This is not easy

Today we had the pleasure to listen to a talk from a reputed personality Dr Deepak Phatak from IIT-Bombay at our company. For those who don't know, Dr Phatak is an honorable name in Computer Science in India and abroad. He is known for his contribution to Databases, Information Systems and Software Engineering. Today's topic was Innovation. In precise words, Dr Phatak told the basics of living life. Few key things of his talk are summarized here. The things mentioned below are as per my perspective. If I have misinterpreted Dr Phatak somehow, that is totally a fault of mine. Please step up to correct things if so.

1. Always keep learning : Since early schooling, the students are groomed to mug up the study materials and throw it up in the exams. In this way, we kill the creativity in ourselves. Another important point he raised is to ask questions. Even I have observed that most of us are scared to ask a question in public or more over scare to question something that is going on for ages. Dr Phatak strongly recommended to question the orthodox, conventional methods. Even if it is right, that will satisfy your conscious. Statistics does not always interpret a person completely. Each person is unique in its own way. What matters is his/her thinking line and not his statistics.
2. Don't kill the child (curiosity) in you : As a child is always curious about everything, he is eager to know why certain things are the way they are. Dr Phatak suggested that we should keep alive the curiosity in ourselves. This curiosity will help us find answers to questions that we face. And sometimes, it helps us find better answers that can be categorized as Innovation. So we need to make a habit of being curious so that at least we can answer our own questions. in my opinion, every person has a fear of unknown and this curiosity will definitely help in overcoming this fear. Another point Dr Phatak raised is not to compartmentalize knowledge. Most of us, even I do the same, we try to categorize problems as per their domains like automobiles belong to mechanical engineering, operating systems belong to computer science and so forth. This would have a negative impact on our learning approach. Dr Phatak encouraged to treat every thing as same and not categorize them as per their domains. This will help us to learn about everything around us and not only our domains.
3. Think different : According to Dr Phatak, most of the individuals tend to behave like ox-cart bullocks in a sense that they only know to walk a known path. They do not dare to venture on an unknown path. Came a certain problem, this is the way to solve it, this is their approach. Dr Phatak strongly encouraged to align your thinking patterns on different lines. Conventional wisdom is not always right or rather appropriate to solve certain problems. People who go out of the way, those who think different can make things happen. This does not apply only to Computer Science but to each and every field.
4. Passion for work : In order to innovate, one must have passion that is the driving factor for your thing to work. Without passion, there would be no energy, no enthusiasm in your venture. Only passion can keep alive your venture in rough times. In short, without passion, your venture will be like a body with no soul.
5. Persistence and commitment : Started a venture, persistence and commitment are another properties that can lead it to completion. Like they say, starting a venture is very easy but grooming it, maintaining it is very difficult. Hardwork is definitely a part of life but it is only with persistence and commitment, it can survive your venture.

After listening to Dr Phatak's speech, I realized that he has pointed the very basic things that we have conveniently forgotten. As for myself, by this time, I know what my flaws, my weak points are (not all of them) and I am trying to over come them. But it has been very difficult so far. With the points Dr Phatak mentioned, I think I need to go back to basics. If you build a strong foundation, the structure will thrive.