WHAT IS YOUR IKIGAI?

An " Ikigai " is essentially ‘a reason to get up in the morning’. A reason to enjoy life. The Japanese  concept which translates as “ the happiness of always being busy” or “ A reason for being”

In Japanese, ikigai is written by combining the symbols that mean “life” with “to be worthwhile.”

Authors of the book “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life” by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles have summerised  after conducting hundred of interviews in Ogimi, Okinawa ( Okinawa holds the first place in world’s Blue zones) to try to understand the longevity secrets of centenarians and super centenarians.

“ Ikigai” is seen as the convergence of four primary elements:

-What you love (your passion)

-What the world needs (your mission)

-What you are good at (your vocation)

-What you can get paid for (your profession)

Your ikigai lies at the centre of  those interconnecting circles. If you are lacking in one area, you are missing out on your life’s potential. Not only that, but you are missing out on your chance to live a long and happy life.

The 10 rules of “Ikigai” stated by the authors are as below...

1. Stay active; don’t retire. Keep physically and mentally active – use your mind and body, so you don't lose them to ill health. 

“Metabolism slows down 90 percent after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from your arteries to your muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops 20 percent. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again. These things are so simple they’re almost stupid.”

 — Gavin Bradley

“Your mind and your body. You keep both busy, you’ll be here a long time.” — Walter Breuning (114 Yrs old)

2. Take it slow. Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life.

 “Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference.” 

― Tim Ferriss

3. Don’t fill your stomach.Follow the 80 % secrete “Hara hachi bu” of Japanese , which means “fill your belly 80%”.

4. Surround yourself with good friends.

“Do what makes you happy, be with who makes you smile, laugh as much as you breathe, and love as long as you live.” ― Rachel Ann Nunes

5. Get in shape for your next birthday. Present a better version of yourself to yourself.

6. Smile.It does not cost anything

“In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley

7. Reconnect with nature.Nature helps us feel good and do good

Nature experiences lead to reduced stress, easier recovery from illness, better physical well-being in elderly people, and behavioral changes that improve mood and general well-being.

8. Give thanks.Spend a moment in giving thanks to the moments, events and things you have in life and find your happiness grow.

9. Live in the moment. Forget the past, make the most of the present moment worth remembering.

10. Follow your ikigai.  Find an “Ikigai”  if you don’t have one yet and as Victor Frankle says your mission is to discover it.

 Source: “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life”

by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

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10x THINKING

One company stands out as most impressive in the world right now for its way of thinking. Not for its achievements today (although hugely influential), but for the impact its way of thinking will have on our collective futures.That company is Google.

“The story of innovation has not changed. It has always been a small team of people who have a new idea, typically not understood by people around them and their executives.”

—Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

Google doesn’t have a secret formula, but we have distilled our thinking into a set of basic principles—ideas we believe can be adapted and applied at pretty much any organization,  regardless of size or industry. One of the principles of innovation applied inside Google is 10X thinking.

-—Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

The notion of “10x thinking” is at the heart of innovation at Google. To put the idea simply: true innovation happens when you try to improve something by 10 times rather than by 10%.This is the guiding inspiration for engineers at Google[x]—the division of Google that focuses on producing major technological advances such as self-driving cars. Ever since Google  started the self-driving car project, they have been working toward the goal of vehicles that can shoulder the entire burden of driving .Building a prototype vehicle that's designed to take you where you want to go at the push of a button—no driving required.

 A 10x goal forces you to rethink an idea entirely. It pushes you beyond existing models and forces you to totally imagine how to approach it.

Source:https://gsuite.google.co.in/intl/en_in/learn-more/creating_a_culture_of_innovation.html

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Skunk Works Rules

"We are defined not by the technologies we create, 
but the process in which we create them."

- Kelly Johnson

Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs (ADP), formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, including the U-2, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which are used in the air forces of several countries.Lockheed's Skunk Works division is responsible for some of the most radical breakthroughs in aviation. Its success can be attributed to a very small set of ground rules religiously followed at Skunk Works .

During World War II as air battles raged and America felt the need to aid its European allies, aerospace giants Lockheed created an idea incubator to develop urgent solutions to critical war problems. For added security, they intentionally set up their innovation research and development centre in a tent next to a plastics factory that pumped out disgusting smells. Lockheed R&D staff named it after the vile-smelling “Skunk Works” factory in the popular comic strip of the time, ‘Li’l Abner’.

In 1943 when visionary Clarence “Kelly” Johnson got the green light to create an experimental engineering department to begin work on the secret XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter. Johnson and his team   in the tent  had designed and built the XP-80 America’s first jet fighter in only 143 days, seven less than was required. It was this project that marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works with Kelly Johnson at its helm.

What allowed Johnson to operate the Skunk Works so effectively and efficiently was his unconventional organizational approach. He broke the rules, challenging the current bureaucratic system that stifled innovation and hindered progress. His philosophy is spelled out in his "14 rules and practices."

14 rules and practices are…

1. The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.

2. Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry.

3. The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. Use a small number of good people (10% to 25% compared to the so-called normal systems).

4. A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided.

5. There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.

6. There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program.

7. The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract on the project. Commercial bid procedures are very often better than military ones.

8. The inspection system as currently used by the Skunk Works, which has been approved by both the Air Force and Navy, meets the intent of existing military requirements and should be used on new projects. Push more basic inspection responsibility back to subcontractors and vendors. Don't duplicate so much inspection.

9. The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn't, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.

10. The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. The Skunk Works practice of having a specification section stating clearly which important military specification items will not knowingly be complied with and reasons therefore is highly recommended.

11. Funding a program must be timely so that the contractor doesn't have to keep running to the bank to support government projects.

12. There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor, the very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. This cuts down misunderstanding and correspondence to an absolute minimum.

13. Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures.

14. Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised.

Not only that, but a model for rapid innovation was developed, which companies still use today. Raytheon, DuPont, Walmart and Nordstrom use skunk works to innovate. In the early 1980s, Steve Jobs leased a building behind a restaurant in Silicon Valley, installed twenty brilliant designers, and created the first Macintosh computer.

 Wonder why these rules were required at all can be understood from the following statement ..

 "There is a tendency today, which I hate to see, toward design by committee--reviews and recommendations, conferences and consultations, by those not directly doing the job. Nothing very stupid will result, but nothing brilliant either."

- Kelly Johnson

Source: 

-https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks/kelly-14-rules.html

- ”Skunk Works" by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos

    

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The Apollo Principle

 “A big mission that unites people in purpose.”

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

– John F. Kennedy

On May 25, 1961, in his address to Congress, President John F. Kennedy proposed the national goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" by the end of the 1960s. This goal was accomplished on the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, later returning back to earth.

There is a great story of the janitor mopping the floor at the Space Station being asked what his job was in the organization. His answer was: ‘I’m helping to put a man on the moon”.

This highlights the Apollo Program’s 'secret sauce' - a big mission or goal to unite people in purpose.

Big crazy goals inspire and align people in ways that small goals can’t. They attract some of the best minds and open some of the toughest doors. Inside many human beings, there is something that loves the power of a big challenge. A big challenge aligns people under a common cause like nothing else can.

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The Obstacle Is The Way

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”-  Marcus Aurelius

In simple terms 

 as

“Failure shows us the way – by showing us what isn’t the way.”

— Ryan Holiday: Author of The Obstacle is the Way

American industrialist John D. Rockefeller was born July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York. He built his first oil refinery near Cleveland and in 1870 incorporated the Standard Oil Company. By 1882 he had a near-monopoly of the oil business in the U.S.

At 16 he took his first job as bookkeeper and aspiring investor.  He was making fifty cents a day. Less than two years later the Panic of 1857 struck. The result was a crippling national depression that lasted for several years.

Here was the greatest market depression in history and it hit Rockefeller just as he was finally getting the hang of things. It’s terrible right? Real investors who supposedly knew what they were doing lost everything.  What is he supposed to do? Rockefeller later said that he was inclined to see the opportunity in every disaster. That’s exactly what he did.

Instead of complaining about this economic upheaval or quitting like his peers, Rockefeller chose to eagerly observe the events that unfolded. He looked at the panic as an opportunity to learn, a baptism in the market. But even as a young man, Rockefeller had sangfroid: unflappable coolness under pressure. He kept his head while everyone else lost theirs. Instead of bemoaning this economic upheaval, he quietly saved his money and watched what others did wrong. He saw the weaknesses in the economy that many took for granted.

It was this intense self-discipline and objectivity that allowed Rockefeller to seize advantage from obstacle after obstacle in his life, during the Civil War, and the panics of 1873, 1907, and 1929. Within twenty years of that first crisis, Rockefeller would alone control 90 percent of the oil market. His greedy competitors had perished and his doubters had missed out.

Rockefeller passed away on May 23, 1937, in Ormond Beach, Florida. His legacy, however, lives on: Rockefeller is considered one of America's leading businessmen and is credited for helping to shape the U.S. into what it is today.

 

Source:  ”The Obstacle is the Way: The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage” by Ryan Holiday. 

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The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”— Mortimer Adler

The famous Nobel winning physicist Richard Feynman understood the difference between knowing something and knowing the name of something and it’s one of the most important reasons for his success.

-He pioneered an entire field: quantum electrodynamics (QED).

-His work helping scientists understand the interaction of light and matter earned him a share of a Nobel Prize in 1965.

In fact, he created a formula for learning that ensured he understood something better than everyone else. It’s called the Feynman Technique and it will help you learn anything faster and with greater understanding. Best of all, it’s incredibly easy to implement.

1. Pick a topic you want to understand and start studying it. Write down everything you know about the topic on a notebook page, and add to that page every time you learn something new about it.

2. Pretend to teach your topic to a classroom. Make sure you're able to explain the topic in simple terms.

3. Go back to the books when you get stuck. The gaps in your knowledge should be obvious. Revisit problem areas until you can explain the topic fully.

4. Simplify and use analogies. Repeat the process while simplifying your language and connecting facts with analogies to help strengthen your understanding.

Source:  "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman."  by James Gleick's ,1993 

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Seek assistance Through "Master Mind" group

“I don’t know anything about history, and I wouldn’t give a nickel for all the history in the world,” Henry Ford told the Chicago Tribune in 1916.

During the world war, a Chicago newspaper published certain editorials in which,among other statements, Henry Ford was called "an ignorant pacifist." Mr. Ford objected to the statements, and brought suit against the paper for libeling him.When the suit was tried in the Courts, the attorneys for the paper pleaded justification, and placed Mr. Ford, himself, on the witness stand, for the purpose of proving to the jury that he was ignorant. The attorneys asked Mr. Ford a great variety of questions, all of them intended to prove, by his own evidence, that, while he might possess considerable specialized knowledge pertaining to the manufacture of automobiles, he was, in the main, ignorant.

Mr. Ford was plied with such questions as the following:

"Who was Benedict Arnold?" and "How many soldiers did the British send over to America to put down the Rebellion of 1776?" In answer to the last question, Mr.Ford replied, "I do not know the exact number of soldiers the British sent over,but I have heard that it was a considerably larger number than ever went back."

Finally, Mr. Ford became tired of this line of questioning, and in reply to a particularly offensive question, he leaned over, pointed his finger at the lawyer who had asked the question, and said, "If I should really WANT to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk, and by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer ANY question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me, WHY I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?"

There certainly was good logic to that reply. That answer floored the lawyer. Every person in the courtroom realized it was the answer, not of an ignorant man, but of a man of EDUCATION. Any man is educated who knows where to get knowledge when he needs it, and how to organize that knowledge into definite plans of action. Through the assistance of his "Master Mind" group, Henry Ford had at his command all the specialized knowledge he needed to enable him to become one of the wealthiest men in America. It was not essential that he have this knowledge in his own mind. Surely no person who has sufficient inclination and intelligence to read a book of this nature can possibly miss the significance of this illustration.

Before you can be sure of your ability to transmute DESIRE into its monetary equivalent, you will require SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE of the service, merchandise, or profession which you intend to offer in return for fortune.

When you begin to select the members of your "Master Mind" group, endeavor to select those who do not take defeat seriously.


 Source: ”Think and Grow Rich”  by Napoleon Hill

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