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This is a story I have always loved to recite, with a brilliant life lesson.

One day, Narad Muni went to Lord Vishnu.
Narad Muni keeps chanting “Narayana Narayana” (which is another name for Lord Vishnu) as he believes that he is Vishnu’s truest follower.

To validate his belief, he asked Lord Vishnu “Who is your truest follower?”
Vishnu pointed below the clouds.
There was a poor farmer over there.

“He is my biggest follower,” Vishnu said.

Narad was shocked!
He used to chant “Narayana” day in and out.
Vishnu was in his thoughts all the time.
He was sure the farmer’s devotion didn’t come close to his.

“How is that possible? What makes this farmer your truest follower?” Narad asked.
“I will answer this question. But before that you will have to do something for me”, replied Lord Vishnu.

“Please tell me. I am really eager to know the answer.”

“You need to take an earthen pot, fill it to the brim, and then take three rounds of the universe. But there is one condition: you can’t spill even a single drop of water.”

And so Narad set out.
With his immense concentration, he did exactly what Vishnu told him.

When he returned, he asked Vishnu, “Now tell me please – how is that farmer your truest devotee?”

Vishnu pointed at the poor farmer and asked Narad to observe him.

Narad saw that even after a taxing day, even in the most difficult circumstances,
That poor farmer used to chant Vishnu’s name every night before sleeping.

Vishnu smiled.
“How many times did you chant my name while doing this task?”

Narad’s face dimmed.
“Not even once.”

He realised it is very easy to do the things we should do when times are good.
But doing what we should do even when times are bad is what defines us as a person.

Do you agree?

We feel lonely without others because we have not built a friendship with our own selves.

Who else can be your best friend, but you?

You know your strengths. You know your weaknesses. You know your secrets. You know your desires. You know your mind.

The truth is – the less we know ourselves, the more we seek to know ourselves through others.

But they do not know us.

They know a small part of us.

But we will form an entire image of ourselves, through the limited view that they have of our life.

Does this mean we do not need friends?

Of course not. We need friends.

If one is friends with their own self, then one will still benefit from friends.

But we seem to need them because we think we are alone and need to share our thoughts, sorrows, and experiences.

That is an excuse to not be able to do so with your own self.

Become your best friend.

Person 1: 

Bought the latest iPhone.

Person 2: 

Bought a second hand Android.

Who is rich?
Person 1, right?

But then you get to know…

Person 1 earns 30% per month of what the iPhone costs.
Took an EMI to pay for it. 

Person 2 earns 200% of what the phone cost her.
Paid for it in full. 

Now who is rich? 

Buying something that erodes in value on debt, does not mean being rich.
It means you borrowed money to show it as yours.

No investment is worth it, if it gives you returns while taking away your sleep.

On the other hand – No investment is worth it, if it just sleeps, while you do.

1. The mentor should NOT be the only one you have.

One person can’t take care of everything. You need to have multiple mentors catering to fields they can help with.

For example, I have mentors when it comes to money, career, spirituality, people management, etc. And these are not the same people.

2. The mentor should NOT be much older than you.

When 20-yr olds write to me requesting for me to become their mentor, I have a facepalm moment.

I will make a horrible mentor to a 20yr old. Because things that are obvious to me are things the other person would not have even experienced. So, when I share something obvious and they will not understand (for no fault of theirs), they will think “I must be dumb to not get it. Because clearly this person is an achiever and knows what he is talking about.”

What you want is a mentor that is 5yrs, max 10yrs older than you. So that they offer a perspective that is relatable.

3. The mentor should NOT think like you.

If they do, you will get the same answers that you too would have come up with.

The mentor needs to challenge your thinking – ask you questions to push you in a new direction that you could explore.

1. Struggle together:

You build the deepest bond with those who you share your struggle with. So, I would want to have a partner where my struggles are shared with her, and hers are shared with me. NOT to fix them. To give company. To offer solace during hard times. To go through a struggle and see how both emerge stronger from that experience.

Ruchi and I have struggled together through financial crises, through personal crises, and every such occasion has only got us closer.

2. Learn together:

Learning together is fun. It is new, it is hard, but it is enjoyable if it resonates with both. So, I’d pick something that is liked by both and then enjoy the journey together.

Ruchi and I trained for tennis together for 2 years and it was awesome.

We work out every day at the gym, and while our times do not overlap, we do exchange notes that convert it into a learning process.

3. Fart and laugh:

I am being serious here. If you are okay farting in front of your partner, not asking “Who did it, who did it?” and instead laughing about it – that’s when you know you are with someone who you can totally be yourself with. Isn’t that precious?

Ruchi and I have that. We actually judge other couples who can’t do this, lol.

It was my first job.

I joined the R&D team for a corporate training company.
I was earning 15K/month – more money than I ever thought I would make.

Life was good for the first 2-3 months.
And then came the turning point.

One of the biggest FMCG companies wanted us to design a sales training program for their field staff.
I was given the project.
I had NO IDEA where to start!

The next week, I went on many sales trips.
Just observing them.
The training programs until then were PPTs with exercises.
You know, the boring PPTs with font 14 text.

I knew this crowd comprising field sales executives would hate that.

You may not know this, but I LOVE movies.
The idea of a story summarised in 1-3 hours.
So I decided to create a movie!

A day in the life of Ramesh, the sales guy.
He was my SRK.
The best performing sales guy in the company.

I chronicled his day, from start to end.
How he planned his day.
How he approached shopkeepers.
How he formed a connection.
How he handled objections.

I worked 16+ hours a day for a week, creating a movie using PPT animations.

It was exhausting but so much fun!
I was convinced it would work.
And it did!

But something weird began to happen.

I began to get a LOT of work.

Back then, I didn’t know how to say no.
So, I said yes and was instantly burdened.
I could see my peers chilling, relatively.

It felt like some people’s work had been given to me.

I had a meeting with my manager. I vented.
And vented.

When I was done, she said: “Good people pay a far higher price for being good than bad people pay for being bad.”

The world is selfish. So when it finds people who are good at what they do, the world decides not to risk it. It gives ALL the work to them while taking it away from the bad ones. If you find yourself overworked, it is because people know you can do it.”

“So now you have 2 choices in life. Be good with your work and get a lot of work. Or suck at your work and get less meaningful work. What do you want to choose?”

When someone says “I have a new project for you”, realise that they are giving it to you because they believe YOU can do it.

1. No one is truly your friend until they have seen the worst of you and still choose to stay.

2. No one is truly your friend until they say “I believe in you” when you struggle to believe in yourself.

3. No one is truly your friend until they choose to tell you the truth, even though they might be affected personally for saying so.

As kids, all we heard were stories. 

True stories.
Fiction.
Mythology.

And these stories shaped up our worldview.

Our fears, hopes, desires and imagination stems from these stories.

But as we grow up, logic takes over.

1+1 becomes 2 and nothing else.
History becomes fact and nothing more.
Nature becomes evolution and nothing beyond.

And we forget how much we loved stories.

We forgot how, hearing stories, makes us go back to who we were!

We have suppressed the child within us.
But it is still alive!

If I can find the kid in me and bring him back, that will be the best gift I can give myself.

Class 6

Dad had just lost his job. We were under severe debt. Desperate for money, he started working at a corporate gifts biz. 

That night, we had to fill ball pens with refills, to be paid per 100 pens.

The room was full of pens. And I asked “how will we ever fill them all?”

Dad said, “There are 3 of us. We can fill 3 pens each every minute. So 9 pens every min. Which means in a night we can do 3000 pens!”

And I was like “wow!”

We filled pens the whole night.

He gave me hope.
We made it! :)