Category: #beBetter

The Daily Grind – 2714 – 280718

I did not write yesterday. I could’ve. I just dint feel like it. No, not cool. Need to overcome these bouts of laziness if I am to get ahead. No, not being harsh at myself. But looking at myself from a few feet in the air and evaluating what am upto. 


Anyhow, without further ado, here’s the post of the day. 

So, Krishna read the posts that I’ve been making over the last few days and told me to get married.

When I asked him about his rationale for saying so, he couldnt give me a specific answer. He said, it just felt like saying that.

Now when someone says that, it either comes from deep experience. Or from deep insight. Or from the gut. In any of these cases, if I trust the other person, even though they say something that is counter-intuitive or something that I dont agree with, I tend to give things a thought. The other filter (apart from trust) I use is if they have skin in the game. In this case Krishna doesnt. But I know that he cares deeply about me, I am inclined to give things a thought.

So, I am thinking.

About two things.

One, That if I should get married.


Two, and if what I write prompts the outsiders to evaluate me as a lonely, miserable man, I need to fix it. Fix both – what I write. And how I feel.

And after all the jamming, I think I have answers.

One.
No, I am not getting married.
I am selfish af.
I dont have enough to love someone more than myself.
And to me, my dreams, my ambition is greater than anything else.
However if things go the way they are going and I am forced to take a full-time employment, I will revisit this piece.

Two.
I will not write about my deepest darkest fears and all that here.
I will push them on echoChamber.
The point is to not run away but to give the tribe (the set of people that read my blog – yeah there is a set now!) something that adds value (rather than give them gossip that they can anyway get from a million other sources).

The other thing that needs fixing is how I feel. Now, I am not sure how to do that. What I write on this blog is true. Nothing is manufactured. Things here are as true as my existence is. Each word posted here is as close to truth as I’ve ever known. I’ve written shit here that my closest friends dont know. If I am misunderstood and I have no one but this blog to pour the grief on. If I am elated, I celebrate by writing a post here.

I’ve had great days, superb victories, glorious falls, bouts of melancholic days on stretch and much more. And for each thing, this blog has been the place where I’ve shared it all. This is closest to a soulmate that I’ve had.

I know its funny.
That I seek company of strangers.
And for someone who wants to change the world and make money in the process and enable people with that money, I dont have enough people for company.
Its ironical but that’s how it is.
I am as alone as that lone camel in that infinite desert.
Or as an actor under the lights when he’s asked to perform.
Lol. That’s some creative writing. 

Anyhow, I cant run away from what I have or who I am. The point is, I need to fix how I think and what I pour out here.

Hence forth I will.

So, the big change would be that on this blog, while I will write personal things, I will not rant. Except those one off days. Even the most serious magazines have cartoons section :D.

I’d instead write about ideas, projects, things that I am working on, things that I need help on, things that I can help with.

I will talk about big ideas and themes that I am passionate about, causes I want to contribute to. For example, I’d talk about eduction and platforms that enable people. I’d talk about health. I’d talk about pushing the human limits – mental and physical. I’d make this blog a place where I raise a storm (even if its in a mere teacup).

If I cant think of ideas, I will write about what I learnt in that day. I’ll probably write 10 ideas and work on working out the idea muscle. I’ll write about what I observed during the day. I will write about things that ought to get looked at. You know, become an activist!

Basically, I will write about things that make you wiser.
Or more informed, if you will.
Starting tomorrow today.

So, what did I learn today that I think world at large ought to know? 

  • I am the most effective when I wake up early and get some work done before the world wakes up. While this is applicable to me, I sincerely think you should try this. Try getting up early. I have had friends who love nights like they love life. And when they started getting up early, magical things started to happen for them! So, there may be a merit in becoming a morning person. Try it. For a week and if it doesn’t work, big deal! 
  • There are two kinds of people. One, who are willing to work to reach where they want to go. And second, who’d just talk about it. Which one are you? Are you the one who acts upon their desires? I am clearly the second one. And I need to become the first one. And how do I straddle from being the second to the first? Any inputs? 

And what is the big idea of the day? 
  • You need to find your “blue zone of work.” What is a blue zone of work? Inspired by blue zones where on an average people live longer, a blue zone of work is a place where you get your best work done. Where you get in the flow with rather ease. For me, the blue zone is at a Starbucks outlet (the one in Powai). I cherish my time there and I dont let anyone interrupt me while I am there. For some, its their office desk. Some people are most effective when they are at home. What is your blue zone? 
And I think thats about it for the day. For tomorrow, thanks to a prompt by SN, I am writing this super long post on manufacturing luck. Watch out this space 🙂 
That’s it for the day. 
Over and out. 

PS: Thanks to VG for prompting me to write. Need more people in the tribe to do so (push me to write when I havent written. Are you guys listening?). 


PPS: I fucked up on the day count on the blogposts (count of the days remaining till to Jan 1, 2026. I got the count wrong on the last few days. Fixing it today on. As of today, its 2714 days to go. Here is the proof. 

3 #lifeLessons (for people in their 20s)

So I dint get up on time today. I think it was way past 8:30 when I woke. For the context, I try to be up by 430 – which I rarely manage. And because I was late to get up and today was my manager day, I had to be at work. And to be able to reach on time I had to take public transport (aka Mumbai Metro).

Which I did.

And that was a good thing and a bad thing.

Bad that I had to travel in a compartment that was full of people who probably belong to the cult that does not believe in taking showers. You know how they are? Happy with each others BO? Plus, for them, I think traveling in the Metro is a sport. After all they have this uncanny knack of stomping on your feet even if you are the only person in the entire train. And they can spot a speck of space from a mile that can squeeze their frame of a 1000 kilos and 300 KMs in that speck. And they rush to it. Only to realise that the other person in competition is 3000 kilos!

Good that I got a session of HIIT done. I mean what else do you call the excursion in the Mumbai Metro where every other person reeks of I dont know what and is adamant on crushing your feet? And like every HIIT regimen, there is enough heat (thats to a million bodies packed together in a space meant for a handful) that you sweat all the fat out!

Oh when you get out of the Metro, the rickshaw guys? They will ensure that you continue the work out by refusing to go where you have to.

Apart from this, I attended a shoot for a music video. Done at EXTREMELY low budgets. And thus, a million lessons. And that’s what I will talk about in the next section – lesson of the day!

And what did I learn today?
So I learnt how to do a cheap film.

And apart from that I learnt the following three lessons. You can also read these as three life lessons for people in their 20s, if they wish to have a better life!

A. You need to have a talent that you can monetise. 
You need to learn it as soon as possible.

At 35, its impossible for me to learn a new thing. But if you are in your 20s, PLEASE go learn a skill that you can monetise. Paint, draw, sing, play an instrument, code, learn magic, dance, do something that allows you to not depend on traditional sources of income.

B. You need to do things that scale. And compound. 
For example, if I manage operations at a company, what I do there, doesnt scale. On the other hand, if I create a book, if its good, I can earn royalties for the rest of my life.

So between trying to make ends meet by working on a safe job and doing something that can potentially give you money for the rest of your life, I think you ought to pick the later.

I made the mistake of not doing that. And if I can turn back time, I will club lessons 1 and 2 above. In fact I have started to believe that all that advice about travel and making merry and fun and all that in your 20s? Its crap! You ought to make money or gain monetizable skills. More on this in some more days.

C. Invest in relationships 
Thing is, as am growing old, I realise that I dont have any meaningful relationships – the kinds that stay with me and help me when I need help. Lemme give an example. In the shoot today, the guy who was shooting needed a studio. He could curry a favour and get that studio for cheap. One of my friends, he can ask a million people to get him a discount on literally anything that he wants to buy. I on the other hand cant think of a single person who would want to help me. And there are people that I have literally begged. To give me work and what not. And yet they havent.

So, the lesson is, you MUST invest in relationships while you can. With time these relationships will become deeper and better and will give you infinite returns. Dont be me who thought that its ok to be eccentric and the talent would pay of at some point in time in future. It may. But future is not really the best play to live, if you ask me.

Of course, your life. You choose if these are applicable to you. I can only talk from experience and hindsight.

***

So thats it for the day. What are the few things that you learnt today? Please do share.

PS: Love this post! And I use way too many Ands. And I need to control it. And with that, its over and out.

On relationships, work and meaning

Wrote this a few weeks back on an email and on Medium. Republishing it here. 

As I type this, I am in Dubai! In case you did not know, I am taking a break from life and work and all that and trying to discover myself. No, I am not killing myself or anything. This is an attempt to #bebetter. More is on this blogpost. Also, at C4 Events, we have a new project about postcards. Read about it here. Do lemme know if you want postcards from Dubai.

Anyhow so the point of this post is relationships and work.

The day before I left for this detox of sorts, I was talking to a colleague and was telling her that most modern relationships are actually based on convenience and not on real, deep sense of belonging. Of course she was aghast and all that. I don’t blame her. This a tough one. Counterintuitive to everything that we’ve been taught — especially in India where we are willing to kill and get killed for family, community, honor etc.

I believe that these relationships merely allow you to domesticate and stay in safe havens. If you have to go in deep waters and take risks and do amazing things, you HAVE to leave the comfort behind. And create (or forge or explore) relationships with strangers.

My point was that we ought to invest more into relationships that are built on top of work (or while working). And work not as in work that a bank teller does or a credit card salesman does (of course both are important and are tough and have dignity and all that) but work that makes us push the limits. The creative work.

So, in between the “argument” she asked me to give my theory of what makes relationships tick. I said that the deepest and the most meaningful relationships are the ones that are created around creating amazing things. In other words, if you can figure out ways to work together with great people, find synergies, find comfort in those people, it creates a fascinating relationship. And creates great work.

This seemed to make sense to her. And to me. And we left it at that and moved onto other things.

And then, something funny happened. I was checking my email in the morning and I stumbled onto this in my inbox…

The subtitle caught my attention and I had to click on it!

So I ended up at https://creativemornings.com/talks/christina-amini/1 and heard Christina Amini talk about how authentic relationships enable awesome projects and how awesome projects allow us to develop authentic relationships. Exactly what I was trying to tell my colleague the day before!

Do see the video if you have 25 odd minutes.

Disclaimer. The story (and the video), while is illuminating (and inspiring), is heartbreaking. You may not want to see it first thing in the morning. Or may be you want to see it, to remind you of the frivolity and shortness of life. A fear that pushes me to do more!

So, here are the key highlights that I am taking away from the talk (to help me reinforce my assertions about relationships rooted in work tend to be stronger, better and deeper). This following list is NOT a verbatim summary of the video. It also includes my thoughts as I saw the video.

  • Most creative work requires you to have immense faith and inherent trust in the other person (or people).
  • You have long-term thingy at the back of your head. This means you automatically start investing more (we all “know” that long-term success requires patience and honesty and openness).
  • When you work together, your conversations are about trying to solve problems (and not about what is Taimur upto or what is the new costume on Ranveer Singh etc). When you try to solve problems, you are often thinking as a team (and not as individuals). You start thinking about strengths of the other person — which automatically make you look for goodness in them.
  • When you work together, you are often vulnerable (you dont know how would audience receive a certain thing, you probably get stuck and seek help) etc etc. And when you are vulnerable, you open up. You start to share things that you’d normally keep buried in your hearts. And often when you solve problems when you are vulnerable, the answers that you come up with to solve the problems are the ones that often resolve the vulnerability. And when you get the resolution to your vulnerability AND to the problem you are facing, Eureka probably happens!
  • Because what you create makes meaning and is often larger than you, your teammates or your team, you have this shared sense of purpose. And achievement.
  • Most “creative” things require love. And that means you put in your heart and soul and all that to be able to create output. And when you work with someone who is also putting in the heart and soul and is creating a piece of love, you create magic! And the very process of creating magic makes the relationship, well, magical!

Apart from these direct inferences and thoughts from the talk, the other takeaway from this talk is when the lady says, “I will do anything with Susan!” This is something that I’ve been trying to be subconsciously. When I become available in market for new work etc, people HAVE to say that they’d do anything with me! Do they say the same about you?

Thats about it. What’s your take on relationships?

Thank you!

PS: This is a slightly edited version of an email that I send to select friends. Please do let me know if you wish to subscribe. 

PPS: First posted here. 

A primer on how to #beBetter.


Context: I wrote this as an email to a friend when he asked me for tips to manage his increasingly complex life (he is doing exceedingly well in life and has a toddler that keeps him on the toes) while remaining healthy.

I poured EVERYTHING I knew in this email.

And while I was editing it, I realised I could send this to more friends. And thus this post. Please note that I am no expert. Just trying to get better as an individual and these are the things that I am working on to #bebetter.

Hey XXXX,

So I wanted to write you an email and then I thought a doc is better. Easy to format and consume and share and comment and add to and all that.

Standard disclaimers apply. I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. I am NOT responsible for the results if you do try these.

Oh, I don’t do a lot of these right now but will start doing so by the end of this year (right now, I am not even equipped to do some of these and I am working hard to get there).

Also, dont ask me for research, facts, rationale, reasoning, links, sources etc. This are things that I sincerely BELIEVE in and am willing to do myself. If you think these are right, please try. If you think these are wrong, these are wrong and refrain.

But like I said, I believe in and practise these things. There is all the skin in the game when I recommend these. So, up to you.

I divide my “discourse” in sections. Sections are:

  1. Health
  2. Work
  3. Future
  4. Tools
  5. Misc
A. Health
This is the most important thing ever. I sincerely wish that I could turn back time and not abuse the body the way I did (coke etc). Thankfully I was never on drugs or alcohol. But if I tell something to all young ones, I say that you need to work on your health.

Anyhow, within health, key components are:

A.1 Sleep (I know that you have a baby and it’s tough to do all this but I am sure you can).

  • You have to find your optimal level (duration) of sleep. People say it’s between 6 and 8 hours. For me, its 5. For you, it could be 8. Use a sleep tracker (see tools below).
  • Find your relationship with circadian rhythm. Essentially, know if you are a morning person or a night person. And try to become a morning person if you are not. Easy way to do this is to try to sleep by 10 and up by 5. And no this is not impossible. You can do this. First few days are tough. And then it’s easy after that.
  • When you sleep, sleep in a room WITHOUT any screen. Tough but if I can do, you can too. If you are using a tracker, put on airplane mode.
  • Room temperature — 22 degrees
  • Lights — DARK. Or Blue. Buy lights if you have to. I bought and it got fucked after a few days and since its too expensive, couldnt buy again.
  • As you drift to sleep, think of things that you are grateful for, in THAT day. Not in general. On THAT day.
  • REM Sleep is when what you learn gets reinforced and new connections are made. So I typically try to read / think about things that are perplexing me as I drift to sleep. By the time I get up and reach the shower, I somehow get the best ideas. Remember they say that best ideas come on the pot? This is the reason why. So, use sleep as a weapon.
  • After you wake up, first thing? MAKE YOUR BED. Simple and SUPER EFFECTIVE. Please please do this.
  • Second thing? Think of three things that you need to achieve today. That you WILL achieve today. Think. No writing nothing. Think. And then you start your day. If you want more dope on what to do when you start your day, ask me and I will tell you.
  • Third thing? Watch some funny video. Whatever tickles your bone. I watch haryanavi humor. And prank calls by RJ Naved. You can watch Louis CK. Or even Modi Ji 🙂

A.2. Nutrition

  • Irrespective of your body size, shape, age etc, you HAVE to go on a lo-carb diet. Fuck what nutritionists say. Lo carb it is.
  • Try Keto for 2 weeks. Trust me, its THE shit.
  • Cut out red meat from your life. Forget that there is red meat. If you eat red meat.
  • Forget sugar. Eating processed sugar is a sin. You need to slap yourself hard in public if you eat sugar.
  • No alcohol. No smoking. EVER.
  • Try weed. Serious. But in moderation.
  • Skip Dinner. If you can’t, ensure that you don’t eat carbs after 7 PM. If you have to have to eat, proteins. Boiled eggs are the best. No milk. And it’s ok to be boring and not want different kinds of food. And it’s ok if you go to family functions and people make fun of you for not eating.

A.3. Brain

  • Install one of the brain training apps. I use Peak. Its immensely helpful. Its like exercise. You know walking is good. But same applies to brain. Each day, doing something that actually works on brain muscles is required.
  • Brain is NOT for remembering. Its for thinking and processing and creating patterns. Outsource your memory to The Brain (a tool), or simply, Evernote. Counter-intuitive. But do it. Your brain has one function and one function only — processing. This means making connections, seeing patterns, connecting the dots etc. Fuck anything else that anything says. No one cares if you can remember a deck of cards — its a simple hack, anyone can learn. What you need to be able to do is process and be creative.
  • Practise deep breathing. Wait. Deep breathing? Brain? Yes. Do it.
  • Challenge yourself in new ways. Do things that you’ve never done. For example, stand up? Or play pool? Brian is about making connections. The day you stop making connections and the synapses, you are fucked.

A.4. Mindfulness

  • Meditate 10 minutes everyday. Use Calm. Free version allows you 28 days. Please do that. If you want, am happy to buy you a subscription.
  • REMOVE all negative things from your life — friends, family — anyone that drags you down, throw that person, thing out. This could be your best friend that pulls your leg all the time. I’ve done this. Thrown people out. It hurts. Like Cancer. Its part of your body but you kill it.
  • ADD positive things.
  • There is LOT more on mindfulness. I am not sure of a lot of things myself. This is something that even I am working on.
  • Get authentic. Read about it. Authentic. You are like who you are. In real life, in conduct, in meetings, in your bedroom, in your heart and in your soul. If you are authentic, you spend less effort (you are not posing and hence you are using less brainpower and thus are happier). Plus people on other side also know you as authentic and good and honest and all that and thus trust you more.

A.5. Body

  • Massage — twice a week. At home. Not spa. There is this guy at XXXX. He charges 400 per day. Find one in XXXXX.
  • Walk — 45 mins EACH day. There is NO alternative to this. Invest in a GREAT walking shoe. Either Nike or Asics or nothing. You don’t have issue with money. So do it.
  • Work with hands. Learn something that makes you use your hands. This will help you in delaying old age. I tried guitar. I am going to pick up Khartal.
  • Grow muscle. Don’t become The Rock. But grow muscle. This will not happen without gym or protein. I don’t understand much of this right now but I once I reach that point, i will.
  • Get a standing desk. You have to. If you can’t, I can gift you one. Mine is coming. At Starbucks, I work with a standing desk.
  • Keep back straight. Remind yourself multiple times to keep the spine straight.
  • Sex. Get regular with it if you aren’t. Sorry, this is a taboo and all that in India but get regular at it. Get an extramarital if you have to. I know this sounds wrong but you need to decide for yourself if you want to live till 120 and you want to be active and all that. Fuck what has been taught to us. Draupadi had 5 husbands. Akbar had a Harlem. What other evidence do you need? There is science. And no, I don’t have an extramarital thing yet. Heck, I don’t even have a marital thing yet. But if need be, I will. I am selfish.

Here are some “hacks”

  • Carry Almonds with you in a small box. Everytime you are hungry, pop in a few. Not too much. A few (less than 5 at a time). Or boiled eggs. Buy an egg boiler. I bought one and it’s super easy to use and its fast and I get perfectly boiled eggs.
  • Buy eye mask if you can’t get lights in the room.
  • Use the night mode feature on your phone to get the phone to automatically go silent post 8 PM.
  • Tell yourself EVERYDAY that you are lucky. You know that study right? They divided a random group of people into 2 groups. One was told that they were lucky. The other was told they weren’t. And then they were asked to search for free movie ticket coupons in the same newspaper. Guess who found more coupons? Just because they were TOLD that they were lucky, they found more.
  • Listen to the music from the time in life when you had no worries and were carefree and you were SUPER happy. May be the same track that you used to propose to your wife! I listen to Lucky Ali, KK, Silk Route etc. I am forgetting who talks about this but this is a PROVEN technique to reduce stress and get focus back.
  • Assume you make 3 lakhs a month (INR). This means you make 10K a day. Means each working hour for you is worth 1000 bucks. Anything that you can outsource for cheaper, do that. For example, you can get a driver for 400 bucks an hour, do it. You can hire an EA to save you 20 hours in a month? Pay 20K and get one. More on EA later. But point is, anything that frees up time for you — even if you have to pay for it, do it.

B. Work

  • Get an EA to handle emails and other “dirty” tasks. Idea is that you will NOT do anything that does NOT add value to your time or life. If there is one thing that you can do from this entire document, get an EA will be THE number 1. May be sleep is but this is close.
  • You will only do 4 things at a point in time. Not 3, not 5. If more than 4 things demand your attention, you will find a resource to do that. You can afford to. So do it. Wish I could.
  • Use pomodoro. 25 mins of deep work and then break. Chunk you tasks in 25 mins. Open office for 25 mins, meetings for 25 mins, thinking for 25 mins etc. The other 5 mins on the pomodoro? Go for a walk. I am going to do 2 push-ups every 25 mins. Lets see. Idea is to cultivate that habit.
  • While you work and you get a distraction, do NOT jump to it. Buy empty visiting cards and write on those the thing that is causing you distraction. And then once you are done what you are doing, do things that are on the cards.
  • Get a personal board. I am getting one. You are on it. And there are 10 other people. Like XXXXX Sir said, from different backgrounds.
  • Tell each of those people about your work ambitions. Don’t hide. Trust them. Don’t talk in vague terms. They are YOUR board. There is often sensitive information. Its ok. Life’s too short. And this sensitive information is NEVER life or death. Its at max career limiting. We can get the career back. But it’s ok to trust in your people, your board. For your progress.
  • Switch off mobile notifications from all apps except SMS. Tell your favorite ones to call or sms for emergency. Everything else has to “fetch” for you. Your life shall not be controlled by the ding of an incoming message by a colleague or a client. Neither it will be run by a notification on Facebook about your wife uploading a pic of your daughter. It will be run by you and your goals and your ambition.
  • Get famous. You already have XXXX. Use that. Leverage that. The idea is that reputation takes you so so far. Go far. I suck at this. I am working on this. And its tough for me cos I havent done shit. You have. Your reputation can take your so much farther its not funny.
  • Write. PLEASE. Even if you think you write BS or write like crap, please write. There is NO better way to clear the head than to write. Writing this note has given me so so so so many ideas and reinforced so many beliefs. Thank you for making me write this one. Ideally you have to write at a specific time EACH day. I am trying to get into that zone of writing. But I need to first get out of the issue that my time is owed to someone else. You are lucky. You own your time.
  • Learn mental models. Use them. If not all models, just learn Cialdini’s. These are social proof, authority, scarcity, liking, commitment and reciprocity. Find out all the models I’ve used in this one email.
  • Get purposeful. Dont do things because there’s nothing else. I can talk so much about this. Not purpose as in world changing and all that. Purpose as in you do things with so much passion, so much love, so much purpose that if someone is looking at you, they get infected with your way of working. Ordinary is boring af.

C. Future

  • Make a vision board (sounds gyaan but trust me, it helps. And ofcourse none of these esoteric things happen unless you work towards those things)
  • Once a week, sit and think on your future. Mark this in your calendar. There is no way you can’t NOT do this.
  • Use your board. I am sure you read the point above.
  • Make your team. Team XXXX. I have this thing called Team SG. A set of REALLY young kids (in the age group of less than 25) that you hire today. These people HAVE to work with you for rest of YOUR life. Groom them, mentor them, help them. Make your team. Not your company’s. Your. Do you have 5 people who’d walk out with you if you have to quit? I have 1. I want 9 more in this year. Working on this.

D. Tools

  • Start using Asana. Or Trello. Whatever you like. Idea is to outsource your remembering function.
  • Google Calendar. You will NOT meet anyone if its not on your calendar. Not even standup meetings. Create office hours (time when anyone can walk in to you office to ask you anything — like yesterday, 5 people walked in while you and I were talking. Train then that they can only ask you things at 11 AM or 5 PM). In 25 min slots.
  • Sleep tracking — use fitbit or even some app on your phone. I use Sleep Cycle. This tells you how is your sleep and if you are sleep is fucked, you are fucked. You need to first know if the sleep is good or bad. You may think you sleep well but the app tells you that you are fucked and you need to fix it. This is the single biggest revelation that happened to me.
  • All tools that I use EVERYDAY are: Hubspot CRM, Feedly, Asana, Toggl, LifeTrack sheet (where I track my life — I note down what I do on most days), Google Calendar.
  • There is no set formula for these tools. You find your set of tools. I found these after a lot of effort and lot of time. I keep going back and forth between tools. Idea is to find your own path.

E. Misc

  • You OWN the day. Not your calendar or emails. You can choose to switch off emails. Once you get your EA, you can further control your time.
  • Use your commute. Cat nap, podcasts etc. Do whatever but do NOT waste it with SM or email. Commute is THE biggest advantage we have. I know of a guy who actually lives in Thane so that he can get 2 hours every day in train to read! Beat that!

That’s for the time being. I am sure there are more. And I am not sure if this helps you. But these have helped me immensely. I am little more peaceful and content. Though I am yet to become the big shit that I’ve always wanted to become — I am sure I will get there. I am lucky. Are you?

Any inputs anyone? I am @saurabh on twitter.
PS: First posted on Medium here. 

Work with hands!

One of the things that I had decided I will do #in2018 is to work with my hands. That means I will take up carpentering, painting, guitar, calligraphy, card-tricks or anything of that sort that makes me use my hands. Hands. Fingers.

One may argue that typing is also using hands. Its easy to type and even though you use qwerty and not Dvorak*, its fascinating to see your fingers do the dance on the keyboard. But then writing is for writing. Not for hitting two birds with one stone. You know what am saying?

So, as I think about this, there are few reasons for trying to work with hands. Here’s a list.

A. I love action. This essentially means that I need to be able to fidget with something all the time. No no. Not fidgeting with a spinner or a cube. That’s just plain consumerism. But fidgeting with something that adds up**.

B. I cant even twist or roll a pen in my hands (you know that thing that a lot of engineers do?). I need to learn that! Or something like that. Why? Why not? Its such a cool thing to do!

C. Finally, its a new skill. I think the day I stop learning is the day I will die. And while I do learn on the job, I do learn with each thing I do, I need to add new things to my repertoire.

I remember a few years back, each month I learnt a new thing (how to solve a Rubik’s, remember a randomly shuffled deck of cards, juggle three balls etc). May be I need to bring that theme back? No, none of these will enable me to make a living but these will expand faculties that I don’t use right now.

Ergo.

Ok. So I have established that I will use my hands, what would I pick?

There’s guitar. That I’ve tried my hands on since I was in the 9th standard. And I’ve failed at. Since I was in the 9th standard. Lets just say I don’t have what it takes to learn it. Or maybe, I’ll pick it up and apply the 20-hour principle? Or may be, I’d do Khartal (that I ordered yesterday).

What do you recommend?

Oh, one more thing. In the end, ladies and gents, the question for you is, what new skill are you acquiring this year?



* I saw a video summary of a book on how to learn any skill in 20 hours. The author changed his keyboard from the start qwerty to a more efficient Dvorak in 20 hours. I don’t want to. Because the kind of work I do requires me to work on multiple computers, often in crunch situations. So I want to keep that faculty intact. 


The point is that I can learn a new skill in 20 hours. Why not experiment it on a skill that I requires me to work with my hands? 


**Adding-up has been a consistent theme that has reoccurred in my thoughts last few days. What is adding up? Imagine you were making a pyramid. Every brick you lay makes the wall longer, stronger, higher. Each brick, howsoever small it may be becomes an integral part of the larger wall. Over time, with each insignificant brick, you achieve something large. Think compounding. 


*** Constant learning is the thing that probably gives us the edge. Need to think more on this. Need to talk more on this. 

Help me help people around me…

Among other things that I have planned to do #in2018, I am gonna work on a non-fiction. The idea is to create something that helps the world, allows me to reach more people and achieve financial independence. A win-win-win. Yes there IS a thing like that.

The starting point of all the above, is a non-fiction book. And for the same, I am looking for a research and writing assistant to help me! 
What is the book about?
Cant give too many specifics for the time being (because I dont have them to be honest; all of it is WIP). But when it does come out, it will be stocked in either the self-improvement or business & management category at bookstores across the world (not just India). In fact, the first month together will be spent on shortlisting the theme, idea etc. 
What I need from you? What “skills” am I looking for? 
  • Understanding of business. If you have studied marketing, journalism, business reporting, you will be an ideal person to work with.
  • Understanding of behavioural sciences. All self-improvement books are essentially about behaviour, decision making and mental models. 
  • Ability to conduct online research, do background research on people, connect dots (like investigative journalists do) and other similar things that will help us make sense of all the data that we gather. 
  • Inquisitiveness and innate curiosity about the world around us. What makes people do things they do? Why do companies fail? What makes an underdog beat a Goliath against all odds? 
  • Handle large quantity of data. This “data” would be things like interviews (that we conduct), research (to back up these interviews), original text (that we write), media (that we will have to consume to work on the book), scratch notes, snippets, thoughts and other things. 
  • Great command over English language. This means that you are a grammar nazi, you know how to fix a badly written piece of text and you can spot a badly written piece of text from a mile. This is probably the most important bit as my command over language is questionable. 
  • Some sense of humor. Please. There’s just too many serious people around and we can do with some easy going people. 
  • You would have read a few business, non-fiction and self-improvement books. This means you understand the structure of such books. You also know what is faff and what actually adds value. 
  • Most importantly, you REALLY want to work on a non-fiction in the self-improvement genre. 
You must… 
  • be is in your mid-twenties. I am sure of this unless you are an anomaly. 
  • be willing to work 2-3 hours EACH day. No Sundays or weekends. I dont believe in that thing called the work-life balance. My work is my life. I live to work. I work to be able to make lives of people better, if not make a dent in the universe. 
  • live in Mumbai. You will work from your home / college / office etc. And you will have to meet me once a week for 2-3 hours. 
  • have access to a computer and Internet. 
  • know Google suite really well (drive, docs, keep, calendar etc.). 
And the most important of them all. What’s in it for you? 
  • Stipend. I can pay upto Rs. 5K per month. For the duration that we work together. I estimate this to be a 6-month long engagement. If 5k a month is too less for you, I promise that I will give you all the royalty I make for the first 5 years. No conditions. Serious about this. 
  • Credits in the book. As an assistant for sure. And in case you and I click, may be as a co-author. How cool will it be to have written and published a book in your name? 
  • Learning. The book will help people become better (yes, you are staring at a man who wants to be yet another self-improvement and personal productivity guru). And while the ambition is to write a book that helps people, the very process of writing the book will help you as well. Plus I am a great mentor. I am. Trust me! 
In short, I am looking at a Superman / Superwoman. To push me to do well. And make the world a better place. I know I cant do this alone. And I need help. Are you the one? 
P.S.: Found any typos in this post? 

Fork in the road

So, Yogi Berra apparently said, “when you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Here’s a fork.

Starting today, I am moving my personal rants to a closed blog. No access to it ever. Its like an echoChamber.

This makes the number of blogs I (try to) maintain upto 523321842. Of course apart from this one and the one I maintain for C4E, most remain dormant. I will work on those at some point in time.

For the time being, to know more about the fork, please refer to this short QnA I did with, well, myself!

So what happens to the War of Words? 
It stays! Stays the way it is. Except posts where I get super critical about myself. Those go on my personal blog.

I will not post things related to work here. Those things go on C4E blog. Or may be on S101. Or I dont know where. But not here. This has been and shall remain a place where I park my personal thoughts (dude, all thoughts ARE personal). Fuck all the jazz about building personal brands and all that. This is me. And thats how it will be.

Oh, some posts will go on multiple blogs. But this blog will become a repository of EVERY post that I write. Except the ones that I write for myself, for the echoChamber.

Why this segregation?
As I grow up in life (lol), I am beginning to realise my raison d’etre (though I cant pronounce the word yet, damn French or whatever language is) — a billion lives, a billion dollars and The Everest. And to do that, I need to be able to get access to people, ideas, opportunities and other things that will enable me to fulfill the purpose.

And that wont happen if I am known as someone who’s super critical about things.

Thing is, I think, to do large things, you need a tinge of irrationality, the blind faith in your ability and a big dollop of hope. Not a pragmatic, critical, type A personality – which I think I am. So I need to get out of the mould. And to do that I will have to do some lot of things that I havent done in the past. Such as be conscious of the signals that I send out. No, I dont mean that I will stop being who I am (last few days, have got so many lessons on authenticity that I would be a fool to get away from it). But that means that I will consciously chase things rather than letting them happen to me. And if that means changing how the blog sounds like, I will do it. This year, by hook or by crook, I have to make it big. And I am on my way.

Ok I am digressing. Next question please.

You must be nuts, dude.
You dint know that already?

Actually, more than nuts, I think I am like Louis. And this blog, is like Norma – a consistent echo-chamber that has been around since I think I have started thinking.

Coming back, what about your fans? The ones who read this blog religiously? 
Lol! You gotta be kidding me! Fans hote hain #bhairoxx ke. Humare to readers hai. Wo bhi ek-do. And they’d understand. Any more questions?

How will the shape of this blog change as we go along? 
I dont know that. I gave it a cursory glance and tried to read it like a stranger would. Here’s what I think of WoW as a stranger.

First thing is that most posts are long by the snacky-listicles standards that we are used to seeing on the Internet. Boring for most people who spend time online. Assuming that someone does stumble upon something they do want to read, to people who dont know the author, all the posts would remain meaningless. Each posts requires way too much context before someone could make sense. Even if you have “fans” from the book, dont think they’d be keen on reading what you rant about. Agreed there are posts about how you’re trying to improve and all that. But then, as a stranger, am I interested? Dont know. 

Also, side note. Most blogs tend to have a theme – say technology, writing, design, marketing et al. This blog has no theme. Its a potpourri of things that the blogger is interested in. I will never bookmark because the interests are so varied that its tough to track. Plus none of the posts is deep. I mean the dude is clearly not an expert on any topic that he writes on. So, why would I read it? 

Ok. So, if I need to chase the ambitions, I need to try and talk to people who’s push me ahead on the path of those ambitions. That means I will have to talk about impacting people and inspiring them (essentially about making better decisions, pushing thyself, learning new things, identifying the limitations, failure, life, making the world a better place, et al), money (work, opportunities, ideas etc. P.S: Of course I will not get into specifics. Those will go on work blog. Here, I will talk about lessons am taking home, the mistakes am making and pitfalls that I am getting stuck in) and the Everest (fitness, the journey, baby steps that am taking towards it etc.).

I will need to create deep, meaningful content that has to be contextual to the themes that I am chasing. For example, if I want to write about brands, I need to make it so relevant, so interesting that marketers actually want to read it! Makes sense.

May be the blog needs to get three distinct headers. Say, wow.in/inspire, wow.in/work, wow.in/everest. And each talks about a certain thing. Whoever is interested in whatever section can choose to read that section alone and then come back to it. Or not. Depending on how they like it.
a

Wait. Where do things like poker, travel, short stories et al go? 
Ummm… they could go under personal?

Lol! that’s where you started. No? 
Ok. They could go under inspire. And the content could be lessons I learn from various incidents that prompted me to write that particular post.

For stuff like short stories and other projects that I announce regularly, may be I do need to create a section called misc. or something that I can dump everything in. And with time, try and reduce the amount of content I create for the misc bucket.

Yes yes. Makes sense. Carry on.
That’s it dude. Nothing else to carry on with. Lets just do it. So 4 sections or themes as we go along. Be Better (inspired by well, inspire), Work Better (inspired by work), Live Better (inspired by Everest) and Misc. You’d probably notice em on the sidebar (for the time being till I figure out the new design etc).

All the best! 
Thank you, it was a pleasure. Oh, if you are reading this, any thoughts? Inputs? Please?

P.S.: Love this echochamber!