The incredible Ajit Nawalkha has lived part of his life in an extravagant fashion, fulfilling any monetary and material needs he had. With that, he kept falling back onto one question: What makes me happy? Is this how I define fulfillment? He has been able to figure that out for himself, and now he’s giving that wisdom back to so many. He is the former-CEO of Mindvalley and co-founder of EverCoach, wrote the book Live Big, and has helped elevate some of the most influential speakers, writers, authors, and coaches from his stage at Mindvalley. In this episode, Ajit will discuss his mindset shifting tools that have helped him to personally define wealth and success, question his goals and they are in place and combat the urge to compare himself to others.
1. Define Wealth & Success For Yourself
Ajit grew up in a poor home, where he and his parents lived with over 20 others. He was on the path to becoming an engineer in order to eventually become wealthy. This all changed when a teacher told him that he could choose to be anything, giving him the mental freedom to pursue what he wanted to pursue in life.
Once Ajit was able to acquire monetary wealth for himself, he realized the importance of truly determining what was valuable for himself. He realized that he needed to be happy more than he needed to be wealthy. For him, the freedom of time was the most valuable thing; having that freedom meant that he was successful. Ajit stresses that when we strive to achieve “wealth,” we tend to take on the world’ definition of “wealth” and “success.” Instead, we really need to define things for ourselves; this will help determine goals and create our own reality around the endpoint we strive to achieve.
2. Question Your Goals
How do we even come up with goals, and why do we set them? Oftentimes, the goals we think that we set for ourselves are actually set by society, our social media newsfeeds, and expectations that we think we need to meet. We too often set them purely because they sound good. Instead, we really need to have the important internal dialogue with ourselves asking, “Why do I want this?” Without thinking about this for ourselves, we too often just take others’ ideas and claim them as our own.
The point is that we need to define our goals for ourselves, ensuring that they match up with our individual lifestyle, wants, needs and circumstances. Don’t chase a goal that you don’t question, because you may not truly want it. You may not be truly passionate about it. Instead, question that goal and identify the emotional fulfillment that you anticipate drawing from it.
3. Don’t Compare Yourself To Others
We all have our own unique gifts; those gifts should not be compared to others’ gifts. The culture of comparison in society is incredibly damaging; it only takes away from your craft and your people that are giving you faith. Comparing yourself to others’ successes is only setting yourself up for failure. Once you start comparing, they already appear to be head of you; it appears this way because you only see a snapshot of their experience and what they’re going through. So, instead of comparing and chasing someone else’s goals, re-frame your mindset and focus on yourself and your own goals.
Resources:
The 4 Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferris
Life is NOT a Journey – Alan Watts
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