Don’t try to be the ‘next’

“Don’t try to be the ‘next’. Instead, try to be the other, the changer, the new.” -Seth Godin

John Francis "Jack" Welch  is an American business executive, author, and chemical engineer. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his tenure at GE, the company's value rose 4,000% .

When Jack Welch remade GE, the most fabled decision he made was this: If we can’t be #1 or #2 in an industry, we must get out. Why sell a billion-dollar division that’s making a profit quite happily while ranking #4 in market share? Easy. Because it distracts management attention. It sucks resources and capital and focus and energy. And most of all, it teaches people in the organization that it’s okay not to be the best in the world. Jack quit the dead ends. By doing so, he freed resources to get his other businesses through the Dip.

The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery. A long slog that’s actually a shortcut, because it gets you where you want to go faster than any other path.

Quit the dead ends- Avoid distraction of attention

Source: “The Dip: The extraordinary benefits of knowing when to quit (and when to stick) ” by Seth Godin  

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The Secret of Mastery

The phenomenal Spanish painter Pablo Picasso was sitting in a small cafe in France. Waiting for his third cup of coffee, while a smoldering cigarette rested in an ashtray, he was doodling on a paper napkin. Oblivious to Picasso, another patron, a woman from an adjacent table, had been observing keenly. A few minutes later Picasso put his pencil down, lifted the napkin and stared at it blankly, as if he wasn’t pleased with it or maybe it needed more work. He was then about to crumple the serviette when the lady spoke.

“Don’t!” she hollered, almost startling Picasso. “I’ll take it.”
He gave her a curious look and kept silent a few moments longer than one would usually in a similar situation.

“I’ll pay you for it,” the woman continued and reached out for her handbag. “It’s not for gifting or sale,” Picasso said with indifference.

“Oh yeah?” She pulled out her checkbook. “Maybe I can offer you a good price!”

“Done. Four million Francs.” This was roughly $10,000.

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Well, that’s the price.”

“But it only took you a few minutes!”

“No Madame.” Picasso folded the napkin and put it in his pocket. “This took me sixty years.”

While growing up, most of us have our sources of inspiration, our role models, people we admire, our super-heroes. These are the people who reached the pinnacle in their respective fields and the world labeled them as geniuses, child prodigies, talented, gifted and so on. For, they demonstrated not only an extraordinary skill but a great degree of effortlessness too. As if they just sat down and championed their art. Nothing could be further from truth than the assumption that they were born with it or somehow got it all too easy.

Effortlessness in anything comes from immense effort. The more mindful effort we put in any endeavor, the easier it gets to become naturally good at it. Whatever you wish to master, be it meditation or basketball or anything at all, be prepared to put in a lot of tiring hours. Keep at it. Mindfully. Keep reviewing and continue working. Gradually, you’ll discover that things that seemed difficult, even impossible at first are now well within your reach. 

Source: ”The Children Of Tomorrow”  by OM SWAMI

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