Ravi’s Rants

If I had to pick just one blog, and could read only one blog for the rest of my life - including my own blog (the one you’re reading right now) - I would pick Seth Godin’s blog.

Seth’s blog is (hyperbole alert) amazing, educational, informative, remarkable, mind-blowing, extraordinary, purple, eye-opening and goose-pimple-raising good.

Seth’s books, his blog and his words have become such an integral part of my life, that I ended up creating a separate category here. I still have to go back and tag some of my older posts, but you can read all of the posts where I’ve written about or referred to Seth Godin, by going here.

But don’t read just Seth’s blog. You don’t have to.

Read some of the best blogs out there, along with Seth’s, all on one page by clicking here.

It’s not really purple in color. But I did mean that it is Purple.

Why?

It’s because of the way it was successful in creating an entirely new industry of “athlete marketing” like never before. Because of how it created a frenzy among consumers. Because of the innovative ways Nike marketed it [for instance, they paid $5,000 in fine for every match that Michael Jordan wore these banned (then) shoes on court].

Not even Apple - to this date - has been able to match the hysteria that these shoes created (have you ever heard anyone getting mugged or killed for an iPod or iPhone?)

And yes, I was a teenager when I read and watched news about people getting mugged and killed for Air Jordan shoes.

Now go make your own Purple shoes.

I recently asked a very close non-blogger, never-blogged-before friend to start his own blog on my new multi-blog site, YehHaiIndia.com (driven by WordPress Mu - very cool software).

His immediate response was:

The problem with blogging is you need ideas and thoughts you want to write.

And you are assuming I have thoughts that are worth writing about….

The biggest problem with publishing a blog, is not that you may not have enough or something worthy to say.

The biggest problem is actually “fear”.

“I can’t believe he wrote something that stupid!”
“What the heck was she thinking when she wrote that?”
“He has no idea what he is talking about!”

Fear of criticism. Fear of being judged.

We don’t want to put our thoughts and opinions “out there” for everyone to judge; and for some to call us “a moron”, “clueless”, “totally wrong”.

Whereas blogging is like thumbing your nose at this fear.

You put yourself out there in every post. Every thought and comment and opinion in your blog is yours - and yours alone. You are setting yourself up for criticism and judgment and name-calling. And you want people to read your posts, criticize you, judge you, interact with your blog and give you feedback.

As long as we fear this feedback, we simply cannot do remarkable things.

No, it doesn’t mean you ignore common sense and do something stupid (like putting crazy photos of you on your blog while somehow involving your employer).

It means that if your post makes sense, and all you fear is being judged by your colleagues, friends or family - and fear about what others might say, then I say, just get over it, thumb your nose at your fear, and get ‘er done.

Watch this hair-raising video that shows a herd of buffaloes trying to fight a pride of lions, trying to snatch a baby calf away from the jaws of 5 lions and 2 crocodiles!

Will the baby calf survive? Make sure you have nerves of steel before you watch it.

I hope this fight inspires you to fight valiantly - against all odds - against whatever adversity you may be facing in your life right now.

Ravi Jayagopal
Author, “No Business Like E-Business”

• Creating an e-business…
• Learning a new skill…
• Being the best at what you do…
• Building something worth building…
• Creating something worth creating…
• Saying something worth saying…
• Doing something worth doing…

All of these take plenty of time - and effort.

It is very easy to just look at the end-result of other people’s successes, ogle at their fortunes, and forget (or conveniently ignore) the painstaking path they had to take in order to get there.

Life is very much like the video you are about to see.

It takes inspiration, vision, persistence, creativity, and most importantly, quite a bit of perspiration too…

Now go create your Purple Cow, Raving Fans, Fanatical Support, Positively Outrageous Service, Mona Lisa - or whatever else you want to call it.

Doesn’t matter what the name is. The idea is to do something remarkable.

Ravi Jayagopal
Author, “No Business Like E-Business“

“Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.”

Beautifully written.

Here’s the entire post: 10 Golden Lessons From Steve Jobs

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle

What could you possibly excel at, simply by doing it consistently, repeatedly, and persistently?

“I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for perfection is God’s business.” - Michael J. Fox