Success
is not about destinations. So often the
experience of reaching the destination is not half as one had anticipated.
Success is more about how we savor the journey. Unless one learns to enjoy the
journey, the destination will not measure up to expectations. Clearly the
remedy for this is in developing the right attitude of “enjoying the journey”
as much as “enjoying the destination”. So how does one go about this? Journeys
are best enjoyed if one sees them as a collection of several milestones. This greatly helps because
although the destination may seem long, the next milestone is just a small
distance away. As long as we are moving in the right direction milestone after
milestone the joy of the journey gradually starts to unlock and lo and behold
the destination is almost effortlessly conquered.
Thus
taking baby steps tirelessly in a disciplined manner is the panacea to beat the
destination.
The
following examples reveals the magic of “baby steps”.
Baby Steps and exercises :
A disciplined exercise regime best describes the virtues of "baby steps".
Baby Steps and exercises :
A disciplined exercise regime best describes the virtues of "baby steps".
Be
it swimming, running, or any other sports. None of these can be mastered
instantaneously.
However
people trying to learn these get more often than not very impatient for instant
results and give up in between.
But
those who have it in them to be patient and disciplined eventually hit the
sweet spot of mastering the sport.
Clearly
discipline and patience are the building blocks that makes champions.
Thus
the thrill of reaching a destination is by enjoying the smaller interim goals.
Baby Steps and
Cricket :
While
one stands up to take notice of batting, bowling and fielding heroics, the biggest
game changer in cricket are “partnerships” that are built slowly and steadily
with “baby steps”. Partnerships may not have the flair of “centuries” and “5
wicket hauls” but they are more desirable for winning matches. Partnerships are
built slowly and steadily run by run till they become ominous and take the game
away.
The veterans advice on test match cricket is to play the game session by session with patience and perseverance. Even a star cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar ascribes his success to assiduous practice day in and day out.
The veterans advice on test match cricket is to play the game session by session with patience and perseverance. Even a star cricketer like Sachin Tendulkar ascribes his success to assiduous practice day in and day out.
Making a molehill
out of a mountain :
Seemingly insurmountable mountains can be conquered by taking baby steps in the direction of the destination. First you climb a few feet and then a few meters. Each meter you conquer makes your destination closer. The lesson here is to have the discipline of covering a targeted distance every day. Success lies by following a disciplined effort. By covering a larger distance on a particular day followed by a day of unplanned rest is kind of conduct that does not get you to your destination. Jim Collins the author of Good to Great in his new book Great by Choice has described the “Baby Steps” strategy as the 20 Mile March. According to him a disciplined effort bears fruits whether it is climbing a mountain or running a company. In this book he has spoken of John Brown, CEO of Stryker who in 1977 deliberately set a performance benchmark of achieving 20% net income growth every year. He ingrained this lay in the company’s culture. Stryker had a self imposed constraint as well: to never go too far, to never grow too much in a given year. Following this discipline Stryker hit the goal more than 90% of the time between 1977 and 1998. Jim Collins has given other interesting examples as well such as Southwest Airlines’ 20 Mile March. Between 1973 to 2002 Southwest Airlines hit profitability 30 out of 30 years. They too followed the discipline of holding back and not expanding too much in a given year. At one time when more than 100 cities were clamoring for its services, the airlines introduced operations in only 4 cities. Other noteworthy examples of 20 Mile March successes are Intel and Microsoft. Microsoft embarked on this journey by way of continuous iterations of software products. Often what began as an imperfect product turned perfect after scores of iterations. However it never overextended itself financially despite its successes and hence never had to pause its march. Today Google seems to have embarked on this kind of a disciplined March improving its products and services continually.
Seemingly insurmountable mountains can be conquered by taking baby steps in the direction of the destination. First you climb a few feet and then a few meters. Each meter you conquer makes your destination closer. The lesson here is to have the discipline of covering a targeted distance every day. Success lies by following a disciplined effort. By covering a larger distance on a particular day followed by a day of unplanned rest is kind of conduct that does not get you to your destination. Jim Collins the author of Good to Great in his new book Great by Choice has described the “Baby Steps” strategy as the 20 Mile March. According to him a disciplined effort bears fruits whether it is climbing a mountain or running a company. In this book he has spoken of John Brown, CEO of Stryker who in 1977 deliberately set a performance benchmark of achieving 20% net income growth every year. He ingrained this lay in the company’s culture. Stryker had a self imposed constraint as well: to never go too far, to never grow too much in a given year. Following this discipline Stryker hit the goal more than 90% of the time between 1977 and 1998. Jim Collins has given other interesting examples as well such as Southwest Airlines’ 20 Mile March. Between 1973 to 2002 Southwest Airlines hit profitability 30 out of 30 years. They too followed the discipline of holding back and not expanding too much in a given year. At one time when more than 100 cities were clamoring for its services, the airlines introduced operations in only 4 cities. Other noteworthy examples of 20 Mile March successes are Intel and Microsoft. Microsoft embarked on this journey by way of continuous iterations of software products. Often what began as an imperfect product turned perfect after scores of iterations. However it never overextended itself financially despite its successes and hence never had to pause its march. Today Google seems to have embarked on this kind of a disciplined March improving its products and services continually.
Malcom Gladwell and
his Outlier theory :
In
his bestselling book, “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell touches upon this subject of
“persistence”. According to him the key to success for any professional is to rehearse
and practice one’s skills for a minimum of 10000 hours. According to him it takes a 10000 hours of
disciplined practice to give birth to a champion. He has given very interesting
examples to demonstrate his empirical theory. According to him the “Beatles”
became the most celebrated rock band in history on the back of a tireless
practice when they played for 7 to 8 hours a day at a night club in Hamburg,
Germany before they became a phenomena in Britain. This intense practice day after day, month
after month and year after year brought them all the glory. Gladwell has also
given the example of Bill Gates who very early in his life got the opportunity
to dabble with computers. This was at a time when most people had not even
heard about computers. So while Bill Gates had a lot of passion in him for
computers, it was this opportunity to put his passion into practice that made
him a champion beyond par. Thus again tireless practice or baby steps whatever
you may like to call it gives rise to Outliers.
A lesson for
leaders:
So what is it that “leaders” can derive from the theory of “baby steps”. A leader can go a lot further by taking disciplined baby steps. The leader sets the direction with his ability to see beyond the ordinary, alight his team to the vision, motivate them and embark on his 20 Mile March. He needs to clearly communicate that there is no way to short circuit the course. The only formula is "tireless" and "steady" progress in the right direction for the foundation of success is made of perspiration, persistence, conviction, effort, practice and practice and practice.
So what is it that “leaders” can derive from the theory of “baby steps”. A leader can go a lot further by taking disciplined baby steps. The leader sets the direction with his ability to see beyond the ordinary, alight his team to the vision, motivate them and embark on his 20 Mile March. He needs to clearly communicate that there is no way to short circuit the course. The only formula is "tireless" and "steady" progress in the right direction for the foundation of success is made of perspiration, persistence, conviction, effort, practice and practice and practice.
Baby Steps helps turn the odds in your
favor for three reasons:-
1)
It helps you perform well in adverse
circumstances
2)
It prepares you for unexpected
disruption
3)
It helps you be in control in a chaotic
environment.
In
the pursuit of “success” impatience causes one to slip or change directions
both of which takes one away from the goal. Thus an eye in the right direction
and loads of baby steps would not only get you there but would also make you
discover the joy of the journey. As they say, success is a function of 1%
inspiration but 99 % perspiration and “Discipline” is the vital link that makes
baby steps cast gigantic footprints.
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