24/11/2015

23thingsIwilltellmy21yearoldself|ByRishabhGupta,CEO,Letsintern.|StudentResourceLearningCentre|Letsintern.com

23 things I will tell my 21 year old self |

By Rishabh Gupta, CEO, Letsintern.
Apr 23, 2014

1. Your 17 year old self was right:

Whatever you have always dreamt of being, please
pursue that. All these practical name tags, salary lollipops,
and professions are just a distraction. Do what you
wanted to do at 17.
2. Compete vs Complete:
That l which separates the two, is for losers who finish.
Completing will land you in top 5%, competing in top 0.1%.
3. You will end up around the average of 5 people you spend most time with:
Choose your friends, companions, teams carefully. Their attitude, values and intellect
determine the average, not their profession, money or lineage.
4. Dream big:
Dreaming takes the same time whether you dream big or small. Weird fact 101: achieving
the big dreams takes the same amount of time as the small one, albeit each hour is at 100%.
Its like an athlete performing at his threshold for a very long time. So, dreaming big will
force you to burn at 100% threshold or even outside it, thats where living happens.
5. Work for a start-up or start one:
Nothing is more empowering and amazing than to be amongst a band of people who see
themselves as under-dogs, but are dreaming to change the world.
6. Travel:
Leave your god damn city. No matter how sexy it is, no matter how many friends, girlfriend
etc. Travel as much as you can.
7. Networking is being good to others:
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23thingsIwilltellmy21yearoldself|ByRishabhGupta,CEO,Letsintern.|StudentResourceLearningCentre|Letsintern.com

Not because it is morally right, but thats only way others will help you. Trust me, you need
others.
8. Money isnt the goal:
What you do with money is. First find out what you wish to do with the money not things
you will buy, but the things you will create. Until you find that answer, dont run after
money. Run after this answer. (Money comes to everyone, so dont be in a hurry.)
9. Do scary shit and live outside the comfort zone:
Make list of things that scare you. Accomplish most of them. It will give you confidence.
Trust me you would need confidence, to get through the dark days. Nothing great ever
happens within comfort zone, and comfort zone is like infinity, it keeps expanding it as you
push, so to stay out of it, will require a lot of work. It shrinks too, if you let it. Never let it.
10. Sacrifice:
Sacrifice isnt bad. We use the word negatively. Sacrificing is removing the unnecessary
from your life, and letting only the essential remain. Its an art, a craft which will leave you to
simplicity and success. Focus on the essentials. Remove things/people that are just frills.
11. Find great mentors:
The only certainty in life is you are going to make mistakes, and while you have the courage
and the confidence, you must draw from wisdom of those before. Find mentors who can
guide you, can be your sounding boards. Best athletes swear by their coaches. Remember:
Coaches are not necessarily the best players and thats okay.
12. Try different hairstyles:
You cant have your instagram account with filled with the same hairstyle. You got hair, so
experiment. Be bold, be stupid.
13. Minimizing mistakes isnt the game:
Life isnt won by those who are looking to minimize mistakes. So if you ever stop from doing
anything due to the fear of getting it wrong, you most definitely go out and do that thing.
Making mistakes is good. It means you are getting somewhere.
14. Road to success has many parking spots:
You will be surprised how much you will achieve by the time you are 25. The curve of life is
very steep in the beginning and begins to stagnate after the first few years with alarmingly
decreasing rate of increment. So please, dont stop or gloat on your success. Keep moving
on. Fight the tendency of the curve. Break out.

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23thingsIwilltellmy21yearoldself|ByRishabhGupta,CEO,Letsintern.|StudentResourceLearningCentre|Letsintern.com

15. Get into a fight:

Come on! You gotta test your survival instincts. Get into a fight for something you believe in
and dont regret it even if you have a broken bone.
16. Work-out and be fit:
Please for heavens sake, work out. Your body fades faster than you imagine and you dont
want that. You must, at any cost, work-out, be fit and find a solo sport you are passionate
about.
17. Read:
Your 20s is only 3000-odd days. Reading and discovering world through other peoples
experiences adds many zeros to that. Its the best learning curve leverage of your life. Use it.
Refer point 11, for compounding effect.
18. Be great. Good is too easy:
Being top 5% is Good and its very easy but none of this lot are remembered. Even the 10th
seeded Tennis player is not. So work hard to be great, to be number 1 at what you do and
then again, remember you are competing with the world, not your neighbourhood.
19. Solo back-pack a strange country:
You gotta put yourself in a country which does not speak your language, where you dont
have any friends or a plan, but just have to get from one day to the another for at least for
8-10 days. You must do this. Self awareness is critical.
20. Food is input. Input is important:
Your stomach isnt a garbage bin. Stop putting in shit. Your body is like any other machine (
just more awesome), the output is heavily dependent on input. You seem to be beating this

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Like most things, starting early has huge upsides.

21. Start young:

The moment you find things that make you come alive, make you want to do them every
day, start. Try to find them as early as possible. The longer you beat at your craft, the more
mistakes you allow yourself to make, the better you are going to be. Start young. Be
paranoid about this.
22. Dive into the sea and stand atop a mountain:
You have to experience scarcity of life on land and abundance of life so beneath it. Its
fascinating.

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23thingsIwilltellmy21yearoldself|ByRishabhGupta,CEO,Letsintern.|StudentResourceLearningCentre|Letsintern.com

23. Value system:

Everyone has a value system. The way they judge things, prioritize them, make decisions.
Stay true to yours or else your creations will lack originality. Discover your value system and
be more self aware.

You can find Rishabh Gupta on his blog and twitter.

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