The owner of a billion dollar business, invited me to his house in a county, just a drive away from the busy city of Mumbai. The house was located within a long stretch of a beautiful garden.
He took us into his large theatre inside the house. The theatre was huge, state-of-the-art and could easily seat over 100 people. Along with him, there were 9 other people from his family seated in the room. They were expecting me and Harini to play a movie for them.
Just a week before, they had seen a full page article about Harini and me, in the most read newspaper in the country - The Times of India. They got in touch with us through a common friend. And here they were ready to just explore what we can do for their family.
But we didn’t have a movie to play for them. What we instead had were stories. Stories of our work, of the people and I started with the story of the young man, whose life turned upside down when he met with an accident and was paralysed neck down. Harini shared her experiences of what has been possible with the technologies we created and I concluded saying - ‘I don’t know if we can help everyone who is paralysed to get back movements again but what we do know is that, since the technology has proven so powerful even in such challenging situations, we can definitely help every individual LIVE a better quality of life and immediately turn around any aspect of life at any stage of an individual.’
I saw that look on the pupils change from expecting to be blown away by the technology to a warm connection, and a bond was formed.
Over the next couple of days, we demonstrated several outcomes from turning around health challenges to overcoming decade long habits and building newer capabilities in minutes.
Little did I know that I was going to discover a secret about myself that I didn’t know until then.
The engagement was strong, the family was committed to pursue this for ALL of their needs. Harini and I had several other pressing commitments, so we said our farewells and met them after several months.
This time, the family brought in deeper challenges. They wanted to turn around misunderstandings, conflicts and in the process - witnessed how Excellence Installations can evolve the nature of a person and even impact their character formation.
So, this time as we were leaving, the billionaire business owner walked us to the lift, got into it himself, and looked into my eyes and said - ‘Will you take care of my family?’
I have spent the last few days with him to know, he didn’t mean, once in a few months. He proposed to offer a huge pay in tens of millions of dollars.
The few seconds when he was looking deeply down into my eyes felt like forever. It was like as if time froze. And I had to make a very important decision.
I have always said - yes to any sort of help. And when I don’t know how to help someone, I learn how to help, sometimes paying my own bills to figure out how to help and then help. The least promising thing I have ever said is - ‘I am curious to explore what is possible.’
And yet, there I was in that situation unable to say - YES.
For a long time, I used to think, I worked with people who wanted to learn what I could do, and in groups because I thought people couldn’t afford me one-on-one. And it was easy to think of it that way.
But what happens when there comes a moment in your life, when you meet your REAL INTENTIONS face to face?
In that moment, the cover of money was taken out, because he could literally offer 100 Years worth of what my business was making in one agreement.
That day, I realised that my apprehension for taking private clients was not REALLY that they cannot afford me. It was that I couldn’t afford the TIME.
I can say yes to so many things - except TIME.
And my time is committed and dedicated to ONE CAUSE, to build the Installation Genius capabilities for as many people as I can, because that is the fastest way to make EXCELLENCE in every area of life accessible to the 7 Billion people on the planet.
My Limitation truly was that - I don’t trade time for anything. I don’t have the time to trade time. One of the most valuable installations I do for people, is to recognize REAL constraints. Real constraints are real, when you recognize them, you pave a way around it, over it, under it, through it - but you got to know it exists.
I am trying to achieve what happened with Medicine over 1000 years in under 30 years with Excellence Installations. Today, you have medical colleges, universities, pharmaceutical companies, R&D labs and millions of doctors and clinics and hospitals. But thousands of years ago, it was just Hippocrates and his students. Maybe he has the predictive intelligence to know that access to medical care could become a birthright in his distant future.
For me, given that any fundamental science has taken thousands of years to become available on a large scale to every person on the planet, I don’t know if access to Excellence Installations will become a birthright in this generation, but I would love to run, as if it will. So my real constraint is I cannot trade time for money, and likewise everyone has a real constraint.
There are constraints that are CONSTANT and constraints that you CHANGE.
For many, communication is a constraint, quality relationships is a constraint, healthy lifestyles is a constraint - often, these are just capabilities arcs that can be developed with the right strategies and excellence installations. These are constraints that you can change.
And there are the constraints that are CONSTANT. And you have to OWN them.
And these could be the stuff you won’t do because of your VALUES, it can be the stuff that comes from your faith. And knowing and meditating on these constraints you OWN allows you to turn your constraints into a SOLID advantage for the outcomes you desire.
One of the reasons I write Stories of Wisdom in Real Change is because I may not be able to meet all the people one-on-one on the planet, but I meet people from all walks of life, all economical situations, all kinds of families and cultures and through stories people can learn, people can change and people can help one another.
The full page story in Times, was not a paid advertorial. It was a journalist who fell in love with the possibilities. The spark in the eye of warmth and belongingness, from the business owner’s family was not a response to a well crafted promise, but to the reality of the storyteller and the genuineness in that tell.
People who commit 3 - 5 years to learn to do what I do, to turn around a health condition for a loved one, to evolve the character and nature of a family member or to create a big impact in the world - learn what I do, through stories. So, maybe with my writing, stories that can change a person’s life can directly reach them when they need it the most.
That moment, when I realised I don’t have time to work with people, one-on-one on a long term basis, was pivotal. It enables working toward overcoming the limitation the constraint creates.
Limitations and constraints are not the same. We can’t fly to space unless we cross escape velocity. For thousands of years, people were limited from exploring space. But the constraint of escape velocity is the same before and the same now. Humans cannot walk on water but there was a time when we couldn’t travel through the oceans and now we can.
When you know your personal constraint that is CONSTANT over time and you OWN it, you will find yourself finding a way to sail through the oceans and travel to places no one has explored before.
Maybe I cannot trade time for money. But with my writing, I have found a vehicle to overcome this constraint and take me directly to the person who needs me the most. And if you search deep and long enough, you will find a way to overcome the limits from the constraints you OWN.
The world couldn't have found a way to go to space, if we didn’t accept the fact that nothing can escape earth unless it hits escape velocity. There are things in your life that are Genuine and Real constraints, the minute you accept them and OWN them. You will create choices to exceed what has been possible with your life until now.
May your purposes be a blessing to the world, amidst real constraints!
