An Introduction to Sandeep Maheshwari’s Best Ideas
Sandeep Maheshwari has long been one of my favourite thinkers, and his videos have absolutely transformed the way I think and live in my day-to-day life.
I’m constantly recommending him to my close friends and family, but it seems like many people don’t have the time to sift through the hundreds of hours of content he has on YouTube.
So I decided to create this master guide of my favourite Sandeep Maheswari videos and the learnings I derived from them for beginners interested in his work. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Who is Sandeep Maheshwari?
My best guess is that Sandeep in the real world is a simple and loving man living in New Delhi, India, but don’t take my word for it. I don’t know too much about offline Sandeep. Based on what I’ve read about him, he wants to keep it that way.
For me, Sandeep is first and foremost one of the wisest men on the internet and one of the best examples of a first-principles thinker.
He is an entrepreneur, photographer, philosopher, content creator, public speaker and so much more. I’ve only scratched the surface.
What does Sandeep do?
A lot.
He started his journey as a model at the age of 19. During this time, he noticed the harassment and exploitation they faced and decided to do something about it.
This led him to take a two-week course in photography, after which he set up a company called Mash Audio Visuals Pvt. Ltd. and started making portfolios for models.
What he accomplished after this point is nothing short of extraordinary.
In the year 2002, he along with his three friends, started a company, which was closed within six months. But Sandeep’s mind was still open. With the concept of “Sharing” in his heart, he summed up his entire experience in a reversed book on marketing. He was just 21.
It was the year 2003. He created a world record by knocking down a juggernaut task of taking more than 10,000 shots of 122 models in just 10 hours and 45 minutes. But as expected, he didn’t stop. His focus was not diluted by the glamour and temporary adulation he got. Rather, this fueled his innate desire to revamp the modeling world further. At the age of 26, he launched ImagesBazaar. The year was 2006. Not being a massive setup, he took the job of multi-tasking. Being the counselor, tele-caller and a photographer all by himself, he paved his way forward. And today, ImagesBazaar is the world’s largest collection of Indian images with over a million images and more than 7000 clients across 45 countries.
After his remarkable success in entrepreneurship, he felt a deep lack of satisfaction and purpose in life, so he turned to the ancient wisdom in Hindu scriptures like the Vedas and the Upanishads to find some solace.
Since then, Sandeep has taken on the challenge of being a guide and mentor for billions of Indians who struggle with the problems he faced in his life through live seminars and YouTube.
And guess what? He doesn’t charge a single cent for anything he creates. He says his work is his medium of giving back to mankind.
Need I say more?
The Very Best of Sandeep Maheshwari’s Work
As promised, here’s some of Sandeep’s best work categorized by topic, along with what I’d suggest you start with if you’re new to it.
Top 3 Videos⭐
If I could only watch 3 of his videos, here are the ones I would watch (in order of awesomeness) –
Career and Business 💰
Creator Mindset — This one has been pivotal in helping me set the right aspirations for my life. Sandeep talks about how today’s economy defaults us to the consumer mindset — one of working a job we despise, earning money to help us buy stuff we don’t need and making us indulge in habits we know won’t contribute to our highest selves.
Lots of insight into setting the right goals for your career and focusing on who you want to become, rather than what you want to get.
He also provides a simple and insightful three-step process to move from the consumer mindset to the creator mindset and to unshackle the chains that bind our innate creativity and freedom.
Absolute must watch for any young person who isn’t inspired by the lives led by the members of the status quo and wants to chart his/her own route. (even the so-called successful ones).
Financial Freedom — Sandeep’s masterclass on financial independence. In this conversation with an IIM student (one of the top business schools in India), Sandeep covers the common debate of employment vs entrepreneurship.
The decision making process behind choosing what is right for you if what you really value in life is creative freedom is what resonated with me in this one. The student’s questions were very well-thought-out and directed the conversation in a very interesting direction.
Watch this one at your own risk. It will show you that the conventional path may never give you what you really want, and illuminates a path for what will.
Whether you choose to follow his advice or not — you will never be the same again.
Build Your Career — Sandeep helps a young girl who’s second-guessing her career choice of chartered accountancy.
Like some of Sandeep’s other work, this one also revolves around similar themes of creativity, freedom and entrepreneurship in a digital economy.
If you are currently unsatisfied with your day job and secretly desire creative freedom and expression — Sandeep maps out a potential path for you in this one, keeping your day job while you’re at it.
How To Start Your Own Business? — A live business masterclass from an entrepreneurial veteran — what’s not to love? Sandeep goes behind the mindset behind successful businessmen and runs through practical ideas for starting and growing a successful business from scratch with the guest.
If you’ve always wanted to start a business but thought it’s too difficult, this is an excellent resource to help you develop the right mental models for success.
Health and Fitness 🏃♂️
How To Stay Fit & Healthy? — Sandeep talks to an experienced doctor in the field of nutrition, discussing all topics on diet and nutrition — with plenty of actionable tips to take away.
Although not a comprehensive resource, this one is great if you’re beginning your journey into health and fitness, and want to avoid the common pitfalls most people fall into due to the bad advice that is out there. Go ahead — save yourself some precious time!
How To Become Physically Strong? — In this one, Sandeep explores the topic of physical strength and its four different pillars — safety, sustainability, stretching and strength with an experienced physiotherapist.
There are certainly more comprehensive resources on this topic from other creators, however, a lot of basic questions focused on creating a safe workout routine, posture, consistency are answered here, which are often not given the attention they deserve from more mainstream creators.
Love and Relationships 😍
What is Love? — In this one, Sandeep investigates the age-old question — what is love? A lot of basic misconceptions about love are debunked in this one through Sandeep’s classic group contemplation method.
An essential watch for everyone — especially if you haven’t been exposed to the true nature of love — oneness.
Strong Relationship Secret — Sandeep goes back to basics in this one! Lots of solid advice on how to go about picking the right person to date/marry based on your values, and setting the right expectations from your relationship.
The essence of his advice is this — Do not make a hasty commitment, because poor decisions with relationships are very difficult to recover from and will greatly set you back in other areas of life.
Good one if you haven’t made any significant romantic commitments yet, but want to have the confidence to make the choice when the time is right.
Mindset 🧠
Self-Discipline — It’s called self-discipline, but this is so much more profound than that.
Everyone bestowing advice to you colours it with their judgement, unique experience and genetic makeup.
What I really love about this one is that Sandeep covers the art of choosing the right advice for you, something which I think is becoming overwhelmingly important in this age of information overload.
Using first-principles thinking, he uncovers one potential way to help his guest with his problem of distractions, low productivity and lack of purpose during his studies, something all of us have faced either at school or work. Don’t miss this one — you won’t regret it.
Focus Your Mind — I have to admit, this one was a challenging watch for me — mainly because Sandeep covers the common misconceptions of meditation, a “habit” I put quite a bit of effort into installing earlier this year.
He talks about how maybe you don’t really need a meditation practice, and how you may be able to experience meditation in activities you already love and enjoy — like dancing, writing, painting, learning a new skill.
Anything which brings you to the present moment — takes you out of your mind and thoughts into your body, completely immersed in awareness.
One Way To Balance Your Life — Although I can’t link to this, my life has changed in so many ways because of this video. Sandeep talks about the delusions we have about our needs and wants, and talks about the kind of freedom you can only experience by keenly understanding the difference between the two.
Why this resonated so much with me was because it challenged my mentality of “win big at all costs” and “go hard or go home”.
It made me question — what for? What is the void I’m trying to fill with success? What exactly and how much of it do I need for happiness and fulfilment?
If you are ambitious to a fault like me, this one is definitely worth a watch.
Wisdom and Spirituality 🧘♂️
What To Do If Life Seems Meaningless? — If I could only watch a single video of wisdom from him, it would be this one.
Sandeep talks about taking a deeper look into our desires for entrepreneurial vs corporate success — what are our authentic motivations? What is it that we are really looking for?
He also describes a clear path for a purposeful life, depending on your current stage of life — stepping off the hedonic cycle of money, success and accomplishments and towards a more meaningful existence.
I cannot understate the profundity of this conversation and the potential it has for changing the trajectory of your life. Don’t miss it.
Absolute Freedom — This one is absolute gold. I’ve watched this multiple times, and the insights he bestows on living a life of freedom, detachment and abundance are remarkable.
I find that in a world dominated by materialistic, western cultural influences, videos like this open your eyes to a way of purposeful living — instead of aimlessly chasing security, comforts and worldly pleasures. Do not miss this one.
Philosophy of Life — This video gives us a deeper understanding of Sandeep’s philosophy of life and his approach to living without suffering.
He reiterates his teachings of the importance of looking inwards to understand our true motivations and answers questions on what actions to take when one lacks purpose or meaning in life.
If you’re unclear whether the path you’re currently venturing fulfil you, you will find this one quite insightful.
Which one was your favourite? Let me know in the comment section below! 🙂
PS: I’ll be adding to this list continuously, so please reach out if you think I missed out on a hidden gem! 💎
