Archive for December, 2008
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 31 Dec 2008, 5:00 AM - View Comments
How about creating a To “Let Go” List for the new year. The moment you let go of a few things that are not helping you, you create a space for new possibilities to emerge. Here are a few to get your juices flowing:
1. The feeling of entitlement
2. Chasing something that’s too good to be true
3. Lack of Accountability
4. Too much focus on the short-term
5. Too much focus on the long-term
6. Expertise in “generating excuses” for lack of results
7. “Undeserved” credit
8. Holding back on genuine appreciation
9. Expecting something for FREE
10. Not giving your best for FREE
All the best and have a great year ahead!
Posted under Uncategorized.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 30 Dec 2008, 10:31 PM - View Comments
Too much of time is spent on blogs discussing blogs
Too much of time is spent on Twitter discussing Twitter
Here are two basic questions that people are dying to get an answer for.
For blogs – “how do I get more traffic?”
For twitter – “how do I get more followers?”
This concern has taken on a life of its own and almost making people forget that the real questions should have been
For blogs – “WHY do I deserve to get more traffic?”
For twitter – “WHY do I deserve to have more followers?”
The metric seems to be centered around “how much attention one can get” on social media.
I think the #1 metric has to be
“By what percentage has my capacity increased (by participating in social media) to GIVE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL and VALUABLE to the world?”
We are remembered for what we give and not what we get. So if used right, social media has to amplify our capacity to give. Shouldn’t that be the ONE thing that we should track?
Have a great year ahead and all the best!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 30 Dec 2008, 3:30 PM - View Comments
For one, he or she can lift your “game” to the next level in no time. Here is the proof.
This is a video of a presentation by Benjamin Zander (co-author of “The Art of Possibility”) at PopTech.
The talk is fantastic and weaved into the talk is a session where Benjamin Zander will coach a 15 year old Chellist Nikolai to take his game to the next level in less than ten minutes.
To witness the work of a master teacher at his work, please take about 20 minutes of your time to watch this entire video. It is well worth your time.
I feel blessed to be living in times when access to such knowledge is available for free (and with the click of a button)
Have a great year ahead!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 30 Dec 2008, 8:39 AM - View Comments
A report [courtesy: Steve Shapiro] says that only 8% of the people who make new year resolutions succeed in them.
The other way to look at it is 92% of the people who make new year resolutions won’t succeed in them.
So, what should you do?
Simple – go ahead and make those resolutions NOW. One of your resolutions have to be to end up in the 8% camp who make things happen.
As far as the statistics are concerned, the odds are REALLY in your favor and not very different from anything significant and meaningful in life.
Nine out of ten startups fail. Does not mean that you don’t want to be involved in a startup.
If you get more than 1% response from direct mail, you are lucky. Does not mean that people won’t engage in direct mail.
I can go on but you get the point.
Check the statistics for any significant and meaningful accomplishment in life and the odds are probably worse than this.
So, you make the choice and have a great new year!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 30 Dec 2008, 8:22 AM - View Comments
I know what some of you are thinking. It’s the new year around the corner and you might be thinking I am referring to the bar where they serve drinks other than coffee and tea.
No, not that!
I am referring to the artificial hurdle that we place on ourselves for things that matter most. Think about these bars and make appropriate changes (reset) to make the most of 2009.
What is your bar to get excited?
What is your bar to get very excited?
What is your bar to be happy?
What is your bar to be very happy?
What is your bar to trust someone?
What is your bar to someone to trust someone unconditionally?
What is your bar to get motivated?
What is your bar to get highly motivated?
What is your bar to get disciplined?
What is your bar to get highly disciplined?
What is your bar to love someone?
What is your bar to love someone unconditionally?
What is your bar to be grateful to someone?
What is your bar to be very grateful to someone?
What is your bar to give something valuable to the world?
What is your bar to give something valuable to the world now?
What is your bar to make a difference?
What is your bar to make a difference now?
Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Depending on where these bars are set things may be working or NOT working for you. You could change that. Start by resetting these bars to where they should be in the new year.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 29 Dec 2008, 12:53 AM - View Comments
This is one of those years where people are welcoming a new year with so much of uncertainty about how it will shape up for them. With everything that’s happening around us, there is no other way. May be there is…
Here are a few things that YOU can do to make it a different year.
1. Basics first
Fortunately or unfortunately there is a big list under the “Basics” category but I have picked three for starters:
1.1 Being grateful for what you have: What you have is all you have. It’s a gift that has been given to you or it’s part of all the experiences that you have accumulated until this point in life. Without that, you are nobody. Once you are grateful for what you have, you can start noticing what you can do with what you have. May be there is not much you can do and you might have to completely re-invent yourself for 2009 but without being grateful, that opening to find out if “something could be done” is closed.
Tony Robbins said it beautifully = “Most people think resources or lack thereof hold them back. In fact, it is not lack of resources but rather lack of resourcefulness that truly prevents people from achieving their dreams”
1.2 Having a healthy self-esteem: If you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t expect others to believe in you. this does not mean that you start living in a fantasy world where you start portraying yourself as someone you are NOT. Self-esteem is just having confidence in your own abilities and having the right amount of respect for that.
1.3 Having the right balance: Yes, we are in trouble in the short-term but if you forget the long-term, a short-term win won’t help much. There has to be a balance between the two. You will pay dearly in the long-term if you take any shortcuts for the short-term.
In my previous book “Beyond Code” (free download, amazon link) I talked about life being series of projects and you go from managing one set of projects to another set of projects. In that sense you are always doing two things – one trying your best to execute on the current projects and AT THE SAME TIME building your capacity to execute on your future projects. You may be flawlessly executing on your current projects (short-term win) but if you don’t grow to build the capacity to execute your future projects (long-term win) you will lose and it will only be a matter of time.
2. Remember GIGO: Garbage-in; Garbage-out
You have one life and you can only live one lifetime. in fact, you can only live one day at a time. So a max of 24 hours in a day. Your input is what you read and listen via all the channels (eg: newspapers, blogs, radio, TV, websites and newsletters)
Think whether what you are getting as input is leading towards making your life (and lives of people around you) better than before. If not, check the inputs at the gate.
3. Pay to get better help
Some of you may be navigating through a downturn for the first time ever in your life. Sadly, it can be worse than you think. Fighting it alone may not be the wise strategy. There is good help out there but it’s not available for FREE. Remember, everyone has to put food on the table.
One aspect of being resourceful is your ability to convince (or seduce) extremely smart people to collaborate with you on your projects. They won’t do it unless it is a win-win situation and helping you is the best use of their time in light of all the opportunities that are available to them at that point in time.
Note 1: A win-win situation is one where both parties think that it was a 60:40 deal (in other words both parties think they got a better deal) [ Courtesy: Pat Guerra]
Note 2: “Good” help may not be available in Yellow Pages.
4. Hunt for Opportunities to Give
Just like you can’t withdraw before you deposit in a bank, you have to give first to get back. Give more and you will get more. In a nutshell,
Even from a pure business perspective, if you increase the capacity of someone else to get more, you can make a business case to get a part of that “delta” that you helped create.
There are so many people out there who need help and may be you can be part of their puzzle to help them get to where they want to go.
5. Discipline. Period.
I have seen people getting things done and I have also seen people who have really good reasons for why they can’t get things done. Accomplishments get rewards not excuses.
Jim Rohn said it best – “For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward”
You can make goals and find excuses to say why you were not able to achieve them or you can truly achieve your goals and make a difference to your life and the lives of people around you. It all starts with the discipline of keeping a promise that you make to yourself.
Here it is from a different perspective: Think that in 2010 someone wants to write a book about people where were extremely disciplined and you are on their short-list to be interviewed. Will you have a good story to tell? How should you live your life in 2009 so that you are on that shortlist of interviewees for the book?
You suffer and you are part of the problem. You lead a good life and help others lead a good life and you are part of the solution.
You make the choice.
<BEGIN COMMERCIAL BREAK>
The above are snippets from my upcoming book
Upbeat
Cultivating the right attitude to thrive in tough times
You can read a brief overview of the book here (advance praise, buzz so far). You can also sign up for my newsletter there to receive updates about this book and other goodies once in a while.
<END COMMERCIAL BREAK>
Have a fantastic 2009!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 23 Dec 2008, 12:19 AM - View Comments
What if your passion is to create names from a strand of wire?
Could you make a living out of it?
Yes and probably more. Take a look at the work of Dave Maskin at WireNames. Answering a question in LinkedIn, Dave says that his biggest professional regret was “not starting WireNames sooner”
Think about it:
If you are REALLY good at something, all you have to do is find a problem or an opportunity in the marketplace that will intersect with your passion and off you go to the races.
All the best!
Posted under Compelling Offers.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 22 Dec 2008, 10:27 PM - View Comments
Three simple things:
1. Genuinely care about your readers
2. Address a core concern of your audience
3. Focus on ROII (return on investment for an interaction)
What is one thing that people will have less of in 2009?
You may want to say MONEY but I think it will be the ATTENTION that they can provide you or anyone else. If the economy worsens (do we still have a doubt) further, there will be further reduction in ATTENTION. Every minute invested in you is an opportunity cost for the reader. Remember that they could have done something else in the same time – they have a choice.
Do you honestly think:
What you have written will provide the highest return for the time invested (ROII) for the reader?
Examples of a few blog posts that provide a huge ROII are here:
1. How to Write Killer Blog Posts and More Compelling Comments – BL Ochman
2. Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn – Guy Kawasaki
3. How to get traffic for your blog – Seth Godin
4. 5 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Presence – Darren Rowse
5. How to use Twitter as a Tool – Guy Kawasaki
6. How to write a blog post – Seth Godin
7. 11 Techniques to Increase Page Views on Your Blog
8. What is viral marketing? – Seth Godin
9. Don’t ask for a referral if I Say No – Brad Feld
10. In Defense of Not-Invented-Here Syndrome -Joel Spolsky
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 22 Dec 2008, 4:19 AM - View Comments
“You always have to pay the price. Either you pay it now or you pay it later for not paying it now…”
—Rajesh Setty
Posted under Featured Message.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 21 Dec 2008, 6:00 AM - View Comments
Kenneth Young sent me this list a week ago. Thanks Ken.
The Zen of Sarcasm
01. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for
I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me
alone.
02. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky
tire.
03. It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your
neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
04. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
05. Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.
06. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
07. If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of car
payments.
08. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you criticize them, you’re a mile away and you have their
shoes.
09. If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and
he will sit in a boat and drink all day .
11. I f you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was
probably a wise investment.
12. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
13. Some days you’re the bug; some days you’re the windshield.
14. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
15. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it
back in your pocket.
16. A closed mouth gathers no foot.
17. Duct tape is like ‘The Force’. It has a light side and a dark side, and
it holds the universe together.
18. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither one works.
19. Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much when your lips are moving .
20. Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
21. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
AND
22. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on
the same night.
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Note: For other 43 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link:
Squidoo Lens: Smile Please
Posted under Smile Please.
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