My friend Nishad and I were on a call yesterday, and we may have cracked the core strategy behind how people succeed across different areas of life.

Let's break down the difference between 'sowing seeds for the future' vs. 'planting landmines for the future'.

Seeds

Successful people plant seeds across different areas of life — skills, habits, relationships — and reap the rewards later. No one becomes a leader overnight.
Take Donald Trump, for example.
Though he started as a real estate developer, his rise to the U.S. Presidency — twice — wasn't random. In the late '90s and 2000s, he became more public, launched The Apprentice, built a strong personal brand, and slowly positioned himself for leadership. It was a long game — and he played it.
Building a public image is a seed for future opportunities. No one — maybe not even Trump himself — knew it would lead to the Presidency. But when he finally made that decision, the odds were in his favour.
Why?

Because he had spent over a decade shaping his brand, presence, and influence — long before the opportunity even existed.

Landmines

Now let's talk about the opposite — planting landmines.
These are the decisions people make when few or no odds are in their favour.
They haven't prepared, practiced, or built anything beforehand. Imagine suddenly deciding to become an artist, a dancer, or join the armed forces — it doesn't work that way, right?
That's the point.

We all plant both seeds and landmines in our lives — often without realizing it. Many decisions are based on the present, with no thought for the future.
Then, when failure strikes, and there's no one left to blame, we turn on ourselves.
That's when the compounding effect of those landmines kicks in — and eventually, they explode.

The Solution (not verified, but statistically approved)

Set a theme for your life — because you can't do everything, and that's okay.
Forget the old idea of working till 60 and retiring. If you're ambitious, it's time to think with logic.

Your strengths should be world-class. Because sometimes, one great skill is all you need.
Steve Jobs was an innovator. Steve Wozniak was a coder. Jony Ive was a designer. Each of them is remembered for one iconic skill.

But don't stop at just career. Plant seeds in other areas of life too — relationships, happiness, and health.
For relationships, maybe it's having better thoughts, reading books, or just understanding people deeply. For happiness, it's about shifting your perspective. Study history. Match your own struggles with those who've come before you — you'll learn from their regrets, not just their victories.

So plant seeds. Everywhere. Grow trees for your future. Because if you don't — one day you'll wake up trapped in a field of landmines, with no way out when they all explode.

For me, I've chosen entrepreneurship as my path. That instantly puts me in the entrepreneurship circle — which means I need to master the skills that live in that space: leadership, sales, marketing, and more.
Understand this — being bad at even one of these can hold you back. Being average is fine, but bad? It puts you at a real disadvantage.
So, get gutsy. Practice every skill to the point of embarrassment. Find your weak spots, make them average — and then go all in on your strengths.