Jattala’s 15 Lifelong Lessons for Success

As part of documenting my life long learnings, sharing some key lessons that I have learnt from my teachers, mentors & gurus in last 2 decades.

1. Humbleness is Lubricant of Life
   Arrogance is like Friction & Humbleness is the antidote. From 12th-century great Sufi Wisdom Hazrat Baba Farid, to my Prof Dr Mark Esposito at Hult said the same — Be Humble & World will open to you.
2. World is Designed on Natural Distribution
   Universe is designed on Natural Distribution (bell-curve). Observe class grades, mountains and human body curves. Take any powder in hand and drop it — it will become a bell-curve.
   For Startups & Executives — 99.7% of the data falls within three standard deviations — so 0.3% is Take-off Point (Some people say its ~15%). Negative slope on S-Curve identifies the Climax.
3. Magic is in Control of Energy-flow
   Magic happens when Energy-flow is controlled. Examples can be invention of Transistor in Electronics or construction of Dams on rivers. Learn to control the flow of energy.
4. Leadership is Courage
   Allama Iqbal defines leadership as: Vision — Storytelling (Ability to Sell the Vision) — Empathy. Non-verbals constitute 80% of Communication skills & hand gestures are recorded 12 times more than words — You are contagious by Vanessa Van Edwards
5. Help Others to be Successful
   My father use to say this but it really hit me when Hult MBA taught me “Help others if you want to be Successful”. If you make someone’s day, it will come back to you. Help others in need to build loyal allies. Your allies will put you above in bell-curve (or S-curve).
   If you want to have good days, start making others day — especially of those who live in very little. Al-Quran [90:16]
6. Self-Actualization, Spirituality & Khudi
   Become what you can be. Become a free mind & free soul. Design your future. Allama Iqbal says, highest ethical level that a man can achieve is to become free from sorrow & grief — Khudi.
7. Clarity of Purpose
   Once you have found the purpose of your life, Be very clear & firm on that purpose. As clear as Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was. As clear as Muhammad Ali Jinnah was. It’s a journey and a continuous effort.
8. Happiness is level of Contentment
   As Brian Tracy says, Happiness is periodic realization of worthy ideal.
   Happiness comes from Conscious Choice. Understand your Happy Chemicals & avoid being a victim of Stress Chemicals — Make stress your friend by Kelly McGonigal
9. Complex Systems & Scaling
   The world is composed of Complex systems. Complex not complicated. Complex system have State Memory & Integration. Ant Colony is a complex system. Understand, Predict & Design an Intervention — Scaling Framework by Mark Turrell.
   The golden principles of strategy are: It’s easy & Be Lazy. Best way of Scaling is to Find Networks & Hack Networks — Scaling Framework by Mark Turrell.
10. Behavior drives Economics
    Social Psychology needs to be part of the Product Design process, because Behavior drives Economics and it’s not other way round — thanks to Dr Mark Esposito.
11. Network — Relationship — Transaction
    Heard this from Athar Imran Nawaz at an Open Islamabad event and I can’t agree more. Network — Relationship — Transaction is the equation for Business & Social life.
12. Done is better than Perfect
    Maj Gen Obaid Bin Zakria — My first Boss had this on his table and I have this on my office wall now. Better to be Good & First rather than Best & Last.
13. Have Faith & Patience
    On the First day of my Internship, my reporting Boss said to me: Have Faith in Almighty — Allah has strange ways of justifying us for little injustice done to us in our lives. Have Patience — Stay on wicket and you will eventually get a lose ball to hit a six.
14. Understand Assets & Liabilities
    Everything that takes money out of your pocket is a Liability & everything that puts money into your pocket is an asset. Buy assets not liabilities. Let your assets buy you all the luxuries — Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
15. Invest in Relationships
    Invest in your immediately relationships family, parents & kids. As Brian Tracy says, your family should be your support system. Harvard reveals in a 79 Years study the biggest Secret to Success and Happiness — Quality Close Relationships.

Be humble and the world will open to you. Be a steward and the world will serve you. Be kind with those in need so they will become your most loyal allies. Do not fear the future, be it — Dr Mark Esposito

About the Author: Imran Jattala is Co-Founder of Center for Global Innovators (CGI)-Innovation Consulting with the design thinking mindset of IDEO, and the business capability of McKinsey, all of that combined with the entrepreneurial spirit of the best startups. With a mission to build Knowledge Economy & to make Pakistan Top-50 Innovative Nation. He tweets at: @ImJattala