Author: alearningaday

Jack Welch – in his autobiography ‘Straight from the Gut’ reminds us time and again of how he solved many a problem by diving deep. By this meant, he picked up an issue and went really deep until he found satisfactory answers..

However, to me, it would mean – taking a simple thing and diving deep and making it the best in the world. That would mean something as simple as a cleaning system for my room – or a task list system or a system of keeping up to date with daily news. I have immense difficulty visiting news sites and I have recently found that email feeds are a simple way of keeping in touch with whats happening in the outside world! The point is I need to help make these systems so I can improve myself, make my own life simpler and gradually try and make many others’ lives simpler as well..

Its an attitude thing..very similar to the ‘Every day I get better’ concept.. again easy to imagine and talk about – tough to do!

always tough..never impossible..

:D

Lets remember Thomas Edison who failed 999 times before he made the light bulb. When he did present it to the media, a reporter asked him how he had managed to persevere to so many failures. The great man replied – ‘I did not fail 999 times, I just discovered 999 ways how not to make a light bulb..’

If we discovered ways of how not to do something, let’s share so the others discover more such ways and maybe..just maybe..we’d make something just as fantastic as the light bulb..

:)

Never destroy something that already exists! Work around it, make a different version but it is cardinal not to destroy something and having been a person who has violated this rule, you can’t imagine how important it is that I learn it! Most importantly, it comes through with another important learning – if I have indeed screwed something up, it is imperative that I fix it!

Now, that’s like – if I sprayed paint on a wall, I really can’t expect somebody else to clean it up for me. If necessary, I should even call the CEO of the paint company and figure how to clean it but I can and should do it myself. The footballing analogy is that if I do lose the ball, it is stupid to expect someone else to chase the guy and get it back.

A team where everyone works that hard is generally right up there..

it is important we always think of passing it on. For eg: imagine I make a new website, it is not smart to assume that I would be the only person in the world to use it(and dream of success as well..the one man website trillionaire ;))..

It is difficult to explain beyond this.. but just that when things are passed on to others with the intention of them using it, they generally have to be very very simple! And this is totally consisten with the fact that only simple things work..

Let’s remember Google..

Watching Aston Villa(an english premier league football club) deal with Gareth Barry reminds me of a management insight of always making sure that we should always aim to end things on our own terms. The situation is that Barry, their captain and star in many ways, has been angling for a move to Liverpool(a bigger club) and has been letting his tongue loose a bit where the media is concerned.

Aston Villa’s manager has decided to come down hard on him and in a stroke of genius declared that he is banned from attending pre season practice(which he never wanted to attend anyway..). Basically, in one cool move, the situation has changed from a player trying to act big to him being fired..

Interesting..and happens all the time!

Haven’t we all felt those times when we feel we have everything going for us and would love to show it – maybe do a jig and show the world how happy we are. Its in those times that the really great ones start planning ahead to avoid future pitfalls which are a sureity.

Not to say that we don’t enjoy the moment.. but as the heading says – its all about balance.. :)

who asked us to understand the nature of things before trying to act smart(basically..)

This basically means that we need to understand things before trying to use them. Such understanding doesn’t really come by just purchasing something, but by understanding the nature by engaging in building it from scratch..

What happens when you keep trying and still keep screwing up?

Keep trying.. because..as mentioned before.. ‘many quit just on the brink of unprecedented successs’ .. ;)

While I’ve never been too much of an admirer of physics, I do want to take a moment here in salute of Sir Isaac Newton who had the humility to liken his knowledge to that of a pebble compared to an ocean..

Saluting the humility!

who see not only who you are but who you can be..

Only a bigger(in more ways than one..) person is capable of that..