During the first year of my master’s course, I read ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’. It taught me everything about personal finance. Today, I am a pro at financial investments and a big part of that can be attributed to this one book.

At 28, during a routine online chat with my friend, we discussed some business ideas, one of which became the foundation of what I do today. My actual business idea was born during that chat session.

In both situations, I was not actively seeking out the information (the book or the business idea) which changed my life in some way. It just happened.

I had not planned to buy any book that day. A train delay led me to spend time at the nearby bookstore. Saw this on the shelf, picked it up, read the synopsis, and ended up buying it.

My online chat with the friend was a casual one that we had every other day and not about any business ideas. I don’t even remember how the idea actually came up during the discussion. But it happened.

And it happens all the time. Ideas come when we are not really looking for them.

So is this pure luck or is there something more to it?

I believe that such instances happen because at some level we are actually prepared for it. We had the right mindset.

Take the alternate scenario, what if that day at the bookstore I was concerned about my missed train and just worrying about reaching on time for the next schedule? I would have actually missed this book. It would have passed right in front of my eyes and I would not have even noticed it.

Doesn’t it happen all the time?
Don’t we all say, ‘Why didn’t I think of this?

To experience something new we need to step back – defocus – start from a blank slate, which welcomes new experiences or information with the right mindset.

This state of defocus is what I call our ‘discover mode’.

Everyone has it but you need to consciously switch it on.

In the discover mode,
You are not seeking anything.
You don’t try too hard.
You are in the present.
You experience, participate and learn.

Breakthrough ideas happen during this discover mode.

But in today’s life do we really allow enough opportunities for our ‘discover mode’ to be active?

In the ‘discover mode’ there are no pre-set agenda. However, in our reality, things are very different. We keep running behind schedules -personal and professional, never activating that discover mode.

If we realize that the best things happen and can be experienced in the discover mode, we need to ensure we switch it on more often.

And for that, we need to specially allocate time with no agenda, which allows us to activate our discover mode. This is sure to refresh and surprise us.

Everyone has their own unique way of switching on his/her discover mode. For me, it is going for long solo walks every day and traveling to new places every other month.

You will need to find your own way of activating your ‘discover mode’. And give it time to see the magic happen.

#activateyourdiscovermode