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I was once asked the definition of awesome, on Quora.

I believe there is no defined parameter.

Awesome is the manager who chooses to trust despite a team mate faltering.
Awesome is the friend who listens to what you are going through, without any judgement.
Awesome is the 20 year old girl / guy who chooses to earn on the side and invest, because that is the right thing to do.
Awesome is the kid who relentlessly writes cold emails and gets things done.
Awesome is the one who was expected to not show up for a difficult day, yet they did, because they cared.

There is no set parameter of awesome.

Awesomeness is simply going beyond what someone else or you expected yourself to do, just because you knew that was the right thing to do.

We all love surprises.
Wrong.

We all love only those surprises that we love.

The surprises that we didn’t expect, are called problems.

One of the responsibilities as a leader, is to take care of your team.
Which also means, to never give them the surprises they didn’t expect.

As a leader, you will come at a point to take tough people decisions.
While you may have to take those decisions, if it comes as a surprise to the team, you have not done your job well.
Have you given them enough feedback? Did you give them the grounds to make the change? Did you trust them with making those changes?
All of these ensure their trust in you, even though you may not end up working together.

If people do not like unpleasant surprises, it is up to us to make sure they do not get them.

I’m a big fan of habits.
Habits are how I have set up my life around.
Be it content creation, be it reading books, or even working out.

It has been one of the greatest reasons of why I feel energetic always.

However, one of the secrets is I never predict my future by setting targets.
I rather take control of my days.
How many meetings I want to have.
When will I take a break.
My eating timings.
My timings of responding to emails.
Even my timings of reading books.

The days, eventually create the future. No exception.

Three ways to waste your money:

1. Investing in Fixed Deposits (Because their rate of return is lower than the inflation rate, thus, the money never beats the market.)
2. Upgrading your lifestyle because of FOMO, not because you want it to be
3. Spending time doing things you hate (Time is the ultimate currency. Cash could be lost and regained. Time could only be lost.)

Only when we begin to think of money beyond cash, we will be able to make cash beyond what we think.

A hallmark of a good team is that everyone is closely knit together, and is each other’s good friend.

Which is far from truth.

Any team, is comprised of people coming from different perspectives and priorities, and it’s natural for them to not be friends with everyone.

However, the best teams are the ones where people with different attitudes towards life still respect each other, and help each other grow. Not out of pressure, rather because of the culture of the team.

The best teams, accept each other where they are, instead of bring each other down.
It isn’t about being friends, it’s about rising the game for everyone. Together.

One of the best ways to generate trust of your manager or your friends in you, is you do whatever you commit to.

Is it going to be easy?
Absolutely no.

Is it going to be worth it?
Undoubtedly yes.

The sad mistake we make while seeking trust is we expect others to trust us, while continuing to mistrust ourselves.

Once I get a bf / gf, I will be happy.
Once I go on a trip with my friends, I will be happy.
If only my parents were more understanding, I would be happy.

We postpone our happiness to infinity, thinking of handing someone a post to make us infinitely happier, by their presence.

However, relationships do not make us happy.
They are just a reflection of who we are.

The only relationship that would make you happy, is the one with your own self.

I know you went through hell.
I agree what happened was not right.
I also know it devastated you into pieces.

However, forgiveness is not to condone the other person or their actions.
It also does not mean you have to get back to talking with them.
Your boundaries are important. And respected.

Forgiveness is the surgery you do to yourself, so that the cancer of their actions does not spread throughout your life.

Forgiveness is the easiest thing, because staying with hard feelings only makes your life harder.

One of the most important realisations of leadership is that you have to take tough people decisions.

Most people think they may sound rude or it is very selfish to take those decisions.

However, a bigger selfish act is allowing an unsuitable team member to affect the work of other team members as well.
Because they won’t be driven as much.
And that, is a neglect to the work of the bigger team that IS performing really well.

The best leaders, are tough decision makers.

When you want to reach out to a piece of dessert, or spend 2 hours on Netflix, ask yourself:

“What is the next consequence of my action? And the next? And the next?”

When you start asking yourself the second order consequences of your actions, your decisions become wiser.

Because, even when we say we reacted impulsively, we always have a window of 0.5 seconds – where we choose a good or a not-so-good path for ourselves.

The deeper we make our “instant” reactions, the smoother our life instantly becomes.