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I am a big believer in the power of right thoughts.

Yes, our thoughts form our reality. We do become what we think about. Our environment is the biggest determinant of our success and happiness.

However, what I also believe in, more than anything else, is that our actions drive our results.
Not our thoughts alone.

No one says: “He was a person of beautiful thought and great planning, he just failed to execute everyday.”

There is power in action.
There is power in traction.
Even if it starts with a minutest fraction.

When you are waiting to be inspired, you are giving away your power to “create” to something that has to happen when it wants to.
Which also means you will not be able to create when the inspiration doesn’t strike.

A powerful way to look at that is to show up to do the work – no matter what.

It might not be the best. But done is better than perfect.
And from that non-perfect work, will slowly emerge the inspiration to get better. Win-win.

You don’t need to win in order to win.
You simply need to show up consistently, in order to win.

1. You are reading to impress people
2. The book does not hold your attention
3. You want to appear “smart”

Books are what have helped me the most in my life.
However, they help you when you pick them up because you want to read them, irrespective of what the world thinks about those books.

Read books, so that you can read yourself.

If we have a budget for something and that “something” is not fitting into the budget, should we exceed it?

It depends a lot on what that thing is.

Does it make our life easier? Or is it a temptation?
Does it make our work better, faster, smoother? Or is it just another decoration?
Is it an investment towards someone that will give 10X returns? Or is it an investment because we invested in the first kind of the lot?

It is good to break the budgets sometimes, but mostly, it isn’t. And we know the answer when it isn’t.

It is the moderation that maketh the boat sail. Go extremes, and either water gets in, or the boat gets in.

One question I ask my best friends is: “What was the happiest part about yesterday?”

We had a similar question on our weekly call this week.

It is almost miraculous how none of the responses are about getting more materialistic things, and almost all the questions were about the time we spent with people around us.

It turns out, when we ask the right questions, we often end up having the right answers.

The biggest mistake people make with inspiration is thinking they will be hit by a bolt of inspiration whenever it strikes.

The truth is, inspiration is a habit.

What inspires you? Reading books? Watching the right videos? Playing and working out?
What’s stopping you from doing that to yourself, religiously, every single day?

If you wait for inspiration, you might always keep waiting.
If you go out and get inspired as a habit, you might inspire inspiration as well.

Not everyone is born a great leader.

However, each one of us has the opportunity to learn from the best leaders.

Here’s what I did…

Every year, I used to write a letter to the parents of the top performers at nearbuy, thanking them for their support (inspired by this from Indra Nooyi).

And then used to wait like an excited kid for their responses, should they come.
The parents’ pride and joy in receiving these letters warmed my heart.

Not only did it reinforce our trust and appreciation for the employee, but how often do parents get a glimpse of their child as an employee?

Till date, these letters comprise some of my most cherished memories at nearbuy :)

It turns out, sharing the joy of working with your colleagues’ family, is what multiplies your joy as well. And that’s the biggest joy as a CEO :)

Not everyone gets lucky.

However, everyone has the power to create processes that create their luck.

Here is how:

– I quit my job as the CEO of nearbuy in 2019, with no money. But another income stream had started emerging – speaking gigs – something that I had been doing since 11th grade!

– When the world shut down in 2020 and it was virtually impossible to go out, a friend suggested I teach online – because, hey, everyone was spending their time at home, on the screen, and they would want to have wisdom from someone 

Fast forward to today, while we made 17Cr in revenue last year, and are on the verge of making 30Cr this year, I would rather attribute it to us getting lucky. 

However, I would also let the luck know that a huge part of this came from building systems that would bring the trust of our customers, staying true to the process clinically, and listening to your customer intently.

The sad thing about luck is that you don’t know when it will work out.
However, the happy thing about luck is you know your systems would eventually work out.

A 5-point formula to measure your progress, that always works:

1. Identify the inputs towards things you want to do or should do (for ex: how much time do I read every day) 

2. Measure yourself for a 30 day period. Do not try to change anything. Just measure.

3. Form the baseline (how much do I read everyday. Record all the times you missed, times you read lesser, more, ups and downs).

4. Track for another month – and calculate growth, if any.

5. Figure what worked/didn’t.

Rinse and repeat.

My first day at the gym, for the 6 pack abs, the instructor asks me to do 20 push ups.
He starts counting, counts until 7 and then steps away, asking me to continue.

I then count:
8,9,10,12,14,17,20
DONE!

I cheated.
Because he wasn’t looking. What we do when no one is looking, is who we are.
That is the person others will get to see, when they are looking.