The 10th of November is the anniversary of M. K. Atatürk’s leaving this world. It was a very challenging life for him, being a soldier and becoming a leader, establishing a republic, and saving a nation. What can you achieve more? Here are some notes I took during reading about his life. As a great admirer, I believe nobody like him will be born in this world again.
Always Have a Plan
Plan A, B, C… The whole alphabet could be used to evaluate alternatives for business situations. Thinking about these plans, spending time with a free mind, and focusing forces you to make alternatives for your options ahead. With digital world, it is nearly impossible to stay disconnected and focus on past-present-future thoughts, you have to put some effort to focus. Disconnecting, having short walks, calming the mind after meditation, and focusing on doing nothing could help with making plans.
Another critical point is having a master plan. What would you want to be? What do you want to achieve? Technics like IKIGAI could help you find your passion: you have to find your passion.
As a great leader, Ataturk planned a lot and ahead. His military training probably helped him with planning. He had experience with making mistakes and learning what was working better. Traveling a lot and staying away from family (some upsides and downsides) and friends might have helped him to find time to focus, too. He had a big passion: his nation, and I believe it is to create a self-sustaining system for anything. Perfection forced him to solve many topics. He was a great engineer who designed many systems, not mechanical ones!
Accept the Situation, Don’t Waste Your Time With Regret or Hate
As an officer, Ataturk had many tasks, from being an officer of a rail station to managing a massive army in Syria. Whatever the task was, he focused on the task and created a system that would work forever. As a visionary, he did not agree with many decisions that his country or commanding officers took, probably. But taking responsibility and benefiting the situation on his behalf seemed to be a habit for him. Maybe he was also interested in impossible tasks and liked them?
I also think he focused on one task at a time, with full power. He had plans and had some solutions, but his discipline helped him to focus on his main task. Not just discipline in life but also discipline in his mind.
Whatever task you get, do your best. Always study for the future and stick to your master plan. If you don’t have a master plan, have it today. Start from somewhere, and watch the progress. I think having a master plan should not be overrated, either. Your master plan should not just be “being the richest man in the world”, too bare. I suggest focusing on being happy and healthy when you reach your goal. It can be a picture of your future self, too. How would you like to be seen in the future?
Networking
Surround yourself with people who value their opinions, who are good supporters of yourself, and who you find visionary. Your network will help you push yourself to be a better you. They will bring you helpful information about future topics, not gossip. You can discuss new technologies and problems freely with them, even the most prominent topics. You can find solutions together when you chat, making a great brain exercise. I remember when my best friend from university and I discussed how ugly the electricity pylons were and making alternative designs for them. I was never interested in pylon technology, but at that time, we were in a class on transmission lines, and the topic was these pylons. It was very fruitful for both of us to brainstorm on the topic technically.
Contacting your network regularly is key to maintaining relationships. Put reminders on your calendar for it.
Atatürk had a nice circle of idea supporters, not just people who agreed and clapped with everything he did, but people with different cultures and experiences who helped him make his ideas grow and improve. He first shared his ideas with his close circle, and after some brewing time, he started to say them publicly. At later day of his career, he assigned his closest friends to positions where he think they will fit perfectly.
Read… A LOT!
I find it interesting that, as a technology geek, I like to experience new software or tools. Reading with a Kindle or iPad seems like a nice habit, but it is not as good as old soft-copy book reading. Maybe it is because our history was created by reading books with our hands touching them; this is in our genes. I’m not sure, but when I read books, I feel better.
It is well known that Atatürk was a great reader and fan of different kinds of books. He could speak and read many languages and take notes. This must help him to create a vision of the nation. With your focus on a main goal, you can also read and benefit from ideas in the book or get some inspiration from dialogues or characters' actions in novels.
I read many self-development books; I’ve undoubtedly benefited from them, but I believe after so much reading, you find them repetitive. Thus, instead, I suggest reading a limited amount of self-development books and focusing more on other books such as novels, biographies, etc., whatever you wonder and like!
I’d also like to share “Anitkabir Derneği” 's study of publishing all of Atatürk’s read books online with the notes he took during reading:
Kitap Yayınları — Anıtkabir Derneği
Amazing…
Retreat, When You Need To
Accepting the situation and knowing where you are is a key skill in today's business world. You can criticize politicians, hate your favorite team’s football coach, and think you could do better. That could be true, but every situation should be evaluated based on the surrounding factors and the subject's condition. When deciding, try not to jump in and be quick with your experience. Instead, evaluate the situation with the vision of your current position and future thinking. You can make good decisions; you can make bad ones, too. That’s OK! You can waste your time with something you find unnecessary, you can be part of a topic that you don’t think beneficial for you, that’s also OK. Just learn from it and for the future. When you feel you are stuck or you will be stuck in the future, retreat!
It is believed that Mao Zedong said: “Keep men, lose land; land can be taken again. Keep land, lose men; land and men are both lost”. There will be ups and downs, and there will be times when you win and you will lose. Just accept the situation, take a position with the plan, and retreat when you need to. Don’t lose much with your fixed thoughts; be fluid!
