Heaven and hell to the man, the horse and the dog

A man, his horse and his dog were traveling down a road. When they were passing by a gigantic tree, a bolt of lightning struck and they all fell dead on the spot.
But the man did not realize that he had already left this world, so he went on walking with his two animals; sometimes the dead take time to understand their new condition…

The journey was very long, uphill, the sun was strong and they were covered in sweat and very thirsty. They were desperately in need of water. At a bend in the road they spotted a magnificent gateway, all in marble, which led to a square paved with blocks of gold and with a fountain in the center that spouted forth crystalline water.
The traveler went up to the man guarding the gate.

“Good morning. What is this beautiful place?”
“This is heaven.”
“How good to have reached heaven, we’re ever so thirsty.”
“You can come in and drink all you want.”
“My horse and my dog are thirsty too.”
“So sorry, but animals aren’t allowed in here.”

The man was very disappointed because his thirst was great, but he could not drink alone; he thanked the man and went on his way. After traveling a lot, they arrived exhausted at a farm whose entrance was marked with an old doorway that opened onto a tree-lined dirt road.

A man was lying down in the shadow of one of the trees, his head covered with a hat, perhaps asleep.

“Good morning,” said the traveler. “We are very thirsty – me, my horse and my dog.”
“There is a spring over in those stones,” said the man, pointing to the spot. “Drink as much as you like.”
The man, the horse and the dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. Then the traveler went back to thank the man.

“By the way, what’s this place called?”
“Heaven.”
“Heaven? But the guard at the marble gate back there said that was heaven!”
“That’s not heaven, that’s hell.”
The traveler was puzzled.
“You’ve got to stop this! All this false information must cause enormous confusion!”

The man smiled:
“Not at all. As a matter of fact they do us a great favor. Because over there stay all those who are even capable of abandoning their best friends…”

Source: Paulo Coelho’s Blog

3 attributes of a great football player equated to..

a good team player at the workplace?

I’ve found from time to time that great football players have 2 or more of the following 3 basic attributes –

1) Eye for pass
2) Ability to make space/find space
3) First touch and ball control..

What would they be for a professional?

1) Eye for pass = Ability to engage people..
2) Making/Finding space = Finding opportunities and taking initiative..
3) Ball control = Skill/ expertise at the job. This comes from years of practice of course..

Interesting – when I think of it like this..

You are sleep deprived at the very start of the day, staring at your work screen – go the admin way..

The law of inertia has taken over and you have NO mood whatsoever to get started.

I’ve realized that the best way to build momentum is to take an admin task that requires no brain work whatsoever. It could simply be making a task list of actionable items for the day. That greatly helps build the momentum and get the day started..

And once it does start, all of a sudden, the law of inertia is working in our favor! :)

Aaj ka yeh din hai mera din meri marzi ka..

(Translates to: Today is the day – my day to do what i want)

This is in reference to the best day ever invented for all those on full time jobs – Friday.

This is a song by up and coming band Goldspot – has an English version and a less popular (but in my humble view better) Hindi version. This song has made my past week in anticipation of Friday and the weekend and now that we’re almost all set to start a new week – here’s to waiting for the next awesome weekend! :)

Friday – English

Lyrics here

Friday – Hindi

—
Until next friday! :)

Conditioning, conditioning..

I was reflecting on a list of my favorite sports management movies. The list toppers are ‘Remember the Titan’ and ‘Miracle’ and then I would have the hindi movie that combined these 2 are remade it in an Indian hockey women’s team situation ‘Chak De India’.

Nevertheless, the common factor in these movies and many more that involve under dog teams doing the impossible has been a seemingly dictatorial coach who drove the teams crazy with intense practice sessions and many annoying rules. 3 things happened in the process –

1) The whole team unified against the coach forgetting petty differences.

2) The moment they played a few games and saw the real value of a coach as good as the ones they had, they began to believe..

3) Most importantly, the team became incredibly well conditioned. They may not have been the most talented teams but they were certainly the fittest.

It’s all about conditioning I’ve realized and the big question to ask myself is

‘Am I conditioned enough to become the Associate that adds the highest value in the industry? I.e. Do I have the necessary physical fitness, mental strength and intensity to consistently sustain great performance?’

That’s a thinker!