Monotony Collapses Time, Novelty Unfolds it
Posted by chiragdsagar in life experiences, quotes, self-development on April 9, 2013
“Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it. You can exercise daily and eat healthily and live a long life, while experiencing a short one. If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next—and disappear. That’s why it’s important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales, and have as many new experiences as possible that can serve to anchor our memories. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.”
- Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein
Being a Visionary
Posted by chiragdsagar in entrepreneurship, quotes, Relationships on April 1, 2013
Tom Ford has some very intriguing quotes and thoughts in this documentary. Here’s my favorite:
“We don’t own anything in our life; we don’t own anything in the world.. I’m attracted in some ways to beautiful things and yet, at the same time, I am very aware of their lack of value… And that the most valuable thing in life, are your connections to other people. So, it’s a bit of a struggle.” – Tom Ford
Be Curious and Caring
Posted by chiragdsagar in life experiences, Networking, optimization, Relationships, self-development on March 25, 2013
I’ve attended various networking events in the last several years and have met more than a few hundred, maybe even a thousand people. It is confusing to know who I should follow up with and continue adding to the relationship. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, the most fulfilling relationships I’ve built are with people that possess these two qualities: they are caring and curious.
People that care generally give back more than they receive. They care about their health, wealth, establishing personal relationships and are more likely to be ethically and morally bound. The caring ones are more socially friendly and will do what they can to help.
The curious ones ask critical questions and want to learn, grow, and build their knowledge. On a quest to uncover their thoughts and questions, they push limitations and find holes and gaps in ideas, concepts, businesses, you name it.
The caring and curious ones ask the thought provoking questions, but pay closer attention to emotions. They are passionate, enthusiastic and positive and more likely to self-improve in all aspects of life. Although judging a person through a first encounter does not provide a full glimpse into who the individual actually is, searching for these two qualities saves time in assessing if you want to follow-up.
Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
Being Bold
Posted by chiragdsagar in entrepreneurship, fear, life experiences, quotes on January 31, 2013
I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, but this one really got me. Hope you enjoy it just as much as I have!
“Disturb us, Lord,
When we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we have
dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.”
- Sir Francis Drake via Aj Leon
A Candid Conversation
Posted by chiragdsagar in Hard Work, Health, life experiences, Relationships on December 7, 2012
I met an elder gentleman on public transit in South Chicago. He saw a book in my hand and recommended Buffett’s book and offered his insights on value investing. Then he decided to share his story with me. It turns out that he dropped out of high school, went to war in Nam, came back to the states to get his GED and graduate college. He worked at Arthur Anderson but made some poor choices and ended up on the streets. He got his life together and is now battling cancer at 70. It took him 4 doctor visits to finally diagnose the pain in his leg. It was one hell of a way to spend 10 minutes. I’d only met Harris for a short period, but i wish him the best of luck.
If I meet him again, I’d love to thank him for the spontaneous, but organic and genuine conversation. You only find these every once in a while. His parting words were, “you keep fighting.”
Work Ethic
Posted by chiragdsagar in Hard Work, quotes, self-development on November 15, 2012
“The difference between the 299th and the 300th rep is the difference between the Heavyweight Champion of the World and every other boxer”
- Evander Holyfield
This is one of my favorite talks. Jeff Hoffman, CEO and founder of Priceline.com, gives an insightful keynote on how to overcome negativity, criticisms and objections, and how to create a work-stream process to generate new ideas that can turn into a Billion dollar idea, just like Priceline.com – he calls this “the Power of Wonder.” He ends his speech with the quote above.
If I were to Re-live College
Posted by chiragdsagar in College, experimenting, focus, Goals, life experiences, optimization, self-development on November 6, 2012
My colleague, Ted Gonder, informed college students about his college experiences and what advice he would provide to college students.
The only thing I’d add to the list is – do as many internships as possible in many different fields and backgrounds (Non-profit, for-profit, tech, government jobs) to find out what you like / dislike early on and to diversify your work experience. This will help you navigate through all these entities in the future.
Otherwise I couldn’t agree more with the list.
