Archive for 'Distinguish yourself'
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 20 Aug 2007, 7:45 AM - 7 Comments
I am fortunate to get to meet a lot of bright young people who have bold dreams. Their eyes lit up when they explain how they are going to change the world. They have wonderful ideas. Sadly, many of them do not take any action on them TODAY because they are waiting for something to happen first. Typically, they are “getting ready” to do something big.
* Some of them want to finish their MBA before they are ready
* Some of them want to make LOTS of money before they are ready
* Some of them want to be a BIT MORE famous before they are ready
* Some of them want to be financially independent before they do anything significant
In summary, these people are waiting for a few more resources (eg: money, connections, fame, status..) before they are “fully ready” go after their dreams.
You can distinguish yourself if you choose to – by deciding to invent new possibilities daily. Don’t take this literally. When I say daily, I mean with whatever resources you currently have access to TODAY. Let’s think about that for a minute. What could be those resources that you have right now. Here are a few:
* Your experience so far
* Yoour connections – the people that you have lasting relationships with
* The projects you have executed
* The money you have
* The place you live in – Your city, state and country can be a possibility
* Your family, friends and colleagues
* The company that you are part of
* The associations and groups that you are a member of
* The books you have read
I can go on and on. The question is with all these resources that you have today, what new possibilities can you invent and act on TODAY?
The problem with knowledge and resources is that the more you have them, more you realize how much more of them you need. If you are looking to accumulate more resources before you an ACT on your dream, you may be WAITING for a long time. Why not change the game and start inventing possibilities with ALL the resources that you ALREADY HAVE?
In other words, while you are accumulating resources and knowledge to chase your big dream, what new dreams can you paint in parallel with ALL the resources you have today?
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Note1: For the other 178 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 15 Aug 2007, 7:13 AM - 3 Comments
When you were just learning to write the alphabets, all you had to do to get an applause from people around you was to write the alphabets correctly. Those were the rules of the game. When you moved to school, the rules changed almost without notice. You could not get an applause just by reciting or writing the alphabets.
At that time, I don’t think you complained. One reason – nobody in your school (your friends) complained about these new rules.
When you started your work, the rules changed again. There were no “exams” at work at scheduled intervals but every project that you undertook was almost like an exam.
When you moved up in your career, the rules changed again. If you continued to do what you did to get that promotion, it was no longer sufficient to move up to the next level. The rules had changed again. However, unlike a classroom, you didn’t have company of friends that were comfortable and welcoming the new rules. You were left alone to deal with the new rules.
I guess one of the enemies on our path to new success is the set of rules that made us successful in the past. I think the financial people have got it. They say “past performance is not an indicator of future results” along with every report. I guess this is equally applicable in a career setting too.
If you are a knowledge worker and want to progress in your career, it is guaranteed that every “step up” in your career will require you to play the game using the new rules. This looks like change management 101 where you try to “adapt” to change. What I am referring to is slightly different from change management. Rather than “adapt” to change, you need to “welcome” change. You need to welcome the new rules and eagerly wait for them. When you have to “adapt”, it feels like you are doing some “work” or “going the extra mile” to deal with things. When you “welcome the new rules” you are just dealing with what you were expecting to deal with. There is a subtle difference but that small difference is important.
Questions for you to think:
1. What new rules are you welcoming in your current position?
2. In order to “step up” in your career, what new rules should you welcome?
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 19 Jul 2007, 9:51 PM - Leave Comment
You are busy.
Everyone around you is busy.
Well, may be not everyone.
In fact, there are a lot of people out there who were very busy and they are not busy anymore. When they were busy, they didn’t have time for anyone. When they finally got out of their busyness, there is nobody for them.
Loneliness is probably the biggest unacknowledged problem today. Lonely people have a hard time accepting their situation. It is a matter of self-esteem. If you admit that you are lonely, it is almost admitting that you are screwed up. That is hard.
If you observe loneliness, it does not happen all of a sudden. It is the result of all the people decisions you made over the long term.
Two things to note:
1. The simple rule to remember is that if you don’t care enough for enough number of people over the years, there may not be enough people to care for you when you need them.
2. The corollary to that simple rule is that even when you care enough for enough number of people over the years, there may not be enough people to care for you when you need them.
That said, we both know that the first choice is always better than the second choice.
Now, whatever be the reason you are lonely, you can’t fix it easily. You can’t go back in history to fix all your people decisions. So in this case, definitely, prevention is always better than cure.
With that in the background, I want to make my point:
Have you looked at people around you who are already suffering with loneliness and not sharing it?
Sharing about one’s loneliness is the ultimate demonstration of vulnerability. Nobody wants to be vulnerable. But if you get the right cues, you can figure out if someone is “lonely” or not.
How about reaching out and helping those who are lonely before their loneliness turns into something worse – depression or sickness. I was told that America consumes 50% of the world’s anti-depressant drugs. Scary, yes but we can all join hands and fix the problem a bit.
If you are truly there for someone and make them feel that they are not lonely, you give them a new life. You give them new hope. You give them a gift that only another person can give.
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By Rajesh Setty on Mon 02 Jul 2007, 9:02 PM - 5 Comments
I have written and spoken about the need to keep the promises we make to ourselves earlier. By changing that one practice alone, we can change the way we live for the rest of our lives.
Why is it hard to keep the promises that we make to ourselves?
There are many reasons bu the number #1 reason that I can think of is that “we start believing in our own (weak) excuses” for not keeping that promise.
Here are a few examples:
1. Your promise: You want to wake up early in the morning and start a meditation routine
You don’t wake up of course. You explain it away saying that “you were very tired” last night because of some project pressure and you postpone.
2. Your promise: You want to read a few great books before the end of the year
You don’t end up reading even one book from the list. You say that “with so many things happening in your life, nobody in your position could have read a single book”
3. Your promise: Connect with at least five your old classmates within a month
You don’t end up connecting with even one of them. You say that “you could not find them anywhere on the Internet and nobody that you know has their contact information”
Excuses are OK but the real problem is when you actually believe in those excuses. The fact remains that the best excuse is still an excuse. By fully believing in that excuse, you have reducing your level of responsibility and accountability to your own promise. When you do that, nobody else, but YOU will get hurt.
People around you don’t even know many of the promises that you are making to yourself. When you break them, chances are you are the only person that you have to explain it. If you explain it to yourself with a “good enough” excuse, you have “escaped from guilt” for a short – probably not knowing that you have a paid a “heavy price” on your future.
Next time, put your excuses to test and see if you really believe in them. It is better to be “guilty as charged” than to be believing in “weak excuses”.
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 24 Jun 2007, 5:29 PM - 7 Comments
Note: This is a very special post for me. I am dedicating this to all those people that have created an ultimate lasting impression in my life. In the end, there is a call to action for all of you 
How do you create an ultimate lasting impression?
There is no single answer to this but for me, this one comes close -
You have created a lasting impression if people that matter most to you miss you in their past.
Let me explain a bit more. What I will say is based on these two facts:
1. We all live once. In cricket terms, we get to play only one innings in life. Do whatever you want, you can’t get back the time that has already passed.
2. We met various people at various stages of our lives – they may be new friends, business partners, teachers, mentors, coaches or anyone that will matter most to our lives. Until we meet them first-time, they don’t exist for us.
Some of these people make a “true” lasting impression in our lives. They make us feel like going back to the past – only this time they are also part of the past. Since we may have met them late in our life, the maximum we can have a relationship with them is until the end of our life or their life. But… they are so good that we feel cheated – they REALLY should have been part of our past.
Are you one of those people that people that matter most to you miss you in their past? If not, what can you do today and for the rest of your life that will take you to that stage?
Remember that there are no tricks or tactics to reach there. You just have to BE that person who is making that kind of DIFFERENCE in the lives of people.
Action Item:
I am sure you are surrounded by many people who have made such a big difference in your life that you are missing them in your past. If you were like me (when I was chronically busy) you may not have had the time to tell them how much they mean to you.
I request that you take a few moments and forward this article in an email and say that “I miss you in my past”
Go ahead and make their day!
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 28 May 2007, 7:41 AM - 1 Comment
Lisa Haneberg talks about the butterfly effect in her books and talks. You can read more about Butterfly effect here.
The butterfly effect is a phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory. Small variations of the initial condition of a nonlinear dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.
The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or prevent a tornado from appearing). The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.
How can we take advantage of this butterfly effect?
Simply by being those butterflies (actors) flapping our wings (making small positive contributions in the lives of other people)
For all you know, you may already be taking advantage of the butterfly effect in your own life. Answer the following questions:
“How many people have you positively surprised in the last week?”
and/or
“How many people can you positively surprise in the next few weeks?”
There is no right or wrong answer. Once you answer the above questions, answer this question:
“Do I have the potential and resources to positively surprise more people this year than last year?”
Most of us have the potential to positively surprise someone in our network or outside of our network at regular intervals. All it requires is “more caring” for people around us – be it someone that we know or be it strangers. One of my teachers taught me this almost a decade ago – it has almost gone to the background of obviousness for me. Has it provided enough returns? Absolutely. Way more than you can imagine.
The roots for many interesting things that have happened in my life trace back to one or two caring gestures or acts. Yes, those acts that almost cost me nothing – all it required was caring beyond the current market standards.
Now, the question for you on this memorial day weekend:
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By Rajesh Setty on Mon 05 Mar 2007, 10:34 PM - Leave Comment
History is filled with accounts of products that were discovered as a result of accidents. Here are a few examples
1. Alexander Fleming discovered the anti-biotic properties of Penicillin by accident
2. Heard about Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company? May be not. But you sure have heard of 3M (3M = MMM = Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) which capitalized on an accident (invention of Scotch tape while trying to make masking tape) to become a household name.
3. Dr.Roy Plunkett (DuPont Chemist) discovered Teflon (Polytetrafluoroethylene) when he was working with gases related to Freon refrigerants.
I look at my own life in the past few years and there have been so many accidents
1. The business model for my first company was broken. The new business model was created almost by an accident
2. I never wanted to get “Beyond Code” professionally published. Self-publishing was all I was thinking. This topic came up almost accidentally during one of my lunches with Tim Sanders. That conversation changed everything. I am glad it happened the way it did.
3. I started this blog mainly to support my book. That should explain the name of the blog. Of course, that is not the only intention now. Looking back, without the book, I don’t think I would have started to blog.
4. I went to look for funding on one of my recent startups. Through a referral, I ended up joining a fantastic networking group. During the interview to join that group, made friends with a gentleman that resulted in an acquisition that is win-win for both companies.
I can go on and on. The point is many significant things in my life have happened because I was able to capitalize on my accidents. I doubt that I could have done this alone. A big part of the credit goes to my mentors and learned friends that are surrounding me – helping me look at things in ways that I would have never been able to look if I was a lone ranger
I am sure your life is filled with accidents (good ones) too. How are you planning to capitalize on them and who do you have on your team to help you capitalize on these accidents?
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 04 Feb 2007, 12:19 AM - Leave Comment
Most often, we want to be congratulated for our contributions. Depending on the nature, size and frequency of contributions, we may expect different things – a raise, a pat on the back, a promotion or simply some sort of recognition. What gets conveniently overlooked is that cost that we bring along with the contribution.
Whether you want them or not, there are costs associated with your contribution. Let me take a simple example. If you are a sales person in a company, the costs that you are bringing in will include but not limited to:
* your compensation (salary, commissions and bonus)
* your requests of time from other people (pre-sales, management etc.)
* your expenses – travel, wine and dine etc.
* your perks – your blackberry subscription, phone calls etc.
* sales tools – CRM, lead generation tools etc.
* time spent on your education by you and the other people in the company
In the above example, if you add up all these things, you will notice that the time to “really” celebrate is not when you close that first deal but when you close “that” deal that is profitable to the company after factoring all your costs into consideration.
I picked one example but you can pretty much apply this to any profession. Whatever be your profession, remember that your contributions come with a cost. If the costs outweigh the contributions you are making, you are a liability not an asset.
Now, please don’t take this to an extreme. I urge that you celebrate small victories. On a lighter note, please remember that your celebrations for those small victories are also a cost that someone has to bear.
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 23 Nov 2006, 12:34 AM - Leave Comment
I can confidently say that one of the biggest time-savers in the last decade for me is this philosophy of having a wilingness to enjoy the incomplete. It may seem like an odd proposition but interestingly enough, it works. Let me give a few examples:
* Imagine you were able to walk out of a movie half-way through without having any bad feeling that you couldn’t watch the movie completely. In fact, imagine that you enjoyed every bit of it until you were in that movie.
* Imagine you were able to enjoy your favorite TV show even though you started watching it half-way through and had to take off before the end of the show.
* Imagine you were able to enjoy only a few chapters in the book.
* Imagine you were able to enjoy only a couple of items in the meal as you had to attend to an emergency somewhere.
If you observe the examples, I didn’t pick examples where you shun from your responsibilities. For example, I didn’t say – Imagine you were satisfied even when you delivered only half of your assignment last week. That would be stretching the system a bit.
In any case, we all know that it would be lot better if there was completeness. However, we also know that declaring satisfaction about something is totally under our control. There is no rule which states that you should not enjoy something that is incomplete. Nobody said that you got watch that TV show in complete to enjoy it and nobody said that you can’t enjoy a TV show even when you watched it only for a brief period in time. The rules that seem implicit are those that we made up. If we can make up the rules we can make them up again – this time in a manner that will help us.
I am not suggesting that you artificially setup situations to not complete something and starve yourself of the enjoyment. No, that was not my point. My point is that there will be times (actually many times) in your life where things are incomplete and all I am asking is for you to be willing to enjoy that incompleteness.
Try this for a week. Make it a point to enjoy the incomplete and you will see the difference.
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 17 Nov 2006, 11:49 PM - 4 Comments
I think there are some questions for which it is hard to find “good enough” answers. These, for me, are questions to wonder about. I am not suggesting that you should not think about them (if those areas are of your interest) or avoid them. You do what you choose to do based on your priorities in your life. My only advice is that if you are getting carried away by these questions during your prime time, please be aware that you are knowingly engaging in this activity.
Here are some sample questions:
1. Is there GOD?
2. How was the universe born?
3. What is success?
4. Is there life after death? (an oxymoron there)
5. What could have been different in <<pick something way back in history>>?
6. What would I have done differently if I were the <<president or choose some power position of that order>>?
7. How could I have solve the <<choose a long running global problem>>?
You get the idea and I am sure you have your own favorite questions in this category. If life is a software there is only one version of it for every one of us. You get tweak it here and there but there is no version 2.0 at least in this incarnation. Since nobody really knows what questions are running in your mind all the time, you can be the only judge and decision maker on which questions you decide to find answers to.
Good luck!
_____________________________________________________
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
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