No Limits: Book Review

Michael Phelps it not an unknown name for anyone who follows sports. With 8 Gold medals in just one Olympics at Beijing, he became one of the most celebrated sports professionals in the history of Olympics.

No Limits is a book about Phelp's mental and physical journey from being a kid diagnosed with ADHD to stealing every winning moment at the Beijing Olympics. For people, who watched the 2012 Olympics at London, I am sure you guys would be thinking that this book would have been worth the wait to have captured everything until those greatest moments in London, especially the one where the FINA President declares Phelps as the greatest swimmer ever. Nevertheless, this book still does a lot of justice to Phelps' road to success. 

The book is divided into 8 chapters. Each chapter talks about a particular race and also weaves in Phelps' childhood, conversations with his coach and family, Athens 2004 Olympics and the Olympic Trials. For hardcore swimming fans, this book is captivating yet feels like a pool overdose. Swimmers will definitely relate to every number mentioned in the book, especially the details about how much a hundredth of a second matters, timing the turns and the splits. The book also introduces us to Phelps' interactions with some of the world's greatest swimmers like Mark Spitz, Ryan Lochte and Ian Thorpe.

There is a large part of the book, separated out in every chapter, that talks about Phelps' family and the support they gave him all through his journey. His sisters, who almost made the Olympic team but had to stay out due to health issues, had a huge impact on his decision to take up swimming. Being diagnosed with ADHD, Phelps was a rebellious kid and had to focus his energies in one direction. In his early years, Phelps' mom along with his coach, mentor and friend Bob Bowman took special interest in shaping his career.

The book also takes readers into an area that is not known to outsiders - about Phelps consuming more than 8000 cal per day, his foot size at 14 and his practice session that is an average of 11000 meters every day. Phelps also talks in detail about United States Swimming, the rigorous Olympic trials, and drug tests. 

The one important learning from this book is Goal Setting and sticking to the plan; also leaving out everything that would cause hindrance to achieving those goals (even if it was family). And these were not goals for the next Championships in 3 months but for the next US Olympic Trials. Once the goal was set and committed, aspects like  courage, determination, confidence, and the will to succeed would fall in place.

Michael Phelps gives a lot of lessons for anybody who is interested in chasing excellence. Perhaps the most important lesson from the book in his own words is this: "Nothing is impossible, you have to dream big dreams - the bigger, the better."

Scared?

An afternoon in LA. A car is speeding. At 110 miles per hour, down a road, that I am not sure of. There is not much information as to who is driving the car.

The cops have begun the chase. There are 4 cars following. The speeding car slows down to normal speed. The cops are still behind. Now, there are two helicopters that are part of the operation as well. The cops wait to see what's happening. The car takes off again for some more distance. This keeps happening for a while. Atleast 15 minutes. The cops stay, way behind the speeding car. No one is taking any action.

The speeding car comes to a stop. Its a lady inside. Looked like a more than middle-age woman. She couldn't even get out. The cops were still behind with their guns. They never came close. Very Very slowly, they came closer and then took her into custody.

Watching all this, live, on TV, I was wondering.

It takes so much time for cops with a lot of advanced technology and equipment to stop someone?

4 cars and 2 helicopters to catch an old woman on the car?

Wasn't that such a big waste of time and resources?

And why did they have to be so careful before trying to just nail that person down?

The day it happened was September 11. All over the country, everyone is cautious about crime happening on that day. They fear anything could happen. Anything unusual and everyone is on the alert.

The other thing I realised is the level of freedom that this country has given its people which is now turning against the same people. Anyone can get a license to buy a weapon - that can range from a small pistol to almost a shot gun. The cops who were chasing the car were, I dont know, maybe afraid or over-cautious, of the woman in the car. What if the woman just pulled out a gun and opened fire? Or if she had something else lethal?

The only point I can get out of seeing all this around me - The country wants its people to be free enough to do what they want to do. So they allow them to do anything and everything. Ok, not to the extent of building nuclear arms but something way lesser. And then they build their laws around what they can allow people to do. And when they do that, the law backfires. People start taking the law into their advantage and dont bother about the protectors. And that's exactly the reason why this place seems to be such an insecure society.

No one knows what his neighbour is doing. Its not his business, the neighbor could be doing a lot of scary things under the basement, but they dont care. One day it errupts like an uncontrollable volcano and then they wake up.

Agreed that they have enough control points. They track everything about you, but does that really help?

Important Discussion at the Oval

I thought it would be better that I put my creativity here rather than on FACEBOOK.

The Natural State

For the next 8 weeks, I will be stationed in the Natural State. I didnt know that this American state was called the Natural State. When you look around, you'll definitely feel so. Nothing much around other than lots of empty tracts of grassland. And then some buildings just to show that its not a forest reserve or something.

My flight to the US was quite exciting. The chennai to bombay flight took almost 3 hrs. After a point, I was wondering what the pilot was really doing. the next leg to frankfurt was sleeping time. in frankfurt, i met prof rakesh vohra - our ISB Eco prof from Kellogg. it was very nice to talk to him after almost 2 yrs. we were talking about consulting, ISB, the mohali school, the placement scenario, my new client and all sorts of stuff. i got into the flight to chicago and then figured out that my seat was also allocated to another german girl. knowing this, the air hostess gave me a business class seat. it was a pleasant shock. maharajah seats that turn into a bed at the touch of a button, all sorts of controls, special treatment from the staff, amazing food spread - i had a wonderful time.

then the wait in chicago was terrible. my next flight was only after 6 hrs. so i had to literally waste time. one thing i noticed at the domestic terminal 3 in chicago was there is only one payphone that allows you to use a credit card. for everything else, you need to put coins.

the next flight was for 1.5hrs. when the flight reached XNA (the airport in Arkansas), i was really tired. there were less than 20 ppl who came with me. my luggage had already arrived on a previous flight.

my hotel was like a 30mins drive from the airport. on my way, i figured out that walmart, jb hunt and tyson foods are the only big employers in this state. and in bentonville, where i was going to work, its was just walton's world. i noticed a delivery center that was as big as an international airport. there must have been a thousand trucks waiting to load goods.

office is very strange. everyone here comes to work at 7am!!! and then they leave only by 5pm. do they really have that much work to do? also, this place is a real factory. we've heard of factory model in IT, but here i saw it live. there are thousands of people around you working for the same company. everyone walks in a line. when they reach a junction (inside the office), they slow down to see oncoming traffic and then they proceed. especially during the lunch hours, if you tried to jump the line or go on the wrong side, you'll create chaos maybe. it feels as if you are in the middle of programmed employees. Like the ones in i-robot.

on friday, i got a car as well. when i entered the rental car office, they showed me PT Cruiser. I had no intention of taking that. Then they showed me a Chevy HHR which was an extended version of the Cruiser. I was definitely not taking that too. Then I noticed a Pontiac G6 in the garage and I asked them about it. Apparently it was available and they had no idea that it was there in the garage. I signed up and took the car.

so thats the travel update and i hope to write more about the natural state and maybe from the factory as well.

First Impressions

So I was in New York yesterday. I arrived in the US on Saturday. There wasnt too much of a jet lag, so we decided to see some parts of NY.

Our train reached the New York Penn Station and the one thing I was surprised to find out is that no one knew where the tourist information center is. Everyone was guiding us to the tickets and information center which was servicing for the train journeys. anyway, we figured something and got out.

we decided that we'll walk to times square. why? because we were somewhere close to that area. nothing special.

whatever. NY on first impression is such a boring place. its crowded everywhere. all you can find is tall buildings. the sight of just stuctures around you kind of irritates a lot. the only factor that saves is perhaps central park and the rivers that run on either sides. otherwise, NY feels like an over-crowded jungle.

and again, if a city is like that, you cannot expect anyone to be in order. although the vehicles dont jump signals because of strict policing, there are enough number of people who would cross a busy road when the signal is green.

so we walked past all the famous stops - times square, grand central, rockefeller, chrysler, trump, united nations, and all that shit. nothing phenomenal about all of these places. some have shopping malls attached, so people like to just get in and waste time.

i think my opinion of NY would never change. i would prefer a lesser built up city. more open space and less crowding. the place where i live right now - parsippany jersey is actually a nice place. there is lots and lots of space around you and its pleasant to be outdoors.

Marc Faber on US Economy

Investment analyst and entrepreneur Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

”The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I’ve been doing my part.’

A pick on the US of A

While critics decry the United States' current brand of military and economic imperialism as dangerously unprecedented, great powers have been throwing their weight around like schoolyard bullies since St. Augustine's time. This playful but pointed cartoon shows that while Uncle Sam has been an especially bad apple of late, he's following a pattern of bad behavior which goes back decades.