I'm hugely inspired by Nalanda University and the way they operated 1500+ years ago. In this podcast, I share 13 aspects about this institution and how I'm modeling some of their elements as I'm building my own community.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Freedom Business podcast, your host, Sat Raj
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Speaker 1: Shekhar here. Great to have you here. This is where
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Speaker 1: we are going to be talking about how we can
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Speaker 1: redefine our education system by building vibrant learning communities, take
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Speaker 1: your knowledge out of the world and be awesome. Let's
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Speaker 1: get in.
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Speaker 1: I have been hugely inspired by Nan University as some
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Speaker 1: of you know, 1005 100 years ago, this was the
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Speaker 1: epicenter of learning in the world and people used to
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Speaker 1: come here and learn from all parts of the world.
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Speaker 1: There were more than 2000 teachers, more than 10 students
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Speaker 1: and possibly one of the first. In fact, it is
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Speaker 1: one of the first universities in the world with the
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Speaker 1: kind of infrastructure that they had. In fact, I made
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Speaker 1: a list of 30
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Speaker 1: different aspects about Nalanda that I want to share with
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Speaker 1: you first. And then I will walk you through how
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Speaker 1: I'm trying to build my community. Inspired by that. Because
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Speaker 1: at this point as I speak, my top 100 students
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Speaker 1: have three have impacted three lac students to OK. So
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Speaker 1: my top 100 students have
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Speaker 1: uh you know, inspired in terms of a number of people.
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Speaker 1: And now we are looking at not in the physical
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Speaker 1: realm in the digital realm in the region. The impact
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Speaker 1: is so much more. And personally, I've had more than
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Speaker 1: 30 students in my community alone, who are not the
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Speaker 1: ₹99 the 1 ₹99 student. I'm talking about people who
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Speaker 1: have paid me minimum 5000 and above
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Speaker 1: to be a part of my premium community to actually
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Speaker 1: learn in this. So coming back to Nalanda, the first
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Speaker 1: thing is the word Nalanda, it means it's a combination
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Speaker 1: of three words, Na Alam and the which means no
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Speaker 1: stopping of the gift of knowledge. So the word Nalanda
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Speaker 1: is a Sanskrit word which means no stopping of the
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Speaker 1: gift of knowledge.
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Speaker 1: That's the first point. The second point is Nalanda had
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Speaker 1: a massive library known as a Dharma Gun, which is
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Speaker 1: known as a mountain of truth as well as a rat,
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Speaker 1: no Dahi, which is the sea of gems. So they
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Speaker 1: had library ranging from vedic texts, Buddhist texts and just
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Speaker 1: such an open kind of learning atmosphere. The third point
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Speaker 1: I want to share is regarding the London is the
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Speaker 1: relationship between the teachers and the students
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Speaker 1: was highly rewarded, meaning the students not only learn from
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Speaker 1: their teachers, but they also lived in close proximity, imbibing
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Speaker 1: their values and knowledge through daily interaction. That's what I'm
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Speaker 1: trying to do right now is when I'm showing up
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Speaker 1: every single week to my community. I want my students
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Speaker 1: to
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Speaker 1: and how I'm living my life and not just be,
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Speaker 1: you know, and a very impersonal kind of a digital teacher,
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Speaker 1: but I'm very personal in what I share in my
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Speaker 1: session so that my students are able to connect with
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Speaker 1: me as a human being first. And I'm also able
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Speaker 1: to share my personal life with my students. So that
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Speaker 1: able to exchange a name by the values.
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Speaker 1: The fourth aspect of Nalanda is it was a hub
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Speaker 1: for international students and scholars, people from all different parts
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Speaker 1: of the world, including China, Korea, Japan and Central Asia.
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Speaker 1: They came to study and teach at this particular university.
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Speaker 1: The fifth aspect I learned about this is that this internationalism,
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Speaker 1: it promoted cultural exchange and a global perspective on education.
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Speaker 1: Number six is that Nalanda was known for its inclusive
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Speaker 1: and secular atmosphere. It was welcoming students and scholars from
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Speaker 1: diverse religions and cultural backgrounds. And that's exactly what you
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Speaker 1: I want to do, you know with my community. And
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Speaker 1: it's already happening that we are people from different religions,
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Speaker 1: different backgrounds, different cultures. But when they come in over here,
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Speaker 1: we have a very common and grounded and rooted value
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Speaker 1: system for each one of them.
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Speaker 1: Number seven, what I learned is that this open minded
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Speaker 1: approach in Nalanda, it contributed to the rich tapestry of
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Speaker 1: ideas and perspectives. It is not a very narrow minded approach.
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Speaker 1: It is a very open minded approach.
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Speaker 1: And number eight, the point is that Nada's impact, it
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Speaker 1: actually went beyond its historical period. It influenced the later
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Speaker 1: education institutions and contributing to the intellectual foundation of Asia.
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Speaker 1: If Asia is what it is today, a huge aspect
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Speaker 1: of what Asia is today is because of Nalanda University.
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Speaker 1: Number nine is that Nalanda, it had a vibrant artistic
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Speaker 1: community that produced exquisite, exquisite sculptures, paintings, manuscripts
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Speaker 1: and it really brought about the creative art. It was
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Speaker 1: not just about academics and stuff.
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Speaker 1: Number 10 is a spirit of tolerance and inclusivity. And
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Speaker 1: Nalanda allowed for co existence of different philosophical and religious traditions,
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Speaker 1: which is such an important factor, especially if you're building
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Speaker 1: vibrant learning communities. Number 11 is that this university had
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Speaker 1: a self sustaining economic system, meaning that the endowments, the
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Speaker 1: donations and agricultural lands provided, they provided resources to support
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Speaker 1: the academic
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Speaker 1: and residential needs of the community. This is so amazing,
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Speaker 1: you know, it's like a self sustaining community which is
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Speaker 1: uh you know,
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Speaker 1: which was running with a solid economic system, endowments, donations
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Speaker 1: and multiple others.
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Speaker 1: Number 12, what I came to know about Nalanda is
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Speaker 1: that they envoys, diplomats and emissaries from different regions of
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Speaker 1: the world. They visited Nalanda to engage in intellectual discourses
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Speaker 1: and negotiations. So it was such a beautiful uh hub
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Speaker 1: of learning. And when I actually, you know,
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Speaker 1: coined my community as internet lifestyle hub, I did not
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Speaker 1: really understand the essence of the word hub. I mean,
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Speaker 1: I knew what it meant, but when I was reading
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Speaker 1: more about Nalanda, Nalanda was truly a hub. I mean,
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Speaker 1: it was, people are coming here for, for everything that
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Speaker 1: they wanted. Uh, you know, when it comes to their knowledge.
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Speaker 1: And number 13 in Nalanda
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Speaker 1: likely incorporated yoga
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Speaker 1: and meditation practices into their curriculum
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Speaker 1: and it promoted physical and mental well being alongside academic pursuits,
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Speaker 1: which is what is missing in our current education system.
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Speaker 1: Our current education system is all about only the mental realm,
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Speaker 1: but it never gets into the physical, emotional and spiritual
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Speaker 1: realm because we are all four dimensional beings.
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Speaker 1: So now that I've shared what all I learned about Aland,
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Speaker 1: let me talk about
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Speaker 1: how I plan to bring about uh my community
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Speaker 1: initiatives based around another university. So the first thing is
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Speaker 1: whatever I'm teaching in internet lifestyle hub is again to
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Speaker 1: create
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Speaker 1: more leaders who can create universities of the future because
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Speaker 1: our current education system is outdated. Uh It's kind of
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Speaker 1: broken and it's really not getting to the knees. In fact,
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Speaker 1: I've also had a chat with some of my cousins
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Speaker 1: who are studying in, you know, Ivy Leagues and stuff
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Speaker 1: like that. And so the whole culture has shifted maybe
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Speaker 1: 1020 years ago, it might have been different, but right
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Speaker 1: now it's kind of messed up in every single way. Yes,
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Speaker 1: you get the network over there. You have the brand
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Speaker 1: of going and studying the big university. But besides that,
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Speaker 1: you know, the many of the university do not address
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Speaker 1: mental issues, emotional issues, moral issues of students, there's all
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Speaker 1: kinds of unethical stuff that's going on in, in the,
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Speaker 1: these universities, I'm talking about outside the classrooms, uh, you know, drugs,
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Speaker 1: uh all kinds of stuff that's not really conducive to
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Speaker 1: the healthy progress of mental and spiritual progress of the,
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Speaker 1: of the child.
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Speaker 1: Now, as I think about this, it's not just about Children,
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Speaker 1: it's also about adult education over here. The way I'm
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Speaker 1: building my community right now, inspire by Nalanda is to
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Speaker 1: keep a culture where there is strong values at the base. Now,
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Speaker 1: values are not just as simple as we strive to
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Speaker 1: be the best we strive to have excellence or just
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Speaker 1: put us out of vision and mission. It's not about that.
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Speaker 1: It's about setting a bunch of rules that protect you
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Speaker 1: from you that protect the student from themselves
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Speaker 1: and to also have an aligned culture. So if anybody
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Speaker 1: comes into the cell, the first thing is I always
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Speaker 1: talk about our code of honor and the six pillars
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Speaker 1: on which this community stands with freedom, growth, clarity, efficiency,
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Speaker 1: we have abundance and contributions. They are like the, the
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Speaker 1: six codes of Honor on which this community is built on.
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Speaker 1: And if you are building a community of your own,
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Speaker 1: you need to have a set of rules and set
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Speaker 1: of codes that really
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Speaker 1: know, people are able to connect with and that becomes
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Speaker 1: a space for them to reflect on to make sure
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Speaker 1: that they're aligned to the community.
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Speaker 1: And again, it's all about the way that I, you know,
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Speaker 1: that you teach that matters my mentor blessing. It always
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Speaker 1: talks about this concept. It says it's not about what
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Speaker 1: you teach about the way you teach, which what makes
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Speaker 1: a difference. So even once people come to the life
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Speaker 1: cell hub process, it is not about the subject matter knowledge.
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Speaker 1: What I like to do the most through my hackathons
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Speaker 1: and through my courses is to bring out the best
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Speaker 1: of the student. Because my mentors always said, they said
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Speaker 1: everybody is a genius, everybody has a genius in them,
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Speaker 1: but it is covered by so many layers of
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Speaker 1: uh you know, stuff that has been built over years,
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Speaker 1: the schooling system, family system, education system and multiple other things.
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Speaker 1: So the way you teach has to be in a,
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Speaker 1: in such a way that it brings out the best
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Speaker 1: of the student. But they are able to realize that
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Speaker 1: the genius that's already there inside them
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Speaker 1: and that's how I'm building my community. So as I'm
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Speaker 1: wrapping up this podcast, I just want to tell all
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Speaker 1: of you that if you're listening to this podcast
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Speaker 1: on SAT raa.com on my blog, please share your comments below.
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Speaker 1: As this is my second, my third podcast out of
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Speaker 1: my 90 day challenge. That I've started off this year.
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Speaker 1: And uh if you're already a member of the community,
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Speaker 1: I would highly recommend that you go to S ID
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Speaker 1: Z sids.co slash diamond and jump into the true essence
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Speaker 1: of what internal life cell hub is all about because
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Speaker 1: that's going to be a three year intensive journey where
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Speaker 1: I'm going to be tracking your,
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Speaker 1: your points. You have a point system, a Gamification system,
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Speaker 1: you have a team system, you have a hives. I
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Speaker 1: put you all into groups and imagine this is like
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Speaker 1: a true diploma in digital coaching, uh and a degree
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Speaker 1: in digital coaching that I'll be giving you in the
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Speaker 1: next between 1 to 3 years as you go through
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Speaker 1: this process. So if you truly want to experience the
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Speaker 1: magic of the internet life cell hub, go to S
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Speaker 1: ID Z sids.co slash diamond and be there for the
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Speaker 1: next time and showcase. But I'll tell you more about this.
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Speaker 1: And if you're not a part of the community, just
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Speaker 1: go to s.com or go to any of my websites,
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Speaker 1: my youtube channel, check out my videos and attend my
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Speaker 1: next webinar and be a part of the new Nan
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Speaker 1: which I'm actually trying to build and I'm inspiring all
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Speaker 1: of my students to create the university of their own.
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Speaker 1: My mission is to create universities of the future and
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Speaker 1: to inspire you to do the same. Wish you all
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Speaker 1: the best and catch you in the next episode.