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The best mental model for taking tough decisions in life.

Ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
Then close your eyes and imagine it happening.

Ask yourself another question, “Will I be okay mentally, socially, financially, physically, emotionally?”
If the answer is yes, go for it!

It’s crazy how much of our time goes towards taking the right decision when no one knows what the right decision is!
Why not spend that time and effort into finding the courage within?

When you meet someone who is successful, who is knowledgeable, who is experienced and seems to look way beyond your reach – the best emotion is to have is curiosity!

Curiosity to learn as much as you can from them!
Curiosity to ask them why they do what they do!
Curiosity to ask them how they have reached where they are!
And the curiosity to ask yourself if that’s something you have or are willing to develop!

Not intimidation, not underconfidence, not nervousness – sheer curiosity!

We were all born curious.
We asked endless questions, whether to know, to irritate or to engage.

And then, we were told to listen and not to ask.
We were scolded if the questions were dumb.
We were discouraged if the questions were too many.

So we stopped asking “Why?”
“Why am I doing what I’m doing?”
We were all curious until the world killed our curiosity.

If we are curious, we are alive.
If we are not, we are simply a slave to someone else’s curiosity.

This question can be answered by asking 3 more questions to ourselves:

1. Who am I?
2. Who am I likely to become?
3. Who am I ought to become?

Most likely these 3 individuals are not going to be the same. 

Within the space between who are we likely to become and who are we ought to become, lies the answer to what do we ought to do in life!

Investing in your 20’s is not just a fashionable advice.

It is also to build a corpus for yourself, so that:

– to take a career break,
– to go on with exploring life for 6-12 months
– or simply creating opportunities when you’re stuck in your job and have responsibilities to cater to.

Investing is not just to make money.
It is also to create freedom for yourself. And that’s priceless

When we feel pain, we can see ourselves getting lost in it.

Not being able to get out of it. Despite being aware that it is not the right feeling, we are unable to nudge it away.

So it consumes us. Makes us feel hollow. And takes away our attention from what’s important.

Pain does not come with degree. It just is.
But if it comes for a shorter duration, is it even pain? Or simply a chance to be more self-aware?

It starts with trust. Trust forms the basis of every relationship.
It is neither to be broken, nor to be tested.

It continues by listening. Listening, not with the intent of answering but with the intent of understanding.

It grows with patience. The most beautiful relationships in life take time.

Trust, Listen and Wait.
The key ingredients to long-lasting and meaningful relationships.

The 3 most important life skills that will help us now and for the rest of our life:

1. The courage to know what we don’t know.
2. The courage to accept the truth the way it is.
3. The courage to take risks.

There’s no expiry on these skills.
Rather, they work on the principle of compounding. 

The more we put the right skills to use, the more they will grow. So will we. :)

There is something appealing about being called a manager.
We have more control, more decision-making power, more responsibility.
And we seek this influence.

We seek a bigger team to manage, a bigger area to control, a bigger span of influence.
But do we ever seek more accountability?

Accountability for a bigger goal!
Accountability for a larger purpose!
Accountability for the development of the team!

Managers seek more responsibility. Leaders seek more accountability.

When I am hiring people, these are the qualities I look for in candidates:

1. Curiosity – Curious ones don’t start with solving the problem. They start with asking the right questions. And the questions solve the problems.

2. Do they set up others for success?
   Do they share or hide?
   Do they take credit or share credit?
   Do they pick up high visibility tasks or are comfortable being behind the scenes?
   Do they work for their success in a way that sets others up for success as well?

3. Do they need a follow-up?
   The sheer amount of time wasted collectively in following up is crazy!
   And if someone works in a way where they stick to their commitments or proactively update when the commitments are not being met, they are gold!

4. Are they different from me?
   We all are drawn towards people who are like us. But, we perform at our best when we allow ourselves to evolve.  And that happens when we spend time with people who are nothing like us.