HABIT OF WINNING

STORIES TO INSPIRE, MOTIVATE UNLEASH THE WINNER WITHIN

By Prakash Iyer

OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK:

The Habit of Winning is a book that encourages people to want to win. Everybody can be
a winner if they want, but that would mean that they should not give up. One need to change the
way they think, live and work. The self help book guides you on how to be confident, involve in
teamwork and most importantly it teaches one how to be a leader. Leadership qualities do not
come easy to everyone. Many will have to make changes in their lives to attain this. With some
help and guidance from this books one can slowly and steadily find the strength to be that
person.

PREFACE:

The stories here range from cola wars to cricketing heroes, from Michelle Obama’s
management techniques to Mahatma Gandhi’s generosity. There are life lessons from frogs and
rabbits, sharks and butterflies, kites and baloons. Together they create a heady mix that will
make the winner inside you emerge and grow. This book is loaded with great ideas, stories and
inspiration to help you be more positive, focused and successful in every area of your life” “All
cultures have the tradition of passing on wisdom from one generation to the next through stories.
Prakash uses this age-old method to beautifully convey how to lead one’s life to be happy and
effective” “A must-read for every young manager”.

REVIEW IN DETAIL:

In The Habit of Winning, we can find stories that can change the way we think, work,
live. Stories about leadership and teamwork, self-belief and perseverance. Life lessons from cola
wars and cricket, Olympic heroes and ordinary folks. Stories that will help ignite a new passion
and a renewed sense of purpose in your mind. And in our team’s heads and hearts too. A picture
may be worth a thousand words, but when it comes to getting your message to register in
people’s minds or in your own nothing works quite as well as a story. The Habit of Winning is
ultimately not just about winning. It is also about finding balance, being happy, and making a
difference. To yourself and to the world around you.

Before reading the book, I was inclined towards the view of one school of thought that
leadership cannot be learnt. However, after carefully reading through the book, I now feel that
leadership can be learnt provided one follows the lessons outlined in the book by Prakash. I
firmly subscribe to the author’s view that there is a genius inside each one of us and it’s just a
matter of setting this genius free to evolve into a winner. Personally, I have gained immensely by
going through the stories put forth by the author. I commend him for coming out with this book
which, I am sure, will benefit the readers immensely

If there is one tribe of authors which is expanding exponentially, it is of those churning

out motivational books. Every self-help book writer believes he/she has something radically
different to say, but most of the books end up saying the same things. So, it was with scepticism
running high that I picked up this book by Prakash Iyer, Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark
Lever, who is also a motivational speaker and a leadership coach.

The contents page only increased my skepticism. The chapter headings were predictable:
Vision and Goals, Self-Belief, Perseverance, Winner's Mindset, Hard Work, and so on. Still,
reading it provided a wealth of anecdotes about successful people, mostly sportspersons, which
were indeed interesting. Moreover, many of them were about people who are not too well known
in this part of the world. The anecdotes are in fact the book's biggest strength.

The best is the story of Karoly Takacs, a Hungarian pistol shooter, which illustrates the
power of inner strength. An army sergeant and the country's top shooter, Takacs was the
favourite to win the gold medal at the 1940 Tokyo Olympics. But tragedy struck when a hand
grenade, exploding by accident, blew away his right (shooting) hand. Instead of focusing on
what he had lost, he began practicing to shoot with his left hand. Within a year of losing the right
hand, he won the national championship, and at the 1948 London Olympics, he finally struck
gold.
 Then there is the anecdote about Roger Bannister, the first athlete, in 1954, to run a mile
in less than four minutes - a feat considered physically impossible till then. Once Bannister broke
the four-minute barrier, 16 other runners went on to do the same by 1957. Iyer uses this incident
to illustrate the fact that barriers, at most times, are mental and once they are broken, greater
achievements are possible.

There is also the instance of how Tyrone Bogues, one of the most successful players in
the history of the US's National Basketball Association (NBA) ignored his weakness (lack of
height) and focused on his strengths (speed, stamina and explosiveness on the court). Also, how
swimming sensation Michael Phelps overcame a broken wrist to win an unparalleled eight
medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But Iyer does not hide his passion for cricket either and there are plenty of examples
involving Sachin Tendulkar, Waugh brothers Steve and Mark, Anil Kumble and many more
from the cricketing world.

There are also a few interesting insights from outside the world of sports, such as the one
about Jack Ma, founder of alibaba.com, the world's largest B2B portal. Ma said there were many
rabbits (opportunities) running around when he began to work on alibaba.com, but he focused
only on the portal and succeeded. "If you try to catch them all, you may end up with none," Iyer
writes.

The anecdote about Chinese bamboo is particularly relevant in the current business
scenario. This tree, Iyer writes, grows to a height of 80 feet. For the first 60 months, however, all
the growth is below the surface - where the tree creates an extensive root system - and hence
invisible. In the next 90 days, it becomes as tall as an eight-storied building. Long-term
sustainable success does take time.
 The narration is simple. Most chapters do not exceed two or three pages. A few anecdotes
are not strong enough and could well have been dropped. That would have made the book more
gripping.

All in all, the book serves a wonderful means for anyone interested in bringing out the
best in himself by shaping up his managerial and leadership abilities.

THE IMPACT OF SELF BELIEF AND HARDWORK:

Expect more. Expect good things to happen from your team, your spouse, your kids, your
world. And you will find them willing themselves to deliver on those positive expectations. Also
don’t keep those expectations secret. Share them. Talk about your positive expectations. Let the
world know. Don’t let the fear of failure- the fear of what if – stop you in your tracks.
Expectations have the power of reality fit in. Tell your child he is clumsy, careless, always
dropping stuff.. And guess what? He will live up to your expectations. Every time he drops
something, he will tell himself ‘that’s me’ or ‘can’t help it, I’m like that’. And later, he will
probably rationalize that ‘my parents always told me I was clumsy. They were real quick to spot
that in me.

On the other hand you can tell him that he is really smart and destined to do well and then
watch him work extra hard to solve those tricky algebra sums. I can do it. My dad always tells
me that I am smart. May be I just need to practice harder. And the harder he practices, well, the
smarter he gets. At work too, the power of positive expectations holds good. Expect your team to
do well, and watch them to go the extra mile to ensure they don’t let you down. So the choice is
yours really. Expect good things. And watch it come true. Else, of course, feel free to expect
failure. Like many people do.

Expect more, get more, Expect failure. And get that too.
WHO STOLE MY COOKIES :

We all go through our lives feeling that other people are taking advantage of us, our
talents, stealing our cookies. We seldom pause to think about how we depend on others for their
support and their cookies often. The cookies we think of as our own actually belong to someone
else .

CHANGING MINDSETS AND THE SIZE 15 SHIRT :

We all hold on to our beliefs, steadfastly refusing to let go. And we find dubious linkages
to satisfy our mindsets. We forget those immortal words: ‘If you only do what you have, you will
only get what you have always got’.

There is a story of a man who complained of persistent neck, severe migraine and
frequent dizzy spells. He consulted a doctor, who took a good look at him and pronounced the
terrible news: he had only six months to live. The man was dejected and do all those things he
always wanted to. First he decided himself to get a six silk shirts. He bought some exquisite silk
and went to the tailor, who began to measure him out. With the measuring tape around the mans
collar the tailor said the size as 16. No no I m size 15. I have always been a size 15 and I want a
size 15.But I must warn you sir, if you wear size-15 shirts you will have persistent neck, severe
migraine and frequent dizzy spells.

Think about it .we are all like that man. We have our own size-15hang ups,our beliefs
that we refused to let go of. Our thinking, which we refuse to change, ideas, misconceptions that
hold us back.

WINNER’S MINDSET:

We all see other people through our own stained windows. If we are looking for faults,
we find them. Just as easily as we would find good if we go looking for that. So it helps not to
jump to conclusions and damn other people. It may not be them, our own windows may be to
blame. This is true not just of other people, but of life itself. If you have lived with the fear of
failure all your life, you tend to erect a window of risk aversion. We see things not the way they
are, but the way we are
SO WHAT’S YOUR WHITE RABBIT :

We all have the desire to achieve our goal but at times something will prevent us to rise
up our own full potential is the self-limiting belief that is what the white rabbit. So what should
we do is whenever we are coming across white rabbit just fight and kick it off from your way
and then you can rise up your full potential to reach your goal.

HOW TO BECOME A TWO DOLLAR MAN :

Learn to give more, just a bit more. Let me explain this with a story of a man who is
going to the hotel for a lunch as usual the recipient bought the order and served whatever he
needed and after he completed his lunch bill arrived at his table he just paid the bill and kept two
dollar as a tip instead of one dollar. Tipping that extra dollar is not about what it does to the
recipient but about what it does it to you .so the next time whenever you are going to the hotel
you will be received in a pleasant manner. So in an organization if the manager is expecting
home quality in you try to satisfy his need in double and become a two dollar man.

BRINGING BACK THE BINACA SMILE :

If you are working in an organization, at work the bosses expect consistency,

dependability and performances, so whatever the work is assigned to you by your bosses try to
complete before the due date and even earlier if possible so that the company will recognize and
consider you and also treat you in a good manner. so always consistence performance should be
given. Throw a little extra and you will be soon on the fast track.

LONG AND SHORT SPOON OF LIFE :

You can achieve all your goals, if only you help enough other people to achieve theirs.So
you have a vision and in order to achieve the mission you have to complete a number of missions
successfully only then you can attain your vision, During this period if some one is seeking help
from you just don’t hesitate to help him. By helping him you might also get a lot of knowledge
for attaining your vision.
ONE SHOE SYNDROME:
Become a go giver and not a go getter which means always try to give your hands for
others when they are at difficult times so that the person will consider and keep you as at a
higher level and you will learn a lot.

NAVJOT SIDDHU:
From strokeless wonder to palm tree hitter this best suits Navjotsidhu who is a cricketer
and in his career people always use to criticize him and his speciality is consider the situation
and take their mood to a comic way .you may not want to hear, but your critics are ones telling
you that they love you and care about you and want to make you better.

LESSONS IN SURVIVAL FROM FROGS AND PHELPS:

Whenever you are in trouble, keep fighting with the trouble and never think of give up
and keep kicking the trouble away from your track.what you do in these difficult times will often
determines what happens next.

LESSONS FROM A BUTTERFLY :

When you find yourself struggling and feel like giving up remember that its nature way of
helping you fly and soar to your full potential because even the butterfly when it is emerging out
it suffers a lot to emerge out and fly. So without struggle there wont be success.
WINNERS WAY:

GOAL KEEPERS AND ACTION BIAS: At times, standing still is the best action you can take.
The duty of the goal keeper is to always protect and safeguard the ball. Whenever some response
id to be given to some action, we can stand still so as to be wise in taking decisions.

OF SHARKS, PEPSI AND COMFORT ZONE: We need to get out of the comfort zone. If there
is no enemy we should be in a position to create one. If we still stick on to the comfort zone then
we will not be able to feel challenged. Enemies should be created so as to feel competitive in
each and every aspect we do.
TAKING FOR GRANTED – LESSONS FROM F WORDS! Friends, Family, Faith and Fun
these are just four things in our lives that our minds take for granted and get conditioned to miss
out.

HANDLING PRESSURE: THE IRFAN PATHAN WAY – When faced with the challenge of
walking on a thin log across a stream, make sure your mind does not get filled with the thoughts
of falling into the water.

HOW MUCH IS HUNDRED RUPEES: In times of abundance, it’s good to be very cautious. It
may just help stretch the abundance a bit. If hundred rupees matters to you, it should matter to
you independent of whether you are spending 1000 Rs or 10000 Rs.

OF BALLONS AND PEOPLE: It isn’t the colour of balloon that matter, It’s what is inside it that
makes it rise! Whatever might be the colour but the air inside the balloon makes it go higher and
higher. The author here relates the human mindset which has positive energy will go up in their
life.

THE FROG AND SCORPION: Scorpions will be scorpions. They will sting. You cannot change
a person with negative attitude. He will surely sting and we cannot see any growth in him.

EAT THAT FROG: If you have to eat that from, it doesn’t help to stare as it all day long.
Opportunities doesn’t come often. When you have to use the opportunity, you have to grab it
because just staring at the opportunity doesn’t seems to be worth.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE, THE STARFISH WAY: Every little bit counts. Do your bit. Make
a difference. Don’t think it is very small thing to ignore. You do your best and even a little bit
will give a huge difference.

HOW GOOD ARE YOU WITH BAD NEWS? The difference between the good managers and
great managers is “Bad News Quotient“. The ability to manage the bad news is very important. If
you are able to manage the bad news very comfortably then ultimately you become the great
manager.

WINNING THE TEAMS:

FLAT TYRE LEADERSHIP: Great leaders lead from the front. Roll up their sleeves. They work
as a part of a team, with regard for hierarchy . And they do all this because they believe and not
for the sake of others watching them.

FLYING KITES, MANAGING TEAMS: To make a kite fly higher, you need to pull it towards
you and not push it. People are like that too. If you want a person to perform higher he needs to
be motivated and should not be pushed towards the target to be achieved.

SALES TEAM AND REMOTE CONTROL: If the TV channel doesn’t change when you press
the button on the remote, what you do? Press harder and tap on the palm. That works with sales
team too. When the team performance is expected and you are not able to get it done, you need
to tap and press o the work done by other team people so that the work is done on time.

LESSONS FOR NEW LEADER: Every organization sees itself as a full to the brim cup when a
new leader arrives. Leader must learn to mingle with the team and be willing to let their ego
become subservient to the needs of the team.

CATCHING FISH WITH STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM: It doesn’t matter that you like
Strawberries and cream. To catch the fish, you need to feed them worms. The author here
explains about the understanding between the teamwork. If the team work has to be done then
every person in the team has to put the entire hard work and to get the work done the workers
should be feed with whatever they require in order to get it completely done.

THE DAHI HANDI WAY: Never mind what your goal is, you need a team to achieve it. Team
work always works.

OTHER PEOPLE:

THE TWENTY-ONE PEOPLE ON A FOOTBALL FIELD: Life is not only about what you do
when you have the ball, it’s about what you do when someone else has ball. Someone else can
have your opportunity but what matters is how you grab that opportunity and use according to
your situation.
CHARLIE PLUMB AND PARACHUTE PACKER: Who is your parachute packer? More
important is that whose parachute are you packing? You need to be very cautious like whose
parachute you are packing.

GREAT WALL OF CHINA: It’s not about the structure, system, processes or infra that matters.
It is all about the people.

CHAIRMAN’S QUESTIONS: In our lives, we tend to look up all the time at our superiors. We
seldom find time for those “Lowly Folks“who are looking up at us.

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM MICHELLE OBAMA: Lesson from OBAMA states that “you
will be judged based on whether you know their lives “ .

FINDING BALANCE:

PEPSICO CHIEF AND CALL FROM COKE: Here the author mentions that attitude and
behavior matters during the working pressure and temptation. One has to avoid pressure and all
other temptations in order to succeed in the mission which is set by the individual.

“Your personal values are not just what you espouse. It is how you behave and react in the face
of temptation, pressure and even when you know no one else would know”.

ENOUGH DO YOU HAVE IT? : One should not limit themselves by saying that they don’t
have any factors to achieve their goals. They have to remember that “the sky has no limit”. so
don’t curb yourself to any factors. If you have desire you can achieve it surely. Make a will and
work till you reach your goal.

SMELLING THE COFFEE: What we need is coffee, but what we are searching for are better
looking cups. One has to concentrate on the main intention of life not on to the process involved
to achieve the intention.

WORK LIFE AND BALANCE: Balance your life in such a way that your working task should
not bore you.win some and lose some is the ideal mantra for success.”To achieve something, you
have to give up something”.

TAKE ACTION:
BEGIN AND END, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS: Two keys to success – get started, and learn
to finish. The rest is well commentary. Do not keep on thinking about the task which you want to
complete. Remember one thing “A better start is half done”. So plan accordingly and execute it
to achieve your destiny.

WAKE UP CALLS AND SNOOZE BUTTONS: Forget the snooze button, when you hear a
wakeup call, wake up. The snooze button will try to move you to the comfort area, to achieve
one should come out of the comfort zone. Ignore the snooze button and wake up if the wakeup
call is on.

DON’T CONSIDER TIME: If you want to achieve something in your life, don’t consider time
and don’t wait for it. Instead do it on that second, when the idea came up to your mind. Start to
initiate the idea which you have thought earlier.

CONCLUSION :

There were life lessons from frogs and rabbits, sharks and butterflies, kites and balloons.
Together they create a heady mix that will make the winner inside you emerge and grow.

Promise that you’ll try harder and start today. If your mind says we can start tomorrow, tell
yourself that “Tomorrow never comes”.

IF YOU CAN DO IT, YOU CAN! IF YOU CAN’T DO IT, THEN YOU ARE RIGHT!!!