Ten Lessons I Learned This Year
Lessons From Struggles In Life
Stick to an idea
It is necessary to stick to a single idea and bring it to life as hard as possible. People do not make progress in life primarily because they are unsure of the opinion that they are going with. Believing in an idea requires courage, determination, and the ability to let go of the other paths available to us in life. For a lot of people, that becomes a scary thought. However, one can realize the truth only when one completely submits to an idea.
Nothing changes without trying out crazy, non-conventional ideas
The world is a difficult place to live and make changes in. For every believer, there are millions of non-believers. The non-believers will impede your path and do everything to make you unsuccessful. Furthermore, all the common ideas that one can think of have been tried and tested. The good and the bad news is that they do not work (not in the original form). This leads to new opportunities that I can pursue and find new paths in. Therefore, it is necessary to try out crazy, non-conventional ideas and have the courage to back them up. There will be failures, dark days, dark weeks, dark months, years, or decades. Only those who can go through the journey can find the hidden jewels in the ideas out there.
Walk alone to build a new path.
“Two roads diverged in the woods, and I took the one less travelled by.” — Robert Frost.
These are the lines by the great poet Robert Frost. Building an idea will require work, patience, courage, and more than that, the ability to walk alone. The world will look lonely, but you need to fight with your trust and courage. You need to fight and learn to live independently. Success brings laurels but also isolates you. Solving a problem, finding a new path, serving a cause selflessly is harsh and can leave you with no material or emotional rewards (when amid the journey). However, those who understand know the game well.
The journey up is hard, but the summit is beautiful.
You are the creator of your life.
In this life, no one else is going to tread on the path for you. Your parents, family, friends can support you through the endeavor, but it is you who has to work and find a way out. The pain of walking through the fire and getting burnt repeatedly has to be done by you and you alone.
There is always, always, and always a way out.
Life is big, and there are many ways to approach a dream. No one has the right to take that dream away from you. When feeling stuck, remember there is always a way out. There is always a path that can lead you to success. Talk to people, read books, read biographies, learn a new skill, find leverage, reach out to your friends, well-wishers, mentors, coaches, etc. More than 100 billion people have lived on this planet. Indeed, many have gone through the problems you are going through and have found ways to get out of them. There is an infinite amount of energy, capital, resources in the world. One has to think clearly and align those to solve problems.
Genius without success is stupidity; stupidity with success is genius.
The world we live in has a massive affinity for success bias. It means that we listen to only those who are successful. Those who fail are looked down upon. However, it doesn’t mean that every success was the right path and every failure the wrong path to take. It is an intricately complex world that we live in. There is a thin line between Genius and Stupid, and no one can tell for sure which is which when starting in a journey. Therefore, you need to trust yourself and tread the path with courage. The journey will reveal what is what.
Every journey has its challenges.
There is no path without challenges. Doing nothing has its challenges too. So, why not try something worthwhile and aim to make a mark on the world. The challenge is not in the path but the psychology of the human condition.
It is our mind where we fight the battles, before they are fought on the fields.
So, worry not for the path you have chosen has pain in it. There is none with no pain.
Life is a short game, do what you care about
Unfortunately, and fortunately, we have been handed a game that is limited and played in a finite space and time. We are born alone, and someday, we will most surely die alone. Live this life with joy and find your peace and happiness in what you love. There are ways to find them. Intermittent failure and pain are a certainty in every path, unfortunately. Why not, then, fail to do what you love. If love to run, run;, love to read? Read, love to dance? Dance, love to study? Study; care about your family, be with them through thick and thin; care about science? Discover & invent — work tirelessly on a problem. This is a short game, my friend — enjoy it, and you will jewel; hate it, and find trash.
A moment of weakness can cause years of pain.
Be brave, fearless, my friend. A moment of weakness, fear, or anxiety can lead to a wrong decision, a decision that can put our years and years into trouble.
Tread with courage, truth, and optimism.
Every journey will present its troughs, the lows when we need to bring our best game to fore and fight; fight the battles. It will test your courage and the strength of your character.
Believe, believe, & believe.
“You got a Dream, You Gotta protect it. Period.”
Every dream starts from a thought. A thought is an experience wherein the universe talks about what is possible and what is not. Believe in the thought, the idea. It is a baby; nurture it, protect it. Ideas have started revolutions, created companies, led to technological innovations, medical breakthroughs, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to listen to the voice within. It will start as a whisper but hold the strength to change your life and the world. The idea matures as you take steps on the journey, and many more people start to believe in it. There will be ups and downs. There will be more downs than ups. That is the law of life. Every down requires courage and strength to come back from it.
Cheers,
Ravi
