Texas based self-Help book author says seeds of success and failure are within you
Surinder Kumar who recently came out with his new book, “Everything You Need is Within You,” has lived an inspiring life.
Growing up in post-partition India, he saw his father’s principles and beliefs give many families the courage to live in the chaos that partition unleashed.
His new book is inspired by his tough childhood and the lessons he learnt along the way that made him rise from a life of poverty in a tiny Indian village to a successful corporate career in the United States.
Having worked with some of the top conglomerates and Fortune 100 companies his life is a perfect example of how to start from the bottom and turn hardships into learning curves.
“I spent most of my early childhood in a small village in India. The village was desolate with no running water, no electricity and limited access to any form of transportation,” says the author of several inspirational books.
Read: Indiaspora launching new book on rise of Indian Americans (July 28, 2021)
“My father was a teacher in this village. I had the opportunity to spend time with him as his son who did several chores, and as a pupil for the first four years of school,” Kumar says.
“He was a man of few words but what he said resonated with all of us and inspired us to grow out of those dirt streets to build successful careers.”
“I have captured many of his teachings in the book, ‘Everything You Need is Within You’,” Kumar says offering a few of the lessons that have helped him and shaped his life are:
Lesson 1: Everything you need to be successful in life is within you; everything that is holding you back is also within you.
“People of our little village including our family were very poor. Most of the people had lost everything when the British divided India into two countries causing a forced mass migration overnight on August 15, 1947.
“As people were desperate and losing all hope, my father would inspire them by telling everybody that our future was in our own hands and if we believed in ourselves, we would come out stronger through the tough times.
“I was a child then and I heard that many times. It built a strong empowering belief that has shaped my life and helped me become a successful professional.”
Lesson 2: Education is the key to building that future.
“In the early 1950’s, the literacy rate in India was in the single digits. Most people could not read or write. The poverty rate was as high as 56%.
“My father shared his belief with all of us that the only way for our family to rise out of poverty was to get good education. This belief has been the key to the success of our family.
“All of my siblings got a good education. I completed my PhD in the scientific field and then completed an MBA in business. The combination of scientific and business education helped me build a successful corporate and consulting career.”
Lesson 3: Focus on what is important.
“Focus, hard work and resilience are three qualities that my father personified. He focused on educating his children because he believed in the value of good education for creating a better future.
“He had diabetes at the age of 13 and was told that he would be lucky to live to the age of 30. He focused on learning how to manage his diabetes by reading ancient books.
“He formulated and stuck to a disciplined nutritional and exercise regimen. This discipline helped him live to the ripe old age of 75.
“I learned from him and did my best to focus on education. When I was in college, I stuck to a strict discipline of studying to be able to excel in college. That helped me get admission to The Ohio State University and professional success followed.”