Your Sorting Hat: On running your race, a beginner's mind and watering the grass
Career Tuesday
Careers, Life and Questions (Jul 11, 2023)
Wish you a Happy Career Tuesday!
3 Career Ideas
I.
"If you learn from success alone, you imbibe a survivorship bias.
And may take poor decisions looking at outcomes instead of processes.
Study both successes and failures to reach the right conclusions."
II.
"Run your own race.
No one else has your exact strengths and challenges.
Use others for inspiration but avoid the trap of comparison."
III.
"How you say 'Yes' - makes a world of difference to the outcome.
'Yes, but...' - is negative, critical and sabotages a potential result.
'Yes, and...' - is positive, collaborative and adds value to a possibility."
2 Life Quotes from Books
I.
Robert Cialdini, the guru of Persuasion, explains the sales process, in his book - Influence: Psychology of Persuasion (earlier Influence: Science and Practice) :
"It is much more profitable for salespeople to present the expensive item first, not only because to fail to do so will lose the influence of the contrast principle; to fail to do so will also cause the principle to work actively against them. Presenting an inexpensive product first and following it with an expensive one will cause the expensive item to seem even more costly as a result—hardly a desirable consequence for most sales organizations."
Source: Book: Influence - Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
II.
Shunryu Suzuki, Japanese Zen master, encourages being open to learning and making mistakes, in his book - Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice : -
"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few."
Source: Book: Zen Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
1 Question
"The grass is greener where you water it" - so what are you choosing to hold on to? What are you choosing to let go of?
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Until next week,
Devashish Chakravarty
Author of YourSortingHat
Columnist for Careers at The Economic Times