EAT THAT FROG! BY BRIAN TRACY

CHAPTER 1
Set The Table

“There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants and a burning desire to achieve it.” 

NAPOLEON HILL

Here is a great rule for success: "Think on paper."

Rule: “One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”

Take a clean sheet of paper right now and make out a list of ten goals you want to accomplish in the next year. Write your goals as though a year has already passed and they are now a reality. Use the present tense, positive and personal case so that they are immediately accepted by your subconscious mind. For example, you would write. “I earn X number of dollars per year.” Or “I weigh X number of pounds.” Or “I drive such and such a car.”

Review your list of ten goals and select the one goal that, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive impact on your life. Whatever that goal is, write it on a separate sheet of paper, set a deadline, make a plan, take action on your plan and then do something every single day that moves you toward that goal. This exercise alone could change your life!

CHAPTER 2
Plan Every Day in Advance

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so you can do something about it now.” 

ALAN LAKE

Begin today to plan every day, week and month in advance. Take a notepad or sheet of paper, or use your PDA or Blackberry, and make a list of everything you have to do in the next 24 hours. Add to it as new items come up. Make a list of all your projects, the big multi-task jobs that are important to your future.

Lay out each of your major goals, projects or tasks by priority, what is Most important, and by sequence, what has to be done first, what comes second and so forth. Start with the end in mind and work backward. Think on paper! Always work from a list. You’ll be amazed at how much more productive you become, and how much easier it is to eat your frog.

CHAPTER 3

Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything

“We always have time enough, if we will but use it aright.” 

WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

Rule: “Resist the temptation to clear up small things first.”

Make a list of all the key goals, activities, projects and responsibilities in your life today. Which of them are, or could be, in the top 10% or 20% of tasks that represent, or could represent, 80% or 90% of your results?

Resolve today that you are going to spend more and more of your time working in those few areas that can really make a difference in you life and career, and less and less time on lower value activities.

CHAPTER 4

Consider the Consequences

“Every man has become great; every successful man has succeeded, in proportion as he has confined his powers to one particular channel.” 

ORISON SWETT MARDEN

Rule: "Long-term thinking improves short-term decision making."

Rule: "Future intent influences and often determines present actions."

Rule: "There will never be enough time to do everything you have to do."

Review your list of tasks, activities and projects regularly. Continually ask yourself, “Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive consequences in my work or personal life?”

Determine the most important things you could be doing every hour of every day, and then discipline yourself to work continually on the most valuable use of your time. What is this for you, right now?

Whatever it is that can help you the most, set it as a goal, make a plan
to achieve it and go to work on your plan immediately. Remember the wonderful words of Goethe, “Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!”

CHAPTER 5

Practice Creative Procrastination

“Make time for getting big tasks done every day. Plan your daily workload in advance. Single out the relatively few small jobs that absolutely must be done immediately in the morning. Then go directly to the big tasks and pursue them to completion.” 

BOARDROOM REPORTS

Rule: “You can only get your time and your life under control to the degree to which you discontinue lower value activities.”

Practice zero-based thinking on every part of your life. Ask yourself continually, “If I was not doing this already, knowing what I now know, would I start it up, or get into it again today?” If it is something you would not start up again today, knowing what you now know, it is a prime candidate for abandonment or creative procrastination.

Examine each of your personal and work activities and evaluate it based on your current situation. Select at least one activity to abandon immediately, or at least, deliberately put off until your more important goals have been achieved.

CHAPTER 6

Use the ABCDE Method Continually

“The first law of success is concentration – to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right or to the left.” 

WILLIAM MATHEWS

Review you work list right now and put an A, B, C, D or E next to each task or activity. Select your A-1 job or project and begin on it
immediately. Discipline yourself to do nothing else until this one job is complete.

Practice this ABCDE Method every day and on every work or project list, before you begin work, for the next month. By that time, you will have developed the habit of setting and working on your highest priority tasks and your future will be assured!

CHAPTER 7

Focus On Key Result Areas

“When every physical and mental resource is focused, one’s power to solve a problem multiplies tremendously.” 

NORNAM VINCENT PEALE

Rule: Your weakest key result area sets the height at which you can use all your other skills and abilities.

The Great Question: "What one skill, if I developed and did it in an excellent fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my career?"

Identify the key result areas of your work. What are they? Write down the key results you have to get to do your job in an excellent fashion. Give yourself a grade from 1-10 on each one. And then determine the one key skill that, if you did it in an excellent manner, would help you the most in your work.

Take this list to your boss and discuss it with him or her. Invite honest feedback and appraisal. You can only get better when you are open to the constructive inputs of other people. Discuss your results with your staff and coworkers. Talk them over with your spouse.

Make a habit of doing this analysis regularly for the rest of your career. Never stop improving. This decision alone can change your life.

CHAPTER 8

The Law of Three

“Do what you can with what you have right where you are.” 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

1. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important business or career goals in life, right now.”
2. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important family or relationship goals, right now?
3. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important financial goals, right now?
4. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important health goals, right now?
5. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important personal and professional development goals, right now?
6. “In 30 seconds, write down your three most important social and community goals, right now?
7. “In 30 seconds, write down your three biggest problems or concerns in life, right now?

Rule: It is quality of time at work that counts and quantity of time at home that matters.

Determine the three most important things that you do in your work. Ask, “If I could only do one thing all day long, which one task contributes the greatest value to my career?” Do this exercise two more times. Once you have identified your “Big Three” concentrate on them single mindedly all day long.

Identify your three most important goals in life, in each area. Organize them by priority. Make plans for their accomplishment, and work on your plans every single day. You will be amazed at what you achieve in the months and years ahead.

CHAPTER 9

Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin

“No matter what the level of your ability, you have more potential than you can ever develop in a lifetime.” 

JAMES T. MCKAY

Take a good look at your desk or office, both at home and at the office. Ask yourself, “What kind of a person works in an environment
like that?” The cleaner and neater your work environment, the more positive, productive and confident you feel.

Resolve today to clean up your desk and office completely so that you feel effective, efficient and ready to get going each time you sit down to work.

CHAPTER 10

Take It One Oil Barrel at A Time

“Persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much if they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a time.” 

SAMUEL SMILES

There is an old saying that, "By the yard it's hard; but inch by inch, anything's a cinch!"

Select any goal, task or project in your life where you have been procrastinating and make a list of all the steps you will need to take
to eventually complete the task.

Then take just one step immediately. Sometimes, all you need to do to get started is to sit down and complete one item on the list. And
then do one more, and so on. You will be amazed at what you eventually accomplish.

CHAPTER 11

Upgrade Your Key Skills

“The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.” 

OG MANDINO

Rule: “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.”

Resolve today to become a “Do-It-To-Yourself” project. Become a lifelong student of your craft. School is never out for the professional.

Identify the key skills that can help you the most to achieve better and faster results. Determine the core competencies that you will
need to have in the future to lead your field. Whatever they are, set a goal, make a plan and begin developing and increasing your ability
in those areas. Decide to be the very best at what you do!

CHAPTER 12

Leverage Your Special Talents

“Do your work. Not just your work and no more, but a little more for the lavishings sake – that little more that is worth all the rest.”
DEAN BRIGGS

Continually ask yourself these key questions: “What am I really good at? What do I enjoy the most about my work? What has been most responsible for my success in the past? If I could do any job at all, what job would it be?”

If you won the lottery or came into an enormous amount of money, and you could choose any job or any part of a job to do for the indefinite future, what work would you choose?

Develop a personal plan to prepare yourself to do your most important tasks in an excellent fashion. Focus on those areas where you have special talents, and which you most enjoy doing. This is the key to unlocking your personal potential.

CHAPTER 13

Identify Your Key Constraints

“Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” 

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL

 Identify your most important goal in life today. What is it? What one goal, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive effect on your life? What one career accomplishment would have the greatest positive impact on your work life?

Determine the one constraint, internal or external that sets the speed at which you accomplish this goal. Ask: “Why don’t I have it already?  What is it in me that is holding me back?” Whatever your answers, take action immediately. Do something. Do anything, but get started.

CHAPTER 14

Put the Pressure on Yourself

“The first requisite for success is to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.” 

THOMAS EDISON

Set deadlines and sub-deadlines on every task and activity. Create your own “forcing system.” Raise the bar on yourself and don’t let yourself off the hook. Once you’ve set yourself a deadline, stick to it and even try to beat it.

Write out every step of a major job or project before you begin. Determine how many minutes and hours you will require to complete each phase. Then race against your own clock. Beat your own deadlines. Make it a game, and resolve to win!

CHAPTER 15

Maximize Your Personal Powers

“Gather in your resources, rally all your faculties, marshal all your energies, focus all your capacities upon mastery of at least one field of endeavor.” 

JOHN HAGGAI

Analyze your current energy levels and compare them with your daily health habits. Resolve today to improve your levels of health and energy by asking the following questions:
1) What am I doing physically that I should do more of?
2) What am I doing that I should do less of?
3) What am I not doing that I should start doing if I want to perform at my best?
4) What am I doing today that affects my health that I should stop doing altogether?

Select one activity or behavior that you can change immediately to improve your overall levels of health and energy. Practice that one action over and over until it becomes a habit. Then select a second way to improve and begin on that.

Whatever your answers are to these questions, take action today.

CHAPTER 16

Motivate Yourself into Action

“It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and of creative action that man finds his supreme joys.” 

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

As Victor Frankl wrote in his best selling book, Logotherapy, “The last great freedom of mankind is the freedom to choose your attitude under any set of external conditions.”

As speaker/humorist Ed Forman says, “You should never share your problems with others because 80% of people don't care about them anyway, and the other 20% are kind of glad that you've got them in the first place.”

Develop a positive mental attitude:
Look for the good.
Seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. "Difficulties come not to obstruct, but to instruct."
Look for the solution to every problem.
Think and talk continually about your goals.

Control your thoughts. Remember, you become what you think about most of the time. Be sure that you are thinking and talking about the things you want rather than the things you don’t want.

Keep your mind positive by accepting complete responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you. Refuse to criticize, complain or blame others for anything. Resolve to make progress rather than excuses. Keep your thoughts and your energy focused forward, on the things you can do right now to improve your life, and let the rest go.

CHAPTER 17

Get Out Of the Technological Time Sinks

“There is more to life than just increasing its speed.” 

GANDHI

Resolve today to create “zones of silence” during your day-to-day activities. Turn off all communications devices and technology for
one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. You will be amazed at what happens: nothing!

Resolve to take one full day off each week during which you do not touch your computer, check your Blackberry or make any attempt to keep in touch with the world of technology. At the end of a day without continuous contact, except by voice, your mind will go calm and clear, like water. By giving your mental batteries time to recharge, free from the incessant interruptions of communication, you will be more relaxed, aware and alert.

CHAPTER 18

Slice and Dice the Task 

 “The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably in thought and act.”

ORISON SWETT MARDEN

Put one of these techniques into action immediately. Take a large, complex, multi-task job that you’ve been putting off and either “salami slice” or “Swiss cheese” it to get started.
Become action-oriented. A common quality of high performance men and women is that, when they hear a good idea, they take action on it immediately. As a result, they learn more, faster, and get much better results. Don’t delay. Try it today!

CHAPTER 19

Create Large Chunks of Time

“Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all of your energies on a limited set of targets.” 

NIDO QUBEIN

Think continually of different ways that you can save, schedule and consolidate large chunks of time. Use this time to work on important tasks with the most significant long-term consequences.
Make every minute count. Work steadily and continuously without diversion or distraction by planning and preparing your work in advance. Most of all, keep focused on the most important results for which you are responsible.

CHAPTER 20

Develop A Sense of Urgency

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” 

NAPOLEON HILL

Resolve today to develop a sense of urgency in everything you do. Select one area where you have a tendency to procrastinate and make a decision to develop the habit of fast action in that area.

When you see an opportunity or a problem, take action on it immediately. When you are given a task or responsibility, do it quickly and report back fast. Move rapidly in every important area of your life. You will be amazed at how much better you feel, and how much more you get done.

CHAPTER 21

Single Handle Every Task

“And herein lies the secret of true power. Learn, by constant practice, how to husband your resources, and concentrate them, at any given moment, upon a given point.” 

JAMES ALLEN

Take action! Resolve today to select the most important task or project that you could complete and then launch into it immediately.

Once you start your most important task, discipline yourself to persevere without diversion or distraction until it is 100% complete. See it as a “test” to determine whether you are the kind of person who can make a decision to complete something and then carry it out. Once you begin, refuse to stop until the job is finished.

Summary:

1. Set the table: Decide exactly what you want. Clarity is essential. Write out your goals and objectives before you begin;

2. Plan every day in advance: Think on paper. Every minute you spend in planning can save you five or ten minutes in execution;

3. Apply the 80/20 Rule to everything: Twenty percent of your activities will account for eighty percent of your results. Always concentrate your efforts on that top twenty percent;

4. Consider the consequences: Your most important tasks and priorities are those that can have the most serious consequences, positive or negative, on your life or work. Focus on these above all else;

5. Practice creative procrastination: Since you can’t do everything, you must learn to deliberately put off those tasks that are of low value so that you have enough time to do the few things that really count;

6. Use the ABCDE Method continually: Before you begin work on a list of tasks, take a few moments to organize them by value and priority so you can be sure of working on your most important activities:

7. Focus on key result areas: Identify and determine those results that you absolutely, positively have to get to do your job well, and work on them all day long;

8. The Law of Three: Identify the three things you do in your work that account for 90% of your contribution and focus on getting them done before anything else. You will then have more time for your family and personal life;

9. Prepare thoroughly before you begin: have everything you need at hand before you start. Assemble all papers, information, tools, work materials and numbers so that you can get started and keep going;

10. Take it one oil barrel at a time: You can accomplish the biggest and most complicated job if you just complete it one step at a time;

11. Upgrade your key skills: The more knowledgeable and skilled you become at your key tasks, the faster you start them and the sooner you get them done;

12. Leverage your special talents: Determine exactly what it is that you are very good at doing, or could be very good at, and throw your whole heart into doing those specific things very, very well;

13. Identify your key constraints: Determine the bottlenecks or chokepoints, internally or externally, that set the speed at which you achieve your most important goals and focus on alleviating them;

14. Put the pressure on yourself: Imagine that you have to leave town for a month and work as if you had to get all your major tasks completed before you left;

15. Maximize your personal powers: Identify your periods of highest mental and physical energy each day and structure your most important and demanding tasks around these times. Get lots of rest so you can perform at your best;

16. Motivate yourself into action: Be your own cheerleader. Look for the good in every situation. Focus on the solution rather than the problem. Always be optimistic and constructive;

17. Get Out of The Technological Time Sinks: Use technology to improve the quality of your communications, but do not allow yourself to become a slave to. Learn to occasionally turn things off, and leave them off;

18. Slice and dice the task: Break large, complex tasks down into bite sized pieces and then just do one small part of the task to get started;

19. Create large chunks of time: Organize your days around large blocks of time where you can concentrate for extended periods on your most important tasks;

20. Develop a sense of urgency: Make a habit of moving fast on your key tasks. Become known as a person who does things quickly and well;

21. Single handle every task: Set clear priorities, start immediately on your most important task and then work without stopping until the job is 100% complete. This is the real key to high performance and maximum personal productivity. Make a decision to practice these principles every day until they become second nature to you. With these habits of personal management as a permanent part of your personality, your future success will be unlimited.

Just do it! Eat that frog.

ADULTERY - A NOVEL BY PAULO COELHO - TRANSLATED FROM THE PORTUGUESE BY MARGARET JULL COSTA AND ZOE PERRY

EVERY morning, when I open my eyes to the so-called “new day,” I feel like closing them again, staying in bed, and not getting up. But I can’t do that.

Apathy. Pretending to be happy, pretending to be sad, pretending to have an orgasm, pretending to be having fun, pretending that you’ve slept well, pretending that you’re alive. Until there comes a point where you reach an imaginary red line and realize that if you cross it, there will be no turning back. Then you stop complaining, because complaining means that you are at least still battling something. You accept the vegetative state and try to conceal it from everyone. And that’s hard work.

...experiencing everything as though it were just a scene in a film I’m watching, without wanting—or being able—to stop it.

I look down the list of commitments that can’t be put off. The longer the list, the more productive I consider my day to be. Many of the tasks are things I promised to do the day before or during the week, but which I haven’t yet done. That’s why the list keeps growing, until it makes me so nervous that I decide to scrap the whole thing and start again. And then I realize that nothing on the list is actually very important.

Trusting the one you love always brings good results.

Six months ago, we bought a new washing machine and had to change the plumbing in the laundry room. We had to change the flooring, too, and paint the walls. In the end, it looked far prettier than the kitchen.
To avoid an unfortunate contrast, we had to replace the kitchen. Then we noticed that the living room looked old and faded. So we redecorated the living room, which then looked more inviting than the study we hadn’t touched for ten years. So then we went to work on the study.
Gradually, the refurbishment spread to the whole house.
I hope the same doesn’t happen to my life. I hope that the small things won’t lead to great transformations.

IT’S IN the Bible:
It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman.
And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
Then David ordered that Uriah, a warrior faithful to him, be sent to the battlefront on a dangerous mission. He was killed and Bathsheba went to live with the king in his palace.
David—the great example, the idol for generations, the fearless warrior—not only
committed adultery, he also ordered the murder of his rival, betraying his loyalty and goodwill.

During the ice age, many animals died of cold, so the porcupines decided to band together to provide one another with warmth and protection.
But their spines or quills kept sticking into their surrounding companions, precisely those who provided the most warmth. And so they drifted apart again.
And again many of them died of cold.
They had to make a choice: either risk extinction or accept their fellow porcupines’ spines.
Very wisely, they decided to huddle together again. They learned to live with the minor wounds inflicted by their relatives, because the most important thing to their survival was that shared warmth.

...we like fish in aquariums; they remind us of ourselves, well fed but incapable of moving beyond the glass walls.

I ask all those who hope to one day work for the good of humanity: never forget that even if you deliver up your body to be burned, you gain nothing if you have not Love. Nothing!

The message of Love is in the way I live my life, and not in my words or my deeds.

Apparently, Frankenstein isn’t the only book that has stayed in print since it was first published: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in three days, follows suit. The story is set in London in the nineteenth century. Physician and researcher Henry Jekyll believes that good and evil coexist in all people. He is determined to prove his theory, which was ridiculed by almost everyone he knows, including the father of his fiancée, Beatrix. After working tirelessly in his laboratory, he manages to develop a formula.
Not wanting to endanger anyone’s life, he uses himself as a guinea pig.
As a result, his demonic side—whom he calls Mr. Hyde—is revealed. Jekyll believes he can control Hyde’s comings and goings, but soon realizes that he is sorely mistaken; when we release our dark side, it will completely overshadow the best in us. The same is true for all individuals.
That is how dictators are born. In the beginning they generally have excellent intentions, but little by little, in order to do what they think is for the “good” of their people, they make use of the very worst in human nature: terror.

After the darkness, light.

Do you see these players? They always have to make the next move. They can’t stop in the middle, because that means accepting defeat. There comes a time when defeat is inevitable, but at least they fought until the end. We already have everything we need. There is nothing to improve. Thinking we are good or bad, fair or unfair, all that is nonsense. We know that today Geneva is covered by a cloud that might take months to go away, but sooner or later, it will leave. So go ahead and let yourself go...By doing what you shouldn’t, you will realize it yourself...the light in your soul is greater than the darkness. But for this you must go all the way to the end of the game.

I open the curtains in my office and see people out there, some walking and holding hands without having to worry about the consequences. And I can’t show my love.

What leads people to commit adultery?
If married people, for whatever reason, decide to look for another partner, this does not necessarily mean that the couple’s relationship is not doing well. Nor do I believe that sex is the primary motive. It has more to do with boredom, with a lack of passion for life, with a shortage of challenges. It’s a combination of factors.
And why does this (adultery) happen?
Because, ever since we’ve moved away from God, we live a fragmented existence. We try to find oneness, but we don’t know the way back; thus, we are in a state of constant dissatisfaction. Society prohibits and creates laws, but this does not solve the problem.
Researchers from the University of Texas in Austin tried to answer the question so many people pose: Why do men cheat more than women when they know that this behavior is self-destructive and will cause the people they love to suffer? The conclusion was that men and women have exactly the same desire to cheat as their partner. It just happens that women have more self-control.
Brief encounters without any emotional involvement on the part of the man, and with the sole aim of satisfying sexual urges, enable the preservation and proliferation of the species. Intelligent women should not blame men for this. They try to resist, but they are biologically inclined to do it.
Have you noticed how human beings are more frightened by spiders and snakes than by automobiles despite the fact that deaths from traffic accidents are much more frequent? This occurs because our minds are still living in caveman times, when snakes and spiders were lethal. The same thing happens with a man’s need to have multiple women. In those times he went hunting, and nature taught him that preservation of the species is a priority; you must get as many women pregnant as possible.
And didn’t the women also think about preserving the species?
Of course they did. But while man’s commitment to the species lasts, at most, eleven minutes, for the woman, each child means at least nine months of pregnancy. Not to mention having to take care of the offspring, feed it, and protect it from danger like spiders and snakes. So your instincts were developed differently. Affection and selfcontrol became more important.
Deep down we’re all the same. We make the same mistakes and walk around with the same unanswered questions.

Love isn’t just a feeling; it’s an art. And like any art, it takes not only inspiration, but also a lot of work.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was admired by all, but no one
dared to ask for her hand in marriage. In despair, the king consulted the god Apollo. He told him that Psyche should be dressed in mourning and left alone on top of a mountain. Before daybreak, a serpent would come to meet and marry her. The king obeyed, and all night the princess waited for her husband to appear, deathly afraid and freezing cold. Finally, she slept. When she awoke, she found herself crowned a queen in a beautiful palace. Every night her husband came to her and they made love, but he had imposed one condition: Psyche could have all she desired, but she had to trust him completely and could never see his face.
The young woman lived happily for a long time. She had comfort, affection, joy, and she was in love with the man who visited her every night.
However, occasionally she was afraid that she was married to a hideous serpent. Early one morning, while her husband slept, she lit a lantern and saw Eros, a man of incredible beauty, lying by her side. The light woke him, and seeing that the woman he loved was unable to fulfill his one request, Eros vanished. Desperate to get her lover back, Psyche submitted to a series of tasks given to her by Aphrodite, Eros’s mother.
Needless to say, her mother-in-law was incredibly jealous of Psyche’s beauty and she did everything she could to thwart the couple’s reconciliation. In one of the tasks, Psyche opened a box that makes her fall into a deep sleep.
Eros was also in love and regretted not having been more lenient toward his wife.
He managed to enter the castle and wake her with the tip of his arrow. ‘You nearly died because of your curiosity,’ he told her. ‘You sought security in knowledge and destroyed our relationship.’ But in love, nothing is destroyed forever. Imbued with this conviction, they go to Zeus, the god of gods, and beg that their union never be undone. Zeus passionately pleaded the cause of the lovers with strong arguments and threats until he gained Aphrodite’s support. From that day on, Psyche (our unconscious, but logical, side) and Eros (love) were together forever.
Those who cannot accept this, and who always try to and an explanation for
magical and mysterious human relationships, will miss the best part of life.

Buses come and go. People get on and walk quickly, maybe because of the cold.
Others board slowly, not wanting to get home, to work, or to school. But no one shows any anger or enthusiasm; they’re not happy or sad, just poor souls mechanically carrying out the mission that the universe assigned on the day they were born.

I gradually begin to get a terrible headache, but I know what it is: my blood returning to parts that were blocked by emotions that are finally beginning to dissolve. The moment of release is accompanied by pain, but it’s always been that way.

He doesn’t need to explain what he said yesterday. I don’t need to explain what I felt today. The world is perfect.

GAUTAM BUDDHA

Let us rise up and be thankful, 

for if we didn't learn a lot today, 

at least we learned a little, 

and if we didn't learn a little, 

at least we didn't get sick, 

and if we got sick, 

at least we didn't die.

 [Gautam Buddha]

OVERCOMING ADDICTION & DRUG ABUSE

A villager complained that he was having a headache, and so he asked his friend, "What should I do?"
His friend told him, "Just drink some alcohol."
He was surprised. He said, "If I drink alcohol, my headache will go?"
His friend said, "Why will it not go? My land went, my job went, and my wife's jewelry has also gone. Everything has gone with alcohol, a headache is no big deal!"

There is a saying in Sanskrit,

"Kavya shastra vinodena kalo gacchati dheematam."

It means, an intelligent person spends his time in knowledge, music, literature, science and in bringing people together. But the foolish always enjoy spending their time indulging in vyasanam, addictions, altercations and fights.

[Excerpt from Overcoming Addiction & Drug Abuse. Discourse: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar]

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

It is not the critic who counts; 
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, 
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. 
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, 
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; 
who strives valiantly; 
who errs, 
who comes short again and again, 
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; 
but who does actually strive to do the deeds; 
who knows great enthusiasms, 
the great devotions; 
who spends himself in a worthy cause; 
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, 
and who at the worst, 
if he fails, 
at least fails while daring greatly, 
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls 
who neither know victory nor defeat. 

[Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic" delivered by Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910]

HOW i BRAVED ANU AUNTY & CO-FOUNDED A MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY BY VARUN AGARWAL

In Richard Branson’s own words, ‘when you want to start something you just have to go out there and do it. There’s no point thinking about it. SCREW IT, LET’S DO IT.’

-page 35

It is usually very easy to talk about ideas and discuss them and feel good about it. But it’s moments like these when you can no longer be a kid or a wannabe entrepreneur.

-page 40

The greatest skill any entrepreneur should acquire is the art of negotiation. And to learn this art you don’t need any business school. Refer to the nearest aunty around you and observe her closely. If you can implement even 10 per cent of the mojo with which she bargains and implement that in your business, you’ll be hitting your first million in no time!

So the next time you overhear any aunty saying, “That and all is okay but how much discount will you give?”---pay attention. Pay very close attention.

-page 44

Every entrepreneur has to go through the ‘pitch’. That is what determines everything. ‘Pitch’ is basically how well you sell your idea and convince the other person about it.

-page 45

Starting your own company is super fun. Don’t ever pass on that. Because after that first business meeting, a whole new rush of self-confidence flows into you.

-page 56

If you are thinking of starting an internet company, go out there and check if the domain for the name that you thought of exists. There’s no point coming up with a name but having no domains available for that. Funny as the name may sound, but you can check for domain availability at www.godaddy.com which is America’s largest portal for domain registration.

-page 80

This is extremely important if you’re starting a company of your own. You should know the answers to all the ‘WHYS’. Not only will it make things easier, it will also remove any ambiguity. For example, we knew we wanted to be an e-commerce store, we wanted to target the alumni and present students of schools and colleges, we knew that we wanted to be brash and young and we knew our core focus was going to be tees and hoodies. All of this would really help any designer to create your brand and website.

-page 81

After ‘logo’ creation, the remaining list of collaterals is listed as under:

01. Website

02. Business Cards

03. Letterheads

04. Tags

05. Labels

06. Brochures

07. E-mailers

08. Tee and Hoodie (Product) Designs

09. Stickers

10. Brand Identity

-page 96

An ecommerce store is built on platforms like Magneto or OS Commerce. These are free and very easily available online. The kind of designs you can create from these templates is mind-blowing. The credit card payment gateway is provided by vendors like CC Avenue. They give you a code and you simply have to install it and Voila! You have an ecommerce store. They charge about 3 percent for every transaction which is not a big deal at all. So think of this, had we started a retail store, it would have easily put us back by Rs.10-12 lakh and plus it had its drawbacks. You know how much the ecommerce store cost us? Only Rs.2 lakh!

-page 102

(Motivation)

-page 112-113

It is surprising how young entrepreneurs fail to milk Justdial for contacts. For every aspect of our business we’ve used Justdial. You need a courier company? Call Justdial. You need an accountant? Call Justdial. You need a web designer? Call Justdial.

-page 117

It might not sound like a big deal now, since all e-commerce companies are offering this service at present, but it was revolutionary back in 2009. There were only a handful of e-com. sites offering it then and not many courier companies had the service ‘Cash on Delivery’ basically meant that customers paid for the goods they bought on the internet only after they received it. The courier guys collected the money and the courier company would then send a cheque due to us every fifteen days.

This method of payment is an extremely important component for any e-commerce business because not every Indian likes to use his/her credit card on the internet even if it is perfectly safe.

-page 118

Never forget this, guys. Place your brand name wherever you can. Anywhere.

-page 125

I think you guys already know this but if you’re thinking of starting your own company, never forget one major thing – networking. You need to sell your company shamelessly. Like everywhere. During the initial days of Alma Mater, I practically lived in one of our Cottonian hoodies. Networking is the key, and if you want to be an entrepreneur, forget about being shy.

-page 126

It is moments like these when everything becomes real – when you have to put every penny you earned into something you believe in.

-page 132

You know what guys, before you start a company, get the basics right. Spend a lot of time and money on quality. If that’s taken care of, people will automatically tell their friends about it and you will not have to end up spending lakhs on marketing. There’s nothing better than word of mouth when it comes to spreading the word. Trust me.

-page 146

Mr Rajan said, ‘I’ve achieved everything that everyone else wanted me to achieve. I’ve not lived a life I wanted to live. I’ve lived someone else’s life.’

-page 151

Gujju boy said, “Dude, are you sure you want to do all this now? I mean you could do this later.”

Varun replied, “Later when, dude? Like when you’re thirty-five? You are twenty-two now, if you have to take any risks, this is going to be the time. I mean imagine you’re thirty-five with kids and family, you wouldn’t want to leave your job then, man. There would be too much at stake then, right?”

-page 161

That’s the unbelievable thing about starting your company. Every day is not only a new and different day, it’s an exciting opportunity. You get goosebumps when you get off the phone with a complete stranger who wants to invest serious money in your company.

-page 188

You need to get the right valuation before you find an investor to come on board. Based on the valuation of the company, the investor will pick up a stake ranging from 10 to 30 percent. Valuation basically means determining the worth of a company. It depends on lot of parameters but mostly on the current turnover and projected growth at the end of three to five years.

-page 209

No matter where you are, no matter what you do, I guess life is absolutely nothing without friends.

-page 221

I just don’t understand women at times. They always complain that men are not chivalrous these days and when we guys actually do something chivalrous, their feminism comes out to defend itself.

-page 227

Okay, just to let you guys know, it was not like Mal and I were – or are – millionaires or something. Our company was only being valued at that figure. This meant we could give away 20 per cent and get around 80 lacs to help sustain our growth. SO if you guys have this image of Mal and I driving our Porsche and living in a house like the ones on MTV Crib and all, then you will be very disappointed. But we hope to get there someday. We were not millionaires, but we did have a million dollar company. And that felt bloody good to know.

-page 232

A few days later, we got a call from the Young Turks Show from CNBC. Young Turks is one of the CNBC’s longest running shows; it puts the spotlight on young entrepreneurs poised to become tomorrow’s leaders. The show traces their journey from who they were to who they have become. For the last eight years, this four-time award winning show has put the spotlight on the achievements of over eight hundred young dynamic men and women who have pushed the envelope to achieve the impossible.

-page 233

Despite the success we have tasted, the entrepreneurial scene in India has yet to come of age. We still can’t boast of eighteen-year-old inventors, or twenty-four-year-old billionaires. Sadly, there is no place for college dropouts like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg in our country. But the likes of Mal and me shall persist, no matter what the naysayers shall say. A day will come when India will become a teeming ground for entrepreneurs; when our students will be encouraged to learn and not mug; to lead and not follow; to think and not blindly write exams. Entrepreneurs like me can’t wait to see such a day. That is when we can truly say that the likes of Anu Aunty have been vanquished.

-page 239

Don’t let any Anu Aunty stop you from doing what you want to do. Dick Costolo, founder of Twitter, famously said – “The key is to just get on the bike, and the key to getting on the bike...is to stop thinking about ‘there are a bunch of reasons I might fall off’ and just hop on and peddle the damned thing. You can pick up a map, a tire pump, and better footwear along the way.”

-page 244

Highly recommended ‘books’ by the author:

• Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography by Richard Branson
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Highly recommended ‘movies’ by the author:

• About Schmidt (Movie)
• Dead Poets Society