The Axe story...

I received a forwarded message a few days ago... It was a nice motivational story about a woodcutter which goes something like this:
Once there was a young man called Pandu. He won a contract for cutting trees for a timber company. On the first day, he walked in with his shiny new axe. With a lot of excitement, he went and chopped down 10 trees on the very first day. His client was very impressed.
On day two, he chopped down 11 trees and a whole dozen on day 3. Then, for some reason, he managed to cut only 9 trees on day 4. From then onwards, his performance kept falling. He would work a lot harder and yet manage to cut less and less every passing day.
A week later, his client called him and asked him what was wrong. Even Pandu couldn't understand why his output was coming down.
Finally, the client asked him to get his axe and they noticed that the axe had lost its edge and had become blunt.
Client: When was the last time you sharpened this axe?
Pandu: Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe, I have been very busy trying to cut trees. That's when he realised his own mistake.

Moral of the story - Every once in a while, you need to take a break and sharpen your (proverbial) axe from time to time so you can continue working at the same level.

That's where the story ends. That is also where the thinking starts.

If you were the woodcutter, you basically would have two choices. Work till your axe is blunt and become blunt yourself or sharpen the axe like the story tells.

But wait!!!

Imagine this, Pandu worked for a few days and regularly sharpened his axe. He was the client's favourite because he could deliver atleast 12-14 trees per day. But,Pandu was not satisfied with this because he knew he could do better.
Over the next few weeks, Pandu saved up some money and bought a small chain saw. With the chainsaw, his output increased to 20 trees per day. His client was very happy and gave him a huge bonus.
A few weeks later, Pandu purchased an industrial strength chain saw which could chop down almost 30 trees a day. He was now the best performer for his client and way ahead of any other woodcutters.
While all others had regularly sharpened their axes, Pandu actually chose to move on from the axe and acquire better tools.

As years went by, he continued expanding his collection of tools. One chainsaw became 2, 2 became 4, he got a few more guys to help him as time went by, opened a contracting agency, became successful and lived happily ever after...


Pandu is not a fictional figure here.... he can be anyone of us. The axe is not just an axe... it can be a Laptop for someone, a toolkit for someone else, a smartphone for you and a box full of raw materials for me...

The point I'm trying to make is that in today's time and age, its not enough to have an axe and keep it sharp. Its critical to continue adding more and more to one's existing tools and skills and use them to gain that competitive edge...

Are you happy sharpening your axe or do you plan to acquire something better?
Think about it!!!

Corporate Marriage

Lets take a quick trip down the imagination highway...

Then again, for some of you, it might be experience, for rest it will still be an imagination... come along anyways...

Lets call that person X for now.

You and X meet for the first time. Someone introduced the two of you and now you find yourselves meeting face to face. You've just met to see if you like each other and things can work out between the two of you.

Even before you met X, you did some research about X, checking the background, what X does, how much X earns, everything about X.

X did the same about you, trying to learn as much about you as possible.

From the moment you guys met, you clicked right away. You have common interests, you like each other. After meeting a few more times, the more you meet you start liking each other even more.

Wow!!!... it looks like you were made for each other.

You decide to come together and spend the rest of your lives together...

The next few days are just perfect. You enjoy each other's company, life just couldn't be better...

And then... reality started hitting the happy couple.

You realise that X is not just the appearances on the first few meetings. You realise there's more to X's character than was visible in the first few interactions.

You start realising that X is very different than you originally thought. The way X works, the way X relates with you, the way X looks at your problems, the way X cares for you. Everything has changed. Infact, you are thinking right now "How did I ever like X"

Let me break a news for you, you might find it shocking but X is going through the same right now. X is thinking the same about you right now. Right now, X is thinking "What on earth did I see in you that I liked"

Is not this the experience of a majority of you reading this post?

The reason I'm writing this post is not because I have any troubles with my marriage. Over the last couple of years, I have worked more and more with people in my organisation. Like any other organisation, people keep joining and leaving all the time. The more I work with my people, the more I learn about the human nature. Infact, the last couple of years have given me more revelations than all my working career put together.

You might be thinking, why did I switch from a marriage topic to work.

Well, I was actually talking about work all this time.

The reason you thought about marriage is because there are more than a few similarities between marriage and work.

In a marriage, you meet each other, like each other, enter into a long term commitment, maybe things will work out for the two of you and you'll spend the life with each other, then again, maybe you realise things are not working out and decide to part ways, go look for the next partner.

In a job, you meet each other, like each other, enter into a long term commitment, maybe things will work out for the two of you and you'll spend the rest of your career working there, then again, maybe you realise things are not working out and decide to part ways, go look for the next company.

Another thing which is similar is the fact that marriages used to last much longer in old times than they do today. So did the jobs, you probably saw atleast one of your elders retiring from the same company they started at. But you wouldn't know anyone in our generation who intends to retire from the same employer.

I've conducted my fare share of interviews looking for the right people for my team. I don't ask what you know about the company because I get the same recorded response everytime (one based on my own company's website). My favourite question in every interview is "What do you know about the job you've applied for". Interestingly, almost everytime I see that the candidate has not done any research on the kind of work they have to do once they join.

It's because they are not even interested. All they are interested is in the amount of % hike I'll offer over and above their current employer. (This pattern reminds of some professions I can't discuss on this blog.)

Even the guys in my circle have a similar thought process when they are looking out for a job.

How many of us have actually put in the time and effort in identifying the next employer we want to work at, done the research and then done everything to find a job with that employer?

Lets be honest, not many of us...

But we did that while searching our life partner. Atleast some of us did.

You would be spending about 8 - 12 hours at your workplace. If you exclude the daily sleep time, you are actually spending more time at workplace than you do with your loved one. Which is why I call your employment as a Corporate Marriage.

You might ask - "Gulshan, what's the point you're trying to make???"

I'll keep it simple - 

Finding an employer / employee is like finding a life partner, if you put in the right kind of effort and focus, you might find yourself in a more satisfying and longer lasting relationship.

Think about it.

Mere Nishaan...

Here's a beautiful song I've been hooked on to for quite a while now.
It's a pity that my English is not rich enough to effectively translate every emotion in that song, still I've given it a try because I don't want anyone to miss the beauty of this song.

It's about the creator and how he feels when he looks at this world. How he sees his creations struggling with day to day life when he has given them all they need. How he is saddened by them fighting for him...

This is for those who don't know Hindi (And for those who know but never heard this song the way I do)

Here you go...

I'm not one among the men... Infact I'm easily bought and sold in shops...

I made this world with my own hands. Not with stones and dirt, but with my feelings and emotions...
Yet, here I am going around... searching for the footprints I left...

I've always been with you just like your shadow. I was there like a shade to protect you from the sun... I was always your companion in all your journeys...
Yet, you find yourself tangled in troubles...
You're looking for questions in the answers which I have already given to you...
You are so lost that you can't even experience me...
Alongside you I keep searching for the footprints I left...

The birds and the rivers are all created by me...
Everything between the earth and the sky is nothing but my story...
Even you guys are my creation, and still you keep trying to share me among yourselves...
I created the destinies... I created these images which live and breathe... yet, I'm the one speechless.
Yet, I'm the one looking for my footprints...

I'm still searching for a sign... a mark I left... a footprint...


I just love the way this song is written. If only I could feel the beauty of everything around me. If only I could see life as simple as the creator has actually made it to be. If only I could see at the world minus all the complications we have created for ourselves.

If only I could see the signs... the footprints He has left for us...

Infact... I just realised its not difficult at all...

Don't worry... you'll figure it out too... on your way to work tomorrow morning... Just be aware...

Empowering Parenting...

I'm not writing this post as an expert on parenting. Infact, I'm not at all qualified to advise on parenting because I'm not a parent myself.
But, I have been a kid like most of us and right now I'm just sharing what I have experienced as a kid in my growing years...

I was the laziest baby you would have seen. I never liked to fold my bedsheet after getting up in the morning.
But, I did like to make different shapes from paper... mostly square.
So, every morning, my mom would ask me to help her make a square by joining corners of the bedsheet... as I grew, I made the square out of the bedsheet myself... Even till date after I get up in the morning, I make the square out of my bedsheet and keep it exactly on top of my pillow...

All the parents have one common issue... kids fighting over toys... right???
My brother and I always got the same toys... every toy brought into the house was brought in 2's. One for my brother and one for me.
Once My brother and I (5-8 year olds) were fighting over a toy jeep... I thought it was mine and he thought it was his... We were getting pretty loud and physical about it... Just then, our mom came into the room, took the toy Jeep and just threw it out of the window... Weeeeeeeee it went out the window and into the open drain behind our house...
We were smart enough to figure out that anything we fight for will be taken away...
Interestingly we have never fought ever since...

Most of us hated homeworks when we were little... There were a lot of tricks my mom used with me when I was little, I still remember one of them...
Every evening she would give me dictation (spelling) practice... Since we were a joint family, she couldn't spend full time with me. So, she would come into the room, say 3 english words and go back to the kitchen. The challenge was to remember all of them and write them down. By the time I had finished writing those, she would come back and give me another 3 words. Over time, my memory and speed got so good that I could remember about 10 words which she would list out and go to kitchen. It strengthened both my spellings and memory even before I was 8 years...

I like all kids, was a troublesome eater... No child I've ever seen has loved eating... but I know for sure that every kid likes to win. Children are competitive by nature and love winning. I guess my mom figured out that secret as well.
Every evening, my brother and I would sit for dinner and the race would start... Mom would server half a bread (Roti) to each of us. Whoever finishes his half first wins the first round. Round after round I used to win. We had anywhere between 6-8 and sometimes 10 rounds of such half roti rounds...
Anybody who has tried feeding a kid (3-5 years age) will know what an achievement it is to have your kid eat 3-4 rotis.

For those who have just 1 kid, fret not...
Its a well known fact that kids hate rotis and rice... but, when we were kids, we just loved different shapes...
It takes just a bit of extra effort, and nowadays we even get metal stencils to cut out these shapes... instead of giving them round rotis, just try giving them stars and half moons and elephants and mickey mouses and lets see how they resist it...

Most of us didn't like veggies as kids... No kid likes tomatoes and cucumbers in salad... but they will absolutely love flowers and stars and different shapes cut out from those same veggies... All it takes is a good knife and a few youtube videos...
Trust me, it works... if you don't find anything, just catch me... I have a lot of experience with these tricks... (They have been used on me...)

Most of us who have siblings have felt this sometime in our lived - "Mom loves him more than me".
We were blessed never to have felt that...
Our mom made us a part in her parenting...
I was the first one to take my new born brother in my lap... not my dad or my grand parents... it was I who took my brother first time in the lap.... You tell me, will I ever get the thought that mom loves him more than me???

Both my brother and I were made incharge of putting our little sister to sleep everyday... My brother would take her in the lap and pat her head while I stood there like a bodyguard...
Tell me... how will any of us brothers ever think that mom loves the sister more than us???

These are just a few of the hundreds of smart parenting tricks my mom used when bringing us up.

I was never told "No". Even if it was not good for me, my mom would show me something better and change my mind instead of saying no...
Once I had my eyes set on a Hot wheels race track set... It was a 3 storey track set with 6 hot wheels cars included... My mom gave me one target... "Get within the top 3 ranks in final exams and you'll have it" I got the 3rd Rank that year... With a lot of excitement we went to buy the race set... When I was selecting the model, my mom said "But I don't know how to play this game... I'll get bored". I asked here what she knew and she showed me lots of other games which she knew...
That day I walked out of that toy store smiling from ear to ear because I had gotten a game of my choice... a brand new game of "Scrabble"... yep... thats right... "Scrabble"... and I was quite proud of it.
And thats how I got my games of chess and business.


Even when I once failed in a subject in school times, my mom said... "I know you will do it... don't worry son"... For the next few months... It was not the rank or success or respect which motivated me... it was just those words of trust which motivated me and kept me obsessed with my studies...

I don't remember ever being beaten by my mom, not scolded much ;), didn't hear too many "No"s, and I think I grew up just fine.

You might come up with some tricks of your own...

I have just one wish on my mind right now...
"20-25-30 years from today... one of your children should be proud of being your child and should be sharing a similar experience with the rest of the world"

Think about it...

Bikes...

I'm going to take you on an imagination trip today... But before that, lets brush up on some of the key companions for today's journey...

1. Rajiv Bajaj - He is the man credited with introducing the Pulsar range of bikes in India and turning the Indian bike industry around. At a time when the whole country was obsessed with mileage bikes, Bajaj Pulsar was introduced with world class performance, features and capabilities.

2. Most of you would have seen the movie "Cars". This movie is set in an imaginary universe where the whole world is only Cars. There's no human, just cars everywhere. Cars speak to each other, do things, do business, fall in love, there's a bad guy car, there's a hero car in the movie and so on. You can read up more about the movie on Google.

3. Imagination - Please have an absolutely over active imagination for the next few minutes. There's no limit to your imagination. Don't stop any thoughts which come to you while reading this blog. By the time I'm done, you would have had the most amazing reading experience so far.

Just in case you don't understand what's coming up in this sharing, just go for a walk, widen your imagination and come back for a second read... its absolutely fine...

Statutory Disclaimer -
I've not been paid by Rajiv Bajaj or Bajaj Pulsar to write this sharing.
I'm an absolute fan of Bajaj Pulsar bikes and the credit for all the positive sharing in this post goes to my Pulsar 150 DTSi.
The credit of your learning is entirely yours.
In case Mr Rajiv Bajaj ever manages to stumble on this sharing, I request him to take it in the right spirit.


Ok... Ready???


So, One day RB decided to create the most awesome bikes in the world. He gets the best technology, best parts available and the best knowledge available to build hundreds of Pulsars.
He builds all the Pulsars with best quality standards... They are all great... all equal... all best in their class... These bikes are built to be better, faster, more efficient and safer than any other bikes ever built... They were built to do everything... Race, go slow, mountain hikes, beach rides... everything which a bike could do...

Then, RB tells them to go on a 100000 km long adventure, enjoy all the best parts he's given to them and come back to him...

With a lot of excitement, all Pulsars leave RB's factory and head out into the world.

One of those Pulsars was very proud of himself. He took a real good care of himself, trying to maintain himself in absolutely showroom condition. He took such good care of himself that he didn't even go on the road because the wheels and tyres would get dirty. The engine was never started because the friction will spoil it. Shock absorbers were in mint condition because they were never taken over a bump. This Pulsar spent all day taking care of himself in the Garage. He never started his journey.

Another one of the Pulsars went and found a lot of other bike friends. They used to drink Diesel and loved the kicks. This Pulsar also tried Diesel but the problem was that his engine was never built to run on diesel. He ended up having a seized engine and never managed to complete his journey.

Yet another Pulsar went all around the world, but in his excitement to travel around the world, he never stopped to take care of himself, get himself serviced, change the engine oil or repair the broken parts. As a result, he traveled a pretty good distance but spoiled everything which RB had given to him. His shock absorbers were gone with wear and tear, engine tuning was lost because of no maintenance, chain sprocket assembly was gone, gears won't shift, tyres worn out and every possible problem a bike could dream of.

Another Pulsar decided to push himself to the max speed he could go... He hit the highways and hit the max speed he was designed for and more. In the process of going too fast, he lost control and ended up in a crash.

One more Pulsar had this habit of going too slow in the high gears.
(Crash course on gear shifts: Going slow speed in a high gear puts too much pressure on the engine damaging it. Going too fast in a low gear causes excessive revving, also damaging the engine.)

So, this Pulsar ended up damaging itself. It always shifted gears too soon and ended up struggling in every gear.

Another crazy one was the exact opposite, he would go fast, but never bothered to change gears. He kept trying to go faster while still in the lower gear. As a result, he ended up burning out his engine too soon.

Then there was this Pulsar who was different from the others. Not different physically, but there was something different deep inside this one... Something intangible was different in this one.

This Pulsar decided to follow all the rules necessary for him to complete his 100000 km journey.
He started with a shiny new body, hit a 120 kmph a few times in his life, climbed mountain trails, drove in the right gears, got himself serviced every few thousand kms, got the faulty spare parts fixed regularly, drove the right distances at the right speeds, hit potholes and speed breakers (after all its an Indian Bike) and yet kept going, There were smooth expressways and crowded rush hours... This one kept going. Learnt a few stunts too...


Finally, after their long journey, all the Pulsars came back to RB's factory.

Now come the key questions:

Do you think all these Pulsars are still the same equals they were when they left?
Of Course not. All of them are different. Enriched with their experiences on the 100000 km long journey, they have all changed. Some are better and some are worse, but they are all different.


Do you think RB is proud of all of them?
Maybe... Maybe not... Maybe some of them which performed to their peak potential will make him proud. He would still expect all of them to make the best use of the potential given to them...

Do you think RB still sees them as equals?
Should he???

Of course he still sees them as equals. After all, he made them... He knows they are all equal... He will absolutely love them all for they are his own creations.
That is the beauty of being a creator...

Do you know what RB will do now...
Because of all the Pulsars which made him proud, he will continue to create more Pulsars. He will create more powerful, more refined, more technologically advanced pulsars...
150 followed by 150 DTSi, followed by 180 followed by 180 DTSi, then 220 FI, 200 NS, 400CS, 400SS and so on...
Every Pulsar he creates makes him proud... so he continues to create more...

Today... I'm not going to give any message... I just want you to know that there are 7.2 billion Pulsars out there as we read this sharing.

I promised you a trip of Imagination... This is where I get off your imagination express.

Keep imagining and its entirely upto you to decide what you want to pick up from this sharing...

Happy Night Pulsars...

Clarity of Thought

Its amazing how learnings of life are revealed in simple conversations...

I was having a conversation with a friend when he asked me a question. A question which all of us get at some point in life... Depending on where you are in life you will get this question.
You could be in the middle of a huge project, or with your family on a holiday, or in the most difficult stage of life... When your mind is absolutely focused or amazingly confused...
A craving is sparked in your mind and you ask ---

"What is Clarity of Thought"

Sitting for a chat one of these days, one of my friend asked me the same question...

Now... I take pride in my ability to answer any kind of questions... But, this one stumped me...

For a change, I was quite and trying to figure out the answer...

After toying with different answers... I found it...

But before I share it with you, I'll make you read the rest of this sharing... Best part is that this blog is not about inspiring achievements and brilliant strokes of genius... This is just plain old Gullugiri...

I went for a movie a few days ago. During the interval, I, like all other mortals ran to the men's room... As I got there, I saw there was a long queue for the Urinals, on the other end, there were cubicles most of which were empty. I simply went into one of those cubicles, finished my work and came out. That's when others realised and started using the cubicles...

Once I went for a friend's wedding and as we finished greeting, I headed for the buffet (that's typically the main agenda whenever I'm attending weddings). Here too there was a long queue of people standing in the queue with plates in their hands.
The buffet was arranged in a typical Indian style with appetizers, breads, curries, rice, lentils and sweets in the same order. I noticed that most of the crowd was on the starters counters because  most of the people were starting from there and waiting for starters to be served. I simply took my plate and headed down to the other end of the counters. Filled up most of my plate with whatever I wanted and enjoyed the meal. Some of my friends were amazed to see that I was eating food in the wrong order... I just cared about eating...

Recently, I had an opportunity to help someone in a medical emergency. Normally, I leave the office late in the evening with some work still in backlog. But, that day, I left the office at 5.30 in the evening after allocating everything effectively to my team and they made sure all goes well for rest of the day... I was able to do it because I had only my friend's emergency in my mind at that time...

You would have been in a situation where someone's life is in danger and you know you can help by getting that person to the hospital... Do you really think you'll care about what people think about your driving skills or will you really care about the red lights you are blowing past???

I remember how I failed only once in my academic life, that too in my strongest subject. This set back my career by atleast 6 months. I remember how I had become absolutely detached from everything else for the next 6 months... I used to spend 14-16 hours at my teacher's place... personal life down the drain... sleep deprived... completely focused only on the studies... I used to go home only for eating and sleeping... I knew that I had to clear the next attempt of my exams...

I've seen for myself how most of the dudes in my team suddenly become super efficient on Friday evenings. Somehow, they complete all their tasks, with great quality and in half the time compared to normal days. I used to appreciate that a lot assuming that they are really committed to their work... Someone told me that apparently Friday evenings are filled with a different kind of plannings for bachelor dudes...

This is where I found the answer to my friend's question...
I found the key to "Clarity of Thought"...

Amazingly... its a one word answer --- "GOAL"

Yep... that's right...

Whether it was the men's room, the buffet counter, a friend's life, a movie you are late for, that girl you want to marry, the project, the exam or any other aspect of one's life... there's only one thing that can give you the clarity of thought... A Goal.

Look back into your own life and remember every time when you were focused on a singular goal... That was the time when your thoughts were absolutely clear... When you did not care about what happens around you... When you didn't care what people around will think or say...

All you cared about was that Goal you had in sight and how to get there...


I'm not sharing some philosophy... I'm not trying to motivate you... No amount of motivational articles can give you the clarity of thought which you have already experienced in glimpses...

We already have all the answers we will ever need... Infact we have even implemented them in our own lives... its just that we can't see them...

Goal... A Singular goal... A positive goal... That is what will give you all the Clarity of Thought you'll ever need...

Think about it...

Choosers can't be beggars!!!

Yep... you read that right...

The most amazing thing about life is that it keeps throwing lessons at you... Its entirely upto you to decide which ones to catch.

Was having a conversation with some friends and we were talking about some limited options. One of my friends just casually said "Choosers can't be beggars".
Actually he wanted to say "Beggars can't be choosers" but it came out the other way round.
We all laughed it away as another slip of tongue... but after a few minutes... I realised that what he said was absolutely true... albeit by mistake... but true nevertheless...

Beggars can't be choosers...
All of us find ourselves begging for jobs... begging for favours... begging for attention... begging for appreciation... and then we happily take whatever is given to us...

Because we are begging, we take whatever we get and hence the famous saying...

Tell me something...
Have you ever seen Gandhi beg?
Have you ever seen Ambani beg?
Have you ever seen Gates or Buffett beg?
Have you ever seen Jobs beg or Sachin Tendulkar beg?
Have you ever heard of Alexander the Great having begged?
Take any incarnation in any of the religions, and tell me if any of them ever begged???

Just for the fun of it, lets imagine how it would be to if all the legends of our history were to start begging for the things they wanted...

If Sachin Tendulkar was to beg the bowlers to bowl slow balls so he could hit sixers... would you respect him so much?

If Jobs was to come to your doorstep and beg you to buy his phone... would you respect apple devices so much?

If Alexander the Great were to beg each ruler of the world to surrender to him... do you think he had a chance to become the ruler of the world???

No way.... right??

No greatness has ever been achieved by begging or by being helpless....

The Gandhi chose to be non-violent and held on to his choice.
The Ambani chose to create an empire and strived for it.
Gates and Buffett made the right choices at the right time.
Every time Jobs was pushed down... he came back with a product that you would helplessly have to buy.
Every time he got sledging on the pitch, Sachin Tendulkar hit a six on the next ball.

Every great person was a Chooser... not a Beggar...

These legends chose what they wanted and then worked towards it... Did they always get it??? maybe not...
But did they have to beg??? definitely not.

Even when they failed, they had enough attitude that they did not beg and they chose to bounce back.

Truly, Choosers can't be beggars... even when life puts them down.

You will never see a successful man making this statement.

"Beggars can't be choosers" is a shield behind which the weak hide.

That day, while speaking, although by mistake, my friend showed what we are truly made of...
We can all choose to be Choosers and we will never have to be Beggars in life, because, "Choosers can't be Beggars"

Think about it...