I met Ankur Warikoo for the first time!!! Read what I learned from him

I had a fantastic opportunity yesterday to attend a Live session by Ankur Warikoo and got a picture clicked with him.

He shared his career journey, from his Ph.D. in the US to ISB, Consulting, and finally, Content creation.

Today I will share my notes from yesterday's session, which I hope inspires you as much as it inspired me.

-----

1) What you are good at and what makes you happy can be completely different.

Ankur wanted to become a space scientist at NASA, but while pursuing his Ph.D. in the US, he felt unhappy doing what he was doing.

He didn't know what exactly would make him happy yet, but he still took one of the toughest decisions of his life - to leave the Ph.D. and return to India.

-----

2) If you are not happy doing something, you will never be the best at it

3) If you see a burning pain point, every single day you spend doing nothing about it, you are missing out on an opportunity

This was the time when Ankur was the country head of Groupon. He understood what others couldn't - to tap into the potential of what Groupon could become in India, it had to be separated from the firm. So after 9 months of persuasion, Groupon could finally become Nearbuy.

------

4) If you live a life without any goals or targets, you might live a challenging life, but it would be a joyful one

Three steps to live a life without any goals -

1. Spend time and expose yourself to people and experiences that are NOTHING LIKE YOU. You would get a much better understanding of how the world works.
2. We don't deserve where we are in life; we just got lucky. Stop feeling entitled to what you have. Stop complaining. The ones who are not entitled move forward in life and grow.
3. Everything in our lives is built to provide us with comfort. Almost all the people we admire seek discomfort, seek opportunities that have fewer chances of success, and still make it.

5) Set habits instead of goals. Marry your processes.

6) The only goal in life is to say, "I have lived a good life" on your deathbed

7) You will have NO regrets if YOU LIVE LIFE ON YOUR OWN TERMS. Love yourself. Truly. Fully. Madly.

8) Everything will be okay because you will make it okay. :)

9) Our parents and us have the same destination in life; it is just the paths that are different

-----

10) Before making a decision, you can never know whether it was the right decision. But you can make better decisions in 3 simple steps:

1. Ask yourself, "What is the worst thing that can happen?"
2. Imagine it vividly in your mind.
3. Ask yourself again, "Will I be okay with it?"

If the answer is "No," it means you're not ready for the decision.

-----

In conclusion, here are some things Ankur mentioned about Motivation,

1. If you are doing something you genuinely love doing, you will never need motivation
2. If you have to do something you don't want to, create external pressure. You can also have accountability partners.

That's all for this article. Thank you for reading this till the end. It was a wonderful experience to meet him face-to-face for the first time. I hope I get this opportunity again.