Understanding and Practicing Frugality.
Edition #116
Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
The ContraMind Code provides you with a system of principles, signals, and ideas to aid you in your pursuit of excellence.
The newsletter shares the source code through quick snapshots for a systems thinking approach to be the best in what you do.
The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best and enables you to draw a blueprint on what it takes to get extraordinary things done. Please share your valuable thoughts and comments and start a conversation.
Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession to drive peak performance.
My Seven Rules Of Happiness - Scott Young.
In the article, Scott Young, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, and computer programmer, writes about what he has discovered as some of the rules of happiness. Scott writes ‘when we pursue goals like wealth, fitness, status and mastery only to find that achieving them doesn’t really change our lives very much. In contrast, we often deliberately make ourselves miserable: we worry about things we cannot control, hold grudges against people we cannot influence, and spend time on activities we don’t truly value.’
Here are some highlights about happiness from his article that was contrarian, provocative, yet valuable:
Accept things as they are and strive to change them for the better.
Happiness lies more in the pursuit of your goals and achievements not always achieving them.
Be the one who reaches out to find time to meet, congratulate and remember important events and be the one who is thoughtful and kind.
Apologising can smoothen disputes and prevent feuds from festering.
Curate your online consumption so that you are not unwittingly making yourself miserable over the statistical certainty that someone, somewhere, is doing something awful.
The truth is that much of happiness lies in little joys and moments that you can easily overlook if you are not paying attention.
Awful things feel much worse when they’re uncontrollable. In contrast, believing that we have control makes even horrible events bearable. Reminding ourselves of that, is often enough to regain the feeling of control and reduce the feeling of helplessness in facing the things we cannot.
Read the entire article here.
Inside TSMC’s Struggle To Build A Chip Factory In The US Suburbs.
What does it take to build a successful manufacturing unit outside one’s own country? This story in Rest of the World on how Taiwan-based TSMC is struggling to build one in the US provides interesting insights into how there is so much more than just technology transfer and manufacturing prowess that is needed to make this kind of investment successful. It’s a clash of people, cultures and contexts from where each of them come from, which plays an important role.
Here are some points that are worth thinking about on how a deeper understanding of culture and mindset alignment is vital for such an initiative:
Taiwanese TSMC veterans described their American counterparts as lacking the kind of dedication and obedience they believe to be the foundation of their company’s world-leading success.
TSMC’s key to success is an intense, military-style work environment. Engineers work 12-hour days and sometimes weekends, too. Taiwanese commentators joke that the company runs on engineers with “slave mentalities” who “sell their livers”—local slang that underscores the intensity of the work.
It’s an intense and rigorous work culture. Morris Chang mentions, “If a machine breaks down at 1 a.m in the morning, in the U.S., it will be fixed the next morning. But in Taiwan, it will be fixed at 2 a.m.”
A culture of opposites—‘Americans responded better to encouragement rather than criticism’. There is a clash of culture and understanding of the work ethic.
“The Taiwanese create this false sense of urgency with every single task, and they really push ‘you need to finish everything immediately.’ But it’s just not realistic for people that want to have some normal work-life balance.”
“I’d ask my manager, ‘What’s your top priority? ' He’d always say, ‘Everything is a priority,’” said another ex-TSMC engineer. “So, so, so many times, I would work overtime getting stuff done only to find out it wasn’t needed.”
In the U.S., engineers had a plethora of job options that provided competitive pay and abundant personal time.
Taiwanese managers were reminded not to ask employees why they were taking sick leave or ask female job applicants about their plans to have children— illegal yet common questions in Taiwan.
Listen to the podcast here or read the article here.
How Dr.Velumani Built Thyrocare.
In this conversation, Dr.Velumani, Founder of Thryocare in India, speaks about his early childhood days, life principles, business philosophy and what it took to build one of the largest and most successful diagnostics companies. This is a masterclass on how to live your values and still build a great business.
Here are some of the powerful thoughts that he has shared in this conversation:
How he learnt to live in frugality, which acted as a foundational value to anything he pursued in his life - be it work or business. He attributes his success in his early years to the frugality of his mother, the business success to the frugality of his wife and his current life stage success to the frugality of his children!
How poverty forced discipline in his life!
He lived all his life on the Thyrocare campus, and the distance between his bedroom and board room was only 10 meters.
His love for the job made him work 16 hours a day, even though it was a government job. That continued in his entrepreneurial journey when he was building his company.
How he did not allow his ego to affect his decisions and intense focus on doing only what he knew was a secret sauce for his success.
He also talks about what he believes are the fundamental tenets of a successful marriage.
You can watch the entire conversation by clicking the above link.
Understanding and Practicing Frugality.
Many articles, conversations, books, and discussions about professional and entrepreneurial success have focused on practice, resilience, trust, integrity, discipline, etc. However, very few thoughts have been shared on frugality and its value in success.
Frugality is a vital factor when pursuing something that you are passionate about, especially in the face of uncertainty around its success or a lack of clarity about how things will pan out in the future. Frugality is an essential element when you want to chart a path not taken by many. The primary reason is that the results for what you pursue often come over time, and you may need to manage your needs tightly. Therefore, frugality provides necessary mental strength in the face of some unforeseen consequences, thus giving you freedom and flexibility to stay the course.
With frugality, you also learn to operate on a low expense or on a low spend threshold, which helps you make the right decisions rather than become desperate. Similarly, as you move to middle and senior levels at work or as your business grows, when you have a frugal mindset, it allows you the strength to take many risks or look at alternatives as you don’t have any premium lifestyle or personal commitments in the way you lead your life. Also, frugality brings a sense of discipline and a focus on anything you want to pursue. Moreover, you don’t get stuck like other people who earn to pay for commitments that grow with their own growth.
So, how do you practice frugality?
Understand the critical difference between a need and a want. A need is something you cannot live without, while a want is something you can afford to live without and is a little more aspirational. Here’s an example: Food is a need, while an international vacation is a want.
Keep your wants in check. Do not be swayed by shiny objects that tend to distract you, ones that increase your monetary commitments, and act as a barrier to pursuing your ambition or goals.
Live a life where your expenses are far below your earnings. You must understand that earnings may go up and down over the years. That is something you can never control as it follows business cycles, but what you can control is your expenses. Spending money on essential things, irrespective of your earnings growth, is critical.
Before you commit to any expense, analyse it critically to see if you can avoid it at first. Also, consider whether the expense will have a lasting impact on your lifestyle and whether you will be able to pull back if you cannot afford it for any reason.
Don’t spend for status and for how the outside world will see you and your success or achievements. Spend only if you absolutely need it or if it fulfils a critical need for you or your family.
Remember, earnings and expense growth are not correlated. Frugality fuels your ambitions and removes any inhibition that forces you to compromise on them.
Some lessons we learnt from this week’s missions:
Happiness lies more in the pursuit of goals and not in its achievements alone.
Understanding culture and context is critical when you embark on any initiative, especially involving people across geographies.
Poverty forces discipline in life.
Frugality fuels ambition.