Vijay Eswaran is a global philanthropist, business tycoon and bestselling author who once drove cabs in London and Chicago to pay his college tuition. As a first-generation entrepreneur who launched a company at the height of the Asian economic crisis in the late 90s, he has surmounted many challenges. He’s been named by Forbes as one of Asia’s Top 50 philanthropists. Vijay is a bestselling author who has written several books, including In the Sphere of Silence and Two Minutes from the Abyss: 11 pillars of Life Management. He stresses how the mind is a powerful weapon. He shares his ideas about finding purpose, taking control of your life and living in the now!
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Here’s what you’ll learn about in this episode:
• This time of crisis, in which we are forced not to race around in a constant state of urgency, is actually a gift. Sit down. Be introspective. Redesign your life. Do things you have never been able to do. Disrupt, change and improve. Adapt.
• We are in a period of disruption, which will change the way business is being done today and forever. The companies that will prevail are the ones that can quickly adapt.
• How can we reinvent? How can we become entrepreneurs and change the world we live in? Constantly look for ways and means to make something better. It’s a mental attitude. Keep thinking ‘what is next?’
• Silence is valuable: Remember: You have two years and one mouth! If you spend an hour a day in a “Sphere of Silence,” it will help you control the other 23 hours in the day. Most of us rush from one appointment to another. We feel like things are always urgent. We go running from one urgent thing to another. But we need to differentiate between what is urgent and what is not.
• If you balance your day so you are doing things that are important to you rather than what feels urgent, then your life changes. There’s a difference between urgency and importance.
• Think about what you can do to build a legacy. What can you do to make a difference?
• Writing a journal can be very therapeutic because it puts your ideas onto paper so you can look at them and analyze what you are doing.
• Spend time reading each day to gain knowledge.
• The Chinese word for crisis is the same as the word for opportunity. We shouldn’t look at adversity with any kind of hostility. We need adversity, like an athlete needs a strong competitor, to light a spark and help us improve.
• What makes a champion is the ability to get back up again. We will all fail. We will fail many times. Embracing failure is the only way to move forward. The key to failing is getting back up again as many times as it takes—that’s how you find a new path in front of you. That’s how I’ve seen champions in the making. That’s how I’ve seen tycoons in the making.
• Be grateful. You cannot be negative if you are grateful. You need to be positive, especially now. Every time you open your eyes it’s a gift.
