“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” said Piglet.
“My favorite day,” smiled Pooh.
In just a few lines, Winnie the Pooh gave us a lesson in mindful living that many of us spend our whole lives trying to understand. While the world worries about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow, Pooh simply embraces the now. And maybe that’s a clue to answering the most fundamental question we forget to ask ourselves: Are you happy?
The Myth of Talent and the Paradox of Success
There’s an odd belief that floats around: the less talented often succeed while the more talented don’t. Look at the world, and you might find yourself nodding in agreement. After all, isn’t it strange that many of the world’s wealthiest individuals are dropouts, while some of the most educated work under them?
But maybe that belief is just a distorted observation of a deeper truth.
Formal education teaches us about the world that was, not always the world that is. By the time we graduate, much of what we’ve studied has become irrelevant. We’re trained to navigate complexities that have already shifted. Meanwhile, those who drop out or never fit into the system often stay closer to the streets—observing, adapting, evolving.
They are not carrying the baggage of an outdated curriculum. They don’t assume the world will follow a set pattern. Their logic remains fluid. Their learning is experiential. Perhaps that’s why they’re better equipped to see opportunities as they arise.
The Invisible Prison
But let’s look deeper.
What truly holds us back isn’t lack of intelligence or opportunity. It’s something subtler, and far more dangerous: our habits.
We are prisoners—yes, prisoners—but not always in the literal sense.
We are prisoners of:
- Routine: Our lives revolve around clocks and calendars.
- Social expectations: We live to meet standards set by others.
- Old knowledge: We rely on what we’ve learned, even when it’s outdated.
- Habits: From unhealthy addictions to unquestioned cultural patterns.
And most dangerously, we are prisoners of complexity—a world made so complicated by our inventions that we spend two decades just trying to understand it, only to realize it has already changed.
We create more technology to make life simpler. Ironically, that very technology makes life even more complicated. Our children now spend 20 to 25 years studying in schools and universities, only to find that what they studied is obsolete.
Isn’t that a strange kind of imprisonment?
Why Dropouts Sometimes Win
The so-called dropouts aren’t necessarily less intelligent. They just took a different path. They weren’t chained to the same kind of prison. While the educated remained trapped in the complexity of formal structures, the dropouts adapted to the fluid realities of life. They kept their thinking agile.
Educated people often become prisoners of what they know. Dropouts know they don’t know, and that humility makes them more curious, more open, more receptive to change.
It’s not that education is useless. But education becomes a prison when we worship it blindly, when we cling to degrees instead of ideas, and when we stop learning the moment we finish school.
The Prison of Appearance
But if some escape the prison of complexity, many fall into another: fashion.
In a world obsessed with trends and validation, we wear what others wear—often at the cost of comfort or financial stability. We spend money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like, to avoid conversations we’re too afraid to have.
Because the moment someone truly looks into our eyes and asks, “Are you happy?”—we tremble.
We’d rather wear a mask than face the question.
One Today Is Worth a Hundred Tomorrows
Pooh, in his simple way, might have more in common with the likes of Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, or Elon Musk than we think. People who changed the world weren’t obsessed with yesterday’s definitions. They lived in today, with eyes wide open.
They didn’t worry about whether it was Sunday or Monday. They didn’t live by the prison of time.
They lived by intention. They created their own definitions of success. They asked the tough questions—and answered them for themselves.
Ask Yourself This
- Are you living by your own design, or by someone else’s?
- Are you working to simplify your life or unknowingly adding more complexity?
- Are you free from routine, from expectation, from the fear of judgment?
- Above all…
Are you happy?
If the answer is not a confident yes, then maybe it’s time to pause, listen to your inner voice, and like Pooh, embrace today—your only real moment of truth.
bhaskar saikia 
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