Extraordinary

Atul Magoon

Description

Are you leading an ordinary life? Many people go through life struggling with daily frustrations, making compromises all the time, and feeling sorry for themselves. They never get to do what they really want. Soon, they begin to see themselves as one of life’s failures.Is success just a matter of luck? Is the path of achievement open only to a few? Are most of us doomed to lead unfulfilled lives, without ever realizing our true potential?Certainly not, says Atul Magoon. If you have the desire to be extraordinary, that is.Through inspiring real-life stories, this book shows you how success is simply a matter of putting in hard work, overcoming your fears and making full use of the opportunities before you.

Sujets

• Gestion et management

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd
• Date de parution: 09 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184756401
• Langue: English

Extrait

ATUL MAGOON
Extraordinary
5 Steps to Achieve Success

PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Introduction
Born to Die?
Losing the Battle of Life
Rays of Dawn
Luck: When Preparedness Meets Opportunity
Tame Your Fears
E for Envision
X for Xction
T for Tireless
R for Risk
A for Achievement through Persistence
Be Incredibly Enthusiastic
Cream Rises to the Top
Build an Encouraging Ecosystem
Time: The Most Precious Entity
Be a Leader: Take Responsibility
Excellence through Continuous Improvement
Change for Progress
Cooperate to Win
Be Eternally Optimistic
It s a People Business
Self-discipline: Armour of Life
Manners: Lubricants of Human Relationships
Blaming: A Lose-Lose Situation
Read to Succeed
Leave the Crowd
Put Mind over Pillow
Health Is Wealth
Family: The Strongest Support System
Serve the Underprivileged
Enjoy Your Journey
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Copyright Page
PENGUIN BOOKS
EXTRAORDINARY
Atul Magoon has worked as an entrepreneur, management consultant, writer and motivational speaker. Graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, he worked as a management consultant with a large multinational company for three years. Afterwards, Atul founded his own business consulting and personal development company to help clients transform business processes, manage change and develop leaders. Currently, he is an MBA student at Cornell University, New York. Atul has written for many magazines; Extraordinary is his first book.
To Mom, for showing me that selflessness exists Dad, for encouraging me to dream My niece, the angel of the family
Introduction
So many people get up every morning and leave for work with the hope that they will find a way to live an extraordinary life-a life where they will do the work of their choice, will be surrounded by people they can trust, will have money to go to places of their choice and will adopt a lifestyle of their liking. Most of these people, however, return by night with a feeling of frustration and desperation at being stuck in a supremely ordinary life-doing the jobs they dislike, never having enough money to adopt lifestyles of their choice, being hemmed in by people they cannot count on and always living with the regret that the very purpose of life is missing.
Everyone wants to lead a successful life, but most are not aware of how to become successful. Time keeps passing by and, soon, the desire to find a way out of this ordinary life is overwhelmed by the helplessness of not being able to find the path to success. Finally, most people embrace the ordinary life made up of petty compromises, daily frustrations and quiet desperation.
I, too, was one of the ordinary people. At times, I used to feel sorry for myself, thinking that I might never be able to achieve success and live life the way I wanted to. People who become successful, I thought, were incredibly talented or inherited wealth from their family. And ordinary people were bound to remain ordinary. But before giving myself up to a life of ordinariness, I decided to examine the lives of people who had succeeded. I read hundreds of books, listened to many seminars and tapes, and talked to many people who have been successful. I was surprised to discover that successful people became successful because they tried to become successful, and this falsified my notion that they were simply born with the talent or the wherewithal to succeed. I realized that extraordinary people are ordinary people who take the extraordinary path. More important, I discovered the path that ordinary people take to become extraordinary. I personally applied the formula of success I have learnt and it worked. Soon, I was satisfied with my work, my income, my relationships. My life, which used to be a burden, became a source of infinite possibility, endless joy. I started living each day to the fullest.
Curious about this change, a few colleagues and friends approached me. I tried my best to help them deal with the concerns they were facing. It came as a pleasant surprise when they were candid enough to share that my approach was unique, and that they had not come across such an ideology anywhere. They found my methodology simple and useful. So I thought I would share it with all the people who want to lead successful and impactful lives. This book provides a step-by-step approach to becoming successful, right from how to start through to where to finish. Moreover, it is a practical approach, not wishful thinking. After reading this book, you will not ask how to become successful. The question will cease to exist. This book guarantees to show you a realistic way to become successful. Gear up for the journey from ordinary to extraordinary.
Born to Die?
An energetic young man enters an office. He is wearing a black suit and carrying a laptop. He has just returned from London after working on a strategic project, which was a mega success. He has come directly from the airport to the office but shows no sign of stress or fatigue. The project involved designing a new supply chain model for his client. Intelligent and industrious, he managed to finish the project a week before the deadline. His final presentation simply blew the client away.
Yet again, he has impressed his client like all his other clients in the past. He is fast becoming a brand in the office. Everyone wants to work with him. But everyone in the firm also knows that he is picky about his projects, because he wants to work for the best and create the best value. He joined the company via college placement and, over the last two years, has made unprecedented progress. His success has not been attributed to any politics or sycophancy but to his intelligence and hard work. He solves the most complex problems with ease and completes tasks in half the time required by his peers. He connects with new clients like old friends. When he works, nothing can distract him. It seems like god s hand at work, completing everything perfectly. The office grapevine is abuzz that he is on the right track for becoming the company s future CEO.
He settles down at his desk and starts to work. One by one, people passing his desk stop by to chat. He shows no sign of rigidity in talking to anyone. He greets everybody with respect. His sense of humour is irresistible. Everybody seems to enjoy the company of this talented individual. After five days of hard work in office, his weekends are packed with fun. Partying starts on Friday night, with dancing. On Saturday, friends gather to play football, watch the latest movie and then go for a long drive. His friends are a bunch of talented people-some engaged in dramatics, some running family businesses, some working for major organizations. Sundays are generally spent reading, blogging or, at times, just sleeping. Life is not just about work and friends though. He takes care of his family too. In the last two years, he has bought a luxury car and a house of his own. His whole family is proud of him.
At the end of a long day at work, he packs up to head home. He is back in town after three months, and today he plans to meet his girlfriend. He calls her to tell her that he is driving to her place. As beautiful as a mermaid, she is eagerly waiting for him. After all, they are meeting after three months, and nobody knows when he will be gone again on another overseas assignment. He is speeding to her Suddenly, a traffic light turns red and the car screeches to a halt.
I am jolted out of my dream. I find myself in my office cab, heading home. Home is an apartment that I share with two friends.
Welcome to reality! Real life didn t turn out as I expected it to. It s not even close to the dreams I had in college or the dream world I constructed from the movies and TV. Real life is tough; one cannot even afford to dream for long. Over the past few years, nothing has changed much. Life is as dull as it can be. I work on projects, unaware of their overall scale or scope, ignorant of the big picture. They say I am too inexperienced to understand. My comments are heard but never implemented. I exist but no one seems to see me. I pass each day, living on the hope that everything will work out well, and soon As to when and how, that is still a mystery.
The notion of an interesting life starts to fade. Career progress is painfully slow. Like ants running a marathon, I think I m running very fast but, at the end of the day, I ve hardly covered any distance.
I observe disenchanted seniors at work. They come to office without enthusiasm, always complaining about the work, always unsatisfied with the salary. They fret about car loans and home loans and taxes, and are forever on the lookout for vacations on company expense. Some people strive hard to save pennies, hoping to build a fortune for the future. Most of them have no time for their health or their families. This is not how I thought I would live. But then, if I am doing the same work and am part of the same cycle, how can my life be any different in the future?
All the illusions of a grandiose life, exotic vacations, beautiful homes and luxurious cars fade away gradually. One strives to afford basic needs like a home (let alone a grand villa), a car (take the luxury out of it) and quality personal time (forget exotic vacations). One s own day-today survival becomes a challenge-how can one hope to support one s parents in their old age? Reality strikes hard and shatters all dreams!
Before entering the real world, I had always thought that I was smarter than the rest. That I would avoid the mistakes others make. That I wouldn t have to live a life marked by petty sacrifices. But I find myself running the rat race with no end in sight, giving up my dreams and embracing the life of circumstances as I cannot find any other way out. Often unpleasant thoughts come to my mind: What is the use of such a life? Am I bo