What Federer said after winning Wimbledon 2017

In the interview soon after winning the Wimbledon title for the record 8th time, this is what the champion said:

"It was tough in 2014 and 15 when I lost to Novak (Djokovic) here, but I always believed... If you believe you can go far in your life, you will. I kept dreaming and believing. I hope I can come back and defend the title."

Can't get anything better for inspiration (of course it assumes that one has a dream and not drifting in the game of life). And here's the video that shows how he has done it over the years:

Let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite books - As a Man Thinketh: 

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become" - James Allen.

Food for thought for the Weekend (22-Jul-17)

Food for thought for the Weekend: My series where I present assorted collection of interesting blog posts, TED talks, podcast and articles I read/listened this week, some quotes that resonated with me, excerpts from my own reading.

• 20 best money tips from Tony Robbins
• 13 things you have to give up if you want to be successful (a mentor sent this to me as he felt I'm doing several things that I shouldn't be. The pic is from one of the natural hot springs in Iceland)

Food for thought for the Weekend (15-Jul-19)

Food for thought for the Weekend: My series where I present assorted collection of interesting blog posts, TED talks, podcast and articles I read/listened this week, some quotes that resonated with me, excerpts from my own reading.

• Warren Buffet's 10 lessons for life, other than investing
• Three signs that someone is not coachable 
• 43 embarrassing grammar mistakes that even smart people make
• There's no such thing as a straight line to success. Tony Robbins explains why that's a good thing (video)
• The cost of independence
• Gabbar Singh and Self-Deception

No running away!

Lets turn a bit philosophical this Monday. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in his beautiful book "Wherever you go there you are", says this:

Have you ever noticed that there is no running away from anything? That, sooner or later, the things that you don't want to deal with and try to escape from, or paper over and pretend aren't there, catch up with you - especially if they have to do with old patterns and fears?

There is no successful escaping from yourself in the long run, only transformation.

So the question, again continuing on our journey of self-awareness is this "Are you aware of things you might be running away from?"

Are you a high potential?

As you'd be aware, we in NI have adopted 9-box-criteria that rates every employee on a grid of performance and potential. Most of us normally understand what is meant by performance, however, we'd need some objective way to determine the potential exhibited. I've always referred to this Harvard Business Review article Are You a High Potential? to both understand and articulate. Further, we also have adopted a set of 10 questions from a Harvard Business Study to assess the potential.

Traits of an effective manager at Google

Lately, I've been looking for articles on how successful MNC sets expectations for its employees and leaders. I've covered the same for Amazon and Netflix for now. I stumbled upon an article that lists 8 habits of effective managers at  Google  based performance reviews, surveys and nominations for top manager awards. I've copied them here for your quick reference:

• Be a good coach;
• empower your team and don't micromanage;
• express interest in employee's success and well-being;
• be productive and results-oriented;
• be a good communicator and listen to your team;
• help your employees with career development;
• have a clear vision and strategy for the team; and
• have key technical skills, so you can help advise the team.

If you have such publicly available docs at other companies, please let me know

What's your dominant aspiration?

We will continue to explore the importance of self-awareness we started last week.

James Allen said "You'll become as small as your controlling desire; or as great as your dominant aspiration".

Question(s) for this week:

• Are you aware what is your dominant aspiration/dream/goal? Are you very specific? Have you written it down? What action(s) have you taken in the last day/week/month/year that is pushing you towards your dominant goal. 

Have a great week ahead!

PS: James Allen, who lived in early 1900s, is known as father of modern self-help authors and literature. His seminal work As a Man Thinketh is widely regarded as one of the most significant and early books that taught the world the importance of "thoughts" on us and how we can change our thoughts and change our destiny. I strongly recommend to read it (it is only about 60 pages, free copies available on the net). The principles outlined there are timeless and equally applicable to men and women (note that he lived in an era, where writings were not gender-neutral). Let the title do not put you off.

PPS: Let me copy-paste the the entire para from which I took the above quote from the chapter titles Vision and Ideals:

And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both, for you will always gravitate toward that which you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will be placed the exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain, or rise with your thoughts, your Vision, your Ideal. You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.

What RamP's reading: Jul'17

I've gotten back to my regular reading discipline. This month I'm reading 4 books on variety of subjects, with a little emphasis on "Mindfulness" as I'm excited to attend a 2-day workshop titled Mindfulness on the go.