Stop Playing Life on Hard Mode — 20 Cheat Codes to Achieve Anything

I'm going to share with you the 20 cheat codes that took me from being homeless in Mumbai to a monk to an MIT grad to a multi-millionaire entrepreneur I've been the CEO the Chief Operating Officer and Senior executive at tech companies that created over 60 billion dollar of value nowadays I advise startups billion doll companies private Equity firms and I've learned that succeeding in life is actually quite simple right no it's not who are we kidding when is hard that's why we need cheat codes so let's just get into it my first cheat code saving

is not investing investing can seem hard and complicated but it doesn't have to be here is the power of investing early if you put just $5,000 into an S&P 500 Index every year starting in your 20s by the time you retire in your 60s you'll have $1.4 million that is the magic of com compound growth the trick is you have to stay in the market don't panic when the market starts throwing a tantra and I learned it the hard way in 2008 you remember during the financial crisis the world was on the brink of collapse

the S&P 5,000 dropped almost 50% I lost 30% of my investment and I panicked and I pulled the rest of it out of the market but when the market started bouncing back just after a year 2 I refuse to go back in if I had done absolutely nothing and stayed in the market my net worth today would be 40% higher so two things don't try to time the market and don't try to beat the market don't chase crypto and meme stocks and single stocks and options and derivatives a lot of fancy stuff that doesn't work

for retail investors just stick to two rules number one put it in an index fund and number two and this is the hard part stay in the market touch nothing my second cheat code is the most controversial stop following your passion passion doesn't lead to success it works the other way around a study at a Canadian University found that only 4% of students could make money following their passion 96% of us can't turn our passion into a real career that raises a powerful question though right what happened to all that do what you Love Stuff

well they say you never work a day in your life if you do what you love when I talk to Young professionals many of them believe that if you follow your passion money will come but here's the truth people are passionate about creative things like art music photography painting and those things don't pay the bills don't focus on finding your passion focus on building it by being great at something passion will follow follow you next up is three secrets to success practice practice practice do you know why Taylor Swift and Kobe Bryant succeeded when others

failed because persistence always pays I know countless musicians from Berkeley School of Music and these are some of the most talented people on the planet and yet they still put in 8 to 10 hours every single day practicing the hard stuff stuff that makes their fingers bleed and their bodies ache Excellence doesn't come naturally it is built through practice I'll tell you one thing that I do well I can sit still for hours and hours and be focused on deep work without distraction without boredom without eating without drinking now that's my way that's my superpower

yours will be different but the key is to find it because banking on Talent alone is like having a Ferrari with no engine beautiful to look at but it's not going anywhere so ask yourself what skills can you practice in hone that are monetizable now you might be in school or you might be working at a job without any unique or marketable skills but that's okay start today and commit to becoming amazing at something that brings us to cheat code number four you need to treat your career like an Investment Portfolio a collection of skills

and connections that compound over time if you're working a corporate job in your 20s this is why they're treating you so bad I started at the bottom of the bottom my first job in Boston was a help desk guy at a 600 people systems consulting firm and picture this a small dark room no windows everything is crammed with cables and spare parts and servers and there are three other employees with me and all four of us we smelled bad and we got yelled at a lot but you know what what I was having the time

of my life why because I was getting paid to learn everything about technology so I would work for 14 15 hours a day and I'll go home and I'll still work I'll work weekends I wanted to know everything about operating systems about networking protocols not just hard skills but soft skills like Communications collaboration and I wasn't just building skills I was building connections I would take extra projects and by the end of those 5 years I think I put in like 15,000 hours in building skills and connections and it paid off I was promoted to

be the program manager and I got my own office and less than 20 years from my first promotion I became the CEO of an epic tech company now if you're starting out you won't have autonomy you will be mistreated you will be micromanaged but treated like a gift be a learning chameleon soak up everything you can because if you want to make more money than others then you have to offer more value than others my next cheat code move where the opportunities are if you want to grow your career then you need to move where

the action is I made that mistake when I was young I moved to New York City way too late after being in Boston for 16 years and of course the moment I moved to New York that was a game Cher for me and still today I question whether I should have moved to San Francisco when I had the opportunity in the early 2000s I think that was a lack of foresight on my part here's the thing you can't grow your network and your career by sitting on Zoom calls in your pajamas of course there are

certain jobs where being remote is okay like legal or software engineering or field sales but even in those roles if you are ambitious and you want to grow you have to show up you got to be seen because the exposure you get by being in the office collaborating with others solving problems together resolving conflict face Toof face will teach you skills that remote work will not next up is number six understand the difference between equity and salary the top 1% don't chase salaries they Chase equity I always say salary buys you Furniture Equity buys your

future Equity is exponential you'll own an unlimited upside and of of course listen N9 out of 10 times you'll swing and you'll miss happened to me so many times I had stock options in every company that I joined some of them failed some of them did well but that didn't move my needle but I kept swinging and when I hit it that was a rain making event it changed my life and there is another hidden benefit when you own Equity no matter how small you start thinking like an owner and that shift changes the way

you approach your career how you approach your work real wealth won't come from chasing paychecks so have an ownership mindset and try to get some Equity whenever you can cheat code number seven humble yourself and get a mentor I waited until 40 to get a mentor don't make the same mistake yes I waited too long before I got real career and business mentors until then it was like trying to navigate the career mindfield blindfolded I didn't know what I was doing once I found the right mentors my career took off 10 years just 10 years

after I started getting mentored by one of the most amazing CEOs I became the CEO and I got to work alongside some of the most brilliant people on the planet and do I think that was just a mere coincidence no not at all having a mentor is like having the ultimate cheat code for The Game of Life and by the way don't fall for those executive coaches that charge you for advice they're all fake find real mentors who are invested in you read a great book it's called trillion dooll coach it's about Bill Campbell and

is amazing and it's inspiring cheat code number eight is to have an emergency fund so you're ready for whatever life throws at you if you got laid off this year and didn't have an emergency fund you probably struggling to pay your bills and that's so common a few months ago a friend of mine was driving home from work and suddenly he felt like the right side of his face went numb and he pulled over he called 911 they rushed him to the hospital they did all the tests and then they found it he had a

brain tumor and it was so heartbreaking he's in his mid-40s and he has a lovely family there was no warning no rhyme no reason could happen to any of us right and you have to expect the unexpected like medical bills or losing our jobs so try to save three to 6 months of your expenses in an emergency fund and please don't touch it unless and until you have an emergency cheat code number nine is called forming your own FBI this framework has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars last year in our case FBI is

our financial Bureau of Investigation first where is your money going if you don't know where your money is going how can you control it second categorize your cash into four buckets I call them four EAS Emergency Essentials equity and enjoyment emergency fund savings for a rainy day your safety net Essentials the everyday expense like electricity gas rent Equity is your Investments how you will build long-term wealth and enjoyment well that's the fun stuff vacations Hobbies entertainment but here's the cat you only fund the fourth bucket at after the first three are covered now the easiest

way to build your FBI is to use apps like mint or good budget but they help you track and categorize your expenses next up is cheat code number 10 forget the American dream unless you want American debt stop chasing status symbols like designer clothes it makes you look broke I was 36 when we bought our first home my wife and I were dinks double income no kids and we made sure that our annual mortgage was about 22% of our annual expenses and we knew that we could comfortably manage the mortgage now home buying is the

biggest debt that you don't need when you in your 20s and same goes for the credit card debt so many of us spend so much on designer Brands using credit cards in the US the average credit card interest rate is 22% sometimes it's even 28 8% so say no to designer sneakers and Status symbols don't let Brands Define you so the cheat code is simple wealth isn't about what you buy it's about what you keep my 11th cheat code is to get financially literate Einstein called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world there are

two books on finance that I highly recommend one is psychology of money and the other is algebra of wealth these books aren't the get-rich quick nonsense that you get pedal every day they focus on your mindset on the discipline and the long-term financial principles now why does that matter it matters because financial literacy is the best investment you can make in yourself it's the shield that protects you from bad decisions and financial traps so start with three things learn how compounding Works convince yourself that it is really magic two learn how credit scores work remember

your credit profile matters more than your dating profile and number three how taxes work say out a trouble trust me prison food doesn't taste great cheat code number 12 automate every financial transaction you have if you hate saving money this one thing will make it so much easier when I was in my 20s I wish I had done things differently I wish I had let technology take care of my finance you can learn from my mistakes and do three things first automate savings and investment do that before your paycheck hits your hands I regret not

investing in my 20s I regret not letting the idea of compounding work as magic second automate your bills set up automatic payments for everything utilities credit cards subscriptions that way you'll never miss a payment or get hit by a late fee third automate your spending control use technology to put guard rails around your discretionary spending that brings us to number 13 go analog Doom scrolling is killing your critical thinking skills in the 1970s about 40% of high school seniors read at least six books a year and 12% of them didn't read any today those numbers

have flipped no one wants to read anything we are a distracted generation but there is hope a 2017 study found that even a one weak detox from social media can improve your attention span and cognitive function and that's because deep reading and immersion helps you think critically engage in complex ideas and even expand your vocabulary in a world where everybody is distracted your ability to be focused will be your superpower cheat code number 14 is to think of failure as your friend I know I sound like a Hallmark card but it is so true the

most success uccessful people we know are the people that fail the most take me for example I've been fired not once not twice but three times in my career and it wasn't pretty each time it was on the spot firing no warning I didn't even see it coming and it was brutal they would say we're letting you go we'll send your stuff in boxes later go spend time with your family and I was like I don't want to go and my family is the last thing I want to see when I get fired and being

fired is tough each time I was unemployed it lasted for more than 6 months and every day it felt like a struggle reaching into my network or talking to recruiters even talk to my friends it was hard I felt embarrassed I felt like I was a failure but here's what I've learned failure is not our Tormentor it's our teacher if you learn from it it will prepare you for Success cheat code number 15 is a hard one don't be afraid way to ask for help there is a reason they call success a team sport fear

was my biggest Kryptonite for years it was like this invisible force field that trapped me into mediocrity and I was so fearful of rejection I was paralyzed and now of course I'm old and I'm Shameless and I embrace the idea that I will be rejected Ed Chiran was rejected by every single record label they thought he was too Ginger or too acoustic or too nerdy looking he faced rejections even while performing he'd get booed and hackled but now he's selling out stadiums and singing with Beyonce so someone doesn't like you so what keep moving until

someone does like you find your tribe surround yourself with people who inspire you who support you who challenge you as Dumbledore said help will always be given to those who ask for it next up is number 16 don't play the victim card this is why I'm friends with the people who fired me I have stayed in touch with some of the bosses who let me go a few of them are still good friends we've even served as references for each other supported each other's careers and even had a few laughs about the day I got

fired and it's the same the other way around in my career I had to let go a lot of people and I've tried to stay connected with them why because business is never perfect personal when you play the victim card the only person you hurt is yourself world keeps moving on and you stay stuck remember world is not interested in being fair to us life is too short to hold grudges my 17th cheat code is the most important decision you will make is who you go home to every day if you end up with the

wrong partner you will be emotionally bankrupt this is the one thing that I feel I got right in my early 20s I dated a lot and when I found the right person then we both took it slow we spent six to seven years together living together before deciding to get married and I was in my 30s then and by then we understood how we both thought about life how we would have tough conversations how would we resolve conflicts with love and respect and today she is still my best friend that one decision has made my

life richer in every way possible now here's something to remember our brain operates using two types of thinking systems system one is a fast emotional gut reaction this is what takes over when we're infatuated when we fall for someone attractive it's immediate it's exciting it's romantic but it's not deep system two on the other hand is the slow rational thinker is the part of your brain that evaluates the long-term compatibility and weighs what really matters in your partner and when it comes to Falling in Love most of us use system one cheat code 18 is

to forgive yourself for your past forgiveness is not about them it's about you I had a troubling childhood terrifying in fact my father was physically abusive I don't think our family has ever talked about it but growing up I remember being afraid every evening I would look at the clock I'd be watching it and it would be 8:00 p.m. and the doorbell would ring ring and I would have a panic attack because I knew my dad was home and over the years he told me so many things like I was ugly or I was stupid

and I was worthless and I believed it I didn't have any confidence and to be fair I don't know what kind of depression and mental health issues my dad was suffering through anyway I left home when I was a teenager I ran away uh for a while I was homeless sleeping on train station benches in Mumbai later I joined an asham and decided to become a monk and I'm sharing all of this because I know I'm not alone when it comes to daddy issues and you are not alone either we all share struggles Tony Stark

had daddy issues Luke Skywalker had daddy issues even Britney Spears has daddy issues All of Us carry this cross our past is like a bag of bricks and we can decide to put it down please forgive yourself for the way you let your past Define you my 19th cheat code is true value is about what you bring to others your success is the echo of the lives you improve there is a profound Native American saying that I love you live only as long as the last person who remembers you dies think about it our lives

our careers our Legacy all of of it boils down to just one thing the impact we make on other people's lives as I get older I now know that everything that matters is about others I didn't know that when I was young because it's about The Whispers the stories people will tell about your kindness your generosity your love your impact long after you're gone that brings us to the last cheat code number 20 your happiness is connected to what you own and what you desire The Secret Of Happiness is just one simple equation when I

was at the monk Training Center a senior monk shared with me something that changed my perspective forever he was actually a physician by training a very successful man who became a monk gave up everything he's probably in his 80s now but still as wise and insightful as ever he had a simple equation H is equal to O / D happiness is equal to what you own o divided by what you desire D if you own more than you desire the top number will get larger than the bottom number and your happiness will increase but if

your desires exceed what you own your happiness will diminish our desires can be infinite but the things we can own are always going to be finite even for the richest man on this planet that is a fact and so the key is to manage your desires if your desires are exactly equal equ to what you own then you will find that perfect Unity of joy and happiness I think it's a brilliant equation and I will leave you with my favorite part when your desires approach zero your happiness goes to Infinity if you like this video

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