Ishwar Jha

When did you last watch a toddler’s first attempt to walk? I did it a few days ago. What I observed was that when the child was learning how to walk and fell several times, he never thought to himself, “Maybe this isn’t for me.” He kept trying and the beautiful thing was that the people around were encouraging and appreciating the child for his efforts and didn’t point their finger at him for the fall.

As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The lightbulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

I find social validation the greatest enemy. You look for someone else to validate who you are by seeking their approval and setting up yourself for disaster. You’re born a whole and complete man. It cannot come from someone else. You have to know who you are. You have to keep constantly trying like Edison without being worried about the fall much.

A skilled craftsman goes to old broken house and restores it into a fabulous looking home. A mechanic repairs your car back to travel ready. A doctor heals by treating the disease of a patient. They all see the problem and they all specialise in fixing it.

Be the solution side of any problem and hone your skill that enables you to solve the issue. Also, when you begin fixing the problem you become the favourite of God as he is the one who always fixes the problems when someone calls him.

Allow yourself to be God’s next fixer upper project.

There are dumb people and they can be defined as someone who doesn’t know what they’re supposed to know. Dumb people are by product of circumstances that lack access to learning, bad teachers or unguarded parenting. They are like an empty glass.

There are stupid people – filled with agendas, notions, and concepts and limiting beliefs. They believe they are best at everything and except for themselves, everyone else is a useless species. They know what they need to know, that’s kind of fixed as they have made it a choice not to learn new things. They are like a full glass in which even a drop of water will cause overflow.And then there are people who are willing. Willing to thirst upon the learning that enables them to make good decisions, willing to learn to explore the limitless possibilities, willing to learn to deal with the ever changing world, and willing to question authority, including the self. And these are the people who make things, choices and create a world filled with the makers of amazing things to lead the world to a better place than they were born. These people can be represented as half empty glass.

And then there are people who are willing. Willing to thirst upon the learning that enables them to make good decisions, willing to learn to explore the limitless possibilities, willing to learn to deal with the ever changing world, and willing to question authority, including the self. And these are the people who make things, choices and create a world filled with the makers of amazing things to lead the world to a better place than they were born. These people can be represented as half empty glass.

Who are you, when no one is looking?

During an interaction with student entrepreneurs at Nirmala College, I met a student who started his business while being in college.

His story is like this:
He thought that he has passion and acumen for photography. He purchased a low-cost camera to start his photography business.

Subsequently, he made some money and invested in buying a professional DSLR with the investment of Rs. 80,000 from his profit. Now, he has a dream to set up his own studio.

My own journey as an entrepreneur started with little bets. Selling books, computer stationery,  side projects. I call it little bets for a small win to gain the confidence you need to inroad for a giant leap.

Little bets are concrete actions taken to discover, test, and develop ideas that are achievable and affordable.

They begin as creative possibilities that get iterated and refined over time, and they are particularly valuable when trying to navigate amid uncertainty, create something new, or attend to open-ended problems.

If you have been thinking about starting up something big, start placing little bets today to experience small win and a big confidence boost. I bet you to place little bets today…

The professor of psychology, Carol Dweck, pioneered the research on mindset.

The Stanford Psychology Professor Carol Dweck has done pioneering work on ‘mindset’. She discovered that our mindset determines our mental attitude about how we respond to situations. She classifies the mindset into two types:

1) Fixed mindset people who assume that everything in the world is already fixed: intelligence, qualities, capabilities, traits, and everything runs and obeys the worldly order.

2) Growth mindset: people who believe intelligence is a quality that changes, grows, and develops, like a ropeway created on the pond’s wall by the constant rope running while drawing water from the well.

Most entrepreneurs possess a growth mindset; if not, he’s not an entrepreneur.

I recently read a report that 40% of startups failed last year. It’s projected as a big news. Globally, 90% of startups fail. If 40% is true, then we are the world’s best entrepreneurs or are still hiding our failures under the carpet.

Everyone who’s achieved incredible success has told me that success is going from failure to another failure until you achieve success.

People with a growth mindset regard failure as a learning experience; I attempted something very challenging, gave my best shot, and learned a great deal.

The only caution here is that despite failure if you continue to do the same things repeatedly, you are a fool.

I find Thomas Edison’s answer quite impressive. He tried 10,000 experiments to invent the filament of the light bulb, and each failure brought him closer to the final result.

Carol Dweck’s recipe for developing a growth mindset:
1. Learn. Learn. Learn.
2. Realize hard work is the key
3. Face setbacks.
hashtag#growthmindset hashtag#lifelonglearning

“What you want to do tomorrow, you must do it today. What you want to do today, you must do it now. Your time may turn unfavorable anytime, don’t wait for the opportune time.” ~~ Kabir

The above couplet by Kabir is used by all and sundry to depict the importance of time. It’s an apt reminder to all of us that time and tide wait for none. However, the challenge we are facing is to decide on what to do.

Increasingly, we are getting overloaded by conflicting thoughts, ideas, opinions, and options. Driven by the accessibility of choices of similar products, similar price, and similar quality, our struggle with decision-making is becoming challenging and draining your energies.

You delay for taking decisions on whether taking the decision will constrain you to take up another one as they may be better for you.

The law of attraction says that if you take any decision driven by your aspirations, all of the forces of the universe work around that decision.

There is no right or wrong, but a series of opportunities that arises with each passing steps, and the actions that you experience. It’s like a frame of a movie that inspires next step.

Don’t delay your decisions in anticipation of waiting for a better option, because you what is in front of you today can become better by you making the decisions to do it. What is there in front of you is your calling and what is not there may not come up.