and emotion shouting at someone..

4) I am not a 100% secure person. I’m still taking time to find myself. I learnt that it is ok to be insecure.. as long you are aware of it and use it positively to drive you to do better. This is true with any problem.. it is ok as long as we accept it and then act..

5) A smile can brighten a day!

6) I’d rather be a person of value than a person of success.. Doesn’t mean I hope to be any less successful, but means i hope to be a person of value a lot more.. ha ha..

7) My biggest dream is to be a coach, be it of a football team like Man Utd or my own life academy. I must take time every week to coach somebody and get better myself..

8) My greatest strength is to react quickly to feedback. I may not be the smartest person on the block but if I can remember to learn quickly and persist, I can give the smartest a run for it.. ha ha :D

9) Little things define great people. Anybody can clear out the trash. The best make sure that the room has NO trash left while the not-so-great ones will leave a trail behind which the others clean up. And we always ask little things of the people we love – little things which seem so insignificant, yet big..

10) Anything is possible if we make a shift in our thinking. It doesn’t mean we can walk into Manchester United tomorrow and play a great game if we can’t play football for nuts but if we are indeed an average football player, if we can keep cool, not panic, just play our role, work hard and make people like Rooney and Giggs look good.. atleast we will survive..
And often, survival is a fantastic result! :D

I survived RealAcad.. there you go.. :D