Learnings from an article by Robert Kaplan

1. Fullfilment doesn't come from clearing hurdles others have set for you, it comes from clearing the ones you set for yourself.
   
   
2. I have seen many people stall their careers by playing it safe.
   
   
3. One measure of character is the degree to which you put your colleagues' and companies interest before your own.
   
   
4. Being a leader also means expressing unpopular views and speaking up.
   
   
5. Doing the right thing is a reward in itself, psychologically in the short term and professionally in the long run.
   
   
6. Managing your career is 100% your responsibility and no-one else is going to do it for you.
   
   
7. It is very difficult to succeed if you do not excel at the central task which is central to your chosen enterprise.
   
   
8. Many people don't know what their passions are or are so focused on the views of their peers that they drift into the wrong career.
   
   
9. Identifying critical tasks helps you determine how to spend your time and develop your skills.
   
   
10. Spending most of the time fighting fires becomes an easy habit instead of finding out the most important things and working on them. (Comment-Prioritizing the right things with a clear definition of what is important to succeed is very important).
    
    
11. Most outstanding CEO's and leaders value emerging executives who assert themselves out of genuine concern for what is best for the company.
    
    
12. Every rewarding career will bring ups and downs, bad days and bad weeks, bad months and setbacks and discouraging situations.
    
    
13. Wound is all the more painful when it is self-inflicted.
    
    
14. Theres nothing anyone can do to prevent you from reaching your true potential. Challenge is to identify your dreams, develop the skills to get there and exhibit charecter and leadership. Then you need to have courage to periodically reassess, make adjustments and pursue a course that reflects who you truly are.

Glass half empty or half full?

The law of flotation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things which floated naturally and then intelligently asking why they did so. - Thomas Troward

Stop wiggling your tongues

What great learnings lie ahead.. hard to tell, if you think you know it all.

A friend of mine sent this to me:

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The Arizona Republic reported this story (so I'm assuming this story really is true!):

"As Terry Mikel was speeding toward Tucson, he passed a car, an unmarked Arizona Highway Patrol car. The officer pulled Terry over. When Terry explained that he was late for a class he was teaching at the University of Arizona, the officer took pity on him and let him off with a warning. Before he went back to his car he said, `Slow down and drive safe.'

"Terry felt obligated to correct him. `Excuse me, Sir, but it should be "Slow down and drive safely. You said, "Drive safe."'

"The officer walked back to his car and wrote him a $72 speeding ticket."

We can't do it, can we? We just can't seem to keep our mouths shut! Looking back, we know we shouldn't have said a word, but at the time we felt so compelled to speak.

Maybe you didn't get a ticket as a result, but you've done something just as foolish, haven't you? Maybe even this morning, before reading this message. Maybe even before leaving your house!

That's not an excuse, incidentally, to let our tongues run wild. Rather, it's a challenge. As hard as it may be to control our tongues, it is essential that we strive to do just that. We stand to lose more than $72 if we fail to do so.

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"Power can be taken, but not given. The process of taking, is empowerment in itself.”

Learnings in August

While its pretty much a known fact., personal learnings I find are much more powerful and lasting.

You cannot force your will on anyone. Period.

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In the meanwhile, a friend suggests watching the movie Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn. One of the lines, he says, goes like this "The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing the blind, deaf stone alone with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head."

Now thats powerful I say. Looking forward to watching the movie and listening to the OST.

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Also, I can't believe I came across this during the course of my work: "Time and tide waits for no man"