Biography
Reading a biography of a successful person gives you a fantastic moral boost that you rarely get from self motivation. I used to look up to my father for many years to try and understand what was it that made life so hard for him. It turns out that I just saw the wrong side of him. The brighter side, the more accomplished man was totally different from the father that I know of. What I read in business books now, he used to advice me when I was young. I never really cared about it much because as every young youth going through his paces I was also trying to enjoy it as much as I could.
Experience is invaluable, especially personal ones. Where you can hear lots of untold stories which most of the time will amaze you. My father started life the hard way, he was a self made man and till his final breath he was true to what he believed in – being independent. Having a mind of your own is what he was trying to teach me since I was young. For some it’s a natural but some it’s learnt. To this day, I just looked into the greatest minds, greatest business people and even the greatest inventors of our time. There is one thing that can be said that is very common but yet uncommon among all people is that – they have a mind of their own.
The most commonly misunderstood behavior about successful people is that we do not know the difference between confidence and arrogance. Well, how do you find that out? its simple – their actions! confident people proact or professional activism while arrogant people only talk and do nothing. Another important attribute is when arrogant people actually say – ‘I am better than you’ for no apparent reason. This is classic stupidity. It only confirms the fact that intelligence is limited and stupidity is in abundance.
The reason you should read more and more biographies is that it tells you some very important traits about us being extra-ordinary survivors despite the impossible situation we are usually in. One in particular I like a lot is – Andy Grove (the ex-chairman of Intel). His life is something that admires me most, despite all odds to his health, his situation as a Jew in a Nazi regime and more so how he studied PhD while at the same time saving enough cash to bring his parents to US and away from danger is heart-breaking and inspiring. If you are not convinced about him then read about Albert Einstein and what he went through to prove his equation E=MC(2), a simple one no doubt but try proving your theory to fellow scientists, you will see the complications. More than that, you must understand he calculated space and time without using computers, no mean feat even today!
When you read their biographies, it helps you understand what confidence is and what arrogance is. One of the biggest wastage of time, effort and even breaking human relations is arrogance. Personal experience teaches you the hard way how to proact and helps you avoid drooling over other people’s insecurity. the idea you get from Andy’s life is about being a Realist. The skill about navigating rough waters even if the tide against you all the time. questioning your own habits, your own motives, your purpose and then seeing it in a different perspective… more than realizing it… having the discipline to proact is why Andy is who he is and why Einstein is synonymous with being Genius.
People will always have opinions about you… some are good but most are bad. The funny thing here is – why is it bad or why is it good? till now I haven't heard anyone give an answer to that question and probably never will… so the next time someone comes and tells you – ‘I am better than you’, just laugh it out… because now you know they are not worth it!
Experience is invaluable, especially personal ones. Where you can hear lots of untold stories which most of the time will amaze you. My father started life the hard way, he was a self made man and till his final breath he was true to what he believed in – being independent. Having a mind of your own is what he was trying to teach me since I was young. For some it’s a natural but some it’s learnt. To this day, I just looked into the greatest minds, greatest business people and even the greatest inventors of our time. There is one thing that can be said that is very common but yet uncommon among all people is that – they have a mind of their own.
The most commonly misunderstood behavior about successful people is that we do not know the difference between confidence and arrogance. Well, how do you find that out? its simple – their actions! confident people proact or professional activism while arrogant people only talk and do nothing. Another important attribute is when arrogant people actually say – ‘I am better than you’ for no apparent reason. This is classic stupidity. It only confirms the fact that intelligence is limited and stupidity is in abundance.
The reason you should read more and more biographies is that it tells you some very important traits about us being extra-ordinary survivors despite the impossible situation we are usually in. One in particular I like a lot is – Andy Grove (the ex-chairman of Intel). His life is something that admires me most, despite all odds to his health, his situation as a Jew in a Nazi regime and more so how he studied PhD while at the same time saving enough cash to bring his parents to US and away from danger is heart-breaking and inspiring. If you are not convinced about him then read about Albert Einstein and what he went through to prove his equation E=MC(2), a simple one no doubt but try proving your theory to fellow scientists, you will see the complications. More than that, you must understand he calculated space and time without using computers, no mean feat even today!
When you read their biographies, it helps you understand what confidence is and what arrogance is. One of the biggest wastage of time, effort and even breaking human relations is arrogance. Personal experience teaches you the hard way how to proact and helps you avoid drooling over other people’s insecurity. the idea you get from Andy’s life is about being a Realist. The skill about navigating rough waters even if the tide against you all the time. questioning your own habits, your own motives, your purpose and then seeing it in a different perspective… more than realizing it… having the discipline to proact is why Andy is who he is and why Einstein is synonymous with being Genius.
People will always have opinions about you… some are good but most are bad. The funny thing here is – why is it bad or why is it good? till now I haven't heard anyone give an answer to that question and probably never will… so the next time someone comes and tells you – ‘I am better than you’, just laugh it out… because now you know they are not worth it!
Comments
Post a Comment