Winners put their shoulder to the wheel

Vision

Helps us to identify our goals, bring visibility in our being able to convert it into a practical reality. It makes us decide on the concrete actions that need to be taken to reach where we want. It helps us make sure that we understand our goal and what we need to do to reach it. It makes us work in a result-oriented way rather than in a loose or ad-hoc way where we just respond to issues and crises with no clear plan. Planning helps us to see in advance those things that can help us achieve our goal and those things that can prevent us from achieving our goal and effectively plan out what needs to be done about them. It helps us to be accountable for what we do, decide how best to use our resources (people, time, money, information, equipment) so that they make the most significant contribution towards achieving our goal. Get_more_out_of_yourself

‘Flowers of Hell’: Nguyen Chi Thien: The poems were under his shirt, 400 of them. The date was July 16th 1979, just two days he noted them after the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. Freedom day he got arrested while attempting go inside the embassy in Hanoi. The mind’s treasury was a safer place for those poems. He kept them almost half his life time the only place he had. In prison he was allowed no pen, paper or books. He therefore memorized in the quite each one of the 400 poems, carefully revised it for several days, and mentally files it away. If it did not work he mentally deleted it. He sent his poems out of communist Vietnam. They were published as ‘flowers of Hell’, translated into half a dozen languages, and won the international poetry Award in 1985. He heard about the award vaguely, in his various jails. In Hao Lo, the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, one of his captors furiously waved a book in his face. To his delight, he saw it was his own. [The Economist Oct’2012 ] The will is your strength and path for your future and success of your dream for that you need to get out of yourself more with conviction till you achieve your dream.

Cited herein below is an impressive story that clearly establishes how one can get more out of themselves:

Champion

‘Lightning Bolt’: Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. (Born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and four-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 meters, the 200 meters and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 meters relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time. His 2008 season began with his first world record performance—a 100 m world record of 9.72 s—and culminated in world and Olympic records in both the 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran 9.69 s for the 100 m and 19.30 s in the 200 m, and also set a 4×100 m relay record of 37.10 s with the Jamaican team and made him the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics. The following year he further lowered his own 100 m and 200 m world records to 9.58 s and 19.19 s respectively at the 2009 World Championships. In London, the 25-year-old Bolt left no doubt that he is history’s greater sprinter. In the semis he ran a 9.87 while doing the backstroke across the finish line. In the final, against the best field in Olympic history, he ran a breathtaking, no-doubt-about-it 100 meters, an Olympic-record time of 9.63 seconds. His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname ‘Lightning Bolt’, and awards including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Track and Field Athlete of the Year, and Laureus Sportsman of the Year. Sportspro has rated Usain Bolt as the 4th most marketable athlete in the world.

‘What may be done at any time will be done at no time.’ ~Scottish Proverb

Keep our nose to the grindstone

Grind

You have more knowledge about your social environment than ever before. But are you using that “know how” to out win your trivial? If not, you fail to exploit your potential. –Dr. V. V. Rao

Nothing can be achieved if you do not have defined goals. These goals have to be short term and long term. The goals must be SMARTER and broadly aligned to your dream, strategy, habits, practices and techniques: Specific (Significant, Stretching, Simple), Measurable (Meaningful, Motivational, Manageable), Attainable (Appropriate, Achievable, Agreed, Assignable), Relevant (Result-Based, Resourced, Resonant, Realistic), Timely (Time-oriented, Timetabled, Time limited, Tangible), Evaluate (Ethical, Excitable, Enjoyable, Engaging, Ecological) and Reevaluate (Reassess, Revisit, Rewarding)

Review and assess the goals daily, weekly, monthly and yearly depending on the type of the goal, necessity and requirement. Define unit of measurements, compare the goals with your results, also with bench marks of the world records and achievements. When you first sit down to write your professional goal’s statement, you may think it would be easy. You must be an extremely goal oriented person, with your entire life till now being spent focusing on ‘what is next’. So, how difficult could it be to simply write down those goals? When you begin writing, however, you may discover it is going to be a little more difficult than you anticipated. You may realize that it may be possible to have too many goals. Your list may be too long and confusing with some goals very specific, while others very vague. So you may have to re-evaluate your list and discover that your goals can actually be divided into three predictable categories: immediate goals, short-term goals, and long-term goals and further you could pose the following questions to formulate your goals in a SMATER way. 

Is the objective acceptable to you? Is the objective adaptable to unforeseen changes in the environment? Does the objective clearly state what will be achieved and when it will be achieved? Is the objective achievable? Can it be reached? Is the objective’s target high enough to challenge, yet realistic and achievable? Does the goal/objective fit with the mission / purpose and with other important long-term objectives? Have you really understood what you are trying to accomplish and achieve by setting the specific long-term objective? Why do some teams fail while others excel? What are the differences that lead to success? The following four points summarize 20 years of research by [H J Leavitt and Lipman-blumen, ‘Extreme Teams,’ Fast Company Nov’1999]

Work matters: Job satisfaction does not necessarily translate into successful teams. Employees can be quite happy and yet very unproductive. What is more important is what individuals find in their work. This creates intrinsic motivation that results in both satisfaction and productivity.

Titles do not matter: Great teams ignore hierarchies. The focus is on getting the work done, not who has the most prestigious title. Titles create expectations rather than team work.

People bond in the heart of battle: There is a mistaken notion that building relationships through social interaction makes great teams. Rather, working together through crisis and challenges is what brings people together.

Team take care of their own. Teamwork does not exclude individualism; teams make it safe to be an individualist. Individual contributions are brought together in a synergised. ‘Group think’ only hinders creativity.

One more example of why execution is the job of you: A farmer had an old age dog. One day his old dog fell into a dry well. At first, the farmer was at a loss as to what to do. I suppose the dog also was at a loss. Then the farmer said to himself, ‘It is an old dog. Why do I not put an end to its misery? He could either starve to death, or I can bury the dog and cover up the well at the same time?’ so the farmer started shoveling the dirt into the well. At first, the dog barked furiously, and the farmer felt sad but has had no real choice. Then there was absolute silence. Guessing that the dog was now under the dirt, the farmer looked down. The dog was wagging his tail and looking up at the farmer. He realized that each time he pushed the dirt into the well the dog would just shake it off and get on top of the pile. The dog eventually ‘rode’ the pile of new dirt to the top.

Execution is your job and put your money where your mouth is

No one else can do your job, to see through that your dream become a reality, you need to put effort on that. You need to sacrifice the complacence  you need to devote time on your dream, you need to commit your time, effort, skills, capability, money to fulfill your dream, and you need to break your habits, utilize practices & enhance your skills & competency continually. The following questions will help direct effective focus on how you are performing:

Every day look into your dream board and ask yourself “am I doing justification to my dream and am I doing the right things at the right time?”

“Universe on a rubber band”, String theorist Ashok Sen won $3 millions international physics award for expanding the understanding of what is possible. Indian scientist was digging into the deepest mysteries of the universe from a little known research institute in a remote corner of rural state of Uttar Pradesh-India. What is the string theory? “One of the question that always puzzled human kind is, what are we, and everything around us, made of,” Modern science has responded by dividing matter into its smallest particles: Molecules, atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, quarks and so on. According to string theory, if we could examine these particles with even greater precision – that is currently beyond our technological capacity- we would find that matter ultimately consists of tiny, vibrating loops, like infinitely thin rubber bands. Away from the big city life, Mr. Sen achieved the best and got more out of self in a bigger way than any others who were having excellent facilities and infrastructures. [August’2012 India Today]

All type of execution is your job starting from planning, problem solving, innovation, operations execution and even the best practices of evolution. 

Get more out of your self

There is only one life to live and many dreams to achieve. Time is passing by fast and there is so much to see, do and achieve in life that one must desire to make the best of every opportunity and the time at hand to get more out of oneself. Your behavior is the key to help you understand how you can get more value from your time, efforts, actions and team. And don’t forget to follow through with yourself and the extent to which ideas, thoughts, actions and efforts are being driven consistently as per plan towards your goals, never sidelining the constancy of purpose while making necessary course corrections along the way to stay focused and determined to make your dreams happen, to succeed and excel. The following are the 18 keys to get more out of your-self and I will be taking you through in my next 18 blogs for that keep following me at www.765ways2win.com

1. Execution is your job and put your money where your mouth is
2. Set clear goals and keep your nose to the grindstone
3. Winners put their shoulder to the wheel for an effective planning
4. Organize your-self head and shoulders above everyone      
5. Bring daily rhythm with one-track mind
6. Organizing and maintaining a balanced life is necessary for blue blood too
7. In a nutshell right first time and every time is must  
8. Be cool as cucumber and you have things to do
9. Performing consistently and cut the mustard
10. Button your lip and you have habits to break
11. Chicken feed is also important to control costs
12. You have a life to live and don’t live through the grapevine
13. You have to value each minute of your life to perform on your dream
14. You have happiness to find peace and a wild goose chase does not work
15. Build internal feedback mechanism with a red letter day
16. Learn to recognize, deal with unreasonable tasks and excuses
17. High-level thinking is too broad & take it with a grain of salt
18. Follow through and get things done as if ants are in your pants

Method & Tool for Walk the Talk

There is only one definite way to ‘Walk your talk’ and that is to remind yourself and your heart about your purpose in life.

Method

Be with your belief, truth and translate your values to bring a cultural shift for building credibility. Start with small steps, dig yourself into real issues of the world and cut all your habits to demonstrate factual ‘Walk the talk’. Walking the talk becomes a reality when habits are fixed and followed daily, steadily, without rushing from one act to another without any linkage or progress. Habits are nothing but small not rushed acts made in the form of daily actions that become a habit which is linked with the personality and catches people’s attention as a person of character, who walks the talk.

Tool

Intellectual views on ‘Walk the Talk’:

1.   I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people, who live what they teach, who walk their talk. - Tony Robbins

2.   Walking your talk is a great way to motivate yourself. No one likes to live a lie. Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you advise. - Vince Poscente

3.    May your life speak more loudly than your lips. - William Ellery Channing

4.    Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. - Mahatma Gandhi

5.    Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds - William Shakespeare

6.   Your children will see what you're all about by what you live rather than what you say. - Wayne Dyer

7.    Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.’ - Dr. Seuss

8.   The best way to predict the future is to give a promise and then to carry it out. - Hannah Arendt

9.    Fear not, my lord, we will not stand to prate; Talkers are no good doers: be assured we come to use our hands and not our tongues. - Shakespeare's Richard III

10. ‘Well done is better than well said’. - Benjamin Franklin

This is my last blog on "Walk the Talk", Thank you very much for your comments and feedback. While writing I was re-calibrating with my inner-self and I was learning every moment continually.

Stick to your choice

Your choice

To accomplish our dreams one of the habit that one needs to develop is to confidently, without getting intimidated by people, circumstances and consequences be able to speak one’s mind. In the current environment, we need to set boundaries.  By setting clear boundaries of our values, we are enabling ourselves to find the balance it will actually provide energy to each aspect of our lives. Setting boundaries in our heart and mind will enable us to speak our mind and get the important things done.

“To thy own self, be true, and it must follow, as the night and the day, thou canst not then be false to any man” (William Shakespeare, 1564-1616). The wonderful thing about character and integrity is that they are intimately related and also one of the few things in life that no one will ever be able to forcefully take away from you. Your good choices are your own. Even though someone can take your life, they can't force you to make a choice that you believe is wrong.  Look at the choices you've made in your past and observe how much you have or haven't lived by those principles. Be conscious every day of the decisions you make, however big or small and how close they bring you to being the person you really want to become.

Remember "...until a person can say deeply and honestly, I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday, that person cannot say, I choose otherwise."  Stephen R. Covey

A hungry wolf killed a sheep and wore its skin to get to the flock of sheep and kill some more. The sheep all thought that the wolf was also one of them and they lost their life. To accomplish your dream be with your gut level original choice.

I was reading “Achal Bakeri rescued Symphony by zeroing in on the products and tactics that were the company’s original recipe for success”, [ Forbes India, Aug’2012] Achal Bakeri narrated to Samar Srivastava as: Here is how it happened. In 1987 we moved into a new house in Ahmadabad, India, parts of which could not be air conditioned as it had high ceilings and long passages. Our architects suggested that we install air cooling. Till then we had never used air cooler. The performance was great but the product was an eyesore and we had to camouflage it.  That gave me an idea: Why can’t I make a better air cooler?  The next year I introduced my first cooler in the market under the Symphony brand name. I made sure it looked exactly like a wind air conditioner. By 1994 it became the national brand and we had our IPO. With lot of reasons of financial market and customer expectations we diversified into many more products such as washing machines, water heaters, flour mills, water purifiers and exhaust fans. None of these products succeeded. The reasons were different for each product category. First a lot of money went into development. Second, money went into marketing. As none of these products succeeded, there was a financial strain. The other thing that happened was that we took eye off the ball in the air cooler business, so the innovation was stopped with that result the range could not be expanded. As a result, by 2001 we had completely eroded our net worth and we became Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction Company.

That’s when I had two options – to shut shop or to revive the Company and stuck to the original choice of “Air cooler”. So we decided to focus and exited from all the other product lines. Between 2002 to 2008, our net margins doubled from 10 to 20 percent. Our most significant turning point came in 2008. We got an opportunity to acquire a majority stake in a Mexican company. Later we cooled a 200,000 square foot hall. This is something no one is doing on an organized scale in India. This is a virgin market. The potential is huge and we are currently talking to Walmart to air cool their super centers in Central America.

We have come a long way since our BIFR days. Today our market cap is at Rs. 800 crore, we are world’s largest air cooling company. Today, when we meet people from the markets, they ask me why I don’t get into other categories. But this time history is not going to repeat itself.  

Achal Bakeri’s Symphony stuck to the original good choice and instincts that steered them from being a sick company to a largest air cooler world player. 

Stick to your original choice

SYM

To accomplish our dreams one of the habit that one needs to develop is to confidently, without getting intimidated by people, circumstances and consequences be able to speak one’s mind. In the current environment, we need to set boundaries.  By setting clear boundaries of our values, we are enabling ourselves to find the balance it will actually provide energy to each aspect of our lives. Setting boundaries in our heart and mind will enable us to speak our mind and get the important things done.

“To thy own self, be true, and it must follow, as the night and the day, thou canst not then be false to any man” (William Shakespeare, 1564-1616). The wonderful thing about character and integrity is that they are intimately related and also one of the few things in life that no one will ever be able to forcefully take away from you. Your good choices are your own. Even though someone can take your life, they can't force you to make a choice that you believe is wrong.  Look at the choices you've made in your past and observe how much you have or haven't lived by those principles. Be conscious every day of the decisions you make, however big or small and how close they bring you to being the person you really want to become.

Remember "...until a person can say deeply and honestly, I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday, that person cannot say, I choose otherwise."  Stephen R. Covey

A hungry wolf killed a sheep and wore its skin to get to the flock of sheep and kill some more. The sheep all thought that the wolf was also one of them and they lost their life. To accomplish your dream be with your gut level original choice.

I was reading “Achal Bakeri rescued Symphony by zeroing in on the products and tactics that were the company’s original recipe for success”, [ Forbes India, Aug’2012] Achal Bakeri narrated to Samar Srivastava as: Here is how it happened. In 1987 we moved into a new house in Ahmadabad, India, parts of which could not be air conditioned as it had high ceilings and long passages. Our architects suggested that we install air cooling. Till then we had never used air cooler. The performance was great but the product was an eyesore and we had to camouflage it.  That gave me an idea: Why can’t I make a better air cooler?  The next year I introduced my first cooler in the market under the Symphony brand name. I made sure it looked exactly like a wind air conditioner. By 1994 it became the national brand and we had our IPO. With lot of reasons of financial market and customer expectations we diversified into many more products such as washing machines, water heaters, flour mills, water purifiers and exhaust fans. None of these products succeeded. The reasons were different for each product category. First a lot of money went into development. Second, money went into marketing. As none of these products succeeded, there was a financial strain. The other thing that happened was that we took eye off the ball in the air cooler business, so the innovation was stopped with that result the range could not be expanded. As a result, by 2001 we had completely eroded our net worth and we became Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction Company.

That’s when I had two options – to shut shop or to revive the Company and stuck to the original choice of “Air cooler”. So we decided to focus and exited from all the other product lines. Between 2002 to 2008, our net margins doubled from 10 to 20 percent. Our most significant turning point came in 2008. We got an opportunity to acquire a majority stake in a Mexican company. Later we cooled a 200,000 square foot hall. This is something no one is doing on an organized scale in India. This is a virgin market. The potential is huge and we are currently talking to Walmart to air cool their super centers in Central America.

We have come a long way since our BIFR days. Today our market cap is at Rs. 800 crore, we are world’s largest air cooling company. Today, when we meet people from the markets, they ask me why I don’t get into other categories. But this time history is not going to repeat itself.  

Achal Bakeri’s Symphony stuck to the original good choice and instincts that steered them from being a sick company to a largest air cooler world player.