Everyone Has a Special Purpose

I was an average student in my school days. I scored just 65% marks in Class VIII Board Examination, but 92% marks in Maths.

However, when I joined class IX, I discovered that I liked Maths and Science (particularly Physics).

I then started enjoying my studies and I got 1st rank in my School in the Xth Board.

I thought then that I was going to be a scientist.

However, in Intermediate classes (Class XI & XII), everyone was preparing for Engineering Entrance Examinations as the career in Engineering secured the job.

I followed the rat race, wrote the IIT-JEE and other Engineering Tests, scored 1331 rank in IIT-JEE (now JEE-Advanced) and got admission in IIT BHU (then IT-BHU) for Mechanical Engineering based on my rank and choice.

I spend the next four years doing my B Tech. Then I joined L&T in 1987 and realized after a year that I don’t like corporate jobs.

I then decided to do M Tech in IIT Delhi to ensure my career in academics and also try my luck in Civil Services Examination (CSE).

I got success in my first attempt in CSE and allotted IRS (C&CE) which was my third choice (after IAS & IPS) based on my rank.

It was after working in IRS for 10 years, I realized that love learning and doing research.

Hence, I joined PhD in IIITM Gwalior in 2002 in the area of E-Governance.

It was while doing my PhD that I discovered the writer in me.

I then realised that I actually love writing and doing research.

I published 7 research papers in course of my PhD work in less than 2 years, which convinced me that I have the potential to write.

It was in 2004, I decided that I wish to be a writer.

I wrote my first book in 2005 and send it to a dozen publisher and all rejected it.

Yet I was sure that I wanted to be a writer and I kept writing on different forums and wrote almost 500 articles between 2005–2011, while being part of IRS.

I wrote my next book on Spiritual Intelligence only in 2011, which was sent to almost a dozen publishers and finally accepted by Wisdom Tree in 2012.

I was finally a published writer in 2013.

I wanted to quit the job and become a full-time writer, but I had a family to support and two daughters who were studying in colleges. I could not have run away from responsibilities.

I waited for the children to be settled in jobs and then I quit from IRS in 2016, after spending 25 years in a government job.

Now after four more years, I have seven books already published.

And now I believe that being a writer is the special purpose of my life.

It took me more than three decades to figure out who I am and what my purpose of life should be.

I sometimes think that I have wasted 8 years in my Engineering education and 25 years in IRS, because today I write mainly about the philosophy of life.

Could I have made my discovery easier?

How great it would have been if there would have been a test which could predict what the purpose of your life should be?

Unfortunately, there is no such test and no such shortcut.

We all have to discover our own special purpose in a hard way, usually by hit and trial.

If you are able to discover your purpose of life early, you are lucky.

If you are able to discover it within your lifespan, it is not too late.

The only requirement is that till such time we find ourselves, we have to keep exploring.

I do believe that everyone is born to serve a special purpose in this world.

I also firmly believe in the wise words of Socrates, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

  

  -Awdhesh Singh

GATE ECE AIR-06 (2020)

1st December 2018 : Placed in Intel with a package of 19.22 Lpa .

But is that what you really wanted in life? Is that what you were aspiring when you started preparing for GATE first time? I had these questions in the back of my mind.

 

Being a guy who always wanted to be in PSUs or Government sector because in government sector you can have relatively more time for your family and you can keep them with yourselves and can stay near your hometown , so the dream seems to shatter because once you join Intel you won't be able to get exactly what you wanted for yourself and your family.

 

After my friends got placed and they enjoy their honeymoon period travelling,partying, I decided to stay in the campus. They went home but I stayed there in the winters of December and January. It was really cold this season as compared to other.

 

There was a thought which I keep reminding myself, “ No, I am not gonna regret at the age of 40 or 50 that I wanted to do something and there was a chance but I have wasted that and now stuck here” . This was the motivation during those chilling months of December and January which kept me going.

 

I was working hard until I fell ill just 10 days before the GATE exam and that was so bad that I almost lost 4 days with zero study prepartion and the dream was going to be shattered again but that was the time when you have to show the real character and handle the situation and motivate yourself. I am really thankful to my friends who really took good care of me at that point of time and I recovered soon.

 

The exam was on 8th Feb ,2019 and result declared on 15th March 2019 , and I secured AIR 21 , yes rank under 100 and when I told this to my friends their reactions were priceless , they were more happier and excited than me 😂😂.

 

P.S : I wanted to mention few things :

• Always have a dream and courage to follow it. It doesn't matter what others think about you what you think about yourself matters.
• Always try to live a life without regrets. Because the life without regrets is what makes you happy and peaceful.
• Try to have few friends who motivates you, help you achieve your goals and on whom you can rely in your difficult times.

Thanks and best wishes

Stay healthy and stay safe

  

  -Ghanendra Singh, GATE Electronics Engineering AIR-06 (2020) & AIR-21(2019)

Difference Successful & Unsuccessful

Yesterday, I told my daughter something - and I guess it answers this very question.

I told her that learning, educating yourself, investing in yourself, reading, are all important. But they're rarely urgent.

Most of us, successful or not, do what's urgent. We rush around chasing deadlines, targets, goals, doing what we need to do.

A key differentiator between those that succeed and those that don't is that the successful tend to think beyond the urgent - and put in the time, find the time because all of us are busy, to ensure they get away from the urgent and spend time on what's important.

Unlike the urgent, the important has little impact on the short-term, but it builds up, it compounds, and you need to have a little foresight - you have to think long-term, see the bigger picture, stick to your vision - to motivate yourself to keep on doing those important things.

"Read 500 pages every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up like compound interest." - Warren Buffett

  

  -Asim Qureshi

I was the ONLY one who could change it!

We all have two choices in life:

1. Let the consequences of life change me.
2. Change myself with life.

Sh*t happens. Life can be difficult. It can be uncomfortable. Some days I have every reason to feel depressed and give up. Some days I just want to stop, I need a break — yet the difficulties keep on coming and coming.

I used to complain about it. “Why is it so difficult? Why has this happened to me … again? I hate this situation! Why don’t they do something about it?”

One day, I realized that the difficulties of this world will never end. Never! This is when I finally understood that if I wanted to improve the quality of my life, I was the ONLY one who could change it! No one would ever be able to do it for me!

Change is inevitable and never-ending. I used to face change with the wrong attitude. I hated it because it pushed me out of my comfort zone — today I understand that it’s challenges which actually make my life better! I’m growing, I’m improving, and growing and improving are what make life a life worth living.

So, to answer your question: What life goals should you have?

• Live outside your comfort zone!
• Your comfort zone is the death zone.
• Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.

Here’s a quote from GE’s CEO Jack Welsh that I like to remember.

“Change before you have to!”

    -Hector Quintanilla

A goat's kid knows where and how to find milk immediately after birth while a human baby...........

A goat's kid knows where and how to find milk immediately after birth while a human baby takes months to figure it out. Human beings are not born with required survival skills let alone technical skills. But, eventually, the human baby does make it to the top of the intelligence pyramid.

 

It is important to realize that they didn't reject you. They rejected your current level of skills. It is perfectly fine and natural. At this time, you just need to figure out your shortcomings and work on them over next few months and reapply to the same job or even better ones half a year from now.

 

So, don't take interview rejections personally. It is your sins, not skills, that should cause heartbreaks :-)

   

  -Imtiaz Mohammad, Ex-Microsoft, Cracking Coding and Design Interviews Trainer.

From a 63-year-old to a 30-year-old

Here are a few things from my experience of starting over.

Never be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to rebuild your life the way you wanted all along. - Unknown

We all have an idea or a dream that we're too afraid to try. Don't let you keep you from reaching your potential.

1. Don’t undervalue what you’re already good at

I have reinvented myself many times in my life but success has always come from what I was already good at.

Don’t ignore what you are already good at just try and get better at it.

2. Re-invention takes time

You can start something in a second. You could start it right this minute, but the trick is to keep going and that’s hard when the going gets tough (and it will).

3. Don’t believe everything you think

The moment you doubt whether you can do something is the moment it becomes impossible for you to do.

4. Don’t let indecision dictate your decision :)

5. Don’t let what you can’t control distract you from what you can

Don't be distracted or frustrated by what you can't change. Instead, look at what you can. Only then can you move forward.

6. Embrace uncertainty

We live in uncertain times and uncertainty is unsettling.

We prefer the familiar, the safe, the predictable and that is perfectly understandable, but that’s not easy (or even possible) in a fast-changing world.

Perhaps the safest route to take is to embrace uncertainty. Step into the unknown on your own terms. Don’t be a hostage to the actions of others especially complete strangers.

Don't be scared.

Get out there, do what it is 'you' want to do and see what happens.

7. You’ve got time

We rush at everything. We do too many things at once. We try to multi-task multi-tasking and it’s a fool's game.

We exhaust ourselves and this turns enthusiasm into self-doubt and self-doubt into self-sabotage.

We think everyone else is doing everything better, quicker and more successfully than we are.

Be patient. Take it one step at a time.

You have more time than you think.

8. ‘0’ is ok

It’s where everything starts. It’s the beginning of it all.

Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t worry about. It’s not the end it’s only the start.

Zero is the risk you have to take to get where you want to go.

It’s a good place to be at the beginning because the only way from there is up.

I’ve been there many times and you never stay there for long.

9. Success is not somewhere else

It's not around the next corner, it's not over the next hill. it's not the next business idea.

Stop waiting for the next opportunity to come along, the next idea to appear, the next relationship, the next dream, the next bit of guru advice.

Most of the time we give up just when we are about to succeed.

It took me too many years to learn the lesson. Don't make the same mistake.

Finally here is a verse from a wonderful song by First Aid Kit

‘… gotta keep on going,

looking straight out on the road

Can’t worry about what’s behind you

Or what’s coming for you

Further down the road.

Try not to hold onto what is gone,

Try to do right what is wrong

Try to keep on keeping on…’

…………….

As always thanks for taking the time to read this.

   

  -Arthur Luke

Hopeless?

It would seem impossible for a "normal" person to become a millionaire if they did not know the story of Chris Gardner.

Gardner was born in Milwaukee, but never knew his father.

He was raised by his mother in poverty and an alcoholic stepfather who abused him.

His mother left him for a period of time in a foster home, in a moment of desperation, when he tried to kill his stepfather.

Eventually, in the early 1980s, Gardner was a 27-year-old employee with minimum wage and did not have enough money to pay the rent for an apartment.

So Gardner (He was separated from his wife) and his son slept where they could. In parks, in church shelters and even in train station toilets.

They only ate through soup kitchens and the little money he had was used to pay for a nursery that took care of his son while he worked.

One day he met a man who was driving a Ferrari, and Gardner asked him what he did.

The man told him that he was a stockbroker and Gardner expressed his interest in entering that sector.

Since the man had liked Gardner, he helped him get an interview for an internship.

However, in the days before the interview, again fate had played a trick on him. Gardner was jailed for failing to pay his parking tickets.

Finally, he was able to get to the interview, but dressed in the clothes from when he was arrested (In tennis and vest).

Despite his sloppiness, his drive and enthusiasm earned him the position.

Suddenly life changed

His instinct to sell assets gave him the full-time job.

He rose at his firm Dean Witter Reynolds, continued to grow in his professional career to unsuspected heights.

Already with money to rent a house, he decided to open his own investment firm, Gardner Rich.

Currently, Gardner is 62 years old and has an estimated fortune of $ 60 million. He spends his life traveling the world giving motivational talks.

In addition, it sponsors various charities for the homeless and against violence against women.

His fascinating life caught the attention of Hollywood, turning his life story into a blockbuster movie.

Your inspiration

Despite all the obstacles in his life, Gardner claims that his mother was always an inspiration to him.

"I have one of those old-fashioned mothers who said to me every day, 'Son, you can be or do anything you want,'" he said.

"And I believed him and I was 100% convinced"

One day he was watching a college basketball game and he commented that one of those players would win $ 1 million.

"My mother declared, 'Son, one day you'll be the one to make a million dollars.' Until she said those words, the idea had never crossed my mind."

He added "One can fall and lie down, but only as low as one allows."

"I chose the light, on behalf of my mother and others with whom I do not share a single drop of blood, and I welcomed it with open arms."

Gardner's story shows that no matter what difficult, initial conditions you grew up in, you always have the ability to redirect your life. Fate is in your hands and it is up to you to change it or continue as you are.

I hope this story has inspired you. Don't let fatalism drive you. We all have skills that can help us grow.