First post of 2012!

I've been remiss. I really meant to be more regular on this blog but life kept me soooo busy that I kept putting off updates till I got time to catch my breath. (Which BTW is yet to happen - i.e. catching my breath.)
But I started using Twitter today to tweet about the UCLA-TED talks going on at school and I suddenly remembered that I should probably pay attention to this forum as well. So before I get into details about the TED talks, let me just quickly update you on the MBA stuff I've been upto since my last post.

- Participated in a Global Innovation Challenge and my team got selected in the top 5 out of 60 global MBA teams! It was a 2 week process and although we didn't win the final round,it was a challenging and fun experience. I learnt a lot about electric vehicles in the process.

- Participated in the Deloitte Case Competition at UCLA which was quite disastrous from my perspective. To start with, the topic was the beer industry of which I know nothing. I'm a wine girl. Also, we had only 24 hours to analyze the case, put together the slides, and practice our presentation. We didn't really pull that off well.

- Participated in the Net Impact Consulting Challenge at UCLA. We consulted for this wonderful nonprofit called Bookends which aims to collect and provide books to underprivileged kids. It is a cause close to my heart since I remember being poor and unable to afford books as a child in India. The Bookends team was a pleasure to work with and they loved our proposal so the engagement was a success.

- Got selected to go to Brazil next quarter whoo hoo! I'm already taking Thursday evening + Sat morning classes this quarter and with the Brazil prep classes being held on Friday evenings, I'm spending a lot of time going back and forth SD-LA. I'd say it's worth it. This is the kind of stuff we are learning and talking about.

- I'm taking a business plan development class this quarter and my team is developing a plan for a digital comic book business. It is very challenging because none of us know much about the comic industry but it's also a lot of fun and I can chat up comic geeks easily now!

- Finally, on a somewhat MBA related note, my fitness has taken a nosedive lately. I've resolved to set that straight. So, along with regular blog posts, imma hit the gym more often too. Good luck to me.

Reflection

One year of MBA got done on June 11th. Time sure does fly when you're having fun. Now I'm on a four week break from school and I'm trying to catch up with regular life. Giving my all to work projects, making those long pending phone calls and visits and getting other major essentials (like my US visa) out of the way. In fact I'm working from Mexico over the next few days while waiting for my visa interview at the US consulate here.

I attended a leadership class at my workplace a couple weeks back where the coaches stressed the importance of reflection at the end of each day. I thought it was an excellent suggestion, and made a mental note to practice it, in order to improve efficiency/productivity etc. Of course I never got started. There was always the next activity to plan, the email to respond to, the dinner to attend, the movie to watch. Why would I spend precious minutes thinking back about what I did well or badly during my day? But now, stuck in a hotel room with spotty Wi-Fi, Spanish language TV channels, and the inability to make local phone calls, I feel compelled to reflect. Not only on my day, but on the past year.

One year of the FEMBA program. What had I hoped for and what have I gained so far? How has it affected my personal life and my day job? Would I recommend this to others?

I can confidently claim that I’ve gained a diverse (yet like-minded) set of friends, broader life perspective, and confidence in my driving skills. And I've been having loads of fun in the process. The FEMBA experience can definitely be a drain on one’s personal and work life, but it can be managed. I would recommend this program to anyone who is simply seeking new experiences and is happy to learn new things just out of interest.

But is this program helping my current job or career prospects? Am I progressing towards some goal while learning, making friends and having fun? Has it helped me chart out my future in some way? Is there something else I should be doing simultaneously?

I don’t have all these answers yet. My reflection so far has mainly yielded questions, but I guess it’s a good start. After all I have a few more days in Mexico to figure my life out ;)

Mixed feelings

This quarter is weird. I have two  core courses each of 2 credits and one 4-credit elective. The core courses are Marketing for the first 5 weeks and then Financial Markets for the next 5 weeks.

A different professor is teaching the marketing class each week and in the 5th week we'll be tested on all of them. Kinda silly if you ask me 'coz there's no continuity at all. Granted, this course is just an introduction to marketing, but I think I'd rather have the same professor and have a method to the teaching. Also, there's very little reading for the classes. I like this subject so I'd like to read more. Only if it's interesting of course. We had some readings about Disney (something about associating pictures with happy memories) which put me to sleep but another about brand management that was pretty cool. The professor who taught the brand class was great. He had excellent examples, engaged the class in discussion and showed us some awesome videos. I wish he taught us all the marketing classes. Here's my favorite video from that lecture:

My other class is the 4-credit elective on international business negotiations. I don't know what I feel about it. The professor is funny, keeps us engaged, and the reading is interesting (when we bother to read them) but the negotiation exercises are..um weird. This week I'm the President of a Munich based company that wants to cut costs by moving all R&D employees to the manufacturing location at a not-so-hot place. My executive team (study group) and I are negotiating with the R&D scientists (other classmates) via EMAIL all week. Umm okay. We'll see how that works out.

After statistics, economics and accounting this quarter seems like a lot of fluff. I have no idea why I'm complaining - I should be celebrating the lighter workload. But somehow it feels like less bang for the buck.

Spring break!

I just want to say that I'm absolutely loving my "spring break". I got exactly one free weekend between the 2nd and 3rd quarter. So I did workouts, beach brunches, dinners, girls' day, shopping, reading, movies, and even a bachelorette party - all in one weekend! Just a year ago, every weekend was like this...and now it happens once in 3 months. Oh well, just makes me cherish it more.

Topped off the weekend by receiving surprisingly good grades on the accounting finals. Apparently, the professor graded on effort. Which seems fair to me (ahem), because I really agonized over the cash flow statement even if I did end up thousands of $s off the mark!

Third quarter begins this coming weekend. Marketing Management and International Business Negotiations. A lot of us will sorely miss our economics class (for obvious-to-us reasons) but I'm actually looking forward to the next quarter - the classes as well as the extra-curricular events being planned. 

The secret FEMBA

I can't imagine what it must be like to do this program in secret. There are quite a few people who don't want their superiors to know about their MBA pursuit . The need for secrecy is understandable since most people go for the MBA only if they are looking to change their careers. But how anyone could maintain the secret is beyond me. How can you attend weekly classes , do daily homework, study for exams, attend events, and not breathe a word about any of it at the workplace for THREE years?!

I'm very fortunate that my team supports my education (since it ties in to my day job). Of course, I'm very careful about not letting the MBA workload get in the way of my productivity and hours put in at work. Regardless, it's nice to be able to ask my colleagues to explain financial concepts, or occasionally whine about missing my free weekends, or getting permission to leave a couple hours early the day before an exam.

Mamma taught me to be grateful for such small mercies. So I definitely shouldn't complain about the economics and accounting exams that I'm going to be taking back to back tomorrow. Right? Right.

Split or Steal?

We studied game theory in our microeconomics class today. Game theory relates to decision making in the face of uncertain action of your competitor. As part of the lesson, we were shown the following clip from a game show.
Here's the gist - there is a total payoff of around 100 grand. If both players choose the "split" option, they each walk away with 50 grand. If one chooses "split" but the other chooses "steal" then the latter walks away with all the money. If both choose "steal", neither gets anything.

Before we watched the last bit of the clip (which shows the outcome), our professor asked us what we would have done if we had been in either player's shoes. Over 70% of the class voted that they would "steal". 

What would you have chosen?

More than the outcome of the show (which was shocking, even though game theory teaches us to expect it), I was surprised at the class votes. From what they told me, most of them chose to "steal" not out of greed, but because they mistrusted the other party.

I voted to split. Because I believe that if I ever pull a "steal" over anyone in such a situation, I will not only lose credibility, but also my own ability to trust other people. And both of those are equally and deeply important to me, in business as well as personal matters.

A leap of faith

I recently blogged about my wish to set out on adventure trips with fellow Fembas. Today, thanks to an enterprising classmate, I got the ball rolling on fulfilling that wish. A handful of us went tandem skydiving and it was simply fantastic!
I guess the universe really does conspire to help you get something that you really desire. :) (The Alchemist) .


Recap of my experience and tips for potential first-time skydivers:

- You are harnessed to an experienced instructor so it's very safe . I kept worrying that I would hang on to the plane and refuse to jump, but really I had no choice. I was literally thrown out of the plane.

- It helps that you're not given time to think about it. You get inside the tiny plane, don't get to look out much, and you're kicked out within seconds of taking position at the door. I'm pretty sure if I was given time to take a deep breath before jumping, I'd have just stayed there taking deep breaths.

- Even when it's 75 degrees on the ground, it's collld at 12500 ft. so dress accordingly.

- Falling freely from that height clears your head like nothing else. Believe me.

- After around 45 seconds of free-fall, the instructor (or you) pulls open the parachute. This is the slightly painful part - you get uncomfortably pinched in the privates, but just for a bit. You then float around for 5 minutes or so admiring the views, contemplating life, mentally congratulating yourself, or simply wondering where to get lunch.

- Speaking of food...we were afraid to eat anything before going up in case we, uh, projectile vomit on the way down. It was a good call, because some people got nauseous after a few twists. The rest of us were simply ravenous by the time we were done.

- Skydiving is an excellent team event. I just wish we had all fit in one aircraft, although we did get to spend a ton of time together before and after the dive itself.

- Do get the pictures and video of your first jump. Worth the extra money. :) It is especially cool when you have a dedicated photographer filming you as all three of you (you, instructor, photographer) are plunging down at 120mph.

My instructor and I, as we exited the aircraft from 12,500 ft above ground.
That exact instant was the scariest part of the entire fall.

It's funny how until a few days back, skydiving wasn't even on my bucket list. Since I've always been slightly afraid of heights, I was pretty sure nothing would induce me to jump from an airplane. But something changed last week when after a very hectic work+school week, I suddenly felt an overwhelming need for an adrenaline fix. The rest, as they say, is history. ;)

Go jump out of a plane soon! It is thrilling, frightening, calming, humbling, and ridiculously fun - all at once. :)

Inspiration

I'd love to participate in and report something like this in the next few years. The adventure, the whole strangers- turning- into- friends thing, the unique way to ring in the new year, and the feat itself....just my cup of tea :). Gotta start rounding up like-minded FEMBAs. 

Mid-terms done, can I please sleep now?

Last week was ridiculous. Economics group assignment, a very confusing accounting group assignment and the econ mid-term to prepare for. Between work and all of that, none of us got much sleep. Hence, I decided to treat myself and planned on staying in bed all Sunday.
But naah, I couldn't stay indoors. The weather was simply perfect, and I was in a terrific mood so I took out my long-neglected bike for a beach ride at sunset.

Best. decision. ever.

Here's the proof.

Asleep in Accounting

This quarter, my section has Economics on Saturday mornings and Accounting in the afternoon. Unsurprisingly, half the class is either yawning or Facebook-ing during the afternoon class. Two weeks ago, one of my hapless classmates actually dozed off on the very front row. Fortunately, someone noticed and took a picture of him for Facebook archives. The comments on that pic are absolutely hilarious with the likes of ‎"Come to Anderson. Where dreams are realized" and "Don't worry, I'm sure the professor didn't notice" and "It's obvious you're visualizing a sophisticated accounting maneuver -- I do the exact same thing. It's called talent."


And then the following week, we had a substitute professor who changed the status quo.
First, he walked in wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He then proceeded to drop the F-word multiple times while talking taxes and called a lot of other things suckers. Mid-way through the lecture he realized that the class was being recorded, so he attempted to censor his language but barely succeeded. And then he took a call from his wife explaining that the last time he didn't take her call she called the police. None of us were sure whether we found him terrifying or amusing. He was knowledgeable no doubt, but I think I missed a lot of information while laughing at his antics. Suffice to say, nobody slept in that one accounting class!

My first business case competition - Part 3

I completely forgot to complete my thesis on this topic. Life's been incredibly happening! 

So our presentation on Saturday morning went well and we got kudos for our presentation skills. But we didn't exactly defend our proposed strategy as well as we should have, so we didn't win.

Here are my final thoughts and take-aways from the competition.


1. Even though we didn't win, I found it completely worth my time and money to do this.
2. I learnt a lot from listening to the judges' comprehensive feedback to all the teams.
3. I realized that while you cannot do any specific preparations for such a competition, it helps if team members have specific individual strengths. For instance, the winning team comprised of one marketing person, one finance and two with consulting focus.
4. Given the time crunch, our team struggled with the breakdown of tasks. We had carefully allocated time for each activity - brainstorm, research, survey, power point, and practice, but we had a hard time attacking different aspects of the case individually. From talking to the other teams, I found that there's no one right way to do it. The team that won the second prize did everything together, whereas the winning team split tasks according to their strengths.
5. I'd heard from other B-school friends that it's best to go with one or two unique ideas/suggestions when presenting the final analysis. However, we observed that the winning teams all had every single simple and obvious suggestion out there as well. Perhaps it's better to err on the side of caution?
6. Social networks rock. My love-hate affair with Facebook tipped over to the love side when the survey we posted for our analysis got 200+ responses in under 6 hours.
7. Participating in such a competition is a good way to figure out if you're cut out for a consulting career. The flying, the time spent at airports, time-zone hops, talking and relating to strangers, working in an unfamiliar environment....if all that excites you, you know you'd enjoy being a consultant.


Other random notes:
- I anticipated the snow in Indiana but did not realize just how cold it could be. Must remember to pack more smartly in the future.
- I need to carry Starbucks Via packets with me at all times. Yes, I have a caffeine addiction.
- It was great to get coffee at Dunkin Donuts on the way back to the airport. I don't understand why we don't have the chain in California.
- Loved Indianapolis airport. But then I usually like airports. I just wish there was more vegetarian food available.
- People in Indiana seem super friendly. The car rental people, the bartender at the airport restaurant, and even the TSA staff - they all guessed that we were down there for the business school competition and were incredibly warm and cheerful. Quite a contrast to the weather there.


Ironically, that last sentence applies to southern Californians as well! :)

My first business case competition - Part 2

Thursday:
All the teams drove or flew down and checked in around 6pm. We were then taken to a nice reception dinner by Kelley volunteers where we got to interact with all the other teams. It was a delicious meal and a fun time was had by all, with everyone being friendly and forthcoming.
Note to self: Do not dress in a skirt when you have to walk 10 mins between hotel and restaurant in 3 degree weather.

Friday:
At 8am on Friday morning (that's 5am west coast time!) we were given the real-life case that we had to analyze. Here's the crux of it.

Sam owns three not-for-profit fair-trade stores in Indiana. His goods are the creations of artisans from developing countries like Bangladesh, Chile, Zambia, etc. He currently buys 95% of his goods from wholesalers who purchase the items directly from artisan co-ops. The wholesalers charge a 100% markup on the goods because they have to account for shipping, custom duties, inventory storage etc. Sam makes just 3-4% profit when he sells the goods from his store.

Sam is now thinking about getting up to 20% of his product base directly from artisan co-ops, in an effort to reduce his COGS (cost of goods sold) and build better relationships with the artisan community. Some of the questions he has are:
1. Will the savings in COGS cover the shipping and other costs that he would incur?
2. Since artisans have to be paid 50% of the price when the order is placed and 50% after delivery, how will this affect his cash flow?
3. Most of Sam's store sales happen in the holiday season from Oct-Dec. Buying directly from artisans means a lead-time of 6-7 months. Will he be able to place his orders that much in advance, and how will he store the inventory in the meantime?
4. How would his relationship with the wholesalers (who would still be providing 80% of the products) be affected if he went the direct route?

These were just some of the many considerations we had to keep in mind while coming up with a strategy for Sam. We were taken on a quick field-trip to one of the stores to get a feel for the products, and talk to the store manager and volunteers at the store.

We then had until midnight to brainstorm, conduct research, analyse the financials and put together our slides.Meals were provided but sadly there was no coffee after 9am! It was stressful and a lot of work for one day, and particularly hard without caffeine, but all the teams pulled through. I personally found the case very interesting so that helped. Slides were submitted by midnight, teams practiced their presentation for a while after that and it was around 2am when we went to sleep, ready to present at 8am the following day.

My first business case competition - Part 1

Earlier this month, I was asked by some 2nd year FEMBAs if I wanted to join their team for the Kelley Women's Business Case Invitational. It was a unique women-only event at Indiana University, aimed at encouraging more women towards business, specifically consulting. I jumped at the opportunity since I figured this would be a good way to find out if this is something that I'd be interested in pursuing in the future. (And also because I'll try anything once.)

What is a business case competition and how is it different from a business plan competition?

A business plan competition is one where teams come up with a proposal for a future business and compete to win funding for the proposed venture. On the other hand, in a case competition, teams are provided with details about an existing business and asked to come up with solutions for problems or strategies for growth, profitability, etc. Business plan winners will likely go on to become entrepreneurs, business case winners have the makings of successful management consultants.

A business case competition is typically a couple of weeks or more long because the case is sent to the teams those many weeks in advance. The teams would then analyse, research, put together a PowerPoint presentation by the due date, and then present their analysis on the final day. As you can imagine, full-time MBA students will have a vast advantage in this regard given the additional time and resources they can get their hands on in that much time.

The Kelley competition was different in that we were asked to check in on Thursday, handed the case on Friday morning, asked to submit our slides by midnight and present the case on Saturday morning. Since each team was equally time-constrained, I figured we were on even ground competing with the other teams who were all full-time MBA students.

In the interest of not boring you, I'll be writing down my experience in installments. How we fared and what I learned will be posted in Parts 2 and 3.

Indiana University

We left the 75 degree weather in SoCal and landed in 3 degree weather. This is how the university looked when we got there. Quite pretty, although this pic makes it look ominous..

Advice from a 1/12th ripe FEMBA

I didn't do much research before I applied to the UCLA FEMBA program. It was only after I received the admit that I got in touch with a few seniors. Here are the top bits of advice I received from them and my views one quarter later.

The more you like your day job, the harder FEMBA will be.
Very true. I tried to balance my time between work and studies, but found myself giving work first priority on most occasions. I was told by seniors that I shouldn't expect to get straight As and be a stellar performer at work over the next three years. I'd love to bust that myth but it's going to be daunting.

The 1st quarter is fairly easy for those with a quantitative background.
I have to agree and disagree. I have an engineering degree so I didn't find stats as challenging as other majors did.  However, the sheer amount of homework assigned and the struggle to get settled into the new routine made the first quarter pretty darn hard.

If you don't know which clubs you are interested in, join them all. Measure the membership costs relative to the $$$ you're paying for your degree.
I heeded this advice towards the end of the quarter and signed up for the Entrepreneurs Association and Marketing Association. I don't know yet if I want to pursue either track, but the topics interest me and I'd like to network with people in those fields. There are many other clubs I'm interested in but I don't want to add to my confusion right now.

The Leadership Foundations week is the high point of FEMBA life. Be prepared for a downhill ride from there on.
Not sure I agree. :) So far I'm still riding the fun wave, so fingers crossed!

Other things I observed :
- How much effort you put into a course affects your classmates because you contribute to the discussions and overall quality of learning.
- Most people in the program aren't a 100% sure about what they want to do with their MBA degree and that's OK.
- It's hard to get much networking done if you're only on campus on Saturdays but it's not impossible. There are always happy hours to attend after class and other trips organized fairly often.

and finally,

- There is a fine line between social networking and networking for professional purposes. I think I'll make that a whole new post.

Mammoth Moments

I feel like I just went through a US undergrad experience.Yes, my weekend in Mammoth with the FEMBA class was EPIC. (I hate how overused that word is, but trust me, this time there's no better word for it.) 6 villas, 60+ attendees, and memories to last a lifetime.

FRIDAY:

The weekend started on an ominous note, with flights to Mammoth being cancelled due to heavy snow and blizzard conditions. But that didn't faze anyone. The affected folks just rented cars at the last minute and drove up/down. That kind of commitment to fun set the mood for the entire weekend.

SATURDAY:
The morning was spent on the slopes. It snowed all day and there was a ton of powder which actually wasn't such a blessing. Snowboarding and skiing were both kinda painful. But I'm glad we all went because on Sunday the conditions were so bad that the mountain was inaccessible.

Saturday night we had a group dinner outing followed by a huge party hosted by Santa's Workshop. What is Santa's Workshop you ask?

Well, Santa's Workshop was the awesome villa which I and a couple other 2013s shared with a bunch of 2011 FEMBAs. Among other things, we had Christmas lights, stockings with our names on them, mistletoe,and hand-made ice luges! Yes, the enterprising guys actually designed and carved multiple ice luges. I've never been more impressed with party preparations. To complete the picture, our crew even dressed in Santa and Elf outfits while greeting the rest of the FEMBAs to our abode. Without getting into too many details, let me assure you the party was a grand success.

SUNDAY:
We woke up to a completely white world outside. We had received some 18in of snow overnight and it was still snowing so we had to stay in. But if we couldn't go to the mountain, the mountain had to come to us, right? So that's exactly what we did. The guys built a sled run outside our villa and we rode plastic sleds down it. It was AMAZING and totally worth the soreness experienced the next day. The rest of the day was spent in the hot tub and sauna, cooking Mexican dinner, playing Taboo, building a snowman, and more partying. In my more inspired moment, I attempted to bake cookies and ended up making one giant cookie because the batter expanded in the oven.

MONDAY:
We all braved the snow, the slippery roads and falling trees and drove back to our respective homes. Mammoth received the heaviest snowfall in 40 years this past weekend and southern California received the heaviest rainfall in a long time. And despite that, I hear one of the vans drove back in the rain with only one barely-functioning windshield wiper, held on by a shoelace! I need to get the details on that story. Between the ice-luges and this, I must say we MBAs are really creative!

This trip was easily the most intense and funnest networking event one can attend. I could get used to such getaways after every quarter end. A huge applause and thanks to our classmates who took the effort to set this up! 

1 down, 11 to go!

A bunch of new friends, a ton of newly acquired knowledge, few gray hairs, some extra pounds, and a boot-camp of final exams later, I'm done with my 1st quarter of MBA! I now have 3 glorious weekends off until winter classes begin! Yay!

All in all, the past three months weren't as bad as I imagined. Sure, it was really hard giving up Saturdays and balancing work with studies, but the excitement of doing something new and meeting new people really made up for it.

However, yesterday was brutal. 7 hours of exams! I had the stats paper first, followed by a break and then the OB paper. By 4pm, with an hour to go, I was already ready to walk off from the OB paper - I was that tired. To make matters worse, all our laptops heated up the classroom and it was starting to feel like a sauna in there. On the bright side, it only made us appreciate the subsequent happy hour celebrations more!

Now that life will momentarily return to a semblance of normalcy, I look forward to getting back to all the activities and loved ones that I've been neglecting. The holiday season feels extra special this year. :)

 Happy Holidays everyone!

Oh, Saturday!

Yesterday, thanks to the Thanksgiving weekend and no MBA classes, I took my road bike out for the first time in months. It was a glorious day, perfect for a long ride along the beaches. 

The  view along my biking route.

Of all the things people sacrifice for FEMBA, being stuck indoors all day, every Saturday, is the most painful. Especially for an outdoorsy person like myself who used to bike/hike/run outside on weekends. 

That's why I plan to make the most of the few class-free Saturdays we'll be getting between quarters. Ski trip, see you soon!

Defining Nothing

Last week:
Q: What are you doing over the Thanksgiving break?
Me: Absolutely nothing and really looking forward to it! I desperately need a lazy weekend to rest up.

Since yesterday:
Person A: You're coming to XYZ's place for the Thanksgiving dinner, right?
Me: Oh yes, I even promised to cook a traditional dish for the occasion.

Person B: We're on for long bike rides, yes?
Me: Absolutely. At least twice over the 4 days.

Person C: I'm hosting a movie night at my place, you in?
Me: Sure!

Girl friends: We totally need to shop on Black Friday.
Me: Of course! I have a long list of stores to visit and things to buy.

Mom: So are you still planning on turning out your closets and cleaning the house?

Me: Yea Ma, I can't push it out any further.

Atlas Shrugged/Under the Tuscan Sun/Liar's Poker: Dude, you gotta finish reading us.
Me: I fully intend to over the weekend!

Final exam: I'm right around the corner! Don't you need to study?
Me: Er, yes yes. I plan to catch up with stats over the break.

And that's how I'm doing "nothing" over the upcoming long weekend. I hope you guys do a better job of sticking to your original plans! Happy Thanksgiving!

All or nothing

Last week, from Sunday to Sunday I read 4 papers for OB, studied for and submitted 1 stats quiz, attended classes in LA, had a study group discussion for a case, finished a project at work, had brainstorming sessions for new projects and even wrote a couple of blog posts.

Additionally, I attended:
2 birthday parties (Clubbing downtown after a long day of classes? Sign me up!)
3 baby events (Naming ceremony, first meeting, baby shower)
1 movie (The Social Network)
3 boot camp workouts (SO painful but SO rewarding)
and an all day outing at Disneyland. (My first time ever and it was AWESOME! Especially because our classmates who were Disney employees or regulars knew all the best things to do in the right order and gave us the personal tour experience. Thanks guys!)

Till Sunday night, I was a bundle of energy.

Since Sunday night I have done:

Exactly nothing.

Work has been slow past couple days. I haven't worked out. I have a ton of regression to study, but I've simply been unable to get started with it. I even decided not to attend a friend's dinner tonight to catch up on studying and yet here I am writing this post instead. And if the past few days are any indication, I'm going to start yawning by 9pm. I don't know what's causing this inertia and lack of drive. My energy just seems to have fizzled out. Maybe I thrive on a busy schedule and if I pushed myself to attend events, I'd focus more on my studies because I'd be putting in concentrated effort? Or maybe I just did too much last week and now my brain and body are asking me to slow down?

Whatever the reason, I don't like this yo-yo-ing of my productivity levels, this all-or-nothing lifestyle. I think I'll just go run for a bit now and then attempt regression analysis again. Hopefully, I will be able to end the week on a better note.


p.s.: On second thought, I did write the first draft for the OB case and attend one boot camp and bake bread. Perhaps I'm just being too harsh on myself..? 

Thoughts on Success

I watched The Social Network with a few friends today. There was some post-movie discussion about the authenticity of the storyline and individual perceptions of Facebook's use and abuse, but my thoughts kept going back to Zuckerberg's story. Idea -> implementation -> profit - > fame -> lawsuits. All before he's 26. Success!

When I was younger I thought success would mean having my picture on the front page of the daily newspaper. (For something commendable, not for robbing a bank or such.) Today, thanks to the internet, anybody and everybody can make it to the news for any ridiculous reason. Just hit refresh on CNN.com for proof. Andy Warhol recently updated his prediction about everyone being famous for 15 minutes in the future. He now says, "In 15 minutes, everybody will be famous." My point being, I no longer consider making it to the daily news prestigious or desirable or a yardstick to measure success.

When I mentioned the above to my friend, he nodded and said, "Sure, because news is cheap." He's right. But you know what's not cheap and way more enduring? Harvard Business School case studies. My new definition for professional success is now to become the subject of an HBS case study for efficiency/ innovation/ leadership/ best practices. Like Southwest Airlines or even Cirque du Soleil. To create a product, or service, or implement organizational practices that changes the way something is done for the better. And to get stinking rich in the process of course. Oh, and maybe even have a movie made about it? :P