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.
Unlearn
by Barry O’Reilly
In the book Unlearn, Barry O’Reilly writes about the importance of not being stuck with past achievements and giving up old habits that don’t work anymore. The need to Unlearn some of the things that you have always done but realise that they don’t work anymore in the current changing business climate is essential. Similarly, Relearn new skills and strategies to adapt to new business situations and apply Breakthrough ideas and processes by purging old habits to achieve extraordinary results.
Approaching Life as a Collection of Journeys
Karthik Sundaram is an Entrepreneur, Investor, and Advisor. He is the President and CEO of Purplepatch Services, a leading B2B Digital Marketing firm based in Silicon Valley.
In this episode, Karthik talks about:
why stepping sideways to move ahead is a key to success
looking at your career as a Journey is essential in every phase
the challenges and benefits of exploring things one does not know
the need to upgrade your skills and constantly be on learning mode all the time
Listen to the entire episode on:
Achieving Peak Performance
by Brian Johnson
In this video, Brian Johnson shares key takeaways from the book Peak on what it takes to be an expert based on the work done by the world-renowned psychologist, Anders Ericsson.
Brian shares very briefly that it is not true that the best performers are gifted as many would like to believe. He says that all of us are gifted, and we can become experts if we follow Purposeful Practice in anything we want to achieve.
Expert or Champion: How can you become one?
As somebody who is pursuing a profession of your choice – like an engineer, or marketer or fund manager, or a creative professional or an architect or a doctor or a lawyer or a finance professional or journalist etc. - why is being the best in what you do a long, arduous effort?
Here’s a perspective for you to think about:
Since IITs’ (Indian Institute of Technology) inception in 1951, in a highly populous country like India, approximately one million IITians may have graduated and joined various work streams across the globe. These are crème-de-la -crème talent with incredible potential. Only a bunch or a handful of a couple of thousands have become experts or champions in the field they may have pursued or dreamt about.
Why is that?
Potential only can take you up to a certain level. However, the discipline of consistently being at the top for over many decades requires a different DNA and work routine/practice, apart from luck which we will ignore for the moment.
Over 1.5 million engineers graduate every year in a country like India. How many of them have become game-changers in their chosen profession? Only a tiny percentage are employable, many are opportunists jumping from one job to another, and only about 3% get high-quality technology jobs. Why is this such a small percentage even though they may have high potential? Being qualified is one thing. Becoming an expert is a different challenge altogether.
Let’s take a different field, like a sport where the challenge is more acute. About 87 million people globally learn tennis, but there are only 1,72,848 active players! Further, there are just about 3873 tennis professionals. Let’s take another sport - Chess. According to FIDE, about 200-300 million globally learn chess, but only 3,60,000 are active players, and there are only 1500 grandmasters!
Being a champion is not easy, and it takes several years of hard practice. Look at what it takes to be a successful tennis professional:
“To have any chance at being a successful professional tennis player, you need to be training 4-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. You need to hit more balls than you ever thought possible until you never think about any of your strokes, and they have become as reflexive as breathing or walking. If you ever think about a single stroke when you are playing a match, you're not there.”
So for you to be a champion or an expert in any chosen path, what is needed is:
Work Ethic – You may have all the potential, like cracking admission to a top institute in the world or landing a top job in a good company, but if you don’t work hard enough after that, it will not help you hit the finish line. It can be a dull work routine at times but doing your best consistently through deliberate or purposeful practice is essential, irrespective of the short-term outcomes that can set you back all the time – financial or professional!
Discipline vs. Non-Competition - Imagine there is no competition, evaluation, or appraisal. Would you still invest in your learning and put in your hard work daily? You cannot rest for a minute and be satisfied. You need to breach your benchmarks constantly.
Ability to psychologically deal with Good and Bad outcomes – Not all outcomes will go your way despite your punishing schedule and routine. It is critical to be psychologically strong to handle it and bounce back.
Think of your career as a marathon and not a sprint – Don’t worry about the firm you work for or the work that has come your way but critically examine whether that will help you achieve your dream in the long term. Don’t keep worrying and measuring the value you are getting back from your contribution. Contribution and value accretion has a lag effect for sure.
It takes years of deliberate or purposeful practice to become an expert, and don’t measure your career in months or a year but take a longer view. You can take an opportunistic view for professional growth or financial reasons. Still, success and growth will be short-lived if any such move does not significantly add value to your competency muscle.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
Unlearning and relearning are essential for personal growth and development
Sometimes it is good to step sideways to move ahead
Deliberate and purpose practice is key to building your expertise and driving peak performance.