8 Success Lessons - A must read !

I have collated a few Success Lessons from a few insanely successful people. 

For me these are not success lessons but mantra for living your life to the fullest . 

Hope you like them ...

1. It Starts with the Belief

Almost everyone who’s ever been successful decided at some point that they were just not destined for the average life. They had the belief that the world had something of a much higher power planned for them.

You have to belief that you too can achieve greatness and that you will be able to live your dreams out one day. The belief in something goes a long way when you’re putting all your effort into something.

It definitely makes the difference between whether you’re a success or a failure.

“I ALWAYS KNEW I WAS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS.” – Oprah Winfrey

2. Go With Your Gut Instinct

Your gut instinct isn’t perhaps always the correct one.

Sometimes after re-thinking a situation, you have more time to think and make a better choice. Although, it’s said that your gut instinct on something is normally the right one, or at least the one you won’t have any regrets about.

Oprah Winfrey has said that she always trusted her gut instinct with any of the major changes in her life, including her  T V Show . It’s when you doubt your gut and being to start questioning it with others, that you often end up going against your gut and making the wrong choice.

In business it’s very important that you make the right decisions, and having a little faith in yourself and your gut might make the differences you need.

“YOUR GUT IS YOUR INNER COMPASS. WHENEVER YOU HAVE TO CONSULT WITH OTHER PEOPLE FOR AN ANSWER, YOU’RE HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.” – OPRAH WINFREY

3. Money Should Not Be Your Priority

Success is much more likely to come your way if you’re in it for the right reasons, and money is not one of them.

The right reason should be because you love what you are doing, because in the end your ultimately happy with how your spending the time you have. Any money that comes from it is just a huge bonus.

To become wealthy is one of the reasons why most people start a business, and that’s still a valid reason to start one, but it shouldn’t be the only reason why you’re doing it.

The love and passion for something motivates people a lot more than money could. And so it’s easier to stick with something you love for long periods, than something you hate but that pays a lot.

“YOU KNOW YOU ARE ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD DO YOUR JOB, AND NOT BE PAID FOR IT.” – OPRAH WINFREY

4. Give Your Best Effort With Anything You Do

You’ve got to give it 100% with everything you do. Just slacking for a small period could set you back a long, long time.

Especially when we’re in a world that’s quite difficult to stand out in, that extra 10% effort you could put in, definitely gives you an advantage over those who are simply doing  it without quality or effort.

5. The Best Way to Learn is By Doing

You may have heard this quote in a different way but eventually it all comes down to the same conclusion: The best teacher is the experience you get from learning.

Branson accentuates on doing things by yourself because trying, failing and repeating is the quickest way to learn where you’re going wrong, and how issues can be fixed.

You can study as much as you like, but taking action is the only way you’re really going to learn.

“THE BEST WAY OF LEARNING ABOUT ANYTHING IS BY DOING.” – RICHARD BRANSON

6. Set Yourself Tough Challenges

When you go to the gym, you’re aiming to improve your body. To build strong biceps, a big chest and get those all important six pack abs.

You’ll see others already trying to do exactly that, and yet few have been able to attain their desired body shape.

The point being? You’re unable to compare yourself to other people. You just have to be clear about ‘Who you were yesterday and who you are today.’

Setting your own par gives you the privilege to accept dramatic change. Nothing in this world can give me more joy than setting an un-achievable goal and eventually reaching it successfully.

“MY INTEREST IN LIFE COMES FROM SETTING MYSELF HUGE, APPARENTLY UN-ACHIEVABLE CHALLENGES, AND TRYING TO RISE ABOVE THEM.” – RICHARD BRANSON

7.  Put Down Your Smartphone

Nowadays, you see millennials fooling themselves, wasting precious time in the myriad of social media networks.

And… if you’re not caught in the trap of this, you will definitely be caught in the cycle of email; See, Reply, & Repeat.

Branson stresses on telling business leaders and professionals that they should not be addicted to technology.

It’s more advisable to schedule a specific time during the day to reply to all emails and to go to meetings, rather than continuously engaging in this activity throughout the day. That’s a sure fire way to decrease your productivity.

“DON’T BECOME A SLAVE TO TECHNOLOGY – MANAGE YOUR PHONE, DON’T LET IT MANAGE YOU.” – RICHARD BRANSON

 8. You’re Never too old to Succeed

Colonel Sanders was 75 years old before he finally sold Kentucky Fried Chicken for a cool $2 million. Which would be around about $15 million in the world of today. He remained as the spokesmen for the company after the sale.

But 75 years old… the majority of people, at least 95% give up way earlier in life. People stop thinking they can be successful even in their 30’s! And yet, the Colonel didn’t think this way, and ended up being the founder and face of a billion dollar brand.

Cheers !

The Rise and Rise of the "Human" Manager

Sometimes I really feel nervous. 

With the growth and proliferation of Artificial Intelligence, will we human beings become redundant at work ? 

Think about Siri - Apple's personal assistant. It gives you such sensible and intelligent answers and solutions in a jiffy ! 

Alexa - a personal assistant developed by Amazon. It is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, and other real time information, such as news, and it can control home automation system. 

Driverless or autonomous cars are being piloted by Google. Again, data mining and data analytics have already become the norm - be an e commerce site or a search engine and many other verticals.  When I open my laptop and the net, it shows me advertisement based on the  prediction  just what I am  interested in purchasing, based on my online behavior.  

More often I am irritated with the onslaught of messages and advertisement which are bombarded at me.  But I must confess that was it not for a reminder from Google, I would have missed my flight once.  

Can any of us do without Google maps nowadays? It is so convenient to go to an unknown destination confidently with the help of this fine app . And it is marvelous to see it predict the traffic situation while traversing the way . 

Folks, there is no denying the fact that Artificial Intelligence is going to stay and swamp us. The machines will definitely do a much better job than us. It will have 100% accuracy,  be 100% bug free , much more cost effective and many times more predictable and reliable.

But what about we human beings ? That is what scares me. 

Automation bodes ill for many unskilled and purely skill-based professions. 

But it will definitely spell boon for engineers who are highly skilled and technical , who will design, fix and refine the Artificial Intelligent "beings".  But they are just a handful. How can they be retained, because if they don’t love their workplace, the most talented ones will always be able to negotiate a higher salary somewhere else.

Here is where the "Human" and the "emotionally intelligent" managers and their value come in. 

It is these managers who will be able to motivate them, inspire them, nurture them to greater heights of creativity and innovation and keep them in the organization to build continuity and growth of the organization and the highly technical and competitive initiatives.  

We need managers with more "human", who will help others grow and "help people be better at their jobs" . These managers will nurture the people and bring compassion into the weary corporate world . These managers will bring a sense of greater purpose in the highly technical people which will bind them to the organization.

I am reminded of a piece which I read recently. This is a true story recounted by Rahul Bajaj, the MD of Bajaj Auto, who had lead the innovation in his organization and turned around the fortunes of the company.

Many years back, his company had brought in an eminent Japanese professor as a consultant for an ambitious and critical product line introduction. As the professor landed in India, Bajaj went to the hotel to welcome him. 

After pleasantries were exchanged with the eminent but terse academic, the conversation went something like this:

Eminent Japanese Professor: “So, what do you do?”

Business Leader: “I am the Vice President of Products.”

“That is your designation. I want to know what you do.”

“Well, I make motorcycles.”

“So, how many did you make today?”

“I do not make the bikes myself, I have people who do.”

“Okay, so what do you do?”

“Well, I sell bikes.”

“So, how many did you sell today?”

“I do not sell bikes myself, I have people who do.”

“Okay, so what do you do?”

“I design the bikes.”

“So, how many have you designed today?”

After an uncomfortable silence, Mr. Bajaj spoke

“So, what do you think I do?”

“Well, you have only one job: helping people be better at their jobs.”

This was an eye-opener which gave the business leader great clarity about his role. The next day, the professor visited the company office and ran into the business leader at lunch.

“So, what do you do?” asked the professor once more.

“I help people become better at their jobs.”

“So, how many people have you helped today?”

Let the managers of the world ask this question to themselves everyday. This will help us not getting redundant in this artificially intelligent future.

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