Lessons and Ideas I Picked Up

This commonplace has “everything” I have learned on each particular subject of importance regarding
life, my life. This is evident through the section headings. These sections contain valuable pieces of
information I have picked up over the years from books, podcasts, blogposts, stories etc. that I believe
were worth taking note of. Whether you agree or not, is not my problem. My only hope is that you keep
an open-mind and test them for yourself.

On Public Speaking
-Public speaking is about storytelling. Since the dawn of time, human beings have learnt and processed
information through stories, fables and tales. We sat down at the campfire while the elders shared
stories of brave men, famous warriors, etc. This is the best way to communicate your ideas. Every time
you speak, imagine the listener just as an artist with a blank canvass. Your job is to paint a vivid picture
in the canvass of their minds.

-“The secret to public speaking is to speak as if you’re alone.” Naval Ravikanttest this.

On Productivity/High Performance
-Remember Parkinson’s Law which states that work expands according to the time allotted for its
completion. This means that for tasks with an undetermined deadline, work will considerably take
longer to complete than for tasks with a strict time of completion. Always set deadlines!

On Dealing With People, Networking & Winning Them Over

Key Lessons from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People:

-Don’t Criticize, Condemn or Complain

-Give honest and sincere praise: “Be hearty in your praise and lavish in your approbation.”

-The secret is to get them to benefit first.

-Create a leadership newsletter and begin interviewing CEO’s about their philosophy of leadership,
publish a newsletter with their pictures, and send it to people of influence in your community or industry.

What kind of newsletter would be beneficial to create for the people you would like to connect with?
Answer this question and EXECUTE!!
-Make a list of your most powerful connections. Write down a sentence or two about how you have
helped them. If you don’t have anything to write down next to their name, figure out what they want
and how you can help them get it. Help people first and don’t expect anything in returnDO THIS
REGULARLY.

-The only difference between where you are now and where you will be next year at this same time, are
the people you meet and the books you read.

-Compile a list of who you know: friends, business friends, customers, coworkers, important people,
relatives, members of groups you belong to, and people you’d like to connect with. Call everyone and get
their email addresses. This is your 5 + 50 + 100 circle. Find out what their biggest needs are for this year,
and begin to think of ways to communicate answers to those needs. The good news is: Groups tend to
need the same thing.

-Preparation is the key to success. What can you do to be more prepared for your next meeting?

On Leadership
Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo CEO) on the 5 C’s of an Effective Leader:

-“Leadership is responsibility. It’s not being in charge, but taking care of those in your charge.”-Simon
Sinek

- As a leader, your task is to absorb complexity and transmit clarity. This requires a learning mindset; a
cooperative attitude; a listening ear; and an inspiring spirit. People don’t care how much you know until
they know how much you care.

On Money/Investing/Personal Finance Management

-Money is not real. It’s just an idea. A story. It’s something we have collectively agreed on as a means of
value-exchange. Money is a medium. It can be anything. Remember this.

Key Lessons from Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad:

-Poor people w ork for money. Rich people make money work for them.

-Work to learn, don’t work to earn.

-Financial intelligence is the ability to control cash flow.

-If you have little money & you want to be rich; you must first be focused not balanced. Balanced people
go nowhere. They stay in one spot. Follow One Course Until Successful

On Business/Startups/Business Dynamics
Best business practices by Naval Ravikant:

-Create a product or service out of anything that you’re naturally good (specific knowledge).PRODUCTIZE
YOURSELF. To become the best marketer or salesperson, sell people emotions & experiences.

-Find a career/job where you’re tracked on the outputs, rather than the inputs - this will allow you to
control your time better.

On Selling/Marketing
-There are two kinds of selling: active selling & passive selling. Shopkeepers are passive salespersons
while marketers/sales execs are active salespersons. The underlying difference is active salespeople sit on
their asses and wait for a customer to develop a need for their particular product or service while active
salespeople use their communication, persuasions and influence skills to actively find customers that
they can exchange value-for-money with.

On Persuasion & Influence

If you really want to help people, you must find and camp out in their nightmares-Eben Pagan

People are twice as motivated to move away from pain as towards pleasure-Eben Pagan

On Thinking, Learning & Decision-Making

*Be a life-long student. Realize that learning is a process. Be confident in your learning abilities. This
requires that you’re open-minded to change. Mentally-flexible. This is pre-requisite to change. This
means acceptance that you don’t possess all the answers; and the willingness to seek out those from
people with greater, deeper insight.

*When explaining a concept or an idea to someone, you come from one of two paths: complexity to
simplicity or from simplicity to complexity. Doing either or both shows deep understanding of a particular
topic. You want to be capable of doing either to really grab someone’s attention.

*Avoid groupthink or herd mentality. Think for yourself.

*When making a decision, according to Yuval Noah Harari, map out broad possibilities of that decision.
It is good practice to map out the negative & positive consequences of a particular long or short term
decision. You need at least 4 to 5possibilities minimum--if you can’t do that, you’re not thinking widely
enough.

*Decision-making heuristics by Naval Ravikant:

1. When faced with a difficult choice, If you can’t decide, the answer is no.

2. If you have a choice to make between two relatively equal options (it’s 50/50), take the path that’s
more difficult and painful in the short term. Remember, “Hard choices; easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”-
Jerzy Gregorik.

3. In times of interpersonal conflict, make the choice that will leave you more equanimous (internally
calm).

*First Principles Thinking

“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps
principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is
sure to have trouble.” - Harrington Emerson

*The Feyneman Technique

Richard Feyneman, the Nobel winning Physicist adopted a 3-step method of learning called the
“Feyneman technique”. He discovered that the best way to learn was to teach someone. In that way, we
learn twice. The ultimate test of your knowledge is your capacity to convey it to another. Here is his
method:

1. Choose a concept: Choose a topic of interest or one that has you believe is important for people to
learn.
2. Teach it to a child: Break down all complicated jargon and language to simple, common words and
ideas that an 8yr old can understand. Apply ‘first principles thinking’ which implies getting to the
fundamental truths of an issue and building up from there.
3. Review & Simplify: In your quest to transmit information to a child, you will encounter gaps in your
knowledge, language barriers or conceptual frameworks. This is invaluable feedback because you’ve
discovered the edge of your knowledge. Competence is the ability to know your limits. Now you know
where you got stuck, go back to the source material and re-learn it until you can explain it in basic
terms.
Importantly, this method of approaching problems allows you to determine when others don’t know
what they are talking about.

Quotes

On Action
-Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It’s not enough to stare up the steps; we must
step up the stairs-Vaclav Havel

-We must think like men of action and act like men of thought-Henry Berg