Implications of Thinking Big

The implications of thinking big are widespread and impressive. Thinking big is a magic door opener that broadens your perspective and allows you to see new opportunities. Thinking big makes life easier and a lot more fun.

I’ve been repeatedly reminded by successful people in virtually every field that thinking big is one of the keys to success. Let’s consider a few examples. Successful insurance salespersons insist that it takes the identical amount of time to speak to someone about a million-dollar policy as it does a one-thousand-dollar policy.
  
The bigger your visions, the larger your potential for success. If you’re trying to sell homes for a living, as an agent, it takes the same amount of energy to ask a wealthy person for their listing as it does a low-end homeowner. You can think small, or you can think big.
  
As usual, the primary reason many people think too small is fear. Thoughts like, “I can’t speak to a room full of people,” “I can’t risk taking on a larger project,” and “I couldn’t ask the boss to have lunch with me” fill the mind and are taken too seriously. When fearful thoughts enter the mind, try to banish them. The fear you are experiencing is almost always self-created and usually unnecessary.
  
Could you be thinking in larger terms? In most cases, the answer is yes! There may be ways that you can reach more people with the same amount of effort. Regardless of the business you are in, the first step is to eliminate any fear or worry that is getting in your way. As your worrisome thoughts gradually disappear and become less appealing, new ideas and insights will begin to emerge.


Source -
Friends of Lord Krishna (FOLK)
Hare Krishna Movement, Chennai

Semester IV

After the end of Semester III, we stayed back in campus preparing for the placements.We did some combined studies and group work for the placements :P

If I am not wrong, placements for our class started with Sasken Technologies taking a double digit of students. I was placed in XILINX, thanks to my project. The placements were good during our course of stay and every one was on cloud nine once the season ended.
What followed was night outs with teen-patti and AOE.

Cards distribution by Ravi.
Photography : me :)

Wake up whole night playing games on LAN, brush and have breakfast at 7.00AM and go to bed was kind of a routine after placements. Project was just a matter of how one manage things.
Watching movies together, playing volleyball, cricket were other activities.I remember playing Basketball with Prof. RVR and we were amused by his fitness.
I have literally undergone mental torture for the last couple of months regarding my project. I was just waiting to finish my studies there and finally I dealt with project submission somehow.

 TSE 2006-2008 Batch

The joy of finishing my project and holding a offer letter of a company was to one side and sadness of leaving friends, campus, the atmosphere was to other side of the mixed emotions I was going through.

When I now look back, even the torture seems to be a sweet memory when shared with friends.
These two years are among the memorable days of my life and I definitely miss my stay @ IIT Kgp

-Vish

Semester III

Takshashila

The compulsory course work was done in first two semesters and we had to work on a project for one year during Sem III and IV. One could choose some audit subjects but need to fulfil attendance and marks criteria to get a course certification.
Plenty of free time, and only one project to concentrate on. Initial months of Sem III wasted in just browsing some of the technical journals and papers. My guide was busy all the time and I got little guidance from him.
When asked, he would say,  "come up with your own subject for project" and I had no clue.
I finally converged on some project which involved some baseband processor implementation on Xilinx FPGA.It was no new thing and I was not good at it.

Ravi, Girish, Vamshi, Sujit , Bala and me were given computers in Takshashila.

I should mention one of my friend Shiva - "Cycle Chain". Thats his DC++ ( s/w for lan sharing ) name.He spent most of his time in sharing and organizing downloaded music, movies and videos.
( My roommate Ravi comments that he spends time in copying and renaming them with his tag and then share them :P )
I should also mention about one of my best buddies - Sujit Jos.

Sujit and Me

Famously been called as SJ for his PJs and the tricks. Our friendship started from a misunderstanding and after exchange of words over some petty issue. This guy is great source of enthusiasm and one would never get bored in his company.One of the Einstein minds with around 6-10 IEEE papers published during the M..Tech course. This number is greater than what Ph.D students would publish. He is a great fun-lover, Badminton player and a martial arts student. Hope he teaches one of his Nun-Chakoo techniques to me someday. :)

We daily go to our respective labs in Takshashila at around 9AM, browse internet for an hour or so and have tea break for half an hour and browse internet again and go for lunch break.

After lunch break, take a nap, come back to labs at around 3 pm browse and then have some more tea.

My Desk @ MSPC lab in Takshashila

I only remember more of tea breaks in labs than the work we did :)

Age of Empires was the next time consuming activity at campus.
During this semester we started preparing for the placements which would come at the end of SemIII.
We formed a small group among ourselves and started conducting mock test and interviews which helped us a lot in final placements.

-Vish

Semester II

In Winter the cold is terrible in Kgp. After the First Semester exams, we headed home. We had around 20days of holidays and that was a relief from unbearable climate in the campus.
When we are back in campus, the tension of results followed. Which grade I got, what's my CGPA? were the bothering questions. One of the reasons to the importance of First sem results is - it decides the second year project guide. Better your CGPA, better options of Professors available to chose from. I was second topper of my class and I had all the options available :) .
I chose SCK and only later I got to know the odds against it.

One of our Classrooms

More and more we got acquainted to the campus and the climate, our attachment towards it grew better.
Mess food.... Yawk! We hated it many times, which helped the business of restaurants and eating-spots like chaddi's, Little Sisters and billoos.

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Holi was one of the good memories of this semester. A Picture is worth more than 1000 word :)

 Euphoria !

Can't get wilder than this! :P

He is Mr. Shyam.
This is one of my Fav Holi pics :)
No Hard feeling mama :P

In MMM Hall Mess-
After Holi Celebrations

Spring Fest was Rocking and we enjoyed it very much. Playing cricket became a weekly event by organizing matches with other Hostels.

I could not recollect much of the Semester II, but overall it was Studies, Fests, Cricket.

-Vish

Semester- I

Life in a campus was new to me. The atmosphere at campus on the first was great with students moving here and there to find their alloted room and getting over the admission procedure to adjust in their new hostel rooms.Introductions, Hi-Hello's followed.I was given Room 323 with Ravi as my roommate.

The initial shopping of ours included the bicycle, bed and other necessary things for a bachelor to live.

MMM Hall

Few of my friends (Ravi and Girish) were waiting for IIT madras to declare the final list of students and were delaying the shopping in the hope that their name would include in the list. But (fortunately for us), that it didn't happen otherwise we would have missed good friends.

Ravi , My Roommate: When I first saw him, I was afraid of his tall and semi-dark personality. I thought he would be very rude, full of bad habits like smoking which I cant bear. To my surprise I found he is totally opposite- Very shy guy with child-like behavior and thank god he doesn't smoke.

One of my friends, Suresh bought a cricket bat during the first week of our stay and yeah,in India cricket connects people and our circle of friends just exploded covering many in it.

One of the peculiar thing about the Kharagpur environment is the unpredictability of rain. It is one of the important advise by the seniors that umbrella is a must, irrespective of  clouds in the sky.

If one forgets it, he need not take a bath again :) .

Who says life at IIT is a cake walk?
To reach IIT is difficult, but to stay at IIT withstanding the academic pressure is much more difficult.

A gathering on - "MMM Hall Day"

Waking early for 7.30AM class, working on the assignments till late night and preparing for the sudden tests[which profs warn initially] are some of the bouncers.
Attending classes , without bathing, in pajamas wearing chappal and always being late to those early morning classes are fun to recollect. Breakfast vs Early class was always a dilemma, many a times we used to manage both.
Ravi, Girish, Venu, Vamshi, Shiva, Suresh, Sujit, Shyam are few among my classmates in KGP.

Overall, First semester taught us handling the pressure of being at IIT and joy of bicycle riding in a huge campus, other than the technical learning ofcourse.

-Vish

Handling Criticism

This is a newsletter of HareKrishna movement and worth sharing it. This is how it reads...

To become a top performer, you’ll need to open yourself up to feedback from those around you. Here are some steps you can take to ease the sting of criticism and begin to make it work for you, instead of against you.

1.Hit the Pause Button - It’s important to maintain your composure and not lash back or respond defensively to criticism. Take a breath. Don’t do or say anything. This brief pause not only helps you compose yourself and prepare to listen to what the other person has to say, it demonstrates your poise and self-confidence. Maintaining your composure when criticized shows that you’re in control.

2.Turn On Your Brain and Turn Off Your Emotions - It’s important to disconnect your automatic emotional response to criticism. Otherwise you won’t be able to objectively consider the value of the information. Focus on the words and facts, not on the feelings they generate within you. Regardless of how undiplomatic the other person is in delivering the feedback, tell yourself that it is designed to help you improve, not to tear you down.

3.Listen Carefully - Listen intently to what the other person is saying. If you’re busy formulating your rebuttal, you may miss some valuable information that can help you avoid errors in the future or improve your overall performance.

While any criticism can be discouraging, it’s important to keep in mind that negative feedback can contribute significantly to faster growth and higher performance.

Business - Poultry Farming

This is the first business i have invested money in.
I did this with out having much knowledge and data regarding the business and went ahead investing Lakhs.
There were many parameters which i had no control over.
If I had to list them

1. Selling price - I realized that Poultry business is not actually a business but farming. And as every farmer I had no control over yield and price.
2. Perishable Aspect - There is always a risk involved if you are producing some perishable goods. You have to sell it even at losses otherwise you loose your entire investment. My target was Dec25 and Jan 1st and 14th  market where the price of chicken will be normally high but to my hard luck, 2010 dec25 -Jan has seen the worst price. To add to the fuel,  diseases and mortality of chicken has further eaten away my investment
3. Labor issues - After I entered into this business, I realized how difficult it is to get a trustworthy labor and to handle them. I guess this is the most boiling issue of many businesses and I hats-off to the one who can contain these
4. Leasing a land - This is the most irritating aspect I found with this business. Unlike any office space or  outlet, leasing a land has an issue of owner intervention at every point. 
5. Rural Aspect - The environment and the people around the cities are way different than from the rural. Connectivity, lack of skilled people and security are to name a few concerns I had.

After above discussion one can easily guess what could have been to the investment and yeah , you are right! The business simply sucked the money as the ground sucks infinite amount of charge with out changing its voltage potential. The worst part of it is that I had convinced two of my friends to invest in it and they contributed half of the investment. As a part of good gesture and friendship I said I will return the money coz money comes and goes, but friends would not!

Now I am burdened with this loss and god knows when I will be out of it !
But I know I will be out of it soon and start afresh on some solid idea. :)

My only advice to enthusiastic people is to beware and not to burn your hands with the manufacturing sector producing perishable goods ( yeah i know I am generalizing a bit )

-Vish