Blog

“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.

Your grades in college are not going to define your life.

The first company you work for is not going to define your life.

Your first pay package is not going to define your life.

Your life is going to be defined by the meaning you give to every phase of your life. Which may also mean – to look for the best even in the worst, or vice versa. Who you are is your life. What happens to you, isn’t.

Do you often feel that everyone is winning in their lives and you are the biggest loser out there?

Here is something that might help:

At 29, I was jobless and with no money.
I had just left my last startup, with no money and no direction.  

I remember watching “The Social Network”, Mark Zuckerberg setting up FaceBook, witnessing his success, and feeling shi**y about myself.

However, if there is ONE thing that I have learnt about life, it is: 

Everyone is running a different race.
In fact, we’re not even in a race.
We’re on our own paths.

Once you know this truth about life, you will hate your journey a little less. And win in unexpected ways you hadn’t seemed possible.

Find the colleague who saw you at your worst and still helped you perform better. 

Find the manager who saw you faltering and still chose to listen instead of scolding. 

Find the friend who saw your lowest points and still chose to support.

Find the partner who saw you through all this and still chose to love.

Find someone who saw you when you were not “successful” and still chose their presence with you as their success.

Sometimes, the only way to realize how far you have come, is to look back into the past. 

It often reminds you of the fact that while the days felt long, the years that followed were short.
The past, no matter how confusing, didn’t mean the future couldn’t be clearer. 

These were the exact emotions I went through, when I went back to Michigan State University in 2015, after dropping out of my PhD program in 2004. 

There was so much that had changed in those 11 years.
I went from being confused about my career to graduating from ISB, to working as a consultant to starting up.
Went from disappointing my parents to hopefully making them feel proud.
Went from being a kid, to being a parent to a kid. 

In 2004, life felt like a huge mountain to scale.
In 2015, it felt like a wonderfully long journey to travel. 

It is not about the year already gone by.
It is about the years still left.
You still have time. 

“Ankur, I am appearing for job interviews these days. And most of the time I falter because of my communication skills even though I know everything. 

How can I prepare myself better for interviews?”

I get asked this question a lot often from students appearing for interviews for internships, jobs, and even post-grad interviews.

If you are someone who also goes through the same, this is what would help:

1. Make a list of top 5 questions, you want to be really good at answering
These are usually the same questions that get asked in almost every interview. 

2. Video record the responses to these questions, EVERY DAY.
While recording, do not look at yourself on the screen. Look at the camera pinhole. Focus all your attention there. 

3. Play it back, in 2 separate modes
– Listen to the audio of the recording (do not watch the video). Make a note of all the things you want to improve upon. Pick them up the next day.
– Watch the video without the audio (mute the video). This is how the interviewer views you – your body language. Make a note of all the things you want to improve upon. Pick them up the next day. 

In just 30 days, you will not be able to recognize yourself!