Professional Life, Where do you Stand?

Thank you to all who read, used and appreciated the previous blog. However I was expecting more comments especially to see if readers were happy with what they were doing or not?

Now we move a little ahead. It is a slow process and there exists no fix for our problems in professional or personal life. In this post we would try to locate ourselves in a certain 'quarter' of professional life. The tool is developed by me and in next few blogs I will further elaborate it. My aim is to come up with a set of questions and a mathematical formula similar to DICE. The result of data put in that formula should be able to predict with reliable accuracy the chances of success of any new venture one plans to take.  

In this blog I would suggest readers to try to locate themselves in a suitable quarter in following figure. It is related to professional life.

For instance if you feel lack of ability to do your existing job/work and you also don't have much Passion for it you would be in Quarter III, i.e. Struggling, on contrary if you are able to to do your current work/job and you have good passion for it you would be in Quarter II, which implies In Peace. However even if you are in Quarter II, I would be suggesting measures to improve the situation in my coming blogs.

I once again invite the readers to analyze their situation and share with us in which Quarter they are currently.

Simplest Personal Development Tool - WAP

A great difference exists between USA and other countries on the planet. No matter you like the country or you hate its governments, one has to admit that something is really different up there.  This something has transformed USA in to worlds' (considering its superiority in space program more than one world is a valid case) super power. In addition to natural resources, military power and a culture of spending time and effort, the single most important difference exists in style of children raising.

In most of the world including Europe it is very common to ask a small child what will you become when grown up? based upon exact location parents expect answers as Engineer, Doctor, Bureaucrat and to some degree Musician, Writer. In the original USA style the question and answer both are different. The question asked to child (if asked) is what will you do when grown up? Therefore even if the person holds a super ordinary job, he is proud of it as he/she is doing something not just holding a profession.

Try putting the question 'What does Google do?' to someone on street. The probable answer would be 'it is a search engine' or at best 'it helps to make search'. The second answer seems to be true but try putting this question to google itself and the answer would be  'Google is a global technology leader focused on improving the ways people connect with information. Google primarily generates revenue by delivering relevant, cost-effective online advertising.' 

See the difference, the success of google lies in the fact that they know exactly what they do or should be doing. Unfortunately most of us never find answer to this simple question. Guy Kawasaki in his lecture 12 lessons I learnt from Steve Jobs, said that while being interviewed for your ideas by investors you must tell what on hell you do in first 30 seconds. Agreed, but I would like to take the idea to self development case.

I would suggest using the simple tool I call WAP, i.e. What you do, What you are Able to do and What is your Passion? (What do, Able to do, Passion to do). The system works in very simple manner. Take an A4 page and put the questions as following.

Now try to fill the Current Situation Column. This might be not what  you wanted but you are following or you had to follow. Later fill the column Wish Situation and note the difference. Please share if you had same answers for both, little different or too different.

In my next blog I would be discussing how this tool can be used to make your life easier and for switching to the condition where you are doing with ability what you have the passion for.

Harry Potter Vs Michael Porter

If some one randomly on the street is asked who is Michael Porter the probable answer would be no idea. However a similar (not same) surname holder Harry Potter is a well known name although virtual. 

Michael Porter is  Harvard University Professor, the highest recognition one can attain.  He is pioneer of competition theories. He showed the world that competition is good for improvement of lives, economic and social theories do not need to contradict each other and investment in environmental protection is beneficial for business. All these concepts when first introduced in late 70s were not only controversial but even considered to be opposite to the truth.

On the other hand Harry Potter as a brand is worth USD 15 Billion. If success is measured solely on grounds of recognition and money made, then Harry could be considered far ahead than its rival Michael. Fortunately this is not the case. The real success is not measured on these grounds alone. I am sure no one or may be only few will remember Harry Potter after a decade. We have seen similar cases with many characters of past like Lord of the Rings also. On the other hand Michael Porter as a brand is worth few trillion dollars if his impact on business is measured and is still in lime light after 4 decades of his start. However he could not make that much money for sure!

This implies another very important factor about success. Short cut and sudden fame or success is short living. While dedicated work and value leads to the real success. Today Michael Porter is known in all business communities and his ideas are for sure making lives of people on globe better. This all recognition is due to continuous hard work and dedication.

Shortcut to Success!

Human beings try to seek shortcuts to reach their goals. All other animals rarely show this behaviour. They in general follow a certain path whether it results in a win or a loss. Human beings on the other hand diverted from this instinct and with time developed a thirst for shortcuts.

Especially after the industrial revolution the pulleys started to move much faster. With advancements in digital age this speed became enormous. Great success of few (hundred) people convinced almost whole human race that shortcut to success exists. In fact cases of few can not be generalized for all. In spite of this people and young people of course started to believe that there exist shortcuts. 

Some of these few successfull people  started to convince others by selling idea of quick success and of course with little work. This worked amazingly for them only. People were hungry about the recipe to achieve quick success and they cashed the idea. It should not be forgotten that people who may even get some quick success rarely leave an imprint on human history.

Looking back in to history, all those who really left their mark paved their way very carefully through continuos hard work and steady accumulation. In his speech at Stanford in year 2005, Steve Jobes mentioned about a fact that one can connect dots only by looking back. It emphasize the need of collection of tools which might seem irrelevant at a certain time but later in future prove to be of great use. 

In order to gain the real success I foresee two important ingredients. Accumulation of skills and their use when required. Accumulation of skills and continuous work towards improvement provides the necessary tools to human beings for shaping the future.  Equally important is the use of these accumulated tools at the right time. Combination of these two factors lead to success and no other shortcut.

Is Luck Hereditary?

Today morning my very same friend came up with the idea that luck is hereditary. I can understand that he reached this conclusion based upon what he sees around himself. He must have noticed the offsprings of rich people enjoying life and living at a standard much above 99% of the remaining population. However I once again felt that I should disagree based upon two major issues.

The first one was what the history, the real history excluding last two hundred years shows us. Starting from three great prophets who changed the world forever, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad one can see that none of them was born lucky. Moses, raised at enemy's home under threat, Jesus born to a lone mother who was not among the lucky ones and Muhammad who was born 6 months after death of his father. But all these great people changed human civilization for ever although with the help of divine force. Does it mean that divine force acts irrespective of your birth status? Then came other great people in history, the scientists, inventors, writers and founders of great countries, none was born lucky. 

Second issue is how you define luck. Is it something related to financial gain, fame or just doing something that matters? For me it is the very last one. However people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have shown that all three are possible without being born lucky. Luck starts to work on your side once you start to focus on something. The best way to become lucky is to decide 'what you do'. 

Secret was a great hit both in printing press and screen. It basically revolved around the concept of faith and wish. In simple words you have to be very careful about  what you wish to achieve and then you must have faith, that it is worth struggling and achieving. Great teachers of our times like Jack Cranfield or Bob Proctor started their lives from scratch but once they decided what they wanted to do, the path was clear.

One of the greatest teacher of Secret was great philosopher of last century, Sir. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal. He believed that even fate can be changed through self esteem. I'll be sharing  his teachings in coming blogs.  

Luck or Act

Today morning I was having a small discussion with a friend of mine. Our friendship is as old as I am if not more. While talking about success in life he came up with the conclusion that all that matters is luck. His views are supported by many great achievers also and great speakers like Guy Kawasaki also. 

I do not have any problem with admitting the role and importance of luck in success. However my key word is act rather than luck. For me the equation is simple enough, your luck can help you only if you are in process of acting. Luck would be at your side only when you are in motion. You may see yourself lucky by not getting any trouble if you stay at your own place sitting quite and calm or leading a peaceful path in your niche. 

Niche is what makes the real difference. People who feel comfortable within their niche start feeling lucky because they are not exposed to different conditions. They might be successfull to some degree also. However the real success of life comes when one leaves his/her own niche. Leaving the native niche is first step towards being successfull and lucky. Had you not been lucky you would have been stuck in the very same niche. So for me the key word is act!