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.
Cricketer R Ashwin Interview: On Being His Own First Critic, On Setbacks, His Regrets, Discovering A New Himself
In this no-holds-barred interview in The Indian Express, this chat by ICC World No.1 Test Bowler R Ashwin has many learnings on life, leadership, mental tenacity, resilience, what it takes to get to the top and the challenges of achieving excellence and staying at the top.
Here are some critical takeouts from this chat:
Not bothering about what others think: ‘I think I’m not at the stage of my career to think what others are thinking of me. I know what I am capable of. If I’m not good at something, I’ll be my first best critic. And I will work on it, and I’m not someone who will sit on my laurels. I’ve never been made that way. So to think of who’s judging me is immaterial.’
Learning how to handle setbacks: ‘I think you should be knocked down once in a while along your life so that you are used to it and will know how to bounce back. That’s what life is. Whether or not you are at your peak, it is still a setback. The fact that you need to learn how to deal with it is very important.’
Being prepared for the worst: ‘The only reason for my improvement or where I stand and how I play my cricket right now is that I had accepted that I would get only two test matches -The day I wore the Indian colours, I knew I’d get only two. So I was prepared for it.’
Learning to let go, improving skills and focusing on the journey: ‘I figured I needed to work on my intra-personal skills. It wasn’t the greatest, but I had to go through that journey to understand it because how intense I am as a cricketer is not necessarily somebody else’s journey.’
Accepting to compete and collaborate: ‘This is an era where everybody is a colleague. Once upon a time, when cricket was played, all your teammates were friends. Now, they’re colleagues. There’s a big difference because here, people are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left. So nobody’s got the time to say, ‘Okay, boss, what are you up to’?’
Read the entire article here.
The Rise Of The Exponential Organisation
Peter Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions, and Salim Ismail, is a renowned technology entrepreneur who built and sold his company to Google. They are also co-authors of Exponential Organizations.
In this a16z Podcast, Peter and Salim talk about how companies today grapple with a few things: an economic downturn, potential layoffs and restructuring, and trying to keep up with the latest tech trends… all while still maintaining a growth trajectory. Both of them identify attributes that make exponential organisations and which companies are uniquely designed to weather this storm.
Here is a summary of top-level takeaways from this conversation:
An exponential organisation(ExO) is a company delivering 10x cheaper and faster than its non-ExO peers.
These are companies rapidly scaling revenue but not rapidly scaling headcount. These are tiny teams with outsized impact or outcomes or returns.
We live in a new world where technologies costing tens of millions of dollars, available only to large companies, are completely demonetised and democratised. You can build a company on the back of some common shared infrastructure and interoperable ecosystems leading to the creation of new companies that are disruptive and innovative.
The exponential companies find a way of dropping their cost of supply exponentially, have a meagre cost of acquisition, and then the demand is fulfilled by staff-on-demand, which is quite incredible and has never happened in the history of business.
If you are a large, established organisation and want to become an ExO, it is virtually impossible to do this, as you cannot retrofit your existing organisation to any new business model, and perforce, you need to build this outside your current company.
Listen to this and more at:
Is Your Diet Killing You?
Jordan Bernt Peterson is a Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator. He began to receive widespread attention on the internet and social media in September 2016 for his lectures regarding social conservatism on cultural and political issues.
In this conversation for Daily Wire, Jordan talks to Dr.Peter Attia, a Stanford/Johns Hopkins/NIH-trained physician focusing on the applied science of longevity, the extension of human life, and well-being.
This brilliant conversation is first a master class in storytelling and how to interview people who are experts in their field and bring out their knowledge for public good.
Here are some key ideas that are covered in this conversation:
The importance of having a ‘why’ purpose in your life which is crucial to longevity.
To get on top of your health span, you need to follow a three-pronged approach - sufficient exercise, an appropriate diet, and the development of a comprehensive account of a vision for your life!
The conversation also beautifully captures some vital first steps you can take if you have never exercised, how you can take control of your diet by being mindful and observant of the ‘instant gratification’ instincts you are subjected to and the importance of taking care of your emotional health through structured interventions.
Jordan and Dr.Attia break myths of some exercising and dieting beliefs that are widely held or prescribed.
Finally, the idea of the “Marginal Decade’ is an excellent thought - Think about what an extra decade can throw open to you in terms of your relationships if you have a clear sense of why and what you would like to accomplish.
Just click the above video, and you can watch the conversation.
How to Collaborate As You Compete
This is a significant challenge and irony most of us face at work and as professionals in any industry or business. It’s like what World No. 1 Test Cricketer R. Ashwin mentions - ‘Today, my teammates are my colleagues too. People are there to advance themselves and to stride ahead of another person sitting to your right or left.’
What can you do when you know only 11 players can be picked up in the final squad? A player can’t control much of that outcome. A player can only control what they can control. But, if they get selected for the team, they always compete for their place as somebody constantly knocks for their place from inside or outside! But to win, they need to collaborate with others to win the game! It is an irony that these players have to come to terms with.
So, too is the case for you at the workplace or as a leader or a professional in your industry or business. It requires excellent mental skill and strength to create compartments in your head and mind to be unemotional about these situations but continue to perform at your best by collaborating with your colleagues. On the other hand, as you collaborate to win a deal, manage a client delivery, or build a product, you may need to beat them to the finish line in some cases or work to stay ahead to ensure the company sees you as a future potential performer or leader or prospect.
You must constantly redraw your finish line to get past others first and stay ahead for a long time. You can do this only by doing the following:
Taking a leaf out of Jordan’s and Dr. Peter Attia’s thoughts - you have to build a sense of a ‘why’ purpose, which keeps you in play. If you don’t have a sense of a ‘why’ purpose and a focus on what you want to accomplish, you soon run out of steam and energy - looking at early failures, setbacks and due to naysayers who are around you.
The second one is you need to beat them thro’ longevity - by not just ‘playing’ the game in your field but ‘staying’ in your field for a long time - more than your colleagues. To do this, you need to reassess your skills continuously, keep improving on your weaknesses, learn to work on your strengths further, know your colleagues’ strengths and weaknesses and constantly try to be better than them etc. It’s like the daily exercise routine that Jordan and Dr.Peter Attia talk about. You have to hit your ‘skill gym’ every day.
However, you can’t win alone. So, the need to collaborate with others as you compete with them and be aware that their strengths will complement yours and vice-versa. This requires a deep self-awareness of when to ‘jump in’, ‘seek out’ and ‘stay back’ with the people in your team you're working with, knowing when to deploy these three behaviours. When you instinctively know the other person(s) in your team is not the best at the problem they are handling, you need to ‘jump in’ to get the job done and not take the credit. When you know that the same person(s) is good at the problem they are handling, then you need to ‘stay back’ and allow them to steal the limelight. However, when you know you are in deep trouble because you are not good at the problem you are handling, you should not be embarrassed to ‘seek out’ help from the other person(s).
By doing so, you become aware of where you need to keep getting better, know how to get better at them by closely observing how they do it and have a chance to work on them. And finally, when you hit the finish line, you need to remember you will still have a team around you to accomplish your goals who will be ready to back you and compensate for your weakness. At this time, only your work routines, discipline, past respect and empathy for others will take you to the finish line in your career or life journey.
Remember, you cannot only compete and win all the time. You may win in the short-term, like the concept of ‘instant gratification’ of having food that can satisfy you at that moment. But, it cannot be sustained. But to win over the long term, you need to combine the power of your ‘why’ purpose with a collaborate but compete plan.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
Be your best critic to become the best at what you do.
Future companies will leverage interoperable ecosystems and deliver outsized impact and outcomes with the help of small teams. They are the exponential companies of the future.
The key to your longevity is developing a comprehensive account of a vision for your life and having sufficient exercise and an appropriate diet.