STOCK RETURNS

Check out the tweet shot below. It shows the stock returns in some of the big companies in USA since the time of their IPO. 

Equity returns of such gigantic proportions are enough to change your lives, provided you invested well in time with a good amount.

There are some clear lessons here: 

1. It is extremely important to identify the diamonds. You may not know it then, but you have to go on your gut and belief. 

2. Patience always pays. It would have been difficult to hold back on to these shares if someone invested in them since IPO because of their returns. However, if people have still held on to it, then they would be laughing all the way to the bank today.

3. If the company and its business model is good, you can enter at any given point of time - either as an angel investor in its pre IPO days, or during the IPO or even as a shareholder who buys these stocks when they are still priced at a reasonable price. 

Have you been lucky and smart to find such gems early enough?

8 Lessons in Career Management that I Learnt from the Delhi Half Marathon

Running Can Teach You Lessons for Life

Running is the easiest sport and athletic event that anyone can undertake at any place, without thinking too much. All it needs is running shoes and the right intent. 

I have been running for the past few years, but unfortunately I haven’t been consistent and hence, so far I had not participated in any running event till I decided to take the plunge in the Delhi Half Marathon and atleast do the Dream Run of 6 km. Nestlé being an Associate Sponsor further helped as there was enough motivation from people around the organization and the buzz couldn’t have been missed. 

As I was doing the Dream Run, there were various thoughts that came to my mind about how running can teach so many lessons on career management. Through this blog, I wanted to share those learnings with all of you.

1. Start from an advantageous position: I met a lot of people after the run who complained about how they were struggling at the beginning because of the huge number of people ahead of them. I did not face any such issue as I was standing right at the front and the minute the race began, I was off to a quick start. Same is true when you begin your career as well. Graduating from a good B-school or starting your career from a good company is the advantageous position that one can get, when beginning one’s career. 

2. Navigate your way through: There were some serious runners in the Dream Run, who did not get a good starting position, but after a few minutes, they were able to find openings and opportunities and were able to navigate their way through. This is another lesson in your career as well. Just because you did not begin with an advantageous position doesn’t mean that you cannot find opportunities and slowly navigate your way through to come to the position you want to be at. 

3. Overtaking is a part of the course: While you are running at your pace, there will be some people who will overtake you and some other people who, you will overtake. This is the reality and this reality holds true in your career as well. There will be times when you will get promoted or be given a better role before your peers and at times, the vice versa will happen. Embracing that reality is the best way to live with it. 

4. You will find friends on the way: As you run, there are volunteers who are standing and offering water to you so that you can continue on your run without feeling dehydrated. You need to find these volunteers and friends in your career who will be there to help you and support you so that you can move ahead. 

5. Consistency is the name of the game: There are many who start the race with great energy but a few kilometres down the line, they are panting for breath and are struggling to take the next step. Being consistent is one of the key requirements for running as well as for being stable and successful in your career. You have to keep performing and keep delivering regularly and consistently to climb the rungs of the corporate ladder. 

6. Set your own pace: At what speed and pace would you like to run is a choice that you and only you can make. While the atmosphere, the environment and the people around can encourage you, no one else can decide your pace. In your career graph as well, it is upto you on what pace you want to go at. All the other external paraphernalia is there to facilitate your pace but not decide your pace. 

7. Never think of Giving Up: There will be certain times in the race when you would be questioning yourself and asking ‘Why am I doing this?’, ‘When will this get over?’, ‘Should I just stop and give up?’. That is the moment when you need to let your will-power, your training and your motivation swipe away these thoughts with a great force because finishing the race is non-negotiable. Such thoughts will often come at various phases of your career as well, where you will feel like throwing in the towel. But that is the moment of truth and a moment of testing your mettle and you have to overcome these seeds of doubt and move forward to your goal, to your ambition and to your aspiration. 

8. In the end, the Race is only with yourself: You may think that with thousands of other people running with you, you are racing against them. Nothing can be further from truth than this. At the end of the race, you are only celebrating your own accomplishment, looking at your time and also checking whether you have beaten your previous best or not. While you may check on how others have done to get a sense of perspective, the truth is that the race is only for yourself. In your career, this is the biggest truth that you should acknowledge. You may think that you are competing with others, but in reality your career is your own individual race, which you run at your own pace and accomplish your own set goal. This is a mental game and your mind will decide what you can achieve. 

Running gave me such a wonderful perspective and lesson on my career and my life that I will continue running more and more. I hope that these thoughts helped you and resonated with you as well, and I am sure that the half-marathoners would have also gone through a similar experience and would be able to relate to this as well. 

What are some of the lessons that you picked up from running that you would like to share with me and others? Please drop in a comment and let me and others know. 

Holidays in the Mountains or Holidays by the Sea?

I often hear people asking this question “Do you prefer the mountains or the sea?” and most people also have a response basis what they prefer. I am at a loss of words when posed with such a question. The struggle continues even when this question is posed in another way “Are you a guy who likes the hills or the beaches?” No, not because I cannot make choices! But when it comes to mountains and the sea, I just don’t have a preference or rather I prefer both. My preference for each of the two is dependent on which state of life I am in and what I am going through.

To me, the mountain and the sea both have their own beauty, their own relevance and their own connection with me. I can sit for hours by the sea or with the mountains in front of me. Both the sea and the mountain are great companions to have. I can never feel alone when I have them for company. I can have conversations with both. They both listen to me and then give me some great advice and lessons of life. 

So when do I prefer the sea and what do I learn from the mountains or vice versa?

I like to sit and watch the sea during those phases of my life when I am struggling to achieve something, when things seem impossible and life starts looking difficult. Do you know why?

Because the sea signifies HOPE to me. It inspires and instills a sense of belief. The waves that come towards me do not give up and continue doing their job, despite knowing that after the highs and the lows, they will crash near the shore. Whether they will be high or low is also influenced by external factors like the moon and the wind, but that does not stop them from joining hands and trying to create a symphony of sorts with the way they rise and form a chain from one end of the sea to the other.

Isn’t that like life itself? The end is known but that does not mean that one stops living and doing the things that one wants to do. One should strive to go out there and collaborate with the world to deliver on whatever you have set out to do. 

On the other end of the sea, I notice the horizon. This is where the sun meets the sea every evening. That tells me that the journey is far but the result will be beautiful. It also tells me that what lies ahead is unknown but I will discover that only when I reach there. 

So if the sea is all about hope, what are the mountains about?

The mountains signify to me a SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT. Mountains are places I like to visit when I have succeeded in something I had set to do, when I have accomplished something. This is because when I see the mountain, I see someone standing tall, being admired for its accomplishments and enjoying the fruits of its success. It tells me that once in a while, when a lot of hard work has been done, you need to sit back and enjoy the moment and feel the sense of achievement. The peaks tell me that you will be remembered for your results and not your efforts. 

These are lessons that cannot be learnt by just one trip to the sea or the mountain. Every time that you go there, it gives you a different perspective on life. It doesn’t matter to me whether I am at a place which has a sea or a place which has mountains as both these places make me feel alive!

So the best place for me would be a place that has the mountains as well as the sea. Any recommendation guys?

Mountains in Uttaranchal
Clicked in Dec'2012

The Arabian Sea as seen from Mumbai
Clicked in Aug'2013

A place that is far more beautiful than you can see in this pic.
A combination of mountain and lake (not the sea) - Vevey, Switzerland
Clicked in Apr'2012