A world of spiraling success

The chance of a third world war breaking out is remote. Read The World is Flat if you want to be convinced about this fact. Despite the supposed bad times that we are in economically, when you take account of the things around and as you zoom out, it is in fact not very hard to believe that the world as a whole is spawning on a path of self development. Technology is getting more sophisticated and life is in a way getting more comfortable, but the one thing that hasn’t changed is the human emotions and the way the mind works.

Our discussion here is about the domino effect that is created by the company a person keeps. By company, we imply those thoughts that fill a person’s mind in a given day. Like the saying goes- if you want to fly with the eagles, you’ve got to stop pecking with the hens. Who we hang around with and who we listen to is far too consequential that most of us hardly pay attention. One of the principles of personal success in any field as history has shown is to surround oneself with successful people. Group dynamics automatically ensures that an individual performs at a level close to that of his high performing peers.

Tracing back a well known fact, it is estimated that 1% of the world’s population controls close to 96% of the wealth on earth. Why is that we don’t have more than 1% doing this? The answer is association. If I could have a daily access to what is running though the head of Barrack Obama, or Roger Federer, I would be better positioned to think along the same lines and react like they would in circumstances. Association leads to a change in thinking, be it positive or negative. And what drives those thoughts is inspiration. If you got to spend a couple of minutes with a person you admire, you might probably come back feeling better. You would probably choose your actions differently from there on based on the inspiration you received from the person and not from the information you received in the form of advice.

Twitter, social networks, blogs and so on; the internet has put the 99% of the population in direct access with the 1%. There’s more unfiltered information coming though between the two camps that was unseen and unheard till recently. For instance, I can now follow my idol Shashi Tharoor and get into his mind through his tweets. Or I can understand at closer quarters what Aamir Khan is thinking through his blog. That inspiration drives the future. As more people start acting on that inspiration, and as success begins to breed success, it is but inevitable that we’ll see more wealth creators coming out. By the turn of 2050, that 1% could possibly become2%. In this way, the world has set itself up for a self perpetuating ride towards a brighter future thanks to the internet.