Roger Federer – The Motivation is in the Challenge

 

What’s Roger Federer’s big secret? As the two gladiators fought over four hours and 77 games, to me he looked assailable at every turn.  The last game saw him finally conquer Roddick, Wimbledon and his 15th Grand Slam.

There is very little left for him to achieve, but his elation at winning gives away his raw hunger for more. So what motivates him to keep playing those sublime passing shots? What makes him get up from the bed and practice his trademark spinning slices? Even if he never wins again, he will be hailed as the ‘Greatest’. But I am sure he will.

Because winning is in his DNA. Motivation in him is self generated - remember, he doesn't have a coach. But is that alone that gives him the motivational shove…many play on just for the sake of playing…some play on to keep anonymity at bay…and some just do it for the money. I don’t think Roger Federer needs all that. Perhaps Roger himself has the answer –

“It’s a test, and that’s why I like to go over these records.”

For him it’s all a challenge. To go over the next hurdle that presents itself (Sometimes it’s called Rafael Nadal).

For him, all the achievements are like an albatross around his neck too. Because come a Grand slam…cometh the expectations. 

"It's important to face it, not say, 'Oooh, I don't want to hear about it.' Because it's there. It's reality. And I always say, 'You've got to be able to handle it."

The word CHALLENGE should be in our own lexicon too. We lesser mortals usually balk when a hurdle falls slam bang in front of us. Why don’t we say – Hey, it’s just a test. I am gonna face it and I am gonna pass it.

The words somehow can conjure up motivation. With motivation, courage is not far behind.

Like Federer who knows that defeating Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam final is the toughest challenge. But in all the interviews I have seen and read I have always seen him keen for the contest. He might not sleep well the night before, but be sure when he exits the locker he is ready and willing.

Sports are a reflection of life after all.

Image: Lucky B

A Top Business Graduate Peddles A Dream On A Hand Cart

After graduating from India's top business school, this unique individual returns to his roots to fulfill a dream of making his home state the vegetable hub of India.

Indian Institute Of Management is one of the most elitist institutes in the world, comparable to the best anywhere. Churning out IQ blessed business graduates every year, who go on to occupy the top echelons of the corporate stratosphere. Kaushalendra could have easily chosen this as his destiny and nobody would have begrudged him that. An IIM graduate of the 1997 batch, he chose a different road to follow. The road lead to his home state of Bihar, a state blessed with a bounty of resources but cursed with under-development and mismanagement.

His mission - to make Bihar the vegetable hub of India. From a white collar job to the dust and grime of the rural hinterland, his journey with a pushcart is of one single minded purpose.

Kaushalendra says,

"I am here to do something. It was my childhood dream to contribute to the development of rural Bihar. I have opted to make vegetables the new brand of Bihar."

He is fondly called as the 'MBA sabzivallah’, literal for MBA vegetable vendor. Here is the story of this remarkable social hero.




It was 10 years ago that Kaushalendra started his 'enterprise'. Hailing from a farmer family, the roots of his thoughts and motivation originated from the state of affairs in rural Bihar. With a business degree from the prestigious IIM, Ahmedabad he started collating grassroots knowledge through extensive research and fieldwork. He met farmers and studied their cultivation methods.

In India, vegetable distribution is a complicated chain of processes. It finally culminates at the hands of the local vegetable vendors who sell the vegetables and fruits from manual push-carts made up of cycle wheels and a wooded platform. Often rickety at best, the push-cart system of vegetable distribution has existed for decades. This is where Kaushalendra focused his attention.

Drawing upon a project he had initiated early in his career to develop a push-cart capable of taking heavy loads (up to 450 pounds); he launched his 'line' of push-carts under a brand name. His pushcart is made of fiber with an attached weighing machine, is ice cooled to keep vegetables fresh for up to five days. He plans to take Samridhi, launched by his NGO Kaushalya Foundation, across the country and abroad within five years.

Under his business model, vegetables are priced slightly lower than those sold by other vendors. To further synthesize demand and supply, his organization has tied up with 250 vegetable growers in different villages around the region. He has also tied up with the Agriculture Training and Management Agency (ATMA) to take his dream to vegetable producers in different parts of state.

It is his belief that Bihar has a unique potential to harvest and profit from the untapped potential of its natural resources. If marketed properly, vegetable growers and consequently the entire state will gain from the nature's bounty which the river Ganges provides.

It is difficult to imagine this bespectacled IIM graduate pushing a hand-cart and promoting a cause which many of his peers and perhaps a progressive nation on the warpath of industrialization gave up long ago. But for the farmers in Bihar, the success of his venture could again bring renewed respect for an occupation which literally brings the food to our tables.

*According to a survey published by the prestigious London-based weekly Economist's "Intelligence Unit". IIM Ahmedabad has been ranked 64th in the list of the Top100 Business Schools in the world. Only four other Asian schools figure in it. Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, U.S was at the top.

Life lessons from Narayana Murthy

One of life's heroes. N R Narayana Murthy.A man who made it big in business and life following sutras of ethics, integrity and hardwork.This is from a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) last year. He speaks on the turning points in his life and the lessons it taught him.


His 'final words' sum up the man who is a true icon for us...

I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.

Click on title for the related article...

Something more about Abraham Lincoln

Listen to this…on a man who had to face seemingly insurmountable obstacles but never thought about giving up. This is perhaps the most inspiring piece I have ever come across.

He had to work to support his family after they were forced out of their home. 1816
His mother died. 1818
Failed in business. 1831
Was defeated for legislature. 1832
Lost his job and couldn’t get into law school. 1832
Declared bankruptcy & spent the next 17 years of his life paying off the money he borrowed from friends to start his business. 1833
Was defeated for legislature again. 1834
Was engaged to be married, but his sweetheart died and his heart was broken. 1835
Had a nervous breakdown and spent the next six months in bed. 1836
Was defeated in becoming the speaker of the state legislature. 1838
Was defeated in becoming elector. 1840
Was defeated for Congress 1843
Was Defeated For Congress. 1846
Was defeated for Congress again. 1848
Was rejected for the job of land officer in his home state. 1849
Was defeated for Senate. 1854
Was defeated for Vice-President — got less than 100 votes. 1856
Was defeated for Senate for the third time. 1858
Was elected president of the United States. 1860

It took him more than 30 years of toil to make it to the White House. So we shouldn’t get discouraged. Take a printout…stick this in front of your desk. Don’t quit

Al Gore - Man on a Mission

Nobel Prizes are always hotly debated, more so the peace prizes. This time the Nobel committee made quite a radical departure by recognising the environmantal crusaders.

Al Gore's Nobel citation said,"His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change.He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

Al Gore, has risen like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of failed,close run presidential bid which saw him losing out to George Bush by a whisker. (The world would definitely have been a different place had he come into the White House.). In the span of the last decade, he went from being the vice-president to the presumptive Democrat nominee for president to winning the popular vote for president only to lose in the electoral college after an intervention by the supreme court made his 537-vote loss in Florida official.Gore’s decision to give up the fight after the supreme court decision left some of his more die-hard supporters bitter, and he, by and large, retreated from public view for several years.The once political incumbent chose to quit the political arena to espouse a cause he was keen on-The environment.
Shedding his image as a brainy but dull policy wonk, Gore oversaw the Live Earth concert in July, which elevated him to Bono-like coolness in some quarters. “If you had told me 10 years ago that people were going to be appealing to me for tickets to a hot rock concert through my parents, I would have fallen over,” his daughter Karenna Gore Schiff told Vanity Fair magazine.

Today. on the centerstage again, he is in a vantage position to make a positive influence on the policy authors.

Footnote: British bookmakers once put 100-to-1 odds on Gore winning an Oscar, becoming a Nobel laureate and becoming president. He has now accomplished two of the three, and on Friday bookies slashed the odds to 8/1 from 10/1.

(This article is a commentary on an archived news article...some content is quoted from there)

Inspired by a cancer survivor

Megan Blunt recently won the Child of Courage award at the Pride of Britain Awards 2007. The outstanding aspect of the award? Megan Blunt is a 15 year old cancer 'survivor'. She was so influenced by her own struggle against the usually fatal diesease, that she wrote a book to motivate others with the same ailment.
This news item caught my eye because the headline read - 'Rowling Breaks down at Pride of Britain Awards.' The famed creator of Harry Potter, presented the young heroine with the award and was moved to tears.
Her achievement by itself is stupendous. What makes it extraordinary is her age. She chose to go beyond the fact of her survival, and through her book is attempting to inspire others towards recovery.
Here's an excerpt from an interview (sourced: http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2007/03/05/megan_blunt_qa.shtml)

Q: How will your book help other young people?

A: Hopefully my book will help other young people as it contains hints, tips and easy definitions of some of the long technical medical words. I hope that my book can be used as a reference book on how to survive cancer. It’s good to read something positive when you first get diagnosed!


Medicines can help. But the person first has to help himself. Megan chose to stay positive and focussed on that positive end. She avoided going into the ugly side of cancer. She says in her own words that,'it is normally only the scary and upsetting stories that are published.' Her positive approach is a testimony to the fact that the mind cures faster than any medicine can. The mind is the ultimate placebo.
We face so many supposed problems in our daily lives...problems which pale in comparison to that of Megan. Why do we give up so easily. I think we give up in the mind first, the rest of the body just tags along. Around us their are a lot many more Megan's, who jump through the hurdles to create their dreams. If they don't give up...why do we. Often, overcoming hurdles is just about putting one foot in front of the other and moving on inch by inch. It only helps to look at those who are less fortunate than us...count our blessings...understand that our own troubles could be insignificant if we really care to look at it that way. Let's get inspired!