The Road most Travelled

So we are faced with two roads - one which offers good money and good title in a stable / solid fortune 500 company with a well defined career and prospects and the other path which is not at all well defined, which may or may not lead to riches, has no title & definately no perks, implies financial constraints in the short run and has no defined path - this is the path to following your dreams and becoming an entreprenuer. So which will it be ?



Well I chose the former - everytime there was a fork in the road I chose the road most travelled. At first I was not even aware of the other path - but gradually the other path came into focus. Why did this happen ? First I went to the ISB - it showed me to be the frog in the well that I was and 2nd I've seen how big firms operate and I'm pretty sure that there is a better way. As I move up in my career Ive seen big firm operate politically rather than rationally, Ive seen them abuse and disregard human capital and Ive seen them make a mess of the important things that need to be done. Seeing these things has moved me to where I can see the value of the other path - different from the road most travelled.



The million dollar Q - So why not jump in ? Ah well - GMD* coefficient is zero :) Also no great ideas ,fear of failure, no financial cushion and no partner. So which of these are the biggest blockers ? Financial backup I think is key - so if I have a crore in the bank I would definately be able to look at moving out of regular work. What about an idea ? I have some I think one of which may really work - but definately need one other person who is highly motivated and positive.


GMD* = Gaand me dum

Why does life suck ?

Breaking down the problem

• Life sucks - this is the reality Im faced with - if it doesnt for you then thats fantastic.


• The general reasons are absence or having less of love, money, work, family, health - i.e the many dimensions across which human beings experience life


• From the above I am lucky enough to have love, family, health (though the battle of the bulge has commenced).


• Money - you can never have enough of it ? I think we can answer this is we have defined our life goals and see if our current + future earnings can fund these goals.

Money: The problem is defining these goals - we have a fuzzy feeling that we wont be able to fund our (undefined) goals and hence the money part sucks. Defining lifes goals are not easy at least for me - I mean what should one do now - in the long run we are all dead anyway. Surprisingly many goals are cheap - having good friends, helping other people, going trekking or visiting places (there are too many beautiful spots in India where you can visit for peanuts) - so perhaps we should do as follow. Steps : Set Life Goals -> Segregate goals into cheap and expensive -> Keep doing the cheap ones -> keep pruning the expensive ones. Among the expensive goals there are those that are critical childs education, house to live in, money for wife after you kick the bucket - these need to be quantified. The other expensive goals are those that I'll feel sad about if they dont come to pass but wont kill me if they are not achieved. Steps: Segregate expensive goals into critical and non-critical goals -> quantify expensive critical goals (priority/money/timeline) -> quantify expensive non-critical goals

• Work - From speaking to all my friends and collegues the thing that makes life suck the most is work. Why is this ?

Work: I use to love working for works sake - not for the money or the next promotion or for anything. I remember the time when working on something caused time to blur and work became the single focal point of all my energy and abilities - there was no exhaustion, boredom, stagnation, cribbing, shitty feeling - none of these things that are my constant companions today. Im paid well, I use to have a good boss, I use to have a great team, I was on top of my game - but I was dissatisfied - why ??? Why did success breed failure ?

The Story of Tibet

What a wonderful book this is - it traces the history of Tibet in conversations between the Author and the 14th (current) Dalai Lama. The book winds it way slowly through the generations of Dalai Lamas and their strong influence on Asia - both the politics and the religion and weaves into it the story of the people of Tibet - their beliefs, their acceptance of the Chinese invasion, their religious achievements and trials. But most interesting for me was the unusual way in which the Dalai Lama view life and events - the author terms this as Stereo Vision wherein the Dalai Lama view all events and history at two levels - the common level which we all perceive and the uncommon level which is perceived by people with higher spiritual realization. If anything this book shows how the Dalai Lama first looks inward - at himself and his people and his religion - even at the times when history dealt them the harshest hand - really inspiring.