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An overweight friend is asking us to eat healthy.
A friend with zero savings always nudges us to invest more.
The coworker with a secure job is pushing us to pursue our dreams.

Too often, we lay more importance on who is giving the advice instead of what advice is being given.

“They aren’t living that life, what right they have to give me the advice,” we wonder. 

Perhaps that is the exact reason they’re giving the advice.

We want to get the task done.
Before the deadline.
But we get it done only right before the deadline.

That causes chaos, confusion, and even lack of focus.

What if we broke down a huge task into small deadlines?
It’s about feeding the inner muscles to act that get activated near the deadline.
The smaller goals we achieve, the higher our confidence is to get more done.
The virtuous cycle just continues.

The goal isn’t to own the task at the end of it.
The goal is to flex the muscles to own the outcome at each step.

We take time to nurture all our important relationships.
Family. Friends. Colleagues.

However, what about the relationship with the most important person, i.e., ourselves?

What is our response when people criticise us?
What if they don’t give any reaction?
How do we stay grounded when they celebrate us?

Their responses may change, however, the inner stability is a result of our inner conversations.

We don’t control what the world says to us. We control what WE say when the world says to us. 

Fame is being known in front of the world.
Success is knowing yourself.

Fame may (or may not) make us arrogant.
Success keeps us grounded.

Fame is external.
Success is internal.

There’s nothing wrong in chasing fame, as long as we know what makes us successful and keeps us grounded.

While the world defines one as being incidental to another, there are a lot of famous people that are dissatisfied. That’s not success. Also, there are a ton of successful people who aren’t or choose not to be famous. That’s success – knowing what we want.

Fame and success aren’t concentric circles.
They may just be intersecting ones, but are mostly mutually exclusive.

We are nervous.
Anxious about what people would think.
Scared of not making it through.

The worst part is, this vicious cycle continues for every instance of life.
No matter how much we try, we can’t tame the mind to stop overthinking.

What if, this time we started accepting instead of resisting it?
What if we continued despite the truth?

And after that, what if we started feeding our mind the truth we want it to manifest?

We can either hear the stories our mind tells us, or tell our mind the stories we want to hear. 

Ignorance is bliss. The news. Trolls on social media. Opinions of relatives.

And, ignorance is poverty. Knowing who we are. What keeps the flame in us alive. What nudges our heart to take action.

One makes us insane. Another keeps us sane.
One induces fear of missing out. Another induces joy of missing out.
One is where the herd is. Another is where everyone is alone.

Awareness of what to ignore and what to be aware of is true freedom.

If we were given a chance to peek into our future, we’d certainly not miss it.

What if we knew that the way we live our days is setting up our foundation for our future?

This also enables us to change our past, because the present of today is the past of the future.

The best way to change the future, lies in the present.

A lot of us do not want to live by the conventional route.
We want to explore and challenge ourselves.
But our fears hardly let that happen.

What if I fail in singing?
What would I tell my parents if I couldn’t earn as much as Sharma ji’s son?
What would my friends say when they know I have left my job to start up? 

However, what if we used our power to think to think for ourselves?

What if people end up loving my music?
What if my parents would be happier seeing me happy?
What if my friends draw inspiration from my example?

We don’t know what the result will be.
But if we don’t try, we won’t ever know our own selves.

Kindness leads to success. Or success leads to kindness.
A statement a lot of people ponder upon.

Will we be successful if we are kind?
Or should we be kind when we get successful?

To me, kindness is non-negotiable because people want to be validated and heard more than they want external success.

Kindness doesn’t necessarily lead to success, kindness is success.

Everyone is walking a different path.
We all seem the same, yet we all are on our own paths.
Different challenges, different beliefs and different ways to solve them.

What, then, is the point of wanting to follow someone else’s path?
What’s the point of knowing the address of a street we don’t intend to go to? 

What if we invest all that time in carving our own path?

True success isn’t succeeding on the path of someone else.
True success is staying true to our own.