Archery, Success and Inspiration

These three readings have been in my collection for a long time. I no longer remember the source.

The Art of Archery — I

One day I asked the Master: “How can the shot be loosed if `I’ do not do it?

“`It’ shoots,” he replied.

I have heard you say that several times before, so let me put it another way: How can I wait self-obliviously for the shot if `I’ am no longer there?

“`It’ waits at the highest tension.”

And who or what is `It’?

“Once you have understood that, you will have no further need of me. And if I tried to give you a clue at the cost of your own experience, I would be the worst of teachers and would deserve to be fired. So let’s stop talking about it and go on practicing.”

The Art of Archery — II

Then, one day, after a shot, the Master made a deep bow and broke off the lesson. “Just then `It’ shot!” he cried, as I stared at him, bewildered. And when I at last understood what he meant I couldn’t suppress a sudden whoop of delight.

“What I have said”, the Master told me severely, “was not praise, only a statement that ought not to touch you. Nor was my bow meant for you, for you are entirely innocent of this shot. You remained this time absolutely self oblivious and without purpose in the highest tension, so that the shot fell from you like a ripe fruit. Now go on practicing as if nothing had happened.

The Art of Archery — III

“I’m afraid I don’t understand anything more at all,” I answered, “even the simplest things have got in a muddle. It is `I’ who draw the bow, or is it the bow that draws me into a state of highest tension? Do `I’ hit the goal, or does the goal hit me? Is `It’ spiritual when seen by the eyes of the body, and corporeal when seen by the eyes of the spirit–or both or neither? Bow, arrow, goal and ego, all melt into one another, so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate has gone. For as soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes so clear and straightforward and so ridiculously simple….”

“Now at last,” the Master broke in, “the bow-string has cut right through you.”

All this, especially #II, came to mind while visiting California in search of business.  I can no more “get business” than I can shoot an arrow.  It’s a hard thing to learn: I am not the center of this activity, just its agent.

A few of the events I have attended recently involve listening to successful entrepreneurs talk about their stories, the obstacles they faced and how they succeeded. I know they are supposed to be inspirational stories. They are, in a sense, pornography: living vicariously through others’ success, wishing to be like them. But just as pornography teaches you nothing about how to succeed in love, these entrepreneurship meetings teach you nothing about how you can succeed with your idea in your business in your environment. Inspiration must come from within.

As for success, I used to think there are only 2 teachers: practice and failure. Actually, neither is.

You try and try and try, maintaining the state of highest tension, and then it just happens. Or not.

Reading Taleb in Amazonia

I have arrived at the intersection of two thoughts.

Computing is on the cusp of a paradigm shift. Some say it has already happened, others say it is about to. No matter. There is a migration under foot, from homes and companies having their own infrastructure (PCs, servers, networks) to having it “in the cloud”. Amazon has redefined the economics of computing and it is starting to take hold. The basic premise is quite simple:

About a 100 years ago, everyone had to have their own energy source. The mill towns grew because the mills used water to drive the looms. Then came electricity. You no longer had to incorporate a power plant in your factory. Your power source could be thousands of miles away, managed by folks who make electricity for a living.

Now, your computing infrastructure can be thousands of miles away, managed by folks who have learned how to derive economies of scale in doing this infrastructure management thing.  Just like electricity coming out of a socket changed the economics of energy, computing available through a broadband socket will change the economics of computing.

Indeed, the math works out. I have become a fan of Amazon’s services (and other cloud computing services as well) and certainly the economy is helping accelerate the trend.

It is with this background that I have been reading Taleb’s The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The Highly Improbable in this case would be an event that would impact Amazon (or another cloud provider). What could it be? Well, some kind of a physical breach but, more likely, some kind of a security breach. Of course, the instinct is to say maybe we shouldn’t go full-bore into Amazonia. Maybe we should continue on the path with higher costs and arcane procedures when everyone else is going the other way?

We have been here before. This time it will be different?

The word travels

When one is networking, one is getting the word out. It’s outward bound. You need to shape that word and guide its flow. It could be the letters you send out, referrals, your web site, your blogs.  It’s not just those things, of course.  It’s the smile on your face, the attitude you project, the attitude you feel. It’s also who carries the message, so choose your referers carefully.

Somewhere, somehow, in the outer reaches of the universe, the word meets a need. Someone picks up the phone, writes an email, finds money in a budget. That’s where marketing ends and sale begins. 

And then it’s all about closing with a deal. 

The trick is to recognize that you can shape the marketing a little bit. The sale, even less — although we all know sales people who can undo a done deal!

Acknowledgement to Barbara Bix as the origin of some of the thoughts here.