If only we ask this question every time we start a new project, how much would it save everyone associated with it? It is so fundamental that we assume that it was asked by someone already and we run with it. You will be surprised to note that it took a disaster like Challenger explosion (28th Jan 1986) to ask the purpose of the space shuttle program. Instead of running with a task handed down, a simple question like, “Why are we doing this or to what end?” would benefit us immensely.

We may defend, “Well that was in 1986, ever since that we come have a long way.” Not really. Time and again we see this folly of not asking this question in our everyday life. Recently Microsoft discontinued its Live Book Search project after nearly 2 years of scanning 750,000 books and 80 million journal articles and spending close to $ 10 million. I wonder if anyone part of the project group raised this question, “Why are we doing this anyway?”

Assuming I am a consultant and my client states a problem with a fat pay check for solving his problem, it would be unwise to accept the stated problem and start collecting data to solve the problem. At the least, asking this question, would expand the perspective of the client, expand the possibilities and change how the solutions are presented. It may even prevent me from tackling his wrong problem!

According to the Purposes Principle, in the book titled ‘Breakthrough Thinking’, the authors implore us to seek the purpose of everything. To quote verbatim from the book, “If the purpose of a shoelace is to tie a shoe, ask what the purpose of tying a shoe is – and then watch the possibilities for alternative, innovative solutions unfold before your eyes.”

Having stated an immediate purpose of solving a problem, we should expand the purposes, to still greater purposes until we have an array of purposes to tackle. Then out of the many we choose the one that would have a greatest impact using our limited resources.

Let me explain with a simple personal example:

Suppose I ask myself the purpose of writing this blog I will come up with the answer: to educate, inform and entertain the visitors to my site. And if I were to ask again what in turn the purpose of that is; my answer would be to encourage more visitors to visit this site and so on.

Eventually my purpose array would look like the following:

1. To create content for my website to educate, inform and entertain the visitors to my site.
2. To encourage more visitors to visit my site.
3. To expose visitors to relevant advertisements displayed alongside.
4. To click on the advertisements that are of interest or use to them.
5. To collect payment from my Associates for qualified clicks.
6. To create an additional income stream through the Internet.
7. To have more disposable income on hand.
8. To invest in assets that enhances quality of life.
9. To enhance quality of life.

Now in my purpose array I may choose to focus on the initial purpose (level 1) of just creating the content or I may choose to focus on level 2 i.e. to encourage more visitors to visit my site or level 6 i.e. to create an additional income stream from the Internet.

At each level my course of actions will be different. For instance if I focus on level 1, I need to focus on what would be topical and interesting to my visitors and what additional research is required before I complete this post, what improvement in presentation or style of writing is required etc.


If instead if my focus is on level 2, my focus would be to explore other options to attract visitors to my site (like buying quality content from other sources, or other incentives like creating contests with free gifts for winners on my site) other than myself spending time creating the content.

If I have the money I may choose to focus on level 6, I may open an online store promoting my own products or if I am resource poor I may opt to promote others products by becoming an affiliate. Or at level 7, I may choose to ignore the Internet altogether and see more conventional ways of creating additional source of income.

The point is, asking the purpose of doing anything, expands my options. I hope you agree with me.

To me there is something magical about boxing; but only if it involves no violence. I mean, I detest any violence dished out (either by the participants or the spectators) in the name of entertainment. I have been a fan of professional boxing (and continue to be to this day) and see worthy contests as when time permits. But it is the no holds barred contests (like some Ultimate Fighting Championships) where the participants take all kinds of risks just so we, the spectators are entertained; that I hate.

The sponsors, the promoters, the event organizers all collect fat checks and the advertisers, the media benefit immensely, while the participants end up as casualties for life. Even if the injured sportsmen take home big money, what good money is to them if they are paralyzed waist down (say due to some injury to their spinal cord or suffer irreparable head injury) and had to move about in a wheel chair or sip food through a tube?

I am not exaggerating. I saw one kick boxing contest where one of the kick boxer’s shin bone broke into two (due to either the shock of the kick he gave or received) and hung like a broken twig from the rest of his leg. I couldn’t bear to see it and stopped watching kick boxing ever since. One may argue that, after all the participants participate voluntarily and are fully aware of the risks involved and so what harm is caused in organizing the show? Nelson Mandela has an active interest in professional boxing but at the same time strongly believes in non-violence. When he was asked if there is any conflict between the two, his answer was the same.

However, if one of the unequal participants induced by big prize money fights and ends up being carried away in a stretcher, is it voluntary? But at least most of the times in boxing, there is this referee who steps in to save the severely injured boxer from himself. And the stupid boxer returns the favor by trying to knock down the referee himself for stopping the fight.

I don’t want to sound like Lisa in ‘The Simpsons’, advocating vegetarianism, while rest of the party enjoys a hearty meal of the wild boar. But if we, the spectators are in it to vent our male aggression (remember the movie Fight Club) or driven by greed by betting heavily against one or the other player, then we need to check our motives.

I mean how far are we removed from the Romans watching the blood sports in the arena with glee. Russell Crowe in Gladiator comes to my mind. After annihilating his enemy he turns to the spectators with equal rage and asks, “Are you entertained now?”. To me, at the end of the match, if we leave the stadium even with a little guilt, than it is not a sport.

If you ask me to be more specific and lay it out in clear terms (what is magical about boxing other than the boxers blowing their brains out?) hear is my answer:

• To me more than the fight itself, the prelude that leads up to the fight that is magical. The stadium, the lighting, the assemblage of the VIPs accompanied by their beautiful female counterparts, the spectators with flags to show their solidarity, the statistics of the contestants (impressive both by themselves and taken together),the rigor they had gone through prior to the fight shown as flashback, the locker room briefings, the announcer’s (the undisputed champion Michael Buffer’s) commanding voice about the ensuing fight, the arrival of the boxers in glittering costume, followed by their respective entourage carrying their medals, their chosen music played out as they arrive, all go to create an expectation of an outcome that is magical. We tend to believe that this really is going to be the fight of the century and we got our value for money even though we may watch it for free over the TV.
• As the fight progresses there is a momentary disappointment in us that the fight is not going as we have predicted. We see our limitations as amateurs exposed, with the minute to minute ring side view provided by the commentators (who can substitute an ace like Jim Lampley), the expert commentary provided by an ex boxer or a seasoned coach (like Emmanuel Stewart) and the insightful, often witty remarks of a sage like Larry Merchant (now that he has retired, we miss him). All these go together, to make the event magical.
• Finally at the end of a good, clean fight (by clean I mean neither contestant is greatly harmed and the referee has done a great job) the boxers give their reasons as to why they have lost or won, the strategy they adopted and if they are ready to take a rematch etc all these go to make it magical.

We realize almost the entire event is carried out spur of the moment and none of it can be rehearsed in advance and that is what is makes it magical.

Finally as we leave, we prepare ourselves for the next fight of the millennium and isn’t that expectation magical?

If there is one thing I would love to have in life, it is to have as wide and as deep a perception that we can gain on any of our life situations. At least those that are troubling us currently or those that have long term consequences. Too often, we either due to lack of training, or lack of time or even our lack of wisdom we tend to have too narrow view of our situation and make snap judgments. Based on those, we arrive at quick decisions and take fast actions only to regret later in life.

The best we do, is do a little thinking (if at all we do) or ask around. We take it for granted our friends and relatives (with due respects to them) are better equipped than we are. If they had been to the same schools that we had been to or live in the same neighborhood, chances are their perception of our problems would be no better than our own. More likely they would tell us what we want to hear.

To put this discussion into perspective may I suggest you see this movie (a good one in my opinion) Gone Baby Gone. Torn between professional ethics and common sense or personal obligations, Casey Affleck (Patrick Kenzie in the movie) has to choose and make the right decision. For that he has to have the right perspective and not see life through his ‘little window’ as Morgan Freeman (his adversary in the movie) suggests. Quite true.

Incidentally do we ever realize why rich get richer and have enviable life styles? It is because they seek professional help. They are able to hire professional consultants in many walks of their life. They hire (the best their money can buy, to do better in life) a personal trainer, a lawyer, a physician, an investment adviser or even a life coach!

So how do we gain a wider perception (a.k.a wisdom)? I am not an expert, but I think for a start we can do the following:

There comes a point in our life, when we take stock of our life situation. We realize we didn’t get what we set out to achieve or recognized for what we are worth. The struggles we go through in our day-to-day existence pales into insignificance compared to the inner turmoil or disappointment we feel inside. I hear someone say, “We all have ambitions, but very few have talents.” But I am talking about the few who have talents, but who either didn’t get an opportunity to show their merits or they have shown their merits but are not rewarded adequately enough or some quirk of fate intervened.

Those of you who have seen the movie Deal and the part played by Burt Reynolds will understand what I mean. Though he was a gifted player at the Poker table he was not destined to achieve greatness in his time. He happened to lose everything, and to preserve whatever is left, (including his relationship with his wife) he maintains his promise to his wife that he will never play cards for the rest of his life. And for the next 20 years he chose to remain as a spectator. But every time he sees someone achieving championship at the game of Poker shown on TV, we could see the pain in his face. It appeared to me, that he was saying to himself, “It could easily have been me on the TV lifting that championship trophy.”

In order not to break his promise and thereby hurt his wife’s feelings, he sets out to train his protégé. Though in the movie, it is shown that he is motivated by the money; my feeling is he was living his life through his protégé. Seeing the amazing success his protégé has (with a few simple tricks he learnt from his mentor) at the table, the player in Burt Reynolds decides to go for it again. But this time alone and all by himself. That meant risking his marriage even. We are told that he was going after the cup that he didn’t win. And that he was reclaiming his lost dignity.

I am sure it will strike a chord in all of us, who are still in the race, hoping to make it big one day. Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett have claimed their cups but we haven’t. You have not heard of me other than through this blog which is nothing and I don’t know you, the gentleman or the lady who happens to read this blog. Of course I am thankful for your time, but wouldn’t it be great if you are famous and in some way extremely talented in your chosen field and have a few words to share with the rest of us?

Incidentally those of you on the verge of giving up, or have already given up; I recommend this article from Fortune to read. I guarantee you it will be worth your while. Either you will be back in the race or running ahead of us. Good Luck.
read. I guarantee you it will be worth your while. Either you will be back in the race or running ahead of us. Good Luck.

“I have all the time in the world,” thinks an 18 year old. Thinking about my career options, so did I when I was 18! Now that I am old, I can almost laugh when I hear someone asking a kid, “What would you want to become?”. In this respect, I can relate to most of what is written in this blog Why Career Planning Is Time Wasted except the one below.

The experiment outlined in the blog says the test group that got to choose a week in advance, different sandwiches for each day of the coming week turned out to be unhappy with their choices vis-a-vis the other group that chose spontaneously what they want each day as the day rolled in. The interesting thing is that the latter group chose to stay with their familiar sandwich for each day of the week. The point of this exercise was to prove the futility of making a choice in advance and the lesser likelihood that we would enjoy what we choose: it may as simple as ordering a sandwich or as big as making a career move.


My personal experience with sandwiches goes even further to prove the above theory (Miswanting). Being a strict vegetarian, by design, I can choose only type of sandwich at my favourite Subway restaurant viz. Veggie Delite. So that means turkey, tuna, egg, ham, roast beef etc are out. Restricted to just one type of sandwich, I should be happy with my choice isn’t it? Not really. Given the bewildering array of sandwich components offered, I have to carefully navigate my way to building my sandwich. Else I would definitely be feeling something is wanting. As tempting as it may be, it is treacherous to stray the course.

“Oh God! Why did I make this change today?” is often my response to any adventurous detour in the menu offered. I am not exaggerating. If you see the following conversation I have with the waitress at the Subway restaurant you will see why.

Waitress: What would you like to have?
Me: Veggie Sandwich
Waitress: Footlong or 6″ ?
Me: Footlong please.
Waitress: Brown bread or white ?
Me: White.
Waitress: Which bread would like to have ? (She points to a board with life size images of 4 or 5 different types of bread)
Me: Parmesan Oregano
Waitress: With or without cheese?
Me: With cheese.
Waitress: Which one – cheddar or mozzarella ?
Me: I point to the one I am more familiar with.
Waitress: Toasted?
Me: Yes please.
Waitress: Now choose your vegetables (She points to the neatly arranged bowls of fresh vegetables behind the glass partition: lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, olives, pickles and more )
Me: Everything except Jalapeno. ( I want value for money, you know)
Waitress: What kind of sauce you want? (She again points to an array of sauces on display)
Me: Southwest sauce
Waitress: Anything else?
Me: A little bit of mustard would do.
Waitress: Is that all?
Me: Can you please top it up with some salt and pepper?
Waitress: Is it for here or to go?
Me: To go.
Waitress: Would like to make it as combo with a drink and a cookie or chips ?
Me: No just the sandwich would do.

By now, you are exhausted, right? So am I, at the end of my transaction. Believe me, any misstep along this maze of choices, I would have come out feeling miserable about my investment (!!) in sandwich.

This is just ordering a sandwich. Imagine how much more complex is planning a career move and your probability of liking it.


So, “What do we do? you may ask. Honestly I don’t have an answer other than to reproduce verbatim the conclusion in the blog:

“The best strategy for career planning is this: make your best guess, try it out and don’t be surprised if you don’t like it. But for heaven’s sake don’t mention this in your interviews.”

“Always Collect”, screams one collector card advertisement. “Every time you swipe your card you collect valuable reward points,” says another ad at a gas station. “Make your dream vacation come true sooner with our miles card’ beacons the bill board at the intersection. Then this ‘this week only offer’ from another chain store “Swap your in-store loyalty points with your collector card points or the other”. “Open a new bank account or switch to another for 500 or 1000 points on your collector card,” is an enticing offer from a bank! Never mind you have money in neither.


My wallet is bulging and is heavy not with cash but with umpteen cards that reward my loyalty to this product or that service. Those are in addition to the numerous credit cards in my wallet; to buy on credit, such products and services, just so I can collect some points.

There was a time when I was an avid collector of points, stamps etc to cross out one item off my wish list and to proceed to the next. All that has changed now. While I have not become old enough to preach, “We are not our possessions”, I am getting a little wiser to suggest that the journey is more pleasant if we travel light in our life. Imagine our difficulty in letting go of things we collected in the past when we move our place of dwelling. I should know, for I have moved to a new country nearly 7,800 miles away from my home town.

This blog is an offshoot of what I read in another titled “Shedding Possessions“. Though it is lengthy, it is worthwhile to read it to the end.

Every time I move, I ponder such questions as, “Do I take this with me or leave behind? What if I need it at some later date? Oh, I love this one, can’t I take this with me?, Imagine the difficulty I went through collecting this” and so on. Luckily time and space constraints put an end to our agony. We move on with whatever we think are valuable at that point of time, only to find those to be excess baggage at a later date.

Even so some businesses dangle this ‘1$/month storage for the first 6 months’ offer enticing us to move our stuff to their ‘climate controlled’ storage shelves. Does it make sense to move our excess baggage to some self storage facility 10 miles away from home or perhaps in another city? What are the chances of our needing them if we can keep them that far away?

If I have not convinced you against collecting things as a maniac, I suggest you listen to George Carlin’s stand up comedy on ‘stuff’. I assure you, even if you don’t become a convert, you will have a good time listening to him.

Remember the movie Superbad where Jonah Hill (Seth in the movie) was compromised and captured with the stain on his thigh. Though it was fictional it reminds us that we are under surveillance wherever we go. A camera phone did the damage.

I use my cell phone for one and only purpose: i.e. to make and receive calls, though it has many bells and whistles. To be frank with you, even to this day, I don’t know all the features offered in my two year old cell phone. Just when I thought I am becoming dumb in this techno savvy world, I read this article from Telegraph / UK where it states an over reliance on technology makes our society dumb and dumber.

Though personally it comforts me, I may not agree with its findings. For the simple reason gadget hungry consumers are fast to assimilate information though their critical thinking ability may become a casualty in their pursuit. They look for patterns and differences between their current and new tech toys and are soon at home with their new ones. They can’t be faulted too much. Because today it matters little what you know already, compared to how fast you can learn.

I can expect that you opened your new cell phone package right in the shopping mall where you bought it. Removed the battery, assembled the SIM card & battery while simultaneously telling your friend as to what you are up to with your old cell phone. You can’t wait to get home to put it on charge. While on charge, you try to transfer songs, address book to your new blue tooth enabled device. And you go crazy clicking with your cell phone camera whatever comes into your view.

This blog is just about your last activity. While it empowers you to click on anything you fancy and keep the image for posterity, I think we should use some discretion before doing so. I vividly remember the day I saw the Air France A340 airliner (Flight 358 from Paris) overshooting the runaway at Pearson International Airport because I was driving beside the runway on Highway 401 just at that moment. I remembered many guys getting off their cars, running towards the fence to take a close look at the accident and some furiously taking pictures with their camera enabled cell phones.

May be they want to share their curiosity with their friends and family members or put it on YouTube. While the merit of such actions is debatable, I definitely am not for capturing human misery or misfortune on camera. While it may be fun for us to capture someone in a compromised position in our cell phone camera, it is a permanent embarrassment for the victim on camera.

If we are on the other side of the camera, it may not always be possible to restrain a shutterbug, in capturing us in an embarrassing situation. For we don’t know on whose cross wires we are on at any moment. When in public we should not let our guard down, but act civil at all times. Lest we may find ourselves on YouTube.