contentment

I’m not sure if contentment comes with age, is part of our nature, or is shaped by the thoughts we cultivate from observing society around us.

Both Stoic and Hindu philosophies have emphasized contentment since their inception.

Unfortunately, the world we live in today teaches the opposite—urging us to accumulate more and more. Many families hoard as many clothes in their garages as they do in their wardrobes. The craving for more is never-ending.
We live with unmet desires until we reach the grave, never truly content with anything.

Tradeoff

We have to accept life as it comes. Like the seasons, it can be rainy at times, while other days are cold or scorching hot. Some struggle to accept this reality, falling into madness or depression. In short, life is no utopia. Instead of crying over not having oranges, we must learn to make lemonade with the lemons we get.

Life feels like a tradeoff. If you want one thing, you must be ready to compromise on another. I’m turning 40 in a few months, and while some people ask about my marriage plans, they also reminisce about my independence. Some days, I long for a family; other days, I find joy in the freedom of traveling from city to city, selling products and living out of a suitcase.

I could take a strong stance, claiming my choices have either been wonderful or terrible. But the truth is, I was so immersed in living my life that I never had time to analyze it all. What I do know is that life will always bring its fair share of ups and downs, challenges, and happiness.

Click

What makes you click? That one thing so important to you that it becomes part of your daily habit or ritual—something you dedicate every moment to without hesitation?

The masterpieces of Van Gogh’s paintings, Michelangelo’s Madonna of Bruges, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Edison’s Lightbulb, and the Wright brothers’ quest for flight—all emerged from the click of their internal drive. They were broke but determined to stay on their path. It was their quest, the click they woke up to every day.

A lucky few of us find that click and build our lives around it. It becomes our second nature, a habit requiring no external motivation. 

Reject

In sales, most cases end in rejection. Does that mean we stop selling? What I have learned in my last eight years in sales is that people who like you will buy your product. And if they don’t, they will refer you to their peers.

As a founder, you must cultivate deep, lasting relationships and avoid focusing on the short term. People who don’t like you will never like you for one reason or another—you don’t need to waste time pleasing them.

Life is limited, and we must strive to make every second meaningful for our loved ones and the planet.

Grit

With the advancement in technology, particularly AI, it seems we will not be needed anymore. Does that mean we will go back to the Stone Age, premodernization, or the era of the Renaissance?

We seem to have become experts seasonally—transitioning from the pandemic to inflation, to crypto, to world war, and now to AI. What sets a few successful ones apart from the rest is grit. It’s the willingness to go against all odds, the quest to stay focused, and the burning desire to build a masterpiece.

The season of technology hype will come and go. What matters above all is flowing like water and delivering your worth to customers.

Cheer

Our world exists because we dream.
Our world exists because we believe in making it real.
Our world exists because we live in it, shaping it with every moment.

This is our world—ours to build, ours to create.
We are not here to give up so easily.
We are the ones who thrive, no matter the uncertainties.

So cheer up. The world is ahead of us, waiting to be made into something beautiful.

Success

We humans are different. Over the generations, we have evolved. We have food in abundance. We are dying less from diseases like cholera, measles, and pox. Our meaning of success also changed. It is not just about being wealthy or checking out the wishlist.

As we grow old, our priorities change. We tend to focus more on our inner self rather than externalities. For someone in their 20s, the importance of Instagram likes or attending a rock concert is more meaningful than it was in the 1980s.

Our aspirations, imagination, and hard work take us closer to what success means. At the same time, we have to be thankful for our upbringing and the opportunities we were handed in our platter.

Complain


It is easy to give up and complain about everything broken. We barely scratch the surface or take challenges. We give up easily and go bitter.

Our life is about living moment by moment and giving our best. Complaining is not the solution. Otherwise, we would be reading a complaint book, not an autobiography.

You have control over your actions and your life. Why don’t you own it instead of complaining and blaming others?

select

I know this sounds very anti-sale, especially in SaaS. But if you are building a product with a small total addressable market, be wise and picky when choosing a customer. When there is renewal happening every year and word-to-mouth boosting your product, it matters picking customers by yourself.

Line

We live in a free world. We are not in any shackles. The decisions we make are ours, and so are the repercussions. We are beaming with confidence in youth. We believe in changing the world.

Our determination and arrogance have a thin line and many fall for this trap. With time the treadmill of life brings back to reality to many. It takes years of hard work for something to succeed or make a dent in this universe.

The quick fix or my way or the highway can only take us to little far. Our life is a journey lived moment by moment.