10 Insightful Lessons from the Documentary 'Inside Bill's Brain'

We have been publishing life lessons from various best-selling books for a long time now. Acknowledging that we must change with changing times, this is our first attempt on publishing lessons from a Netflix documentary. 

For those who have missed out reading some of our posts which captured lessons from some of the best-selling books, they can click here to read the book lessons.

This is the first documentary that is being published on our blog. And who better than Bill Gates to set the ball rolling.

ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY

Title : 

Inside Bill's Brain

Duration : 

3 Episodes totaling 159 minutes

Provider : 

Netflix

URL : 

https://www.netflix.com/in/title/80184771

Synopsis : 

Take a trip inside the mind of Bill Gates as the billionaire opens up about those who influenced him and the audacious goals he's still pursuing.

LESSONS FROM THE DOCUMENTARY

So, here are the top lessons from this documentary

1/ Value your time

He is on time, to the minute, every single meeting, without fail. Time is one commodity that he can't buy more of. It is a limited resource. It's finite. He has got the same 24 hours in a day that the rest of us have.

[ Suggested Read: Time is the only currency of value ]

2/ Think Big

Most people have read this statement, but none feel that they are powerful enough to change the world around them. Bill thought differently.

He realized that there are millions of deaths across the world every year because of diarrhea. There is no way the complex sewage treatment plants can be built in such densely populated areas. Even if we could financially afford to build them, we can't get that much water to keep running them. He, therefore, thought of funding inventors who could solve this problem in 1/10th of the cost and without water.

Bill is looking at Zero Diarrhea deaths because of sewage contamination.

3/ Ask the right question, always!

Questions were never about whether they were difficult to solve. Questions were always about whether the answers are worth it.

4/ Get set for failure

He was refused by all universities when he tried to solve the toilet problem. His competitive spirit got him going. Negative energy is significant energy. You just need to know how to transform it. He went back in a slightly different way and ultimately got the problem solved.

[ Suggested Read: The Power of Negative Energy ]

5/ Parenting

Parenting is a very big responsibility. It was her mom that kept nudging him into the social stuff, kept motivating him to become better, and more socially responsible. 

(Interestingly, this is what our upcoming book is about)

6/ Break the Schedule

Bill started to take Think Weeks while he was still running Microsoft. He would travel to Hood Canal and stay there alone for a week, just reading and thinking. He will read stacks of books, like mad, as if he was preparing for an IIT entrance exam.

[ Suggested Read: Why should you read books like mad ]

7/ Love your Critic Friends

It is so important to have friends who can ask the right questions and help you become better. That's what he felt when he met Warren Buffet.

8/ Love always lasts

Love lasts and anger tends to fade. Bill and Paul did not have the best of relationships when Microsoft started to pick up. But then love conquered that as well.

9/ Destiny has a role - a big one

Playing Cards are so much like life - driven by destiny. Even if you have the best skills in the game, you would lose the game if destiny was not on your side. In fact, most games are driven by luck.

10/ Get uncomfortable

When confronted with something very difficult, his answer was always 'Work Harder'. He believed very strongly that ultimately, it's not what you get of what you give, but it's what you become in the process.

[ Suggested Read: Descend to Ascend ]

OFFICIAL TRAILER

Leaving you with the Official Trailer of the documentary was such a worthwhile watch.

Regards

Manoj Arora

Official Website