Summary of Life

Life is a collection of moments of inspiration interspersed with ordinary hours and minutes.

Brain Fitness Program Tenets

1. Change can occur only when the brain is in the mood

Needs attention and engaged then the brain switches turn on

2. Change strengthens connection between neurons engaged at the same time

Brain has a model and as we try it stores the good tries (example: Juggling)

3. Neurons that fire together wire together

Brain relates to past experiences

4. Initial changes are just temporary

Powerful experiences are saved by the brain; Things that are repeated and increased incrementally then it is stored permanently in the brain

5 Brain plasticity is a two-way street and we can either drive brain change positively or negatively

Habits are product of brain plasticity; we have to power to change our brain to be more malleable; but a malleable brain is also vulnerable. New plastic changes create new connections

6. Memory is crucial for learning

Brain compares it with model of previous outcomes (golf swing)

7. Motivation is a key factor in brain plasticity

Tips for optimal plasticity

Need to have heart in decent shape (cardiovascular shape)

Training should be incremental and just below the ability

Training got to be taxing and systematically improving

It should be interesting to engage the motivation circuits in your brain

New Beginnings Need New Changes

When confronted with new beginnings, we either go back to what we have done in similar situations in the past and repeat the steps we had undertaken (process oriented approach) or develop a goal-oriented approach with changes that suit one's own personality. In my case, my personality has always been more suited to decision-making in the planning mode where I have enough information to make a calculated decision as opposed to working with imperfect information that involves some gut based decision making at the nick of the moment. Traders are very comfortable (and indeed adrenalin flows) with last minute calls, I get great satisfaction in establishing a framework for repeated problem-solving. I believe my strength is problem-solving and establishing the processes for robust and intelligent problem-solving. My approach to new beginnings involves some ritualistic steps. I start to depend heavily on processes- I want to track all the things to be done (need a new planner; note down all the things to do etc. although I am never good in following this type process on a daily basis), incrementally more reports to address all the questions that crop up as I learn the new aspects of the business associated with the new beginnings, and (as I have learnt about myself) add business intelligence so that the the simple solutions are already set up automatically to be reviewed to be executed. This calls for a very healthy blend of business understanding, conceptual thinking, technological knowledge, and technical skill set to execute business intelligence embedded reports.

Deming's Golden Rules (How He transformed the Japanese Auto Industry)

• Create constancy of purpose
• Take the lead in adopting the new philosophy
• Cease dependence on inspection to acheive quality
• End the practice of awarding business on the basis of cheapest cost
• Improve constantly
• Institute training on the job
• Institute leadership
• Drive out the fear
• Break down barriers between departments
• Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets
• Eliminate management by the numbers and management by objective. Substitue leadership
• Remove barriers to pride in workmanship
• Institute education and self-improvement
• Put everybody to work to accomplish the transformation

Information, Judgement and Reality

We are always trying to assess the reality of the situation we are in or we will be in. To figure this out we seek opinions and information from the external world. We read books or we listen to what people have to say. But the error that most of us commit is that we fail to exercise judgement seperating the information, peel the opinions to see the glimpse of reality of what is or will be. This is further tainted by our feelings about the person whose opinions that we are processing. If we don't like the person, we reject that idea of reality and if we like the person we accept it without any exercise of judgement. The moral of the story therefore is irrespective of what people have to "inform" you, look deep inside of you and ask your judgment and intuition to assess the reality of what it is and what it will be.

From Now Until End of the Day

As I woke up this saturday morning and walked down,a burgeoning thought came to me - trite but true nevertheless - "This beautiful morning is the beginning of the rest of my life". As Vicktor Frankl says, as you tear of a leaf from the day-calendar you can either mourn the loss of yesterday or make a few notes of the leaf that forms the brick that has gone to build one more piece of your life edifice. I also remembered a conversation with Ravi about "Economics and GDP". Here is my Gedanken experiment - Imagine that there are only two folks in the world and each of them have a . If one guy grows a carrot and the other guy pays for that carrot with a dollar, then the system (of just these two people) as a whole has created a incremental value of $1 (because the carrot came from outside the system). But, if one guy sings a song and gets paid $1, has the system as a whole increased in value? My fundamental belief was that incremental value creation (GDP being a crude measure of this) has to come from outside the system (from the earth oil etc., for example). I always believed that everyone else in some manner supports the guy who digs the carrot out of the earth. After that conversation, I realized that incremental value creation comes from within the human being as he sings the song and not outside the system. So, as population explodes the GDP of countries naturally are supposed to increase because imagine how many songs can be sung and how many carrots can be grown. What is a crude measure of incremental value creation that an individual brings forth - apart from latent potential in a person, the crudest measure is the life span of individuals. Time, therefore, is a representation of GDP. But population alone is not answer. Countries that have better systems that facilitate bringing out potential from its population become wealthier nations.

Seeing Life through the Cs.

As I keep thinking about the paths to success in human endeavors, I
came across various characteristics that were (in hind sight) starting
with C.

Competence: Here is something that I used to think was the be all and
end all in dtermining success. It is very important and lately I
realize that relative competence is key. Your smartness is not needed
for a bunch of geniuses but for a bunch of folks who find it tough to
think beyond the first level.

Charisma: Here genes play a major part as well as a positive
attitude. Despite any politically correct platitudes, looks do matter
and is a key enhancer of success.

Connections: The network of friends and relatives in society is very,
very key. This perhaps becomes more and more important as time goes
by because in order to achieve important thing external help is needed

Composure: Calmness under pressure and ability to handle non-linear
events in life is the biggest determinant of being a successful
person.

While these four form the cornerstones of a professional life, the
following additional things are a little bit more personal life
centric.

Care: Ability to nurture relationships.

Character: Having a bedrock principles to deal with issues in life is
what makes character important.

--
Kalyan Madhavan