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We don’t start hoping we’ll get there.
We make strategies. Plans. Executing them to the T.

Then comes a huge black swan effect. At the moment we were waiting for it to get over, another one came in sweeping away all strategies.

And when all of these do not work, then comes the hope. Hope that we will make through this storm, like we’ve done through all of them. Hope that there exists a light at the end of the tunnel, wherever the end is. Hope that till we get to the end of the tunnel, we will be the light.

All our strategies didn’t account for what we are going through. Hope is the only thing we’re left with – fortunately.

The trends have pointed out overnight stars.
There are people telling us how to get rich overnight.
And most of all, pop culture shows us ways to get rich quick instead of working at a corporate job.

However, in order to get to where we want to, we have to start at a place we perhaps dislike.
For our work to pay off exponentially, we must give our 100% to the work that isn’t our dream job.

Because at the end, what we do in “our dream job” won’t be any different from the work ethic and habit we cultivated in the work we hated. Our work changes, we don’t!

When someone tells you to not give your 100% in your work, it works 100% of the time to not listen to them even one percent and go make your ruckus.

Tired of eating the same food. Tired of sitting at home. Sad I’ve to celebrate my birthday at home again. Tired of not being able to travel.

Counting what we don’t have is the easiest way to feel bad. 

Except it helps no one. Not certainly us.

What if we felt grateful for food amidst the uncertain economy? The privilege of being home in the middle of a pandemic? Glad that we have the family that cares for us with or without birthday?

Gratitude isn’t just mumbo jumbo. It is a way of life. An art of looking for butter in adulterated milk.

How will we ever be able to enjoy more, if what we have is never enough?

When we talk about secrets to productivity, mostly we think they would be Pomodoro technique, having a schedule, working out, etc.

While all of that is true, there is something way bigger than it: Our rest schedule.

Rest and rejuvenation is not sitting idle, wasting time, and something to be done when we will have more time. It is rather a way of getting more productive. Because even when we are not doing “work” on the outside, amidst the games that we play, the music that we work on or maybe while folding clothes, the mind is working on its own patterns to bring us our solutions.

And that, in turn, accelerates our productivity.

Old ways (of napping, engaging in creative pursuits, not being busy) are indeed the real gold.

As humans, leaders and wise humans, we love to solve problems for others. It makes us feel better, and we believe that it would make them feel better as well.

Except, that it doesn’t.

Smart people suffer from a problem called The Curse of Intelligence. They want to solve things fast. Make everything aligned. Remove the chaos. 

It hardly helps anyone. The one whose problem needs to be solved – the company, the family or friend have a certain way of operating that is different from who we are as an individual.

A real smart way is to ask questions. Questions help them understand the problem better. So do they help us. 

The best part? The one seeking for help gets it in the manner best for them.

It turns out, the things that work conventionally, are rarely the things that work conveniently.

“You must be outgoing and hanging around with people. Your introversion ain’t gonna help you!”

Almost every introvert has not only heard these lines, they have also lost touch with themselves whenever they’ve tried to fit into the world this way.

Introversion isn’t being curled up in a room forever and not talking to anyone. Introversion and extroversion are rather a manner of how we respond to stimuli. As author Susan Cain notes, “For some, it’s a Broadway spotlight. For others, a lamp-lit desk.”

It becomes increasingly important to know this, as 1 out of every 2 or 3 people are introverts. Imagine the collective damage we’re doing as a society.

Like every other important thing, life and our perceptions take a twist when we become more aware. And accepting of our/others’ introversion.

I often talk about suggesting kids in their 20’s to go about exploring different career options. 

But what should you do when you have really found what you love, you’re good at it and the world is ready to pay you for it?

Double down on what you’ve found. Think of what all could be possible and what kindles the fire in you. Ask yourself what is the next level in the field you’ve picked.

And then, work super hard on being the best at it.

Exploration never stops. Vertical one just follows horizontal. Rinse and repeat.

Of course a gap year “wastes” a year of your life.

However, we get prepared for 15+ years to work, why make a choice of what to work on immediately?
How will we ever get to know the depth of the pool without stepping into it?
How will we ever know what we are good at if we don’t try what all we could be good at?

A gap year is simply the stopping at the petrol pump to give much needed fuel to the long drive of your career. Without it, we may be in an illusion of the car while in reality it is stagnant.

You should not stop watching news because someone on the internet tells you to stop watching news.

You should stop watching news because your brain cannot focus on the good if it is being fed the bad that is happening around.

Making decisions from a point of why we want to do them makes them stick vis-a-vis doing them without awareness of reason.

Your biggest enemy is not your competitor. Or a newbie changing the world. Or a viral trend you missed.

These are parts of life.

Your biggest enemy is someone who tells you that it is impossible for you to think beyond what lies in front of you. They make you think small because they want you to be one, even if unintentionally. It could even be your closest friends or family.

You cannot move further. Anyone who tells this to you, is the one who is your responsibility to move further away from your life.