The last few days have been mind-boggling. I am witnessing a paradigm shift happening right inside me. I am amazed at my transformation and the speed with which it is happening.

Many years ago, roughly twenty-plus, I had this tiny desire to write. It was no big deal. I wanted to express myself better, record my story for my children, write some short stories, and maybe a novel someday.

But there was only one problem. English was my second language, and I was terrible at it. But the more I sucked at it; the more my desire grew to get better at it.

I joined a life story writing course and wrote stories of my growing up in India. They were pathetic. We were supposed to read them to the group, and it used to terrify me. I spent hours making my stories coherent. Still, when I read them, they were fragmented, muddled, and plain old boring.

Anyone in their right mind would have given up and picked some other hobby.

But I couldn’t

My desire to write wouldn’t go away.

So I continued. For twenty years, I agonized over my lack of skill to be able to write well. I wanted nothing more than to be fluent and original.

Persistent paid. I got better at expressing my ideas. But writing still demanded a lot of “effort.”

I got swayed by the other writers. I read all the advice there is on how to succeed as a writer. The list was very long. I myself have written many such lists.

Fast forward to Friday last week.

I was lying in the bathtub listening to random YouTube videos when a guy appeared on a video and started talking about how we operate from different levels of consciousness.

I am not new to mind-body-soul learning. But this one made me think about writing in a completely different way.

There are four distinct and unique levels of consciousness from which we operate from. These levels determine how our consciousness and our self-awareness relate between us and the world around us.

I will come to my thought process a bit later, but let me tell you what I learned about four levels of consciousness.

Four levels of consciousness.

In 1968, Alan Watts, a British writer, speaker, and Zen master, appeared on CBS with a group of students to teach a unique zen philosophy.

He asked the students three questions:

• Who am I?
• What do I desire?
• What do I know?

The three questions sound simple enough, but they go very deep.

According to Alan, if you ponder these questions long enough, they will unlock many new meanings in your life.

Your answers to these questions depend on what state of consciousness you are in.

Vishan Lakhiani, a writer and CEO of Mindvalley, explains in his book “Code of Evolution” four levels of consciousness.

At each level of consciousness, you react and shape the world in different ways. — Vishan Lakniani

Level 1 — Culturescape

Culturescape is the tangled web of rituals and beliefs, and ideas that come from the culture. Whether we live in a tribe in a developing part of the world or in modern tribes such as a corporation, all of us are part of Culturescape.

We believe in what our parents, teachers, priests, politicians, media, advertisements, authors, books, and thought leaders tell us. But we don’t see it just like fish swimming in water.

The rules by which each tribe lives do not apply to everybody, but they apply to that tribe. The problem with Culturescape is that it feels real. We become a victim of it.

At this level world happens to us. We suffer breakups, business failure, being hospitalized, book launch failure, newsletter failure, not-being-able-to-build-a-subscriber-base failure. You get the point.

A vast majority of people exist at level 1.

At this point, we give this kind of answers to Alan’s questions:

Who am I? — I am a writer. I am a three-book author. I am a bestselling author.

What do I desire? — I want to get better at writing. I want to make a living from writing. I want to write a book. I want my book to be a megaseller. I want to earn big royalties.

What do I know? — I know I am a kind person. I know God is on my side. I know if I put in 10,000 hours, I will get better at writing.

But at a certain point, people start waking up. That is when they go to level 2.

Level 2 — Awakening

At this level, people start going back to the childhood nature of questioning. They question their parent’s expectations; they question religion, they question the social- norms, and they realize they can choose their own experiences in life.

Life doesn’t happen to them, but it starts happening from them. It emerges from them. This is when they start creating their own rules.

They don’t follow society’s so-called normal professions and start following their passion. They do that because it is fulfilling. They might become a coach, or set up a business. They still identify themselves by what they do but their desires are in line with their inner being.

At this level, they really start embracing personal growth.

When they do that enough, they go to level 3 — Recoding Yourself.

Level 3 — Recoding Yourself

This is when you realize the world is not just outside you; the world is inside you as well. And you start paying attention to your inner world. You start listening to that tiny little voice inside you.

When you start going within yourself, you start recognizing that you are more than just a physical body.

At this level, the big shift happens at question #1. The answer to that question becomes:

I am a soul having a human experience.

Level 4 — Becoming Extraordinary

As soon as you start going within, it opens you to level 4. And level 4 is when you start becoming extraordinary. An important shift happens that really transforms how you live your life. It puts you in 1–5% of human beings who are truly fulfilled and happy.

You realize you are so much beyond your body. “You” extend to all other human beings and all the life on the planet. “You” become a part of a great “whole.”

The more you expand your circle of compassion to other people, the greater the opportunity the universe gives you.

At level 1 our society teaches us to have goals and the goals are given to us by Culturescape. At level 2, the goals come from our soul. But when we get to level 4, the goals come from a completely different place.

According to Vishan Lakhiani, they come from Inspiration.

Call it Inspiration or God, or Universe, or Supreme Being, or Higher Power, but when we become a part of the “whole,” Inspiration leads to intention.

Inspiration leads to intention.

We might think we came up with the brilliant idea for that book or that song or that business, but we are simply a conduit.

When we say we got inspired, what we really mean is Inspiration whispered in our ear.

When someone gets an idea in a dream (John Lennon) or in the bathtub (Archimedes) it was Inspiraton whispering. And when Inspiraton has your attention, and you are receptive, it clears the roadblocks and starts moving you towards it. I gives you the intention.

That is how inspiration leads you to intention.

But you got to be listening. Your antenna needs to be attuned to hear the whispers. Whispers can come in any form. As an idea in the shower, or a nudge in a seminar, or as a YouTube video. You never know.

You got to be ready.

As soon as you show that you will take the nudge and act on it and you have the confidence to make it happen, luck starts being on your side.

The Inspiration doesn’t just whisper to you. It clears the way for you.

Your job is to listen.

And if you chose to ignore it, the Inspiraton goes to someone else.

I like this idea.

To me “Four Levels of Consciousness” is like a roadmap for growth.

I like that at fourth level of consciousness your goals, your purpose is assigned to you by a higher power.

At level 2 we keep looking for a purpose for life, a way to make contribution to this universe and most of the time we have no clue what that purpose is. So we pick one thing, something we like and enjoy and declare that this is the purpose of our life.

And when we don’t achieve success in our endeavor, success as defined by the society or culture, we give up.

In my case it was writing. I picked it up and made it my vocation. I have pursued it for a number of years without getting much success as in terms of making money, having a big subscriber base, building a business on it.

But the truth is I don’t need any of that. I write because I see it as a means of personal growth.

I can’t give it up. It is the reason I get up each morning, energized and ready to work. My drive to write is so strong that even if I want to give it up, I can’t.

So there is a possiblilty that universe might have a purpose behind it. Or maybe it has something completely different and I haven’t even got a clue.

How can I find out.

Listen, I suppose. Wait and listen.

How to listen? I will write about it in my next article.

Image by Comfreak from Pixabay

I couldn’t believe it when I opened the email.

I thought it was a mistake. A prank? Or worst one of the fraud emails?

It was not until three other writers reported in a SLACK group that they too got a bonus check of $500 that I realized that I had made my first real money from writing.

I am one of 1000 writers to get a $500 bonus from Medium.

I have been publishing one article a day for about 27 days now. Before that, I was averaging two articles a week. I have put an insane amount of hours into learning the craft of article writing in the past two and half years.

It feels good to be recognized.

It is not the money, but the recognition, that someone took notice of my work that feels good.

This $500 will go a long way.

Many writers like me needed this proof that we can develop a career by writing online.

This money is not enough to pay bills for many, but it is enough to give us the taste of online work. And it is a world with abundance. Thousands of entrepreneurs are building millions (nee billions) of dollars worth of businesses online. We just needed a tiny proof for ourselves.

I quit (I don’t like the word retired) a job where I earned $175K per year to start my writing career. This money is the first proof that the world is changing. That blogging could not only be intellectually satisfying but a means of earning a living.

I won’t be fully relying on Medium, but I want to thank them for the gesture.

I think they are going on the right track.

Most Medium members are interested in each other’s success. We want to hear each other’s views and learn from each other, not just about making money but also how to live this life better.

At Medium, we are part of a “scenius.”

Brian Eno, a musician, record producer, and visual artist, came up with the term “scenius.”

The word conveys the extreme creativity that a group, place or “scene” can occasionally generate. His actual definition is:

Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius. — Brian Eno

I first learned about scenius from Austin Kleon, who wrote in his book Steal Like an Artist, “What is great about the idea of scenius is that it makes room in the story of creativity for the rest of us: the people who don’t consider ourselves geniuses.”

It is not about how talented and how smart you are it is about what you have to contribute, the idea you can share, the quality of connections you can make and the conversations you start. — Austin Kleon

If we can forget about the geniuses and concentrate on how we can nurture and contribute to a scenius we can lean and grow much faster. Internet is basically is a bunch of seniuses. Blogs, social media sites, email groups and discussion board forums are the platforms where people hang out and talk about things they care about and share ideas. — Austin Kleon

Medium is that scenius.

Individuals immersed in a productive “scenius” blossom and produce their best work. When buoyed by scenius, you act like a genius. In addition, your like-minded peers and the entire environment inspire you.

At Medium, we are a whole scene of people supporting each other, looking at each other’s work, learning from each other, sharing and comparing and contributing ideas, and growing together as a group.Ev Williams, if you can keep Medium as a scenius for readers, writers, and thinkers, it will become a realization of your vision — Where good ideas find you.

I believe in Medium’s vision statement.

Medium is an open platform where readers find dynamic thinking, and where expert and undiscovered voices can share their writing on any topic.

In the meantime, that you for $500. They will pay for my next ten year’s subscription.

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Before Jamie Foxx was Jamie Foxx, he was Eric Marlon Bishop. He would go to comedy shows and sign up to go on stage and perform. Each night, the manager would call out the names of the amateur comedians who would perform that night. Eric (Jamie) was talented. After his first performance, he got a standing ovation. But then he ran into problems. The manager stopped calling his name. Eric wasn’t sure why this was happening but he was determined to get back on stage – by any means necessary.

After a while, he noticed that the manger would always call at least one female name. There weren’t many female performers at that time, and it seemed the manager wanted to give them a fighting chance.

So, Eric started listing himself under fake androgynous names. Pat, Kelly, Erin…Jamie. One night it finally worked. The manager called Jamie. He got back on stage and got a second standing ovation.

Not only that but when people called out his name “Jamie” to congratulate him, he didn’t respond, making him seem cocky. But his cockiness worked in his favor. People thought he had “a certain” factor that made him talented. His budding career came on track because he bent the rules. Because he hustled.

Hustling is powerful.

I used to think “hustle” as being busy. Doing things that didn’t matter such as “hustling about putting the house in order.” But the word has now taken a new meaning for me. It is about “doing whatever it takes to succeed.

The above story came to me from a book by the same name – “Hustle – The Life-Changing Magic of Constant Motion” written by Jesse Warren Tevelow. Jesse wrote and published this book in one week. In fact, wrote it in three days, edited it for the next three days, and published it on the seventh day. He did it as a challenge to himself.

The book is an easy read and perhaps nothing original but the most interesting part of the book is the story of writing the book itself, which Jesse has captured as diary entry within the book.

It inspires you to take on the challenge yourself.

And I did.

I have been stuck on finishing at least three books that I have started but haven’t been able to finish. I decided to write and finish my first book in one week too.

As I worked on it furiously for the past two days I realized there is so much I didn’t know about publishing a book. Jesse had the previous experience of publishing a book that took him a year to write. How the hell am I going to do the same with no experience of formatting, editing, designing a book cover, launching, and marketing? The only thing I am now comfortable about is the writing part. Everything else I need to learn.

But the case Jesse made about hustling didn’t go away. Hustling is about grinding. It’s about doing whatever it takes. It is about making things happen. It is about creating momentum.

And what creates momentum?

Movement.

When you take action and put things out into the world, stuff happens. Eventually, there are results. The more you move, the quicker you move, the more results you get. When you get results, it leads to inspiration and motivation, which then leads back to momentum. In other words, the cycle feeds on itself. That is why constant motion is the core characteristic of every hustler.

The act of hustle is more important than anything else. Whatever you are doing, whatever you’re planning to do start it. Constant motion delivers life-changing results. So focus on the constant motion part, not the destination part.

Jamie Foxx didn’t give up. By continually moving he eventually broke through the barriers and started his career.

Building momentum can lead to unthinkable results.

I have started to learn everything there is about formatting, editing, and publishing. I have decided to publish my book in a month. It is a challenge I am setting for myself. Dear readers, I need you to hold me accountable as I have started hustling.

Hustling requires a different mindset. It requires confidence, an aversion to staying in the status quo, and a desire to work hard. Hustlers do all kinds of crazy things. That is because they are not afraid of experimentation, failing, being laughed at, or making mistakes. They know experimentation leads to growth.

And when succeed in you experiments you become even more confident hustler.

So dear readers, I want you to raise your glasses to hustle and wish me success for my hustle – to write and publish my first book in one month.

Photo by Caique Silva on Unsplash

Elizabeth Gilbert’s (writer of Eat, Pray and Love) father is a Vietnam veteran. She recently shared a very touching conversation between her father and a woman of his age, who had been a hippie and anti-Vietnam War protestor. The woman said to her father, “I was against the war, but I’m sorry that we didn’t respect your service and your sacrifice back then.”

Elizabeth’s father reached across the table, took this woman’s hand and said, “Thank you for saying that. But here’s the thing — your side was right. The protestors were correct. The Vietnam War was unjust and inhumane. I didn’t know it back then, but I know it now. You were right to protest. You were on the right side of history. Without your protests, the war would’ve gone on even longer.”

The woman said, “But all the same — I thank you for your service.” And Elizabeth’s father said, “And I thank you for your protest.”

Both, Elizabeth’s father and the hippie woman have legacies they will be leaving behind. Their stories.

We too will leave our stories behind, and they will be our legacies more than anything else.

If my story is the legacy I am leaving behind then what is my story?

I have never seen my life as a story before. Things that happened in my life are mundane and commonplace. Choices were made, some by me, some by others for me. I got educated, found a good job, built myself a home. I got married, had kids, raised them like everybody else. Where is the story?

And yet when I look at other people’s lives, I can see their stories.

I can see the story in my parents’ struggle, their commitment to give us a good life and their conviction to their professions. I could see Elizabeth Gilbert’s father’s story. A Vietnam veteran who probably went to war at a very young age, to fight a fight which wasn’t his or even his country’s fight. Yet he put his life on the line not knowing until years later that he was fighting on the wrong side.

I could see the story of the woman protester who, equally young, fought a fight on the streets of her hometown, for a cause that didn’t directly affect her. But it mattered so much to her that she chose to face rubber bullets and water canons to make a difference.

Aaha! therein lies the legacy worth leaving behind.

My parents’ legacy was their struggles to fight the scarcities of life of their era to build a better life for themselves and their children. They did that through the medium of education. Their contribution was the propagation of education not only for their own children but for all the children. They were both teachers.

Elizabeth’s father’s legacy is in knowing that he was on the wrong side of the war, accepting that, rehabilitating himself, and becoming a contributing member of society.

The woman protestor’s legacy lies is raising her voice to help make a change so big that it saved thousands of lives and changed the course of history.

We all have stories.

Our stories lie in the choices we make, the lessons we learn, the things we do.

Most of the time we do these without realising that our choices, our lessons and our actions are going to stay behind long after we are gone.

That realisation itself is powerful. Now that we know what our stories are, we can make better stories. We can make better choices. We can learn more meaningful and deep lessons. We can do things that really matter. So that when we come face to face with our mortality we are ready.

We are not used to preparing for our mortality.

Which is a shame.

Death is as much part of life as birth is. We make so much preparation for the arrival of a new life but we don’t prepare ourselves for leaving this life. By that, I don’t mean leaving behind a will or writing your funeral plan. I mean writing your stories.

Have you recorded what choices you made and what lessons you learned? Have you written down which side you chose in the moment of controversy and which fight you fought to make a change?

Ever since I have entered the second half of my life I have more vigilant of my choices. Although the first half of my life seemed mundane and commonplace it still many stories of choices made and lessons learned.

And now that I know that everything I do will one day become my legacy, I can live the rest of my life to make better stories.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

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