Will Abhay fail by doing MBA?

I had met Abhay two years back when he was in third year IIT, Mumbai. He was confused because, despite his valiant efforts in getting into IIT, he had realised that 'engineering' is not meant for him. I introduced him to the fundamental principal of achievement : that thinking competency (unlike physical competency) unfolds in unpredictable ways. He therefore asked me if he should do 'MBA' after graduation. I told him about the 'disadvantages of doing MBA immediately after graduation'.

Last week, Abhay's friend called me and told me that Abhay has got an admission in IIM, Ahmedabad and would be joining the course from this June. His friend jokingly asked him " Will Abhay now fail by doing MBA?" . This is an interesting question. If we engage in a thought experiment, and imagine different possibilities, we can answer this question logically. Let us divert and understand one of the basic principle of Work achievement: Find least resistant path of learning

Find least resistant path of learning of cognitive abilities 

Some work-paths unfold better, because they help the professional to sustain his learning in cognitive abilities far more easily, while some make learning very difficult. For instance, MBA, because it is about managing the work of other people, demands understanding of 'doing' work before one can understand the complexities of managing other's work.  I therefore suggest professionals to do MBA only after certain years of experience, because that enables them to understand the doing work before learning the management of 'doing' work. In other words, Engineering graduation> work experience > MBA is a less riskier path of learning because it generates fewer blocks to learning, it promotes layer-by-layer building of knowledge base.

On the other hand, some paths make it difficult to learn at the outset. For example the path of engineering> MBA > Work is such a path. In this path, the individual does not have a work experience before doing MBA. When one does MBA without having done the doing work, he is going through the motions of getting a MBA degree. Learning of MBA is wasted because it is patched up. Instead of building a person, it just creates illogical aspirations and goals !  Due to these difficulties, students consequently lose themselves in the jungle and find it difficult to find work-paths that will enable them to use their learnt foundation.

When learning is right, our cognitive abilities help us build a strong enough knowledge base to tackle real life problems. Key of work-achievement therefore is finding the right work-path that enables this learning.

Possibilities in Abhay's growth of cognitive abilities 

For instance, let us forsee the possibilities in 'Engineering' to 'MBA' path of Abhay and imagine the learning possibilities that are likely to occur in his path:

Possibility 1: For instance, Abhay, like most of the Engineers, may take over finance 'work-path' in MBA. This path looks attractive as Abhay will earn above-average remunerations on this finance path. But very soon ( I have observed this even after a year or so), Abhay's mind will start questioning about  'what has he done with his IIT degree'. Because Abhay has not 'utilised' his knowledge of technology, he will constantly feel that his cognitive abilities are 'underutilised'. His aspirations will play havoc with his mind. This 'feeling' will make Abhay change jobs frequently, further diverting him from his path of achievement. This happens because Abhay will be exposed to too many options before his mind is ready to choose these options wisely.

Possibility 2: Imagine another optimistic possibility. Abhay may find his the domain of Finance excellent for using his cognitive abilities . This happens with many individuals too. In this path, he will enjoy the money and also have the 'satisfaction' of using best of his cognitive abilities. With no background of accounts, what are the chances of his finding finance as his path of developing his cognitive abilities ?  It is anybody's guess.

Possibility 3: Imagine another optimistic possibility.  Abhay starts working in Finance and in his later work-life finds some 'purpose of life' and uses his money to channelise his work-life in a new direction. You will find many such professionals in real life. For instance, Abhay can find his path of achievement luckily like Rajiv or find meaning in his life like Narayanan when he went to Madurai. For instance, i have observed many professionals enter in the field of 'education' to fufill their purpose. Some professionals get into the 'VC' industry to help entrepreneurs. Some professionals mix their technical and finance background and find entrepreneurs who are innovating in a special segment which they are most suitable to understand. Some find their own childhood passion, say in cooking, and start a chain of hotels.But this is luck.

What can Abhay do now? 

In other words, Abhay has to depend a lot on luck to 'grow his cognitive abilities plus his emerging traits' in his work-life, because most professionals like Abhay have no understanding of how one develops one's abilities. Without knowing this, they are not thinking beyond tomorrow. For them only factors like jobs and salary only impact their work-path selection

But the science of achievement postulates that Mind affects achievement through three hidden factors: how we deal with uncertainty of producing results, how we manage aspirations and how we balance the type 1 and type 2 mind. Mind management is perhaps the least understood, and most under-rated factor of achievement that is not only ignored, but also avoided. Mind training is required not just to balance the work-life, but to achieve in the work-life.

Most professionals like Abhay ignore these important factors and jeopardise the long term usage of their cognitive abilities. As they are unprepared to face these consequences, they get busy in dousing fires. Instead of preventing fires and building their future, they are engaged in correcting their past actions all the time. They are busy in reacting, not responding. How can they 'build or create' their future when they are just occupied in catching up with yesterday?

Using the framework of achievement, what can Abhay do if he has already chosen to do MBA after his graduation? He can find out multiple ways of reducing the resistance of learning. For instance, Abhay can  think of all the possibilities ( beyond the top 3) in his life, and with the help of mentor, zero on the top three that may happen in his life. After identifying these, he can identify the blocks of learning on these paths, and be ready to deal with the situation, instead of reacting to the situation.

For instance Abhay can increase his probability of finding 'finance' as his path of excellence, by actively working on accounts from Year I of MBA. Or he may actively study the difficulties of professionals like him and actively equip his 'Mind'. Or develop his own parameters of job satisfaction, by actively working on them. There are multiple ways of reducing the resistance of learning!

We fail not because we chose a wrong path, but because we do not prepare adequately for facing the consequences of the chosen path. Abhay will not fail because he is doing MBA after graduation, but because he is not equipping himself to face the difficulties of growing his cognitive abilities in his chosen path. If Abhay therefore uses the framework of achievement, he may still find a way to succeed. But if he waits for the fires to emerge so that he can douse them, he is more than likely to 'fail'.

Choosing the best college for the course is the surest way of excelling

Often, in deciding what to do after 12th, we take lot of effort to determine the course - say, Engineering - we are taking. However, the same rigor is not shown in deciding the college we take to undertake the course. For instance, we are not even aware that the best Civil Engineering Course in India is available at IIT Mumbai.

Best colleges for a course offer 3 advantages for excelling that are unbeatable. They help you develop the necessary confidence in your core abilities by using these three mechanisms. Core abilities are the abilities for which you are doing the course: For instance, in Engineering core ability is technical logical, For commerce graduate it is technical commercial( or accounting), for graphic design graduate the core ability is 'designing page'.

First mechanism is the student community. Better colleges attract better students. Better students force you to 'equal' them and therefore create a 'natural pull' of motivation. This factor is one of the biggest reason why IIT's today offer the best place to do a course. 

Second mechanism is the academic professors and the 'eco-system' of the college ( such as visiting lecturers, connection with other institutes, alumni connection) create 'learning crucibles' that are hot and vibrant. These learning crucibles promote fast and varied learning. This formation of academic community is the one big reason for doing post graduation in US universities. 

Third mechanism is the industry linkage. Industry linkage of the college allows you to get better jobs, do better assignments, attract the right visiting professors and offer you more options to deepen the advanced learning in the same course. This is why, colleges in bigger cities are better colleges.

For instance, there is a world of difference between doing MBA course in one of the best colleges and doing it one of the colleges. For instance, MBA done from a Tier 3 college today is not useful, because they fail to offer the three above mentioned benefits.

This also means that if you are compelled to do MBA from Tier 3 institute, you must make extra efforts to design your strategy to get the first job after finishing MBA course. Sometimes, the amount of extra efforts required are so huge, that it is better not to do MBA course from such a college !

How to find the best colleges for a course that will help you develop the core ability?

Best way to find the best college for a course is to ask an experienced professional in that course. If, for instance, you are planning to do fashion designing, find an experienced fashion designer and ask him the list of best colleges.

Another way is to find independent surveys done by third party institutes like India today or Business World. They provide an 'objective list' of colleges, for courses say in Law, Hotel catering, fashion designing and others.

Another way to find best colleges for a subject is by visiting websites of Institutes such as QS. They regularly do these surveys and list the best universities and colleges for a subject, say Electrical Engineering, History and Languages. For instance, even among IIT's, IIT Delhi is a better college for Electrical Engineering, or JNU is a better college for English and other subjects and so on.

Infact, given today's huge number of colleges, one must take extra care to find the best available college for the chosen course. Choosing the best college is a sure shot way of finding the right nurturing soil and the background to deepen one's abilities. They provide such a rich environment of learning that even an average student manages to become an expert. 

What should Tier 2/3 Engineering graduates do to find jobs in IT firms?

Recently i read a report of research and consulting firm on the status of Engineering jobs.Every year, about 3.5 lakhs Engineering and technology graduates pass out. Four states - AP, Karnataka, TN and Maharashtra - contribute 70% of these graduates. Computer science and IT accounts for 32%, Electronics stream accounts for 22% and Mechanical stream for 18%.

The report also highlighted the concerns of the poor quality of these graduates, which is considered to be abysmally low in Tier 2/3 institutes. The report states that about 4.5% of the engineers passing from Tier 1 engineering colleges such as IIT's are fit to work in IT firm. But the competition in these Tier 1 institutes to recruit graduates is so high that companies recruit them in the seventh semester, making it difficult for colleges to keep these students motivated in eighth semester. In some Tier 1 institutes, it is reported that hiring process commences in 5/6th semesters !!!! This is counting the chickens before the eggs are hatched.

But what do Tier2/3 engineering graduates lack? According to the report, these graduates lack advanced IT skills such as cloud computing. But, given the rapid advances in technology, one can understand and appreciate the lack of latest technical skills.

But the absence of three soft skills is surprising in these graduates ( actually it is not surprising, because even the Nasscom report of 2005 had highlighted this), because they can be easily built around (not inside) the curriculum. Three crucial skills that these students lack are Interfacing skills ( ability to interface with customers and colleagues), Lack of knowledge of any domain ( such as telecom, finance or others) and above all, the understanding of business context that is required to function in an organisation. Please also see the relevant blog for MBA students in Tier 2/3 Institutes.

What can students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Institutes do to get a job in IT firms?

1> Building interfacing skills : These are interpersonal skills. These skills can be build by working in team projects - academic as well as non-academic projects. Many colleges encourage lot of groups to conduct non-academic activities that require students to work together. Morever, students can always learn inter-personal skill and practice it under the guidance of mentor. Understanding of domains, social  issues, country governance methods also helps in promoting inter personal skills, because knowledge of 'how world works' helps one relate with others.

2. Domain Knowledge building : Every domain - be it software, telecom or Retail - is unique. One cannot understand all domains in one's lifetime. What one needs therefore is to learn a method of understanding domains, the meta-domain skill ( the skill of understanding and analysing any domain) . I utilise value-chain analysis as a better meta-domain method of teaching these domain knowledge building to students.

3. Understanding of business context: Working in an organisation requires understanding how the 'organisational animal' functions. Like working with animals demands understanding of the 'behaviour of animals', so too one needs to understand the 'organisational behaviour' ( not the behaviour of individuals in an organisation) to work in organisations. It requires understanding of organisational functions; structures of responsibility in an organisation; Patterns of power between senior, middle and bottom layers; Use of perception and the 'market driven' behaviour of organisations.This is like doing Mini-MBA. Any good MBA coach can help you understand how an 'organisation functions' in 3 months.

As you would observe, these three skills are required for any graduate ( not just IT) who wants to work in a company job. In other words, these are generic skills required by any graduate who wants to enter the work-life. 

If you do this, even partially, you have edge over other 'Tier 1' college students because Tier 1 college students are generally considered as very difficult students because they are unable to control their aspirations.

Are you ready to acquire these three skills? As they say, if the student is ready, the teacher finds him.  

Learn to respond ( not react)

"The time to build a network is always before you need one. It took me an extra six months to find a job because i had to build a network from scratch before i could really ramp up my search for a  job"

This is what Douglas Conant said, when he lost his job. And remember, he lost his job, after 10-15 year of experience. This is what i always hear when i meet coachees. They always 'wake up' when the problem has arrived. The right time to wake up, as Douglas Conant, says is 'before you need to wake up'. The bigger question is 'how'?.

When you are taking action after the event, you are reacting. When you are taking action, much before the event falls on your lap, you are responding. As you will realise, responding is a main key to succeed in life. Reacting is always catching up with the past, Responding is being ahead with the future by doing something in the present. Reacting is spending efforts on fire-fighting, Responding is spending efforts on preventing the fire.

Here are some ideas to learn to respond:

• Learn to find 'answer' to questions before they appear in the horizon: As we discussed in this blog, we tend to avoid questions that are irritating, difficult to deal with. We tend to avoid questions such as "What is the next challenge of  getting the job after doing graduation?" Or "what is the challenge in succeeding in the first job" etc.
• Learn to find people who can help you answer these questions or even help you identify the questions: Generally these are your professors, or an Uncle who is willing to talk about his experience, or a friend of a father who has written a book, or a friend's relative who is a HR Manager of a company which hires graduates. 
• Learn to frame questions with specific context : Without framing a right question, you will not get the right answer. Do not ask 'What are challenges of getting a job". Instead, make it as specific as " I am passing out from a XXX MBA institute, which is not the premium institute. What difficulties will i face?'". Or  add " I am an Engineer" before asking this question. 
• Learn to frame questions differently with different individuals: If you are asking a question to a Coach who hardly knows you, ask a general question of " I am passing from xxx Institute as Engineer. What are the challenges for such graduates?" People who have wide experience and background, tend to give answers which are too 'generic'. You have to apply them to your situation. On the other hand, if you are asking this same question to HR manager, ask him " I am a graduate MBA. What jobs can i get in Nashik?"

Framing a question appropriately, depending on the background of a person, is an important key in getting appropriate answer to a difficult question. More than often, i find graduates lack this key skill. They therefore fail to get the right answer because they make these two mistakes : they either ask a wrong question to the right person, or ask the right question to a wrong person. And when they fail to get the desired response from the person, they lose motivation. They stop asking questions because they are embarassed at their repeated failures. And soon they start reacting. 

Have you learnt to frame the questions to elicit the desired response? If you have not , you are at the mercy of life. If you have, you have one more tool to deal actively with life.

Can graduates excel after missing the bus?

We have seen that if students miss the bus of excellence at a school stage, they at least have second chance of correcting their path during graduation. But what happens when a graduate misses the bus of excellence even after graduation?

I have observed three scenarios where students still manage to excel:

Scenario 1: Domain shifters

Sunil Khandabahale finished his graduation in Instrumentation. But after few years of working in Instrumentation, he shifted his domain to software. He launched a web-dictionary for different languages who are challenged in English. Today his web dictionary caters to more than 10 languages. Read his success story here . 

You will find many such examples of domain shifers who use the same logical ability that they developed while graduating, but shifted their domain, because that domain matched some of the conditions they were seeking. This is quite common. We use the same logical ability, but shift the domains to use that logical ability. Sometimes, this domain shifting is quite radical. For instance, chartered accountancy to engineering, or medical to engineering.

Domains can also be shifted late in life, if they are close to each other. For instance, you will find many advertising professionals getting into movie-making, because the work in both domains is similar to each other for some jobs like directors. Infact, Domain shifting is a most common variation of excelling for knowledge workers. Software domain has become a domain of choice today.

Although Sunil Khandbahale found his domain by chance, it was also driven by his personal challenge of mastering English. But one can reduce the 'chance' element of excelling, by actively exploring Domains. Domain exploration includes three elements: 1> Understanding how abilities can be used in different domains and 3> Passive Exploration of domains by using net and biographies. 3> Active exploration of domains by meeting people, talking to mentors.

Scenario 2: Ability combiners

Sometimes, an educated graduate combines a completely different ability with his logical ability. For instance, you will find many Engineering students shifting to teaching, or chartered accountants shifting to writing a book or on web. This is a combination of logical and linguistic ability. Sometimes the combinations can be quite radical. For instant, Ram Gopal Verma, the Bollywood director of many hit movies, combined his logical ability with his 'story telling ability" ( which is a right brain ability) to direct movies. 

You will find many such examples of combining abilities, because this is a unique way of expressing yourself fully into a job. If you have a work, where you can express all your abilities, the job is ideal for excelling. Sometimes the combination of abilities are very unique. For instance, if you have a musical ability, you can excel in a job if your logical and musical ability can be combined? I had met an Engineer working in Sony, who had combined these two abilities.

Scenario 3. Late bloomers

Intra-personal and inter-personal abilities develop late in life for individuals who have very strong in logical skills. Good logical ability combined with these two abilities therefore enable these late bloomers to excel as entrepreneurs. They become the individuals who have strong grounding in a chosen field, and tend to develop and spread their vision by starting their own organisation.

Narayan Murthy, the founder of Infosys, is one well known example who combined his logical ability and his intra-personal ability ( the ability which enable him to express his values in his organisation). You will find some more examples here.

Success without excellence is difficult to digest

Why is it important to excel? One can succeed in life without excelling, but success without excellence creates lot of unintended consequences. When individuals succeed without excelling, you will find these commonly observed symptoms in them:

1. Individuals succeeding without excelling constantly worry about sustaining success. They either over-work, or are constantly stressed about succeeding in their work. This only results in hyper tension and chronic ailments.

2.Without excellence, there is no job satisfaction. Jobs for these individuals are meant only to earn money. Until money is important, that motivation works. But sooner or later the money loses its power to motivate after it is earned beyond threshold level. After that level is reached, job does not provide any satisfaction. These individuals then keep on shifting from one job to another, but happiness still eludes them.

3. Without excellence there is no life of significance. I meet many 50 +  successful individuals ( who have high monetary success !) who constantly seek attention and power like an adolescent. They are unable to connect their work with their life, because they have never expressed their 'abilities' fully ever in life. For them, life remains an un-fulfilled potential.  

You may face people interaction problem, if you do not have the right slack

When you are interacting with people - friends, shopkeeper, or colleague in the class -you have to follow certain coordination protocols to interact with each other seamlessly. Those protocols may be 'agreed'  explicitly or implicitly between you and the other person. If the other person is behaving differently than the protocol, you get confused like Manasi.

Manasi has been staying in mumbai for almost 15 years. She shifted to a big town near Mumbai, Nashik. She called up plumber to fit her Acqua guard at 4 pm. Despite promising, he did not turn up till 4 pm. Neither did he call to tell that he was getting delayed. She waited till 4.30 pm. The phone was 'out of reach'. She called at 5.30 pm. Same response. She called at 6.00 pm. Plumber replied " I am sorry. I got stuck up somewhere". Manasi ranted and raved. Ultimately she asked him if he can come the next day. He said he will come by 10 am. Same drama repeated next day.

Manasi is facing the problem of getting adjusted to the new coordination protocols of the town where she has not grown. For her friends in Nashik, this is not a problem at all. It is just a matter of 'adjusting'.

Manasi, for instance, could not adjust with the coordination protocols of the new town even afer a year.  Instead, she kept on getting 'proofs' of their unprofessionalism, the characteristics she said she wanted in people, in every interaction. For instance, according to her, people in Nashik never came at predetermined time, or when they did not come on time, they did not inform in advance. Or when she went shoppping for grocery, shopkeepers gave her oil  bags that were 'time expired'. Or  when she asked for something and it was not available, they never said so. Or when she moved with her scooter, she complained that they took left turn without showing the left indicator. They parked at wrong places, or they jumped signals. Or when she went to drama, the drama never started on 'time'. And so on and on. The evidence on 'unprofessionalism' kept on mounting with every encounter in her mind.

We seek consistency in our beliefs

What do you think is happening with Manasi? We all have beliefs about 'how people should behave'. Some of these beliefs become 'solid' as we meet people holding the same beliefs. However, we forget that they are still beliefs. They are not facts or truths. Until we find contrary evidence, we forget that they are only 'beliefs'.  Manasi forgot that it is her belief that 'people are professional only when they come in time' and this belief may not be true everywhere. Manasi forgot that beliefs depend on the country, caste, religion and status we are brought up.

Why is it difficult to change these beliefs? As psychologists tell us, to function well, we make our beliefs consistent with each other. Changing one belief forces us to change other 'related beliefs' and form 'new ones'. For instance, to change her belief of professionalism, Manasi has to rethink her definition of professionalism and define it 'newly'. She will also have to change her related belief on 'whom to trust', because she thinks that she can trust 'people who are professional'. And more she sticks to her beliefs, more strongly she 'associates' with her beliefs. When Manasi forgot this, she refused to change her beliefs, even though it hurt her for more than a year. Let us call this challenge of Consistency - we seek consistency in our beliefs and hold on to them too strongly - instead of letting them go.

Our desire to have consistent beliefs stops us from coordinating with others 

Strongly held beliefs also create unintended consequences, because they taint our eyes and attitude. As strong beliefs control our 'sight', we view everything with 'tainted eyes'. That is why, Manasi kept on finding evidence of unprofessionalism in everything she saw. Her 'eyes' were only seeing the behaviour that matched with her belief. As Manasi held on to her "consistent set of beliefs', she found more and more difficult to adjust to the coordination protocols of interacting with people. It started a vicious cycle. As her beliefs became more and more stronger,  she found it difficult to adjust with the coordination protocols of the new town. This is called Coordination versus Consistency mismatch. 

On the one hand, in order to interact easily with people, we need to be flexible in following the coordination protocols with different people. But, on the other hand, we also want to be consistent with our beliefs. We face these conflict all the time. For instance, should we interact with our neighbour with irrelevant banter or should we avoid communication with neighbour because we dislike making irrelevant talk? Or should we go to the birthdays of friends and give return gifts, or avoid birthdays because we do not believe in giving such calculated gifts? Or should we only engage with useful friends at the cost of being called opportunistic, or engage with all type of friends at the cost of wasting too much of time? Should we interact only with friends who agree with us, or should we interact with others who have strong views contrary to us? Or should we tell car mechanic the true extent of problem or should we tell 'part of the problem' to avoid being charged highly? And so on.

In other words, we face this trade off between consistency and coordination all the time. In order to remain friendly with others, we must hold our beliefs loosely so that we can change them quickly. When you hold your beliefs 'too loosely', you become a socialite whom others don't trust, because you may become a chamelon who changes its colours at the drop of hat, who sways to the wind's direction, and who will never have any conviction of your own. On the other hand, if you hold your consistent beliefs 'too strongly', you become like Manasi: difficult to relate with friends, always taking stands visavis others, and brings every issue to 'right or wrong'.  Both extremes make a person dysfunctional in having good people-interaction. Getting this balance of coordination versus consistency right is very important for every individual. Having too loose a belief set is equally detrimental in interacting with people as is too tight a belief set. Having the right slack in the belief set is important.

For individuals who automatically get this slack right , they never understand what right actions they took. But for those, who have the wrong mismatch of consistency and coordination, they have huge difficulty in interacting with people. You will either find them like Manasi: who views every situation as black and white, has very rigid views of what is right and wrong, and remain as loners even though it hurts them at a personal level. Even good communication ability does not help them. For instance, Manasi has acted in a drama and is a good communicator. But even that does not help. Or you will find some others like a socialite. No one trusts them. They have many 'relations' but of no depth. They are seen as opportunistic. Even when they want to be genuine, people do not believe their motive.

Conclusion

In other words, intra-personal problem ( lack of appropriate slack in belief set) causes inter-personal difficulty ( in interacting with people). Having a good communication ability is not enough to possess interpersonal ability; it requires having the appropriate slack in the belief-set. With the right amount of slack in the 'belief-set', even poor communication ability does not hinder you in interacting with people. But with too much slack in belief-set, even good communication ability is not enough. When someone adjusts to coordination protocols easily, it means he is having the right slack in his belief set.

In my coaching experience, i have found that more than 70% of the people interaction problems arise due to this inappropriate slack in belief set and not due to any 'communication-related difficulty'. Communication is just the tip of iceberg, the real cause lies somewhere. And once the problem is identified there are solutions. There are ways to 'loosen' the belief set as well as 'tighten' the belief set. But i have observed that it is more difficult to 'loosen' the belief set than tightening it. And it is more easier to 'alter' the belief set at a young age than altering it at later age.

Is your belief set slack enough to interact with people easily and gracefully? Or do you want to learn to develop the slack? 

Why are you unable to use the New Law of Achievement

Every student, to whom i talk, wishes to achieve in his study and life. But then, why don't they follow the the right principles of achievement. More often than not, they miss the bus because of the following three difficulties:

1.  Most of the students mistakenly believe that Work-achievement can be pursued by using the first law of Achievement (like the first law of motion!)

According to the first law of Achievement, advocated by all the self-help gurus and authors, if you have to achievement, you have to follow the ten rules of success such as Work hard, Set a goal, Prioritise properly, Use interdependence of people, Be creative and others.

This first law of Achievement is old and worked in past. These rules of success can be applied in your lives at a superficial level. For instance, if you have failed in a subject because you had not prepared well, the rule of work hard is easily applicable to you. But if you have scored 60% marks, and want to score 85% the rule of work hard is not useful. Now you have to become specific in your actions: you have to identify the difficult chapters that you ignore, you have to study the concepts that you have not understood. Further, if you have to increase your marks from 85% to 95%, the rules further change. Now you have to understand your 'style of making mistakes' in an exam, how you take stress and so on.

In other word, the first law of Achievement is useful in a very generic way, where cause>effect is clearly understood and easy to figure out. In other cases, the first law of Achievement is not only useless to provide you any guideline, but it creates a different side-effect. For instance, when you find that these basic rules of success - work hard, be creative, set a goal, use imagination, set priorities - do not work for you, you either conclude that something is wrong with these rules, or they are useless. You stop listening to any advice !

2. New law of Achievement is invisible like law of gravity. You require to wear glasses to use it. 

Until Newton found the theory of gravity, by seeing the falling apple, everyone sensed 'gravity', but no one could 'see' it. Once Newton gave us the 'glasses' to 'see' gravity in every moving and stationary object, we could use it for anything. We could even use it to understand the attraction of two planets.

Until now the New law of Achievement was invisible like theory of gravity. Now, as it has become visible through this research, we can use it. If you learn to wear this lens, you will then be able to use even the old rules of Achievement at their 'appropriate' situations and use them smartly instead of dumping them.

3. As the New law of Achievement is highly contextual ( situation-dependent), you have to apply the rules consciously and deliberately after understanding your situation. 

It is apparent to everyone that the rules of first law of Achievement are so universal that they are not useful. What is the first principle of New law of Achievement?

The first principle is : Without the 'context', do not use any  rules. It is like health framework. You are aware of the rules of keeping your weight low, but you still cannot keep your weight low, because you cannot apply those rules in your daily routine of eating, exercising and resting. To apply the general rule of weight control , you have to first understand your situational context. Only then you can apply the generic rules of weight control to yourself. Before applying any rules, you must consciously think of the conditions where the rule can be applied. For instance,

• The rule of 'Work hard'  or 'Persevere hard' is useful only when one has found the direction in life. For instance, when you are clear that of doing commerce course and the reasons for doing it. you can then apply the rule of 'work hard' easily. Until then, this rule will not produce any better results.  
• Or the rule of 'Set the goal' is useful only for single-dimensional children who excel in senses-based fields like sports and music. For other children, who excel in cognitive field, this rule is useless. 
• Or to excel in a corporate life, perception management is crucial because specialised experts in corporate force us to deal with each other on the basis of 'perceptions' and not 'facts' 
• Or to succeed as an entrepreneur, understanding the business model is the first step. The trait of risk-taking is not important to succeed. 
• Or the rules of achievement applicable in corporate life ( such as understand the metasystems etc) are different than the rules of excelling in student life. 

Conclusion

Applying the New Law of Achievement is not as straightforward as applying the first law of Achievement. It forces you to think. Like we discussed in the earlier blog, even to benefit from the successes of other achievers, you have to think like a detective.