6th October 2026, three days before the day I am writing this blog. It was my birthday, and I was on a plane from Mumbai back to my home. Next to me was seated a millionaire from Boston who was going to a place near my home city to give a speech about how he had turned his company into a million-dollar brand from scratch in six years.
Why was I excited to start a conversation with this person? I had been delaying this trip for so many months because I had a consistent schedule for my work, and I didn’t want to break it. So, when I was thinking about whether it was a wise decision to take this trip now, a random thought came to my subconscious mind: What if you meet someone on a plane who supports you with something related to your work? This was the exact thought that came to my subconscious mind. What do I call it? That is not relevant to this blog. The purpose of this writing is different.
We were having this conversation, and I was in 100% learning mode, ready for authentic discussions. I had all the right questions I hoped to discuss. But the energy was not what I had hoped for. He said his style of speech was, “I am not nice. I can be, but I won't. I tell them to shut the fuck up and do it.”
Alright, I shared my conceptions of how I wished to serve people in a way that they didn’t necessarily have to be stressed. Before I could finish explaining, he said, “Stress is important.” Then came a few more lines in favour of stress.
Then I explained another conception of how I wanted to serve people so they wouldn’t be crushed by pain. To that, he said, “Pain is good. I drive on love, pain, revenge. If someone says, ‘I don’t see it happening for you,’ I tell that person, ‘Say it again. Tell me that again.’”
Then I tried a different approach. I didn't use a catchy, easily understood word. I started with a concept and explained my architecture concept: how a person is the architect of their own vision, so the people passing by only see the construction site, with only a few standing walls. So, if they don’t support you, you shouldn’t be upset by that. To that, he had no contradiction, and the only thing he let me complete was this concept. So, basically, that made me 100% sure he was going to use this concept in his speech the next day, of course, in his own modified way.
Then he started talking about how he had a good-paying job, earning $600k annually, and how, when he left his day job, everyone in his neighbourhood thought he was making a mistake. But after some time when he brought his Lamborghini home, they were amazed that he had made it, and more of this and that.
At this point, this was no longer a discussion, more like he was practising his speech on me. One more story he shared was about one of his friends. She had changed the name of her company from something easy to something she was emotionally attached to. He said it wasn’t going to work. He said people should not be delusional. Then he turned to me, looked me in the eye, and said, “I don’t see it working for you. You can’t.”
Why was I excited to start a conversation with this person? I had been delaying this trip for so many months because I had a consistent schedule for my work, and I didn’t want to break it. So, when I was thinking about whether it was a wise decision to take this trip now, a random thought came to my subconscious mind: What if you meet someone on a plane who supports you with something related to your work? This was the exact thought that came to my subconscious mind. What do I call it? That is not relevant to this blog. The purpose of this writing is different.
We were having this conversation, and I was in 100% learning mode, ready for authentic discussions. I had all the right questions I hoped to discuss. But the energy was not what I had hoped for. He said his style of speech was, “I am not nice. I can be, but I won't. I tell them to shut the fuck up and do it.”
Alright, I shared my conceptions of how I wished to serve people in a way that they didn’t necessarily have to be stressed. Before I could finish explaining, he said, “Stress is important.” Then came a few more lines in favour of stress.
Then I explained another conception of how I wanted to serve people so they wouldn’t be crushed by pain. To that, he said, “Pain is good. I drive on love, pain, revenge. If someone says, ‘I don’t see it happening for you,’ I tell that person, ‘Say it again. Tell me that again.’”
Then I tried a different approach. I didn't use a catchy, easily understood word. I started with a concept and explained my architecture concept: how a person is the architect of their own vision, so the people passing by only see the construction site, with only a few standing walls. So, if they don’t support you, you shouldn’t be upset by that. To that, he had no contradiction, and the only thing he let me complete was this concept. So, basically, that made me 100% sure he was going to use this concept in his speech the next day, of course, in his own modified way.
Then he started talking about how he had a good-paying job, earning $600k annually, and how, when he left his day job, everyone in his neighbourhood thought he was making a mistake. But after some time when he brought his Lamborghini home, they were amazed that he had made it, and more of this and that.
At this point, this was no longer a discussion, more like he was practising his speech on me. One more story he shared was about one of his friends. She had changed the name of her company from something easy to something she was emotionally attached to. He said it wasn’t going to work. He said people should not be delusional. Then he turned to me, looked me in the eye, and said, “I don’t see it working for you. You can’t.”
System that works
How my system handled it: this is what this writing is about.
There was a two-second silence from my side and a little nod. That’s all. And this was not the end of the friendly energy I had. My energy was the same; my behaviour was the same. We still had conversations, but now they were more about different parts of the world we had explored, like the Giant’s Causeway, Kinsale, and somewhere in Iceland. Those conversations were much more fun, but the earlier one was precious. I will tell you why.
At the start of this writing, I told you that this subconscious energy gave me a hint to anticipate that something valuable would happen on this trip. To be exact, it anticipated that I might meet someone on a plane who might help me in some way. This was precious because this was a test.
This was a test of my energy system; this was a test of my wired mental intelligence. I started the conversation expecting to learn about some tech, some work, with a very productive outlook, and what I received was, “You can’t.”
How does my system handle this change of events, this extreme change of events? I am more than proud of it. It had a lot of options. Let’s discuss them.
Guilt — My system could have used guilt because our millionaire guy had just told us a few minutes earlier, “I teach my daughter personally, so she doesn’t understand ‘I can’t.’” So my system could have said, “You want your daughter to NOT know ‘I can’t,’ and here you are telling someone else’s daughter, ‘You can’t.’”
Mirroring — When someone told him, “You can’t,” during his career, he replied, “Say it again,” because he was driven by revenge. My system could have mirrored him and said, “Say it again.”
Self-sabotage — My system could have made my heart sink, my throat feel full, and ruined my birthday, which I was looking forward to celebrating with my family. And maybe it could have transferred my frustration onto them instead, even though they had no clue about this event.
But what it did instead was not attach any meaning, emotion, or invested energy to those words. How smart is it? This is what I was training it to do every day: if it doesn’t move your wheel, if it doesn’t serve you, it’s just another sound to you. And you should be okay with sound; it’s everywhere.
My system didn’t lose its state or its energy. It runs by its own choice; it’s not a slave to its outer influences. I carried the same behaviour, the same vibration, and the same calm throughout the journey and enjoyed my cosy birthday celebration with my family.
Even more, there was no instant judgement, no hatred for him, no anger, and no sinking feeling in my heart. In that moment, there was no mental wrestling about what I should say or what the best comeback would be to defend my position. There were no such discussions, just a clear response. It knew what mattered and what didn’t. It's not an intellectual fight where I am convincing myself that it should not bother me, but a wired system whose natural response is this. The silence and nod came quickly, almost automatically. What doesn’t serve you doesn’t get your mental discussion energy either. I passed my test.
There was a two-second silence from my side and a little nod. That’s all. And this was not the end of the friendly energy I had. My energy was the same; my behaviour was the same. We still had conversations, but now they were more about different parts of the world we had explored, like the Giant’s Causeway, Kinsale, and somewhere in Iceland. Those conversations were much more fun, but the earlier one was precious. I will tell you why.
At the start of this writing, I told you that this subconscious energy gave me a hint to anticipate that something valuable would happen on this trip. To be exact, it anticipated that I might meet someone on a plane who might help me in some way. This was precious because this was a test.
This was a test of my energy system; this was a test of my wired mental intelligence. I started the conversation expecting to learn about some tech, some work, with a very productive outlook, and what I received was, “You can’t.”
How does my system handle this change of events, this extreme change of events? I am more than proud of it. It had a lot of options. Let’s discuss them.
Guilt — My system could have used guilt because our millionaire guy had just told us a few minutes earlier, “I teach my daughter personally, so she doesn’t understand ‘I can’t.’” So my system could have said, “You want your daughter to NOT know ‘I can’t,’ and here you are telling someone else’s daughter, ‘You can’t.’”
Mirroring — When someone told him, “You can’t,” during his career, he replied, “Say it again,” because he was driven by revenge. My system could have mirrored him and said, “Say it again.”
Self-sabotage — My system could have made my heart sink, my throat feel full, and ruined my birthday, which I was looking forward to celebrating with my family. And maybe it could have transferred my frustration onto them instead, even though they had no clue about this event.
But what it did instead was not attach any meaning, emotion, or invested energy to those words. How smart is it? This is what I was training it to do every day: if it doesn’t move your wheel, if it doesn’t serve you, it’s just another sound to you. And you should be okay with sound; it’s everywhere.
My system didn’t lose its state or its energy. It runs by its own choice; it’s not a slave to its outer influences. I carried the same behaviour, the same vibration, and the same calm throughout the journey and enjoyed my cosy birthday celebration with my family.
Even more, there was no instant judgement, no hatred for him, no anger, and no sinking feeling in my heart. In that moment, there was no mental wrestling about what I should say or what the best comeback would be to defend my position. There were no such discussions, just a clear response. It knew what mattered and what didn’t. It's not an intellectual fight where I am convincing myself that it should not bother me, but a wired system whose natural response is this. The silence and nod came quickly, almost automatically. What doesn’t serve you doesn’t get your mental discussion energy either. I passed my test.
Another important thing: He kept his crucial teaching within his bloodline when he taught his daughter never to understand “I can’t.” But I won’t do that. To anyone out there reading this: never understand “I can’t.” Never, ever understand “I can’t.” And when someone tells you, “You can’t,” NEVER BELIEVE IT, regardless of whether that person is more successful than you, has more years of experience than you, is your boss, or is your boss’s boss. Never believe “you can’t.”
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