You have one life to create your Masterpiece

My 4 step roadmap to realizing my highest aspiration

Nistha Tripathi

Published in

The Startup

9 min readJun 29, 2018

Not too long ago, I was ruing the fact that I work too hard and do not get proportionate results (sounds familiar?)

But Marcus Aurelius’s words came to mind-

The impediments to action advances action.
What stands in the way becomes the way.

These lines stayed with me and guided me again and again whenever I found myself complaining. And gradually, I stopped complaining and started looking for what I can do in this moment.

But let us not jump ahead.

This post is about Sacred Projects — projects that transform you, that give a meaning to your fleeting existence.

For me, a sacred project has always been about writing a book. I was in high school when I told a friend, “I want to write a novel some day.” Of course I did not know what to write about but I knew I wanted to write a book.

Then, life happened.

College, 1.5 Master’s degrees, a couple of jobs and relationships later, I returned to this muse of mine - I decided I shall write.

And while writing a book does not necessarily mean looking for a book deal, any aspiring author starts dreaming of it nonetheless. I read about people who turned a blog into a book deal in 12 months and those who have been trying unsuccessfully to find a publisher for more than 15 years.

Is it as random? Can I do something to advance without depending completely on chance?

Another aha moment strike me one night as I was watching the falling rain drops in my verandah. The night was peaceful with a humming drizzle, moonlit darkness and occasional noise of the cars in the street outside.

I started reflecting upon my past choices and trying to find what drives me the most.

I realized that everything that made me feel fulfilled in life so far had been borne amidst a period of adversity. After facing the lows of a dissonant marriage, I had found the courage to go for a divorce and finding my personal happiness. After leaving uninspiring jobs and struggling to build a startup for more than two years, I had found success in Scholar Strategy that gives me financial freedom as well as immense satisfaction now.

There is a simple reason behind it — we rise up to the challenges facing us. We do not know what we are capable of until we are forced to do it.

Can I leverage this knowledge to bring up the best in me to attain the highest of my aspirations?

Many such aha moments and reflections later, I have found a rough roadmap to realizing my sacred projects and goals. I applied it to writing my latest book and have derived immense fulfillment in the process.

Whether it works for you or not, I cannot say but I do have the faith that it will put you on your path of self-discovery.

So, here we go-

1. Trying things that look difficult and demand a higher level of efforts

In Nov 2016, I set up a goal — I will write a book on startups that answered the most pressing questions of the Indian founders. It would tell the tales and details that are not easily shared. It would be so good that all aspiring and actual entrepreneurs would want to read it.

The purpose of a tough goal was to push myself because true satisfaction is a byproduct of knowing that you gave it your all.

2. Break down into actionable steps

Next task was to break it down into specifics. Given what I am good at and what I liked reading, I decided to interview successful founders and compile that into a book. I further broke it into monthly milestones that I can measure the progress of.

Getting successful founders to say ‘yes’ to my interview request was the next challenge.

I still remember my first email to Mr. Girish Mathrubootham (founder and CEO of Freshworks) — I had no background in media or startup journalism. I could only pitch him my vision and why I am the best person to interview him. I dared to approach India’s one of the most successful book agents and asked him to represent my book.

And when I dared, both of those things happened.

3. Expect to fail

When I try something that seems out of my reach, I start with no expectations and that relieves me off any pressure to win. I almost expect myself to fail by default. This way, it is easy to start with unfettered enthusiasm and wait for the next ‘no’.

I never looked back from day one. Sometimes people said yes and sometimes, no. I asked everyday and waited to get a reject. That taught me to not be bothered by rejections. A wise person has said, “If you are not failing enough, you are not trying bigger things.”

A lot of ‘no’ happened on the way but they had lost their power over me.

Why dream small? If you are failing, at least fail at something worth failing at! If I am going to get a No, I would rather get a No from Sir Richard Branson (which I did but that story is for another day!).

What I also learned was:

No does not mean Never. Rejections are a temporary pitstop to a Yes.

The same CEO who had refused to be interviewed later on agreed to endorse the book. The same literary agent who had rejected my first novel said yes to this book. I never took their refusal personally and never held any resentment.

When I approached them with a fresh request, I had erased any past rejections from my mind. I made it as easy for them as I could to say ‘Yes’. But because I had already thick-ed my skin to the ‘No-s’, I was mentally prepared even if they did not acquiesce to my requests.

Earlier every rejection sent me into a spiral of self-doubt and paralyzed me from moving on toward my goals but not this time. Perhaps this was the biggest difference.

I was looking for reasons to continue rather than excuses to discontinue.

4. Keep flowing

I was grateful when the interviews were finished in Aug 2017 but the struggle did not end. I now had to find a publisher. Not just any publisher, someone who would understand my vision of the book and do justice with it. After all, it is a sacred project and you cannot compromise on it.

I used the same approach of breaking it into specific actionable tasks and got on with it every single day. But it was taking a lot of time.

Although, I wanted to go on another solo trip to Bali, my plans were getting delayed because I was waiting to sign a publishing contract first. I had put my whole life on hold waiting to get this book published.

But in February, I booked a one way ticket to Bali.

I decided I will keep doing what I want to do — contract or no contract. If it came to that, I even mentally prepared myself to go for self-publishing.

“The paradox of waiting to be picked is that when you finally stop waiting, that’s when you get picked.” — Srinivas Rao (The Unmistakable Creative)

As it happened, I signed up the book contract one day before flying to Bali in April. Things happened when they were meant to happen and when I stopped desperately wanting them to happen.

So, I am publishing a book, represented by a man I have always wanted to work with, edited by a wonderful editor who is equally passionate about this project and featuring 15 successful founders of India (many of them are mindblowingly successful and genius). I sometimes pause to let it sink in. Two years ago, this was a far-away dream.

If I had to go back to my 25 year old self, I would tell it:

Fuck the conventions. Nothing conventional will make you reach an unconventional place.
If you don’t try, you would never know.
Create what you want to consume. Let go of your desire to control. Get out of your limited worldview by traveling to newer places, places where people think differently and make you feel that your beliefs are not the only beliefs. That your way of doing things is not the only one. That your opinion is not ‘the’ opinion for all.
It is good to be humbled by the grandiosity of the universe.
Start from the tininess. Feel tiny. Grow from there. Grow with your ideas, your thoughts because they are the only vehicles that can take you across the ocean of your limited existence.
Grow, grow and outgrow. Outgrow your own limited beliefs. Outgrow your constraints.
It is good to realize the magnificence of your own potential.
Leave your signature on this planet before you die. Don’t live an ordinary life.

A failed startup is not a failed YOU.

A failed relationship is not a failed YOU.

A failed bank account is not a failed YOU.

A growing YOU is the only you, YOU need to be.

So, if you are growing every single day with your efforts, that is all you can do and need to do. The magic will be a byproduct of it. Book deals will be a byproduct of it.

So, to summarize, my sacred project has arrived. I have signed a book deal for my startup book NO SHORTCUTS (omg, it even has a name!).

And this time, I have 15 super intelligent founders’ wisdom distilled in my words. We are told a lot of hype stories in media but it takes blood and sweat to build a startup. And, India does not make it easy (ranked 100th among 190 countries in ease of doing business). I wanted to document the real journey of these founders and I think I have.

It takes nine months to give birth to a child. It took me nearly two years to see this book coming to life. In every sense, it has been a journey of conception, nurturing and giving it all in. I love doing it and I cannot wait to see how it comes out in paper and ink. The cover is still under design else I would have shared it here :)

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