Month: June 2025

Wk 24-25 – Weekly Notes

Weekly update from the 24th and the 25th week of 2025. This has Saurabh Garg’s notes, thoughts, reflections and everything else.

7 AM, Jun 23

I haven’t written for 2 weeks now (I was busier than expected). And while I dont have a lot of time today to write either, I will do it. I have promises to keep (Hi, AA). I will not talk about how busy I was and all that. I will merely get writing.

Here we go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past two weeks

PS: These are not in any order. Specifically because I was all over the place the last two weeks. I haven’t had the time to process things that I was experiencing and living.

PPS: Since I didn’t get to write for the last few days, my thoughts and reflections will suffer from recency effect. A lot of my words are an outcome of what ive been thinking lately.

Let’s go…

A/ Taught some 300 people about Gen AI
It was not the best session in terms of my delivery but I got a reality check that the world out there needs a lot more education that the world of twitter has. In fact, we must encourage each person to get active on twitter and follow the silicon valley types and see where the world is headed. Not from the lens of being scared about it but from the lens of learning and being ready.

Here’s my feedback from the students.

B/ Kabir
Saw this reel on Insta.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by गुलमोहर (@kagazkephoool)

Insane lessons. And insane talent of to dissipate lessons from Kabir. The amount of wisdom from kabir made accessible by this music is fabulous.

At some point in time, I want to commission someone to do such things. In case I am unable to in my life time, I hope one of you (the ones reading) does it.

C/ Grateful that Vivek exists.
I just wish I was not so far behind him in terms of wealth. I would have got to spend more time with him and M, if I werent.

D/ The Flight
Everyone has been talking about the Air India plane crash. Since then I’ve taken two flights – both Air India. And in one of those, there was a very rough patch. So clearly, thanks to the recency effect, been thinking a lot about it. In bullets…

First things first. In the grand scheme of things, we are meaningless. Heart goes out to folks who lost their lives. Even tougher is the lives of the ones left behind. I wish there wasnt so much pain in the world around us.

Second. I am not afraid to die. Just that it would be a shame that I died without doing anything that I had set out to do. Heck, maine to achi achar bhi nahi daala! I have a lot to lose and the thought that I would go randomly, I get sad.

Third. I would’ve taken 500, if not 1000 flights in my life. And I was never the kinds to be scared. But thanks to second above, I am little scared. I was reminded of what a classmate from MDI once told me – while a plane going down is a Black Swan event, the very nature of the event means that it can happen to you and the destruction would be 100%, unlike a road accident where the destruction is not fatal.

Fourth. In the two flights I took in the last week, I was unable to write. I tried to but I failed. I could merely take bullet point notes. I need to fix this cos flights used to be me sacrosanct writing place where I could be in the zone and get a lot thought / written.

Fifth. Maybe I need to work on my attention span? Maybe get back to meditation? Maybe I am unable to write cos I am unable to focus on things?

So that.

E/ Events is a good business
Over the weekend, I was in BKK. For an event thing.

And I was reminded of all the reasons why I love it – there’s no set office, there is freedom of time and place for the most part, there is ample use of common sense and there’s some of the most interesting real life folks with real skils and not just keyboard warriors.

Oh, and it sucks as well – there is no scalability (the largest event agency would be like 500 crores), there is a lot of muck (relationships, under the table conversations etc) and no large impact on the universe per se.

So, its something that I would like to be a part of in some way. But now that I have Meru and some bits of C4E, I may not be able to.

At this time, I am merely cataloging. Oh, wait, events business is a brilliant training ground for life skills. I want EACH of my kids to be spend a year doing events. But then, I dont know where so I find kids who want to build their lives around mine (and then subsequently, I build mine around their’s). So that.

May be I will bring back SoG?

F/ Life without border and passport control
I pine for a life where I dont have to worry about my passport or about visas and all that. But then lately, with all the news around hyper-nationalism and flying horrors, I dont know.

G/ Health and Fitness
I have realised that I dont look great and I anyway don’t dress great. And thus I get judged and a lot of opportunities that ought to come to me, dont. So, I need to work on those. Maybe fitness with help.

Thing is, my looks or clothes never mattered to me. In fact, I looked at it as a giant fuck you to the world. But now I realise that this fuck-you attitude was not the best thing.

So, I will fix it.

PS: Is 42 the wrong age to admit this? Or maybe this is me coming out with my insecurities?

So solution…

I will make fitness my P1. You know, Yoga. I think I can do this. I’ve done it in the past. Then at some point IN THIS MONTH (7 days to go), I will add a better diet (where I prep things myself (I cant seem to find a cook)). And then at some point in the month, I will add a gym or some sport. I dont think I can do gyms yet. I need to pick a sport for sure.

My P2 would be better groomed. You know, more focus on shaving my head, beard etc. Perfumes, accessories etc. Better footwear (no shoes ;))

My P3 would better clothes. This may take forever. But I will try.

H/ Let go of a team member
Not the best feeling to part ways. But had to be done.

Have done in the past as well and no it doesnt get better.

And funny thing is that I will have to part ways with more team members in the next few months.

I/ Work hard, make money and give money
The entire world around me seems to be moved by money. I need to find a way to make a LOT of money. And then use that money to build better lives for everyone around me. And give great money to people that are around me.

I am a capitalist at heart but I love that people chase more things than money.

J/ SG on Mira Murati’s team
C pointed that Mira’s team seems to have a SG. I must gather all these folks ;P

K/ Biography writing for seniors
I am working on a cohort to help active seniors write their biographies. While the idea sounds good on paper, there are inherent challenges with that. I need to solve for those.

L/ Personal Brand
My sense is that world in the future would be run by personal brands. Think Elon. Think Tanmay. Think SG. Three different people. Three different spectrums. Each has a certain influence over things. Each has opportunities in direct proportion to their brand.

I need to work on this.

This has been a theme since I dont know when. I HAVE to accelerate this. I will probably hire someone for this.

On this, I will also put in motion my podcast and content. Just that in the post-AI world, I dont know what is the importance of all the content you put out.

M/ Ask. And the world shall give.
See this from Jim Rohn.

And this from Steve.

N/ Regrets in life
While I was in the flight yesterday, I made a list of things that I regret in life. While more details would go on my notes, here are four folks that I wish I could continue to be with – KG, RG, RN, Parents.

Funny most of my regrets seem to around people. And not around money, achievements and all that.

O/ Make a film
I have decided. I will make a film this year. It would be a short (while I will try, it may not be a full-length), But will do. And this is apart from my book (lol). That I will work on as well. More details in subsequent days.

Oh and all these things need one thing and one thing only – my decision that I will separate people and projects. I know it would require me to be tough and stern with my people but I will do it. Oh, and also marry this with my thing about personal brand (see J above)! And AI!

Wow, so many things seem to be coming together!

P/ Passive income
I HAVE to HAVE mutiple sets of passive incomes. Right now, I only have one source of income – that too needs me to be fairly active. May be a franchisee of something? May be something on rental? What else?

Oh and I need passports of 3 countries and bank accounts in 5.

Q/ Not deep
Lol (first time I heard this, it was from a kid I mentor – she said that no boys are deep – all they do is talk about pizza, games and sex).

So, while I was writing this, I reaslied that am an ordinary person. And while thats ok, makes me question the meaning of these notes. I mean why would you (or someone) read these notes? I dont talk anything deep. I talk about what I want to do, what I fail at and mostly these are reflections.

R/ “ai makes people dumb”, “money makes them lazy”
Everyone has read that research of less than 50 participants where they proclaimed that people that use AI tend to get dumber. No they did not use these words. Dont hold me for words. But try to get the drift.

Warikoo had an interesting take on it. He highlighted two things – AI and UBI.

I will do an episode on this. CC Anshika.

S/ If money werent an object…
Like I said, I was in BKK over the weekend and apart from one presentation for 3 hours, I had all the time in the world to explore. So I went around. And I realised that at different times, I wanted to buy…

Remarkable
AirPods
On Sneakers
Even thought about changing my phone

I realised, I wanted a new toy.
However, I chose to not get.
You know, money.
I wish money werent an object…

T/ Neosapian
Wrote a review of the Neo 1. Here.

Review of NeoSapien’s Neo 1

U/ Films
I saw a few films – dunno why or how. And I dont even remember the names (except Ritual Killer and Bonnie and Clyde that I remember seeing cos it was in the long / boring flight).

V/ Details
I am realising that I am unable to remember names of things but I can remember facts around them. For example, I wanted to write the name of the film I saw but I couldnt remember it. I remembered hunting and Africa. I googled. No response. But then I thought, lemme put the name of the actor. Again, I didnt remember the name of the actor. But I remembered he’s often refered to as the voice of God. And thus I made the connection.

I dont know what to do with this information. Maybe I will put this in some LLM and see what can I do about this.

Phew!
So that!

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 24.

The one that I would like to plaster on my blog is…

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

Book 2
I didnt get time to even think about thinking. The person I was working with seems to have a lot on her plate and thus I am unable to move. No, I am not leaning onto her and blaming her for my inaction but I didnt move on this at all.

PS: Dropped 2025 Plan a few weeks ago.

☑️ What did I get done last two weeks?

This is a one-line report on things I got done on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.

I may not have a lot to add this week but here is a report nonetheless.

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

  1. Health
  2. Meru
  3. C4E
  4. Brand SG
  5. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  6. Book2
  7. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. No action. 0.

Meru. Again, like last update, moved the needle a bit. No large updates to be hoenst. 0.

C4E. No action. 0.

Brand SG. No action. HAVE TO PUT IN A LOT MORE EFFORT HERE.

People. No action on this. I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. Nothing. So, a 0.

So the overall score is -1 for this week. Also, like I said, the last two weeks went in a whirwind.

Trends from the previous weeks: 3, 0, -4, 0, -4, -5, -5, -3, -2, -1
The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.

📊 The tracker from the last week

This is the tracker for the last 2 weeks.

Nothing to write home about. I have failed.

I will rise up again.

PS: I have noticed that each time I am on the road, I miss updating this. And once I am back to ground, I take a few days to get back to speed. And that causes the chaos. May be I need to find a way to do this better.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

I have a lot to share TBH but I may not have the time to write about all of those. So, I will get to those in the next week’s update.

The best place to get these updates is via my TIL WA group. It is inspired by Sunanda’s fabulous book, TIL, and on this WhatsApp group, I aim to post VERY VERY VERY frequently. Like MULTIPLE times a day. About things personal (rants, overshares, thoughts etc), what I read, what I want to think about, what I need help on etc. Join here.

So, some links that I want to share…

  1. Ankush Datar on Thin Desires vs Thick Desires. Here. And here.
  2. Pentagon Pizza Index. Here. And their twitter account. Also read, Big Mac Index.
  3. Wrote a review of a note-taking device. Here.
  4. Why you MUST not read. By Kevin. Here.
  5. This NY Times piece talks about Grief Tech. I first heard a version of this on Sahil Bloom’s Twitter.
  6. This video of Boston Dynamics machines at America’s Got Talent
  7. These two resources (a video and the companion presentation) by Vinod Kholsa on Luring the VC.

There are a lot more but I will skip. You know, done is better than best. Progress > perfection.

🧠 Reminders from last week

This section captures things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates. I will also add these to SG’s Office.

Here are things from the past few weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

  1. Long term
    • Professional pool / snooker / poker. I played poker in bangalore and it was fun. I dint win a lot but I was able to read some players. So that’s cool. Other thing (pool) saw no action.
  2. Health
    • Kitchen setup (incomplete)
    • Gym membership (incomplete)
  3. C4E things (I will stop tracking these things and have C do these)
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency
    • Adding films
  4. Shauk / Personal
    • Use of money to buy time – doing this already.
    • Better dressed – lol
    • Find love – lol!
    • Demand more from life
    • Speak better!

In case you know me, lemme know if I have missed something.

PS: Adding a section of things that I talked about in THIS post…

  1. Kabir
  2. Film
  3. book 2
  4. Personal Brand
  5. Podcast on AI and UBI (for adulting?)
  6. Meditation
  7. Yoga

Did I miss something?

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Experience.
That’s the world I would use for the last two weeks.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Grind, Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—
Phew!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

Oh, and this too shall pass!

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed)

PPS: Please do point typos. Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

Review of NeoSapien’s Neo 1

So, I met Dhananjay (DJ) for the first time at the insistence of Aditya Sir. Aditya had told me that DJ was working on an AI-wearable. Mind you, this was some 6 months ago, before AI became ubiquitous. 

So I was curious!

The first thing that struck me was his fitness. 

He is extremely fit and ripped, and he has long flariy hair, and I was like yaar I wish I could be like that! 

Any how, the second thing, and more pertinent to this post that hit me was the blinking pendant he was wearing around his neck. The curious cat in me asked him, what was it. 

And turns out, it was an early version of Neo. An AI-enabled notetaker that you hang around your neck! Wow! 

At the time, he mentioned that Neo can also track the emotions of the people in the conversations. For example, while talking, if somebody’s sad while talking to you, the notetaker will tell you that the other person was sad. 

Now somebody like me who likes the idea of living in public, and taking notes, and wanting to be a super connector, this seemed like a godsend thing. I could focus on conversations and be fully present in the meetings. I won’t have to carry a notepad, I won’t have to break eye contact, and I will absorb more! I am anyway, a big fan of augmenting human capability with such tools and all. 

So when I finally got access, I had high expectations. And here’s my unbiased, honest review and how I use it. 

USE CASE 1 – THINKING 

1.1/ I use this while I want to talk to myself. 

I go for walks and I don’t carry a notepad etc. 

I merely talk out loud the things that I want to save. Since the device does NOT record the conversation, I also use the voice memo feature on my iPhone to record those. 

USE CASE 2 – IRL MEETINGS 

2.1/ I use this in physical meetings where people are ok with a physical device. 

TBH, till these browser-based based AI-notetakers were not commonplace, it was tough to get consent. Now, all I say is, think of this as my AI notetaker from the browser window, in a physical meeting room.

In those meetings, I can focus on conversations and outcomes and all that. Rather than scribbling furiously in my notes. 

No, I dont use this for online meetings. For that, I use Granola. Ofc, if Neo comes up with a browser extension, I will try it. 

2.2/ Saves me the pain from decoding my handwriting 😀 

2.3/ Once I have those notes, I port those into my Roam. While I do that, I add context. This is where all the magic happens. 

USE CASE 3 – EARLY DRAFTS FOR WHAT I WRITE

3.1/ I also use this to “write” early drafts. 

My best writing happens when I have talked out loud about a concept. And then I let that simmer in my head. And then I vomit out the word salad. And then I don’t edit (lol). 

And with Neo, I talk about loud about what I want to write. And then I use that as my first draft. 

PS: A large part of this very post was “written” by Neo! See raw notes in screenshot. 

WHAT WORKS FOR ME? 

1/ Battery life is GREAT! 
I charge it once every 2 days 

2/ It can gather voice streams even in noisy environments. 
This is great. Because I am at a Starbucks all the time. 
Or I am walking on the noisy roads (Mumbai, you know) 

3/ The notes and summaries are pretty amazing. 
I dont know what engine they use at the backend but it captures pretty much everything! 

WHAT DOESN’T WORK FOR ME

1/ I don’t like the form factor. 
Nothing to do with Neo. Just that I dont like pendants. Even when I do podcasts. I hate to use a clipon mic. 

2/ Haptic Feedback
I want the “click” button to start the device to give me some haptic feedback. 

Right now, it doesnt do anything. I mean it works, but I like some feedback for sure. This is the very reason why I was bearish on touch phones when they first came (really!). 

3/ Audio recordings
I wish the device were like a dictaphone where I could record everything. Often, there is merit in relistening to conversations. Right now I cant access raw recordingts. 

FINAL VERDICT?

I like it. I would love to make this a part of the joining kit of every team member.

If you want a gadget that can become your note-taking copilot, you MUST try it. I want DJ and Neo to succeed. So, I could be biased in my opinions. 

I would encourage you to try it. However, as always, please do your due diligence. I could be biased. 

So, that’s it. In case you do end up buying / using, lemme know and we must chat on use cases.

PS: DISCLAIMERS

1/ I paid for Neo. I paid 9999, cos I was one of the early backers. 
I did not get any freebies or money from DJ for this. 
PS: Price seems to have gone up. 

2/ Here are raw notes from the app after I “talked” to it.

Wk 23-25 – Weekly Notes

Weekly update from weeks 22 and 23. This has Saurabh Garg’s notes, thoughts, reflections and everything else.

Hi!

I am back after a break of a week. I couldnt write. I was on the road. No, I am not beating myself over it (unlike past times). But I am acknowledging that I am not being consistent. I will try harder.

Now with that motivational self, pep-talk, lets get back to business.

The update for the last two weeks.

From the top of my head, a large part of update would be about Bangalore trip, health, personal brand and village. Lets see what else do I write.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past two weeks

A/ Anurag Sir
I want to start from here. You know, how heroes fall? That! I love the guy. I love his films. I love his storytelling. A large part of my life has been dictated trying to be what he and Vikram Sir have been.

But, the guy’s falling. Hard. I can say a lot but I dont want to. I just want to catalog that I am sad about him falling 🙁

PS: In case I forget in the future, note to self, read about what he said about Netflix launching in India with things apart from Sacred Games.

Staying on films, saw Khosla Ka Ghosla, at an event organised by Balram. Each time I see the film, I am amazed that the film captures Delhi nuances so well that I am inspired to do similar things!

And staying further on films, I really want to be in the films business. I know AI and all is gonna disrupt how this business works (we are already making short films using all the AI tools) but there’s something about visual storytelling that still moves people. I need to be a player in this space. Come on, universe…

B/ Bangalore
Many notes from this one. Lemme write in bullets.

  1. Played poker. Enjoyed it. Must play more. Met some really incredible people on the poker table. Must do more to be around Poker
  2. Realised that my personal brand needs a lot of work. I orgniased a meetup and I was unable to meet a lot of good folks. I HAVE to work on this
  3. Spent time with Sonam and each time I meet her, I want to be able to afford person like her to work with me (either at C4E or at Meru)
  4. Met a couple of really interesting folks (you know, the VC, startup kinds). I realised I enjoy meeting these people. I had this VERY strong urge to move to Bangalore, just for these connections. But I realised that I am chasing vanity and I would do well staying away, keeping my head down and building.
  5. Saw collective-thinking in action at a couple of places. A new fancy coffee shop has opening in Bangalore. I try to not go to these fancy places. And while I was not keen on going, I was taken there. By folks who apparantly “boycott” these places. Plus everyone famous at Bangalore seems to be there as well. It’s like how socialites want to flock the fancy places? No, I will not rant about it. Merely saying.

Ok this is it?
I thought I would have a lot to say about this trip to Bangalore. I clearly do not.

C/ Counter Strike
Recorded a video where I talked about how I am inspired by Counter Strike and how each thing their echos how I have structed C4E. In case you want to see, it’s here.

D/ Life Manual for the your 30s
On someone’s request, I wrote this manual where I talked about what . You may read this here.

The Life Manual for your 30s

On this note, please give me prompts that you want me to write on. I work the best when triggered!

E/ Build a new format to track what I am working on.
Each few days I have something new that I track. This time I have copied this from what I saw on screens of my new team at Meru. I’ve been at it for a few days now. Let’s see how long this lasts.

F/ FOXO
Got myself a FOXO subscription. This is the most expensive thing EVER that I’ve got for myself. Prior to this, the most expenisve thing was sgElectra.

So far the only tangible thing I know is that I can hold a plank for a minute and I am a diabetic. Oh, thrown in a gym, I can do 10 pushups. Plus my balance seems to be good and calcium in my bones seem to be ok as well. So, apart from my diabetes, most things are ok. I need to figure why and how do I have bad skin and less stamina. I need to work on my lower back and improve my posture. Let’s see what more I discover.

The other related thing is that I read this thread about Ray Kurzweil and one of the thing he says is that we will probably live forever. He says that “death will be optional” and there are three things he talks about – a, science seems to have learnt the secret of aging, companies like Neuralink seem to have found success in Brain Computer Interfaces and then the digital twins are already around (thanks to FOXO).

So, if we can live for the next few decades, we can be immortal. This is the frontier that no one knows (except Ashwatthama or may be Trivedi :D). Let’s see.

PS: I am an investor in FOXO. And C4E does some work for FOXO.

G/ Getting the AI FOMO
On a day to day basis, I have this HUGE AI FOMO. I have written about this in the past. And its all over my twitter. I think the only way to go about this is by actually doing this. I think the only way to do this is to carve time (now that I have agreed that I wont find anyone to work with me and support me). And I need to probably cut down on a lot of other things.

H/ Broke “H” on my laptop’s keyboard.
I tried to fix C’s laptop’s keyboard. I had fun. I was bored. On a whim, pried open the H on my keyboard and now I can’t fix it!

Grrr…

I/ Recorded an episode of The Optimist’s Manifesto Podcast with Subendhu (of FOXO).
He’s had a stellar life and has such a wide range of experiences that I want to be him! Spoke to him for two hours. I need to build a life where I have similar richness of stories!

J/ Jayant Mundhra
One of the conversations in the last two weeks was with Jayant. He’s an incredible writer and over the last 2 years, has built a community of about 100K folks that read general purpose advice from him. While I dont about each person I meet, Jayant is special. He’s doing EXACTLY what I want to. And he’s doing a GREAT job at it. And he’s consistent with it. If I could be a shade consistent of him, I would be elsewhere in life!

He also told me about Zero1 network, again something I want to be able to build. But unlike the Kamaths I dont have a lot of FCF. Maybe I will build a corpus as I go along? Let’s see.

K/ KP got hitched!
This means Pooja ka bachcha is growing up.
Poo saas ban gayi ;P

L/ High-Performance Org
One of the latest lessons from Hareesh Sir has been that I need to be a little more strict with my people. The idea is to build a high-performance organization that delivers on the promise to the stakeholders.

This is similar to the riff about idea people and people people from the last update. In fact this is something that I lack in my life.

I am way too kind when I work with people and I need to learn balance. I dont want to create weak people. May be that’s what I had done with other businesses? That in my unwavering support, did I create weak orgs there?

Lot to think!

M/ Mountain Goat
Thanks to J, discovered a new retaurant in Lokhandwala. Mountain Goat. They serve Wai Wai Sadeko. I think I will go there a lot (went there on May 28th and havent gone back, lol) if my sugar doesnt spike.

So this is it from the last 2 weeks. Lemme know what is interesting and what is not. And what would you like to see more.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 22 and 23. A lot to be honest.

The one that I would like to plaster on my blog is…

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

Book 2
I didnt get time to even think about thinking. The person I was working with seems to have a lot on her plate and thus I am unable to move. No, I am not leaning onto her and blaming her for my inaction but I didnt move on this at all.

PS: Dropped 2025 Plan a few weeks ago.

☑️ What did I get done last two weeks?

This is a one-line report on things I got done on various things that are important to me. I will only talk about things that I got done. Shipped. Not WIP.

At this point, the following things are important to me (I know too many but…) and these are IN ORDER.

  1. Health
  2. Meru
  3. C4E
  4. Brand SG
  5. People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
  6. Book2
  7. Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. Got FOXO membership. Now I have a CGM (for a few days) that tells me how I recat to food and all. I am more aware. No action. No done. So a 0.

Meru. Was an ok week. Moved the needle. But still far from where I’d like to be. Thus, a 0.

C4E. No action. 0.

Brand SG. No action. The trip to Bangalore told me that I remain an insignificant person in the large scheme of things. I need to get more active. I want to give a -1 but one a day to day basis, in my world, I get by ok. So, a 0.

People. No action on this. I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. No large things. Bangalore trip, FOXO, Poker. So, a 0.

So the overall score is -1 for this week.

Trends from the previous weeks: 3, 0, -4, 0, -4, -5, -5, -3, -2, -1
The max I can get is 7 in a week. Let’s see when I get to it.

📊 The tracker from the last week

This is the tracker for the last 2 weeks.

 

I really need to pull my socks on this. I cant be missing.

PS: I have noticed that each time I am on the road, I miss updating this. And once I am back to ground, I take a few days to get back to speed. And that causes the chaos. May be I need to find a way to do this better.

📖 Interesting Reads from the last week

Some links that I want to share…

  1. Rahul on Obvious – here
  2. Mary Meeker’s report on AI – here. Do not miss this.
  3. Derek O Brian was in a flight that got damaged in the hail. In this video, he talks about his near death experience.
  4. On “choice”, from David Ogilvy. Here. Thanks to Pradx for sharing this.
  5. From the top person at Snapchat – how to build companies – here.
  6. V told me about Navagunjara (no I did not know about this even though I claim to be a fan of Mahabharata)
  7. This is a great list of superpowerful maxims about life. From founders. The ones I love are as follows…
    • 1. Money comes naturally as a result of service.
    • 4. Be a professional opportunist.
    • 7. You don’t need to be a genius; you just need to collect more information.
    • 12. Mute the world, build your own.
    • 17. Make yourself easy to interface with.
    • 18. Relationships run the world.
    • 20. Quality of your life is the direct result of the quality of your decisions.
    • 23. Problems are opportunities in work clothes.
    • 31. Actions express priorities.
    • 32. The public praises people for what they practice in private.
    • 36. Business is problems; the best companies are problem-solving machines.
    • 40. Always more audacious.
    • 44. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active.
    • 46. Incentives rule everything around you.
    • 50. Intensity is the price of excellence.
    • 51. You can’t save souls in an empty church.
    • 61. Imitation precedes creation.
    • 63. Optimism is a moral duty.
    • 69. Repeat, repeat, repeat; volume and consistency win.
    • 72. The hard way is the right way.
    • 73. Be intolerant of slowness.
    • 74. Hire a professional critic.
    • 79. “Action solves everything.”
    • 88. Avoid boring people.
    • 90. All good things in life come from compounding.
    • 93. Have pride in creation, not consumption

PS: Are these useful? Do these help in any way? I read a LOT more than what I share here but these are what I think people I know must read. Skewed towards startups, hard work, deliberate living etc etc.

🧠 Reminders from last week

This section captures things that I want to not forget. I will copy paste these week on week and track updates. I will also add these to SG’s Office.

Here are things from the past few weeks that I want to remember. And no, this may not be a comprehensive list. In categories.

  1. Long term
    • Professional pool / snooker / poker. I played poker in bangalore and it was fun. I dint win a lot but I was able to read some players. So that’s cool. Other thing (pool) saw no action.
  2. Health
    • Kitchen setup (incomplete)
    • Gym membership (incomplete)
  3. C4E things (I will stop tracking these things and have C do these)
    • C4E Base
    • Design
    • Borderless agency
    • Adding films
  4. Shauk / Personal
    • Use of money to buy time – doing this already.
    • Better dressed – lol
    • Find love – lol!
    • Demand more from life
    • Speak better!

In case you know me, lemme know if I have missed something.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Grind.
That’s the world I would use for the last two weeks.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Busy for Nothing, Regular, Getting back to action, Slack, Busyness, Action, Survive, Looking Up, Survival, Taste, Community, Respect, Money, People.

—
Phew!
Lemme know what you think.
See you around.

Oh, and this too shall pass!

PS: This series of posts is inspired by Thej and his weekly notes. The previous editions are here: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09 (missed), 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 (missed)

PPS: Please do point typos. Grammarly is not working well and I don’t have energy to cut paste edit this in some other spell check thing.

PPPS: In case you see me being inconsistent in anything – work, writing, reviews etc, PLEASE do point out.

The Life Manual for your 30s

If you are entering your 30s, this guide may come in handy.

I shared a link in one of the WA Groups I run (you can find a list of all groups I run here) and Neha asked me…

how would you write one for folks entering their 30s 🌿

I knew I had a lot to say, and when I asked for more details, she told me to write about “Relationships- with body, mind, spirit; pursuits and money; people.”

I understood this as 3 things. 

  1. Relationships 
  2. Pursuits and money. I will call this career. 
  3. People. 

I feel I am qualified to talk about the last two, and the next few paras would be about that. However, before you read, a few disclaimers. 

1/ I started writing this on a flight. Lol.
I don’t know why this is a disclaimer. 
And then I worked on this in the lobby of a cheap hotel. 
And then I was on a flight when I wrote this. 

2/ My advice would have worked for me if I were to relive my life.
You know, my kind of mindset, my kind of upbringing, my kind of emotions and all that. This is not general purpose advice. Most of what I said will not be applicable to most folks. Please take everything with a pinch of salt. 

3/ I am biased.

4/ Do your own diligence before you take action.
My advice is typically not for people who want to take it easy. I am indexed on hard work, harsh opinions and moving ahead in life. I want you to take action and do more. So, that bias will reflect in what I write. 

5/ This may sound like a rant from an old person.
Which it probably is. Even I am probably not aware. 

6/ I have nothing new to report that you already do not know.
Just that stories and examples from my life would be unique. And you need to find meaning and inspiration from those stories. 

So let’s start.

If you think your 20s went by fast, 30s would be faster.
And 30s would be more challenging.
At least it was for me. 

The world would expect you to “handle” adult things (like marriage, homes, children, careers). With maturity.

You would see your friends zoom past very fast. In my case, I saw ALL my friends rise through the corporate ladder faster than Bolt goes thru those 100 meters and earn all the goodies that come alongside (cars, houses, weddings, kids, access to lounges, business class travel, foreign holidays etc) with scary consistency. World does reward boredom. I on the other hand was stuck in some funk, and there were so many times when I knew I couldnt go dinnering with my friends because I cant afford the restaurants they go to.

And while the two things above happen, you would start seeing your fitness levels fade (unless you are working on it already). Fitness in terms of body, mind and soul. Body – you probably aren’t sleeping enough. Mind – you probably have stopped learning long ago. Soul – you probably are playing jumping jacks between relationships. See Appendix A.

Oh, and if you are entering your 30s in this day and age, you would be staring at irrelevance, thanks to AI and harder-working, younger people who are probably at the peak of their hunger. Thankfully, you don’t need to worry about older folks like me. My ilk is obsolete. Even this gyaan I am giving you can be articulated far better by an AI tool. 

And no, all’s not bad. Here’s the good part.

You are at a place where people will start taking you seriously. You are no longer a “kid” who’s only daydreaming and fucking around to find out. You are an adult who has probably “thought through” things, and you know what you want to be working on. 

You would also have some friends, acquaintances and well-wishers who’ve known you for a few years now. You would have earned some social currency for sure, and you hopefully have built some sort of safety net (in terms of savings). These connections, social currency and bank balance will come in handy when you want to do things. PS: In the subsequent part, I talk about how to build these two. 

You also would have some clarity on how you want to spend your time here and where you want to live. On where to live, see my biased take in annexure B. 

Life’s a gift, and we ought to make the most of it. Like Naval says, the journey is all we have and the attention is all we can give. So you need to figure out what journey gives you the most rasa and who do you want to gift your attention to. In my case, I was a foolish drifter till COVID struck and I was a slave to the vagaries of life. I went where life took me. When I was clueless, I followed the herd. When I didn’t know better, I would default to drifting. 

Now I try to live a more deliberate life – I choose who I want to meet, who I want to work with, what I do, when I do and where I live. I also know nothing is in my control and Pale Blue Dot and all, and this plane I am on can drop from the sky (it did not), and all my gyaan will have no consequence. Except that I would have seen one of the most gorgeous sunrises on the right hand side. Gorgeous enough for me to die with a smile on my face. 

Oh, and I am ok to limit my wants.
Here’s an example. I want to live in a certain building in a certain part of Mumbai. I know I can’t afford the rent of that place, let alone owning it. So, instead of me getting mindfucked about it, I choose to use that as an inspiration. I look at it each day (I make sure I see it everyday) and I resolve to work harder. And no, I don’t spoil my day-to-day work (my attention) by craving for it, but I use that as a goal that I want to get to someday. If you think I’ve given up, no I haven’t. I remain one of the most ambitious people I know, but I also am more aware that I need to enjoy this journey and give all my being to it. 

Now, after the meandering, here are my ACTUAL thoughts. These are not in any order. 

1/ Avoid vanity like the plague. 

This is the number 1 shift that folks need to make when they transition from 20s to 30s. 

Most folks I know are stuck in the vanity trap. I want you to get out of it. Na samman ka moh, na apman ka bhey. Go do Vipassana. Go read Aurelius. Meditations is a good place to start. Go practice detachment. Do whatever, but do not do it in the chase of getting recognition, rewards and all that. Do not work for the spotlight. Do not chase famous people. In fact, do not work to be famous. Do work that delivers value and if that makes you famous, enjoy the fame. 

No, this does not mean you don’t let the world acknowledge your work. In fact, it’s amazing to get rewards and it’s great to see your loved ones see your success. It’s also amazing to see greater access when you are famous. Truth be told, fame has its own advantages. 

But don’t make it the only metric. Let that be the by-product of your work. 

2/ Ready. Fire. Aim. 

Take action. 
Thinking is good. 
Processing is better. 
But taking action is best. 

One of my closest people defers all actions till they’ve internalised information, read thru opinion and thought thru things. In my opinion, by the time they take action, it’s often too late. But their deferring of action probably serves them well. However, I believe in action.

Get these three words tattooed on your forehead – Life rewards action.

So that you can see it everyday. And others can too. And no, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. 

Thing is, you didn’t come here cos someone was “thinking” about getting married or someone was “reading” about how to have babies or someone was “waiting” for the perfect partner. You came here cos your parents took action.

This laptop that I am writing on was created cos thousands of engineers took action.

This flight was comfortable because many people took action.

This post is happening cos I am taking action.

The prompt for this post came in cos a young lady took action. 

What action would you take?

3/ Stop with activism. Start with creation. 

No, standing for nature and human rights is not bad. 
But you are standing. Not creating. 

No, sharing social media posts about the atrocities of rulers is not a bad thing. 
But that’s sharing. Not creating. 

No, participating in boycotts is not a bad thing. 
Wait, it’s actually bad. 

Ignore this. 

So, us humans are designed to create.
If you create, you are engaged.
If you are engaged, your passionate fire rages from inside out, and lights up the world around you.
And that light, that gift is all we have! 

Oh and I read somewhere that we find meaning in creation. Think of the most fulfilled and most engaged people (I dont believe in happiness) and you would see that they are obsessed with creating or with their creation. A parent who dotes on their child, a filmmaker who cant stop talking about their film, a teacher who’s meaning comes from creating younger minds.

My meaning comes from sharing what I know and seeing others use it. I am a gardener who’s meaning is from tending to the garden and not from the wait of the fruits of the trees.

And while you are on creation, two things…

3.1/ Be less cynical.
Enough said.

3.2/ Stop hating capitalists. 
I’ve seen a lot of folks in their late 20s and early 30s hate capitalists. I don’t know too much about capitalists but like most things, most people of any type are bad. But some are some good. You need to pick the good ones, lessons from them and then move on. 

4/ Grass is greener where you water it. 

You can choose to live slow. 
But then stay slow. 

You can choose to live fast. 
But then don’t crave for slow. 

Balance is a myth. 
It’s a capitalist’s and a politician’s scam to keep you on the treadmill. You can’t have the cake and eat it. 

Pick one side and stay there. 
Now that you are in your 30s, you better pick a side. And take action. 

In my case, I love both the sunrise and the sunset. But I cant have both. One will require me to wake up early and the other will require me to stay up till late. I had to make a choice. I made one.

Another one. I want to live in the epicenters of action. And yet I want to live in the mountains. I know I have to choose one. So, instead of craving for the magnanimity of the mountains, I have made peace with living in a concrete jungle.

One more. I want to do things that impact billions of lives. What I do today impacts handful of people. And God knows that I want to work on things that impact large things. And despite that I dont beat myself over the gap between where I want to be and where I am.

Here’s a quesiton. What is your patch of grass that needs to be watered to make greener?

5/ Zubaan Ki Keemat. 

You need to work hard to have a zubaan that has some keemat. 

Rajesh Sir, one of my many gurus, is so punctual that I question the watch if he’s not on time. I’ve tried to learn this from him and each action I take, I try to do it in a way that it establishes that I am a reliable person who’s words carry weight.

If I’ve said something, that would happen, come hell or highwater.

Of course I am not perfect. I am often inconsistent. But I am aware of this and I am working on it. Also, if I am inconsistent, I am with myself. When I am with others, I do whatever I can to be consistent.

For example, if I tell someone that I am meeting them at 6, I ensure that am there at 6 but I’ve told myself that I will do 10 pushups and I dont do those.

Make a list of all times when you were inconsistent and then see how it impacts your reputation and reliability and social currency and gravitas. And you would have the answer.

6/ Reputation

Your reputation should be built from the time you hit your 18. Or 21. Or when you pass out of college. Sooner you start, the better. If you havent worked on this deliberatey, it’s time to start now. Your 30s are an even more important time to build a reputation. 

In fact, all we have is our reputation.

In your 30s, you can no longer appear to be a fickle person. You can’t be vibing thru your 30s. You will be entrusted with large things. In fact, you must WANT to be entrusted with larger things. You’ve worked hard in your 20s to build a life and a skill. This is the time you want to apply and scale and create impact.

And often these opportuniies are gatekept behind the heavy, closed doors fortified by the strongest locks that have only one key – your reputation. In fact, you walk into a room decades after your reputation has made itself comfortable in it.

Work on that.  

7/ Health

If I could change one thing about how I’ve lived thru my 20s and 30s, I would work hard to be healthier.

Ironic that I am in the worst shape of my life and I know that the road is a tough one from here on and yet I refuse to do anything about it.

Wait. Lemme go do 5 pushups and come back.
Back.
Could do only 4

So, I want each person who’s transitioning from their 20s to 30s to focus on their health. In fact, if you can, make health your biggest spends (not clothes, not fashion, not eating out, but health). I have started to. I recently made the most expensive purchase of my life – a membership at Foxo. I can see myself making more spends in the similar space. In fact, my work will probably index highly on health. I am encouraging all my friends and family to make more investments on health.

PS: Super inspired by Vivek who ensures that he’s physically active all the time.

8/ Place faith in people 

People create magic
You are people
You create.
You have magic. 

And while you do, work with others to do so. 

Find a few young folks that you can mentor. 
While you do that, learn from their exuberance and experimentation. And try to create things with them.

Find a few older folks that you can submit to.
On submission, see this tweet by Tushar Sir.
While you submit, try to see why they do what they do. Learn from their experience and stories.

I’ve had a engaging time here only because I was lucky to be surrounded by people 20 years younger and 20 years older. See SoG.

Ok that.
Phew.

This is it for the time being.
In case you have a thought, please let me know 🙂 

Annexure A

I’ve seen way too many people fall by the side when they get into a romantic / sexual relationship. While it’s an important part of growing up, in your 30s, life stakes are higher and you better not be trapped by just carnal pleasures.

If you have to, make your partner your strength. 

Annexure B

Here’s my biased take – if you do NOT live in some hub of sorts (Mumbai, Bangalore etc) and still believe in remote work propaganda, you need to accept that you will be left behind. 

Having said that, C4E is fully remote, and folks live at places like Nasik and Goa. But the folks who live at these places have accepted that they want to take it easy, and that’s a choice. You need to know what choice to make. 

On where to live, do read this piece by Paul Graham – Cities and Ambition

Annexure C: Additional Reads

I will keep updating this as and when I think of more things.

  1. Man’s Search For Meaning
  2. Shawshank Redemption

Lemme know what you think. Share this with whoever you think can find value. All the best!