I had a batchmate in engineering college who was obsessed with watching porn. He perhaps had the largest collection of such videos on campus and was always updated on this circuit. His intense passion and dedication towards porn videos gave him the innate ability to translate any situation in life or those from engineering textbooks into a porn analogy. Some of us credit his analogies for helping us understand  some very complex and ‘difficult to visualize’ engineering concepts. He went on to achieve accolades as he  moved further in his career.

Recently I went on a couple of road trips with a bunch of startups being accelerated at #TiEBootcamp. I found some of these entrepreneurs were living and breathing their startups just about every moment. Every conversation was hijacked or translated into what they were thinking/ planning to execute in their startups. Small talks, inspirational talks, bar talks, 4-drinks-down talks  and any other situation was very smoothly translated into their startup analogy by these entrepreneurs. The investors and mentors who have interacted with them share that they are some of the finest entrepreneurs they have interacted with.

I have been following some epics and Hindu mythology. I’ve seen this trend in such stories as well. A super human figure, before achieving that status, often engages in a form of ‘tapasya’ where s/he dedicates every breath of his/her life to that one God or devta. Their lives are often full of analogies of that God and one fine day s/he finds her God. He usually comes with a gift i.e. ‘vardaan’- that symboloises success

The three examples above have a common thread- that of of immersing oneself towards a cause while constantly acting on achieving on it. Some of my friends have told me that his is the true form of meditation v/s the popularly perception of sitting in a lotus position all  life. Its the ability to translate every thought and activity around you into that one purpose and being aware and conscious of the same every breath, every move.

While many entrepreneurs have their analogies and possess this ability, there are a few who just spend time reading blogs , articles and stories fantasizing about their dreams. My friend VC Kathic uses an apt term for such people – ‘Entre-porn-eurs’

Special thanks to Muki Regunathan for reviewing this post.