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We all have a definition of who is a poor person. Someone who doesn’t have a lot of money

That’s financial poverty. 

But there is another definition of poverty – mental poverty.

A state where someone is not satisfied with what they have, no matter how much that is.
A state where we fail to recognize that we already have a lot to be grateful for.
A state where one is consistently in need of more, because they never have enough.

Financial poverty is visible to others, mental poverty lies within.
Some people are so poor that all they have is money.

You asked for their help.
They refused.

Maybe they didn’t want to help.
Perhaps they were not in a position to help.

Couple of days later, they need your help. 

If you can help them, should you?
Or should you make this the best time to seek revenge?

Asking for help is good.
Not taking it personally when we don’t receive the help is better.
Not being personal when the same person asks for help is great!

Maturity in life is when someone rejects us and we don’t take it personally.
Bigger maturity is when they come back for our help and we help them.
Just because we can.

If you’re driving on the highway, you choose your speed, within the limits. 

As you enter the city, you don’t own the speed anymore.

The clutter on the roads, the traffic and speed of others defines your speed. 

That’s true for life as well.

We don’t own our pace, when we are cluttered.

Cluttered with emotions, desires, stories, people telling us what to do.
To get to the speed we want, we have to declutter our life and get from the city to the highway mode in our life.

To own our speed, it isn’t enough to drive our life. Who and what we drive it with matters just as much. 

What do I look for in candidates while hiring?

Not their college. Not their work experience. Or their family background.

For me, it’s always curiosity.

Why are we doing what we’re doing?
What would this look like if it were easier?
What is this trying to teach me? 
What’s the root cause to solve for?

The curious minds fall in love with the problems instead of solutions.
They enjoy the process instead of the final product.

They know that they don’t know everything.
And that is the best thing to know.

I love working with curious minds who are obsessed with asking the right questions. 

“There is no one right answer. Only better questions.”
– Tim Ferris

All our lives, we are surrounded by voices.

What we should be doing.
What we should be thinking.
How we should be doing things.

Instead of clearing up the smoke, these voices end up creating more.

Mystic and philosopher Rumi once said: “There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”

What that voice is trying to tell us, nobody else would be able to.
Because we are the only ones who are listening to that voice.

That voice is the voice with clarity. 
Only if we are willing to listen.

How do we live a life of integrity?
A life of honesty?
A life where we do not have to second-guess our thoughts and actions?

Roman Stoic Philosopher Seneca said: 

“We should live our lives as if everyone could see us.”

What would we do differently if everyone could see us?
What would we stop doing altogether?

More than anything else, how would that change our life?

When we assume everyone can see us, we stop lying to the world. 

And that is the first step to stop lying to ourselves. 

When we get angry, we end up doing things we don’t want to be doing.

Our actions become impulsive, words get uncontrolled, and thoughts become really fast.
None of this allows us to calm down and be thoughtful.

And we often ask ourselves:

Why does anger hurt me more than the other person? Why do I feel empty after that emotion of anger? Why am I not able to focus for long even though the situation has passed?

Gautam Buddha described anger aptly when he said: “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else.”

When we are angry at someone else, we are the ones who get affected the most. And yet we feel that giving up anger means giving up power..

Giving up anger doesn’t mean giving up power.
Giving up anger means having power that no one can take away.

There are people that have gone on to do exceptional things. 

Changed the world forever. 

Leonardo da Vinci. Madame Curie. Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs. 

What’s a special trait they have?

Were they child prodigies?
Or naturally gifted?

It’s because they kept telling themselves: “I don’t know a lot, I’m still learning.”

In the quest of being a student forever, they became teachers of creating an epic life.
In their ordinary curiosity for knowledge and education, they became extraordinary.

Being extraordinary is going the extra mile by remaining an ordinary student forever.

Do you sometimes feel lonely?

You feel no one understands you, feels your emotions, or knows what you’re going through.

How to go about fixing it?

When we listen to someone who’s going through the same pain,
When we let them know they aren’t invisible,
When we assure them there’s nothing wrong with their emotions,
We take the first step in moving beyond our loneliness.

When we allow someone to walk away from their loneliness, our own walks out along with it.

In the healing and hearing of others, lies our own.

We chase goals, work hard towards them, and when we finally achieve them, we still feel incomplete. Why does that happen?

Because we tie our happiness to a place. Showing people that you can. Proving them wrong. Making sure you have their respect. 

It all becomes a journey where we couldn’t care less about the journey, because we have all our eyes on the destination. 

Except it makes us more drained out in the end.

I had a student come over my Instagram Live the other day, who has been practising magic tricks for 6 years now, and baffled me with a few of his tricks on the show. He does not plan to make it full time, nor does he plan to monetise it. 

But just the fact of getting up each day and having something to progress to, has kept him through the troughs and valleys. 

Daily progress = Daily happiness minus Conditions attached

Chasing daily progress is the ultimate antidote to the emptiness of chasing goals.