Last week I was fortunate enough to sit down with Kunal Parikh currently a PhD student at Johns Hopkins focused on biomedical engineering, but also a research scholar, National Science Foundation fellow, successful entrepreneur of multiple nonprofit, social venture, and for profit businesses, and he’s still in his twenties. Can you say power house? Some how he has accomplished exponentially more than the vast majority of other people I know, let alone other twenty somethings. I was curious, having found so much successes and accomplishment, what was he doing that was different than the rest of us, or more importantly, what is it that’s holding the rest of us back?

Many of us are capable of achieving such feats, but for whatever reason we don’t seem able to find the tools we need to reach our goals. Whether we are stuck in a dead end job, buried by debt, deep sea diving through job applications, or just all around blase, how do we get ourselves motivated to go above and beyond?

In the case of Kunal Parikh, this answer can be explained in three words. Impact. Community. Gratitude.

To truly understand what I mean by impact we have to look back into Parikh’s past. Growing up, he was raised in a Jainist family and often took trips to India where he was exposed to what it means to grow up without privilege. Upon graduating high school, Parikh was so greatly influenced by these experiences that he decided to travel back to India and pursue becoming a monk.

“When I graduated high school I thought I had figured everything out (didn’t we all…). I wanted to become a monk, I wanted to fully renounce the rest of the world because if my purpose is to liberate my soul then that’s the best way to do it, to become a monk”

However, after some time, he realized that perhaps that path wasn’t the best thing for him to be doing at that time in his life, so like many of us, he changed direction and started on a new path. He returned to the United States and enrolled at Ohio State with one goal. Impact.

It sounds simple, but how do you define impact, what does it mean to help others? Many of us have the desire to help others, but as far as how, we’re lost. This is where Parikh had a very clear and concise goal, “Impact. Here is someone in need, and here is them getting what they need, that’s impact.” To him, the most direct way to create impact was biomedical engineering, and he dove head first into the research lab. Impact applies across many, if not all fields so long as the goal remains the same, are people getting what they need?

“I never wanted to be an entrepreneur, I just wanted to help people,” says Parikh, “I don’t believe people should be limited by the circumstances of their birth, and I want to spend the rest of my life creating a world where people aren’t limited by their circumstances.”

But how do we give people what they need, how do we formulate the ideas that create impact? Where do you find the opportunity?

Parikh found opportunities by taking the small opportunities around him and expanding upon them. While at Ohio State he knew he wanted to create an organization that aided the non profit groups in the surrounding community.

At the time, Ohio State would allow students to lead up to five-student organizations and would give $2,000 in funding to each group. In order to create the biggest impact, Parikh started the maximum number of organizations he was permitted, and pooled the money for a single organization called, Dollars 4 Change, which used the $10,000 to raise awareness for local non-profits in the greater Columbus area, promote volunteerism across the student body, and continue fundraising efforts. Dollars 4 Change expanded membership to over 300 students and branched out in chapters to other schools.

Simultaneously, Parikh was taking notice of the biomedical technologies that were sitting in the school’s research labs never developing into impactful therapies. “There was a technology that had been sitting in the lab for two years, and no one was really doing anything with it, but I thought it could have an impact,” So he dug around, got a team together, and created a platform to get it out to the people who needed it. He submitted his business proposal for various grants including the Ohio State University Business Competition and was awarded $100k from the Third Frontier’s Technology and Validation Start-Up Fund. Now that company, Core Quantum Technologies, has developed into a successful and sustaining business.

“When I started out, I didn’t know what I was doing, and it was empowering because, I had the Internal attitude that I can do anything I set my mind to combined with an intense purpose to help people.”

So you have an idea, you see an opportunity, but how do you get past feeling Intimidated?

“People are pretty intimidating when you’re starting, but as an entrepreneur what’s most intimidating is you don’t know what you don’t know… A lot of it was me making mistakes and learning on my own.”

You’re going to make mistakes, but when you have fully immersed yourself into what you’re passionate about, these mistakes are really just experiences that will help push you forward. When Parikh started out, for the first time he experienced equity disputes, insurance negotiations, he had to balance budgets, learn to economically use his time, all while maintaining his intense purpose and desire. They became learning experiences that helped not only his business grow, but helped him grow as a person.

“When I started out, I didn’t know what I was doing. But (not knowing what I was doing) was empowering because, I had the internal attitude that I can do anything I set my mind to, combined with an intense purpose to help people, and i didn’t have time to worry about anything other than that. I always just assume I can do it- then do it. You have to remember that you don’t need to have already built a company in order to start your first one. It’s internal, you have to understand and believe that anything you can set your mind to, you can accomplish.”

The right motivation and the right mindset will enable you to take advantage of opportunities as they’re presented to you and achieve the goals for the impact you want to see. “Its easy to get caught up in what other people think highly of, but that didn’t have anything to do with me because what I cared about was impact for others, but if you know you want to do this, you know you want to create impact, there are always people there to help.”

Which brings us to the next tool needed to find and maintain motivation. Building a network. We all know its important, from finding mentors to assembling support groups, to staffing and building partnerships, finding the right people with the right skills is what makes or breaks a business. The biggest enemy to finally getting started- trying to be the lone wolf.

Though highly successful people such as Parikh are often admired for how much they have been able to accomplish, it is important to note that they don’t accomplish these goals all on their own. It takes a community to transform a “what if” into a reality. Parikh’s second tech company started out of a community of peers that assembled every Saturday while he was still in school at Ohio State.

“I had a group of folks who I really trusted and every Saturday we would sit down and ask, ‘We want to start a company; what kind of company do we want to start.’ And every Saturday following we would meet and brainstorm ideas. And from that series of meetings came the idea for of research recruitment and the company (Research Calendar LLC).”

In the community around you are your future co-founders and collaborators, so you have got to be talking to people, going out to lunch with them, you should be sharing your passions your ideas, your visions, but also being aware of who you best work with.

“Are they going to reply to my email on the weekend, are they spending the right time on the right things, if I have lunch with someone, will they wait before they start chomping down, when I talk to someone about an opportunity, are they more interested in the money or in the impact? These little tests (that help me find) the right people for me to work with.”

Networking and building communities around him not only helped Parikh develop ideas, it helped him find grant opportunities for funding his projects, build partnerships with larger institutions and foundations, and staff his ventures with smart, hardworking, and passionate people.

“By surrounding myself with the right people, I realized that I don’t need to do it all by myself. The right people who are motivated for the right reasons, who are really passionate, and who have the integrity and talent behind them, are incredibly hard people to find no matter where you are, so for me I try to create those people, through mentoring I try to build a community of people who have the right skill sets but are also passionate and motivated.”

Finally, take time to be grateful. It’s a long road to see that change many of us hope to achieve, and there are many small goals we need to overcome along the way. To maximize your ability to have an impact Parikh points out how important it is to give recognition and appreciation to all that has helped you find success no matter how small.

“It’s important (for me) to take the time to get back to myself. Remembering what is important to me and why am I doing this in the first place. But most importantly, having a lot of gratitude for all the things I have been able to do and appreciating all the people who have helped support me. Even being able to walk down the street, to pay for a meal, it’s really valuable to be able to feel grateful.”