Learn. Practice. Repeat.

 

 

Written by Sirisha Bhamidipati - originally posted on LinkedIn

During my fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University(CMU), I learnt some of my most valuable life lessons. I used to stay about 3-4 kilometres from the college and between my place of stay and the campus was the towering Cathedral of Learning, a couple of museums ,the lush green Pittsburgh University Campus and then the sprawling CMU campus So, by default, I preferred walking to taking the college shuttle. 

Our classes used to start at 8:00 am, I am an early morning riser, so I preferred going to the campus early and do my reading there. A couple of weeks into the program, our course on Organization design and Leadership was to start. When I entered the Lecture hall at 7:00 am, I saw a tall, lean man, with grey hair and immaculately dressed, writing something on the white board. I quietly went and sat at my desk and kept looking at the board. 15 minutes later, the elderly man turned around, gave me a friendly nod and got back to his work - arranging his transparencies ( yes! This was in 2015 and he was still using transparencies). One look at him and I realised he was Professor Kelley who was to teach us the course over the next 4 weeks. 

 For another 30 minutes, he continued alternating between reading his notes and looking at the transparencies, lifting his head, occasionally, to look at the huge clock which was on the wall right opposite him. Ten minutes before 8, he asked me if I wanted to join him for a cup of coffee. I jumped at the opportunity. We started chatting casually and he asked me which part of the world I came from and what I was looking forward to, in the course. As I told him what I was looking at learning, he patiently listened to my expectation and said, “This is my promise to you. I will ensure that I will cover everything I can on the topics you asked for and in case there is anything more you want to learn, feel free to come to my office.” As a student, this was reassuring and I eagerly looked forward to the sessions. (He kept his promise, not only did I learn a lot in the areas I asked for but also learnt many many more things, I am grateful for).

Coming back to the story, the morning coffee ritual continued for the next 4 weeks. I loved our coffee conversations where he shared a lot of stories from his experiences and insights from working with the industry, his research work on Followership and life in general. Each one was a Masterclass by itself and in my enthusiasm to make the most out of them, I spent some time each night thinking on what I wanted to ask him the next day.

While I learnt a lot about his work, two incidents that left a mark on me - 

Incident 1:

Me: “Professor Kelley, I have been observing, you #prepare for the course every morning. You have been teaching the course for over 3 decades. Its your area of research and you know it like the back of your hand. Why do you still prepare?”

Prof (looking at me and smiling): "I'm like an athlete, got to rehearse and improve my performance before every game! I've done it for many decades, and this is my commitment for students! Every time I deliver the course, there is something to #learn always and something to add.” He added, “It is not just what I prepare here, I also write the transparencies every night for my session next morning.” (And pulled out from his case some of the older transparencies on the same topic)

Lesson 1: Sharpen the saw - You don’t become great just because you did something but because you are continuously working on it - Learn. Practice. Repeat.

Incident 2: (We were having conversations on building a body of work)

Me: “How did you manage your time? You have published so many papers, books and work with the Industry - all at the same time”

Prof: ”I make it a point to spend my afternoons on research and sit and write from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Its a pre dinner ritual I follow - at home, when I am travelling and even when I am sick. There are days when I am in the flow and I write at time until midnight and days when I barely write a few words in that slot but I make sure I do nothing else during that period. I have been doing this for over 25 years and there are just a handful days I missed. That’s how you suddenly see the magic of compounding and power of habits and routines. 

Lesson 2: Power of compounding - small habits, over time, will result in big wins

What are the life lessons that you learnt from people around you?