Life Lessons from a fictional Killer

The other day I saw the Hollywood thriller "Collateral" starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was an extremely racy movie, gripping and very slick. Tom Cruise played "Vincent", an extremely ruthless and focussed contract killer. Jamie Foxx was a simple, unlucky cab driver in Los Angeles named Max, who got entangled with Vincent.
I stop here as I do not want to reveal the whole story for my readers who have not watched the film. What I want to focus on, is what I learned from the movie.Besides being an edge of the seats thriller, one could take some lessons on how to go about finishing a task or a job in daily life, from the beautifully portrayed character of Vincent in the movie. I thought about it for a while and came up with various lessons:

1. Planning
In the movie, Vincent had a well-planned schedule and extensive information about the six 'targets' he had to kill. He had meticulously chalked out the plan, to kill everybody within one night. In our work lives, planning is one of the most important things. Having a proper schedule, information and targets is the first step in getting a job done.

2. Alertness and awareness
Vincent is shown to have hawk-like alertness. In our daily life and workplace, we must be extremely alert and aware of our surroundings, to pick up information, signals and changes. These will help us flow and grow.

3. Spine-chilling focus and determination
The look in Vincent's eyes throughout the film showed extreme focus and determination, and a desire to get the job done at any cost. Never did he lose sight of the target - six dead people. One must possess the same level of focus and determination to succeed in real life.

4. Utilizing resources and surroundings to get the job done
Vincent did a fantastic job of using the services of the hapless cabbie Max, though in full legality! In the same way, we must learn to squeeze the last drop out of all the resources provided to us by the company or government to get our job done.

5. Flexibility, having backup plans and thinking quickly on your feet
Vincent shows his flexible side too, when Max, in a fit of desperation and anger, destroys Vincent's laptop which contains all the targets' information. He thinks quickly, and comes up with an excellent plan, to get back the data from the original client (mafia boss).
In life and at work, we will face many small problems and failures. That should not dishearten us or make us loose focus from the job. One should develop the ability to come up with novel ideas to overcome unfavorable situations.

6. Less talk, more work
In the movie, Vincent is shown to be habitually laconic. And when it comes to executing his subjects, he does not waste words, he justs shoots and kills.
Similarly, we should stop talking and blabbering too much and should just get on with the job.

7. Machine like precision - quality and skill
Vincent is shown to be an extremely good marksman. He shoots accurately and with the exact number of bullets in the right places to cause instant death. One can imply that Vincent is a very skilled shooter who has practised a lot.
Similarly, we must become experts at our fields of work through sheer practice. Only then can we do a job well.

8. Swift and Cool headed execution
The calmness the Vincent exudes and the swiftness of his executions is admirable. This is partly related to point 6. and point 7.
One should not get tense or emotional while finishing a task. Nor should one suffer from procrastination. Execution of plans charted out should be as swift as permissible, and should be performed with a cool mind.

In conclusion I have to say that, if we, in our daily lives, incorporate all eight qualities exhibited by Vincent in Collateral, we are bound to be highly successful in our profession and thoroughly enjoy our jobs. Thus, we can get to learn great life lessons from the most unlikely of characters.