By any means, I am not a religious guy. However, there was a teaching in my religious texture that I completely changed the way I look at anything that happens to me.

In case you don’t know, I am a Punjabi Jat Sikh (just in case you are curious, I don’t wear a turban) so I am referring to Guru Granth Sahib when I say my religious texture. But don’t worry, that’s the only reference of religion in the whole of this post.

The line that altered my way of thinking was — Whatever good or bad happens to you, it happens for your own good.

See, no matter how hard you try or what position you gain in your life, there will always be some thing or another that will happen to you which you wish never happened at all.

These situations are tough to face and hurt you emotionally.However, once you get over it and carry forward with your life, you will realize that something good has happened to you which might not have happened if you had not gone through that rough phase.

Let me give you an example. You see IIT is one of the toughest institutions to get admission into and even when you are inside of it, you have to focus so much on your studies that you can forget doing anything else.

I put in two years of effort in trying to get through the examination. However, I failed at the final stage and as a result got admission to some no-name college. But hey, this allowed me to focus less on studies and focus on my ultimate goals and living my dreams.

The difference is that now I have much more practical experience than my peers. People may disagree with me on this account but honestly, I don’t care about nay-sayers cos I know how I am performing and that I am on my way to achieve what I want to.

If I take a positive look at me not getting admission into IIT then it is that now I am able to live my dreams and having a wonderful time doing so. I know I am more prepared to face life than my book-smart buddies. And I have no remorse of not being with them today.

If you sit and take a look at the problems you faced at one time or another, you will also be able to find a positive angle to it.

The affect that this had on me was that all of a sudden I got a lot more fearless. Having faith that whatever will happen will be good for me made me take bigger risks than I could have never thought of doing earlier.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean that you do wrong things or do nothing at all. To achieve what you want to achieve in life, you will have to put in your best “honest” effort. However, if you have the faith that the outcome is surely going to be good for you, then it will be easy for you to put in this effort.

Some people — read pessimists — will have real tough time believing that everything can have a positive consequence. However, the fact that they are pessimists already disqualifies them from the game called life.

Have you ever seen someone on the apex who was / is a pessimist? At least, I have never.

Bottom line: Whenever you are faced with a problem or are doing something, do it with faith that outcome will be good, directly or indirectly. Being an optimist makes it easier and fun to achieve success.