I believe in staying grounded and connected to my roots. Always wonder why and found the answer to this recently when I was being coached. Powerful!
My parents were very particular about education, Dad being a mathematic genius and Mom having an unfulfilled dream of higher education, a good education was a family mission. They would not give up to the situation just because it was a small town.
We had a mathematic tutor appointed, great guy, contributed immensely to my foundations. He had his dreams and later moved to Delhi. He became an overnight superstar, within months he was teaching 1000+ IIT aspirants.
1992 summers, he was back home and we were listening to his stories. He showed us a pager he owned, pager those days would mean you have arrived in life. We were proud, the town was proud.
As a curious kid, I picked up the pager. While still in the awe of it, he snatched it from my hand, almost telling me you don’t deserve to touch it.
That moment rewrote a code in my head, No point in moving up if you forget where you come from. I promised to stay grounded and humble.
This was one defining moment for me. What were yours?