Category: Everything else

On Approach and Richard Feynman

This week’s learning draws inspiration from ‘Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman’ by Richard P Feynman.

When I began reading Richard Feynman’s autobiography, I expected to understand what made this Nobel Laureate tick. Of course, I expected to hear his life story and all his accomplishments in the field of Physics.. but I wasn’t prepared to hear about his expertise in..

1. Drumming: While Feynman was a guest lecturer in Brazil, he learnt how to play the Brazilian drum. He was so good that he was considered a role model drummer for his marching band at the world famous car-na-val. Even while he was lecturing, he did drumming on the side and recorded music.

2. Art: Feynman learnt to draw while he was at CalTech. As an amateur artist, he painted many a model and even sold many of his paintings. He was so much in demand at one point that he was even paid in advance for a work of art.

3. Safe cracking and Lock picking: While at New Mexico for the famous atomic bomb project, Feynman became an expert lock picker and safe cracker. He was so good that he was called on any time a colleague was on vacation and had left their safes locked.

And all this aside from being one of the most celebrated Physicists of all time. The point here is that he used his in-depth learning approach as a student of Physics and applied it to become an accomplished student of drumming, art and safe cracking.



While Feynman’s genius in Physics might have extended to safe tracking and lock picking (logic being the base..), his expertise in Art and Drumming came from his ‘approach.’

True top performers are not good at just one thing alone. Being best in the world at something means they can apply their learning ‘approach’ to anything they try!

Here’s to working towards being ‘best-in-the-world’ at one thing!

Anthems

There’s almost never been a better age for a musician. Thanks to the iPod, YouTube and Smartphones, the world is literally a stage.

Now, of all the songs produced, we have many ‘good’ songs, some very good and few ‘great’. Very very very few, though, become ‘Anthems.’
I call them ‘Anthems’ because it doesn’t matter where you are or who you are with, these songs get people tapping their feet or clapping, happily.
I have only seen 2 so far that have that sort of universal reach. ‘Summer of 69‘ by Bryan Adams and more recently, I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas.
And what is always jaw dropping is the effect that these songs have on people’s faces. Play them, and you are guaranteed to have more smiles in the room! It almost seems like people are transported into a different world – a world of positive memories the moment they hear these songs.
I’ve often wondered what it takes for great songs to become ‘anthems.’
We often tend to have anthems at RealAcad – it is a perfect setting for an anthem – the sort of ‘intense’ 1 week experience where a song gets stuck in your head, a song that reminds you of the great time you had – a bonding moment of sorts. Of the ‘anthems’, I remember Zombie (I managed to fish out an old crazy video) and the reason I began writing this post.
I had Adele playing on my playlist. At the camp in Stanford, the big hit song was Rolling in the Deep..
I have no idea how this song became our ‘anthem’ but it did. This song was playing in our heads for a good week after the camp and I can guarantee you that every time this song plays, every one of those at the camp will have a smile on their faces.. remembering the great times!
But, we’re still a small group, of course. And I’m sure you share such anthems with groups of friends, colleagues etc.
Now, imagine a song that does that for groups of millions. That puts the anthem statuses of ‘Summer of 69’ and ‘I Gotta Feeling’ (and, possibly, a few other ‘anthems’ out there) in perspective. Pretty incredible.

Half

Half awake I lay
I love those moments
When I flirt with consciousness
To wake up or not to wake up
To think or not to think
While I was thinking thus
My mind wandered
And spent a few moments remembering the old couple
The old couple I’d seen on the train
Helping each other
Must be in their 90s, I remember thinking then
I observed them from a distance
As they talked and laughed
I could feel years and years of memories
And the connection
How could I forget?
The connection
We all long for connection
Maybe that’s why we end up as halves in a pair, happily
That way, we live secure knowing we are always connected
No matter what
And at that moment, I realized I looked around
And sighed
For I felt exactly like a half would
Incomplete
.
—
It always amazes me (among the many things..) as to how much we can learn by just listening to ourselves when we are half awake..

John Wooden and Perfect Socks

Harsha Bhogle wrote a very good article on the need to ‘sweat the small stuff’. He wrote it in the wake of India’s crushing defeat in cricket at the hands of England.
The point he makes reminded me of this story..

John Wooden, the coach who won 10 basketball championships for UCLA in 12 years, is rightly considered among *the* greatest coaches of all time.

At the start of every season, the best young basketball players in the US would show up for practice. And guess what Wooden would start with?

He would show them how to put on their socks!

Why? Because if they couldn’t put their socks on just right, they might get a blister. Get a blister and they might miss practice time. Miss practice time and their game-time performance would suffer.

The equation was simple: Blister = No championship.

Often, when we see blisters (anxiety, fatigue), we ignore the fundamental causes (lack of exercise, inspiring goals) and reach instead for band-aids (remote control, doctor).

This week, let’s remember to take a look at how we’re putting on our ‘socks’.

(John Wooden with Kareem Abdul Jabbar)

Connecting the Dots

Very few CEO’s have the sort of aura that Steve Jobs has earned for himself over the years.

As a goodbye to the man, I would like to share his world famous commencement speech. There is a lot to learn from the speech..
I personally love the thought that ‘the dots always connect.’
It has held true in my short journey so far..
Oh, and one last thing (in true Steve Jobs style)
Stay hungry, Stay Foolish :)

Phil Dunphy

I tend to look forward to my 20-30 mins of ‘TV’ time on the computer every night while having dinner. It is my relaxation at the end of a day.
And every once in a while, there comes a character who makes me smile every time he/she show up on screen. Chandler Bing did that with F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Phil Dunphy does this for me with Modern Family.
Modern Family, for the uninitiated, is a show that brings together the families of an old father and his 2 children as one large ‘Modern Family’. What I love most about Modern Family is that they start most episodes with good questions.. and always end it with a meaningful moral. Some of them have stuck with me – especially one that ended with ‘90% of being a Dad is just showing up.‘
As for the subject of my post, Phil Dunphy is a key character – father of 3 kids and a generally sweet husband.. he considers himself the ‘cool dad’ (his kids vehemently disagree!) and believes in a parenting style called ‘peer-enting’ i.e. where you treat your kids like they are your peers. He is a real estate salesman by profession and quite the tech geek.
All in all, Phil Dunphy is just someone who makes me laugh practically every time he shows up on screen. And for that, Ty Burrell, I must thank you..
There’s so much of ‘grim’ news floating out in the media that it is a relief to have a bit of time just catching up on some good ol’ humor. And Phil Dunphy and the Modern Family cast help me with that..

That Moment of Happiness

I finally made it back to London with all immigration battles fought (for the EU and US citizens who are laughing, it is not funny! :)) and with an all clear to stay here till August next year. That is saying something considering it’s taken a rather annoying and at times, agonizing few months getting these things done.
Happy as I was – a sigh escaped me when I read yesterday that it would be the ‘last sunny day’ in London for a little while.
And I got out of a tube station this morning trying to make it on time for an appointment with it pouring cats and dogs. Another sigh escaped me.. as I rummaged in my bag and pulled out my windcheater, wore it on top of my existing shirt+suit as I needed some cover for my head and then tried fumbling for directions via Google Maps on my phone.
I (thanks to an unusual flash of wisdom) switched off my audio book as I realized I was stressing my system as I know it can’t handle multi tasking.
So, there I was – 850AM in the morning – half drenched with 3 layers of clothing, trying to find my way using Google Maps while trying to make sure my phone is not completely drenched in the process. Possibly more reasons to ‘sigh’ especially if I thought of my sunny Singapore..
That very moment, I remembered Viktor Frankl and a whole bunch of things I had written about, and decided it was time to take control of my own happiness. So, I switched on some music and that moment, I felt a surge of happiness.
Within a few moments, I could feel the spring in my step as I was singing happily in the rain. The sort of spring that accompanies moments of happiness, moments of unexpected joy..
‘Life is not about surviving the storm. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.’
The sort of joy that comes from practicing what I preach I guess.. :)
—
And since we are on the topic of music, here’s a new tune..