Live Limitless with Raam
“The World’s Most Value-packed Newsletter Life-letter to WIN at Work, Life, and Home” with:
3 big ideas, tips or strategies
2 stories, quotes or case-studies
1 critical question to ask yourself
Live Limitless: Impossible situation, Breakthroughs, xPrize Origin story!
read on LIFELETTER.RAAMANAND.COM | JANUARY 22, 2022
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3 Big Ideas, Tips or Strategies for this week
1. Collect Testimonials. Get written or video testimonials for everything you do. This is an important tool that provides social proof for your prospects. Ask for recommendations on LinkedIn. Most people will gladly agree.
2. To live through an impossible situation, you don’t need to have the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules, or the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do.”
Source: Anthony Greenback, The Book of Survival
3. True Breakthroughs = Crazy Ideas + Passion. Initially, the most successful ideas come across as crazy or impossible. Add passion to it and it becomes an obsession. Add strategy, resources, execution and patience, it becomes a breakthrough!
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2 Stories, Quotes, or Case-Studies for this week
1. XPrize Origin – by Peter Diamandis
I first read Charles Lindbergh’s book, Spirit of St. Louis, in December 1993. I learned that Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris in 1927 to win a $25,000 prize.
It was that leverage and efficiency of an incentive prize that led me to propose the idea of a $10 million purse for the first person to build and fly a reusable private spaceship carrying three people into space on two flights within two weeks.
In May of 1996, without the prize money in hand, I went onstage under the St. Louis Arch and announced the $10 million XPRIZE anyway.
I thought (mistakenly) that someone would quickly fund the $10 million prize purse. After all, you didn’t pay out the prize money until after a team had successfully completed both flights.
Between 1996 and 2001, I pitched 150+ sponsors, and received 150 “no’s”.
Finally (long story) in 2002, I met the Ansari family, who ultimately funded the $10 million purse (we named it the Ansari XPRIZE in their honor).
Two years later on October 4, 2004, the XPRIZE was won.
It took 12 years, from concept to Prize Award…
Once again, this was a tale about grit, persistence and making my own luck.
Today, as the XPRIZE Foundation is hitting its stride, the Foundation is now 24 years old with over $300 million in awarded, funded and/or designed XPRIZEs.
2. Vanilla Ice Cream that puzzled General Motors!
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
‘This is the second time I have written to you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem…..
You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?” The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway.
The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighbourhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got
chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Eureka – Time was now the problem – not the vanilla ice cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: “vapor lock”.
It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.
Don’t just say “problem is at the other end or it is IMPOSSIBLE” without putting a sincere effort….
What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
Moral of the Story “Try to Fix the Bug instead of making it as a Known Issue.”
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1 Critical Question to Ask Yourself
“What can I do next week to move the needle towards my next big goal?”
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Let’s meet again. Until then, Keep Smiling… Believe in Yourself… and Get all the Best Things in Life,
Raam Anand
Publishing Coach to hundreds of first-time authors around the world
Publisher & Chief Editor at Stardom Books (USA/India)
Author of the International Bestseller, Write Now
About this life-letter: You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to this weekly life-letter. Every week, I write and share 3 big ideas, 2 quick stories, and 1 critical question, especially for you. Occasionally, I send out longer content on personal and professional development or self-improvement topics.
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