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Imagine that a ship sank with only 5 surviving out of the 100 that were onboard. 

When asked what happened, how the ship sank, and how the 5 of them managed to survive, we will have just these 5 stories to hear. 

The stories of the 95 dead will never reach us. 

That is called survivorship bias.

Every startup funding round that we hear of in the news are the stories of people who survived. 

Everyone else’s stories – those whose startups couldn’t survive, or startups that are not doing well right now will never reach you.

It will always drug you into believing that only good things happen in startups.

The story you’re hearing is the part of the story who lived to share the story.
It’s just a part.

You’re scared of losing your job.
Or getting out of that relationship.
You fear having the most important conversation with your parents.

However, what is it that you are really scared of?
What drives that fear within you?
What leads to that paralysis?

No one can answer that for us.
Only our introspection would.

If we don’t sit and introspect, we live with that fear forever.
If we do, we get to the real fear, which isn’t as difficult either.

When we know what we are truly afraid of, handling it becomes a simpler task.

As kids, we knew everything.
We already knew how to stop worrying.
No matter what happened, we never worried.

Laughing and going with the flow just came naturally.

If you could do it then, you can definitely do it now – by chipping off all that you aren’t carrying.

However, we were taught something else.

We were taught crying is for losers.
The best way to deal with pain was pretend it never happened.
It was a sin to commit mistakes.

Growing up meant getting into the rat race and “settling”, instead of keeping that kid alive. 

The secret formula is to deal with problems about what we knew as a kid, not how we were taught to deal with them.

One question I get from those working from home is “How do I meet new people and become friends with them?”

Here’s my answer:

By meaningfully engaging with people’s content.
Could also be an influencer.
Commenting just with the intention of giving, nothing else.

Over a period of time, they’ll start noticing you.
They’ll start trusting you for the value you bring on the table. 

You both may not know each other, however, you both know of each other now.
And that paves the way to know each other.

Forming friends online is the same as forming friends offline: engaging without any hidden meaning.

I have a wonderful relationship with time.

A place where 3/4ths of it is spent on “important” tasks.
And that’s a privilege, because time is the most important asset.

However, taking advantage of your time is equally important.

Which means exploring in your 20’s, learning where you have a longing for, and doing everything you wish to do – for no other reason, just to know who you are.

Having a great relationship with time, and letting that relationship unfold.
Having great micro commitments, with a macro view of life. 

Making everything of today, with the intent of perhaps exploring yourself tomorrow.

Doing important tasks in your time is great; it’s not time wasted.
However, not living your life and doing just one thing forever is a life wasted.

You’re earning good money.
You have access to expensive restaurants.
Even people see how far you have come.

There is one problem though: You are not happy!.

You hate what you do, but don’t have the courage to do what you love. 

What if you spoke to that one person who would be the most affected by your decision to do what you love?

What if you spoke to that one person who would be the most let down if you didn’t succeed in the eyes of the world?

What if you told them that their support is the only and most important thing you need to live a full life?

It would be hard, but not as hard as the current life you’ve succumbed yourself to.

We don’t work on our dreams because we dread we might become the nightmare of someone we love the most.

Our parents love to invest in FDs?
Because an assured return is better than the volatility of stocks.

What if the market tanks?

These are several reasons why people invest their hard earned money in safe assets. Unmindful of the costs of inflation and taxes, thereby making their returns almost negligible.

When you are young, you have more time and less responsibilities.
So you can afford what most adults dread: risk.

Because you have little to lose.
And a lot more to gain.

When young, don’t park your time and money in fixed deposits!

A lot of founders write in to me:
“Hi Ankur, please find my pitch deck for your feedback.”

Or, another set of emails I get is:
“Hi Ankur, please find my resume for relevant positions with you.”

Why do they believe I would open the attachment, read the entire document, and think over all the places where I could help them?

What if there was a specific email such as: 

“Hi Ankur, I am a video editor, here is my work. Here is one of your videos that I have actually edited. I feel that I can help you. Do you have an internship for me because I really want to learn from you.”

That is how you have helped the other person by being specific in your ask.

Help people help you by being specific in your ask.

When you are deciding what to do after school, college matters more than the course.
What you learn will have far less impact than the people you spend your time with.

However, when you are building a product and shipping it, your college doesn’t matter at all.

The market decides the fate of the product, and it doesn’t care whether you went to the Ivy League College or the one no one knows about.

Your college matters: while gaining education.
It doesn’t: while shipping out your product.

If we take too much risk, what if you don’t succeed at all?
If we do not take risks at all, did we actually live?

Here’s a risk reward statement that is applicable in almost every aspect of life: 

More risk, more reward. And vice versa. 

Risk and failure is a state of mind.
We create them.
So we can destroy them too.