Here’s one of my favorite maths:

We run with our chores everyday with so much focus(?) that we tend to forget the ground rules of life.

Hard work always pays.

But then some say smart work beats that.

Agreed, but these phrases cannot be ‘blanket’ applied on everything in life.

Some demand hard and deep work, while the other needs smartness. The real ‘smartness’ lies in finding the difference and necessity for efforts.

This poster is a reminder that when we work more than what we can in tiny bits every day, consistently, the result is something that goes off the charts.

Books I recommend on these thoughts:

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1. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
2. The One Thing by Gary Keller
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear

Sometimes, there is this feeling that we are not progressing in life.

But then again, I think, why is this feeling in the head, first of all?

Where did that creep in from?

Finally, after some empty staring into nothingness, and pondering, I felt almost close enough to satisfaction when this particular clarity set in: that from childhood, in school to be precise, there is this concept of studying in class 1, 2, 3, 4, so on, then write the final exam for the year, and move on.

We are updated, upgraded, moved into the next class and then sit in on its respective exam, and move up.

Like as if we are now clearing up a level in a video game and moving on to the next level.

Clearing up!

That’s why this mindset of “clearing up a level” sticks forever to the mind… it’s how every child is framed and designed to lead the life.

It’s how a college life is designed too. It’s how all the professional level exams are designed. It’s how even some workplaces function – work for few years towards the promotion, rinse, and repeat.

Not denying that all the professional level exams have their own rightful purpose to gauge one’s knowledge, understanding, and expertise before operating on someone, or helping file taxes, or flying a machine that has people’s lives at stake. Nevertheless, this mindset, when wrongly assumed to be the way how our lives are designed at large and if subsequently applied as our everyday compass to navigate our lives – it gets quite dangerous.

Crime, deception, disappointment, loneliness, depression, cast out feeling, nothingness – all creep in – because the world favors only winners.

Only the people who say ‘what’s next?’.

Only the people who moved on to the next level often gets remembered. There are billions of random regular guys out here in the world who gets ignored. There is nothing unique, except they are some random unique number for statistical population counts.

Life is not about clearing up levels, I guess.

It’s all about learning, loving, living, and failing in all of those three areas and then trying all over again.

To pass in life, we need to fail. We need to consecutively fail at many things. There is no such thing as success in life – it’s just the way of life.

But failure, it changes one’s mindset. Failing is the actual “clearing up”!

So, one could start anew, fresh. Success often gets with it a companion called “ego” – and a baggage – called “keeping up with it” or “living up to it” to eventually go for the next success. To maintain that image.

But failure has no baggage, no requests. It shouldn’t be seen as ’empty’, but conceived and perceived as ‘void’, where all that creation happens. Where value is born.

If adding up more trophies, more accolades, more certificates, more friends, more wealth is defined to be the success in this worldly life – then the natural losing and deduction of things, people, material things from our lives is how our lives are designed.

In the end, only one question remains – what did we do with our lives? It doesn’t have to be world-changing. Or leaving a dent in the universe.

Even if a child giggled because of you, consider your presence as “priceless”.

Nobody’s assurance is needed to feel your worth. Your heart knows it. That’s all it needs, that’s all it matters.

Failing is the new clearing up to move to the next level, not the success.

Try again. Fail again. But fail better.

“to become whole, first let yourself be broken!” – Lao-Tzu

The Universe is always at work.

Before the solar system was formed, after it was formed, yesterday, today, tomorrow, when we sleep, when we breathe – all the time it’s at work.

We wake up every day, eat, cleanup, work, sleep, procreate, expire, and rinse n repeat this process. All of us including theists, atheists, agnostics, everyone accepts this one fact that there is a power beyond human grasp and our cognitive abilities.

This universe can only work with our help – people, animals, birds, reptiles, insects, micro-organisms, and sometimes aliens.

We are not born without powers altogether. We do have a role to play in this game of life. The universe works through us. The universe has a plan that executes through us.

The universe lives through us.

We are tools. Mere tools, in the hands of that unknown power.

Call it god, coincidence, chance meetings, serendipitous events or luck.

We, humans, are good at complicating things…so many names, for one thing, a simple fact.that exists “universally”.

Consider this image.

The box you see is the earth we are all born into. Those gloves are us.

The unseen hands you see are literally the unseen hands we’re talking about.

We are so naive and innocent that we assume those hands are us. That’s why we often say…

“I did this”.

“I did that”.

“It’s my creation”. And so on.

But actually, it’s that unseen hand that does the work for us, through us.

That’s why it’s so hard to grasp even for science as to who puts the thought into our heads, who injects life power into a human body that makes the limbs move and lungs breath and hearts beat.

Millions of nerves and billions of cells on auto pilot…how are all that possible. There must be some greater mind at work.

Here is another example.

We use a hammer to tighten or remove a nail from a piece of wood and proclaim we did that job. But what if the hammer could think and speak and they say the same thing?

Wouldn’t we just laugh it away? That’s exactly the same happening here.

There is a universal power at work calling us to action every morning and day and night.

To wake us up as early as possible and find what we are good at to offer and contribute to the world’s evolution. The universe cannot work without us.

Our powers are needed for it to work.

“Sleep…” as some say, 6 to 8 hours are required per day. But that’s 25 percent of a day which equals 25 percent of our lives!

On the other hand, look at sleep as a necessary rest for our eyes and brain and limbs. Our body needs rest.

As soon as the body feels better with the rest taken, it can get back to work. Similar to charging a phone fit enough for the next few hours.

Take a lot of breaks. Spend a lot of time with nature as much as you can. Laugh out loud and live happily.

We are just tools working for some bigger purpose.

Don’t get caught in the minutiae of short-sighted goals. Once done, we will go back to the box.

Let’s live while we live.

There will be enough time to sleep once the time is over.