Lessons from the bachelor life
Posted by Nimit May 8th, 2006
Since August of 2004, when I joined Cerner in Kansas City, I have been living the single, “bachelor,” life. I have my own apartment, a healthy source of income, a decent amount of “free time.” When I was in college this seemed like a destination, I wasn’t really looking beyond this stage. But now, I am more confused about what next to do with my life. During the day I work for Yahoo! and after work I work on my ideas for “the next big thing.” Anyway…the reason for this post is that all throughout this ride, I have learned some things about life I wanted share with all of you. My intention is not to give everyone advice on how to live life, because I know most of you are older and wiser than me. I had made this list for myself in my diary…my intention is just to share this with you, so you can get a glimpse of where I am mentally in my life. Ok…so here is the list…please share your thoughts and insight 
The lessons…
- Doing well in school is not the same as doing well in life.
- This sounds cliche, but it’s true: You must never forget where you come from. Keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.
- Luxury is over-rated. I have realized I was much more mentally comfortable driving the red 91 Civic than my 2005 Acura.
- Home cooked food is highly under-rated.
- Pressure cookers have a lot of pressure…gotta let them cool down before opening!
- Being authentic (even if it makes you uncomfortable to do so) goes a long way in avoiding communication games and problems in cooperation in the long run
- The best thing about life is no matter how well I think I know myself, I continue to surprise myself each day.
- Just about any career can be frustrating at some point. Dedication is sometimes just as important as “liking” what you are doing.
- Every happiness is temporary (once you get used to it, it no longer makes you happy). In college it was like a dream to think about working for Google. Then when I had the choice, I saw something better…now it doesn’t seem like a big deal.
- Hollywood/Bollywood has really diluted the meaning of the word love. Love is not what I felt for some girl in high school, nor is love buying your wife a necklace or flowers…love is the years and years of dedication and sacrifice my parents have gone through for me. We should love by doing and showing, not by saying.
- Success is more about persistence than intelligence. If you look at most successful entrepreneurs, their successful venture was not their first.
- Days, months, years pass by faster and faster as life goes on. In school, one year seemed so long. Now…just yesterday I was joining Yahoo!, and now it has already been 7 months.
- Life is short, but days are long. It’s surprising how much you can accomplish in one day only. I saw a bracelet in the sky mall catalogue on a plane once that read “Nothing is worth more than this day.” Keep that in mind.
- It is more important to do right than be right.
- Speeding is not worth it.
- While making life decisions, forget about people, because people forget about everything. Next year there will be something else to talk about.
- You can take the man out of kachchh, but you cannot take the kachchh out of the man.
- Loyalty is important. If you don’t toil for your family, who else have you got?
- Obsessive saving is harmful. Never forget why you are saving money in the first place…is it worth sacrificing your (and your family’s) daily well being/comfort to save money? No. It is not. If you spend all day worrying about how to save $1, you will miss the opportunity to make $1000.
- Don’t waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
- The best advice I got in high school still applies today in different ways: “Don’t worry about your grades. Worry about what you learn, and your grades will take care of themselves.”
Entry Filed under: Thoughts, Insightful
17 Comments Add your own
1. Dipti | May 8th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
I like it Nimit….kinda like “Nimit’s words of wisdom” nice job
2. Paras | May 8th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Wow Nim!!! Awesome sharing… I can relate myself to a lot of lessons that you have learnt over the years.
I am glad Nimit you shared this, even i am getting a chance to share my thoughts.. here goes..
-> “I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy”. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter: to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.”
-> “Be the change you wish to see for the world.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
-> “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
-> Chance Favors the prepared mind.
-> Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
-> ‘A soldier who fights valiantly, but looses, should realize that he is alive to fight another battle. So tighten your belts, for tomorrow is another day.’
3. Ami | May 8th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Interesting thoughts Nimit. I saw many of those applying to myself as I was reading through them.
4. Dhiren | May 9th, 2006 at 9:24 am
This was one of the best posts till today. I think we all reflect within ourselves as days go by and learn. This is what makes the personality we carry around. Nimit you are turning in to a fine young man with very good personality.There is definitely a great hand in this in your surroundings particularly your parents, Manu kaka, Nalini Kaki, Dhenu, Ami and Avi. I applaud all of them.
Dhiren
5. Harakh | May 9th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Good thinkings Nimit.I liked followings
1] Every happiness is temporary.
2] success is about persistence and not only inteligence.
3] life is too short. days, months,and years goes fast.
4] Life is short but days are long!!!!.Youcan accomplish so much in a day. [best]
5] It is more imp. to do right than be right.
6. Dhiren | May 9th, 2006 at 11:20 am
By the way nimit last 3 postings by you have been something to do with life and its meaning…. interesting.
7. Vasu | May 9th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Good post Nimit. If you can think such thoughts from this age, then the rest of your life will go by easier and happily.
Vasu and Jagdish
8. Khyati | May 9th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
hey! Nim….quiet an interesting post…the best one out of the whole lot was…”The best thing about life is no matter how well I think I know myself, I continue to surprise myself each day”…..like i say life is story after story…and our destinations keep changing…..i dont know know when we are gonna be in that state where we are fully satisfied…
probably that will happen the day we attain nirvana..lol…but as now we are far away frm it..n actualy its cool…to work towards something in a hopefull way…cos if we dont have things to look forward to…or things to achieve…imagine how boring our lives would get.For me my ultimate goal is to win the film-fare award in the next five years…that means ..that my first feature film would have to release in the next 5 yrs…the day i achieve this …i’l probably move on to a higher destinations..nyways nim keep it up dude…n keep it going…
Cheers!!
Khyati
9. Dhenu | May 9th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Nimit - those are amazing! I could go through and pick out my favorites, but there are too many! I like them all
. How very articulate of you.
I would add one: Take good care of yourself. In order to take care of others, you need to be well taken care of.
Dhenu
10. Priti | May 9th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Loved your thoughts Nimit. the best one is life is short but days are long… excellent concept. I have many other favorites that I agree with but like Dhenu said they would be too many to list. Thanks for a great post.
Dhenu I really liked the one you added. Very true and important. Anytime I don’t feel well or feel tired, Parth gets affected. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others.
11. Veer | May 9th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
nice…paras, i like your shel silverstein quote
12. Jayanti | May 9th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Best thoughts Nimit.If we can follow all this thoughts the life will be
happy & wonderful.
Jaya
13. Neena | May 10th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
WOW ! I am totally amazed ——– . good thoughts nim, according to the time we need to revise this , so we can register it in mind. Our thoughts are the only treasure with which we can shape this life & also our own future lifes.Dhenu, u so right,”one who help themseives, god helps them.” Thoughts makes acttion n action makes life. u all are big inspirations for us.
14. Nimit | May 10th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Thanks for all the positive comments and insightful suggestions to add also! I liked many of the suggestions you made.
We could make a short Medavo book of wisdom out of all of these, to give to Neev, parth and the next generation
What do you say?
15. Nalini | May 10th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
, Best Award goes to this post…………Nim, really interresting thoughts , if we apply this in our life then everything becomes so simple & easy without any stress, Nim I told Avni howcome there is no coment from U on this Post , she said I personally talked with Nimit & kept this on my computer screen right in front ……Nim U are a great inspiration to all of us , we all love U………………………mava
16. Mitesh | May 11th, 2006 at 1:29 am
Good One Nimit & Paras!
I dont have much time to think over my views but just couple of thoughts to add on the previous ones.
- Good that happiness is Temporary because otherwise there would have been no progress (Still living like Adam & Eve
)
- i liked this one of Paras
-> “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
- I think Wives are Underestimated [I dont underestimate my Lawyer (Dhenu
)]
- Anyone can be Smart but Its tough to be Perfect!
Will Add More SomeDay
17. Jyoti | May 11th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Nimit, i am like avni, out of word for comments. I keep coming back to read your post and all the comments. the wisdom you all shared is precious, and some time rare to find in older people who cliam they have experience, this is power of positive thinking and internal ’sanshkar’.
This kind of undestanding about life will give all of us strength to overcome any obstacle in life.
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