Personal and professional development for technology professionals.
» Bringing Ideas To Life. With Love!
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 11 Jun 2006, 8:50 AM - Leave Comment
Diana Rohini La Vigne reviews Beyond Code at BookIdeas.com. Diana says “I can’t think of anyone who this book wouldn’t make an impact on.”
I am blessed. Thanks Diana.
Here is the link:
Diana Rohini La Vigne: Review of Beyond Code
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 11 Jun 2006, 7:55 AM - Leave Comment
For most people, change would be no issue if they are not involved in the change. This short quote explains the same beautifully.
Posted under Great Quotes, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 10 Jun 2006, 10:15 AM - Leave Comment
Here is a warm welcome to those of you who are new to my blog. I have been writing here since Feb 2005. There are a total of 487 articles so far on this blog. My goal is to ensure that every single post has some value. I try my best but goof up many times. I decided to look back and find some posts that may be of interest to you. Here they are:
2. Addicted to Newton’s Third Law (Feb 21, 2005)
We are obsessed with short-term results and may be that’s a key reason to get into the skill-set rat race.
3. Who did you connect today (Feb 25, 2005)
You want to supercharge your relationship-building skills. Start connecting people with care.
4. Most Significant Thing (MST) for the week (Feb 27, 2005)
One significant thing every week is all you need to start making a difference in your life
5. The power of words (Mar 1, 2005)
Did you ever get hurt by someone saying something to you. Watch how much power you packed in those words.
6. A Leader’s resume – his people (Mar 10, 2005)
Do you want to find a great leader – take a look at what happened to the people he led.
7. The power of assumptions (Mar 11, 2005)
Your assumptions will drive the decisions you make.
8. More on assumptions – the sunflower model (Mar 13, 2005)
Rob Ryan (Ascend fame) explains business using the sunflower model
Have a great weekend.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Jun 2006, 1:22 AM - Leave Comment
For those who are new to this blog – I stay in Sunnyvale, california (West Coast)
The other day I was sending an email to a friend in the East Coast at 10pm and I got a response back immediately. After that we used email like an IM (Instant messenger) and exchanged a few ideas. When I thought that this was going for a long time, I had to write to my friend:
You east coast folks should stop competing with silicon valley people in the Workohalics departments. That is our pride, self-esteem and identity. Please don’t try to steal this away from us 
<snip>
With the pace of changes that are happening across the world, the people, especially those in the IT world are working very hard. (On a side note, I think this is an appropriate time to increase investments in one’s own growth rather than using all the energy to win the current rat race. That’s a topic for another day.) I was a victim to this a couple of years ago. I worked almost four full years without a day’s vacation – most of the times I would work on weekends too. Looking back and if given a chance I would re-live those four years very differently. John Lennon said it beautifully – “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” There is no use breaking my head on it now because that time is gone forever and whatever I do, there is no way to re-live those four years. However, what I do in the future is definitely in my hands. Because four years from now, if I look back at today, I don’t want to regret for what I am doing today.
Stopping to smell the roses may not give you financial returns. Some might even view it as an opportunity cost. Some people say that everyone in their company is working so hard that if they don’t, they won’t fit in there. Some more people say that even to stay where they are they have to keep running. The general feeling is that they don’t have time to stop and smell the roses. My friend used to jokingly say that “If you run for two hours every single day for the next twelve years, you might extend your life by two more years. But something doesn’t seem right there as you spent those two extended years just running 
”
1. You have to run this race until you reach an end point.
2. They move the end point to a different location as soon as you get closer to the end point.
Does this seem ridiculous? If you said yes, is there a possibility of you doing this in your life without paying a lot of attention to the details?
Stopping to smell the roses is your personal reward for celebrating life. It is one kind of reward where you either use it or lose it as it is directly connected to time.
Action Items:
2. What accountability structures will you put in place to ensure that you WILL stop to smell the roses?
3. How can you ensure that someone close to you is stopping to smell the roses?
PS: Please don’t look at the time stamp for this post – I am still in Silicon Valley, remember 
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 09 Jun 2006, 12:18 AM - 1 Comment
Analogies are always interesting. Although there is not enough grounding to draw conclusions of far-reaching nature, we are tempted to do so when we hear a compelling analogy. Here is one such case.
Enjoy!
Posted under Main Page, Smile Please.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 07 Jun 2006, 12:00 AM - 5 Comments
When someone that you like is not close to you, you work so hard to get close to them. You get close to them and things are going fine. After some time they disappear from your life. Not literally. You just start taking them for granted. Don’t believe this? Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Unfortunately many of us make the same mistake – take people that are close to us for granted. They are already close why give them more attention? We go after things that we don’t have.
Wanting what we have is common sense (may be that’s why it’s so uncommon.) Eternally going after something that we don’t have at the cost of losing what we have is blindspot. Hopefully God Will give us the wisdom to know the difference between the two – today and everyday.
One final question:
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 06 Jun 2006, 11:17 PM - 3 Comments
Is there anyone who has no problems? I don’t think so. I’m sure there are many of you who think you have the biggest problem in the world. This is logical too. In case you have a headache and your neighbor has a broken bone, your headache is of higher priority than the broken bone because it is YOUR headache. Any problem that is personal seems very big. When you have a bad day, it feels like you are the CHOSEN ONE (in a negative way.) You are the victim. Life (and sometimes GOD) is treating you in an unfair fashion. You got the wrong end of the stick. If you were having a bad day, here are three people that you want to meet (virtually)
I was watching the NBC show “Last Comic Standing” tonight. It was fascinating to watch a genius by name Josh Blue dazzle the audience. Rightly, he won the best comic standing award. What was so different about Josh Blue? As you will read in his bio on his website (Josh Blue) he suffers from a terrible disease – Cerebral Palsy. Josh had trouble clasping his hands together. I believe he took a full page to write each number in his phone number and stapled all the pages together. With all that adversity, he dazzled the audience with the brilliance of his humor. There are so many people out there with a condition that is no where as bad as what Josh is going through but want all the sympathy that’s available to them. Josh didn’t want sympathy – not even close. Josh wanted to make people laugh. That he did VERY successfully and won the heart of whoever were watching. Josh Blue was an inspiration for me and I am sure he is a role model for many many people. I just hope he gets the credit he truly deserves.
At the end of his act, one of the judges (talent scouts, they are called) asked Josh why he chose to be a comic and Josh’s response was instant – “It’s not like I had a lot of choice. I don’t think I could be a traffic policeman.”
I took this description from Stephen’s Squidoo lens.
Born profoundly deaf, Stephen has overcome tremendous odds to succeed in the world of Wall Street as a stockbroker. One day he had a spiritual revelation where he knew that his destiny was to become an inspirational speaker and author. He quit his lucrative job at a major brokerage house to build his speaking career. Along the way he found out there were other deaf pilots flying and his childhood dream came roaring back to life. He went on to earn a private, commercial and for the first time in aviation history, an instrument rating.
Stephen is an amazing person. When many of us drop need just one reason (headache, back ache, boredom etc.) to give up what we are doing, he has done phenomenal things without the gift of hearing.
If that is not inspirational, I don’t know what is.
I have the privilege of knowing Naveen for the last seventeen years or so. We both worked together back in Malaysia about 14 years ago. He has never ceased to amaze me. Few years ago, he lost his eyesight (almost 97% of it for a few months) and several (other) people had written him off. I will let you read the story on his website but I have a brief summary for those in a hurry.
After about eight eye surgeries and more than a year of fighting back, Naveen came back to his passion – programming. Of course, the vision had not come back fully so he had to read the documents on the screen with a magnifying glass. Whatever he lacked (vision) Naveen made it up with his hard work – working a few hours after everyone had long gone home.
Fast forward a few more years. He is a successful entrepreneur, leader, inspirational speaker and most of all a friend with a golden heart.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 06 Jun 2006, 6:55 AM - 7 Comments
It was the lack of oxygen. Jane collapsed just when the team was a few hundred feet away from the summit. Two out of the other three volunteered to return with Jane. Rob could continue the climb with another team. He thought for a second and decided to turn back.
–
Note:
1. A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words. Not 49 or 51 but exactly 50.
2. You can download a photographic manifesto of Mini Sagas at ChangeThis. Here is the link – Mini Sagas: Bite-sized Wisdom for Life and Business (PDF, 2.9MB).
3. For a complete list of Mini Sagas, please visit the Squidoo lens “Mini Sagas”
4. This mini saga was inspired by a true story that Punit Soni told me about their Cotopaxi adventure. I got his permission to convert that into a mini saga. Read the full story here in his own words
Link: Punit Soni – Climbing Cotopaxi
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 05 Jun 2006, 4:40 PM - Leave Comment
He turned sixty and it was a time for reflection. Last thirty five years, he was very busy. He had reached almost every career goal. He was successful, rich and famous. The only problem – he was alone and he knew that money couldn’t buy the kind of relationship he longed.
–
Note:
1. A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words. Not 49 or 51 but exactly 50.
2. You can download a photographic manifesto of Mini Sagas at ChangeThis. Here is the link – Mini Sagas: Bite-sized Wisdom for Life and Business (PDF, 2.9MB).
3. For a complete list of Mini Sagas, please visit the Squidoo lens “Mini Sagas“
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 05 Jun 2006, 2:57 PM - Leave Comment
Gary Sage is a renowned NLP expert in UK. I was honored to see his review of “Beyond Code” on his blog. Here is the link:
Gary Sage: Beyond Code (book review)
Thanks Gary. Makes me feel that the years that I spent researching and the months that I spent writing it is all worth it.
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
If you are from the Press or if you are from a Speakers Bureau, you can schedule a meeting with me using Jiffle.
Like Jiffle? Get it here.
Recent Comments