You’re Closer Than You Think

India is full of potential — but we’re stuck chasing the wrong things.

Most of us graduate with one goal: get a stable job, earn a steady income, and live a “safe” life. Startups? Too risky. Research? Too uncertain. Innovation? Someone else will do it. And so, year after year, brilliant minds settle into average work, doing just enough to get by.

And it’s not because we lack talent — it’s because we’ve been misguided and restricted. Families teach us that stability is safer than curiosity. Schools push us to memorize instead of imagine. A system that should create innovators trains us to be workers instead.

Even in governance, priorities are misplaced. Parliamentary debates rarely focus on the deeper issues that could transform our nation — like making education truly innovative, funding large-scale research, or building a culture that values problem-solving and original thinking. Instead, we waste time arguing over which language is superior, how to secure someone’s political post, or universalizing product rates. Even the talk around AI often ends up about handing out free tools rather than building world-class platforms or products that could put India at the forefront of this technology. We’re missing the chance to nurture a generation of builders who could lead the world in the decades to come.

From a distance, our world might look perfect. But look closer, and you’ll see vast untapped potential: unexplored questions in physics, smarter ways to use technology, entire industries waiting to be reimagined. What feels complex or out of reach isn’t impossible; most of the time, it just needs curiosity, persistence, and the courage to start.

Take the Citicorp Center story in New York. In the 1970s, a student named Diane Hartley discovered a flaw in the building’s design during her coursework — a flaw that could have led to catastrophic collapse in certain winds. She spoke up, and the issue was fixed. She was just a student, but her curiosity and willingness to question saved countless lives. Or look at ISRO: with a fraction of NASA’s budget, Indian scientists dared to dream of Mars and reached it on their very first attempt. These stories remind us that great work is not about having everything, but about daring to start with what you have.

We already have what we need:

Brains — some of the sharpest minds in the world.

Access — knowledge, resources, and global platforms more open than ever.

Scale — a young, massive population ready to build and test ideas.

What we lack is the mindset — the belief that we can do it. And this is where we’ve been truly misguided. Society around us — our families, our education, even our governance — has restricted our vision. We’ve been trained to “exist safely,” not to explore boldly.

If you’re reading this, here’s the challenge: own what you do. Don’t just pass through life collecting a paycheck. Build something. Create something. Solve problems that matter — in engineering, in economics, in design, in art, in whatever you love. Walk your own path and leave a trail others can follow.

Because the truth is, you’re not as far from possibility as you think. Setting up something for your idea, finding collaborators, even getting funding — it’s all more accessible than it has ever been. The only real barrier is the belief that “someone else should do it.”

You weren’t put here just to carry your parents’ name. You were put here to build a name of your own — one that others will remember.The future doesn’t need more people doing “what everyone else does.”It needs builders. Thinkers. Dreamers. Doers.It needs you.