The Renaissance Man

The Renaissance man:

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The Renaissance man.

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Had someone say that to me today.

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Reached out cold on LinkedIn.

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Her message was this:

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‘Hi Anish - great to connect! It was fascinating to read your 'About' section. What a Renaissance man you are!’

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It made me think.

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Been wanting to write this post for weeks.

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How do you become the most interesting man in the world?

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That’s my goal.

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That’s what drives me, amongst many other things.

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I’m lifemaxxing.

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Trying to maximize life.

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Trying to get the most out of it that I can while I’m here.

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My cousin’s death taught me that.

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Gone at 31 to cancer.

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His life was cut short.

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Way too short.

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And his death changed me forever.

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I turn 31 this year.

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It forever changed what I wanted to do.

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What I wanted to achieve.

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It used to be about money for me.

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Status.

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Good title.

Good job.

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Making money.

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That all went out the window.

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Sure money is nice, but only to do the things I want.

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I want to do so much more.

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And I already have.

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It started when I was young.

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Blessed to be born to two of the best parents anyone could ask for.

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Two people who were the eldest in their immigrant households.

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Both smart, educated and driven.

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I was lucky enough to be their first kid.

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So they pushed me.

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Pushed me hard.

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I also got lucky.

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Could pick up concepts much faster than other kids.

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Plus I had the perfect teacher.

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The one who saw something in me before anyone else.

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Shushi Ravishankar.

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Btw, thank you! You were the first person who believed I was so much more capable than everyone else. Thank you Ms. Ravishankar!

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She saw this and started tutoring me on the side.

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So much so, I memorized the times tables up to 12 when I was 3.

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Got to public school and my parents wanted me to skip a grade.

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So after doing a test, I did.

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Entered a grade 2/3 split class when I was 5.

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Stayed that way my whole time at school.

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Always the youngest.

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Always the shortest.

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Always the smallest.

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Always felt like I was overlooked.

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Like I was dismissed.

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Like I was too young to get anything.

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But I excelled academically.

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Competed with the best in my class.

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So much so, I got into medical school when I was 16.

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Not many kids do that.

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So just after my 17th birthday, I hopped on a plane and moved to Scotland by myself for university.

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Stayed there for 6 years.

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Was the best 6 years of my life.

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Learned a lot.

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Saw a lot.

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Experienced a lot.

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Got a medical degree out of it.

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But that wasn’t the path for me.

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Decided to leave all that behind and join the venture capital world.

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An industry I barely knew existed in a job I had previously never heard of.

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So began my journey in VC, starting in Amsterdam.

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That’s when everything shifted.

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When my dreams started to formalize.

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Reading Think and Grow Rich on a Saturday morning in October 2018 was the catalyst that changed it all.

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Napoleon Hill gave me a playbook.

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Not just a playbook.

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THE playbook.

The playbook for how to achieve success.

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If you want outsized success, this is the one to read.

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So I did.

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Followed it.

Didn’t really believe what it said at the beginning.

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But just kept trusting it.

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Trusting the process.

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And it worked.

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I now know my goals will happen.

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As long as I’m alive, I’ll achieve the things I want.

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But who cares about that?

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Who cares about the amount of money you make if you’re not a good person and lose yourself along the way?

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This is where all these other ideas came in.

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From 2018, I decided to accomplish something new every year.

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Started with reading 50 books in a year - read 52.

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Then getting in shape - lost 25 pounds in 3 months.

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Decided to write 100 blog posts in a year - wrote 500.

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Wanted to run a marathon - ran a marathon in 4 months.

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Dreamt of writing a book - so wrote 2 in a summer, including a book of poetry.

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Then the ultimate, doing an Ironman - I trained for and became an Ironman in only 7 months while raising 25k for my cousin who passed away.

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I’ve done a lot so far.

And yet I’ve barely scratched the surface.

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My goal is to be excellent.

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To be great.

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To be the most interesting person anyone will ever meet in their life.

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How do you do that?

Maximize life.

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Maximize experiences.

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Try new things.

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Put yourself in new situations.

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I want to be a pilot.

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And a mountaineer.

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And an Olympian.

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And a fund manager.

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And a TED speaker.

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And a sommelier.

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In addition to what I’ve already done.

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A doctor.

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VC.

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Marathoner.

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Ironman.

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Author.

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Poet.

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I can’t become all of these things overnight.

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But are they achievable?

Absolutely.

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What my life has taught me is that with dreams, hard work and time, you can really do anything.

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So here’s me planting the flag down.

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My goal is to be the most interesting person you will ever meet.

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That is a promise I will keep to myself.

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I have a lot of work ahead.

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But so excited to enjoy the journey along the way.

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That’s the goal.

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As per Dos Equis, the most interesting man in the world.

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Time to be the next great Renaissance man.

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