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 A Fall To Remember- Skydiving is intoxicating more than a drug on this planet, it’s enough to mess with your mind!
Tariq Firoz, PGP 2018, gives us a small sneak peek about his travel dairies, as he goes on an Exchange Program to Europe.
I am a person who love to travel. When i joined IIMB, the only thing i was sure of, was to go on an exchange program because i love to see new places, get new experiences. Travelling makes you understand and realise more about yourself and it also makes you independent. The other thing about travel is you realise that, right and wrong has a different perspective in different parts of the world, people display affection differently, eat different food, dress differently and yet all are humane and have a common thread which connects everyone. The best experience of my Euro trip was not the places i visited or the cuisine i enjoyed, it was the vast variety of people I met. The most memorable experience of this Trip was the sky diving from 15,000 feet. I planned for it thrice but unfortunately bad weather posed as a villain every single time!  Skydiving has always been an interest to me as a natural consequence of my desire to fly. At last, lady luck favoured me and i went for sky diving in Sevilla, Spain!  As for every kid, it was also my childhood dream to fly. But when you get to that height, your heartbeat rises. Even when you know, that there is a trained sky diver with you, you still need to take that first step when the door of the plane opens at 4.2 kms above the ground level. You feel the weight of the air gushing against your face as if mocking you, ‘are you really gonna do it’. But the moment, you take the leap with your partner, everything changes. There was no falling sensation, the kind that one experiences in a roller coaster. Rather it was almost as if we were floating on a cushion of air.  That’s the best feeling in the world! You don’t feel like falling, you literally feel like flying. Never thought free fall would be that interesting and entertaining! It lasts close to 60 seconds only, so cherish every single moment of it. I loved it so much that i even forgot to smile for the camera, for which i paid a TON. After the first minute, the chute opens, things start to slow down. That’s an entirely different feeling, you just float in the air and slowly give up the joy of being in the air, one feet a time. Those were best five minutes of my life. I would do it again and again whenever I get the chance and would even think of doing it solo one day.
Live the life you want to live because life is too short to live for someone else’s dreams and opinions.
#exchangediaries  #eurotrip
Tarik Firoz
PGP 16-18
Senior Coordinator, Cultural Committee
IIM Bangalore

What exactly is winning? How do you cultivate the right mindset so that you turn out to be a champion, not merely a winner? How do you explore your potential to the fullest? If these are the questions that come to your mind, The Winning Way 2.0 by Harsha Bhogle and Anita Bhogle is a must read. The Winning Way is the name of the workshop conducted by Harsha and Anita that takes lessons from sport and applies them to organizations. The book is a written version of the same thing with this newer version 2.0 capturing more contemporary topics and stories.

The book starts with capturing the traits and the essence of winning teams. It talks about self-belief and hope as an essential ingredient for winning. It talks about the importance of consistent practice, something very similar to what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in Outliers “ The 10,000 hour rule” . The book quotes an example of Dravid, who set slightly higher and challenging performance goals. Even if you may not achieve all of them , you are likely to do much better than when you set small and easily achievable goals. One of the most important parts of this book is “ The Winning Triangle -Ability, Attitude and Passion” . Ability can take you upto a certain level , but it is the attitude that matters after that. And this combined with extraordinary passion will ensure that you have a hunger , a hunger to learn , a hunger for winning constantly. But this drives us to the question , is winning that important? What if you don’t win ? What exactly is winning? Quoting from the book “ .. the overall concept of winning that it is a byproduct of the pursuit of excellence remains constant. Winning is a journey to explore your potential to the fullest , to discover how good you can be..” The book discusses the importance of having the right mindset, self- belief and calmness for success

The style of the book is narrative and replete with examples from the world of sport and business. As you read the book, you will also be able to relate with examples from you personal and professional life. You might be better able to analyze why you failed or succeeded at whatever you did. The book is very logically organized into chapters which can be re- read depending on the situation you are in. So if you have not done really well( for whatever reasons), you can open the chapter on “ Learning while Losing” and it will throw up some very interesting insights.

To talk about books in a similar genre to this, I find “Grit” by Angela Duckworth , “Outliers” and “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell in similar league. These books talk about grit, passion , practice as essential to success. They are replete with examples too , but I feel they are too detailed to address core concepts of winning. Sometimes the examples are very specific that you may not be able to relate. The Winning Way 2.0 scores above by having very practical, relevant examples. It not only talks about winning but also about dealing with losses, dealing with change and also about the influence of external factors on winning. I have read Harsha’s previous books ” Out of the Box” and the first version of “The Winning Way” but this is best book of all. 

For some, this book might be a motivational book, it is to me as well. But most importantly, it is a practical book. It has learnings and insights that can be applied by everybody depending on the context. It is not just “gyaan”. I read some chapters twice and I feel that every time you read it, you can relate and draw newer insights. Hence ” The Winning Way 2.0 ” will be in my bookshelf forever.

A small poem on the book Winning Way…

 

Dear Mom,I want to win everyday ,

Dear Mom, please show me the Winning Way

 

You do not win only in the end

You win or lose everyday

With hope and great self-belief, everything is possible I say

Practice makes a man perfect , practice everyday 

Practice makes you better , winning is not a child’s play

 

Ability you have, it can be improved

Marry it with attitude, results will be proved

Let passion be the fuel in every single  game

Champion you will emerge and receive lot of acclaim

 

In any game, sometimes failures happen

Let them not dampen spirits, do not get shaken

For all you know, winning is not about not failing

It is also about failing and getting up fast

 

Winning is a journey to be your best

It’s a quest for excellence and not a comparison with the rest

The winning way is a journey , it’s a test

You always win it when you are better than your best.

Dhanashree Shirodkar
PGP 2013
Accenture Consulting