Blog

We all love awards. 

Even I did.

I won Fortune 40U40 for 2 years of the 4 years I was CEO of Groupon India.

It was a lovely role.
Great money,
Global role,
High visibility – but not that required a lot of effort. 

And then I started nearbuy.

The BEST years of my life.

Worked my best, built a great team, a whole new brand from scratch, managed massive lows while celebrating immense highs. 

And I never won the award again!

Goes to show that the award is rarely paid to the person.
It is paid for the role. 

True for every award.
True for every job. 

What to do if I have to give up on my dreams?
It is heartbreaking to give up on your dreams.
I understand.
However whenever someone asks me this question, here is what I tell them:

1. Realise that the thing you gave up in lieu of that dream is also your dream.
2. It may be a need, it may be a compulsion, however, that is also something you can turn into your own dream.
3. Even in the moments you are not making a choice, you are making a choice. And that makes you feel more comfortable.

The first dream may not always come true.
However, for the new dream that you pick up, may make you come more alive through that. If you choose to :)

You will free yourself the day you stop blaming your parents for what they did to you.

Maybe they did a lot of wrong.
However, if you give it back to them, aren’t you behaving exactly the manner you didn’t want to be treated?

Forgiveness does not mean condoning.
Most cases, it also does not mean living together.
However, if we don’t forgive them, we are eventually letting their flaws live free in our head.

And you wanted to be a free bird, isn’t it, my friend?
The best time to let go of what weighed you down was yesterday.
The second best time is today.

A routine is a system.
A system that designs your day.
A system that controls your day.
A system that tells you that you are the master of your day, and no distraction can take you over.

It does not need to be close to anyone else’s – you may design what gives you the best energy.
And live by it.

You will only be surprised by the results the routine gives you.

A routine isn’t imprisoning. Rather it is the only thing that is truly liberating.

The most dangerous people in the world are not the ones who fail.
Not the ones who make mistakes.
Not the ones who are struggling hard.

None of these.

The most dangerous people in the world are those who are not willing to change.
Whether they failed, or became successful.

If they failed, they won’t reflect enough to become successful.
If they succeeded, they would fall in love with their winning formula, instead of growing beyond it.

Change is the only constant.
And the more we run away from it, the more we truly need it.

Rejection isn’t a vice.
It is a door to learning more.

Be curious. Know what you don’t know. Let your mind be filled with wisdom instead of emptiness on failing.

And sooner than you know, you will look forward to failing than to running away from it.
Which, is true success :)

Failure is a win, if you choose it to.

I am useless.
I can’t focus.
I am distracted.
I lack discipline.
I cannot workout.

I matter.
I am supremely focused.
I can do what I want to do.
I am the most disciplined person I know.
I am someone who is always consistent with their workouts.

We are the stories we tell ourselves.
Every single moment.

I am a proponent of documenting your journey.
So that others could be inspired from.

However, you do not have to share every opinion you have.

Balanced.
Thoughtful.
Not disrepectful.

Share authentically, however, with wisdom. And certainly not unfiltered :)

The battle is not with your boss.

Or with your friends.

Or your colleagues.

Or your family.

Or your relatives who judge you.

The battle is in the mind.
Which is exactly the place you will win it.

At 18 yrs: I went to check the JEE results, with my father, on our scooter. I did not clear it.
At 24 yrs: I dropped out of my PhD program in the US, came back to India, not knowing what to do next.
At 29 yrs: I quit my consulting job to join a startup, and was fired from it after a year. 

This is who I was.
A failure. 

However, more than a decade later, what I have realised is that over time, everything falls into place.

That insecurity of not making money.
That guilt of probably letting your parents down.
That fear of never being happy in your career.

Over time, every failure passes away.

ONLY if you reflect on it.
ONLY if you ask yourself: Why did it happen?
ONLY if you change the way you do things. 

Because we will all fail.
That is inevitable.
But few of us will win in life.

If I could, so can you.
Trust me.
Trust yourself!