"Oh, haha! No. I have work." I sent a text, trying to skip meeting this person for dinner.
"But your office ends at 6 pm????" read the reply.
"Ah, yes. I work on something else after that." I punched back.
This is fifth lesson from a post I wrote about my learnings from building Stories Worth Sharing. If you have not checked , I recommend you visit it once for the context 7 Things Stories Worth Sharing taught me!
The fifth lesson was You owe it to yourself!
This conversation is from 2017. I was interning in Bangalore. Every day, for weeks, I’d end the day at work, move back to my place and after a brief rest/shower and dinner, walk to the Starbucks on 100ft road in Indiranagar to work on Stories Worth Sharing
The beauty about building Stories Worth Sharing in that phase was that it was driven not by the incentives of money or fame but passion.
A passion that pushes you to invest your youth in the things that make you feel worthy.
As I write this, I am here to tell you a fun story. In hindsight, I am amazed at what pushed me to keep going. Why, you ask? Read on!
It was my birthday in June. One of my best friends was also working in Bengaluru. He showed up outside my office to ensure I do not spend it alone. (For personal reasons, I wanted to be alone on that day.)
The chat you read on top was with this friend. At the moment, I hated to see his face. (now, I am thankful. No one shall be left alone on their birthday, everyone deserves good people around)
However, we always had an understanding to resolve conflicts via silence. He arrived with a cake (I still do not appreciate or understand concept of cutting cakes on the birthday, to be honest)
We exchanged greetings; next I know, we were dining at a Punjabi restaurant in one of the Indiranagar streets. It was Wednesday when we finished around 2130 hours. For some reason, I subconsciously booked a cab to Starbucks to achieve the day's targets for Stories Worth Sharing.
Since I was a regular there, the folks at Starbucks became good friends. One of them walked up to me and wished me my birthday. It came as a surprise. They might have recorded it some time and remembered it.
Such a sweet gesture! (talk about wanting to spend the day alone *sigh*)
Regardless, the regularity found lauds from them to reward me with kindness. Khair, I finished my work for the day embracing the kindness that came my way.
What was the point of this story? Rain or sun, birthday or none; the ownership is an essence that makes men out of boys. If you are building fresh in this internet economy, learn to own.
Bad customer service? Own it.
Poor logistics? Own it.
Could not deliver? Own it.
Want to build? Own it.
No one put a guillotine to your neck to do what you want to do! You are doing it for yourself and most importantly, You Owe It To Yourself!
Next week, I will tell you another fun story about lesson number 6:
No time to envy!
STAY TUNED
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