There is no alternative to hard work. Nothing comes easy, and it is true for everyone. Talent is important, but one also has to know how to utilize it. You have to be willing to put your best effort to make your talent work for you. If you are persistent in achieving something and stay the course, you will get there.
If I am to choose some lessons, the first one would be that you need to acknowledge whenever you make a mistake. It is essential, a must, to face up to your blunders in order to improve yourself and your team. You can’t expect to go far if you keep scapegoating and blaming others for your own mistakes. Own your mistakes like a badge and never stop learning. You need to hunt newness continuously.
I’m a simple person and showing off is not my cup of tea. What you are will be proved by what you do. You will be judged by your work and activities. It is often distracting and most of the time detrimental to keep buzzing people about what you do and your activities.
I don’t buy into the idea that you have to achieve a lot, get recognition and all that. Rather I think it is important to do meaningful work – work that you believe is important to do – regardless of what other people think of it or whether they recognize you or not. Importance of any meaningful work does not depend on its popularity or extrinsic recognition of it.
Career is a journey and you have to put your 100% every day. What you did yesterday is seldom matter. Your performance today is what matters. First thing is, start afresh every day. Apply yourself daily.
Many young people I come across these days are not interested in depth. They are superficial and try to resist challenges and difficulties. They do not want to attend to the details. They seem to be impatient and always into many things at once.
A growing number of people seek a shortcut to things. This is a recipe for suicide. First of all, you have to explore things in-depth so that you develop a better understanding of things. Then you should be patient because things take a long time to happen.
First of all, never give up. Initially, it will be very difficult but you should not give up. When you start anything, be it a car or you running, it takes some time to set the rhythm and build the momentum. Once the momentum is created, it picks up the steam and keeps moving forward. In your life, startup, and career you have to create that momentum. It will take some time and hard work and you have to be resilient at the beginning but once you reach the momentum, you will be set to go.
Start small. You do not need a lot of resources just to start. Instead, you need the right mindset and an intelligent approach to issues and opportunities you come across.
Time is a scarce resource, which means you have to be very mindful of how you use your time. Never try to do too many things at once, because you will end up doing none. Prioritize and focus on the things that enrich you as a leader, help build your personality and ultimately make you a better human being.
Finally, a money advice. We often forget that days are long and decades are short. When you are young, it feels like there are endless days left to save money, make investments and the likes, until one fine morning you come to realize that you are not under 30 anymore. Start investing and saving from a very young age. This is something we don’t encourage culturally. You don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Save and invest when you have the time. It makes you financially discipline.
