Vishen Lakhiani recounts struggling to write a book while running a company, experiencing severe stress and health effects. After calling friend and teacher Sri Kumar Rao, Rao shares a short poem by 13th-century poet Rumi that reframes creativity: instead of chasing goals anxiously, sit in patience and allow inspired work to flow—trusting that the universe supports and attracts the work. This mindset shifted Vishen’s process (first chapter took a year; final chapter flowed in 24 hours). The video ends by promoting a Rao masterclass on Mindvalley Academy.
Chapters
So about two years ago, I decided to pursue this crazy vision of writing a book. And I'm sure many of you guys have these visions that so excite you that you go all in onto them. And in my case, I soon realized that as beautiful as this vision was, as excited as I was about it, as excited as I was about getting my ideas out to the world, it was tough. I mean, writing a book, I had totally underestimated how difficult it could be, especially when I also had my real job, which was being a CEO of a company with close to 200 people. And so I was juggling both these things and the stress was so great, I was breaking down. I mean, I was sleeping at like 2am at night because I had to work on this book and even my eyesight was losing it. I developed astigmatism around nine months into this project. And so with all of this stress on me, and I was nowhere close to meeting my deadline, I called up a friend of mine and his name is Sri Kumar Rao, and maybe you guys have heard of him. Rao is one of the most incredible speakers and teachers at America's universities. And I just happened to express how stressed out I was. And he said, vishen, I'm going to share with you the simple poem on Skype right now. Check it out. Have you heard of Rumi? He asked me. I knew Rumi was America's best selling poet, but I did not know that Rumi was an Afghan refugee in the 13th century who had fled what was then Afghanistan to flee the Mongol hordes who were invading at that time. And as he was traveling around the world, this guy Rumi wrote these amazing poems that seemed like they came straight from source and they were all about the wisdom of how to live an incredible life. I'm going to bring it up on my iPhone and share it with you to see if you get the same inspiration from this as I did. And he said, vishen, check this out. When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety. If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me. And without any pain from this, I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There's a great secret in this for anyone who can grasp it. And he asked me, you see so many of us, and maybe you too. When we're doing good work in the world, we feel inspired. We feel inspired to write that book, inspired to start that company, inspired to launch that app. Often. This inspiration isn't coming from us, it's coming true us. It's as if the universe wanted this good work to be created and chose us to help bring it forth. And we believe that, but somehow we don't then make the second logical belief. And that is, look, if the universe is going to inspire you to create this, then maybe it's also going to help you along. We forget that. And so we go into stress mode, into striving mode, into chasing mode. But if we can just sit back, be patient, and understand that, yes, we got to do the work, but we have an ally on our side, that this work can be enjoyable. It can be something that we can do while being in flow. It can be something that can be pushed forward through beautiful synchronicities. Our whole approach changes. And instantly in one day after that call, my whole approach to writing this book changed. You know, it took me one year to finish that first chapter, but the last chapter, it took 24 hours. It just flowed through me because I had shifted as a human being. I come to realize, and I remembered that when you're doing good work, that feels inspired. Also know that the universe has your back and the universe is going to clear the path and help move you along so you don't have to buy into the mental model of the chase, of the pursuit, of the stress, of the anxiety. Rao shifted my world that day. And if you want to go deeper with Rao's teachings, I recorded a one hour masterclass with Rao. We filmed this in New York. It's going to be airing on mindvalley Academy. And in this class, Rao shares five other really profound ideas that could just make a powerful impact in how you function in the world in terms of your career, your life and your mission. Join us. The link is above.
