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This is a question I ask all my guests on my podcast.

Ritviz, the singer, shared that his learnings of life are most expensive.

Such a brilliant answer!

Your time buys you things more expensive than money.

“What are you most worried about?”
“That I will keep repeating my patterns and won’t put in the work required!”

AW: “And what can you do to break that pattern?”
“Study and not overthink.”

AW: “And do you think you can do that?”
“I’ve been trying for one year and got no real progress…”

You see what happened there?

When the person said, “I am going to study and not overthink,” it did not cost any effort.
And it gave them a sense of hope.

However, that was false.

Because they had been doing it already for a year and nothing had worked.
So why would it, now?

The solution?

Don’t set resolutions, goals, or targets.

Take the smallest step possible – to set habits.
Once something becomes a habit, we dispense the least amount of energy to do the task.

Habits hire us and take us higher.
Targets tame us and often leave us clueless, in the absence of habits.

Time
Family
Experiences
Heated home during winters
Cold home during summers
Education for kids
Facilities for ageing parents

Few of the priceless things money buys.

You are wrong.
You did this wrong.
You said this wrong.
This was not done well.
You are always wrong.

The vicious cycle to what the world says as “wrong” will continue forever. Even when you have done the right thing.

What’s important is not what the world says is wrong.
What’s important is what you know is not wrong. And you stay true to the right.

On my YouTube channel, I usually host a guest a week.

Here are some of the life lessons that I have come across, from some of the wise minds:

Tech Burner: Everything is a lie!
Nikhil Kamath: Rent > Buy
Morgan Housel: Write consistently. And you have a book.
Seth Godin: We need to change systems, in order for systems to change.
Saloni Gaur: You should be your favourite :)

What has been one of your favourite learning so far?

Investing is important.
A huge part of my online teaching is about it.
It secures your future.

However, we can secure our future only when we have solved for unforeseen circumstances.
Which means, having a life and health insurance.
It is only then when you would enjoy your investments.

When your family is secure, is when you can take care of creating a future free of insecurities.

What is going on in your mind is what is going on in your mind.

People cannot read it, unless you state it.

Share it with them, if you wish that to be known.

Applies to all relationships. Including the ones at work.

Let yourself be heard. By speaking up. And not testing people’s non-existent psychic skills :)

Schedule is a habit. It is not a goal.

Which means, you may also have one for a year from now.

And a quarterly schedule of your business.

When I suggest you to set habits and not goals, you also have the power to set habits for goals.

“Your time management course is impractical. I was looking for some path-breaking time management techniques to fix my problem of procrastination.”

The other day I got this in an email from a learner.

Sorry to break her heart, but I had to say it:

“There is no path-breaking technique to live life.
There just isn’t.”

Back in school, I used to maintain a notebook, where I listed down what I did. Every hour!
And at the end of the day, I used to calculate the effectiveness ratio.

My aim was to always be above 75% effectiveness.

This pic shares a snapshot of the excel I maintained back at ISB, tracking my time!

I know exactly what I was doing at 9.30 am on Nov 5th, 2005. Giving a midterm exam!

Life is simple, my friend.

We all look for answers, because we are convinced that life is complicated. And that there is some magic formula that will solve everything.

That just isn’t true.

You want to get fit?
Simple – eat right and workout.

You want to manage time?
Simple – start measuring where you spend it.

You want to get better at relationships?
Simple – give more than you take.

You want to grow at your job?
Simple – challenge the status quo, at the risk of failing.The answers are always simple. Not easy. They are hard.
But, the answers are always SIMPLE!

Yes, I do.

However, what I don’t do is read my emails all day.

I have subscribed to MailMan, which lets emails into my inbox just thrice a day – 30 minutes post which I respond to all of them.

Emails are important. However, your life will end up becoming unimportant if you attend to emails all day. Not the best use of time, my friend :)