Data | Sidekick or Hero

If I were writing this 10 years back, I would be starting off with why data was important but we have come a long way in these last few years, haven't we? Proving its value now is like proving global warming. Sure, some oranges still won't believe it but who cares!

Its hilarious how people think of data now though. It is a crystal ball for most that simply reflects what they want to see. Its also interesting to note that while so many decisions are based on data only the successful ones are advertised so much that its becoming a cult, its religious with no doubts. Really? 

Hand on heart, if for one second we tell the truth to ourselves, we will know that data has failed us more than it got us success. But why do we not talk about it? The power of data is not in helping us make the right decisions all the time, its about helping us make the right decisions faster than ever and ironically because we are failing faster than ever. That to me is the beauty of it!  

Some practitioners would argue that applying advanced machine learning techniques would get you the right answers to your problems! Sure it would but is it really a reason for failing? More often than not the reason is interpretation. Of course, I am not talking about situations when numbers are wrong in the first place. You can bribe data so much that data speaks your language, it practically becomes your mom (always compromises to make you feel happy!).

   

If you really want to make smart decisions, never let data drive you, let it inform you so that you could make your own way!

Next time you take on a rank 1 player, as a sportsman, know strengths and weaknesses of the player and don't let the rank play on your mind! 

Next time you work on an idea, as an entrepreneur, know the pros and cons of it and not let the past pre-decide your future!

Next time you work on a complex problem, as a problem solver, know the success rate of others solving it but not let it restrict your efforts.

  

As we move in the era of AI & VR, most decisions will be data driven and that scares me a bit! Enjoy while it lasts. Take risks, what has never happened before will never happen again if you don't fail at something new. Let data help you and not take the call for you!

Data would be much better off as a sidekick than a hero! 

Grow old!

As you grow old, become mature, you try to be fundamental about the philosophy of life... you start to accept how things play out, how reacting or may be not reacting to a certain situation, sometimes, can make you so proud! So as you grow old, this feeling of accomplishment and completeness makes you who you are! And when I say grow old, I don't mean it in time, I mean it in experiences! The greatest leanings come to you when you are out there... in the field !

Ironically, its the very nature of your questioning the understanding of the world that makes you settle down with it, makes you take that extra step, go that extra mile which changes your life! Questions about whats going to come next? what am I going to do? who is going to support me? who am I going to trust/love/hate? what would people think of me? man, why am I so confused?
Trust me these are some of the beautiful questions that you should embrace! In the quest to find certainty in this game of survival called LIFE, you take that big leap which either makes you or breaks you! More often than not the latter !

So you ask, why go for it if there are more chances of it breaking you! Why not just let it come to you. 'IT' being the bundle of experiences. Well, let me tell you my friends, there is only one law that sums up the essence of your life expectancy - 82 years (on an average): and that is:

"experiences don't want you, you need'em"

There will always be someone else concurring the Himalayas, if not you! There will always be someone else to win a Nobel prize, if not you! There will always be someone else who have that billion dollar idea, if not you. There will always be someone else to make the world go crazy about musical tunes, if not you. There will always be someone else who will be there, if not you!

It DOESN'T matter how vulnerable, how confused, how overwhelmed you are! You can always find people who care about you, you can still find peace, you can still find answers to your questions! You always do! The question is not  about 'whether you can?', it is about 'will you?'

...so go for it.. grow old ! And when I say grow old, I don't mean it in time, I mean it in experiences!

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skalfaaz

laugh :) :D

Ha ha ha ha ha.... Ha ha ha ha ha.... maybe this is my first laugh for today (9:00 am here!!)... really need to work hard on this...an average person laughs 18 times a day :) I am one of those people who are keeping this number low ;)
Anyway, would you like to be haharaam (left guy in the pic) or heheraam (right guy in the pic)???? When I first saw this pic, I thought that 2 friends were having fun ! But then I saw it again and being in the philosophical mood, that I always am in :P !!, I named them the way they laughed  :D

Mr. haharaam is a guy who is very very expressive, you may call him an expert or even an extrovert ! Lives life king size ! Kind of a guy who has few resources but extracts everything out of them ! Sometimes has multiple useless things as well...ummm... like expensive watches !! (sorry... thoda personal hai :P) but I mean who wears a watch these days.. and even if you do, you will always look at your mobile to see what time it is :) ;) :D. Anyway, coming back to haharaam. So, he is a guy who will do things and try to enjoy as if this is the last moment of life! 

However, Mr. heheraam is a guy who is expressive but not as much as haharaam. He is not an introvert but can manage without being called as a boring guy ! Lives life decently but is always in a saving mode! sometimes friends turn that mode off :P and he lets them :D ;) So, he is a guy who will do things as needed and will enjoy life in a balanced manner !

Now who are you? haharaam or heheraam? do let me know in the comments below!

Why am I asking this question??? Well, let's just say that I want to promote laughter :D I myself feel that I am heheraam and would like to see if there is value in becoming haharaam :P  I would like to know who are haharaams & heheraams to be able to make that decision ;)  

(lame, right??? well, I could not end it well :P ... do let me know if you have any other thoughts :P)

Gracias!! 

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skalfaaz

Above Average but Below Excellent

If you are living in India, you will find a lot of examples around you which fall in this category. It is probably true for all the places in the world. This topic interests me particularly as it resonates with almost all of us in some manner. Most of you will agree.

I can also safely mention the above because YOU are reading this blog :) If you know what I mean!

There are 3 types of people in this world which get most popular: 'The Excellent', 'The Worst' & 'The Average'. While everyone talks about 'The Worst' but generally, below average doesn't matter to people today. Average will be in a safe position as most people associate themselves with this. 'The Excellent' obviously enjoys the most luxuries (fair enough!).

But the most interesting is the position of people belonging to the 'Above Average but Below Excellent' category. Oh! Did you say that you belong to this category? Let’s see if by the end of this blog you still think the same way :) 

In my view, these types of people are the most deprived of everything but disappointment. The expectations are more every time and the results are almost always above average yet disappointing. Oh Yaara, I could have got the best college if I had done just 1 more question right in the examination! Oh Yaara, I could have won the first place if I had done just this much more homework! Oh Yaara, this pretty girl would have been mine if that su**er (read: good looking talented guy) would not have been in the way!

If you get 'Very Good' in an assignment, your Dad will ask you to do better! You don't get promotion even when you are above the rest but below just one! This doesn't seem to end...

I call these type of people (borrowed) the best losers!! The worst part of this best part is that it comes naturally to these people after sometime. So what do you think? Should they not expect too much or should they try harder? May be they are already trying hard! May be it is good to expect more! Well, I should not start another topic. This is just a food for thought for all the 1% readers who reached till this line :)

See ya next time! 

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skalfaaz

You tell a story so many times that you become one !

"A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal." - Big Fish (2003)

Seems fascinating! How you are not dead even when you are. One could argue that he/she has no life when he/she stops having feelings. However, I differ from this explanation. I think your life is not just about what you experience but it is also about what people experience of you. Take Facebook for an instance, now days it is being called a country in itself. People live in it! Unlike meeting and greeting in person, people are expressing their feelings through a comment / post / picture or if I may call a ‘story’. It is what they feel and also what they want others to appreciate. People recognize other people on Facebook through their stories. It is what they experience of each other.

It is worth living if your stories last longer than you. 

I work in an analytics firm, as a sales associate, and my CEO tell me that I should be able to deliver the sales pitch even when I am half asleep :) He doesn't mean it literally!! He wants us to be familiar with the pitch so much that we become the pitch. He wants us to feel what he does. I also remember reading a "10,000-Hour Rule" in a book written by Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers. He claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. There is a common theme and a bigger message in both the examples. It is about perfection! If you got to be perfect in something, the only way to do is to become that something. We remember Gandhi because of his peace! We remember Dhyanchand because of his hockey! We remember Shakespeare because of his writing!

Another tangent to the topic would be debating on whether to live for oneself or for others! Trying to make people think well about you! Trying to do stuff that will make you popular. Well, I certainly don't have an answer to that. People do live for their parents, doing stuff they don't want to do. 

All I would conclude is:

"Excel in something so well that you could become an example... an example worth remembering".

-skalfaaz

Dualism in Decisions ! Making a choice !

Dualism - two contrasted aspects, two distinct facets...each failing to exist without the other, makes me wonder its application in making decisions. If you really think about it, taking decisions is actually about making a choice between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad, the pure and the adulterated...but these choices themselves are so subjective that they are inferred differently by different people!

The point is that human biases lead to the dualism.

Dualism in Decisions can also be thought of as a conflict between 2 forces... forces trying to accomplish their own set of goals under their own set of conditions... You & me could simply become a medium !! A child's force wanting to have a candy is not wrong, the child is just attracted towards the known unknown but the mother's force, being aware and concerned about numerable issues, may take the decision in favor of the known known. Every little thing that happens around us is a combination of decisions made by you and decisions made by people around you. The child wanted the candy because the child was taken to a place where the candy was available. 

At this point, I would like to challenge your ego. You are who you are mostly because of people around you and not because of yourself. You just made a choice. You could never become something you never saw, you never experienced, you never knew, you never talked about, you never read... I became an Engineer because, of all the things I was exposed to, I chose Engineering. I made a choice. For some of you, your parents made the choice for you. What would you like to become today? Most of you have a choice, but do you have guts to make an unbiased decision? Do you still find yourself in dualism? I do.

Let me tell you how I would want to end this writing.

Dualism exists everywhere, it can never be destroyed. The less biased you are, the better decision you make. I wish we all could live in Eutopia! Nevertheless, lets try to make a better world for ourselves. Lets bring clarity of thought :) 

Google could become a good friend in this journey !

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skalfaaz