The Power of Gratitude- I Won a Start-Up Competition
"There's some relation between being full of gratitude and living a life with that, and the things that start to happen around you." -Abhishek Sharma
In this episode, Abhishek shares his fun experience of joining a start-up competition. After submitting his application and expressing his appreciation for the opportunity, he received a call. You won't believe what the caller said...
Tune in and discover how gratefulness affects the experiences we can have!
Highlights:
02:15 A Glimpse in the Power of Gratitude
05:12 The Call
Quotes:
08:45 "There's some relation between being full of gratitude and living a life with that, and the things that start to happen around you." -Abhishek Sharma
Connect with Abhishek Sharma:
Abhishek shares his own life stories and extracting the mental models which informed his critical decisions. He is a business executive who is passionate about yoga and self-development. Abhishek received his MBA from UC-Berkeley and performs private and public speaking engagements.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Abhishek Sharma: Hi everyone, this is Abhishek, your host from shakethecosmos.com. Just want to say that Shake The Cosmos is a global community and a platform where you will hear inspirational stories from entrepreneurs and average Joe's people, just like yourself, who have overcome hardship to achieve their dreams. And these stories are guaranteed to inspire you to take action, to take the next step, to take the leap of faith towards achieving what matters to you, and achieving your greater mission in life. So don't miss out on the future episodes. Hit that subscribe or follow button, please, please, and give this episode a rating. That'll help me up on the organic search results. Thank you so much.
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Now back to the show.
Hi everyone, this is your hostAbhishek Sharma from shakethecosmos.com. And if you're listening right now, today's going to be a very exciting episode about the Power Of Gratitude. I usually tell people out of a really bad habit of writing thank you cards. So usually, when I interview a guest on the podcast, I end up writing them a thank you card and sending it in mail to them. So there are some things that have happened as a result of some of these thank you cards. I want to share a quick little story here with you, where you'll get a glimpse of the Power Of Gratitude. And again, if you're listening right now for the first time and you're not familiar with the Shake The Cosmos, Shake The Cosmos is a global community and platform where entrepreneurs and average Joe's share their inspiring stories and how they overcome adversity to achieve their dreams and greater mission. And if you want to support me, hit the subscribe button or follow button so you don't miss out on future episodes. So without further ado, let's get into it.
So I am a digital nomad, for lack of a better term. I'm always looking for a really good working space where I can record podcasts. And also just focus and write emails, and respond to clients. So it's really important for me to have a space to focus. I'm usually traveling in hostels and hotels. And sometimes, it's hard to find space. So I was at this hostel and I go to the host. I asked him: "Hey, where might be a good space for me to go and focus on my startup Shake The Cosmos?" And he looks at me, and again, we are in a hostel in South Korea on an island called Jeju, which is sort of like Hawaii of Korea. So he looks at me and says, there's this place down the street where I can go and possibly sort of helps startups. You can go there and go check it out. So I'm like, great. I go to the place, and it looks like they are having an event so they're busy. I'm like, okay, but I see the space kind of looks nice and has all the things that an entrepreneur can look for in it's sort of like a design and Innovation Center within this island. So I got a good feel for it, but I wasn't able to use it so I leave. And then I'm curious a little bit more about the place so I'm checking out their website. Now, on the website, there is a program there's a startup competition they're also having. So I'm like, huh, okay, why don't I apply for this? So I diligently put together an application, a pitch, and everything is in Korean. All the questions are Korean, but I translate it. And I submit my application for the startup competition, which is really wonderful if I do get this competition, or have it in the competition because the prizes are pretty sweet. So I'm finishing up my stay at the hostel as well at this point, I stay there for a couple of weeks. And then a really good time.
So again, my bad habit of writing thank you card kicks in. So I go to the convenience store, a local convenience store called CU, and I get a thank you card for the owner of the hostel. I write him a thank you card, just thanking him, making me feel really like home far away from home place. And I go to give it to the guy but he's actually not there so I just end up giving it to his staff. And they look at the thank you card, and they look really, really happy. Like, Oh, my God, why did somebody write really thank you card. But anyways, I don't make too much of it. Now, again, I've applied to the competition. I've written this thank you card.
And fast forward, I'm just walking on another street in Korea, which is just in a neighborhood, was surrounded by people and my phone rings. And it's a Korean phone number. Usually, I don't get a lot of phone calls from a Korean phone number. Because not a lot, a whole lot of people know me here. So I pick up the phone, and it's one of the organizers of the startup competition. They tell me that I have one amongst 11 other people. And I'm like, wow, this is crazy. So I scream out loud and all the people look at me around like, this guy's crazy. But why I'm screaming is essentially, I've just won a competition where they'll provide housing for me for two weeks. Also an office space where I can focus, and record, and network with other founders and CEOs. They've also planned a lot of fun activities all over the island so I can not only just do work, but also really bond a bit and make 11 other friends who were really accomplished people within the South Korea startup ecosystem, so I can't really thank them enough. And kind of reminds you of some of my business school experiences where you really not just want to sit in a class, but also have these experiences with other people. So now, I know, as I'm learning and getting into the program more, I talk a lot more to the organizer. Again, everything is in Korean so I don't fully understand everything all the time. But I do learn later that apparently 15,000 people apply to this competition. And I am like, Wow, I was selected. There were 12 people selected. So from this whole competition, I am just excited. And I'm talking to one of the managers one night and realize that the hostile CEO is also one of the people that is involved with the competition as well. So I'm like, wow, you know the power of gratitude.
Now, I don't know if my thank you card made any difference, or if there was anything like that. But I just think it's wonderful to have this opportunity. And these kinds of things just happen.
"There's some relation between being full of gratitude and living a life with that, and the things that start to happen around you." -Abhishek Sharma
So again, what is something in your life that you're thankful for today? What did you think of this episode? I'd love to hear more from you. Again, I'm excited here in Korea to win this competition, and just sharing how the Power Of Gratitude goes a long way. And I'm not sure if I believe in karma or not, but I just think that there's some relation between just being thankful and being full of gratitude, and living a life with that, and the things that start to happen around you. So with that, we'd love to hear from you what you think of this episode. Again, you can hit me up on Instagram. My Instagram is Shake The Cosmos. Or you can go onto my website, you can contact me there as well, which is shakethecosmos.com. Again, thank you so much for listening.