THE POWER OF ONE















“If you want to change the world, 
stat off by making your bed…
What started here will, indeed, 
have changed the world.”

Admiral William H McRaven

As I have told many times in my past Blogs, one of the biggest influences on my life has been Napoleon Hill’s books, particularly ‘Think and Grow Rich’ and ‘The Law of Success’. The main reason why his writings impacted me was the timing: I was reading them when I was jobless and hungry, here in Mumbai. I had just landed here with dreams tucked in my heart but unable to go after them due to a killing low self-confidence. I was full of self-doubts and fears, even though I was earnest and faithful. I was feeling lonely and lost… Yes, it was my ‘desert experience’…

And, that was the time, I came across the used copies of Napoleon Hills books on Mumbai's (Bombay’s) footpaths… And, as the tagline on ‘Think and Grow Rich’ said, each of his books was ‘worth a million dollars’ to me!

In today’s currency, the monetary value could have been ‘a billion dollars’ or, even, ‘a trillion’!

One of the things Napoleon Hill constantly referred to in his books was the set of inspiring essays by Ralf Waldo Emerson… like ‘Self-Reliance’, ‘Compensation’ etc. Last night, when I heard our Prime Minister using the phrase ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ - a self-reliant India - I, instantly, went back to Emerson’s essay ‘Self-Reliance’…

I do not know, if, as a nation, we will ever realize this: that, if an individual citizen is self-reliant, he has the power to impact the citizens around him. And, if each citizen works on this principle, the nation will, automatically, stand on its own feet… That’s the ‘power of one’!

Yes, it does sound too idealistic!

I learnt this ‘idealistic’ lesson quite early in life, when I was in dire straits, and needed it the most. Ever since then, I have, always, started with whatever power did lie at my own disposal… and let the rest be!

Probably, many of you must’ve come across the iconic speech of Admiral William H. McRaven, which he gave before the graduating students (the Class of 2014) of University of Texas. It’s worth a trillion dollars! And, it’s worth listening to again… and again… and again…






“If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed… Because, what started here will, indeed, have changed the world.”

To me, that’s the meaning of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ - a Self-reliant India.


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic. www.pinterest.com

Video: Texas Exes

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