Blog

You are not the only one confused.
You are not the only one unsure.
You are not the only one struggling.

You are not dumb, inadequate, or incapable.

Everyone is struggling.
Everyone is figuring it out.

Don’t be harsh on yourself.

1. Run after growth and learning, not salary.

Your salary will become a natural byproduct that’ll grow by itself.

2. Run after people who think differently from you.

Not those who always agree with you or think like you. Rather, people who tell you something you didn’t know.

3. Run after things that make you scared.

Because when you overcome your fear, you become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

I am having lunch at the Google Gurgaon office one day.
Standing in line at the North Indian counter.
And in front of me is a Googler.

This dude steps away from the line to check what the menu of the day is.
And goes, “Damn! Aaj phir se daal makhani hai!”

(Translated: Damn!! I have to subject myself to the torture of eating butter-laden richly cooked lentils for 2 consecutive days of my hard-earned life!)

And I stood there. Amazed.
Wondering what is it that this person has done in his life to be troubled by the fact that he is getting to eat daal makhani for 2 days of his life?

So, I came up with this theory of how Google started.

When Larry and Sergey (the founders of Google) started it, they said:
“We are going to create the biggest experiment that this world has ever seen.
And here is how it will work.

We will get a set of super-smart people in a room (we will call it a company later on). And we will give them the most complex problems to work on.

But we will also give them stuff they didn’t expect.
Free lunches. Bean bags. They can come whenever they want. Leave whenever they want. Bring their pets to work. Sleep at work. Take 20% off and do their own thing.

And over time
They
Will
Get
ADDICTED

They will stand in front of the mirror and say, ‘I deserve this!’”

But then Larry and Sergey were statisticians.
They know that it is impossible that EVERYONE would feel this way.
There has to be a percentage, however small, that doesn’t.

Let’s assume 1%.

So they said, “If we build a large enough company, say 100,000 (Google’s employee count), then 1% or 1,000 people will get up every morning and say:
‘WE DON’T DESERVE THIS.
We are going to work super hard everyday to get close to hopefully feeling one day that we deserve this.’
And those 1,000 will move the company forward.

The remaining 99,000 are just filling in a seat.
They are smart, no doubt, but their level of entitlement makes them dispensable.

It is the 1% that creates magic.

This, my friend, is not true about Google. It is true everywhere.
It is the 1% who do not feel entitled that drive it forward.

Are you that 1%?

I wish smart people would know how smart they are, instead of waiting for someone else to validate them.

I wish brilliant people knew the value they bring to the table, instead of asking others how valuable they are.

I wish wise people were wiser to see the wisdom that lies within them, instead of noticing it in everyone but themselves.

I wish all of that for you, and know confidently how much you are capable of!

One of the biggest mistakes I made was thinking I will keep my parents happy with the money I make.

I will send them on vacations, buy them things, and make their life comfortable.
But the busier I got, the less happy they were, despite all the things they now had.

The truth is that we have much less time with our parents than we think.

Our parents are going to die, and we have no idea when.
Sadly, we do not have all the time in the world.

So call them.
Tell them you love them.
Thank them.
Spend time with them.

Because all that our parents really want is us spending more time with them.

True relationships do not need things to grow.
They need time.

So be sure to give your loved ones this time.

I consciously and obsessively do NOT remember things.

I always carry a notebook with me.
Taking notes like a school student.
Putting tasks in a calendar.
Sending myself emails in the future.

The mind’s energy should be spent in thinking.
Not remembering!

Your salary is not your success.
Your happiness is.

Your score is not your success.
Your learning is.

Your designation is not your success.
YOUR description of your designation is.

The world has made us believe a fake definition of success.
Not falling for it is the biggest success!

If you are someone who spends 8-10 hours on a computer screen every day, this is for you:

1. Take 2-3 breaks of 5-10 minutes and take a walk outdoors.

You will be less cranky, less lethargic and more productive.

2. Look outdoors every 30 minutes.

The pupils in our eyes do not get their exercise because they are always constricted on a screen, and hence, we feel tired.

Looking outdoors gives our eyes much needed exercise of change in focus, and hence, makes them at ease.

3. Use Pomodoro Technique

25 minutes of work. 5 minutes of break. Followed by a longer break after 3-4 such cycles.

There is no way your productivity won’t increase because of this.

More often than not, you can’t change the demands your work has from you.
However, you can demand the best of your health and inner peace from yourself, without compromising on your work.

You don’t deserve any less :)

1. Failure + Reflection = Learning

When we say that failure leads to learning, it is a lie.
Everyone fails in their life.
But not everyone learns something from their failure.

There is something that exists between failure and learning.

It is reflection.
Reflecting on what happened.

For example:

“What did I not know back then, that I know today?”
“What belief did I have back then, that I know is not true today?”

2. Discipline + Progress = Motivation

Progress is a critical component for motivation.

If we do not measure our progress, or worse, measure the wrong movement, we will eventually lose motivation.
EVEN IF we are actually progressing.
It is like going to the gym without any mirrors, any weighing scale, or any measuring tapes.

Even if you show up everyday and are getting fit, you will eventually quit.
Because you can’t FEEL progress.

3. Consistency + Authenticity = Personal brand

Your personal brand is the emotion generated in others when they think of you.
It is made up of the values you stand for.

With that definition, EVERYONE out there has a personal brand.
It is the reach that differs.

Your brand gets built by what you do consistently, to the extent of becoming predictable, and what you do authentically, to the extent that people see the same version of you, irrespective of where they see you.

If you are unpredictable, or put up a façade, that’s what your brand will become.

Nothing can beat the feeling of:

1. Meeting people in real life.

2. Learning from the life of someone else, through their book, for the cost of a pizza!

3. A fresh mango on a summer afternoon.