The right questions

            Why does everything thrown up come back down? It’s simple, gravity; gravity forces everything to fall down. Why is there gravity? Because all objects in the universe attract each other so it’s just the earth exerting a force on everything on it. Why do all objects in the universe attract each other? I don’t know, because Newton said so? Or perhaps nature? I’m not really sure.

Let’s try another one, why do people pay unreasonably lots of money for concerts? Because they are fans. Why are they fans? Because they love music. Why do people love music? Because it is relaxing and food to the soul. Why is it so? Because it expresses innermost feelings loud and clear.  Why is that so? I don’t know, psychologists might be able to answer the question precisely but I’m concluding that is just human nature.  Its nature, the natural design we expect everything to behave .

            Its funny how a simple why question can end being a metaphysical one. What’s even more fascinating is that we more or less arrive at the same answer. The limit where we stop reasoning and just accept that nature has a design that rules everything. This finding has resulted to my conclusion that the question of why has no ultimate answer. We just have to live with that. Why do we have to mess up so many times? Why is life unfair? Why do we give up so easily? It’s simple, that’s just nature. I don’t think any essay or journal will satisfactorily answer that question,

            The question of how on the other hand is a nice one.  It has a clear answer and actually produces results. How can I become rich? It’s easy, work on an innovative business idea or rob a bank.  Yes, I’m kidding about the second option. How do I lose weight?  It’s also easy, exercise and get the right diet. How do I become successful in my career? Work hard and get connected. Clearly all answers to the how question can be modeled by a equation. This only makes these kinds of questions easier to answer.

            We spend most of our lives asking why, while we clearly know there are no answers. It’s just depressing. The question of how however is energizing. Every time I ask myself how something can be done, my brain gets to thinking: unwinding itself from the why-imposed doom. ‘How’ is simply one of those things that remind me that nothing is impossible.  Every problem has a solution, every dream can be a reality, all it needs is an equation and the right question.  Life is amazing, I don’t why, but I can definitely prove how.

From scratch...

Before 2007, facebook didn’t exist, I mean physically exist. It existed in one guy’s mind. It’s 2013 now and everyone is talking about it. Google Inc  was nothing but an idea before 1998. It was potentially the next big thing and its proving this in every way.  Thanks to the courage of Larry Page and Sergery Bin. William Kamkwamba and Steve Jobs were just ordinary people, people we would normally label disadvantaged. Somehow, they have become the people we look up to.

            If you have never heard of Elon Musk or Dr. Mamphela Pamphele, I’ll fill you in. They are simply amazing people who qualify to be super humans by all standards. The kind people who inspire you to be just about anything you want to be. Elon Musk is a entrepreneur, he is the founder of Paypal , SpaceX , Solar City and Tesla Motors. He is probably very rich but what draws me to him is his ambition to define the future. He is literally making spacecraft for NASA, on top of having the largest solar company in the US on top of being a generous philanthropist. When you think you can’t amount to any good, think twice, you can do a lot more than you think.

            Dr. Mamphela Ramphele is one other story, she is probably famous because she is a political activist but there is a lot more to her name, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Capetown, Managing director of the world bank and she has 18 honorary doctoral degrees from universities all over the world. Yes, I did mention 18 including a PhD in social anthropology. She is a superhuman by all standards. The interesting part is, all this started somewhere, from nothing but ambition and determination.  

            Life can be mean and tough and ugly, but I do love one thing about it, it doesn’t judge. Unlike humans who will criticize and discourage you, the universe doesn’t really care about where you are from. It gives chances to anyone ready to grab them.  Everything we see today started from scratch, every company, every building, every entity, just everything started with an idea. It’s the brave people like Dr. Ramphele or William Kamkwamba who manage to make history out of it.

            Carl Bard once wrote, “Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending.” I think he summarizes everything going on. It doesn’t really matter who you are or where are from. You just have to pick a spot and start somewhere, stick to the path and simply wait for results. Life is amazing that way.

Spread your wings...

Sometimes we just a little push,

A bit of advice, direction and motivation,

Good news is even as we rush,

Nature gives us free inspiration,

Many crawl, more walk,

As they are convinced they can do no more,

They listen to what others talk,

Consequently on opportunities they close the door,

You are as free as a bird,

A phrase so common yet unknown,

Freedom isn’t something you can trade,

It’s time to get your light glowing,

A little lesson I learn't from an albatross,

To hold on as defeat passes you by,

Whenever you feel helpless or gross,

Spread your wings and you’ll surely fly,

Inertia

Why do people say no? Why are people always reluctant to change? Why is it that we don’t share the same vision of success? Why are people so quick to judge new ideas, immediately label them as failures? I don’t know what philosophers have to say about it but I do know what physics has to say. Inertia: it is the tendency of objects to remain in whatever state they are in. When Galileo Galilei defined inertia he left out the part that not only do objects but also humans have inertia.

           

            Galileo is probably the one person who knows exactly how scary human inertia get.  For him it means standing up for the truth even if religious authorities oppose it. When everyone was comfortable with the earth being the centre of the universe, he dared proclaim that we were actually revolving around the sun.  He had to endure threats, bans and house arrest for the rest of his life. That’s just how ugly inertia will get. The silver lining is that its 600 years down the line and heliocentrism is kindergarten science. J .K Rowling was turned down by many publishers, because they thought no one would be interested in a magical world. She kept trying and now it’s a decade of Hogwarts school  of wizardry and witchcraft.

            People always say no, and it doesn’t mean they are bad people. It’s just human nature. We all fear the unknown. We follow routines because they are familiar and hence easy. No risk is involved. It takes time until new ideas sink in and these ideas will be supported only with persistence. Yes, when people say no, it doesn’t mean they are bad people; they just want reassurance that you mean it. They just want to be sure that you have overcome the fear and are ready to take whatever comes your way. You need a force, a very good reason to break inertia and get it moving.

            Someone once said, “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”  I don’t know who he/she is but I do know that he/she is familiar with inertia – lots of it. So, the next time you get rejection letters just know you have some convincing to do. You can live with success, but what you can’t live with are ‘What ifs’. It’s time to overcome inertia.

WHAT A WASTE!

         I don’t know much about you, I don’t know who you are, what clothes you wear, what food you eat or even why you are reading this. I do know one thing though, you are made of approximately 10 trillion cells. Not very exciting, is it? Well, here is one more; your brain is made of about 100 billion neurons. Yes, hundreds of billions, let’s just say you are a cellionaire. Maybe it still doesn’t mean anything now but what the implications of this number will surprise you.

         A single tiny cell in your body contains as many elements as 25 in trillions of units. Entrepreneurs do understand such an investment on one single entity is risky, unfeasible, in short not very a smart thing to do.

         You have computer in your body, a gadget that’s even more advanced than your cell phone to say the least. Cell phones are cool and smart; they do a whole bunch of chores in just a small box. Your brain is even more powerful; you could lose half your brain today and still be as smart. Your brain knows exactly what to do.

         So why won’t you believe it? Why won’t believe that you can’t make things happen? Let me guess…  Person A can do it better than me, Person B is a lot more efficient, Person C scored more than me and a whole trail of excuses. Comparison;  it’s one thing that we constantly do on a daily basis.  We compare marks, we rank schools, and we rate other people on a daily basis. It’s just in our nature to know the relative performance and sometimes it can be quite fun, but …

         We do know it’s not always fun.  It tends to paralyze our brains before we are aware of it. It tends to waste the myriad of cells the universe invested in us.  In no time the ‘monster’ will come creeping in. Competition is good, sometimes, if you want to break the world record of course. While you are at it, just remember that Albert Einstein didn’t leave a world record by being trying to be the smartest kid or by comparing his achievements with peers. History makers are not the ones who tried to beat everyone but those who challenged themselves. Success is as simple as finding your passion, working on it wholeheartedly and seeing through it no matter what. Am I being naive’? Not really. If you are trying to compare with others you will always be disappointed. There is always someone out there who will better at something than you. Be sure of that. Also be sure that you are different, there is no one in this world that is smart as you, as personable as you, as talented as you. That too is a fact. The truth you choose to believe is up to you. All I am saying is comparison won’t do you any good.

         I could go on forever about comparison but I would just blabber the same thing. It’s time to look into you, work on you, for you and do yourself good. Stop wasting the universe’s energy, some of us do care!

        

What they can't handle...

I'm always talking about how to deal with self induced negativity. Well, sometimes who we call 'friends' are not exactly friends and they become the source of negativity. When they do so...shoot them this poem and see how that feels.

I win, you say I got lucky,

I explain, you say it’s easy,

I’m praised, you say it’s just fate,

Really? Its now starting to sound like hate,

So, where are you, when I get ‘lucky’,

Why don’t understand what you call easy?

What do they say about you, when they praise me?

Dude, just let me be,

Brains I got it,

Talent I got it,

Beauty I got it,

Whatever I want, I get it,

The truth is I’m smarter than you,

Probably among the best few,

You can’t even dream of the places I’ll go to,

And I’ll shine with or without you,

Stop with belittling comments,

Instead of depressing mine, work on your identity,

Stop following on me, face your own torments,

Cause right now,  I’m way better than you, deal with it,