Quantum Leap

In 'Snapshots From Hell', Peter Robinson talks of his 1st year at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford Univ. in 1989. Having done his undergrad in English litreature, he found it tough to cope with heavy quant based subjects. In this superb book, he mentions about few of his interesting classmates. When chatting with one of them, he is asked why he came to b-school & he replies that it was because 'it was one year shorter than law school'. Peter asks the same question to the other chap, who, very seriously answers 'to take a quantum leap in the area of financial services'.

Although this book has real life experiences written with a perceptibly humourous underlying theme, the term 'quantum leap' is important. At some stage in life, all of us need to take this leap. Some of us are born winners (brilliant, superb time managers, amazing productivity, etc.) , others mould themselves to be winners. The best thing about the latter category is that it is possible for anyone and everyone to do it provided he/she makes a concious decision to work on it and has above average abilities & intelligence. Today, at breakfast, I was talking to a friend of mine whose brother in law was our alum last year. This guy (the alum) was a 'super acheiver' who not only was in the Dean's list but was part of most other activities. My friend was telling me about how this guy had been an achiever all his life & what mind boggling time management skills he had. Last year, he acheived a dream job in a dream company, made it to the Dean's list, was president of the most sought after club (did an absolutely terrific job as president), was part of many extra curricular activites & what not while being married & taking care of his kid who, unfortunately, did not keep well. Point I'm trying to make here is that people like this do well all their life. Others, at some point in time, make the 'quantum leap' to becoming super achievers. What changes? Maybe their focus, maybe the approach, maybe working harder, maybe working smarter, maybe the realization to raise the bar higher every time, all the time. I have seen people who have done well & suddenly after some point start doing 'extraordinarily' well. They make the quantum leap. It is always good to surround yourself with people who are far better than you. As Newton said in a letter to a colleague 'If I have been able to see farther than others, it was because I was standing on the shoulders of giants'. Go ahead, introspect, apply and make your quantum leap.

This post is in the name of the best within us all.