SUCCESS (AND FAILURE)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1 SUCCESS (AND FAILURE)
Part 2 HABITS
Part 3 AWARENESS
Part 4 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Part 5 MONEY
Part 6 RELATIONSHIPS
PART 1
SUCCESS (AND FAILURE)
My relationship with success has been driven largely my relationship with multiple failures.
The mistakes that I have committed ‘relentlessly’ over the years.
The failures that I sat down with and reflected upon, that made me inch towards success at the most unexpected times.
This part of success isn’t necessarily about prescriptions on how to get successful. It is rather about defining what success really means to you, staying true to that, and then using failures as reflections to create your own success!
Nothing beats the feeling of having done more in twenty-four hours than what the day expected you to!
You planned to do five tasks this morning.
Ended up doing seven.
With more productivity.
And far greater energy.
That joy, that emotion, when you’ve exceeded your own self, is true achievement.
Breaking your limits without even expecting to is the powerful way to see how much more you are capable of.
Others’ success will generate massive self-doubt every morning when you get up.
Get up anyway.
. . .
A year from now, you will wish you had started today.
Start today.
Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: regret or results.
A year from now you will wish you had unfollowed emotionally draining people.
A year from now you will wish you had said ‘no’ more often.
A year from now you will wish you had said ‘yes’ to yourself more often.
A year from now, you will never be sure of the results.
But you can certainly be sure of regret, if you don’t start today.
What is the single biggest thing you can do to help you towards professional success?
People do not have to follow up, when you commit to doing something.
That’s it.
. . .
How we think of our problems is how the world will think of our problems.
If we exaggerate our problems, so will the world.
If we are happy despite our problems, the world will help us get happier.
While we (almost always) don’t choose our problems, we can always choose how to respond.
When we rule ourselves, we can never be ruled by our problems. The biggest misconception people have is that they are the odd one out and everyone else is sorted!
You are what you do.
Not what you say you’ll do.
We know ourselves through our thoughts.
But we know others through their actions.
That is true for others as well.
They can’t read our thoughts. All they see is what we do.
It does not matter what we say.
What matters is what they see us doing.
Commitments are nothing if not backed up with actions.
Luck happens to those that make things happen.
If you start creating content, you have greater chances of it being shared by your dream celebrity.
If you say hello to every stranger, you have greater chances of finding your dream partner. If you send cold emails every day, you have greater chances of getting your dream job!
Your actions decide your luck. So does your lack of actions.
Luck isn’t really good fortune.
Luck is what eventually happens when your hard work yields results.
Persistence isn’t a one-day miracle.
It is a conscious choice translated into habit.
The first few episodes of the Netflix series maybe boring. However, you still keep watching the series. It turns out, a friend told you to stay at it because it gets interesting eventually.
What if we treat our goals and our journey in the same way?
Keep at them, even when they are boring early on, because they will get interesting eventually?
The result of no efforts is nothing.
The result of persistent efforts is a habit where you cannot not do the right thing.
Why live it with just one identity?
Why can’t you be an entrepreneur who also creates content?
Why can’t you have a day job and also sell your paintings on Instagram?
Why can’t you be a professional sports person along with applying for B-schools?
We crave novelty, yet settle for a one-career life.
We crave novelty, yet choose to define ourselves by just one role, one title, one function, one designation.
We have one life.
But we don’t need to be one person.
Consistency + Authenticity is the magic formula to crack the content game.
The content game magically helps you when:
– You are creating content at regular times (daily/thrice a week/weekly)
– You are You. You do not have to be someone else
This makes you enjoy the process. You find the hard work easy, and it becomes effortless for you, while everyone wonders how hard it must be!
If you are not authentic, you will struggle to be consistent.
No one can put up a façade for long!
True, not just for content.
True, for life!
The world will constantly be defining success and failure for you.
Realizing this is what is called self-awareness.
Got a job. Success.
Got a job with CTC less than the neighbour’s. Failure.
Got married by 25. Success.
Got divorced by 30. Failure.
The truth is, your current rules of success and failure have been written by the world.
Go ahead and rewrite them.
For yourselves.
If you stay true to them, it doesn’t matter whether you are a failure according to the world.
If you don’t stay true to them, it doesn’t matter if you are a success according to the world.
Success is a relationship you have with your own self.
If you are unhappy with where you are in life right now, do not wait to find out what you should be doing.
Move out of where you are in life!
Set out on that exploration.
Don’t wait to identify a destination.
Moving out doesn’t mean quitting what you have. It means giving yourself the space to explore other things.
If you are in a job that you hate, but it pays you well, stay in the job but move out mentally and emotionally. Make it your job to find new opportunities.
The pro is the amateur who simply showed up every day.
The pro is the amateur who put in their reps.
The pro is the amateur who fell in love with the process.
The pro is the amateur who chose practice and sleep over binge-watching.
The pro is the amateur who worked hard even when they had zero audience.
The pro is the amateur who persisted even when nothing seemed like it was working.
The pro is the amateur who refused to be called an amateur. And chose to let their hard work do the talking.
The pro is the one who chose discipline.
Over excuses.
Even when you know things may never be the same again, apologize.
Because you should.
You know you are not going to be forgiven.
Still, you should.
Because that is the right thing to do.
That is what the other person seeks.
That is what our role is, for the other person in the relationship.
You may not be wrong according to you. Yet, if apology is what makes others have their redemption, it is the right thing to do.
Doing what is right never comes with reasons. Because the right thing is the ultimate reason.
Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated.
The world is going to treat you how it wishes to treat you.
You don’t control that.
You only get to choose who you listen to.
If you measure your worth by those who don’t treat you well, you are choosing to do so.
There is someone out there who values you.
Starting with your own self.
Whatever you are feeling today will fade away.
That thing you imagine is the worst thing ever?
When it happens, it will feel like that.
You will get up every day and it will be the first thing you will think of.
Until one day, when it won’t be!
No matter how happy you are, how sad you are, you are not going to remember how happy or sad you were tomorrow.
Our emotions and feelings are temporary.
We think of them as permanent.
What you think is the worst thing in your life isn’t the worst thing.
Most sports are not played on the field.
They are played in the mind!
The best sportspeople have coaches who work on their mind training.
Playing amidst the pressure of millions of eyeballs.
Performing despite the media frenzy.
Doing their best even when they’re going through a heartbreak.
Sports aren’t only physical. Because anyone can get physically tough.
Sports mostly involve mental game. No one sees it. Only you.
It’s the victory, the control of the mind, the joy of deciding what to focus on that leads to victory on the sports field.
The inner world drives the external one. Always.
The biggest roadblock to learning is ego!
Your ego keeps you from asking questions to those younger than you.
I must know everything!
How could I be so naïve?
It’s impossible that I can’t do it without asking them!
Ego is a bubble. Instead of bursting it and seeing what all lies outside, we invest most of our energy protecting it.
To know what you don’t know is power.
To ask and learn what you don’t know is a superpower.
When you say you have five years of experience, is it five years of experience or one year of experience done five times over?
Doing the same thing over and over years does not make you gain experience in those years. Doing different things, things out of your comfort zone, to stay curious, to never rest on your laurels, to expand what you know – these truly sum up experience.
Living as a template because it’s comfortable isn’t experience. It is choosing to not have experience.
The only template you need to follow is learning how to bulge out of your comfort zone. That’s it! Every other template is a prison cell designed to make your life harder in the name of comfort.
Don’t get comfortable.
Finding a mentor is a journey everyone should embark upon.
Don’t place the burden on one person to be your mentor.
Have multiple mentors for different aspects of your life.
Don’t think of mentors as only those who are much older and experienced.
The ones who have recently gone through, or are going through what you are going through, might have a lot more to offer in terms of perspective.
When you pick mentors who are way beyond your level of expertise, you might miss out on a lot. The things that you seek are so obvious to them they won’t even realize you need an explanation!
When you pick mentors who are the same age and experience band as yours, they understand your problems. They highlight your issues. And offer suggestions based on what they wish they had. Not what they will become ten years hence.
Different life aspects. Different mentors. At the same time. Mostly, who have recently gone through what you are going through.
Most people treat picking mentors as picking sandwiches at your nearby Michelin Star-rated restaurant. Picking them because they have been in place for the last ten years.
Picking mentors truly is like picking your Subway sandwich. You get to decide everything.
= death for a startup
= survival for a large company
In a startup, you may don multiple hats because it’s a small company.
The mindset of ‘It’s not my job’ restricts you. Because now you are living in boundaries that don’t even exist.
In a large company, everyone is specialized in their roles.
The mindset of ‘It’s not my job’ mostly helps you because it would enable the one doing their job to do it well.
You don’t find your passion.
You grow your passion!
Passion is not something that makes you
M.F. Hussain or A.R. Rahman or Sachin Tendulkar on Day 1.
Passion is that tiny inner nudge to paint, compose music or play cricket – the nudge that refuses to leave you, till the time you nurture it daily.
Passion is persistence, because that is the reason you are still in it despite all the reasons to quit.
Passion is showing up to do the work, no matter how good you’re at it already.
Passion is signing up for hard work, because not choosing it would be harder!
It is crazy how many people take decisions relying on their heart, when it should be an Excel sheet they should be relying on!
It is crazy how many people take decisions relying on an Excel sheet, when it should be their heart they should be relying on!
The decisions about money are best made through an Excel sheet.
The decisions about people are best made with your heart.
We were ALL born with the innate ability to ask questions.
Endlessly.
And then school and parents kill it!
There was nothing wrong with us as kids.
Except our environment that told us that asking questions is a wrong thing.
Don’t ask silly questions.
Shut your mouth.
That’s dumb!!
FALSE!
It’s okay to ask questions.
It’s okay to be genuinely curious to know more.
It’s more than okay to ask even if others would think it is ‘dumb’.
You may have numbed yourself because it was not cool to be curious, it helps to know that nurturing your curiosity cat is the coolest thing in a world where people are scared of being called dumb.
Once you succeed, people see only success.
If you fail, they see only failure.
They don’t see the journey. Only you do.
It is on this journey that your life was lived!
No one sees the multiple failures before that one ‘huge success’.
No one sees how you overcame your habits and systems despite having ‘failed’, because they focus on the end result, that you failed.
What you become during the process of success and failure is what’s most important.
No one else would see it.
Only you would.
So be it, because that is your true life. Success or failure happened as a result. What you did and who you became was your life in true essence.
‘Success and failure’ were merely outputs. What you carry in your heart to reach that destination is conclusive.
If you often worry about what people will think of you, you will often end up doing what people want you to do.
If you worry that people won’t like your decisions, you will make decisions that would please them.
If you do not care about people’s opinions, you would finally do what you want to.
Thinking about what people think of you is living in a prison cell with bars only in front of you. There is open space for you to run on the sides, yet what you choose is staying behind those bars.
The simple formula to get out of those bars? Ask yourself: ‘What do I want? ’
3 relationships that define almost everything that happens to us in our lives.
• The relationship we have with money.
• The relationship we have with time.
• The relationship we have with ourselves.
No one expects a CA to make a visually colourful résumé.
No one expects a musician to send an Excel sheet proposal.
No one expects an engineer to send a video résumé.
Which is why they should consider doing it!
Fighting the stereotype is a great way to get attention!
If you send a résumé that is not ‘how your résumé must be’ but rather ‘how you are’, most companies would react in two ways:
– They’d either hate it
– Or they’d remember you
Both are good signs, as now the companies select going by who is worthy of you and which ones are those you shouldn’t be working with.
‘What if I get rejected?’ But what if you get rejected from the place where you are supposed to be an original and you tried to fit in by sending a standard résumé?
Being yourself is the coolest way to get attention. Which is scary for most people. Which is the reason most people don’t.
There is temporary discomfort in doing the unconventional.
There is permanent discomfort in living life as a template.
It is going to be scary and uncomfortable walking your own path.
Guess what’s even more scary? To walk by the path that everyone walks on, only to realize you never wanted to walk on that path.
It is indeed a lot of resistance to break the chains of convention and do your own thing. However, it saves you from a ton of inner resistance for the rest of your life – allowing for the path you could take, the regrets you could avoid, and the joy you could accomplish. Just by doing the unconventional and resisting the obvious.
You can be yourself and be rebuked for a year.
Or you can be someone else and never face yourself in the mirror.
Why choose the latter when the former is the easy springboard to jump away from the herd?
While you are building your skills, the most important thing to build is your reputation.
Your goal is to make people say: ‘I am not sure if she knows how to do it. But I am certain if told to do it, she will definitely figure it out. I trust her.’
Mistake 1
I continued to pursue my education because I was good at it, without ever asking myself if it made me happy. Just because you are good at something doesn’t automatically ensure you are happy doing it.
Mistake 2
I looked down upon people who used to smoke or drink or party every weekend. I felt they were losers and the reason to bring the world down. It is not what you do but who you are underneath that defines you.
Mistake 3
I read books that made me look cool. Without truly understanding what I could learn from those books, until much later in life. People do not remember you for the company you keep. They remember you for who you become because of that company.
Mistake 4
I felt morally obligated to help everyone in distress. And if they continued to remain unhappy, I blamed myself. The best gift you can give yourself and to others is to take care of your own happiness.
Mistake 5
I felt the lack of money was the root cause of all our family problems. And once we have money, we would no longer longer have any problems. Our problems are the stories we tell ourselves of how everything will be fine once we get what we want.
I felt that rich kids would never make it in life because they got everything on a platter and did not know how to struggle. Their privilege would always harm them. It is not the privilege that harms us. It is our lack of awareness of our own privilege that harms us.
Mistake 7
I ate shit, slept odd hours, maintained bad posture while constantly telling myself that I have tomorrow to fix all of this. An excuse is the distance between who you are and who you wish to be.
Mistake 8
I really tried hard to please people. I wanted them to like me, to think highly of me, to speak highly of me. If your happiness depends on external validation, then your happiness depends on something you do not control.
Mistake 9
I took loans. Because I didn’t have money yet. And I kept telling myself, ‘But I will have money in the future. And that’s why it is okay.’ If you do not have the money to pay for something right now, you DO NOT have the money.
Mistake 10
I didn’t think subjective topics such as psychology, business ethics or human resources were needed or even important. Business is all about finance and marketing. Business is all about people. How well you know them. And how you treat them.
Mistake 11
I assumed if I speak well and speak confidently, it would cover up for the lack of content I have. You cannot lie on stage. The audience will always know what is within your heart.
Mistake 12
If people approached me with their problems, my job was to determine whether the problem was worth my time or not. And if it was, then my job was to fix it. Listening to someone without judgement or prescription is the most precious gift you can give someone.
Mistake 13
I need to have a plan. A plan is the only way to get to any point in life. If you do not have a plan, you do not have any chance of getting anywhere. To not have a plan and be okay with it is the best plan.
Mistake 14
I looked around and saw that everything was designed to make our lives comfortable. And so I assumed the purpose of life was to make life comfortable. Avoiding the comfort trap is the difference between who you are and who you could have been.
If I said something, wrote something, shared something, I felt dejected when no one cared, when no one responded, when no one commented. No one owes you their time and money. You earn it, every day, by the work you do.
Mistake 16
I had to make money fast, buy my parents that house, buy that fancy car, that vacation. I had to make money fast, to buy stuff. Money can buy you stuff. But the biggest thing it buys is freedom. Including freedom from stuff.
Mistake 17
I assumed if you work hard, really hard, you would eventually win. Working hard is the only thing that matters. What you work on is just as important as how much you work on it. Even donkeys work hard. Working smart is the difference between a donkey and a human.
Mistake 18
I blamed myself for being late in the game. At 29 I was jobless with no money, no plan and no clue. I remember looking at Mark Zuckerberg and feeling shitty! :) Everyone is running a different race. In fact, we’re not even in a race. We’re on our own paths. Some walk. Some run.
Mistake 19
I assumed my work would speak for me. If I did well, people would give me what I deserved and what I wanted. I never asked for what I wanted! If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Ninety percent of what happened to me in my 20s was because of luck. I am that guy who was at the right place at the right time and lucked out.
And as much as I am grateful for that, I wish I had known better.
Today I know, the 20s should be used to discover yourself, as against stabilizing yourself.
Meet as many people as you can, do as many jobs as you can, explore as many streams as you can. Find out what you are good at and what makes you happy.
And then spend your 30s doing that. I am embarrassed at who I was in my 20s.
The underconfident, people-pleasing, overweight, stuck on one path, bad with money, judgmental kid.
But I am glad I was all of that. Because now I know who I do not want to be.
‘I wish everyone could get rich and famous and everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that’s not the answer.’
– Jim Carrey
Mistake 1
I hired people with strong pedigree and great brands on their résumé, ignoring how they operated as people. I assumed their degrees would drive their success.
As you grow professionally, it is not what you know but how you deal with people that determines your success.
Mistake 2
I told myself that relationships can wait.
That call to my parents can wait. Saying ‘I love you’ to my wife and kids can wait. Spending time with them without my phone can wait.
I told myself, ‘I don’t have the time.’
Time is the only thing that matters. Everything else can wait.
Mistake 3
I managed everyone the same way. My way.
The way that was easy for me, scalable for me, convenient for me. If there is anything that should not scale with size, it is leadership. It should get harder for you to lead, as you grow.
Because people are different. They are not you!
Mistake 4
I felt having a second child would be a disaster. It would make me feel even more guilty for not being present as a father to our son.
When you don’t have anyone, you have your siblings. And that’s something you don’t ask for. Your parents give you that gift.
Mistake 5
I put all my savings into illiquid assets – real estate, startups. And when we went through financial turmoil, we lived like urban poor. Selling jewellery to make ends meet.
It is easy to cut a cheque. Only when you see money come of it, do you call it an investment!
Mistake 6
I assumed everyone’s definition of and motivation for success is the same. That of glory. That of respect. That of inspiring others.
Everyone has a different definition of success. And only if your work sets other people up for their success will you be successful yourself.
Mistake 7
After the birth of our first child, I felt I lost my partner to my son’s mother. I missed my friend, my confidante. Because she was always busy rearing our child.
It is only when both parents contribute in raising their child that they keep their partnership alive.
Mistake 8
I felt bad once all the awards stopped coming my way, after I started nearbuy. When I had an easy job at Groupon, I was spoken of. When I worked the hardest ever, no one noticed.
The awards are never for us.
They are for the positions we hold.
Mistake 9
I felt venture capitalists were in the business of building businesses together with the founders. And our interests were thus aligned.
Venture capitalists are in the business of entering and exiting businesses. And that often means the interests will eventually clash.
Mistake 10
I was convinced I would do well financially, if I became an entrepreneur. I would raise tons of money and be worth millions.
Never start up because you want to make money from it. The odds of making the same money through a ‘boring’ professional career is much higher.
Mistake 11
I assumed people would be okay if we laid them off and found them another job.
No!
Laying people off is rarely about the job.
It is about their self-respect.
Mistake 12
I maxed my credit cards, borrowed money from friends, delayed my payments, just so I could continue to maintain the lifestyle that I had.
I felt going down on that was a sign of failure.
Treating our lifestyle standards as a measure of our success is a sign of failure.
Mistake 13:
I thought that no one wants to be led. Everyone wants to do their own thing, so let them.
Not true.
Ninety-nine per cent of people want to be led. They want to be told what to do, and then they will go on to do their best.
They want to be led. Not managed.
Mistake 14
I allowed my irrational optimism about the future take over the need to be deliberate and thoughtful before making decisions.
I assumed an ‘everything will be ok’ approach towards everything.
Hope is not a strategy.
In my 20s, I dropped out of my PhD, finished an MBA, worked in consulting earning a lot, started up with some success, had founder conflicts that led me to leave.
At 29, I was jobless, with no money, no plans and no visibility.
But I learnt a lot.
In my 30s, I started 2 businesses, raised money, laid off people, made absolutely no money for myself and my investors, made poor people decisions, and wasn’t a good father.
At 39, I was again jobless, with no money, no plans and no visibility.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I am fortunate that my 30s were much better than my 20s, when it comes to the mistakes that I made and the impact they had on me.
As the decade passed, I realized what is truly important in life.
It wasn’t money for me, or fame or recognition.
It was the ability to do what I wanted to, without caring about what the world thinks of me.
I made a lot of mistakes on my way to arrive at this definition of success.
And I consider myself fortunate.
If it weren’t for these mistakes, I would still be an ill-aware 41-year-old adult, who knows nothing better than a 5-year-old does!
Reflecting upon my mistakes has taught me the most about myself.
I hope it does the same magic for you too:)
My failure résumé
I turned 41 in 2021.
Here is a list of things I have failed at.
My failure résumé
Getting into the IITs was a dream.
I tried it during my 12th.
Didn’t make it.
Not even close.
It was the first time I saw my father cry.
I am guessing he felt this would be the one that will get us out of our financial miseries.
I don’t know.
I never asked him why he cried that day.
I didn’t make it to any engineering college.
None that mattered, that I wanted to get into.
So, I decided to go for a three-year BSc degree.
From St Stephens.
I was rejected at the interview stage.
Dr Wilson said, ‘I don’t think you will be good in Physics.’
Tried again for the IITs while in first year of college.
Didn’t make it.
Not even close.
This time no one cried.
Not even me.
Maybe I knew it all along.
Once college was over, I decided to go to the IITs for my master’s in Physics.
Sat for the exams.
Didn’t make it to any, except IIT Kanpur, which called me for an interview.
Dr H.C. Verma asked me a question.
I didn’t even know how to begin to answer.
I apologized and left the room.
Began applying to the US Universities for my PhD in Physics.
Princeton was the top university that I wanted to get into.
Applied to seven universities in all.
Within a month, six of them had rejected me.
Joined the only university that accepted me.
One particular course’s final exam.
The professor asked the rationale behind a theorem.
I vomited the entire proof.
No errors.
Heard back.
‘Haven’t seen anyone remember this so well. I wonder how much of it you truly understand?’
Came back to India.
Everyone was devastated.
I was 24.
No money.
No plan.
No direction.
No career.
No education.
Decided to do an MBA, to change directions.
Sat for CAT, to get into the IIMs.
Didn’t make it to the interview shortlist of any of them.
None!
Got into Indian School of Business (ISB) (till date do not know how or why).
Figured consulting is what will give me the most exposure, considering I didn’t any experience to be proud of.
Applied to all consulting firms.
Everyone rejected, except Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and A.T.
Kearney.
Sat for the BCG interview.
The interviewer at the end of the conversation asked, ‘How much would you rate your performance today on a scale of 5?’
‘2/5, I guess.’
‘I’d agree,’ he replied.
For my first project in consulting, I was to build a detailed business plan for a real estate client.
I hated accounting.
And did a sloppy job of it.
Every draft was laden with mistakes.
‘If I can’t trust you with your work, it doesn’t matter how smart you are,’
my manager remarked.
Joined my MBA batch mate in his startup, as a co-founder.
I didn’t use technology to scale, kept fighting problems with my time, didn’t admit my mistakes, didn’t seek feedback, didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.
After a year he fired me.
He did the right thing.
I was 29.
No money.
No plan.
No direction.
Decided to take up a job and thought product management was the right role for me.
Applied to Google and Facebook.
Never heard back from either.
Decided to start up instead.
A food company.
Pitched to Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels. And 11 High Net-Worth Individuals.
Everyone rejected the idea.
At that time, I thought everyone rejected me.
Got the opportunity to run some of Groupon’s APAC markets.
Didn’t know how to delegate.
Didn’t know how to lead from a distance.
Didn’t know how to get results through others.
Failed miserably as a leader and manager.
Got the opportunity to buy Groupon’s India business by raising external capital.
Pitched to 23 venture capitalists across the world.
Twenty-two said no.
Launched a referral programme on nearbuy, without the checks and balances.
Lost Rs 11 crore in a month!
Thought the growth, even if unprofitable, would excite investors.
So money would eventually come.
Running fast out of money, we had to reduce our burn.
Laid off 80 people out of 300.
Stood in front of the company apologizing and crying.
I had failed everyone.
And myself.
In my irrational optimism we had signed up for a much larger office than required, after the buyout.
With no money, we began sub-leasing the office.
Once the lease expired, we had to vacate.
Leaving our tenants high and dry.
They thought we would never leave.
I did too.
Began the process of fund-raising again.
Pitched to 68 investors across the world.
Sixty-seven refused.
One gave us a term sheet.
And withdrew before we signed.
All this while, we took salary cuts to reduce our losses.
And my personal expenses were greater than the income.
I had no savings.
All my savings had been invested in nearbuy.
I had to borrow from friends.
Both my credit cards maxed out.
I had to keep my parent’s house as collateral to raise money for my sister’s wedding.
To gift Vidur a bicycle on his birthday, something he had been asking for a year, we had to sell Ruchi’s gold bangles.
We surprised him when he came from school.
He broke down.
So did we.
Despite my best intentions, nearbuy could not become what I had imagined it to be.
Investors lost their money.
People lost their jobs.
So many lost their confidence and trust.
I failed to make it work.
And realized I should not attempt to, any more.
I was 39.
No money.
No plan.
No direction.
A résumé is such an interesting document.
It is a showcase of all the great things you have done, accomplished and are proud of.
But it never talks about how you reached there.
The failures that got you there.
My life is so much more about my failures than any of the little things I have managed to accomplish.
For the first six years of his life, Vidur used to draw the family with me holding a phone in my hand.
That is how he remembered his father.
My parents didn’t hear from me for days, because I was busy. Trying to make amends around my other failures in life, not realizing that through this I was carving out yet another failure.
My investors and colleagues trusted me, with their money, their careers, their time.
And I failed to keep their trust intact.
I played with their money, their careers, their trust.
Always hoping that I could do something to redeem myself and get it all back.
But it didn’t happen.
And that is my failure.
And that is my story.
I am so so blessed to have lived my life.
Would I go back and change anything?
Most likely not.
I wish I had acted better, been better, done better in the past, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I am who I am because of these failures.
The scars that you wear on your body.
Don’t regret them.
Don’t hate them.
Don’t reject them.
They are signs of a battle you fought.
And even if you lost, the scars were left behind as a reminder of who you were and who you can be.
At the end of the day, when you undress yourself, the scars tell a story that only you know.
Don’t wish for more scars.
But surely be aware of the ones you have.
Perhaps one day you will be proud of them as well.
PS1:
It is easy for someone to assume that where I ended up in life (colleges, companies, investors, etc.) were not my first choices and hence were not the right choices.
That is not true.
I was rejected by everyone. But those colleges, companies and investors accepted me. They are no less in my eyes. Never!
PS2:
I am insanely lucky. So lucky that it shocks me at times.
So, it might be easy to conclude that all of this is humblebrag and I have actually enjoyed a lot of success.
My success remains unexplained. I cannot justify it nor can I claim it.
THANKS FOR READING EPIC BEING!
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