What you see is NOT what you get.

     

Have you ever a bad feeling about something,  in the end it turned out to be good? Well, isnt that how we always feel about anything new? In fact most good things started out as bad ideas. Here are proofs that ideas plus a little faith in them produces good results.

All publishers (except Bloomsbury) had a bad feeling about JK Rowling's novels, simply because they were new. "No one would be interested in a wizardry piece of fiction. Well, Rowling's revenue at present proves that the bad idea was not to give it a try.

You know what else was a bad idea? Or at least wasn't a good idea at first? Electricity, Science, the Macintosh, you name it. Lots of inventions we have today started out as impossible's. With a little faith and risk taking there were turned into realities.

Point is, many things in life will seem like bad  ideas. Waking up at 6 perhaps, quitting your job, starting a project in the middle of the year or even  taking a break. It may appear as though doing such won't make anything better. Well, it won't, until you do it. Truth is, the future is completely blank and it is made by grabbing opportunities which are sometimes disguised as failures and risks.So the next time you are stuck on whether you should do it or not, just do it. The future you will thank you for it.

Life is not fair,.. (is it?)

Do you sometimes feel like the world's biggest problems are being dumped at you, all the time? The world doesn't seem, to care about what happens to you, no matter how much you try, you will always be back to square one. Well, the good news you are not alone.

At 21 Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with the motor neurone disease. Doctors gave him 2 years to live.Not only were his limbs getting weaker, but also his speech, In short, his life would never be the same again.  Not every 21 year olds would make such a transition gracefully, but up to this day Hawking is living proof nothing is too hard to conquer.

Often our first reaction to negative change is complains. What happened to the good life you had before? Life is not fair, why me? It is comforting to have that culprit to blame, and to know that it isn't our fault. But that's not enough. Life is amazing, but it isn't fair, at least not by the standards with which we measure its fairness. We are all different, we have different capabilities, personalities and tenacities. It would be unfair if we all had the same level of challenges. Stronger people of course get more challenges.

"Tough times fade, but strong people last." This saying never gets old. The next time you face a challenge, a problem, remember you are strong enough for it. It may seem frustrating at first but believe somewhere in your mind, lies the answers. Have an amazing week!

People don't know what they want

What if they don't like this idea? What if no one finds good use to it? What if it won't work? What if it isn't what they want it to be? What if the Wright brothers asked themselves these questions? The answer is simple, nothing would happen. There would be no aero plane, no computers, no train, no invention basically. You can already guess why.

People don't know what they want, literally speaking. An ordinary person in the 1900's  had probably dreamed of a flying machine but never had a full picture of what it should look like, for no other reason but the fact that it seemed too impossible to materialize. The Wright brothers already had a vision and plan, it would be insane if they considered opinions of ordinary men. 


Everyone has an opinion, whether they have the knowledge or not. These opinions are mainly influenced by experiences. No two humans have the exact same experiences so don't expect everyone to agree with you. As a matter of fact, many more will be neutral or disagree, that is until you surprise them. Stop talking and start doing. I once wrote the article reasons why you should listen, but the topic never gets old, so this is me saying the same thing in a new tone.


"People don't know what they want, until you show it to them."  Original words by the infamous Steve Jobs. A principle he applied throughout all his designs and probably the reason why Apple is so reputable. The only way to impress people is to surprise them. Point is, if you have an idea, you don't need anyone's stamp to approve it,  just go for it. Life is too amazing to wait.

When the time is right.

Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and perhaps next decade. What do they all have in common? Of course they are all in the future, and that they are always the perfect time, The perfect time to take that challenge, to accomplish that task, to try something new. We always have reasons for not doing it today and make assumptions why tomorrow is the best time. Maybe its 

There is the normal routine where one goes to college, gets a degree, graduates ,gets a job, and then perhaps a few years later is the right time to start a company. Not necessarily, a theory Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zucherberg and a lot other change makers share in common. They all quit college to start something, tomorrow wasn't an option for them. Now, am not advocating quitting college, I actually really love school, point is if you can do it then why wait?

Speaking of which, I was going to write this post tomorrow, then it just struck that this is what we constantly do. We assume that tomorrow we'll have more time, more money, less obstacles; what we don't factor in is the fact that tomorrow is just like today and it has problems just like today, probably more.


Pablo Picasso once wrote, "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone". Couldn't agree more, life is too short to leave stones unturned.If you truly believe in what you want ,there is never a right time.Don't wait for tomorrow to do what you can do today, life is amazing now,so live it like its your last day.

Speaking of plans...

           

 What do you want to be when you grow up? Remember that time when grownups asked you that question and you got all excited to reply? You didn't analyze your talents or compare yourself with anyone else, you just mentioned the career that fascinated you the most. I vividly remember those moments and my reply varied each year, from doctor to politician to teacher to nun, none of which am currently pursuing.

            We look around and everyone seems to have it figured out. What they want to be, how they’ll get there, how they are working to achieving it. Steve Jobs showed a knack for computers and entrepreneurship way before elementary school and got really bored at school.  Isaac Newton invented calculus in his university vacation. Albert Einstein showed passion for physics way before he got his first Physics teacher. This trend makes you think that great people are born not made, right?

            Not necessarily.  Leonardo da Vinci started out life as a painter; he ended being a mathematician, engineer, anatomist, geologist and all the occupations you can think of. Elon Musk’s first degree was in Economics, amazing how that turned him to an engineer/entrepreneur. These legends and a lot others keep showing us great people are actually made. Life is too dynamic to stick with a childhood plan.

             In a world that is always after definitive answers, we can’t always afford to be non-affirmative. But sometimes we just don’t need to be affirmative. What you can make of yourself is a combination of your talents, skills, beliefs and most importantly your experiences. In mathematical language I would say it is an integral of constants and time considering experiences are a function of time.  Maybe we can plan for a year ahead or two years, but it is okay to leave a 10 years plan blank, as the wise say, “Time will tell”.

            I don't know; that’s my answer. My answer to what I want to be in the future. It’s not because I'm too lazy to sort out and plan my life now, but because life is too amazing to live it as a written script. I think a goal is enough to get you through life. As Allen Saunders once put, Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. 

Have you met you?

Who are you?
Pretty easy huh? You are a student at X school/ university or a worker at Y company or a retiree, enterprenuerer or whatever titles we choose to define us these days. Like most people you might answer the question with the long list of skills and accomplishments listed on your resume; smart, hardworking, teamplayer and the list goes on. But are you really? No, that's what the world thinks you are, who you are goes way deeper than that.

You build these titles for a purpose, for self confidence, for money, for impression and that's a good thing. What's life without a little motivation?  Put these aside and that's the real you. Defining your identity is not as easy as it sounds, It is how you treat others when you don't need a thing from them, what you do when life isn't as amazing, what you do when your to-do list is empty. You might not like the idea of it but one day you'll wake up just you, no titles, no certificates, no fancy adjective, just you.If your identity is attached to these things then you are gonna have a bad time.

Isaac Newton always thought he was the smartest thing alive which he met until he met Leibniz. Someone else had discovered Calculus and that did not sit very well with Newton. As a result the world had to suffer through the energy consuming calculus controversy. Tycho Brahe, lost his nose in a similar fashion. Point is, catastrophe does happen when your identity is made with the wrong definitions.

 Look in the mirror, if you can happily describe that person then nothing will ever stop you from whatever you commit yourself to, you have a home to bounce back from.
The amazing part is you don't have sit hours just figuring that out. It comes naturally. So,  find that person, get comfortable with that person and you are sure to have an amazing life indeed.

You are not special ... until you believe you are...

So, being the only planet that harbors  life, Earth has to be really special. That's what I thought, in fact, before Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model, humanity believed we were so special that everything else should revolve us. Astronomy now reveals there is nothing special about Earth, it revolves around the Sun which is just another mediocre star in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Sun, an ordinary star, is in no special place in the Galaxy, neither at the center, nor at some influential periphery. To top that up, Our Galaxy is just another spiral galaxy in the universe, . Yet we still believe we are special ... actually we should!.

Our earth has had to take care of a lot to make sure we are breathing. It had to have oxygen, liquid water, the right temperature, the right atmosphere, the right magnetic field, the right distance from the sun, everything is just about right for you to calmly read this article.That is nowhere near ordinary, it is the definition of special.Whatever it is that makes us unique, is reason enough to believe we are special. It doesn't really matter whether there are other planets with life or if there are aliens that are more intelligent than us. The fact is we are here is enough to prove the point.
  Many a times, people succeed not because they are smarter or predestined to succeed. They made history because they believed, they believed in their work, their families believed in them and that was enough to make history. What did Dr. James Watson, Francis Crick, Richard Feynman have in common? Well, in addition to being mad scientists and winning Nobel prizes, their IQ's wouldn't classify them as geniuses. They had IQ's of ordinary men, probably less, but they did tremendous work for humanity, . They believed in what they were doing and stayed committed to it.
   I can paraphrase this post in 3 words; You are special.You are indeed special, if no one believes it then prove it! Your idea is special, if no else thinks so then convince them. Truth is, nothing is ever intrinsically special. Only after enough faith and commitment is invested does the candle begin to glow. You might not be the next Zuckerberg, or Bill Gates but you hold a combination that is priceless. Your talent, skills, mistakes, experiences are recipes of a potentially great person Sound too good to be true? Not really, you are indeed special, its time you believed that.