I PUBLISH, THEREFORE I AM

I see hoardings on the streets, and on construction sites, that reads, WORK IN PROGRESS. Does that mean actual work is getting done; of course, it means people are working but, the point they have broadcasted with their hoarding is that they are working, they never say anything about when is it going to complete . Let’s say, a hoarding says, WORK IN PROGRESS – EXPECTED TO FINISH ON 20-10-2011, that would make total sense . I know, I’m being unrealistic and stupid, fine!...but I am still to make my point. What I am really getting at is why do we have so much of work in progress , it’s time we understood that work in progress in not real progress . If you were expected to finish 10 tasks by tomorrow , and you are done with 90% in all the 10 tasks but have not finished even one, then you have all the 10 tasks under WORK IN PROGRESS, in a way, you have not done anything so far. On the other hand, if you did 5 tasks fully and didn't even start with the other 5, then you have...

Work is not something you go to, it is something you do. No...it's not a smart-ass line, it is for real. You make sense only when you get something done. I feel that we stress a lot on going-to-work, instead of stressing on doing-actual-work. I have fairly worked in different work environments, the rookie in me used to think, why is everyone talking about results all the time, what matters is the effort and work that goes into a process, right!...absolutely not , what ultimately matters is results, a result oriented work environment ensures clear progress. Not just the end results, even the intermediary results matters a lot. Now I know, why everyone told me to solve question papers before exams, instead of just reading through the chapters and answering chapter-wise questions. It's because solving question papers is very result oriented a.k.a doing-actual-work , whereas, reading chapters is merely like going-to-work . Unfortunately, I just kept reading chapters till the end a...

I know! why the hell am I talking about unlearning when learning is what matter, isn't it?  I don't think so ;-|. Learning is really important, we do it or don't do it on the basis of our liking, our ability and whatnot. But, when it comes to unlearning stuff, we are not really bothered because unlearning is much more painful, that means truck loads of shitty hard work. I wish there was some twitter-like  unfollow button or a MS-Office-like undo button in our heads, but unfortunately, the only way to unlearn is to learn it from scratch (one more time) . For instance, there is some problem with my English writing skills (I guess! you would have noticed by now ;-), I don't follow any writing convention), that's because I am from a place where people don't speak/write much English, so, I spoke/wrote English like I knew it, I used to make my own rules and spread it to the uninformed...by the way, confidently bull-shiting people is an art and I am good at it ;-P...

Why should we polish everything and try to make it look good. Everything happens for the good – yes it does, for those who make sense out of things that are absolutely nonsense. For instance, in the name of helping  people  out, some guys in the internet make you believe in things that are absolutely useless, not just that, they justify the horrifying results and make you feel good about whatever bullshit that happened to you. Say what? It’s all for the good – I don’t think so, may be good for who is saying it, but not the one who is reading or listening to it. Beware of guys in the internet who try to make you believe in random things , don’t just listen to the fancy words people put on their website to get your attention – ahem , I too liked to grab attention – but I realized that the attention I grabbed was really short-lived ( I went from 300 subscribers to 150 subscribers in 3 days – shit happens ). Pretty remarks, psyched analogies, self-analysis, and trying-to-tak...

Certainly, you are. That side of you comes right when you are out in public. Girish (name changed ;-P) went to this party, and when he was walking out, he was asked for a short interview from some TV/media guys, to everyone's surprise, Girish started thanking the authority, the organizing board and some random big-shot in the committee . Few minutes back, he was heard saying "This party is such a waste of time and money, these guys are just fooling public". Why was he bull-shitting the interview? I know him, he is a nice guy but, as they say, sometimes shit happens . He did sound like a politician, dint he. I think it's because he was fooled, and he thought, why should he be the only one ;-P, so he started doing false advertising . Lesson for you is that the next time you see interviews or reviews on TV, don't believe it. Even the best source is capable of doing false advertising .

If you are starting something today, and it’s a job that needs you to thrive for months together then don’t overdo it on the first day. You end up overwhelming yourself with work and then your momentum drastically goes down . Don’t do this mistake of overdoing it on the first day, I did it and I know how I got tired of it and eventually left it. It’s a marathon, not a 100 meter race, you start running slowly for the first few kilometers then you speed up and go steadily to finish the race. As they say, consistency is the name of the game… I say , they are god damn right ;-). Let the enthusiasm be in you till the end, finish it one block at a time. We all prepare for something or the other on a daily basis, let’s say, you just joined a gym, you start doing weights, 30 minutes treadmill, 20 minutes cycling and all that on the first day. Guess what! you din't turn up the next day ;-).

You can only get so much from what you are doing if you just glance it. Let's say, it's some article online...you can't just glance it and expect to have grasped all that the author is trying to say.  Pragmatically, you don’t care what a person is writing - do you?, you glance it because you wanna know what you wanna know, and not what the author wants to say ...so be it! Now, I’d say, you can’t expect to have done the best you can by just glancing it. Glancing an activity is like sidelining the activity, this in-turn means that you did not give importance to it and there were a lot of competitive guys who went ahead of you because they din't glance it, instead, they made it primal. The next time you multi-task , make sure you know that the task wasn’t done that well. Or maybe, the task did not get the attention it deserved.

is what people say when they are given some work that is out of their job description. First of, your job description is not precise, you get an overall picture of what all will you be responsible for, mind it! its just an overall picture i.e. its not complete. There is no end to the kind of work that will come your way, some employees just cant take it, and they resists doing it, for a simple reason that its not something they do as a project manager/project developer/project engineer...but I say, it IS your job, its just that you don't like doing it, or its something really new to you and you gotta do a lot of ground work to take up that work i.e. extra work. Whatever it is, you gotta welcome all kinds of work that is even remotely associated with your interests, I am not saying learn everything - it's your right to ignore things you don't like and just stick to what you like - but what I am trying to say is, you can give it a shot, it doesn't have to be th...

If you think teamwork is in being low profile, in making sure nobody feels bad , or in being appreciative of all that the team does, then you are damn wrong about this teamwork thingy. Also, if you think teamwork is giving everyone equal opportunities, and making sure everybody is heard and respected...you haven't improved, you are still wrong about what teamwork ACTUALLY is. In short, teamwork does not mean harmony (I know I've said this , but it's in a different context) , if you find a team that is always smiling and happy then dont mistake that for good teamwork, it's even possible that they are not doing any teamwork. Just so that you know, some of the best and most productive teams have conflicts on a hourly/daily basis , and sometimes they never agree with each other but still work together to get things done. We dont work in teams for the sake of  teamwork , it's because we wanna get things done. We don't...

I am really happy to say that the bosses I've worked for were really awesome (how clichéd). In general, a lot of rookies hate their bosses coz they think their boss has something against them, but in reality, its just your work not you, I think every rookie screws up and gets a 15-30 min firing on " why were you not careful ". Been there, had that ;-). I have been really really really really pissed with a lot of my bosses and some of them I've hated to such an extent that I wanted to meet them somewhere outside to lay a hard punch on them. That was really kiddish, I know, now I realize, that's exactly why I am writing this post. My confession, I've learned by doing and screwing (a lot), this is not necessarily good for an employee. But, I've come to a realization that the bosses I hated were the reason why I am - somewhat - good at what I am. (watch it in 4x speed; not able to see the flash, click here ) Who am I trying to impress - no one ;...

I dint give a gift and I am not guilty. No comments on why giving gifts is good or bad.    I gift therefore I care   is rubbish, I genuinely care for people but this gifting thing is new to me .  Personally, I love receiving gifts, but I never care to remember who gave me what, and when I got it (unless you plan to buy me a Kinect , I'll even remember the date and time) . Sadly, there is no part of me which tells me to buy a gift before going to a function/party etc. I am best friends with a lot of people and I never care to give them a gift, likewise, they never gift anything to me ;-). A celebration is a simple affair, full of food, dance, and booze; again, no gifts. It's time for me to show the sensitive gentlemen side, the question is, do I have such a side ;-D, jokes apart, I pretend well, so no problem ;-). Finishing with a wisecrack. Giving a gift is voluntary, its not a part of a contract . So, If you gifted me something and I dint gift ba...

Like I said, it's gonna be legendary . No words, just some weird images. PS : Did I do the right thing, I don't think so. But, no more wasting buckets of shampoo/conditioner and time in the restroom ;-). PS : Why did I cut it all of a sudden after almost 2 years? Just coz I felt like

Productivity, goal setting, target, hike, call, appraisal, loan approval, application, presentation, payment, criticism and Internet connection  can wait . Enough from the clown, its time to be a carpe Diem baby. It's been over a gazillion years, generations have told us about what they learned in their lives, and what is real living . I ain't gonna repeat ;-), not that I know everything. Just that, I don't want to pass on the same old wisdom to the next generation as if it were said and done. Been there, done that, had it, loved it, outgrown of it, tried it again, left it once and for all, don't want it anymore, got a lot to suggest. Do it now, don't regret it, it's kinda silly to do strange/new things which gives you a feeling that " That's not me ", but, these random strange activities can lead you to a eureka moment. You have got to try everything at least once  (unless, its something which comes out of some weired ho...

Sometimes there is no time to think, you need to give your final verdict then and there (Snap Judgement ). In all probabilities, what seems right to you now may not appear to be the best decision later in time. Gandhi ji did not have a board meeting or some kind of forecast sheet in hand when he agreed to split India and Pakistan. All over the country, people were killing each other, and partition seemed to be the best decision then, but, now we don't think it was a good decision coz we still have fights and there is this evergreen chaos in Kashmir.

I am not interested to know how rockets work or the rules of cricket. I just don't ask questions nor do I seek to understand these things which I find confusing. I lost interest in certain things because the question I asked went unanswered, and then slowly, asking questions became passe. The more you do, the more questions you have. The less you do, the less interested you become. I just read this case study at newsweek about creativity and I am so so so damn convinced with the case. One excerpt from it goes like Preschool children, on average, ask their parents about 100 questions a day. Why, why, why—sometimes parents just wish it’d stop. Tragically, it does stop. By middle school they’ve pretty much stopped asking. It’s no coincidence that this same time is when student motivation and engagement plummet. They didn’t stop asking questions because they lost interest: it’s the other way around. They lost interest because they stopped asking questions. I say,...

Nothing wrong if we dint understand certain things but trusted them blindly coz we knew that someone else understood, learned and excepted accepted it the way it is. Not everything is meant to be understood, if you cant understand, just go for a brute force memorization . Brute force memorization? 13*13 is 169, 13*13 is 169...13*13 is 169. His name is Robert Paulson, His name is Robert Paulson, His name is Robert Paulson...His name is Robert Paulson ;-) You dint understand, doesnt matter, just say that 10 times and you wont forget it (at least, for a few hours or days). Makes no sense for us to keep learning things which we are not interested in. Certain things, we don't learn instead we memorize coz we know we need it irrespective of our understanding. As an Indian, with all the peer pressure at school , I nailed this dialogue to my head " those who understand the concepts and study for the exams are the ones  who are inte...

The act of covering up - If you have screwed up at work and you know there is no time to correct your mistakes , all you need to do is act confident and pray that your boss/customer does not spot the mistake. This is the easy way out and there is a chance, no one ever knows that you screwed up. But, what if you covered it up and they uncovered it and found that you screwed up . The shit is about to get heavy ...You no more a guy who made a mistake; you are the guy who made  a mistake , covered it up, and then  got caught . Management would be pissed to the core and you are done for the day (In my office, these things are called as INTEGRITY issues ). Its an HR issue...oh k! you need to start uploading your CV to monster, naukri and other job portals ;-D. PS : Its just a job , you lost one, you get another one ( Pay/growth/reputation goes for a toss ;-D).

Had a bad car accident, it scared the shit out of me. It could have been fatal and the accident was really unexpected (I know! that's why its called an accident) and I realized: Seat belt is a life saver - it reduces fatality by at least 80-90 percent (that's coz I had my seat belt on; I dint move a bit ,and I was steady and ready for a tumble)- But, I had 3 other people along with me...So, who would answer for them, should something tragic happen. The few seconds, around 2-3 seconds of turbulence is something the driver can never forget coz he is helpless and cant curse himself anymore for not avoiding such accidents. Whatever you say - The road was bad, the people don't know how to cross the roads, people don't know how to drive etc. The fact is you were careless and you gotta be more careful the next time. Be a Man, face it, you did screw up and thank god your lucky, accept it and don't play the blame game...

All in all its just a person who thinks you are useless or may be, they are  just jealous of you . We all have enemies and it is more than often that we meet our enemy everyday (cant help the odds ;-)). No matter what, we have to deal with them ; it may be a driver on the street who dashed your car and still gives a damn, some shopkeeper who still hasn't given you your 100 bucks, the rude police officer from the street or the office boss you never wanted ;-). You hate them for sure, you know it; but, they might not feel the same about you. So, why should we always pre-judge  our enemy's intention, and not consider a possibility that they don't always mean to hurt us (may be, they do it unintentionally). Never hate your enemies, It effects your judgement. - Don Corleone

Blank statements, Provoking comments and argument inviting gestures are a part of your job (I am sorry, it wasn't in your offer letter ), if you cant handle it then you gotta move on . No one needs to change, nor should anyone change for someone else, unless everyone wants you to get a personality makeover. Thou Shalt not Crib, Courtesy: whoever owns this image Just because someone is bullshitting about me, doesn't have to affect my day (unarguably, its does affect me, that's why I say WORK IS PERSONAL ). But, Ignorance is bliss and we need to learn to ignore things and if required, we can go a mile further and completely forget the bull shitty stuff ( we can do this, we have practiced being forgetful from our school days and I think, we become experts by the time we graduate ). If something annoyed you at work, get it out of your system then and there, talk it out, cry about it, give the 4 lettered word to whoever deserves it.......