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By Rajesh Setty on Mon 11 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 4 Comments
Photo courtesy: jmtimages on Flickr
As soon as you finish that project…
You may want to celebrate.
You might want to take a well-deserved break.
You might want to go off the grid for a while.
You might want to just not to anything and relax a bit.
Before I make my point, let us just stop and think for a minute about life.
Life, for me, is a series of projects. That was the opening premise of my first book (in US) called Beyond Code (you can download the entire book for FREE here)
In fact, you are always on at least two projects – one personal and one professional – that is if you are lucky. Typically you are on more than two projects. The size and scope of these projects are different but they are right there.
There is no time in your life where you can get a clean exit from one project and move to the next project.
[ Note: Ultra-successful people who have achieved autonomy don't fall into the category. They are exceptions ]
If you think about it, most of your life is spent on projects (until you achieve autonomy) and occasionally you get spurts of time where you are in-between projects.
The “in-between project time” is tiny compared to the “project time.” If you are waiting for the “in-between project time” to celebrate, you are missing most of your life. That will be sad.
What if you view engaging in your core projects is a celebration of life. That’s where you spend most of your life so why not celebrate it?
If, for some reason your projects are not worth celebrating, then why engage in them in the first place?
Something to think about.
Two related blog posts on projects:
1. Learn the art of managing multiple projects
2. Connect your projects
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 10 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 4 Comments
Photo Courtesy: Laszlo-Photo on Flickr
Typically all it requires is to light the fire is striking a match against a match box.
What happens after that depends on many things.
At one extreme, you can create a forest fire within no time.
On the other extreme, you can just sit and watch until the matchstick burns down and throw whatever remains into the garbage can.
If you are lighting a fire to a cigarette, over a period of time, it will kill you.
If you are lighting a lamp, it will shed the darkness around you.
If you light a candle once, you might be able to create a ripple effect with that candle lighting a thousand other candles.
While it all seems simple, let us look at what is involved:
- You should have a burning desire to light the fire.
- You need the resources – a match stick and a match box. Or, at least two rocks.
- You should know how to light the fire.
- You should know where to light the fire.
- Lastly, you should take the action to light the fire.
- Honestly, the above was not the last step. The last step is whether you like it or not you need to face the consequences (positive or negative) of lighting that fire.
We still have more than 350 days in this year to light those fires.
Do you have the desire to light one and if yes, where are you going to do it?
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 09 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 4 Comments
Michelangelo said it right – “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
And how does the sculptor discover it?
Simply by removing all the unwanted stone surrounding the statue.
Is this easy? No.
Is this painless for the stone? No.
Is this foolproof? No.
But if you want to discover the statute inside the stone, it’s got to be done. No other option.
If, on the other hand, you want to be nice to the stone and decide that you will simply use a good cloth and start polishing it, what will you get?
Polished crap.
Not a statue but polished crap.
It is the same case with you. There is a beautiful statue inside of you. You just need to remove the unwanted stuff that is preventing that statue to come out. The unwanted stuff can be as simple as “unproductive habits” that is stopping you from getting to where you want to go.
For starters, the “feedback” from the market and the people who care for you is what will remove the unwanted stuff. But, only if you take it seriously and do something about that feedback. If you are defensive and not listen to the feedback, you may never discover that beautiful statue.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 08 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 5 Comments
Photo Credit: JohnW on Flickr
Seems simple but it’s not.
We make assessments based on what we see. What is visible and what our senses can make out influences our thinking all the time.
Today, more than ever people are sharing information via one ore more social networks. This may give the feeling that what is shared is everything. This may be true in some cases but in most cases what you see is the tip of the iceberg. It is hard for someone to share everything that they would share with a close friend. It is not required either.
Think about someone that you met over a social network. You knew a lot about the person via your interactions within the social network. As you built a relationship with the person, you will notice that you learned a LOT more about the person. What you saw in the social network was the “tip of the iceberg” and what you will discover when you build relationship is the “iceberg.”
Being “very” active on the social networks should not be an excuse to shy away from building close relationships. You still need to carve out the time necessary to build the next level of relationships.
The tip of the iceberg is just that – tip of the iceberg. The iceberg is WAY bigger than the “tip of the iceberg.”
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 07 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 9 Comments
Photo Courtesy: Litandmore on Flickr
Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking about how many things I have done just because they said so.
I am sure that is true even in your case.
When you highly respect some people and you trust them 100%, you suspend judgment and rational thought and simply take a shortcut and move towards execution.
We all need shortcuts in life and I use them all the time when the instructions come from people the highly respect.
When I don’t have to worry about the “agenda” of the person giving me the instructions.
Better yet, when I am confident that the “agenda” of the person is totally geared towards me becoming a better person.
When I made a quick list of the number of people that can just order me around, I simply felt blessed. The list is quite long and it simply means that I am surrounded by people that I trust and respect.
Look inside yourself and see if you can make a quick list of people where you have that kind of relationship. I am confident that you have a big list too – just that you may never have slowed down to even think about it.
OK here is the real point:
Now think about all the people that matter most to you.
Now imagine, they were doing this exercise and they are asked to make a quick list of people who can tell them something and they would do that just because they said so.
In how many lists will your name appear?
Something to think about.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 06 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 7 Comments
When you meet someone even after a while, they are seeing your 2.0 version.
You meet them again after a while and they again will see your 2.0 version.
With reasonable time between meetings, you change. You evolve and typically version 2.0 is better than version 1.0
What would you feel if someone does not notice that you are v2.0 and starts treating you as if you are still v1.0?
What would you feel if someone makes assessments using the criteria they used to make assessments of your previous version?
What would you feel if they didn’t notice the “significant” change from your previous version to current version?
Not very good I am presuming.
Now lets turn the tables around.
How are you treating people when you meet them after a while?
Do you see them as version 2.0 or do you see them same as before?
How do you think they are feeling?
Something to think about.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 05 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 3 Comments
Photo Courtesy: Monkeyc.Net on Flickr
The biggest asset you have on your hand: Your time.
The biggest asset you have on the hand of others: Their mindshare
The biggest asset others have on their hand: Their time.
You squander their time (their biggest asset) and they stop handing you their mindshare (your biggest asset in their hands)
Mindshare erosion is the silent killer. You start losing it as soon as you stop caring for the time of people in question.
Mindshare erosion is a serious problem because while you can lose it easily, it is not easy to recover that back. Why? Simply because with the newfound time, others will engage with something else that catches their fancy. While it is important for you to get back their mindshare, it may not be equally important for them to hand back their mindshare.
This year, I wish all of you success and hope each one of you will prevent or arrest mindshare erosion and succeed.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 04 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 16 Comments
Photo Courtesy: Satguru on Flickr
I am sure you completed the sentence and read it as:
Every cloud has a silver lining.
That’s how I would do it.
But I had an “Aha Moment” earlier this month. January 2nd was my 40th birthday. I had mixed feelings about it – mainly because Kavitha and Sumukh were away in India. It didn’t seem like the day was complete without them. The day was salvaged a bit because of a few close friends and I am thankful for them.
So, here is the story of the “aha-moment.”
On my Facebook page, my friend Karthik Sundaram sent his wishes and said.
Rajesh: Welcome to the big four o. Have a wonderful day and year ahead.
With the mood I was in, this was my response:
Thanks Karthik. I tried to tell GOD to push that out a bit but he wouldn’t listen 
So, I can see the cloud of 40, I just have to find the silver lining 
So far so good but the Aha-Moment came when my friend Kathy McManis Holzapfel (aka Cate Noble) added to the conversation and said:
God said to tell you she always listens And she’s got wondrous things planned for you…things she needed you to be older and wiser for. Oh, she also hinted that your lining might be gold. Ha! And there you were looking for silver.
Happy birthday, my friend. Remember: 50 is the new 30, so at 40 you’re practically a teenager.
God bless Kathy. Those were kind words and most importantly, I needed to hear them right there and then.
Suddenly, “every cloud has a silver lining” seemed like trapped in a box. Once in the box, there was no way for me to be thinking outside of it.
In other words, every cloud may have a golden lining is totally “out of the box” and I could not see it.
Thanks Kathy for that wake up call!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 03 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - 2 Comments
A few months ago, I wrote on the topic – “The Business Case for Giving Away Your Best Work For Free” at TomPeters.com.
My fascination with free started in early 2000s when I was leading an open source company. I continue to be amazed at the power of free.
I was checking the bestsellers on Kindle. Can you guess the price of each of the top ten books?
Zero. Zilch. Nothing.
The top selling book “The Crossroads Cafe” by Deborah Smith has been in the top 100 books for last 9 days. There are 40 customer reviews almost everyone of them have given a 5-Star rating for the book. Deborah has another book “Mossy Creek” on #3.
If that’s not enough, note that book #11 is Alex, I Cross by bestselling author James Patterson priced at $9.99.
Free an unfair competitive advantage on price. How can you compete with something that costs nothing?
By giving something even higher quality for nothing.
By giving your best work for free.
Think about how you can incorporate “Free” into your offerings.
Posted under Business Models.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 02 Jan 2010, 12:10 AM - Leave Comment
Last week, I happened to be at Marie Callender’s restaurant and noticed a wine bottle on the table. It was part of a promotion called Wine Wednesday. On Wednesdays any wine bottle is half off. I don’t drink wine so it was not attractive for me anyway but upon further poking around, I found that they have been quite successful with that promotion.
While the 50% off seems like a good deal, what they did to promote the offer was also impressive. They could have kept a flyer talking about the wine bottle. Rather than that, they went one step ahead and kept the wine bottle there. One more step and the customer can get whatever they wanted.
One more step and that’s it.
It is the same model with Amazon 1-Click ordering. You are browsing the site and you like a book (or anything) and all you need to do is click the button once and the item is on its way. You can call it as an “incentive for impulse buying” or you can say that the feature is there for convenience of time-starved people or whatever you want but the deal is simple – just one more step and you can get what is being offered.
Just one more step!
There is so much to learn and may be you can think about how you can use this or a variance of this in your own business.
Posted under Compelling Offers.
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