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ezhilkumarank
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Thought I could share some of the learnings that I had over the past few weeks participating in the $100K challenge.
Firstly let me get few things out of the line. I did register as a member of this forum in Feb, 2009 but had never logged in for the next 10-12 months (yes, almost a year). I have not been even a decent contributor to this forum and in a sense been a lurker/leecher here.
With that brief introduction, lets get started:
Firstly let us look beyond the small issues arising out of this competition and shift our attention a bit. Here are my learning. Please feel free to tear my argument/claim apart or acknowledge the learnings and share yours as well.
I am not used to participating in competition (yes, you guessed it... have a pathetic extracurriculars record) like this and hence was not very serious about the collecting points in the first 3-4 days. I used to causally browse the forum for points and collect them. Suddenly on the first week's Saturday, I noticed the "Players" tab in the $100K challenge page and was pleasantly surprised to see my name in the top 15. I then went full steam into collecting points everyday and by the start of the second week noticed that the game had to be played with a certain strategy in mind. I never noticed that there were only 5 likes for each day and used to collect points as I saw them.
Learning 1: I think the strategy is to go for the maximum returns yielding venture or betting on the best horse. Of course the best horse to bet could not be identified very easily. Given 5 likes for the day, one should venture out and hunt for points and devise a strategy to accommodate the maximum points yielding "likes" for the day. On certain days you should be willing to cut your losses and proceed by clicking on the lower valued likes. Again, this is one of the most often repeated mantra in GMAT ... take educated guesses and move on with the next question. One must almost have a zen like mind in letting this go and should have great control over ones ego. [Guess that was too much of a gyan from me
]
Come week three and now we have a new twists to the 100K challenge in the form of a pop-quiz. What did I learn out of it? Well it was as if someone smacked me in my back while I was asleep. Given the apparent ease at which the points were collected, it was as if someone had set the players on timed mode. Every one, including the board leaders were under the false sense of security of their position being unassailable until the time the pop quiz came along. [The previous statement is my personal opinion and might not be a correct reflection of what others have done.]
Learning 2: There is never a safe/comfort zone in business or life. Once has to be on the lookout of newer opportunities to move up and be almost paranoid about changes. In particular one should watch out for disruptive changes that sweep away all long held assumptions swiftly.
With the pop quiz now in the picture, anyone could surge ahead and become the leader in terms of the number of points.
Learning 3: This is the most crucial take away learning of the three. As mentioned earlier, although I started out primarily hunting for points in here slowly but the dept and breadth of articles hidden deep inside this portal has amazed me. I had started to enjoy the post not only for the points it offered but also for the insightful nuggets of information it had.
Hope most of you would have had a similar feeling. Let me know your thoughts.
Eagerly awaiting your brickbats and flowers.....
Firstly let me get few things out of the line. I did register as a member of this forum in Feb, 2009 but had never logged in for the next 10-12 months (yes, almost a year). I have not been even a decent contributor to this forum and in a sense been a lurker/leecher here.
With that brief introduction, lets get started:
Firstly let us look beyond the small issues arising out of this competition and shift our attention a bit. Here are my learning. Please feel free to tear my argument/claim apart or acknowledge the learnings and share yours as well.
I am not used to participating in competition (yes, you guessed it... have a pathetic extracurriculars record) like this and hence was not very serious about the collecting points in the first 3-4 days. I used to causally browse the forum for points and collect them. Suddenly on the first week's Saturday, I noticed the "Players" tab in the $100K challenge page and was pleasantly surprised to see my name in the top 15. I then went full steam into collecting points everyday and by the start of the second week noticed that the game had to be played with a certain strategy in mind. I never noticed that there were only 5 likes for each day and used to collect points as I saw them.
Learning 1: I think the strategy is to go for the maximum returns yielding venture or betting on the best horse. Of course the best horse to bet could not be identified very easily. Given 5 likes for the day, one should venture out and hunt for points and devise a strategy to accommodate the maximum points yielding "likes" for the day. On certain days you should be willing to cut your losses and proceed by clicking on the lower valued likes. Again, this is one of the most often repeated mantra in GMAT ... take educated guesses and move on with the next question. One must almost have a zen like mind in letting this go and should have great control over ones ego. [Guess that was too much of a gyan from me
]Come week three and now we have a new twists to the 100K challenge in the form of a pop-quiz. What did I learn out of it? Well it was as if someone smacked me in my back while I was asleep. Given the apparent ease at which the points were collected, it was as if someone had set the players on timed mode. Every one, including the board leaders were under the false sense of security of their position being unassailable until the time the pop quiz came along. [The previous statement is my personal opinion and might not be a correct reflection of what others have done.]
Learning 2: There is never a safe/comfort zone in business or life. Once has to be on the lookout of newer opportunities to move up and be almost paranoid about changes. In particular one should watch out for disruptive changes that sweep away all long held assumptions swiftly.
With the pop quiz now in the picture, anyone could surge ahead and become the leader in terms of the number of points.
Learning 3: This is the most crucial take away learning of the three. As mentioned earlier, although I started out primarily hunting for points in here slowly but the dept and breadth of articles hidden deep inside this portal has amazed me. I had started to enjoy the post not only for the points it offered but also for the insightful nuggets of information it had.
Hope most of you would have had a similar feeling. Let me know your thoughts.
Eagerly awaiting your brickbats and flowers.....
"The will-to-do achieves the deed, when the mind that wills is strong indeed"
