DON'T GLORIFY THE GRIND (ALONE)

 

Elon Musk is known as notorious workaholic. In Jan this year, in response to the tweet that announced him as the richest man on the planet, Musk responded:

"How strange?", & then followed by "Well, back to work.".

Musk is a true testimony to the adage "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” Grind is a necessary ingredient to success and professionals should aspire to be hardworking. The problem happens when the grind is glorified as the only route to success.

In 2018, when faced with serious health concerns, Musk admitted-
“There were times when I didn’t leave the factory for 3 or 4 days — days when I didn’t go outside,” the father of five said. “This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. & seeing friends.”

There are other aspects that aren't often talked about but are necessary for our overall effectiveness as professionals. I found the ideas by Blake B. Emal's https://bit.ly/3bNBOMS relevant. With #mentalhealth being among the top priority concerns that organizations face, these (and many more) should find ample mindspace in our day to day vocabulary.

Catch my Sketchnote summary of these ideas.

What else would you add ? #holisticwellbeing

My Sketchnote:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_mentalhealth-holisticwellbeing-activity-6802201579400372224-e9c9/

DEVELOPING INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY

 Indian Cricket Captain Virat Kohli has inspired millions around. One such testimonial of him:

"I once spoke to Virat Kohli about net sessions, and he said to me that whatever you think or do in the nets, you'll perform the same way during the match. If you play random shots and get out in the nets, then you'll face the same outcome in a match. That perspective helped me a lot."- Babar Azam

This is a top suggestion, applicable to many a professional situations but this also tells a lot about Babar. Despite being from opposing team, he opened himself up reached out to the best and sincerely applied the learnings.

The world opens up to you, when you open up to the world. It is one of the traits of an Intellectually #curious mind.

How can you develop Intellectual curiosity ? Loved the ideas shared by Sahil Bloom in his thread https://bit.ly/3yudKbF
Catch the summary in my sketchnote

There are different ways to inculcate intellectual #curiosity. I recall one of Satya Nadella’s quote inspired by diversity of thought process he observed at home. He says- 
“There was some strange mix of intellectual curiosity in the house [growing up] — a push to make up your own mind and do your own thing,”

How do you cultivate Intellectual #curiosity ?

My Sketchnote:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6801325326371717120/

WE ONLY HAVE WHAT WE GIVE

 

Came across this heartwarming story recently (source: https://bit.ly/3fiY7er).

In Mar '21 World #1 Croatian rifle shooter Petar Gorsa was tested Covid+ on arrival in India. During this frustrating time,he got care from the National Rifle Association of India. But what touched him the most was NRAI president Raninder Singh's gesture, who hosted the shooter at his own home in Delhi.
 
Fast forward to May, given the Covid situation, it wasn't possible to host camp for Indian shooters. They were losing precious time 2 months before the Olympics. Petar went beyond what was expected & helped make all the arrangements for Indian shooters to train in Zagreb.
The act of giving changed Petar's perspective. He says:
"Once I am done with the sport,I don't want to be remembered for my medals.I want to be remembered as a responsible & honourable man" 
 
One of my all time favorite books is Adam Grant's Give and Take. It touches upon various life evolving aspects related to #giving, especially at workplace.I have presented my summary of this book in the sketchnote, would highly recommend reading it.
 
Not all of us get a chance to give back as Petar did but all of can always be forthcoming in paying it forward.
 
What do you think? #givingback #payitforward

Sketchnote:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_giving-givingback-payitforward-activity-6799158685735247872-swSV/

MYTHS ABOUT DECISION MAKING

 

Prakash Iyer is his outstanding book 'The Habit of Winning' narrates a story:
A while back, few scholars studied 250+ penalty kicks. The intent was to assess the best chances for goalkeepers to stop the penalty. They plotted the movements & figured out that the best chance of saving a penalty was when the goalkeeper simply stays still & do not commit to dive in any direction. So why do goalkeepers still commit to a dive ? If they don't then they would they would have to deal with barrage of criticism/questions like 'he didn't even try', 'why did he stand still'. 

As professionals, we too often think that 'Bias for action' is good for making quality decisions and this may not always be true.

Cheryl Strauss Einhorn in her HBR article '11 Myths about Decision Making' https://bit.ly/2R3hy32 introduces a phrase “Cheetah Pause.”

Cheetah’s prodigious hunting skill is not due to its speed. Rather they habitually run down their prey at speeds approaching 60 mph but are able to cut their speed by 9 mph in a single stride. This allows them to make sharp turns, sideways jumps etc.
She argues:
"In #decisionmaking too, quality thinking benefits from periods of thoughtful deceleration"

What do you think?
Check my sketchnote summary of the HBR article

My Sketchnote:

My LinkedIn Post:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6798066055735595008/

HOW TO BE MISERABLE ?

 

This title may seem inverted but this is not a clickbait. It is in fact, associated with a powerful mental model. Let me explain.

Warren Buffett once famously said “All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”
This quote is, in a manner of speaking, the foundation of an underrated, yet powerful mental model called as 'Inverse Thinking'.

Thinking about a problem from an inverse perspective can unlock new solutions and strategies. As cited in the book 'Super Thinking'-
"The inverse of being right more is being wrong less."

You can achieve project success by thinking "what would make it successful" or by simply avoiding "what would cause the project to fail" (or both).
A Tennis player can win a match by hitting winners or simply by avoiding unforced errors (or both).

Shane Parrish explains Inversion as "Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance." In practice, it means spending less time trying to be brilliant and more time trying to avoid obvious stupidity. 

So, if you want to feel less miserable, applying inverse thinking, try and avoid things that would make you more miserable. Check my Sketchnote based on this thread https://bit.ly/3eWwTdB with some good ideas.

Where else can you apply inverse thinking ?

My Sketchnote:

My LinkedIn Post:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anujmagazine_how-to-be-miserable-this-title-may-seem-activity-6796253303647952896-_Kad/