Notes to My Younger Self
What does it take to be a successful leader and visionary?
What can I start practicing today to shape my path towards future success?
If I could time-travel to twenty years ago, how would I answer these questions from my twenty-year-old self? I thought hard about this, and decided I have two words for her to understand and live by every day: Curiosity and Courage.
Curiosity: Embrace the Unknown
The secret to being a happy adult is to not forget to be a child. Don’t forget to ask – what is that? Why is it that way? And most importantly – what if?
At its core, curiosity is the ability and eagerness to learn. When confronted with something new, how do you react? Do you go towards it, or do you run away from it? Are you attracted towards zones of your comfort or your discomfort?
Curiosity is incredibly liberating. The opposite of a curious person is a person who knows everything. You can, and must, learn and be wise. But it’s absurd to think you can know even a fraction of all that is to be known. When you let yourself be curious, you become free to experience the world, without the pressure to control or to know it all.
Ask questions and listen. Listen carefully to everything that is said, and to what is not said. Learn to read what people want, but also to read what people need. Often, in business or leading an organization, what separates those who make it big and those who don’t is the ability to spot the trend that will pick up, the ability to make the decision that most people will not understand at the time but will eventually turn out to be the right one.
How do you train for the skill to see before everyone else sees? The answer is curiosity. Accept the fact that you do not know and will never know it all. But you can be the one who is the most eager to learn, and the most eager to figure it out. The way to do that is to find your inner child, and to ask – what is this? Why is it this way, and not another way? And my favorite question of all – What if?
Courage: Embrace Difficult Decisions
Courage, often underestimated and undervalued, is the mark of true leaders. The ability to make tough decisions, especially when there's no playbook, defines your trajectory.
So how do you develop courage? The answer is to put yourself in difficult situations and make the right choice.
What is that difficult situation? One way to figure this out is, is to ask “What am I afraid of?” Write it down, but when you see what you wrote down, ask yourself again, why do you fear that? And then write that down. Next, ask what causes that fear? For most people, it takes about five or six times of asking this question, sometimes more, and then you arrive at your own deepest fear. Face that fear. Head on. And do it over and over again.
Start building courage now, so that when the world needs a courageous leader, you can look in the mirror without flinching and say – I am not here to do the easy thing, I will do the right thing.
Architect Your Destiny
Before I time-travel back to the present day, I would caution my younger self: Listen to the wisdom around you but be the architect of your life. Make choices that align with your values and have the courage to act on them. This will lead to a future where you not only succeed but also make a meaningful impact.
Surya Ramkumar
Surya Ramkumar is a writer currently based in Dubai, the UAE. Her latest novel, The Sky Has Moved Away is a climate fiction highlighting our current crisis through vivid storytelling. Surya has lived in nine countries and traveled to many more. Through writing, Surya brings together various strands of her life – that of a mother, wife, and daughter and that of a technologist, business leader, and sustainability advocate. Prior to her writing career, she worked in the corporate sector for ~20 years, including in senior leadership positions at McKinsey & Company and Microsoft.
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