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Mohit Mamoria is a hacker-turned-founder. He is an avid reader, occasional writer and tweets regularly about everything at @mohitmamoria.
Let’s play a game. Call 3 of your best friends and ask them, “Hey buddy, where do you see yourself in next 5 years?”
They will tell you about their dreams, their ambitions and the things they want to have in next 5 years. That’s fantastic! (If they have no fucking idea what they want in next 5 years, get new friends. Remember, you are average of the people you stay with, and surely, you don’t want unambitious people as your best friends.)
Then put up another question to them, “And what are you ready to give up to achieve those dreams?”
Listen carefully to their voice filled with shock, surprise and umm..s. It happens. Most of us have huge dreams, which is a very good thing to have. I, personally, love big dreamers – those who dare to dream of what most cannot.
No one achieves more than what he dreams. Having big dreams is one of the most logical thing to do.
Most of us have dreams, but what most of us don’t have is the price that we are ready to pay for it. And boy, nothing comes for free.
Things that are worth becoming your dreams, should not and do not come for free.
You can get anything, as long as you are ready to pay its price. Want to go to the beach every weekend with your family? Then, starting today, work your ass off on every weekend for next 5 years. There’s no weekend for you for next 5 years and then you may take every weekend off for the rest of your life.
Want a yacht and an island? Starting today, work for 20 hours a day, everyday and then you may have the yacht.
Want to build a billion dollar company? Start taking risks today. Got a full-time day job? Well then, building your own venture is the work of nights. Work for your boss for 9am to 5pm and then for yourself from 8pm to 2 am. Be a Batman!
But I am already too busy!
No, you are not.
I cannot stand people giving excuse of being busy. Well, no one’s busy. It may be hard for you to accept, but you are not busy. You simply have screwed-up priorities, which you need to straighten up a bit.
Everyone’s got time. Stop watching fucking ‘Game Of Thrones’.
Beware of Burnout
Okay okay, I know what you’re thinking – “Come on man, I don’t want to burnout in first 3 months itself.”
Well, then I want to tell you that power of your desire should be greater than power of burning out. Need a simple trick? Don’t go to bed satisfied. Go to bed in middle of an important and urgent work, so that you have your mind unsatisfied by previous day’s work and ready to focus on it as soon you wake up.
Do NOT go to bed satisfied.
The day you sleep satisfied, you’ll NOT have a to-do list ready to help you kickstart the next day.
What about work – life balance?
What about it? Screw it!
By trying to balance between these two, you’ll neither be able to focus on work nor on life. My suggestion? Give 70% to your work for 30% of your life and then 30% to your work for 70% of your life. But work first.
Focusing on both at the same time will yield you mediocre life and a mediocre work.
Big but Weak dreams?!
Yes, big dreams are a great thing. But big and weak dreams aren’t. Your dreams should be powerful enough to wake you up everyday before your alarm goes off. Your dreams should be so attractive that nothing else attracts you.
Big dreams are a great thing. But big and weak dreams aren’t.
No dream is powerful by default. Here are a few things which you can do to inject power in your dreams.
- Optimism is an unfair advantage. It is not something that you learn in a day/week/month. It is a habit – start developing it – from TODAY!
- Books are your best friends. There’s no powerful drug than a good book. A good book injects the kind of motivation inside you that nothing else can. Start reading today.
- Identify your competitors. When I said that books are the most powerful drug, I was lying. They are second-most powerful drugs. Most powerful ones are your competitors. Identify them, their strengths, their weaknesses, train yourself and then punch them right in their face at the right time.
What do I do right away?
I have always been the preacher of doing things now. This time, I am actually going to tell you what can you do to begin the journey today.
- Pull out a piece of white paper and make a heading – Dreams. Write your three biggest dreams (or just your biggest one) under it. Write the dreams, which are measurable, like, “Building a company doing annual revenue of $10 millions in 2 years”.
- Make another heading below it – Price. Write the price that you’re ready to pay to achieve those dreams. Don’t be philosophical. Write exact things, like, “Work for 20 hours a day, not be afraid of taking risks, not be afraid to stay out of contact from loved ones while working on my dreams”.
- Make third heading below it – Deadline. Write the exact date when you want to achieve those dreams. Remember – exact date, like “August 20, 2016”.
- Tell about this paper to one of your best friend.
- Read this paper everyday, twice.
Come on, get your asses to work! There’s a lot left to do to see your dreams turning into reality.
Don’t agree with my rant? I am always a learner. Let’s talk in the comments below. 🙂
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