Master Your Life in 26 Minutes | Gaur Gopal Das’ Ultimate Success Guide!

If you're looking for ways to use your time well, enhance your good habits, and get consumed by positivity, then this video is for you.

In the new year to come, invest in taking care of your body. Invest in nurturing and nourishing your relationships. Focus on the good things that are happening in your life. And to focus on the good things and be grateful doesn't happen automatically. When it comes to good habits in the year 2018, let us consciously enhance them.

Need motivation? Watch a top 10 with Believe Nation. What's up? It's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe in you. I believe you have an amazing gift inside you that I want to see explode out into the world. So let's get your motivation to a 10 and get you believing in you. Grab a snack and chew on today's lessons from a man who went from working as an electrician electrical engineer from Hewlett-Packard to becoming a monk and life coach teaching people the importance of coping with stress, happiness, and conscious leadership. He's Gaur Gopal Das, and here's my take on his Top 10 Rules of Success Volume 2. Enjoy! Rule #1: Utilize your time well.

There are 4 things that we can never recover in our life. A stone after it has been thrown into the valley. Words after they have been spoken. An opportunity once it is missed. And time once it has gone. Considering the average lifespan of a human being today to be about 70 years, 70 multiplied by 12 is 840. Now that's how many months we have in our life to live in this world. And if life is represented by a jar and those 840 months by the marbles in the jar, every year 12 marbles are being thrown out of the jar. Last year, 12 marbles have gone as well. Gone forever. Never to come back again. Look at how many marbles you now have in the jar to make a difference, to leave a mark, to stand apart. Utilize your time well, and your time will treat you well, leading you into an overall sense of well-being. In the new year to come, invest in taking care of your body. Invest in nurturing and nourishing your relationships. Invest in finding and discovering your purpose, your passion, your calling in order to enhance your professional growth. Invest in pursuing and cultivating a meaningful, deep spiritual connect. And for some reason, if you found yourself stuck in any of these, some of these, or all of these areas in the last year, the new year brings a fresh opportunity to press press the refresh button, refresh the page of your life and live well. Because at the end of the day, remember, we are all just stories. And make sure that yours is an inspiring one.

Rule number 2: Focus.

When one looks at the crane standing on one leg, completely focused into the waters, the Crane with one-pointed attention is looking at the waters as the fishes are swimming inside the waters. The crane will allow the tiny, the small fish to swim around and not be satisfied with them. It'll allow the fishes, the small fishes to go around and swim around. The crane will focus on and wait for the big fish to come. If the crane settles with the small fish, it'll lose the big fish. And if the crane wants the big fish, it has to allow the small fish to pass by and go around. Similarly in life, when you want to focus on what is important, we should allow the small things to pass by We shouldn't be distracted by the little things. Sometimes there'll be interpersonal issues and conflicts. Sometimes there'll be some health crisis. Sometimes there might be a financial crisis. So many things keep happening in life. Let the small things pass by and focus on what's important.

Rule number 3: Act with a vision.

Thomas Alva Edison once made a very nice statement. He said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." We may have an inspiration in our heart, that 1% strong burning inferno of an inspiration. But unless that inspiration is put into action, dedicated, committed hard work, that 99% perspiration, we are not going to be able to achieve what we want to achieve. And so also, when we talk about dealing with our bad habits, success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. We need that inspiration, but based on the foundation of that inspiration, we have to put in dedicated, committed hard work— that 99% perspiration. What's amazing is that 99% perspiration is based on the foundation of that 1% inspiration. If the foundation of a building is in place, the very first thing that we make when it comes to building a structure, a house, a beautiful edifice, or a mansion, is we put the foundation in place. If the foundation is in place, if it's strong and robust, then all the building blocks, the bricks, the cement, the mortar, the steel, can go on and form a beautiful structure for us to live in, for us to dwell in. And so also, that 1% inspiration is the foundation of that 99% perspiration. Imagine if you're very inspired to change, if you're very inspired to give up some of your bad habits, but you don't put that hard work, that 99% perspiration, What good is that inspiration? Or imagine if you keep putting 99% of perspiration, that hard work, that effort, the dedicated commitment, but if you don't have that inspiration to do it in the right direction and sustain it and get it a higher shelf life, what good is that hard work and perspiration? Therefore, success comes by a balance of the two— inspiration, which acts as the foundation, and perspiration, which acts as the building blocks to build upon that foundation. I once read a very interesting Japanese proverb. It said, action without vision is a nightmare. If you simply keep acting without having the right vision, the result is a nightmare. And it said, "Vision without action is a daydream." If you simply have a vision and you don't act upon it, all you have as a result is a daydream. I have rephrased it for our discussion here today. Perspiration without inspiration is a nightmare. But inspiration without perspiration is a daydream.

Rule number 4: Get consumed by productivity.

Get consumed by the positive energy. Focus not on your bad habits. Get consumed not by the negative energy of your bad habits. Sometimes we just get so consumed by that, all that's playing on our mind is that. No, that's meant to be dealt with. Focus on the good things that are happening in your life. And to focus on the good things and be grateful doesn't happen automatically. It's not our default setting. Our default setting is to go towards the negative. Our default setting is to focus on the negative. We have to customize our lives by being consciously aware. We have to become more mindful and conscious of the wonderful gifts, the wonderful opportunities, the wonderful blessings that we've been showered with. And with that positive energy, with that positive emotion of gratitude, feel tremendously empowered to deal with our bad habits, to deal with our challenges. And therefore, do not be hateful about what you're going through in life. Be grateful for all those wonderful gifts that you've been given in your life.

Rule number 5: Take on challenges.

I feel challenges are such an integral part of growth in our life. For example, a teacher will always pose higher and higher challenges to the students. Why? Because the teacher wants the student to grow in his or her understanding of the subject. Mathematics, for For instance, what's mathematics in kindergarten and primary school and secondary school, in university is different. Why? Because the challenge level goes on increasing, and the higher the challenge and in a better way we are able to crack it, we simply grow deeper in our understanding of the subject. There is no meaning to life without a challenge, and the symptom of greatness is to accept that challenge in a very sportive spirit and learn how to grow deeper in whatever we are doing.

Rule number 6: Rewrite your mistakes.

When you write, you will most certainly end up making mistakes. What's truly great is that right behind you is attached an eraser, and you can actually correct that mistake and once again write the right thing. Ladies and gentlemen, even in our lives we make so many mistakes, and what's amazing is God has given us the opportunity, the chance to erase them, to correct them, and to rewrite our stories. We all make mistakes. I remember I once went for a program and a gentleman came to me and said, "Prabhuji, I'm your fan." I said, "Why?" He said, "Your talks are really inspiring, especially the jokes." I said, "What about the points, man?" He said, "The points are good, but the jokes are great." I said to him, "Come on, all the jokes are only meant to really pass on the message and drive home the point. And just as we were talking, a little boy came running, and I said, "Your son, right?" He said, "Yeah." And just following the boy came a lady. I said, "Your daughter, right?" And the man turned blue, and the lady was like all smiles, ear-to-ear smile, because she was not his daughter. She was actually his wife. The guy turned to his wife and He said, "Prabhuji, ko jadiya seriously nahi leneka? Unko jokes marne ka baut ada the." Oh my God! I realized, God, I had made a big mistake there by asking if it was his daughter when she was actually his wife. We all make mistakes. Now, anyone who comes to me with people around, I never ask whether this is your son or daughter or wife or father or mother. I just ask, can you kindly introduce me to everyone, please? Simple, isn't it? Yes, we make mistakes. We should learn from those mistakes, erase them, correct them, and never repeat them.

Rule number 7: Win the war.

Now, the nature of success is that it gets into our heads and makes us complacent. For the first guys, if you've been successful in keeping up with your commitment, don't let it get into your head. Don't get proud. Don't get complacent because complacency will stop your growth. And the nature of failure is whenever we are not able to keep up with our commitments, whenever we are not able to do what we want to do, is that it gets into our heart and makes us depressed. Ladies and gentlemen, if in the last week you haven't been able to keep up with your commitments. Don't worry, don't get depressed, don't feel guilty. That guilt, if it helps you to improve, is good. But that guilt, if it just sends you into, into, sends you into a mental trap, that guilt is no good. In fact, I always say this: it's not about losing a particular battle, it's about winning the war. Ladies and gentlemen, every war is made of many small and tiny battles, and it's only utopia, a fantasy, an imagination to think that those who are fighting in the war will win every battle. That is impossible. Even during the Kurukshetra War, when the 5 brothers, the Pandavas, the noble ones, were fighting with the 100 cousins, The vicious ones, the Kauravas, the whole idea was about winning the war. And the Pandavas kept losing many battles during the war. Abhimanyu, Arjun's son, was killed. Ghatotkacha, Bhima's son, was killed. The 5 sons of Draupadi were killed. So many losses during that war. It's not that the Pandavas won every battle, but they were certainly victorious. In the war. And during those battles, when they lost those battles, it's natural that we feel depressed. It's natural that we kind of have the tendency to give up. This is when Lord Krishna came to their rescue by always bringing their attention to the final goal, to keep their eyes focused on the final goal of winning the Rule number 8: Enhance your good habits. I really want all of you to truly, truly introspect. If you decided something in the last year, 2017, and did you truly work on it through the year? And where do you stand today? Throughout the day today, till we meet the next morning tomorrow at 8 o'clock, I want all of you to introspect. This one word, introspection, to see if you've actually worked on what you decided, or were you a victim of resolution, dissolution, and no solution. Ladies and gentlemen, I often say that habits are of three kinds. The first is our good habits, and when we talk about good habits, For example, saying a thank you, just as an example, or saying a sorry. Being hospitable, courteous, kind is a good habit. And very often it's just a habit though. Very often we could say a thank you or even say a sorry and not even mean it. We go into the autopilot mode, and that's why we call it a habit. It's just in the autopilot mode. We say thank you, we don't mean it. We may say sorry, we may not mean it. And therefore, when it comes to good habits in the year 2018, let us consciously enhance them. Not just sustain and enhance those habits, but consciously enhance those habits, which is basically, for example, we say a thank you, we mean a thank you as well. For example, if we say sorry, we mean a sorry as well. They're good habits, and you could identify your own own good habits and make sure that we do not continue them in an autopilot mode in the year 2018. So with the good habits, we don't want to be in the autopilot mode, but we want to consciously enhance the quality of those good habits as we enter the year 2018.

Rule number 9: Go through the pain.

Unless you go through sharpening, What is within you will not come out. The pencil has to go through painful sharpening before the sharp lead comes out and makes an impact. Ladies and gentlemen, similarly in life, Unless we go through painful sharpening, the best things within will never come out. As they say, no pains, no gains.

Rule number 10: Do the right things.

Many of you have— many of you, some of you have commented and asked me this question that all this sounds easier than done. It's easy to say these things, easy to listen to these things, but when it comes to practical implementation, application, and dealing with these things in real life, it seems very difficult, it seems very hard. But that's very true. What you've said is perfectly true, because only the wrong things come very easy. The right things that we need to do in our life don't come that easily. You know, when we do the wrong things, they give us that momentary pleasure and they're extremely easy to do. Although they give us that momentary pleasure and they're easy to do, in the long run, however, we have to pay a very high price in terms of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. Although they give us pleasure and they're easy, God, they really cause a lot of trouble later. On the other hand, the right things, they cause pain in the beginning. They're painful to do, a lot of hard work. They don't come easy. And if we just are willing to bear that initial pain, that initial hard work, that initial discomfort— and that initial could be a long time actually— in the long run, these right things, these right habits pay back a massive premium to us in terms of sustained pleasure, safe pleasure, which has a very high shelf value, and it is not at all destructive to our overall sense of well-being. This kind of pleasure coming from the right things— Lord Krishna calls these pleasures in the Bhagavad Gita as sattvic pleasures, or pleasures in the mode of goodness. They cause pain in the beginning, discomfort in the beginning, but they pay back a huge premium in terms of sustained high-shelf pleasures. On the other hand, Lord Krishna calls these short-term pleasures that come by doing wrong as pleasures in the mode of ignorance or tamsik pleasures. These pleasures are momentarily very exciting, thrilling, exhilarating, and they're easy to go, but in the long run we have to pay a huge price. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, do not worry so much about what is easy or hard. Worry about what is right and wrong. The right things may be hard, but we should be doing it in our long-term interest. The wrong things may come easy, but we should be avoiding them in our long-term interest. Therefore, even if being polite, sensitive, swift, supportive, kind to others may be hard, even if putting all these things that we've spoken in the last couple of days into practice be— sounds very hard and difficult, but that's the right thing to do. Ladies and gentlemen, in our transformative journey, We have to worry about the right thing to do, not the easy thing to do. And right things require a lot of hard work, but bit by bit, as we work hard, we can get there.

So I had honestly never heard of him before we did the Top 10 Rules of Success Volume 1 on him, and I'm so glad we're able to do a Volume 2 because he brings so much wisdom. And just the way he tells the stories really connects with me, whether it's the crane or the marbles or the pencils. He has a way to find what seems to be ordinary life or an ordinary object and bring it meaning and bring it value. And so I really appreciate his perspective. I think Rule Number 1 is probably my personal favorite. Just that idea of not living with regrets, making today count, not let another 12 months go by, another 12 marbles empty your jar before you take action on that thing that you want to do. And bringing it down to the everyday, like today matters, this moment matters. Don't to put off your dream until tomorrow, say I'm gonna make that phone call next week. It's so easy to just feel like we have infinite time, but we don't. And so I want this video that I'm making right now to matter, and then the next one I'm gonna make right after it, I want that to matter too. I think if you make work every single day that your grandkids would wanna see, make work that you are so proud of every day that you wanna show your grandkids, if you did that every day, your life would be unrecognizable. It just would be. You fast forward a year, 5 years, 10 years, you'll be a totally different human being. And so making that your goal, to make work every single day that you want to show your grandkids, I think is a noble one. And so rule number 1 is my personal favorite. I'd love to know from you guys though, what was your personal favorite? Did you— do you agree with me? Is rule number 1 the best rule, or is there one that you like better? Leave it down in the comments below. I'm really curious to see what you have to say. Now I made this video because Yogesh Desai asked me to. If there's someone you'd like me to do a future top 10 video on, check out the link in the description and you can go and cast your vote. I also want to give a quick shout out to Helen Ashcroft from Stronghold Media. Helen, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my new book, The Top 10 Rules of Success. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for taking that picture and all your support on the book. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever Your one word is much love. I'll see you soon.

All of us in our childhood read the story of a crow who was extremely thirsty and was flying around looking for some water. The crow found a pitcher of water. As the crow landed itself on the rim of the pitcher and looked looked inside at the contents, he found there was water, but the water was at the very bottom of the pitcher, and there was no way that the crow could drink water by putting its beak inside. The crow started thinking what should be done, and it came across a brilliant idea. It started flying around and picking up in its beak tiny pebbles and putting them inside the pitcher. Pebble by pebble by pebble, the crow kept working hard until the level of the water rose way up to the rim of the pitcher, and the crow quenched its thirst. Kakaceshta refers to to the patient hard work and the effort of the crow. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if we have to work on our lives, if we have to truly bring what is within outside, we have to go through some painful sharpening of kaaka cheshta, hard work. And don't they say that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary? That's because S comes 4W. So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy.

The most important word ever.

If you had to think of one word that's most important to you, or that sums you up, or that would be kind of like a little beacon.

Hey, Believe Nation, if you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, Will.i.am, and Howard Evans Carmichael's, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.