Don’t be vulnerable.

This is a learning that I’ve acquired over the past few months. I’ve come to observe that I lose all things that I’m vulnerable/unsure about. Be it personally or professionally.

Isn’t it with us all to get insecure about things. It’s somewhat common in most of us. Many get insecure of their partners or job or life in general. The feeling that we’d lose it tomorrow is always there.

But as said in the book “Secret”, we attract what we think. If you think you will lose, you are right. If you think you will win, you are right again.

That means, the moment we get insecure/vulnerable which is negative thinking, is the exact moment when we start attracting negative consequences.

The opportunities I thought I would fail to catch on to were the opportunities I lost. The opportunities which I believed I could get into were the opportunities I actually got my hands onto.

Hence, I try to give my best and remain optimistic about the results. I’ve seen extremely unlikely things happen in my favour just because I had a belief that it would go right. I really want to put those instances here but that would make this blog long.

So I’ll leave you with a one liner.

YOU WILL LOSE IT IF YOU THINK YOU WILL LOSE IT. WIN IT ALREADY IN YOUR HEAD.

-ChoubeySahab

Adapting to change.

This is one skill that you just can’t do without in the 21st century. I’m saying this from personal experience.

Every now and then you will require to make changes to how to live life. What your day looks like. All of it will need to change at some point.

But afterall it’s in human nature to resist change. So it’s nothing easy to do but is definitely important.

If I give you a personal example, I recently got a remote internship at a startup based in San Francisco, so I’ve to work during the night hours. But also during the morning I’ve to work on my own projects, meet different people, attend conferences and after all this ensure that I’m not neglecting family.

It sure looks super cool when you first read it. But you know what, I had to to totally overhaul my sleep schedule because of this. I’m someone who never compromises on sleep. I didn’t even stay up late during my school exams even though I had not prepared fully. Maybe that’s why I failed most of them but that’s a different story.

I still try to not compromise on my sleep. But now I sleep in chunks or maybe around early morning. The way I used to sleep a week back was totally easy going. But now it required change.

Even you will come across stages in life when you will require to change. Your lifestyle will require to change. If you wake up late in the morning, tomorrow there’s a possibility you will be required to be up at 4 for your new job.

Acknowledge that you are resistant to change, everyone is, but don’t give up on it. For it is one skill that you’ll need to embrace in the 21st century.

Find comfort in change.

-ChoubeySahab

Media being Anti-national.

The recent developments between India and and Pakistan are nothing good to watch. The situation being extremely delicate, I expected a much more mature approach from the Indian media. But these news organizations value nothing over viewership not even the security of the nation.

I’m writing this piece to make it clear to the Indian media what I do and do not expect from Indian media. Firstly I do not want minute by minute coverage of what is happening at the border. I also don’t want/need to know what is the preparedness of Indian armed forces. I trust them beyond life. I don’t want you to shout on TV what should and should not be done. And for God’s sake don’t hold a debate around this by calling spokesperson from opposing parties. For once let us stand United.

I want you to respect the information about the Wing Commander in Pakistan’s custody. Don’t bother his parents or co-workers. I don’t want to know where he hails from. He is an Indian lion and that’s all that matters.

I see many media houses trying to sensationalize the whole issue and to spread hate for Pakistan. Again something I would not expect from Indian media.

Also, why the heck did you need to put out the names of Jets and bombs India used to carry out the airstikes. I honestly don’t know how that piece of information will help me in my life. I could have done without all that information but you sure made things a lot more easier for the other side.

The only thing I want you show at the moment is the official press briefings, nothing more. Call back all those reporters from border areas, I don’t need “pal pal ki jankaari”. This nation stands first and national media has to respect this.

-ChoubeySahab

Be on the offense.

I don’t mean physical offensiveness or causing harm to anyone. All I mean is being proactive. Not just following orders but thinking what can be done better.

Most/all of us are trained to not think from the beginning, all we are taught is how to take orders. But you know why few are successful and most are not. It’s because most don’t know this secret that I’m just going to tell you.

The secret is that you have to make your own rules. Rules that will make you better, or the organization you work for better. This secret would sure sound easy to you.

But you know that’s the thing about words, they seem simple till the time you try putting them to action.

So how do we put this to action? How do we be on offense? How do we make our own rules?

To do this, you need to start thinking. And mind you thinking is not easy. It requires deliberate effort.

But thinking about what? Thinking about your actions, how can they be optimized. Then decide a course of action to make those optimizations.

When you start thinking about your actions and finding ways to make it better. That’s what I call being on offense. You don’t just take orders but think like a leader for what can be done better.

School doesn’t teach this and probably that’s why school is old school.

-ChoubeySahab

Should majority always win?

Majority wins is an accepted rule across the world. In elections, the party with the most seats wins. But is it necessary that the majority is always right.

A lot of Americans questioned this when Trump won. They believed that the majority was wrong. They strongly felt the need for a reelection. But majority has always won in the past and it can’t be questioned now.

If I try to see this majority problem in another context, it is very much visible in the gay rights activists. The majority even today feels that it is unnatural and wrong and they do whatever they can to demote it.

You would say no, most of us agree that gay rights need to be in place but that’s because you are living in a previliged environment. An environment which contains people with similar beliefs as you, who have the same knowledge and source of information.

There is a huge majority part of this world which is still unaware what gay rights stand for. Now again, how can we say that the majority is right while they don’t even have the necessary knowledge to make a judgement.

I believe we need to rethink this old rule of majority wins and give a weight to each ones’ vote. The one with more knowledge and life experiences gets a higher weight.

This would create and incentive for people to acquire more knowledge and try out new things. What you think about it? Won’t this work better?

-ChoubeySahab

You don’t need to feel like it.

One excuse most of us use for putting off something for later is- I don’t feel like doing it. With this statement we very conveniently put off something for later.

But the fact of the matter is that you don’t need to feel like it, you just have to do it. You don’t feel like going to school, college, office everyday but still you go there because it’s something that has to be done.

This applies to everything else as well. You have to complete reading a book but you don’t feel like reading. What do you do? You still read it and get over with it. You won’t enjoy reading but at the end of it you would feel great for having completed your task.

Another area where this applies is working out. Many, including myself put this off because we don’t feel like working out. But again working out is important for personal health and proper body functioning and needs to be done regularly regardless of how we feel.

The point you need to understand here is, how you feel does not matter and noone gives a damn about it. All that matters is what you have done.

Stop pampering yourself and get to work.

-ChoubeySahab

The more you read, the less you know.

This statement above sounds wrong. Doesn’t it? It should be “the more you read, the more you know” because obviously reading more should result in more knowledge.

But in reality, quite the opposite happens. The more I go on reading, the more I feel like I don’t know. This is because as I keep reading, I keep running into topics and concepts I do not know about and hence I feel the need to know more.

So reading more actually makes you read even more because curiosity fuels curiosity and curiosity fuels even more curiosity. Ad infinitum.

Conversely, the less one reads, the more knowledgeable he feels. This is why a person who claims to know it all is the most stupid of all. While the one who is most knowledgeable would possibly be feeling more curious than anyone else on this planet.

Put in simpler words, reading more makes you want to read even more which keeps increasing your knowledge and wisdom constantly and incrementally.

On the other hand, not reading enough or not reading can make one feel like a know it all. In other words, it can make you dumb and stupid.

You don’t want to sound dumb. What you gotta do? Read! Read on things that interest you, read on things you don’t understand, read on things that fuel your curiosity, read outside of your curriculum.

Read and read a lot. This is the only way you can avoid being stupid. Good thing about you is that you’ve already started, you are reading this blog presently. Kudos man! Just keep going.

-ChoubeySahab

There’s nothing like writer’s block.

We love giving excuses and when it comes to writing, the best excuse is the writer’s block. Writer’s block means a certain kind of block which is preventing the writer from writing.

After having written 1 blog everyday for more than 250 days now, I can say that it is just a myth and an excuse people use to not write. Though I would agree, that one can’t write good content everyday, but one can definitely write everyday whether good or bad.

If I tell you about my ownself, though I write a blog everyday but quality of the blog varies. Somedays it is really good on others it’s unbearable. But what’s more important is that I write, without judging my writing.

This is what I want you to start doing because writing helps you clear the clutter in your head. It refines your thinking.

You don’t even need to put it on the internet, just keep it to yourself if you want but write everyday. Write about anything you care about.

Take my words for this, you’d fall in love with writing and yourself onece you get started with this.

Wish you luck!! Start writing..

-ChoubeySahab

Why do we comply?

There are always a set of rules or societal norms that we have to comply with. Why do we take orders? Why can’t we just do what each of us wants to do?

To answer all these questions, we need to understand what is basic human nature. Basic human nature is to seek orders from outside and follow them. Why is this so? Because since our birth we took order from our parents, they taught us what is right, what is wrong, so it is only fair to listen and do as they say.

It is in those initial years of life that we get accustomed to taking orders. Then there comes school which plays it’s whole big part in making us compliant beings. Teachers give orders and even punishment on not going as per orders.

Now, it must be clear how from the very beginning we are being trained to comply. But why is it important to comply. Why can’t we make our own rules ones we grow up? These are all very valid questions but there is huge importance of compliance in a society.

If each one starts functioning in their own way then there will be no societal order. The society will not be able to function.

Imagine a group of people who decide to not follow the traffic signals. Will this not result in more accidents and hence more traffic jams. The whole mobility will come to a halt.

Clearly compliance is important. But it is also equally important to update the rules according to changing times. A traffic light of 5 minutes where there are no vehicles is of no point. It is important to decide the right rules in accordance with the prevailing conditions to be enforced, only then can a society function efficiently.

-ChoubeySahab

Feel the breeze!

Each day we are moving forward in our lives. Most are moving at a uniform speed. Covering around the same distance everyday.

To understand this better understand your routine. Like you go to college everyday, learn whatever college professors have to offer, spend time with friends, come back home, sleep. Next day again the same routine.

Or maybe you go to office everyday and follow the same routine. Clearly we are all moving forward. But are we feeling the air that we feel when the car is moving at a good pace with the window open and our hair going all crazy.

No we don’t feel that thrill in everyday life. Why is that so? Because we are moving at a uniform speed, not tinkering with our routine at all, life is the same everyday.

How do we fix this boring life? How do we move forward in a way that we feel the wind on our face with our hair going all bonkers?

There’s a way. It’s simple. You need to shift gears and accelerate. How do you accelerate? By changing the speed. Consider your daily routine as the speed of your life. Changing your routine for the better will accelerate your life and make you feel alive while also, if you change the routine for the worse, say start waking up even later in the morning, you would decelerate.

It works both ways. You want to move faster, then shift gears. Change your routine, install good habits into it and see how you start feeling alive.

Don’t live that boring life you are living right now, shift gears. Don’t just move forward, accelerate, feel the breeze!

-ChoubeySahab

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