I have to tell you a story to make this point. Some of you have seen Indian movies and some of you have not. Those of you who have seen an Indian movie will smile at this and those of you who have not will want to see an Indian movie ( a mass-market kind of Indian movie ) after this.

Take 1: The College

A boy meets a girl in a college. They both fall in love and they get married. They live happily ever after.

Your verdict please?

Fail.

What do you mean fail? That story can really happen. Ok rather than arguing with you, let me take another shot at it

Take 2: The College

Ravi was fascinated with Bangalore. His dream was to study in a city. This was probably his third trip outside of his village but the last two trips were just one day trips. This time it was going to be for a long time. The first few days in National College were uneventful. But that changed when Priya walked into the class. Ravi could not place what it was that attracted him to her. Probably it was her blue eyes or the way she smiled. Those dimples. They can take anyone’s breath away.

Long story short. They both fell in love and they got married. They lived happily ever after.

Your verdict please?

Fail?

Come on. It was far better than Take 1. Don’t you think?

OK, no more arguments. Here is another attempt

Take 3: The College

Ravi was fascinated with Bangalore. His dream was to study in a city. This was probably his third trip outside of his village but the last two trips were just one day trips. This time it was going to be for a long time. The first few days in National College were uneventful. But that changed when Priya walked into the class. Ravi could not place what it was that attracted him to her. Probably it was her blue eyes or the way she smiled. Those dimples. They can take anyone’s breath away.

Ravi wanted to know everything about Priya. Just by looking at her clothes and the car she used to drive, he knew that she was way above her league when it comes to status and wealth. He was a great student and all but it would really take a miracle to make this match happen. Over the next few days, they met several times. In the library. At the cafe. She was with her friends and he was with his friends. Their eyes met. He watched her closely. She never bothered to look at him.

Ravi was not someone who was going to give up.

Long story short. They both fell in love and they got married. They lived happily ever after.

Your verdict please?

Fail?

Not again. OK here is one more attempt at this.

Take 4: The College

Ravi was fascinated with Bangalore. His dream was to study in a city. This was probably his third trip outside of his village but the last two trips were just one day trips. This time it was going to be for a long time. The first few days in National College were uneventful. But that changed when Priya walked into the class. Ravi could not place what it was that attracted him to her. Probably it was her blue eyes or the way she smiled. Those dimples. They can take anyone’s breath away.

Ravi wanted to know everything about Priya. Just by looking at her clothes and the car she used to drive, he knew that she was way above her league when it comes to status and wealth. He was a great student and all but it would really take a miracle to make this match happen. Over the next few days, they met several times. In the library. At the cafe. She was with her friends and he was with his friends. Their eyes met. He watched her closely. She never bothered to look at him.

Ravi was not someone who was going to give up until that day. He remembers it very clearly. He was walking with his friends back to the hostel. Priya and two of her friends were walking in front of them. It was quite a distance between them. His friends were talking something but Ravi’s attention was totally on Priya. A black BMW approached the girls and immediately Priya’s friends said good-bye and walked away briskly. A person in a blue-suit got down the car and smiled at Priya. It must be Priya’s Dad. Ravi slowed down a bit when he heard one of his friends say, “OMG..that is Shankar.. guys, let’s just walk away quickly..” The other two just dragged Ravi and all of them started walking briskly. Ravi was confused as he was walking away. He tried to look back and see who Shankar was. His friend said, “Don’t do that Ravi..you don’t want any trouble. It’s not worth it.” Ravi nodded and followed his friends.

Long story short. They both fell in love and they got married. They lived happily ever after.

Your verdict please?

OK, let’s get to the point.

I am sure you were able to notice the progressive introduction of “drama” into the story. If you had not read the first three versions, it would be a bit difficult to notice the “drama” in version four.

Most movies are filled with “drama.” If you don’t learn to notice it, you may start believing that “drama” is real and it would hurt you sooner than later.

Good luck and may you have less “drama” in your life.

=====================

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)

Note 4: Photo Courtesy: Alkelda on Flickr

There are odds for everything. I mean everything. In fact, without those odds, it wouldn’t be fun doing it anyway. The first step to beating the odds against you is to “try” to beat it. That means doing something that you want to do.

I have long followed a rule that has worked very well over the last two decades and that is:

“You can’t lose what you don’t have”

When you are going after something that you don’t have, first thing to remember is that you don’t have it – that’s the reason you are going after it. So in case you don’t get it, you don’t lose anything. So there is no “loss” per se for trying to get it. Well, the intellectuals out there will talk about “opportunity cost” etc. but really, we can say that whatever you do now, the fact remains that there is an opportunity cost for that too – meaning you could always be doing something else at all times. So the opportunity cost argument won’t hold good.

Then again, you all know that but why don’t you do it?

The answer is Resistance. I won’t go into the details of resistance but if you want to know what it is and how to overcome it, I suggest you read this ULTRA-BRILLIANT book by Steven Pressfield (special thanks to Callie Oettinger) called “The War of Art” ( creativity even in the title ). This is one book that I am going read again and again until the concepts get locked in my head.

Lastly, remember that if you are trying something truly worthy, you have already won with the journey of what it will make of you – rather than what you get as a prize. The prize is a bonus.

As I was writing this post, the daily newsletter from Hugh McLeod arrives with the tile “At least.” The artwork for that is here.

Thanks Hugh!

You can download (cc license) for your own use on Hugh’s site here:

Download “At least” by gapingvoid.

Think about last week. You met with a lot of people personally and professionally. Only a handful of them “really connected” with you. Most others ( even those that impressed you ) did not bother to “connect” and you will probably wipe them out of your memory sooner than later.

[ Note: On the flip side, it works the same way for you. Most people that met you will forget you sooner than later ]

Where is the gap?

Why is that most people that you meet don’t “connect” with you?

The gap is simply in establishing the relevance of what they can bring to the table to what you care about.

Think about it.

Most people will quickly establish their expertise, their connections, their accomplishments and their influence. There is enough proof for that. After they have a few accomplishments, it becomes easy – all they have to do is to share what they have done. While this might create a “Wow” experience and also establish their credibility on a topic, it still does not mean what it “means to you.” One has to fill that gap to “really connect” with you.

Why don’t they do that?

Simply because it takes hard work to care about what you care about. It takes hard work to establish the impact they can make with what they bring to the table. It is also not a totally scalable process any more. Why? If they have to keep talking about themselves, they can repeat the same thing all day long. When they have to establish relevance to what you care about, they need to do a lot more thinking. A step before that – they need to have a lot more “caring” about what you care about.

Now, think about those people that “really connected” with you recently. More often than not, they cared for you and most important, they brought something to the table that was “relevant” to what you cared about.

There is good news though. There is less traffic on the road to “really connecting” with people. Most people will stop at establishing how good they are and why they are entitled to all the glory and respect. You could make an exception by filling in the gap by
a) really caring AND
b) establishing the relevance of what you bring to the table to what “they” care about.

Have a great week ahead.

=====================

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)

Note 4: Photo Courtesy: just.Luc on Flickr

CEREBRATE Silicon Valley 2010 happens during July 30 – Aug 1, 2010 at Mount Madonna. The event begins late Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday afternoon.

CEREBRATE (brain-child of my friend Kiruba Shankar) is an event like no other. The event typically begins with no agenda and quickly develops into a a series of conversations finally resulting in deep relationships with a small number of people. The participants will be from diverse backgrounds – all leading interesting lives and making meaningful contributions to make this world a better place to live. CEREBRATE is not a conference and there will only be a handful of people invited. The goal is not in getting a large number of people but have quality conversations among a small set of people.

I participated in a CEREBRATE event earlier this year and was fascinated with what happened there. Kiruba and I quickly decided that we need to have one such event in Silicon Valley. Everyone seems to be ALWAYS busy in Silicon Valley and this would be a welcome change for a small set of people. This is a time to reflect, connect and build meaningful relationships. It will be different than any of the networking events in the bay area as the agenda is really set by who will participate.

More information is here:
http://cerebrate.in/2010/siliconvalley/

We  have a stellar line-up of people who have already confirmed that they will attend.

Of course, we are very well aware that more people ( that we don’t know ) should be invited and will contribute and benefit from the event. It may be you or someone that you respect. Please nominate them here:

Nominate for CEREBRATE Silicon Valley 2010

We are looking for nominations from all fields – someone who has made meaningful contributions in the fields of arts, crafts, non-profits, business, technology, literature – actually any field for that matter.

The participants will all benefit and most definitely will leave the event with even more capacity to make a bigger difference.

Today is Independence Day and there are celebrations all over the place. It’s exciting. Definitely.

Independence as the word explains is opposite of “Dependence” – in other words it is your freedom to choose rather than being dictated or told what to do. In fact, it is more than the opposite of dependence. The keyword is “choice” here – more than anything else. If someone were in a prison, the choice is taken away. He or she is not only dependent but he or she has limited set of choices in front of him or her.

Independence (and freedom) is sweet but there is a price to pay – it is the price of responsibility.

What most people forget is that while they have the freedom, they don’t have the freedom from facing the consequences of their action. That nobody can escape from. They are free to do whatever they want as long as they are willing to pay the price of facing their consequences. So, in essence, freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. You are free and you can make the most out of it as long as you are responsible. The moment responsibility is taken off, all bets are off.

While wishing everyone a happy Independence Day, I want to wish everyone a “Happy Responsibility Day” on an individual basis.

Enjoy the freedom. Take responsibility and make the most of your life!

Photo Courtesy: SRivera on Flickr

You would have heard the following statements many times.

• Tools are not everything. What you do with tools is more important.
• Tools are a means to an end. They are not the end.

A writer has to write and it does not matter what tools he uses to write. Well, most of the time. If you are writing a novel, then using a tool like Scrivener would make a world of difference. Last November, I participated in the NaNoWriMo event and wrote the first draft of my novel in 19 days. Of course, it took months to refine it after that. But the point is – Scrivener was a God-send at that point in time. It made me focus on my few hours of writing at night and removed all the distractions by fading them away.

In summary, it is the combination of the “right” talent capitalizing on the “right” talent that will make a big difference.

That brings me to the point of this blog post after a brief background:

It was more than 13 months ago, that I first met Ram Dutt and Jason Dirks, co-founders of Meylah. They had a vision that was about providing tools and resources to a community that BADLY needs them (the community of creative professionals).

The idea instantly appealed to me – mostly because I have so many creative people in my network who are not web-savvy. They LOVE their craft and they mostly “hate” working outside of it – like talking about it, promoting it, marketing and selling it.

Scott Belsky says it brilliantly in his just released book “Making Ideas Happen” (a must-read even for people outside the creative world) – most creative people struggle because they stop at the idea stage or limit their work to their craft. They do what they LOVE and not what is REQUIRED to make what they LOVE flourish.

I didn’t have to go far for a use-case. My brother Prasad in India is an artist and he loves his craft. But he had never been able to get share, sell and teach his craft easily before.

Meylah’s vision of providing the “right tools” for an audience that was hungry was hence compelling. The tools include – providing an ability to share (a simple blog), an ability to sell (a store), an ability to teach (a lightweight learning management system) and an ability to connect (social media integration).

Long story short, Meylah has now released their Alpha and are accepting invites. There are several early alpha invitees who have already created their Meylah sites. A few examples are below:

1. http://www.meylah.com/chirag – A 9-year old artist showcasing his artwork

2. http://www.meylah.com/courtneyrian – A jewelry designer selling her work

3. http://www.meylah.com/prasad – My brother Prasad featuring his paintings

All of the above people created their websites without much help or having to be competent on the use of the web.

Like I said before, tools are not everything – but for “the right talent,” “the right tools” can simply give the edge that you need.

Quick request: If you are a creative professional, please check out http://www.meylah.com. If you are not one, but you know of a creative professional, please forward this blog post to them.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

You have a brilliant idea but it is instantly shot down by your Boss. It hurts. I can imagine that.

Next, you quickly find a reason why that idea was not supported. If you are like most people, you will blame your Boss for not being able to recognize the potential of a new idea. You might say that your Boss is so “old school” or he or she is “too conservative.”

If that is not the case, you might go in search of other ideas so that you can again present to your Boss. You might research on other companies that have successfully implemented your ideas or bring a Harvard Business Review Case study that supports your case.

The Boss does not change his or her mind.

You are frustrated and finally it dawns on you that you are in the “wrong place.” You need to go to a place that supports innovation and creativity. This is not it.

When you make that switch, unfortunately, history repeats all over again.

Now, you are NOT frustrated. You are devastated.

What might be the “real” problem?

It may not be YOUR idea but it may be YOU.

Think about it. The biggest force of an idea that is “yet to be implemented” is the person who is going to be the potential implementor of the idea. If that “force” is weak in the mind of the person evaluating the idea, the idea becomes weak.

Who is coming up with idea (especially if he or she is going to be the proposed implementor) is sometimes more important than the idea.

They say “one should not judge book by the cover.” In reality what happens? Exactly the opposite. You are the cover and your idea is the book. Unless you work on the cover, the book may not even be opened.

It is sad in a way but it is the reality. You might as well get used to it and more imprint – DO something about it.

Photo Courtesy: bitzcelt on Flickr

Selling desserts is a great profit booster for restaurants. Sell more desserts and you make more money. When I lived in Paris, the “dessert tray” was a standard feature in many restaurants. Even the most strong-willed people would succumb to the temptation once the dessert tray was in front of them.

I don’t see the dessert trays very often here.

Yesterday, I was meeting my friend Paul D’Souza who shared a photo of the dessert menu from Pasta Pomodoro. There was a new “Non-committal” section with pricing for mini desserts.

Think about it for a minute.

On the first category, with all the health-conscious movement around, we have a set of people who don’t want to eat desserts.

On the second category, we have people who were never interested in desserts irrespective of their diet.

On the third category are people who love desserts.

The first two categories can be combined and called “guilt-free wannabes” and there was nothing to target them. The “Non-committal menu provides a simple answer. It might make the “guilt-free wannabes” succumb to the temptation without feeling guilty.

Short answer:
Do insanely awesome work. That kind of work markets itself and you.

The short answer is obvious I am sure but let me take an example which is simply four screenshots from Twitter this afternoon.

#1. Ben Eubanks tweets about how impressed he is with a PR pitch?
( Think about it: when was the last time you heard a praise for a PR pitch)

#2 I tweet back requesting more information

#3 Ben tweets back with more details
( Shows that the PR person “walked the extra mile”

#4 Cori Curtis ( Cori is in Public relations ) is curious too.

The late Jim Rohn said it right – “every disciplined effort has multiple rewards.”

Have a great day.

Edward De Bono coined the term lateral thinking. It is about reasoning beyond what general logic reveals.

Sharpening your lateral thinking skills will open new opportunities simply because you will start looking at a problem/situation in completely new angles.

Rather than giving you theories about lateral thinking, I have chosen three problems that cannot be solved by traditional thinking. Please try to solve the problems by yourself before attempting to look at the solutions.

Think of this as a “Lateral Thinking Mini Workshop”

Problem #1: Billiard Ball

You have eight billiard balls. One of them is “defective,” meaning that it weighs more than the others. You have a balance. What is the minimum number of weighings to determine the faulty ball?

Problem #2: Contaminated Pill

You have five jars of pills. All the pills in one jar only are “contaminated.” The only way to tell which pills are contaminated is by weight. A regular pill weighs 10 grams; a contaminated pill is 9 grams. You are given a weighing machine and allowed to make one measurement with it. How do you tell which jar is contaminated?

The above two problems are from a book called “How Would You Move Mount Fuji?” by William Poundstone ( I have slightly modified them, though )

Problem #3: The total distance

A train travels from point A to Point B. The distance between Point A to Point B is 100 miles. The train travels at 10 miles per hour. At the same time a bird flies from Point A towards Point B. The bird is an adventurous bird. It travels at 20 miles per hour. When it reaches point B (way early as compared to the train) it turns back and travels toward the train. When it meets the train, it turns back and travels back to point B. And then it keeps repeating his journey back and forth to the train. What is the total distance traveled by the bird?

The above problem was shared with me by Raj Raheja, founder and chairman of Heartwood Studios.

Now the solutions:

.

.

.

.

.

Solution for Problem #1

The correct answer is two weighings.

You start with 3 balls each. Two outcomes are possible.

a. If the weights are equal, the faulty ball is one of the two remaining balls. One more weighing will reveal the faulty ball.

b. If the weights are not equal, you have already identified that it is one of the three balls on the scale. Now take the three balls and weigh one ball each and keep a ball aside. If the weights are unequal, you have identified the faulty ball. If the weights are equal, the ball you set aside is the faulty ball.

Solution for Problem #2

Let us assume that the bottles are labeled as A, B, C, D and E.

Take 1 pill from A, 2 pills from B, 3 pills from C, 4 pills from D and 5 pills from E. Weigh them all on the weighing machine. If none of the pills were contaminated, the weight would have been 150 grams ( 15 * 10 grams) However, since pills from one of the bottles are contaminated, the weight will be less than 150 grams. If the weight is less by 2 grams, then bottle B is contaminated. If the weight is less by 5 grams, then bottle E is contaminated.

Solution for Problem #3

The answer is 200 miles.

The solution is rather simple as you will see. The distance between point A and point B is 100 miles. The train travels at 10 miles per hour so it has traveled 10 hours to reach the destination. That is the same time the bird has traveled. But since the bird is traveling at 20 miles per hour, it has traveled 200 miles.

Have a great day!

Photo Courtesy: aishepmcr on Flickr