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It’s unfair to compare our progress with someone who is just starting out, and feel good about ourselves. 

Just like it is unfair to compare ourselves with someone who has been at it longer than us, and feel bad about ourselves.

Different durations. Different people. Different destinations.

Then why the same place of comparison?

Why not compare ourselves with who we were yesterday? 

It’s fair, we know the one being compared to really well, and the best part – we can make any change we want to! 

It’s not about who we are today.
It’s about who we will be tomorrow, from who we were yesterday.

There are 3 things that can help us gain confidence.

1. Seeking feedback from people who genuinely want us to progress.
2. Measuring progress because that helps us see ourselves moving forward.
3. Knowing ourselves.
   Knowing if we are the best.
   And knowing that if we are not, we will do everything in our capacity to become the best.

To get confident, we need something to be confident about. 

It doesn’t need to be our strengths only.
It can very well be our progress.

We could think of a thousand reasons why we could fail.
But trust that one reason why we would succeed.

Giving up is the worst thing we can do to ourselves.
It’s also the easiest. 

What’s not easy is to keep going.

If we gave our best shot and it did not work out, it was not the best. 

Our best shot is when we win.

IQ, aka how smart you are, once used to be the biggest determinant of success. 

Then came the EQ.
Empathizing with people made us better leaders and effective communicators.

The world evolved and everything around us is now designed to attract our attention. 

Thus, making it priceless for the ability to devote our 100% attention without being distracted. 

It’s not the IQ; it’s not the EQ; it’s not their combination either. 

The ability to focus is the most significant determinant of success.

Each time we say no to someone, we think we are saying no to our capability of helping.
We think we are saying no to our ability to solve problems.

The reality, however, is that we are saying no to someone else because we want to be respectful of what’s important for us.

Each time we say no, we say yes to things that matter.

There is always a reason behind how we feel. 

If the reason for that feeling is someone else, why blame ourselves?
It will pass. 

If we are the reason, why blame someone else?
It’s time to fix it.

The key is to find the source.

Our feelings are self-imposed.
If we can create them, we can end them too.

We keep running after work experience.
We think it will make us better at what we do.

But experience comes with its own baggage — a blind belief that what we know is what is right.

However, it is the maturity of realizing that we are constantly learning, that things are constantly changing, and what we know today might not work tomorrow.

A truly experienced person knows when to use and when to challenge that experience. 

“I am doing this job only for financial stability. It does not make me happy”.

Our heart lies somewhere else.
Yet, we continue to put a lot of pressure on our job. 

We expect it to not only provide us with financial stability but also with work satisfaction.

Ultimately, we would like to achieve that balance. 

But while we are on that journey, why not find that satisfaction by working on our passion? 

It can be an internship, a part-time job, a side business – anything at all that gives us a sense of fulfillment and makes us happy.

If financial stability is the only reason why we are doing our job, it’s our responsibility to find that happiness by making time for things we truly enjoy.

We wake up and feel this intense need to work out because somehow, we are feeling inspired today. 

So, we go and work out rigorously.
But one rigorous day at the gym can hardly change us or make us healthy.

We think of inspiration as an occasional dose of injection that makes magic happen. 

But a single dose of injection can hardly change us into the person we wish to be.

Why not sign up for regular doses?

Inspiration requires discipline.
It is a decision to consistently do something that inspires us until it transforms us.

Two mantras of life I live by, that I downloaded to my team yesterday:

Never complain: Never. Ever. Even if it is the worst day of your life to date. It robs us of our power and tricks us into believing that we don’t have any.

Trust: Trust people for what they say. Living life with that sense of awe and wonder, to never let doubt creep in. If someone else’s lies comfort them, what’s the point for us to be discomforted by that?

Two extremes.
Never and always. 

When you take care of never complaining and always trusting, the balance that forms in between takes care of everything else.