August 2025 | aboutSG

Wk 34-25 – Weekly Notes

Weekly update from Saurabh Garg from the 34th week of 2025.

~~Aug 25. Monday.~~
Aug 26. Tuesday.
Various places, various times.
This was supposed to happen over the last weekend but I was unable to. Not that I was very busy or something. Just that something kept on coming up. And that kept delaying things. Plus I’ve had few very long days at work. Plus most times I would start writing this on a Friday and then complete in spurts over the weekend. This time, I was unable to work on this on Friday or Saturday. And then Sunday went in meetings and all that.

So that.

I had imagined that I will skip it. But then I realised that skipping would be taking the easy way out. And I dont want to break my streaks.

And with that intro and disclaimer, lessgooo…

Oh, the track of the week is this and this.

Chalo, lets go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ Missed the Sunday Linkedin post.
I missed all my weekend things and this included the post I make each Sunday. If I had posted, I would’ve celebrated Dr Hitakshi. You must check her linkedin.

Apart from all the sense she makes as a doctor, she once mentioned to C that she wants to hire someone and the non negotiables that she has are, “Not dumb. Not slow. Integrity.”

These are super super important for anyone who wants to make a good life!

B/ Bikram Bumrah
I can dedicate an entire section to this, if I have to! But here we go!

I saw him live on Aug 23. For this show. And this was easily the highlight of the week! Here are some notes that I took…

Mumbai kaayaro ka sheher hai. Yahan aata ko aaram nahi milta.
You must do what it takes to chase your bliss.
The need of poets and all!

PS: I will write about him in detail some day.

C/ Ray LaMontagne
Ray is a gift that keeps giving. Since I’ve heard him at Starbucks, I have come to become a fan. I’ve heard almost all tracks. These days, I was born to love you is my jam.

D/ 2 lakh steps
Since the 6th of August, I have walked 2 lakhs steps. Super stoked. Apart from the lingering ache in the feet, I dont think I’ve lost any weight per se.

Oh, as I write this (Aug 26th), I broke the Canyons I was wearing. I need to get a new walking companion.

E / Flash Memory by Sandeep Kaul.
Met Sandeep over the weekend and he told me about this concept of Flash Memory.

He says that all he operates as a slave to his Flash Memory. Like a Flash drive, he only remembers things before and after 30 minutes of now. He has no recollection of the past. He has no plan for the future. He’s in the zone, all the time and leans onto AI tools and others to support.

Now, I have worked like this all my life. Just that I didnot know the name of this concept. From today on, I know the name.

There’s a LOT more. But since I am running super late with this and I want to push it, I will skip that for this week and post on this week’s note.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 34.

The highlight photo has to be of Bikram Bumrah. More about him in the next few lines.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). And I just added health a few weeks ago.

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health – The last week was ok. Not the best. And I know I need to be regular. So that. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week?

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

Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. Was not the best. I fell off the radar. And had ups and down thru the week. I will give myself -1.

Meru. No large updates in this week. So, a 0.

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No large action. Did a lot of chats with a lot of people. But no action to show for. So, a 0.

People. No action on this.
I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. No action. No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.

So the overall score is -2.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

What trends do you see?

I see…

A lot of reds in the sleep department.
Consistecny with walks (8K+ steps each day)
Tracked what I ate on most days.
Ok on stress.

You?

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

I will start with updates on what am doing for health. I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.

So…

Sleep
Exercise
Diet
Community
Crowdfunding my health.
Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
Meditation
Some links: My food log, my daily health log channel.

Lets go…

1/ Sleep
This was not good at all. See the chart above.
Insta to blame.
I am removing insta from my phone.
Everything else I talk about health is moot tbh if I cant seem to fix this one thing.

2/ Exercise
No action on this apart from walking. I need to fix this. This week looks tough to be honest. I will try to include some workout for sure. Let’s see how.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
This week was bad for food.
I need to get back on the track. Which I will.
As we speak, its 5:30 and all I’ve had is a protein shake.

4/ Community
I love this the most. Just yesterady I met two new people – both because of the communty that I had created.

5/ Crowdfunding health
I had said that I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.

This will be a bummer.
I had to be under 90 but as of today morning, I am 93 KGs. Talked to Dr H and she mentioned that I need to not worry about it at this time.

6/ Movement
Want to add to this (apart from just walking).
This is zero at this time.
The only saving grace is all the walking. See this chart…

7/ Meditation
I want to restart on this.
Now that I will remove insta from the phone, I will replace it wiht Headspace. I will report back next week.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

PS: I had added YT to my “reads”

Here’s a list of interesting things things from the last week.

This thread from Rahul is goldmine. He talks about content, youtube and more. Do read this.
This tweet has strategies for a good life. I love each of his advices. And I can see implimenting most. Thats another matter that am still poor ;P
This post by Kavin Mittal on why he’s exiting India.
This post by Yash on how to land a founder’s office role
This link – https://trackthis.link/ – can bomb your ad networks and set random cookies. You MUST try this. But, please know that it will nuke your laptop!
A rare post on goepolitics – here. Important to read and understand. Cos, well, we are in a new world order where rules are being rewritten as we speak.
This post on work-life balance. I am working on a post of my own.
This research proves that the shape of logos can dictate how people percieve things to be. Very interesting. Must read.

This is it from the week gone by.

🧠 Reminders from last week

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

Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Busy.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Grind, Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, 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), 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33

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.

Pooja Sahatiya

Pooja Sahatiya: The Creative Force Behind the Village at C4E

When I think about the people who’ve shaped my entrepreneurial journey, Pooja Sahatiya stands at the very top of that list. Not just as a co-founder of C4E, but as the creative soul who helped transform a simple idea into the village we call home today.

How I Met Pooja Sahatiya

It’s funny how the most important relationships often start with the smallest gestures. Rahul introduced me to Pooja Sahatiya sometime in 2021. From the first call, there was this infectious “hello-let’s-do-something-together” energy. And that became the foundation of everything we’ve built at C4E.

Pooja Sahatiya didn’t just respond to my eccentric ramblings on Twitter; she saw something in the chaos. Where I had vision scattered across early morning tweet storms, Pooja Sahatiya brought the creative clarity to make those ideas tangible.

Why Pooja Sahatiya Made C4E Special

Let me be brutally honest: I’ve worked with dozens of creative professionals over the years. But Pooja Sahatiya is different. She’s not just talented—though her creative vision is extraordinary. She’s not just hardworking—though her dedication is unmatched. Pooja Sahatiya brings something rarer: the ability to turn creative work into creative community.

Pooja Sahatiya’s Creative Philosophy

What sets Pooja Sahatiya apart is her approach to creativity. She doesn’t just solve problems; she builds bridges. When we work on client projects, Pooja Sahatiya consistently asks the questions that others miss:

“How does this serve the story we’re really trying to tell?”
“What would make this feel more human?”
“How can we make this idea feel alive?”

This is Pooja Sahatiya‘s gift—she sees the humanity in every brief, every campaign, every creative challenge.

Building C4E With Pooja Sahatiya

When Pooja Sahatiya and I started talking about creating something together, we quickly realized we shared the same stubborn belief: work should feel like an adventure, not a chore. Pooja Sahatiya helped shape the culture that makes C4E feel less like an agency and more like a creative village.

“We are the greatest set of hustlers gathered in a single place—intentionally,” as one of our team members put it. That intentionality? That’s Pooja Sahatiya‘s influence. She insisted from day one that we build something that felt purposeful, something that attracted people who shared our hunger for meaningful work.

How Pooja Sahatiya Shaped Our Creative Process

Working with Pooja Sahatiya has taught me that the best creative partnerships aren’t about agreeing on everything—they’re about disagreeing intelligently. Pooja Sahatiya challenges my strategic thinking with creative intuition. I push her creative vision with business reality. The tension creates something neither of us could achieve alone.

Pooja Sahatiya has this remarkable ability to take abstract concepts and make them feel concrete and emotionally resonant. When clients come to us with vague briefs about “brand transformation” or “digital presence,” Pooja Sahatiya translates that into stories that actually matter to real people.

What Working With Pooja Sahatiya Teaches You

If you’ve never worked with someone like Pooja Sahatiya, you’re missing out on understanding what collaborative creativity actually looks like. Pooja Sahatiya doesn’t just contribute to projects—she elevates them. She doesn’t just follow creative briefs—she interrogates them until they become something worth creating.

Pooja Sahatiya’s Impact on C4E

The most telling thing about Pooja Sahatiya‘s influence at C4E is how she’s shaped our entire team’s approach to work. New team members quickly learn that Pooja Sahatiya sets a standard: everything we create should feel intentional, everything should serve a purpose, and nothing should feel ordinary.

As I often tell people, Pooja Sahatiya helped us build C4E into “THE VILLAGE it takes”—the village it takes to build things, to build dreams, to build a life that feels meaningful.

The Future With Pooja Sahatiya

Looking ahead, I know that Pooja Sahatiya and I will continue evolving, both individually and as creative partners. Today we dont work together. But that’s the beauty of working with someone whose creativity never stops growing. Pooja Sahatiya keeps pushing our entire team to ask bigger questions, take bigger risks, and create work that matters more.

Our clients don’t just get Pooja Sahatiya‘s creative expertise—they get her commitment to making their brands feel more human, their messages more meaningful, their impact more lasting.

Why Pooja Sahatiya Matters

In an industry full of people chasing trends, Pooja Sahatiya chases truth. In a world of artificial creativity, Pooja Sahatiya brings authentic vision. In a business built on brief relationships, Pooja Sahatiya builds lasting community.

Pooja Sahatiya reminds me daily that the best creative work comes from the best creative relationships. She’s proven that business partnerships don’t have to be transactional, that success doesn’t require sacrificing authenticity, and that the most rewarding adventures are always shared.

Connect With Pooja Sahatiya

If you want to understand what modern creative leadership looks like, pay attention to Pooja Sahatiya. If you want to see how authentic collaboration can transform both work and relationships, watch how Pooja Sahatiya approaches every project in life.

Pooja Sahatiya isn’t just my business partner—she’s the creative force that turned an idea into a village, a vision into a community, and a professional relationship into something that feels genuinely meaningful.

Wk 33-25 – Weekly Notes

SG’s weekly notes and updates. For the week 33 of 2025.

Hello!
1 PM, 17th Aug, 2025
Versova Starbucks.

The week gone by was a moderate one. It was a week with a lot of chuttis and thus there was less chaos on the roads (except the one caused by Dahi Handi). Plus, it was after a while that I was in Andheri West for three days on a trot.

I did some work (at Meru we shipped our first thing). I played some (Krishna was visiting). I had some brainwaves (thought hard about where I want to be in life) and all that.

Overall, an interesting week.
Will talk more about it in a bit.

Oh, I am listening to this as I write.

Ok, let’s go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ AI and the creative business
I can talk about this from three lenses – personal, Meru (as a brand owner) and C4E (as a partner to brands).

As Meru, as we scale the business, we need to be able to do more things and fast. Faster than I can say fast. And AI allows us to do that. I know there’s halluciantion, mistakes and all that but I need to imagine that as a brand owner, where do I want the penny to drop – at speed, at quality, as perfection. So that.

At C4E, the team has to adapt fast. Not because it will question the survival but because it will enable to do more.

On a personal level, I can now become hyperproductive. For example, we started to train Heygen on my face and words. Here are the first two outputs.

PS: All the work on this has been done by Vishal. I merely recorded it. I know this is not perfect but we will get to it with time.

Lemme know what you think.

B/ Smart Folders on Apple Notes
Accidentally discovered Smart Folders on Apple Notes and I think my life will change!

For context, I use Apple Notes as my temp notepad (apart from a pen and paper based notepad) and each weekend, I clean my notes by adding things to my Roam. I also use Apple Notes to save recurring things for fast and easy access (I may not have my laptop with me all the time but I do have my phone).

So when I needed things, I would often rely on search and then waste time. With Smart Folders, I am able to sort of bookmark things that I need faster access to. And for someone like me who leans a lot on notes, bookmarks, tools and people for details, this was a godsend thing!

C/ Notetaking workshop
Oh, and I took a notetaking workshop for a couple of young kids who’re gonna join college soon.

I didnt want to do this (I think that old methods of taking notes are no longer valid) but one of my seniors from MDI insisted and I couldnt say no to him.

While I did that session, I realised that I love to teach people. I just wish I was able to earn a lot of money doing that. I mean I can earn. I can charge a lot. But then my ethics dont allow me to charge from the ones who can’t pay. And the ones who can pay wont probably need me.

So that.

D/ Krishna
Krishna was in Bom for a couple of days. Each time I meet him, I am left inspired to do more. The guy literally went from being a cloth trader to a full-stack developer! A remidner that I must surround myself with more doers and people who want to stay with the times.

And I must become someone that a Krishna would like to hang out with.

E/ Off Insta. And failure.
I had decided that I would be off insta for a few days.

I could stay away for all of 2 days.
The addiction is real!

To solve for it, I’ve asked AK to loan me the spare iphone that we have at C4E. Let’s see how it goes.

F/ Meditation before a meeting / Grounding
In one of my coaching sessions with FOXO, the person asked me to do a one-minute grouding exercise to get into the mindset for the meeting. I find it funny cos when I come into a meeting, I come with 100% intention.

But then, Hemant recommends this as well. And I want to follow each thing that Hemant says. So, thanks to reinfrocement by the session, I will start doing this. A one minute breathing / grounding exercise before each meeting.

Lets see how the experiment goes.

G/ Punjabi MC
Listening to this as I write.

I really want to posture that Punjabi MC has to be one of the greatest artists of our time. Each time I need some energy, I put on something from Punjabi MC. Shinda, Mundeya tu bach rahi, Punjaban, Morni and many many more. I just wish I could dance alongside. But then I have two left feet.

H/ SG’s Braintrust
I have this WA group where I only add people who I…

have personally met (IRL or online)
respect
want to stay in touch with
am inspired by
want to learn from

Right now, this group is admin only. Very little chatter. I mostly use it to share things to get inputs, seek connections, throw ideas to see what sticks and other such things. This group has people across ages and locations.

I want to now expand this group. If you know me, lemme know and I will add you.

So, this is it for this week.

I know there should be more. Like I said, this was an easy week but the action and words and updates don’t match. Will fix this as we go along!

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 33. The highlight photo has to be…

I dont know the source. This came on one of the whatsapp groups that I am a part of. And yes, I know this is technically not a photo.

Not too many pics to be honest.
Was one of the weeks where I just didn’t have enough to save or share.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). Last week I added health.

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health – I had a fairly ok one on health, except yesterday when I fell off the radar. I track my health updates here, in case.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week?

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

Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. I did ok on most departments except workout. Yesterday was bad. But I can ignore it. A 0.

Meru. We finally shipped the first iteration of the first product (of the many in the pipeline). It’s live at elevate.merulife.com. So a +1.

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No large action. But like I mentioned, I did do some experiments with Heygen, thanks to Vishal. You can see here and here. So, a +1.

People. No action on this.
I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. No action. No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0

So the overall score is 1.
Finally in positive after a while!

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

What trends do you see?

To me, this looks like a regular week in the life of a regular man. Some good days, some bad days, some good food, some bad, some walks and some not so walks. Guess this is the point of life? No?

Random update. Listening to some Afro-Techno Mix. This one.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

I added Health as a key section some days ago. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

So…

Sleep
Exercise
Diet
Community
Crowdfunding my health.
Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
Meditation
Some links: My food log, my daily health log channel.

Lets go…

1/ Sleep
The week gone by was fairly ok. I have realised that I get 6 to 7 hours of sleep and most days I wake up without an alarm. So that’s ok.

Plus, on a day-to-day basis, I want to make my sleeping environment better. I cant fix the noise (I literally live on the road) but I can manage other things. And thus I am iterating with those. I cleaned my humidifier yesterday. I may not need it as long as it’s raining. Will play with it over the next few days and see how it impacts sleep over the next few days.

2/ Exercise
I still can NOT work out.
I tried yoga but all I got was 1 Surya Namaskar before I decided to quit.
However I’ve been fairly consistent with the walks. See 6 below.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
I think I am eating better (except one or two off days – and I need to stop with these). But the funny thing is, my weight is not reducing!

I’ve been consistent with walks (and these are deliberate walks) and I eat in moderation (at least the last few weeks) but the weight is not changing. Sigh!

4/ Community
I seem to have found some friends and colleagues who I can hang out with whenever I want to and however I want to. I dont have any pressure of dressing up, drinking up, going to a certain kind of a place or doing whatever. I can be at my weirdest extreme and I am accepted.

No, I dont want to jinx it. Will work hard to preserve it.

5/ Crowdfunding health
Last week I said, I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.

And I have two backers already. Both of them have committed 10K for 3 months, starting September, if I can show them that I can be under 90 KGs in this month. But, we are beyond the H1 of Aug and I am 92! Sigh!

6/ Movement
I am walking more than 8K steps everyday. Since the 6th of this month! See this…

7/ Meditation
I want to restart on this.
Specifically after I got that lesson in grounding aLets see when I get to.

Apart from these, I will talk about what I am thinking specifically about health

A/ Streaks is a powerful thing
If I’ve walked approx 1.4 lakh steps since 6th Aug, it’s only because of my want to keep the streak going. I think if I can implement this streaks thing at more places in life, I would have a better one.

The other thing that has worked in my favour is that there is this community (almost all are strangers) who’re pushing each other to walk more. I see updates from others and I want to walk. And that’s insane!

B/ Papad
I need to find a way to stop having Papad 😀

C/ Proximity to Kachra
When I am at work at Meru, we are all snacking non-stop all the time.

Ok that was exaggeration but you get the drift. There are 10 people in the room and each person gets hungry at a different time; and since we are a small team, each time someone is hungry, they offer what they’re eating to everyone else. And thus, I find myself eating all the time. And since most of these are snacks we order via Qcom, these are chips and all. Even “healthy” chips are made with oil and all.

While at home, I dont stock any snacks anymore. I have infact some leftover protein bar that we made last week. So, I am snacking better when I am home.

I can clearly see environment in action. And I need to fix this. Let’s see how I do this.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

PS: I had added YT to my “reads”

Here’s a list of interesting things that caught my eye. TBH I’ve not read all of these (had a randomly busy week) and I’ve added these to my TRL. I am dividing this section into two – one where I’ve read those (I will add a context) and the ones that I havent.

So, I’ve read…

This piece by Samarth Bansal. Very honest, very vulnerable. More than anything else, it makes me want to join TWT and work for them. Jokes apart, each “leader” must read this. Very very interesting. And very well written. Like I said on X, if there’s one thing you read this month, let it be this. PS: If you do read this, please share what you learn from this.
This post by Sahil Bloom. My number 1 takeaway was that most people don’t know what they want.
Bigotry of Low Expectations. Read here. Mihir told me about this in a meeting. When I heard it and thought more about is, I saw my mind bend!

Here are others that I’ve not consumed but have opened a tab for.

Tim Urban’s Last 6 Years.
Rahul’s tweet on how OTT is killing India’s ₹12,000 crore cinema industry
Gurwinder on how social media shortens your life
MFM on chasing a billionaire’s morning routine. Here.
Harnidh’s piece on Taste. Here.
Charlie’s 12 Rules of Life. Here.
Impact of Internet on OCEAN. Here. PS: Take OCEAN, Big 5 Test for free here.
Niraj’s list of things to do to reduce risk in India. Here.

🧠 Reminders from last week

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

Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Grind.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Blur, Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, 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!

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.

Wk 32-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, reflections and more from Week 32 of 2025. By Saurabh Garg.

Hello!
9 AM (of Sunday)
Versova Starbucks.
Finishing this post at 9 AM on Monday, the 11th August.

So, today, I am gonna make protein bars for myself. Yes, I wanna start with this. And this is monumental. For many reasons. For starters, I dont like my kitchen being used for cooking. I cant live with the mess it makes. And then second, I’ve always felt that cooking is a waste of time. And thanks to folks at FOXO, I am more mindful. And thanks to Abhinav, am walking!

Update from the morning of 11th – AK and I did it. More about it in the next week. Also from here on, I will go back to assuming that I am writing this on Sunday.

And as I write this, I am listening to this on loop. The mixing on this one is da bomb!

I wish I could rap. I loved a lot of Gully Boy (ya ya, the rap purists, please dont come at me). And understand more raps. And probably write it. And probably perform it. Sigh.

Ok, let’s go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ Overthinker and Overcommunicator
I am the last person to ever give advice on relationships but I have a strong belief that an overthinker must be with an overcommunicator.

Like most things, I would have seen this on some insta reel or something but over time I have come to have a 100% belief in this one. And this is true not just in romantic relationships but also in other places (say, work).

Think about it.

PS: If you are an overthinker, please do see this video and this photo.

B/ Linkedin Amplification #sgSunAmp
Since the last couple of weeks, every Sunday, I’ve been posting a tiny update on my linkedin where I talk about people and projects that more people need to know.

I dont know how long will I continue with this but I want to do whatever I can do to push more people to do more.

Here are those posts – 0, 1, 2 (today).
You can use this link to find other similar posts.

C/ Cheap
Spotted this on twitter.

Love this static ad by Fang oral care. pic.twitter.com/5MNKjDOT9x
— Vinod Chendhil (@vinodchendhil) August 7, 2025

I saw it and I realised that each person in life MUST proudly announce the prices that they will work at. It could be a business, a freelancer, a company, an artist or whatever. But you MUST talk about what you want to charge for your time or services.

And it’s ok to discover that

Also see, E.

D/ Uni-dimentional thinking and life
I was going through the reading list of the week. And I realised that my greatest influences come from tech-bros, startup folks, business leaders, hyper-successful businesspeople, famous artists and others of the ilk.

While there is nothing wrong with this, I would love to get more variety. I dont know where to look and what to do. Any inputs?

E/ Hiring process
Prak posted this on her linkedin. Very very pertinent. And I have a lot of thoughts. I even went out of character and made a comment. I am willing to die on the hill that till you build a fanbase (or 1000 true fans), you will HAVE to bow down to CV, assignments, in-human things etc etc.

Also, this post from Prak made me realise a few things. Here’s a list.

I must write more. I struggled to articulate my thoughts in 1250 characters. This can only get better if I write more.
I must work harder on my personal brand. And each person I know has to do the same. If you do, you will probably not need to take up assignments. I remember there was a time when I was looking for work and I could say that I dont have a CV. My name is my CV. Everyone else must be in this same boat.
Whole of point D above.
Each person MUST read 1000 True Fans by KK everyday till the idea gets drilled in the head.

F/ SoG
I HAVE TO GET BACK TO THIS.
And I dont know how.
Sigh.

G/ Bad News ASAP
I learnt this at Meru.

If things are going ok or going well, I dont need to be informed. But if there’s bad news, I want to be informed as soon as possible.

For many reasons. These are personal (not Meru’s).

I can plan for contingency.
Same as 1 but if I know the bad news, I can try and figure the repercussions and prevent the next-order effects.

Also, most people dont like surprises because they dont know how they react to bad ones. I am ok in this department tbh. I continue to operate from problem-solution-action triad.

And to be able to do this, I know I must give enough comfort to the ones around me that the bearer of the bad news will not be shot at!

So if you work with me, always give me the bad news first.

H/ Ask for EXACT timelines.
This is the second lesson from Meru in the last week.

When someone says they would work on something for you, you MUST request for an EXACT timeline (and not a vague “next week”). I was practising this already in life, but thanks to time spent at Meru, this has become a second nature. Must do this more often.

I/ Futility of action.
See this.

The biggest lesson from this one is that while there is merit and effort and pain and reward in the action, the end result is often… nothing. It’s the act that is important.

Reminds me of Naval where he talked about how all you have is your present and intention. And everything else is immaterial.

Also reminds me of a question that Dr H and C asked me. Here’s my attempt to rearticulate. While I am eternal optimist and long on hope, how do I remain divinely discontent?

The answer is simple. On a day to day basis, I spend my time and attention and intention of the task at hand. And while I do that, each day has to nudge me towards getting better.

J/ Feedback and change.
Lesson three this week from Meru. When you give input to people, do they change and try to implement the feedback?

If they try, they are good people. If they dont, you ought to move on.

To be honest, this is a tough one for me. I’ve lived my life as a people person and this shift to project person is proving to be harder than I had imagined. Even though I have seen mentors, friends, colleagues, clients talk about it. I know everyone says its not personal but I am finding it hard. I know the answers are within and I need to work on myself.

K/ The underachievement mountain at 42
See this tweet.

I will not copy-paste. Just that the meeting made me realise that I seem to be the only one who’s not saved for the rainy day. And if I have only people to show for my life and time here, I need a reality check.

Reminds me of that dialogue from F1 – You are not a “has been”. You are a “never was”.

Oh, the other quote from the film that I love is, “hope is not a strategy”. Must get this tattooed on me. #superQuotes

So this is it.
A lot was unpacked in these words.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 32.

The highlight photo has to be…

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). Last week I added health. I am moving that section higher as I want that to become the priority as we go along.

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health – I have been actually good on this one.
I track my health updates here, in case.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week?

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

Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. I did ok on most departments except workout.
I need to get going on that.
But I can give myself a 0. Yay!

Meru. Was busy.
No large outcomes to show for. So -1.

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No action.
And no action does not mean 0. It means a -1.

People. No action on this.
I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. No action. No time.
And I am not losing sleep over it. So a 0.

So the overall score is -3.
Same as last week. Lol.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

Look at those steps!
w00t!

And yes, look at that state of emotion.
Will work towards that.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

Last week, I added Health as a key section. I am still discovering what to cover here. Let’s see how it goes.

I will start with updates on what am doing for health.

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long – sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Let’s see what comes out.

So…

Sleep
Exercise
Diet
Community
Crowdfunding my health.
Movement (this should be part of exercise but I have a separate section)
Meditation
Some links: My food log, my daily health log channel.

Lets go…

1/ Sleep
I am ok on this department. I sleep well. I am trying to make my sleep environment better. I live on the mainroad and thus its very noisy at all hours. I use earplugs when I sleep to drown the noise. I will start using a humidifier. I have an ok mattress.

2/ Exercise
This is my Achilles Heel. I can NOT work out. I will find some alternative.

3/ Diet
This was my second largest problem. But thanks to FOXO and some awareness, I am doing better on this. I choose to avoid bad things. This is getting expensive to be honest but I can optimise other spends and ensure that I only put in good things into my system. I track each thing I eat on my food log.

4/ Community
This is the best across all counts. Even though I have quirks and all that. Dont want to jinx it. Will work hard to preserve it.

5/ Crowdfunding health
I thought hard about it. And I came to the convenient conclusion that the way you support your creator friends with money, commission, work and all that, I want my 1000 true fans to help me get healthy.

And I have two backers already. Both of them have committed 10K for 3 months.

And having said that, I dont want this early support to make me complacent. I want to earn it. And thus I’ve promised that by the time August ends, I would be 89 KGs (I am 91.3 as of today). So lets see.

Oh, I update this daily health log channel.

6/ Movement
I need to join something that makes me move. The week was good in terms of walks. I have averaged 12719 steps! I hope I continue this momentum.

7/ Meditation
I want to restart on this. Lets see when I get to.

Apart from these, I will talk about what I am thinking about.

A/ Mindful Eating
Since I’ve got FOXO membership, I am very mindful of what I eat. I am not perfect but I am better for sure. And I need to do a lot more before I reach my ideal levels. Let’s see when.

B/ Making my own Protein Bar
Along with AK and C, I will make my Protein Bars today. Lets see how that experiment goes. Am doing this because no protein bar in India offers a gluten-free, dairy-free option! Plus it’s been a while since I did something new for the first time!

I will report on how this goes.

Update on Monday, the Aug 11 – we did it! We are taking orders. Shipping free ;P

C/ Money needed to be healthy
I am realising fast that it’s incredibly expensive to try and be healthy.
Must earn more.
Lol!

D/ Whoop Age of 46
So, I am 42. And Whoop tells me that as per that, my age is 46. Not that I didnt know. But seeing this on the app, in front of my eyes was, well, eye-opening.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

PS: I had added YT from last week onward. Cos a lot of my “reading” now happens via podcasts / YT videos that I consume while in commute.

Here’s a list of interesting things that caught my eye.

Oh, this week onward, I am making this a tad different. I will also write a tiny note on what am taking away from this piece.

1/ SHL on high-value jobs – here.
My biggest takeaway from this post is that it’s ok to invest time to get the things done if you know you are onto something valuable.

I saw another chart the other day where they talked about how it took Figma 3 years before they had a viable product or something.

2/ Paul’s essay on Persistence.
Spotted this on Vinod Khosla’s X.
I had read it a few months ago and re-reading was so refreshing!

My takeaway?
Dont bet against the Collision Brothers and Sam Altman 😀

Jokes apart, the takeaway is in this line – “The persistent are like boats whose engines can’t be throttled back. The obstinate are like boats whose rudders can’t be turned” and “The persistent are attached to the goal. The obstinate are attached to their ideas about how to reach it.”

3/ Balaji on AI. Here.

A lot to unpack in this seemingly simple list. To be honest, I loved all 10. But points 2 (verification part), 3 (the concept of amplified), 4 and 8 stood out. I specifically want to talk about 4. I am afraid of the time when there are no experts cos all of us will have trained via the LLMs. We are staring at a huge circle jerk!

Oh, point 8 opened my eyes about crypto. I see myself thinking more about it in the weeks to come.

Anyhow.

Let’s see where the future takes us.

4/ Kunal Shah’s Delta 4 Theory. Here.
See this in combination with Brian Chesky’s 10-star Experience video.

Both of them talk about almost the same thing – the importance of building something that the customers brag about.

5/ Tom Goodwin on Longevity. Here.
I dont want to write more – there is enough comments and chatter there.

And here are some links that I havent had the time to think deeply about.

Samarth on Craft vs Cash. Here.
AML’s next in her series of India’s Tier 2 and 3 manufacturing. Here.
This piece on comfort zones. Here.
MFM with Tim. Yet to watch. Here.
How to make friends and… Here.

🧠 Reminders from last week

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

Again, skipping this. Will get back to it at an opportune time.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Blur.
This is the second time in the recent past when I felt that week went by very fast. So that.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Stress, Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, 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!

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.

Wk 31-25 – Weekly Notes

Updates from Week 31 of 2025.

10 AM.
Versova Starbucks.
AK’s spot!

I dont know how this came to be called AK’s spot. Like most things, it would have started with me sitting at one specific place, and then my people finding a place around me. AK being AK would’ve picked one opposite and then like each thing, this became a habit.

So, am AK’s spot. And here is my recap of what probably was one of the most stressful and yet exciting weeks in a long long time. For starters, see this…

Screenshot of Whoop data from last week.

Ok, I am still listening to Ray.

Today, it’s this version. On loop. I encourage you to play this while you read the rest of the post. Can’t stop thanking Starbucks for introducing me to this voice and track.

I must find a way to do these unplugged gigs. You know, like NPR’s Tiny Desk, Sofar, David Letterman’s and all that.

Anyhow. Let’s go.

💭 Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order.

A/ WTF to write?
So, letting you all in on a secret. I copy-paste the secions an headings and content from the previous week’s post. Then I edit ALL the sections execpt this one. And then I take my time to go thru my notes and lessons and and all that and I add those here.

Today when I opened my notes, I realised that this week was so busy that I was unable to capture a lot of things. And that means that I dont have a lot of things to write here.

But we shall prevail and let’s see what I write.

B/ Linkedin Shoutouts
Starting this week, I will give shoutout to at least 3 people each Sunday on my linkedin.

This week, I gave a shoutout to Nikunj, Roohi and Nipun. See here.

In case you need me to talk about you, you know who to reach.

C/ Hard things that don’t scale
I am often reminded of doing things that don’t scale and now that I am in the middle of doing things, I am learning the deeper meaning.

Things that scale need time to put rails and then, well, scale. The things that dont scale are built to get to the market the fastest.

And that nuance is what makes a LOT of difference.

And no, I am not advocating one over another. You gotta pick what works for you and what you want to work on.

D/ Raanjhanaa’s alt ending
The neck of the woods that discusses films is going berserk about how the producers have used AI to recreate the ending of a film.

There are notes from people about how the director was not consulted, how the nostalgia induced by film now seems cheated, how the consumers deserve more. Etc etc.

Before I write more,

No, I havent seen the film.
No, I dont care about the fandom.

But what I do care is that AI is here.

And especially in disciplines like filmmaking that have been gatekept for long. After code, this is the one that needed disruption and is getting disrupted. I love that I am around to see this revolution. I just hope I was bang in the middle of it.

Oh, and couple this with Shekhar Kapur’s Warlord. And with attempt from C4E folks of doing a feature with TNKS (see this). And while editing, just saw this.

All I can say is that change is coming. And either we embrace it. Or we die a slow, painful, agonising death.

E/ Founding Creator Roles and JDs
In this video, Balaji talks about why EACH startup needs a Founding Creator. And wow, eyes opened. I’ve remained on the sidelines for too long. And I need to now advice the same to all my younger friends.

This is one of those life changing advices that need no more words to be split. I’ve been guilty of remaining a private person for too long and I need to change that. I wish I was more adaptable while I was younger!

F/ F1, the Film
I havent had the time to write about F1 yet. I will probably sit on it today.

G/ New kids to learn from
I am starting to feel the need of finding new people to learn from. In a different era, this was SoG (see this). But with time, that got faded. And now I have no one.

SoG and my life’s work

Thing is, lately that supply of new, fresh, young talent has dried down. I need to build another group / cohort or something that I can be a part of, to learn new things.

If I had more time, I would teach (each teaching session requires a lot of prep). And since I dont have that, I want to rather build some group. Any ideas anyone? How are you doing this? How do you think others are doing?

I do have some groups that I run where I overshare. Here’s a list.

SG’s Braintrust
TIL
2025 Mentees (private link)
Taste for Makers

And I am sure there are more. But I need this structured manner in which I can learn from young ones.

Come on, universe! Help me! tw

H/ Safe Word.
Was reminded of this. See this. And yes, inspired by Simon Sinek.

Ok, so words are not wording. See A. And see this. May be next week.

📷 Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 31.

I would love to highlight this quote from Om, from this post about Meta’s MSL.

🈺 The LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that I’ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt).

Book 2 – no action.

Yearly Plan – I dropped it a few weeks ago.

And starting today, I am adding a new large life objective. Health. More in the next few lines.

☑️ So, what did I get done last week?

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

Health
Meru
C4E
Brand SG
People (Family, Friends, Strangers, etc)
Book2
Shauk (Music, Films, Poker etc)

Health. More awareness. Tiny actions. I am also building a new section on this weekly review. But the metrics remain off the chart. So, a -1.

Meru. Was busy. Did some things that showed outcomes! A 0. Yay!

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No action. And no action does not mean 0. It means a -1.

People. No action on this. I’d say 0.

Book 2. Lol! -1

Shauk. I started with poker. So a step in the direction. But a 0.

So the overall score is -3.

📊 The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker.

Ya ya.
Far fewer greens.
I will fix it. Especially cos health seems to be a recurring theme here.

I need to find the cause and then eliminate that.

📖 Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

I have added views as part of the reads from this week onward. This is cos a lot of my “reading” now happens via podcasts / YT videos that I consume while in commute.

Here’s a list.

Oh, while each of these links is interesting and important, I am highlighting some.

Microsoft Research’s note on what jobs are in demand and the ones that are gonna go out. Here. If you are the one who thinks will get impacted, please talk to me and I will try to help.
The Philosophy of Sridhar Vembu (of Zoho), according to Notebook LM. Via this.
Om’s MASTERpiece on Meta, Zuck and MSL. Here.
Balaji talks about why EACH startup needs a Founding Creator. Here.
This is a very interesing post on Reddit about how to build wealth as a young person. Here.
Cheaper by the Dozen. Here. Funny that English language paperback version is not available. The Marathi edition is.
An interview of Brian Chesky where he reflects on his IPO conversation. I love him! Also, I love the quote – “your culture is often forged in the darkest moments”.
This thread by Tim. On investments and money.
Taleb on Stoicism. Here. I love the guy. Sad that he’s blocked me on X. This video reshaped how I thought about stoics. I realise that I have much to learn! In fact, you must subscribe to Picking Nuggets – one of THE best channels on YT.
Mahesh Murthy’s interview. TBH, I havent watched this in full and I know he may not carry the cleanest reputation. So that.

🧠 Reminders from last week

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

So, I’ve been skipping this for the last few weeks. I am skipping this week as well. Havent had the time TBH to work on this. Again, this week is tough but I will get to it soon.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ Health

Today on, I am introducing a new categoery. Health.

I will track it here as a seperate section.

A/ So few things that are at the top of my mind.
I am 42. And probably with a body of a 50-year old. And thus I need to work on it.

I am not getting younger and since I love the idea of living, I really want to do something about it. See this photo that a friend sent me.

I’ve been tryin to be 31″ since 2012. We are on the 31st week of 2025. 13 years. And I was supposed to have climbed Mt Everest by 1 Jan of 2026. I cant climb my bed most days.

So that.

B/ sgHealth
I plan to share some updates about my life and all on this WA channel. You are welcome to join. Here. Expect frequent updates. At least once a day.

C/ Crowdsourcing my health
I’ve often said and believed that getting healthy is easy for rich people. And I’ve never had the money. So, I could stand on the sidelines.

And I can no longer do that. So, to test my thesis, I approached some friends with an offer. Give me 10K each for 3 months. If I can get tangibly better (health wise), I will goto even more people!

While the two people who’ve agreed to help me can pay 10K today, I’ve told them that I will have lost 2 KGs by end of August (I was 91.3 while naked) on 30th July. If I am 89ish, I will take their money for OND and see how it goes.

D/ Use of AI
I wrote this following query to help LLMs help me with my food.

Hi, you are my food ordering guide and companion.

Each day I will give you places where am hanging out at. I need to know what should I order there which is low in calories and high in protein, with high satiety.

Please note…

1/ Give me a list of gluten free, low carb, no daily, no oil foods that I can eat as someone living in india.

2/ Please know that I am a diabetic, lactose intolerant.

3/ I want this to be made without oil. Not even ghee, no butter.

4/ Please know that I am gluten intolerant and I am lactose intolerant.

5/ I dont eat non-veg. I can eat eggs, though.

Here are more details..
a/ Cooking methods: I dont want no oil. I am okay with steamed, boiled, grilled (dry), or tandoor-cooked items.
b/ Nuts and seeds: I am okay with almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc
c/ Legumes: I am comfortable with dal, chickpeas, black beans, etc. but I will try to give you more details as we start.
d/ Sweeteners: complete avoidance of sweeteners

When I give you a restaurant name, please browse the internet, find menu from reputable sources, analyse macros of promising menu options, find 5 most suitable menu options, and suggest a reasonable 1 line simple request for each which I could convey to the waiter or chef to either lower calories, increase protein, increase satiety of that particular menu option

For each meal, I want to eat portions that are at max 400 grams. And I want a lot of fibre and protein. Followed by fat. And then if in case, carbs. I am ok with spicy.

Finally, before recommending, check your recommendation against the 5 things that I have told you.

Also, I will tell you what I fianlly ate. I will also upload the photo. keep a tab of the time am eating, whwat am eating, macros and all that. And then give me a weekly report.

Ask me any questions that may help you do your job better.

Thanks!

Let’s see what comes out of it.

So, that.
Let’s see if I am any better.

🥡 So, one thing that defines the past week?

Stress.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have been… Numb, Blur, Fast, Uncool, Disappeared, Experience, 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!

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.