Learning from Everything

My blog posts have always revolved around the actions which one must take to get to the next level of greatness. But in this blog post, I am going to talk to you about a pre-requisite for the actions. To be very frank, there are many people who don't agree with what I say.  They say 'Rahul, it's not as easy as you think, it's not that facile to gather your concentration onto something which you don't really like to do. You don't know that from where I come, its really hard to make it to the rare-air league. Rahul, you don't know that the environment which I have is so mean that they will pull you down as soon as they realise that you are trying to get ahead of others'. Listen to me, here is the thing which you can apply, which will shield you from these pessimistic thoughts and emanate excitement from within you. So here's the word with which you've got to live by from today- Visualisation. You've got to envision your dream every singl...

Defining the problem Departing from the norms Deleting the impractical Developing the better Determining the best Designing the result And being the best you can be. I am sitting in my bedroom, having a hot milk shake on a cup which reads-Be brave, Be Bold, Be you. It really made me think about the importance of being yourself and being authentic. Every single day can be perceived as dismal, or you can weave it to perfection and extract every second to its fullest. At a time when a person is seldom trying to come up with some new ideas, a time when plagiarism seems to be the blemish of the mankind, you have the power to present something to this world which no one else can, apart from you. Even if you try to be like someone you adore, you will only be the second best. Why choose to be second-placed when you are so much more than that? Why not try to unleash the gifts which god has given exclusively to you?  Just read a quote of Warren Buffet- "There will never be a better you t...

I always give my best at whatever I do. I will not relent even if the obstacles seem to be ubiquitous. Getting back up from a failure has always been my instinctive reaction. I always treat others with respect, knowing that greatness starts with one's values. No matter who the biggest fish in the pond is, I will invariably hunt it down. I will demolish my competition.  Domination will be my only way forward. Perseverance is something which is embedded in my DNA. I will not allow my adversaries to break me, but rather I will persist and break free from them. I will hustle like a broke. I will put in the efforts as if I have nothing to lose. Today, I will set a standard for myself which will push me to greatness. Tomorrow I will work even harder only to smash the old standard to the ground and set a bigger one for me. I will not stop. I will not bend. I will work my butt off, until I get what I want.  I will do what's right, and not the ones that are easy. I wi...

Roger Federer, one of the most decorated sportsperson, holds the record of having the highest number of Grand Slams under his belt-18. Usain Bolt did something which no other person in the whole of mankind could do- he ran 100 meters in mere 9.58 seconds. I can go on writing about these great personalities for hours, but what I need you to understand is this: they were not overnight sensations, they did not become great accidentally, rather they strived for it, they breathed it, ate it and slept it. It is said that dreams are not those which you see when you are asleep, but they are those which doesn't let you sleep until you make them into a reality. Relentlessness is the trait which is common among all the greats. Famous footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo once said 'I have cars, I have money, I have everything. But you don't know how much sacrifice I had to do to get to the place where I am now. I had to be away from my family and had to go through inn...

It's been almost a year now that I've been in blogging. I really get happy when I find that my blog posts are loved and well received by many Indians, Americans, Germans, French, Polish, etc. I promise you guys that I will continue writing my blog as long as you continue reading it. I always think about ways through which I can help more readers and be an instrument of service to you all. For years I had been reading and writing self development articles before being a blogger. There were also days when I used to write short stories, though I have stopped writing those now. There were times when I felt that the things which I write should not be confined to my friends but also to other people who can read and enjoy my articles. Then I thought of creating my facebook account (which I deleted recently) where I can connect with more people and share my writings. But it didn't take me long to comprehend that facebook was a platform where people loved to see photos of other peo...

Not long ago, I went to my native place, Kerala via train, along with my dad. It was a 32 hour journey. Earlier, I used to spend most of my time sleeping which used to kill my time, or rather I should say that it wasted my time. But than I realized that there were many different ways through which we can spend our time while travelling, and they were certainly better than to sleep like a nincompoop. I started reading books during my travel time and made a small investment in myself. Although I won't say that it went on to reap massive results, but the result is very much visible.  On that particular journey, there was also a nun who was sitting with us. She looked calm as a millpond and usually looked out of the window, maybe to feel the breeze and to see the serene nature quickly getting past her. After having read many self development books of Robin Sharma and Dale Carnegie, I thought the best thing to do was to start a conversation with her which would help me to expand my kn...

Since a couple of days a question has been revolving in my mind. The question is-What happened to 'good'? During my childhood days, I used to hear a lot about the word 'good'. Whenever a person asked me the question regarding what kind of a person I am, I would always reply in a boastful manner to him that I am a good boy. We were all born and bought up in a place where 'good' manners were given the utmost priority in our lives. We always had a desire to become 'good' citizens of our respective countries. But now, after all these years, I feel that somewhere along the line, the word 'good' is losing it's significance. The word which was once considered as one of the best words, is slowly being replaced by words like'cool', 'great', 'amazing', etc. Now having said that, I don't mean that the replaced words are not decent. It's just that those words are being used more frequently than it should have, given the k...

I happened to read about a Spanish explorer named Hernan Cortes. He wanted to conquer the vast inland plateau of Mexico, for Spain. Now this Mexican empire was believed to have some of the greatest treasure of the world. Unlike in normal cases, where the warrior went all out with his troops to attack the enemy kingdom and forcing an immediate battle, Cortes took a different approach. He stayed there on the beached and awoke the souls of his men in the form of emblazoned speech. His speeches turned out to be so powerful that the troops' fear of failure was replaced by their hunger to become victorious. Still, the odds were highly against his men and faced an uphill task-scarce resources, deadly epidemic and a ferocious enemy. His army knew that if the battle does not go in their favor,retreat was always on the cards. To dispel this negative mindset and to replace it with a fuse of positive one, just a day before the war, he summoned on one his commander and ordered him to Burn the ...

Now the story is about a young man who wanted to be successful and make lots of money. He was going from places to places finding a better work to do and wanted to know the secret which made people so successful in their life. One day in his locality he noticed that people were continuously talking about someone. To satiate his increasing curiosity, he went to a person and asked about it. That person told him that a highly acclaimed guru had come to the town who is believed to have the solution to almost every problem. The young man got excited. He quickly went to the guru's place and said to the guru ' I want to be on the same level you're on'. So the guru said ' If you want to be on the same level I'm on, then I'll meet you tomorrow at the beach at 4 a.m. He was like 'the beach'? He said I wanna make money, I don't want to swim. The guru said ' If you wanna make money, I'll meet you tomorrow, 4 a.m. So the young man got there 4 a.m., p...

In this era,where most of the people are trying to chase materialistic pleasure,I was surprised to see some youth discussing about life and it's meaning.While I was walking past through them, I overheard them talking about karma, destiny and spiritual enlightenment.I stopped,went near them and I asked about the subject of discussion.They told me that they were discussing about life and it's meaning.Then, a short bespectacled boy with a blonde hair stepped forward and asked me the following question: I have seen a lot of your blog posts where I see you writing a lot about life and the qualities which one should possess.Let me ask you a kind of deep question,'What is the purpose of life?'  Suddenly, his mom came to call him and he went to his home as quickly as his question had approached me. Well, I thought about it and have finally come to a conclusion;there are two purposes of life: 1. To become a better person. 2. To help as many people as possible. Just thin...