The Power Of 10!

A poster of Amazon TV series Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan." Jack Ryan/ Facebook

Couple of years ago when I started seeing Amazon original 'Jack Ryan' series's on big billboard advertisements across streets of many cities, I did take notice. I generally don't watch or read fiction but I have had an on and off exposure to Tom Clancy. He died the same year, in 2013, when I moved to South Africa. Moving to South Africa changed me in more ways that I can write about, but those stories are for, few separate posts (book!). Coming back to Tom Clancy, I watched most of his writing/work through Hollywood movies based on his novels. His novels supplied the central plot/content for blockbuster movies like; The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears and many more. I watched all of these movies on VHS cassettes during my youth when I was living in Moscow between 1995-2003. These movies were great stories, however I think the post, cold war era and the ongoing transition to democracy after the collapse of soviet union provided an additional fertile ground to popularity of the move plots. 

For a man who loves his (and other's) one liners and quotes, Tom Clancy's “An overnight success is ten years in the making.” in his New York times best seller book Dead or Alive, naturally caught my attention a decade ago.  

I kept coming that and similar quotes over the years. The other quotes and writing on the same subject (of mastery) are below: 

1. The 10,000-Hour Rule, which Malcolm Gladwell explains in his book Outliers and says that key to success in any field, is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years. 
2. “All overnight success takes about 10 years.” Jeff Bezos. 
3. “Overnight success stories take a long time.” Steve Jobs. 

The above information and my journey (of last 25 years starting from the day I left my Mumbai at an age of 17 years) supports the same theory of mastery in any field of business or life. In this articles associated video (1 minute & 48 Seconds) I have answered a similar question by a young man about how much time does it take to be successful professionally. 

Thanks for reading! 

P.S. English is the second language of this young man-and hence the subtitles.

The Monday Musafir Ramblings...

Hello Monday, Again!!!

Today's morning blabber has been documented here 👉 #GyaanByKhan  (fb.me/gyaanbykhan)

....I jumped around too many topics

---typical me!!! Lol 😂😂😂

At the end of this short post you will find link to the video I mentioned.

We can call it, Education on air, or Education in the cloud or anything else, the fact of the matter is, that, digital life is here! So is digital learning, digital schooling, digital everything!! 

I would confess that I never anticipated this so quickly....but Bill Gates and few other people did! (Watch an episode called 'Pandemic' on Netflix series - Explained) ..... I like to listen to Bill, because he makes sense...the next question that I anticipate from many of my friends is:….would I have heard Bill that much, if he was not the wealthiest man in the world [this may not be true today...but I stopped following that list long ago :) ] ....regarding my thoughts on Bill Gates and his influence on my life....in some other blog post...some other day!

OK coming back to digital education...I spent an hour listening to Jennie Magiera at 4 AM {already a fan of hers!! what an awesome HUMAN!!!] and another hour pondering about many things during current #coronavirus situation, and then couple of minutes on #Facebook Live plus talking to my nephew, (and a friend) in India about how they teach 5th to 10th graders in Mumbai........so obviously my investment of that time had to 'translate' into some kind of content!😁

There are many words evolving ….one such term is social distancing which is necessary today, but then I think, what if, social distancing becomes a norm tomorrow...and I totally get it....that 'what if' might...immediately evoke negativity, and I am not hoping for it, but would want us, as a species, to be prepared for that rare probability, because that preparation will only lead to one more thing ....and that thing is called #learning ....and more learning is a journey in itself! 

Ramblings of a #Musafir mind (and body and soul) 👆👆 DONE!!

Google for Education - VIDEO

I want to learn more about the learning process of humans....so if you find anything interesting, drop those in comments or just tweet me. Thank you 🙏 in advance. 

Are you READY for your OWN SUCCESS?

Most startup failure statistics are intimidating to say the least. The successful startups do get a lot of airtime across print and digital media alike. And that’s fair enough, because those publications, like us, as humans are always looking for stories of success. A success story that was achieved by overcoming something or solving something or helping someone.

My last few years of research on successes and failures of startups, led me to many articles, case studies and books; and at the end of all of it I can personally precipitate this in the following points (poeents! 😂) in no particular order including some HINDI puns!

1. Raising funds too quick. नोट का मालिक बनने के लिए उसे कमाना भी पड़ता है 😂
2. Pride, Arrogance. ज़िंदगी झंड है फिर भी घमंड है!
3. Wrong, inadequate Mentorship-advice — Drowning Buffalo — गई भैस पानी मे 🐃
4. Short Motivation, Focus, No Clear Methodology — Frogs!-जिंदा मेंढ़कों को तराजू मे तौलना काफ़ी मुश्किल है 🐸
5. All dreams and data but no specific expertise — फर्ज और फ़र्जी मे एक मात्रा का अन्तर होता है 😂

I also read an interesting “startup postmortem” study by CB insights which summarised 20 reasons why startups fail. [Sample size 101 startups, published in November 2019]

They are below:

Image credit Article ** “Since many startups offered multiple reasons for their failure, you’ll see the chart highlighting the top 20 reasons doesn’t add up to 100% (it far exceeds it).”

The main ones I personally feel are of greatest importance are the five below.

1. Market. No market need, poor business model and mistiming.
2. Team. Not the right team.
3. Marketing. Poor marketing.
4. Product. Poor Product quality and/or execution.
5. Customer support. Ignored customers.

In my ‘hard’ [काफी करोड़ डूबाये हैं 😂] experience of many failed and few extremely successful startups, the key is, if you don’t fall for the five above, you are much more likely to succeed…

And in the end, the things that will differentiate success from failure are motivation (purpose) mentorship/advice/consulting, commitment, focus, effort (execution), continuous improvement and untiring preparation of success. (WATCH VIDEO)

Best of Luck!

……….

Most of my posts are published in the following places also:

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www.medium.com/@talk2tahirkhan2

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Thank You for the connection!

happy monday!

#GyaanByKhan 

Been an interesting morning! Monday mornings always bring a bit of thought a spark for me. I guess my brain has been programmed that way for last few decades. Three other points make this morning interesting (1) I have been staying at this hotel since 5th but just realised this morning that breakfast for two is included in the tariff....now that's a waste for a person like me who is an absolute foodie!!...I have no excuse...just no excuse to justify wasting breakfast (resource thinking!). (2) Last night was the second night of this year (2020) that I slept for more than 7 hours in any single slot of 24 hrs (rolling-considering timezones etc.) well that's an achievement for me! (3) While I go through various streams of experiences through my journey of 'rest of my life' I keep discovering things which are in cohesion with the universe....one such thing was a friend share this video with me.

Although videos, articles and other content of Sadhguru have been popping up in my life from time to time...A friend from past shared a link on Facebook Messenger, I watched this video a few times this morning and it resonated quite well.

A part of me was happy by going through this content. But then a part of me was dying to share it with people I care for. A part of me was also hesitant (fear). But then I navigated through all of those.... and decided to publish these notes. Notes which have a summary of around 250 words, which is my interpretation of this video. This may be #useful to people who are too busy or overwhelmed with the Monday feeling....a feeling that we created ourselves....to that matter even the concept of time was also created by ourselves...a concept which now drives us like slaves....but that concept also has a few advantages....but about that in some other future post...for now let's get back to Sadhguru. Summary of the video below: 

1. Life is not you versus the universe. Bad competition! 
2. Life is about your union with the universe. Yoga means union….not twisting bodies! 
3. In internet terms, you are just a pop up! in this world..
4. Future is not far and not in future. It's not something you have to wait for. This moment is yours. And This is the ONLY moment you have. *Tahir’s interpretation. 
5. They key is that, there is no key! Life is mostly about, how you will handle yourself, your thinking, your thought, your effort, your results, your outcomes, your neurology, your biochemistry, your physiology etc. etc. (random sequence!)
6. Interesting Snails story! By Sadhguru. 
7. Suffering is a choice. And living is also a choice. Life or memory or imaginal suffering…upto you! *Tahir’s interpretation. 
8. Spirituality (not religion!) should be practised early in life and should not be postponed to old age. 
9. Life is an outcome of our two strongest gifts, gifts which have been bestowed on us as human species….Memory and Imagination..
10. The issue is that we are creating sufferings for ourselves with the same gifts… (#DEEP) 
11. In the end if you are breathing, you are transacting with this world and this universe. Every event / issue / achievement / result and every moment between your birth and death is life. *Tahir’s interpretation. 
12. And remember whatever the issue in your life….whatever the problems in your life….they are all blessings because more problems means more interaction with this universe …more opportunities to make a difference.  

To end; "whatever the issue….you are not the issue". Happy Monday!! Link to the video which is 11 Minutes 48 Seconds..

This article is also published here: 

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/happy-monday-dr-tahir-khan

Medium https://medium.com/@talk2tahirkhan2/happy-monday-77b703ff30b8

Karamchand Jasoos! The Spy Who Changed India...

Photo location https://maps.app.goo.gl/WQQcxycMuEG6Sm479

क्या करूँ अब भी जब भी गाजर खाता हूँ तो करमचंद जासूस की याद आती हैं 😂

I think we are a special generation of people, a generation which was caught in between the transitions of this world. The transition after soviet union, the cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall...the transition from calculators to computers to machines that think. The Nokia, the Blackberry, the end of Kodak, the iPhone, the Google, the Facebook etc. etc....a generation of people who transitioned their lives around continual change. Ofcourse by no means I say that the generations before and after us have not or will not go through changes...but what's unique and what I am focusing on is the journey of our generation, and the variable speed of changes we have seen....I hope you will understand what I am trying to say and if not I will keep trying.

Anyways back to breakfast and my carrots 🥕

#Moments #Mornings #MyMornings #Breakfast #Coffee #Thoughts #Musafir #Travel #Dubai

The Mask or Make Up #WhatIf

Picture location: Dubai Metro somewhere here 👇

https://maps.app.goo.gl/hJuq3oPcBUxsHw9X8 

And what if, the mask becomes a way of life. What if, the mask becomes the make up. What if, the current situation Corona changes everything we imagined as a future. What if, the world becomes like what we saw in one of those movies. There are so many what if's. On the other hand this gives us an opportunity to come back after all this is over. Think about food, think about medicine and more so, think about transparency and this planet. This could be our last warning. A part of me also believes [I don't have data for that] that we are well ahead in our medical, biological and nutrition research but its not transparent as it affects the commercial construct of many industries/models. But when all this is over, we have to think hard, very hard, about profits and this planet. 

#WhatIf #sustainability #corona #coronavirus #Moments #Musafir #Travel #Dubai #MustBeDXB #DubaiMetro #DubaiMetroTurns10 #Internet #City

[VIDEO] The Theory of Routine and Random-in my head!

A quick 3 minute video about my theory about Routine and Random....

This video is additionally published on:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/talk2tahirkhan_linkedin-gyaanbykhan-random-activity-6641609627953922048-1-5E
Medium ‪ www.talk2tahirkhan.blogspot.com https://link.medium.com/qCf2URM7C4‬

World Famous MAGIC Upma!

Post written on the BOM-DXB flight yesterday-posting almost 24 hours late..r!

I have received some great feedback and I am told to write more...so will I listen to the feedback, I think that's the least I could do in return of someone's time. I will aim to bring more discipline to myself and attempt to write regularly-say atleast 2-5 posts a month, but before that let me quote the disclaimer!! My blog is not about anything specific but it's about everything specific. And that specific is my journey. And that journey, indeed, is my life. I hope you find my story worthy of your time. And if not, then I request you to help me, on how it can be! - Let's engage, chat, coffee or just wave...I don't promise I will change anything but I promise that I will listen. Thank You!

 Finally the actual post!!

If you had asked me, even a month ago, that, will I ever have rava upma and black coffee on an international flight, versus chicken/some other protein + gin & tonic...my answer would have been, an resounding NO with a couple of exclamation marks [with sound!!]

 But then if you had asked me a few months ago, whether I would go to an immigration desk wearing a breathing (N95) mask, then I would have said a No too. Perhaps not with the intensity in the earlier paragraph.

 S**t happens! a virus named after a beer shakes the world and suddenly you decide to go vegan because you start thinking more and more about this planet and it's cohabitants....and RE-realise the horrific reality, that we have ONLY one planet. So with every choice, with every action and even, with every thought (my mind and matter learnings!) we are impacting or getting impacted. And if I think about those two words impacted and impacting, my choice will always be the later and that will be irrespective of the situation. I think I have grown that way or rather "I am been programmed that way!!"

 Life will never go as planned. But we all can always plan for a few probabilities and keep altering the plans in tune with changing realities. I guess that's true for life and also true for business. Infact I had a very weird business idea when I was in 9th Grade...it was 'one' of weirdest mythical ideas I have had during my childhood...but that story some other day...

Time for breakfast and to enjoy black coffee and the 'world famous' magic rava upma!! 

#LatePost

This article has been additionally published to :

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/world-famous-maupma-dr-tahir-khan
https://medium.com/@talk2tahirkhan2/world-famous-magic-upma-fba1edda41a1

REST in PEACE - Jack Welch

I read about the legend, Jack Welch, passing away on Sunday, last week. Felt quite sad in that moment but continued through my week. For some reason the news stuck with me and kept me thinking. Like for many of my colleagues, Jack came into my life through his books on management. We were all young, fresh and curious about his success in the 80's and 90's. His bold short sentences and his style of quoting interesting facts, for application, in management, both for business and for people really impressed all of us. And then we were introduced to six sigma! which was an original concept from Motorola but was adopted fiercely at General Electric (GE) under Jack's leadership. 

By the end of 90's and early 2000's Jack's stardom in management industry was at its peak and I remember reading, him being crowned as 'manager of the century' and with many other titles. 

Jack was a strong man, and was known for taking quite unpopular decisions and some went to the extent of calling him, cruel. I personally never met him or worked with him but as a student of management in my early career I derived a lot of inspiration from Jack on performance management.  

I remember reading this or similar somewhere where Jack quoted "What would happen if for years and years you don’t tell someone that they are underperforming, not giving them the chance to try to improve, check whether they can do something else in the company, or alternatively look for somewhere else? And then a recession comes, and you need to fire the person, older and unprepared, in a much tougher market? Which is crueller?”  

 The quote in the above paragraph stuck with me for many years, I even remember firing a couple of my team members in Sitel while servicing our client DELL computers back in 2004. The above philosophy guided me through some hard decisions. In this particular example; looking back today, I can definitely say, that both people whom I had to let go, are doing extremely well and that decision was the right decision to take- as their core strengths were very different to what was needed on the job. 

The other thing that I clinch upon, are his early years as a kid; Jack would always talk about his mother and how he derived learnings and inspiration from her. In an interview Jack shared that his mother said to him often "If you don’t know how to lose, you’ll never know how to win!” which is one of the most powerful things I had heard during those early days of my customer service career. 

 During the 2008/09 financial crisis I again discovered another quote of Jack, which made me laugh, instantaneously...it was “There are more mediocre people making more money on Wall Street than on any other place on earth,” 

 Dear Jack this post is a tribute to you for the contributions you made to me as a person, through your actions, thoughts and more so through your books and your story. For a man who came from a background that you came from and for a young man who stuttered in his early life, your story was about; overcoming situations, working hard, making tough decisions and succeeding at any cost. Today's world is different and not all your strategies would work in this hyper connected age. The world back then needed you and you did the best you could with your passion.  

 The last one for this article; and my current favourite quote, especially when I work with young entrepreneurs around the world. “If we wait for the perfect answer, the world will pass us by.” so I interpret that the key is to start fast, fail fast, learn fast and build again and again until you succeed. 

Jack you had an interesting life and you made a lot of impact on this world. Now rest in peace great man.  Thank You.

Also published on LinkedIN here: www.Linkedin.com/in/talk2tahirkhan