One've the main reasons certain companies lose their way is cuz the light isn't shining brightly on the top (also in referrence to incompetence in top management) - the light is blurred or not in sharp focus...or is distracted from the task at hand.
What is the task at hand?
Staying focussed? Yes. Having a vision? Yes, that too. And all the other stuff you read in self help books and management books and a whole lot of other stuff that fills up reams and reams of pages as part of thousands of case studies and books that hit the market across the globe every year. But most of this stuff is commonsense really. And about getting the job done.
Recently i was sitting with a client who wanted to get an 'Information Memorandum' put together to then give to his VC and banks for possible investment into his enterprise.
He said, "Right now - the only way i make sure i'm not going in a loss is by keeping my rates reasonable to bring in business and my costs low - and the difference amount i'm left with after all costs incurred - is my profit. Which i take out and stash away for safe keeping." A simple, practical way of doing business. Also harks back to the 'Lala' mentality.
Not 'lala' as in sounds you make with your tongue while trying to sing along with a song you don't know the words to - but 'lala' as in a merchant owner or money lendor of some sort - as part of traditional indian enterprises - more notably in villages and the like.
The 'lala' mentality is about - 'making money'. They don't understand 'branding-shanding'.
"Mennu pata hai - ki pasie kaise banande hegene"
Beyond knowing that money is made in a government run mint - you need to know how to make money...and to make money, you need to know the difference between 'money' and 'cash'. 10bucks in hand is worth more than 1000bucks in cheque - cuz you have the 10bucks to fill your stomach now. The 1000 bucks will come to party three days later.
Where does all this link with self-motivation - and the light on top? Well, speaking from personal experience, it's very easy to flounder and let go of something you've worked hard to build - case in point being this little studio i run. Throughout it's short life - i've had a tremendous amount of opportunities come my way - touchwood. And i'm greatful to god for the same. But i havent' capitalized on many of them. Have let a lot of them slip away even. Why? I dunno. Actually i do.
It's cuz just like the seasons change in the year - seasons change in business as well. A formula working for you today, won't necessarily work for you six months down the line. The idea i started this company with 3 years ago has remained the same over the last 3 years - and maybe thats both a good and bad thing.
What the idea is...isn't why i started writing this.
When you start a company - you need to be very clear of what you want - in your life. Having dreams and ambitions and, "this company is my ticket to fame and fortune" is all well and good. But have a plan. In paper - not in stone. But one with numbers, facts - figures. They keep your ground realities more certain. They keep you in check.
Over the last 3 1/2 years i've been through a series of ....difficult....relationships. And a they've pretty much co-incided with the life of this company.
When you're an individual - starting a company and running it on your own - YOU are the company. And the company is you. It's your credibility, your image your word....and all that. But it's all real.
I think too often we choose foolishly. With my relationships - i didn't choose foolishly, it's just that i didn't realize the magnitude of the impact my sometimes inability to balance both work and play - would actually end up having on my work.
Yesterday, i was chatting with someone who said that i'm too hard on myself. That there might be others out there who have accomplished more than me - but going by the rate i'm at, i'll be very accomplished in due course of time.
My thing is - i don't want to just be 'accomplished'. I want to be 'great'. I aspire towards 'greatness'. Of shining like a beacon. Of towering over everyone else. Not for the power - No, not for that. Not for the fame. Not for the fortune.
For the fact that i will be there. Just for that. And the fact that i made it happen - on my own. Not without outside help - but i did it cuz i saw it happening. the vision really is that of a Lenin or a Stalin - a bronze 120foot statue towering over the landscape...in a stoic...vision....seen in the cold bronze eyes.
I guess i'm day dreaming a bit.
The reason these men and others have achieved what they have and continue to do so is because they believed they could. The motivated themselves enough to move - to take a problem and challenge - head on. To say, "Go fuck yourself" when required. And, "I fucked up" when required. No point in knowing how to say one without having the ability to say the other.
It's important to find in you - that which drives you. It's money - great - go make a pile of money. Fame - go be famous. Women - go screw a few hundred. Jack Nicholson has screwed over 2000 - and he has all three.
You want to be Jack Nicholson - then what the fuck - BE JACK NICHOLSON. There's nothing stopping you.
It's important to strike a balance between your personal and professional life - and keep a DISTINCT distance or difference between both. It's a discipline.
Self-Motivation is also a discipline. One that's important to develop. Just like 'Execution' (not killing people) is also a discipline. The ability to get-things-done. Different people have different ways of getting it done - but as long as the job is done, that's all that matters.
Self-Motivation is about being able to be positive - at will. You hand an accident? Your mother died? You just fucked up on a big project and lost a tender?
These are all realities and possibilities. And yet the expression goes, "Grace under fire". Some people shine out bright when the chips are down. If you know one've these people - you in turn are lucky to be shining in that light, because one've the amazing things with these kind of people is that if you are loyal and true - they'll take you with them on the journey. The journey towards living an extraordinary life.
I was once told that, "If you want to live an extraordinary life, you'll have to face extraordinary problems." Which is why when today i'm faced with a seemingly unsurmountable position - i say, "Fuck you, you think you'll get me down? Go fuck yourself first." That might seem more than just a little arrogant - and not really 'realistic' - but it keeps me going. It makes me think. It stops me from wallowing in, "What next?" or "What do i do?". All that shit is just a waste of time - you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past.
I just had an epiphany...
"...you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past."
My thought for the day.
What is the task at hand?
Staying focussed? Yes. Having a vision? Yes, that too. And all the other stuff you read in self help books and management books and a whole lot of other stuff that fills up reams and reams of pages as part of thousands of case studies and books that hit the market across the globe every year. But most of this stuff is commonsense really. And about getting the job done.
Recently i was sitting with a client who wanted to get an 'Information Memorandum' put together to then give to his VC and banks for possible investment into his enterprise.
He said, "Right now - the only way i make sure i'm not going in a loss is by keeping my rates reasonable to bring in business and my costs low - and the difference amount i'm left with after all costs incurred - is my profit. Which i take out and stash away for safe keeping." A simple, practical way of doing business. Also harks back to the 'Lala' mentality.
Not 'lala' as in sounds you make with your tongue while trying to sing along with a song you don't know the words to - but 'lala' as in a merchant owner or money lendor of some sort - as part of traditional indian enterprises - more notably in villages and the like.
The 'lala' mentality is about - 'making money'. They don't understand 'branding-shanding'.
"Mennu pata hai - ki pasie kaise banande hegene"
Beyond knowing that money is made in a government run mint - you need to know how to make money...and to make money, you need to know the difference between 'money' and 'cash'. 10bucks in hand is worth more than 1000bucks in cheque - cuz you have the 10bucks to fill your stomach now. The 1000 bucks will come to party three days later.
Where does all this link with self-motivation - and the light on top? Well, speaking from personal experience, it's very easy to flounder and let go of something you've worked hard to build - case in point being this little studio i run. Throughout it's short life - i've had a tremendous amount of opportunities come my way - touchwood. And i'm greatful to god for the same. But i havent' capitalized on many of them. Have let a lot of them slip away even. Why? I dunno. Actually i do.
It's cuz just like the seasons change in the year - seasons change in business as well. A formula working for you today, won't necessarily work for you six months down the line. The idea i started this company with 3 years ago has remained the same over the last 3 years - and maybe thats both a good and bad thing.
What the idea is...isn't why i started writing this.
When you start a company - you need to be very clear of what you want - in your life. Having dreams and ambitions and, "this company is my ticket to fame and fortune" is all well and good. But have a plan. In paper - not in stone. But one with numbers, facts - figures. They keep your ground realities more certain. They keep you in check.
Over the last 3 1/2 years i've been through a series of ....difficult....relationships. And a they've pretty much co-incided with the life of this company.
When you're an individual - starting a company and running it on your own - YOU are the company. And the company is you. It's your credibility, your image your word....and all that. But it's all real.
I think too often we choose foolishly. With my relationships - i didn't choose foolishly, it's just that i didn't realize the magnitude of the impact my sometimes inability to balance both work and play - would actually end up having on my work.
Yesterday, i was chatting with someone who said that i'm too hard on myself. That there might be others out there who have accomplished more than me - but going by the rate i'm at, i'll be very accomplished in due course of time.
My thing is - i don't want to just be 'accomplished'. I want to be 'great'. I aspire towards 'greatness'. Of shining like a beacon. Of towering over everyone else. Not for the power - No, not for that. Not for the fame. Not for the fortune.
For the fact that i will be there. Just for that. And the fact that i made it happen - on my own. Not without outside help - but i did it cuz i saw it happening. the vision really is that of a Lenin or a Stalin - a bronze 120foot statue towering over the landscape...in a stoic...vision....seen in the cold bronze eyes.
I guess i'm day dreaming a bit.
The reason these men and others have achieved what they have and continue to do so is because they believed they could. The motivated themselves enough to move - to take a problem and challenge - head on. To say, "Go fuck yourself" when required. And, "I fucked up" when required. No point in knowing how to say one without having the ability to say the other.
It's important to find in you - that which drives you. It's money - great - go make a pile of money. Fame - go be famous. Women - go screw a few hundred. Jack Nicholson has screwed over 2000 - and he has all three.
You want to be Jack Nicholson - then what the fuck - BE JACK NICHOLSON. There's nothing stopping you.
It's important to strike a balance between your personal and professional life - and keep a DISTINCT distance or difference between both. It's a discipline.
Self-Motivation is also a discipline. One that's important to develop. Just like 'Execution' (not killing people) is also a discipline. The ability to get-things-done. Different people have different ways of getting it done - but as long as the job is done, that's all that matters.
Self-Motivation is about being able to be positive - at will. You hand an accident? Your mother died? You just fucked up on a big project and lost a tender?
These are all realities and possibilities. And yet the expression goes, "Grace under fire". Some people shine out bright when the chips are down. If you know one've these people - you in turn are lucky to be shining in that light, because one've the amazing things with these kind of people is that if you are loyal and true - they'll take you with them on the journey. The journey towards living an extraordinary life.
I was once told that, "If you want to live an extraordinary life, you'll have to face extraordinary problems." Which is why when today i'm faced with a seemingly unsurmountable position - i say, "Fuck you, you think you'll get me down? Go fuck yourself first." That might seem more than just a little arrogant - and not really 'realistic' - but it keeps me going. It makes me think. It stops me from wallowing in, "What next?" or "What do i do?". All that shit is just a waste of time - you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past.
I just had an epiphany...
"...you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past."
My thought for the day.
