Minds Without Fear!

It is amazing how an accident or a co-incidence happens to capture what you were looking for. Just finished watching the first episode of Dewarists and the title of the post is inspired from the song by Imogen and Vishal. And well, they were inspired by Gurudeva Tagore's words!

Well, Shobhit made a very good point when he talked about following and pursuing what you like. In the midst of applying for 3 4 companies a day, do we really give thought to what we really like? I am afraid this post is diversion from what we should really be thinking now. But then its worth it.As most of us will agree, this is your stepping stone. You are going to enter the world and you expect everyone to notice your arrival. That's what Day0 is all about, isn't it?
Well, if you really think about it, it is exactly this - your arrival onto the corporate map- that should make you think twice whether you are really aiming for what you like. Whether it is finance/ consulting or marketing/operations/gen-man , please do not let money alone drive your choice. Some things are perpetually growing in the system . e.g. Bargaining power myth, Day0 frenzy. And all those things create fear in our mind, don't they? I am going to borrow Rudyard Kipling's words for I can't do any better...

1.If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..

Did you come to this place thinking to get into marketing? Well then all the hysteria about fin should not really affect you. I repeat, this is an important decision you are going to make. A few of my friends chose computer science as their engineering discipline because it was the "in-thing" at that time. And they did badly - not because they were not intelligent but because they were simply not interested ( the word would be aptitude/liking). Now if you are heading to fin/consults just because that's the in thing , I am sure you will change your paths sometime in future. But then you can choose the one you like right now. So think about the choice you are going to make.

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise.

Johann von Goethe.

I was talking to one of our batch-mates today and he said "What you write is ok.. but that's difficult to practice." Well, I agree. It is difficult. But it is still not impossible. Just look around you. Asha is great because she always remained Asha and din't try to become Lata. The influence was far greater in her case - Lata is her elder sister. So think about it guys. You can be you or you can be a copycat.

You were born an original. Don't die a copy. John Mason.

2. If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

Well, this is just what we discussed in the last post. You just simply can't afford to be uncertain about yourself. Have faith. Many people I know are unhappy because they haven't got a shortlist yet. Wait for your apple. You might be the next Newton or Steve Jobs.

And the only way this can happen is - Kick out fear. All of us are going to be just fine in the end. We all have come a long way. We are better off than 99% population of our country. At max, you will end up buying a 2.5BHK instead of a 3BHK in South bombay. What the hell? Your kids and family will bring you more happiness than that 0.5 BHK you will probably lose out on. I will end this part of the post with a quote by Euripides.

There is just one life for each one of us : our own!

3. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting

Wait is excruciating. But far far away into the future, coming 10 days are going to be like a dump on your hard-disk you never even open. The D-Day will be memorable - if it will be 0th day or 3rd day... won't make any difference unless we really are desperate to massage our ego. So wait for the moment. He/She/It will be yours. Until then, enjoy the journey :) I will leave you with a thought about what we discussed today.

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.

William S Burroughs

Yesterday I listened to this song for n-th time. Just wanted to share the same...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvzTYUR3a1Y

Love,

Adi

PS: Thanks Priya for asking me when I am going to write next and Shobhit for suggesting changes.

Anxiety and Failure!

This blog entry was written while I was in QM class. Sorry for getting too mathematical!

If there is one parameter which can really measure your variability ( for those who love operations ) or variance ( for those of who still manage to love QM2) from an average state of mind, it is really ANXIETY. In fact, all our negative emotions we talked about in the last post, add up to one single thing and that is anxiety. Let us see how it actually works.

First of all, we all have different settling times (remember control systems?) post any unsettling event. Now that is hard on some of us. All the cool dudes you see around you, they essentially have very low settling times. Anxiety is worsened by the fact that our mind plays like an badly designed amplifier with positive feedback ( omg.. And people think we learn nothing from engineering) in such situations. One negative thought leads to 10 more and so on.

Now here is the worst thing that comes along with anxiety - Failure! Do you remember the times when you were super excited and screwed up? Or India's defeat in world cup final 2003?

Let us hear what Sri Sri has to say about this ..

Can you be ever certain about the world around you? No. You can only be uncertain about your surroundings. Can you afford to be uncertain about yourself? NO. A big No.

Let us translate this for our situation

1. Environment There are n number of companies, n number of expectations from others and yourself, n number of shortlisting and interview criteria , n number of competitors (our dear batch mates) and n days of anxiety and so on.

Now this is crazy. Some X company wants to see "Spikes". Another one shortlists 100 people with different profiles for 3 4 positions. What the hell are they thinking? Well if you ever feel angry about the whole situation, just shout at the top of your voice!! On the other hand, these are things which you can not control.

So it is ok to be uncertain about environment. It affects of us equally!!

2. Me , Myself ( and Irene - Jim Carrey was just hilarious in this movie XD)

See think of a person who always stood by you in your worst times. If you are correct, you can see him/her in the mirror. Yes, this dude/dudette you see in the mirror is one person who never gives up on you and he/she is going to get you through next 15 days or so.

And remember, no matter where you go, there you are. Confucius

I can not resist writing about this story ( read originally in an article by Vinoba Bhave). Once upon a time , the earth's surface became very hot ( just the way fevers are running high here in campus). The prince was this dude who always came up with "global" ideas. So he suggested the King, his father that a grand carpet should be made and should be rolled to cover all the ground of the whole of the kingdom. The king listened to him very kindly and then said, " Dear RG, why don't you wear chappals? "

So kick out all the worries. Information about environment is good. Too much of an information is bad. Whatever you come to know, internalize that information and then do the most important thing you should do. Focus on yourself. Figure out your strengths, build on them. Find out your weaknesses and work upon them. If it is too much of a weakness, figure out a way so no questions from that direction hit you in the interview. I am going to end this section of my post with an interesting quote I found out few minutes back

We are all prime numbers divisible by ourselves - John Guitton.

Failure!

Well just the mention of the word brings horrible thoughts to our mind. But let me bust some myths here. First of all, there is not anything called as failure. There can only be stepping stones towards success. Second, the number of shortlist has nothing to do with the success you will achieve during the D-day. Bargaining power is a myth. For all you know, you are going to work for ONE single company. So whether you have 10 shortlists ( I really feel for these guys, they will not be able to attend more than 30% of the interviews) or 1 shortlist , it is important you crack that ONE interview.

However, here is the deal. You are probably going to hear a NO before you hear a YES. Here is what I think about whats going to happen.

Probability( Success || You hear a NO and still face the next interview confidently) = ~ 1.

Probability( Success || You hear a NO and go mad with anxiety) = ~ 0.

The mantra is "Live in the present". A No is a thing of past. Well, do understand why you got a NO. In this particular case, the reason will most probably be someone performed better in those 10 30 minutes than you did. That does not mean you can not improve your performance. Did you see what magic our cricket team created post a debacle in England?

So while you prepare very hard for your case studies and financial gyaan, make sure you also ready yourself for a battle outside the interview room. You will be in the position of Arjuna and you will be your Krishna < If you have a dear friend to help you out, make sure you treat him with chocolates and stuff in next few days :P . His/ her talk will sweeten the whole experience for you.>

So I repeat,each one of us is more than our resumes and each one of us will be just all right no matter what the journey demands. So let us keep our cool and let us keep the balls rolling! XD XD

Shortlists!

I will start with a quote.

"Confusion is too strong of an expression. Is it not rather "choice"? But then what is freedom of choice? Confusion!"

Extract from Knowledge sheets, Sri Sri Ravishankar.

So here is the deal. Its chaotic, messy. Too much uncertainty. Some of us have got tons of shortlists, some a few and some none. Here are possible reactions:

1. Disappointment : All biggies have slipped out of my hands. I wanted consult, got fin shortlist. Wanted fin, got consult shortlist. IBD chahiye tha.. markets mila.

2. Jealousy : "Dude, I think < I am sure> I am better than him/her." There are so many emotions that come to our mind when we see any shortlist for the first time. " His resume is fake." "So many girls in the shortlist" < I am sorry but this is one concern all boys have. I am not being politically correct. Excuse me for the liberty I have taken>.

3. Self doubt: "Is my resume not good enough? Is there any mistake in my approach? Do I need to be more friendly with seniors? CP.. Is that the problem?" Or worse still " Do I even belong to this place? The competition is so tough. Why the hell did I leave my old job?"

4. Humiliation : Everyone said I will get this shortlist. What really happened?

OK. What is the point?

The first step towards keeping you motivated over next few days is to accept these emotions. Don't resist when they come to you. It is only when you accept (rather than fight) these that you can tame them. Don't believe me? Here is an example.

Suppose you are in love ( Again see not getting a shortlist is not as bad as this :P) . Now you can forever live in denial or accept this. The next step is to do something about it.

OK. What do I do?

Now that we know it is only natural to feel all these emotions, let us think about if we can do something about them. Disappointment? Humiliation? You can only be disappointed or humiliated about something that happened in the past! And you can not change it. This is what we call in our language - Sunk cost. Whatever has happened has happened. Chuck it. The way to do it - Think about what you want to do next and quickly get going. Reminds me of a quote from Leaving Home ( a movie on Indian Ocean) - Only those people have disappointments who have appointments with future.

Jealousy is a tough-y. See this relative grading system has screwed us. We probably do not realize it. Do you remember those good old school days when your target was getting the 100% marks - not beat anybody. Decide for yourself what your 100% is and give your best. Each one of us is competing against our own self and not against each other. Remember our break-through session during orientation week? And this is some bad advice but bitch if it helps you. Make sure the other person will never know what you said. XD Continuing with the love example, here is another quote : "It is not love that is blind, but jealousy - Lawrence Durrell "

Self doubt : See guys you made it to IIM Bangalore. Now that means something. Do you remember how happy you were to have raced past those 2.5 lakh other people? If I were to quote prof amit gupta, people think of you as " God's gifts to Man kind"!!! Now just because Steve Jobs is considered the greatest businessman in his era, there is no reason why Narayan Murthy should feel inferior. ( You can compare yourself to Bill Gates as well :P). So in moments of self doubt, think about all your achievements. If it helps , read the awards and achievement section of your resume ( XD) and think how many people on this Earth can achieve what you have achieved. :) There you are! God's gift to the mankind !!! If this does not help, reach out to parents - yes , these are the only persons who will never doubt your ability!

I am going to conclude by saying each one of us is more than our resumes. Just look around you. There are such amazing souls here and each one of them is special in its own way. Summers is important indeed. Let us just remember that a particular shortlist is not a final judgement on our capability or who we are as a person.

Life is a box of chocolates. You never know which one you are going to get. - Forrest Gump

The fact is that you may be targeting a Cadbury Fruit and Nut today and end up with Bournville. But then you would have earned it!!!

PS: It is my suggestion that you write down quotes in italics somewhere. Read them once in a while if you feel low.

PPS: A lot of these suggestions I have tried for myself and they work. Also, the original idea-creator for such solutions may be someone different. e.g. Competing against own self- I learned that when I did my YES+ course.

PPPS: Please let me know if this is of any help.

Beyond DJFS!

Beyond Disappointments , Jealousy, Failures and Success! Yes, this is what we are going to talk about in next few days. I am really nervous about if anyone is actually going to read this but I will write nonetheless.

At the very outset, let me lay down some ground rules about this game.

1. The blog is meant for my friends at IIM Bangalore who are to face a very important moment soon enough. But that is not a precondition for anyone else willing to read.

2. It is entirely your choice to read this blog or not and I say this with utmost humility. You may agree or disagree with my opinions. But trust me all I say here is something I have tried to practice and succeeded or failed at. Let us keep all the negativity some distance away and try to understand ourselves.

I will try to post one post everyday until placements.

Thanks,

Adi