Speech 5: Fool Yourself | Mumbai Toastmasters | Engaging Humor | Level 2 Project 1

The famous scientist said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, for you are the easiest person to fool." Where I say, if it really is so easy, they might as well do it pretty well. Yeah, let me explain. When I was a kid, I spent most of my summer vacations in Bhuj, in my hometown, Bhuj, Gujarat. And I have some of the most fondest memories of my childhood there. I stayed at my aunt's place, staying all night up at the terrace and sleeping on the terrace without the fear of mosquitoes biting, or standing in front of— or standing for a line for jalebis and fafra at 4 o'clock in the morning. Now this was a pretty regular thing, and it might seem a bit unusual for a place like Mumbai, but it was an everyday thing there. But the one memory, or the one person who remains in my mind after all these years when I think about Bhuj is Aryan. Aryan is my aunt's son. Now, Aryan, although he is a few years elder to me, he is a lean and a handsome guy, but he wouldn't appear as someone who is very strong when you would meet him for the first time. But he had something about him. He would ride his beat-up 7-year-old Royal Enfield everywhere he went. If he had to go across the city, he would use the bike. If he wanted to go anywhere in Gujarat, he would still use the bike. If he had to pick 5 people up, he would still use the bike. There was something, there was a weird, there was a weird thing about him, I don't know. And everywhere he went, he always took me with him. So I remember one time we went and we crossed and we did, and before we were about to leave, his mom scolded him that how many times are you going to take this bike across Gujarat? Either you or the bike is going to stop. We don't know what will happen because the bike can't take any more load. And he very patiently said, "No, it will." I sat behind him and we went and we reached very safely. So at the end I asked him, "Man, how are you riding this bike so easily? Even I can see it's beat up, you know, at one point it's going to go away." He said, "No, it will not." I asked him, "How do you know that?" He said, as a kid his father convinced him that he doesn't have one son, he has two sons. One is his bike And one is him. And none of his sons ever give up or ever stop. He said because he so strongly believed in the story, he believed so strongly in this story that his dad told him, he is so sure that the bike will never stop. And then it dawned on me, he is actually right. And the story is not the reason the bike is moving well. Because he so strongly believes in that story, He unconsciously drives the bike in such a way that it doesn't get beat up, it doesn't stop. And then I realized that that is the tool. Fool yourself. We all fool ourselves all the time. We all tell ourselves all kinds of stories. I can't ask that girl out, she's out of my league. I can run that marathon without any practice, I have the genes. Or the best one, I can't speak on stage, what will they think of me? We all tell ourselves all kinds of stories, good and bad alike, all the time. And when we do that, we start behaving in that way. Like Aryan, he believed so strongly in the story, he started driving in that way. And another observation I have made is that in today's meeting, many people have come up with a different mindset. Everyone has, I think, subconsciously fooled themselves that they are going to change the flow of the meeting today because they believe in that. And that is why everyone who's coming on stage today has decided to give a speech. Fool yourself, you don't know what might happen. Now this fooling yourself, this act of fooling yourself, it might seem like a lie, it might seem like you're deceiving yourself, right? Like the bike can't survive for more long, it is going to die, right? It's a bike after all. But it's not a lie, it's not deception. I have known many people who do that, and most people, when you ask them, they're probably going to tell you a story. For example, all of us have our reason of why we joined this club. You can ask anyone here why they joined this club, and they are probably going to tell you a story. The reason is not really logical, it's always a story. Like, I didn't join Toastmasters to improve my public speaking. I joined because I wanted to meet some cute bandra girls. But jokes aside, behind every major action that we take, there's always a story behind it. Now, this applies to a lot of great people in history as well. Steve Jobs, the legendary co-founder of Apple, very famously said "Stay hungry, stay foolish." Yes, he said that. But he also said one more thing. "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." He sold himself a fairy tale. He fooled himself. And he did what he did. He changed the world. Kobe Bryant, the legendary basketball player, he said he made a deal with himself at the age of 13 that he is going to be the best basketball player in the world. And since he made that deal with himself, That was enough. All these examples are simply telling you that when we fool ourselves, when we tell ourselves a story, we start behaving in that way. And when we do that over and over again, before we even know it, we are actually achieving that. And what's the harm in fooling yourself? I mean, what's the worst that's going to happen? If I start thinking that I am the best and I go ahead and give and do whatever I want, maybe I might find out that I'm not the best, but at least I know where I stand. There is no harm in fooling yourself. Now, this act of fooling yourself, it's neither a lie nor a hunch. It's a tool. A tool you can use anytime, anywhere to change your truth. So ladies and gentlemen, anytime you want to change your truth, you want to change the course of your life, fool yourself and let the magic happen. Thank you so much.