INVEST IN YOURSELF AND BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY PERSON!

               “Real education is practicing what you learn on a daily basis!”
Some people judge book by its cover and some by reading it, life is like that we can’t just go with the flow for that we ought to walk the thorns and smell the roses ourselves, who knows what are we destined for. Over the years I have learned and unlearned many things simply through my inquisitiveness to simplify things, and I deem it my responsibility to share every lesson I learn.

Many motivational gurus say that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, which is amply right, but in doing so they no more remain ordinary, they transform themselves into a warrior. As the saying goes, “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.” Don Juan

On self-investment the best comes out of Dr.Manmohan Singh (Indian Prime Minister) whom I revere for his erudition and contribution to the Indian economy,“I was born in a family of modest means. In my childhood I had to walk a long distance to go to school. I read under the dim light of a kerosene lamp. I am what I am today because of education. I want every Indian child, girl or boy, to be touched by the light of education.” Lessons vary from person to person but they teach the same thing that is – we create our own luck, so be a wise investor.

“Education is one of the best investments one can make and it is never costly.”

People who never got appreciated and hardly met the expectations of others eventually did well the moment they took decision to take charge of their lives instead of letting life take charge of them:

Socrates was called. “An immoral corrupter of youth.”
Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven. His teacher described him as ‘mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.” He was expelled and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.
An average student, Mahatma Gandhi passed his matriculate exam with difficulty. After studying law, he failed at establishing his practice in Bombay and was turned down for a part time job as a high school teacher.
Abraham Lincoln was a totally self-educated man. Though his childhood education was very limited, he learned much from books. He did his work at night because of chores during the afternoon, and he sat in front of the fireplace, where he would get his only light. He did his arithmetic on a fire shovel because paper was hard to get. Abraham Lincoln’s childhood education was poor, but that did not matter. With determination and his love for reading, he became one of the greatest presidents of all time.

Even today there are many people who daily face rejection and get ridiculed, some of them give in sooner than later and some resolve to strive harder and learn,  however the latter one is not easy but worth doing repeatedly, as they say – ‘Practice makes you PERFECT’.

We see most of the startups coming up today so the angel-investors, all thanks to their knowledge & experience they have gained on the way. There are many who have achieved success by sheer hard work, self-investment and self-improvement. Success is not gender biased therefore it is worth knowing a woman whose  business acumen has not just made her synonymous to herbal but made her a case study for the world’s top institutes like Oxford, Harvard and Stanford:-

We all are extra-ordinary successful people!

“You are a winner if you see yourself as a winner – what you think about yourself is more important – so, always pay attention to yourself.”

She was engaged when She was 14 and married at 16. The same year She had a daughter. She knew She was not meant to be a housewife. Soon the drudgery and monotony of routine set in. She suddenly realized the hard-hitting truth of the words She once wrote, “Let not my life be a series of days and nights, of hopes and sighs; so that when I die, I will close my eyes and say it was all worthwhile”.

She resolved to invest in herself and started studying beauty at 17 and went on from London to Paris, Germany, Denmark and New York, over 10 years. She did not stop until she felt that she had achieved the ultimate. Then at 27, her husband was posted as head of Foreign Trade with the STC in Tehran. She needed money for higher education. She could not speak Persian, so a job was not easy. She was always a prolific writer. She finally got an opening as Beauty Editor of Iran Tribune. She was asked to give them 500 words a week. She gave them 10,000 words a week! She wrote on every topic under the sun, from heaven to poetry. Finally, one issue had six articles written by her, under fictitious names.

Her confidence soared, so did the income. Later she went to Abraham Lincoln Library, bought a book of Pitman’s typing. She typed the whole night, often with one finger and wrote the whole day, till her fingertips bled. The only way to stop the pain and bleeding was to tie bandages. Her determination made her earn her fees for higher education abroad. Finally she earned her way through 2 years of specialization in cosmetology and trichology. Then She went back to India and started working.

During her stay in Rubinstein, when She was dealing with skin disorders, She realized that a large number of problems were due to the absorption of synthetic cosmetics. Then she thought to go back to her country and produce the same from herbs. Surprisingly, when She looked towards nature, She found a better alternative. She had two options, either to start a private clinic for cures, as an answer to a human need or the basic desire to look attractive, or to enter the market. She chose the former and started an herbal clinic, keeping to prescriptive, at a personalized level, where She could help individual problems. She borrowed Rs.35,000/- from her father and converted a verandah of her house into a clinic, by adding a roof. She already had the gadgetry from abroad. That is how She began and that is why I always say, ‘less is better’.

She has never advertised or we can say she never required as she is a brand ambassador of her products. Today her company, Shahnaz Husain Herbals is one of the largest manufacturers of herbal products in the world. Shahnaz Husain Group, based in New Delhi is worth more than $100  million. She employs around 4200 people in 650 salons spread across 104 countries.

Some of Shahnaz`s greatest entrepreneurial achievement include Padma Shri Award – First entrepreneur person from the beauty sphere to receive the coveted Award. Ms Husain’s other international awards include the Arch of Europe International Gold Star in Madrid, Spain, the Quality Excellence Award in Geneva, Cannes and London, Golden America Award in New York, the Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur Award in London, Woman of the Millennium Award in USA, Woman of the Year Award from the Governor of California, USA and the WQC International Star Award in Paris in November 2007 and Leonardo da Vinci Diamond Award by International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, U.K.

“I always have complete faith in my own abilities and with invincible belief in Ayurveda, I allowed my products to speak for themselves”, she says with a smile on her face, adding “I sold a 5000-year old civilization in a jar.”

The measure of success I have achieved in life is not according to what I have earned, but how much happiness and self-confidence I have been able to instill into others. If one is true to oneself, success will follow. I have believed that it is not what you want in life – what really matters is how badly you want it. I have also believed that the quality and not quantity of life spent that is important. For others, a good life may mean living for 100 years. For me, I live a lifetime between the rising and the setting of the sun. I would not have it any other way. I have dedicated my life to India’s herbal heritage. Let the future be the witness.

This is a simple story about the super successful Indian woman, she made her own way by investing in herself and gaining experience in every which way to achieve her goals, today she is invincible just because of her determination and perseverance.

Keep investing in yourself, attend seminars, read great books, meet new people and listen with the intent to understand, use your time wisely. Always remember that leaders are readers because they educate themselves, take risks and set examples.

Happy Reading!