Do You Know The Book That Inspired Henry Ford And Thomas Edison

This is also a true story of great perseverance. During the great depression, an American named Orison Swett Marden decided to write a book to motivate the nation. He took a room above a stable and started writing the book. After a year of relentless effort he was on the verge of completing the book. One day he went out for dinner, when he came back, he saw that the entire stable was engulfed in fire. His more than 800 page manuscript was reduced to ash. Just try to imagine his state of mind when he saw his one year of relentless effort go up in flames.

He appealed to his greater self and decided to rewrite the book from scratch, note that at this point of time, all his notes were gone. He spent another year writing the book. After completing his manuscript, he offered it to various publishers, but no one seemed to be interested in the motivational book when the country is in depression. He then moved to Chicago and took a job. One day he mentioned this manuscript to a friend who happened to know a publisher. His perseverance delivered results. The book titled – Pushing to the front, was subsequently published. Eventually it became a huge success. People like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and J.P.Morgan all read this book and were inspired by it.

Do You Think Your Luck Is Bad?

I believe in luck and I completely agree with all of you that luck plays an important role in our life. When our luck is good we get success more often and when our luck is bad we face failures more often. So, bad luck actually means, bad times.

But do bad times come only to us or it comes to everyone ?

I am sure, you will agree with me that bad time comes in everyone's life. Be it Amitabh Bachhan or Sachin Tendulkar, every legend had their share of rejection during their bad times.

So I would like to rename Luck as Life. Every life on earth will have its ups and downs, it will never be the same throughout.

I understood from the life of legends that Luck is not bigger than your Vision.

Let us understand this through a situation. You and your friend, Ajay wanted to watch India vs Australia cricket T20 sitting in the stadium. It was a last moment decision, so getting tickets were very difficult. Ajay backed out and opted to watch the match on TV. But you persisted and managed to get a ticket.

You watched the match sitting in the stadium cheering the Indian team along with thousands of spectators. But unfortunately India lost the match, you and Ajay both became sad. Ajay was sad sitting at home and you became sad sitting in the stadium.

But, at the end of the day who enjoyed more? Who was able to join the thousands of fan cheering India…India? Who was able to take the players autograph? Who was able to click photos of the live match?

It was you…

So, inspite of India losing the match you will remember it as a memorable day of your life. But for Ajay it is just another match India lost.

Friends, now consider watching the cricket match in the stadium as your vision and India losing as luck. Luck was same for you and Ajay - India Lost. But you were able to derive higher value out of the same luck only because of your larger vision.

The same thing happens in our life. Two friends, Raju and Chandu won a lottery of 1lakh each. Raju immediately puts the money in Bank Fixed Deposit and started to earn an interest of 7000 per annum. Chandu had a larger vision - he starts a small factory with that money and soon becomes owner of 5 factories.

Then, Bad luck strikes in the form of recession - Both Raju and Chandu got affected.

Raju's bank decreased the Fixed deposit rate, his earning fell by 500/- and he started to earn 6500/- per month. But Chandu had to sell off his 3 factories. But even after selling off factories, Chandu's net worth was still higher than Raju's net worth

After a few years good time was back.

Raju's earning went up to 7000/- from Bank interest. But Chandu re-established all his 5 factories and became a billionaire.

Friends, Luck is Life, it will go up and down, you cannot stop it. Walt Disney faced bankruptcy, Steve Jobs was thrown out of his own company….but they bounced back because of their vision.

Your vision will determine the stage area on which you are going to play out your life. So, think about your vision and not your luck.

Self Motivation Simplified

Self  Motivation is the only form of motivation that can help us to bounce back after a major setback. Everyone of us is at some level of self motivation. This video will help you understand the elements of self motivation and how they influence our performance.

The Poverty Mindset

Recently I got the opportunity to visit a village surrounded by hundreds of factories. This is only 60 kilometers away from Gurgaon. Water is available within 20 feet below the ground. The land is extremely fertile where three crops can be grown in a year. But still the villagers are below the poverty line. I was surprised and out of my curiosity I interacted with few villagers to understand the reason for their poverty. What I gathered gave me some new insight into poverty mindset.

A young man explained that he is a graduate but unemployed, the factories don’t provide job to villagers and there aren’t many opportunities around. A farmer said that it is difficult to get proper rate for their crop. A woman with five children explained how difficult it is to make ends meet. But despite of all the difficulties, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life. When I asked the villagers, do they know of any successful person from the village, they said that there are no successful people in the village. Some villagers explained that they are poor but still they are rich in their hearts, they feel that poverty is necessary to stay happy and together.

I found a school in the village, I met the principal and he shared that villagers are not ready to send their children to school and most of them are reluctant to spend money on child’s education. There are around 20% dropouts from the school every year. He also mentioned that some people have done exceedingly well despite of the demotivating environment – One villager have become a MBBS doctor, another person became an IAS officer.

During the one hour drive back to Gurgaon, I kept thinking about all the conversations I had with the villagers. Lots of questions kept popping in mind:

Why the villagers did not mention the success stories of their village?

Why the factories do not employ villagers?

Why some villagers are proud to be poor?

Why do they talk only about poverty?

Why do they feel that there are no opportunities around?

The questions which came to my mind were also the lead to my answers. I realized that it is not about availability of resources, but the mindset. Somehow, it is hardwired into their mind that the world is a difficult place and nothing can be done about it. Finding pride in penury further strengthens their belief about poverty. As a result, they have accepted “poverty” as their way of life.

This is an extreme case, but when I introspected, I realized that most people have shades of the villager’s mentality which can be corrected.