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Words. Wisdom. Winners.
What fails you as an entrepreneur?
Irrespective of the stage you are at, if more than 90% of your colleagues come to work excited/happy at what lies ahead of them in the day, every single day, then you have succeeded in building the right institution.
Else you have simply started a company
And have failed
You have failed
You have failed
Some startups are so poor, they only have funding.
Don’t use machines
Become one!
Not to
the easiest thing in the world is not to
Not to do it
Not to go the extra mile
Not to call that person
Not to work beyond hours
Not to show concern
Not to work out
Not to save
Not to help
Not to own it
It’s the path of least resistance. The path of minimal effort.
Here is a little thought experiment
Each time you chose not to, someone else choses to do it. And moves ahead in life.
Each time you give up, someone is still at it. Saying I won’t give up.
It’s the same person all the time. So by the time you count all your “not to” that person is way ahead in life.
It’s the person you could have become. But to chose not to!
How much does your money earn for you?
A bank interest rate?
A fixed deposit rate?
A stock market rate?
An extremely risky investment rate?
It shocks me how casual people are towards their money. Considering the percentage of people unhappy with their jobs, it’s amazing how many disrespect perhaps the only thing they are working for.
Be brutal with your money. Make it work for you.
My driver earns 12k a month. 8 months back he got up and bought himself a second hand auto.
In cash
For 100k
He paid an advance of 40k. And then came to me for a loan for the rest.
I was blown away! In awe of his audacity. And gladly gave him the money. But not before I asked – what if I hadn’t. You didn’t even ask me before buying.
I knew you would. And if you didn’t, I would have lost just 5k.
Awesome!
That auto earns him 8k a month now in rental.
Start planning your taxes
Take risks with your money
Be prepared to lose all
Make money your slave
Now go on and buy YOUR auto!
On your marks
Circa 1998
Class 12th Results
Got a 57 in English
An 84% overall
Much lesser than what I wanted
Much lesser than what I had worked for
I cried
And I cried
Life has changed me over the years
But for all those going through the same thing at this precise moment, you dont have to wait as much as I did.
You have this video
What can bring about a change?
Think of all the times you have forced a change into yourself.
And then think of what prompted it.
And then think of the likelihood of that prompt happening again. To the same effect of brining about a positive change.
If it’s highly improbable, you clearly are riding on destiny!
My health journey started because of my disease 3 years back. I shudder to think what if the disease hadn’t happened. And I definitely don’t want another disease to bring about another positive change.
Allow anything and everything to generate a reason to change
A book
A movie
A TED talk
A conversation
A kid playing in the park
The decision to make the change is still yours
The source shouldn’t be your decision. Let it flow
Who is your friend?
I recall a fascinating conversation with ruchi sometime back. She asked – who is a true friend? Someone who is sad at your loss or happy for your success.
My instant reaction was the former. All our lives we have been trained to believe a friend in need is a friend indeed.
She offered a different perspective. A true friend is one who is happy for your success because the hardest thing for a human is to be happy at someone else’s success. And this means genuine well meaning happiness.
It makes sense to me now.
But here is the deal with finding a true friend. It applies to your own self too.
Do me a favor.
Celebrate your success more than you mourn your failure.
Beauty of the first time
“The first time” is a wonderful thing.
It’s exciting. It’s appealing. No one expects wonders. Everyone is forgiving. You can fail and people call it learning. And there is always a second chance.
What if there wasn’t?
What if, the first time you are doing something, will be the last thing you will ever do?
Will you do it differently?
Then do it differently everytime.
There is no first time!
There is only a time when you did it like you were starting.
And a time when you did it as if it would be the only thing you would be remembered for!
Cynicism
A middle class hard working guy owned a horse. One day, while he was passing through the forest on his horse, he was stopped by an ailing poor man. The poor man wanted a ride.
Moved by his condition, the horse owner stopped, climbed down and with great effort placed the ailing man on top of the horse.
At that very instant, the ailing man threw his cloak away to show that he was indeed a robber. Just as he prepared to run away with the horse, the owner stopped him and said
Do me a favor. Don’t ever share this story with anyone.
Why so?
Because then no one will ever stop to help a poor man again.
There are a lot of human traits that I cannot stand. Cynicism is one of them.
I have lied
I have cheated
I have broken rules
I have been unfair
I have been judgmental
Buy I rarely will be accused of being cynical. Because it’s so fundamentally against my worldview that to win you have got to trust others.
The story above is from school. I don’t even remember which class, perhaps 4th or 5th. But it’s somehow stayed with me so far.
It’s a fascinating reflection of how we operate in our lives, choosing to not trust people because of our experiences or worse still that of others.
The opposite of being cynical is not being gullible! It’s trust. The belief that the basic instinct of every human is to mean no harm.
Innocent until proven guilty
Try it once
Work hard
Everyone around you tells you to work hard. You know it yourself too. This seems to be the magical key to success.
But what is working hard?
Most people surprisingly don’t know the answer. They don’t even bother. The simplest approach for most is to start clocking the hours. Strangely not knowing what for!
But here is the deal about working hard. It means making yourself uncomfortable. It means doing something that you always knew you had to, but didn’t thus far.
Public speaking for the shy
Working out for the unhealthy
Quick decisions for the cautious
Intuition for the calculative
EQ for the IQ
Because each time you chose not to do so, there is someone out there who is working hard at it.
Maybe your Idol!
Work so hard that your Idol becomes your rival
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