Saturday 21 April 2012

39 learnings so far : My life @ 39


1. The best thing that ever happened to me; I was born into a middle class family, struggling for meeting the daily ends, it taught me to be grounded in life and gave me fire in my belly

2. Year 10 to 18 were the most formative years of our life, if we remain focused and disciplined during these years, we definitely can have a great story to tell for the rest of our life

3. The school of my life was my home, the best teachers my parents and I realized this once I became father

4. In order to have fire and passion in life, its important that we go through the fear of dearth in life.

5. Fear of sleeping hungry and fear of losing our house, made me work very hard in my early years of life (between 14 to 18 years of my life), what I am today, I feel, that fear has played a very important role! Its essential we go through that fear, the earlier the better!

6. Initially society did create loads of pressure on me as a teenager, to hide my poverty. I had to constantly keep proving that I was not poor. Never bow down to such pressure, it breaks us from within, pushing us into inferiority complex.

7. Intelligence is important, but mere intelligence will not take us anywhere, we need to have Emotional Balance and Emotional Quotient to be successful in exams of life.

8. I feel, besides knowledge, Trust, Openness, Respect, Perseverance, Courage, Empathy and ability to work in a team are key for one’s success

9. We need to dream, early on in life, dream big, do an imaginary competition with the rich and successful, draw our own targets and that too very early in life, they all have very high probability of turning into reality

10. We can only become as big as we can dream, so we need to dream big

11. During the formative years of 18 to 23, try and live away from your family, do your daily chores, earn your money to pay fees and maintain your own expenses – this I think is sure shot route to successful life

12. Talk freely to God! He listens to us, talk our plans to god and ask for the way forward, in fact God is my best friend in life.

13. Respect and love our parents, there is no alternative to it and no short cuts. We need to take care of them at any cost. We can never be peaceful (though we may be successful) if we don’t take care, love and respect our parents

14. Success without peace of mind is meaningless, so always weigh success on the scale of peace, if we are successful but have no peace, its more than sure we will burn out and wont be able to enjoy the fruits of success

15. Create an optimum mix of friends, from both the genders, from various age groups, from various profiles and from various strata of life. Never just stick to the same age group or school friends or office friends

16. Key learning of my life is: first help yourself and then help others. Helping others should be a key attribute of our character

17. Courage is one element, which has taken me places, without courage our growth (if at all) will be accidental

18. Ego kills, at times ego eats me from within, my character, my soul, my mind , my relationships and ultimately my life. I am in the process of killing my ego! We are nothing in this whole set of things

19. I was materialistic when I started, I was passionate of achieving material success, but then we need to be ready to renounce it when we start accumulating more than our needs

20. God has given us and will give us as per our need, and not greed. Always maintain a clarity of thought between need and greed

21. We have come un-noticed in this world (at birth) but do something that we don’t go to our heavenly abode un noticed, always try to contribute towards development of humanity

22. I have learned, the one who has life will sure die one day! So we all should remember and be aware of the fact that we ought to die one day. Be prepared for your death any day, any moment

23. Once we have had enough for ourselves, the next best thing we can do is to help educate children. Education is the best form of donation. We all should try and create means to educate as many children as we can from within the society

24. Professional qualification is key for a successful and stress-free life, no matter what we want to do in life, if we acquire a professional degree and qualification we will never falter in life

25. Don’t marry or fall in love before completing your studies and achieving your professional qualifications (this applies for both men and women)

26. Work hard, there is no other alternative, we are susceptible to competition at every stages of your life. Never see ourselves as immune to challenges and risks of life, life is a great leveler, one day we may be a king with all the powers and other day we may be reduced to be a beggar. So work hard at every stages of your life, whether you are a king or a normal middle class employee

27. Let go in life, don’t carry the baggage of emotions and pains and failures in life, it will pull you down. What has happened has happened, let the past not ruin your present and disturb your future. Let go!

28. Inculcate the sense of gratitude in life, towards God, Parents, Teachers, Elders, Friends, Society, School, Employers and whoever has impacted your life. Gratitude liberates you, renders you free

29. There is no harm in borrowing or asking favors at times of need, important is you remember them all through the life and give back to them and to the other needy people as and when you become capable.

30. The true sense of Happiness is in giving and not accumulating. Hoarding wealth, ideas, opportunities, information and knowledge will suffocate you from within, will ruin your peace of mind. Give as much as you can and in as many forms you can, I bet you will sense the true meaning of happiness.

31. Health is wealth. We need to take care of our body, mind and soul. Keep all the three healthy. Spend at least one hour out of 24 hours on your health and at least 10 -15 minutes daily on cleansing your soul and mind. Practice Silence / Meditation

32. Short Temper has harmed me a lot, I have lost lot of good friends, relations and respect due to my anger and short temper. Anger burns you from within, it will render you sick, mentally and physically. Anger really doesn’t help. Be polite and be calm.

33. All challenges in life are manageable and surmountable, we need to desire for the solutions, have faith in our abilities and should not compromise on our hard work. The truth is that challenges make you a man! Never be wary of challenges, face them head on.

34. Whatever you do, wherever you go, whoever you become, remember one thing its God who chose you to be what you are. Never lose your faith in God, the almighty. The super power. Surrender your self totally towards him: Nothing of me, everything of you!!

35. Be happily dissatisfied! Create new benchmarks, touch new heights and add value to the society, its never enough as long as you apply the above learning. There is so much to be done on social cause, so many people need you and your value beings

36. Be open and true to every one we deal with in life, Truth brings unimaginable peace of mind. First, be true to one-self and then learn to be true to each and every one we deal with. Truth and Openness, cultivates Trust. Relationships thrives on trust

37. Never make fun of others, each person has his own story, his own misfortunes and his own problems. Respect each individual for what they are and give them space for their own thoughts and beliefs

38. Life always gives a second opportunity and then the third, never miss an opportunity in life, they are so important for our growth

39. At the end of the day what matters is, how many faces smile, every day because of you! That’s your real wealth, your real reason of being alive. Be happy and make as many people as possible happy!