When did you really felt empowered to make a positive change in this world? If you have made progress on making that positive change in the world, I can bet, that you could make it happen not in isolation, but with the help of other people. It could be that other people helped you create a solution, or other people helped you with embracing the solution that you provided. Change is a social effort and as a successful change maker, you would have realised it yourself. But, I took a long time in realising how a change takes place. I was not as intelligent as a lot of change makers I admired, who definitely understood, we are called as social animals because change is a social activity.
So, if you are set to make a bigger impact on this beautiful planet, then you are a change maker already, or you are a change maker in the making. In any case, you are a winner because you have taken the responsibility of making this planet or rather the universe a beautiful place. When I committed to share the responsibility of positive change, I was fortunate to receive offers from prestigious stages like TEDx in 5 different countries of the world – all this in a span of 6 months. Yes! 6 months only and I delivered 8 TEDx talks across the world – each one on a unique topic crafted to the theme of the TEDx platform for which I was invited.
How was I able to curate a talk that was totally different to the other talks that I had given? It was made possible because of a mentor who changed the way I prioritised my life and my thoughts. When I had set myself to speak on the first TEDx stage for the first time, I shared my experience on the stage. I realised later, the talk was not created by me – but by everyone who was a part of this experience that I lived – because I shared an experience. So, it was a unique talk because it was curated by a group of people – the people who lived that experience. Below is the talk that I delivered.
Then, I was invited for a second talk, and I was asked to give a completely different talk. The idea that came in my thoughts was to share another experience where other people will involved and it will make it a different idea – and TEDx requires that every talk that is given on a TEDx talk has to be a different idea. So, I shared another experience and I was humbled when students came to me backstage after my talk to tell me that my talk changed the way they thought about college and degree. Here is the second talk.
How was I able to talk on prestigious stages like TEDx with an idea that was unique and TED worthy every time. It was made possible because of ONE MENTOR who seeded a thought in my life – which changed the way I thought about life, and changed the way I prioritised my life. If I had not been mentored by this one person, then my talk would have been a theoretical essay like talk which I would have created sitting in a silo of my room. But, because of this mentor’s thought, I created a talk which was a lived experience – not once or twice but on 8 different prestigious stages in the last 6 months.
What was that thought that changed the way I prioritised life?
The thought was, “When two minds meet, a third mind is formed”. Before I was introduced to this thought, I always thought that our respective minds are powerful enough to make a positive change in this world. But, this mentor enlightened me to the fact, that a more powerful mind is not mine or yours – but the one which is created by meeting of the two minds. So, when I gave my talks – I was delivering a talk that was not created by me (although we have to sign on the TEDx memorandum that the talk is created by me), but in my opinion any TED worthy talk is created by a much more powerful mind than a single human mind – that is a third mind which gets created when more than one minds meet.
So, when the journey progressed for me to speak on international stages. I was blessed to have opportunity to speak to many people from many different cultures, regions or beliefs – and while I spoke to them, the merging of my mind and their mind – helped me create the talk. I remembered, a few hours before delivering my TEDx talk in Dubai (on my birthday last year), I just did final rehearsal in the green room and I requested the MC of the event to please be my guinea pig and listen to my final rehearsal once. He happily agreed and gave me two inputs which changed the way I ended the talk. So, what happened then? The ending of my talk was crated by the third mind which was created by meeting of my mind and his mind. So, I realised, whenever we think of giving ourselves credit, if we just think for a second and give gratitude to the mind which helped us create the content/ subject matter – it makes us feel way more powerful.
Who was the mentor who gave me this advice?
Anthony Jay Robbins aka Tony Robbins is a name that is filled in my gratitude journal time and again for this one thought that he gave me, which changed the way I prioritised my life.“When two minds meet, a third mind is formed”. This sentence revolutionised the way I could not only think, but also act. I had heard while in high school, that if you need to be a change maker, you must do two things together – think and act. The powerful combination of ‘Thinking and Acting’ bring changes, and no other sentence could ever inspire me to do these both things together.
Thank you Tony Robbins for being my mentor. I believe every second that I have spent learning from you have been meaningful and has added much more time to my life than I spent learning from you. A magic of time addition to lives that you could make happen with your positivity and the desire to make a positive change in this world. I am, and will be thankful to you for this thought and many more forever. But, if anyone has to ask me today, who is that one mentor who changed the way I prioritised life – It has to be “Tony Robbins” for this one life changing advice. All my thoughts and actions in life are now guided by this firm believe that ‘When two minds meet, a third mind is formed”, and if I may take an opportunity to add to this quote of yours based on my experience, I have realised, “When Two Minds Meet a Third Mind is formed, which is more powerful than any mind in isolation – and with more minds meetings (more than 2), the mind that is created, becomes more and more powerful. Thank you once again. I see myself telling you all this in person, when I meet you this year.