Why?
The other day my friend and I were discussing our “whys.” Why I want to start a blog and a YouTube channel focused on self-development? My answer was abrupt and a big fat cliche: I want to leave this world better than I found it. It is that simple. I owe this to my son, my family, my community and the man in the mirror. Given the noise and negativity factor nowadays, majority of us run the risk of not even appreciating the possibilities of our potential, leave alone living towards it and if we live we live per other people’s agendas. My contribution therefore is sharing self-development information that is motivational, inspirational, constructive, practical, balanced and most importantly uniting. Our future as the collective human race is ever-increasingly abundant and to rise, more than ever before, we don’t need to step on others. Let’s rise together then.
As a father, teacher, consultant and public speaker I come across people from virtually every walk of life facing multitude of challenges in various points in their respective journeys. There is a sea of information and explanations out there but the average person does not need or want the “sea.” He or she just wants relatable, manageable and consistent doses of authentic solutions or at the very least guidelines to ongoing intellectual, monetary, health, spiritual, parenting and general fulfillment questions. I think I can help because my life journey, fuelled by what I would characterize as above-average curiosity and risk-taking, has mirrored oscilloscope signals with every peak and trough teaching me something new, which I can pass on to others. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley and Fortune 500 companies to Middle East, I have also been blessed with being in the company of some highly professional and down-to-earth mentors who instilled in me the importance of authentic giving – a paying it forward, if you will. At this very stage in life when I am 39 and have lived half my life in the US and Middle East and the other half in Pakistan and have also clocked in roughly 20 years of work experience, I find myself ready to share life lessons comfortably and actively start contributing to others.
No, I am not a life guru or a certified life coach. I believe my own story is still largely unwritten, which can be both exciting and terrifying at times. I only draw upon my life’s archives and humbly source others to help put the puzzle together on matters I lack jurisdiction in. I knew people were willing to listen to what I have to say at a young age when I would somehow talk a playground bully out of beating a couple of kids including myself or convince one of my friends who was in severe depression to stop cutting his forearms. I had the knack to relate to others and somehow it affected their actions rather immediately. That always fascinated me and fortunately it still holds true today in a slightly different way. I feel honored when my three-hour university lecture ends and I still have a handful of students huddled around me in the parking lot talking about everything from their aspirations to personal challenges looking for practical advice and sometimes just encouragement and nothing more. This tradition of parking lot huddles has left more scratches on my white-colored sedan than I would like to see, but I take every scratch as a symbol of a meaningful connection with the youth.
I find the entire experience of authentic knowledge sharing, internalization and application, to be most enriching. For me, helping someone move past the realm of motivation into inspiration or breakthrough their perceived threshold barriers is border-line transcendent. What a spectacle it is, from the uncontrollable smile to wide-eyed wonderment exploring the possibilities of the self. When we help each other, the phenomenon exudes a sense of creation, a feeling of security, a perception of abundance, a satisfaction of connectedness. Whatever that feeling is, I want more of it!
So, my friends, my aim with this blog and the YouTube channel is to promote positivity across this blue planet so that we may all win together and dance more synchronously to its beat. Let’s share, learn and grow together.