Keep It Simple : 3 for True ..!!

"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth."

-Buddha

Today I'm going to share with you three things – the three things that I have learned to be true.

The first is - to learn from your success.

There is a belief that failure is somehow good , somehow beneficial. You hear people say, failure builds character, or fail early fail often. This is not only wrong , it is dangerous. What you learn from failure is limited at best – you learn what didn't work. It tells nothing of what will. In contrast, what you learn from success is how to succeed. This is infinitely more valuable.

A perfect example is the success you celebrate today. How many people do you know who started with you, but aren't sitting next to you today? How often did you have a friend who would moan and whine at the one or two times during the semester that they actually had to work hard, long hours – knowing that as an Engineer this was your daily reality? Oh What an idiot. This is significant.

In fact, you now know one thing for certain. You know that with talent and determination and hard work, you can accomplish what few others can. You succeeded. In the future, taking on truly hard things – things that seem impossible – you will not be in uncharted waters. On the contrary, you will build more success.

That’s key. Success breeds success. It is not a question of whether you will achieve more success. The question is what it will look like.

The second - I know to be true is to build value.

There are many many ways to create value using an Engineering degree.

Let me just tell you a story that I had once heard in seminar, about an old man and how engineering helped to fix his knees. You would be forgiven if didn't immediately make the connection, since what actually fixed his knees was an injection.

He always had a hunger to learn, a passion and zest for life. He was spry, vibrant, and alive, and made others feel the same. At 88, he received what was for him was terrible news. His knees were failing, and he would probably in a short time be limping at best or needing a wheel chair at worse. When he exclaimed that this couldn't be, his doctor was pretty unmoved. “He was 88, for goodness sake.” “What did he expect?” His wife was frustrated and sad. He went home and started searching on the Internet. Maybe someone else knew something his doctor didn’t. And in probing around, he found a clinical trial that was showing promising results. It involved shooting an experimental drug in his knees, over a period of time. He immediately ran to his doctor and together they figured out how to get him in the trial. Today he is 93 and still walking.

I first thought about this connection when my Mother out of the blue said to me, “don’t you ever wish you made a difference in the world?” At the time, I was Studying Engineering in IT – a technology that is enables what we today view as a new beginning I thought about how only a short time ago, prior to the Internet, That old guy simply wouldn't have had access to this information. That it was my subject that at least partly what made his story possible – what made his life better.

That, in fact, more broadly it was entirely because of engineers – that in our life time we have seen the democratization of information – a revolution only rivalled in impact by the printing press.

I suddenly realized that they didn't only make a difference; I was part of a profession that by its very nature makes a differences. A profession that at its core is about building value – from iPads, to Electric cars, Google, MRI machines – this list just goes on and on.

So my advice here is simple – keep being an engineer – keep building value. In doing so you will not only make a difference, but you will have the kind of satisfaction that can only come from doing truly valuable work. And you will find that this kind of satisfaction will far outweigh any of the other benefits that may come from your career.

The third thing - I know to be true is to follow your heart.

Often this means doing what is hard. Choosing a path not because it is easy, but despite that the fact that it is very difficult.

I know this well. Since I was..into my senses, I have dreamed of being an entrepreneur – of creating and leading my own company..And this is what runs into my family, knowingly or unknowingly..They've all experienced that thing

Follow your heart. And like all great loves, you’ll know when you find it.

I remember a famous dialogue of a film..it goes like...

“Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho to puri kayanaat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai.”

And don't worry if you don’t find it right away. Because here’s another myth – the myth that life is short. Or maybe it is true for some people, but not for you. I don’t even have to know you, just the fact that you sit before me today, tells me with 100% certainty that you will do many things.

And if you are lucky, your life will sometimes be messy, confusing, and downright terrifying. It might lead you down surprising paths – paths that cause others to think you’re crazy. But I promise you this, if you keep learning from your success – if you always seek to build value – and if follow your heart, your life will not only be long, it will be rich, satisfying, and deeply rewarding.