Life Lessons Archives - Notes by Logoraman

The Excellence Mindset

“I wish I could clone this person.”

If you have ever built a team, this thought would have crossed your mind at least once.

Most teams have that one superstar – a bar raiser who excels in her work and sets standards for the whole team. The rest fall somewhere in the spectrum between excellent to average. How you wish you could fill your team with Superstars. Well, building a team is filled with compromises – budgets, timelines and more often than not you end up with people who are excellent in some aspects while just average in others. Is there a way for you to make them go from average to excellent in all aspects? Can excellence be taught? Is it something that comes naturally? Can you find some common principles for having an excellence mindset?

Here are some of the common traits I came across people with an Excellence Mindset.

Care Deeply

People with an excellence mindset care deeply about their work. In fact, they care deeply about everything they do. Even, when no one is watching. There is a famous paragraph in Walter Issacson’s biography of Steve Jobs.

‘You gotta make the back of the fence — that nobody will see — just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know, and that will show that you’re dedicated to making something perfect.’ Paul Jobs to his son, Steve Jobs.

Apple Mac Pro Internals. Apple is known for creating beautiful products. Their beauty also extends to the internal parts of the product which rarely few customers ever see.

Apple Mac Pro Internals. Apple is known for creating beautiful products. Their beauty also extends to the internal parts of the product which rarely few customers ever see.

Think Different

Thinking and acting like everyone else is the shortest path to mediocrity. Whenever you come across a problem, here are a few questions to force yourself to think different.

Can I fundamentally rethink this? First Principles thinking
What can I do to make this better?
Think backwards. Think about the end goal and chart a path back to your starting point.
Invert. Always invert.
Remove components. Strip down everything and rebuild

The Sextant SM31 Shaver (1962). When the Sextant SM31 shaver hit the markets, it was unlike any other shavers that came before it.

Push Limits

When you have an excellence mindset you try to push the limits in everything you do. Even things as simple as optimising your daily schedule by 1%. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to keep pushing the limits

Can we improve this? Even if it is just by 1%?
Can we improve this even if no one will notice the difference

Evolution of Dyson Digital Motor. The latest Dyson Digital Motor is half the size of its predecessor and twice the efficiency

Attention to Detail

Measure twice, cut once

Perhaps the hardest but the most trainable quality in Excellence Mindset is ‘Attention to Detail’. Attention to Detail simply translates to being more precise in your work and being less shoddy. You can get 90% of the way there by simply checking your work once before sending it across. If you are a writer, careless mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, alignment issues are some of the most basic things you can catch in one round of revisions.

Consistency

80% of success is just showing up

We all have come across one-hit-wonders and people whose performance fluctuates between highs and lows. To be truly excellent, you need to be able to repeat your performance every single time. If anything it needs to become better each time.

There is a quote by Woody Allen that says “80% of success is just showing up”. Consistently showing up every day. following through on plans and making progress every day are the easiest ways to cultivate an excellence mindset.

Deep Expertise & Range

Excellence cannot be achieved by dabbling in things. It requires time, patience, effort and the will to go in-depth to gain deep expertise in an area. Expertise cannot be created over weeks or months, It takes years of work, one day at a time. Often people with deep expertise in an area gain it at the expense of something else. You must have come across lone geniuses and solo warriors who are really good at one thing but basically suck at everything else. If you really want to cultivate an excellence mindset it will serve you well to gain exposure to things outside your area of expertise. It is when you develop this sort of a range that you can truly push the limits of your expertise by bringing in newer perspectives to your area of expertise.

The Covid lesson we refuse to learn

A new Covid variant emerges every now and then threatening to throw the world into another lockdown. Low vaccination levels, especially in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) allow the virus to mutate freely. There is every chance that a new variant might emerge which is both highly transmissible and deadlier than the previous ones.

Soon after their case load drops, countries try to go back to normal forgetting that there is a large percentage of the world population who don’t have access to vaccines. When a new variant emerges from these forgotten lands, everyone gets a rude reminder.

The lesson Covid is trying to teach us is simple. ‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. It is time for the world to work together as one. We have to start sharing vaccines and other resources with each other. The sooner we learn this very simple lesson the sooner we can come out of this crisis.

WHO

10 business lessons for start up founders from Cricket

Recently in our company blog, we published an article titled Top 10 Leadership & Life Lessons from Tokyo Olympics 2020. While it touched upon my learnings from the game of cricket briefly, this post is essentially a long-form version of it.

Cricket is one sport that I have enjoyed watching and playing growing up. The game has undergone many changes in the past few decades, some good and some bad. While it has 42 written Laws and a 1000 nuances, at its core, it is simply about putting bat to ball. These are some of the lessons I picked up from this game which has helped me in both life and business.

Patience – It isn’t over until the last ball is bowled

Cricket is a sport that requires a lot of patience. The longest format of the game is played over 5 days. It teaches you the value of patience and staying in the game till the last ball. Playing and watching the game over so many years has taught me to be patient and play the long game in life.

Momentum

Momentum is significant in sports. You will not be able to see it in the score sheet at the end of the day, but momentum can swing a game in your favour or against you very quickly. In life, too, you can use momentum to your advantage to seize the day. Something as simple as getting the small items checked off your To-Do list at the start of the day can give you a lot of momentum to take on the more daunting tasks.

Knowing your blind spots

In Cricket, a good batsman is always aware of where his off stump is. It allows him to leave deliveries that he shouldn’t be poking at. A parallel to this in life is knowing your risk appetite when it comes to decisions regarding your finances or career.

Respect the conditions

First day, first session on the swinging pitches of England, you don’t go out thinking about smashing every ball to the boundary. You wait it out. You leave balls in the 4th stump line and bide your time till the ball gets old. Once you have survived the morning session, then you start scoring. Tired bowlers and an old ball will give you plenty of opportunities to score runs. In business, market conditions can throw you off your growth trajectory. It doesn’t help if you stay stubborn and try to outspend and buy growth during these times. You have to respect the conditions, cut costs and wait it out sometimes for the condition to improve. Survival is key.

Mindset is everything

Test matches are played session by session. Each session gives you a chance to start fresh. If you lose a session and carry over the impact to the next, you are sure to lose that session as well. Getting into the right mindset – a positive frame of mind at the start of each session is important to get back in the game. In business, you might have a tough few days or months or a quarter. However, if you let that affect the company’s overall morale, you will soon descend into a tailspin. The key for you as a leader is to get your team in the right mindset no matter how horrible things have gone previously.

Nothing beats match practice

Whenever a team tours a country, they play practice matches with the local teams as part of their preparation. One such match played is worth watching 1000 hours of footage of opposition bowling and strategising through the night. Nothing beats match practice. Similarly, you can read all the books and theorise as much as you want in life, but actually rolling up your sleeves and doing the work will give you a better perspective.

Challenge status quo

Cricket has a Decision Review System where if you feel that the umpire is wrong, you can challenge their decision. If you are right, the umpire’s decision gets overturned. Just because a decision comes from a figure of authority doesn’t mean that it can’t be challenged. In fact, encouraging a culture of dissent and questioning in your teams can help you build a stronger team.

Horses for courses

Cricket has 3 established formats. The 5-day game or the Test, the 50 over game or the One Day International and the 20 over game or the T20. All these formats demand a certain set of skills from the players. There are very few players in international cricket who play across all three formats. Many teams even have different captains across formats. A horses for courses policy is at play here. When we build teams, we tend to hire people who think along similar lines. While this ensures that there are hardly any conflicts within the team, this might not be the best way to build a team that delivers results. You need to onboard people who bring something different to the table and add to the team’s strengths rather than filling it with people who all think and act the same way.

Fortune favours the brave

Outside edges that fly over the slip cordon are a common sight during the slog overs. This happens when a batter goes hard at a ball with full conviction but fails to middle it. Half measures and indecision can cause more pain in life and business than being wrong. Sometimes it is essential to make a decision and throw the kitchen sink at it rather than doubting yourself.

After all, it is just a game.

When you are out on the field, you play hard. You give your everything, but once the last ball is bowled, you must move on from the game and not carry the baggage with you. When all is said and done, it is just a game.

If you enjoyed reading this article, here is a similar article on my learnings

Tenets of professionalism

Over the last 12 years, I have worked with hundreds of people. Here are some of the top traits I have seen in people that are true professionals.

Tenets of professionalism

Professionals take ownership of their work. Whether they are serving their notice period in an organisation or just starting out they take complete ownership of their work.
Professionals have a clear definition of ‘Done’. Even in multi-team tasks, they don’t sit back once their part is done. They ensure that teams down the line don’t drop the ball
Professionals believe in how you do anything is how you do everything. Not everything you do at work will be seen by others. However, a true professional does everything with the same diligence no matter how big or small the task.
Professionals have a razor-sharp focus on attention to detail. Lack of time, bandwidth etc are never reasons for a professional to do shoddy work. They check and recheck everything they work on for the smallest of errors. As a result their work never requires someone else to do a QC before release.
Professionals don’t leave a mess behind. Like a Masterchef who doesn’t leave behind a dirty kitchen or a developer who writes readable, well-commented code, a true professional always delivers tip-top work without leaving a mess behind.
Professionals are punctual. They set reasonable deadlines and always stick to them. They don’t forget appointments or give last-minute excuses.
Professionals are consistent. Professionalism is not an option. It is not a choice where you can pick the dates or tasks to be a professional at.
Professionals don’t whine and crib. They are solution seekers. They solve problems and don’t complain about what is wrong with the rest of the world.
Professionals take initiative. They don’t wait for others to roll out the red carpet. Above all, they fix issues they come across even if it is outside their circle of concern.
Professionals love what they do and Inspire others with their work.
Professionals are technically sound and know the nuts and bolts of their discipline. They are always working on their craft and becoming better each day.
Professionals are transparent in their dealings. They never hide information, mislead or use information asymmetry as a source of power.
Professionals are respectful and humble irrespective of whether they are dealing with people above or below them in the reporting structure.

If you are interested in similar articles, here is one I wrote a while back on ‘Learning from my life’

Learnings from life – Part I

This is one post I have been trying to pen down for quite some time. While these are some of the learnings I have had in my life they are by no means some golden rules for anyone to follow as they are a result of my unique experiences.

There are no play-books. If you want to blaze your own path in life, understand that there are no play-books to follow. Most of our life from childhood onwards we are asked to follow different play-books. Most of the times these are based on journeys taken by people who ended up being successful. These people, their lives and journeys are often cited as examples of a path to take to achieve success and we end up blindly following them. Variables like your nature, your network, your interests and abilities are not considered and these often determine your success. So the next time you are presented with a play-book to follow, sit back and ask some questions. Find your answers and chart your own path.
Don’t wait for permission. We are conditioned to ask for permission from the time we are a toddler. Hardly any decisions we take are under our control almost till the time we start college. We are taught to take permission from parents, teachers and elders to do pretty much anything in our childhood. This is mostly done to keep us out of harms way however almost 18 years of this habit naturally tends to make us reluctant when it comes to big decisions. We are always looking out for the ‘elder’ to ask for permission. This reluctance limits our chances of success. As they say it is often easy to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
Learn to delegate. Delegation work to someone is something most of us come across in our 30s. This is mostly when most people reach middle management and have people reporting to them. Till then tasks were delegated to you and you have become pretty adept at finishing things you were assigned. Delegating work though is a different ball game and most people are uncomfortable with it at least initially. Start by delegating smaller tasks whose outcome don’t matter so that even if it gets messed up you can either redo it or no one cares. Try to give away at least 20% of your daily tasks to people reporting to you and take it from there.
Strong opinions loosely held. It is good to have opinions and having strong opinions allow you to commit to decisions and directions. Interestingly opinions change over time as you gain more experience and more often than not you will see contradicting evidence to your opinions. When that happens swallow your pride, take it as a lesson learned and change your opinion.
Data based decision making. In God, we trust everyone else must bring data. This is one of the posters that hang in our office. It is very easy to get lost amongst anecdotes and stories. The loudest mouths and storytellers can weave stories to push their points sometimes misleading the decision-making process. With data, everyone is looking at the same picture and drawing conclusions from it.
Reading books. Reading is crucial and it can help you get ahead in life. However many people get into the trap of counting pages or books they have read. Recently I have come to think of reading as a means to gain knowledge, provoke deep thinking or inspire actions on topics you care about. By that definition, an article you read, a documentary or a movie you watch or an annual report of a company can all have the same effect. I no longer set targets or maintain a long list of books I need to read. There are 3 – 4 topics of interest for me at any point in time and I try to consume any content on those topics be it books, videos, articles or tweets. Re-reading books that I liked in the past is another thing that I have started doing. I take copious amounts of note and consume additional content on the topic like author interviews, summaries, reviews of the book to build on top of the initial reading.
Habits vs Goals. This is an idea popularised by Shane Parrish, James Clear etc in their blogs. Although I still do set goals for myself on an yearly basis most of these are broken down into daily habits or tasks that are part of my daily routine. For instance fitness for me is a daily 30 minute session rather than getting a 6 pack abs or getting the fat content to < 10%.
Start with something. A blank canvas can sometimes look like a chance for infinite creativity or a steep hill to climb. The key is to get the first stroke in and work from there. There is an interesting concept called ‘The 5 second Rule’ that I came across in Mel Robbins site. It essentially says ‘If you have an impulse to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill the idea’.
No one is thinking about you as much as you. A lot of our time is spent on thinking about what others think about us. This fear or concern is natural as we are social beings and for many years in our history, our survival depended on how likeable we are in the group that we are part of. However, this thought can make us self conscious unnecessarily. Accept the fact that there will be people who will like you, hate you and not care about you. The vast majority will be the last group.
People remember how you made them feel. Treat people nicely irrespective of their social status or in whichever levels of man-made hierarchies they fall into. It doesn’t cost anything.
Avoid toxic people at all costs even if it benefits you temporarily. Some times in life you will find yourself in the company of toxic people. The fact that both of you are on the same side and consequently want the same thing is no excuse to put up with these people. At the end of the day, they are a big energy sap for you both physically and mentally. The warning signs often come early in your interactions and it is best to avoid these people.
Plan your day in advance. I go by the adage, “No one plans to fail but fails to plan”. A day planned in advance allows you to avoid distractions and gives a clear sense of purpose. Write down 3 big things you want to accomplish the next day before you go to sleep. That is all it takes.
Take notes… a lot of it. I have filled my share of moleskines and notebooks with copious amounts of notes and margin doodles. Some of these notes I never refer back to and I was concerned about that for a while even questioning the habit of taking notes. But lately, I have come to realise that they serve not just as records you can go back to but also as a way to structure thoughts and assimilate information when you take them. That alone justifies taking notes.
Figure out what you would enjoy doing even if no one paid you to do it. Life doesn’t happen in a straight line, there are many ups, downs and about turns. Not everyone discovers their passion by the time they are out of college. People end up in careers they might not enjoy but pays the bills. Once you are stuck at the wrong job it will slowly start affecting your happiness and your well being. It pays to take time and consider your options while choosing a career path.
Who wants what? Negotiations happen everywhere and not just in business. It helps to know what the motivators for the person sitting across you are. Money? Respect? Speed? Use that as leverage to arrive at a favourable outcome for both parties.
Anchor effect is powerful in negotiations. Name your price first. Make it at least 2X or 0.5X depending on which side of the table you are of what you would be happy to walk away with. Once this number is in everyone’s mind it is difficult to get it out and you have a better chance of closing the deal at your desired number.
How you do anything is how you do everything. This one comes in handy especially when you are hiring people. Traits like attention to detail etc are so ingrained in people that no matter what tasks they do it shows. Candidates who turn up a shoddy presentation for an interview citing lack of time is suddenly not going to become perfectionists once you hire them.
Don’t be embarrassed or afraid to talk about money. Yes, everyone is doing it for the money.
Trust – The world goes around because of trust. Whenever I get into any sort of relation – business or personal – I begin with 100% trust on the other party. Second guessing every action by someone is a sure shot way to strain the relation and get into all sorts of trouble. Calibrate the trust as you move along.
Unlike the digital world, real-world is not binary. A binary world is easy to understand. There are clear rights and wrongs. However, the real world is messy. There is black and white on opposite ends and a huge grey area in between. Almost everything you deal with will fall into the grey area. So, get comfortable operating in this zone.
Good, bad, evil are all relative. One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s militant. As long as you are not hurting people or on the wrong side of the law everything is game.
Your success is not limited by your intelligence. Don’t despair if you are not the smartest guy in the room. Often times your success is the result of a combination of intelligence, hard work, patience, EQ etc.
Mental models and cognitive biases are good to understand but hard to implement and watch out for. A simpler way is to understand the basic human tendencies and use that as a guiding post. Read about the 7 deadly sins. Most humans are fallible to these. Learn how to avoid them, spot when other’s actions are poisoned by them.
Every now and then, stop doing and start thinking
The #1 productivity hack is to get up early. Early depends on a number of factors like are you single and staying alone? do you have roommates? are you married and have kids? Very simply it means to wake up at least 2 hours before anyone else at home wakes up. This gives you two hours of uninterrupted work time and believe me you can get 80% of work for the day done in this time.