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By 31 December 2024, I’ll have ?X in my bank account.

We’ve all set these kinds of goals at some point of time in our lives, haven’t we?
When we set goals, we commit ourselves to reach a place, which we may or may not reach.

When we build systems or create habits, those routines become a part of our identity. 

These systems make you the person for whom it is possible to achieve those goals in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong in setting goals, except that they make us feel hollow when we get there; whereas habits fulfil us a bit more each day.

Setting habits is the easiest (and perhaps the quickest) way to reach your goals.

When we are in our 20s, we want to achieve our goals fast.

Everyone seems sorted.
Only you seem to be going through this mess called your life.

It’s quite easy to be driven by the race instead of finding joy amidst the journey.
To always be looking at the next step, instead of what the current one is blessing us with.

The best learning happens with ease and slow pace.

You have the time, even if you don’t think so.
You do.

You want to get there eventually. There is little value in getting there fast. 

Elon Musk is a genius.
He has created his own orbit (pun intended).
Not only that, he’s widely successful at that.

But, what is the real reason behind his success?

His unique idea? His leadership style? His tweets?
It’s courage.

Courage to launch the satellite seventh time after failing six times.
Courage to support himself when no one else did.
Courage to take the punch in the face as a gear to move forward.

Failure is inevitable.

But every success in life is a direct function of how courageous we were after failing.

Sir Isaac Newton’s discoveries changed the world.
Forever.

Once inquired about the secret of his success, he said that he stood on the shoulders of giants.

According to Newton, there had been a lot of people to direct him, inspire him, help him – which led to his success.

Imagine being one of the greatest contributors to science and being grateful for the help he received throughout.

Humility is power.
A power that doesn’t get to your head and still keeps you moving forward.

To rise higher, there’s just one golden law: To never get your feet off the ground.

We have all made a big mistake at some point.
A mistake so big, that we couldn’t believe ourselves.

Yet, with time and self-reflection, we forgive ourselves. 

We move on.

Then how is it that we do not forgive someone else when they make a big mistake?

Why are our standards of acceptance very hard for others, while very easy to percolate for us?

What stops us from forgiving others?

Forgiving others must come as easy as it comes to our own selves.

When we meet someone, we talk to them respectfully.
That, however, isn’t true respect.

It is built by choosing how we define the other person, when they are not around.

True respect is respecting someone even when we are not in front of them.

You want to pursue an art.
Maybe write, design or become a professional musician.
But your parents won’t let you.

That causes tension. Lack of communication. Anger and frustration.
And the belief that “getting there” or “doing something” will prove it to them.

However, parents don’t crave to be proven right.
They want the same things for us that we would want for ourselves. The path may be different.

What if we told them that the only thing you need from them is their support?
What if we got out of our own head and had that conversation from the heart?

We can’t convince our parents through things or actions.
Only difficult (and most important) conversations can.

We have different experiences with different people we meet.

People help us in trouble.
Or perhaps put us in one.

Embrace the ones who help us.
Let go of the ones who leave us. 

Better still, do help them when they need you if you can.
And forgive the ones who put us in trouble. Let them go.

One of the best judgments to acquire is learning to deal differently with different people.
It will decide almost everything we do in life.

Imagine your best friend is going through a tough time.
They aren’t able to succeed or are really sad.
Would you start telling them that they’re no good?
That they can’t ever do any good?
That they should already give up?

No. Right?

We hate going around people who bring us down yet go about doing the same thing to ourselves. 

What if we became our best friend, our most loyal supporter, our cheerleader?
How would that change the journey you have with this one person?
How smoother would it be to hang around an encouraging human 24*7?

Treating yourself like your own best friend will make your life fun and positive, just as a best friend does.

If you invest in a stock with the information that everyone has, you will get the returns everyone else gets.
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

Same choices, same results.
Yet each day, we go about following the rest of the world while making our life choices.

What if we made different choices?
What if we made an attempt to get different results?
What if we made an obvious choice, to resist the obvious?

“To get the results only few have, do only what a few do.” – Robin Sharma