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5 things that do NOT make you successful at work:

1. Taking credit for someone else’s work, to look better in front of the boss.
2. Giving the boss the most importance, while demeaning other colleagues.
3. Doing mediocre work, filled with errors.
4. Not being curious, and doing things “because they have been done this way”.
5. Spreading politics and rumours at work.

One thing that will make you win in EVERY job:

Making a commitment, and staying true to that, without anyone having to follow up with you.

Google is often ranked as one of the best companies to work for.
One fancy thing about Google offices is their MASSIVE free lunch.
Like a politician’s wedding x 3!

One day, I was having lunch at the Google Gurgaon office.
Standing in line at the North Indian counter.

And in front of me is a Googler.

The dude steps away from the line to check what the menu of the day is.
Holds his head with both of his hands, in excruciating pain. And goes, “Damn! Aaj phir se dal 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!)

I stood there. STUNNED.

Wondering what has this person done in life, to be complaining about the fact that he is getting to eat dal makhani for 2 consecutive days of his life?
This was not how it was meant to be.
Something had seriously broken.

So, I came up with this theory of how Google started.
It’s a lie. But I think it’s true ?

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two founders of Google, decided to start Google, they said:
We are going to create the biggest social 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 give them the most complex problems to work on.

But we will also give them stuff they didn’t expect.
A fancy office.
Free lunches.
Bean bags.
Come and 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!’
“I deserve everything that I get in life. I have worked hard to get to this point. 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:
“I DON’T DESERVE THIS.
I don’t deserve all of this.
I just got lucky. I was lucky that I was born into a family that took care of me, gave me food, shelter, love, upbringing, education. Because of which I sit on opportunities that millions of people will never get to see even for a second of their lives.
So I am going to just work hard everyday to get close to hopefully feeling one day that I deserve this. That I earned 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 for every company, for every state, for every country, for the entire world.

It is the 1% who do not feel entitled that drive it forward.

Are you that 1%?

…

I repeat this story every year and it is fascinating how the responses repeat themselves as well.

Part of the crowd agrees, part of the crowd disagrees. Which is how any point of view is expected to be.

And part of the crowd digs deep into how the post stupidly extrapolates one’s reaction towards food, into something so big as lack of entitlement.
To them – you got too consumed by the details. Which was a designed trap.

The message is bigger.
How you do anything, is how you do everything.

This story isn’t about google or food.
This story is about one’s attitude.
About awareness of one’s privilege.
About gratitude.

I could change the story to something else. The message will not change :)

Waiting for it to be shared next year now.

Someone is tired of their job.
Someone hates their boss.
Someone feels they are in the wrong relationship.
Someone wants to startup but is not sure if it’s the right move.
Someone wants to move abroad, but isn’t sure which country.
Someone questions if they should move out of their hometown or not.

Whenever I get emails like this, I reply to them with my favorite question, “What do you want to do?”

Once they come to that point, my next question is, “What is stopping you?”

This is when reality hits hard.
More often than not, it is our own mind.

We have convinced ourselves that we should not pursue what we want to do.

Because it is too risky, because people will laugh, because we might fail, because what will the world say, because we may not get a chance to recover.

But you know what?

A year from now, you will regret not having started today.
Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: Results or regret.

There is a difference between SMART people and BRILLIANT people.

The more I studied truly exceptional people, the more I realised:
Brilliant people DON’T solve problems.
They ASK QUESTIONS.
And then the questions solve the problems.

Here are my top 3 questions:

1. “What is the most important thing for you in life right now?”

Whenever someone asks me for career advice, this is the first question I ask them to answer.
If it is money, then are they ready to face a toxic work culture because of it?
If it is peace, then are they ready to sacrifice their luxuries for it?

It is a very interesting question, and you won’t believe how many people are unable to answer it.
Why is the answer important?
Because here is the thing with humans: if we do not know what is the one thing we want from life right now, the next best thing we want is EVERYTHING.

And that is a disaster.

2. “What do you WANT to do?”

Going to the depth of the reason behind their actions tells a person so much about their own selves.

Do they operate out of obligation (have to), lack of choice (need to), or desire (want to)?

3. What is the worst thing that can happen?

Are you ready to face that worst thing?
Emotionally, socially, financially, psychologically, and physically?

If yes, go for it!
If there is even a shred of doubt, then don’t.

The number of problems that just answering these 3 questions will solve for most answers you are looking for, in life :)

Those in a job are losers. They have sold their souls or that they have become part of a rat race.”

This is what a lot of people think.
Because starting up has become really cool.
So much so, that people think those working in a job are worthless.

I disagree!

A job, early on in your life, can shape you up meaningfully

1. It gives you the financial stability that ends up setting up a good foundation.
2. It teaches you the power of planning, of systems, of processes.
3. It shows you the magic of teams and how your individual contribution at a small level comes together with that of several others, to really create a massive impact at a much larger level.

Do not diss people who have corporate jobs.
Some of the smartest and most successful people in the world have derived their success from their jobs.

“You will be paid your salary at the start of the month and not at the end.
I trust you.”

This is what everyone experiences when they start working with me.
If you start with trust, people will do even more than what you expected them to.
Because they take this trust as a mark of respect.

“Is it too late to completely change my career after 4-5 years of experience?”

As we grow in our careers, we often contemplate this but don’t make the change, anyway.

“I am too old for this.”
“Of course, I cannot do this at such a stage in my life.”
“I don’t think I have the luxury of having options anymore.”

However, is this correct?

Think of it like this:

“If you have Rs. 100 and lose Rs. 10, will you spend the remaining Rs. 90 on finding the lost Rs. 10?”

Most likely, you won’t.

So if you’re going to work for 40 more years, why worry about 4 or 5 years?

I have restarted my life like this multiple times, in almost two decades of my career.

I started off as a designer of training material at age 24.
I was training to be a scientist at 23.
Then became a management consultant at 26.
Then an entrepreneur at 29.
Then an MNC job at 31.
Then a startup again at 35.
Then a content creator at 39.
And a startup again at 42.

These seem like wild decisions.
But all have shaped me into who I have become today.

Your past only shapes your future, does not deny you of it.

Someone is tired of their job.
Someone hates their boss.
Someone feels they are in the wrong relationship.
Someone wants to startup but is not sure if it’s the right move.
Someone wants to move abroad, but isn’t sure which country.
Someone questions if they should move out of their hometown or not.

Whenever I get emails like this, I reply to them with my favorite question, “What do you want to do?”

Once they come to that point, my next question is, “What is stopping you?”

This is when reality hits hard.
More often than not, it is our own mind.

We have convinced ourselves that we should not pursue what we want to do.

Because it is too risky, because people will laugh, because we might fail, because what will the world say, because we may not get a chance to recover.

But you know what?

A year from now, you will regret not having started today.
Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: Results or regret.

Even failure is a result.

It tells us what we need to fix, what we need to improve, what we need to eliminate, what we need to work on.

A year from now, you can never be sure of the results, the way you want it.
But you can certainly be sure of regret, if you do not start today.

Make that move.

Every day you spend in this pain, you are not living. You are dying every day.

The world’s reaction to your circumstances are determined by your own perception of the same circumstance.

If you make it a big deal, the world will make it a big deal.
If you don’t, the world will not even notice.

The drama, the peace, the noise – it is always our choice.

The world simply reflects what it sees.
It is a mirror.
Not a window.

Here is one of the biggest hacks of my productivity:

The WhatsApp self group

Here’s how:

– Create a group on WhatsApp with someone else.
– Once done, delete them
– Now it’s just you in the group.
– Pin that Group to the top.
– And use it for easy sharing and access.

I have 2 such groups:

1. Docs
To store my important images (PAN Card, License Copy, passport copy, etc.) and documents for each access (tickets, etc.)

2. Thoughts
Which I use to just type something on the run, or click something, or record/shoot something.

Thoughts on the go! Productivity on the pro :)

Technology could be a life saver, if you use it instead of it using you.