Vancouver these days is gripped with Winter Olympics 2010 fever. I took time out to visit the Olympic grounds and had the opportunity to take the Olympic torch in hand- thanks to some generous players who let the public touch and feel it

When you see a game like Olympics what comes to your mind: Personal Excellence- years of training, perseverance and endurance are all put to the test. The sportsman has to be “in the zone”, what is called the “peak performance”, “now or never” type mindset. I was listening to the summer Olympic swimming gold winner -Michael Phelps who broke all sorts of record and created history by winning 8 Gold medals- his words “take it one game at a time”. The words stayed with me- bigger goals have to be broken into smaller ones and a picture perfect execution is required all along the way. It is very important to have a game plan in mind and then take all the games seriously.

One game at a time, treat it as a marathon and not a sprint, consistency is the key, no cutting corner will work here.This is what peak performance is all about, to try to do your very best whenever occasion demands, there is room for zero unforced errors, iron clad discipline, concentration and so much more. When a player fails to do all this , he is said to be not in “form” and makes silly mistakes, overwhelmed and quickly defeated in the competition.

There is a great deal one can learn from these players. Actually not just sports, there are many areas where personal excellence comes into play – film actors, musicians, singers, movie directors, media personality- these type of people are institution in themselves. Take for example Tiger Woods, up until his sudden fall from grace, he was the unequivocal symbol of success- peak performance, discipline. Billion dollar companies signed him up to be their brand ambassador including Accenture, Nike etc.

You are probably also aware of the moving story of Joannie Rochette, who won a bronze in 2010Olympics in figure skating just four days after her mother died of heart attack. My thought goes out to her and her family. Normally it is not easy to overcome such grief and compete in any kind of endeavor. One is well advised to back off and come back again after they have had a chance to overcome their grief( although can anyone truly overcome loss of a loved one?). Read her story here, and here is a direct quote from the article “figure skating is not a sport that takes kindly to emotion. Skaters must bottle up their nerves, their fears, their doubts, even their grief, to complete their jumps and spins that require such total physical and mental control.”

Well said, set aside your fears and hopes and doubts , look only at the end target and execute brilliantly- that is what I call Personal Excellence. Ok, so why am I talking about individual peak performance when for the most part the software business I am in is all about team work? Well the answer has to do with my other passion- the high risk world of finance! Personal Excellence, zero unforced error, trading in the zone, peak performance…traders live and die by it…oh boy a lot of skill to master and excel

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Vancouver these days is gripped with Winter Olympics 2010 fever. I took time out to visit the Olympic grounds and had the opportunity to take the Olympic torch in hand- thanks to some generous players who let the public touch and feel it

When you see a game like Olympics what comes to your mind: Personal Excellence- years of training, perseverance and endurance are all put to the test. The sportsman has to be “in the zone”, what is called the “peak performance”, “now or never” type mindset. I was listening to the summer Olympic swimming gold winner -Michael Phelps who broke all sorts of record and created history by winning 8 Gold medals- his words “take it one game at a time”. The words stayed with me- bigger goals have to be broken into smaller ones and a picture perfect execution is required all along the way. It is very important to have a game plan in mind and then take all the games seriously.

One game at a time, treat it as a marathon and not a sprint, consistency is the key, no cutting corner will work here.This is what peak performance is all about, to try to do your very best whenever occasion demands, there is room for zero unforced errors, iron clad discipline, concentration and so much more. When a player fails to do all this , he is said to be not in “form” and makes silly mistakes, overwhelmed and quickly defeated in the competition.

There is a great deal one can learn from these players. Actually not just sports, there are many areas where personal excellence comes into play – film actors, musicians, singers, movie directors, media personality- these type of people are institution in themselves. Take for example Tiger Woods, up until his sudden fall from grace, he was the unequivocal symbol of success- peak performance, discipline. Billion dollar companies signed him up to be their brand ambassador including Accenture, Nike etc.

You are probably also aware of the moving story of Joannie Rochette, who won a bronze in 2010Olympics in figure skating just four days after her mother died of heart attack. My thought goes out to her and her family. Normally it is not easy to overcome such grief and compete in any kind of endeavor. One is well advised to back off and come back again after they have had a chance to overcome their grief( although can anyone truly overcome loss of a loved one?). Read her story here, and here is a direct quote from the article “figure skating is not a sport that takes kindly to emotion. Skaters must bottle up their nerves, their fears, their doubts, even their grief, to complete their jumps and spins that require such total physical and mental control.”

Well said, set aside your fears and hopes and doubts , look only at the end target and execute brilliantly- that is what I call Personal Excellence. Ok, so why am I talking about individual peak performance when for the most part the software business I am in is all about team work? Well the answer has to do with my other passion- the high risk world of finance! Personal Excellence, zero unforced error, trading in the zone, peak performance…traders live and die by it…oh boy a lot of skill to master and excel

This is my first post for the year 2009. With the beginning of a new year we get a chance to start a fresh, a clean slate if you will! What we do the next few months will largely set the tone for the rest of the year. Here’s hoping readers of this blog get off to a good start! As they say, well begin is half done! As for myself, I have set some goals, some on personal level some on professional level, lets see how close I get to achieving them, only time will tell.

Focus in the face of adversity, steadfast discipline, the courage of conviction, unwavering commitment, utmost sincerity and may I add passion as if your life depends on it, is what is normally needed to get outstanding results. Over the years, in general I have honed all of these skills to varying degree of perfection, but no where close to where I would like them to be. I have fallen off the track couple of times, particularly in the area of exercise and fitness routines Here’s hoping this year will turn out differently!!

BTW, the picture above is that of Johna falls, in state of Jharkhand, India a very picturesque picnic spot!! To me the mighty fall symbolizes momentum, force, purity, mother nature in its elements- beautiful and yet determined to find its way no matter what the obstacles. I want to embrace this scene, be like her, determined to move on, even if the pursuit knocks me down couple of times! In a recent visit to the fall, despite warning from my dad not to enter the frigid water and the slippery near by rocks, you guessed it, couldn’t stop myself and took the plunge anyway and experienced the freshness first hand – the intensity going up with every drop, every splash of water falling on me!!! I felt renewed, blessed,alive, mother nature in its elements..surreal..ephemeral may be, but the worries of a distant world just seem to have faded away!!

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This is my first post for the year 2009. With the beginning of a new year we get a chance to start a fresh, a clean slate if you will! What we do the next few months will largely set the tone for the rest of the year. Here’s hoping readers of this blog get off to a good start! As they say, well begin is half done! As for myself, I have set some goals, some on personal level some on professional level, lets see how close I get to achieving them, only time will tell.

Focus in the face of adversity, steadfast discipline, the courage of conviction, unwavering commitment, utmost sincerity and may I add passion as if your life depends on it, is what is normally needed to get outstanding results. Over the years, in general I have honed all of these skills to varying degree of perfection, but no where close to where I would like them to be. I have fallen off the track couple of times, particularly in the area of exercise and fitness routines Here’s hoping this year will turn out differently!!

BTW, the picture above is that of Johna falls, in state of Jharkhand, India a very picturesque picnic spot!! To me the mighty fall symbolizes momentum, force, purity, mother nature in its elements- beautiful and yet determined to find its way no matter what the obstacles. I want to embrace this scene, be like her, determined to move on, even if the pursuit knocks me down couple of times! In a recent visit to the fall, despite warning from my dad not to enter the frigid water and the slippery near by rocks, you guessed it, couldn’t stop myself and took the plunge anyway and experienced the freshness first hand – the intensity going up with every drop, every splash of water falling on me!!! I felt renewed, blessed,alive, mother nature in its elements..surreal..ephemeral may be, but the worries of a distant world just seem to have faded away!!

It’s been a while I wrote a blog post! Needless to say been busier than usual…what with the 24/7 election coverage , client deadlines, finishing up reading some of the books on my wish list and so on. Talking about the elections, as you can imagine, being a long term Barack Obama supporter, I am overjoyed on his success. His victory felt so personal in many ways, and I sure felt as if I owned a piece of this campaign. I hope this election will go down in history as one of the turning points for US politics- record participation of youth, record amount of money raised, unleashing the power of web, record voter turnout, record number of earlier voting, record minority and ethnic participation..the list goes on. I know the pundits will be analyzing this for years to come as to why he won, but for most part I think he won because of his superior organizational capabilities, his disciplined campaign, his inclusive nature of campaign, his consistent strategy based on “change we can believe in” and his steadiness in the face of highs and the lows of the campaign. With every challenge, whether thrown at him by Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Sarah Palin, he emerged out even stronger , not by hitting back, but by appealing to the sense of higher purpose within all of us. I also noticed he never grew complacent although he was leading in the polls all along. He kept appealing to the supporters, work hard as if everything depends on the last few days, he warned them sarcastically not to underestimate Democrats ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory ( an obvious reference to failed Presidential bid of Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004). One can learn a lot from this campaign which ran like a well oiled machine. The time tested formula of discipline, strategy, fighting complacency, even temperament and relentless efforts once again paid the dividend. Mr Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of United States in January 2009, and I look forward to seeing him in the Office! I hope he keeps the humility and humbleness he demonstrated all along the campaign and puts the country first and delivers the changes he promised so vociferously!!! Mr Obama you are under watch by a nation eager for change!!!

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It’s been a while I wrote a blog post! Needless to say been busier than usual…what with the 24/7 election coverage , client deadlines, finishing up reading some of the books on my wish list and so on. Talking about the elections, as you can imagine, being a long term Barack Obama supporter, I am overjoyed on his success. His victory felt so personal in many ways, and I sure felt as if I owned a piece of this campaign. I hope this election will go down in history as one of the turning points for US politics- record participation of youth, record amount of money raised, unleashing the power of web, record voter turnout, record number of earlier voting, record minority and ethnic participation..the list goes on. I know the pundits will be analyzing this for years to come as to why he won, but for most part I think he won because of his superior organizational capabilities, his disciplined campaign, his inclusive nature of campaign, his consistent strategy based on “change we can believe in” and his steadiness in the face of highs and the lows of the campaign. With every challenge, whether thrown at him by Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Sarah Palin, he emerged out even stronger , not by hitting back, but by appealing to the sense of higher purpose within all of us. I also noticed he never grew complacent although he was leading in the polls all along. He kept appealing to the supporters, work hard as if everything depends on the last few days, he warned them sarcastically not to underestimate Democrats ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory ( an obvious reference to failed Presidential bid of Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004). One can learn a lot from this campaign which ran like a well oiled machine. The time tested formula of discipline, strategy, fighting complacency, even temperament and relentless efforts once again paid the dividend. Mr Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of United States in January 2009, and I look forward to seeing him in the Office! I hope he keeps the humility and humbleness he demonstrated all along the campaign and puts the country first and delivers the changes he promised so vociferously!!! Mr Obama you are under watch by a nation eager for change!!!