Scott Ragsdale

Adam Fletcher is the Generral Manager of naseba’s Kuala Lumpur office.

12 years ago, the day I met Adam in Hong Kong, he showed me a quote by Richard Branson, “as for me, I just pick up the phone and get on with it….” 

Guest bloggers …. from time to time, I will post blogs from friends or collegues which I think add value to my search for John Galt.

Adam Fletcher is a great example of someone who just picks up the phone and gets on with it … even when the going gets tough. 
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If only life was as simple as climbing mountains

Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to work in 10 different countries and in several different industries. Along the way I’ve met several successful people, not just in business but more importantly, in life. 

The most successful of them have the same thing in common:  they engaged in the pursuit of a specific goal and then set about organising their lives to achieve it. 

However some of the friends I’m thinking of have taken a long time to achieve their goal, some of them more than 10 years. 

What sets these people apart is that they’ve stuck to the chasing their goals, they haven’t gotten distracted or bored.

They didn’t succumb to the ‘I want it now, if I can’t have it now it’s not worth it’ mentality of modern culture. 

None of them are particularly exceptional at what they do.
None of them are super intelligent or particularly gifted.

But they all them have the same thing in common – they stuck to chasing their goals and pursued them without gviing up.

Each year they get better at what they’re doing, each year they get a little luckier. 
These people literaly ‘make it happen’.
They don’t give up, they get on with it. 

You don’t have to be talented to climb mountains. 

You just need to focus on the summit and keep putting one foot in front of the other without ever giving up.

Adam Fletcher

I was in Bangalore, India a couple days ago to present Kavana her Rolex and meet with Saleem and the team.

Kavana, the young woman who won this year’s Rolex challenge told me how much “happier” she is since she started running and getting into shape….and started “chasing her goals.”

Over dinner with Saleem, we discussed how several people in his office are already focused on winning the next Rolex challenge.

And Saleem said, “this challenge is good because it helps people think about their goals, and going after a goal is difficult, but that “difficulty” leads to positive self esteem, pride and ultimately, “happiness.”

Saleem is restoring a 1953 USA Army jeep … this has become an enjoyable hobby for him.

Recently, Sophie read me a great article on Warren Buffet.

I am from Omaha, Nebraska and remember seeing Buffett out and about when I was a kid, 25-30 years ago, and I know well the places, restaurants discussed in the article..

It’s interesting to consider how he seems to define happiness.

According to the article, although he is worth 45 billion dollars, his annual personal spending is less than $150,000 a year.

He drives a 2006 Cadillac and lives in the same home he has for a long time.

Think about it …. he is worth 45 billion dollars, but drives an old car and lives in the same house he has for years and spends less than $150,000 a year on living and personal expenses.

According to the article he gains pleasure from the simple things in life like his work and playing bridge with his friends. 

Our world today, we are constantly hammered by the advertisements, media … telling us what will make us happier…

What about…

Just finding pleasure in going to the gym, getting into shape, going for a hike, learning a new language, a new hobby …

Maybe do something different today than you have ever done before…

But most importantly, take pleasure in the simple things in our lives.

My 94 year old Grandfather, Selser Pickett is a man with an ideal, maybe perfect character.  

A real southern gentleman – from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

I have never heard him curse.  I have never heard him say even one thing negative.  Never.  

My 88 year old grandmother is nearly the same. 

Yesterday, my grandparents celebrated their 70^th anniversary.  

Imagine being married for 70 years…. 
Surely, their success in life and in marriage is directly linked to their positive characters.

I try my best to live a life as honorable as my grandfather. 

The major theme of this blog is my search for John Galt…

Searching for the man who is hardworking, loyal, focused, driven, stoic and most importantly – perfectly, honourable.

Searching for the man who understands that achieving success in anything takes time and focus; and understands there are no short cuts to the top of the mountain.

We live in a world today where people cheat on their wives, cheat on their friends, cheat on their companies with no concern for being honourable — the only concern is getting caught.

It’s all about “feeling good,” and that instant personal gratification.

Negativity is consuming many  (just notice today how many times people around you – maybe even yourself say something senselessly negative)

But remember – negative comments add no value to the discussion. 
Negativity adds no value to anything.

Loyalty?? 

Stealing instead of earning, expecting rather than deserving. 

Again — its all about instant gratification… 

The ”It’s all about me… who cares about you” … mentality is consuming many. 

I challenge the reader to reflect and from today change …

Do you live a life of honor? 
Are you focused and driven as much as you can be?

Don’t waste your time or your friends time by speaking negatively about anything.
Focus on the positives – no matter how bad your day might get, focusing on the negatives will only make it worse.

Don’t let the losers bring you down.

Even if you are living an honorable life, try be even more honorable. 

Happy 70th anniversary to my grandparents!

A very cool story….

Maybe its because I have two young girls, but recently Sophie told me that I am using the word “cool” too much. 

I am sorry Sophie, but this is a very “cool” story….

This past Friday, 35 employees in naseba’s Dubai office representing 12 different nationalities ran the 10km race in the Dubai marathon.

Nearly, all of the 35 people have never run in a race; or “run” at all. 

But most of the people who ran, trained together over the past several weeks getting ready for the race and turned the 10km challenge into something fun.

Sophie, Nic, and Fabien also ran … I didn’t participate.  Instead I sat on the side lines and cheered. 

Although naseba sponsored everyone who participated, I wasn’t involved whatsoever getting people to enter.   I didn’t want any employee to feel pressured to enter. 

I was scheduled to be in India this past weekend, so would miss the race, but Sophie came to me and told me I had to be in Dubai for the marathon on Friday. 

We discussed it briefly, but my schedule for the month was confirmed and I wouldn’t be able to make the race.

Later that night, Sophie told me (again) that I needed to change my schedule and be in Dubai for the race.  

I told her that it wasn’t a lack of interest..

I reminded her that I had a meeting with one of our bigger clients that I didn’t want to postpone… Also, I was scheduled to go to our Bangalore office to present the Rolex watch to Kavana.

Then she told me the big secret… 

Secretly, my personal assistant for 8 years, and the office manager in Dubai and someone I am personally very close to, Thomas Prasad (LT) had been training for the past several months, lost 20+ kilo and was going to compete in the Dubai marathon, running the full marathon. 

“What???”

I was in bed reading when Sophie told me about Tom doing all of this…

I had to stop reading.  I couldn’t think about anything else, but LT training to run a marathon.

“HOW???”

Because I am close to Tom, I know him well so hearing that he had been training for many months to run a full marathon was a big big surprise.

I noticed he had lost weight, but because he still wears the same suits as he did before, I didn’t notice the extent of his weight loss.

She explained that for the past many months, Tom has been waking at 4am every day, running up to 2 hours every day before work …recently he ran a 32km training run. 

He doesn’t have coach. 
He has absolutely no clue on his nutrition or what he should eat or drink during training.

In his entire life, he has never run.  At all.

But he got into his training, dieted and just went about making his goal happen.

I never saw him limping, and never heard him complain about leg pain.
I had no clue he was even running…and Tom is someone I spend a lot of time with each day.

This past Friday, Tom (LT) ran the Dubai marathon.

I am very proud.

There is a half marathon next month in another Emirate and already 9 people from naseba dubai have entered, and Navid told me last night that he thinks 20+ people from the Dubai office will do it.

It’s “awesome” to see the ambiance in the Dubai office, and all the people coming together training, getting in shape and going after their goals.

Great job to the team.
Great job Tom.

I am very proud. 

Within the next few years, my goal is to climb Mt. Everest. 

I have read many books about horror stories, stories of failed attempts, and of course success stories on reaching the summit. 

Many of the stories of failed attempts, and or even the stories of death, many seem to have something to do with “rushing” or “pushing” ahead towards the summit too quickly. 

It’s about a 3 month process to climb the mountain. 

First you go to base camp and acclimatize. 

After acclimatizing to the altitude, you then climb to camp one, set up camp and acclimatize. 

After you have acclimatized a bit, you go back down to base camp to rest and continue acclimatizing, then climbers climb up to camp two…

This happens over several weeks and climbers will even climb up to camp 4, get acclimatized and then go back down to base camp to rest before the summit push. 

From what I have read, it seems the ones who are the most successful, are the ones who do not rush to the summit. 

They take their time getting acclimatized and ready for the summit push. 

Many of the failed attempts seem to have something to do with not being careful; not acclimatizing well enough, and trying to summit too quickly. 

It’s exactly like life… 

We all have our proverbial mountains we want to summit.

But often we try to summit without being fully prepared for the summit push. 

Upon reflection…
I see how each time I have f’d up, and fell … it all had something to do with not being prepared well enough (not being ready) for the next “camp.” 

I tried to summit too quickly, but wasn’t acclimatized –  wasn’t ready to summit, and either failed in my attempt, or fell down the mountain. 

Think about your own role in your company whatever your role might be … are doing it well enough to prepare you for the next step?

Maybe you have a goal to do and achieve something physically challenging like run a marathon … or a triathlon… whatever it might be, are you preparing yourself well enough to ensure you are ready for the summit?

Or are you pushing ahead without being perfectly acclimatized for the next step?

Do not rush to the top of your mountain.