Things that changed my life - 1

For sake of consistency I guess, hehe!

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How is it going? Long time no see, eh? 😆

So, I am back from the dead I guess. I don't know why I stopped sending this out. One reason I can think of is that I couldn't think of a topic to share.

You must be thinking, "What now?". Well, I thought let's share a few things about myself.

In this issue, I will be sharing some of the events from my life that changed my perspective towards life and pushed me in better direction. Most of you might have already consumed those resources, read those books or tweets, but I am hoping some of you take something positive out of this.

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🔨 Breakthrough

I guess I was in class 10th when I read about Steve Jobs for the first time. Everything I read about him amazed me because it was the first time I was reading such a story. Story of a person starting from the bottom and building something like Apple. Someone suggested to watch his Stanford Commencement Speech, and that suggestion changed my life.

One thing that stayed with me after watching the speech and reading the transcript again and again was - "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.". I still believe in this. So, when someone says "Whatever happens, happens for the best", I believe them.

It sounds too dramatic and cliché to say that Steve Jobs changed my life. But yes, he did.

If you have heard the speech, I hope you can relate and imagine what effect it would have on a 16 year old teenager. If you haven't, I am attaching the link (at the end) with the hope that you would find something out of this as I did.

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🆕 Fresh Perspective

Initial 2 years of my college life were spent doing multiple things. I did everything except studying or thinking about my career. Maybe it was because I was still dealing with the tag of "failure" I gave to myself for not getting into an IIT. I know, the reason is fucked up and doesn't make sense. But good luck explaining that to a teenager who always thought he can achieve anything. This is what happens when you live in a bubble and don't see failure very often.

Anyway, when 3rd year came and reality of internships and jobs struck me in the face, I was feeling lost. I had no interest in the subjects I was studying, had no interest in programming until then. I actually tried it but didn't like it because of the efforts it needed (Yes, I was dumb). I just knew that I can't become a Mechanical Engineer. Then, I read this book suggestion answer on Quora, and it suggested this one book - The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. So, when I was once on a trip to Delhi, I bought a few books in bulk. One of them being The Secret. One of the best decision ever.

For a stupid person like me, the pseudoscience of the book (yeah, universal law of attraction is not real) was enough to push me in the right direction. I remember reading the book and feeling this positivity in my body. I think many people feel this when they read a self help book for the first time. But the ideas were so new to me. It was the first time somebody was telling me that I can actually aspire to be anything I want and work in that direction. Pretty opposite to what my family used to tell me.

There is no specific lesson that I would like to share from the book, neither any story. For me, it was the whole vibe of the book and the positive push that changed my perspective. Things have been better after that.

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⚡ Different

When was the last time a movie made you feel like you can change the world? For me, one of the first experience was watching "The Social Network". I don't remember the first time I watched it, but I remember that I have watched it repeatedly several times after that.

Many of you who have watched that movie might be thinking what was so special about that movie. To be honest, nothing as such. But wait, context matters. As a person who always wanted to build a "business" as said in the traditional sense but never knew how, people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were like discovering a new direction.

I won't say that the movie describes how a startup is built, how it actually is to become someone like Mark. It is really far away from the reality, but it inspires you to build things starting from something small.

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Summary

1. Listen to "Steve Job's commencement speech". Here's the link

2. Read "The Secret". Here's the link

3. Watch "The Social Network". It is on Netflix, go find the link yourself.