Blog

This is one of the fondest memories of my childhood. 

My Sanskrit exam was in a week.
And I was certain I would fail the exam.
Our teacher was so boring. Uninspiring.

Ma saw that I was scared.
She wrote a letter requesting the daughter of our temple priest to tutor me.
She had a Masters in Sanskrit.

I topped the exam!

It turns out that a good teacher can change your life.
And that good teacher needn’t be found in school or college.

One of the big mistakes people make while seeking out help, is being disrespectful of people’s time.

“I want to be respectful of your time so I will keep it short. I am confused about my career and don’t know what to do. Please help.”

“I am looking for help to connect me to investors. Attached is my business plan. Let me know your feedback”

Both these examples lack empathy. They make it hard for people to help them.

Because in order to help them, they will have to spend time understanding the context, synthesizing it and then figuring how they can be of help.

Not something most people will do.

The best way to get help is to make it easy for people to help you by being specific.

Find the manager who saw your errors and still chose to trust.

Find the investor who saw you fail and still chose to support.

Find the friend who saw your ills and still chose to love.

Find the partner who saw the worst of you and still chose to stay.

In the world of Shark Tank, massive funding and billion dollar outcomes, it is easy for people to think that the only definition of success for someone young is to start up.

Why would you want to work 9-5 at a desk job, for a salary, when you can be free building things, is what they ask. 

And I say to them – a job early on in your career offers something immensely valuable. 

1/ Financial stability
2/ An appreciation for planning, for process, for system
3/ Experience of working with teams, to make something happen

This is what a lot of people want, desire and deserve. 

I know of FAR MORE PEOPLE who have been immensely successful professionally and financially, than I know those who started up. 

You decide what you want.
And you go chase that.
Cherish that.
Grow that. 

You do you.
And that is your 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.

Children should cry from only happiness and pain.
Not resentment and suffering.

1. Going to others’ profiles, watching their Reels, and comparing your life with theirs.

It never helps.

2. Telling yourself that something big is going to happen and after that, you’ll change your life. You’re waiting for something big after which you will change your life.

No big time will come.
You will have to take small steps to change your life today.

3. Not keeping the promises you made to yourself.

If you keep breaking your promises to yourself, your self-respect and self-confidence will take such a severe hit that you will never be able to stand in front of the mirror and accept yourself.

Focus within and give yourself the same respect that you would give to anyone else.

We don’t fall in love with a person.
We fall in love with the image we have of the person.

Productivity expert David Allen invented this rule.

Essentially, our mind always keeps unfinished things in focus.

If you have to complete something but you haven’t done it yet, your mind will keep on distracting you. 

It will keep telling you in some way that the work is not done.

So the 2 minute rule says that if you can do something in 2 minutes, do it.

Don’t add it to your to-do list.
Finish it at that time and remove it from your checklist.

You build momentum, reduce your mental load, and sharpen your productivity.

1. What else could this mean?

For example, “My boss isn’t talking to me because she hates me!”
Well, maybe that’s true. Maybe it is not.
“What else could it mean?”

Go beyond your most obvious explanations.

2. What is this telling me?

My teammates are always telling me that I am too nice.
I don’t like that.
But “what is this truly telling me?”

Our emotions/situations/circumstances are always telling us something.
Listen to them.

3. Forget the world. WHAT DO I WANT TO DO?

We are often caught up in what we think we should do, or what the world expects us to do.
Whenever in doubt, ask yourself – What do I truly want to do?

4. Will this matter 3 months from now?

Our emotions are real. So real that they seem permanent.
But they are not.

Once the emotions are gone and we have given ourselves time and space, will what we are going through still matter?

5. What is the worst thing that will happen? Will I be okay if it happens?

Our mind creates worst case scenarios and forces us not to take action to protect us from danger.Once we imagine them vividly, we realise that most worst cases are not that bad.
It’s just in our head.