Category: Everything else

Escaping hard work

A good career takes hard work.

A good relationship takes more hard work.

A good life and happiness takes some more hard work.

Why, even a great vacation requires a lot of hard work.

True happiness and hard work come together. We can never stop working hard if we want to live good lives. We just shift the focus of our hard work from our careers to our families to our personal projects and so on. The challenges only get harder and never ever stop. But, on the upside, once we learn to work hard, we also learn to prioritize better, focus harder and bring more of ourselves to our lives.

So, we’re left with two choices – attempt to find the short cuts and escape the work or embrace the hard work totally, live well, and bring more of ourselves to the world.

We’re successful when we stop seeing the first choice and we’re happy when we embrace the second.

Solving potential problems isolated

Indian cities have many minor accidents. There’s a few hundred million trying to get to places on time and at maximum possible speed (read: 30 kilometres/hour). In a bid to reduce the number of accidents caused by excessive speeding, the city of Bangalore has a speed bump in many areas of the city every few metres. Literally. driving in Bangalore is a frustrating experience because you are stuck in a perpetual loop of increasing speed and then slowing down. This isn’t helped by the fact that, in typical Indian fashion, there is no consistency between the size of the bumps.

This strikes me as a problem born out of solving potential problems isolated. I find it hard to believe that the cost of speeding related accidents outweigh frequent traffic jams, driver frustration, damaged clutch pates, other wear and tear, and the higher petrol costs that come with the constant speeding up and slowing down required. Could we just have had stricter clamp downs on speeding and mobile phone use instead?

Solving potential problems isolated arises due to an inability to ask deeper questions. It feels like a quick win. For example, a big reason exercise related new year’s resolutions break down is because people try to desperately fit in their exercise commitment into their schedule. So, if they’re out of time during the day, they decide to sleep an hour less to keep that commitment. It feels right. It feels like a win. But it isn’t. If that happens for two days in a row, the same person will lose productivity, become increasingly unhappy, and perhaps even unhealthy. The only way to solve that problem is to thoughtfully look at our whole day’s schedule and see where we might fit in the new pretender in. What started as an exercise problem soon becomes a scheduling problem and what begins as a scheduling problem soon becomes a priority and attitude problem.

Beware quick isolated solutions to problems. If the solution hasn’t been crafted thoughtfully, it probably hasn’t been done well. As you might have figured, this process isn’t about finding that quick answer. Google can do that. It’s about asking a few good questions. No one but you can  do that..

Where will I feel most pain?

Often, that’s a great question to identify the projects worth doing.

The pain of starting afresh, the pain of fighting the resistance, the pain of having to prove ourselves again are indicators of the sort of stretching required to learn and grow. It is easiest to stay stagnant. It might also be painless in the short term but pain in the short term has it’s way of paying off in the long term.

Our lizard brain prefers to trigger the flight response at the sight of pain. Perhaps it’s time to rewire it a bit..

Organic and farm-to-table – 7 learnings about the food and agriculture industry

I have been increasingly interested in food and agriculture industry having worked with a large agribusiness client. After many debates and discussions, here is my current thesis on understanding the industry as it is today and it’s implications on our lives –

1. Crops produced in large tracts of land cannot be produced without pesticides. Thanks to the nature of infections and pests, it is impossible to crops in large tracts of land without chemicals. The only way this can be avoided is by producing crops in small greenhouses.

2. Organic crops also use chemicals – the only difference is they are more dangerous and toxic. A crop is certified as organic if it uses pesticides that are naturally available. This results in farmers buying large amounts of Copper Sulphate and Arsenic and this, in turn, results in organic crop land having large amounts of (toxic) copper and Arsenic.

3. Manure is no better than synthetic fertilizer. Is having Nitrogen Phosphate via manure better than injecting a Nitrogen Phosphate molecule? Absolutely not. A chemical is a chemical. In fact, the cost of producing manure (i.e. the cost of raising a cow) is much higher in terms of carbon footprint and environmental effects.

4. Chemicals and genetically modified (GM) food are the future. Most of the available Papayas in the world are already genetically modified. This is going to be an increasing trend. We need technological advances in seeds and food to ensure we’re able to feed 10 billion people on this planet.

5. Organic will (unfortunately) remain a premium/luxury product. Organic farming will unfortunately be a tax on limited land. However, it will remain a luxury product. One can only hope that farmers and the FDA will understand the problem of shoving large amounts of Copper Sulphate into the soil. Heroin is naturally available and that does not mean it is good.

6. Farm-to-table is the way to go. The trouble with mass produced crops is that these are often plucked/picked before they are ripe and are ripened en-route to their destination by artificial means. We are better off eating ripe food and, as a result, the farm-to-table movement is very positive. Farmers markets are going to be the key to healthy eating.

7. The rules are different when it comes to mass producing meat and poultry. My understanding of this side of the industry is limited. My understanding so far points to organic being the way to go here. This is because the industry increasingly uses heavy injection of antibiotics and hormones into cattle and poultry in their bid to maximize output. Organic and “free-range” meat and poultry seem to be the way to go.

The big learning? Treat “organic” with healthy suspicion. Understanding how the food you eat is produced. And, remember, things are increasingly not the way they seem.

That sounds tough and sobering.. it is intentionally so.

Willing to meet someone half-way

If something goes wrong because of a mistake made by 2 people, the quickest remedies occur when both folks are willing to admit they made a mistake. “Sorry, I screwed up. What do we need to do to fix it?”

However, most large corporations make a game of this. Instead of using mistakes as an opportunity to reflect and get better, they start playing the blame game. That’s how we build an environment with decreasing trust levels since people are afraid to apologize on an email because they believe it’ll be taken out of context. It is a legitimate fear.

However, it also serves as a great test for a team’s culture – how willing is someone on the team to meet someone else at the half way mark? How willing are 2 people on the team to look others in the eye and say – “Sorry, we screwed up. And we’re going to work hard to fix it.”

Perhaps that ought to be the trust marker as we build our own teams. Great relationships are made of people willing to meet the other half-way. Great teams are no different.

No

Every time you say a yes, you are saying no. Opportunity cost – a simple concept in theory.

One of the best practitioners of opportunity cost that I know of is Seth Godin. There are 2 examples that I think about from time to time.

The first was when I emailed Seth asking him if he would be willing to do an interview. His response, as is the norm, was quick and straight to the point. He said “Sorry, I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.” I loved the words – “I wouldn’t be able to do it justice.” Exquisitely chosen. Clearly, he’s had a lot of practice at this.

The second example was when I thought about Seth’s approach to blogging. He just shows up, posts, and leaves. I think he’s got an automated script that shares his posts on Twitter and Facebook. He doesn’t engage on either platform and has turned off comments on his blog. And, yet, his blog is as successful as it gets. It’s not that Seth doesn’t engage – he’s as approachable as anybody. It’s just that he takes a clear stand on where he will and won’t engage.

Both of these examples are representative of Seth’s approach to time and work. This may not work for you and me because his priorities and approach is likely to be different from ours. But, his approach is telling. I learnt 3 things from the exchanges I had with Seth –

1. When you are saying yes, you are always saying no. Always. You can’t do everything. You will piss a few people off. And you just need to accept that.

2. Understand your priorities. If you want to make a positive difference in the world, then cultivate the discipline to say no to projects that don’t contribute to that. It begins with your priorities. Always.

3. Before you say yes, ask yourself if you will truly be able to do it justice. If the answer is no, don’t say it. It might seem like you’re making the other person happy. But, that’s just the short term. It’s not going to end well.

And, one last thing – if it helps at all, find people who do this well and take inspiration from them. Whenever I think of priorities and saying no, I think of Seth.

Thanks Seth.

Making your own agenda

When Viktor Frankl and hundreds of others were taken to a concentration camp, the Nazis had a clear plan for them – inhuman pain and perhaps painful death. Viktor Frankl, however, had different plans. He had his own agenda – understand human behavior by observing the behavior of his fellow prisoners.

There were hundreds of Nazi soldiers bent on making sure their plans were executed but Viktor Frankl’s clarity of thought and strength of will saw his through. As we know, it not only “just” saw him through but it lead his immense contribution to the world of psychology and the science behind happiness.

We are often pulled into events that weren’t part of our plans. Sometimes, like Frankl, we don’t have full control of these things. But, like Frankl, we do have a have a choice to make sure we think about and stay true to our agenda. Most experiences are what we make of it. It is perhaps no coincidence that we talk about “making” a difference.

Of course, it starts by making your own agenda.

Integrity in action

Follow up is integrity in action.

In that instance when you and I promise to follow up, we begin a test of our integrity. We’ve made a commitment. The big question – will we keep it?

This follow up promise may be to ourselves or to others, may be light or serious – it doesn’t matter. The nature of the promise doesn’t matter either. It could be a first draft of a presentation to the CEO, a commitment to study, a promise to clean the house before your spouse gets in, or your word to join friends for a trip to the bowling alley.

As far as integrity goes, it’s all the same. We’ve made a commitment and the question hasn’t changed. Are we going to keep it?

Follow up is integrity in action. Take your own word seriously or you will stop doing so over time and everyone you know will follow your lead.

Is failure bad?

Nikki Durkin, founder of 99dresses,  had a great post up today on the failure of her start-up. She describes the crazy journey in great detail and talks about her emotions following the failure.

“Most startups fail, and yet this industry doesn’t talk about failure nearly enough. I’d encourage anyone who has failed to write about how it felt, as I can’t tell you how much that would have helped me in those final months & weeks. I just wanted someone to relate to. Instead, I was left feeling isolated and ashamed.”

I was thinking about failure this morning as a few people had commented to one of my teammates on the Real Leaders Project that our “yeah, we quit” post felt negative. That is the exact opposite emotion I felt as I posted that. Somehow, the feeling was one of relief. We tried something, we screwed up, and we felt it was time to move on. Ours was only a weekend project in the grand scheme of things and yet, there was negativity associated with our failure to make it work.

In some ways, I can empathize with how Nikki must feel after 4 years of investment of sweat and tears. I can’t say I understand completely as I haven’t gone through the same experience myself – certainly not nearly at the intensity and magnitude of her experience. I have failed a fair bit though and can feel a part of her pain.

So, is failure good or bad? I think it is neither. At the risk of sounding overly philosophical, it just is. It is an event. It happens to most of us and to some a lot more than to others. Many pay the idea of celebrating failure lip service. They only celebrate failure if/when it leads to eventual success. That’s when you are lauded and celebrated for having persisted.

Me? I take a different view. I think an event can only be termed as a failure if you didn’t grow through the experience. Yes, Nikki’s start-up may have failed but I would term her experience a success – she’s grown through it, learnt a heck of a lot more about herself than many would over a lifetime, and has set herself up for a lot of happiness in the years to come. Joy wouldn’t feel good if it wasn’t for pain after all and it takes a few hard experience to really understand how good a life we lead. It also takes one to know one and I’m sure she’ll be a source of great encouragement and support to entrepreneurs all over the world.

Nikki, thanks for your heartfelt post. It matters. It made me think. And, as you might tell from this slightly scattered collection of thoughts, I’m still thinking. This blog has been built on the belief that you don’t fail, you only learn. And, in that spirit, you’ve made a big difference sharing your story for us all to learn from. And that’s success in my book.