How you grew up has a limited role in your life. Our ancestors lived in a joint family where kids had company. They played, learned, and did things in a group. It helped in cementing a solid bond between the kids. Some of them misused those freedoms, while many others became self-reliant.
Mute
There is a silent population whom we have turned into robots. They don’t speak because they are scared. They take our orders and work on it. They are poor because of their country torn in war or because of tyrant dictators. Some of them were poor because of the family they were born in.
They are our gig workers, captains, and riders delivering food and vegetables. They take you around the city round the clock.
We mostly ignore them. Put grumpy faces at them and shout at them for their mistakes. They are less privileged than us. We should be kind to them and treat them like us humans.
It’s been over a month in Dubai, and taking a taxi and ordering food online have passed across many faces. Some opened up, spoke, and told their stories. A few were engineers in their country, then war broke out, and nothing for them.
Hearing the story of each one of them makes me sad and humble. We cannot help them, but at least be nice to them. Give a smile to them. We don’t have to treat them like a mute robot.
crowded
We clutter our thoughts with things that should not matter to us. Our thoughts should flow like water: pure and without any control. When we go seeking things, we end up expecting. It does more harm to us, and our thoughts get cluttered.
We can only progress if we let go. Many of us live in memories that end up cluttering our minds. It is not a growth mindset. We limit ourselves to unlimited possibilities.
We need to go still and free ourselves and our thoughts. That is when we will be progressive in life’s journey.
root
There are moments when you feel like going to the roots: your village for summer vacations, the uncle who bought you fruits from his orchid, and grandma sharing bedtime stories.
The beautiful part of revisiting root is that it makes you humble. It reminds you about your childhood days filled with fun and frolics.
I was in my village this Durga puja. It was not the same. I spent hours roaming around our ancestral home and lost in thoughts. There was no one, and it was all empty. But the memory of the past gave a smile.
battle
A lot of us die fighting a battle with ourselves. As a result, our allocated span of life passes on the fly. We become bitter with ourselves. Our inner insecurity hinders us from taking risks and affects our progress.
We should win the mind battle within ourselves first. Else, the world will take us for granted.
You have one life, and you have to live to the fullest.
Fundamentals
Most first-time founders get into the treadmill of matrics. And with the plethora of industries, each has its own defined set. The problem arises when they forget about running the organization with basic business fundamentals of revenue, sales, and profit.
In good times, no one asked for revenue and profit. People went on raising money on growth, GMV, and many others. With the bear market, everything is coming back to fundamentals.
It is a temporary but good change. Most resilient founders building a legacy for decades care less about metrics and more about fundamentals.
numbers
Last evening, I was at an event, and some folks were too curious about our growth numbers. When I told them I didn’t know, most were shocked. For them, it was like a cardinal sin, and how could I have no clue about the SaaS and financial metrics on my fingers?
I tried explaining that I care about Income, Expenditure, and Profit, nothing else. I could see the sense of anger and frustration.
As a founder, we are all unique and have our way of running a business. Some are data-driven, while others are for solving customers’ pain. There are many others purpose driven.
I believe in simplicity: doing business, earning, and paying to the team.
Priority
As the company and customers grow, the organization needs to prioritize. It can be on what existing features to improve versus building something new or continuing both.
We should keep our existing customers and their pain in the center and set honest expectations on deliverables. The what, when, and why have to be put in sync.
In unique scenarios, we have to co-create and charge for the development. The customer should be willing to pay for priority development.
Positive
One has to be in an unlimited positive state of mind to make anything happen. There is a thin line between success and failure. What gets us success is our radical optimism. It is that unlimited positivity.
Wright Brothers, Edison, Einstein, Ford, and others went along the grind. They had no option of giving up. It was their radical optimism that got the world all the innovations.
Also, success requires a lot of dedication and commitment. It will only come with the optimism.
The media talks about success without mentioning what one grinds for it. Overnight success has many failures, grind, hard work, and the will to not give up.
Kind
While entering the job market, you had a few people helping you grow. They could be your manager, co-workers and partner. They fuled optimism, guided, trained you and made you belive you can do it. Most of us have to be really lucky to find such folks in our life.
The world around us has people with multifaces. They try to dump personal agenda and biases. You get sucked in and manipulated. You have to keep an open mind.
There are kind people. Kindness goes long way. You have to pass the baton to the fellows later join this journey, who look at you for inspiration.