Tag: nonfiction

What do you think Dhirubhai Ambani, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Sunil Mittal have in common? They started out just like you and me—with nothing but empty wallets and strong ambition. It is indeed time for a far more unique, practical and effective approach to success. There has got to be a better way, and there certainly is.

As the first and only opportunity consultant in the world, author Richard M. Rothman presents to us a very simple and accessible answer to this question.

The answer of course is: opportunity. As  How, you ask? We take a look!

Opportunity Is The Universal Starting Point

It’s the essential factor in all business and career success. Opportunities are the seeds from which all wealth grows. Regardless of where you are in life, whether you’re a businessperson, an employee earning wages, an aspiring entrepreneur, a student or a professional, your ability to capture the best opportunities will be the most crucial factor that determines your success.

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Capture, Build And Take

All five of the aforementioned successful men captured a series of breakthrough opportunities. They built upon opportunities that others had ignored. They took opportunities that even industry insiders ignored. And, they capitalized on them.

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Hard Work, Diligence And Persistence Are Insufficient

Hard work, diligence, persistence and a positive attitude are all very useful if you want to succeed. They’re essential, and business gurus are right to talk about them and explain how to develop them. But they’re insufficient. None of them will deliver success unless you also harness the power of opportunity.

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Opportunities Need A Process

To leverage the immense value of opportunities, you can’t wait for opportunities to knock at your door. What if opportunity never knocks? What if you don’t hear it knocking? And what if the opportunity that does turn up isn’t right for you . . . but you take it anyway because you waited so long? Opportunity is far too important to leave to chance. It needs a process.

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The wisdom of crowds rarely applies to opportunities

The wisdom of crowds rarely applies to opportunities any more than it does to investing. Buying a stock after everyone else has bought it rarely makes you money. The same logic applies to opportunities. You need to find opportunities yourself and turn them into the foundation of your success.

Many times, we overlook an opportunity sitting right before our eyes, whilst we’re on a quest for something bigger- it could be uncertain, but still, bigger! The Power of Opportunity helps you recognize that opportunity sitting right before you which could eventually end up becoming your ladder to success. We hope you like reading the book as much as we did! Don’t forget to tell us what you think.

Fluid like the poetry the world loves him for, the inimitable Mirza Ghalib was anchored only in his craft. Reflecting the truth of his time, his words stand testimony to the turbulent world he inhabited. Despite the chaos of his own life, Ghalib’s poetry burnt bright like a flame within him. His verses were rich with philosophical insights and spiritualism even as they were a comment on the politics of the time.

‘Ghalib could write the most playful verses about mangoes and the most opaque poems about the nature of existence. Arguably, the Ghalib era symbolized the peak of Urdu sukhan, its literary expression.’ writes Raza Mir in his perceptive account of Ghalib’s life and work in Ghalib- A Thousand Desires.

Here are 7 verses by Ghalib that have stood the test of time

On Poetry

Revered all over for his exceptional turn of phrase, Mirza Ghalib was seen as the epitome of poetic skill. In a verse that may seem boastful, he takes the adulation rained on him and makes it his own-

HaiN aur bhi duniya meiN sukhanwar bahut achhe

Kahte haiN ke Ghalib ka hai andaaz-e bayaaN aur

There are many others in the world, poets truly great

  Rumour has it though, Ghalib’s turn of phrase stands separate!

On Longing

Shadowed by adversity his whole life, Ghalib struggled to live the way he felt a poet of his stature deserved. In this verse he wonders about desires that remain unfulfilled-

HazaaroN khwaahisheN aisi ke har khwaahish pe dam nikle,

Bahut nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle

Thousands of desires, and each one worth dying for

Many of my desires were fulfilled, but yet, I feel unrequited

On Love

As was customary at the time, Ghalib wrote on romance and the cruelty of forced separation from a lover-

Ji dhoondta hai phir vahi fursat ke raat din

Baithe raheN tasavvur-e jaanaaN kiye hue

The mind harks back to those days and nights of leisure

That were spent lost in thoughts of my love, with pleasure

On Illusion

Critical of the illusion of afterlife created by ritual-driven religion, Ghalib- a self-proclaimed Sufi- questions the idea of paradise-

Hum ko maaloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin

Dil ke khush rakhne ko Ghalib ye khayaal achchha hai

We know the reality of paradise

Ghalib, let’s admit, these are comforting lies

On God

The tumultuous period of history that Ghalib lived through raised existential questions. Bemoaning the limits of human agency when faced with the unrelenting boundaries of fate, he wrote-

Na tha kuch to khuda tha kuch na hota to khuda hota

Duboya mujh ko hone ne na hota maiN to kya hota

When there was nothing, there was god

Had there been nothing, god would be

The act of being was my undoing

What would have been had there been no me?

On the Beloved

At a grand mushaira in a haveli, among illustrious poets of the time, Ghalib presented a ghazal on the beauty of a beloved’s curl of hair which brought him euphoric praise from the gathering

Aah ko chaahiye ek umr asar hone tak

Kaun jeeta hai teri zulf ke sar hone tak

For a sigh to be heard sometimes takes an age

Who survives while you with your stray curls engage?

On Preachers

Ghalib eagerly embraced the idea of equality and unity that could bring all religions on an equal footing. His disdain for religious orthodoxy is reflected in the scathing sarcasm directed at the clergy-

KahaaN maikhaane ka darwaaza Ghalib aur kahaaN waaiz

Par itna jaante hain, kal vo jaata tha ke hum nikle

Where the tavern door, and where the preacher, Ghalib?

But all I know is this; he was entering as I left

Ghalib’s verses are layered with meaning, each with its own story to tell. Pointing out a common misconception, Raza Mir writes, ‘A ghazal is not a slave to amatory sentiment; it can and often does break free of the shackles.’ Ghalib’s poetry brings together his experiences to make a symphony which enriches the song of this beloved bard.

For more about Ghalib, read Ghalib- A Thousand Desires.

Do you only dream of achieving success one day or are you working towards achieving it? It is imperative to realize that success, which is in the uncertain future, is but a sum of our efforts in the present. Enthralling personal life experiences shared by ‘Doctorpreneur’ Dr B.S. Ajaikumar, in his book, Excellence Has No Borders make you realize that hard work, tenacity and self-confidence can go a long way in attaining the unimaginable.

Read to know more about this doctorpreneur:

 Ajaikumar faced many challenges in his childhood and his adult life. In hindsight, the former built him up for the latter. Growing up in the shadows of his superachiever elder brother, Ajaikumar, had learnt to work for his parents’ attention and affection.

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His upbringing being relatively different from his brother’s seems to have given rise to insecurities within him. This feeling drove him to study hard as he was determined to do well and emerge from the shadow of his older brother. His success in doing so gave rise to him becoming accustomed to taking on challenges with gusto: If something wasn’t a challenge, it wasn’t worth the time or the effort.

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Losing twenty million dollars in the dot-com bust pushed him into misery. It led him to almost end his life. What saved him was a singularly assertive thought that he was a fighter and he loved challenges. He was confident that he would do whatever it takes to build himself up from ground zero after the dot-com bust.

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Poor condition of the Indian hospitals and Ajaikumar’s determination to achieve what he put his mind to, pushed him to travel across India and study the cancer situation. He considered this trip as a turning point in his life as he decided to give up the American dream that he’d built for himself and return to his motherland.

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As an established oncologist, he considered it his moral duty to return to serve his people and help them live a healthy life.

To read more about Ajaikumar’s life experiences and his takeaways from them, read, Excellence Has No Borders. Tell us if it inspired you as much as it inspired us!