Author: alearningaday

More explanation on 20 mile a day..

The 20mile lesson is all about discipline. You do business or grow your company in a steady manner without compromising your values, culture, etc for business opportunities. So in good economy, when you have multiple opportunities, you only take the ones which fit your company’s strategy. And in bad years you work 3 times harder just to maintain your strategy.

A good example is Southwest airlines: at every given year they get requests from 10-20 airports/cities to open hubs there. Southwest will only do 3 or 4. The reason is maintaining their unique strategy (fun culture, operations, etc.). If they would open 10 hubs for example they will have to, by definition, compromise on several attributes of their strategy. That might give them short term advantage but over the long term it will hurt their business.

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Thanks to Safi! :)

20 mile a day strategy

How do we cross from India to China with the mighty Himalayas blocking your way? It is simple: you walk 20 miles a day.
 
You walk 20 miles a day on flat ground and stop to rest. In fact you walk 20 miles a day on ground sloping down too and then rest even more. Why stop at 20 miles only, when you can cover more? Because, then you know that when it is time to go up the mountain, you still have to climb 20 miles a day – it is your sacred number, and come rain or shine, come mountain or valley – you will cover 20 miles a day. Now, you are just days away from achieving your target. 

What is your 20 mile a day strategy?

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Still admiring the depth of this learning..

balance..

is the name of every game..

not losing spirit while conceding a goal.. 
not feeling too high and hence, working less after scoring a goal..
not losing spirit when giving it your all and losing..
not feeling too high after winning a game and losing the next few..
life transcends all of this.. its beyond games..beyond tournaments..why beyond seasons even.. its an every day battle.. 
and balance is the name of the game..
lets keep walking the tight rope.. fall.. pick ourselves up..and never stop..
‘May the tight rope walkers inherit the world.. ‘ :D

The difficulty in an argument is not to generalize..

for eg: I am arguing with this friend who I just kicked(by mistake) during a football game. I am tempted to shout at him saying ‘You always kick me. I don’t think you think of anything except the ball. And I don’t think you will ever learn because you always do it..’.

The great thing is that this is great feedback! I do know that I need to work on my aggression. However, what makes it difficult to stomach is the ‘always’ bit.. we lose that when are emotional.

The ‘always’ often stops any rational discussion. So, beware generalizing.. :) Having been on both sides of this just like everyone else, I guess I know it is very easy to generalize and infinitely tougher to accept feedback once generalization has been done..

Another question is – what if it is true that it is done always. For eg: if it is something like eating properly with knife and fork. Even then, I feel it is helpful stating the situation that has just occurred.. and if the person is of good character.. he will ask you at some point if he/she can improve..

Now I am assuming that we are helping someone we believe has a good character… :)

Don’t buy it when a character accusation is made..

there are things we know.. there are things we don’t..

‘Never give up on anyone..miracles happen every day’..

And believe in the miracle.. if you dont see it happening.. ha ha..

It hurts when such an accusation is made though. Its good to understand that there is lot of caring behind the whole veil of anger etc. In my case, I do know I have very less awareness about things that happen around me. For instance, I am generally not as aware of the small things as I should be.. and I do know I can improve on my sensitivity.. but that doesnt mean I am unaware..

because..there are times I do surprise myself..he he..