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We don’t start hoping we’ll get there.

We make strategies.
Plans.
Executing them to the T.

Then comes a huge black swan effect. 

At the moment we were waiting for it to get over, another one came in, sweeping away all strategies.

And when all of these do not work, then comes the hope. 

Hope that we will make it through this storm, like we’ve done through all of them.
Hope that there exists a light at the end of the tunnel, wherever the end is.
Hope that till we get to the end of the tunnel, we will be the light.

All our strategies didn’t account for what we are going through.
Hope is the only thing we’re left with – fortunately.

The trends have pointed out overnight stars.

There are people telling us how to get rich overnight.

And most of all, pop culture shows us ways to get rich quick instead of working at a corporate job.

However, in order to get to where we want to, we have to start at a place we perhaps dislike.

For our work to pay off exponentially, we must give our 100% to the work that isn’t our dream job.

Because at the end, what we do in “our dream job” won’t be any different from the work ethic and habit we cultivated in the work we hated. 

Our work changes, we don’t!

When someone tells you to not give your 100% in your work, it works 100% of the time to not listen to them even 1%.

When we point a finger at someone else, we are unable to join hands together.

When we think someone else is wrong, we hardly stop to think they could be right in their shoes.

When we confront, it is in accusation mode instead of access mode.

It’s easy to win conversations by gathering all the evidence against someone.
It’s difficult to gather all the reasons why they could be perfectly right.

Instead of winning conversations, having one helps.

When we think about why we got successful, we may call it our hard work, dedication of our parents, and our commitment. 

While all that is true, studies have shown time and again that the ones who got successful were because of a huge stroke of luck. 

Being at the right place at the right time.
Being picked by the right people.
Born in a country where we can grow.

All of this is something we cannot control.
But has hugely affected where we are.

Yes, we wouldn’t have made it without our hard work.
But we wouldn’t have made it without luck either.

It’s a privilege to be where our success has led us.
And the best thing we could do is help create luck in the lives of others.

Comfort is a trap.

It’s worth sacrificing – for your happiness and for your growth.
It sadly seduces us into believing that we don’t need to try.

However, one comfort is worth always living with: Comfort in your own company.

The world is designed to tell us to hang around people, be like them, talk like them, and do everything that makes us fit in. 

Finding comfort in your own company and growing your relationship with yourself is the only comfort to forever strive for.

Our families celebrated when we started crawling or walking.

Or when we went to college from school.

Perhaps that first job promotion.

We could see we were progressing. So could others.

However, such moments of external visible progress are rare.
And mostly out of our control.

How about the rest of the moments?
What if we measured our daily progress?
Why don’t we do it?

One of the reasons could be our internal craving for maximum progress, that we don’t feel satisfied with 1mm of progress each day.

But it is that 1mm compounded over a period of time that makes the miles shorter.

We may or may not get validation from others. 

However, documenting our progress is the sure shot way to internal validation – backed by evidence!

We are not alone.

It’s a belief. It may be true. 

Someone may be going through the same emotions, same struggles, and same riddles to solve in life.

Or perhaps that belief is false.

Maybe we all are alone.

Our problems since our childhood are different. So are the blessings we have been fortunate to have. So are the struggles we face today. 

There are no two same lines. So will none of us end up at the same point.

We are not alone. Or perhaps we are.

When we taste a little success of a product we built, we want to 10X it.
Or 100X.
And make a lot of money from it.

Except, that when we aim for quick money, we lose it quicker. 

Several reasons. 

Our self image hasn’t adjusted to it. 

We grew by luck or perhaps a great product – however, we never grew along with the process. 

More than anything else, we were hardly able to reflect – a superpower that comes after failure.

Growing your business and having more money is great.
It helps us make better choices. 

However, when we want everything right now, we end up trading the lessons of a lifetime for loss of a lifetime. 

The last thing we’d signed up for.

The fastest way is slow.

Of the entire childhood of waiting for summer vacations, having crushes, that little pocket money and having nothing to worry about, what do we reminisce about the most?

That when we were we, we were free.
That when we were authentic, life never brought in anything pathetic.
That when we lived in the now, we hardly wondered about the next “how”.

The best thing about childhood was that we didn’t have to do anything to be original. 

The better thing is, we can still do it.
We just have to take off all that we have acquired.

“I want to quit a “successful” career because I’m not happy doing it.
We’re not going to raise funding because it is not in the best interest of our customers.
We’ll give no-questions asked refund, and will comply with it 100% of the time.”

These are difficult choices. 

The choices on the other side seem easy.
They have the vote of the majority.

However, when we do what we think is right, we stand tall and upright even in the middle of a storm. 

When we listen to our heart instead of external chatter, we bring in love for our work instead of superficiality. 

Living by our values instead of just putting them up in the company’s intro is what differentiates the great from the good.

The world will, by default, question our difficult choices.

However, when we make choices that seem authentic to us, we stop questioning ourselves daily. 

And that’s priceless.