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Do you know the price of being good?

It was my first job.
I joined the R&D team for a corporate training company.
I was earning 15K/month - more money than I ever thought I would make.

Life was good for the first 2-3 months.
And then came the turning point.

One of the biggest FMCG companies wanted us to design a sales training program for their field staff.
I was given the project.
I had NO IDEA where to start!

The next week, I went on many sales trips.
Just observing them.
The training programs until then were PPTs with exercises.
You know, the boring PPTs with font 14 text.

I knew this crowd comprising field sales executives would hate that.

You may not know this, but I LOVE movies.
The idea of a story summarised in 1-3 hours.
So I decided to create a movie!
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A day in the life of Ramesh, the sales guy.
He was my SRK.
The best performing sales guy in the company.

I chronicled his day, from start to end.
How he planned his day.
How he approached shopkeepers.
How he formed a connection.
How he handled objections.
I worked 16+ hours a day for a week, creating a movie using PPT animations.

It was exhausting but so much fun!
I was convinced it would work.
And it did!

But something weird began to happen.
I began to get a LOT of work.
Back then, I didn’t know how to say no.
So, I said yes and was instantly burdened.
I could see my peers chilling, relatively.

It felt like some people's work had been given to me.
I had a meeting with my manager. I vented.
And vented.

When I was done, she said: "Good people pay a far higher price for being good than bad people pay for being bad."
​(Share on x)​

What?

"The world is selfish. So when it finds people who are good at what they do, the world decides not to risk it. It gives ALL the work to them while taking it away from the bad ones. If you find yourself overworked, it is because people know you can do it."
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"So now you have 2 choices in life. Be good with your work and get a lot of work. Or suck at your work and get less meaningful work. What do you want to choose?"

When someone says "I have a new project for you", realise that they are giving it to you because they believe YOU can do it.
​(Share on x)​

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📕 Book I'm reading this week

Finished reading "Silence Your Mind" by Dr. Ramesh Manocha - a really good book on meditation. Highly recommended for those who wish to go deep into the "why", "how", and "what" of meditation.

Started reading "Elon Musk" by Walter Isaacson.
Great biography of the man - and how so much of who he is has been shaped by his childhood experiences - especially with his dad and school. If you are curious to know how one person ends up running such mega giant companies - this book will give you a detailed view of the same. Plus, Walter is such a fine writer (he was the one who wrote the Steve Jobs biography and also Einstein's and Leonardo da Vinci's).
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​Here is a list of all the books I have shared in this email, so far (alphabetically sorted)

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Results of last week's survey

How has 2023 been so far for you?

1. Same as 2022
2. Better than 2022
3. Worse than 2022

Here are the results:

1. Notice how, as people age, the year seems to be getting "better".
2. Also, lesser and lesser percentage think the year is worse than last year.

Here is my explanation:
As you grow old, you realise that a single year doesn't make much of a difference. When young, every year counts and feels like a big deal.
So, when young, we lay a lot of emphasis on how every year is going.
When old - we know that most years are actually not all that bad. We have seen worse :))

My response:​
My year is going much much better than 2022!

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Quotes to share

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You can be an inch from winning but still miles away if you allow emotion to interfere with the last step.
- Andre Agassi in his book, Open.

Share on X

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Once you experience life around positive people, it becomes acutely difficult to be around negative ones.

Share on X

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The greatest obstacle to achieving greatness is often self-doubt.

Share on X

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📸 My week, in pictures

In this section, I share my week in pictures, for those who do not like to read as much as I write :))
I do so not to show how cool a life I live, but instead to show you what are the highlights of every day. As you will see over time, my days are mostly in repeat mode - the same things, but different experiences from them.

Last week, on Thursday, I went to Delhi Technological University (DTU) for their entrepreneurship summit. What energy!!

It is so wild to see both my books still in the bestsellers list, even after 2 years post release. Thank you so much, all of you :))

We often think of failure as a dead end. It is not. It is simply a delay. However, that is something you have to believe in.

Was speaking at a Walmart event where they showed their latest "Virtual try-on" feature, that uses a mobile phone to scan your body contour and then you can see how clothes look on you before buying. Cool, no?

Saturday, I was in Srinagar for a startup conclave. Loved going back - to unreal energy and enthusiasm! Hoping for the next decade to be that of peace and growth for the UT.

Sunday was our heritage walk, this time to Jahanpanah Forest in Delhi. I grew up visiting this forest a lot, since it was right opposite my school. Saw it in a different light this time around.

Ganesh Chaturthi pooja - any excuse to eat sweets, haha!

That's it for the week in pictures. Have a lovely weekend and week ahead, all of you lovelies :)))

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Question of the week​
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Do you agree with this statement?
"Your first job in life makes or breaks your career"

1. Absolutely agree
2. Somewhat agree
3. Somewhat disagree
4. Absolutely disagree

Answer here

(and see the results of others, too)

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🎙️ Podcast I shared last week

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🚀 Content I shared this week

📹 YouTube:​

​Change your life in 90 days​

📱 Instagram:​

​5 questions to ask your partner​

🐥 X:

​It was my first job​

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You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.​
​(Zindagi mein chai aur coffee peena zaroori nahi hai, ki kasam)

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