Wk 39-25 – Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 39 of 2025.

Sunday the 28th.
Starbucks, Versova.

The week gone by was hard and long. For starters, I turned 43. And I am sad about it. Many reasons.

  • A, I was to be rich and famous and powerful by 42. I am not.
  • B, I dont think I’ve done enough to celebrate another year around the sun.
  • C, While I am not in the legacy game, I definitely am in the experience game. And with each passing year, my ability to access grand things goes down.
  • D, I realize that on a realistic timeline, my ability to do things goes down with each passing day. You know, age. I look like I am 50. I can feel the tiredness in my bones. Most days I wake up with a sore back. I cant seem to see very well. The skin is breaking from more places. Even Dr H mentioned that she’s unable to understand why things aren’t happening. I dont know either.

So that.

Ok, wait.
I dont want to make this into a pity party.
Lemme change the narrative.

So, I love when I am with people. I love how I think that life has great things to offer to us. I know deep inside that life is essentially a mirror – if shows you what you want to see. So, we shall move on. Oh, I am changing the format of this weekly update. Let’s see if you can spot it.

The song of the week is this cover of Aint No Sunshine by CAPTAIN OG and Shotaro Miyamoto.

Ok, let’s go!


๐Ÿ’ญ Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

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

A/ I met Arun Sir and Hareesh Sir for a Meru review and got a whack on the side of the head about money.
In that, I realised that I need to make friends with people with money. I think I’ve always shunned money as a bastard thing. But I need to start loving it. And not be overwhelmed with it. I’ve always operated like I was the richest person in the world and never got into money conversations. Between time and money, I’ve always picked time. When in conflict, I’ve left money on the table for others to pick up so that I can walk away with some peace.

I think I will change that.

More on this as I think more. #sgtothink

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B/ Take token for everything.
Staying on A, each time someone has come to me for help, I’ve extended my support and help to them at no cost. And in fact, often at my expense (of time, energy, money etc). But I think I will change this from now on. I will ask for a tiny token (or Re 1) before extending any help. I must work on building a “seek help from SG” page where I list these things.

No, I am not taking the decision just yet. This is very intrinsic to me – the want to help the underdog and have more people do more.

My argument has been that if I take ANY money, even if its 1 rupee, it becomes a transaction and then I have a performance pressure. And knowing myself (perpetual underachiever feels), I will not be able to do justice! Plus once someone pays me, it becomes a transaction and it’s never ending!

On the other side, if I dont do a transaction, then I am not obligated. And that relieves me of the responsibility of the outcome. But then I become that consultant breed that I loathe from the bottom of my heart!

Any how. I will think on this and decide it over the next few days. #sgtodo

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C/ The third lesson from the meeting is that I must make check lists. I anyway do this but I want to be able to do this at a GRANULAR level. And then I should be able to get even a machine to execute things.

I’ve lived my life in a freewheeling manner but now as I am older and have lesser time to get things done, I will lean onto this. I will re-read the Checklist Manifesto.

Also, I think, this is a lesson I need to give to folks at C4E. If there’s a checklist structure and a scrum master to run and list priorities I think life would get better. I know C4E is built on top of self accountability but this could be a good driver. Again, not my place to recommend or push things at C4E. I would let them decide. I can only leave a note to them.

.

D/ This linkedin note on creative folks, from Prak is fabulous.
She says something that I’ve always known but I never knew how to write. About the creative folks, she says,

What happens when you take this type and put them within the same tiny rooms and dull walls day in and day out?

They lose that perspective. They lose their voice. That freshness and creativity? It dies a slow death, like a plant kept away from the sun.

Touch grass is not just a fad for us, it’s a way of building the things, creating in the best way possible.

We make space for epiphanies, to enter flow zones of brilliant work, to find sparks of magic in the world outside walls, both physical and metaphorical.

Creative folks bring their whole self to office, not just “a skill”.

I knew of this all the time but I could never find the words to articulate it.

Thanks, Prak.

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E/ This piece makes an argument that warmer counties are poorer. If there is one thing that you read today, read this.
I am convinced that once I move to a colder place, I will be better off.

In fact I was thinking today only – what holds me to Mumbai. Some years ago it would have been friends and SO. But the only friend I cared for in life is no longer in India. And SO, well, lol. So, maybe its the trigger to move to a colder place? But then, Indian passport ๐Ÿ™

But, in spirit of action and seeing something that I always knew on paper, why cant I make my way to a colder country?

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F/ This text by the other Vembu is brilliant.
More than the hyper-national conversations, I like how they’ve chosen to play the long-game. Ofc its easy to talk about things after you’ve succeeded. I am a sore old man. I played the long-game all my life and look where it left me. And despite that soreness and my bias, I encourage everyone to play the long game.

Also, the podcast I was gonna do with Riya’s help was gonna be called The Long Game. I will have to find a new name. I dont want to encroach upon someone else’s work even though I am a rounding off error in their scheme of things.

Oh, see this video of Steve introducing about podcasting.

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G/ Mahabharata
Today is the 6th day when I am writing a post on my linkedin where am talking about a lesson from Mahabharata. They are on my linkedin. Do see those.

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H/ Ashutosh Rana and Rashmirathi
You have to see this, unless already.

Ok, this is it.

.

I/ Music and mehfils
I am seeing Shotaro Miyamoto on loop and the urge to build mehfils is getting stronger by the day. I really really really need to dig this shit up. See this exasperated note!

There was a time when I was doing this with CSS. We kept it just right – friends, music, camaraderie but I wasn’t able to continue with it. You know, life happened. And then with time it withered away. I so want to get back in those rooms. You know, Sofar, Tiny Desk (by NPR), even Coke Studio but done in an intimate setting!

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J/ Focus
Saw this tweet and wondered, if the missing ingredient from my life and success is focus. I’ve never been the kinds to stick to one thing. But maybe this is the thing that I need to do? With Meru, at least I am trying to do one thing. Let’s see if it bears fruit.

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K/ Mental Health 101
From whatever little I know, I’ve been able to distill that your happiness is the gap between your expectation and reality. By corollary, it’s also the gap between efforts and returns. And thus the old-age advice on not attaching to outcomes serves well.

So that!

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This is it for this week. More next week.


๐Ÿ“ท Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.

The cover would be this…

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Lemme know which one do you like the most. And do share some of your photos with me!

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๐Ÿˆบ LARGE objective from the week gone by?

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

Book 2 โ€“ There was no movement.
Nothing to report.

Yearly Plan โ€“ I dropped it long ago.
Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.

Health โ€“ Was ok health wise but not doing very well with food and all. So a -1. PS: I track my health updates here, in case.

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โ˜‘๏ธ 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.

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

Health. This has fallen off the grid completely. The rigor with which I worked on this is gone. I need to restart. Am taking off Monday and Tuesday to only fix this. So, 0.

Meru. Great progress but not something that I can talk about on this blog. But till we ship, I will give myself a 0.

C4E. No action from my side. No comments. A 0.

Brand SG. Riya has started to share things on ToL. You may check it out here and here. Early days. But some action finally. Thanks to Riya, a +1!

People. No action on this.
Iโ€™d say 0.

Book 2. Nothing.
So, -1

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

So the overall score for the week is 0

I need to now ensure that I get a + every week. And that means I will break things into tiny chunks and manage those.

Watch me.


๐Ÿ“Š The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by…

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What trends do you see?

I seeโ€ฆ

  1. Consistent unhappiness.
  2. Bad food.
  3. Sleeping late.

What do you see?


๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Health

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

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long โ€“ sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Letโ€™s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links โ€“ food log, my daily health log channel.

1/ Sleep
I slept ok, but later than what I would’ve wanted.

2/ Exercise
No action. Despite my 100% intentions.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
Was terrible.
I am just not able to solve this.
: (

4/ Community
No large movement on this.

5/ REDACTED
This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.

6/ Movement
No action.

: (

7/ Meditation
No action.

Overall, the last week on health front has not been the best. I am thinking why am I even tracking this if week after week, all I have is inconsistent outcomes?


๐Ÿ“– Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

Here are some…

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1/ This post from Sam Parr. About how to live a good life.

2/ This X thread about Osho is very interesting. I am not too well read about his life and work but this was a good 101.

3/ This Linkedin broetry has great advice for young people. I love these parts the most…

1. ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ถ๐˜: Regular readers know the Explore vs Exploit framework. In situations of repeated decision making, you can either ๐˜Œ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ (try a new thing), or ๐˜Œ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ต (stick with what you know works). In building a career, the early years should be dedicated to Exploit. Try as many things as you can. The time to Exploit your skills / experience will come later. For now, experiment!

5. ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐˜€. My closest friends today are from only two cohorts – college mates, and friends from the earliest days of my working life. Cherish these early years. They offer you deep friendships, lasting mentors.

6. ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜๐—ต. Eating out every day, too much drinking, long nights at work, travel, no exercise. Think your body can take punishment and still endure? Maybe. But it’ll thank you later if you took better care of it.

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4/ This post on the Taste and Talent gap is worth it’s weight in gold. Do read it?

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5/ This X thread on success is great. From this, I love these…

  • you should be able to sleep on floor, no matter how rich you become
  • dilute stakes at peak to use the money at extreme lows and stay afloat
  • business is an emotional ride and very bumpy, be prepared
  • if you can move to Dubai or US make some money quickly then expand in India
  • always have 36 months of money for family security

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6/ Shaan VP on how to be rich. This is a 20-odd minute video. Must see for everyone.

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This is it for the week. Oh, I am reading this book these days. Painfully slow cos time. But a riveting read!


๐Ÿง  Reminders from last week

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

Iโ€™ve been skipping this for a while now.
Lets see when I get back to this.

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๐Ÿฅก So, one thing that defines the past week?

Grind.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have beenโ€ฆ Sad, Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, 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.

โ€”
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: 0102030405060708, 09 (missed), 1011121314, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18192021, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25262728293031323334353637, 38

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

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

Wk 38-25 โ€“ Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 38 of 2025.

Sunday the 21st,
Starbucks Versova,

The week gone by was interesting, to say the least.

Health was all over the place and this is when I am trying to be more conscious of what I eat and how I eat.

Work was ok – no large complaints but hectic for sure. On other things, I wasn’t as consistent as I would have liked to be.

Also, this review will be a short one compared to others.

Like I said, I am not 100%. I had the choice of skipping it or doing a half-hearted shoddy job.

I chose later. I am trying to be consistent even if quality goes down the drain. Plus this (my consistency) has been my Achilles Heel and thus I want to not stop with it.

So with that, here we go.

Wait. The song of the week. This.

Chalo, letโ€™s goโ€ฆ


๐Ÿ’ญ Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

PS: As always, these are not in any order. And this week, please expect these to be a tad less than previous ones.

A/ How people use ChatGPT
Open AI released this report that talks about how people use Chat GPT. I am sure you have seen it. But if you live under the rock and you havent, here’s a chart.

Chart from openAI on how people use ChatGPT.

These are very interesting tidbits. I would love to get even more granular data on this to know more. I love how large companies that mine data are able to predict human behaviour so well!

.

B/ ChatGPT as a therapist.
I found this prompt and I think I will use this to get chatgpt to be my therapist.

“ask me 10 – 12 questions to identify my limiting beliefs and what is holding me back.

Ask the questions one by one and ensure you get to the root cause and not just surface level answers, provide insights and rationale on aspects of myself I am not currently aware of.

After the 10 questions, use advanced Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to wire my brain to push past these limiting beliefs.”

WARNING: PLEASE try at your own risk

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C/ Why do you do hard things? Who do you do hard things for?
First, read this post. And here I am, quoting some words from it…

I thought I fought for a cause but I realize I fought because he fought. Because one afternoon he let me witness his humanity. 

It has been a long time since that afternoon but that hour changed me permanently. You do hard things because of the people who you do it with and they do it with you because you do it with them. I know to let people around me see the cracks. I remember that I need to witness an d be witnessed.

In my life Iโ€™ve wanted people to succeed and I have worked for that. I’ve worked with them at my own cost and at the cost of building opportunities. I dont take names normally but there are some people who’s ambition and dreams are unbounded and I want to be shoulder that enables them to do more! Aastha, Anubhab, Pritam. Shikha and Prakruti in the past. AK and C lately. The ones who put their faith in me. The ones that allowed me to steer them. I failed in most of those. But I did try.

I know when (not if) most of these folks reach the altar, they probably wouldnโ€™t remember me. And that’s ok. I dont seek to be the person who gets to ring the bell on your IPO but I want to be around in the trenches when you need me. I want to be with the underdog. I want to be the person who has the honor to sit in the mud with you when the chips are down.

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D/ Rocky
Saw this. And I want to run. Lol!

.

E/ Management Lessons from Mahabharata
While talking to Riya the other day, an idea popped into my head. What if I could divide Mahabharata in smaller chunks and created some lessons for young people. If I were to offer this as a cohort, how many of you would want to take this up?

PLEASE do let me know!

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F/ SG Patrons (#sgPatrons)
I mentioned a few weeks ago, I now have three patrons.
I need 997 more.
Need to work for those.

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G/ Aint No Sunshine on Jazz
I said last week that I am listening to a lot of Jazz lately. Here’s a cover of one of my favorite songs of all time. Here’s another cover (this one takes a bit to start). Oh man, I love listening to various versions of tracks that I love!

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H/ H1B row and Apple in China
In the last few days the world for Indians in the US seems to have turned upside down. There are new regulations on H1B Visa. While I am not as well read (reminds me of this from Calvin and Hobbs), I can understand the pain and anxiety in the minds of people.

Also, I am reading Apple in China.

And I am thinking and reading about global business and all that.

All three things are very very very unsettling to me as a person. On one side, I want to live as borderless, free life. And on the other, I am contained in India. And then there are stories of countries and economies closing their doors. And then there’s this thing where I know am growing old. And fast. And to a point that I dont know how long do I have! To a point that I dont even want to get on to a plane – why give fate even a fleeting chance?

Ok, I dont know where am going with this. The point is, kaafi khichdi hai. Lol!

.

Ok, this is it.


๐Ÿ“ท Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.

Lemme know which one do you like the most. And do share some of your photos with me!

.


๐Ÿˆบ LARGE objective from the week gone by?

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

Book 2 โ€“ There was no movement.
Nothing to report.

Yearly Plan โ€“ I dropped it long ago.
Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.

Health โ€“ Was not in the pink of health last week. So -1.
PS: I track my health updates here, in case.


โ˜‘๏ธ 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.

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

Health. Was unwell. No one or nothing to blame on. Just life. Lol. I even tried to cook but that was a disaster. So, 0.

Meru. Apart from other things, did a session with some folks about how to write their biographies. Doing another one on the 5th Oct. Details here.
Still a 0, TBH.

C4E. No action from my side.
September looks tough. Let’s see.
C tells me that the pipeline looks ok but let’s see.

Brand SG. No action.
Nothing to be shared.
-1

People. No action on this.
Iโ€™d say 0.

Book 2. Nothing.
So, -1

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

So the overall score is -2.
Has been -2 for some weeks now.


๐Ÿ“Š The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

What trends do you see?

I seeโ€ฆ

  1. Terrible recovery. The last five days have been like less than 50 and one day it was 9!
  2. Food’s all over the place.
  3. Emotions are all over the place.

Lol, life’s all over the place ;P

What do you see?


๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Health

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

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long โ€“ sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Letโ€™s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links โ€“ food log, my daily health log channel.

1/ Sleep
In one word, last week was FUCKED!

2/ Exercise
No action. Despite my 100% intentions.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
Was terrible.

I tried sprouts and boiled eggs and all that. But didn’t work out. I think I will give up on it and get catered meals. I will pay more than I can afford but I will not have to waste headspace.

4/ Community
No large movement on this. It’s as ok as it could be. Nothing great, nothing bad.

5/ REDACTED
This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.

6/ Movement
No action. Even the steps are down ๐Ÿ™

7/ Meditation
No action.

Overall, the last week has been terrible. The first half was bad cos of work. The second half cos I ate something bad.


๐Ÿ“– Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

Since I was not working a lot, I had time to read a lot. And I started reading a book as well (Apple in China – see this). So, here are some links that I want to share.

1/ This LinkedIn post talks shows the income of Indians across tax groups (only the ones that file tax). The surprising part was the number of people making more than 10 lakhs is like 1 crore only (assuming 10 crore people file tax and 10% of those are in this category)! What does this mean for us? 

2/ Interesting post about how the Aggarwals cant seem to find enough brides. More pertinent cos this is the community that I come from.

3/ This tweet implores you to find your Spartans. Like I said, I have 2. How many do you have? Oh, while on Spartans, please see this video to get the real meaning of what Spartans mean!

4/ I saw this tweet and I want to take the no-smart phone challenge. I will probably do this towards the end of the year. #sgtodo

5/ Read this tweet on swimming. Gold!

6/ Read this post about who would you like to be without an audience. Very very deep and inspiring and interesting. A conundrum that I have faced for a long long time now.

7/ This tweet by Kunal Shah is very interesting. I would love to get into some sin business. Any ideas?

8/ This long post on how twitter / X algo works. Do read. I am yet to implement this in my work but I plan to.

9/ Re-read this long post (from 2014) on why Bitcoin is doomed. Some of the reasons are no longer valid in 2025 but some are! Do read and lemme know what you think.

.

I want to share more links but this week’s update is a truncated one. So may be next week?


๐Ÿง  Reminders from last week

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

Iโ€™ve been skipping this for a while now.
Lets see when I get back to this.


๐Ÿฅก So, one thing that defines the past week?

Sad.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have beenโ€ฆ Tough, Routine, Routine, Busy, 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.

โ€”
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: 0102030405060708, 09 (missed), 1011121314, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18192021, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 252627282930313233343536, 37

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

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

Wk 37-25 โ€“ Weekly Notes

Notes, thoughts, highlights and other things from the week 37 of 2025. Wow time flies!

9 AM, Sunday the 14th,
Starbucks Versova,

I’ve had probably the toughest week in the last few weeks. If I look at my charts, I am sleeping well, emotions are in check but I had a terrible week. I know it. Quantified self may not be as quantifiable as we imagine it to be ;P

There is clearly a lot that goes under the hood that we are not aware of. And I think that ability to scratch beyond the surface is what separates winners from losers. At some point, I need to grow that ability. I dont think I have at this time.

Anyhow. A lot to be said and a lot to be thought about.

Let’s get going.

Oh, the song of the week is Jagjit Singh’s version of Chaudhavi Ki Raat. Here.

Chalo, let’s go…


๐Ÿ’ญ Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

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

A/ Jazz
I have started to like Jazz. I never imagined that I would love things like Jazz music. But I like it now. May be its the impact that Akshay has had on me. Or may be its a natural instinct to start like mellow things as you age. Or may be its the appreciation of fine things in life (lol, am calling Jazz fine). Or maybe this is an hangover from Whiplash?

Whatever it is. It’s interesting and I like.

Here’s one of the playlists that I listen to often. And I am listening to this as we write this. You must watch this. People having fun!

And yes, my choice of music platform is Youtube. Not Spotify lol.

.

B/ SG’s Raison dโ€™รชtre
Am continuing this from last week’s point E.

Last week, I wrote this…

From last week’s update. Here.

From all the 84 people that read that post, 2 decided to support me. Both are at a 1000 a month. Thank you, Prakruti and Shruti. I now need 998 more folks.

Also, 2 out of 84 is not that bad to be honest. Now that I have 2 patrons, I need to think what can I offer them. And how can I expand this.

.

C/ Domesticated SG
I’ve found a spot in my house where the sun peeks at me in the morning. So, most days, I putter around there, peeling eggs, almonds, cleaning the kitchen and all that. I dont do anything of use to be honest. It’s an hour of wasting time but I am told by Dr H that I need to waste this hour. So that.

Oh, I am also getting a lot more domesticated. I am buying things like lunch boxes, containers and what not. I already have an air fryer, a blender, an egg boiler, a humidifier. Apart from tons of glass jars, spouters, containers and all that. I’ve ran away from a functioning kitchen all my life and now I have one. Sigh!

What age does to people ;P

.

D/ Walk streak
Since early august I was on a 8K per day streak. I broke it yesterday ๐Ÿ™

This was made possible by Abhinav and Unlock!

I am committed to continue this. So while I missed this yesterday, I will try to get back to it today on. As I write this, I am on 1000 odd steps for the day. The ambition is to do 15K today. Let’s see how it goes.

.

E/ Weekly Updates + Roam
I found a way to import my blogs in Roam.

And now I have a tracking system! Yay!

.

F/ Distribution / Personal Brand
Not one day goes by when I am not reminded by how stupid it is that I did nothing on my personal brand over all these years that I have been active on social media and internet.

I really have to pull up my socks, pants, life and EVERYTHING that I can on this. I need to start putting my face and thoughts and ideas and everything else out!

.

G/ Upskilling Cohort for Mid-Career Folks
A friend (Akshay) and I had this idea – what if there was some cohort for mid-career professionals who are wading in the ambiguity with their careers? And the cohort could offer a structured program where you could attend sessions by others (gyaan), upskilling workshops (say AI), and opportunity to find gigs that are not soul-sucking full time jobs.

We floated this idea in couple of groups – one was DD’s group and the other was MDI’s community. We got some really interesting feedback. What do you think? Would you be interested? Why? Why not? What would you want to see in that cohort? What money would you pay? No, we dont want to charge people who want to upskill but we want to filter non-serious participants.ย And any other feedback?ย 

.

H/ Bending Spoon’s acquisition of Vimeo
I read this week that Bending Spoons is acquiring Vimeo. If you are uninitiated about BS, they are a tech venture studio of sorts that also owns and runs wetransfer, issu and evernote! Oh, I also love their Values page!

Also, Bending Spoons is the kind of business that I want to create. In fact, the labs piece by AK is my ticket to that. I just need to find a way to show the kids the light and move beyond the quirks.

.

I/ Bharat Ek Khoj
Someone needs to reimagine and retell Bharat Ek Khoj. May be using AI. I wish I had the money to commission it! In fact, on that thread, reminds me, I have so so so many ideas that I want to work on and I dont know how to do all of those ๐Ÿ™

Ok wait. I will not cry.
Moving on.

.

Ok, this is it. Moving on.


๐Ÿ“ท Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos that I took and saved in the last week. Here.

And here’s a photo that I want to share with the world…

Took this on one of the mornings at Starbucks.

Do share some of your photos with me ๐Ÿ™‚

.


๐Ÿˆบ LARGE objective from the week gone by?

I had two large things when I started this year. Book 2 and a yearly plan (that Iโ€™ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.

Book 2ย โ€“ There was no movement.
A, I was busy with work.
B, Bri was busy as well.
So, I have nothing to report. Will get back next week.

Yearly Planย โ€“ I dropped it long ago.
Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.

Health โ€“ No large actions.
PS: I track my health updates here, in case.


โ˜‘๏ธ 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.

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

Health. I was not on track at all.
With FOXO I had built a good habit of eating in moderation and all that but one slip from my side, I am back to the starting line. I need to get back on track. A 0.

Meru. Lot of action but no updates that I can put on this blog.
So, a 0.

C4E. No action from my side.
But we did survive one more month without ruin. So that’s a win for sure. With the way things are going, I will have to take up a loan to pay September salaries. So it has a good thing and a bad thing. May be a 0.

Brand SG. No action.
Riya and AK and Vishal and others have been at it but we havent shipped anything. So a -1. Also with a team and talent like that, it’s a shame that I am unable to get them to do more for me.

People. No action on this.
Iโ€™d say 0.

Book 2. Nothing.
So, -1

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

So the overall score is -2.


๐Ÿ“Š The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

From Week 37 of 2025

What trends do you see?

I seeโ€ฆ

  1. Better sleep despite my emotions being all over the place. Funnily the days that I was most screwed, I seem to be sleeping better. Lol.
  2. Food needs fixing for sure.

What do you see?


๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Health

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

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. Letโ€™s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links โ€“ food log, my daily health log channel.

1/ Sleep
Like I said, this seems to be ok.
Despite my emotions.
I think I am blessed!

2/ Exercise
No action ๐Ÿ™

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on myย food log.
Was terrible.

Here’s a screenshot of macros from last week. I am told I need to add 20% to what I track. Please do the math ;P

I use chatgpt to estimate this.

So, am ok on protein (I think) but I need to fix my carbs and calories.

Oh, in case you need my prompt for this, lemme know. It’s able to find macros but I am yet to automate it to a point that it can add to the tracker by itself. On that, I am sure it’s possible but I havent had the time to play with AI tools yet.

4/ Community
No large movement on this.

5/ REDACTED
This was being tracked till the last week. I have stopped this from this week onward.

6/ Movement
No action.

Apart from steps over the last week. See this.

7/ Meditation
No action.

Overall, despite everything, I am unable to anything about moving the metrics that matter. I think I need intervention! Who? Come on, universe. #sgtodo

Also, question for the world at large – how to people manage work, life, family and fitness? #tothink


๐Ÿ“– Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

I read a lot last week. I mean it feels like that.

Here are some pieces that I want to share…

1/ Longevity as the new status game by JMJ. Here. Satirical read about how longevity has become the new pursuit of the rich and tech-ous.

2/ The note from Wire about the Nepal situation. Here.

3/ Here’s a note on Pmarca’s operating principles and the change. Here. I think I am somewhere in the same flux. Over the last year or so, I’ve become a lot more manager than maker. And thus I need to change as well.

4/ My friend Pavithra on self worth, told thru the lens of GLP-1 drugs and Serena’s decision to promote these drugs. Here.

5/ This tweet on how to use modern digital marketing.

6/ Aarya write about what makes Apple, Apple. Very well written piece from a young person. Must read. Here.

7/ This story on Parsi’s Towers of Silence. And Vultures. Really. MUST read. For sheer joy of reading. And amazement.

8/ This review of Manu Joseph’s book, Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us. No, I have not read the book. But I am aware of the sharp tongue of the man. And I love how he’s able to write so well. This review is Josephesque itself. Do read.

9/ Ev (the twitter guy) talking about “Why Greatness Can’t be Planned”. I havent read the book but I love the narrative. Here. I can totally see myself buying the book. Meanwhile, here’s a summary of the book.

10/ Saw this on HV Pandya’s X. About Steve Job’s Miracle Year at Apple. Here. Oh, and here’s to the crazy ones

.

Thats it for this week. Phew!


๐Ÿง  Reminders from last week

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

Iโ€™ve been skipping this for a while now.
Lets see when I get back to this.


๐Ÿฅก So, one thing that defines the past week?

Tough.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have beenโ€ฆ Routine, Routine, Busy, 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.

โ€”
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: 0102030405060708, 09 (missed), 1011121314, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18192021, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25262728293031323334, 35, 36

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

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

Wk 36-25 โ€“ Weekly Notes

Updates from the week 36 of 2025.

Sep 6, 2025
Starbucks, Versova

I am starting this on a Saturday. Let’s see if I get to publish this today. Last few weeks have been tough, accounting to all the work and meetings and all that.

Today’s Sunday. And I didn’t publish this on a Saturday! Lol!

Let’s continue.

Today’s track is from Lucky Ali. This one.

Nahi Rakhta Main – Lucky Ali

So, let’s go…


๐Ÿ’ญ Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

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

A/ Ember Months Lock In
Most of the startup world is talking about the great lock-in over the Ember Months. Funny I didnt know of this as a concept all this while. But now that I know, I am inspired to something. I think I will make it about fitness. Work, life, people, relationships, etc etc will come and go but fitness will stay with me. So that.

A part of this is that I will run a HM on 31st Dec. I am 14 odd weeks away from it. And as of today I can only run like 10 meters. Let’s see how it goes.

What are you gonna lock-in the next 4 months with?

.

B/ Teacher’s Day
A sum total of two people wished me Happy teachers’s day. Which is fine. I dont want adulation anyway. But I am very very big on learning and lessons and life and all that. And I want to believe that I am teaching a lot of people a lot of things. And while they may not acknowledge me, I hope they are using it.

On the flip side, I used to be big on wishing my teachers and my mentors each year. But since the last few years, I’ve stopped doing this. There are a couple of reasons.

1 – I am like eternally grateful to them. And I try and thank them a lot. And that means that I dont need a specific day to think about them and wish them.

2 – With time, these special days have stopped meaning a lot to me. Call it my laziness, call it my limitation but I no longer think a lot about these days.

3- I often thing that by wishing one, I am not wishing or thinking about others. And there have been way too many teachers that have made me who I am. So, my policy is, dont wish any. I know this is stupid – at least the ones I wish will feel good. But here I am.

.

C/ New Twitter / X handle
If you know me, you know how important it is for me to connect with people – new or known. And twitter has been an incredible source for that. But lately, even though I got a premium account, my reach has been limited. I can blame it on my content (probably true cos I dont get reach on any platform that I am active on) or I can blame it on the ago (lol). But I dont get reach.

One investigation (in my head) tells me that its probably because I’ve done things that may flag the account as a bot (following a lot, unfollowing a lot, posting links etc etc).

So, I want to build a new handle and see if I get more reach on it. Also, on the new handle, I will talk about one niche (the holy grail of growth on twitter). The only trouble is, I dont know what niche to talk about!

Oh, while I made a plea to the world to follow me on the new handle, I asked them to share a quote. Some people shared and some of these are gems! I think I will get someone to make posters, frame those and send to people who’ve shared those quotes. AK, up for a challenge?

.

D/ Fold Money + Kite by Zerodha
Thanks to Fold Money, I discovered that I had stock investments worth 80K! I thought I have no savings. But I was wrong. So I will sell those. And try to prepay some of my loan.

.

E/ Saurabh Garg’s raison dโ€™รชtre
Aka, why am I here. Aka, what gives me joy. Aka, why I do what I do.

This is tough question that I will never find an answer to. Most people dont. While most people are ok with the ambiguity, I am not. I want to find an answer. I know it may never dawn upon me but I will continue to try.

A thread in that direction is as follows. PS: This was an outcome of one of my free thinking sessions.

My salvation is in thinking, reading, knowing more. And not in doing.

I am an explorer. I am an organic. I can get things done from others (not from self). I can push people to do more than they would have imagined. But I like to move across (not around) and I want to open doors. My magic is in connecting people and getting them to work with each other.

The life of an executer is not for me. As I reflect on my work and life, I realize I never was a great executer. I’ve not been a finisher. I like to take things from 0 to 1. But not from 1 to 10 and not from 10 to 100. I’ve never taken anything to 10, let alone 100. And I am ok with this.

So, I want to do more of what it takes to be this organic, this explorer, this tinkerer, this door opener. And then whatever happens from there on, I want to let that happen!

Also, when I let this happen, how do I make an honest living?

One way it that I find 1000 true fans who will give me 1000 bucks a month to live and then I do things that support them. Till last year I would have scoffed at the idea. But now, I dont. Talk of changing philosophy ;P

So, here’s my plea. If you are reading this and you want to support me, here’s a test. You have my number. If you don’t ask me. Make a transfer of an amount that you are willing to fund me for month on month. And then DM me. Let’s see if I get any close to my dreams.

.

F/ Do things with hand 
Dr H asked me to do things with hand. Last time I tried doing it, I learnt how to juggle three balls. This time I think I will go back to Uke.

My only problem is that my neuroplasticity with the Uke is way too strong. And not is a good way. So, let’s see.

.

G/ The fall of the heroes
This past week two things happened that reinforced the belief that heroes fall. The Balraj incident and the dinner of tech CEOs.

.

H/ MDI network
I am incredibly grateful to the network from MDI Gurgaon. There are so many times when I need help and inputs and support and the network ALWAYS comes thru. I hope to be able to help others when they need me.

.

I/ Zakir Khan
Saw this (from Rajiv Nema).
And OMG. I am in awe of the man. The thing am taking away from this story is riyaaz. Must do more riyaaz. With everything I work on.

PS: Lately a few young people have pointed out to me that Zakir has not really lived up to the responsibility he has as a strong voice. I want to say that it’s his choice. And I am sad at the same time. Especially now that I have started to see things that Punit Pania wants us to see.

I think on this, the final word would be of Parijat’s. He said and I concur, “A spine is rare, harmful at times but valuable, I daresay”.

And no, I dont have a spine. More on this some other day.

.

J/ Personal brand
See E above. And in continuation to that, I’ve started to think deeply about my personal brand. To be honest, this is not the first time. But this time I am committed. and this time, Riya is helping me like she’s never helped me before. I am hopeful something will come out of it.

I sent the following to some friends…

Hello Saurabh! Iโ€™m working on a personal branding exercise for my startup journey, and I need your help. Can you please take this short personal values test: https://personalvalu.es/personal-values-test

But instead of doing it for yourself, please do it while thinking about me โ€” what values you feel represent me most strongly. At the end, youโ€™ll get 5 values on the final page. Please take a quick screenshot of that page and send it back to me here. Itโ€™ll really help me understand how Iโ€™m perceived by the people close to me. Thank you!

I would love if you could take this and share what you think I stand for.

.

K/ Larger font.
I had to change the screen resolution of my laptop to a higher one!

Age, sigh!

.

L/ What does the life amount to?
Someone asked me, what does my life amount to. I mean I am 42 and I have -40 lakhs of net worth and literally no assets to call my own. Even my CA told my dad the other day that all I do is dream big and do nothing. And that was a rude shock. And I need to find a way to not be that. Anyhow, am digressing.

So someone asked me what does my life amount to and I didnt have an answer. Then someone else I know told me that that person has a different metric. They said, “maine paise nahi kamaya but izzat kamai hai, log kamaye hai”

And I was like OMG, I am this! All I’ve earned is izzat, people, exposure. But then, these things don’t give me no dal roti. Sigh!

.

M/ Michael Lopp
The discovery of the week has to be Michael Lopp and his blog. I found him via someone on twitter and I think I’ve read a large part of his website. He’s one of those, “why didnt I discover this person sooner” person.

The few that I want to highlight are…

1 – Organics vs Mechanics. I am clearly an… go find out ;P

2 – Bored People Quit.

3 – Minimum Viable Curiosity.

.

N/ What can be road block for us?
One of the things I am grateful to Meru for is continued patronage of Hareesh Sir. And all the lessons I get from him.

In the most recent one, for each thing we work on, he asks us, what can be a road block for us in this project. He asks us to list those and then ensure that we prevent ruin on that end.

This one lesson is worth its weight in gold!

Also, random #parkedIdea – For each such thing, am gonna build a razor. You know, like Occam’s Razor. And maybe evolve them into decision making frameworks like Charlie has (you know, psychology of human misjudgment).

.

O/ Disappear from internet?
I’ve been thinking lately that what would it be like to disappear from the Internet. I know I am far from it. In fact, if anything, I am hoping to bombard the internet with my face – you know, AI avatar, content, blogs, videos and all that. All in chase of that “personal brand” thing that will enable me to get more opportunities. That give me enough cash flow to take care of myself and my ilk.

I wish I had enough to not worry about anything and have access to everything. And then may be, I would actually go missing!

Ok, wait. I have a crazy idea. I dont login to social networks at all. I am only on email and whatsapp and all that. And I get my people to build / manage / operate those handles? As if Saurabh is a mere bot and there are people that run that bot!

What do you think?


๐Ÿ“ท Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 36.

The highlight is this one…

Reminded me of Pale Blue Dot

More people must know that they are insignificant in the large cosmic plan of things. While we are on this, please see this.

.


๐Ÿˆบ 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 Iโ€™ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldn’t). And I just added health a few weeks ago.

Book 2 โ€“ I sat with Bri and I got it restarted. No large output yet. But I’ve started to work on it. No, I am not counting this as a win but this is definitely a start (was on pause for a while).

Yearly Plan โ€“ I dropped it long ago. Now its time to think about the plan for the next year. Lol.

Health โ€“ No large actions.
PS: I track my health updates here, in case.


โ˜‘๏ธ 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.

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

Health. I dont think it was on track. I did eat in moderation and I did try to be consistent. But I can do more. And I dont want to be randomly harsh. So, a 0.

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

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. No action. Last week, at least I recorded a few things. This week, nothing. And this is an important plank. So, -1.

People. No action on this. Iโ€™d say 0.

Book 2. I moved some needle but not enough. So, -1

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

So the overall score is -2


๐Ÿ“Š The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

What trends do you see?

I seeโ€ฆ

  1. Inconsistent with sleep. But a couple of good days. I think it boils down to discipline.
  2. Consistent steps. I think I need to find a way to do similar thing with workouts and I will be unbeatable!
  3. LOT of coffee. And all of it at Starbucks. Need to reduce it. No, not

What do you see?


๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Health

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

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long โ€“ sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Letโ€™s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links โ€“ food log, my daily health log channel.

1/ Sleep
This was better than last week. There were two 90+ recoveries. Need to continue to invest more on this.

2/ Exercise
Walks have been consistent. But havent been able to add any fitness yet. I must.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on my food log.
This week was little easy going. I ate things that I typically I dont want to eat. Really looking forward to the next week cos I am gonna get onto OMAD / 2MAD / Keto or something.

4/ Community
No large movement on this. Didn’t have the time.

5/ Crowdfunding health
I will remove this from next week onward.

6/ Movement
No action.
๐Ÿ™

7/ Meditation
No action. I will start this for sure this week. Lol!

.


๐Ÿ“– Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

Hereโ€™s a list of interesting things from the last week.

1/ This piece from Samarth.

2/ Visa’s homecoming. Very interesting read. I see myself in him. Like a lot of his fans.

3/ Advice from someone who turned 42.

4/ Incredible long read on AI Bots and its all-pervasive impact. And in fields like healthcare! Thanks to PradXโฉ for the recommendation

5/ Alan Watts on Game of Life.

Thats it for this week. I know I should have had more. But this is it.

.


๐Ÿง  Reminders from last week

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

Iโ€™ve been skipping this for a while now.
I think this will remain ignored for a few more weeks.
Letโ€™s see when I get back to this.


๐Ÿฅก So, one thing that defines the past week?

Routine.

This is how it was last week as well.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have beenโ€ฆ Routine, Busy, 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.

โ€”
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: 0102030405060708, 09 (missed), 1011121314, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18192021, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 25262728293031323334, 35

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

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

Wk 35-25 – Weekly Notes

Updates from the week 35 of 2025.

Aug 31,
Starbucks, Versova
Finishing it on Sep 1, 2025.

Today I woke up late. I mean I was up at 6:30. And then I slept again (cos I was up till 2). And then I woke up at 8:30. And this means I am delayed on most things, including this note. But now that am here, I will make the most of it. And since I didn’t write the last week’s well, I need to do this one better.

Lol, talk of self-imposed pressure.

Anyhow.
We shall prevail.
And we shall do more.
Oh and before we go ahead, here’s the track of the week. This.

.

Ok, let’s go!


๐Ÿ’ญ Highlights, reflections and notes from the past week

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

1/ The raison d’รชtre of this weekly review
As I was writing this, I realised that it takes me about 3 hours to write this. Give or take. And then whatever time it takes me to maintain notes that I take thru the week (in hopes that I will publish this on this post). For the curious, most of those notes are on my Apple Notes, Self WA Group, TIL and Roam.

However, if I am to look at the value that I get from this, I think its zilch.

Apart from making me feel good about continuing with a habit for more than 8 months.

TBH, in the past, I used to have lot more time. And that meant I could work on this at my speed, at my pace, at my schedule. I remember I would start writing this on a Thursday and then I would get back to it often. Now, all I get is a half a day per week and in that time I need to crunch errands, socialise, do soul things and all that.

And thus I am left questioning this.

But then, I enjoy the process of writing. This is the only thing that I write these days apart from work. Plus, writing this allows me to reflect and see notes and revisit things from the week gone by. Its this revisiting that has got me numerous opportunities that I would otherwise not get.

So, if I were to do a pros vs cons analysis, I dont know what to make out of this.

What do you think? Should I continue with this? Or should I stop?

.

2/ Punit Pania
I’ve been aware of his work for a while but over the last week, I saw a lot of his videos. And with each, my are for him has only grown. What an incredible guy!

I wish I had the balls to be like him – live life on own terms and rely on 1000 true fans to support his life. He’s clearly using his ability to write and speak to rage against the system. In a manner that is harmless and yet impactful. At least I am a convert. I wish I had the talent to do that.

But then, even if I had the talent, I would probably not rage against anything. I would try and build things. I am never against anything. I am towards something else. I dont know if this makes sense to whoever is reading this, but that.

.

3/ Personal Brand
I’ve been making efforts on building my personal brand. Actually wait. I am not making efforts. Riya is. And Vishal and Naman are. I am merely giving into whatever they tell me. See this video as the first output. This is still a private link that we made as a trial. I have no interest in giving financial advice. Lemme know what you think.

I’ve also started to talk publicly about this on various platforms. And thanks to that, I’ve got inputs from many folks. Each is helping me sharpen it. Let’s see what comes out of it.

.

4/ Micro Dramas
I’ve been enamored by it. And everyone I know is talking about it. And I have this feeling of being left out. Super FOMO. Like I have with AI. And with so many more things.

Thing is, a lot of filmmakers I know hate this format (they think money is too less and there is no creativity etc) but I think its an important to embrace it. I think it will democratize storytelling. Like Youtube did. Plus, with all the noise of Tik Tok making a comeback, we will see a million filmmakers come to life – all equipped with simple phone cameras and insane talent. If someone can build a microdrama business, I think they are in for a goldmine.

Of course, I speak as an outsider. Till I had TRS, I was still on the fringes but I am no longer there and thus I know nothing about the business. What do you think?

.

5/ AI Film Fest
AK, C and others are working on putting together a film festival for content made with AI. Wow! I am constantly surprised at all the things they do! More details here.

Again, like micro dramas, AI as a concept is being dismissed per se by a lot of filmmakers but I know the time has come. Sooner you adapt to it and accept it, better it is.

Anyhow. Again. I dont want to talk more cos am not a man in the arena. But I do know that if young people think of putting together such festivals, the established filmmakers will have a field day if they embrace AI.

.

6/ Coaching
Sandeep Sir mentioned that I must explore coaching as a career option. I don’t think I want to. But he sees something in me that I dont see. And I dont want to dismiss him. Let’s see.

.

7/ This tweet from Naval on people
I am embedding it here so that it’s eay to read and all that.

I read this and I was like, o fuck!

I’ve long believed in this idea of having to identify people from afar. And then investing in them and then try to get them to work with me. And Iโ€™ve been mildly successful. Now that Naval has spoken, I must accelerate.

Also, thanks to Gokul (founder at CynLr), I understood the term โ€œneedle in the haystackโ€ when it comes to talent. This is a very good way to spot talent. In fact, this is how scouts for the sports teams work. Even VCs have scouts that work for them to identify talent.

So that.

.


๐Ÿ“ท Some Photos from the week gone by

Here are some photos from week 35.

The highlight photo has to be this from Naval…

Source: this

I saw this and I was like, O FUCK!
Ofc, I’ve spoken about it above.
Lemme know what you think of this.


๐Ÿˆบ 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 Iโ€™ve been writing for a long time. This year I couldnt). And I just added health a few weeks ago.

Book 2 โ€“ no action.

Yearly Plan โ€“ I dropped it a few weeks ago.

Health โ€“ No large actions.
PS: I track my health updates here, in case.


โ˜‘๏ธ 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.

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

Health. I think I was better than last week. I ate mindfully. Had a few thing that I shouldn’t have had. But was ok more or less. If I had added workouts, it would have been sweet. I will give myself a 0.

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

C4E. No action from my side. 0.

Brand SG. Recorded a few things with Riya. Yet to ship. But I did record and did make a progress. After a few days. So, a 0. And not a -1. Yay!

People. No action on this. Iโ€™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.


๐Ÿ“Š The tracker from the last week

Here is the tracker for the week gone by.

What trends do you see?

I seeโ€ฆ

  1. Eating a lot of things that I shouldnt be eating. I hope to fix this.
  2. Lesser spends than I typically do week on week. So, yay!
  3. Consistency with steps. Yay!
  4. Need to check on emotions, especially in the second half of the week.

What do you see?


๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธโ€โžก๏ธ Health

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

I read somewhere that you need 4 things to live long โ€“ sleep, exercise, diet and community. I will track all four. And then some more variables that I feel are important to me. Letโ€™s see what comes out. Also, I log a few things at these links – food log, myย daily health log channel.

1/ Sleep
This was not good at all. I’ve been lagging behind on this. Must fix it.

2/ Exercise
Walks have been consistent. I do at least 8K each day. I hope to continue with this.

I want to add some workout in this. Yoga is easy but I need someone to help me. Gym, I can’t. I need to find a sport that equals weight lifting (you know, muscle and all).

Also, again, no action. So not counting this as a win. Till I actually do something.

3/ Diet
I track each thing I eat on myย food log.
This week was ok.
I had an average of 1800 calories in the week gone by.
As I write this, I have had only two Americano’s since morning. Not even protein shake.

4/ Community
This seems to be doing ok.
I am able to meet new people.
I am ok to build deeper relationships with more people. I am able to sustain interest as well. So all well.

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 I am not losing weight at all. And I wont for the next few days either. So that will suck. I will inform these people and move on.

6/ Movement
No action.
Except walking.

7/ Meditation
I was to have meditated for a few hours this week. But I did not. So that. Will try again this week.

.


๐Ÿ“– Interesting Reads / Views from the last week

Hereโ€™s a list of interesting things from the last week.

1/ Read this from Naval in the morning and was like a whack on the back of the head. There are so many times I think to myself – the world is unfair, I couldnt do it, I dont have it easy etc etc. But Naval is right. YOU have only YOU to blame if youโ€™re not doing well. Will think a lot about this over the next few days!

2/ The CBO at Atomberg (Arindam Paul) just wrote a new book and its getting rave reviews. I am getting a copy for myself. Could be useful if you are interested in consumer brands, d2c, modern marketing et al. Check it here.

3/ This piece by Yash Garg on founder’s office roles is a gold mine for folks seeking such roles.

4/ Sahil talks about 3 types of friends. Incredible list. Made me think who’s my leaves, branches and the roots. I see myself using this analogy a lot in how I converse.

So yeah. This is it.


๐Ÿง  Reminders from last week

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

I’ve been skipping this for a while now. I think this will remain ignored for a few more weeks. Let’s see when I get back to this.


๐Ÿฅก So, one thing that defines the past week?

Routine.

Oh and in the previous weeks, the one-word reviews have beenโ€ฆ Busy, 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.

โ€”
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: 0102030405060708, 09 (missed), 1011121314, 15 (missed), 16, 17 (missed), 18192021, 22 (missed), 23, 24 (missed), 252627282930313233, 34

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

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