Serendipity and Learning

 Long long ago, I always used to carry a small letterpad with me. To jot down ideas that might occur. Over the years, it has changed from a notepad to evernote to google keep, but the power of jotting down ideas is immense.  Small ideas go into keep.  Anything to be quickly typed goes into whatsapp as a self message.  Bigger or better formed ideas go into Google docs A few are still written, but I manage to copy them into a digital format sooner rather than later.  But the power of jotting down is immense. My google keep is an encyclopedia of ideas - most of which may never get implemented. 

Continuing from the previous post... I have been often been labelled as a "creative" person. And I have firmly believed that I am not someone who is artistically creative or someone who has so called original thoughts. I believe (with good reason) that my creative outputs are a function of joining dots that are non obvious.  I read a lot, gather tons of information and sometimes in that pot-pourri ideas emerge which are not obvious to others.  Is this the only way it works - I dont know - this is just my view or my own confirmation bias. Either way my creativity has not been enough for me to make enough money out of it. It is still at a hobbyish level.  What works for ideas, possibly works for opinions as well.  That a lot of opinions we hold are not really ours - they are hand me downs. They come from somewhere else. Mostly some person. And nowadays with social media it comes from a specific cluster. So, what is the way out? Critical thinking. Go and read and find o...

The switch to virtual training was tough - well managed. To think of an analogy - we managed to score runs on a low scoring pitch and bad light - but there is much work to be done in this space. We are still in Day 1 of virtual training, and possibly trying to map Physical training to virtual modes. More thoughts ( here , here , here and here ) Demand for learning continues to go up. I may personally not like learning as engagement - but companies seek learning as engagement, learning as culture, learning as skill building, learning as talent management. So, more power to those who are in these spaces. Indian content is still not there yet I feel. My own book was received fairly well . So again, a space of opportunity and much more. And I am not talking about Indian models - just content optimised for India without the usual biases. I really wonder what will happen to big content providers who sell "licences" or what makes them survive so far? There are newer business models...

We sat there, watching a friend in his first ever yoga class. This friend has years of experience (the yoga teachers experience is measured in decades, not hours - he said). The class was being held in a not very posh place. It was simple. The people who came to learn were not people you will find in Nike ads. One way to think about it is to say Why does someone with so much experience have to do this? Does he have to go through this grind? He deserves so much more. He should have waited and launched himself at a bigger place. The other way is to say He is trying He is brave He is working on his mission He has brought his passion alive in a small way Thats when it struck me. Beginnings are small. All beginnings by their very nature are small. Take any dream, any business. The beginnings are almost always messy, untidy and even unsure. But they are beginnings...