Imagine this scenario.
It's a bright, sunny Monday morning in June in Bengaluru. You are the founder of a startup and are currently in the process of finalizing a deal with an investor Mr. YC.
You meet up with Mr. YC, do a fantastic presentation, and answer his questions/concerns about the market size, business scope, and revenue model with such flair and confidence. Mr.YC is impressed and has verbally agreed to the terms.
After the meeting, you call up your spouse and convey the good news, "Dear, I did it. I clinched the deal !! All my efforts in the past 2 years have paid off".
The above is the summarized scenario. Let's get into the finer details.
The previous night, you are putting together the presentation. And you wanted some specific data on market growth and your app engagement metrics. You immediately call up your product manager/marketing manager to pull up some numbers. He is busy with his family at a function in his home, but he immediately pulls out his laptop and spends an hour getting the data points you need.
You wrap up the presentation around 11 PM. It's been pouring heavily for the past couple of hours due to South West monsoons.
You wake up early the next morning with a splitting headache. As you scroll through your news feed, you realize that many areas in Bengaluru were flooded. But your locality didn't get affected by the rains. And the Sun is shining brightly.
You got ready for the important meeting, though the intensity of the headache was increasing. Meanwhile, your spouse has got breakfast ready and has got the kids ready for school.
You booked an Uber, as you didn't want to drive on top of the unpredictable, pot-holed roads.
The Uber driver arrives on time and takes you to your destination faster (a posh cafe) via a shortcut route.
You still had 30 min left for the meeting to begin.
You order a cup of coffee and the waiter brings it promptly. The coffee tasted refreshing and piping hot. You felt a lot better.
Mr.YC calls you and says that he is almost there and should reach in 5 minutes. He sounded cheerful.
The meeting started well after the informal pleasantries exchanged. You did a fantastic presentation and answered his questions/concerns about the market size, business scope, and revenue model with such flair and confidence. Mr.YC is impressed and has verbally agreed to the terms.
After the meeting, you call up your spouse and convey the good news, "Dear, I did it. I clinched the deal !! All my efforts in the past 2 years have paid off".
Let's reflect and introspect on the finer details.
Is it really YOU who clinched the deal?
Is it really YOU who did it?
There is the contribution from nature (The Sun shining brightly after the rains!).
There is the contribution from the family (Spouse).
There is the contribution from your colleagues (product manager).
There is contribution from strangers (Uber driver, waiter).
There is contribution from indirect people (those who grew the coffee, those who laid the roads of your locality very well so that the water didn't stagnate).
There is the contribution from the investor too (Mr. YC who didn't create an egoistic scene just because of his power of being THE investor!)
Every action we do involves contributions from so many known and unknown faces. If our ego tries to claim ALL the credit, then we ignore or dismiss these contributions.
Before we announce on social media about our accomplishments, let's also introspect on the contributions of everyone around us and send out the energy of gratitude through our thoughts and words.
P.S. Inspiration for this post from one of Arun Sir's lectures that I was fortunate to hear at SVYASA.
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