This one is for you. Through this note, I would like to take you on a trip of a lifetime - a journey through a special terrain called "LIFE"! My hope is, as I prepare you for the trip, you'll probably pick up key blocks of learning that you may find useful in building your own world of success - today and for many years to come.

I believe you will find it useful to get back to this note at various times/events in your life. Posting this as a blog would perhaps allow you to get to it whenever and wherever you need it and allow me to share this with the world as well.

What's special about this journey? Two Things.
First - This journey goes through very diverse terrain - smooth roads where you would just want to let go and cruise, steep mountain climbs where you really have to push yourself with everything you've got to take that next step, as well as treacherous ravines where adventure and risk is in the air and you could slip and lose everything with one wrong step.

Second - There is just no way you can choose only one kind of terrain. You will face ALL these and more as you navigate across with each passing day.
Are you ready? So - Let's buckle up!

Given that it is certain that you will encounter all the above terrains without choice and experience the joys, frustration, sorrow and exhiliration that go with it, there are "two special powers" you will need to use in plenty. I want to make sure you have these in adequate stock at all times as these are really critical for making this journey.

I. Power of Choice -
Life, through the zillions of situations it presents to us everyday, requires us to choose - from the time you wake up in morning when you decide to go to school or stay in bed to the time when you retire for the night.
-when you choose to read this book or that,
- choose your friends,
- choose to study or play,
- choose to watch a particular tv channel from the list of over 150 of them!
The point is - Choose you must! Interestingly, even if you decide to not do anything, that is still a choice!

Why is this important? Today, more than ever, and definitely more than when I was a kid, the information we come across and the choices we've got have multiplied many times over.

You have as much freedom to choose the right as the wrong, the good friends as the bad, strong positive thoughts as the negative and destructive. Nothing can stop you from choosing one over the other. It's really YOUR choice. And choosing one over the other you cannot avoid. YOU MUST MAKE A CHOICE! The key thing to remember is this - The results that are created based on your choice and the resulting actions are also YOURS to experience.

So - is there a secret to choosing wisely? Yes! There is a tiny voice inside you(and each of us) that whispers the choice that is probably correct for us in each situation. It's called the "Conscience". It somehow knows what's right for you. The key thing is that we try to listen to this faint whisper which can very easily get drowned by the noise outside. The noise of temptation, the noise of other people's opinions and sometimes the noise within your own mind.

As long as you learn to watch this internal compass while making your choices(specially the difficult ones!) there are very good chances you will stay on course and in control.

II. Power to Bounce Back -
What is it that every person who has walked this planet, and will ever walk this planet, encounter not once, not twice but thousands of times in their lives?

It is Failure and Setback. There has not been a single person who has not been touched by these nor will there ever be one - for sure!

As much as these may be unpleasant, it is important to remember that one has to have the strength to "get back up" on our feet and continue to strive forward. BTW, remember Nick Vujicic's inspiring 'get back up' video? Click here to see it again.

I'm sure you recall Rocky Balboa's powerful advice from his movie - "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!"

Rest assured that you will receive your full share of life's blows, tiny nudges as well as the hard jabs that will get you to your knees.
Some of these below you could perhaps easily relate to....
- Remember trying and re-trying to build a science model that did not work the first time after you put it together? or,
- Racking your brains to crack a difficult maths problem but just couldn't seem to figure it out? or,
- When a classmate or someone in the family moved away temporarily/permanently?

You will pretty often find yourself against brick walls that'll just love to hold you down and keep you there.

The question is - Will you give up or go on?

As Randy Pausch(Click here to know more) said during his Last Lecture, "Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people."

So - In summary, exercising the "Power of Choice" wisely allows you to determine the direction of your journey especially considering its pretty easy to lose directions amidst the plethora of information/choices available to us. The "Power to Bounce Back" is really the power of your mental muscle that drives/sinks you as you move forward under the sure and certain lashings of the storms outside. Both need to be exercised continually and I hope you can relate to these, tank up your stock of these and manifest these powers any and every time you need them, as more than anything else
- This is YOUR journey and your experiences will be created out of YOUR dreams, courage, intentions, choices and actions irrespective of anything or anyone else!


More on this fascinating journey later,

My Best Always,
-Deepak