Redefining Definitions

Few days ago I was watching the episode of the show called fearless by Tim Ferriss. Tim is one of the people that I’ve followed over the last many years and have enjoyed and learned a lot from his content. He is excellent in breaking down big problems into tiny small parts. I really liked his redefinition of fearless to fear less – meaning it doesn’t mean there is no fear at all, it means there is just less fear. Being totally fearless can be an intimidating thought, sometimes we don’t even start because of it. The idea of having less fear is a definition that might be more comfortable and acceptable to most people.

So I thought, what other things in life can we redefine?

Success. We live in a society that is success driven but taking a step back and also asking, what does success mean to me? Is it getting a degree, getting a good paying job, government job, getting married? Is it a combination of these or something different? It’s worth thinking about it. In the book Rainmaker, Sadhvi Ji asked Swami Ji, what’s better – a successful life or a purposeful life? Swami Ji said a purposeful life, because a life with purpose will truly be successful.

Redefining what it means to make a difference in this world. Does it mean one has to become scientist like Einstein, a saint like Swami Vivekananda, a poet like Rumi, a Prime Minister, a President, an entrepreneur like Elon Musk or a Mulla Nasruddin? Humans can argue forever on who made a bigger impact but everyone has to figure out their own. What about the mothers who gave birth to whoever one thinks makes a huge difference, did that mother make a difference? My 2 cents on this is that a person who is happy and content makes a difference in this world. 

The Indian government deserves some credit for the recent Padma awards where it wasn’t just another bollywood celebrity awards celebration. It was recognition of simple citizens who had contributed to society.  I think this is a good example of redefining who gets recognition and who we consider heroes in our society.