6 paragraphs which will change your outlook
Things I learnt from some books
The fastest way to learn something is by getting it wrong. In the book Effortless, Greg McKeown introduce the concept of 1000 beads. His friend, a language teacher, asked his students to remove a bead from their bag every time they got something wrong. The goal was to empty the bag as soon as possible. Once it was empty, they had achieved level one.
“The master has failed more number of times than the beginner has tried.”
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on. In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.
This is a real story. Sometimes, talents are not recognized as we are infront of the wrong audience at the wrong time.
It’s funny how much of internet motivation is about ‘degree is just a piece of paper’ or ‘collage is useless’. Then explain me why do rich people bribe huge amounts to get their children into the ivy leagues?
Why are the billionaire kids into art, music, sports since the moment they could walk?
I’ve shared this quote quite some times, but once again:
“Good deeds done, knowledge obtained and skills learned seldom go to waste.” - Ranjana Agarwal(aka my mother)
In 1999, Dunning and Kruger, two psychologists discovered an effect named the Dunning-Kruger Effect. The effect is described aptly by this graph:
Think about it, where does it apply in your life?
A professor divided his class into two groups(funny how so many of my favorite stories starts with this), both groups were asked to make a nature photography project. One was given 30 days and the other 10 days. They were asked to submit the project as soon as it was finished.
During evaluation, the professor realized that the 10 day group had the exact same results as the 30 day group, despite them submitting on average nineteen days later. Work fills to expand the time allocated to it.
‘Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable’ - Eisenhower
A university professor on the first day of class asked his students if any of them had a plan for their life. Only three students raised their hand. The class laughed heartily. They don't have a degree till now and they talk of a life plan.
25 years later, when the reunion took place the networth of these three students was more than the combined net worth of all the other.
Things don't always go to plan, but setting clear goals is key to success. As a wise person once said:
"If you don't have a plan, then you're planning to fail."
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