What are YOU carrying up a hill?

Amit Chintan Ramlall

Do you ever feel like Sisyphus of Greek myth, doomed to push your boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down on top of you, every single time?

Each of us has our own load, our own unique challenge, that in our own way we are carrying uphill. And if it feels like an endless, repetitive task that is never complete, then there is no quicker way to burn yourself out, physically and mentally.

I believe every individual has their own unique challenge, and each challenge is purposed. By this I mean that your challenges don’t happen randomly, that they are not mere coincidences. And no two individuals have the exact same challenge. Even if you are carrying the same load, your personal perceptions, contexts, and individual history - your baggage, if you like - make your experience of your own load unique.

Your life will never be free of challenges, and this is by design and a perfect thing. Challenges are purposed to help you learn and grow. And, get this, learning and growing in the face of your challenges helps you graduate to tackling ever bigger challenges.

The greater the challenge you can solve for yourself and others, the greater your self-worth and the greater your net worth.

You have, in all likelihood, tried to be Atlas, taking on the weight of the world, the challenges of yourself and others, on your shoulders and carrying them up the hill. How is that working out for you? You have probably tried the various forms of leverage taught at business schools around the world to help, and yet the boulder keeps rolling back down the hill.

But what if there was a way to get that boulder up the hill, without you having to push it?

What if there was a star, your personal North Star, that would work to pull the boulder up the hill for you by strength of its gravity alone? And what if you too were pulled upwards by this very same gravity?

This North Star exists and is the result of your unique life purpose.

Purpose is key to the reason that the Chintan Project exists, so I am going to share a story of how it began, and share my purpose with you.

The Chintan Project was founded because I am certain that each individual has a purpose, a reason for being that is unique to them.

I had severe physical pain even before I was born. Indeed, doctors were unsure whether I would survive to be born at all. But I survived, and thrived. As I grew older I constantly wondered why I was here. I was hungry to have a reason for being, hungry for what I now understand to be a purpose.

As I continued to grow and become more affected by what some label as ‘autism’, I developed a certainty that if anything existed, including me, it must have a reason for being, a purpose. The universe is too efficient for it to be otherwise. And if a little autistic kid like myself had a purpose, so too does everyone else.

The Chintan Project is based on my conviction that we each have a purpose that is unique to us. This efficient universe we live in does not tolerate waste, and we are not here as a copy, or to emulate anyone else. We are not here to live in others’ shadows, but to be ourselves and shine our unique light.

This unique purpose, and the unique challenges we face, present bespoke and purposed opportunities for each of us. Even if we are presented with the same opportunity as someone else, it is unique to each individual thanks to our differing perceptions, unique purpose, and different experiences, learnings, and growth.

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result. You can’t expect something different to happen unless you are willing to be, do, or have something different. Remaining the same, doing the same things, and expecting your life to change would be insanity.

But being conscious and deliberate about change is empowering! Being proactive about your perceptions, decisions, and actions, and leading a life by design gives you enormous agency, and prevents you from merely surviving a life by default.

My middle name, Chintan, means ‘thinking’. At the Chintan Project we offer you a different way of thinking about who you are, about purpose, opportunities, and challenges, so that you can make your greatest impact.

In short, by helping you refine your thinking, we help you leverage the gravity of your North Star, and break your Sisiphyian cycle.

Until the next perfect time,

Amit Chintan Ramlall