Life

Reflections on Life, Investing, India at 75, and Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing

One of the best books I have read on living a life of purpose is the one from the world-renowned innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen, who developed the theory of ‘disruptive innovation’, which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. In fact, Christensen introduced ‘disruption’ in his 1997 book The Innovator’s Dilemma, which was supposedly the only business book that Steve Jobs had on his bookshelf.

Anyways, the book I am talking about today is Christensen’s How Will You Measure Your Life?, the idea for which came up first in a 2010 speech he gave to Harvard Business School’s graduating class.

Drawing upon his business research, he offered a series of guidelines for finding meaning and happiness in life. He used examples from his own experiences to explain how high achievers can all too often fall into traps that lead to unhappiness.

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Safal Niveshak is 11 Years Old

The Sketchbook of Wisdom: ₹200 Discount till 31st July

Buy your copy of the book Morgan Housel calls “a masterpiece.” It contains 50 timeless ideas – from Lord Krishna to Charlie Munger, Socrates to Warren Buffett, and Steve Jobs to Naval Ravikant – as they apply to our lives today. Click here to buy now and claim ₹200 discount.

This is a story from January 15, 2009. It’s not my story, but an inspiring one.

US Airways Flight 1549 on its way from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, North Carolina, struck a flock of birds shortly after take-off, losing all engine power.

Unable to reach any airport for an emergency landing due to their low altitude, pilots Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane in the Hudson River. All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats, with only a few serious injuries.

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My Advice to a Young Investor – Part 3

The Sketchbook of Wisdom: Did you get your copy?

This is the third part of this unintended series on my single biggest advice to a 26-year-old investor.

First, she asked – What advice would I offer to a 26-year-old to do well in her career?

I offered this advice – Play games that you can win.

Then, she asked – How do I know which games to play where I can win?

I offered this advice – First, try to answer this question: ‘What do I desire?’ Then, do a few things that you desire to do, maybe 2 or 3, and then gradually you will gravitate towards the number one out of those 2 or 3. Keep learning, keep exploring, and you should find that one game that would become the only that you would like to be in. And once you have found that game you should play, start playing, get better at it over time, and you should win – not against others but along with others who are also playing that game.

Anyways, then she asked – But how do I get over the fear to even start playing the game that I can win?

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A Reminder to Focus on the Journey, Not the Destination

I recently read a story to my son, which was about a martial arts student who went to an accomplished teacher to seek training under his guidance.

He asked the teacher, “I am devoted to studying your martial system. How long will it take me to master it?”

The teacher casually replied, “Ten years.”

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Reflections on My Life

19 years have passed since I entered the stock market through my first and last job as an equity research analyst. 11 years have passed since I left that job to start on my own.

I recently tweeted about my experiences during both these phases, which I thought I would share with you here too.

There have been numerous lessons I have learned along the way, but what follows below contains some of the most important ones. Mostly, it’s about the memories I have made on this journey.

This is how an important part of my life has flowed over the past 19 years, and the best thing I have enjoyed about the whole journey is, well, the flow, with not much idea about where I would go.

If you are still reading, let’s start right here.

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Reflections on the Purpose of Life

I did not know who Dr. Sarah Hallberg was till yesterday morning. By the end of the day, however, I had known her well. At least that is what I felt after seeing her multiple videos and reading about her outstanding work in the field of reversing type 2 diabetes without medications or surgery.

And the reason I got to know about Sarah and her work just yesterday was because I read news of her passing away a day before yesterday, after suffering from advanced lung cancer, at the age of fifty.

Sarah was revered in the medical community, especially those working in the field of diabetes, for the path-breaking work she did over the past few years. As much as I got to read and know about her, all I could gather was the amount of good karma she had accumulated over the years for helping diabetics sort out their lives through just food and lifestyle. The best part about Sarah’s story is that her work did not stop even after she got to know she was down with a terminal disease. She was selfless to the core.

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The 43rd Lesson

Life’s passing by too fast, or so it seems. I complete 43 years in my present state of existence today. That’s more than three-fifths of the average life expectancy of an Indian male.

As I look back at my life, the third year of a decade has been particularly lucky or good for me, and the 43rd year was no different. On the work front, I wrote and published The Sketchbook of Wisdom and started The One Percent Show, both initiatives being very fulfilling for me.

Now, while spiritualists would want me to believe that I have existed from anadi (before the beginning of cosmos) and will exist till ananta (infinity), I see forty-three years as a good enough time to find some meaning in one’s life. At least, my rapidly greying hair and receding hairline help me realize that.

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A Story on Kindness

When we study successful people, we always talk about their work ethic, creativity, leadership. Those things are essential, and we can learn a lot from them. But one thing that gets less attention is whether they were kind to others in their journey.

Consider Warren Buffett, one of the most successful people in the world. Once while giving a lecture to college students, he was asked his definition of success, and this is what he replied, “When you get to my age, you will really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you…That is the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.”

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The Limits of Numbers in Life and Investing

My son Chaitanya was born today, ten years ago. He was two months premature. His birth weight just 1.4 kg – 60% lesser than the average birth weight of 3.5 kg – and he spent the first three weeks of his life in an ICU.

We were not allowed inside the ICU for the risk of infection to the newborns, and so the nurse used to “display” our son from behind two glass doors for the first one week. Even my wife was not allowed entry to the ICU for the first week. Every time we asked how the baby was doing, the nurse would pull out her clipboard and dictate to us his ‘quantitative status’ – his heart rate, temperature, oxygen level, infection level, etc.

A week after Chaitanya’s birth, when my wife was first allowed to meet him, she realized he was lying still in his incubator which the nurse said was fine as he was too weak for any movement. Even his eyes were still. “He will be like that for a few more days, ma’am,” the nurse told my wife, “till he gains some strength.”

Two Monks and One Big Lesson in Life and Investing

Two Buddhist monks, a senior and a junior, were walking through the forest. They came across a river flowing through their path. To continue their journey, they had to swim through the river and cross to the other side.

There was a woman who was sitting at the bank of the river. She did not know how to swim and requested the monks to carry her to the other side.

Buddhist monks take a vow of celibacy. They are not supposed to even look at women, let alone carry them. The junior monk politely refused. But the senior monk put the woman on his back, swam across the river, and dropped her safely to the other side – without saying a word.

Image Source: Isha
The junior monk was aghast that the older monk had broken his vow but did not say anything. An hour passed as they traveled on. Then two hours. Then three. Finally, the agitated junior monk could stand it no longer, and asked, “Why did you carry that woman when we took a vow as monks not to touch women?”