'DE'Clutter for a happier 'You'

It was last week when I saw the signs of my laptop going to crash soon. I rushed to the IT department and they suggested - I need to get the laptop formatted. So they asked me to take a backup of my work on company's cloud and come back in the morning.

This looked easy at the beginning. All I had to do was Ctrl A followed by Ctrl C, copy all the folders and Ctrl V on cloud drive. But I paused. I looked at the size of data. It was more than 30 GB. It was first time in 4 years, I was taking a back-up, it had to be huge. But then, a thought crossed my mind - Do I have to copy all the data? Is it all worth it? I looked at the folder structure. It was all in a mess. When I started 4 years back, it was all organized but over the years, it just blew up! Sigh! I stared at my D:drive. I wondered how come all these years I never thought of sorting this content mess. What had kept me away? I took a deep breath and started. One by one, opening the folders, browsing through the files and deleting the major junk I had religiously kept because of the rational - that one day, it might come handy. All the while, I smiled. I had forgot of so many things I had on my laptop for future reading, reference purposes and what not. Things that didn't make sense now. During this exercise, I tried to stick to a consulting approach we often use in rationalization projects - Discard, Merge, Renew, New. I dumped the files which had become obscure. I merged the content of files which made more sense and had one reference for one topic. I kept aside the files which I have to work upon now. And also noted few topics for my future work. This entire exercise lasted for 3 -4 hours. And it felt so good at the end. In the end, I barely took 7 GB of backup. I might not have worked that day in office. I just did this one exercise but no regrets.

That day, I felt happy internally and a sense of satisfaction engulfed me. The following weekend, I and my partner cleaned our room and cupboards, took out the things we no longer use including dozen of clothes. We gave away all of it. And now we have more space in our room. The vibes have changed and we both feel good about it.

This entire gamut of events left a positive impact on me. As I think again, I realize we don't often take a break to de-clutter: declutter our places where we live, declutter our electronic gadgets and declutter our mind. And so, in all the madness we live in, all the things we pile up for long obstructs our view of reality. It is good to sort out things. There is no need to carry the burden of everything all the time. We need to learn to let go old things and thoughts, and move on, make a room for new. This will help us to grow! I look forward to take this exercise frequently ( at least twice annually).

 I would love to hear your thoughts and experience related to decluttering the mess. Please share them in the comment section below. 

Things little bird told me : Book review

I am an ardent user of Twitter. Love this internet platform that restricts the usage to 140 characters, emphasizing on the need of crisp and clear communication, allowing us to be more creative in sharing our messages with people around. And hence, picking the book - Things little bird told me, became an obvious choice for me. The book gives a powerful insight into the life of Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter. It is engaging and full of interesting anecdotes. This book chronicles his journey from college drop out to becoming a cofounder of one of the internet sensation platform. It's a journey of an individual who believed in creation of opportunities via creativity and not plain hard work alone.

Stone always believed in creativity and creating opportunities by himself. Whether it was his job as a box mover, designer at a publishing house or at google, or being a podcaster, the fellow kept working on creating new opportunities to test his skills and passion till his heart finally found the idea that struck a chord. From there, there was no looking back. Though, like any other startup, the ride was not an easy one, from bumpy days of software failures and scalability issues etc. , team triumphed all shortcomings by owning their mistake and improving the service. The team put to use the common tricks mentioned in every success books such as know and follow your customer, which they popularly termed 'wisdom of crowds'. Knowing where the trend is going and customizing the tool functionalities to meet those needs, being open-minded to new ideas led Twitter floating so far.

During the course of time, role of Stone also matured in his relationships and at work. There were exits and home coming. There were offers and denials. There were conspiracies and righteousness. He has been open about how his life unfolded at every step. Like that, Twitter also transformed. Who would have thought that a simple communication platform will empower people to do great things. It's astonishing how human race uses this tool in their own creative capacity. Be it doing promotions during political elections, fundraising initiatives, driving positive social changes or simply sharing about mundane work, it has done its work of creating a connected society. As Stone rightly puts that technology has the power to become the 'connectivity tissue of humanity', unite and mobilize people for a better cause. 

Overall, the book is an interesting and easy read, power packed with the life lessons for entrepreneurs. Stone is relatable and quotable. In his closing remarks, he encourages readers to alter their course of journey by taking action ( time and a bit of luck does matter) versus jumping into the chasm blindly. His way of putting events in a quirky way is what brings life to this book. Happy reading!

Missing 'Creative Hat' in Strategy?

Coming from a consulting background, most of our assignments are related to designing a strategy for our client – new product introduction, revenue increment strategy, data and analytics strategy etc.  And by default, our minds are wired to use standard mental models, proven analytical models in our work. But time are changing and so is the demand. Clients are now looking for innovative, disruptive solutions to set an example, increase their market share. And I believe, this has led the consulting world to acknowledge the missing pillar of ‘creativity’ in their modus operandi. If you see the trend, in last 3 years or so, we have courses on ‘design-thinking’ on online educational websites, in premier institutes. Big consulting firms have roles related to it and are boosting about this newly acquired credentials. 

In my view, this is the need of the hour – bringing creativity in strategy. But often, our conventional thinking holds us back in accepting it, practicing it in our daily routine tasks. Recently, I read an HBR article which resonates the same idea – “Strategy needs Creativity”. It list four effective and different approaches to embrace creativity in our thinking –

1. Contrast

2. Combination

3. Constraint

4. Context

Contrast- Going by its literal meaning of strikingly different from something. We need to challenge the underlying assumptions of the problems we are looking at and seek answers. Do they still hold true? For example, IKEA challenged the conventional furniture business by questioning is it necessary to deliver assembled furniture only? Can we create furniture that consumers can assemble themselves and reduce assembly costs? Who knew, people all over the world would embrace this idea. Similarly, look at how Netflix has challenged the conventional notion of video stores, took advantage of growing telecom reach, by delivering videos to the customers on their devices in much more convenient manner.

Combination- In today’s world, this is most sought out approach. Look around and we are surrounded by numerous such examples where in two independent products or services are working together in sync and delivering value. Be it banking and telecom, health tech, transport etc. For example, Nike+ IPod, where in Nike shoes counts the steps and communicate with IPod. And with the advent of IoT, we are bound to witness many more disruptions in coming times.

Constraint- Some results are best delivered under constraints. We are challenged to work around within the given boundaries of work and deliver results. So, instead of thinking what we are missing, our mind starts thinking how to take the best advantage of given condition. Many artists make use of this approach to produce one of the finest piece of art. This is a way to turn our weakness into strength unlike SWOT analysis, wherein our focus is on strengths.

Context – This is the most heavily used approach in consulting these days. We often do a lot of context switching across industry esp. in analytical use case scenarios. Clients often wants to know what is best in-class solution / strategy. And they are open to ideas which have been implemented in other industry and can be tweaked in their context. With machine learning based AI solutions gaining momentum, this approach will play a key role in deciding how a product can be used in unexpected ways, discovering new ways of looking at problems at multiple dimensions.

With these four different approaches making its way in the world of consulting, we can surely expect amazing and out-of-the-box strategies in market to blow our minds. As far as being a consultant in this new age world, it means, we need to put our creative hats and sync the ideas with our conventional competencies to sustain and grow up the ladder.

P.S.: You may read the full HBR article here - Strategy-needs-creativity

Lessons from Wise 'Guy'

Being a TEDx'er, watching TED and TEDx talks is one of my favorite pass time. Not only you come across brilliant ideas and concepts, but you met so many people virtually, who share the same passion, vision and ideas.

Recently I stumbled upon a new TEDx video, video by Guy Kawasaki. I am sure, you must have heard his name if you are a techie, digital media person or a budding entrepreneur. If not, he is a smiling Japanese US person, marketing specialist and venture capitalist. He had his own stint with Apple and with Mr. Jobs.

In his recent TEDx talk at Palo Alto, he defines his 10 point tactical strategy to get things done-

1. Get high and to the right. Whenever you have an idea, you have to question and ask yourself where are you placed on this 2 X 2 matrix of uniqueness and valuable. Always, one has to be in the upper right corner.
2. Adapt a growth mindset. Guy recommends this book - Mindset by Carol. Dweck
3. Embrace grit.
4. Smile - yes, there's no reason to put up a show of a tough / angry guy.
5. Default to 'yes' - Isn't it surprising? We are wired to default 'no'. Saying yes may open plethora of opportunities.
6. Raise the tide - It's no longer the zero sum game.
7. Pay it forward - always do the work without expectations, rewards. He himself believes that there's a karmic scoreboard in the sky.
8. Examine everything. Don't blindly accept or reject anything. Feel free to examine each and every thing. This is one of the most critical points to ponder and act. We all have preconceived notions and often fail to expand our horizon of opinion beyond that.
9. Never lie or shade the truth- there's only one version of truth which is much better to handle than lying and losing hair on covering up the lie with another lie.
10. Enable people to pay you back - tell them frankly how they can help you rather than leaving them guessing. Read the book ' Influence'. 

He concludes his talk by asking people to complain less, stop overthinking about folks and their bad intentions. Just relax, enjoy and have fun in whatever you do. 

Here's the link to his TEDx talk. Enjoy watching!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2oZ2ucI1mA

Born to Run: Book Review

And I am back. Don't know how many comebacks have I done till now. This place keeps pulling me to share my strongest thoughts and views. So, I am back to my blog world with a different flavor of writing - my first attempt at writing a book review. Never before have I written a book review, not even on Amazon or Goodreads , usually escape by giving the ratings. And so I chose to write a review on a book about running ( something close to my heart)-  "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall. 

The book is based on one simple fact - running is a skill, doesn't matter which footwear you wear, if you know the right technique,  focus on your form, you are good to go for miles !

The book's central character is the author himself, a journalist by profession.  An interesting article on Mexican Indian tribe - Tarahumara and his own personal inquisitiveness to know how to run without a pain sets him off for this life altering journey to remotest areas of Mexico. His subject of study is Tarahumara tribe, known to be the greatest mainstream runners of all time. The book outlines in detail difference between their running style and ours which is the key differentiator, and also provides a peek into their daily affairs, lifestyle, diet etc. Imagine running up and down the mountain trails for miles wearing nothing more than a thin rubber strip sandals- that's the way they do, not occasionally but every day, not for any money or fame, but for the sheer joy of running !!

In addition to this interesting discovery of Mexican tribe, the book also talks about the history of ultra-running, famous ultra-runners and legendary races. One such race was Leadville Trail 100, a 100 mile race, wherein Ann Transon, a prodigy, posed a stiff competition to Tarahumara. This race becomes talk of the town for days. The book highlights startling scientific discoveries as well, for example, the modern shoes may be actually causing us injuries because the natural form of running for humans is barefoot running.

The book's conclusion is the most exciting part. It ends up with author's dream race between Tarahumara and America's best ultra-runners, celebrating the true spirit of human endurance and sportsmanship!  Overall, the book is a good combination of memoir, sports history, adventure, science & evolution - celebrating the theory that we humans are 'born to run'.

I would leave you with this beautiful passage from the book -

"Know why people run marathons? Because running is rooted in our collective imagination, and our imagination is rooted in running. Language, art, science; space shuttles, Starry Night, intravascular surgery; they all had their roots in our ability to run. Running was the superpower that made us human -- which means it's a superpower all humans possess."

Me and my Stranger Soul, I never understand

Smile, laugh, enjoy - that's what we are taught day in and day out

But never do we learn that it's fine to be angry too at times

After all, we are all humans

What's the deal of putting up a bright disguise of delight to hide our trembling feet beneath, I never understand

What's the deal of faking our identity, losing our authenticity behind those painted masks we wear each day

What's the deal of hiding our imperfections which makes us who we are - humans

What's the deal of being an impostor to trade it with our freedom of expression

What's the deal of being a yes man on the cost of our own happiness

Why- who we really are, what we have - isn't enough, I never understand

What is it that is missing in our lives that we find others' so alluring

What is it that is so attractive in this showman business to lose peace of our mind

What is it that is so applaudable about this fakeness all around

Ever thought-

What is it that is still unresolved inside that we fear to own ourselves

What is it that is still broken in our souls that we fear to amend it

What is it that is still unacceptable that we fear to embrace our authentic identity, to showcase our original emotions, to voice our true expressions

What is it? I fail to understand.  

It’s fine to be Selfish at times.

Surprised? What my title says? Doesn't it contradict with your values which always tell you to be selfless and not selfish? So was I. And it dates back to almost three years back when my friend gave me this advice. I took this advice like any normal person. Selfish means selfish. Hardly did I know that there exist more dimensions that could add wonderful meaning to being selfish.

So what I am talking about? In simple words, being selfish isn't a bad thing at all.  How would you prosper if you don’t invest time in yourself? How would you understand your own goal if you don’t know what it is? How would you help someone else if you don’t have the resources and requisite knowledge? I agree one can always help a person to think positively and make him believe in himself, but one should himself be positive person before giving the gyaan to others. One should himself be happy and content before spreading the joy to others. Have you ever seen a flower with no nectar attracting a bunch of bees? It might but won’t hold for long. You need to have something in you to give to others. Until you invest some time and money in yourself, gain the skills and enhance your learning, how would you offer a helping hand to your friend who needs your advice? 
Didn't you learn- God help those who help themselves. Love yourself first, then you will be able to love others and you will be able to receive love of others. Until you feel good about yourself, no one else can make that happen to you. 

So, it’s ok if you have to miss out few parties to attend some online course, it’s ok if you have to miss few movies to experience a whole new adventure if it makes you happy, it’s ok if you have to sleep less to sharpen up your skills, it’s perfectly ok to say No to your friends sometimes, it’s fine to be selfish at times.

P.S.: It’s a rough draft of my thoughts. I am still trying to understand this concept. I am sharing it so that others can also contribute. Please feel free to share your thoughts. I am a learner, an explorer on this wonderful journey of self-discovery.