I have been working in a niche industry for about 4 years now. When people ask me what I do I tell them that I help companies share confidential information. I usually get a blank stare at that point with a look which says – “talk English please!” So I introduce them to the industry by giving them the following example:

Scenario A: Suppose you want to share a confidential piece of information with me and you email me a pdf document to do so. Now I have the pdf and can do whatever I want with it. I can print it, copy it, distribute it online, share it with competitors or do all kinds of stuff with that information which would not be in your best interest.

Scenario B: If you shared that same pdf document through a Virtual Data Room then I don’t have control over your document. You decide whether I can copy or print it and if tomorrow you don’t want me to see the document anymore you can just disable access to it. You can also gauge interest by seeing how many times I have opened the document and at what times. The main purpose of a Virtual Data Room is to keep your information secure.

Most people didn’t even know that such an industry existed and that’s when you usually know that you are working with a niche. Do not confuse a niche with no competition, however. The industry for ‘Virtual Data Rooms’ is niche but very competitive. In fact, Google the term “Virtual Data Room” and you will get a dozen companies from across the world offering all kinds of products which offer control over your proprietary data. You still need to differentiate yourself from the others. You still need awesome marketing and awesome relationships to compliment your awesome product, if you don’t want to live in mediocrity all your life. What a niche has helped me do is identify the people who are likely to use my product, which in turn has helped me to focus. If “everyone” was a prospective client, I wouldn’t even know where to get started!

Let me give you another example of a niche. Recently  a friend of mine identified a niche in the bicycling industry. With a growing number of bike enthusiasts in North America, the demand for Ritmo Trainers is growing so he is trying to fulfill that demand by supplying this product to those who want it. What on earth is a Ritmo Trainer? Exactly! Ask a die hard biker and he’d tell you. Why is that a great thing? Because it is easy to identify bike magazines, bike websites, bike events that die hard bike fans read, visit or participate in. It is a niche, making it easy to target those who are likely to find value in your offering.

A niche will help you focus on those that really matter.

What industry do you work in? Have you identified your niche? Are you trying to be everything to everybody?

Is it really bad to want the finer things in life? No, ofcourse it isn’t! We all want to own a dream house, drive the best cars, wear the best clothes and travel to the most breathtaking destinations in the world. That is why shows on Travel and Living, Discovery or MTV which let us peek into the lifestyles of the rich and famous are so popular; it makes us value those luxuries more than those who actually own them. But ask yourself, is happiness really a by-product of everything they have amassed? There might be some correlation between money and happiness but there is no evidence to prove that money causes happiness, happiness causes money or some third factor causes them both.

Whitney Houston died yesterday, Amy Winehouse died a few months back, Michael Jackson about a year back, Heath Ledger died at age 29 and Kurt Cobain only lived to be 27; history is full of rich and famous artists, stars, musicians, creators who died young. When we start reading about their lives after their untimely deaths we often hear about tales of sadness, depression, tragedy and unhappiness. If money really was the magic key to all of life’s dilemmas then wouldn’t they be the model examples to follow? Shouldn’t they have lived to be old, healthy and happy? The fact is that it is easier to go to work day-to-day, everyday for the rest of our adult lives to keep on collecting currency. And once we have achieved what we thought would suffice initially we go after more, never really sitting and asking ourselves whether what we are doing matches what we want. So instead of actually facing what really matters we distract ourselves with all the vices that the crowd measures us by. Don’t you think that if these material possessions had the ability to satisfy you they would have done so already? Instead they make you thirsty for more, bigger and better, constantly chasing after a dream which will never fill the void you feel.

Ask yourself whether what you are doing is really what you want to do. If it isn’t then figure out what that is. Remember that each path has a start and an eventual end but wandering has no limits. Don’t go through life sailing on a boat which doesn’t have any direction; you’ll end up in “nowhere land”. I suggest you write down all your fears on a piece of paper, we all have them, and then next to each fear write down the worse-case scenarios, how to avoid them and their possible solutions if they do occur. Once you define your fears you will realize that most of what you fear is not that bad after all. Now you can start taking action on the things that really matter such as your new found focus on work, learning, relationships, travel or health.

Also keep in mind that before you judge anyone the next time, judge yourself first; be critical of yourself before you are critical of others. Chances are that both of you will not be alive in another hundred years time so it won’t really matter how much more fortune you made over your lifetime. All that would matter is what you did while you were alive!

Purpose, positive thinking, attitude, belief, perseverance; they all seem like part of the same side of the coin. Books like “the Secret” and Napolean Hills “Think and Grow Rich” aim to teach the ability to think your way to attaining whatever it is that you desire in life.You want to make more money/have a better relationship/be happy/rule the world? Think about it, believe it and the forces of the universe will make it happen they say.

But what about the flip side? I would actually go as far as to say that uncertainty, insecurity, fear of failure and inhibitions actually take the better of us. Some fear losing their jobs, some are insecure about their better halves and some feel uncertain about the future; fear is actually a very paralyzing feeling! We all have our set of fears. The point is how do you deal with them? I am reminded of one of my favourtie quotes said by an old man – “I have known great many fears in my life; most of which never happened!”.

Do your thoughts really define who you are? This is what the Dalai Lama had to say:

Take care of your Thoughts because they will become Words.

Take care of your Words because they will become Actions.

Take care of your Actions because they will become Habits.

Take care of your Habits because they will form your Character.

Take care of your Character because it will form your Destiny.

And your Destiny is your Life!

Enough said!

Have you ever looked at life as a system? Have you ever considered all the important factors which influence your life and how they relate to each other?

I am a big believer of systems. I have created systems to run the company I work for. It makes much more sense to use pre-established rules than to rely on emotions such as motivation alone. But the use of these rules should not be an excuse to not-think. We must always remember what we are trying to accomplish. When I was thinking of life as a system I tried to break it down into as simplistic a perspective as possible. If you think hard enough you’ll realize that for the majority of us our goal in life is to be happy. Happiness might mean different things to different people but the ultimate goal for most is happiness, however they might define it. When I dug a little deeper on the key factors that influence happiness in life, this is what I came up with:

1. Health – Without Health we can’t do anything effectively. If we are unhealthy, most of our physical and mental energy goes into making ourselves feel better, leaving us little to no energy to do anything useful with our time.

2. Relationships – Happiness shared is happiness multiplied. If you don’t have family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances to share your joys and sorrows with then you are likely to live a very lonely life. In fact research shows that those who socialize live longer.

3. Work – Since work is something which takes up most of our life it has a crucial impact on happiness. The work you do should be lucrative and intellectually stimulating to make you feel a sense of achievement. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to give yourself a sense of purpose and self-worth.

4. Study – The one future we all face irrespective of how we live our lives is that of death. Whether you like it or not we all will die one day and there is nothing we can do about it. That means that our time is limited. To live a more fulfilling life be a student of it. Learn from what it has to teach you. Failures and successes, joys and sorrows, victories and losses, these are all experiences which bring with them wisdom; wisdom to understand the meaning of life and I feel like the more we understand it, the happier we will be.

If you look at the four broad categories above, you will realize that each day of yours falls into some if not all of these quadrants. Unfortunately every one of us seem to place most of our importance on only one of them – Work. We have come to believe that success at work, especially financial success, is the only route to being happier. The truth is that a balance is required. You can give your body 15 minutes of stretches and a supply of healthy nutritious food to make it think and act optimally. You can give your loved ones an hour an evening or a day on weekends to maintain relationships. You can give yourself 30 minutes of time each day while you are headed to work to study psychology, philosophy, art, business or whatever subject that interests you. When you start giving each quadrant of your life daily time then you will realize that your productivity and effectiveness at work will also improve and you will be happier for it!

Don’t rely on motivation alone to get off your ass. Rely on systems which will make you spend the time required on the factors which actually influence your life.

Everyone who had an idea pitched. They did it in front of those attending and then the people attending voted on the top 15. Once the top 15 ideas were picked, teams were formed to build a prototype over the weekend. I pitched the idea of creating an app for cricketers. What problem would it solve? It would make tracking performances amongst all players and teams easy and fun. How would it make money? This is where I was not very clear! So despite getting the third highest votes (13; the first team got 22 and the second team got 15) I was unable to get interest from any developer or designer.

An idea without a clear path to profit is not a business, its a hobby.

And I was certainly trying to work on my hobby instead of creating a business. So I let go of my idea to support a team of developers who were very excited about what they wanted to create but did not have the votes to do so. This all happened on Friday night.

Throughout Saturday and the better part of Sunday everyone was developing a prototype. On Sunday night, another round of pitches happened but this time the ones who were voting were a panel of judges from different walks of life – businessmen, venture capatilists, organisers and the like. Everyone who pitched got a bunch of goodies from mobile phones to tablets and a trip to Singapore. Our team got a book – “The Entrepreneurship’s Guide to Customer Development; A cheat sheet to the 4 steps to the Epiphany” which I was super happy about!

The top few teams actually go on to pitch their idea again at a Global level. I found the two teams which did win the first 2 prizes very promising. One was called “JuntaJunction” and aims to solve the problem of finding blue collar workers using an IVR voice system. I think executing this would be a tough task! The second team called their idea “Painless” and want to make finding, scheduling and rating doctors easy. This second idea is the one which I found promising; it is executable, will bring accountability to doctors as well as solve a big issue of finding good ones.

So going back to my question: Is it worth attending Startup Weekends?

YES! Despite the obvious mismatch in the skill set of people attending (50 ideas were pitches, 100 attended, there were very few developers and even fewer desginers) the end result was still very promising. It is a great platform to meet people, build relationships and get out of your daily bubble to see what else is going on in the world around you.

Approach networking as a means to building great relationships irrespective of what that relationship brings to you. Your network should not be a means to an end but an end in itself.

I am attending my second Startup Weekend (delhi.startupweekend.org/) from the 9th-11th of December 2011

I recently heard one of the senior members of the cricket team we were playing against say -

you know our problem is that we have 5 captains and 5 vice captains.

On hearing that remark everybody in our team cracked up laughing. Unfortunately, more often than not, that is the reality in a number of teams. There is this constant tussle amongst different players on who should lead. Should it be the person who put together the team? Should it be the senior most member of the team? Should it be the best player in the team?

In cricket, decisions need to be made involving batting, bowling and fielding; they need to be made at every point of the game. What I notice in cricket matches now is that the actual decision of the chosen leader actually depends on popular opinion. In some cases the leader is actually garnering team support for his decisions. Both these cases are bad signs!

It is very hard to effectively play as a unit if there isn’t a leader to follow or if the leader cannot get the other members of the team to follow him. Respecting the leader and his decisions irrespective of the outcome is KEY to getting a team to play as a team. If you are playing a team sport, you should ask yourself two questions:

1) who is your team leader? Clearly point him out.

2) are you willing to follow him irrespective of your views or the outcome of his decisions?

If you do not have a clear team leader or you challenge his decisions then there is a good chance that your team is made up of individuals who never come together as a common force. Without leadership the collective mission of victory will be elusive more often than not.

Cricket and Sachin Tendulkar have become synonyms. Its hard to think of the sport without thinking of the man who is loved because of his ability in the sport. So when he gets on TV and gives batting tips you better listen because these words are priceless; they can really help you improve your game. I have tried to transcribe his words as clearly as I could.

Try and keep the ball along the ground

“Nowdays [cricketers] including my son Arjun like to play T20 and they like to see the ball going out of the stadium. I keep telling them that you know if you try to keep the ball along the ground and you mistime a shot you still continue batting. But if you keep the ball in the air all the time, you’ll mistime one. Then you will be back in the dressing room, watching the rest of the match. Try and keep the ball along the ground.”

Batting is about balance

“My favourite shot is playing the straight drive because when any fast bowler or spinner sees the full face of the blaid they don’t like it. I like showing them the full face of the bat. To play a straight drive you have to be perfectly balanced because if your head starts falling to the right then the ball will invariably go to the leg side. If your head is not straight and your weight is on the back foot then you will slice everything to the off-side. When you start playing good straight drives, you know that your head positioning and your body balance is perfect. What you need to do is lean forward with your head straight and transfer the weight forward with a follow-through which shows your back leg.”

The best way to handle pressure is to think of the present; forget the past & the future

“If you are thinking of the past games in which you didn’t perform or if you are thinking about the future games you must perform in, then the pressure will increase. If you only think about the match you are currently playing then the pressure remains low. Doing this is not easy however; it comes with habit.”

Work hard on your game to improve; you can always be better than the day before

“You have to keep on hitting that ball and work with all your heart. No matter how much you work, it is never enough. You can always be better. Everytime you get on the field to practice you can become better than the day before. You must get back home and feel like you have done well that day. Practice means that you are getting better each time you do it.”

Tips to aspiring cricketers: Just enjoy the game

“Just enjoy the game and don’t let anyone pressurize you. Pressure from others at a young age will make you stop loving the sport.”

Stay very low when you are hitting the sweep

“When you are playing the sweep, including the paddle sweep and reverse sweep, it is important to stay low because when you are low you won’t miss the yorker and you can always go higher during the shot but its hard to go lower.”

—

Source: Sachin gives cricketing tips on NDTV

As a batsman there are many things which go through your head. You are out in the middle with 11 players from the opposition trying to get you out. What should your strategy be? Should you attack the ball? Should you first play yourself in before you start hitting your shots? Is there a target you have in mind? Do you have a personal target? Should you make use of the powerplays? is your aim to play through till the end?… and on and on and on. If you want to be successful in this sport, you better use your head wisely, or else you will have a few flurries of performances but nothing substantial to show in the long run.

The questions are never ending when it comes to your approach to batting. I open the batting so I have had days when my target was to play through till the end and then there have been days when I had no choice but to attack the ball from the get go. There is a reason they say that Cricket is a funny game; the advantage you have can flip on its head within minutes and before you know it, a game which was a ‘certain win’ turns out to become a ‘loss’. So, its best to have a plan to follow instead of going with the flow.

We got an insight on how the Indians approached their batting in the 4th one day international against England at Lord’s. Even though the match ended in a tie due to rain, the Indian batsmen scored a competitive 280 runs in 50 overs by batting first. This is what Dhoni said about how they approached that target:

“We didn’t have a target in mind. We wanted to try and rotate the strike. Not to play shots which were risky and get closer to the 40-over mark. In the last 10 overs, we were able to get 110 runs which really made a difference.”

There you have it. One of the reasons I like Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a captain is because of his openness. Knowing that this is one approach to batting can help you follow a similar approach when you play. The best way to learn is to learn from the best.

Source: We saw the ugly side of cricket: Dhoni

Why did I choose to focus on deadlifts? Because as Pavel Tsatsouline pointed out, the dead-lift is “a pure “mind lift” that allows one to get very strong without adding much weight.” In other words I did not have to eat like a pig, day in and day out to ensure that I put on enough muscle to be able to reach my target weight. Based on prior experiments, I can say that disciplined eating is the hardest part of any workout program. Without the need to focus on putting on muscle, I could focus on lifting with proper form!

What actually motivated me to try this DeadLift Experiment? Watching a 60-kg girl deadlift 155-kg (342-lbs). She looks like the girl next door and is lifting 2.5x her bodyweight. Isn’t that crazy? When I watched this video (below) I was like “WTF…if she can do it, so can I.”

60kg Melissa deadlifting 155kg

Where did I find the idea for such an experiment? The following post on Tim Ferriss’s blog (click here) is what inspired me to do this over a period of 12 weeks. But didn’t I say 6 hours? Yup, the actual lifting time of the program was only 6 hours.

Here were the simple rules I followed:
1) I did three stretches before the planned lifts. Total time – 5 minutes
2) Actual lift times per set – 30 seconds
3) Break in between sets – 5 minutes
4) Usually 3 days post the workout I had a light deadlift day to work on my form. This weight was a consistent 70kg (154lbs), 5 sets, 5 reps per set with 3 minute breaks in between. I do not count this in my total lifting time because this was optional.

That’s it! Simple right?

So why do I think i failed to reach my target of 170 kg (375lbs)? I think the main reason was my other extra-curricular activities which did not allow my body to get the rest it required. I was playing cricket and badminton upto three times per week. I often felt too tired to make it to the gym so my schedule became irregular. The lack of discipline had to give somewhere!

Another thing that might have influenced my lift is improper form. Find below some resources to help you make sure that you are lifting correctly.

If I had been more disciplines about my diet, chances are that my recovery times would have improved.

The Verdict? Strength is a skill! Lets have a look at the numbers to see why:

1) My Personal Record went up from 100 kg (220 lbs) to 150 kg (331 lbs).

2) My weight increased by 1.8 kg (4 lbs) from 74.8 kg (165 lbs) to 76.6 kg (169 lbs).

3) My bodyfat% as measured with a bodymetrix ultrasound device fell from 11.5% to 10.9%, proving that the weight I put on was muscle weight. [see before and after photos below)

4) I put on 4 inches around my body.

BEFORE (start of program [3 June 2011])

AFTER (end of program [1 September 2011])

Resources:

DeadLift Animation + Instructions

How to DeadLift

Unrealistic Atheltic Goals: Why & How to pursue them – if you want to follow a similar program, read this post. This was the source of my experiment. I have taken an excerpt from the post to show how you can build your own program [see excerpt below]. I suggest you read the post if you want to follow a similar program.

My DeadLift Experiment – The program I followed*

*Note: These weights do not include the bar weight of 20 kg (44 lbs).

How to build your own DeadLift Program

[excerpt from Tim's blog post]

Let us design a sample cycle for a deadlifter with a 275-lb [125 kg]. 1RM. 2% of that weight is 5.5 pounds [2.5 kg] and 5% is 13.75 [6 kg]. 10-pound [rounded up to 5 kg] jumps are what the doctor ordered. If our hypothetical puller has twelve weeks to go before competition, his poundages will be:

Week 1: 165
Week 2: 175
Week 3: 185
Week 4: 195
Week 5: 205
Week 6: 215
Week 7: 225
Week 8: 235
Week 9: 245
Week 10: 255
Week 11: 265
Week 12: 275 (2 x 2) < — start with this number and work backward
Week 13: Meet

Do five sets of five every week. It will feel very easy in the beginning. Don’t fret, it is supposed to be, as you are building ‘momentum’. Do NOT do more reps or sets than prescribed and do not reduce the prescribed rest periods! You will walk out of the gym wanting to do more and this is the way it is supposed to be.

At some point, the weights will get heavy. When you have barely made your 5/5 with good form, next workout switch to 3/3. Note that this sudden drop in sets and reps allows one to have a relatively easy workout in order to unload before the peak. It is one of the secrets behind the given cycle’s effectiveness.

Week 1: 165 x 5/5
Week 2: 175 x 5/5
………………
Week 10: 255 x 3/3
Week 11: 265 x 2/2
Week 12: 275 x 2/2
Week 13: Meet

The last two workouts before the meet are 2/2. And the number of 3/3 sessions will vary depending on how long you will keep on making 5/5 gains. This is the beauty of this cycle: it adjusts to you.

This is how things might work out for our 275-pound puller:

Week 1: 165 x 5/5
Week 2: 175 x 5/5
Week 3: 185 x 5/5
Week 4: 195 x 5/5
Week 5: 205 x 5/5
Week 6: 215 x 5/5
Week 7: 225 x 5/5
Week 8: 235 x 5/5 (PR)
Week 9: 245 x 5/5 (PR)
Week 10: 255 x 3/3 (did not try sets of five because the last workout was very hard)
Week 11: 265 x 2/2
Week 12: 275 x 2/2
Week 13: Meet 300 PR

It is also possible that you will have to switch to triples on week nine or even earlier for stronger lifters. No problem, the flexible cycle accommodates any strength growth dynamics.

I came back home upset; upset for being taunted by the opposition for losing the cricket match and upset for being the cause of the loss. I got down to psycho-analysing myself. Writing has a knack of clarifying the mumbo-jumbo in your brain. Once I sifted through the confused mess of interacting and conflicting thoughts, I actually got to the core of what I did wrong and how I can avoid doing the same mistakes again. Yes this is personal and very situation specific, but in the process I found clarity. And what better way to find clarity than to ask yourself questions. Maybe a similar process applied to a different situation will help you sift through your thinking or maybe you can find some insight as well as agree or disagree with my conclusions. Either way, I thought the ideas and conclusions were worth sharing, so here it goes.

My object was clear when I started to write:

1) What? – to identify what I did wrong

2) Why? – to identify why I made those mistakes

3) How? – to identify how I can avoid making the same mistakes again so that I can improve as a cricketer. Everybody makes mistakes but to make the same mistakes twice is stupidity!

The way I answered the above questions were by asking myself the questions below:

What happened?
We just lost a cricket game to Triangle.

Why did it happen?
Our team could not chase a modest total of 133 in 20 overs. After I got out, the whole team just collapsed.

Why is the loss upsetting me so much?
We played well overall and deserved to win.
We restricted the other team which were clearly better to an achievable total.
We bowled and fielded brilliantly.
I blame myself for not playing through; I expected to make us win.

Why did I blame myself?

Because I knew that the team was relying on me to win the game. We are short of batsmen.

Why did I think I got out?

Because I was actually scared of losing my wicket. That feeling of cautiouseness was bothering me. I felt like I had chained myself and was fighting to break free. It made me challenge my own strategy of rotating the strike and play till the end. This constant struggle in my head between playing aggressively versus playing cautiously lead to confusion, which in turn lead to the 1 mistake which lost us the game.

There was no need to play aggressively! We needed a run a ball. We were getting the run a ball. All the fielders were placed in the boundary so if I went for a big shot, 1 mishit would have got me out, which is exactly what happened! I did go for a big shot, I did mishit it and I did get caught in the boundary. The patiently made 33 of 33 balls was not enough for victory.

If we had won the game would all these feelings have mattered?
No! I would have been happy that we won and I would have been happier because we would have got the bragging rights over the other team against which we have history. The above mistake would probably have repeated itself till the next time we had a close game that we lost. So there are lessons to be learnt. This is an opportunity for me to identify the fault in my thinking process and come up with a solution to improve my game.

What can I learn from this experience?
1) There are so many emotions attached to the game. But at the end of the day its just a game. One team wins and one team loses. You are either in the winning or losing side. All the happiness and sadness which comes with the victory or defeat does not change the result one bit. If I can take the emotions out of my game I will be a much better player.

2) I have to know my game and just follow through with it irrespective of what the situation demands. Just like Virender Sehwag knows his game and follows through with it irrespective of whether its T20 or a test match, or whether the situation demands it or not. If the ball is there to be hit, he will go after it. Sometime it leads to success and sometimes it leads to failure. Overall he has come out on top though. He is regarded as one of the best cricketers in the world.

Contrast that with Rahul Dravid. He is another cricketer who knows his game. He knows he is not a swashbuckling cricketer like Sehwag. He is all about patience and technique. Everytime he has tried to play outside his game he has been fairly unsuccessful like in the T20 format. However when he has played his natural game in formats which suit his style of play, like tests and one day internationals, he has performed. He is also regarded as one of the best players in the world. The likes of Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson draw inspiration from him (article) and seek his advice (article).

I have to learn how to not second guess myself because that is what leads to my own demise. Today I was second guessing myself. I have to know that it isn’t possible to fire everytime but on average, over time, me sticking to my game will produce more good results than bad ones.

How can I not repeat the same mistakes again?
1) “An optimist sees green signals everywhere, a pessimist sees red. The wise person is colorblind.” Take the emotion out of the game. Play every ball on its merit. Do not worry about the outcome, instead focus on the process.

2) Follow my natural style of play. So what is my style of play?

Am I an aggressive cricketer who goes after the ball or a cautious cricketer who taps the singles and doubles but plays through till the end? The fact is that I am a bit of both. It totally depends on the mindset I am in. Whenever the situation has demanded that I go after the bowling without worrying about the consequences I have had my best performances like the 148 runs in 44 balls I hit when chasing 248 in 20 overs.In other situations, the same intent has gotten my out.

On the other hand, there have also been days when I have slowly built my innings because my feet aren’t moving quick enough or because I have been too careful about my shots. My cautious performances haven’t been exciting or memorable but they have been effective.

It is clear that whether I am cautious or aggressive on a given day depends on my intent. Atleast at the level I am playing in, which is very amateur cricket, I think over the long run it would serve me better to be aggressive from the get-go. Remember that if my intent is aggressive in every game, it does not mean that I will perform in every game, but on average I will perform more often than not, which is what matters!

The idea is to be a rational instead of an emotional cricketer.