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If someone sends a thank you note, out of the blue, to you or your team or someone else

There are 2 options you have
1. This guy seems genuine. He believes in thanking people and in comforting them. And maybe that’s what I need to do to him, because this is his worldview
2. Nonsense. Sending this note to earn brownie points. Fraud!

It is not hard to realize which of the two paths above has a higher chance of success
Suddenly, it doesn’t matter which of the two options are true!

Views on my Quora responses crossed 2Mn this Saturday – that’s a lot of people! 

My followers on Quora are touching 20,000 – adding me to the list of the Top 100 followed people in the world 

My TEDx talks on YouTube have now garnered over 200,000 views

I get fanmail. People even call me an online celebrity! 

You know what’s the truth about celebrities? It’s easy to become one. 

It is easy to garner respect from a distance. 

To say the right things in a considered manner 

To be immaculate and trained in front of a crowd 

It is easy to be liked, when people don’t know who you really are. 

What is hard – is to be respected when people get to know you. When they know your faults. And how you react to situations. And how you treat others. And how you treat yourself. 

Known respect is always greater than unknown respect 

And way more valuable 

Reminder about all our present lives 

• We are not in the best relationship we could have been in. There are better 
• We are not in the best paying job we could have been in. There are better 
• We are not driving the best car in the world. There are better 
• We do not work with the best manager. There are better
• We do not live in the best country. There are better 
• We do not have the best life. It could be better

Whatever is it that you do and whosoever is it that you are, there is something better

In that case, why are you afraid to change things around you? Why don’t you speak up? Why don’t you challenge the status quo. Why don’t you question the wrong? 

What is it that you fear? 

That feeling of security. That is a farce. You  have created it. The world hasn’t granted it to you. 

When do you feel the shittiest about yourself?

Someone criticizes you? 

You fail? 

You eat too much? 

Someone says they hate you?

Your loved one doesn’t love you back? 

You aren’t inspired. Or can’t inspire? 

Feeling shitty is self imposed. You have created it. You can destroy it too. It doesn’t exist. 

What does exist is the reason behind it. And if the reason for your feeling is someone else, then don’t blame yourself. Don’t be harsh. It will pass. 

And if the reason is you yourself. And your actions. Then don’t blame anyone else. Fix it. 

The key to not feeling shitty is to find the source. And who not to blame. 

The biggest challenge when building a large company, is communication. 

How do you get everyone on the same page? 

How do you ensure everyone is working towards the right goals? 

How you dissapate information rapidly? And effectively? 

The trick lies in realizing that every hop will lead to 50% reduction. In clarity. In conciseness. In direction. In all the good things that matter 

So suddenly the first hop becomes the most critical layer. 

Chose the first hop wisely. 

It doesn’t matter what you say to them. What matters is what they tell the others. 

There are three kinds of people that we need

• Those who tell us what we should be doing
• Those that tell us how to do it 
• Those who tell us how we are doing 

We live in a world where all three are mostly the same person. Our school and college teachers, our parents, our friends, our own selves, our bosses. 

Sub optimal. 

The first person should be you 

The second person should be your teacher 

The third should be your enemy

Create a portfolio of people 

Sometime back, I was asked to answer the following question on Quora

What qualities does Ankur Warikoo expect when he says, “If you are awesome”?
In many answers he mentioned that apply if you are awesome. What is his criteria? 

Here was my response to the question

I was at the ISB Admissions Interview yesterday.

A candidate walked in.
Asked him his biggest achievement till date
He replied “the fact that I can read and write today”
Perplexed, we asked him to elaborate

2 years back he met with a motorcycle accident.
Suffered 2 skull fractures. 1 in his collar bone.
After 2 days, he lost his memory.
He couldnt remember words, he couldnt remember how to dial numbers, how to read, how to do things that one learns by simply growing up.

After 10 days, he was watching a football match with his brother. Between Liverpool and Manchester United. He didnt even know that this was football. But somehow it looked familiar.
He asked his brother why it was looking familiar.
His brother replied that Man Utd was his favorite football club.

A visual had triggered his memory.

Over the course of the next 3 months, through doses of music, films, re-enacting incidents from before, travelling to places, and a thorough language training, he regained a large part of his memory back.

He is now an Income Tax Officer, after clearing the IAS with an All India Rank of 41

Awesome cannot be defined.
I do not know what awesome is.
I just know when I see it.

80% of the comments on this page were about correcting the fact that one doesn’t become an Income Tax Officer after clearing the IAS.

They missed the point completely.

Reminded me of the the most powerful lesson I have learnt in life

If you spend enough time – everything will have flaws.
But that may not be the best use of your time.

??I hate running
It is boring It is painful ??

And it doesn’t come naturally to me 
But when I ran the half marathon 2 years back, it was for a goal I had to achieve 

To tell life that I have overcome 
This year, running the marathon was to give my wife moral support. She wanted to run and I felt I should accompany here. 
The stadium was a festival 

Delhi’s largest selfie gathering 

People were dressed in the right gear

Ammunition, whether it’s music, or water, or energy drinks, around their waist

Warming up 

Making all the right noises 
It started

I took a deep breadth

Put on my headphones 

And started to run

With my head always looking at the road

Reminded every km by my running app, on how I was doing 
Along the way, I saw “death”

The cool headphones guy was dead 

The energy drinks guys was limping 

The puma gear guy was unable to run

People with the noises were somehow silent 
And I just kept telling myself 

Run

Don’t fucking stop 

If you stop before the next km, we will not hit our December GB

If you don’t do better than your precious time, we will not raise as much as I want to 

If you don’t complete it within 2.5 hours, we will not be a best company to work for 
And then, all of this makes you realize

There are people 

Who will make a lot of noise

Who will have the right equipment

Who, before the run, will try and convince you they are better 

But in long distance running, the enemy is your mind 
We are not running a sprint 

We are running a marathon 

And it doesn’t matter who starts first

Because the ones that will finish, will always win! 
Stay focused 

Stay awesome 

do epic shit 

About 16 years back I held a camera for the first timeand fell in love with it, instantly

We weren’t rich and this camera was a gift. 

Back then films rolls were how we used to take photos. 

A 36-photo roll used to cost Rs.100 and another Rs.3 to process one of them. 

So an investment of Rs.200 – not knowing which one would come out the way you want it to. 

But just the fact that I could imagine a picture, capture it in my lens, and see it convert into an image forever, was fascinating. 

And overtime I realized the biggest lesson of my life

I could change the image

At my will

By controlling how I saw it through the lens and how I captured it through the camera
Every single day, we meet people at work

And as we grow, we will meet even more

More often than not, we will have an image of them, even before we meet them

Always remember – you have the power to change that image

At your will

Watch this beautiful video and you will know what I am talking about

Don’t ever let perception come in the way of discovering people

Every interaction can be a new image

Of the very same person

beautifully composed