Blog

The world fears the person who doesn’t fear anything.

But it’s scarier for the world to face someone who embraces fear.

Someone who moves on despite their fears is the most fearful for the world.

Because they have chosen to leave the herd, and walk their own path.

The world cannot be with them and face them, so the world continues being scared.

The world prefers tribe and triviality over loneliness and the lushness of the new paradise.

It is exactly the reason fearless people walk alone.

The world will always keep you in the news if you do the unexpected. No one covers the expected. No one cares.

If you do a side gig along with your job. Or if you work more than expected in your job.

If you say ‘I love you’ to your parents more often. Or better still, if you don’t fear hugging them.

If you are kind and calm in a moment when

under fire. Or if you make others calm as well.

All of this is ruckus. The unusual. The eye- popping.

Do none of these and go along with the world and no one will care.

Create your own ruckus, and the world will make sure it helps you amplify it.

To not have a plan and be okay with it is the best plan. It will take everything to get to that point.

It’s okay to not have a plan.

It’s okay to answer ‘I don’t know, and I’m okay with it’ when you are asked ‘Where do you see yourself five years from now?’ in an interview. It’s okay to not put the pressure of figuring out life today itself.

It’s okay if you are not at a place where you can say ‘It’s okay to not have a plan.’

The plan of not being okay without a plan is the plan that unfolds gradually. And it’s perhaps even okay to have a plan till then :)

Most of us think that if we had an aim or a goal, we would have reached someplace in life by now.

And, thus, would have been happy. One of the biggest lies we believe in.

Reaching goals in life is as tragic as not having goals.

Both of them make us feel empty and useless.

The real way to happiness, as Buddhism believes, is the madhya marg – the path of pursuit, the path of joy en route to your mountain top. The path of enjoying the struggle. The path of falling in love with the process with zero attachment to the results.

The truth about happiness is that if you don’t feel it today, you won’t feel it tomorrow either.

We realize how courageous we are when being courageous is the only option we have.

Once you burn all your boats is when you realize you have to learn to swim. Ex tempore.

I had decided to take up public speaking in early 2020, after stepping down from the position of CEO of nearbuy towards the end of 2019.

Then COVID happened, and bam, all public events got cancelled!

A friend, while on a call, suggested that I teach what I know (entrepreneurship) online.

Because I had already burned the boats, and did not have cash beyond three months, I gave it a shot!

Because I had nothing to lose, the courage helped me to not lose myself.

Because I had no option other than courage, that courage opened up many options for me!

When courage is the only option, it never gives up on us, if we never give up on it!

The greatest illusion we all live in, is that life should be perfect.

Perfection is not a place to go to.

Perfection is finding joy, peace and growth in

the mundane and the boring.

The illusion is that perfect is all the bells ringing and no problems at all.

The reality is that perfection is dancing along with the problems ringing all the bells!

It is in acceptance of now as the perfect moment that our illusions of a better future begin to boil away.

What’s left is life. And perfection.

If you choose to live your own definition of success,
If you choose to let go of what others think of you,
If you cut toxic people from your life,
If you are happy for no reason,
If you are not chasing a goal rather happiness itself,

Then every single day is Children’s Day for you!

Hurry not to grow followers, rather to grow the level of your inputs.

Hurry not to create an impact, rather in a hurry to learn.

Hurry not waiting for your stocks to perform, rather in a to be a disciplined investor.

Hurry not to make money, rather to figure out what you’re good at and what makes you happy.

It turns out, hurry compounds. However, if we hurry in the wrong direction, the right results would rarely have a chance to come out.

What doesn’t build trust: Meeting your expectations

What actually builds trust:

1. Doing what you say, EVERY SINGLE TIME

2. Making sure that what you deliver is error free. Your manager’s role is to enhance what you do, not to rectify what you do.

3. Trust is built when not things are good, rather when things are not good. When people need you and you are there, that is when trust is built. At work. And in life.

Things I failed at:
1. Going to the IIT
2. Being a topper in 12th Boards
3. Applications at Google and Facebook
4. Interview at BCG
5. Finding happiness while pursuing PhD in the US

Things I succeeded at:
1. Being an online teacher, and being happy with it
2. Mentoring startup founders

It is all about putting in the efforts and not attaching your identity to anything. Over time, you will figure out the answers.