THIS BOOK?
If on any day you find yourself saying
‘I needed to hear this today‘
This book is not going to be a revelation. It is meant to be a reminder. A reminder of how life happens to all of us, in a similar yet unequal fashion.
This book is not going to say something new. It is meant to put words to your thoughts. Thoughts that we all feel, repeatedly, but rarely stop to make sense of.
This book is not going to change your life. It is meant to make you more aware. So that you make choices in life from a state of awareness and not ignorance.
Book consists of 6 reminders; about:
I. SUCCESS (AND FAILURE)
II. HABITS
III. AWARENESS
IV. ENTREPRENEURSHIP
V. MONEY
VI. RELATIONSHIPS
I. Reminders about SUCCESS (AND FAILURE)
1. Start today.
Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things:
regret or results.
2. How we think of our problems is how the world will think of our problems.
– If we exaggerate our problems, so will the
world.
– If we are happy despite our problems, the world will help us get happier.
(While we (almost always) don’t choose our problems, we can always choose how to respond)
3. You are what you do.
Not what you say you’ll do.
4. Commitments are nothing if not backed up with actions.
Luck happens to those that make things happen.
5. Persistence isn’t a one-day miracle.
It is a conscious choice translated into habit.
6. The world will constantly be defining success and failure for you. Realizing this is what is called self-awareness.
7. If you are unhappy with where you are in life right now, do not wait to find out what you should be doing.
Move out of where you are in life!
8. Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated.
The world is going to treat you how it wishes to treat you.
You don’t control that.
You only get to choose who you listen to.
9. Most sports are not played on the field.
They are played in the mind!
10. You don’t find your passion.
You grow your passion!
11. Once you succeed, people see only success.
If you fail, they see only failure.
They don’t see the journey. Only you do.
It is on this journey that your life was lived!
12. If you often worry about what people will think of you, you will often end up doing what people want you to do.
13. Your goal is to make people say: ‘I am not sure if she knows how to do it. But I am certain if told to do it, she will definitely figure it out. I trust her.’
II. Reminders about HABITS
1. The author doesn’t set goals, for two reasons:
– You do it for a destination, instead of becoming someone in the process
– You invariably start chasing another destination, upon reaching one.
Instead, habits have come to help him in the smallest to biggest things in life.
2. Share your journey.
Document your journey.
Narrate your journey.
Your story is valuable.
Maybe you don’t see it.
3. Targets are the enemy of habits.
Don’t set targets.
Set habits!
4. Most important skills today that are hardly taught:
– Humour
– Storytelling
– Managing money
– Human psychology
– Cold emailing
5. Three things that will tell you who/what you consider as
important in your life.
1. Your first hour after you wake up
2. Your last hour before you sleep
3. Your calendar
6. We know others through their actions.
We know ourselves through our thoughts.
7. Thoughts are powerful, when they are converted into actions.
Without action, they are simply broken promises.
We nod to show that we are listening.
But we are not listening to the opposite person.
Instead, we are listening to our mind telling us what to say.
8. Your attendance doesn’t define your discipline.
Your attention does.
9. Choose who you spend time with, wisely!
Optimize for learning, not salary.
Optimize for progress, not stability.
Optimize for facing fears, not for comfort.
10. Do not allow comfort to make you believe that you no longer need to try!
In a society that is obsessed with hard work and career success, seeking boredom is an act of rebellion.
Seeking boredom through free time helps you feel comfortable in
your skin.
11. As the world progresses, it is getting easier to slump into laziness
and feel lethargic.
And it is getting equally easier to lift yourself out of slumber and get
moving.
It is frankly a matter of intent.
Not capability anymore.
Not even access.
III. Reminders about AWARENESS
1. If everyone did it, it wouldn’t need to
be said.
– Not everyone exercises. Thus, it needs to be said more often.
– Not everyone spends time with their team. Thus, the best leaders say it more often.
– Not everyone spends time journaling. Thus, the wisest minds help us to get into the habit.
2. Our actions are driven by our feeling of what people feel about us!
This begs the question, whose life are we living?
3. Do not confuse calmness with a lack of fire.
Calmness doesn’t mean lack of drive.
It rather means having the power to turn that drive into actions.
4. Your self-talk determines your self-worth.
We are all the stories we tell ourselves.
5. Most decisions in life are reversible.
But we assume they are set in stone.
The second we think decisions are reversible, we start giving serendipity a chance!
6. Awareness is the start of the decision.
Not the end of it.
Step 1 is Awareness.
Step 2 is Execution.
Step 3 is Rinse and Repeat.
7. Comparing yourself to others is the biggest waste of time.
– Everyone had different beginnings.
– Different temperaments of parents.
– Totally different interests and hobbies.
– Different ways parents perceived success.
– Different teachers who taught you to fit in.
8. We always have two choices:
– The easy one
– The right one
9. We aren’t addicted to things.
We are addicted to the emotions that these things generate!
10. If you don’t ask, the answer is
always no.
11. The hardest thing in the world is telling yourself that it’s not hard at all.
– It is not hard to wake up early.
– It is not hard to make money.
– It is not hard to approach strangers.
– It is not hard to express love.
– It is not hard to send cold emails.
– It is not hard to ask for a raise.
– It is not hard to ask questions.
– It is not hard to voice your opinion
12. The most memorable moments of your life would have a sense of freedom attached to them.
13. Do not mistake starting slow as starting small.
– You are not the only one confused.
– You are not the only one unsure.
– You are not the only one struggling.
– You are not dumb, inadequate, incapable.
– Everyone is struggling.
– Everyone is figuring it out.
– Don’t be harsh on yourself.
14. When it comes to money, more information doesn’t make
people more aware.
It makes them more scared.
IV. Reminder for ENTREPRENEURSHIP
1. People would much rather work for a competent asshole than an incompetent nice guy.
2. Capability is rarely the question mark in life.
It is always the intent.
3. An optimistic, driven individual will figure out a way to learn more.
A successful skilled individual will struggle hard to grow if they see pessimism in every possibility.
4. Show people who they can be.
Instead of telling them who they shouldn’t be.
5. The worst thing a company does to its employees is:
1. Rate them once a year
2. Tell them how well they did
3. Measure them on metrics they didn’t even know they were being assessed on
6. The real game is to have conversations with every team member.
– To listen to them just with the intent of listening to them.
– To know them, because that is what will help you make wiser decisions.
7. The three worst reasons to become an entrepreneur:
1. I want to make money
2. I hate my current job
3. Everyone is doing it
8. A great leader should be replaceable when it comes to their tasks and actions.
And irreplaceable when it comes to their thoughts and vision.
V. Reminder for MONEY
1. Money is simply a medium of transaction.
When it becomes an emotion, that is when it consumes us.
2. When we disguise our desires as our needs, we almost always end up making a mistake.
3. Financially smart people take loans even if they can afford, to save
money.
Financially weak people take loans knowing that they can’t afford, to spend money!
4. Our income is not capped. There is no upper limit to how much we can earn.
Instead, it is our spending that is capped. We have to spend a bare minimum to live, to survive.
5. The right time to start investing was when you turned 18.
The next best time is TODAY.
6. Use money to earn your freedom.
Don’t give up your freedom to earn money.
7. If you do not know how to care for money, money will stay away from you.
– Robert Kiyosaki
8. Wait. The price you buy at, determines your return.
‘No one wants to get rich slowly.’
– Warren Buffet
VI. Reminders about RELATIONSHIPS
1. Relationships are the place where we thrive.
They are also the place where we are challenged the most.
2. Healing isn’t an option. It is a necessity.
Holding a grudge against someone requires a lot of effort.
3. Every problem in this world can be traced back to a point of miscommunication.
All relationships thrive on communication.
4. We create our relationships by what we choose to give.
Nothing teaches you better than teaching others.
5. Not everyone is going to reciprocate your kindness.
– Some are even going to play with it.
– Some are not going to care.
– Some are not going to acknowledge it ever.
6. Unpopular opinion:
Empathy cannot be taught. You are either born with it or not.
Empathy = I understand what you are going through.
7. No one is useless.
Everyone knows something you don’t.
8. By not appreciating someone for their vulnerability and truth, all we do is encourage lying.
9. True respect is when you respect someone even after you’ve got to know them.
10. Runaway from those who are trying to run away from themselves.
11. Do not show up for every argument you are invited to!
An undeniable life hack for your peace.
12. Wanting to maintain a distance from someone you do not relate; to any more doesn’t mean you don’t care about them.
It just means you care about the relationship you have with yourself more than the one you have with them.
Literally You 