Admin and Founder of ‘The Secrets Of The Universe’ and former intern at Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, I am a science student pursuing a Master’s in Physics from India. I love to study and write about Stellar Astrophysics, Relativity & Quantum Mechanics.
Albert Einstein once said, “Great spirits have always faced opposition from mediocre minds.” Nikola Tesla was no exception to this quote. One of the most dynamic inventors of the 19-20th Century, Nikola Tesla, was born on July 10, 1856, in Serbia. According to a family legend, he was born during a fierce lightning storm. Seeing it as a bad omen, the midwife declared that the child would be a child of darkness. His mother immediately replied, “No, he will be a child of light.”
He lived a modest life, devoid of riches and full of struggle and hard work. Tesla was ahead of his time. From wireless communication to wireless electricity supply, he had predicted quite a few modern world technologies. Let us learn some important lessons from the life of this great inventor:
1. Genius Requires Solitude
Nikola Tesla was a loner. Instead of wasting his time in people’s gossips, he worked on his ideas. When you are alone and introspect the Universe, ideas come to you. He once quoted, “Your mind is just a receiver. There is a core in the Universe from where all the knowledge comes.” For that, solitude is necessary. It gives you inner peace and enables you to focus on your thoughts.
2. It’s Perfectly OK To Be Ahead of Others
Don’t be afraid to do something new, something different. Your peers may tell you that your ideas won’t work, you might feel jaded or have the notion that giving up is easier than trying to convince those around you that you are right. Tesla’s life reminds us that it’s perfectly OK if people don’t accept your ideas. Every revolutionary idea has faced strong opposition from prevailing theories and beliefs.
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3. Money Isn’t Everything
Tesla’s fame might force you to think that he was a rich person. He might have sold his patents and earned a handsome sum of money from them. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Nikola Tesla never cared about being rich. All he cared about was making the world a better place to live. When you think about the world instead of your personal comforts, you do justice to society.
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4. Don’t Care About What Others Are Doing
These words by Tesla teach us a lot. There are billions of people in this world. How many people can you stop stealing your ideas?. With how many people will you compare your progress? You can compare it with your friends, your colleagues and become “The Best.” But then what? There are still uncountable people out there in this world who will be better than you.
So it’s unworthy of caring about other’s work. Focus on your own work and compare yourself with what you were yesterday. You may or may not become the best then, but you will become capable for sure.
5. Be patient And Push-On
It takes days, months, or even years for an artist to get his colors right, for a poet to write his poem, and for a scientist to develop his theories. Don’t worry about how long it takes. Just keep working.
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