Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Other people, other groups, other organizations, other countries seem to do it <replace with the topic of your choice> effortlessly. They’re better. They’re having more fun. Those are feelings all of us experience.   Morgan Housel argues that it almost certainly isn’t true. Ask yourself if what you are seeing is the complete picture about that entity. Chances are that it isn’t. “There’s a filter. Skills are advertised, flaws are hidden. ” Even seemingly coherent teams aren’t that way, if only you could pull back the curtain: “All the messy personalities and difficult decisions that you only see when you’re inside, in the trenches. ” And no, others aren’t having a better life than you all the time: “Instagram is full of beach vacation photos, not flight delay photos.”   There’s even a saying about this: “The grass is always greener on the side that’s fertilized with bullshit.”   Occasionally, we do get to learn of the cracks behind the perfe...

There’s always been so much hype around those college dropouts who go on to become billionaires: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, the list in the field of technology is endless. Well, ok, it only happens in America, but still… I thought that the reason for this was the following: a guy without a degree can’t get a regular job. That would force him to take a chance on building his own company. And among the many, many such attempts, a microscopic few would become mega-successful. And famous. And (mis)quoted and twisted out of shape to state that the way to riches is to drop out of college! I still think I am right in my reasoning. But after reading these lines in the article, “The No. 1 Enemy of Creativity: Fear of Failure”, I think there is another reason as well: “…if your internalized view of failure is anything that is not perfect, then you are disempowering yourself from exercising your inherent creativity. You're certainly not the only one shackled by t...