As I turn 27, I want to recollect, recap the journey so far and jot down my thoughts on the lessons I have learned so far in my life.

These are just my unfiltered thoughts that I want to note down somewhere. These are my learnings and they may be wrong, different from others’ opinions or thoughts. It’s ok. To err is human. I’ll learn and correct them soon enough.

Anyways, this will be a good snapshot of my mind and will be fun to look back on next year!

Let’s start.

  1. Time is always passing. Take time to reflect regularly on life and change things that are not helping / serving you. Be proactive about planning things for the next year and few years down the line.
    1. Time will just fly by without you realizing.
    2. If you don’t reflect regularly and take some steps to change things, you’ll be sitting and thinking about where did all the time go and regretting the things / changes / steps that you haven’t taken.
    3. Take some time out and plan the things that you want to do / experience in the next year. Not every minor thing, but the major things like going to a country, changing jobs etc…
  2. Once the basic needs are met, no one or nothing in this world can give you what you want if you don’t feel like it inside.
    1. If you don’t feel happy and peaceful inside, no amount of money or object or person can give you that. You have to build it and have it inside first, before someone or something can help.
    2. If you don’t love yourself, no one’s love can fulfill you. Vice versa, if you love yourself, your partner’s love will support and amplify that feeling.
  3. Material things don’t give you as much happiness as you anticipate or expect.
    1. As a kid, I always wanted to have a computer and have an Xbox. Now, I have both of them and I don’t feel as happy as I expected as a kid to have them.
    2. You’ll definitely have a spike in happiness for a few days initially when you get them for the first time, but it won’t continuously give you happiness.
  4. Everyone has their own agendas at the top of their priority list in life. And it’s not a bad thing. You have to be selfish for yourself.
    1. I always keep remembering this when someone doesn’t behave the way you expect and in most of the cases, you can see through the agenda
    2. For example, even if someone is selflessly helping others, it’s because it makes them feel good about themselves first than actually wanting to help others. So,
  5. Travel. A lot.
    1. It’s one of the best ways to have new experiences, make new memories, meet new people.
    2. Don’t try to take 100s of pictures at every place. You’ll most likely never look at them again or maybe just a few times. Just take a few pictures and short clips that’ll remind you of the place and give you a similar feel like you were there.
  6. Figure out what gives you happiness. And focussedly, dedicatedly and ruthlessly work for it.
    1. You are responsible for your own happiness. No one will give it to you. So, work for it.
  7. It’s ok to just go with the flow sometimes. You don’t need to perfectly plan everything.
  8. The best time to quit your job is when you keep getting stressed about it and it keeps evoking negative feelings in you.
    1. Pressure to perform is always there in every career / job, but it shouldn’t turn into stress or invoke those negative feelings inside you.
  9. Don’t give a fuck about what others think about you. It’s not worth even a ‘f’, let alone the full word.
    1. Only care about what your closest family and friends say. Apart from that, everyone else can go f*** themselves for they don’t care about you or your wellbeing. They just say things as it makes them happy or strokes their ego.
  10. Read a lot of books. Read different types and genres of books.
    1. I strongly believe in learning life through various perspectives and situations. Books are a great way to access this.
    2. They also give you some escapism and give wings to your imagination and help your creativity.
  11. Quality >>> Quantity in every relationship (family, partner, friends).
    1. It’s better to have 2 closest friends than 20 ‘friends’.
    2. Look for people who get closer to you when you feel weaker. And hold on to them. Obviously, you need to reciprocate the same.
  12. Spend time on analyzing things depending on the opportunity cost and their long term impact.
    1. If it’s a short trip to Goa, it’s ok to just go with the flow and take it easy on planning. You can go to Goa again next month.
    2. If you’re going to a new country, which you may never go to again, it’s ok to take some time to plan things out properly.
  13. Try to be world-class at things you love.
    1. Messi, Max and Kohli give me so much inspiration whenever I see them play or do the things that they do.
    2. I enjoy and crave for that feeling of being the best at something.
    3. Pick a job or career where you can get this feeling regularly.
  14. Health is one of the most important things. Both physical and mental health need to be taken care of.
    1. Do at least 5 mins of meditation daily.
    2. Do Yoga regularly. I think Yoga is one of the best things that I have tried which gives you a lot of energy for the rest of the day.
    3. Be active physically. It helps with sleep and general health.
  15. Be actively good. Being good on the inside without action counts for absolutely nothing.
    1. I learned this lesson a bit late, but it’s never too late.
    2. Whenever you see something bad is happening and you know it’s bad, be active and do something about it. Don’t just feel bad on the inside and do nothing.
  16. It’s not worth arguing or trying to convince people who don’t have the right intention or mindset.
    1. They’re not going to understand or put in the effort, so no point. You’ll just waste your time and energy.
  17. Be cautiously positive and optimistic.
    1. Have a positive attitude towards everything in life, but always prepare for the worst case. If it goes as planned, then great. If not, then you have anyway prepared for the worst case.
    2. Dwelling in negativity or pessimism does good to no one or nothing.
  18. Journal regularly. It keeps your mind free from carrying around and thinking about a lot of things. It reduces mental weight.
    1. The notes are like regular snapshots of your mind at a point of time.
    2. You can go back to them and read them to understand your state of mind and how you’re thinking at that point of time. This helps a lot.
    3. It helps a lot mentally just to clear out things from mind and put them on something else. I feel so clear when I do this in my mind.
  19. Life is too short and you only live once, so try to have no regrets or minimize them.
    1. Just do whatever the fuck you want to do. Obviously, legal things.
    2. Hate the job, leave it.
    3. Like someone, tell them.
    4. Hate someone, leave them.
    5. Want to go somewhere, go for it.
  20. Follow the ‘Die with zero’ approach to money.
    1. You’re trading off your time, energy and youth for money doing something.
    2. Spend that damn money on things that you love. Buy that iPhone. Go on that international trip. It doesn’t matter if you have crores in your bank account in your old age but you don’t have any memories or experiences to think back to after wasting time on “career”.
    3. Get the best things / gadgets on which you spend most of your time in your life: phone, earphones, laptop…
  21. Release emotions or feelings or bad thoughts out regularly. Don’t keep them inside.
    1. Doing it with closest ones is the best as they’ll support you and be there for you in the moment.
  22. Be empathetic, kind and generous.
    1. We are all humans and everyone is going through their own shit.
    2. Never start with or assume wrong intent. People are just a result of their upbringing and circumstances.
    3. Help others wherever you can and be kind. It goes a long way.
  23. Understand yourself clearly. It helps you a lot in everything.
    1. Having a clear understanding of self, helps you with making better decisions in life like choosing a job or letting go of a friend.
    2. Most of the times, things are not what they seem to be at the first glance. There’s always something underlying.
    3. You may be expressing anger at home at someone else, whereas the trigger was something at work.
    4. You may be feeling angry at someone, but it’s one of your inner fears masking your true self.
    5. You may be gossiping about someone, but it may be you trying to escape something in your life.
    6. Read up about human psychology, hormones, emotions and everything that affects how humans behave and why they behave like it.
  24. Empathize with women more. Try to see the world from their perspective often.
    1. They go through a lot mentally and physically regularly and yet they give their best and do as much or better.
    2. You’ll also learn a lot more, gain a different perspective and mature as a person.
    3. Start by speaking more to your mother, sister, partner and friends. Try to really listen and understand.
    4. I feel I have been blessed in a way growing up with two strong women and later having more strong women as friends in my life.
  25. Forgive yourself more.
    1. Hindsight is always 20/20.
    2. Never judge the past with your current learnings. You didn’t have all these learnings or context back then.
    3. You did your best back then with all the information you had at that time. You have given your best.
  26. Past is done. There is only present and the future.
    1. Thinking overly about the past won’t help with anything.
    2. What’s done is done. Take the learnings and do better things in the present so that you go where you want to be in the future!
  27. DO EPIC SHIT. Do something unexpected. Do something uncomfortable. Do something that pushes you.
    1. You feel the most alive when you do these things. Life turns from passive to active mode in these situations.
    2. Life is just too good to be passive and just going with the flow.
    3. This is something I will keep in mind as I look forward to the next year.

Oof, that’s a lot 😄

Looking forward to updating these and adding another learning for the next birthday ⭐

THE END!