Ravi’s Rants

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.

James Bond	Jason Bourne	Jack Bauer

Think it’s a coincidence that these three super crime-fighting-machines share the same initials? I think not.

Bourne was bourne as America’s answer to the ultimate killing machine and British super spy who is the only one (other than God) who can save the Queen: James Bond.

Last night, I watched “The Bourne Ultimatum”. Last week, I got through Season 3 of “24″ (I know! I’m trying to catch up).

Bourne and Bauer are the “Bond”s of the new millenium, with Bauer doing the honors for the small screen.

• Bond is super-slick. Bourne is your boy-next-door.
• Bond is stylish - he drives the hottest cars, wears Prada suits. Bourne dresses like a bum.
• Bond has impeccable hair. Bourne sports a close-shaven, military cut.
• Bond drinks “shaken” martinis. Bourne probably drinks cheap, adulterated liquor (especially when in Russia and India).
• Bond gets the ultimate gadgets made for him. Bourne simply borrows a few from his enemies (after he’s knocked them out cold).
• Bond doesn’t blink before killing. Bourne is torn apart when he has to kill someone.
• Bond’s women are plastic bimbos that add nothing to the plot. Bourne and Bauer’s women (except for Kim Bauer, of course) are intelligent, have character, and are a lot more than sex-toys for their men.
• Bond insults women with his use-and-throw attitude towards them; Bourne and Bauer love and respect their women, and mourn for them.
• Bond has no identifiable weakness, but Bourne has his girlfriend, and Bauer his family - and drug addiction problem.
• Bond has a smirk on his face at the end of the day; Bourne has nightmares about the people he killed, and Bauer weeps like a baby (end of season 3) for deliberately killing a fellow-agent.

Bourne and Bauer: These two are every man’s (and woman’s) ultimate heroes. They look ordinary, dress ordinary, their emotions are pretty ordinary (in a good way): they weep, they flinch, they feel guilt, they hesitate, they love and they mourn - just like you and me.

What separates them from the cold, merciless, super-cool bond who will blow up a hangar killing 200 men and bed a super sexy foreign-language-speaking babe - all in a day’s work - is that these guys feel real. Yes, they have extraordinary kick-ass talents, but the way they go about their life, is identifiable by the average person in the 21st century, where Bond comes across as fake (gasp!)

There are a few take-aways from the skyrocketing success of Bourne and Bauer, and the declining fortunes of Bond (until the entry of Craig - but that is another post altogether).

• Yes, you certainly can take a competitor’s product (Bond), localize it (Americanize it), add better features, benefits, or simply make it a better product (Jason Bourne), repackage it, resell it, and be insanely successful. Yes, you can copy your competitors, and still beat them at it.
• Your audience has to be able to identify with your brand. Bond’s brand is tired, old and spent. You just stop wishing he were so darn perfect! Bourne and Bauer have created their own brands - they are quite imperfect, very real, merciful, emotional, humble, vulnerable, think-before-you-shoot and one-woman types.
• Predictability is not always a good thing. That’s why Daniel Craig’s newest Bond is trying to re-invent Bond - when asked by the bartender how he wants his drink, says ““Do I look like I care?”.
• Reality is a lot more powerful than fiction. The ratings-success of Saturday Night Live, Survivor, and even terrible shows like Big Brother is in-your-face proof. Even fictional characters - like Spiderman and Superman - have to be and feel like they are real.
• Credibility comes from being believable. Make your site copy believable, make your “benefits” believable, make your “U.S.P” believable, and when your customers call you, don’t greet them like a pre-recorded voice recording (think: shrill “Corporate accounts payable, Nina speaking. Just a moment” voice of annoying secretary from “Office Space”).

Be true to yourself. Be real. With your your friends, your family, your children, your colleagues, and with yourself.

Please Vote Below:

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“

I save about 1/2 hour every week on grocery shopping thanks to this list. That’s 26 hours a year. Assuming I would have done this for at least 40 years of my life by the time I’m dead, that means 1040 hours saved (26 * 40).

1040 Hours = 43.33 Days

Yes, I get (at least) an extra 43 days of my life back because I used a simple, grocery list.

Can you imagine how much more you and I could save if we got just a little bit more organized in stuff we do every day (or week)?

Click here to download and customize the original excel spreadsheet that I use.

Take a copy of it and stick in on your refrigerator. Every time you run out of something, or if you are expecting guests and need more of something, just quickly jot it down. Yes, it is more productive than just writing down a plain list on a erasable board.

- Ravi Jayagopal

“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