Gaur Gopal Das's Top 10 Rules for Success

Some people spend their whole lives trying to change their circumstances. Gopal Das teaches that your life starts changing the moment you change what's happening inside your mind.

If you want to maintain your head cool, what we need to do is start practicing a different conversation inside.

He believes clarity is the beginning of every meaningful change.

Clarity.

He teaches that real freedom comes from mastering your own mind.

Every single day, you're carrying a bag full of stones. In your mind, anger, insecurity. What is that one stone that you need to, need to put down today?

He reminds you to focus your energy on what you can actually control.

There are aspects to our problems that we can do nothing about, but there are aspects to our problems that we can do something about.

And he believes the quality of your life depends on how you respond, not just what happens to you.

When you're angry, upset, hot-headed, When you lose your cool, when you say unpleasant things, when you do unpleasant things, do things get any better? They only get worser.

So today we're breaking down the top 10 rules for success from Gaur Gopal Das, featuring powerful lessons on mastering your mind, finding clarity, staying calm, building meaningful relationships, and living with greater purpose. If you want more peace, more confidence, and a better way to handle life's challenges, this video is for you. Need motivation?

Watch a top ten with Believe Nation.

If we've been here before, drop a hashtag believe in the comments below so I can feature you here in a future video. And if you're new, welcome to Believe Nation, the only channel that helps you believe in yourself daily, one video at a time. Okay, let's kick it off with rule number one: change the internal conversations.

Many times, people whom you're dealing with are like little kids in big bodies. Sometimes your husbands, wives, kids, friends, colleagues, for some reason, not that they're children, but sometimes in some situations they behave like non-negotiable children. What are you going to do? Shout at them? Yell at them and make everything toxic? If you want to maintain your head cool, what we need to do is start practicing a different conversation inside. Your conversations outside may not always be in your control, but your conversations inside can definitely be completely in your control. On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, what was happening outside was not in Arjun's control, but how he could change his conversation inside was entirely in his control. And which is exactly why Sri Krishna spoke the Gita to help Arjun start talking to himself rightly. Nobody outside is going to change the way you feel. You have to take the responsibility of how you feel by changing the quality of conversations that go on in your mind. I can feel extremely upset with what's happening with my me, or I can tell myself it's all right. That one, it's all right, will bring the toxicity down. It's not an easy thing. But when you start practicing it in the smaller things in life, it'll start percolating in the larger issues of your life.

Rule number 2 is have clarity.

There was a man in the Middle East. The man died and they found out his will. In the will, the man had left behind 17 camels. Middle East man. And in the will he had written, I want to give half of these camels to my son, one-third of the camels to my daughter, and one-ninth of the camels to my widowed wife. How do you divide 17 camels into half, one-third, and one-ninth? They fought, they yelled, they screamed. Then they realized, we need to go to a wise man. They approached a wise man. And says, sir, our father left us these 17 camels to be shared between the 3 of us— half, one-third, and one-ninth. Can you please help us? Guess what the wise man did, ladies and gentlemen? He added one of his camels to these 17. Now there were 18 camels. Half of 18. Gave them to the son. One-third of 18.

6.

Gave them to the daughter. One-ninth of 18. Gave them to the wife. 9 plus 6.

15.

15 plus 2. 17. Problem solved. और अपना एक camel लेकर चला गया बंदा। And that is my advice to all of you. Any problem at work, in life, in relationships, when you just are unable to see the way out, add that one camel. As soon as you add that one camel, no matter how complex the situation is in front of you, you will be able to solve it. Guarantee नहीं तो पूरा पैसा वापस पाए। And you know in life what that one camel is? That one camel is clarity.

Rule number three is free your mind.

What's the one story that has stayed with me? There was a boy once who came to a sage and said, sir, I'm looking for peace of mind. Can you kindly train me how to get peace of mind? The sage gave him a bag full of stones and said, carry this nonstop all through the week and then come back and I'll train you to deal with the challenges in life and get peace. The guy walked around lugging this bag full of stones. At a point in time, the boy was tired. He was carrying it everywhere. The bag got heavier and heavier, not because the stones got heavier, because he was tired of carrying something that he did not need. And then he came back to the sage after a week. The sage said, put the bag down now. Put the bag down now. He put the bag down, and suddenly the boy started feeling light, joyful, peaceful. The sage said, This is the way to get peace. Every single day, you're carrying a bag full of stones in your mind— anger, insecurity, comparison, grudges, negativity. When we are lugging it all around, it's not about how big it is. It's how we are carrying it every single day. When I heard that story, I asked myself, what stone do I need to put down today? There's one stone, ladies and gentlemen, that's bothering you right now as you're listening to this session. What is that one stone that you need to put down today that'll make you feel a little better? Than where you are now.

Rule number 4, learn from your experience.

One reporter came to a multi-billionaire and asked him, sir, what is the secret of your being a multi-billionaire? The man said, 2 words. He said, and may I ask you, sir, what are those 2 words, magical words? The billionaire said, right decisions. How many of you guys feel that if you make the right decisions, you succeed?

Of course.

Any— in any aspect of life. Said, right decisions. The reporter said, brilliant, sir, but how do you make those right decisions? The guy said, one word. Said, first you said 2 words, right decisions. Now you said one word, and what is that one magical word? He said, experience. If you have experience, you make the right decisions. Sir, that's all well said, but how do you gain that experience, sir? The billionaire said 2 words. And said, may I ask you what are those 2 magical words? So the billionaire said, wrong decisions. Because when you make a wrong decision, you get experience. And when you get experience, you make the right decisions.

Also, if you want to take real action after this video, I made a free worksheet just for you. It covers the top lessons from today, gives you space to write your biggest takeaways, and helps you build a simple action plan. It's 100% free. Just click the link in the description below to go grab it, and I'll see you there. Rule number 5: Focus on what you can do.

Honestly, we all go through a lot of problems, right? And there are aspects to our problems that when we we can do nothing about. And there are aspects to our problem that we can actually do something about and deal with it. How many of you were great at maths in school?

Okay.

How many of you were terrible at maths in school? How many of you didn't care a damn about maths in school? Oh, that's the maximum number of hands I can see. A teacher once came to a classroom and said, a ship is sinking, a frog is croaking, and potatoes are ₹20 a kilo. Guess what my age is? The kid said, can you come back again, please? He said, a ship is sinking, a frog is croaking, and potatoes are ₹20 a kilo. Guess what my age is? One boy raised his hand and said, 32, madam. She said, you're spot on! But how did you get that right? He said, well, my sister's 16 years old and she's half mad. That's the only way you can— she's 32, right? How does that even make sense?

Makes sense.

Now, I'm an engineer, and so problem-solving to me, it's mathematical equations. Guys, a couple who gives birth to a challenged child is a non-negotiable problem there. In that equation, it's a pi, a constant. A family member battling terminal cancer with 2 months left is a pi, 3.1418. It can't change. It's non-negotiable. People misunderstand you for absolutely no reason. What can you do about it? It's a pi, non-negotiable. There are aspects to our problems that we can do nothing about, but there are aspects to our problems that we can do something about. So if there's a pi in the equation, there's an x in the equation, and that x is a variable, something that you guys can do, something that you guys can work upon. And so for years I have been sharing this in my talks. Don't focus so much on the pie. It drains you. It saps your vital energy. It saps your mental strength. Focus on the X, something that you can do on.

Rule number 6 is maintain your cool.

When you look up at that AC on your— AC in your house, you know what the air conditioner is telling you? Keep your head cool. अगली बार जब भी एसी के पास देखिएगा, अपने आप को याद दिलाइए। गुस्सा आएगा। What is the AC telling you? Keep your head cool. Your expectations may not always be met with. What is the AC telling you? Keep your head cool. People may not necessarily agree with your opinions always. What is the AC telling you? Keep your Head cool. You know when you lose it, what happens? You get toxic. Your energy becomes toxic. Everything around becomes toxic. And in that toxicity, things only get worse. Nothing's being solved and resolved anyways. When you're angry, upset, hot-headed, When you lose your cool, when you say unpleasant things, when you do unpleasant things, do things get any better? They only get worser. What's the point? What's the point with a hothead? What's the point with harsh words? What's the point with nasty actions? Are things getting any better? They don't. So what is the AC telling us? Maintain your cool.

Rule number seven is shift your attention.

Now being an engineer, I tend to look at everything in terms of equations, math, and engineer by by education. And to me, the equation of life, especially dealing with pressures and challenges, has two components to it. Number one is a pi. You know what a pi is? The value of pi, 3.1418. We call it a constant for a reason. You can't change that element in life. There are going to be parts of your life that you have to live with acceptance. You can't change that. You can't change that side of your life, guys. And to try and attempt, make an attempt to change that pi is like going against a wall and hitting Hitting your head against the wall. The world doesn't move, guys. Your head hurts. Stop hurting yourself by hitting your head against things that need to be accepted, not fought with. And each one of us is going to have a part of our lives which we need to simply accept and come to terms with. Say, I don't want to waste my precious mental energy, my time, and my resources resources on fighting against something that's absolutely beyond my control. And then that equation has an X. That X is a variable. Healing is about shifting our attention from the pi to X. You feel empowered, you feel happy, you feel energized, you feel confident. When you shift your attention to the variable— and I constantly keep telling people, good healing, living a life is about shifting our attention from pi to x, accepting the pi and working on the x. And what that x is for you, you know best. Each one of us today has a pi to accept and an x to work on. And if we know how to accept the pie and deal with that pie, and if we know how to work on that X, trust me, ladies and gentlemen, life will be different for us. And that's exactly why the world needs healing, not just in terms of therapy and not just in terms of counseling, not just in terms of, you know, going to somebody and speaking your heart. All that is a part of healing, but in terms of empowering oneself to take up that journey to move from Rule number 8 is build colorful and meaningful relationships. In each of our lives, we need a lot of color, isn't it? Can you imagine? Look at what I have, guys. Incredible colorful papers. Orange, blue, yellow, red, pink, We all need color in our life, and our friends make our lives colorful. Chilling, मस्ती, time pass, playing, teasing, मजाक उड़ाना, पैर खींचना, टांग खींचना makes our life beautiful. I'll tell you what, guys, we all need these colors in our life, isn't it? Friends to make our lives colorful. But what if I do something interesting? If I can ask all of you to say abracadabra. Sure. What if I could turn it into money, guys? What if I turned your black, yellow, blue, pink papers into cash? 500, 500, 500 rupees. Right here in front of you guys. You know what? You need colorful life, but you also need valuable life. Color का paper phone खरीदेगा? Color का paper pizza खरीदेगा? Colorful paper ticket book करेगा? When value is added to paper. it can buy. So have 2 kinds of friends in your life. One, like the colorful friends who will chill, who will add a lot of fun, who will add a lot of color but lack zero value. Won't help you with your skill, won't help you when you're in trouble, won't help you cope up with pressures. They are not the people to talk your mind to because they are like big mouths, will tell the whole world. You can't trust them. They're like colorful papers. Have them. Chill time is important. But along with them, have those friends who will add value to your lives, guys. Very important. Very crucial to have friends who will add value.

Rule number 9 is solve problems.

Everybody looks for solutions to problems, isn't it? That's a big, big thing that's stopping us from experiencing happiness. That's a big thing that's stopping us from making happiness happen. Who is it that doesn't want to make happiness happen? It's problems that's stopping. It could be a health problem, could be a financial problem, could be a relationship problem, could be a business problem. Anything stopping you from crafting your habits. We all want to do it. All want the solutions to these problems, isn't it? There's no lock in the world that was created without a key. Not a single lock in the world was created without a key. I don't know why would somebody make a lock without a key. Every lock that was made was created with a key. And so every problem, every challenge, every issue that's there in our life Which is like a lock and seems like a dead lock and dead end, has a key. It's not seen now. It's not visible to us right now. You don't know where the key is. We're all searching for that key. कैसे ताला खुले और प्रॉब्लम सुलझे थोड़ा शांति मिले खुशी मिले यार। How do I get a solution to that problem? You know what? Every lock comes with a key and every problem with a solution. Some of your problems can actually be solved, and some of your problems literally cannot be solved, but can be solved by becoming stronger to face them. That's the key. That's the key. You know, what do you do when you have a mentally challenged child born to you? A child with special needs born to you. What do you do? Is there a solution? Can't rewire things, right? Can't rewire things. But the solution then there is a solution. There is a key. But the key is not that this will change. The key is you will have to grow stronger to face it and solve that problem. है ना? और इसलिए हर समस्या के ना जी दो प्रॉब्लम दो सल्यूशंस होते हैं। या तो भाग लो, या भाग लो। Right? There's only two things you can do. या तो भाग लो, run away. या भाग लो, participate, face it, deal with it. क्या करें नहीं? Which is why a lot of times I say, just Someone is happy, and just because someone is smiling doesn't mean they don't have issues. Doesn't mean they don't have problems. Doesn't mean they don't have challenges. Just because कोई मुस्कुरा रहा है, just because कोई अपने life में खुश है, इसका मतलब ये नहीं कि उनकी problems नहीं हैं। इसका मतलब ये नहीं कि उनकी life में challenges नहीं हैं। इसका मतलब ये नहीं कि उनकी लाइफ में डिफिकल्टीज़ नहीं हैं। The difference is they've chosen to deal with whatever they can do with their problem, they deal with it, but they've chosen to shift their attention to something else in their life. क्योंकि अटेंशन इधर रहेगा ना कैसे खुश रहोगे जी? If your attention is always on your problem and only problems are on your mind constantly just occupy issues, problems, challenges, the difficulties, the troubles, the emotional hurt, the wounds that have happened. How are you going to have— make happiness happen? With all of that going on, we have to do what we have to do to deal with it. When people smile and are happy, that doesn't mean they don't have troubles, guys. They've just chosen to shift their attention to something that can make happiness happen. And both are exclusive. One doesn't cancel another.

And rule number 10, the last one before a very special bonus clip: stay positive.

I'll tell you what, the nature of problems is that it consumes our mind. Imagine a tooth which is hurting. I don't know if somebody's had their fingers stuck in Oh yeah. The edge of the door and the door is slammed. Good heavens, it hurts like hell. And then the pain is just so all-consuming, the mind just focuses so much on the pain, right? I think it's just the nature of problems that it draws our mind towards them. Like the tongue going towards the cumin seed in my tooth when it was stuck. It's like gravity, the law of gravity. If we put this bottle up and put it up here, and drop it, it's going to just be pulled down.

Yeah.

Dragged down by the power of gravity. I think there's a power of gravity existing within us as well. They're just natural for us to be dragged down to our issues, our problems, right? To everything that's negative. I think being, being pulled into negativity is so normal. It's like gravity. Put this bottle down, it falls down. You don't have to do anything. But if I were to pull water up from the ground floor to the 8th floor, I need a motor.

Correct.

To work against gravity, and I need conscious hard work to bring it there. So it's so natural for the mind to feel negative and go towards the problem. But if I have to look at 31 other teeth, I have to make a conscious choice to take my tongue Right. If I have to pull the water down from the ground floor to the 8th floor, I have to put a pump to pull it up. It's not easy work. It's hard work, right? But hard work pays off. That's when you like look at really saying, okay, this is fulfilling me now. And not that— and, and I, I definitely don't want to impose this, this principle of gratitude in a In an unrealistic way on people because sometimes misery is so intense.

Absolutely!

You know, when troubles are smaller, you can still consciously look at the brighter side of life. You know, but sometimes troubles are just so intense and massive and they seem to be like mountains, unmoving, unshakable. Mountains, they just stand there for ages and decades. How in such a situation wouldn't it be so violent to forcefully impose the principle of gratitude on a person whose life is so acutely absorbed in intense misery? You know, I call that toxic positivity. It's toxic. It's not natural. So what does one do, really? Yeah, it's just— yeah, in such a situation when it's just so overwhelmingly painful, you know, my take on it is it's hard to look at the brighter side when there's intense pain there. But at the same time, I also feel if we are consumed by negativity, With that pain and that problem and occupying our mind, we lose the ability to deal with it the way we are meant to.

Correct?

So if we could seek help, if I'm not able to see it, we could seek help of somebody. It could be professional help or personal help, friends, whoever it could be. We could seek help to be able to shift our attention to even the tiniest things so that that little positivity becomes the anchor. Time does fly. Time has two wings and one one peak, like a like an airplane. The two wings of the plane called time are past and future. Yesterday and tomorrow are the two wings, and the bonnet that front peak is the present. हवाई जा जा समय, and time flies like a plane flies. Don't allow that plane to fly in the autopilot mode. किधर भी जा रहा है, चार साल निकलकर किधर भी जा रहा है। Time may fly, but you are the pilot of the plane. You have to decide where to take your time. You have to decide where to invest your time. You have to decide how to utilize our time. Otherwise, time is just flying wherever it wants to. वक्त निकल जाएगा। अगर उस वक्त को दिशा नहीं देंगे, उस वक्त को सही तरीके से invest नहीं करेंगे, therefore change your vocabulary. Don't say I spend my time. Say I am investing my time. Spend my time means फिजूल, खर्चा किया। Spending means fijul, gaya. Investment means return. Return. You spend, you give. You invest, you look for returns. You say, I spent my time, it's gone. You say, I invested my time in my career, I invested my time in my studies, I invested my time in a relationship, invested my time in spirituality, I invested my time in association. There is a return. There is a return. RTI, return on investment. सीखो भाई, भाषा बदलो, नहीं तो समय का हवाई जहाज तो उड़ी रहा है। Pilot seat में बैठो, pilot seat में बैठने के बाद ना इंसान को कोई choice नहीं रहता है, उड़ाना ही पड़ता है, उड़ाना ही पड़ता है। नहीं तो पैसेंजर में सीट में बैठा तो आ रहा है मैं। तू उड़ा पहले। कहाँ कर रहा है सेकर तू?

Congratulations, you're one video closer to who you're meant to be.

Believe.

For ten more amazing rules from Sadhguru, check the video right there next to me. I think you'll love it. Continue to believe and I'll see you there.

Long term. The only thing that will make your business thrive is that in some way your customers, your suppliers, your employees, and the general society around you, everybody benefits.