Distinguish Yourself (#1 – #50)

In this series, you will find 50 entries from the “Distinguish Yourself” on my blog Life Beyond Code

#50 – Imagine (23 Oct 2005)
The higher you are in the organization, the more you have to imagine. If that’s true, if you need to start moving higher up in the organization, you need to start imagining NOW!

#49 – WAG (22 Oct 2005)
WAG = Watch Your Attention-Getters

#48 – Handle criticism with grace (21 Oct 2005)
Next time when someone criticizes you for something, try focusing on the message rather than the messenger. It may change the way you look at things.

#47 – Simplify (22 Oct 2005)
Questions to ask yourself:
* In your role in the current company what are you simplifying?
* In your relationships with other people what are you simplifying for them?
* Same time last year were things more simple or more complex? How do you think things will pan out same time next year?

#46 – Manage your monkeys ( 21 Oct 2005)
Quick question: How many monkeys are on your back today?

#45 - Increase your rate of learning (19 Oct 2005)
It is important that we consciously increase our rate of learning. This is especially important when you are working towards building your brand. If you are concerned how you can pack more in your already “packed”
schedule. there is help. You can change the strategies and tools you might be using for learning.

#44 – Connect your projects (19 Oct 2005)
Here I want to focus on the need to connect most or all your projects so that each project will leverage out of your investment in the other projects.

#43 – Show discipline on small things (19 Oct 2005)
There are many more things that we do just to “operate” in our lives. You can make a big difference by treating small things with care and discipline.

#42 -Maintain visibility (19 Oct 2005)
It takes commitment and discipline to craft a strategy to ensure that people see value in what you are doing. But it is time worth spent thinking and implementing to maintaining visibility for your work.

#41 – Selectively forget things (17 Oct 2005)
There are so many things that happen to us during the course of our lifetime. I always say “either we win or we learn” When we “learn” life is giving us some feedback. The feedback and learning is what is important. There is no point in recreating the entire scenarios once the learning has happened.

#40 -Learn to estimate well (14 Oct 2005)
One common question before you start any project is “How long does it take complete the project?”

#39 -Make it easy for people to help you (01 Oct 2005)
In summary, whenever you are asking for help, make sure that you are making it easy for them to help you.

#38 – Ensure that WIIFT > WIIFM (23 Sep 2005)
If you focus only one WIIFT, you will be drained or if you focus only on WIIFM, you will drain “them”. So if at all possible, if you design your life such that in all your relationships WIIFT is slightly greater than WIIFM, we have a winning formula.

#37 – Learn the art of managing multiple projects (22 Sep 2005)
Whatever is your profession and even if your profession does not require you to learn the art of managing multiple projects, read a good book on the topic and understand the complexities of managing multiple projects. Everyone of us need this fundamental skill to manage our lives.

#36 – Reduce the “Facade Diff” (16 Sep 2005)
The smaller the difference between who you are without the mask and who you are with the mask [I call it the "facade diff"] the more comfortable you are with yourself.

#35 – Don’t take credit when it’s not due (15 Sep 2005)
Accepting “free” credit comes with a big price – “credibility”. Nobody is “entitled” to get credit, everyone has to “earn” it.

#34 – Focus on ROII (06 Sep 2005)
ROII = Return on Investment for an Interaction

#33 – Keep promises that you make to yourself (29 Aug 2005)
Think about the above statement – many times it’s easier to keep promises that we make to others than to keep promises that we make to ourselves.

#32 – Service at the core (01 Aug 2005)
At any point in time, we are serving one or more of our customers. Our employer is one such customer. When was the last time you did something that elicited a “wow” from one or more of your “customers”?

#31 – Use your “thinking bandwidth” wisely (26 Jul 2005)
How is your “thinking bandwidth” being used on a daily basis?

#30 – Watch the shelf-life of your skills (23 Jul 2005)
Working in the tech industry has its rewards but the shelf-life of many skills that you acquire and use is very small. While you these “short term” may be absolutely necessary, they are not sufficient.

#29 – Watch your standard practices (19 Jul 2005)
You can’t wear a mask or you can’t live your life with a multiple personality disorder. You really can’t live two lives. Best is to fix yourself once for all not based on situations and contexts.

#28 – Know where you are (29 May 2005)
With due respect for positive thinking and optimism, I must say that making a correct assessment of our current situation is very very important to move ahead!

#27 - Avoid complacency at all costs (26 May 2005)
When you get violent, please remember to kill complacency in your life. It is one “crime” that will get you out of your own prison

#26 – Expect recognition for results; not effort (13 May 2005)
Our tendency some times is to expect recognition for our “big” efforts. In general, we can only get recognition for “big results” irrespective of the amount of effort involved.

#25 – Walk away from “FREE” (10 May 2005)
Walk away from “free” it is not worth it. If the offer is very compelling, then please decide how you will contribute back to the source in exchange for what you received.

#24 -Influence the influencers (09 May 2005)
Whenever we are making a point, getting our ideas across, we tend to focus only on the decision makers. This may work but many times, the better approach is to look for the influencers in the group. There will always be one or two key influencers in the group. The group will typically look forward to the opinion of these key influencers before they make up their own opinion of what we are talking about.

#23 – Learn systems thinking (25 Apr 2005)
Systems thinking, in essence, is an understanding of the system as a whole and the mutual interaction of the underlying parts of the system. The effect of changing on part on the other part(s) of the system needs
to be understood.

#22 – Learn to sell (24 Apr 2005)
Everyone of us are selling something almost on a daily basis. We may be selling our abilities to perform a job, our ideas or our point of view.

#21 – Balance Innovation and Continuous Improvement (23 Apr 2005)
Take a look at all the projects that are taking place in your own life and it’s easy to categorize each one of them under “Innovation” or “Continuous Improvement” If there are no innovation projects, there is a serious problem. If there are past innovation projects that are not under a “Continuous improvement” plan, there is an issue too.

#20 – Lead a volunteer effort (12 Apr 2005)
Leading a volunteer can be hard work but the rewards are great.

#19 – Get back on your feet – FAST (08 Apr 2005)
Failures happen and you will fail or fall down at times. If you want to distinguish yourself, learn to get back on your feet fast every time you fall down.

#18 – Be relevant (07 Apr 2005)
Striving for relevance in every key interaction (with your clients, co-workers, family members etc.) can make a big difference in your life and in the lives of people around you.

#17 – Engage with a coach (03 Apr 2005)
Many of my friends who were skeptics and cynical about what a coach could do to their life today say that the relationship with the coach has made a significant impact on their lives.

#16 – Ask the right questions (01 Apr 2005)
Questions have great power. One right question asked at the right time can change the direction of our lives. Hence, the quality of the questions that we ask ourselves is VERY important.

#15 – Embrace uncertainty with ease (29 Mar 2005)
There is more help than you ever need only if you are humble enough to ask. For that you need to develop an attitude to embrace uncertainty with ease.

#14 – Think long-term (28 Mar 2005)
Next time, when someone asks “What do you do?” think of your lifetime as the time horizon and try to answer the question.

#13 – Plan by outcomes (25 Mar 2005)
The solution may be as simple as planning our week by outcomes – what do we want to accomplish this week?

#12 – Be a reader (23 Mar 2005)
If we choose the right books, there will be enough that we can take and apply in our lives. Once we start seeing results, no other motivation is required.

#11 – Help people help themselves (21 Mar 2005)
By helping people help themselves, you are taking the road less traveled.

#10 - Pursue right memberships ( 20 Mar 2005)
The right memberships can payoff big time. All the best.

#09 – Know your values (19 Mar 2005)
Follow whatever model that you like, but please do come up with your own list. There is no “right” set of values. They are your values and not knowing what they are may put you at a disadvantage.

#08 – Set higher standards (17 Mar 2005)
In order to good results, we need to set the right expectations and exceed them consistently. However, if we want outstanding results, we need to operate at higher personal standards than what others expect of us.

#07 – Celebrate small victories (07 Mar 2005)
Happy people do things the other way around. It’s fun to be around people who celebrate small victories. They are full of life and they bring life to people around them.

#06 – Ask for help (06 Mar 2005)
You have to ask and only then you shall receive. Please make it a point to ask for help with someone this week. Watch the miracles unfold!!

#05 – Set the right expectations (04 Mar 2005)
In other words – “Under promise and over deliver”

#04 -Dream BIG (24 Feb 2005)
If it is anway a dream, why not dream BIG?

#03 – Build strong relationships (24 Feb 2005)
Relationships don’t happen by entitlement or hierarchy or position. It happens by design of healthy value exchange.

#02 – Do your daily work with passion (23 Feb 2005)
Our work will never be the same once we bring PASSION into the equation!

#01 – Care as if it’s your own (21 Feb 2005)
Once you start caring as if it’s your own, it becomes your project. It becomes PERSONAL.