WAYS TO DISTINGUISH YOURSELF

Attitude
#1 Care as if it's your own
Few people care as if its their own. This is a road less traveled
#2 Do your daily work with Passion!
Passion is a great catalyst to increase productivity
#7 Celebrate small victories
You don't always need to win a lottery to celebrate!
#9 Know your values
Values provide the foundation for your decision-making. Get to know them well.
#14 Think long term
The temptation will always be to gravitate towards what is right for the short-term.
#15 Embrace uncertainty with ease
After uncertainty is the only thing thats certain. Why fight it?
#19 Get back on your feet - FAST!
It's not the falling down thats the problem but not getting up everytime you fall down
#25 Walk away from free!
There is *really* no free lunch!
#27 Avoid complacency at all costs
There is nothing like maintaining status quo. You are either rising or falling!
#65 Be grateful
There are so many reasons to be grateful
#62 Stop comparing the ideal scenario
Ideal scenario is just that - it is ideal. No point in comparing to ideal scenario
#64 Smile!
Smile. It improves your face value!
#68 Generalize (very) slowly
Generalizing is easy. Everyone can do that!
#83 Be comfortable being alone
If you can enjoy your company, may be others will too!
#91 Be comfortable to say "I don't know"
It is impossible to know everything, anyways
#96 Let go first!
Sometimes before you reach out for something, you need to let go of what you have!
#98 Clarify your intentions
Intentions have great power. Have the right intentions
#108 Face the problem
If you keep running away from problems, you won't get to learn how to solve them

Relationships
#3 Build strong relationships
Strong relationships provide a significant competitive advantage
#10 Pursue right memberships
Its not what you know but who you know. Its just not who you know but how you know who you know.
#11 Help people help themselves
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!
#18 Be relevant
Who will you listen and pay attention to? - the one thats relevant to you or the one thats not?
#32 Focus on service at the core
Service comes before anything else
#34 Focus on increasing ROII
Time is precious for everyone. Ensure that you provide the highest value for anyone investing time in an interaction with you
#36 Reduce "facade diff"
What if your public and private faces were almost the same - wouldn't that be wonderful?
#38 Ensure that WIIFT > WIIFM
If there is no WIIFM, you are sacrificing a lot and if there is no WIIFT, you are being too selfish. We need a fine balance here..
#39 Make it easy for people to help you
One thing is to ask for help. The other thing is to be ready to receive help!
#48 Handle criticism with grace
Or else you may not get ANY feedback
#51 Work on your mile-high factor
Is your network growing or shrinking?
#52 Continue to gain respect from people close to you
People who are close to you know your strengths and weaknesses as well as the good and bad sides of you. So, you need to really work hard if you need to continue to gain respect from them.
#70 Increase "shelf-life" of your power relationships
It takes a while to build power relationships. Once you build them, how long can you sustain them?
#92 Watch with whom you spend most of your time
The company you keep plays an important role in where you are going!
#95 Never forget any help!
Most people do. You can be different!
#99 Forgive and forget!
To forgive, you need great courage. Do you have it?
#100 Get OFF the way!
Ensure that you don't put a lid on someone's growth
#103 Validate your private reasons
We have private and public reasons for many important decisions. While you can justify public reasons, you need to take a hard look at your private reasons
#105 Be entitled for nothing
Entitlement is scary. If not used appropriately, it can be a cause of inaction!
#111 Don't look to get drowned in positive feedback
So, generally whenever you have a reasonably good idea you get a ton of positive feedback - so much that you can drown in it. The key is to not get carried away by the positive feedback. What you need is not a pat on the back but for someone to rip your idea apart and expose the flaws within it. That way you don't burn more money or time on a "dumb" idea.
#112 Drop "One time use" policy
If you drop the "One time use" policy for the rest of your life, I won't guarantee that you will make more friends but you may have a better chance of retaining existing friends.

Productivity
#5 Set the right expectations
The first step in trying to exceed the expectations is to set them right in the first place.
#8 Set higher standards
Raise your standards higher than the general norm and watch miracles unfold!
#13 Plan by outcomes
Activity is not always equal to productivity. You can either have reasons or results and reasons don't matter.
#24 Influence the influencers
To get things done faster, you need the support of influencers
#26 Expect recognition for results and not effort
All effort and no results will get you no points!
#29 Watch your standard practices
Simple things that you do CAN make a huge difference!
#31 Use your "thinking bandwidth" wisely
Observe what thoughts are you recycling day in and day out.
#33 Keep promises that you make to yourself
Making promises to yourself is easy. Keeping them is VERY hard!
#43 Show discipline on small things
Temptation would be to not provide enough importance on small things.
#46 Manage your monkeys
Delegate effectively!
#47 Simplify
Make it easy for you and others around you
#67 Understand the 3T rule!
Things take time. They do!
#89 Avoid the SEABE trap!
Tie up loose ends as quickly as possible.
#89 Avoid the SEABE trap!
SeaBE = Searching for the best excuse
#102 Get off the JIMP syndrome
JIMP = Just Interrupt me PleaseAre you screaming to be interrupted so that you can avoid doing something that you planned?
#113 Fine tune your accountability structures
The accountability structure that you have setup for yourself and people around you will have a big impact on results you produce.What could you and your team members do to fine tune these structures to produce better results?

Learning
#12 Be a reader
They say all leaders are readers. Are you?
#16 Ask the right questions
Its not always the answers!
#17 Engage with a coach
Sportspeople have figured this out long back. Coaching works!
#22 Learn to sell
Everyone of us are in sales - one way or the other. Basic sales skills are a must to thrive and succeed!
#23 Learn systems thinking
Nothing happens in vacuum and things are more interconnected than you can imagine.
#30 Watch the shelf-life of your skills
You MUST set aside time to develop long-term skills
#37 Learn the art of managing multiple projects
You can't avoid getting involved in multiple projects in life. You might as well learn to manage them :)
#40 Learn to estimate well
Estimate wrong and pay a big price during execution of any project.
#45 Increase your rate of learning
There is so much out there to absorb so speed with which you absorb stuff is key
#63 Avoid the CSS trap
CSS = Continuous Spiral Syndrome
#81 Develop cultural sensitivity
The playing field has no borders anymore. Developing cultural sensitivity is a MUST!
#82 Connect the unknown to the known
Fastest way to learn is to connect the unknown to the known!
#94 Learn to meditate
Manage your stress the most economical way
#106 - Increase investments in personal growth
You need to be growing everyday. For that, you need to make investments on your personal growth
#116 Aim to become a transformer
Go ahead, aim to be a transformer. That will be the biggest gift you can give to your teachers.
Leadership
#4 Dream BIG!
If its anyway a dream, why not dream BIG?
#20 Lead a volunteer effort
Most volunteers are there by choice. If they still have to follow you, you must be something :)
#35 Don't take credit when its not due
As we talked before, there is no FREE lunch!
#77 Treat your competition with respect
Good competition will help you to lift yourself up. Competition is good!
#90 Question the question
Temptation would be to answer the question. Sometimes it may be wise to question the question
#115 Get to the real question please...
Remember that even if you get the right answer for a wrong question, it's still of no use :(
#124 Don't rush to a solution
New problems or opportunities of a reasonable size and especially those that extend longer time horizons need a different kind of treatment. There is no point in rushing to a solution quickly. You won't find a good solution and you may dismiss the whole thing prematurely or find an alternative that is not good in the long run.
Innovation
#21 Balance innovation and continuous improvement
Innovation and continuous imporovement are not mutually exclusive.
#55 Commoditize your work at regular intervals
You don't have to wait for someone else to commoditize your work
#69 Balance home runs with small wins
Home runs are great. But small wins are important too!
#107 Detach the idea from the source
Don't let your perceptions on the messenger taint the value of the message
#121 Learn to exploit innovations
If your competitor is not innovating but is great at exploiting innovations you are still at a disadvantage.
Personal Branding
#42 Maintain visibility
Out of sight is out of mind!
#49 WAG
WAG = Watch your attention-getters!
#53 Always be ready to win the boxing game
Whether you like it or not, people will "box" you. If you are prepared, you can ensure that they put you in the right box.
#54 Expand your "100% Trust Network"
How many "100% Trust" relationships do you have?
#66 Keep "Your story so far.." ready
Everyone has a story. What is yours?
#118 Make a difference, however small it is...
Next time, when you find yourself in that situation think about the starfish story and make it a point to make a difference, however small it is...
#119 Avoid the "0.9 Extra Mile Syndrome"
You usually don't get credit for partial "extra mile" journeys that you take.
#120 Create memorable experiences
Everyone is busy in their own lives. Unless you work very hard to create significant value in that interaction for the other person, there is no reason for that person to remember that interaction.
Leverage
#44 Connect your projects
You automatically get higher leverage by connecting your projects.
#50 Imagine!
Imagination may sometimes be more powerful than knowledge
#56 Craft a compelling elevator pitch for yourself
Every business has an elevator pitch. If you treat yourself as a business, what would be yours?
#78 Think!
Set aside time to "think"
#79 Gather the right puzzle pieces
You can't do everything alone. But do you know what all resources you need to get where you want to go?
#80 Don't chase exclusivity without a clear plan to leverage it
You need to pay a price for exclusivity. So before paying the price, determine whether you need that exclusivity
#84 Stretch payback cycles
Think about the payback cycles for your current projects. Can you stretch them?
#86 Spread your payback horizons
Design your projects so that you spread payback horizons.
#97 Use power appropriately
One thing is to get power. The other thing is to use it appropriately!
#109 Fight the right battles
Before you answer the question "How do I win this battle?" ask yourself "Why am I fighting this battle in the first place?" You may be surprised :)
#110 Contribute to the growth of your entire network
If you contribute to the growth of everyone in your network, you will automatically grow!
#114 Improve your Net "Caring Critics" Score
Net "Caring Critics" Score = "Caring Critics" - "Non-caring Critics"
#117 Understand the power of incentives
Incentives are extremely powerful. There are incentives for you to behave the way you do and there are incentives to make the people around you behave the way they do. Understanding the power of incentives will help you to understand people's behavior.
#123 Find a second reason to do anything significant
Find a second, third or fourth reason for any significant initiative in your life. This will help you gain higher leverage.

Teamwork
#6 Ask for help!
Everyone needs it. Why pretend that you don't?
#59 Avoid passive resistance
Passive resistance is a nightmare for any change management initiatives.
#60 Recognize and respect potential
It takes special talent to recognize and respect potential
#75 Provide early warning signals
Bad news is not all the bad if delivered on time.
#76 Follow up
Try again!
#85 Bring the right puzzle pieces into the game
What can you bring to others to help them in their quests?
#101 Master the art of handling disagreements
It will be odd to even expect everyone to agree on everything that you have to say. The question is - "Do you know how to handle when they disagree?"
#122 Overestimate people with potential minus experience
If you want to get the best out of these people, best is to "overestimate" what they can do. That will make them stretch and reach beyond what they could do if the expectations were "normal" or "watered down."

Communication
#58 Understand the law of the bucket and the glass
In simple terms, remember that you can't pour a bucket of water into a glass.
#61 Package information for easy consumption
How can you package information so that the other person spends minimum time to get what you are trying to say?
#73 Watch how you say "what you do"
Do you take pride in your job?
#87 Manage your filters well
We all have filters. The key is to manage them well.
#93 Be comfortable contradicting yourself, sometimes!
We all make mistakes. When you make one, just admit it!
#104 Setup and use anchors and triggers
Anchors and triggers act as catalysts. Are you using them appropriately?