Maximise Potential

Wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year. As 2018 dawns on us we all want to feel more self-confident. Self-confidence is wonderful quality strongly correlated with success. A lot of times we see people who are highly successful and it is a direct result of their self-confidence. It is not something that you just have when you are born but rather it is something internalized after years of hard work and proving your competence in your area of expertise. Here are the 15 ways I have identified to become a more self-confident person. Keep track of your accomplishments  - Everyone has had success at some point in life either in school, extracurricular activities or college. Write down every single achievement you have ever had right from your start. This can be anything from learning a language, learning a sport, or academic achievements. This will give you a good start on your journey towards increasing self-confidence. Some authors advise to have a victory log of all y...

Wish all of you a great 2018. I know a lot of us want to create resolutions and most of them don't work. I prefer to have goals instead which are more long term. Instead of having a goal of losing 5 pounds we can instead just install the habit of exercising daily. If we exercise daily then the 5 pounds takes care of itself. My aim with this article is to give quick habits that we can implement not only for this year but for life. Our habits make us or break us. If there is one thing that will surely help you on this journey of life it is your habits. There is no scientific formula to develop habits but one thing is sure unless you acknowledge the need for change nothing else will happen. Here are 13 habits of remarkably successful people that I have found that can be implemented to get the most out of life. Get up early – This is totally about discipline. On average most of the highly successful people from history have all got up early. Reading about Eisenhower he slept at ...

Everyone has their own definition of leadership. Mine is simple it is about dreaming big, inspiring others and leading by example. Leaders really do dream big dreams think of Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Churchill among others. The current business landscape requires more leaders who are willing to chart new seas and deal with change in a world that has not only flattened but also eliminated geographical boundaries. The 21st Century leader needs to pack the following traits in their kit bags. Leaders are made and of course they are born as all of us are. Here are my muses on leadership and everyone can come up with their own versions. Leaders are visionaries –  What separates a leader from a manager is an audacious vision. Only leaders have vision and vision is something that can get us out of bed and into the market to deliver excellent value. Let’s consider the vision of JFK to land a man on the moon. It was clear and audacious. Clearly set the vision for your lif...

Leadership is ultimately taking responsibility for results. I liked the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. It distills the essence of leadership into twelve principles. I think all of us know these at a gut level but practicing it consistently is the tougher part. Here are the principles with my take on each. Extreme Ownership Take complete responsibility for all your results. Never engage in blame. The buck stops with the leader. This is an attitude in my opinion and can be applied to our personal lives as well. There are no bad teams, only bad leaders This is debatable because even in sports we see that a captain is only as good as the team. However, if a team is performing poorly it does start with looking at the leader. That’s why a lot of organization looks for new leaders when things go wrong. Though this has not proved to be always right. You have to believe if you want to win The leader must absolutely believe in the mission of the organization. T...

Playing to win is one of the best books on strategy I have read. It is written by Roger Martin who was Rotman School of Business Dean (He was also voted as the number one thinker for 2017 by Thinkers50), and the former CEO of Proctor and Gamble, A.G. Lafley. Roger Martin’s recent book is Creating great choices which is also a delightful book on thinking. Strategy was made famous by the redoubtable Michael Porter who said that “strategy is all about creating a competitive advantage over your rivals by deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver unique value.” The authors in the introduction talk about how ineffective leaders think about strategy: 1. They define strategy as a vision. 2. They define strategy as a plan. 3. They deny that long-term strategy is possible. 4. They define strategy as the optimization of the status quo. 5. They define strategy as following best practices. The book is based on five choices which every firm needs to make to win in th...

Optimism is one of the key traits of successful people. All change or innovations that have happened in the world are due to people willing to see something more than others see. Where others see roadblocks, successful people see opportunities. I have come up with ten commandments which can help us be at our optimistic best. I resolve to take 100% responsibility for my life –  I am not the first to suggest this nor will I be the last. Taking full responsibility for your life both personal and professional is the starting point of feeling great about yourself. When you feel you are in control of your life you are more optimistic. You also respond to life rather than react to it. I resolve to learn from setbacks –  Napoleon Hill famously said, “Every adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent benefit.” It is not easy to stay positive when things go wrong but that is the truest test of your optimism. When you learn from every setback you join the pantheon of greats...

Self-management is the name of the game. How you manage yourself over a sustained period is the greatest predictor of your success. I have a read a lot of John Maxwell books. One book I liked was “The 360 Degree Leader” and it has a chapter which talks about 7 keys to take care for self-management. Here they are with my take on each. Manage your emotions –  Emotions is nothing more than energy in motion. A leader can’t afford to lose their cool often. The ability to manage your emotions is one of the keys to become a top leader. For example, when you are angry don’t take any action and don’t send an email. If you are angry you can get out of the conversation or go to another place. Do something which makes you feel better. Mange your time –  Irrespective of our background all of us get the same time 24 hours a day. It is how we manage ourselves within the time is the key. I have identified 10 keys for effective time management. Please check it out. https://www.linkedin.c...

Happy Holidays to everyone. As the year ends I wanted to share some of the books I enjoyed reading this year. I would say this year has been one of the best in terms of terrific books. I love reading and it is one of my favorite hobbies. Please check out my favorite books of 2017 below. Most of them are business books which is my preferred genre and I have also reviewed some of them so if you are interested you can check it out by clicking the related links. Principles by Ray Dalio –  Ray Dalio is called the “Steve Jobs of investing.” I skipped part 1 of the book as it was about this journey. The second part is where the meat of the book is. It is about the principles of life. I found it to be useful. Basically, life doesn’t care what you like. It is up to you to do the things needed to get what you want. Set goals, diagnose the problem, put plans and act. You cannot do everything but you can choose the ones you want most. You can savor life or you can make an impact or you ca...

Happy thanksgiving to everyone. We are in the biggest holiday season of the year. For most of us this is a time of reflection to see how our year has been, what we can do better and how we can make next year even better. A lot of us also go on vacations which is great but sometimes we need a vacation after the vacation. So, my aim with this article is to give simple suggestions to stay relaxed and enjoy the holidays. At the same time, I also share strategies which can reduce our stress levels and enjoy life more. Stress is one of the leading causes of depression and considering the pace of our modern lives we should pause and reevaluate our lives on a constant basis. As Mahatma Gandhi said  "There is more to life than increasing its speed." Here are some simple strategies to be relaxed, stay happy and enjoy life in general. Create white space -  What I mean by this is there is no need to cram every single activity in a 10 hour period. Allow some space as you cannot get...