Life Tips

• WORK HARD ~ Yeah, all those people you see around enjoying all their success, have worked really hard at some point in their life. Don't agree?! Just stop reading and think for a moment. Remember all the opportunities that you missed and all the bad performances of yours, how many of them you could have been better at, had you worked a little harder, a little more dedication and focus from your side was all it demanded.
  
  Atleast I have seen that almost everything I have failed at, and the things that I have seen people around me succeed at has one key difference : hard work.
  
  
• DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO ~ Want to take that trip to your childhood favorite location, or read that book, or write that blog. Do it. You are never going to have that free time ever, unless you create it. And yes, don't let anyone dictate what you should do. Oh, so I happen to be an engineering student, so what?! Why can't I study about music, do some art work, or talk of literature.
  
  Okay, so you happen to not know what you want to do?! Great, nobody knows at first. People try one thing, if they like it, they do it more. If not, they try something else.
  
  Let me tell you my story. I take part in college group discussions. People say I am quite good at it. I also play basketball sometimes, and I suck at it. But I do both of them irrespective of what people say, because I want to. In between, I also write blogs and poems, learn new exciting computer related stuff, think of new ways to approach any present problem of this society, study human behavior, and history, and science, and play chess, and table tennis, read books, do tiny bit of managerial activities in college. And I may not be the best at any of those. And I don't think any of them is going to provide any monetary benefits to me. Yet I do them. Why?! Because I want to. Don't do something just because it will provide some benefit to you. Do it because you want to.
  
  
• ASYNCHRONOUS IS BETTER THAN SYNCHRONOUS ~ Yeah, geeky words. In electronics, events can be depend on time, or previous events. I like dependencies on previous events, that's asynchronous. Although it's a matter of personal choice, let me justify myself.
  
  When doing a task, I don't like stopping in between when I am already enjoying my task, and switch to some other task, because I decided that I will start studying at 6, or something like at. Whatever you do, enjoy doing that. Let nothing intervene you. Not even time. I like it this way.
  
  But be careful. When trying this method, take on tiny tasks, and not big chunks. Don't go on like I will first complete my physics book, then go on to play for 7~8 hrs, and so on. Much better would be to take small tasks, say a chapter from the book, or even some sections or a particular section from that chapter. You will then begin to see the advantages of this method.
  
  
• IT'S OKAY NOT TO BE PERFECT ~ It took me a real great time to get hold of this. And that's why I would say it's very important to understand this. I would start studying a chapter, and I wouldn't move to another one unless I complete each and every question of that chapter after reading it. I would write a poem or blog after spending hours, and then I won't publish it.
  
  What I have seen is that it's much better to leave a thing after spending hours on that, it's okay if you are imperfect now, switch your mind to something else for some time, take a break, start something new, and then come back to your previous work, and you will see that you have got better ideas for that.
  
  In other context, I would not do a thing, say I couldn't sing in front of anyone, just because I thought I wasn't perfect. Or I wouldn't share my ideas thinking they might be bad. Guess what?! They would be. But you will never have better ideas unless you speak the ideas that you have right now. Only then people around can have a discussion on your ideas, and can pin point your flaws. So, stop being afraid of imperfection. Everything is. Even this answer is.
  
  
• TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOTH YOUR SUCCESS AND FAILURE ~ Yes, both of them. Success and failure. Win and loss. Fame, and shame. Most people that you would see, will grab the credit for every success, but goes on to blame everyone else for every single bullshit thing going wrong in their life. They should start taking responsibility for their failure. How?! Next time you fail at something, silently listen to all the criticism, good or bad. Don't speak a single thing. That would be the very first step. Rest your mind will figure out itself.
  
  But I put this point here for other kind of people. The opposite one. Like me. One who wouldn't take responsibility for their success, but gladly do the same if they fail at something. Why?! Why afraid of success? Let me be blunt but people won't recognise you unless you accept that you succeeded because of you. You have put all that hard work, all those extra hours, now taste the glory of that success, don't run away from it. And take this seriously. If you are someone like this, you will slowly move towards a state of depression, and lack of confidence. And your work will suffer more. So, enjoy the success too. There is a good chance it will pave the way of inspiration for harder work.
  
  
• GIVE PEOPLE SOMETHING OF VALUE ~ Accept this fact that you will get something of value, only when you give something of value. Be it to anyone. Your friend, teacher, parent, spouse, child. Anyone.
  
  I generally have a lot of value to give to those around me. Some examples indeed. One of my friend is interested in and also good at finance. Once I came to know of a financial competition I couldn't make any sense of through one of the interns I met at IITB, I forwarded the link to my friend, and it was his words that "he really enjoyed the stuff". Many a times, good projects come to me, but I couldn't do them, because of my lack of knowledge in that field, or lack of time. But that doesn't stop me from introducing these projects to the people I know, who have the capability for the same!!
  
  Noticed something?! Don't be afraid of introducing people to people, because they might make something of value far more than what you could have made. Rather just do it. What did I get in return? My only internship till now was introduced to me by my friend, a few friends who nowadays motivate me for competitive programming are the ones whom I introduced to this field in the first year, I got selected to represent my college in the Indian parliament because of two friends, I got my college project under Research Promotion Cell, thanks to a friend of mine. And all these friends are different persons.
  
  But why did they care to help me anyway?! Becasue once I did, and the cycle goes on. That's the power of giving something of value. Never ever underestimate it. 
  
  
• SELECT PEOPLE CAREFULLY YOU SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME WITH ~ Friends are those you get to choose. So, choose them wisely. It's better to be alone than to be with wrong people. If you are with people who regularly underestimate you, or don't care about you, it's way better to leave them behind.
  
  Try to be with people who value your time, value your knowledge, and yet are always the first to let you know of where you are wrong, without hesitating for a second. Try to be with people who want you to become better and be great. Try to be with people who stand with you in your hard times. Learn from them. Observe them. Listen to them. And you will become worthier.
  
  
• HAVE A THOROUGH ANALYTIC VIEW OF EVERYTHING ~ This is the one I need to practice the most. Many a times, I start liking the views of a particular person, and then after some time, I just agree with whatever that person has to say, without analyzing that thing. And this is very bad indeed.
  
  Once I was reading a history book, and being a fan of the writer, I agreed with everything. But when I was telling a friend of mine all this, he asked how come the writer know all this. Where did he get his facts from? That made me think, and later I asked my further queries here on Quora.
  
  So, never blindly believe anything. Think why something is true. Have questions!! Which leads to my next point.
  
  
• ASK QUESTIONS, A LOT OF THEM ~ Last semester, when I was going for the airport to come back to college, my sister asked me a lot of questions mid-way. A lot of them. And that was the first time my mind ticked regarding the value of asking questions.
  
  Her questions were simple, just about the basic working of the stuff around me. And being a science major, I should have easily answered them, but I found that very difficult to do. But then I asked her for some time, did my study, and came back to her with my answers. She seemed happy, she learned something new, and she again had some questions, but she gave me a great thought.
  
  That as we grow older, we stop asking questions. We start taking things for granted. Which reduces our curiosity. due to which our mind couldn't get its proper exercise. And then as elders, we don't value the questions of our children, we ignore them, or scold them not to disturb us. And the cycle continues.
  
  So, ask a lot of questions. And also answer the same for that curious child, that lies within all of us. Your brain will thank you for that.
  
  
• WORK SMART ~ I told you to work hard, right. But that's of no use if not applied in the right direction. Say tomorrow is your exam, and you are working hard for some competition of yours six months away. Well, that surely can wait for a few more days. Or you are building a product, but midway you started working on body building. That's of no use right now. It definitely can wait until a prototype for your product is ready.
  
  Work on the most important things. Things that matter. Hard work, when combined with smartness, can fetch you places. But the opposite would just make you wonder why things don't work your way even after putting up so much efforts. Be smart.