Courage & Bold Moves

"Passion toh hai...but karne ki himmat nahi milti" remarked one of my favorite juniors from college.

How do we develop the courage to take bold steps in Life?

This same junior, and I, had worked together in college to build an alumni portal.

We kept in touch. When I graduated, he told me "sir aap ek startup khol lo aur uska CEO ban jao...since you're great with people, you'd make a great CEO"

I wasn't excited. Just took a note of his feedback.

While working at my first job out of colg, some seniors had offered considerable equity to join their core team. We built the Entrepreneurship club of the college together. I asked them "Why do you want me in your team?"

"Because no-one from the E-cell would say anything negative about you. You executed well, and plus, we'd be able to raise funding much quicker if you join us", they said.

"your passion for areas of your skill set, and your unwavering commitment towards E-cell have always appeared exemplary to me Rajat! :) though it might seem flattering, but you remind me of Naveen Bansal of Pitchers! ;) "

I wasn't excited. Just absorbed their feedback.

Fast forward two years - I worked with Acadview, heading the Operations for them. Acadview got acquired by Upgrad in the latter half of 2018. Within two months of moving on from Acadview, had gotten 3 full-time job offers without applying / showing interest to join anywhere.

"Rajat is like Mahendra Singh Dhoni.....even if he gets out at 0, his team is gonna win"

"Bro you're doing a really great job... you're putting whole team together. I never saw this elsewhere... that's how someone loves working with you"

"Yar aap apna kuch kaam khol lo...mujhe apke sath kaam karna hai..."

I've lost count of such feedback now.

Instead of joining Upgrad or any other startup for that matter, I decided to startup on my own now. Bold step?

I don't think so. Calculated risk.

If I win, great. If I lose, I'll learn a lot and have a great story to tell. Atleast, I'll be proud of myself for having given it a full shot. And, I'll have no regrets.

Nothing can be worse than not being able to realize your full potential, trust me.

You have to believe in yourself to be able to make bold moves.

How do we develop strong belief systems?

By doing enough things. Failing, but, winning enough times. By paying attention to feedback, and by knowing and understanding yourself more than anyone else.

Do you want to know how you can discover yourself and be more self-aware? (in-depth?)

You can now grab a copy of my book on self-awareness (titled 'Trapped') from Amazon - goo.gl/RKJG3W

Look, everyone gives gyaan when they are successful, and you'll follow whatever they are saying to try and be more like them. But, whatever has worked for them, might not work for you.

What works for you? Find out before it's too late.

10 years from now, we'll be having the same conversation. But by then, I'll know more about myself, and you will ...?

Don't be a part of someone else's plan. Invest the time to know yourself, and create your own plan.

My 2 cents. Cheers!

P.S - I'm looking for part-time project based gigs, if you have any - PM me :)