Shashank's Thoughts

Life is a marathon, not a sprint. This cannot be better explained than looking at the current state of your peers who were quite popular in school. For most of us, that weren't outstanding in any domain during the childhood, these popular kids were the pinnacle of success. Popularity is not limited to academia - it could be sports, communication, leadership, ability to make friends, setting trends, winning prizes and so on. There is always a group of kids in school and college that are more successful and popular than others. How did it feel to be average and mediocre during those days. It sucked! People like me were just followers akin to an audience in a concert that has an identity as group but not as an individual. Take out one of us from the group and it would make no difference. Add 10 more, and the result would be the same. Popular kids are like salt in a dish, if you don't have them, you notice it instantly. The popular kids made our choices look bad. I don't blame ...

Few years ago, while shopping for my wife's phone, we walked into a store, checked out a few mobile phones, liked one and then paid the amount. It took us about 20 minutes for the entire thing. Choosing a phone was easy - physical stores had an array of collection and models were limited. Nobody cared so much about specs or the weight or the display brightness.  Fast forward to today in 2023, I  have spent almost 3 weeks now trying to decide the best mobile to purchase. Here's why: Too many models  - There about 1000 mobile phone launches every year. Some companies launch 2 versions of the same model in the same year. How on earth can one decide which one to buy? Too many reviews - Youtube and tech blogs review almost every new phone that lands in the market. The more you watch and read, the harder it becomes to pick one because let's face it. I don't want to make a $800 mistake. Lack of physical stores - Most phones are listed online. I wanted to select iphone 13 so, I...

After several weeks of contemplation, I came up with this. Instead of living you life like you have something to win, live your life like you have nothing to lose A lot of pressure and stress in our daily lives is not living up to our/others' standards. Right from the childhood, we have been told to chase wins - be it the grades in school, the job you should get, the person you need to be, the promotion you need to get etc.  What I noticed is that besides stress, I started to take fewer risks in life - keeping your mouth shut in meetings, passing newer opportunities, ignoring the unorthodox paths etc. And inspite of having done all, when you get rejected, the whole house comes crashing down.  But, when you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to lose. I now take more risks, talk more often in meetings, have let go of my hesitation and feeling absolutely no stress at all. The feeling in surreal!  I wish this was taught me 20 years ago.