How to use words to motivate us to accomplish goals

A few weeks back I spoke to an audience about how one can use words to to create change, accomplish goals and essentially proceed on the path of success. Since the speech was a hit, , I thought I should share it with my Internet audience. Here it is
“Genius is only the power of making continuous efforts,
A little more effort and what seemed like hopeless failure may turn into glorious success
There is no failure except in no longer trying; there is no defeat except from within
No really insurmountable barrier, save your own inherent weakness of purpose.”

These words were engraved on a brass plate on my father’s desk. And every morning, he would pick up this plate and a jar of polish and would polish the plate. He did this every morning before he went to work from as far back as I can remember. This was his way of reminding himself that even though he wasn’t, according to him, the smartest person he knew; he could still accomplish any hard task. Those words on the brass plate probably enabled him to pursue a PhD program in economics at the age of 39!

What is even more incredible about this achievement is that he was a literature student. An English Major! After college he decided he wanted to be an economist! So he started out by reading a lot about economics and getting a Masters degree in economics from India. But his life long dream was to study at London School of Economics. After multiple attempts, finally at the age of 39 they accepted him and he finished his doctoral studies in 3.5 years. I too stood to gain from his perseverance because I got to spend a few years in London growing up.

I brought up this story because, today, I want to talk about “words”. I want to talk about how words can be used to create the world around us that we desire. The objective of this talk is to talk about an incredible tool that is at our disposal.

As we already know words can be used to motivate us to accomplish a goal. Words can comfort us in times of distress. Some say writing is like therapy. A catharsis! Only cheaper than seeing a therapist. But above all, I found out that words can also help us create a new world!

Let me share a personal story. A few years ago, maybe 10, I picked up a book by Steven Covey called the 7 habits of highly effective people. Most of you would have heard about the book if not read it. In the book he talks about writing a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement is kind of like the mission statements of companies, only this is about you. Like how a company defines its goals you define your purpose. So I wrote mine. And mine read as follows.

“To experience and learn from as many different situations as possible”. It is very succinct. Now looking back at the past few years, I realize why I constantly yearn for change. As I had told you in my previous talk I yearn for different experiences all the time. It of course has its pros and cons.

But my point is that by writing down a sequence of words and by fully internalizing those words and believing in them I ended up creating a world where I seek out new experiences.

So by writing certain words down and by constantly reminding ourselves of those words we end up creating a world described by those words. There probably is a logical justification for why this happens. I believe it is the following.

When we constantly remind ourselves of certain words, they become part of our thoughts. It’s fairly well documented that our thoughts in turn lead into actions. And through these actions we create the world we wrote down.

This is the tool I wanted to talk about. We all have the ability to create the world we want, and what better time to talk about it as we start a new year. Many make New Year resolutions, but how many keep them? I believe the reason why we can’t keep them is because we can’t believe in them.

So why don’t your try out an experiment?

Why not write down your goals on a piece of paper?

Why don’t you try and constantly look at them and internalize them ?

And then act in accordance to what you wrote down! Then, let life flesh out those words and create a world where those words are the reality!

Through that process, I believe that you too can find the power in words and help create a better world for you!

The basics of whats wrong with the US healthcare system

The other day, I realized that I didnt know enough of what was wrong with the US healthcare system. So I did a study and got to the root of the problem. Then I gave a speech about it to a diverse group of people. It was recieved very well and I thought I should share it for the benifit of my readers.

“Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not have protection or security against the economic effects of sickness”

These were the words of a Democratic President of the United States. No it is not President Barack Obama nor was it was Bill Clinton. It was Harry Truman over 50 years back and the health care system today is still very much broken. Today I’m calling you to action. we need to fully understand what is wrong with the system and we need to hold our leaders and law makers accountable to fix it. I currently do not understand all that is wrong and even if I did, I will not be able to explain that in 5-7 minutes. So today, I want to encourage you to go back home and watch the movie “Sicko” by movie maker Michael More, read the book “Critical: what we can do about the healthcare crisis” by senator Tom Daschle, and above all really understand the root of the problem.

Let me start with a personal story. Three years ago, while I was at Duke, I developed a tooth ache. I did have student healthcare coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield but it didn’t cover dental. I knew that the problem would be with my wisdom tooth. So I called up to find out what it would cost to have it extracted. $200 is what the lady told me. And when I told her I didn’t have insurance it was more like $1600. I realized that a flight to India would cost about $1000 and an extraction from a good clinic about $50. I could save some money and spend some time at home!

Take a moment and think about a personal story you have to tell when you have hit a brick wall with the health care system. Now, why is it that you have a personal story to tell? Considering the fact that the per capita spending on healthcare in the US is over $6000 and there is disparity in care available?  Considering the fact that 50 million are uninsured when healthcare spending is 16% of the GDP? Healthcare in the US ranks 37 on a WHO report.

I believe that we are in a loop where every actor in the system is unhappy. Employers are unhappy because of the rising costs of healthcare plans for their employees. Companies like GM and Ford are unable to compete in the global market. Patients are unhappy because of cost of deductibles and co pays and quality. Doctors and hospitals (providers) are unhappy because they are not compensated by insurance companies for the services delivered, and the enormous bills from emergency care to the uninsured . Insurance companies are not happy because of rising cost of medical treatments and try to pass that on to employers buying group plans!!! And this is just the story of the insured. This was from the book “Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results” by Michael E Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg.

The above situation is for the insured patients. The uninsured are in a far worse situation. There are many uninsured patients who are in debt because of medical bills and others who have decided to skip treatment fearing the cost. Like routine cancer screening.

But even those insured cannot really have peace of mind because, they are just a pink slip away from being uninsured. Clearly a system that is unable to provide affordable medical care to everyone is broken and needs to be fixed. I encourage you to get your hands dirty and learn more about the system. Movies, books and the internet can be a rich source of information.  We need to play our part by raising awareness, first, among ourselves about the failings of the current system and then encourage others to participate in forming a better system.

Brave new world quotes

I have to write this here, lest I should forget..

“The greater a man’s talents, the greater his power to lead astray. “

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin”

“One of the principal functions of a friend is to suffer (in a milder and symbolic form) the punishments that we should like, but are unable, to inflict upon our enemies”

“The optimum population, is modeled on the iceberg-eight-ninths below the water line, one-ninth above”

“Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid … in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn’t nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamor of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand”

“Freedom to be a round peg in a square hole”

“You can’thave a lasting civilization without plenty of pleasant vices.”

Aldous Huxley is brilliant!! One of the best authors I have ever read. Brave New World is a must read. Mind blowing.

Patterns in life

This is the most amazing story, I have ever heard. And it is true. And it is personal. And it is about me! That is what makes it the most amazing story in the world. It is about how when you really, really desire something, the whole world, nay, life itself conspires to make that dream come true. I borrowed part of the previous statement from Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist.

About 4 years ago, I was in Bangalore and tired of my job. I wanted to do an MBA. I did not know where Ill do it or how. I talked to someone who graduated from Wharton and was living in Bangalore. He told me that I should apply when I have the strongest application, when I have a bunch of good stories to tell. But I didn’t pay too much attention to that advice and studied for my GMAT the next 3 months and wrote it. I had a pretty good score and applied to some schools in India. Although I was called for an interview at ISB I did not make it. By then I had an offer to study at Duke for an MS in biomedical engineering and left for the US. The last semester of Duke, my desire for an MBA again reared its head and forced me to research business schools and apply to Harvard and Wharton. I spend close to 3 months putting together stories from my past. I didn’t even get called for an interview. I know why: I did not have solid letters of recommendation and my essays weren’t strong enough. One essay wasn’t even mature. I did not get them reviewed by many people. There was some more growing up to be done.

During the final semester at Duke, McKinsey and Company came to campus for recruitment. Due to some quirk of fate, although I wasnt really qualified for their role, I was called to interview with them. I got through the first round, then the second and finally failed at the third round of interviews! But it convinced me that in the future when I am contemplating an MBA, I should only apply to the best schools.

I graduated and then started working for a healthcare IT company in the US. I thought I’ll defer my MBA plans for a while and get on with my work. And like every Indian family does do, when a certain age arrives for men and women, mine decided to find me a girl. But it was different with this girl, she wasn’t all that interested. She was getting an MBA and didn’t have time to spend with me. But she inspired me to apply for an MBA yet again, with a month left for the deadline. That was her purpose in my life!

I thought Ill give this an all out attempt. I traveled to Boston to meet admissions officers, alumni, faculty and current students. I decided to apply for the BEP program offered through MIT and Harvard. I mustered enough courage to ask my boss for a solid letter of recommendation and he complied! I got a senior employee who left my company a couple of months back to be my other recommender. And a professor at Duke reached out at the precise moment when I needed him to be my third recommender.

I already had my GMAT scores. I already had essays from the previous year. I added a few essays and modified some others to put together a solid set of essays. This time I knew friends who graduated from the Duke MBA program and others in top 10 MBA programs who could review my essays and make revisions.

A strong application started taking shape. I had excellent letters of recommendation, I had fantastic essays that were reviewed and revised multiple times, I had a good resume and cover letter. I knew people at MIT and Harvard. I had visited the schools. I had a good GMAT score. I had an underlying message, a theme: to make my mark in the field of healthcare IT. All my career choices, work experience and education can be tied together to that theme. It worked! I got called for an interview at Harvard-MIT division of Health Science and Technology for the BEP and at MIT for the Sloan MBA!!!

This it self was a dream come true. Interviewing at Harvard and MIT!!! There were people from all over the world interviewing for the BEP. They invited like 20 people and I was one of them! They were going to select 10. The Sloan interview call was also incredible. They invite 20-25% for an interview and offer admission to about 15-20% of the total applicant pool. This is truly shaping out to be an incredible thing.

The McKinsey behavioral interviews already prepared me for what the interviews were going to be like. Furthermore, an MIT Sloan student sent me his preparation material! For my interview preparation, I had help from students and alumni from different business schools from around the country. But that was over the phone. I wanted one face to face mock interview before the actual one. This is where the story gets even more amazing. I am part of a toastmasters club. In my club was a graduate from Wharton Business school. I found this out 2 days before my interview and she agreed to meet me over lunch on short notice to mock interview me a day before my actual interview!!!

I interviewed with MIT Sloan and Harvard-MIT HST a few days ago. I had to interview with each school separately. I couldn’t imagine the Sloan MBA interview going any better. The other one with HST was good, but not great. I don’t know what to expect. But so far the pattern of things falling in place, leading up to the show-down was incredible. I had help from all kinds of sources the moment I desired it. Finally, two days after the interviews, I chanced upon a copy of the Alchemist, almost as if someone or some force out there wanted me to recognize the patterns and omens  leading up to the interviews. I might not get in or I might get in. Either way I don’t really care at this point, I have done my best. If I don’t, then Ill apply again. I know I have a good story to tell now!

Is it fate? Is it my persistence? Or is it the journey to my “Personal Legend”, where I have to be persistent to fulfil my fate?

Looking back

“Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about them if today be sweet?” —Omar Khayyam

The popular one liner is often used when you find someone living in the past or future ; to remind them of the fallacy in not living in the present. But there is value in looking back. There are lessons to be learned from old chapters.

After close to 30 months I returned to India for a 3 week visit. Tomorrow I am headed back to the US. While I was in the states I seamlessly integrated with the American culture and made the American dream my own. Not that I forgot my Indian roots, but I often believe that immigrants have a unique advantage. They are in a position to evaluate two cultures (the one that they left behind and the one that they face) and pick the best values and principles and come up with a new stronger way of living that is more meaningful and fulfilling.

Coming back to my original point, after living the American version of life, I came home. I saw the dust, pollution and complete chaos in Indian cities and roads. I took part in mandatory visits and social obligations. I interacted with certain relatives and friends who still expected me to behave in a certain manner, passed judgments and assumed a level of familiarity that never existed. The conservative and judgmental part of Indian society and the utter lack of processes still bugs me.

But at the same time I slept in the same bedroom I slept in 16 years back. I drove up the same road that my father drove my mother and me back 26 years ago from the hospital after I was born. I shared stories with close family and friends about the fun days we had in college and school.

Looking back is definitely good. What thoughts come to your mind when you look back? Who were you most happy with when you look back? What did you do when you look back that made you happy? These are the lessons you need to learn.

Yes, once in a while you need to live in the past. Only then does your present have meaning. Only then can you plan out your future. Who would you want to try and spend your future days with? What kind of things would you like to do in the future? What are the core set of values that you want to carry with you?

In conclusion. You need to live in the present. But to figure out who you are and what makes you most happy, you need to look back. I am glad I took this 3 week vacation in India. Going back to the US, I know what values and principles I need to pick from the American way of living and what I need to pick from the Indian way of living.

Adieu ‘08 or should I say welcome ‘09?

At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps… ; I get carried away, this is not the time to quote Nehru! Well, about 45 minutes back, that yearly clock turned again, bringing with it the New Year. I wonder if where you are and who you spend that moment with foretells of the forthcoming year? Or are your thoughts and your New Year goals list that tells of the forthcoming year? Oh I hope you have a list…

I spent my moment with my mother watching a movie and trying to call up my brother to wish him. No, I wasn’t at that wild party in NYC nor at that beach in Goa, although both were options had I planned it that way. Does that mean that this year, family is what comes first? Well for some reason thats what comes first all my New Year eves. Last couple of years I was with some of my closest family in Portland, Oregon drinking champaign and playing charades. The years before that I was in Bangalore, Chennai and Trivandrum with some of my closest friends trying to find fun things to do. The years that followed turned out to be quite like that New Year’s moment. Plenty of family and friends in every hour of my need. So this time too, I expect a glorious year ahead!

You know, I have always had very quite New Year eves. Usually a very small group. Less than 10 people. Almost no drinking involved, except that one glass of champaign in Portland. Maybe thats why my years have also been fairly quite. Nothing complicated. I have never had to clean anything up. No regrets!

Moving on. What about those lists? Usually those lists are on paper, lets put this one on an electronic format. Sharing your goals with many people is a sure way to make sure that you commit to your goals. Furthermore, they are always accessible from anywhere in the world. So here goes.

1. Keep in touch with and be close to my family and friends.

2. Finish my toastmasters certification for competent speaker by giving 10 speeches

3. Get into the MIT MBA program, if not apply again to 5 top 10 business schools in the US

4. Join a charity/not for profit organization and hold a position of responsibility

5. Join an entrepreneurship club or find a lecture series on the subject.

6. Find a girl who I can potentially get married to

7. Travel to a country/continent I have never been to

8. Quit my current company or role and do something I am truly passionate about.

9. Read 3 books a month where at least one is about health care IT.

10. Exercise at least 5 days a week for more than half an hour each time

I think Ill be happy with 2009 if these goals are satisfied. “At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, I awaken to life and freedom!” — Nehru

“To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield” — Tennyson

“Yet all experience is an arch, wherethro’ gleams that untraveled world, whose margin fades for ever and forever when I move on. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, to rust unburnished, not to shine in use” — Tennyson

Connect

Unusual experiment 3:

Today’s plan is to connect to 50 people I haven’t talked to in over 6 months. I am going email, chat, call and use facebook to reach out to friends, acquaintances, contacts, professors, ex managers. I understand now that this might not be very unusual for a lot of people.

But to me it is unusual on two counts. One, I haven’t reached out to these people in over 6 months and sometimes over a year. Two, you have to admit that 50 is a pretty aggressive number taking into account that I have a full time job and a life after work.

50 turned out to be too aggressive. But I did end up hitting 35.

Tattoo and Toastmasters

Unusual experiment 2:

Whats the relationship between tattoo and toastmasters, you may ask. Well nothing except that I am joining a toastmasters club today and going to get tattoo done. Its not that I am afraid of public speaking. I think I am pretty comfortable with it, its just that I am not getting enough opportunities with my current job.

I am not sure about the tattoo. But I am going to go to a tattoo shop. My plan is to get chains and an Aum. The chains depict that life is about following certain rules. The Aum symbolizes clarity and peace. The message is that with clarity and peace you can rise above the shackles that ground you. At least I made that up.

So I joined a toastmasters club. It seems interesting to be able to improve public speaking skills. It also is very interesting to note that the CEO of the company I used to work for previously is in the same club!! Previously I used to see him at a distance. Today we shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.

Another fruitful day comes to a close. And yes I got the tattoo. I am starting to wonder if I can make the next 8 days the most fruitful days of my life. It feels as though anything is possible. Maybe I should start setting some aggressive goals, things that I never did just because I kept procrastinating.

Obama becomes President!

I do not have a vote being an Indian living in the US. But the US in electing Obama validated some of my fundamental reasons as to why I left India to come to the US. I think it is appropriate that I list them.

1. This is a country of risk takers. An untested, little known freashman senetor was chosen ahead of a well known political figure to lead the nation in the most trying times of a lifetime. Taking risks is part of the American life and risk takers are rewarded more often than not. 

2. This is a country that believes in change and hope. There is a belief that the future holds promise and always, always there is a better tomorrow. People do not accept what is.

3. This is a country that believes that everyone deserves a chance. Anyone has the opportunity to follow his or her dreams. 

4. This is a country that ensures that if you are willing and able to work hard and smart there are innumerable opportunities for you. 

5. Finally this is a country where talent will eventually be recognized. Success will definitly come to that extrodinary person. 

It is not that I think India measures any less compared to the US. We also have given opportunities to some truly deserving people and there are plenty of reasons to be proud of. But I really feel that it is time that we pass the torch onto a younger generation that dreams of hope and unity and is able to infuse energy into our people.

No food day

Unusual experiment 1: No food day

For the first day, I thought Ill start with something easy. To go 24 hours without eating food. Its already been 14 hours. I started at 8.30 pm yesterday night and now its 10.15 am. The next 10 hours do look dreadfully slow, but I am determined. Since I also have to be at work I am tanking up on coffee and diet coke.

So now its 2.15 pm and I am at 18 hours and going strong. 6 more hours do not look that difficult anymore. I guess going 24 hours without food isn’t a big deal. I am guessing it would have been easier if I was completely occupied. Right now I am surrounded by food and I can dig in if I wanted to, so it makes it a little difficult, but still very doable. Resisting temptation is a decent exercise.

And it is 6.25pm right now. Which means that I still have another 2 hours to go.  I never knew that going without food for 24 hours was so easy. I wonder if I killed off a few brain cells in the process. It just feels as though there is something stuck in my throat for some reason.

I also really really want to eat, just because I cant. Its like someone tying your hands behind your back when you really want to scratch your nose.

Alright. So thats done. Fairly straightforward. At least I know no one dies without eating for 24 hours.