story

Ever imagined about the story of you cabby, cook, guard or cleaner. We are so busy with ourselves that they are nonexistent. If you ever get an opportunity, you will hear inspiring stories. Your hardship, grit, and perseverance will not come close to theirs. Every day is a new challenge, rebirth.

competition

At times my friends tell me I am competing with a certain product, market or industry. This conversation gets dragged to infinity at times.

I have a standard template for the reply, I am painting my world with a unique paintbrush. I am working on solving customer’s pain points while sitting next to them. The only competition I see is ensuring customer happiness and delight.

Do I always succeed? I don’t, but I try to.

We need a small set of anchor customers and we have to delight them. Spending time on competitors is a distraction.

nationalism

Nationalism has existed since the inception of divided territories. In recent times it has become a medium for propaganda. Be it, politicians, sales or marketing everyone is milking Nationalism.

We have divided the creativity and formed a wall on the concept of nation. Be it a developed or developing country, everywhere we have politicians talking about the country and reminding us about its past glory. Why do we have to drink kool-aid of the past when in present most of us are barely surviving.

What happened to the meritocracy? Did it turn into a thing for the continual showcase?

Why do we have to sell nationalism in our sales pitch or in our marketing brochures to get eyeballs?

Why is your LinkedIn profile says India First or helping Indian founders when the reality is the opposite? Why is this duality in positioning and practicing?

Does that mean I am not proud of being born in India? I am very much, but I dislike throwing nationalism as a cure for all the problems.


“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one” 
 ― John Lennon, Imagine

identity

Why do I have to become someone? Why can’t I have my own identity? To be successful in life why do we have to aspire to be like someone else?
Why can’t we have life on our individuality? Who had everything figured in the mother’s womb?

Our identity should not be defined or built on imitating others, psychology talks about the individual difference for the same reason. I am not saying to be inspired by others, all I am saying is not to imitate or try to become others. Mentors have a place in our life, their virtues should be learned but they should not be embedded in us.

None of us are perfect. Accept it and make peace with it.

one thing

We are living in a world where everything is about maximizing. Be it productivity, wealth or happiness. We are so lost in this race that we end up sailing in many boats at the same time.

It does not hit us in the initial days of our journey as we self gloat about our products but as we progress we end up being a headless chicken.

Our human mind has limited resources, letting our mind wander is not a bad idea but focusing on one thing till the end is what makes us productive.

Free Thinkers

Running a small team of developers have made me realize that be successful as a team we all have to be a good thinker. We are so much stuck to pedigree, experience that we miss out on free-thinking and creativity.

The beauty of software development is that a solution can be made in many ways. Freethinkers result in solving a challenging task or building something from scratch in a much elegant way.

Always hire free thinkers over code monkeys or pedigree stickers.

boat

We are in a boat, sailing in the uncharted territory. The outcome is not in our hands, but that should not stop us from sailing. The same applies to our life, purpose, and aim. We have to keep pushing ourselves in attaining them, enjoy the journey and should not worry about the outcome.

My past has been all about running for the end goal without enjoying the journey.