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Tag: growth mindset

when you’re ready for fishing

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Heard it many times. Seems like a valid point of view right?

That is if the man is ready to fish or wants to learn how to fish, then it becomes an empowering journey. Without the awareness that fishing is important or is an important lifelong skill to learn, it won’t take people closer to their goals and vision. You won’t go too far with a person who just wants a fish on a plate or happy to have something easy served up all the time!

How about “Give a man a fish, and you feed his appetite now; teach a man who is hungry enough to learn how to fish and you feed his motivation and empower him for a lifetime.”

You made it

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What’s your success criteria?

What makes you feel like you’ve made it? Personally? Professionally? Overall?

Is it financial success, family success, social contribution, personal well being, or making the world a better place?

Is it enough to make it there or should you be thriving in where you want to be?

Have you made it to where ever you wanted to be and proud of it?

Draft to Publish

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Today is Leap Day 2024.

What ideas do you have saved for a future date to put them into action?

What emails do you have sitting in your Drafts folder to send?

Why are you sitting on the sidelines when you know you’re prepared for the game?

Are you waiting for someone’s permission, approval, or acknowledgement?

What blog have you drafted that you have not published yet? (On that note, I’m hitting the Publish button now!)

Take the Leap!

Effective Corporate Training

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

In Carol S. Dweck’s ground breaking book, Mindset The New Psychology of Success How We Can Learn To Fulfill Our Potential, she shares how to make corporate training programs effective.

She mentions:

Look for talented managers who also embody a growth mindset.

Train leaders, managers, and employees to believe in growth, in addition to training them in the specifics of effective communication and mentoring.

Creating a growth-mindset environment in which people can thrive which involves: presenting skills as learnable, conveying that the organization values learning and perseverance, not just ready-made genius or talent, giving feedback in a way that promotes learning and future success and presenting managers as resources for learning.

A belief in human development can make corporate training programs effective and help generate the results needed.

Talent vs Skill

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What is Talent and what is Skill? Are they the same or different?

Talent is a natural ability to gain a skill or set of skills. Skill is the ability to complete a set of tasks well. Skills are learned and we get better at a craft by practicing intentionally over a period of time. If we want to become better writers, athletes, teachers (or at anything), we can because it’s an skill or set of skills. The beauty of identifying and understanding that something is a talent or a skill is liberating and profound. Once we find clarity that it’s an skill, we can learn and become better at it. Having talent does not mean that hard work, discipline, effort (and others) are not that required or important to become excellent at a craft or a task. While some who are talented can understand or do certain tasks better because of their “natural ability” or “gift”, talent by itself would not be enough for them to be excellent or world-class in their craft.

Here’s a simple distinction between Skill and Talent.

SkillTalent
DefinitionAn ability developed with practiceA natural affinity for a skill
ExplanationAn ability that, with practice, a person can become an expert inAn ability one is born with that, when nurtured, can develop more quickly than those without the
innate talent
ImpactsAnyone willing to work on itFewer people, who must be born with it
DevelopmentTraining, education, coaching, and practiceNature, along with training,
mentoring, education, and practice
Source : https://www.upwork.com/resources/difference-between-skill-and-talent

Seth Godin, author of The Practice Shipping Creative Work says that “It’s insulting to call a professional talented. She’s skilled, first and foremost. Many people have talent, but only a few care enough to show up fully, to earn their skill. Skill is rarer than talent. Skill is earned. Skill is available to anyone who cares enough.”

So was Micheal Jordan talented or skilled or both when it comes to basketball? Was Mira Rai a “gifted” trail runner than other runners? Is Warren Buffet more skilled or talented or a mix of both at analyzing businesses and financial numbers?

Getting to that Next Level

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What’s the Next Level?

There are Levels. Realizing that there’s another level to be better is a key component in getting to that level. If you strongly believe that there’s no more level beyond where you currently are, then either you’ve achieved a lot already (Happy for you!) or you are limited in your circumstances, environment, or in your mindset. If you are doing what you can and still not getting the results that you want, then looking for outside help can benefit you. Getting to the Next Level is where the Coaching comes in!

BetterUp has written a helpful article in Benefits of coaching: Purpose, clarity, and passion in daily life

Attitude and Skill

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Attitude and Skill were found to be the two key differences between great competitors and good ones in swimming in a study done by Daniel F. Chambliss and shared through his paper “The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers.”

Daniel reviewed the habits, backgrounds, and performance of competitive swimmers and discovered that attitude and skill were the main differentiators between the great swimmers and good swimmers. The great swimmers swim differently (strokes, turns etc) than the good swimmers. The great swimmers have practiced and honed their skill(s) and technique(s) over a period of time. Also the great swimmers came with a different attitude to their swimming training compared to the good swimmers.

How are you approaching your craft everyday and where’s your current skill level at that craft?

Relationship equity

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

What’s your relationship equity like?

Have you invested time and energy into building the personal and professional relationships in your life?

If there’s not been much investment in the important relationships, should we be surprised by the current status of those relationships?

Relationship equity is about putting in the time, energy, care, generosity, and empathy in building meaningful relationships in our lives. It’s a message, a call, an email, a gift, an acknowledgement or any effort you make to cultivate the relationship in your life. Healthy and beautiful relationships take time and evolve as needed. The more we give and help others, the more joy we receive!

Room for Creativity

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso

In one of her “The Artist’s Way” series book, Julia Cameron says that creativity is born in generosity, and flourishes where there is a sense of safety and acceptance. If we feel safe and accepted in a certain environment or group setting, we will generally be comfortable to be ourselves and open up more. If we feel threatened, judged, or unaccepted in a certain environment, we can become defensive and closed.

Julia adds that every creative endeavor thrives in an environment of safety and one of the quickest ways to create this environment is to provide structure. What is ideal is a structured mixture of scheduled and unscheduled time. Scheduled time will help individuals stay focused and get tasks done while unscheduled time will provide them room for spontaneity and inspiration.

Institutional knowledge : A case study

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Nepal is a beautiful country with its unique opportunities and challenges.

Alicia and Ajay both attend a top management college in Kathmandu, center of colleges and universities in Nepal. Once they finish their undergraduate studies, they plan to pursue their graduate studies outside of Nepal (Europe, Australia, North America). After graduating top of their class, Alicia starts working at a technology company and Ajay starts working at a bank. After working a few years, they decide to pursue their graduate studies and apply to universities around the world. Alicia feels comfortable at her workplace and shares her graduate study plans with her supervisors and employer. Ajay is hesitant sharing his graduate study plans and wants to finalize his graduate admission first and then share the news with his employer.

Many employers across all industries are aware of this “going abroad” trend among the young professionals in Nepal. Some employers have systems in place to manage the transition better than others. With Alicia, her employer starts planning a transition, starts gathering institutional knowledge and puts out a vacancy internally and externally to fill her role. With Ajay, his employer will find out at the last minute his graduate study plans and will have to scramble to find a replacement, rush to collect his knowledge/expertise gained from having worked several years at the company, and might struggle to fill his position on time.

Given this circumstance, who should take more responsibility? Should employees better communicate their graduate and undergraduate plans with their employers? How should employers better prepare for migration trends of their employees and how should they handle when employees do share their going abroad plans (be it for studies, work etc.)? What can the company, industry, or the government do to understand these migration (studies, work etc) trends and better prepare as well as leverage the diaspora’s collective expertise and experiences to help the companies, industries and the country?

Ideation-Action-Reflection

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

3 steps to achieving your authentic greatness!

We often get stuck. Get stuck in coming up with an idea, wait for the “perfect” launch strategy, or some internal narrative we tend to hold on to that delays starting out.

Ideas, by themselves are good. However, they also need to be put into action. Ideas need to be shared or acted upon to see if it can move the conversation, connection, or community forward.

When the idea is put into action, we can observe what difference it makes in the conversation, connection, or community. The idea can have a major, minor or no impact in how we have initially thought of in our planning. Reflection is critical to continuously get better and will help in achieving the end result.

Then we repeat : Ideation-Action-Reflection.

Work shifts in a tech led world

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Technological advancements has changed how we work, the way we work and when we work.

Although the 9 to 5 work schedule has been around for a long time, maybe it’s time we reflect back on why a 9 to 5 schedule began in the first place and then customize it to the world we live in today.

Robert Whaples, a professor at Wake Forest University created a detailed timeline on the evolution of hours worked in the United States for the Economic History Association. In the comprehensive write up, it’s mentioned that in the 1800s, many Americans worked seventy hours or more per week and over the years, various factors led to our current work schedule of 9 to 5.

Since technology and devices allow anyone to work from anywhere now, what can a work schedule look like? The work schedule can be highly customized to the nature of a certain business. For a service based company, they can take care of customers around the clock and create a win-win situation for both the clients and the company. The company can allows employees to work at times where they are most productive (some prefer working in the mornings, some in the afternoon and others at evenings/night time).

These few scenarios can be addressed with work anywhere and anytime model.

Why wait till Monday morning to address a customer’s problem who faced a issue last Friday evening?

If an employee feels more productive in the evenings/night where she or he can focus better without interrupted meetings and office chatter, why not facilitate that environment? Wouldn’t both the company and the employee win here?

Since the “work from home” is a more accepted model of working these days, why not let teams meet at times where they feel is necessary and not constrain them to a 9 to 5 timeline?

The thing about ideas is..

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We all have ideas. Some are good than others. All are welcome and each perspective is unique.

Coming up with ideas (creative ideas, business ideas, problem solving ideas and others) is a form of an exercise. It’s a muscle. The more we exercise the muscle, the better we become.

How often are we exercising our “idea muscles”?

Who has the authority?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Anjani runs a growing small business with 5 employees and recently one of her employees received a better job offer from a competitor. Authority question : Is it Anjani, the employee who received the offer, the other 4 employees, or the competitor?

Arjoo decides to run for local elections. Authority question : Is it Arjoo, her voters, the media, her election team, or the election regulators?

Arun’s company is funded by investors and he has quarterly growth targets to meet. Authority question : Is it Arun, the investors, the company’s employees, or the company’s customers?

Atul runs a successful restaurant. Authority question : Is it Atul, his chefs, his staff, customers, food authorities, or restaurant association?

Amita has a strong social media following. Authority question : Is it Amita, her social media followers, the social media platform, investors of the social media platform, the regulators, or her internet provider?

First class experiences

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Our minds are powerful and create our everyday “reality.”

We have the physical world where every living being is part of. Then there’s the subjective “reality” that’s unique to each one of us.

We create consciously, subconsciously and unconsciously and live in our own “reality.”

To be able to experience a better life or “reality” for ourselves, we have to learn to condition our minds.

If you want to experience flying first class, you have to make the decision to pay more to be there. Once you’ve experienced how flying first class feels like, our mind wants to get back to first class and will motivate you to find ways to fly first class more often.

Similar to flying first class, try experiencing better products, services and experiences and you’ll continue to find ways to attract them and live in your “best reality.”

What does Progress look like?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We want Progress. Like yesterday.

It’s tempting to be thinking of achieving massive success as soon as possible.

So what does Progress actually look like (realistically)?

In Atomic Habits, James Clear says if you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or breaking a bad habit, it is often because you have not yet crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential. When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it overnight success. We tend to see the most dramatic event rather than all the work and efforts that came before that “overnight success.”

Source: James Clear

Do you have a Company Alumni Network?

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

Companies go through all sorts of changes in their journey.

One of the biggest and costly changes is personnel change.

When experienced employees leave the company for better opportunities, it can take some time to fill the vacancy or get someone ready internally to take that position.

The most untapped and available opportunity that companies have not considered or used is keeping in touch with the employee(s) who is about to leave or have left the company in good terms.

How about creating your Company’s Alumni Network?

The Company’s Alumni Network would consist of anyone who has left the company on good terms and wants to stay in touch with the company and its developments. Most employees have good and healthy professional relationships while working at a company and want to see their team and company succeed even if they decide to pursue other opportunities.

Similar to a college’s alumni network, the company’s alumni network will keep the previous employees engaged and updated on the company’s progress. The company can create a newsletter that is regularly circulated with the alumni network.

Imagine the short and long term benefits of a Company Alumni Network : building goodwill with previous employees, generate possible referrals for employees and new businesses, possibly bring back experienced employees who want to rejoin and much more!

That happy place

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

There was a place called NotTooFarAway.

In NotTooFarAway, lived two groups of people.

One group lived in the city and the other group lived on the beach.

A group from a nearby place called, CuriousEyes looked at the above two groups and wondered:

Are the beach group more happy than the city group?

If the city group make more money than the beach group, who is more happy?

If the beach group visit and enjoy the city more than the city group who are too busy to enjoy the city, which group is happier?

If the city group who have the luxury to visit the beach at any time, would that make them happy?

If the beach group make more than the average salary in their region, are they happy?

If the city group make more than the average salary in their region, are they happy?

If the beach group enjoy their environment more than the city group, who is happier?

If both the beach group and the city group have the same income level, who is happy?

If neither of the group compared themselves to the other group, would that make both of them happy?

From Entrepreneur to Empowerer

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

How can entrepreneurs grow their startup?

The qualities that help entrepreneurs start their businesses might not be the same that will help take the startup to the next level.

There will still be challenges that entrepreneurs will face when they have hired all the “right people” for the different roles of the company. If the entrepreneurs continue to become heavily involved in decision making of the different functions even when they have put “right people” in those positions, the company will be limiting itself. The entrepreneurs’ efforts might actually be counterproductive then.

For entrepreneurs to grow their company, most times they themselves become bottlenecks to the growth. It’s time to switch from being an entrepreneur to becoming an empowerer (one who empowers others to do their best). If entrepreneurs have empowered other leaders in the best way possible, the company will experience growth in many ways.

Greatness through Giving

Posted on by Nirmal Thapa

We can achieve greatness by focusing our energy on helping and supporting others.

When we focus on helping others through what we can give, we put good energy into the universe.

To achieve our goals, we collaborate with people because greatness is not a sole journey or destination.

The more energy you commit into inspiring and helping others, the more you will receive in return.

How are you inspiring and helping others today?

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