Eat the frog!!

If you are wondering that a person who eats frog must be insane, then the answer is big NO. The long term benefits of eating frogs are substantial - glowing cheeks, shining hairs, muscular body, and a healthy heart. Even now if you are resisting eating frogs then let me tell you how to do it. Let’s start - hold the frog tight and put it in your mouth. Don’t think; just put it in your mouth. Ummm. How does it taste? Yummy, Yummy! What!! You don't like eating it? Stop lying! Oh okay okay, it stinks, it got stuck in your throat. No, No please don’t vomit, hold your nerves. Yes, that’s it! See it’s over! It is not as hard as you thought. You have swallowed the frog and you are still alive (though the poor frog is not). Now you have gained all vitamins and proteins necessary for a healthy body in short time which pizzas, chips and drinks would have not provided during lifetime.

Daily, we come across activities which we don't really enjoy. Jumping out of bed at the first alarm bell, making the first sales call, learning from criticism, following up with prospective clients, regular gym routine, planning the day in advance – all these are examples of eating the frog. One doesn’t really enjoy the process but once performed, the results are extra-ordinary. Eating the frog refers to performing the task which is crucial for our growth but performing the task might not be fun. We tend to procrastinate, avoid such task and then later regret our decisions.

The fact is the more displeasing the task, the higher is the rate of return attached to it. 80/20 rule applies here also. Generally 20% of your action will result into 80% of achievement. Prepare a to-do list for your day. Now observe and you will find that if you roughly complete 2 tasks out of 10, you will have a successful day. Yes! You have guessed correctly, those 2 tasks are the frogs, the ones which you want to postpone. But the case with the frog is that it is easier to eat it fresh, than to swallow it rotten. The more you procrastinate, the harder it becomes. If you give yourself time to think, the mind will come up with thousands of reasons why it is okay not to eat the frog and avoid brief pain. Do you recollect, last time you decided to sleep just for 5 more minutes and got up an hour later, last time you said to self that you will start exercising from tomorrow and you are still waiting for that tomorrow, last time you delayed reading that business book and now it has become a part of dusty shelf. The formula is simple - stop thinking and just do it!

The difference between highly productive people and others is that the former are good at eating frogs. Entrepreneurs take risk, athletes undergo rigorous practice, leaders take tough decisions - these are activities which ordinary people avoid. You know what is important, don't procrastinate, just do it. The more frogs you eat the healthier you will be, the more difficult tasks you perform the wealthier you will be.

A quote from Michael Dell : “There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.”

Courage is the beginning

The memories of moments when you were not able carry out task of your desire will be not very distant. Perhaps, it could be yesterday when you saw a person with whom you wanted to talk but couldn’t collect yourself to walk to that person. Or it could be your last group meeting where you struggled to present your idea and another person told the similar idea and is now hero in your company. All of us feel fear in one situation or another, some are able to hold our nerves while most fail miserably. It is courage which enables a person to tame his fear at crucial moments and win the game of life.

Courage is not just jumping from an airplane, fighting a gorilla or saving a child from burning home. One requires courage in daily routine. It takes courage to walk up to a stranger and make a connection, it takes courage to express your thoughts when you are open to criticism, it takes enormous courage to admit your mistakes, it takes courage to dream high when everyone seeks security, it takes courage to persist when things go wrong, it takes courage to compete when you can lose, it takes tremendous courage to win in the game called life. How far you go in life and how richer your experiences in life will be predominately determined by how courageous you are.

Now the bigger question arises, can one develop courage or is it innate characteristic? The fact is that no one is born with courage. Everyone has fears - fear of losing, fear of uncertainty, fear of being ridiculed, and another hundred and one fears. Courage is not absence of fear, it is acting in spite of fear. A courageous person is not fearless, rather he is one who does not allow fears to govern his decisions. Most people come under pressure and let fear dominate their decisions whereas courageous people make rational choices under fear. Let’s take a common example, public speaking. Most people keep praying hiding in a corner so that they are not called up to speak but few people are comfortable in face of any audience. Is it that latter were born with the talent of public speaking? Absolutely not! It is only that the latter gathered the courage and went to the stage. First time, they fumbled, shivered but didn’t die. Then, they again gathered courage and went to speak for the second, third and tenth time. With every practice, things improved, words started to flow easily and now those people are comfortable with any audience. But the bottom line is that it all started with the first step, with courage to keep the pounding heart under control and walk up to the stage where most people give up.

Who doesn’t know that going with crowd will not lead to a life of dreams but even then most people will never be able to listen to their own heart. Most people will never be able to execute their ideas because they lack courage. Remember, that first time is always scary, first job interview, first day in college, first kiss, first speech, first daring adventure. So, gather the courage to overcome the initial fears and your life will never be same. Just having courage will put you in top 10% of people in the world. Courage is beginning of all changes, foundation of all relationships and mother of all virtues. Be Courageous!

About Me

You must be wondering why about me is not in 'about me' section. Well word limit of About Me section on free sites is not enough to cover what ALL I have to say about me. So I decided to give it more space. Here's me.

“Official” Me

Atul Magoon is working as a learning and development professional for Deloitte. Prior to this, he worked as a strategy consultant for Deloitte. He is an inspirational speaker and author. He holds a Bachelor of Technology Degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

“The complete” Me

I am an engineer by education, a consultant by profession, a thinker by passion and a man by nature.

I was born in Rohtak, a town in Haryana, India. I did my schooling in the same town, and made most out of school as I was good in sarcasm, studies, and sports (in order). Everything was going well except that I was getting older by the day. Soon, the day arrived when like every middle class Indian kid, I had to choose between becoming a Doctor or an Engineer. But for me, the choice was easy, mathematics was much more exciting where you could solve most questions with couple of formulas as compared to Biology where every name is 50 letters long and hard to pronounce.

Now, if you are a bright student in India, you are expected to prepare for IIT, premier school of India. I also took up the challenge. It meant that I had to keep sarcasm and sports aside for two years and focus on studies. A compromise but worth it! Competition for getting into IIT is tough, probably one of the hardest in the world. One needs his share of luck, and I had mine, to secure a place in IIT. In the process, I learnt two lessons that will stay with me forever – 1. If you believe you can, you can 2. Harder you work, luckier you get.

Life in IIT Delhi is like other colleges except for skewed gender ratio (15 guys to 1 girl) and few courses where 80% attendance is mandatory. But diversity of students, intensity of passion, competitive spirit and living life with enthusiasm are routines of the day and experiences of the lifetime. In my second year at college, I went to UK for my summer internship. I travelled extensively and many things happened for the first time. In third year, I went to US for summer internship and again many things happened for the first time (I nearly drowned during adventure sports). In fourth year, I was all set to go to Italy for summer internship but this time something happened for the first time even before I had left the country. I developed a ligament injury while playing soccer and was put on bed for a month. Italy is now on my ‘countries to visit’ list.

In 2007, I joined Deloitte’s Strategy Consulting group in Hyderabad. For first six months, I carried the college kid in me - chasing fun, hiding from work, laughing at people, winning arguments. But soon all that became mundane and I started to crave for meaning, creativity and value creation. I thought about various career options – consulting, investment banking, online website for movie tickets, stock market, developing cartoon characters, and standup comedy but everything was mere attraction. Finally, I came across the field of inspirational speaking and writing and felt like being in love. I believe each human being has enormous potential and can create a life of choice. I have written an inspirational book which is in the process of getting published by Penguin. The book talks about how ordinary people become extra-ordinary. I deliver inspirational talks in various colleges, institutes and speak up forums.

You can reach me at atulmagoon@gmail.com