1) Life has no purpose.
We came from nothing. And once we are gone there will be nothing.
No one will remember us beyond a few years or decades.
And yet we will spend every second of our life wondering what people think of us!
2) Where you were born, who you were born to and when you were born, has the highest correlation to where you will end up in life.
Your opportunities, your privileges, your worldview, all stemmed from this lucky event that you had no role to play with.
3) Reading books will not make you smart.
Watching motivational videos will not make you driven.
Writing will not make your thoughts clearer.
We are not shaped by these things.
We are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves.
4) Whatever you are feeling today, will fade away.
No matter how happy you are, how sad you are, you are not going to remember how happy or sad you were.
Our emotions and feelings are temporary.
We think of them as permanent.
5) We know others through their actions.
We know ourselves through our thoughts.
So we always think we are right, because in our thoughts we know why we do what we do.
6) We struggle to love ourselves because we attach our self worth to what others think of us.
But we don’t control what others think of us.
7) Every parent learns on the job.
And most of them don’t do a good job.
8) Most of leadership is about creating competition.
Competition within teams.
Competition with others.
And if talent and capability cannot be competed on, the last resolve is to compete on identities.
“This is us. And that is them. We are different.”
9) We spend so much time thinking what they are thinking about us.
But they are not thinking about us.
They are just thinking what you are thinking about them.
10) There is no way to know if a decision is the right decision, before you take it.
And yet, that is what we spend all our time on!
11) Empathy cannot be taught.
Either you are born with it.
Or not.
12) We all accept the love we think we deserve.
13) Our mind is our biggest enemy.
But it is our mind that tells us that it is a friend.
14) The purpose of college is to explore yourself.
Most of us get lost instead.
15) We nod to show that we are listening.
But we are not listening to the opposite person.
Instead, we are listening to our mind telling us what to say.
16) It takes effort to find love.
It takes effort to feel fulfilled.
It takes effort to be fit.
It takes effort to be happy.
Which is why most of us do not have love, fulfilment, happiness or fitness in our life.
17) Power over others makes us feel good about ourselves.
And that feeling is addictive.
Which is why most managers become bad managers.
18) When we say we do not know what to do, we mostly mean we don’t what if what we want to do will work out or not.
We always know what to do.
19) We always have choices.
No one is ever stuck.
We are just scared to make those choices.
20) We get angry when someone says something bad about us, because there is a small chance that what they said is true.
Else we would never get angry!