Here's How to Get to the Top 1% (Discipline Isn't Enough)
Written on 1st June 2025
This issue is literally a piece from my journal
It was written on my two-hour ride back from Dublin. My phone was at 6%, and I couldn’t really use it no Music, no scrolling, just me, a half-dead battery, and a mind full of thoughts.
So I opened pulled out my weapons a diary and a pen. I was just back from a work trip, and like always, I ended up doing some shopping.
But more importantly, this trip to Dublin was for something big for the same company I’ve been working at for two years now. More on it later.
For the first time in a while, I felt I could finally put my guard down. All these years have been stressful with be it completing the Master’s, part time, finding a job, getting sponsored. All this was stressful. But now, everything has changed.
All these efforts over the course of 3 years are finally starting to pay off. And hence the line “I can finally put my guard down and breathe for a while” before taking on the next big thing. Which I’m ready to take on.
Challenges that puts me a few steps ahead in life. It’s like that long-awaited checkpoint in a game you’ve been playing for years.
Manifestation is Real (And Weirdly Precise)
Here’s where it gets interesting. While booking my return ticket, I had this strong feeling not to book the train. The weather was looking weird, and something in me said don’t risk it.
So I booked a bus instead, one hour earlier than necessary. And guess what? The bus had a broken demister. Driver couldn’t see the road. We pulled over. Had to wait 40-50 minutes for a replacement bus.
The best part this time I was calm, almost amused. I had manifested this. I know it sounds wild, but this isn’t the first time my intuition has been eerily accurate. Now it’s your call, I believe I have a good intuition but you might think I just manifested it (which might be true).
The Reflection in the Glass
I was dressed well that day suit, crisp shirt, nice shoes the works. Looking at my reflection in the bus window, I saw someone I was proud of. I looked him straight into the eye and this time I was happy of this version of me. (Context from the previous newsletter)
Not because of the money or the appearance. But because the guy staring back was someone I built. From scratch. Someone who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to chase it.
And not just chase, but earn it brick by brick.
Even the taxi ride that day was different. The driver held the door open for me. That’s never happened before. Maybe it was the way I was dressed. Maybe it was how I carried myself. Or maybe life just mirrors how you show up.
This reminded me of something deeper too. As a kid, spending anything over ₹2,000 felt like a luxury and I used to think alot about that spend.
And now, I wear outfits worth ten times that amount not to flex, but because I can. Because I worked for it. Because I earned it.
Every little thing even something as silly as owning a new jacket feels like a small reminder that I’m doing well. That I’m on the right path. And that I’m just getting started.
Note to be taken this has also to do with the mindset shift I had early last year. Rather than tracking every penny I earn. Why not spend with the abundance mindset that I will earn twice as much.
And trust this might sound woo woo but this really works. Take my word for it or do it yourself.
All you need to do is keep aside your monthly expenses and savings and then whatever is left don’t track just let it flow. And see the results in few months you would never run out of money at the end of every month.
Tell me this doesn’t look like I just closed a million dollar deal
There’s this story I keep coming back to. A friend of mine used to flaunt the newest iPhone every year. And I’d look at him and think, “Damn, what would that feel like?” Now I know.
Not because I bought the newest phone, have these expensive things on me, but because I feel powerful in my own way.
Not because of external wealth but because I’ve come this far on my own. No external backing. No shortcuts. Just sheer hard work.
The Hanuman Ji Analogy, realize your potential
But somewhere I still believe that I am operating at my 50% capacity or even less you know like how Hanuman Ji when Jambavan made him realise his true potential could jump an entire ocean in one go.
And for me these achievements and small wins are kinda like those Jambavan‘s in miniature forms that keep me telling that look even when you are operating on a lower capacity you are here.
What if? What if? I operate at hundred percent capacity I can just flip an entire industry upside down, that’s the power I hold.
Hence right now I am training for CEO cause, why not? Imagine taking an entire company and just leading it to massive growth that no one wouldn’t dare to imagine. Insane right?
And I am putting puzzles in place through content, through these newsletters, through networking and talks.
Speaking of which, I am invited by the Google Developers Club to give a talk on personal branding. Initially, I felt imposter syndrome creeping in. But then I remembered hang on I’ve built a 12,000+ strong community online.
If that doesn’t qualify me to talk about personal branding, I don’t know what does.
When I said this was from my Journal wasn’t kidding
Emotional Intelligence and the Top 1%
Lastly, I want to share something I learned from Ali Abdaal’s coaching video a perspective on how the top 1% deal with emotions. We often talk about happiness, but never really live through sadness.
We resist it. We escape into reels, YouTube, or dopamine hits.
But sadness isn’t meant to be avoided. It’s meant to be acknowledged and experienced fully. There’s a big difference between sadness you’re at peace with and sadness you’re battling.
When you’re okay with being sad, it doesn’t linger. It passes, and leaves behind clarity not a 5-step plan, but a deep internal calm. Something that only comes when you let yourself sit with the discomfort.
So if you’re feeling heavy don’t scroll it away. Sit with it. Journal. Cry. Walk. And let it move through you. And next time if someone says why are you sad don’t be, tell you’re just analysing why I am feeling this way and letting it process.
Because once I am done I will have a calm because right there’s a buzz going on in my head that is like a radio that isn’t catching the right frequency.
If you’ve read till here, thank you.
These will always be raw and real. If any of this resonated, hit reply. Share your thoughts.
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See you next Sunday!