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What makes people successful?

I often think about success.
Not in a way that I am obsessed with it.
Instead, I am curious as to what leads to success.

Why is one person more successful than the other?
Especially when the conditions, opportunities, knowledge, and expertise are more or less the same.

Here is my opinion.

To feel successful, a necessary and sufficient criterion is a feeling of purpose.
Something to look forward to.
Something to work towards.
That excites you, drives you, challenges you, and motivates you.
Something that you are NOT forced to do, but instead, WANT to do.

However, there is a BIG difference in feeling successful and being successful.

Being successful is often defined by the world.
Money, fame, respect, prestige, designation, house, car, etc.!

But there are so many people who have all of this and yet do not feel successful.
And so many who do not nearly have as much and yet feel immensely successful within.

The distinction is what I call agency.
Or simply - who drives that purpose?

Those who feel successful drive that purpose themselves.

They rely on themselves more than they rely on others.
They know they can depend on themselves.
They know they will keep the promises they make to themselves.
They know they can find their way out whenever stuck.

The rest need others to help them with their purpose.
They somehow don't trust their own selves.
They are always second-guessing their thoughts and their emotions.
They are always indecisive.
They seek constant validation of their ideas.

So,
​If you wish to be successful - having a purpose or a motive for your life is necessary.
If you wish to feel successful, trusting your own self to come up with that purpose is necessary.
​(share on X)​

Can you depend on yourself to come up with your life's plan?
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Book I am reading this week

Finished reading
​The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did).​
​If you are a parent, especially a young parent, I would highly recommend you pick this book up.
Could change the way you raise your kids and yourself :)

Started reading OUTSMART YOUR BRAIN: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy.
​The book is mainly designed for students — covering specific strategies for reading, listening, taking tests, how to take notes, how to read difficult books, coupled with the psychological challenges of dealing with anxiety, fighting procrastination, and developing good focus.
I am reading the book to gain a better understanding of the student's challenges, as we design more and more courses on WebVeda.
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My new book, MAKE EPIC MONEY, is now released.
Available in English, Hindi, on Kindle, and as an audiobook (in my voice).
​60,000+ copies already sold - making it the third consecutive bestseller, yay :))))

Here is a list of all the books I have shared in this newsletter so far (alphabetical order)
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Results of last week's survey

Last week, I asked:

How old were you when your parents bought their first car?

• Already had it when I was born
• Before I turned 10
• Between 10-18 yrs
• Between 18-25 yrs
• After I turned 25
• Still do not have a car

Here are the results:

Observations:

• Isn't it fascinating that most of our parents still do not have a car? Living in our own worlds, we take all of these things for granted!
• For those whose parents bought a car, most of them were bought between the age of 10-18 years.

My answer?
My parents bought their first car when I was 15/16 - it was a Fiat Padmini :)

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Quotes to share

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We prefer the comfort of what we know, to the vulnerability of what we don't.

Share on X

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When we feel bad, we don’t want to be fixed.
We want to be felt rather than dealt with.

We wish for someone else to understand how we feel so that we don’t feel lonely with that feeling.

Share on X

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It's not about what pain you suffer.
It's about what you choose to suffer for.

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.

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Signed 300+ copies of Make Epic Money at the Delhi and Mumbai domestic airports :)))

And it's #1 already, yay!

Your beliefs can financially ruin you.
Or they can set you up for life!

Was at the Reader's Digest Trusted Brand Awards 2023 — gave a talk on "Trust as a personal brand".

Received this fab Amar Chitra Katha goodie bag from Preeti, the CEO!
I grew up reading Tinkle; loved it!!

Some things do not change, haha.

The winter sun — few things beat its beauty :)))

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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What is your current status?
​This is just to know my email audience.

• School student
• College student
• Working in a job
• Running my own startup
• Freelancing (post-college)
• Not working right now
• Retired

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:​

​The Productive Morning Routine for 2024​

📱 Instagram:​

​Toxic people​

🐥 X:

​Ten 90-day challenges for your mind, body, soul​

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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.​
​(Sardiyon mein baarish se nafrat hone ki kasam)

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