I knew this guy who is very intelligent and extremely capable. I was sure he would do brilliantly well in whatever work he chose to do in his life. He was sincere, hard working, fun-loving, and natural leader too. He was one of those whom people instantly feel that they can trust.

One day, an opportunity came knocking on his door. It seemed like just the thing for him. It would give him the chance to meet some interesting people, travel, develop confidence, and the best part, it was all paid for! He was excited. He decided to think about it for a few days.

A few days passed by. A week went. A few weeks passed by. As you can guess, it didn’t happen. He kept on thinking about it. It stayed at the back of his mind. Every night he would go to sleep thinking and feeling excited about it. He would tell himself that ‘tomorrow, I will decide.'

Yup, you guessed it right. That guy is ‘yours truly’ - me! Although I can think of a few such opportunities I missed, but this one is still something I wish to do. In my second year of engineering, during one of the breaks, my father offered to send me on a 1 month visit around India. Indian Railways has something called a ‘circular ticket’. You start at a location, and take overnight train journeys every night, and hence in 30 days, you cover 30 places. My father proposed that I should see India for myself. Every town I go to, I should meet some local people - a doctor, a teacher, a businessman, a politician. I should learn about the life and times of people. It was such a brilliant and courageous idea from my father.

I loved the thought of it! But thats the problem. I loved just the thought. I never did it. I didn’t take the opportunity.

You know why?

Thats right, because I was afraid.

Every time I say ‘yes’ to something, I need to be able to say ‘no’ to some other things. need to close some doors. I need to burn some bridges behind. I need to destroy the escape hatch. Too often we want to ‘keep our options open’.

Until you and I become confident enough to say ’NO’ to some things, we will never be able to say a whole-hearted ‘yes’ to some other things — that actually have the capability to transform us, the power to take us deeper and higher, and the magic of filling us with a sense of joy and discovery.

I’ve taken some powerful leaps in the last few years, said a bold ‘no’ to a few things, and made a strong commitment to a few ideas that have already started having their brilliant impact on me! And I’m absolutely thrilled about my decisions 😃