5 life and entrepreneurship lessons which I learnt from my Dog/Kid – Einstein!

It’s teacher’s day, a day where we cherish the importance of teachers in our lives. And nothing encapsulates the importance of a teacher in one’s life better than this ancient Indian Shlok:

Gururbrahma gururvishnuh
gururdevo maheshwarah |
Guruhsakshat parabrahma
tasmai shrigurave namah ||

This shloka captures the meaning of a Guru/Teacher in our lives so beautifully:

Guru is like Brahma-the creator. He creates or inculcates knowledge in the minds of the students.

Guru is like Vishnu – the preserver. He maintains or preserves the knowledge in the students.

Guru is like Shiva-the destroyer. Guru removes the darkness of ignorance from the students’ mind.

Guru is hence the manifestation of the Para Brahma (the supreme essence) within all of us. I offer my respects to the Guru.

It’s interesting that when we talk about Teacher’s day, most of us associate it with our school or college days and the professors who taught us the lessons there. For me and most of the people I know, the source of knowledge never mattered. I have always believed in seeking knowledge from anywhere and everywhere, irrespective of who the ‘Guru’ is. And this helped me in finding and appreciating the Guru in ‘Einstein’ – My pet dog/First kid/Co-founder at www.TailBlaze.in.

(That's me and my Guru - Einstein)

The lessons I have learnt from Einstein have not only helped me become a better person, but have also helped in shaping up the Entrepreneur within me. Although there are numerous contributions of the Guru Einstein in my life, here are the Top 5 lessons which I feel, have been indispensable in my journey:

1. Be in the Moment: Being present in the moment, here and now, is the key to staying healthy and happy. It helps you fight anxiety, cut down on your worrying and rumination, and keeps you grounded and connected to yourself and everything around you. When I observe Einstein, it is just fantastic that 100% of the times, he is so engrossed in whatever he is doing. Be it drooling for his favourite TailBlaze Food, playing with the balloons or just cuddling with me. Irrespective of whatever is happening around, his focus is always on the task at hand! Given the fast pace and hectic schedules most of us keep, a base level of anxiety, stress, and unhappiness is the new norm. And social media also doesn’t help! But with Einstein around me, I feel that I am more focussed than ever in my life and enjoying and embracing every single minute, to the fullest. I “bhow” down to you Guru!

2. Love your family and friends unconditionally: It happens so often with all of us that we get sucked so much into your professional lives or something which we are really passionate about, that we lose track of everything around us. I mean it’s great to be passionate about everything we do, but not at the expense of the time which our parents, families and friends deserve. Striking the right balance is so essential. Einstein never misses any opportunity to get loved and massaged up from all of our family members. Even if he meets me after an hour’s break, he will welcome me with a blazing Tail! He makes sure that he’s giving equal attention to everyone around despite his busy schedule of shooting for TailBlaze ads, promotions and other duties of being the Chief Testing Officer at TailBlaze. Einstein still has all his friends (pets and strays alike) around, which he has made in his 2.5 years of existence. I “bhow” down to you Guru!

3. Only do what you love and give at it 100%: Most of us feel stuck at some juncture or point in our lives. It could be a wrong company/boss, a wrong relationship or a wrong decision of the past haunting us in the moment. It’s quite natural to accept it as a fate and suffer. The secret to happiness lies in moving on to something which you truly love. For Einstein, things are pretty simple. If he likes something, he will persist to get it at any cost. Associate something he likes with the commands you would love him to follow, and the magic begins. Give him 20 commands, he will follow it like he’s in the national game, sometimes even in advance! And try playing the ‘fetch game’ with him (which he doesn’t like), he’ll start ignoring you like you’re not even there. I “bhow” down to you Guru!

4. Keep it simple: I have to do this, that, get this, buy that, become this, reach there, damn there’s so much to do – And I choose to do ‘nothing’. Relatable right? The pursuit of proving ourselves and the society, makes us crazy all the times. So much so that ‘Hustle’ has become the coolest word in our lives. The unending to-do list of ours, have only made us the most depressed generation that ever existed. For Einstein, life is simple. He derives joy out of the smallest moments in his day-to day life. Be it learning that new trick in return of yummy TailBlaze Natural Jerky Treats, or taking a nap after a busy day at park – he loves to do one thing at a time and keep his life pretty simple and sorted. Despite such simplicity he has managed to achieve a lot already. No wonder he is one of the most loved dogs on Instagram @Einstein_Entreprador. I “bhow” down to you Guru!

5. Accept your mistakes gracefully and move on: The great thing about mistakes is that everyone makes them. From your parents to the great Sachin Tendulkar, no one is safe from stuffing up. The important thing is learning a lesson and trying to do better next time around. It’s important to understand that: You are not your mistake!
   When you make a mistake, keep in mind that it doesn’t define who you are as a person. Try not to jump to conclusions about your worth or value. No one’s perfect, and that’s okay. But this simple lesson of life gets buried down somewhere under the burden of our ego and understanding of ourselves. But the craziest thing about Einstein is that he always knows whenever he has made a mistake. Whether he has stolen an egg from the shelf or torn apart the new handkerchief out of excitement, he will immediately figure out that something wrong has been done and try not to repeat it. He will come to apologize with those cute innocent eyes, put his paw on my palm and say sorry in the cutest way possible taking away all my anger instantly. That is what facing your mistake means in its truest sense. I “bhow” down to you Guru! 

 I hope you enjoyed reading about Einstein and his tales. There’s so much to learn from every dog out there. My strays also teach me so much about loyalty and unconditional love. Indeed, dogs are the cutest Gurus we have got in our lives. It just takes very little to appreciate this and make your life even more beautiful.