The Power of Boredom

Dr V K Kurien arrived at Anand in May 1949. Bored, and with nothing to do in the small sleepy town, he joined a band of tenacious dairy farmers in their  struggle against the exploitative practices followed by the local trade. Little did he know that he was actually sowing the seeds of a revolutionary cooperative movement. It went on to create the White Revolution, making India the largest milk producer in the world.

#MyLearning
Do not underestimate the power of boredom. Activities born of a state of boredom, could transform into passion and produce remarkable outcomes

Failure Is Success in Disguise

In 1917, Einstein set out to design a theoretical model to prove space is bent around itself like the sides of a tin can.

He failed.

But in the process, he succeeded in doing something very interesting - unifying the effect of acceleration and gravity.

#MyLearning
Treat failures like Edison, who in  the course of his journey of the invention of the incandescent light bulb, said he had succeeded in “finding 10,000 ways that won't work.” Discard the 10,000 ways that won't work, but do learn from the ones that did, and had ‘Einsteinian’ outcomes.

Picture Source : Paul S. Cavella

The Downsides of The Digital Age

The control & nurturing of an ecosystem takes patience  care, contrasting sharply with the immediacy of messaging or tweeting of the smartphone generation. In order to encourage them to slow down & take time out to take care of their plants, Samuel Wilkinson has designed a terrarium that links to your IPad or IPhone & can control the climate, water level & nutrient from your device.

MyLearning
The ‘convenience’ of being online 24/7 & the compulsive call of the social media adds up to a state of constant urgency & stress. Take time out and tend to life?

Think
What's your sense of the story?

Beliefs and Business

Patrizio Bertelli,  CEO of fashion and jewellery line Prada, believes the counterfeit trade has created jobs & they do not want to be a brand that nobody wants to copy.

On the other hand Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard believes that one had be desirable to be copied. But imitation is plagiarism and is annoying, hence they create patterns that are too elaborate to copy and have 10 lawyers constantly trying to stop the menace.

#MyLearning
Our Beliefs influence Behavior.
Behavior impacts Business

#Think
What's your sense of the story?

Channelising Energy Productively

Thimmakka is a native of Karnataka. She has no formal education and worked as a casual labourer in a nearby quarry. Married to Chikkaiah who is a cattle herder, they unfortunately have no children. She has filled the lack by planting and tending to 384 banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur. Her work has been honoured with the National Citizen's Award of India.

#MyLearning
Mourning and lamenting a lack or loss is an unproductive use of our energies. Best to channelise them into working on the larger good, both for self and others.

Clearing Our Demons

“All my demons, all my monsters that I’d been carrying around forever… The light came through and I realized, 'Oh! They’re not demons, they’re not monsters, they’re not dragons. I’ve been making them more grandiose than they are. They’re just the orphaned parts of me. And they are throwing temper tantrums because of their fear. And now I have to tell them it’s going to be okay. And they will all go to sleep. I am the mother of all of these parts of me.'”.  Author Elizabeth Gilbert in an interview.

#MyLearning
We create monsters of our fears. We also have the power to put them to sleep.