Under the load
of wisdom
we miss insights.
Under the load
of solitude
we miss love.
Under the load
of illumination
we miss the now.
Under the load
of driving
we miss moving.
Under the load
of deadlines
we miss the divine.
Under the load
of water
we miss the waves.
—Thus spoke the drunken monk.
Your belief that the project that you undertook will succeed no matter what the difficulty will determine the quality and to an extent even the quantity of the work you do for it. The negative story, the strong gut feeling that it will fail despite the effort, or subconscious doubts will hamper your chances of eventual success because you won’t work to your potential unless you believe in it.
Definitely not. Being a Dostoevskyian is sick and saddening. Why should any suffering have meaning at all? And we never search for meaning while we are happy. Is it to accept the helplessness and then seek some pride in it?
Friedrich Nietzsche says that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. But suffering rarely made any men stronger. Either they get used to it or become egotistical to accept that they too are weak and can weep.
Even after the Nth time, pain cripples us but humanity and so-called self-advertised strong men find it hard to swallow it.
This has a negative consequence—No one is seeking out help and is crushing their lives simply in the name of being stoic. This is a disease and a plague for us all.
They are dumping the waste into the subconscious and growing their Jungian “shadows” and society is raising sociopaths in the name of strong Spartans.
Acknowledging this can heal the sore souls and spoiled spirits. It’s time to stop searching for meaning in martyrdom and affection in affliction.
We all know the famous Rocky speech which he gives to his son about life and how it knocks you down.
The resilience and hard mindset of Rocky are truly inspiring and life-changing indeed.
I saw the movie when I was in high school and since then the wisdom has been around in my ears. Here are a few of them
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it.
You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you are hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!—Rocky Balboa.
This is perhaps the most inspiring line I’ve ever come across. Rocky teaches about the value of persistence. It’s easy to quit if you think about it. Life knocks you down with that business failure and you go on alcohol and drugs. That’s simple and a safe way out to your La-La land.
But to continue to dream and standing up is hard because it forces you to accept the responsibility and mistakes you made which almost and always shatters your ego. Being sedated is secure and un-troubling.
No one is immune to failure and has a vaccine shot to prevent hits that life throws at you. It’s part of the process and remember the world is NASTY and very mean. People will stab you and put you down unless you take the charge.
Drink that bitter cup of responsibility and be a champion.
“The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” —Friedrich Nietzsche.
This is probably the only idea that matters in your life. It’s not Lao-Tzu-type old irrelevant philosophy but a noteworthy one. Once decided, you can be whomsoever you can be and do whatever you can.
Gandhi was an ordinary lawyer but when he was kicked out from a whites-only carriage in Pietermaritzburg, the incident changed him completely. He changed himself into an activist to stand up against racism and subjugation. That change later liberated millions of Indians from the colonization of the British empire.
Likewise, Siddhartha vexed by life’s shallowness decide to change and sat under a Bodhi tree. Well, he became the Buddha by finding enlightenment and went on to be the light of Asia.
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” That’s what Albus Dumbledore wants you to hear to change your life.
“The journey is the reward.”—Steve Jobs.
Winning matters but what matters more is the process and the journey. Because the journey changes you like nothing else. Take Elon Musk and Tesla. Even if he had failed, his insane work had already transformed him and place him at the peak where the 1% are.
Suppose you worked for 5 years and the writing career didn’t take off as you expected. You still have less traffic and don’t have enough money. But think about your skills. Five years surely means something. Writing skills made you a better thinker and no one can articulate words as brilliantly as you can among your peers. And you can still go freelance or work for a magazine with that skill you got there in the mind.
Never think that all was a waste in the end. You never know how the dots will be connected in the future.
Hang on!
Nelson Mandela is the first black president of South Africa. But that’s just a Wikipedia fact. What we should think about Mandela is how well he lived his life, how he could heal his hating heart, and how he faced his fears despite life’s grueling setbacks and a prison term that would crush him and throw his dreams into an impossible pit.
His “Long Walk to Freedom” teaches how to be optimistic, how we learn to hate others, how a nation should act, and how to lit the kindness flame that burns in all our hearts. His life is a valuable book that one can learn if one opens the mind a bit. Here are the seeds that I value—
One fundamental error in our thinking is that we assume being courageous means no fear and showing a spartan face. But that’s far from true. Courage is coping with fear and waging a constant battle that we never win but only make sound peace with it.
It’s an honorable pledge that we take. Yet we cannot defeat. The example is the man himself we’re talking out. When Mandela was flying on a plane. The engine failed and everyone was in panic mode. His bodyguards were running around with fear. But Mandela was reading a newspaper with courage. But here’s the thing Mandela after the emergency landing admitted that there was a fear but he merely did not show it.
This shows that being courageous is a choice that we need to make and can never defeat like a big Hercules.
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear—Mark Twain.”
We never get
Either this or that
But
A choice hanging
In between.
We never get
Neither this nor that
But
A paradox moving
Up and down.
We never get
A personality or
An individuality
But
A docile identity
Buttered by both.
We never get
Kinky morals or
Dinky ethics
But
A badly blossomed conscience
Or deeply twirled dilemmas.
We never get
A hulky heart
or
A bony brain
But
Just a sad belly.
Ah—
Black or white?
I wish it were that simple.
—No black and white
This is a poem I wrote a while back that captures the idea well. Life is neither black nor white but grey. We need to accept the contradictions, the ifs, and buts, and tread along.
Nations accept this. For example, it cannot follow ruthless capitalism or ruthless socialism. Hence they balance out like China by following Market Socialism.
Life is an ethical dilemma with not a yes or no. But a yes-no. No wonder, Soren Kierkegaard remarked—
“I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
We know the famous quote of Mandela—
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
But the idea of Mandela is much more than that. Education brings out the best in you. It’s the best weapon we can use to battle against the raging hate in our hearts and purify ourselves.
That’s why he inspired many prisoners to read and as they say— He turned the cell blocks to study halls and made Robben Island a university.
And education, Mandela believed, saves democracies, protects the rights of people, and tames unethical leadership of so-called good men and women. As hatred of immigrants, blacks, and the vulnerable are on the rise and people easily fall prey to a demagogue, education is the stick to control it.
and about education and personal development, here’s what Mandela says—
“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.”
Pick out that book on the kindle or if you prefer the old way, then the shelf.
Craig Wright is a music professor at Yale University. Despite a good work ethic and crossing 15000 hours of practice, his piano career didn’t take off as he expected and didn’t end up becoming a genius. He couldn’t become a Mozart, so he studied him. Trust me, he studies for over 20 years. Then interested in it, he started to look into other geniuses like Leonardo da Vinci and the list went on. This led to his now remarkable book—The hidden habits of Genius.
Here’s the wisdom of it—
Craig came with a formula to define genius. It is G= S*N*D, G equals significance(S) of the degree of the impact or change affected times the number(N) of people impacted times duration(D) of the impact.
It is clear that Craig classifies a person as a genius only when his/her idea impacted millions of people and the wide world for a long time. In other words, he prefers Alexander Fleming over Kim Kardashian.
Habits of Genius
Gifts are given and you might have innate talents but they automatically won’t make you a genius. Becoming a genius takes an immense amount of hard work and discipline to use your talents.
“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.” —Michelangelo Buonarroti.
In short, there are no lazy geniuses.
This is because when you are a woman or from a minority community. You need to cross social barriers, no matter how insanely gifted you are. This can disappoint people but this is the truth. Jane Austin had to publish Pride and Prejudice anonymously to get through. This is not some old societal notion but a modern one too. J.K. Rowling was told to disguise herself as a man.
“As long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking.” —Virginia Woolf.
Things are changing but upcoming geniuses need to cultivate mental resilience to face the world that is not a bed of roses yet.
“The difference is that geniuses create. They change the world through original thinking that alters the actions and values of society. Prodigies merely mimic.”— Craig Wright.
The point is geniuses create new and innovative things, solutions or a groundbreaking theory. Einstein, Mozart, Darwin, Gandhi, Picasso, all were “the originals.”
Work to create something novel and connect the dots like never before and you will be on your way to be a genius.
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” —Albert Einstein.
Why child-like imagination especially? It’s because their imagination has no barriers. Mary Shelley, J.K.Rowling, Einstein, Picasso, Darwin, Walt Disney all built castles in the air and played with the ideas with insane imaginations and visuals. No wonder Charles Baudelaire commented that Genius is only childhood recovered at will.
Leonardo da Vinci has been called the most relentlessly curious man in history, Marie Curie was puzzled by radiation and Nikola Tesla even shocked himself.
Benjamin franklin, Charlie Munger were all bookworms, book-eagles who hungrily devoured the knowledge. And Elon Musk ran out of books at the school library and neighbourhood library at age 10. Sometimes he use to read 2 books per day!!!
So sign up for that EdX course or take that masterclass subscription you have been thinking about and be a learning machine.
“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” —Robert E.Lee
Geniuses are rebels who try out new ideas and can diverge from popular opinions of the time and they have cross-disciplinary thinking.
They can mix STEM with arts and humanities and cross-pollinate different fields and their ideas. This allows you to have multiple tabs open in your mind and we can draw different gems from different mines.
And finally, don’t just concentrate but also relax. When you relax you get so many eureka moments. Hence showers are the best!
“All the really good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.”—Grant Wood. Go, take a walk.
Resources, Good Governance, Human capital, and even institutional development (Why nations fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson) till now to an extent determined the success of a nation and its economic growth and development.
But in the future, I think the “Attention Capital”, that is, the attention capacity and the capabilities of its citizens will tell us the trajectory of the nation. With attention spans falling off the chart to a minimum and some claiming even to be that of a goldfish, the promise of the future is bleak. With people unable to concentrate on their tasks, productivity and prosperity can be deteriorating.
If that’s the case, governments might launch yoga and meditation schemes for the poor in the future and so-called affirmative programs. That’s a hard nut to crack, I guess.
What if the primary skill in future resumes of the employees is the ability to concentrate and sit in a lotus posture for 90 minutes?
and the companies might hire a Spiritual CEO and a guru to guide their gullible employees.
My brother gave me “On the shortness of life” book to read a while ago. This book though a short one changed the course of my river. Seneca’s brilliant words pierced like a thunderbolt though I’m not a stoic as such.
I never knew that there was such a thing called as the “Art of living” until I met this great thinker. It inspired me, it brought an existential crisis to me, and in a way crucified and resurrected me.
And it also brought a sense of urgency to my hibernated-slumber life. And every page of the book washed my soul and put me in deep meditation and contemplation. Here are a few of them for you to burn the flame—
This sounds contradictory to the title of the book but this is the first truth that Seneca hammers on your head. He says—
“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill-provided but use what we have wastefully.”
We waste so much time on things that don’t matter or on things that don’t matter now. We feed on Insta posts, drink YouTube scrolls, and sleep on Netflix-ing. If that’s not enough, we binge-envy on others and reflect for far too long on why life sucks though we exactly know why it does.
In fact, we tik tok our lives and finally think on the deathbed—How has life gone by?
That’s why Lucius Annaeus Seneca pushes you to grab hold of your time and act like a mortal who is a simple slave to the silly fates.
“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”—Seneca.
This is a saintly saying if you think about it. Long life doesn’t mean we add more numbers to our life but add more meaning to them. Consider Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who was hanged at 23 or Bruce Lee who died due to Cerebral edema(That’s what Wikipedia says) at 32, they didn’t become oxygenarians or nonagenarians but their life was well spent.
Both changed the world in ways we cannot. And that matters a lot. The mere existence and sleepwalking to our tombs won’t do any good either to us or anybody.
Every living minute of our life should have some wonder and awe like a shining star.
I’m talking about intellectual parents, not birth parents. Seneca says that we can choose to be educated by brilliant minds and great thinkers of history.
History is full of philosopher kings and queens, realists, and stellar rebels who can teach us a lot. In other words, you can choose your mentor and be a mentee by sitting in libraries or swimming in the pools of wisdom.
Pick the classics and have talks with Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Hannah Arendt,and Simone de Beauvoir and forge yourself under their guidance and light.
“You should rather suppose that those are involved in worthwhile duties who wish to have daily as their closest friends Zeno, Pythagoras, Democritus and all the other high priests of liberal studies, and Aristotle and Theophrastus. None of these will be too busy to see you, none of these will not send his visitor away happier and more devoted to himself, none of these will allow anyone to depart empty-handed. They are at home to all mortals by night and by day.”—Seneca.
This is the true “Walking with the dead,” we all should do.
Brendon Burchard is regarded as the world’s leading high-performance coach and an excellent writer who topped the New York Times list of best-selling books 3 times. He is often quoted, googled, watched, and googled on the internet by productive bees who want the best in their life.
His online courses and videos crossed millions and Oprah Winfrey consider him as one of the most influential personal growth gurus of all time. Most people know him through the Brendon show, a wonderful podcast if you want to listen.
There’s a ton to learn from him and here are a few of my favorites—
Brendon says that most people never own their ambitions 100%. This is a powerful idea and a truth. We usually own it a 50-60-70%. For instance, you want to write a book, run a blog, make YouTube videos and inspire millions of people online and you invest your resources and time in it but we do it half-heartedly. We don’t accept it but deep down you know it in your bones. I failed many times to do hard things like building a rock-solid body, and write a novel. Sure, there are many reasons why I failed but after a lot of reflection, I think Brendon is right.
With just 60% ownership and liking, dreams are hard to come by. So never do this mistake. Chase your dreams only if can own them 100%. Here’s a nugget for you—
“personal power is directly tied to personal responsibility, which most people avoid.”(Brendon Burchard)
Brendon comments that guilt is a sign of learning and the first indication that you have a growth mindset. Trust me if you don’t feel guilty after binge-watching that Tv series all night, there’s something seriously wrong with you. If you failed to make that blog post deadline possible, you should think and feel about it. That’s how you realize what your next baby steps are.
I always feel bad when I procrastinate on my Wednesday essay day. But guilt makes sure that I write the next day itself. Own guilt and achieve your dreams by course correction.
“You have a clean slate every day you wake up. You have a chance every single morning to make that change and be the person you want to be. You just have to decide to do it. Decide today’s the day. Say it: this is going to be my day.”—Brendon Burchard.
Every morning is a choice to bring positivity to your life. No one can come inside your head and clean it. And positive thoughts won’t come unintentionally. You have to do it deliberately. That’s because the human brain is hardwired to create fear and anxiety. So the machine’s job is to constantly chase you down with 0% probability issues.
This man is worthy to be followed and taken note of him. Go ahead. Great ideas can move you, only if you let them.
Some pills are hard to swallow but only once they get into the system can we grow high in life. We all want to touch the sky and get into that 1% league, for that more than anything we need to first embrace their mindset and then the skill set, heart set, and spirit set, as Robin Sharma puts it in his “5 A.M.Club.”
These truths are not for doubters but for ready embracers who are willing to find their “Ikigai” in life and get unstuck of the rut they are in.
They are discomforting to the core and can unleash mental rewiring.
Nonetheless, if you are someone who can and want to endure short-term pain for long-term pleasure, then they are for you.
Nicholas Klein, a trade union activist, said in a 1918 speech, saying, “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments for you.”
The world is full of Skeletors who want to pull you down no matter what you do. It’s a lifelong tussle and hassle that never stops. Get this into your head—you will be judged even when you do the noblest of things in the universe.
Even if people don’t do that, circumstances will belittle you. Bad finances, bad health, and unsupportive partners all come like a storm ready to lift off your pale foundations.
Your baby steps will be hunted down and stopped like highway patrol police. You want to chase your dream but your boss nags you with deadlines that don’t matter.
No, energy will not support you either. You are not a sun to constantly get the support of photons to shine on. And you won’t find any ladder that can pull you up.
The fact is this B.S. doesn’t stop and you should bury this truth deep down in your neural space. The law is—things get worse and worse just at the time when you feel that things are getting a little better.
The good thing is you are not alone and you never will be. Even Buddha had got meditation issues. So when you can’t justify that headspace subscription, don’t worry.
Johnwick has them, Thor has them, and Thanos had them. They all struggled and are struggling to get what they want.
Your job is simply to find a way around, find that little start around that problem. This is not idealism but very very practical. No matter what, it’s your job and your job alone to pull off that rose-tinted glasses and search for a solution like Tintin or Sherlock.
This is easy once know that—
1)Storms come at you
2)I should not be surprised
3)I Simply need that one way out and one hook that I can hang on to.
Look, it’s a skill that we master over time. You need to be aware of this. Only after the Nth time we get knocked down, do we scrape the surface of it.
Put that helmet on and you will be safe.
You never get to choose in life. I’m not talking about your coffee or clothing choices but the life-changing ones, if you know what I mean.
You prepare for the test but the questions are off the chart. You do an all-nighter yet the presentation doesn’t impress the clients.
You think merit alone matters but injustice waits around the corner wearing many hats—racism, harassment, and whatnot.
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” That’s Lao Tzu for you. Yes, the old man got the message.
Accepting what is, is not some esoteric-philosophical-fresh from self-help book wisdom. The point is you cannot do anything else.
Yes, we need more money in the account. That’s not happening anytime soon. Yes, you were promised a promotion but it slipped away. And Yes, you of all people deserve a big success but I’m tired of using buts here.
It’s more than clear now that reality differs from movies and fairy tales.
Chris got it in “The pursuit of happiness” finally, however, it’s not for us.
What should we do—save the ranting for yourselves and save the mental energy. Whining and Weeping hard only makes things worse.
1)Correct flaws, if any.
2)Wait for the next opportunity.
3)Stick for a long time. In other words, the “Persistence.”
Mentors won’t come for you. The dream job won’t fall in your lap and no leader or government will come to save your little ass.
As Winston Churchill remarks—the price of greatness is responsibility.
No Jesus is coming out to change these bad fates for you. It’s been 2020 years and that’s long enough proof for you.
The employer won’t magically recognize your work and give that raise that you’ve been eye-balling. The point is you alone are responsible for your growth. No devil demon is haunting you and no sweet angel wants to help you either.
Accepting this is kind of liberating. And no need to search for blame-shifting. Recognize that you are the trouble maker and it’s you who sabotaged it.
“Only you can pull yourself off the hell.”
“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future.”—Fulton Oursler.
This self-crucifixion doesn’t move the needle much. Yes, you couldn’t put the efforts that were needed into that job interview and yes, you couldn’t read much when you were supposed to in college.
But that shit happened like aeons ago and you’re still pity-partying over it. Now, that kills your now and future. Do you really think your ideals made this far without mistakes? Are you really that naive?
No one rejected you, they rejected your idea in that sales pitch. No one said “No”, they said “No” only to your mediocre version. How you handle it depends entirely and almost entirely on your ego.
Use the rejection to bring out the best in you.
“Diligence is the mother of good luck.”—Benjamin Franklin
Only by regularly working and knocking on every damn door you can find makes you lucky. This means getting lucky is some very ass-hardening stuff.
Newton saw the apple and could find gravitational stuff only because he’s been into it for years and aha-moment came to him when that red thing fell on his head. That’s it, I promise you there’s no divine intervention here.
Inspiration comes only through perspiration. So, don’t get fooled when someone utters the word inspiration from their shiny mouth.
it’s very logical if you can wrap your head around it.
Blogging ideas come only when you constantly blog. The interview offers come only when you apply for lots of them and do your networking thing.
Finally, I leave this hard burning quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson so that your hearts never find sleep
“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”
Thy Vox 