Success is not rocket science but here are few lessons for success from rocket science.
Escape velocity is the speed at which an object must travel to escape the gravity of the planet. Read any space agency report about rocket launch and they will have achieving escape velocity as one of their top challenges. Most of the fuel is used to achieve the escape velocity.
This has some parallels to our life and success. Many people want to change their reality or expect a big break through in their life. Many of you know that you get what you work for and not what you wish for unless you buy lottery.
When launching a rocket to escape the earth’s gravity it requires lot of fuel but this results in a catch-22 situation where the heavier the fuel the more it is pulled down. This is very similar to our situation where our present reality is preventing us from changing our future reality.
Reality is the gravity that is pulling us down from achieving what we aim for.
To start with we need to define our goals and come up with an action plan to achieve it just like how the target and trajectory are figured out for the rockets before they are launched. This is not sufficient, we need to find out our escape velocity to escape from the current reality and work towards a bright future.
Target and trajectory are just the beginning of the journey.
Here are few of the factors that determine our escape velocity.
Fitness
Our physical energy level has to increase. To give our 100% we need to have high level of physical energy. Get into a fitness routine that suites your schedule and health. Have a clear fitness goals be it losing weight, building muscles, running 25 miles a week or even a healthy food and healthy habits. I saw a big difference when I started to focus on my fitness and within an year I started seeing tremendous changes in all spheres of my life.
Balance
I think work-life balance is now a cliche because not many know the how to balance in life. I should thank one of my managers who told me in simple words that
Balance is achieved by assigning right priority to things at any given time.
The real outcome of balance is focus and that focus improves productivity and quality. If you want to understand the importance of balance then read stories about funambulists.
Learning
Both brain and brawn needs workout. I feel guilty if I go to bed without writing at least 10 lines of code and without reading at least 10 pages of a book. Most of the books I read are about history, politics, economy and public policy. This learning outside of my work area helps me to think differently and learn about real problems not just virtual ones that happen inside the computer and even bigger problems faced by countries, continents and humanity as a whole. I do write about them in my blog.
Propulsion
Now comes the most important factor which will actually move you forward towards your goal. In my view propulsion is really replacing old and unproductive habits with new and productive habits. These new habits will propel you to the new orbit where you can achieve your goals faster and smarter.
Remember that just traveling at escape velocity will keep the object in an orbit but if the object travels more than its escape velocity it will reach other planets.
Whenever I think of the same concept for companies, I have always admired how startups transform themselves. Their sheer energy is unbelievable to me. I am reminded of an interview between former prime minister of India Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao and a reporter that sums up what it takes for startups to succeed (even though he provided this comment for his political reforms).
Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao: Taking something from 50 to 100 is double but if you take it from 0 to 1, how many times is it?
Interviewer: It’s infinite
Thank God the reporter was good in Math. As the year 2016 comes to close I think it is a good idea to take time off and think about our escape velocity to propel us to a fantastic future.
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