success

“There are only two rules for being successful. One, figure out exactly what you want to do, and two, do it.”
                                                

                                                           -  Mario Cuomo

Sounds simple doesn’t it? However, more often than not it isn’t! The father of a friend of mine worked in the retail industry for 20 years. In these 20 years, he held some of the most influential positions in the company. Then one day he suddenly quit to become a devoted “painter”. Turns out while the corporate mogul inside him had been winning because of his consistency, the painter inside him had been struggling to survive! 

Success has a different definition for different individuals. And for our different versions of success we have our own special keys. For some success can be handling a big client and getting that big raise. For a chronic procrastinator it can be as simple as opening up a mail, for someone suffering from Alzheimer's it can be something as simple as remembering their birthday. And for an autistic, it can be going over to the next person and introducing their self.

Golden words – Find your niche, be consistent in it and never measure your success with someone else’s.

Yellow Brick Road

                                                  

         “Let the innocence stay pristine like you are still a newborn”

In my previous post, I promised that we’ll take a trip down the yellow brick road. Some time away from the jargons of life. Away from the traffic, and away from the lights. Just the two of us! It’s a yellow brick road of your life and in the end we’ll reach the beginning. So, come here hold my hand if you want to or follow me.

Why me?

Legendary Wimbledon player “Arthur Ashe” got infection in his blood, during a heart surgery in 1983. Letters poured in from all over the world, as he was dying of AIDS. One letter asked, "Why has GOD chosen you for such a bad disease?"

To this, Arthur Ashe replied:
"In This world, over 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals,
When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?' And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?..."

In my next post we'll take a trip down THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD just the two of us! Don’t miss, subscribe now!

The keys i keep forgetting

      "Understanding needs the key of liberated thinking"...

 If I had a buck for every time this happens, I’d make my own operating system, and at the same time make a rival company to Google and Facebook. Give Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates a run for their money. Leave stress marks on their face, as I book bills out of bank gates. I keep forgetting my keys and I don’t know why it happens but it does. Sometimes I leave my car keys; sometimes I leave my house keys. Once, I even forgot a key to the little box of keys (I’ve this so that I don’t forget my keys and forget them somewhere). Sometimes I wonder what is so special about keys. I mean they are all metal and jagged edged. In fact, I believe this world should be without any keys. Imagine a key free world, no more keeping those weird metal objects in your pocket, no more trying to remember where were you when the last time you saw them, and of course no more struggling with them at airport security checks. Sounds wonderful don’t it?

A Different Prayer

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.

                                      - PHILLIPS BROOKS                                                                                                                                                            

 Often, we underestimate ourselves and we do it so consistently that after some time we stop believing in our true potentials. It is said that the human potential and imagination knows no bounds. Then, why do we underestimate ourselves? Time and again I hear people say “why did you put me in this place god, why are things so harsh on me” et al. If only they could pray a different prayer and not worry, should it get’s answered or not

The Importance Of Stories

What is the importance of stories? Why do we need them and why are they so enchanting? Love them or hate them, they form our life and everyone has a story to tell whether knowingly or unknowingly. The following story you are about to read is an Irish legend about -

The Man Who Had No Story

Failure

Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....  – THOMAS EDISON (on how he felt after having failed 10,000 times to make a practical filament for the electric bulb)

 Just imagine, if Thomas Edison had not tried so many times, not only we might have never had a light bulb that stays on for hundreds of hours without getting burned, but also, we would have never got such a perfect example which would inspire us to keep us devoted for what we believe in.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. It’s okay to fail as long as you are learning from your mistakes. Every mistake made is a lesson learned and a step taken forward.

Bestfriend : one everyone should have

                         "the only wise friend of mine who keeps my feet chained to the ground"

Everyone should have a best friend. Sometimes they are people we share everything with, sometimes they are our back up system - ones we fall back to in hard times and sometimes they are more or so our teachers. Let me introduce you to one of my best friends. Be aware though, he’s a hideous fellow, one you wouldn’t like to see before you tuck yourself in bed after a hard day at work. Body full of thorns and hands as strong as David and Goliath and he loves to pound these hands in my guts, this he says, he does to pass his time. Legs as big as a giraffe’s neck and as thick as an elephant’s leg and with them he enjoys standing on my pride. He has a great sense of humor, he laughs every time I make a mistake. I can always see him sitting in a corner smirking at me, pointing and laughing, enjoying while I slip and fall off those banana peels of my mistakes. He’s quite magical too, and no by that I don’t mean that he has a charismatic smile or a way with the ladies but that he likes to appear and disappear like Houdini. Loves to play hide and seek and emerges when I least expect him, sneaks up from behind and pushes me to the brink. 

 He is failure and he has been with me ever since I can remember. When I took my first steps as a baby and fell on my face flat up, when I gave my exams in school. Even when the first time I proposed to the pretty lass in my class and she turned me down. Failing those entrance exams, failing as an entrepreneur (not once but several times) my friend has been with me all these years through thick and thin, well mostly thin. And I admire him for this, you know why? Because it’s this friend of mine who encourages me to take steps I wouldn’t normally take, it’s this friend who has taught me the value of time and consistency again and again, it’s this friend who has taught me how to not lose myself in bright lights and he’s the only wise friend of mine who keeps my feet chained to the ground when I’ am too busy spreading my wings, testing the wind above me. 

Over the years I have often asked him, why be so rude with me, I do acknowledge your existence and also the fact that you come to meet me only because you want to teach me but still, why, why be so difficult, why punch me so bad that it becomes difficult to stand again, why shake this ground I stand on with your presence every time I try to take the first step? To this he firmly replies “I know you would never forget me but the truth is you are not ripe yet, you still have to learn a lot and without me there is no learning and no living. I come here to make you realize that you are allowed to make mistakes as long as you are learning from them. I come here to teach you the same lessons I taught millions before you try again and next time do it better, this is not your 100% and that there’s always room for improvement”

 A lot of times, I’ve thought about burning this bridge between us, but then I think he’s the only one standing with me at the end of the day. All the bruises and scars he left on me will be healed by time. His punches though hurt a lot also give me a taste of reality. His footprints on the dirt of my pride will sprout new flowers as time goes by but most importantly, when my mighty wings will grow to their full length and I break my chain, I’ll always remember to look down on my friend and remember the lessons he taught me for the life to come. After all I wouldn’t want to fail failures expectations and the lessons he crafted for me all these years.

Power

"Regardless to how much power you have
When God sends prophets and messengers
They don't care nothing about your power
Because they come from "the" power"

                                                                 - Louis Abdul-Haleem Farrakhan Muhammad

Often people ask what the secrets of great minds are. All the essentials are a little difficult to label and can easily be left upon interpretations but one common dynamic which makes them great is their art of speaking thought provoking beliefs in simple words.

 

Beginnings: first step first lesson

"the only positioning which really matters is the courage and determination you put over your fears and doubts"

The year is 1998, there’s an adventure club meet, and the adventurous task is river crossing but with a twist. The twist is this – one end of a long rope has been tied on the 2^nd floor of one of our school buildings and the other end is tied to a stationary bus and we have to pretend that the concrete ground below us is a flowing river. Due to my consistent involvement with the adventure club activities I was ranked no.4^th in a group of some 40 odd members.  Though, I don’t think too much about rankings and at that time actually saw it as a blessing in disguise as whenever we did some “ADVENTUROUS” task, i was given enough time to observe the first three. Anyways, I had been prepping myself for the “A” day by committing into various activities which included mirroring all Bruce lee moves from “ENTER THE DRAGON” to keep myself physically fit, listening to a lot of rock music to motivate myself mentally, taking a nap every now and then to give myself rest, eating a lot of sugar candies to re-energize myself when I shake and bang my head to rock music again (and seldom throw up because of all that sugar and head-banging) and of course occasionally, I would go back to playing on my Nintendo .. for reasons I can’t really remember.

As the day arrived, I was fully prepared mentally and physically and of course I had the advantage of going at the 4^th spot. I was sure that after all this practice and my strategy I would do a good job. But, this was not meant to be, the first stone thrown at my glass of victory was this- the first 3 had not arrived at all. 2 of them called in sick and the 3^rd boy went missing. (How he was able to arrive the next day for school still remains a mystery to me) So, my name was called first and I was made to go to the 2^nd floor get into all the safety gear, oh the safety gear of course, now hold your nose because here goes the cold water, the 2^nd stone thrown at the mirror - there were no helmets as the crew which brought all the equipments had forgotten them and had sent someone to bring them but we were asked to start nonetheless as our “honorary” principal Mr. K. Sardana had to go to an important meet after the event, so any delays in the commencement of the adventure were out of the question. And so, I started uncertain, unprepared doubtful, filled of that chilling feeling on my back and as I started roping on that destiny chain like a monkey hanging on a tree upside down, I noticed a lot of things, my teachers faces, my friends faces, a guy bringing in safety helmets, and the concrete ground below but as much as I tried I could not see where the rope ended. But, what I didn’t realize that day were some very simple facts, that this is what my life is going to be like, hanging upside down from a single rope without a safety helmet doing the best I can do under pressure while looking like a monkey to others, and in case I fall off this single support, I’ve only the concrete rock bottom ground of judgment and failure below me. That day was my actual brain strength training for the life of this concrete jungle. Since that day it became clear to me that no matter how much we prepare ourselves or try to work our way around things, it’s seldom we get to have that perfect start or that ideal situation. What we can really do is try our best and not think about the end result or the judgmental eyes.

 The other lesson I learned was that no matter where you fall in the line or are positioned, 1, 2, 3 or the last, the competition- the real competition is always with yourself, because once you hang on to that rope, the only positioning which really matters is the courage and determination you put over your fears and doubts and how consistent you can actually be with this as the end of the destiny chain you might never see. After that day I took the honorary first position in the adventure club (and held it too, well, at least for some time) but, now though the school days and the club are long gone, the struggle and the adventure still continues…