Perfect

Don’t be a perfectionist. You don’t have to put yourself in a bucket. You are less stressed and working in your focused area without any FOMO.

It takes away lots of mental pain and expectations burden when you are not part of the herd. The world will leave you thinking you are crazy.
It is a super good state to be in.

My last ten years have taught me to seek mental well-being above everything. The no fucks given attitude has made me an asshole in the eyes of a few. I am okay with it. I don’t want the world to like me when I am part of their checkbox.

We are masters of our own destiny. It matters a lot to be stoic about your own true north.

Long game

Building a startup is like raising a child if your fundamentals are to leave a legacy. Building a company requires an honest culture and a people-first approach. As a founder, this should be the most important virtue.

Things take time, and building slow and steady cement utmost love, care, and pain. It is towards solving customers’ pain. With customer word of mouth, more sales channels open.

In the old days, sales were about playing golf, socializing, and closing.
The time has changed.
The decision-makers are not the only ones who cut the cheque.
It’s those who use your product.

Your product has to solve all customer personas. It is not easy and takes lots of pain and keeping a check on our ego. But this is how It is. Not everyone is going to be your customer or believer.

We are in the era of yearly renewals. Those days of selling and charging for support are gone. You have to iterate and update your product regularly and keep the customer base intact.

prayers

I was at a workshop where artisans make Pashmina Shawls. It was good learning. The overall process of making Pashmina Shawls takes 4-7 years. It requires a lot of precision and deep focus. One artisan spends all their time in it. It becomes more like their prayer. They carry out every day. They wish all the good luck to the buyer who wears it.

change

Is it because we are scared or our laziness that we dislike change? I know dozen toxic relationships where people continue staying because of the unknown. They can’t imagine what is waiting for them next positively.

The same applies to switching jobs or expanding a new business unit. We are scared of the unknown. We see the downside more than the upside.

Why is it so? Is it because society has conditioned us to become sheep? Take no risk, and don’t dream positively.

If a few dreamers had not taken a risk and gone against society: we would still be using bullock carts, candle lamps, or pigeons to send letters.

mirror

We like people who are like our own mirrors. People who shape our progress and make life more livable. We learn from them and understand their view on various subjects related to life and work. We resonate with it. It does not feel like we are forcing ourselves on their company because they are like you. They are a mirror of you. It’s like talking to yourself in a mirror.

The journey of life is painful. It has up and downs. Find more and more of your mirrors.

generalize

We are lazy. We form opinions about a race, caste, or religion with the simplest of experiences we have gone through. As a result, either we have a good or a bad opinion.

If we think with sense, we will realize what we are missing out on. We will end up telling world around us our opinion. It will do more harm. We will create generation around us living in your belief. It will put people around you in ignorance.

Luck

Successful people sell hard work over luck to you. But very few admit that little luck, and it’s a wonder. Time and again, in 35+ years of my life, I have been hearing about success stories and luck playing its part.

People meet, and their world changes. Opportunities come, and we have to seize them. Giving credit to luck is no harm. It just opens the door, and hard work starts afterward.

Embrace the luck, be grateful, and work your ass off.

narratives

We are living in an information age where narratives are written and re-written. These narratives can make or break anyone, society, or religion. Early days it was newspaper or television. With changing times, it’s in every sphere, from textbooks to social media platforms. It is not easy for most of us to skip it.

But what can help us is questioning instead of becoming blind worshipers. Instead, we should “think rationally”

Some believe they are too smart to be affected. They will be the 1st person to join them.

mirror

You are a mirror of yourself. How you see and feel about yourself shapes you. It defines you.

It is easy to be pessimistic about our actions and feel negative about things around us. Our brain subconsciously crafts and maps it. As a result, it starts believing in it. We are locked in our limitations because of our thoughts.

Let this mirror be positive and healthy.

Self-doubt

Self-doubt is a demon we are battling with constantly. In every realm of our life, Self-doubt comes as a grumpy competitor whose role is to make you a loser. It’s like an enemy who results in losing a battle without even participating. Our life is a mixed bag of success and failure. But having self-doubt transforms every opportunity into a loss.

Your life on this planet is limited. It exists for a purpose. Make the best use of it. Fight your internal fear and self-doubt with a positive affirmation and keeping a positive outlook towards life.