We live in a world obsessed with numbers: 10,000 steps a day, 100 emails to answer, a 7-figure goal. But what if the key to true success isn’t in a number at all? What if our ancestors had a better way? This is the story of the ancient Indian unit-based system, a way of measuring value that has everything to teach us about modern living, beyond the metrics and the metrics.
Beyond the numbers: How an ancient system of value can transform your life and business.
1. The Real Historical Story: The Merchant and the Scholar
In the bustling markets of ancient Ujjain, a savvy merchant, Devesh, meticulously used a system of Annās and Rattis to conduct his trade. His accounts were perfect, his balance sheets flawless, all based on a system of fixed, fractional units. To him, one Rupee was simply sixteen Annas, a tangible, undeniable truth.
One evening, a brilliant astronomer, Brahmagupta, showed him a new way of counting. He introduced a number he called shunya (zero) and a place-value system. At first, Devesh was bewildered. “How can you have a number for nothing? My accounts must be full!” But as Brahmagupta explained how this system could simplify astronomical calculations and predict the movements of the planets, a new idea sparked in Devesh’s mind.
Devesh realised that he could use two systems: the unit-based system for the tangible, day-to-day running of his business, and the decimal system with zero for strategic, long-term planning and theoretical calculations. By embracing both, he not only mastered his trade but also gained a visionary edge over his competitors, predicting market trends in a way no one else could.
2. The Indian Mythological Story: The Three Paces of Vamana
The universe was under the dominion of the mighty demon king Bali, who, through his power, had conquered all the three worlds. The Devas, humbled and exiled, cried out for help. Lord Vishnu promised to intervene, not with a thousand-armed army, but with a single, simple request.
Vishnu appeared as Vamana, a diminutive Brahmin boy, and asked Bali for a mere “three paces”of land as a gift. Bali, amused by such a small request from a dwarf, readily agreed. This was the turning point. Bali was using a fixed, unit-based system (a “pace”) and had fundamentally underestimated its true value.
Vamana then began to grow, expanding to a cosmic size. With his first pace, he covered the entire Earth; with his second, he measured the heavens. Having nowhere else to place his third step, he pressed his foot on Bali’s head, sending him to the underworld and restoring balance to the universe. The story teaches a profound lesson: the value of a “unit” is not in its appearance, but in the power it contains.
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” — Seneca
3. The Modern Practical Story: Rohan’s Burnout Breakthrough
Rohan was a startup founder drowning in metrics. His productivity dashboards screamed “success” (12-hour workdays, 100+ tasks completed), but his life felt like a slow-motion burnout. He was measuring “quantity” of work, but losing the “quality” of life.
On a break, he read about the ancient unit-based system. It hit him: what if he stopped measuring hours and started measuring “valuable units”? He redefined his day not by a number of tasks, but by these units: “one deep-focus session on a key task,” “one meaningful conversation with a teammate,” “one hour of quality time with family,” “one hour of intentional learning.”
This change freed him. He realized that the single “unit” of a meaningful conversation was often more valuable to his business than a dozen more emails. His productivity soared, his stress levels dropped, and he felt more fulfilled than ever. He wasn’t doing more; he was doing the right things.
Practical Tips:
- Identify Your Key Units: What are the 3-5 most valuable “units” of your week? (e.g., a strategic meeting, a sales call, a long workout).
- Measure Value, Not Just Quantity: Instead of tracking hours, track the completion of these valuable units.
- Apply to Projects: In project management, define a project’s success by the completion of “units” (e.g., “The new website is live” is a unit) rather than a checklist of hundreds of tiny tasks.
My Learnings: This research has shown me that the true power of any system lies not in its complexity but in its ability to bring clarity. The ancient Indians had a profound understanding that simple, value-driven units are often more meaningful than a collection of large, abstract numbers. Our modern world could learn a lot by returning to this fundamental principle.
Curious about the ancient workings behind each system and how it shaped life in those days? DM me if you’d like to dive deeper.”
