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We are taught to admire the extraordinary.
To be inspired by them.
To want to become them.

But…

We are raised to become ordinary.
To follow a template.
To take the path already taken. To admire is easy. To get inspired is easy.
To become extraordinary is not easy. Because we haven’t been taught how!

“It’s okay to work long hours. I will make my parents happy with the money I make.”
This was one of the biggest mistakes I made, when I was younger.

I thought I would send them on vacations.
Buy them new things.
Make their life comfortable.

Pamper them so much, for all the sacrifices they made to help me reach where I am.

Truth is — the busier I got, the less happy they were.
Despite all the things they now had.
Because they didn’t have the thing they valued the most now – my time. 

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

I’m grateful I saw the wrong in my ways.
Today, my relationship with my parents is the best it has ever been.

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

Make sure to give your loved ones this time.

If I could go back in time, I would tell my 20-year old self this:

This decade is when you will be judged the most.

Your college.
Your job.
Your car.
Your phone.
Your clothes.
Your choices.

Here’s the thing:
People judge you because they want to feel good about themselves.

It has nothing to do with you!
It is their insecurity.

To all the 20-year olds reading this…

You are not wrong.
You are simply different.
You are simply you!

Keep doing you :) 

Ever thought of asking for something on social media AND actually getting it?

I was scrolling on Twitter one day, when I came across this Tweet:
“I just need someone to take me to a bookstore and pay my bill.”

I am all in favour of having no budget for books and learning materials.
Because they are an investment in yourself and provide IMMENSE value, which will pay off over time through the better opportunities you get access to.

So, I agreed and connected Vanshita with one of my team members to host her.

32 books later, the Tweet became a reality!

Not only did this lovely incident bring a smile on my face, but it also reminded me of one of my favourite quotes:

“If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

1. Rent until 35.
2. Don’t do FDs.
3. Invest for long.
4. Only buy assets.
5. Rich isn’t wealth.
6. Wealth is freedom.
7. Invest every month.
8. Read Atomic Habits.
9. FOMO isn’t investing.
10. Freedom is privilege.
11. Read about compounding.

This is one of the worst things that people can say if you have just failed or lost.

Don’t move on.

Pause.
Reflect.
Introspect.
Make changes.
Then take a step.

Failure by itself does not lead to success.
It is the introspection and action upon failure that leads to success.

During a 1:1 with my team member, she asked me the meaning of something I had shared online.
“The more you solve for today, the farther tomorrow gets.”

I explained:

There are urgent things:

Calls.
Emails.
Timelines.
Attending to the door.
DMs to be responded to.

And there are important things that aren’t urgent. Still, super important:

Eating right.
Going to the gym.
Calling your parents.

If we don’t train our brain to do the important things, it tricks us into believing that the urgent is the important.

And the more we attend to the urgent, the farther away the important things go.

But as I was explaining this to her, I realized an important lesson.

The last line I said was quite difficult to understand.
It sounded smart, but it didn’t help!

It’s more important to be helpful than to sound smart and intellectual :)

“Hey Ankur, I read your blog posts from 2005 onwards and they were quite unlike who you are today.
Why do you still have them there?
Don’t you care that people will judge you for who you were?”

Someone asked me this earlier this week.

I wrote my first blog post in May 2005.
I posted my first LinkedIn content in 2013.
I posted my first YouTube video in Aug 2017.
I sent my first newsletter in July 2020.
I posted my first IG reel in Jan 2021.
I recorded my first podcast in March 2021.

And guess what was common in all of them?
I think they were all TERRIBLE!

I was an amateur.
I was nervous.
I was rambling.
I was not precise.

And whenever I look at my earlier work, I am always left embarrassed.

So how is it that I have never cared to delete any of my previous work?
How is it that I never care to even edit the mistakes I make in my videos – which are often many? 

Because:
My first work reminds me that I started.
My first work reminds me that I took the plunge.
My first work reminds me of how far along I have come.
My first work reminds me of this beautiful quote:

“Courage isn’t about being ready for what you are going to face. It is knowing that you aren’t ready and yet moving forward to face it.”

Here is something you already know of:

Your first work will not be your best.
Your first work will leave you embarrassed.
Your first work will make people laugh, cringe, judge or mock you.

And yet, until there is no first work, there is going to be no other work!

Don’t ask yourself, “Am I ready to start?”
Ask yourself, “Am I ready to improve?”

One of my team members shared this recently, during our 1:1.
As I reflected on it, I realised I was the same in my 20s.

However, over time, I have gotten wiser.

I realised that no one year completely changed the course of my life.
Yes, there were events that triggered a change.
But that change wasn’t sudden, and wasn’t dramatic.
It took time.

So here is a reminder:

Do not put the pressure of making 2024 the make or break year.
If things go your way, you will still face challenges going forward.
If things do not go your way, you will still find success sooner than later.

None of your decisions next year will determine your entire life.
They will determine a part of your life; a small part which may seem big to you today.

Instead of thinking of a year as THE year for you, think of it as yet another year for you.

You are bigger than any one year.
You are bigger than THE one year.

You got this :))

1. Someone else’s definition of success for you.
2. People who do not support your dreams, instead question them.
3. The chase for money, that doesn’t let you even enjoy it.
4. Your own self, whenever you say “I’m like this only!”
5. The belief that it is too late. YOU have this moment, until you die.