As we bid adieu to 2014, let us look at some of the new year resolutions we all can take to unlock our true potential in the coming year

Can you see a cat in this picture ? … look Carefully Resolution 1: Pay attention to details Critical details can get camouflaged. We cannot afford to miss them.

An ancient fable related to chess goes this way: The emperor was so pleased with the inventor of chess that he offered him 50 kg of gold in reward. The inventor humbly said, “Instead, just give me one grain of rice for the first square of the chessboard, two grains for the next square, four for the next, eight for the next and so on for all 64 squares. How does this compare to 50kg of gold ? You would need 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains (Approx. 500 Billion tons) of rice to meet the inventor’s requirement. That is hundreds of times more than current worldwide production of rice in an year. With today’s prices of rice and gold, it will be 10 Million times more expensive than 50 kg of gold. Resolution 2: Weigh the impact of your decisions carefully Our decisions can have a cascading impact far greater than what our intuition might judge. Follow the STEP process while making critical decisions Stop Think EvaluateProceed Give it a thought…

Out of two squares marked “A” and “B”, which one is of darker shade ? Believe it or not, they are both exactly the same shade of grey ! Let us prove it Resolution 3: Challenge the obvious OBVIOUS may not always be RIGHT. Express yourself if you have an idea better than the obvious. The “Checkershadow Illusion by MIT professor Edward Edelson

FLOW Challenge Competency Boredom Anxiety If challenge posed by the task is much greater compared to the competency, it leads to Anxiety. If challenge posed by the task is much less compared to the competency, it leads to boredom. When competency is in line with challenge, you are in a state of “Flow”, which results in high energy, motivation, focus and happiness. Resolution 4: Upgrade skills and competencies We enter the new year with plenty of challenges. It is most important for all of us to upgrade our skills and competencies to meet the new challenges successfully, and to be in a state of “FLOW” while doing so. The “Flow” theory by noted psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

A Team of 50 People was asked to enter a room filled with balloons and find the balloon which had their name on it in 15 minutes. What would be your strategy ? If everyone tries to find the balloon with their name, the task will likely take hours to finish. On the other hand, if everyone in team randomly collect balloons with names and hand it over to the person it belongs to, they have a good chance. Resolution 5: Interface proactively with your team Efficient inter-disciplinary communication and interface is key to smooth engineering delivery. This is also an area where we have a good scope for improvement.

Resolution 6: Be accountable While maintaining efficient interfaces is important, individual accountability cannot be neglected. We all need to do our part efficiently. Think of a team in a relay race. Its success depends upon 1. Individual runners’ performance (80%) 2. Efficient team work (20%) Same is the case for multi-disciplinary engineering teams.

Once upon a time, there were three bricklayers. When asked, “What are you doing?” the first bricklayer replied: “I’m laying bricks.” The second bricklayer was asked the same question. He answered: “I’m putting up a wall.” The third bricklayer responded, with pride in his voice: “I’m building a cathedral.” Resolution 7: See the Big Picture We deliver functional Oil and Gas plants, and not mere paperwork or materials. Teamwork, interfaces, accountability will fall in place when we all take pride in our work and understand the purpose and criticality of our activities.

Pay attention to details To Summarize… Weigh the impact of decisions Challenge the obvious Upgrade skills & competencies Interface proactively Be accountable See the big picture

wish you and your family a Safe, Healthy, Prosperous and Successful New Year