2 items on »typolis:« tagged with
»exploration«
2007.08.15, 07:40
Music and the Mahatma
....i was driving on my way over to work and caught the middle of 'Where the streets have no name' by U2...towards the end it breaks into this guitar solo by The Edge.....i felt a tremendous sense of release while hearing it play....the road was clear....so was the day....and it just felt so all encompassing....overwhelming.....i dont know why....i guess i was connecting with the passion in the song....in the guitar....
I've been feeling of late that - that passion is missing in my life....that zest for living....that 'wake up in the morning and want to kick someone in the balls' feeling......hehehe....it's not as warped as it sounds :)...just that - i'm drawing parallels with the rush that you feel when you're in the throes of love....or feeling the misty spray of the ocean on your face....or the passion and concentration with which sportsmen represent their country....
That passion is missing in me....Not that i've not been experiencing life completely - i have....but in stops and starts....and it's nobody else's fault or doing but my own.
I mean....i've just let myself be overcome by the cynicism of working on my own a lot of the time - instead of looking at it as an opportunity.....as a result of that, i haven't been focussing on work as much....on family as much....and other equally important areas of my life right now.........
At the same time, passion is something you can't force....you either feel it or you don't. And the true feeling comes from within and not as a result of people, events and circumstances around you...
The true feeling is like climaxing.....it is. You're so there in that moment.....that you connect......with the music.
That's what i felt this morning.
....as i was driving past Viveknagar, i saw a bunch of people looking into a lane....as i passed the lane, i saw a group of about 25 kids in their parade uniform, marching in the same spot while the band played....
Why is it that we feel and realize our freedom of and through independence...and feel the passion for all things 'Indian', on only one day? Or we feel it to this degree on one day....i mean, newspapers take out 40pg supplements on what we've achieved in the last 50 - 60 years and looking forward to the next 60years, life will be like this and like that and what not...and there is a big hu-ha about everything and shor-sharaba for a week following...and life goes on.
TOI has made a business of selling gimmicks - every few months they come up with a new 'India Shining' or 'India Forward' campaign...roping in AB and now SRK...for the 'I Do' or 'We Do' campaign? What the fuck do 'we do'? I mean, it's great if you're creating awareness and getting people interested in the country and it's growth and where we're going....but there's a limit to sensationalism dude.
If someone undertook the Dandi March today - they'd cover him through his travel, have a few interviews with his supporters, talk about his life, make a big event of his reaching his destination, the whole issue would maybe come up in parliament for a discussion, the news channel would follow it for a few more days - then there'll be a bomb blast or a kidnapping or AB catching a cold...and the entire focus shifts.
This is the state of news in our country. And this is how most of us feel and expect information to be fed to us for atleast 45 of the 52 weeks. The balance weeks making up mostly sundays where we go to the mall or sleep at home or 'catch up with friends'.
Honestly - when you last heard the national anthem playing on a non-national holiday - did you actually stand up out of 'patriotic pride and respect'? Probably not. Most people are just to conscious of even standing up for a song that spells of 'solidarity of a nation'....bollocks man....really....
And these are all examples of us living in the moment - feeling fits and spurts of passion....not completely giving ourselves to the moment to experience the passion fully and completely. I mean....if we really connected with that 'nationalist' sentiment....in whatever way....but just once a week...or a few weeks....and did something as a result of feeling something passionately - maybe that would make more of a difference and possibly even better 'news' than just some one off dandi march by a wannabe 21st century gandhi.
The passion to feel and experience that freedom completely. The passion to feel and experience that freedom in every area of life....
to feel that passion completely....to connect with the music....to give and not expect.....to not be scared.....to not worry about repurcussions....or cook up consequnces....to just 'be'. And 'feel'. And 'experience'.
Completely.
.....i know i've felt it in some degree in writing all this....
I've been feeling of late that - that passion is missing in my life....that zest for living....that 'wake up in the morning and want to kick someone in the balls' feeling......hehehe....it's not as warped as it sounds :)...just that - i'm drawing parallels with the rush that you feel when you're in the throes of love....or feeling the misty spray of the ocean on your face....or the passion and concentration with which sportsmen represent their country....
That passion is missing in me....Not that i've not been experiencing life completely - i have....but in stops and starts....and it's nobody else's fault or doing but my own.
I mean....i've just let myself be overcome by the cynicism of working on my own a lot of the time - instead of looking at it as an opportunity.....as a result of that, i haven't been focussing on work as much....on family as much....and other equally important areas of my life right now.........
At the same time, passion is something you can't force....you either feel it or you don't. And the true feeling comes from within and not as a result of people, events and circumstances around you...
The true feeling is like climaxing.....it is. You're so there in that moment.....that you connect......with the music.
That's what i felt this morning.
....as i was driving past Viveknagar, i saw a bunch of people looking into a lane....as i passed the lane, i saw a group of about 25 kids in their parade uniform, marching in the same spot while the band played....
Why is it that we feel and realize our freedom of and through independence...and feel the passion for all things 'Indian', on only one day? Or we feel it to this degree on one day....i mean, newspapers take out 40pg supplements on what we've achieved in the last 50 - 60 years and looking forward to the next 60years, life will be like this and like that and what not...and there is a big hu-ha about everything and shor-sharaba for a week following...and life goes on.
TOI has made a business of selling gimmicks - every few months they come up with a new 'India Shining' or 'India Forward' campaign...roping in AB and now SRK...for the 'I Do' or 'We Do' campaign? What the fuck do 'we do'? I mean, it's great if you're creating awareness and getting people interested in the country and it's growth and where we're going....but there's a limit to sensationalism dude.
If someone undertook the Dandi March today - they'd cover him through his travel, have a few interviews with his supporters, talk about his life, make a big event of his reaching his destination, the whole issue would maybe come up in parliament for a discussion, the news channel would follow it for a few more days - then there'll be a bomb blast or a kidnapping or AB catching a cold...and the entire focus shifts.
This is the state of news in our country. And this is how most of us feel and expect information to be fed to us for atleast 45 of the 52 weeks. The balance weeks making up mostly sundays where we go to the mall or sleep at home or 'catch up with friends'.
Honestly - when you last heard the national anthem playing on a non-national holiday - did you actually stand up out of 'patriotic pride and respect'? Probably not. Most people are just to conscious of even standing up for a song that spells of 'solidarity of a nation'....bollocks man....really....
And these are all examples of us living in the moment - feeling fits and spurts of passion....not completely giving ourselves to the moment to experience the passion fully and completely. I mean....if we really connected with that 'nationalist' sentiment....in whatever way....but just once a week...or a few weeks....and did something as a result of feeling something passionately - maybe that would make more of a difference and possibly even better 'news' than just some one off dandi march by a wannabe 21st century gandhi.
The passion to feel and experience that freedom completely. The passion to feel and experience that freedom in every area of life....
to feel that passion completely....to connect with the music....to give and not expect.....to not be scared.....to not worry about repurcussions....or cook up consequnces....to just 'be'. And 'feel'. And 'experience'.
Completely.
.....i know i've felt it in some degree in writing all this....
2007.11.08, 10:10
Self-Motivation
One've the main reasons certain companies lose their way is cuz the light isn't shining brightly on the top (also in referrence to incompetence in top management) - the light is blurred or not in sharp focus...or is distracted from the task at hand.
What is the task at hand?
Staying focussed? Yes. Having a vision? Yes, that too. And all the other stuff you read in self help books and management books and a whole lot of other stuff that fills up reams and reams of pages as part of thousands of case studies and books that hit the market across the globe every year. But most of this stuff is commonsense really. And about getting the job done.
Recently i was sitting with a client who wanted to get an 'Information Memorandum' put together to then give to his VC and banks for possible investment into his enterprise.
He said, "Right now - the only way i make sure i'm not going in a loss is by keeping my rates reasonable to bring in business and my costs low - and the difference amount i'm left with after all costs incurred - is my profit. Which i take out and stash away for safe keeping." A simple, practical way of doing business. Also harks back to the 'Lala' mentality.
Not 'lala' as in sounds you make with your tongue while trying to sing along with a song you don't know the words to - but 'lala' as in a merchant owner or money lendor of some sort - as part of traditional indian enterprises - more notably in villages and the like.
The 'lala' mentality is about - 'making money'. They don't understand 'branding-shanding'.
"Mennu pata hai - ki pasie kaise banande hegene"
Beyond knowing that money is made in a government run mint - you need to know how to make money...and to make money, you need to know the difference between 'money' and 'cash'. 10bucks in hand is worth more than 1000bucks in cheque - cuz you have the 10bucks to fill your stomach now. The 1000 bucks will come to party three days later.
Where does all this link with self-motivation - and the light on top? Well, speaking from personal experience, it's very easy to flounder and let go of something you've worked hard to build - case in point being this little studio i run. Throughout it's short life - i've had a tremendous amount of opportunities come my way - touchwood. And i'm greatful to god for the same. But i havent' capitalized on many of them. Have let a lot of them slip away even. Why? I dunno. Actually i do.
It's cuz just like the seasons change in the year - seasons change in business as well. A formula working for you today, won't necessarily work for you six months down the line. The idea i started this company with 3 years ago has remained the same over the last 3 years - and maybe thats both a good and bad thing.
What the idea is...isn't why i started writing this.
When you start a company - you need to be very clear of what you want - in your life. Having dreams and ambitions and, "this company is my ticket to fame and fortune" is all well and good. But have a plan. In paper - not in stone. But one with numbers, facts - figures. They keep your ground realities more certain. They keep you in check.
Over the last 3 1/2 years i've been through a series of ....difficult....relationships. And a they've pretty much co-incided with the life of this company.
When you're an individual - starting a company and running it on your own - YOU are the company. And the company is you. It's your credibility, your image your word....and all that. But it's all real.
I think too often we choose foolishly. With my relationships - i didn't choose foolishly, it's just that i didn't realize the magnitude of the impact my sometimes inability to balance both work and play - would actually end up having on my work.
Yesterday, i was chatting with someone who said that i'm too hard on myself. That there might be others out there who have accomplished more than me - but going by the rate i'm at, i'll be very accomplished in due course of time.
My thing is - i don't want to just be 'accomplished'. I want to be 'great'. I aspire towards 'greatness'. Of shining like a beacon. Of towering over everyone else. Not for the power - No, not for that. Not for the fame. Not for the fortune.
For the fact that i will be there. Just for that. And the fact that i made it happen - on my own. Not without outside help - but i did it cuz i saw it happening. the vision really is that of a Lenin or a Stalin - a bronze 120foot statue towering over the landscape...in a stoic...vision....seen in the cold bronze eyes.
I guess i'm day dreaming a bit.
The reason these men and others have achieved what they have and continue to do so is because they believed they could. The motivated themselves enough to move - to take a problem and challenge - head on. To say, "Go fuck yourself" when required. And, "I fucked up" when required. No point in knowing how to say one without having the ability to say the other.
It's important to find in you - that which drives you. It's money - great - go make a pile of money. Fame - go be famous. Women - go screw a few hundred. Jack Nicholson has screwed over 2000 - and he has all three.
You want to be Jack Nicholson - then what the fuck - BE JACK NICHOLSON. There's nothing stopping you.
It's important to strike a balance between your personal and professional life - and keep a DISTINCT distance or difference between both. It's a discipline.
Self-Motivation is also a discipline. One that's important to develop. Just like 'Execution' (not killing people) is also a discipline. The ability to get-things-done. Different people have different ways of getting it done - but as long as the job is done, that's all that matters.
Self-Motivation is about being able to be positive - at will. You hand an accident? Your mother died? You just fucked up on a big project and lost a tender?
These are all realities and possibilities. And yet the expression goes, "Grace under fire". Some people shine out bright when the chips are down. If you know one've these people - you in turn are lucky to be shining in that light, because one've the amazing things with these kind of people is that if you are loyal and true - they'll take you with them on the journey. The journey towards living an extraordinary life.
I was once told that, "If you want to live an extraordinary life, you'll have to face extraordinary problems." Which is why when today i'm faced with a seemingly unsurmountable position - i say, "Fuck you, you think you'll get me down? Go fuck yourself first." That might seem more than just a little arrogant - and not really 'realistic' - but it keeps me going. It makes me think. It stops me from wallowing in, "What next?" or "What do i do?". All that shit is just a waste of time - you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past.
I just had an epiphany...
"...you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past."
My thought for the day.
What is the task at hand?
Staying focussed? Yes. Having a vision? Yes, that too. And all the other stuff you read in self help books and management books and a whole lot of other stuff that fills up reams and reams of pages as part of thousands of case studies and books that hit the market across the globe every year. But most of this stuff is commonsense really. And about getting the job done.
Recently i was sitting with a client who wanted to get an 'Information Memorandum' put together to then give to his VC and banks for possible investment into his enterprise.
He said, "Right now - the only way i make sure i'm not going in a loss is by keeping my rates reasonable to bring in business and my costs low - and the difference amount i'm left with after all costs incurred - is my profit. Which i take out and stash away for safe keeping." A simple, practical way of doing business. Also harks back to the 'Lala' mentality.
Not 'lala' as in sounds you make with your tongue while trying to sing along with a song you don't know the words to - but 'lala' as in a merchant owner or money lendor of some sort - as part of traditional indian enterprises - more notably in villages and the like.
The 'lala' mentality is about - 'making money'. They don't understand 'branding-shanding'.
"Mennu pata hai - ki pasie kaise banande hegene"
Beyond knowing that money is made in a government run mint - you need to know how to make money...and to make money, you need to know the difference between 'money' and 'cash'. 10bucks in hand is worth more than 1000bucks in cheque - cuz you have the 10bucks to fill your stomach now. The 1000 bucks will come to party three days later.
Where does all this link with self-motivation - and the light on top? Well, speaking from personal experience, it's very easy to flounder and let go of something you've worked hard to build - case in point being this little studio i run. Throughout it's short life - i've had a tremendous amount of opportunities come my way - touchwood. And i'm greatful to god for the same. But i havent' capitalized on many of them. Have let a lot of them slip away even. Why? I dunno. Actually i do.
It's cuz just like the seasons change in the year - seasons change in business as well. A formula working for you today, won't necessarily work for you six months down the line. The idea i started this company with 3 years ago has remained the same over the last 3 years - and maybe thats both a good and bad thing.
What the idea is...isn't why i started writing this.
When you start a company - you need to be very clear of what you want - in your life. Having dreams and ambitions and, "this company is my ticket to fame and fortune" is all well and good. But have a plan. In paper - not in stone. But one with numbers, facts - figures. They keep your ground realities more certain. They keep you in check.
Over the last 3 1/2 years i've been through a series of ....difficult....relationships. And a they've pretty much co-incided with the life of this company.
When you're an individual - starting a company and running it on your own - YOU are the company. And the company is you. It's your credibility, your image your word....and all that. But it's all real.
I think too often we choose foolishly. With my relationships - i didn't choose foolishly, it's just that i didn't realize the magnitude of the impact my sometimes inability to balance both work and play - would actually end up having on my work.
Yesterday, i was chatting with someone who said that i'm too hard on myself. That there might be others out there who have accomplished more than me - but going by the rate i'm at, i'll be very accomplished in due course of time.
My thing is - i don't want to just be 'accomplished'. I want to be 'great'. I aspire towards 'greatness'. Of shining like a beacon. Of towering over everyone else. Not for the power - No, not for that. Not for the fame. Not for the fortune.
For the fact that i will be there. Just for that. And the fact that i made it happen - on my own. Not without outside help - but i did it cuz i saw it happening. the vision really is that of a Lenin or a Stalin - a bronze 120foot statue towering over the landscape...in a stoic...vision....seen in the cold bronze eyes.
I guess i'm day dreaming a bit.
The reason these men and others have achieved what they have and continue to do so is because they believed they could. The motivated themselves enough to move - to take a problem and challenge - head on. To say, "Go fuck yourself" when required. And, "I fucked up" when required. No point in knowing how to say one without having the ability to say the other.
It's important to find in you - that which drives you. It's money - great - go make a pile of money. Fame - go be famous. Women - go screw a few hundred. Jack Nicholson has screwed over 2000 - and he has all three.
You want to be Jack Nicholson - then what the fuck - BE JACK NICHOLSON. There's nothing stopping you.
It's important to strike a balance between your personal and professional life - and keep a DISTINCT distance or difference between both. It's a discipline.
Self-Motivation is also a discipline. One that's important to develop. Just like 'Execution' (not killing people) is also a discipline. The ability to get-things-done. Different people have different ways of getting it done - but as long as the job is done, that's all that matters.
Self-Motivation is about being able to be positive - at will. You hand an accident? Your mother died? You just fucked up on a big project and lost a tender?
These are all realities and possibilities. And yet the expression goes, "Grace under fire". Some people shine out bright when the chips are down. If you know one've these people - you in turn are lucky to be shining in that light, because one've the amazing things with these kind of people is that if you are loyal and true - they'll take you with them on the journey. The journey towards living an extraordinary life.
I was once told that, "If you want to live an extraordinary life, you'll have to face extraordinary problems." Which is why when today i'm faced with a seemingly unsurmountable position - i say, "Fuck you, you think you'll get me down? Go fuck yourself first." That might seem more than just a little arrogant - and not really 'realistic' - but it keeps me going. It makes me think. It stops me from wallowing in, "What next?" or "What do i do?". All that shit is just a waste of time - you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past.
I just had an epiphany...
"...you can't get ahead in life thinking about the past."
My thought for the day.